In short, Al Jazeera nailed its coverage, while ever-shrinking U.S. foreign bureaus came up with paltry-by-comparison original reporting. The LA Times said this is the Qatar-based news outlet's "CNN moment" (CNN's coverage of the Gulf War is largely responsible for launching its current popularity).
Now Al Jazeera is taking advantage of that moment. The news network launched Meetup Everywhere and Twitter campaigns Thursday to bring its coverage to mainstream U.S. television.
"The past month has shown us something that America can no longer ignore: millions of Americans want to watch our channel and better understand our region, and too many are deprived of that opportunity," Wadah Khanfar, director general of Al Jazeera, wrote on the Meetup Everywhere site.
Al Jazeera is encouraging Americans -- many who tuned in online for coverage of the protests in Egypt -- to show their support for a U.S. Al Jazeera channel by attending local Meetups on February 10.
Each meeting will host a discussion about the best way to get the message to cable and satellite companies (Al Jazeera has set up this database of contact info for satellite and cable providers). So far 253 Meetups are scheduled.
The news network is also sponsoring the hashtag #demandaljazeera in Twitter's trending topics to spread the word about the campaign.
