Baltimore: Anatomy of an American City

[Baltimatt]

Al Jazeera report on Baltimore this week.

Baltimore-area viewers won't see it in their TV listings, but this week a program will premiere on the Al Jazeera English channel that could do more to shape the world's image of their city than any other media coverage or civic promotion done all year. "Baltimore: Anatomy of an American City" will debut Tuesday night to a potential worldwide audience of 260 million homes. And what those viewers will mainly see is a landscape of young men on bleak street corners, block after block of boarded-up rowhouses, drugs, death, crime scenes and prisons.

...

"When you walk through neighborhoods like this," Al Jazeera correspondent Sebastian Walker says, picking his way down a narrow street of weeds, garbage and rowhouses at the end of the documentary, "it's hard not to feel that the legacy of the war these communities have been living through is so bad that rhetoric or anything short of radical change simply won't solve the problem."

[Clandestine]

Al Jazeera report on Baltimore this week.

The title of the show should called Baltimore: AKA Little Mogadishu.

[Just Pondering]

Do you think Maryland Public Television might get the rights to air this program during one of their pledge drives?

After all, it's a piece of who we are.

[Diego]

Pretty smart

If I wanted to show the U.S. as a horrible, crime-ridden, drug-infested, violent, Satan personified, what better place than Baltimore to showcase?

This should do wonders to help in reinforcing the image of America that Al-Jazeera wants its viewers to have

[KSweeley]

This makes absolutely no sense....

The channel is on Comcast, Cox and Verizon Fios in Washington, but nowhere in Baltimore. Millions watch a live stream of Al Jazeera English, however, each week at watchaljazeera.com. The Baltimore documentary premieres at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with multiple replays throughout the week. After that, it will be available on Al Jazeera's YouTube channel, which receives 8 million views a month, according to the network.

Why make a documentary about a city if no one in the city can even watch it when it initially premieres on TV?!? I would certainty be interested in watching this documentary on TV once it premieres on TV but what's the point if Comcast doesn't carry the channel here in Baltimore? This makes absolutely no sense...

And huh??? The mayor herself and her office has not seen the documentary yet however the Mayor was interviewed for the documentary???

"We have not seen the documentary yet, so it is impossible to comment on the content," Ian Brennan, the mayor's press secretary, wrote in a statement emailed to The Sun. He said a producer had contacted the mayor's office to discuss "her vision to grow Baltimore and ... our progress in reducing violence. We thought it was a good opportunity to share our story with Al Jazeera English's 260 million viewers. What they made, and how they used the interview with Mayor Rawlings-Blake, is not in our control."

The statement goes on to say: "Mayor Rawlings-Blake talked about our historic lows in homicide, the 10-year decline in overall crime, and how we have successfully reduced juvenile violence and juvenile arrest. She also talked about how, despite three years of budget deficits, the city did not lay off police officers, and invested in technology to further reduce crime."

[Sprightly]

I watch the Al Jazeera channel. It's very interesting. I look foward to this show.

[Eastside Terp]

This makes absolutely no sense....



Why make a documentary about a city if no one in the city can even watch it when it initially premieres on TV?!?

what does that have to do with their agenda ......

[techbalt]

I am shocked this has not been mentioned yet. You can watch it at this link. My thoughts on the situation are also included there.

They really do not go into depth and they interview people who all have the same opinion so it appears they have gone out of their way to make Maryland appear to be a jail filled state that imprisons people who should be out on the street. They portray Baltimore as a city filled with victims of a mass conspiracy and that these victims should not take responsibility for the choices they made that lead them to behave in anti-social and violent ways. They also make it appear that there is no social safety net in the USA and that drug dealing is the only way to make money if you are poor, have no father figure, and are unemployed. No mention of the welfare system, food stamps, free housing, etc...

[sigmalady]

I am shocked this has not been mentioned yet. You can watch it at this link. My thoughts on the situation are also included there.

They really do not go into depth and they interview people who all have the same opinion so it appears they have gone out of their way to make Maryland appear to be a jail filled state that imprisons people who should be out on the street. They portray Baltimore as a city filled with victims of a mass conspiracy and that these victims should not take responsibility for the choices they made that lead them to behave in anti-social and violent ways. They also make it appear that there is no social safety net in the USA and that drug dealing is the only way to make money if you are poor, have no father figure, and are unemployed. No mention of the welfare system, food stamps, free housing, etc...

Of course, the wouldn't go to Ashburton, Grove Park, Howard Park, etc, to interview people because that wouldn't fit in with the pre-conceived notions.

[Sidewinder]

Pretty smart

If I wanted to show the U.S. as a horrible, crime-ridden, drug-infested, violent, Satan personified, what better place than Baltimore to showcase?

This should do wonders to help in reinforcing the image of America that Al-Jazeera wants its viewers to have

I agree. If I was looking to highlight the very worst aspects of modern American life, Baltimore would provide a perfect example of that. There are things here that we take for granted that would never be tolerated in most other countries.

Baltimoreans who look at their city from the inside-out don't realize how bad things are. There are many larger cities, and in fact many states, that have a lower murder rate than Baltimore. This city really is at the bottom of the heap now.

[wbr]

ah, baltimore, democratic rule at it's best.
and a big thank you to their governor, martin o'lier. he certainly left his legacy on the city