P.R. Firm That Helped Allawi Not Promoting Al Jazeera

[JABBS]

The Bush Administration can't be happy about this.

Al Jazeera International has retained public relations firm Brown Lloyd James to help build its image in the U.S. wtih advertisers, and potentially news "consumers." Set to launch in 2006, Al Jazeera International will be the 24-hour English-language news channel run by the Qatar-base company, according to a July 25 story in PR Week.

It's perhaps the polar opposite of the work Brown Lloyd James did in 2003, when it was one of two firms hired to raise the profile and build political support for one-time CIA employee and Bush Administration ally Iyad Allawi, during his successful 2003 bid to become Iraqi prime minister.

Unlike other law and lobbying firms which focus on Republican clients, it would appear Brown Lloyd James' main concern is profit, not politics.

Of course, the Bush administration has long been incensed by Al Jazeera, calling it "Osama Television" for broadcasting tapes from Osama bin Laden and having what it sees as an anti-U.S. attitude, especially with regard to the Iraq War. The administration last year created an alternate, pro-U.S. network, Al-Hurra.

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This article first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.

[justinsb]

1. Good to hear

Al Jazeera is actually a decent news organization and far more credible, unbiased and accurate that most of the US MSM