AlJazeera.net vs AlJazeera.com, who is ".com"?

[uppityperson]

I know that AlJazeera.net is the real AlJazeera, but who is the .com one? I figure someone put this out there for people who don't realize the .net one is real, sort of like whitehouse.com (sex site) and .org (satire site). Anyone know who the .com one is?

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. See Demopedia

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Al_Jazeera

.com is based at a London mailing address. The publishers do nto appear to publish anything else.

[uppityperson]

2. I saw Control Room and was impressed.

Hadn't heard of .com until today and, being the suspicious person I am, thought maybe someone else had knowledge of them. I like to balance my news with Al Jazeera.net, though their internet coverage in the English edition is limited. Wish I read Arabic.

[theresistance]

3. It actually seems like a good site

It's got a poll question asking if America exaggerates the "terrorism threat" and 58% of people are voting yes.

[Rush1184]

4. I never knew there were two...

I have never gone to that site unless I was directed by a link, but the fake ones has to be a great propoganda tool for someone...

[Rush1184]

5. It seems that one is the Arabic version...

And one is an english version. Is there anyone who can read arabic to confirm this?

On edit:

It is kinda funny, looking at the english site (.com), that all the stories in the middle east news section have to do with the US... While we are overthere, it seems to me that the middle east news section would have content that was diffrent than what one would find on the front page of any int. news paper. This just does not pass the smell test.

[tkmorris]

7. Nope

I too have been trying to figure out that AJ.com site and one thing I am certain of is that it is NOT affiliated with AJ.net at all. The english version of .net is here: http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

The .com site runs completely different articles, I have yet to find one common to both sites. The ownership is different and is even registered in a different country. The .com site is owned by a company based in the UAE but someone traced it back from there to an office in London.

Beyond that I have nothing so far.

[markbark]

6. A search of ARIN and RIPE shows

the following:

Domain Name: ALJAZEERA.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
IP Address: 193.19.159.129
Whois Server: whois.opensrs.net
Referral URL: http://domainhelp.tucows.com
Name Server: NS12.ZONEEDIT.COM
Name Server: NS14.ZONEEDIT.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 30-may-2004
Creation Date: 12-apr-1996
Expiration Date: 13-apr-2009
Web Site Status: Active
Web Site Title: Aljazeera - International English Edition
Meta Description: Aljazeera : International English Edition.
Meta Keywords:Aljazeera : International English Edition


The dot net account is a bit different:


Domain Name: ALJAZEERA.NET
IP Address: 12.120.13.19 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: IIS 5
Web Site Status: Active
Registrant:
Jazeera Space Channel TV station (25931374O)
P.O. Box 231234
QA
Doha,
QA
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]


Administrative Contact :
Al Seddiqi, Salah
[e-mail]
P.O. Box 23123
Doha,
QA
Phone: [phone]

Technical Contact :
Navlink, Administrator
[e-mail]
777 Chateau Drive
Hillsborough, CA 94010
US
Phone: [phone] x123
Fax: [phone]

Record expires on 29-Aug-2010
Record created on 30-Aug-1996
Database last updated on 07-Jul-2004

Domain servers in listed order:

NS-EAST.CERF.NET 207.252.96.3
NS-WEST.CERF.NET 192.153.156.3


By all appearances, the dot com address is real and a "for US consumption" site for Al Jazeera.

www.aljazeera.net resolves to 12.120.9.19 while www.aljazeera.com comes in at 193.19.159.132. Both are within the address space alloted their respective net blocks. Interestingly enough, the dot org domain is owned by the same outfit in in Qatar, but neither resolves nor forwards to a real server (you get a 404 error rather than being forwarded to the dot com or dot net sites.... weird, I wonder why their net admins haven't bothered to do that? A trivial fix, really :shrug: )

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Ah, thanks for the update

it looks like the registrant's address for the .com version has changed. It used to be (about 6 months ago) 155 Regents Park Road, London (which is a mailing address). It is, now, according to a 'whois' from the UK:

whois -h whois.opensrs.net aljazeera.com

Registrant:
AJ Publishing
Sheikh Zayed Road
Dubai, Dubai PO Box 31303
AE

Domain name: ALJAZEERA.COM

Now, the TV channel is the one based in Doha, Qatar; so the .com address, although they now give an address in Arabia, is still 'someone else'. Their stories are not the same as the ones (in English) at alljazeera.net. In fact, they now have an 'about us', which includes the Dubai address:

About Aljazeera.com
Aljazeera Publishing owns and operates Aljazeera.com, bringing you the world today. Aljazeera Publishing is an independent media organisation established for more than 12 years delivering news and analysis to readers all over the world. Aljazeera.com has a particular focus on events and issues in the Middle East covering major developments presenting facts as they happen.

http://www.aljazeera.com/about.asp

So, they say they are publishers, not broadcasters. There is nothing to say they are in any way related to the broadcaster. I think they should be treated as a website of unknown ownership, whose agenda is also unknown, and so no more trustworthy on its own than a blog or, say, DU. Not, I would say, a primary news source of any kind.