I would say if you want to understand world politics , you should better watch Al Jazeera English (AJE) version. Etymologically,the two words mean "the island" and surely at some points,it proves to be surrounded with the Muslim world's euphemism of the western power. I have a cable connection full of South Indian channels and not a single international news channel and hence my appetite for international news is forced to find solace with its live stream. For good perhaps. Atleast qualitatively , its on par with any BBC or CNN coverage.
To be fair, it is equipped with some very brave reporters. During the Gaza war in 2008, it was the only channel with reporters on both sides of the conflict. It was the only international news channel to cover the violent out-lash of government on the protesters in Myanmar with under-covered reporters using the spy cameras. They were the only one to cover the gulf-oil-spills.The ordinary Arabs would have never seen an Israeli official without it. With its Cairo office closed, journalists beaten and arrested , tapes and cameras confiscated , it ensured a live broadcast from the Tahrir 'Liberation' Square throughout the 18 days of Egyptian protests.
True , it has a past which makes it appear biased against western world (but are the western press neutral? Don't they show the news from American perspectives?) with controversial connections. It is still referred as CNN and BBC of the Arab world. Those in U.S should watch it first before forming a perception from third-party unknowns. Plus , it is owned (and subsidized) by Qatar government which as a nation shares a friendly relation with U.S , is much more liberal compared with other middle-east countries except Dubai and has Exxon Mobile as its largest foreign investor !
Business Model
The value proposition is simple : it broadcasts as-it-is uncensored (that's what makes it credible and trust worthy) news , political talk shows and documentaries about current and controversial happenings with an objective dual-sided view.It was initially funded with a 5-year loan totaling to $150 million from the Emir of Qatar who still continues to subsidize it. Most of the money comes from licencing exclusive footages (not to say , they have many !). It sells documentaries, rents its equipment to other broadcasters. Little dependence on advertisements - the Saudis unhappy with Al Jazeera's coverage of their Kingdom have given implicit message to the businesses in the Arab nations that they will be forbidden from doing business in Saudi Arabia if and when they advertise on Al Jazeera. And hence its drive to expand across the globe trying to catch as many eye-balls as possible and once that's done , it presumes the advertisers will follow on their own. It also has launched its sports channels for which it gets paid subscription revenue. It also have a advertising revenue-sharing agreement with Google for their YouTube Channel (Yes if you are in U.S , in all probability that's what you need to rely on to watch AJE).
But that's not enough, they still are not making profit , not withstanding the fact that the numerous middle-east crisis they leverage on is a costly coverage. When Vodafone was struggling its way out in Europe and elsewhere , it found solace and made millions in Indian market. AJE already has got the permissions to broadcast herein India. But the news broadcast industry here is highly crowded and hyper-competitive. Plus will AJE's "Journalism with No Frontier" policy work here given the fact that many of the private news channel here are owned by politicians and implicit lobbying on news item is as prevalent as it can be? Will they chase the profits as desperately as the deregulated media houses here are doing ? They were able to unite the Arab world viewers who are even now so fractured politically , socio-economically and historically. Will they be able to repeat the same here?
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