It's amazing how the same events can be reported so differently from station to station. The Voice of America is on now, reporting that "Aid from the United States is flowing into Iran". In contrast, a report on either Radio Netherlands or Deutsche Welle this morning reported that a paltry two plane-loads of assistance had been sent from the US, which pales into insignificance to that donated by many other countries.
It seems to follow on quite nicely from yesterday's entry that US media outlets, in this case the VOA, fail to look critically at their own government's actions. Here the line of reporting is once again praiseworthy of the US administration's efforts.
Again it requires foreign media outlets to look into the story for meaningful coverage and for highlighting the apparently cynical actions of the US government in giving only token aid to people in need due to political relations.
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US Congress wants Al Jazeera closed
If political parties of all colours are criticising a media outlet, it's probably doing a good job. However in an article in The Straits Times of Singapore, via Media Network blog, it is revealed that "According to an article in a respected Kuwaiti newspaper, the United States Congress has secretly proposed to President George W. Bush that he should put pressure on the Qatari government to close Al-Jazeera."
In interviews I've seen in the British media of US government spokesmen, it is quite apparent that American politicians are getting far to used to the deferential reporting style of the US media. As a result, when johnny-foreigner reporter infers a criticism within the interview, the spokesperson regards it as outrageously anti-American. I'm guessing Al Jazeera's reporting has received a similar response.
That Al Jazeera is hated both by the US and Arab governments alike is surely a sign that their reporting must be pretty well on target. However are the Arabs trying to close the station down? If not, then what does the 'Leader of the Free World' think he's doing in attempting to censor one of the highest profile independent Arab media outlets? I'm personally looking forward to the commencement of Al Jazeera's English service later this year so that I can hear the wider views of Arabs, not just the voices of the region's state broadcasting outlets.
In interviews I've seen in the British media of US government spokesmen, it is quite apparent that American politicians are getting far to used to the deferential reporting style of the US media. As a result, when johnny-foreigner reporter infers a criticism within the interview, the spokesperson regards it as outrageously anti-American. I'm guessing Al Jazeera's reporting has received a similar response.
That Al Jazeera is hated both by the US and Arab governments alike is surely a sign that their reporting must be pretty well on target. However are the Arabs trying to close the station down? If not, then what does the 'Leader of the Free World' think he's doing in attempting to censor one of the highest profile independent Arab media outlets? I'm personally looking forward to the commencement of Al Jazeera's English service later this year so that I can hear the wider views of Arabs, not just the voices of the region's state broadcasting outlets.
New Year listening
Not many years ago I'd spend New Year's Eve / Day (or parts thereof) tuning into the international media available and monitoring how they were celebrating the arrival of New Year. This was a particularly big event in 2000.
It used to be good fun to contribute audio clips to the media programme Communications World, which, alas, is no longer with us. Nevertheless the tradition continues and Tom Sundstom's blog features links to the sites with the information you need to welcome in New Year around the world.
It's a nice idea and can be quite a culturally interesting experience. The journey from one timezone to the next isn't an easy one, however. If you're listening on shortwave radio you have to contend with poor reception, noise and interference on the frequencies of the stations you're trying to tune in. More recently the internet has provided a more widely accessible means of tuning in radio and TV broadcasts across the world, but this too is troubled with broken links and full streaming servers.
In some ways the struggle makes actually hearing the New Year being welcomed in half-way around the world all the more special, as if such international efforts are still early pioneering steps. Although this is no longer the case, if you don't have a tracking satellite system to cover the sky from North America to the Orient, there's still little that can be taken for granted in listening to live broadcasts from around the world.
It used to be good fun to contribute audio clips to the media programme Communications World, which, alas, is no longer with us. Nevertheless the tradition continues and Tom Sundstom's blog features links to the sites with the information you need to welcome in New Year around the world.
It's a nice idea and can be quite a culturally interesting experience. The journey from one timezone to the next isn't an easy one, however. If you're listening on shortwave radio you have to contend with poor reception, noise and interference on the frequencies of the stations you're trying to tune in. More recently the internet has provided a more widely accessible means of tuning in radio and TV broadcasts across the world, but this too is troubled with broken links and full streaming servers.
In some ways the struggle makes actually hearing the New Year being welcomed in half-way around the world all the more special, as if such international efforts are still early pioneering steps. Although this is no longer the case, if you don't have a tracking satellite system to cover the sky from North America to the Orient, there's still little that can be taken for granted in listening to live broadcasts from around the world.
Mid-term reshuffle
Given the location of this blog I've decided that it would best be used to reinforce the content on the main website where it's hosted, namely travel and world media. News and comment on these subjects will now be found here, to compliment the existing features.
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