peter martin

What fascinated me about this week’s events in the Middle East, Egypt particularly: that Al Jazeera lapped the field on actual down and dirty reporting. Cameras on the scene, field reports, live updates on events on the ground AS THEY HAPPEN. It’s something that seemed absolutely refreshing in these days of corporate-owned American media, slick graphics, talking heads, and ‘War Rooms’ that put opinion before reporting. I don’t watch enough Al Jazeera on ‘normal’ days to make a more general judgment, but I’m wildly impressed that when there was action on the ground, the network ceded all of their time to the reporters in the field.