According to the BBC, an English-language version of the Al Jazeera channel goes live on Nov. 15th, despite the fact that “a recent poll found 53% of Americans opposed the launch of the channel and two-thirds of Americans thought the US government should not allow it entry to the US market.”
In light of that, time to read Mother Jones own Dan Schulman’s piece on Lieutenant Josh Rushing, the Marine public-affairs officer who was shown dealing with the international press corps in the early days of the Iraq War in Control Room, a documentary about Al Jazeera.
Rushing has since gone to work for Al Jazeera, suffering death threats because of it.
Dan writes: “When he joined the network almost a year ago, he saw himself as a cultural emissary who could help the rest of the world understand the America he loves. Now, ‘more and more I see myself as a journalist,’ Rushing says. ‘It’s taking a long time to let go of that spokesperson side of me who wants to control the message and to embrace the side that’s about letting the message be whatever you find. There’s a real value to this journalism thing.'”
We think so too.