When the world first heard of Josh Rushing, some American media referred to him as a traitor.
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| (Photo Courtesy of Media Matters) |
Rushing is a former Marine turned journalist who works for Al Jazeera English. Rushing played an integral role in the documentary ‘Control Room,’ which looked at Al Jazeera Arabic, the original network in the middle of the Iraq War.
At that time, the United States, Osama Bin Laden and Middle Eastern countries flung negative accusations towards Al Jazeera. The new organization based out of Qatar did not make any friends in the first years of being a network.
"My friend told me....to understand (Al Jazeera), if in America, they showed hardcore pornography on ABC at primetime,” said Rushing to a packed crowd at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “Everyone was offended at what they saw from Al Jazeera and everyone was watching,”
Al-Jazeera’s growth as a news industry was swift and substantial. In a mere 13 years, Al Jazeera gained thirty different networks all over the world, and the network continues to gain momentum. One of these networks is Al Jazeera English. The network features international news from all corners of the world plus original programming.
"At a time when most American media are closing down their foreign bureaus because they are expensive, dangerous, and Americans don't care about international news, Al Jareeza is actually expanding, said Rushing."
Although, Al Jazeera English has minimal distribution in the United States, Rushing said New York City and Washington D.C. have the network open to all cable distributors. According to Rushing, it has nothing to do with the previous controversies, more so with distributors believing the American public does not care about international news.
“It’s a media island here, said Rushing." “We (the United States) have some of the least amount of access.”
Despite the lack of attention, Al Jazeera English has adapted to the Internet world with a vengeance providing all their content on YouTube, and the running a live stream of their programming 24/7. Even though a small percentage of Americans have Al Jazeera English on their cable boxes, people are able to see the network on a daily basis. Andres White, an Eau Claire resident is a news seeker, and relies on other forms of media to get his news.
“I don’t have a TV, so whenever I need news I used the Internet,” said White. “I have only watched Al Jazeera once.”
While distributors believe America’s overall disinterest in international news, the United States government recognizes Al Jazeera English’s importance. Rushing said President Barack Obama and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both have talked about the significance of Al Jazeera English. Additionally, Senator John McCain was the keynote speaker at the Al Jazeera Forum in May.
Mitch Wenzel, a student at UW-Eau Claire plans to watch Al Jazeera English more after seeing Rushing on Wednesday night. He knows it will take more than one person to get Al Jazeera on the local cable providers
“A young generation can make the change with all the technology we have in our hands and to get our peers behind the idea of international news,” said Wenzel.
When the American viewer flips through the channels, Rushing hopes one day Al Jazeera English will be in-between or next to CNN and FOX
“My dream is to be put on the dial and not in the 400's.”
-Charlie Tritschler.
(Edited by Catherine Barclay)
“My dream is to be put on the dial and not in the 400's.”
-Charlie Tritschler.
(Edited by Catherine Barclay)
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