AJA Hits the Air

Al Jazzera America hit the airwaves yesterday and to people outside of TV is was a non-event. 

The network is not available on many cable companies and is offered in a higher package price on others. 

As AJA took to the air they took some big swipes at the competition.  

AJA's main message that they hammered home over and over again was that Americans were being denied the news they deserved on television.

Clips of Bill O'Reilly and Al Sharpton were played, and people in different towns were filmed talking about how underserved they felt.

"Americans want wider coverage and more real news," Richelle Carey, one of the anchors hosting the promo, told viewers.

And while AJA is now broadcasting in America, their Arabic sister station is catching flack  for airing the fake death of a Muslin Brotherhood protestor. 

The Al Jazeera news channel has been caught air

ing what appears to be the fake death of a Muslim Brotherhood-backed protestor in Egypt, according to reports.

As violence between Muslim Brotherhood protestors and Egyptian security forces rages in the Middle Eastern country, Al Jazeera has run a flurry of coverage that critics say is sympathetic to the Brotherhood.

A supposedly dead protestor was filmed and broadcast earlier this week on Al Jazeera.

As a distraught woman yells in Arabic, the man in question can be seen clutching what is described as a gunshot wound. However, when the man’s hand is moved it becomes apparent that he has not been injured despite a pool of blood.

AJA was not caught in any controversies in their first day on air. And while the critical reviews of the station, it is unlikely that the new network will gain any traction with real viewers for a longtime or if ever.  

AJA claims that it will be neutral, critics worry that it will adopt that same biases as its Arabic sister station. 

FTVLive was not able to watch AJA on our cable system and therefore we can not comment on any first day coverage.