Journalism Glance
Over just a few days in late May, when I actively monitored Al Jazeera (although I watched it almost every evening during a month in Sri Lanka), I was treated to penetrating portraits of Eritrean and Ethiopian involvement in the Somali war, of the struggle of Niger River rebels against the Nigerian government in the oil-rich south of the country, of the floods in Bangladesh, of problems with the South African economy, of the danger that desertification poses to Bedouin life in northern Sudan, of the environmental devastation around the Aral Sea, of Sikh violence in India after an attack on a temple in Austria, of foreign Islamic fighters in the southern Philippines, of microfinancing programs in Kenya, of rigged elections in South Ossetia, of human-rights demonstrations in Guatemala, and of much more. Al Jazeera covered the election campaigns in Lebanon and Iran in more detail than anyone else, as well as the Somali war and the Pakistani army offensive in the Swat Valley. There was, too, an unbiased one-hour documentary about the Gemayel family of Christian politicians and warlords in Lebanon, and a half-hour-long investigation of the displacement of the poor from India’s new economic zones.
TVNL Comment: You can see Al Jazeera broadcasts right here on our web site. You have to be a member to view the broadcasts but membership is free.
Only Iraq and Algeria outrank Russia on the list of most life-threatening countries for the press. Seventeen journalists have been murdered in Russia since 2000. In only one case have the killers been punished. This is a sorry record for a great and powerful nation that embarked on democratization after more than 70 years of brutal repression.
The truth is that good old-fashioned journalism is no longer possible in today's war zones, and especially in Afghanistan. Hence the rise of rooftop journalism, in which sharply dressed reporters address the camera from inside fortified compounds.
The editor of the student newspaper that school administrators stopped from being printed earlier this week says her principal was trying to censor controversial but factual information about a new cafeteria services provider.
Turkey’s Tax Ministry this week slapped a $2.5 billion fine on a media group, Dogan Yayin, a conglomerate of newspapers and television stations that has been the most critical of the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s strong-willed prime minister.
It's a universally acknowledged fact these days that Fox News is doing a rotten job covering the health care debate. But what about the liberal media? By constantly harping on the craziest of the crazy protesters to set them on a tee and whack their crazy lies with a three wood, maybe they're not helping to make the fundamental point, which is that crazy sideshow fanatics don't deserve to take up the bulk of every cable news hour.
