Real news

How much do Princetonians know about international news? It's no secret that upon reaching campus, all your free time disappears into a black hole of problem sets, papers, club soccer games and forays to the Street. But as a student at the top undergraduate institution in the nation, you also feel pressure to know exactly what's going on in the world at all times, or otherwise suffer the embarrassment of not being able to quote verbatim Ahmadinejad's newest sound byte.

So you put in a few minutes during the day to read The Daily Princetonian or scan the headlines on BBC.com or even tune into the Daily Show. And while such news sources are certainly better than keeping your head in the ground, it's time to reevaluate your choice for staying updated on current world events.

With most international news programs, there rarely passes a day when the Middle East is not mentioned in some way. While Burma has been headlining news reports in the past few days, everyone still reads about Hamas' activities in the Gaza Strip, Blackwater's irresponsible and scandalous actions in Iraq and the Iranian president's ill-received visit to Columbia. Such events have a strong impact on American foreign policy and, some would argue, will shape the future of every American's life. A war between Israel and Hamas, new Iraqi legislation against private security firms and the worsening (if possible) of relations between America and Iran could all have a significant impact on the American government, and thereby its people.

And considering that most of you will either become investment bankers managing the money of these countries, consultants running the governments of these countries or employees of the State Department making decisions about what America should do to these countries, you should have a solid foundation of knowledge on what is going on in this complex and diverse part of the world.

But that doesn't mean absorbing all the (mis)information Fox News can throw at you. It means opening your eyes and ears to the emerging domain of Middle Eastern international media. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Imad Musa, the senior producer of "Riz Khan," a program on the newly launched Al Jazeera English network. He gave some insights to the trailblazing work Al Jazeera English and the benefits it brings to its wide viewership.

Al Jazeera English is the first news channel of its kind. Born from the Arab media giant Al Jazeera, it provides comprehensive news reports in English and comes from a part of the world that is perhaps overexposed in the media but underrepresented in the media business. Reporting from the perspective of the "developing world," Al Jazeera English delivers news from almost every country in a professional and seemingly well-balanced way. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., Kuala Lumpur, London and Doha, Al Jazeera English surpasses many other Middle Eastern international news channels in its maintenance as a truly international enterprise. And Al Jazeera International chief Nigel Parsons, a Brit, is manning the ship on this journey to prominence in reporting world affairs.

Other than its international news reports, perhaps the network's strongest programs are its documentaries which delve into news topics from a refreshingly personal perspective. And unlike most U.S.-based international news organizations, Al Jazeera English manages to get Middle Easterners still living in the region to talk about their own experiences and their own problems.

So it seems there is hardly a better way to gain information and perspective on the issues that plague the world, especially in the Middle East. Unfortunately, most American cable executives are not too keen on bringing Al Jazeera English to an American TV set near you, but Al Jazeera English can be easily accessed from the internet via streaming video or print.

After years of being analyzed by the international media, the Middle East is now embarking on an intense campaign of self-analysis. No amount of foreign investigative reporting can replace a first-person perspective, and in order to know about the world we live in and plan for the world we will live in, it is essential to seize the opportunity to gain this crucial perspective.

That way when you're I-banking or consulting or negotiating, your decisions will be well-informed and based on a knowledge that few others around you will possess. Sarah Dajani is a Wilson School major from Seminole, Fla. She can be reached at sdajani@princeton.edu.