….

Al-Jazeera English has a huge presence in the US, with 120 journalists in its Washington bureau, but how does he explain the reluctance of cable companies to carry the channel? Are they unwilling to make space on crowded platforms for a news channel few will watch, or do broadcasters fear a political backlash?

‘I think it’s a bit of both,’ Burman says. ‘It is seen by some people as being a network that is sympathetic to interests that are hostile to the US. ( Ed: Woow, say it ain’t so my friend.)But I think it will change as the administration changes. The Al-Jazeera brand is hugely respected in most parts of the world. There is a problem in the US. That is a the challenge and it is being confronted head on.’

In Burlington, New England, where a tiny city-owned broadcaster with a few thousand subscribers carries Al-Jazeera, complaints from locals prompted the company to announce that it will be taken off air, but a local Republican representative is supporting its continued presence, Burman claims, and that decision could be reversed.

Larger battles are being fought and won elsewhere, he adds: ‘We are hopeful there will be a breakthrough in the American carriage situation soon.’

That may not happen until the post-Bush era, but Burman argues that it would enable Al-Jazeera English to take advantage of a hunger for foreign news, which has been gradually downgraded by the big networks, partly because it is so expensive to produce. ‘At a time when many news organisation are downsizing there will be an increase in our coverage of the world, more investigative journalism and new bureaux,’ he promises.

Many newsrooms already turn to Al-Jazeera English for coverage of events in the Muslim world, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last year, because its contacts give it an insight – and some scoops – that Western rivals may lack. It could be that a promotional push will take place once it has established a foothold in America, but for that to happen Burman must wait for the US electorate to delivers ‘regime change’ in the market it most covets.

Linky: www.guardian.co.uk

Technorati Tags: al-jazeera, bush, politics, jihad, news, humor

BERLIN (Reuters) – Over two-thirds of the detainees in the Guantanamo Bay prison are suffering from or at risk of mental problems because they are kept isolated in small cells with little light or fresh air, according to Human Rights Watch.

In a report entitled “Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo”, the group says 185 of the 270 detainees at the U.S. military prison for terrorism suspects are housed in facilities similar to “supermax” prisons.

They spend 22 hours alone in cramped cells, have very limited contact with other human beings and are given little more than the Koran to occupy themselves, said the report, which is based interviews with government officials and attorneys. …

Technorati Tags: Human rights watch, gitmo, politics, news

Linky: Guantanamo inmates suffering mental damage: report

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has decided that Jews who live in Judea and Samaria now live in ‘Palestine’ – a country that does not exist – and not in Israel.
Facebook no longer allows members from Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, Betar Illit and other settlements over the Green Line to list their hometowns as situated in Israel, but instead provides only a preset location, with their country listed as “Palestine.”

Israel Matzav: Facebook moves Judean and Samarian Jews to ‘Palestine’

Yes, you are right. More we kill, bomb, blow up, cut throats and push our sharia up to their a**es more infidels support our cause.

We are opening the category with our famous and well known supporter New York Times. See, if US government shutdowns down your website just run to NYT and they will help you out. Offer them an interview, for free. It will provide us with more fan base. Don’t forget that NYT journalists will not give out your location and name under any circumstances.

Video: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=c0ed4cb9f1823f94ed94b87cf98a155a2015456b

Read the whole article.

Update:

There is more about it on The Jawa report.