YouTube Deepens Commercial Relationship With Al Jazeera

keep youtube non-partisan

I like this idea. Occasionally I’d be interested in seeing news particularly from an Arab perspective.

If you want news from the Arab perspective simply watch the BBC.

I’ll bet we find a way to block this initiative, probably through some sort of Christian/Jewish Lobby Pressure. This is really going to threaten the big media and the groups that their voices were served best by such media control. The very least, we’ll soon see a smear campaign toward Google and anyone who dares to watch such “subversive” programs.

Very good example on how the Internet serves freedom of speech. I like it.

Hopefully it will teach people that Al Jazeera is just a news network and not terrorists which is what most people think.

why should we care?

Because this is the first such deal between a big media outlet (big numers in Europe, too, not just the Middle East) and a web 2.0 company that our favourite Big Co. bourght for an awesome sum of money.

And this is a deal taking YouTube a tiny, tiny bit closer to profitability, which would make it no longer a liability–which currently serves 100+million plus videos a day–which one day, shareholders will make Google drop.

That’s why we should care, Chris.

Al Jazeera does hard news, which I enjoy, even if I disagree with the POV at times.

I know a lot of people who think Al Jazeera is part of Al-Qaeda. I really hope that stigma wears off.

We should also care because Al Jaz English is setting the global standard for integrity in TV journalism today… The sooner AJE blankets the US the sooner the bar is raised for journalism in the US.
I’m an American, the first of my 10 films for Al Jaz English aired last December…
check it out; “Death of the Dollar” Update: We are starting production on “Death of the Dollar” part 2 in two weeks with a week in Dubai.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyvEhU-gmw

quick update: some may notice that traffic to aljazeera.net is now trending higher while traffic to drudgereport is trending lower… short drudge, go long AJ.

Another step toward Mutually Assured Respect — good on them.

“And this is a deal taking YouTube a tiny, tiny bit closer to profitability, which would make it no longer a liability–which currently serves 100+million plus videos a day–which one day, shareholders will make Google drop.”

Generally, I would agree that video bandwidth costs a fortune, but google buys so much of it at wholesale on a per bid basis, that I doubt it costs them 1M per month the way it was costing the original youtube investors when Forbes reported on it.

http://www.forbes.com/technolo.....video.html

Youtube purchased band from Limelight, which in turn purchases band from backbone providers. Google actually is it’s own backbone and buys bandwidth on the cheap from other providers. I seriously doubt that it’s running them into the ground at all.

The same way soapbox does not effect Microsoft’s bottom line at all. The same way poor people have to pay the highest prices for goods because they can not afford transportation whilst richer people can go to SAMS, BJ wholesale and Wal-mart which may be further away and inaccessible to those with less money.

Those 2 guys from paypal did not have the purchasing resources to get cheaper prices that Google has. I do not think that the bandwidth effects their bottom line that way with Google. I certainly don’t think that ignorant investors will actually think to ever take that into account when buying or selling google stock.

As for Al-Jazeera, I am positive nobody outside the Arab speaking world would even care about it, had the US media not made the case that “If people watch al-jazeera, the terrrsstttsss all winz!*#$%”. If they did start passing along messages of importance the CIA would be all over them anyway. Think about it for 2 seconds. Where did Matt Cutts et Al work before they worked at Google? The NSA. Not the types to support that stuff.

Telling sweet lies while stabbing your brother in the back, heart and eye is no way to win people over — yet it is working. With enough numbers migrating out of the middle east, it is only a matter of time until the nations of the world feel the weight of their newly established muslim populations, coerced and brainwashed into making decisions that will only harm mankind as a whole.

Reminds me of the first scene in the movie “Boondock Saints” —
‘It is not enough to fear evil men, but to fear good men who do nothing in the face of evil’.

al jazeera’s ‘front’ is a news agency, but nothing could be further from the truth. Believe what you will, allow the sweet lies to cover you like a soft blanket that delivers sharp stings while you sleep. When you awaken and cry for help, pray it is not too late.

…

Oy Vey Michael!
You had better remove this post before TC gets labeled as Anti-Semitic!

God knows what Rollo Tomasi’s been smoking, but go easy on it mate?!

I live in the UK and can easily pick up Al Jazeera on TV; goodness knows what makes people think it’s got anything at all to do with terrorism. It’s a reputable news channel that’s been broadcasting in Arabic for ten years and has now branched out into English. It is of high quality and focuses far more on international stories than the BBC domestic news, which I like. They also do a lot of campaigning pieces for the right of journalists to practise their work freely.

Quite why the big US cable companies don’t want to transmit it is a mystery. Here, it’s carried quite freely on Murdoch’s Sky satellite platform and is apparently soon to appear on Virgin Media, by far the most widespread of the cable cos.

Quite why the big US cable companies don’t want to transmit it is a mystery.

Racism, guilt by association, ignorance, take your pick.

The irony is that many US newsrooms watch Al Jazeera when they want the story of what’s really going on. A lot of their news ends up on the US airways by virtue of them being on the ground where the US isn’t. The cable companies know the truth, but the American people are generally racist, suspicious of anything from the Middle East, etc. so they don’t want to take the risk of offending people.

Quite stunning how the comments veer into islamophobia and outright hatred for AJ

AJ-US is nothing like the arabic AJ. I would even say it has more journalistic integrity that BBC - before people slam it, I wish they would at least watch it for themselves (and thus make their own opinion, not what was fed to them).

Sure Al Jazeera represents a legitimate point of view, but it’s the point of view of arab nationalism and islamic supremacism.

Who’s worldview are you going to believe and follow?

I would still prefer watching BBC
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

looks like the feed burner bug has been resolved
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

The reason its not in the US, a campaign by the big media companies to discredit it, why? Because they rely on Al Jazeera to get stories from the terrorists and to sesationalize them for the viewing public … Al Jaz just might ruining the coverage of another Bin Laden tape.

I’ve watched AJ, its straight boring news … I can tell there is somebody sat at AJ making sure every word is phrased just right so that no bias appears, it comes out boring and stale.

Al Jazeera is the media arm of the radical islamic oganization, The Muslim Brotherhood. The self-declared goal of this organization is the destruction of the secular, non-muslim West and its replacement with a global caliphate.

To call criticism of AJ “racism” or “islamophobia” is beyond absurd. The speakers and guests AJ regularly features on its shows espouse the most racist, sexist, virulently vile and violent supremicist view points.

That so many of you think that this partnership is a good thing is appalling.

What is wrong with you?

SG - I’ve been labeled everything else, no reason to stop now.

Google and “death to america” hmmmm, good combo!

For as bias as Al Jazeera is and for as much as I hate it - and yes, BBC or NPR are news from the Arabs point of view - I also think that access to news should not be restricted regardless of where they come from. The problem is that we are easily influenced in our views but the good, the bad and the ugly news coverage. At the end, news organizations today are irresponsible in that they do not provide objectivity in the news reporting and focus in sensationalism rather than the real news.

My hope is that Google/YouTube is a responsible organization and for as much as they need to answer to their shareholders they need to answer to their public even more.

Shame on YouTube! But I’m not surprised. Maybe the owner went to Columbia Clown School.

Yay! More biased news I can get for free on the net!

But then again, if you have an opinion, you are biased.

Speaking to those calling anyone who oppose Al Jazeera as “islamaphobic,” you might want to look in the mirror.

Al Jazeera often promotes the US as “the great Satan,” not to mention their reports about Israel.

Even though I think airing Al Jazeera in public light is a good thing (as people will decide for themselves whether or not they are legitimate or ridiculous), to make them out as if they are on par with CNN, MSNBC or even Fox News “integrity wise,” is a bit laughable.

@tony: LOL. @James: Gotta watch them sneaky Jews. Thanks for the heads up.

Has anyone here actually watched the Al Jazeera channel? I watch it quite regularly and I’ve never heard anything like “the great Satan” being used. In fact, it’s a very mild-mannered sort of broadcast. I’d rather watch that than FOX.

I dont support the move
in fact I decided to see some google alternitives as far as my internet habbits go
since Im an mainly google user
inbox.com to replace gmail.com because of more space then gmail and more customizabillity and folder support
zoho.com has better service then docs.google.com anyway and a pdf reader that doesnt just show text
netvibes/yourminis can replace igoogle
bloglines replaceing googles reader (they have an openid provider too) or I could just use any startpage
ask.com to replace google because they have a wikipedia spot (which I needed customizegoogle to have on google) and the same weather feature I use at google.com anyway
photobucket for photos or inbox.com because inbox offers storage and photos as well as email and search (which in my oppinion I wont be using search because ask can do that just fine)
are these google killers no but if you had enough during the chinese censorship or now with the terrorism allegations you may want to look into some non google services in protest
sameplace for a jabber server since they have a firefox extension for messenger and Im sure I can figure out how to get it to work with meebo

Andy summed it up - if you actually *watch* it, it is quite informative, and intelligent.

Something sorely lacking from CNN/FoxNews/etc

Wow, great. Will youtube also be deepening its commercial relationship with CAIR or StormFront? I imagine any fascist sect would probably do.

Idiots.

Excellent! Now, what’s that station Osama and Co. send their propaganda statements to? Oh, yeah…

And which network’s Editor-In-Chief justifies suicide bombings? Oh, yeah:

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.....spx?id=395

Which station’s reporter was sentenced to 7 years in prison in Spain for providing support to al Qaeda? Oh, yeah…

And what was that network that received about $100,000 a month from Saddam’s bloody regime? Oh, yeah…

http://www.thememriblog.org/bl.....n/1552.htm

I just can’t wait to catch their unbiased reports on my favorite American video sharing site!

Hi Michael,

I know I shouldn’t be, but I can’t believe there’s so many dumb people, who don’t know much about world Politics or Media, slandering such a high-brow/liberal channel as AJ-I on your blog with such ignorance.
A Channel whose every talent-vector is full of people from CBS, CNN, BBC, ITN, SKY (UK/RESPECTED news from newscorp.), et al.

Kind regards,

Shakir Razak

Well, AlJ is good news channel trying to show the REAL face of MIDDLE EAST, not like CNN’s program which tries to highlight just improvements after US take over in IRAQ or AFGANISTAN.

I am not pessimestic, but out of millions only ONE person might be prospering in IRAQ and CNN finds such people and profile them in their Program leaving other 999999 who are deprived of their normal life.

So, good move by Youtube. Now there is high chance whole world, specially US citizens will get the TRUE picture how BUSH painted IRAQ - in bloodshed.

How many of the people accusing Al Jazeera of being an extremist and fundamentalist news network have ever seen any of its broadcasts? I wonder if people even realise that Al Jazeera correspondants include both US and British nationals that have worked for major news outlets in the US and UK including CNN and the BBC.

Calling Al Jazeera an extremist Islamic news network would be akin to saying CNN and the BBC are extremist Christian networks. Spouting unfounded accusations only serves to expose you as both bigoted and ignorant.

I cannot believe the utter ignorance, naivete, and outright sympathy for America’s jihadist enemies I am seeing via many of the comments posted above. Al-Jazeerah is a favorite mouthpiece of the guys killing/maiming our troops in Iraq/Afghanistan. As for Google being “our favorite company,” for those of us who: a) are not employed by Google; b) value our online privacy; and c) have a clue, Google is an organization run by anti-American scumbags. I recommend scroogle.org, Google scraper that denies Google the opportunity to store your personal data in perpetuity. Guys, I now know what you are: willing al-Qaeda Dhimmis.

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I watched Aljeezra all summer while traveling in Africa. I have to admit at first I felt like I needed to watch anything but and that it would be anti USA.
That lasted about a week and realized the Aljeezra was well done and gave a unique view of news. It was a lot more balanced than FOX news that’s for sure.
I think it’s professional and well done. I say, it’s good for YoUTube. If you don’t like , don’t watch it.

YouTube is now called JihadTube, it is so full of terrorist videos. Bin Laden’s speeches, attacks on American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hamas and Hezbollah videos and marches. Antisemites of the world also find YouTube an excellent place to throw around their hatred and propaganda. Old Nazi propaganda of the worst kind is there too. Looks like anything goes.

YouTube regulations are supposed to prohibit hate speech and graphic violence. But it is increasingly clear that these regulations exist “for an uncle.” While a few videos were deleted and a few sites closed under considerable pressure on them, new ones appeared right away.

On the other hand, YouTube didn’t find a problem with taking Michelle Malkin’s videos offline, because they weren’t politically correct.

YouTube is a wholly owned subsidiary of GoogleEarth Inc. Google gave 99% to Democrats, the highest percentage of any company to one party.

Google was founded and is owned by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Sergey Brin is a Jewish man born in the Soviet Union. This behavior is very strange and does not go together with the image he is trying to create (successfully) in the Jewish community, his and his parents’ telling of hardships they had as Jews in the Soviet Union, his frequent trips to Israel etc.

And now this.

I am sure Sergey Brin knows about the agreement with Al-Jazeera. Is he the one who signed it?

Who Is Sergey Brin? Where does he really stand? What does he really believe in? Does he believe in anything at all? Whatever happened to personal integrity? Did it disappear with the schtetl?

It is time to confront him with the evidence listed here. He cannot play it both ways.

The motto of Google is “Don’t be evil.” Is this an honest statement or a design for promoting cynicism?

Reminds me of Jew Kaganovich toasting Nazi Ribbentrop in Moscow after the signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. Disgusting.

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

Mahmoud Declares MS to be More “Islamic”
Let me first say that we here at Microsoft do not condone many of the policies and statements made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejobs. The staff and management of MS in no way whatsoever endorses his tyranical, intollerant, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, sexist, anti-western, all infidels shall die teachings.
BUT, the guy can’t be all bad, I mean he’s a total windows ‘95 (that’s the latest version they have there) devotee!
We found this out when certain Arabic representatives of MS-al-ra-himbah-boo met with him in Tehran several years ago at the Death-to-America Power Users Conference ‘02.
You see in 1996 the People’s Islamic Counsel of Iran declared all Western Operating systems beyond DOS-Arabic to be unholy, but once President Ahmadinejobs came into power in 2005 he saw the need to upgrade and declared Windows 95 to be Islamic. We have ever since been shipping specialized Arabic ‘95 service packs to Iran.
We are sending another delegation of MS-Imams to meet with him to make the argument that the Blessed One (blessings be upon his name) would today be using Windows 2000 Holy Edition.

While we don’t care much for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejobs, he does have a lot of money and that’s just fine by us.
Asa lam-ahlakhem

Mad props to YouTube for pushing the envelope.
Will be interesting to see which candidate in 08 allows their ad spots to run on the AJ channel.

Really pretty shocking how alarmist some of these comments are.

‘Really pretty shocking how alarmist some of these comments are.’

Very much agreed - Though I suspect many of these same folks believe Fox News is ‘Fair and Balanced’ or take the Drudgereport to be the definitive news source

Ynet/JPost is probably just as fair, balanced and unbiased in their world view as well

Is that Al-Qaeda, or Al-Jazeera? I keep getting them confused. Can we please see some great videos of girls-gone-stoned? I mean, bad enough that only gay men are literally “hanging out” (from cranes) and all those great pics of our GIs being blown up or snipered by Holy Warriors… really impossible to get those kinds of flicks, or the really neat stuff where Talibans head-shoot women in Kabul. Gosh, I can’t wait for You Tube to clinch this deal. After all, where else can you get those really great (head)shots and interviews with pop-Imams, like Osama bin Ladin, or Mullah Omar’s Greatest Hits (beatings). Didn’t David Irving do Al-Jazeera one time? Maybe one of the YouTube executives will then show his solidarity by offering up his favorite child to be a suicide bomber. Wow! It could all be right there on YouTube!

The basic fact is that American media has lost its taste for competition. Fox and CNN like their duopoly position and don’t like the idea of a third network Al Jaz English forcing them to spend money on researchers and other staff after having cut the guts out of their operations over the years to pay themselves fatter salaries and make room for mindless programming drivel. American networks have never had it so easy; it cost virtually nothing to slap up a photo of a bearded Middle-Eastern man - and interview Americans tripping over themselves spewing hate speech for the amusement of docile couch potatoes - who are probably also on corporate welfare of some sort (the kind MSFT is awarded by the US gov’t each year to continue their predatory monopoly position). I find it interesting that technologists capable of complex thought find it so difficult to see political issues in any other way than in the most simplistic, parochial terms. by the way, AJE will be carried by several large cable outlets in the States by mid-year 2008. YouTube is not the only one who sees profit in smart news.

If this comment board is supposed to represent the brightest of America, god help us all.

Re: the bizarre and ignorant comments in 42 - Aljazeera English is carried in Israel on Yes TV, the country’s biggest satellite broadcaster. In fact, the Israeli broadcaster dumped BBC World in favour of Aljazeera English.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/isra.....23,00.html

More Americans really ought to go to Israel to see what Israelis really think rather than spout all this ignorant cartoon take on what supporting Israel is supposed to mean.

Would you like it if the rest of the world believed that ALL Americans were 500 pound Walmart employees unable to pay their mortgage and with no access to health care?

‘Harold’ writes:

“the American people are generally racist”

Please, Harold, mop up your piss with your socks and stuff them in your mouth.

…hold on there sparky; from slavery, the Civil War, the civil rights movement, right up to the Gena 6 incident… the portrait painted by America - of itself - is that of a racially divided country not afraid to commit heinous acts of violence to erase any doubts. It would be great if tech. discussions could remain in a bubble and not veer into politics; but those days are over, as the youtube/AJE deal signifies. I had the same discussions and conflicts when I was running HSX.com - Powerful tech. tools attract powerful political forces…

Now Usama bin Laden can have his message directly on YouTube, because no one else with a brain wants to hear it.

It is like Lenin once said: we will sell ourselves the rope with which we will hang ourselves.

What is remarkable is that You Tube routinely bans ‘conservative’ posts, posts reflecting negatively on terrorists & those comments that present an opposing view to the socialist progressive democrat left. When banning the content, suspending the user account or booting the user completely off the site, they declare the reason to be ‘hate speech’. I do not mean to suggest that ‘YT’ is somehow allied with jihadist propaganda, but rather that their liberal views infect their judgement. Beyond the actual definition of ‘hate speech’, it should give everyone pause when comments that oppose a particular political viewpoint are banned & censored. That is really scary stuff & should cause reasonable people to carefully question the groups that engage in such egregious & draconian practices. It is precisely the actions that the left has feared & touted as SOP for the conservative right. In truth, censorship has been the weapon of choice of socialist, statist, totalitarian dictators for time immemorial used in their quest to remove opposition as they seize more control over a society. Wake up patriots before it is too late!

Google/KGB/YouTube already censors points of view they dislike, such as anti-terrorism postings, and postings about their censoring such posts. In fact, YouTube terminates the accounts of those who point out their open treason and hypocrisy.

WOW. 1st off, learn arabic. Then comment on how al-jazeera reports - you will find that they, believe it or not, ARE skewed towards the irhaabiin (terrorists). I have arabic friends that don’t even watch al-jazeera because of their lack of truthful, honest reporting. There are many other options for arabic news - al arabiyya, al-iraqiyya, etc.. Why is it so hard for people to believe this? Are you all baaaa-ing your way through life parroting any liberal catch-phrase that comes your way? Open your eyes and minds, and do some investigation and critical thinking for yourself - these issues ARE important, and to not be able to discuss them with a modicum of intelligence or knowledge on the subject is a disgrace.
هاة سلاهة

nice! so we could know more about it, and not only “selected” extracts.
while in Italy, the government is withdrawing the public broadcaster’s videos from YouTube. I mean, videos revealing the corruption of the whole political class. The country is falling.

What terrorists? Qatar is a US ally. They have the biggest (legal) US military base in the region. Qatar helps keep America’s economy afloat by lending it billions every year. These facts are indisputable. Ipso facto, the criticisms posted here regarding AJE - Qatar’s state owned TV station - are based purely on racism, ignorance, xenophobia and fear; fear that AJE is going to put CNN and FoxNews out of business with a better network. America has grown fat and lazy. Just looking at what it broadcasts on its major networks! AJE is a world class entrepreneurial leader… That even Wall Street Journal owner Rubert Murdoch broadcasts on Sky in Britain… Take a deep breathe… Go to the gym. Take a class at night school. Do something to educate yourself… and try to keep your racism and genocidal tendencies to yourself.

What is wrong with you people?
This is the news that gives a mouth piece to the people that do this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/.....index.html

http://www.news24.com/News24/W.....53,00.html

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/07-07g-04.asp

Why don’t you just watch snuff films.

So this is another exercise in freedom of speech in the perspective of technology and internet avenues. Instead of having one perspective in news, with respect to given times…we have multiple sides to watch and listen to. Isn’t that what the constitution supports, or is it only when it suits us as a country? I am not suggesting tolerance of terrorist acts but what is soooo wrong with being tolerant of others staking out their views on what they see going on, even if it’s not what we agree with?

This is the news that gives a mouth piece to the people that do this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/…..index.html

http://www.news24.com/News24/W…..53,00.html

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/07-07g-04.asp

Actually if you want Al-Jez simply go to National Public Radio, or heck the Democrat Party’s talking points.

Those advocating for accuracy in media should clarify if they put their weight behind supporting the Americans in getting a pluralistic picture on ground. Those who call for restricting plurality of opinion (by restricting channels like Aljazeera) keep US deprived of the option to ascertain the accuracy of facts for themselves. According to ex-Press attache Robert J. Callahan, the Americans in Iraq worked in a communication twilight. Nothing ever appeared in sharp focus. It is time to open new windows and let the fresh pluralistic views in. Besides, all Americans have a right to alternate opinion. More so, when owing to movement restrictions on US media in Iraq, security risks and language barriers for American expatriates and diplomats there is limited interaction to gather facts. Those advocating for accuracy in media should be supportive towards Americans getting a pluralistic picture. Those who call for restricting plurality of opinion deny the option of diversity and deprive the US audience to ascertain the accuracy of facts for themselves.

I’d love to be able to understand Arabic so I could hear what Aljazeera Arabic is saying as opposed to Aljazeera English.

I’m an American; I’ve made ten films for Al Jazeera English; I get paid in British Pounds that are doing well against a crashing US dollar. I live in Paris where the quality of life is one the greatest in the world; and I buy stocks from the list at gulagwealthfund.com the site I started to profit from America’s prision-industrial complex taking over; and i’m up close to 20% so far this year on that portfolio…

**********There is a difference in freedom of speech and treason. To support an organization that does not support the Constitution of the USA is crazy. If Nazi Germany had the technology during WWII to post on YouTube, would it have been good for viewing American families to become supportive of the Nazi political movement?

Censorship of creative and positive dialogue is wrong, but when you are supporting a cause that is Anti-American there are fundamental patriotic problems. Keep it off the web, please!*********

BTW #63 You are NOT an American, you’re a gun trhowing Frenchie. You are missing free throws on purpose to let the other team win. You must have got picked last in PE class. Way to go to the other side….loser.

You Tube and Google are two of the biggest blockers of free speech in AMerica. They allow only what they agree with.

IBM supplied the computer power to track the tattoos on arms of the concentration camp victims for Hitler.

Coke created Fanta for the Nazi’s.

JPMorgan financed both sides of the war and did business with hitler during the war…

I think I read that book your wrote, Gullible’s Travels…

My family goes back 300 years in America and fought in all wars including the revolutionary war… so that people like you can make ridiculous statements without being thrown into the gulag…

but don’t push your luck son…

I rest my case;
http://www.democraticundergrou.....15;2033382

What your ancestors fought for does excuse or condemn you, Max. You are responsible for your own behavior.

What your ancestors fought for does NOT excuse or condemn you, Max. You are responsible for your own behavior.