Al Jazeera Canadian Bureau?

As Al Jazeera English pushes for a presence on North American cable, when applying to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission) for access to Canadian cable companies, the IB has said it would open a news bureau in Canada. This would be "the first, and only, international news channel to have a bureau in Canada. Not only would this bring increased coverage to Canada, but would also bring Canadian news to an international audience."

By making their 70th bureau in Canada, Al Jazeera can continue to brag about its commitment to extend the borders of world wide news coverage.

not just about slant, but about access

While many international broadcasters are often criticized in North America as providing politically slanted content, in crises such as Gaza, the SF Gate reported about the differences in access journalists have during conflicts:

"some network reporters locked out of Gaza did use material from other sources.
Footage from a Jan. 6 NBC News story on an overwhelmed Gaza hospital - complete
with images of wounded children - was from a photojournalist inside Gaza the
network hired, anchor Brian Williams told audiences. And a Jan. 9 ABC News report
on children killed during the war used footage credited to Ramattan, a Palestinian
news outlet based in Gaza."

However, although synergy is happening between journalists/photographers/videographers from all different newscasts, North American broadcasts often do not mention where they get the images and do not fully disclose particular information about the scenes:

"But that ABC story noted that 257 children had been killed - it didn't divide the
number by the number of Israelis or Palestinians. Dajani and other analysts say that
sort of vague reporting gives the impression that losses on both sides of the war
were equal."

Two observations of these happenings is that, one, due to diminishing bureau budgets, synergy between journalists seems more and more logical. While this fact seems benign, in light of the fact that there are very few Arab based broadcasters on television, what other information comes from these sources but is turned into something altogether different by their North American counter parts? Does this synergy provide cheaper content to North American broadcasters? What economic factors are determining the rejection of IBs such as Al Jazeera from getting an American cable contract?

Russia Today thinks Malthus' predictions may be a little off

In her article, "Abortions - New Russian Threat," Madina Kochenov reports about a potential demographic crisis due to increasing numbers of Russian women terminating their pregnancies. The explanation - economic turmoil.  Kochenov writes,

Women blame the government. Complaints are flooding dozens of internet sites. Last year the government ran a special campaign to increase the number of young families in Russia, promising bonuses to young families who had a child. But as the economic crisis bites many women now feel they have been left behind in their condition. Salaries are decreasing unlike the rate of unemployment. Women say all that is making pregnancy a loss rather than a profit.

This story is a stellar example of how RT's is both succeeding and failing in achieving its goal of presenting a more complex portrayal of Russia that challenges western stereotypes.  Looking at this story from a half full glass, this article offers a glimpse into the complicated lives of Russian women.  It raises questions regarding women's reproductive health and rights.  It would be easy for RT to ignore women's issues during a recession, but RT chooses to expand the conversation. By discussing abortion in terms of the economics of family planning, RT demonstrates a willingness to talk about abortion without playing to either side of a heavily polarized audience (something that many in the West have failed to do).  After reading this article a few times, I get the impression that RT is not trying to hide any facts or information.

Yet, my pessimism renews when I re-read the title.  To who or what is abortion a threat to? Mother Russia?  By framing this article in terms of a threat to the state and the longevity of Russian health, RT is still reminiscent of Soviet-era Pravda.  Maybe I am reading too much into this as the title was a way to attract western attention since abortion is a hot-button issue. Maybe my pessimism is tied to the article's lack of analysis concerning the implications of these demographic changes.  Regardless, if RT wants to strive towards doing a better job, it needs to eschew sensationalist headlines for a more subdued tone.  It needs to frame it's stories in light of economic and/or political data instead of quoting a message board.  The quality must improve in order to advance the cause.  

Another Persian Language International Broadcaster

Press TV reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered Iran a joint media satellite.

“The Afghan president called for the development of cooperation between the two countries' media to exchange experiences.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tajikistan's Emomali Rahmon, and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai are said to join on March 21st in a meeting of “Persian speaking countries.” The three countries are said to be working on the launch of a television channel dedicated to the broadcast of programs in Persian, “providing an authentic source of information for all interested in the culture.”

“One of the most important duties of the independent regional media is to confront western media for censoring real news in eastern countries" explained head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ezzatollah Zarghami.

The three also agreed to "increase reciprocal economic, security, and political ties, and to further discuss the creation of a Persian-speaking union."

Not so subtle: Iran's International Urban Film Festival to Screen TWENTY Katrina films

Press TV is reporting that Iran's third International Urban Film Festival, which runs from March 2 to March 7, will include 20 films on Hurricane Katrina, including Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, Ashley Hunt's I Won't Drown on the Levees and "controversial filmmaker Scott Ritter's Bush Crimes: Hurricane Katrina, which is about the Bush Crimes Commission Hearings and the testimony by experts on the abandonment of New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina."

We all know that Hurricane Katrina was not a high-point for America's image abroad (also, see here), but 20 films on how bad the Bush administration goofed up seems a bit, I don't know, obsessive? Also, very depressing.

I like to take moments like this and think about what would happen if the reverse were to take place. What if an American film festival decided to showcase 20 or so documentaries on how, according to the UN, Iran is the "sixth most disaster-prone country in the world," and that, "for the past 10 years, an average of 4,000 people have been killed and 55,000 affected annually by disaster?" Ouch. Now that I think about it, maybe there should be a few films produced on how there is the equivalent of a humanitarian 9/11 in Iran every year and nobody is really talking about it. Given Javad Shamaqdari's (Special Adviser to President Ahmadinejad) recent demand for an apology for the way films like 300 (where "Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil") and The Wrestler (where Mickey Rourke battles another wrestler named--also not so subtly--The Ayatollah) are "insulting to Iranians," I can only imagine the outcry that would take place if American filmmakers shined their collective spotlights on humanitarian failures of the Iranian government.

Russia Today as Cultural Diplomacy (aka Adventures in Bingerle)

Daily RT posts a new interesting fact about Russian culture or history in it's Russia Now section.  This comes from the March 3rd entry about Emperor Alexander II: 

I believe I have shown you, by coming to see you twice, despite your sulking... you know perfectly well what the only reason for it is and you cannot dare to doubt the being who belongs to you body and soul and who only breathes through you," one letter from Alexander reads. 

"I saw in your eyes that you wanted to throw yourself on me to forget everything and enjoy our 'bingerle'," he continues, using the word ‘bingerle’ as their secret code for ‘love making.'

This quote comes from RT's brief bio of Alexander II, aka “the Liberator” of the Russian Empire, who came to power on March 3 1855.  While I do not question the importance/relevance of 'the Liberator's proclivity to bingerle, it is interesting that RT chooses to use its limited space (three paragraphs at most) to recite snippets of one of Alexander's love letters to his mistress.  RT's Russia Now section is designed to pique foreigner's interest in Russia.  This is certainly one way to do so.

Russia Now also includes links to information about Russian history, geography, cuisine, literature, nightlife and travel.  The expanding database of all things Russia is testament to RT's long-term goal of educating foreign publics about Russia past and present.  Some of my favorite posts include:

• The official RT top ten list of Russian vodkas.
• An amazing collection of Russian literature.  Many great works of Russian literature, from authors such as Dostoevsky and Chekhov, are available in full-text and translated in English.
• And last but certainly not least.  The first sentence from the sections' overview, "A vast snow-clad country, the native land of vodka, bears and the KGB: myths about Russia seem to be an integral part of its image."  At least they identify some of the major stereotypes placed on Russians.

Al Manar Reacts to John Kerry

There was quite a lot of coverage of the United States across all forms of Al Manar’s media over the past two weeks in response to John Kerry’s visits to Lebanon and Syria and his request that Syria help disarm Hezbollah. In response to this perceived attack on Hezbollah, Al Manar carried stories about U.S. interference in Lebanon’s political affairs on television and in both the Arabic and English websites.

Al Manar TV ran an interview with Hezbollah MP Husayn Al-Hajj Hasan on February 20th where Hasan said that John Kerry’s recent trip to Lebanon was a violation of sovereignty. The interview addressed Kerry’s meeting with Syrian officials where he asked that Syria help to disarm Hezbollah, of which Hasan said:

“What is noteworthy in this issue is that the Americans have asked for a Syrian interference in Lebanon, while those who falsely allege to be concerned with sovereignty, freedom, and independence in Lebanon have not denounced the US demand of a Syrian interference in Lebanon. Why? Because it seems that this demand suits the US and Israeli interests, and no one of them can harm the US and Israeli interests regardless of the Syrian response, which was clear that Syria does not accept this, and is not a tool for the US policies."

A similar story was featured on Al Manar’s Arabic website February 24th, where Al Manar interviewed Vice-president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan who blamed the lack of consensus on a budget for the Council for South Lebanon on the inference of the American embassy. Qabalan accused the U.S. of trying to interfere in every Lebanese detail, obstructing all political and diplomatic values and norms, saying:

"They are interested in knowing all details, they want to know even the salaries paid to the martyrs' families as well as to the former detainees and wounded people.”

Al Manar’s English website ran comparable stories, including a story on February 20th where Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Shaykh Na'im Qasim called for the U.S. to stop interfering in Lebanese elections, saying:

"We want the US to stop interfering in our elections, to stop supporting the criminal Zionists, to stop conspiring against our country and people, and to stop all the crimes it commits with its policies and positions.”

Al Manar English complimented these stories about American interference in Lebanese affairs with op-ed pieces about American weakness from Western voices: an article warning the U.S. not to treat Afghanistan like Iraq by Irish journalist Patrick Cockburn and an article arguing that the U.S economy is designed to fail by U.S. federal government analyst Richard C. Cook.

BBC Arabia or Al Jazeera?

Who will the US cable news watching audience see first: BBC Arabia or Al Jazeera?

In Rania Habib's (Kipp Report) interview of Hosam El Sokkari (BBC's head of Arabic services), there is mention of a deal "in the US with a cable company to offer BBC Arabic on cable there. BBC Arabic is not available on the current satellite provision there, although ART has started broadcasting a one-hour daily in the US, in anticipation of launching our 24-hour service on cable." ART (Arab Radio and Television) America is distributed on the EchoStar platform by International Media Distribution (Hagey).

Similar to Al Jazeera, BBC Arabia has had their share of controversy, most significantly when the BBC aired an episode of Panorama critical of the Saudi Arabian government, BBC Arabia's funders at the time, causing the entire broadcast to be canceled after just two years (Habib). El Sokkari had a brief stint at Al Jazeera, the network that the core of BBC Arabia staff went to work for in 1996 (Seib, 2005:601).

However, there seems to be a not-so-subtle explanation of how BBC Arabia is different from its (toughest) competitor:

"One of our key differentiators is that we don’t consider ourselves as party to the events;
we do not make the news. We do not have views, we report views. Our success lies in our
ability to take a distance and make it possible for various parties to express themselves
the way they want, and in our ability to bring detailed facts and comprehensive views."

This comment is both very BBC-esque in its effort to promote 'objective journalism'. However, it clearly indicates its recognition of the problems concerning their competitor's 'objectivity', agenda-setting or side-taking.

With this in mind, as BBC Arabia regains prominence in IB, is it this distancing that makes North American cable companies more keen on making a deal?

PressTV Viewers have Suprising Opinions and Surprising Nationalities.

In this week's PressTV.com "Quick Vote" visitors are asked the following;

QUICK VOTE

What will be the most likely scenario for the aftermath of the US economic crisis?
It will lead to the collapse of capitalism The capitalistic system will modify itself and survive the crisis Obama will defuse the crisis without any major modifications in the capitalistic system
	Results

The results are interesting in that the majority of respondents feel that it will lead to the collapse of capitalism though a close second goes to those who believe the system will adjust and survive.

Results
It will lead to the collapse of capitalism (46%)
The capitalistic system will modify itself and survive the crisis (41%)
Obama will defuse the crisis without any major modifications in the capitalistic system (13%)

What makes this poll even more interesting is looking at who these respondents are. I referred to Alexa which tracks website traffic to see who PressTV's audience is. According to Alexa..

Presstv.com users come from these countries:

United States22.0%

Iran21.0%

United Kingdom14.6%

Canada10.2%

Indonesia7.5%

Switzerland6.7%

South Africa2.0%

Trinidad and Tobago1.8%

Norway1.6%

Cyprus1.3%

India1.2%

Netherlands0.8%

Bulgaria0.8%

Poland0.7%

Australia0.7%

Turkey0.7%

United Arab Emirates0.6%

Other countries5.7%

Regardless of their largely UK-oriented programming, the Brit's aren't their largest audience.. the United States is, with Iran coming in at a close 2nd. It looks as if Press TV has both a domestic and international audience. In looking at past poles, such as the one a few weeks ago which stated that 78% of Press TV poll respondents (15,575 respondents) felt that Israel threatens stability and security in the volatile Middle East. Only 15% of the respondents to the poll said that Iran is the main source of concern for the stability of the region, while a mere 3% said Egypt should be feared, and another 3 percent believed none of the choices threatened the stability of the region. Knowing the large US following, it puts a different spin on those numbers.

CIA Stories

In the last few days, Telesur has run a number of stories about alleged CIA interference with at least three Latin American countries. Starting Wednesday, Telesur had extensive coverage of a diplomatic row that erupted between the U.S. and Argentina after CIA director Leon Panetta warned in a speech that, “Argentina, Ecuador, and Venezuela are in dire economic straits and could be destabilized by the global economic crisis”.

Argentina summoned its U.S. ambassador demanding an explanation and apparently received an apology by phone from Panetta, although the apology has so far only been reported by Spanish language news sites. Interestingly, Telesur has focused less on the Venezuelan government’s own response to the comments: a story appeared quietly on the website about Chavez demanding an apology from Obama for the comments, but the Argentinian response has gotten a lot more attention.

On Thursday, Telesur ran a story about alleged CIA infiltration of the Bolivian state oil company (YPFB). The headline was “Morales Denounces CIA Actions Against Progressive Governments,” and included complaints from the Bolivian president about “covert CIA operations” in the scandal-plagued Bolivian state oil company.

Friday, Telesur ran an exclusive interview with Ecuador’s security minister, Miguel Carvajal, who claimed a recent investigation uncovered evidence of CIA payments to informants within Ecuadorian state agencies, including agencies involved in “operations against transnational organized crime and drugdealing.” Carvajal called the CIA’s involvement “unacceptable”.

The stories draw on a legacy of covert CIA operations in South America, especially during the 1970’s, which has instilled permanent suspicions about the agency among a lot of Latin Americans. American interference with Latin America, and particularly with Venezuela, has been an ongoing theme on Telesur.

Putin Checks In

Via Kim Andrew Elliott (emphasis added):

Putin (briefly) visits RIA-Novosti and Russia Today. "Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday. ... RIA Novosti Editor-in-Chief Svetlana Mironyuk gave Putin a guided tour of the agency's two-floor multimedia newsroom, the only one of its kind in Russia, which was inaugurated in January 2008. ... The concept behind the newsroom is to help the department's 300 journalists and editors improve their efficiency through prompt exchange of information, better planning and tight coordination. ... RIA Novosti's main website www.rian.ru and foreign-language news portals have more than 5.5 million visitors per month. Putin also visited the offices of the English-language newspaper The Moscow News and Russia's first 24-hour English-language news channel, Russia Today, located in the same building." RIA Novosti, 24 February 2009. 

"Reaction among the staff to Putin's entrance ranged from big smiles to rabbit-in-the-headlights paralysis. No one dared to step forward and press the flesh with him, perhaps sensing that the brief description given by [RIA Novosti's editor-in-chief Svetlana] Mironyuk of the newspaper's work was all he had time for." The Moscow News, 26 November 2009.

Here is how RT covered the event, start at the 30 second mark: 

A few comments.

• It is interesting to note that RT was "inspired" by Putin.  
  
• What was Putin looking at?  It appears that he is getting a tour of RT's YouTube page.  Did RT care what they were filming when he was there?  
• What is the story?  RT does not explain why Putin decided to drop by.  I will try and find a better answer for that question.

London's PressTV?

In watching the PressTV programming, I notice more and more of the shows are not only based in London but focus on British issues. One program called "Comment" is hosted by British MP George Galloway and allows viewers to email and call into the show and pretty much talk about whatever they want. Viewers comment from Spain, the UK, Nigeria, Cyprus and other corners of the world. One caller brought up the torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Binyam Mohamed. Galloway criticized Britain for its role in the situation. The show had its fair share of Israel criticism as is common on PressTV, but one viewer email from Nigeria stated that its author was glad to see Netanyahu elected but stated that Palestinians should have a state and that Israel needs to stop the indiscriminant killing of Palestinians "because it's better than that." Galloway replied that Israeli’s have overwhelmingly chosen war by electing Netanyahu. Which is not exactly true because Livni actually won the popular vote. Anyway, the program that followed dedicated its entire 50 minutes to Britain's laws regarding the custody of children in divorce. The show took to the streets of London interviewing Brits about how they felt about these laws. Clearly this means PressTV is catering to a largely British audience. I find myself wondering how this program topic furthers Iran's mission with PressTV. On that note, let's look at this clip from PressTV's "Comment" in which Galloway defends an email accusation that Iran is a dictatorship. Maybe this is Iran's mission with PressTV...

Convergence facilitates global perspective

Amongst the plethora of reports about Al Jazeera English's new campaign to engage North American viewers to petition cable companies to carry their broadcast, the Denver WestWord's blog posted a story about their Denver news anchor Gabriel Elizondo who left to work for Al Jazeera international.

In the post, Elizondo comments that, when covering the Democratic National Convention (in Denver) for AJ, there were "police snipers on top of the buildings, [and] undercover cops around me", says the reporter.

On the other hand, UK newspaper, The Independent, is taking a completely different approach, having just signed a deal with Al Jazeera English to begin posting the broadcast on the paper's website. The Independent's editor of digital, Jimmy Leach, says, "showing Al Jazeera videos was a great way of delivering a global perspective both to The Independent’s UK-based users and to its growing audience overseas." He adds that Al Jazeera [will] enable The Independent to bring a different world-view to its audience and its broad-minded approach to interpreting world opinion would sit perfectly with Independent readers.

I'm willing to bet there are not very many Independent readers in Denver.

Telesur's Agenda

Telesur’s coverage over the last couple of days is a good example of the kind of agenda-setting the network’s trying to do. For starters, Telesur has chosen not to cover the Academy Awards at all. The top story over the last few days has been a wiretapping scandal in Colombia which has gotten very little coverage so far on other networks, including major Latin American newspapers.

The scandal is about agents of the DAS (Colombian intelligence service) who allegedly wiretapped journalists, Supreme court judges and members of the political opposition. There have been contradictory claims that Colombian drug lords were behind the operation or that Uribe’s Colombian government itself was responsible.

Telesur’s coverage includes an accusation that the U.S. provided the surveillance equipment used, which hasn’t been reported elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Chavez government has just announced that it will be supporting a search for a Colombian presidential candidate in 2010 who shares the Venezuelan government’s ideological approach.

So Telesur’s heavily reporting a scandal that could damage the Colombian president, while the Venezuelan government looks for a candidate to oppose Uribe in 2010. That seems to be both agenda-setting in Telesur’s choice of stories as well as news coverage with a pretty clear agenda.

All you need to know.... PressTV

Apparently PressTV feels that Obama picked an anti-Iran man for Iran post. Veteran US diplomat's Dennis Ross was appointed as special advisor on the Persian Gulf and southwest Asia.

"In light of its supposed "policy U-turn" toward Iran, the Obama administration has managed to raise eyebrows by giving the post to Ross as he seeks a tough anti-Iran approach.In the heat of the presidential race, Ross co-chaired a group called United Against Nuclear Iran -- an organization working to 'stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons'."

Ross also supported further sanctions against the country for its nuclear program.

"The report by think tanks [is] believed to be an integral part of the so-called Israel Lobby in the US. 'Only if Israeli policymakers believe that US and European policymakers will ensure that the Islamic Republic does not gain nuclear weapons will the Israelis be unlikely to strike Iran independently,' added the report."

Among the reader comments, most of which were angry and not constructive, "Morteza" showed what seemed to sum up the reader sentiment:

"As this person is a zionist and his loyality is first to the zionist entity, there will be no good coming out of meeting with him. The Supreme Leader should publicly ban our gov to deal with him and openly say to the whole world that he is a zionist terrorist and Irn welcomes talking to USA but not with this man."

In other important PressTV news.... a riveting story about nail care hits the pages of PressTV.

"If the eyes are the windows to the soul, the nails hold clues to one's health and even personality."

Seems even PressTV wants to show its readers that it is one-stop shopping for everything you need to know: Updates about Iran's nuclear program and how to grow strong, healthy nails.

Is that my iPod or Russia Today?

Last week, Russia Today unveiled its new website, and it looks a lot like the home screen of my iPod Touch. Take a look (or visit the website):


Clearly, they are appealing to a younger audience. The content continues to be, well, a little fishy (See Noah's previous posts here and here). Moreover, according to alexa.com, not a lot of people are visiting the website, and more importantly, the new design hasn't generated any new traffic either (click on the data below to enlarge). Also of note is the decreased number of page views/user: the 1 week average is 1.9 pages/user, lower than the 2.41 pages/user 3 month average. Since the new format is just over a week old, I'd say that so far it is scaring more people away than drawing people in.

Al Manar's Online Audience

Al Manar’s television programming has either been banned or has simply not been made available in many nations so the website if the primary medium for many in Europe and the Americas. The site offers content in English, French and Arabic.

According to Quantcast, which provides statistics on Americans’ online activity, only about 7,000 Americans access Almanar.com.lb each month. These site visitors are primarily young and male. For more insights into Al Manar’s audience, I reviewed several features on the website which provide for audience engagement.

POLLS


For the past two weeks the poll question on Al Manar has been, “Do you see the Zionist public’ inclination to the right as an expression of fear following the outcome of the Lebanon and Gaza wars?” Of the nearly 10,000 participants in the poll, over 90% responded in the affirmative.





AUDIENCE COMMENTS

Al Manar allows website visitors to comment on news articles, asking that they provide their name and country of origin. Al Manar lists the most read and most commented news. Even for the stories included in the most commented news group, there are only several visitor comments, but the few comments are highly vehement. For example, in response to the article I mentioned in a previous post, “Jesus Abused by Spiteful Isrealis, Hezbollah Condemns,” one reader from Pakistan responded with “I am not surprised at all. Zionists do not have any religion, they do not have any God, they don’t have any prophet. Their God is Money.” This comment is reflective of most comments. The other typical component in audience comments is quotations from religious scripture. Those who post are both from Western nations such as the US, UK and Belgium as well as Middle Eastern and North African nations such as Pakistan and Algeria. A sample audience post is provided below.

No Cable, No Mobile

Al Jazeera is now pushing their mobile service updates, where you can be continually texted or sent Al Jazzera's coverage or watch mobile Al Jazeera TV on your cell phone. However, like the lack of availability of Al Jazeera on North American cable television, no cell phone company in North America provides Al Jazeera's mobile service either.

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."

Coverage of Germany's Schroeder in Iran

This week former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was in Iran for a four day visit. During his visit he met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and IRI's parliament speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran. 

The IRINN coverage of the meeting between Ahmadinejad and Schroeder was a positive one. The IRINN said that Schroeder emphasized Iran's importance to the region [Middle East] and that Europe and Iran should work well together. Furthermore, there was an emphasis on the need for energy and solving the current global problems.  This story was also covered by the IRIB, another Iranian news agency. 

The IRIB covered the meeting between Schroeder and Larijani, and it was affirmative of Iran as well, "Schroeder lauds IRI's positive role in the region." The report goes on to say, "Former German chancellor, for his part, called Iran an important and influential country in the regional and international equations adding, 'if we would not appreciate Iran's role in Afghanistan it would not be fair.' Gehrard Schroeder also said Iran's huge energy capacities can provide ripe grounds for development of trade ties with the European Union."

The meeting was described differently in a report by Reuters, however. The report said: "'The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime,' Schroeder told the Iranian Chamber of Commerce. 'Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power.'"

The Reuters report goes on to say that "the head of Iran's Chamber of Industry and Commerce Mohammad Nahavandian said it would be wrong to 'measure the developments in the Middle East with two yardsticks. We shouldn't forget the recent massacre of people in the Gaza strip and should internationally condemn Israel for it.'"

Also, China View reported that Schroeder called for talks between the U.S. and Iran. He is quoted as saying, "'We need dialogue at the highest possible levels' to resolve the discords between Iran and the United States.'"  

Clearly, the coverage by Iranian broadcasters IRINN and IRIB excluded Schroeder's criticism of Iran and any recommendations regarding U.S.-Iran relations. Also, the Reuters report did not discuss any of the positive exchanges that took place in the meetings, particularly the emphasis on trade cooperation between the EU and Iran. It is more important however, to note the lack of self-critical reporting by IRINN or IRIB, since both are the central news broadcasters of Iran. This lack of self-criticism is evident in regards to the nuclear issue as well.