Frost, Al Jazeera, ITV & BBC

Guardian 'Media Monkey' reported:

Frost scotches ITV/al-Jazeera rumours - with an even better rumour
'It's not easy being Sir David Frost, winner of the Harvey Lee award for outstanding
contribution to broadcasting. It's not that you haven't got any stories to tell – he's got a
million of 'em, from Nixon, to Denis Thatcher to Loyd Grossman – although he doesn't tell
many about the latter. It's just that he's probably told quite a few of them before. But he
had a brand new one today, putting to bed those rumours linking one of his current
employers, al-Jazeera, with a bid for ITV. "There have been a lot of reports that al-Jazeera
is planning a bid for ITV," said Frost, juggling his audience in the palm of his hand. "I can
assure you that there are no truth in those rumours. It's the BBC they are bidding for."'

IRINN's News Scrolls in English

I think it is interesting to note that while IRINN broadcasts in Persian, there is always a news headline scroll at the bottom of the screen running in English. This is not unusual given the fact that English is a lingua franca in many countries. In fact, there are usually  postings in both the Persian and English languages in major public places in Iran. The name of the broadcaster "IRINN" is itself written in English and it is displayed in the corner of the broadcast. On a last point, IRINN replays coverage from a diverse group of international broadcasters during segments of their program. The list of broadcasters includes: BBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya. News from other media are also referenced, such as the The Economist.

Here is a list of news headlines that have been displayed on IRINN: 

"Haaretz: West Bank settlement gets green light for massive expansion; Senator John Kerry says U.S. eager to talk to Syria; Civilian, solider gunned down in Mosul; Clinton criticizes Bush on N.Korea; Moscow again eyes Afghanistan 20 years after retreat; Hamas: dialogue, only way for internal reconciliation."

NHK World? Not so much....

Recently re-launched NHK World (of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) may want to reconsider the "World" part of its name. While we had previously speculated about what NHK World niche would be, after spending some time on their website, I'm not sure if they know either.

I assumed that NHK World would try to focus on news related to the global economy given Japan's heightened interest and strength in economic issues. Think again. There is not a single story about the Congressional Bailout, which is making headlines on all other broadcasters (even Press TV thinks this is news worthy). Nor is their a reference to the state of the global economy more broadly, something that is of heightened relevance given the continued global economic decline.

The top story listed on the homepage, and I couldn't even make this stuff up if I wanted to, is an announcement for a European conference on protectionism that will take place in March. So much for "opening a new window on the world's most exciting region, Asia" (via the press release announcing the relaunching of NHK World).

Notably lacking from the top stories is any mention of anything going on the Middle East. Nothing. News of the Israeli election results is at least among the top stories at Russia Today, AJE, Press Tv, and everywhere else I've looked. Most broadcasters also are still keeping close tabs on Gaza (like the resumption of UN aid, BBC), general Arab reactions to the Israeli elections (VOA), and the possible warming of ties between the US and Iran (Russia Today), not too mention today's attacks in Iraq (AJE). NHK World? Not interested. Even after a thorough exploration of all of the articles posted on the website (don't give me too much credit, there really aren't that many), there is little mention of the Middle East, and when there is, the stories are less informative that a Reuters newswire. There certainly is not a unique Japanese perspective offered on global events, or a window opened to Japanese culture or society. Also lacking, sans a very short story about Sudan, is NHK World's coverage of the entire African continent. This is despite today's swearing in of Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, which even the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation found interesting. Also, the website is about as high-tech as this blog (no offense intended to Blogger).


I'm not writing this to trash NHK World, or at least that wasn't my initial intent. NHK World claims to want to compete with global news giants such as CNN and the BBC, and I was thus genuinely intrigued to see what they would bring to the broadcasting table. It may be the case that the actual broadcasting is far superior to the content on the website, though that seems to beg some larger questions of NHK's understanding of today's media environment.

"Online and in Jail"

The Committee to Protect Journalists is reporting that 45 percent of journalists that were put in jail in 2008 were web-based reporters or bloggers. Let's put this another way: you are more likely to be jailed for being a journalist if you publish your reporting via the World Wide Web than any other medium. Wow. So much for hoping that the Internet could provide a cover for those trying to report the news in countries that, well, don't exactly welcome a free and independent press.

The VOA's reporting of the findings highlights the most egregious violators: "Among the countries singled out for their hostile press environments were Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, Zimbabwe and Cuba." This is especially interesting given the recent cuts in funding for American broadcasting to Russia, China's pledge to sink billions in creating English and Arabic-language international broadcasters to compete with CNN, the BBC and Al-Jazeera, Iran's recent crackdown on BBC Persian and most recently the GAO's report that found that, despite the $500 million that the US government has devoted to broadcasting radio and TV to Cuba, "Radio and TV Martí’s audience size is small, with less than 2 percent of respondents to telephone surveys since 2003 reporting that they had tuned in to Radio or TV Martí during the past week."

Thus, I'll ask again, is the Internet and its associated revolution in communication technologies actually opening up previously close societies, or is this further evidence of governments demonstrating their ability to control the flow of information despite it? 2008's crackdown on online journalism is further evidence of concern that governments are indeed winning the war over who is in control of the World Wide Web. On that note, I'm signing off!

Evidence of an effective firewall at the BBC?

Of relevance given our discussion of the BBC's different tasks last week. Would airing the appeal for aid actually impacted the credibility of BBC news, or is the BBC just being overly cautious given a history of accusations of having an anti-Israel slant in its coverage in the Middle East?

The Director General of the BBC has rebuffed a request from the Government to reconsider its decision not to broadcast a charity appeal for the aid effort in Gaza.

In a letter to Douglas Alexander sent this evening, Mark Thompson, the head of the corporation, said that even if it was possible to deliver aid to Gaza, the BBC would not transmit an appeal from the Disasters & Emergency Committee (DEC) because to do so would tarnish the broadcaster’s attempts to remain impartial in the conflict.

Mr Alexander wrote to chiefs of broadcasters this morning expressing his disappointment that no television appeal will appear, saying the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “dire”.