I Want My AJE

Guernica ^ | May 2008 | Julia Dahl

[forkinsocket]

Al Jazeera English’s only bureau in the western hemisphere occupies five floors of a nondescript office building on Washington, D.C.’s K Street. The lobby is drab — just a hallway and two elevators. There is no sign on the door, no gold symbol affixed on the wall. In fact, the name Al Jazeera does not appear anywhere. If you didn’t know better, you might think the building was home to dentist’s offices or mid-level lobbying firms, instead of the most controversial news channel in the world.

To get upstairs, a non-employee must have an escort, and on a cold day last spring, mine was Lauren McCollough. McCullough works for Brown Lloyd James, the public relations firm that represents the Qatar-based channel in what has proven — and might have been expected — to be the hostile territory of the United States.

McCullough and I stepped into the elevator and she swiped a keycard through a security pad. Only those with electronic access can get off on the Al Jazeera English floors. Upstairs, the elevator opened revealing a glass door in which the channel’s logo, Arabic script in the shape of a flame, was etched. Al Jazeera means “the island” or “the peninsula” and refers to the shape of the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar where the channel was founded. Behind the glass was a small desk where Dora, the receptionist, sat beneath two flat-screen televisions, one showing Al Jazeera English, the other showing Al Jazeera Arabic.

[forkinsocket]

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[smedley64]

I’m sure Chrissy Mathews could get a nice gig there subverting American interests. Oh wait, he already does that for his “American” media employers. Never mind.

[Cindy]

ON THE INTERNET:

www.youtube.com/user/aljazeerachannel

www.aljazeera.net

www.youtube.com/user/aljazeeraenglish

english.aljazeera.net/