Rieder: Can Al Jazeera America flourish?

• The news channel attracted attention for its decision to downplay the Bieber arrest
• The network%27s CEO is undeterred by reports of low ratings and thinks he%27s on the right track
• Investigative reporting is a key part of the strategy

Al Jazeera America said from the get-go that it would be a very different kind of cable news channel.

And it has followed up on that threat.

Last week, when much of the media world was going crazy over the DUI arrest of troubled pop star Justin Bieber — CNN quickly ordered up a special — Al Jazeera America settled for a few brief mentions.

AJAM, which launched in August, takes a very serious approach to news. Unlike rivals Fox and MSNBC, it stresses that it has no political point of view. There's no real estate for partisan bickering. Its diet of top national and international stories is a throwback to the story lineup on the network newscasts of decades ago. You want the latest on Syria, on the West Virginia chemical spill, on turmoil in Ukraine? This is your destination. It's a Kardashian-free zone.

The question is, will anyone watch it?

Al Jazeera America represents a fascinating laboratory for gauging whether there's an audience, or much of one, for an exclusive diet of such fare.

What's particularly interesting about the experiment is that it will play out over a period of time. It doesn't have to worry about the short term. It's in no danger of anyone pulling the plug quickly because of disappointing numbers.

That's because it's owned by the oil-wealthy government of Qatar, a Persian Gulf emirate.This is not an enterprise aimed at making money.

Early returns have not been encouraging, judging by some reports. While Nielsen declined Monday to provide numbers for the size of AJAM's audience, the New York Post reported in November that the channel was attracting just 13,000 viewers a day. That's less than half as many as its predecessor, Al Gore's Current TV, was pulling in — and no one ever accused Current TV of being a box office smash. (The network says the Post's number is wrong. Other published reports have also shown a small audience for AJAM.)

Al Jazeera America's lack of audience has become fodder for TV comics, with Jay Leno weighing in that you know you are seriously boring when people find Al Gore more entertaining than they find you.

In addition to being the new kid in town, and one committed to a no-frills, eat-your-vegetables kind of news, AJAM has the handicap of its name. To many people, Al Jazeera connotes memories of Osama bin Laden videos, never mind that the U.S. incarnation is staffed with veterans of American news operations and its strategy rests heavily on being a venue for news without spin. A Pew Research Center study found AJAM's coverage of Syria similar to its rivals'.

Earlier this month, Al Jazeera America anchor John Seigenthaler, formerly of NBC, gamely offered himself up to the torments of Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. "Who turned you?" Colbert asked. "When were you radicalized?"

Seigenthaler skillfully and good-naturedly parried Colbert's repeated jests about tie-ins between Al Jazeera America and Middle East terrorism. "We have no angle," Seigenthaler explained. "It's just the news."

Colbert shot back, "This is why your ratings are like 10,000 people a night."

Despite the jabs and the challenges, Ehab Al Shihabi, Al Jazeera America's CEO, professes confidence that he's on the right track. He says his network is very ambitious, and he's in it for the long haul.The nation's changing demographics, in his view, work in his favor.

"We can reshape the market," he says.

Al Shihabi believes AJAM's commitment to investigative reporting and in-depth coverage of national and international news is a winning one. At a time when many other outlets are cutting back on the labor-intensive and costly practice of accountability journalism, he says the network has 12 investigative reporters on board and that we will soon begin seeing the fruits of their labors. And he plans to hire more.

AJAM has 12 national bureaus and access to 70 foreign correspondents who work for other parts of the AL Jazeera news empire.

"A lot of news is moving toward entertainment," he says. "We are going completely the opposite way."

Al Jazeera America got some good news in December when Time Warner Cable added it to its cable lineup, meaning the station is now available in about 55 million homes. On Tuesday, TWC is moving the channel into a much more prominent position in the New York City market.

And AJAM plans an ad campaign to attract more attention to what it's got.

I'd love to see the channel succeed. While I'm a pop culture guy (if not a Justin Bieber guy), I'm not sure we need more outlets monitoring that world. What we do need is a place in the world of cable where people who want actual news can find it.

And it sounds like Al Jazeera America isn't going away any time soon.

"We are on the right track," Al Shihabi says, adding, "we're committed for many, many years."