In the Jerusalem Post, Mitchell Barak calls for an Israeli Al Jazeera English.

1) Invest money in English-language news programs…

Israel has an excellent and high-quality English news program. IBA English News is viewed here and by syndication in the US and various European countries. It reaches hundreds of millions of households through syndication agreements, but unfortunately is only a 23-minute daily show…

2) Get the best talent to represent you. Al Jazeera has recruited world-class professional talent for their programs. Riz Khan and David Frost host two of its flagship programs. They bring with them creativity and credibility that would have taken years to build…

3) Go where the audience is. Besides the English news, the IBA produces television news programs in Hebrew and Arabic which are available on-line on its Web site (www.iba.org.il). It is a user-friendly and popular site, but is not on YouTube…

Al Jazeera is a pioneer in many respects. Call-in shows stirred a lot of controversy in the Arab world when they were first introduced, and suddenly Arab governments and leaders could be openly criticized. As a result, many in the Middle East rely on Al Jazeera for their news because it is not censored and allows for debate.

++FURTHER READING++
War 2.0: ‘Neutral’ observers, Blogs and SMS alerts
War 2.0: Israel’s post-journalism campaign in Gaza
War 2.0: Citizens, soldiers and spokesmen