I remember some time ago, sitting in our living room in Bogor, Indonesia, and turning on the TV to watch our first news broadcast from Al-Jazeera. We were skeptical beforehand, anticipating news coverage with a serious pro-Arab bias. It was our practice at that time to watch CNN or BBC broadcasts each morning and evening, and we had in fact been rather dismayed at what we perceived to be the deteriorating quality of both (CNN even more than BBC). We were rather shocked, when we recognized several of the Al-Jazeera newscasters; they’d been longstanding favorites on CNN, and had switched to Al-Jazeera. We were even more surprised as we listened to the newscast. Eventually we managed to hear some pro-Arab ‘bias’, of course, but most of what we were hearing seemed both balanced (not in the Foxx News manner) and unusually broad in terms of geographic coverage. As time went by, we watched more and more of Al-Jazeera, abandoning our old standbys.
When we came to the US, in 2009, we expected to resume our custom of listening to such daily news broadcasts. We turned on our television set, and found first that Al-Jazeera wasn’t available on our cable ‘package’. We tuned then to the local stations (too local). We were dismayed to learn that the US version of CNN provides even less interesting coverage than the international versions; it was full of news about celebrities, sports, scandals, with only very narrow attention to international issues. Africa, Asia and Latin America were generally ignored. Of the small amount of international news provided, most was on US action in Iraq, Afghanistan, occasional pro-Israeli bits about that country, and perhaps one other short story about another disaster zone (ethnic rampages in Sudan or Somalia; religious conflicts in Malaysia or Indonesia). Real news about politics, culture, economics in most of the world was simply not on.
We switched to BBC, which had been our best option in Bogor before Al-Jazeera came on the scene. But the US version of BBC seemed to have taken its lead from CNN. Although slightly better, it too provided very rudimentary coverage outside the few global hotspots. Ultimately, I’m embarrassed to admit I simply quit watching the news. What was available on TV told me little of what interested me. I couldn’t seem to motivate myself to spend even more time on my computer, looking at the news. By the time I finished my work-day on it, I was ready for some other form of electronic interaction! And I wanted to spend time with my husband, sharing perspectives on the news.
So, what has taken the place of our routine news fixes? Admittedly, I’ve not been totally oblivious to the world at large: I listen to National Public Radio (NPR) when I’m in the car. That provides some information, though it’s hit or miss, since my life is comparatively unscheduled; and although the programs are interesting, each tends focus on one specific incident or topic. Another semi-solution has been to watch Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and The Colbert Report on TV’s Comedy Central. These programs, though tongue in cheek and very amusing, at least deal with real issues. They have provided me with some sense of what happens outside my tiny sphere.
Instead of informing myself about the world, I’ve found myself spending the evening hours watching episode after episode of Law and Order with my husband. At least these fictional programs examine genuine philosophical and ethical issues; and the acting is usually good. But I’ve been missing out on the kind of daily news overview that I had in Indonesia—until today! My husband’s new I-Pad receives a streaming Al-Jazeera; and we sat at the breakfast table this morning, watching Al-Jazeera cover events in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Italy, Germany, France, the United States—far broader coverage than is typical on US news channels. I used to resent my husband’s addiction to the news (and that could pop up again 
); but for now, I’m just happy that we’ve found a convenient and shared way to learn about the broader world on a daily basis.
I’m sure that most Americans are even more skeptical about Al-Jazeera than I was before I saw it. Sadly, most are unlikely to be exposed to it. The foolish antagonisms between the US and the Middle East, between Christians and Muslims, have interfered with our access in the US to a source that provides a broad spectrum of news from all over the world. We really need such exposure—the world is too interconnected now for us safely to continue with our heads in the sand (watching football, crime programs, and, for some, ‘real housewives’).