Speaking of Al Jazeera Gore - No Questions to Qatar - Influence Pedaled at "Free Press" Newseum

Another of Gore's settled issues with no debate:

Newseum spokesman Thompson: “Free speech includes the right to not answer questions.”

That is right up there with "Love means never having to say you're sorry."






Al Jazeera at the Newseum | The Weekly Standard
by Claudia Rosett

July 1, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 40 

Bankrolled by the oil and gas wealth of Qatar, now hiring 800 staff members and opening 12 news bureaus across the United States, Al Jazeera will soon be coming to a television near you. From its Doha headquarters, the media empire of Qatar’s royal family is launching a new channel dubbed Al Jazeera America, devoted to in-depth coverage of the United States. When it goes live later this year, its flagship primetime show, America Tonight, will be broadcast from a studio in Washington’s Newseum—a high-tech museum of news and journalism with the self-described mission of “educating the public about the value of a free press in a free society.”

Is anything wrong with that picture? Plenty, if you consider that Al Jazeera is effectively an arm of the government of Qatar, a Middle East monarchy long on oil money and short on freedom. According to the State Department’s 2012 Human Rights Report, Qatar has no independent broadcast media and all print media are owned by “Members of the ruling family or proprietors who enjoyed close ties to government officials.” Journalists censor themselves due to “political and economic pressures.” The government forbids political parties, censors the Internet, and strictly regulates the right of assembly. Foreign residents, who make up the bulk of Qatar’s population, are prohibited by law from criticizing the emir. ...

It’s easy to see what Al Jazeera gets from this arrangement. But what is the Newseum getting? Or, to put it in dollar terms, how much? Al Jazeera America, headquartered in New York, did not return my phone calls. When I phoned the Newseum press office recently to ask for financial details of the Al Jazeera arrangements, it turned out that officials of this institution dedicated to reporting would not answer such questions from a reporter. Newseum media relations manager Jonathan Thompson did confirm that while a number of other news organizations rent temporary studio space at the Newseum, “Al Jazeera will be the only news organization that has a more permanent contract.” 

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