I noticed a good amount of people talking about Al Jazeera in the BBC paywall thread and that make me ask, why!?
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Imo it’s not about saying this or that org is least biased or less biased, it’s acknowledging the biases present in all news orgs and comparing the reporting from multiple sources.
Al Jazeera is the mouthpiece of a hostile foreign power (to me). Its also sickeningly, cloyingly coated with hate for the US throughout any segment. I will on occasion read something that’s been generically reposted, recognize the writing style, and then confirm that it came from AJ. Its so tilted that it reminds me of Fox News. And I don’t watch Fox News either.
usa based media as you know leans right wing, all of them, and many of them are owned by right wingers irl. if you look at how they glorify the military and vets, and have copangada type shows. it almost never discredits a right wing president in a very negative light, while same cannot be said if it was Dem in power. certain things you notice you really cant criticise, is israel, CHRISTIANITY in movies, and shows, and military. everything else is ok.
AJ may not be neutral source, but its a source that is not controlled by the west, so you might get a ME perspective. just like how some british media reports some truthful news in the USA that usa would sugar coat or downplay, but not against british based news.
asian sources heavily criticizing usa for involvement in thier region, while usa never ever does that.
Yeah going around saying “thank you for your service” to “veterans” you don’t know is crazy IMO.
It kind of makes sense in the US, because the US is CONSTANTLY at war with someone / something, so unless people volunteer, there’s a good chance the draft would be back and a bunch of people would be forced to go.
“Thank you for your service. Better you than me amirite. 👈👈😎”
I can say both of those things with genuine respect. I thought I was going to get drafted into Desert Storm. I don’t like sand.
I agree. Almost as coarse and rough and irritating as getting blown up by an IED.
Scepticism should always be applied to any state-run media.
It’s not about being exactly more reliable than the other big ones. More about being a second perspective, filling in the gaps of the western ones.
Yeah, read a couple of sources and take the average.
Always bear in mind who funds it.
Be careful with the taking average mindset. It’s a default human one, and it’s being abused. A lot of media outlets (particularly American right wing) are mouthpieces for the same few groups or people.
Instead, try and look at their biases. Do they have a reason to mislead you. What akin do they have in a particular game. E.g. the BBC is still fairly unbiased on a lot of world news. They are far less unbiased on middle eastern politics now.
It’s an annoyingly complex problem to solve, on the fly.
Ya. A nuanced media net is the only real answer. Trying to balance one liar against another rarely results in balance.
Al Jazeera is funded by the Qatari government. Make of that what you will.
I’m not sure I consider them a trustworthy source per se. I don’t think they’re necessarily less trustworthy than the BBC. BBC is propping up a Western colonialist perspective. (Not trying to beat up on the Beeb specifically. Major trusted U.S. news sources tend to more specifically support U.S. nationalism … even the “liberal” ones.)
I think if a viewer / reader in a Western mindset, the difference in the blind spots between Al Jazeera’s perspective and Western media will complement each other in a way that will give readers / viewers a more well-rounded perspective on history. At least as compared to sticking only to Western perspectives.
Very well-put. AJ helps me get the ‘Eastern’ perspective of world events, which can get sanitized by the West. Taking the Gaza War as an example, BBC/any US media outlet is almost always going to take a pro-Israel bias—even inadvertently. I think it’s important to hear from groups who don’t have incentives to portray israel in a good light. Again, tho, that’s one example, and you should always consult multiple news sources.
Cherry pick a few topics you know incredibly well and look at their published articles on those subjects.
Did they cover your area of expertise correctly with nuance and giving the appropriate context?
If yes, now you have more confidence that the articles in other areas are also well written and researched.
If no, now you have less confidence in them
You can apply the above strategy to any news source. For many people the above protocol gives good results with aj.
Cherry pick a few topics you know incredibly well and look at their published articles on those subjects.
If they ever write an article on the In N out secret menu I’ll let you know
Every news source has bias, Al Jazeera has over 3000 staff, over 400 journalists and access that comes along with being that massive of a news agency. Obviously they are biased towards reporting that favors the government of Qatar who funds them. Particularly if a lot of stuff is happening in the middle east and Al Jazeera has more journalists in those countries with better connections to those countries they are gonna be first to cover a lot of things in the region. They are also much less likely to use passive voice and other qualification when talking about things like Palestine in their reporting. A lot of people don’t want to read “50 Palestinians are shot” instead of “IDF battalion kills 50 Palestinians”.
You made this a question about Al Jazeera but I think at the same time it should be a question about you. What type of media are you trying to consume about what topics with what goals? Depending on that answer, the utility of Al Jazeera to your life would massively change.
One general approach to understanding national domestic policies is to read one or two papers from your country and then to read one or two papers from a different country, or preferably two different countries, and see how the information stacks up. if you want English language media, maybe you have something like BBC and then … Gosh it’s hard to think of any decent US newspapers … Seattle Times? … Maybe something Canadian, and then maybe something Qatari? Why not.
That type of media consumption avoids some common pitfalls, but it’s not perfect. Most mainstream media outlets tend to be pro-establishment, whatever that may mean.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted for providing good advice about avoiding media bias.
In my life experience the only way to test the reliability of a news source is to actually live some events and see how they are reported by different media.
I have no such experience with al Jazeera, so I couldn’t tell you reliably if they are or not reliable. Best advice with media is, unless you are certain they are reliable, treat them as unreliable.
reporting from “outside looking in” perspective, rather the us/bbc which only does it in the inside looking in.
I’m not American. bbc is also a external news source for me.
How about you give your supported and and reasoned opinions for why it is an untrustworthy source?
Like any media it is legit at certain topics and not at others
This kind of question is similar to proving a negative in logic.
You’re asking why people think it’s trustworthy, implying you believe it isn’t.
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*Which people think it’s trustworthy? You used an ambiguous “many people” - I’d need to see something supporting this assumption.
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It would be more useful for you to give examples of why you don’t find it trustworthy, as this is what really matters with regard to any source.
I don’t trust any one source, and instead try to piece together a likely truth by considering the different sources and how a story is told. I’m surely wrong as much as I’m right, but it’s the best any of us can do.
The question asks for reasons people who consider it trustworthy do so. That’s nothing like trying to prove a negative. That’s just giving input on why you (may) believe something different from the asker.
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There are places (Ground News is a good one IMO) where you can see how biases are broken down by factors like factual accuracy and political alignment.
I check my 5 free articles on Ground News practically daily. Ugly site. It points out some ugly things about us.
