Media: AP - Still Covering the World

by Sherry Ricchiardi (AJR, 2007/12-2008/1)

As U.S. news organizations have backed away from foreign news coverage, the Associated Press’ international report has become increasingly vital.

The rest of the story: The American Journalism Review

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore criticizes CNN...on CNN

Sicko director Michael Moore blasts CNN host Wolf Blitzer and resident medical commentator Dr. Sanjay Gupta for what Moore regards as the distorted coverage on the network of both the war in Iraq and the issue of health care (at the end of the segment, watch CNN try to put Moore in place before the next segment by contextualizing him with an irrelevant reference to Venezuela prez Hugo Chavez).

- Moore and Blitzer:
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=6TR1SG8WDbU>

- Sanjay Gupta's 'Sicko Reality Check':
<http://www.crooksandliars.com/>

- Moore's rebuttal to the 'Sicko Reality Check':
<http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

The Press Is Free for Them What Owns It

Undercover, under fire
The Washington press corps is too busy cozying up to the people it covers to get at the truth.
by Ken Silverstein, the Washington editor of Harper's Magazine (LATimes 2007-06-30)

"EARLIER THIS YEAR, I put on a brand-new tailored suit, picked up a sleek leather briefcase and headed to downtown Washington for meetings with some of the city's most prominent lobbyists. I had contacted their firms several weeks earlier, pretending to be the representative of a London-based energy company with business interests in Turkmenistan. I told them I wanted to hire the services of a firm to burnish that country's image.

"I didn't mention that Turkmenistan is run by an ugly, neo-Stalinist regime. They surely knew that, and besides, they didn't care. As I explained in this month's issue of Harper's Magazine, the lobbyists I met at Cassidy & Associates and APCO were more than eager to help out. In exchange for fees of up to $1.5 million a year, they offered to send congressional delegations to Turkmenistan and write and plant opinion pieces in newspapers under the names of academics and think-tank experts they would recruit. They even offered to set up supposedly 'independent' media events in Washington that would promote Turkmenistan (the agenda and speakers would actually be determined by the lobbyists)."

The rest of the story: The Los Angeles Times.

Media: Iran to Launch Global News Channel

Iran's state-sponsored broadcasting company will launch Press TV on July 2. With a staff of Iranians and journalists imported from other countries, including Britain, the Tehran-based network will offer conventional hourly news updates, talk shows and documentaries familiar to viewers of CNN and BBC World. At a time of mounting pressure by the United States and some European nations over the country's nuclear energy program and its growing influence in the Middle East, the new channel will present news and opinion from an Iranian perspective. Far News Agency

Media: BBC plans foreign audience push

By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Ben Fenton (Financial Times; 2007-6-17)

LONDON — The BBC is planning a more aggressive push for international audiences and advertising revenue with an overhaul of its overseas television lineup aimed at creating channels that can be "No. 1 or No. 2" in their markets, senior executives said.

Darren Childs, managing director of global channels for BBC Worldwide, the state-funded broadcaster's commercial arm, acknowledged that channels such as BBC America and BBC Prime had suffered from "a lack of focus and a scatter-gun strategy."

A multimillion-pound investment plan will see the BBC Prime general entertainment channel replaced with a series of thematic channels such as BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies, a children's channel, and will include new U.S.-focused news programs for BBC America.

"I think with George W. Bush's approval rating at 29%, having a news broadcast with a neutral, British, BBC approach is well-timed," said Garth Ancier, president of BBC America.

The rest of the story: The Financial Times