Too good to check: Al Jazeera to acquire Current TV
posted at 6:51 pm on January 2, 2013 by Allahpundit
I really don’t like the idea of an extremist propaganda outlet that seeks the destruction of America airing on U.S. cable. Fortunately, sounds like Al Jazeera’s about to get rid of it.
John Podhoretz looks on the bright side and says this means the channel will become marginally more pro-Israel.
If the deal is completed, Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms. Current is available in about 60 million of the 100 million homes in the United States with cable or satellite service.
Rather than simply use Current to distribute its existing English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera will create a new channel based in New York, according to people with knowledge of the deal negotiations. Potentially called Al Jazeera America, roughly 60 percent of the programming will be produced in the United States while the remaining 40 percent will come from Al Jazeera English.
Al Jazeera may absorb some Current TV staff members, according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But Current’s schedule of shows will most likely be dissolved in the spring.
I appreciate the irony of one of the high priests of global-warming awareness cashing out to a government built on oil wealth. I’m also sincerely curious to see what AJ does with the platform. They could pitch it squarely at the left as some sort of foreign-policy-heavy adjunct to MSNBC or they could emphasize kinda sorta straight news reporting on the Arab Spring and Middle East as an alternative to CNN. (Or a mix.) I remember fondly their on-the-scene coverage of the Egyptian uprising two years ago, when young liberals in Tahrir Square promised the end of fascism and oppression. Two years later, look how far they’ve come. Hopefully AJ America will be up and running by the time Assad is liquidated so we can get the good news about the Islamist democracy that’s coming to Syria. Beats endless reruns of “Bowling for Columbine,” which, judging from my cable program guide, has been roughly 80% of Current’s programming since the shootings in Newtown a few weeks ago.
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Shut up and put on a burka.
Kataklysmic on January 8, 2013 at 7:36 PM
Algor. Cold, man, so cold.
Logus on January 8, 2013 at 7:38 PM
I think the idea that selling to Al Jazeera was more palatable than selling to Beck, says a lot about Current and Gore.
bflat879 on January 8, 2013 at 7:40 PM
Is his name Al Jazeera Gore or Al Gore Jazeera?
itsnotaboutme on January 8, 2013 at 7:41 PM
Money Changes Everything
SheHe said I’m sorry baby I’m leaving you tonightI found someone new he’s waitin’ in the car outside
Ah honey how could you do it
We swore each other everlasting love
SheHe said well yeah I know but whenWe did – there was one thing we weren’t
Really thinking of and that’s money -
Money changes everything
Money, money changes everything
We think we know what we’re doin’
That don’t mean a thing
It’s all in the past now
Money changes everything
They shake your hand and they smile
And they buy you a drink
They say we’ll be your friends
We’ll stick with you till the end
Ah but everybody’s only
Looking out for themselves
And you say well who can you trust
I’ll tell you it’s just
Nobody else’s money –
sharrukin on January 8, 2013 at 7:45 PM
Do any Hot Air commenters still believe in CAGW?
blink on January 8, 2013 at 7:46 PM
See, being a douchenozzle sucazz liberal means never having to account for what you say or do.
44Magnum on January 8, 2013 at 7:48 PM
Al Gore cashed in and left those counting on him holding the bag? No way! You’re kidding me, right?
/
M240H on January 8, 2013 at 7:48 PM
It was sweet, sweet ambrosia hearing Geraldo tell the story of how algore called him on the carpet. It was even better when Geraldo turned to the camera and spoke directly to al bore, and called him out! I needed a little humor after the debacle these past few months has been.
Sasha List on January 8, 2013 at 7:49 PM
; ) Straight out of the gate thread winner right there.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 7:49 PM
So yet again a prominent liberal shows his true hypocriccy and STILL the liberals shall bow down before the hunter of Man Bear Pig. How stupid is that?
What a shame it is that some of those liberals are now declaring themselves to be conservatives when they are as conservative as an individual mandate. /smug
DannoJyd on January 8, 2013 at 7:54 PM
AlGore is nothing more than an opportunistic pig.
Key West Reader on January 8, 2013 at 7:55 PM
Love the scimitar reference. Awesome.
besser tot als rot on January 8, 2013 at 7:55 PM
Aw, so close. I’ve been anxiously waiting to hear someone say it’s ok for him to sell out to oil billionaires cuz he helped the environment n stuff
Fezzik on January 8, 2013 at 7:56 PM
….progressives loving progressives!
…she almost destroyed the State of Michigan in 8 years!…we’ll be paying for lifetime for everything!…Michigan should ask Grandmole for severance!…Betch!
KOOLAID2 on January 8, 2013 at 7:57 PM
There it is.
Mason on January 8, 2013 at 8:00 PM
I really believe that he is a sex poodle. And without Tipper servicing him, is he still praying on masseuses looking for that happy ending. Seriously, the guy is so fat that he looks like he is going to explode. Didn’t he build a megamillion dollar house in Santa Barbara recently?
Blake on January 8, 2013 at 8:00 PM
Albert saw a gift wrapped opportunity to pull massive confidence tricks on huge numbers of people. And the point about confidence tricks is the pay-off – that’s $ first, and kicks a very distant second.
By these standards they guy is awesomely competent. He fleeced a lot of people, made good money, and all without breaking the law.
CorporatePiggy on January 8, 2013 at 8:02 PM
time to self immolate for the cause.
tom daschle concerned on January 8, 2013 at 8:02 PM
Report: Current TV staffers grumpy at Gore over this Al Jazeera sale
=====================================================================
Maybe Al Gore could drop by,and give his staff,…..
…..Back Messages!
(sarc)
canopfor on January 8, 2013 at 8:05 PM
“Oil dollars for me, but not for thee.” – Al “Emir Bucks” Gore.
predator on January 8, 2013 at 8:06 PM
.
Geraldo has recounted this event any number of times on his show,
complete with “verbatim description” of the dialog Al Gore spoke . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hasn’t he ?
listens2glenn on January 8, 2013 at 8:09 PM
Bwahahahaha!
rbj on January 8, 2013 at 8:09 PM
So can we officially refer to Fat Al as an Oil Millionaire now?
slickwillie2001 on January 8, 2013 at 8:17 PM
To Current TV Staffers:
He sold you out. He learned this trick from his daddy’s knee. Al Sr. was a bigot. He didn’t give a hoot about people of color. He didn’t give a hoot for any ideology. Al Sr. was all about himself. And that is what he made sure Al Jr. understood. James River Coal, Occidental oil. Now al jezeera.
Why am i not surprised.
tom0508 on January 8, 2013 at 8:18 PM
I don’t think he’ll recover from this.
Sure the emperor has 100 million…but now all his subjects see he has no clothes. Or decency.
If there was ever any question that it was ever about anything but the money for this guy….poof.
verbaluce on January 8, 2013 at 8:30 PM
When a guy can give you a sad sad story about horrible cancer producing cigarettes impact on his life at the same time raking in tobacco money and government tobacco subsidies nothing should surprise us.
Cindy Munford on January 8, 2013 at 8:34 PM
Once a fraud, always a fraud.
lucyvanpelt on January 8, 2013 at 8:35 PM
I am sure he will be in tears all the way to the bank.
He’s got the shirt off their backs so no worries!
‘Come on, Baby, Release my Chakra’
I think that boat has already sailed.
Not in conservative circles there wasn’t, but we are just that sort of judgmental.
sharrukin on January 8, 2013 at 8:38 PM
Poor Jennifer nowhere to go now.For all you Michiganders out there maybe she could run for Governor again.Hell the idiots out here in Ca. brought Jerry Brown back again.
jeffinsjvca on January 8, 2013 at 8:39 PM
I wonder if Joyless is getting fitted for a burkha yet? The full one where you look out a 2″X4″ rectangle.Sweet justice!!
jeffinsjvca on January 8, 2013 at 8:41 PM
Not always…at least no this much.
Which makes it all the more pathetic.
verbaluce on January 8, 2013 at 8:44 PM
Sure, but now you get to that rationally.
verbaluce on January 8, 2013 at 8:45 PM
Al Gore sold out?
Nope. He never believed in “global warming” to begin with.
He just did it to get money from liberal saps.
sentinelrules on January 8, 2013 at 8:47 PM
The Conservative Right could learn from this: by some under-performing media organizations, retrofit them to sell news, entertainment and information to low info folks and – shazzam! they could actually impact the culture in ways that would lead to success at the ballot box.
Don’t think my homeboy, Keith X Ellison, won’t be down with USA-Jizz once they start pumping out the soft-porn muzzie propaganda 24/7.
They know who their enemies are and have a plan.
The GOP, eh, not so much.
Bruno Strozek on January 8, 2013 at 8:52 PM
There was nothing rational about AGW, nor did we fail to notice his failure to live up to what he claimed to believe in that regard, and that movie An Inconvenient Truth was a hack job. The famous graph for example was a lie. The change in temperature drives changes in the atmospheric CO2 content, not the other way around.
He was always a con man.
sharrukin on January 8, 2013 at 8:57 PM
Al-Gorezeera, exposed at last.
petefrt on January 8, 2013 at 9:11 PM
Granholm might be a cabinet secretary? I’ve read her columns on HuffPo. They are juvenile and far off in left field.
Of course she was one of Obama’s jobs gurus when he was first elected too. My jaw dropped at that.
juliesa on January 8, 2013 at 9:16 PM
Nice seed money to run for the Oval office again. But he can’t sell that to the Muslims. It’s already been sold.
BL@KBIRD on January 8, 2013 at 9:27 PM
Poor ol’ lemming libs. When it gets to the “was it good for you too” part, they never get the cigarette.
antipc on January 8, 2013 at 9:38 PM
Eliot Spitzer quit Current after the sale, as if anyone cared. Maybe he was told to sign off at the end of his show by saying “Allahu Akbar”.
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/eliot-spitzer-current-tv-al-jazeera/2013/01/07/id/470290
Philly on January 8, 2013 at 10:01 PM
I just want to see Joy Behar in a burka..see how much she loves al-jazeera then
sadsushi on January 8, 2013 at 10:09 PM
Oh and i brought up the point about how Al Gore is the biggest eco hypocrite around to my liberal friend and he wouldn’t say anything about him..just continued to say how 98% of all scientists agree with human involvement in climate change…liberals refuse to admit fault or hypocrisy on their own side…very sad
sadsushi on January 8, 2013 at 10:14 PM
Hey all you ladies at Al G Zero, there’s a burka sale going on right now at Macy’s!
Any color you want, as long as it’s black!
Buy two and join the Temporary Wife Program for free!
Only at the Turn the Clock Back Sale going on at Macy’s now!
ROCnPhilly on January 8, 2013 at 10:32 PM
Anyone who quits is a hypocrite. You sold it, you live, progs!
ROCnPhilly on January 8, 2013 at 10:33 PM
Al always takes care of Al first! The rest of you can go buy a Prius.
GarandFan on January 8, 2013 at 11:47 PM
He is, now and forever, Captain Hypocrite.
Meryl Yourish on January 9, 2013 at 12:07 AM
Baxter Greene on January 9, 2013 at 12:28 AM
I worked for some Arabs years ago. It was interesting from an anthropological standpoint, but the mood was of them trying to put on their boss hats will trying to play dirty tricks on both customers and employees, and putting the make on any females. In the end they stiff me on pay. If you can get good severance pay out of these jokers take the money and boogie.
claudius on January 9, 2013 at 1:17 AM
I blame Man-Bear-Pig…
JohnGalt23 on January 9, 2013 at 3:03 AM
Daniel Greenfield has a great essay about Gore over at Sultan Knish: Hollow Men in a Hollow Earth
brief excerpt:
The Gore lost the election, went into the wilderness of Belle Meade and came out with the revelation that it’s time to drop all the little lies and stick to one big one. Forget claiming that you invented the comma and the cocoa bean while on a conference call with Isaac Newton and just focus on warning everyone that the planet is about to explode. A lie as big as a planet. A lie that was too big to fail.
Gore monetized that lie, he took it to every bank on the planet and then he took it to every cable company and convinced them to give him access to 40 million American homes so that he could tell them that the planet was about to blow up. And just as he had at the White House, Al Gore cashed out that access and sold it to an enemy nation.
Quisp on January 9, 2013 at 6:10 AM
Excellent read and so true.
Off topic: You are the best cereal ever! Still keep in touch with Quake?
ROCnPhilly on January 9, 2013 at 6:37 AM
Anyone else notice that The Goracle looks more and more like Porky Pig every day?
GarandFan on January 9, 2013 at 8:55 AM
Oh, professor looks stunned. Can’t even type correctly now.
I should tell you the story of Tipper Gore basically hijacking two American helicopters for her personal use while we were trying to take aid to Hurricane Mitch victims in Nicaragua.
The Gores have always been this way. Let me know if you want to hear the story. First hand and all.
hawkdriver on January 9, 2013 at 9:11 AM
Al said he sold to Al Jazeera because they shared his values while Beck did not. This was all a little too honest. The liberal elite is supposed to admit they are really out to line their own pockets and have no problem with repressive regimes.
bartbeast on January 9, 2013 at 9:18 AM
So, it’s Al Gorezeera now, right?
Gordy on January 9, 2013 at 10:25 AM
Rush reported she got told to shut up, and they would talk about it “later.”
What will those pooooor people do?
Hopefully the cable companies will drop the channel. They only carry it because they were coerced into it. Which make one wonder. They must be very frightened of the current crop of socialists, algore being one of their poster boys.
Is that why they refuse to go after them? Out of fear?
dogsoldier on January 9, 2013 at 11:25 AM
And people wanted this piece of dirt to be president. Despicable human being. Despicable American.
hawkdriver on January 9, 2013 at 11:28 AM