Al Gore’s new book, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change (Random House), came out in late January, but the chief topic every interviewer has been asking the author isn’t the future. It’s the recent past: the sale of Current Media, co-owned by Gore, to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, a sale announced in early January. And so: Al Jazeera America will replace the Current TV cable channel.
Was this sale a wise move for Gore and his business partners, interviewers want to know. It was a sound move, good business, Gore has said repeatedly. Which may be true, but it was also certainly an odd move, bordering on hypocrisy, given that the global-climate-minded Gore would do business with an oil-rich country and a news organization that many believe too fairly treats the actions of Islamic fundamentalists.
