Channel Surfing

So as I started watching and channel surfing, I decided to start with Press TV. I had no idea that it was Iranian so it blew me away. All it talked about for over 20 minutes was anti-U.S. and President Obama. It discussed how the government wants nuclear power for peaceful uses. To me that just makes no sense. It is fully government controlled to me, and it was even more crazy to see Americans on there talking about how the U.S. is wrong in many aspects. Press TV is about Iranian news, but it was all just bashing the United States. It kept bringing up e-mails and websites about how past presidents hate Iran and all this garbage. I then switched to Russia Today. I liked this because it covered many aspects of news. It discussed world news, Russian news, and local news for cities in Russia. I did not see too much talk on U.S. matters which was good but I feel like the Russian government oversees the news. Russia has had a long history of propaganda even though the old regime fell over 20 years ago. I then turned on France 24 and it was the same thing. All I heard was U.S. news and reactions to Guantanamo Bay and Obamas stance on shutting the prison down. I saw many Middle Eastern countries represented and they cannot get off America news and their hate for the United States. The one thing France 24 did was discuss their submarine searching for black boxes. That was good and fair of them.

I lastly looked at Al Jazeera. I really could not see the connection of it trafficking terrorism. I can see the opinion because it is Middle Eastern based, but it focused very much on the U.S. The main story was about the Iranian presidential race. It seemed very fair and balanced for the most part, but this was only one newscast.

1. I think that the Internet will slowly be good for Al Jazeera. The Internet is the fastest growing outlet for news and I think it will slowly gain support and people will start to watch it more. It it is controversial, people will want to watch it.

2. I do not think that Al Jazeera should be broadcasted, yet. I think people will slowly see that the news isn't that bad. I think it hasn't been working because people trust CNN, MSNBC, Fox News etc...way too much. When those news stations become more and more biased, Al Jazeera will make its entrance.

3. I think Al Jazeera has a unique approach to telling the news. I think they try and distance themselves as much as possible from not taking a side against the U.S. but they still do. They hint and poke at the idea. Even when discussing Iran and the presidential race, they were talking about how the U.S. would react to the election. It is different because there is not a left or right wing opinion, it is all international opinion and how that certain country will react to issues. A lot of analysts are on TV and many more questions are covered to bigger stories. Small stories are not published and big news is all that make it on the broadcast.

4. I think it meets about half of the list. They defiantly have middle eastern influence and I think some countries have a bit of sway and hold on what is presented and how it is presented. That being said, they really do deliver the news. They show you what you need to know and give pictures of what happens. A lot of dead bodies are shown, but it doesn't have faces which is good for the families and considering them.