Failure to Launch?
Aljazeera International faces significant hurdles in breaking into the English-language media.
By Christina Asquith
When reporters from the Arabic news channel Aljazeera International traveled on assignment to Crosby, N.D., recently, they did not receive a warm welcome from locals. Instead, someone called the sheriff, who then reported possible terrorist activity to the U.S. Border Patrol. Agents were dispatched to investigate whether the journalists “seemed like U.S. citizens.”
After a brief interrogation, the agents confirmed that they were American journalists working on a piece about migration out of the Great Plains. But reporters for Aljazeera International say such suspicious, hostile treatment has become routine, as the Muslim world’s largest and most controversial 24-hour news channel struggles to start an English-language channel in the United States.
Producers in the Washington, D.C., headquarters of Aljazeera International have missed two launch dates since they first announced the channel in 2005. They now refuse to set a third date. Many say
the reasons boil down to racism and anti-Arab prejudice.
