Free Republic

Al Jazeera Aims to Influence American Politics by Humberto Fontova 03/18/2008 Al Jazeera, eager for greater international coverage and cachet, recently launched an International Division. Aiming to influence the US audience, they recruited heavily from CNN and The BBC. CNN's former Havana Bureau chief Lucia Newman is noteworthy among these job-jumpers. "In Cuba we will be given total freedom to do what we want and to work without any censorship," (italics mine) she stressed upon accepting the CNN assignment in 1997. Among her "scoops" from Havana: "No dubious campaign spending here. No mud slinging -- a system President (italics mine)...

Lucia Newman, CNN's first and only correspondent based in Havana, has jumped to the new Al-Jazeera International network, which plans to begin operations later this spring. Newman will be based in Al-Jazeera's bureau in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Journalist Mariana Sanchez, a former news anchor for Panamericana Television, will also work for Al-Jazeera International in a Caracas, Venezuela bureau, the network said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the network is still targeting a launch in late May, spokeswoman Rana Jazayerli said. She labeled as misleading some reports that circulated last week that the network would have trouble meeting that target. The English-language network...