it will be interesting to watch, but i predict the new al jazeera english language channel will flop.
al jazeera was successful because could claim to be an independent news broadcast in arabic when the only independent news organizations were run by non-arabs. al jazeera stepped into a niche that was, for the most part, unoccupied
the english-language news broadcast market is quite different. there are plenty of independent english language news sources around today. the "al jazeera" brand will carry some cache with english speakers in places like malaysia and pakistan, but i don't see why al jazeera would have any automatic advantage over more well established english language news broadcasts like the BBC and CNN. the only thing it has going for it is that it won't be tainted by any association with british or u.s. foreign policy. i don't think that will be enough to overcome the advantages enjoyed by already well-entrenched news sources.
