Parody Website Fools The Washington Post Into Thinking Sarah Palin Heading To Al Jazeera
The Daily Currant is an evil site. Unlike The Onion, it’s just realistic-looking enough sometimes that it fools people. It hides the statement that it’s satire on a secondary page just to catch people like this.
For Mr. Spitzer, the amicable separation is unsurprising. Last spring, nine months after his CNN talk show was canceled, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt abruptly asked him to take over the 8 p.m. time slot on Current. The reason: the 8 p.m. host Keith Olbermann was about to be fired.
Mr. Spitzer was, by his own account, “thrilled” to do it, but it was never a full-time job, nor a long-term one. His contract expired after the presidential election in November.
Mr. Spitzer, who resigned the New York governorship in 2008 shortly after his liaisons with prostitutes were made public, is presumed by many people to harbor political ambitions. Asked if they were right to presume that, he said in a telephone interview, “Others presume I have the ambitions.” He laughed and added, “Let me leave it at that for now.”
Comedian John Fugelsang, who has become well-known as a political commentator in recent years, will replace Spitzer in the slot. As for other figures at the network, The Young Turks is open to staying on the network but is unsure if they’ll be sticking around, and Jay Leno mocked the new ownership, asking network personality Joy Behar, “Now what happened to Current TV? Osama bin Laden is your new boss?”
Shouldn’t it read, “Hey! We just bought Current TV”? Odd how networks break news about themselves, so take it from the Guardian.
Current TV is done. Al Jazeera is simply buying Current’s access to US cable operators. Al Gore will remain as an advisor to the new network. That should shake things up in the cable news scene.
Question for you guys: Does the fact that Time Warner Cable is dropping Current TV in the wake of this news signify any sort of unsavory motives on their part? It struck me as not a business decision (though that’s what they say, of course), but one critical of what Al Jazeera represents. The fact that the blackout took effect almost immediately after the deal was signed seems like a clear indicator of someone being really pissed that the deal happened at all.
(Source: newsflick)
Excerpt from a documentary on the film “Collateral Murder,” aired by the television station Al Jazeera English in 2010.
Assange later told Frontline and CBS News after Pfc. Brad Manning was arrested that Wikileaks would have no way of identifying its source:
“Our technology means we don’t know who is submitting us materials,” Assange told Katie Couric in a segment aired by CBS News on December 18, 2010. “But the name Bradley Manning was first heard by us when we read an article about his arrest in Wired magazine.”
Assange also told the Frontline Club: “We don’t keep records of who our sources are, because it’s very difficult with modern communication spying to keep anything secret over the long term, extremely difficult when dealing with organizations that do not follow the rule of law like the NSA — so instead, our sort of modus operandi is when we receive material is to never know who it’s come from precisely.” - http://goo.gl/jvmsD
Seems like today’s a good day to resurface this.
Human Rights Watch’s Nadim Houry speaks to Al Jazeera English about the group’s recent report on torture in Syria — which included as many as 20 separate types of torture, committed by both opposition groups and groups loyal to the Syrian government. Houry says the victims were mostly men between 18 and 35, but some women, children and elderly were among the tortured. This is just a talking-head interview, but hearing what he’s saying? Man. Harrowing stuff.
Breaking News: Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood wins the Egyptian presidential elections. Via aljazeera
After a long wait … Morsi wins. The Muslim Brotherhood leader received 13.2 million votes, Al Jazeera English reports.
A Moroccan woman forced to marry her rapist to protect her family’s honor recently committed suicide, but her legacy left a long trail online after her death. Amina Al Filali’s death shined a harsh light onto laws in the Moroccan legal system, specifically one that allows a man who marries the victim of rape or kidnapping to avoid prosecution. Her husband, Mustafa Fallaq, initially resisted the marriage — which was encouraged by Al Filali’s mother in response to the rape — but was later made aware aware of the legal loophole and used it to his advantage. A sad story, but what came after was amazing. Watch the clip above and read Al Jazeera’s recap. An important story on the strength of protest. (thanks suckersandpunks | EDIT: Clarification thanks to sharquaouia, who is in the above clip)
Warning: this is video of Muammar Gaddafi’s corpse being kicked through the streets of Sirte. No way to whitewash that. We’re posting it because many others have, and at this point, it’s a video asset in the history books.
This video is super-graphic. But it also confirms, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it’s him. Holy hell.
Al Jazeera’s news director resigns. Was it due to WIkiLeaks? Today’s big mystery revolves around the fate of Wadah Khanfar, the news director of the Qatar-based news organization, who resigned not long after some unflattering information linked from Wikileaks diplomatic cables. The cables suggested that Khanfar went out of his way to assure U.S. government officials that it was being fair in its coverage of the Iraq War, sharing information with a diplomat and going so far as to spike a story. So, was that it? BTW, Khanfar’s replacement is Sheik Ahmad bin Jasem bin Muhammad Al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, which won’t help refute claims that the news organization is under the country’s influence. (thanks climateadaptation)
“Do I regret it? Of course,” Colin Powell to Al Jazeera on being the face of false intelligence on Iraq. Watch the interview here.
Powell emphasizes that the information was combed over before he presented it, and even rejected information that seemed sketchy. “It was nothing I made up. It was nothing I stuck in there.” He found out later after giving a speech to the United Nations that the sourcing of the information was spotty — despite originally being told it wasn’t. A must-watch.
Texas high school disses Al Jazeera journalist: Gabriel Elizondo, above, attempted to interview people at a football game at Booker High School in Booker, Texas, only to get the cold shoulder from an administrator because his business card said “Al Jazeera” on it. This one, in fact. He was doing a fairly straightforward ten-years-later piece on 9/11’s impact on U.S. culture. Guess Gabe has a pretty good answer for how our culture’s changed. (thanks to William Stilwell for the tip)
EDIT: The administrator in question responded to the original piece. Please read his response. It appears this story has two sides.
Welcome, Al Jazeera!
At midnight, Al Jazeera English launched in New York City on Time Warner Cable, a major step in the network’s goal of expanding further into the U.S. cable market and a chance to reach two million households in a world capital of culture and commerce.
Great news for a network that’s having a bit of a banner year.
Al Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz has been released nearly three weeks after she went missing after arriving in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where she was to cover the protests.
On Wednesday morning, the Al Jazeera network confirmed in a statement that she had been released, and was safe and in good health.
Developing: An Al Jazeera journalist who has been missing in Syria has been freed, according to a report from the Seattle Times.
Dorothy Parvaz, a correspondent with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news organization, went missing on April 29th to cover the protests in Syria and went missing a short…
A big deal, and a big get for the Seattle Times. Let’s hope Parvaz is doing OK after being missing for nearly a month.