Al Jazeera, NYSE in Talks

New York Stock Exchange officials have been meeting with representatives of Al Jazeera with an eye to restoring the Arab TV network’s access to the trading floor, NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso said Monday.

“We are in discussions with them,” Grasso said in response to a question about the exchange’s recent decision to revoke the credentials of two Al Jazeera reporters. “We are working in a collaborative [way] ... designed to return them in some way to reporting status.”

The exchange had cited space constraints in taking the action. Media watchdogs were outraged, noting that the timing of the decision -- a day after Al Jazeera was rebuked by U.S. military officials for airing Iraqi TV footage of U.S. prisoners of war and war dead -- suggested that the network was being singled out and censored.

After the NYSE’s move, the Nasdaq Stock Market also barred Al Jazeera journalists.