by Hsing Lee

Some of us are old enough to remember a time when TV news still had some integrity. Before Ronald Reagan and the deregulation of television, and before the military industrial complex bought US TV networks, American reporters provided viewers with real news stories about real issues. In so doing, they made a difference.
We’ve all seen the film reels from Vietnam. The two most famous, or infamous, are the point blank murder of a Vietnamese citizen by America’s allies, and the film of the burned children running from a napalm attack. It was unbiased, uncensored journalism and it turned the tide of public opinion and helped put an end to one of the most immoral wars for fun and profit in the 20th century.
Today, TV journalism in the US no longer reports the news. What journalists do is act as mouthpieces for Wall Street and the White House, helping to make the case for war at any cost, even when they have to lie. And it’s not just TV news that does this; the New York Times, the Washington Post and the majority of other major newspapers do the exact same thing.
The final nail in the coffin for American news was the sale of Ted Turner’s CNN to Time Warner. Once Time Warner was sold to AOL, AOL fired Turner and replaced him with hardcore Zionist Walter Isaacson. That spelled the end of unbiased news coverage about the Middle East in the United States of America.
I’m delighted to announce that TV journalism is back. And not just back, but back with a serious vengeance. On November 16, Al Jazeera launched its English language service worldwide on cable, satellite, broadcast and Internet streaming video. On day one, it made its way into more than eight million homes, not counting Internet viewers. Visit Al Jazeera’s website (www.aljazeera.net/english) and check it out for yourself.
Unlike American news, Al Jazeera isn’t interested in political spin, not even for its home country Qatar. (See its code of ethics posted on the website.) Part of Al Jazeera’s mission includes presenting diverse points of view and opinions without bias or partiality and recognizing diversity in human societies, in order to present an unbiased and faithful reflection.
And you know what? So far, it has done precisely that. Al Jazeera is so dedicated to this mission that it has managed to steal some of the best people away from BBC, ABC and the other major networks. Those of you who watch the news will be surprised at the faces and voices you recognize when you tune in. It even has Sir David Frost, who did a one-on-one interview with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Al Jazeera is a breath of fresh air and a return to true investigative journalism on TV. There are half the number of commercials, no pro-war or anti-war bias and a fearlessness no longer seen at the other news networks. And it does it all in style.
You can’t get Al Jazeera on TV in Canada. No cable company will touch it because pro-Israeli factions with a political axe to grind managed to get the CRTC to allow Al Jazeera on air only with a “censorship button” in place.
You can subscribe at (www.jump
TV.com) for $9.95 US a month or $19.95 US for three months. That’s 22 cents per day to get real, honest, no-spin broadcast news.
In this viewer’s opinion, it’s worth every penny.

Hsing Lee is a media researcher interested in international affairs.