Easily one the best and last sources of real journalism left in this country.

They were not able to succeed in getting Americans to watch.

I would have loved to watch them, but it seems they weren't actually on TV by me.

least filler trash of all networks. Here in my neighborhood in Florida it's not available. I'm very sorry to hear this.

Many nights if I'm about to head off to bed I would check them out, knowing it would most likely be a no-BS news update as opposed to what the other news networks would typically have late at night.

to keep them out of the common view. Despite all their channel swaps over the years, none of the "alternative" news channels ever seemed to make it into the block reserved for the big guys, including Al Jazeera. The closest they ever got was wedged into the weather channels block, about 10-20 numbers higher than the news block.

Maybe the other thing that killed them is they were closer to what news used to be like 30+ years ago. That is, one anchor, presenting the news without commentary and in-depth with knowledgeable reporters in the field. No shouting heads, no sensationalism, less screen-covering and annoying graphics than the rest of them. Americans haven't seen that kind of news in so long, they don't know how to react to it, or not in ways that keep their ratings up.

They were more slanted than Fox News - in the direction of their Qatari overlords.

Seriously, Al-Jazeera did have an agenda that I found very worthwhile watching. It deliberately focused a great deal of interest on what was called the "global south," acting as if events and peoples in the more southern regions of the planet mattered as much as what was being covered by all the usual networks who focused on events of America, Europe, Russia, China and mostly ignored the rest.

I'm really sorry to hear it. World class advances will take place in far corners, whole regions will dry up and blow away, others will eradicate lethal diseases and make great scientific discoveries, hundreds of thousands around the globe will be killed and displaced by disasters, and if I don't read about any of this the only way I'll know is when a bunch of displaced people are forced to make their way to the north. Oh, there is always NPR, of course, but it's not nearly enough by itself.

Sure doesn't sound like it! "More slanted than Fox News"....good grief!

Quit making AJA into something they weren't and watch the BBC instead...

they were very good, damn! damn! damn!

I'll miss the coverage.

The wife and I had gotten to sitting down with them in the everning. Now we'll go hunting again. I hope their online efforts mirror what they've been doing on TV.

This is so sad.

was probably something many Americans would never be able to get past.

I think you're spot on.

A gun nut/phony pretend christian I work with is convinced that the org. is a terrorist group who have infiltrated the amurkin airwaves... All because of the name.

Any news item I relate to him, citing Al Jazeera as a source (dunno why I even try), is summarily dismissed as terrorist propaganda, even though those items can almost always be verified by the fact that any number of other news outlets have reported the same stories.

Oh well 499 other channels to watch.

`

The same thing happens here; post a story from any list of places everyone considers "right wing" and it is immediately dismissed as "propaganda" or bullshit. "Kill the messenger" ya know? Just tell him you saw it on Fox.com!!
Its irritating regardless of what side of an issue you're on.

I'll rattle off a few and include Al Jazeera, emphasizing that each of them, compared to faux, are beyond reproach.

Thanks for your concern about my conversations in the workplace, and how they unfold, despite not knowing the first thing about any particulars,circumstances or personalities.

I always greatly appreciate people who, unable to take a comment for simply what it is, at face value, and are compelled to read more into it, than what is there.

I didnt read anything into what you said. I made a simple suggestion regarding someone YOU described as being a "gun nut/phony pretend christian".
Seems you'd know that folks here sometimes actually respond to comments made by others.
Your first sentence answered my question, you didnt have to act like I was looking in your window!

Their marketing people must have been having conniptions over that decision.

Although the audience for real news is small, using a different name might have made the difference in keeping them afloat.

to redirect some of their funding towards more ISIS activities instead of journalism - the drop in crude is forcing them to focus their money on their priorities I guess.

I found Al Jazeera to be a pretty decent news group (better than the American-based cable news channels) despite the Qatari government's support of terrorism in Syria and Iraq.

+1000

The channel always had a pro ISIS bent to it and for that reason, i could not care any less what happened to it. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I am guessing the Qatari government is throwing in with Murdoch, since they are so invested in Isis.

I am sorry to see it go.

If not worse.

So you read a number of different sources. Al Jazeera was better at covering the Palestinian side of the Israel Palestine conflict, than the American media, which is mostly owned by far right zionists. They fell down on covering Syria, since unfortunately their owners are anti-secularists, and pro-wahabbi.

Especially one that limits basic human freedoms.

report on each others shit.

I didn't watch it every day or even every week, but I had it in my favorites because if there was something I wanted to watch, I knew it was really going to be excellent. Dammit!

I don't watch regularly but preferred it over any of the other 1% owned Pablum Channels.

Al Jazeera America will shutter its cable TV and digital operations by April 30 of this year, the company announced Wednesday. The decision by the AJAM board was “driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace”, said AJAM CEO Al Anstey.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/13/al-jazeera-america-to-close-down.html

Best comprehensive news in decades. Investigative reporting at its best.

Or the ruling family.

Qatar is ruled by the House of Kardashian, right?

That involves certain countries looking more favorable than others for reasons related to the well-being of the multibillionaires who run Qatar and who own Al Jazeera.

I think cable is slowly dying.

I have an APP so hope I can still read that.

They really did produce in-depth stories and dug much deeper than the usual pap...

The Tories have been trying to destroy it for decades.

I feel as though a favorite neighbor has moved away--this is a real quality-of-life changer for me. I never took Al Jazeera for granted--partly because I knew they weren't making money and could shut down at any minute, but also because I actively enjoyed their quality programming. It was miles above any other news other than the BBC.

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap. I'm so sad.

Or at least contributed to their demise.

Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman sue...


[link:http://deadspin.com/ryan-howard-ryan-zimmerman-sue-al-jazeera-america-over-1751240312|

The conservative, neoliberal global oligarchy keeps closing the door on journalism, truth and democracy. Damn.
First time I watched Al Jazeera was Paris 2004.

They are controlled by one of the most right-wing un-progressive regimes in the world.

reliably. It never fails, like the sun coming up mornings

Oh look, another post #10 above said 'alternative' too, go get 'em!

However, I do think they have the same issues as our MSM - possibly even moreso since they are controlled by the Royal Family of Qatar.

What will we do, and where will we ever get our news now! This is a tragedy for America! For me it was a light in the darkness of this country.

Can't believe there are so many fans of the Qatari ruling family here.

Honk------------------for a political revolution it is about getting a progressive U.S. Supreme Court, Congress and State and Local governments

Bernie 2016

straight reporting. Pox News has poisoned the well, and those who don't watch Pox are steadily turning to alternative sources on the web for information.
The Russian people got wise to the propaganda being broadcast, and it became a national joke shortly before the demise of the Soviet Union. Everything changes once the lying starts. Other than some occasional trips to MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel, I gave up on TV news.

The rest of our media, forget it!!

Argentina has loosened rules against media monopoly.

Australia is doing it too. Voters there should gage what labour and green politician is a sellout based on who votes for the new law.

Now Al Jazeera is closing.

The neocon oligarchs must be scared.

Sad but true.

No one else covered war crimes committed in the occupied territories nearly as well. They even stayed neutral in their reporting of the Egyptian coup and Libya/NATO war (though some reporters are still paying for it).

Real news that forwards the interests of the Qatari ruling elite.

The .00000000001 percent.

They aren't exactly owned by poor liberals. They aren't exactly unbiased about Israeli elites.

In I/P there are only so many sources that publish articles in English who are based in Israel. Most of them are pretty RW. I try to mostly stick to sources like Ha'aretz that are more left-center, but I do sometimes use the other Israeli sites in English.

I certainly would not lament their departure from the journalistic landscape, though - and don't pretend they are anything other than what they are.

Their Latin America coverage was very good, as was their coverage of issues in Native America...you know, the stuff the US media covers every single day.
Oh...wait...

I am responding to individual comments from folks, but I get that it's enough already.

I do agree with you that in some cases their coverage was better than the US MSM, but I also feel very strongly that they have their own protected interests that they are less than neutral about.

I'm a Latin Americanist. There are so few venues that pay attention to the region!

This is bad news. We watch it when we can no longer stand the pundits on MSNBC, and Thom Hartmann isn't on. Sigh!

This is my go to channel for news! Seriously, what choices do we have for unbiased news anymore?

Democracy Now. All of it is streamed online. Now we will have to do the same with Al Jazeera. It will still be available online. The murdoch fascists, are frightened old people are catching on to the bipartisan right wing takeover.

would have watched it.

I wish that they had considered offering a reasonable monthly fee so that people could have watch the network online. That would have gotten them around companies that would not carry them.

Last edited Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Of course it is.

I would have thought anyone would recognize that.

The American media is next to useless at this point.

Since 9/11 and the Iraq War response it has been real bad.

Well, really after the stolen 2000 election and how they didn't cover it honestly the American media has been truly awful.

You think the American media is good?! In what way is it good or even acceptable? It is clearly and overwhelmingly biased. It is completely dishonest. They will not even cover extremely important issues like the TPP and widespread election fraud. The media is a mouthpiece of corporate America with absolutely zero objectivity. Any objectivity we observe is contrived objectivity inserted to convince us of their veracity.

But a Qatari emir-owned news outlet is not the answer, in my opinion.

The Peyton Manning-HGH story did them in.

I have Al Jazeera on my "favorites" and watch it if I want to see news of substance rather than happy talk and sound bites.

And worse, the only decent news channel here in Boston (NECN) is being taken over by NBC.

But they are available. I found the station scrolling one day. I guess they were afraid that the right wing crybabies would complain. Hope RT takes over their slot.

You don't consider them to be a propaganda site?

It's far superior to the xenophobic pro war propaganda on CNN and MSNBC. I mostly watched Erin Ade's show and Tom Hartman's on RT when I lived in California.