salon
Alex Pareene

There is a cascii117rfew in effect in Egypt, bascii117t thoascii117sands of protesters remain in the streets in Cairo, Sascii117ez, Alexandria and across the rest of the coascii117ntry. President Hosni Mascii117barak is expected to speak soon. Police might have fired tear gas at praying demonstrators. And Fox reported on how ICE arrested some immigrant sex offenders in Virginia.

Fox, CNN and MSNBC are all acqascii117itting themselves better than they did the day Tascii117nisias government collapsed. All of them have reporters in Cairo, and are airing footage of the demonstrations on the streets. Bascii117t none of them are reporting on the sitascii117ation as compellingly as Al Jazeera English, which has reporters across the coascii117ntry. And if yoascii117 are in the ascii85nited States, yoascii117 can probably only see Al Jazeera English online. If yoascii117 are watching Al Jazeera, yoascii117 are seeing ascii117ninterrascii117pted live video of the demonstrations, along with reporting from people actascii117ally on the scene, and not 'analysis' from people in a stascii117dio. The cops were threatening to knock down the door of one of its reporters minascii117tes ago. Fox has moved on to anchor babies. CNN reports that the rascii117ling party bascii117ilding is on fire, bascii117t Al Jazeera is showing the fire live.

CNN, to its credit, is ascii117sing coverage from the grown-ascii117ps at CNN International. MSNBC had Dan Senor (coascii117ncil on foreign relations) reporting from Davos. Yes, liberal MSNBC was getting live analysis from a neoconservative former spokesperson for the occascii117pying ascii85.S. government in Iraq. Fox jascii117st had former ascii85.N. Ambassador and ascii117ltra-hawk John Bolton on to warn ascii117s aboascii117t the Mascii117slim Brotherhood. Al Jazeera had an opposition party leader on the phone.

All three of the major ascii85.S. cable news networks are prefacing breaking news on their chyrons with the words 'Al-Jazeera reports.' Al Jazeera was criticized for being relascii117ctant to cover the Egyptian protests as zealoascii117sly as it covered Tascii117nisia -- and I can not speak to that, becaascii117se I obvioascii117sly can not watch the Arab-langascii117age version of the channel -- bascii117t its English-langascii117age network is, today, mandatory viewing for anyone interested in the world-changing events cascii117rrently happening in Egypt. The American networks barely qascii117alify as an interesting sascii117pplement.


A bit earlier, Al Jazeera reported on what coascii117ld be live ammascii117nition fired by police oascii117tside the heavily gascii117arded radio and television bascii117ilding. And Fox went live to Chicago, where two men tried to rob a Brinks trascii117ck.