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Al Jazeera America to Feature ‘Less Opinion, Less Yelling’ — and Fewer of Two Other Things You Are Used to Seeing on Other News Channels

Aug 16, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Al Jazeera America interim chief executive Ehab Al Shihabi said the new network will have "less opinion, less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Along with fewer celebrities, the network will also feature fewer commercials than its rivals, with only six minutes per hour as compared with "15 to 17 minutes" for other networks, Shihabi said. He added: "We are not infotainment."

Shihabi made the comments Thursday on a conference call with reporters, as the network gears up for its debut next Thursday, the story adds.

The story notes, "Prior to launch, the network has positioned itself as a alternative to CNN and touted unbiased reporting in contrast to partisan-leaning MSNBC and Fox News. The network now boasts a staff of nearly 900 and is set to appear in 49 million households. "

Channel President Kate O’Brian, formerly a senior VP at ABC News, acknowledges that Al Jazeera America enters a "fairly busy media landscape," but adds: "The American viewer is looking for a particular set of things that they just can’t find in the marketplace, and that’s unbiased coverage, in-depth, quality coverage and telling stories that they don’t really hear in any of the news product that’s out there right now."

The report notes: "As much as $600 million has already been spent by Al Jazeera Media Networks to launch the U.S. cable news network, sources told The Hollywood Reporter last month."

3 Comments

  1. Wait a minute…a Media Research Center study showed msnbc had 85% opinion and 15% news content. It also showed fox news had 55% opinion and 45% news content, virtually the same as cnn. How then, can fox news and msnbc BOTH be considered partisan, but cnn is considered unbiased??

  2. As it has been reported, Current TV was bought out by Al Jazzera, so, if a MSO (Cable Company) already carried Current TV, then that is why Al Jazzera is launching with 49 million households.
    I doubt that Al Jazzera would have launched with that many subscribers had it launched on its own, without the purchase of Current TV and its entire pre-existing subscriber base.
    But the ratings will tell it all and generally Current TV suffered somewhat from low ratings with only a few hundred thousand viewers watching any given program.
    We will see if Al Jazzera fares better.

  3. No one found Current TV on their cable system. Why does anyone think that people will find Al Jazzera. The best thing the media can do is ignore them and the audience will too. If the press makes a big deal out of it, people will start checking it out.

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