Al Jazeera

Several weeks ago U.S. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton undertook heavy scrutiny from republicans and U.S. news sources after endorsing the Arab news outlet Al Jazeera. Clinton argued that the United States was falling short of providing the news that other foreign media outlets were capable of, specifically Al Jazeera.“Al Jazeera has been the leader in that are literally changing people’s minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective,” Clinton said in a congressional state department address last week. She continued to explain that Al Jazeera has started to gain popularity in the United States because it reports 'real news'. Clinton points out that while Americans deal with biased agenda pushing media sources like Fox or CNN, Al Jazeera reports internationally, with no political affiliation or outside influence. Furthermore, while American media interrupts important news with unnecessary commercial breaks and shows which portray "talking heads" Al Jazeera is finding ways to report in depth about situations across the globe. While Americans may be reluctant to accept the fact that an Arabic news source is the best outlet for uncovering true facts, the reality is undeniable. The United States has fallen behind in the true reporting aspect of the news. Al Jazeera and media networks such as BBC are breaking the international news quickly, more effectively, and without bias. While many republicans took Secretary Clinton's remarks as Anti-American, the fact remains that viewership of Al Jazeera online, and the utilization of their news website has gone up significantly in the United States. Al Jazeera is the primary news source for many areas of the world, having reporting offices through out the middle east, Asia, Africa, Russia, India, etc. Al Jazeera has even over taken BBC as the primary news source in Israel, a state which has been at odds with the Arab world for centuries. While Glenn Beck called Hillary Clinton's comments "insanity" he did to provide any support that she was wrong in his cynical and scornful comments on her remarks.