Al Jazeera America: Purely a Business Endeavor? Interview with Adel Iskandar

Last week, Qatar-based media giant Al Jazeera purchased Al Gore’s failing Current TV for five hundred million dollars. After years of being snubbed by American cable networks, is Al Jazeera’s expansion purely a business endeavor? This week, Malihe Razazzan spoke with Jadaliyya's Media and Reporting Co-Editor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Adel Iskandar about the motives behind Al Jazeera's buy-out, the station's background and influence, its funding from the emirate of Qatar, and prospects in the United States. Iskandar is the co-author of first book published about the network entitled Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism (Basic, 2003).

 A sample of US media reactions to the acquisition of Current TV by Al Jazeera

 Video from: Al Jazeera Buys US channel Current TV

Host of CNN's Reliable Sources Howard Kurtz interviews former Al Jazeera English anchor David Marash about Al Jazeera's expansion to the US cable market.

Also see: New York Times reporter Brian Stetler explores former Vice President Al Gore's financial gain from selling Current TV to Al Jazeera and the seeming hypocrisy stemming from the deal.