8 ms·
This comes as absolutely no surprise at all. It doesn't matter if you are the most accurate, informed, respectable news source in the world, because almost no A
by rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
This comes as absolutely no surprise at all. It doesn't matter if you are the most accurate, informed, respectable news source in the world, because almost no Americans know what Al Jazeera is, and the name evokes the image backdrop of a middle eastern city most Americans can't find on a map, discussing topics of primary interest to American Muslims and few else, while the female anchors are veiled. Not to mention it sounds like a group Americans are more familiar with that starts with "Al-".
This is almost as bad as the Latin American failure of the Chevy Nova (Spanish: no go). They could and should have named it anything, but they really seemed to think their brand would carry any weight at all.
One may say this is proof that Americans don't want truth and reason, just entertainment in their news. We do, but the simple fact is that if you fail to appeal to people's simple desires, fears, and impulses, you will fail entirely.
- andrewclunn 11y ago> the most accurate, informed, respectable news source in the world... Let's not oversell it here. They have biases, just different biases. And last I checked, network news providers ratings are on the decline and more and more Americans are getting their news from online outlets (and as many people here have already commented, the cable offerings of Al Jazeera came at the expense of their online offerings).
- sremani 11y agoAl Jazeera was nothing but a Salafist network in Liberal Suite. As much critical they were about imperfections of liberal democracies they were not even half that about Islamic Republics, blasphemy laws in ME or Gender/ LGBT rights in muslim majority nations.
- hackuser 11y agoHaving watched it with some regularity, I disagree. Did you watch it? Or do you have some data to back it up? (I have no evidence other than my experience.)
- sremani 11y agoYes, I did, you can watch lot of their content on Youtube. I am not talking about their news, but their opinion programs.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI never said they were good, I meant that if your branding doesn't get a customer through the door then you could be selling winning lottery numbers and nobody would know.
- hackuser 11y ago> They could and should have named it anything, but they really seemed to think their brand would carry any weight at all. I also wondered at the branding, but if they tried to hide their origins they would rightfully be accused of deception in a business, journalism, where credibility is paramount.
- tptacek 11y agoIt wouldn't have mattered. CurrentTV was nowhere in the ratings, too. There just isn't a market for yet another cable news channel in the US. We're saturated with them.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI never said they had to hide their origins, just change their name. "X - an affiliate/subsidiary of Al-Jazeera." You only see it when you actually go to the channel. Then once you hear the reporting and commentary you can balance it with your predispositions, but at least they have a chance to sell themselves, if only for a minute. If I tell you there's a new channel called "X" and you go to check it out and notice the affiliation, then your judgement will be your own. But if I recommend a network with an off-putting name, you likely won't check it out, even for a second.
- gotchange 11y agoAl-Jazeera just means "The Island" in Arabic. What's off putting about something called "The Island"?
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI never knew that. Most Americans won't even get that close. You're trying to use logic to argue a problem of emotion and personal bias. That never works.
- mikeash 11y agoThe Arabic is what's off-putting.
- afshin 11y agoI don't have a strong opinion about your larger point. It might be correct, I'm still thinking it through. But the Chevy Nova thing is an urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
- gardano 11y agoThis might be an urban myth; however, when we were travelling in Europe a few years ago, my Argentine wife just laughed and laughed when she saw a car "Pajero", which in Argentina means "wanker"…
- alsetmusic 11y agoOne of the biggest names in tech changed the branding for a service in certain markets where the English title translated into profanity. It's the responsible move if you're operating globally. Apologies for ambiguity, but this is a case where I can't be any more specific.
- mahouse 11y agoThe Pajero is called Montero in several countries, which include the Spanish-speaking ones.
- gardano 11y agoThe country we were in was Switzerland, if memory serves...
- outworlder 11y agoOf note: it is called Pajero in Brazil, which is a Portuguese speaking country. I wonder what happens when someone crosses the border (any border) with it.
- mahouse 11y agoThat it gets funny I guess. Around my neighbourhood there's always a Pajero parked around. I've smiled at it for years. Childish humour never dies.
- Huggernaut 11y agoNova failing in Latin America is a bit of a myth, though a good apocryphal story to get the point across. http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
- icebraining 11y agoThat story always sounded off. I have to admit I mostly listen to European Spanish, but "Nova" doesn't really read like "no va", the intonation is very different.
- mahouse 11y agoNo it is not. The only difference is which syllable is stressed.
- icebraining 11y agoAnd the pause between them. In a four letter word, I'd say that's quite different. Would you have read it as "no va"?
- mahouse 11y agoThere's no pause between both syllables in either way of pronouncing the word. And you are right, it's not pronounced the same way, but if you intend to mock the car, you just stress the other syllable.
- notlefthanded 11y agoStresses are pretty important in spanish. Take father/pope and potato; viva la paPA has a pretty different meaning from viva la PApa
- SilasX 11y agoWhat if someone said: "In English, 'experts exchange' sounds noticeably different from 'expert sexchange'; therefore, no one would ridicule expertsexchange.com for its similarity to the latter."
- wnevets 11y agoAl Jazeera US was anything but a respectable news source the past several years.
- surge 11y agoIt seemed far more accurate and reported on issues glossed over or ignored by other major networks.
- Laaw 11y agoDo you think you'd be able to detect every possible bias?
- wnevets 11y agoIt sounds like you're just more tolerate to their brand of bias.
- drjesusphd 11y agoHe/she was challenging your assertion that they are not respectable, not claiming that they lack bias. These are very different things and you're attacking a strawman.
- wnevets 11y agoHe/she is comparing them to other major networks and claiming they were better. I'm disagreeing with that assertion.
- molecule 11y ago> This is almost as bad as the Latin American failure of the Chevy Nova (Spanish: no go) http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
- chris_wot 11y ago...if you fail to appeal to people's simple desires, fears, and impulses, you will fail entirely. I would argue that in that case the failure is not with the ones trying to make change, but the ones who won't accept it.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago"To a large degree the press...all conform to the demands of the public. But to an equally large degree the public responds to the influence of these very same mediums of communication." Edward Bernays, "Crystallizing Public Opinion" Fault is a mirage. There is only success or failure
- kobayashi 11y agoAre you asserting that AJA was accurate and informed?
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoIt doesn't matter whether they were or not because their branding was ineffective. It's the old saying about a tree falling down in a forest and nobody being around to hear it.
- fixermark 11y agoI'm sure that mattered, but not as much as the overall business model. I don't know who decided to gamble on another cable news network, but both cable news and cable in general are saturated markets in the U.S., and they're saturated on a sinking ship. It's unlikely the next generation of viewers is going to watch nearly as much "classic cable" as the currently-exiting generation.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- gotchange 11y ago> the female anchors are veiled Were all those anchors veiled women? Some? Few? Because drawing from my experience with AJE, they usually hire non conservative dressed women to present the news and they only featured veiled women for their Arabic-speaking channels but to be honest not all of them wear the veil. They still pretend not to discriminate against non-Muslims or non conservative Muslims.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoRead my post again. I was talking about the impression the name gave, not the reality.
- mahouse 11y agoI bet the Al Jazeera logo is hard to sell in the US for a reason.
- gozur88 11y agoAmericans know what Al Jazeera is. The problem is Americans no longer want their news from a viewpoint that doesn't have a bias in their direction.
- tonyedgecombe 11y agoI don't think Americans are alone in that.
- nyan4 11y agoIt should have been named All Jazz Era. What? People like Jazz.