Al Jazeera Claims Video of Foley, Sotloff Beheadings Faked — Retracts

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about the fact that Al Jazeera America’s real problem isn’t its abysmal ratings as much as it is traction. Sure, the Qatar-owned cable news network has abysmal ratings, but so do MSNBC and CNN. Ratings, though, are a secondary concern for news outlets. What these left-wing outlets really crave is the ability to have an impact on the national political conversation.

As loathsome and unpopular as  both are, CNN and MSNBC still have an impact on the national political conversation. AJA does not. It’s like the network doesn’t exist. Stories and narratives the network broadcasts and writes about just sit there. Nothing’s gone viral. Nothing’s impacted anything.

Al Jazeera finally made some headlines this week. But not for a good reason. AJA’s sister network, Al Jazeera Arabic, published an article on its website suggesting that the recent beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were faked.

The Huffington Post:

The article reportedly claimed that the clip of Foley’s execution had likely been created by the journalist himself.

“Foley was playing the role of champion not the victim only, for he recites a lengthy statement in peerless theatrical performance, and it seems from tracking the movement of his eyes that he was reading a text from an autocue,” the article read, per Al Arabiya, adding that the masked executioner “did not have the features of common jihadist figures, but he was rather similar to a Hollywood actor.”

Al Jazeera has retracted the story.

Everyday Americans don’t know, don’t care, and don’t want to hear about the differences between AJ America and AJ America. All they see is “Al Jazeera” and the insanity.

John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC