I know, I know, all of us living in Qatar are supposed to be proud of Al Jazeera brand, and a fame it brought to Qatar…

And all of us non-arab speaking expats eagerly awaited (and waited and waited) for the English version, hoping to finally experience what is that famous bold and uncompromising journalistic endeavor.

Finally, when it was launched, I was oh so very proud and happy for them. All those technical achievments – High Definition TV station from scratch – something never done before anywhere, all that fuss. I watched it for days, happy that they finally pulled it off, and then I realized that it….. well, sucks!

Presenters are utterly boring, few of those “big name attractions” are, well not worth their reportedly astronomical salaries (one is, with all do respect, maybe a legend but waaaay too old and should retire, another back to news after silly stunt in Hawaiian shirt-computer-programming, and the biggest star, ex CNN, so smug and full of himself that he’s just laughable…). Not to mention a cast of others, obviously gobbled together for “diversity” some of who can barely even speak English…

And don’t even get me started on the “look and feel” of the whole thing. They could spend zillions on all that HD gear but can’t pay decent editors or graphic designers??? Yes, I understand it is a new channel, but for god sakes, have a look at Dubai’s ONE – also new, but beautifully thought over? Al Jazeera English is now visually “Worldwide Amateur Hour of Design! “ News Hour???? Do they seriously think nobody else has a Mac so they can rip off that clockhour thingy so blatently???

All in all – such a massive disappointment. Idea was great – yes, this planet desperately needs a news channel to talk about important things, challenge, inspire. But all that this Aljazeera English can do is to inspire boredom and yawns.

I do hope someone on the board will wake up soon and fix this, what now looks like a 3rd rate British local TV and make it into what was supposed to be a world leader.

PLEASE DO IT QUICK !

We’re still rooting for you, but please hurry up. This is simply unwatchable (hot Lebanese-looking babe in American studio excluded ;-) !

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