What the News is Really Like

CNN paid glancing attention to the Burma story Saturday morning, Fox was running its biz block, and MSNBC seemed to obsess on the little girl story. To see what was happening on the Burma story, Americans had these options:

BBC World -- excellent coverage, but a limited Internet presence which I tried and found absolutely frustrating (culminating in a Real spokesperson saying that it really wasn't designed to work with Mac).

France-24 -- every time I've sampled it, it seems briefer than Headline News, Press-TV--Iran's state-sponsored answer to CNN.

Al Jazeera English -- which, when I turned it on, had a remarkable half-hour documentary on Darfur, followed by an hour of news the first ten minutes of which focused on Burma (including a report by an AJE correspondent in the Burmese capital with plenty of video), followed by the explosion in Kabul, the lawyer demonstration against Musharraf in Pakistan, followed by a balanced view of the Iranian President's visit to the Americas (including something you rarely see here, comments from domestic Iranian opposition, not the Ghorbanifar crowd of exiles yearning to play the Chalabi role in the forthcoming war), and a long piece on the upcoming Ki ev election.

CNN appears determined to make its international feed unobtainable in this country. But that 90 minutes of AJE was like watching real news; I'll need some time to recover.

Comments

[backhandpath]

Latest from Burma...
http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/

[dadw5boys]

We don't care what the news it REALLY LIKE.
We just want the REAL NEWS.

[einsteinradio]

I can confirm that SKY in the UK shows FOX News (minus the adverts), France 24, Al-Jazeera, BBC News 24, Russia News Channel and India News Channel along with with CNBC.

Burma along with Zimbabwe has been featured heavily on both BBC and ITV, taking up to 50% of the main nightly news programmes, infact we sometimes get more news on what is happening outside of the UK than within the UK, but it's all done on what is regarded as important instead of any geographical issue.

[mamacat]

I like to have news delivered to my internet daily from the New York Times, Der Spiegel, and the Daily Globe of Canada, with occasional news from the London Times and from the United Arab Emirates. The contrast with what is reported on most of the American news feeds is like night and day. The Spanish Language news on TV used to be quite reliable, until it got bought out by Americans after 9/11.

[backhandpath]

Latest on Burma...
http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/
http://www.zinmedia.net/
http://mizzima.com/mizzimanews/

[shockmagog]

With Charter Basic Cable here in Southern California, we get Deutsche Welle TV (for some odd reason). I find myself stopping on that channel quite frequently. My choices are limited.

I am thinking of blocking CNN, Headline News, Fox News, and MSNBC to cut down on the time it takes to scroll through the channels.

[barriosbabe]

Does the U.S. tracks who subscribes to al-j? Or is that being way too moonbat leftie paranoid.

===

Sometimes at night I go out on my front porch and look around the urban landscape. Every window has the eerie glow of lying, distorting, mind-numbing tee vee (I guestimate a good 90% of my neighbors are watching crap.) So sad. Think of all the kids being brain washed early!

[villastrangiato]

I wouldn't be so quick to label anyone paranoid over concerns that they could wind up on some loser's craplist. All the major news networks have spun Al Jazeera as a "terrorist network" with links to Osama Bin Laden and the rest of the anti western boogeymen. If Rupert were selling you Al Jazeera satellite access (not sure if he still owns controlling interest in Direct TV), would it really surprise you to find out that your name should suddenly appear in an FBI or NSA database listing you as a potential terrorist threat? After all, Al Jazeera IS THE "terra rist network"....

[backhandpath]

The Terrorists Watch List, as of yesterday, had approx 750,000 names on it, with allegedly 20,000 added per month.
Your name will remain there for at least 15 years with or without additional input.
Yes, I think it is probably procedure for anyone registering with AJ to be recorded. Whether you make it to the TWL is irrelevant given that most of these DHLS data bases are open to private contractors and law enforcement (and whoever) agencies nationwide.
It was the German people's misunderstanding that they were a functioning democracy that allowed Hitler to do what he did to take power with his militias.

We need to attack every attempt that requires our identification like the National ID.

Everyone must read closely the "Privacy Agreements" that they sign online when they click that little box at the bottom of a comments section or letter to the editor or email newsletter or for anything.
Especially if you are signing up for internet service and/or cell phone service.

Get ready folks.

[jayind]

Nice to read comments on Al Jazeera English. As someone who's tracked the network since late 90s, some clarifications:

It is owned by the Emir of Qatar (NOT Dubai, NOT UAE). He is liberal in contrast to his neighbors, his channel manages to annoy rulers from Egypt to Saudi Arabia and has spent billions building bases for the US to move from Saudi Arabia.

The Arabic channel has beamed down on US since the 90s for subscription from DishTV before _and after_ 9/11 UNINTERRUPTED.

There are no reports of the US govt directly censoring Al Jazeera, neither the satellite channel, its web streaming nor its US hosted websites. Just as that speaks a lot (depending on your perspective) about legal free speech and US intimacy with its owner (screening rights to bin laden videos?), so do reports post-9/11 that some ISPs cut off Al Jazeera website on the flimsiest grounds.

It is the fecklessness and cowardice of the corporate owners of US media (and ISPs) that crawl when hinted to bend, not our constitution and the laws that have done us in.

[Madampotential]

I was also shocked to see how infomative and objective Al Jezeera English was.

It is not all about journalist pretending to have a personality, make fake conversation with one another and give their opinion on the story.

Opinion journalism is fine sometimes but who really cares what Rick Sanchez or Cuntessa Brewer thinks? American journalist are so unprofessional b/c they are encouraged to be. Why can't we get Al Jazeera on cable? ... htey would have much higher ratings than CNN.

[BJBirdie]

Sorry for the use of caps, but I have to correct some misinformation:

CNN INTERNATIONAL IS AVAILABLE ON US CABLE

In fact, I'm watching it right now. It's on (at least) TimeWarner digital cable. It's much better than American cable news stations in that it actually covers news, but it's still not as good as BBC World (which is available on some cable systems but not - coincidentally - TimeWarner).

[Jane22]

Also, I have no financial interest in this company. Illumination Arts Publishing (Bellvue, WA). I met the owners at a book event for Laura Flanders book Blue Grit at Eliot Bay Books. They presented her with two of them. Sorry Off topic! But on the other hand this is part of informing children to grow up to be able to feel good about themselves, think for themselves, and not be sacrificed at the alters of worship! Ya know, the House of Fox and CNN or go shopping when people are being killed so the rich can have more servants to make the MONEY! Peace, Jane

[Not Blind]

Fox, CNN, Katie Couric (CBS) and others have become spin doctors and spokespersons for the administration. None does journalism justice. I gave up looking to our networks for real and true information about what is happening. I have for years read LeMonde, BBC and other foreign papers (on line). The networks here do not begin to cover worthwhile news, and what they do present is so skewed, it's repulsive.
Last summer I was in Egypt & Jordan, and tuned into AlJazeera's English news channel. I was very impressed with their integrity, factual reporting and level of coverage: news about the world, not just the Middle East. Since coming home, knowing we can't get it on TV, I read their on-line paper daily. It's way better than anything we have here.

[Jane22]

I have not had Cable TV in over 3 years, but recently installed it for the broadband. I have been listening to Air America AM1090/Seattle for 4 years. I'm also a junkie also for Democracy Now. It is one of the best stations in the AA network.While I have seen a few good programs on TV, I find myself not bothering most often. The Al Jazerra web is good. I don't see how most can even buy the drivel these MSM folks are putting out. Never once did I not see through Bush et al. We in the PEACE movement knpw all. It is spiritual. You can not fool those who choose to see and know.
Some good expose DVD's I have seen are Iraq for Sale (Robert Greenwald), The Power of Nightmares (Adam CurtisBBC Archive.org), 9/11 Mysteries, Part 1 Demolitions(9/11 Mysteries.com). I also read The Nation, the Progressive, Mother Jones. When one can read between the lines, the MSM is exposed.
The shock/jolt of getting cable after all this time is really pronounced for me. To me nothing has changed! It's the money running roughshod over the Earth as someone above this comment said. The fear that drives some is shocking! Thanks for the info. I'll look into it. My gift to you is a site to obtain beautiful books to help our starving chilren find self-esteem. Maybe if we feed their spirits they won't need the healthcare so badly! www.illumin.com !!!!!! SPREAD THE WORD. THANKS all and Mr. Shearer. Peace, Jane

[Noelle]

We no longer have a free press in this country. We have corporate and government propaganda, period.

I thought this was a new phenomenon, but it's not. I just watched a documentary last night called "The Panama Deception". It was quite illuminating. While we illegally invaded another country, took over it's government and killed it's people by the thousands, it didn't get much play here in the US. In fact the documentary played clips from the networks, NBC and ABC and it was about as far from reality as one could get, keeping Americans almost completely in the dark about what was happening.

Another must watch is "Control Room".

It's not the job of the MSM to make you smarter anymore. It's their collective mission to dumb you down. They are on the front lines of the Orwellian War this government and it's corporate sponsors have waged on us. But what are they to do when Exxon, BP, Lockheed Martin and the like pay their salaries through advertising and your owned by major corporations like GE?

The CBC and BBC is a little better but are still censored on some topics. I like Link TV. It brings newscasts from all over the world to your screen. It has NO corporate or government financing, the way it should be. There is also a new "online" news channel called "The Real News". So far they have done the most in-depth coverage of current events that I have seen.

[villastrangiato]

Ok Harry, since you asked......
Several articles I've read state that Rupert was raised as a jew -a situation heavily influenced by his mother. Apparently, his mother was born into a prominent jewish family but for whatever reason Rupert refuses to acknowledge his roots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(senior)

However, Rupert never seemed to have a problem identifying with zionists and their causes. Of this phenomenon, there are a substantial number of reports and articles. To me, it doesn't matter if he acknowledges a kinship or favor to zionism - the actions speak for themselves. None of the three men I mentioned appear to be very religious - Sumner probably being the most. The issue is the apparent affinity for zionism and zionistic causes and how that influences their media business.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27c/345.html

-"No pro-Israel lobbyist ever dreamed of having such power over a great national newspaper. They didn"t need to. Murdoch"s executives were so scared of irritating him that, when I pulled off a little scoop by tracking, interviewing and photographing the unit in the Israeli army which killed Mohammed al-Durrah, the 12-year-old boy whose death was captured on film and became the iconic image of the conflict, I was asked to file the piece without mentioning the dead kid.

After that conversation, I was left wordless, so I quit."

As for Sumner - his background can be found here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumner_Redstone

HARRY RESPONDS: Re: Rupert, you're skating on very thin ice here. Your citation at Wikipedia reads, in relevant portions:
"Her parents loved Jews and she wanted to convert to Judaism - eventually she decided to stick to the lower profile Zionist flag.

Murdoch was born Elisabeth Joy Greene in Melbourne to an Irish Protestant father and an upper-class English mother."
Obviously, the work of two different contributors, the former full of unattributed descriptions (how does one know whom her parents "loved"?, what's lower profile about the "Zionist flag"?), the latter a recitation of apparent facts.
The second citation: Rupert may well have investments in Israel, or other reasons for being overly sympathetic to the Likud position that, like Pat Robertson's similar tilt, have nothing to do with being Jewish.
The Redstone citation seems at least plausibly accurate.
But this argument always fails at the door of places like Time Warner and NBC, as well as NewsCorp.

[villastrangiato]

Harry,

If it walks like a duck, floats like a duck, and quacks like a duck - but insists it's a seagull - I'm not going to go through its entire family tree to find the duck gene - it's a freakin duck!! LOL..... Whatever the reason Rupert (named after his maternal grandfather - Rupert Greene of whom no one seems to know anything other than his "irish protestant" beliefs) identifies heavily with zionism - consistant with his upbringing.

And yes, notice I didn't mention NBC which for sometime has been controlled by GE. I never said all western media had zionistic tendencies or sympathies.
HARRY RESPONDS: Bottom line, you made a factual claim about Rupert Murdoch which turns out, upon examing just the sources you relied upon, to be untrue.