[Swprograms] Fwd: [ODXA] Australia / The National Interest

[Richard Cuff <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good programming commentary from Roger Chambers.

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roger Chambers <mvswlc@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Dec 5, 2005 8:55 AM
Subject: [ODXA] Australia / The National Interest
To: Mark Coady <mark.coady@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Larry Cohen
<lcohenutica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>,
"info@xxxxxxxxxxx" <info@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Marie Lamb
<malamb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, ODXA <odxa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Daryl Rocker
<daryl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


AUSTRALIA

        In programs discussing ideas, the National Interest
is a fine program.  On December 5 at 1105 UTC was a
program on the state of journalism in the increasingly
repressive era of the "War on Terror."

        The lead item was on the row in Britain with The
Daily Mirror publishing in late November an article on
a conversation in which Tony Blair had to discourage
George Bush from bombing the headquarters in Doha,
Qatar, of Al Jazeera, the Arabic TV news station.
Cases such as this are putting a pall over
journalists.

        (As of December 5, this write has not heard or read a
single item about this in the American media, over a
week after this article was published).

        Other items mentioned:

        *The Los Angeles Times reported the story of the US
paying Iraqi journalists to get pro-American stories
into the Iraqi press.

        *At the Melbourne Sun, two reporters are being
punished for protecting sources in a rather
insignificant leak.

        The guest, Aden White, the General Secretary of the
International Federation of Journalists, was asked if
the identity of "Deep Throat" in the Watergate case
was ever forced.  He replied, not really, and that in
today's political climate, Bern stein and Woodward
would  not have gotten to first base in their
investigation.

        According to White:

        *Civil liberties and freedom of expression are being
threatened on every front.

        *In Australia, it is already prohibited to "excite
disaffection" against the Queen or Parliament.

        *Some governments have lost their head under these
circumstances.

        The topic then turned briefly to consolidation of
media outlets, and to the roll of the Internet in
modern media.

        One item concerned Canada, and attempted
consolidation of editorials produced in Winnipeg, then
nationally distributed.  The details of this
particular story I could not quite follow and someone
from Canada may want to clarify this.  This was
somewhat related to the world wide trend towards media
consolidation, that is, having more media outlets
owned by fewer owners, stifling diversity.

        Finally, when White was asked by the interviewer if
the Internet provides a credible diversity, he hedged.
 Yes, the Internet is diverse, yes, it is interesting
.... the bloggers are interesting.... but they are not
credible.

        According to White, what people want, being usually
unable to read thousands of papers or web pages, is a
media source that is factual, reliable, credible.  A
media source is a filter for news, and he cited by
name BBC On-line as one such credible source that is
doing a very good job in providing clear and credible
information.

        With this program (and others), Radio Australia is
near the top in producing programs with provocative
ideas, on a par with BBC and CBC, and much better than
programs from the VOA or NPR.

Roger Chambers
Utica, New York



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