News Control

Being a keen 'news surfer' I tend to move around the different TV news channels to find out what's happening globally. When you do this, going from BBC News to SKY news, then on to RT and AlJazeera, you begin to notice patterns in the way different broadcasters operate. For example, it's become apparent lately that BBC news programmes seem to be fixated with sex abuse cases. Months ago they gave vast amounts of TV and radio coverage to the Jimmy Savile scandal, leading over and over with this as the 'main story'. The thing is, when this kind of saturation reporting occurs it excludes other news events from the media. Or, some important stories might only get a brief mention before the sex story (whatever it is) is being discussed at length again. Some stories, such as big protest demonstrations in the UK against austerity, never get mentioned at all. The implication is that they aren't important, although they undoubtedly are more important than the Savile issue which is once again on the go. The RT channel (85) and AlJazeera (83) cover a far broader range of stories than the BBC and SKY. Almost of equal importance, they are much better in the way they go about it. The BBC's idea of the perfect format is two banal beanos chatting on a sofa during breakfast time, but to be honest this bores the pants off me. Kevin Owen on RT, on the other hand, is an excellent news presenter and interviewer. And Abby Martin's Breaking the Set is not to be missed. Terrific reporting. And I mustn't leave out Max Keiser (Keiser Report) for his expert and entertaining take on what's REALLY going on in the global economy. Check it out.

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