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> 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
by 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.
- gotchange 11y agoDo you feel the same when you hear "Alcohol, Algebra, Alchemy, Algorithm, Albuquerque ...etc" or you're just turned off by "Aljazeera"?
- mikeash 11y agoAlbuquerque is a pretty tenuous example. Anyway, I don't know. I'm not talking about me, just saying this is how a lot of people react.
- gotchange 11y agoNo, it's not tenuous. Americans (Spanish settlers/Mexicans?) imported the name from Spanish (Castellano) and Spanish got it from Arabic and the list I made is just arbitrary and there are many many more Arabic origin words starting with "Al" that made their way to English and don't seem to have the same negative effect on the English speaker as claimed by you and the other poster.
- mikeash 11y agoThe etymology is not certain, but Albuquerque looks much more likely to be Latin than Arabic. As for the rest, well, there's a difference between English words with Arabic origins and Arabic words that haven't been appropriated into English. You can dislike the way people treat it all you want, and say it makes no sense (and I'd agree), but if you argue with how it works then you're basically yelling at the clouds.
- gotchange 11y agoThey're are other places in Badajoz with the "AL" prefix and they're Arabic influenced so it's more likely that Albuquerque was as well than being Latin derived but my main argument stays the same that if English speaking xenophobes or bigots have any problem with the Arabic definite article "Al ال", they should cease using those words in their language to avoid public embarrassment and being labelled hypocrites.
- VLM 11y agoIsn't this the business where renaming your channel "sy fy" and broadcasting wrestling is par for the course?
- dghughes 11y agoKind of like how Fox News has news in its name but it's not news.
- finance-geek 11y agoToo funny.