U.S. Corporate Censorship of Al Jazeera

While the citizens of Egypt are in the streets struggling to turn their country from a dictatorship into a democracy, we have observed the dictator's struggle to maintain power by trying to silence the social networks, the internet itself, and Al Jazeera, a major international news organisation.  Fortunately many democracies from around the world, including the United States, have decried these efforts at censorship and the free exchange of information.


The irony, unfortunately, is that while Americans decry the censorship in Egypt, the corporate cable companies in the United States have done the same by refusing to carry Al Jazeera on their networks.  "Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. - including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. - cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera." (HP,1/31/2011)


Fortunately Buckeye Cablevision in Northwest Ohio is apparently more committed to a free press than many of the other US corporate cable providers. We in Toledo have been able to tune in to Al Jazeera along with Canadian Broadcasting Company, the British Broadcasting Company, National Public Radio, as well as the usual commercial news networks. I have been watching Al Jazeera in English periodically the last two years because they cover stories from around the world, stories that are never reported in the Western media.


Perhaps the corporate cable companies' xenophobic attempt to"protect" us from Al Jazeera  results from the Bush era when his administration was furious that Al Jazeera was reporting inconvenient truths about the Invasion of Iraq.  Since Al Jazeera is similar to other networks like BBC and CBC in that it is owned by the government of Qatar which has no control over content, the Bush administration was not able to apply pressure.


Jeff Jarvis, the president of Al Jazeera in English wrote, "It is downright un-American to still refuse to carry it.  Vital, world-changing news is occurring in the Middle East and no one-not the xenophobic or celebrity-obsessed or cut-to-the-bone American media-can bring the perspective, insight, and on-the-scene reporting Al Jazeera English can."


It appears to me that this situation suggests a problem with the power we allow corporate media companies to wield. Al Jazeera is staffed by outstanding journalists from around the world; and although they make a concerted effort to refrain from allowing an editorial perspective in their reporting, their coverage is being denied  to most of the US. On the other hand, Fox News which was voted the least reliable network in the US is being carried on all cable providers that I am know of.


If we as a country are serious about democracy and the Bill of Rights, we have to demand that these corporate giants have to adhere to our basic principles of fairness. If that does not fit their corporate philosophy, they should be denied their licenses.