Hillary Clinton's appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 2nd 2011
From AP (Associated Press, New York)
Hillary Clinton as spoken out in favour of Al-Jazeera, going as far as indicating that US is losing the Information War. In a week where the major US news outlets were obsessively focusing on Charlie Sheen and his antics, Clinton suggested that American was falling behind the competition for information
Additional points of note: -
- Al-Jazeera has been the leader in changing people's minds and attitudes
- "like it hate it, it is especially effective" Clinton said "in fact viewership in the US is going up in the United States because it is real news"
- Online viewership of Al-Jazeera English spiked during the protests in Egypt - up 2,500%
- "The events in Egypt have convinced an increasing number of Americans, the secretary of state included, that the coverage Al-Jazeera has provided for these events is something that is seen as a dramatic shift in perception of the network," said Abderrahim Foukara, Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief.
- Fox News Channel's Michael Clemente said he was "surprised and kind of curious" by Clinton's remarks.
- Representatives from CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC news all declined comment Friday on what Clinton said.
- But former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno agreed with her assessment.
- "She's right," said Sesno, who is now director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.
- "Cable news has become cable noise. It was intended to be an opportunity to inform people, and instead it has become an opportunity to inflame people." - Clinton went on to say in the hearing.
The full hearing from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can be viewed below. (running time 2hrs 40mins)
No comments:
Post a Comment