With Al Jazeera’s imminent takeover of Current TV, television critics have been weighing in on what it means. The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tim Goodman argues that the network will put added pressure on CNN.
If CNN dismisses Al Jazeera America as a minor player, it does so at its own peril. That’s because Al Jazeera America covers the world better than CNN and if it wins on that front it will seize more viewers – primarily from CNN. If not immediately, then faster than CNN can probably imagine, or adjust.
Speaking of CNN, on CNN.com Howard Kurtz argues that Al Jazeera has to get past its own biases, not just public perception.
Global politics aside, it may just be bad business. There’s a reason Al Jazeera English, which will supply 40% of the content to the new channel, has barely gotten a foothold in the United States. Most Americans aren’t lusting for a steady diet of international news.