MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST MAY 20: CAMBODIA COPS CONFISCATE UNLICENCED BURMA DAILY NEWSPAPER
May 20th 2008 01:58
NEWLY LAUNCHED BURMA DAILY AND ITS CARRIER, THE CAMBODIA DAILY, CONFISCATED BY CAMBODIAN POLICEThe Cambodian government on Monday confiscated the Cambodia Daily newspaper from newsstands over a supplement called The Burma Daily, the Information Ministry and the newspaper's publisher said.
DPA reported that the official ministry explanation was that the confiscation was ordered because The Burma Daily, which had appeared since last week as an insert with an identical masthead as its sister publication, was not licensed.
But publisher Bernard Krisher argued that the paper did not need a license because it was a supplement and the decision to confiscate the English- and Khmer-language daily, which has a circulation of about 5,000, reflected badly on the government.
Krisher said he had not spoken to the ministry about the reasons for confiscating the paper
“I don't have to explain to anyone," he said. "The New York Times does not explain to President Bush."
AFP reported that Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said, "They cannot publish it like this. They must get permission."
He said he had warned the paper last week that it needed approval before publishing.
Touch Naruth, the police chief of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, told AFP, "We're confiscating all copies of the Burma Daily wherever they have been distributed,"
According to AFP, publisher Bernard Krisher said, "I suspect that this action was taken at the request of the Burmese government."
AFP said, “Cambodia now has several English-language papers and a number of glossy news magazines, as well as a large and lively Cambodian-language press.”
AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST UNDER INVESTIGATION BY MYANMAR SPECIAL BRANCH ALLOWED TO EXIT THE COUNTRY
An Australian journalist working for the Myanmar Times newspaper in Yangon Myanmar who was caught up in a government witch-hunt over how CNN reporter Dan Rivers was able to enter the country, has now safely left Myanmar.
The Australian journalist, Matt Davis, 27, editor of Myanmar Times Time Out entertainment section, was believed to be under investigation by the feared Myanmar Special Branch operatives.
Last week he was dismissed from his job at The Myanmar Times and safely flew out of Myanmar on Saturday night.
Davis, formerly an SBS Australia Insight current affairs and online content associate producer, reportedly went AWOL from his job at the Times to cover the cyclone devastation for SBS television in Australia and AFP news service.
As MediaBlab previously reported, Davis was credited with the stories he filed, a dangerous practice for a journalist ostensibly working for the Myanmar Times inside Myanmar – not only did he put himself at risk but he also endangered the newspapers itself and its Myanmar staff.
It is believed that the Myanmar Special Branch, investigating how CNN’s Dan Rivers got into the country undetected, not only linked Davis to CNN but claim a fake visa application was drawn up on Myanmar Times letterhead.
It is also believed that Special Branch had been interrogating senior officials at the Myanmar Times.
CNN denied getting a visa application for Dan Rivers on Myanmar Times letterhead, and deny there is any connection between Dan Rivers and CNN and Matt Davis and/or the Myanmar Times.
CNN correspondent Dan Rivers who left Myanmar on Friday was chased by authorities as he reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because of the incompetence of the people after him.
BLOGOSPHERE HOT WITH RUMOURS THAT UK SUN EDITOR REBEKAH WADE IS TO BE NEW MANAGING EDITOR OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The blogs were running wild last night with the latest RUPERT MURDOCH RUMOUR.
DealBreaker reported, “Is Rupert Murdoch preparing to name Rebecca Wade, the editor of UK tabloid The Sun, to be the new managing editor of the Wall Street Journal? That's the rumour we're hearing today. (And perhaps the one that Nick Denton called ‘too crazy for even me to pass on.’) Wade is reportedly close to Murdoch. We're told that Robert Thomson, the Journal's publisher, may favour naming Wade to replace Marcus Brauchli, who resigned as editor in April.
“Update: Apparently Rebecca Wade spells her name Rebekah Wade. Whatevs.
“Updater: Denton confirms that Wade was indeed the crazy story he was hearing.”
Gawkers Nick Denton posted, “Rebekah Wade. But, yes. That was the rumour I was hearing. Interestingly, she was mentioned earlier in the year as a possible replacement for Col Allan at the(New York) Post. (Fiercely denied by Posties.) Wants out of The Sun. Tried for Times of London job. Well regarded within News Corp. But still more likely to be good for Post than Journal.”
The postings of course elicited the almost-mandatory, ‘Page 3 Girls for WSJ’ comments.
FORMER GEMSTAR-TV GUIDE CEO DECLARED A FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE BY US GOVERNMENT
Media Daily News reports that Henry Yuen, the former ceo of Gemstar-TV Guide International, is now considered a fugitive from justice by the US government for failing to turn himself in to authorities after being charged with obstruction of justice by the US Attorney in Los Angeles.
Yuen had been convicted in 2006 of securities fraud for lying about Gemstar-TV Guide's revenues to inflate the stock price. The new obstruction of justice charge alleges he destroyed documents and emails sought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to this earlier investigation.
Media daily News said, “The ex-ceo’s apparent flight from justice and failure to pay US$22.3 million in fines for securities fraud, lying to auditors and falsifying Gemstar's books to inflate the company's revenues by $248 million in 2000-2002, comes as an unwelcome reminder of the woes that have afflicted Gemstar-TV Guide, which was acquired by Macrovision on May 2 for $2.3 billion.”
THAI SATELLITE CONTENT PROVIDER EXPECTS ADS TO ADD 70 PERCENT TO ITS TV REVENUE FOLLOWING GOVT OK FOR CABLE OPERATORS TO CARRY COMMERCIALS
Thailand’s Live Incorporation Plc, a content provider for satellite TV, expects advertising to account for 70 percent to its TV business revenue, up from 30 percent previously, following the passage of the Thai Radio and Broadcasting Act in March.
The Bangkok Post reported that ceo Sivaporn Chomsuwan said sales to cable TV operators would generate 30 percent of revenues for the TV business this year, down from 70 percent last year.
The company's 2008 revenue projection is 400 million baht (A$13 million), up 15 percent from last year, of which 120 million baht would stem from the TV business. Live posted a consolidated net profit of 55.2 million baht in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 60.9 million baht in the same period last year.
''This year, the TV business is projected to grow by 40-50 percent,'' Sivaporn told the Bangkok Post.
The new Radio and Broadcasting Act allows all cable operators to carry up to six minutes of commercials per hour. It also extends their licence period from one year to 15 years, which is expected to help them obtain loans or other funding more easily.
AGB Nielsen Media Research, which compiles local TV audience ratings, will also start rating cable viewership in this August.
AFGHAN APPEAL COURT ADJOURNS DEATH SENTENCE VERDICT AGAINST YOUNG JOURNALIST CONVICTED OF BLASPHEMY
A court in Kabul on Sunday adjourned its verdict in the appeal against the death sentence of journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh of Jahan-e Naw (The New World).
The 24-year-old was sentenced to death for blasphemy by the first chamber of the Mazar-i-Sharif court in northern Afghanistan on January 22, 2008. Kambakhsh was represented by a lawyer at the appeal hearing even though the lawyer only received his file during the week, two months after the journalist’s transfer to Kabul.
Reporters Without Borders said Kambakhsh’s summary trial in Mazar-i-Sharif was held behind closed doors and without a defence lawyer. He has been imprisoned since July 27, 2007 and is being held in the Pul-e-Sharkhi jail in the east of the capital.
Incidentally, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh was sentenced to death for distributing an article that questioned Muslim polygamy.
The article asked why under Islam men can have four wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.
For this he was sentenced to death.
But he also claims he had nothing to do with the article.
He said, “I didn’t write this article. I didn’t print it. I reject these accusations. I am a scapegoat in some political game.”
ONLINE PUBLISHERS DOING WELL DESPITE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
Reuter’s reports that online publishers are doing well despite an economic downturn, and the ones who are best positioned to succeed are strong brands with quality content, the head of the Online Publishers Association said on Friday.
Web sites have an edge over traditional media by offering advertisers the ability to target consumers in a cost-efficient and highly focused way, the association's president, Pam Horan, told Reuters during the Online Publishers Association ‘Forum for the Future’ in London.
The expected growth rate for online advertising spending in the US this year is a still robust 23 percent, down from 25 percent last year, according to data from eMarketer.
In an ever-expanding global economy, foreign readers are becoming increasingly important for publishers, Horan said. Advertising categories such as travel and financial news are particularly well placed to make money from foreign visitors.
THE BBC APOLOGISES FOR SHOWING PHOTOS OF 2004 BOXING DAY TSUNAMI DEAD AS MYANMAR CYCLONE DEAD
The BBC has apologised on air apology after admitting that it broadcast a picture which it claimed was of dozens of people killed by the devastating Myanmar cyclone, but which instead was taken in Sumatra during the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
The Guardian reported that Peter Horrocks, the head of the newly created BBC multimedia newsroom, said the corporation was now reviewing its processes for checking pictures it received following the incident.
The still photograph in question was used to introduce a report from inside Burma by correspondent Natalia Antelava on a BBC1 1bulletin.
"This was a mistake, and we will be correcting it on all BBC output where the still was used," Horrocks wrote on the BBC news website editors' blog.
HONG KONG AFFLUENT MEN’S MAGAZINE TEAMS WITH CHINESE TV BROADCASTER TO LAUNCH A HALF-HOUR SHOW IN CHINA
Hong Kong’s Total Media Gafencu Men lifestyle magazine is linking with CCTV’s Digital Lifestyle Channel to launch a weekly half-hour TV show in China.
Media Asia reports that the show, Gao Feng PinWei, will debut on June 1, and focuses on affluent men’s lifestyles.
Sharine Tse, the magazine’s editor-in-chief said the program will feature interviews with affluent and powerful global role models “in China, Hong Kong and beyond.”
Media Asia said the first show will feature Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing chairman Ronald Arculli, plus segments on luxury homes, events and the upcoming launches of the Audi TT, and a Frank Muller watch.
THAILAND’S NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE DOUBLES ITS AD REVENUE IN APRIL FROM MARCH
The Bangkok Post reports that the facelift of state-owned Channel 11 appears to be a commercial success in terms of its share of the advertising market, while still tiny, more than doubled in April from March.
National Broadcasting Service of Thailand, as Channel 11 is now known, earned 192 million baht A$6.2 million) from commercials in April, a 4.2 percent share of the TV advertising market and up from 1.9 percent in March, according to AGB Nielsen Media Research. In the first three months of 2008, the market share of Channel 11 was below 3 percent.
Total ad spending on TV was 4.5 billion baht last month. Channel 7 led with 31 percent, followed by 27 percent for Channel 3, according to the agency.
The new position of National Broadcasting Service of Thailand has caused some concern at MCOT Plc, the operator of Modern Nine. The SET-listed broadcaster, majority owned by the government, worries it might lose ad revenues from state agencies to National Broadcasting Service of Thailand, according to the Bangkok Post.
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW RETREATS FROM REPORTAGE OF US COURT CASE IN WHICH MURDOCH-OWNED COMPANY WAS ORDERED TO PAY US$1500, INSTEAD OF A BILLION
Australian journalist Neil Chenoweth who specialises, among other things in conspiracy theories about Rupert Murdoch has, fortunately or unfortunately, fallen flat on his face regarding the latest Murdoch conspiracy.
Or, as irreverent Aussie website Crikey.com reported, “No journalist has done more to tell the world about Rupert Murdoch’s colourful business dealings than The Australian Financial Review’s Neil Chenoweth.
“He has produced two books, numerous features and dozens of news stories which have made him persona non-grata with the News Corp camp.”
When news broke in February that Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar pay-TV company was suing News Corp subsidiary NDS in the US courts for $US1 billion, claiming that NDS had a hand in cracking and leaking its encryption codes for the smart cards that protect it from piracy, Chenoweth hot the keyboard running.
On February 14, Chenoweth produced a huge piece – 5,300 words – for The Australian Financial Review, a premier finance paper published by Fairfax Media and in competition with Murdoch’s’ flagship national daily newspaper, The Australian.
But even then the Fin Review was a might tetchy about this story, as Crikey.com reported the day after publication, “For a while there the paper took an enlightened approach by releasing this globally significant story on its website. Alas, it’s back behind the bone-headed subscription wall today.”
Chenoweth’s piece was heavy with implication, as they say, and Crikey summarized the implications in that story thus:
“EchoStar and Nagrastar say their problems began in May 1997, when Rupert Murdoch walked away from an agreement with EchoStar founder Charlie Ergen to merge their US satellite interests.
T”he story talks about NDS operatives setting up a high-tech code cracking lab in Israel by mid-1997.
“And these operatives that Rupert employed were something special. A former Scotland Yard commander called Ray Adams was the NDS security chief in the UK. The Guardian explained his colourful past.
The Guardian story in 2002 caused the biggest impact because it directly linked Adams, and therefore the broader News Corp empire, to the piracy websites.
The French pay-TV company Canal Plus also sued NDS for $US1 billion but this was withdrawn when News Corp bought its business.
DirecTV, then controlled by General Motors, was also suing NDS for fraud when News Corp bought that business.”
Crikey also commented, “Ergen is a tough poker-playing entrepreneur who is richer than the Sun King and won’t be selling out or settling any time soon. The case begins before a jury in the California District Court on April 8.”
Chenoweth produced a couple of stories during the trial, including one piece about the judge urging Murdoch to show up and give evidence, with the suggestion that News Corp could lose a bundle if rupe didn’t show.
Well, Rupe didn’t show to give evidence, and as MediaBlab reported last week, and the Judge didn’t come down heavily on News Corp. In fact the judge’s verdict was that News Corp would only have to pay $US1500, not million, not billions.
And as Crikey pointed out yesterday, Chenoweth was silent and his paper, the Australian Financial review on Saturday only ran a one paragraph Reuters-based story which said, “A Federal Court jury on Thursday broadly cleared News Corp’s NDS unit of satellite television piracy charges in a suit brought by DISH Network Corp. The jury awarded only $US1500 damages from NDS for a single test incident with a satellite TV smart card.”
Yesterday Crikey ran this email from a senior News Corp business journalist, who used to work at Fairfax:
“I don’t owe any favours to the Murdochs, but Neil Chenoweth spun this court case into a huge conspiracy on the front page of The AFR. A jury has awarded EchoStar just $US1,500. This makes Neil’s story look completely overblown. I like Neil, but his anti-Murdoch agenda is damaging The AFR’s credibility..”
Crikey claimed this comment was a “little unfair” because a story was there.
A story yes, but the implication of Chenoweth’s story before the trial and before evidence was presented was that Murdoch was guilty of all sorts of heinous hi-tech chicanery.
And that, in MediaBlab’s book, is also unfair. And bad journalism.
ACP TO LAUNCH DISNEY’S US MAGAZINE HIT, WONDERTIME, IN AUSTRALIA
ACP Magazines will launch Wondertime in Australia, published in conjunction with Disney Publishing Worldwide. The magazine will be the first masthead to launch under the newly formed ACP Magazines Parenting Group.
Originally launched in the US in 2006, Wondertime is a bi-monthly magazine which inspires parents of toddlers to eight-year-olds. The magazine celebrates the wonder of childhood and views the world through the eyes of curious, joyful children.
Pat Ingram, Group Publisher, Women’s Lifestyle, ACP Magazines said: “This initiative will further strengthen our existing relationship with Disney and we look forward to working with the US team on this project.”
Editorial Director of ACP Magazines’ Parenting Group and The Australian Women’s Weekly, Deborah Thomas, will be heading the launch, working with Parenting publisher, Jo Runciman and consulting launch editor, Alana House.
Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Director of Publishing – Australia, New Zealand and Asean said, “Disney Publishing is thrilled to be partnering with ACP Magazines to launch Wondertime in Australia. The title has been incredibly successful since its US launch, winning multiple industry awards for editorial, design and overall excellence.
“The Walt Disney Company has a strong affinity with Australian families because of the core values that permeate through all of our content: trust, decency, optimism and quality – and we look forward to launching and continuing the success of Wondertime in Australia.”
BAZ LUHRMAN’S NEW FILM TRAILER LAUNCHED EXCLUSIVELY ON MOBILE PHONE TV IN AUSTRALIA
Australia, lagging behind its Asian neighbours on mobile phone TV technology and content is quickly catching up.
Major Australia telco, Telstra yesterday launched, via its Bigpond TV, the first trailer for the year's most anticipated movie, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, 24 hours before the trailer was released publicly.
The trailer will be introduced by the film's leading lady, Nicole Kidman, with a message specially recorded for the trailer's debut.
BigPond Group managing director Justin Milne said the trailer can be accessed at no charge by all broadband users via BigPond.com and by Telstra Next G mobile phone users 24 hours before the preview trailer is publicly released in Australia.
"Movie trailers are hugely popular on line, particularly ahead of the big screen hits, and there is none more highly anticipated than Australia" Milne said.
"We are delighted to be partnering with 20th Century Fox to be presenting the trailer using our new full-screen digital online player.
"It will be the best quality trailer you can view online in Australia and the streaming technology we are using has already seen trailer viewing on BigPond TV jump by 800 percent in just a few weeks," he said.
"BigPond Movies offers Australia's most popular online DVD rental and legal movie download businesses, so scoring the exclusive first release of the Australia trailer is a huge endorsement of our commitment to movie fans and Telstra's position as a media comms company with its eyes firmly fixed on the future."
Marcos Oliveira, managing director of 20th Century Fox, Australia said, "We are absolutely thrilled to present this trailer, in conjunction with BigPond. The trailer presents all the elements of a truly epic movie, in the hands of one of the world's most visionary directors and two of the world's biggest movie stars. We couldn't be more excited."
BARNES & NOBLE IN US TO SELL DIGITAL MAGAZINES ALONGSIDE PRINT EDITIONS
The giant US Barnes & Noble chain retail chain has teamed with Zinio to sell digital magazines alongside print editions of the same titles, from its corporate website.
The company press release claims:
“BN.com will sell subscriptions to over 1,000 magazine titles, available in both digital and print formats, at prices up to ninety percent off newsstand cover prices. Digital subscriptions will be available within minutes of purchase for viewing on desktops and laptops. In addition, more than 12,000 back issues of hundreds of magazine titles will be available digitally for purchase as single copies.”
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL TAKES MELBOURNE RADIO STATION FROM NEAR BUST TO NEAR BOOM
The Age newspaper reports that Melbourne, Australia sports radio station SEN last week revealed it had paid a "substantial" amount to secure commercial broadcast rights for the Beijing Olympics.
Interestingly, three years ago the station couldn’t pay its staff and was expected to disappear from the air waves.
The sports-only radio station began in January 2004, as a replacement for ailing talkback station 3AK.
SEN creator Danny Staffieri, a former advertising executive, leased the 1116-kilohertz frequency from 3AK's owner, Pacific Star Network, for about A$100,000 a month, and recruited retired sports stars.
While it quickly gained popularity, it was unable to get enough advertising to cover its increasing costs, culminating in the financial crisis of May 2005.
Capital raising by Pacific Star helped fund an overhaul of SEN's sales division, which coincided with a predictable program of cost cutting across the business.
At that stage SEN was broadcasting niche events like basketball and VFL, but the station realised if it really wanted to extend its reach in Melbourne it needed the rights to the city's most popular sport: AFL, or Australian Football League.
This did the trick and SEN has consistently built its overall audience across all daytime segments in recent radio ratings surveys.
POLISH PRESIDENT’S VETO REVERSES GLOBAL TREND OF COMMERCIALISING PUBLIC BROADCASTING – FOR NOW
Poland seems to be reversing the global trend of commercialising the pubic broadcast sector.
As foreshadowed in MediaBlab last week, Polskie Radio reports Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski has vetoed the bill on reforming public radio and television because it could lead to ‘‘ the further commercialisation of the important area if public media and to the curtailing of ordinary citizens’ influence on these media.”
Under the new bill, proposed by the government, the role of the National Broadcasting Council would be reduced. Its members are now appointed by both houses of parliament and the president for six-year terms.
The new regulations would allow Council members to be recalled before the end of the their terms and would limit the powers of this regulatory body, transferring some of them to the Office of Electronic Communication, subordinate to the government.
Polskie radio said Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was not surprised with the presidential veto. Talking to reporters in Lima, at the EU-Latin American summit, he said that the president’s decision is a defense of the dominant position of the opposition Law and Justice in the public media.
Tusk added he is not emotionally attached to the broadcasting bill. More important for him is the bill on abolishing license fees.
The vetoed legislation now returns to parliament, in which a three-fifths majority is needed to override a presidential veto.
GERMANY’S SPIEGEL DELIVERS STINGING ATTACK ON AMERICAN MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Germany’s Spiegel Online delivered a stinging critique of American media trivialisation of the Presidential election campaign.
Spiegel said, “Rudolf Augstein, the founding father of Spiegel once said that the good journalist is subject to no one – only to his own prejudices and errors.
The right to make mistakes has been exercised extensively during this (US) campaign. What we are talking about here, though, is not a series of mistakes. It's betrayal. During this election campaign, a large part of the American media has neglected to carefully follow the principles of the profession. In fact, some were about as loyal to those principles as Eliot Spitzer to his wife.
“A journalist's twin points of references should be the real and the important. But for months the focus of the election coverage was on trivia. Every insignificant detail got blown out of proportion, with every chipmunk becoming a Godzilla.
“According to a report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, over 60 percent of election coverage by the US media has been focused on campaign strategies, tactics or personalities – but not on actual political content.
“Reporters focused the most attention on such pressing questions as whether Barack Obama was wearing an American flag lapel pin, whether John McCain had a mistress eight years ago or whether former first lady Hillary Clinton was incorrectly recalling her 1996 trip to Bosnia.
“Even the eccentric pastor from Obama's church, Jeremiah Wright, is not worth the fuss. "God damn America," he preached. So what? … Perhaps the mad and the blind to the right and the left of our path through life are there simply to show us where the middle way is.
“The American public has not only been misled during this election campaign, but has also been fed a constant stream of irrelevant information.
“But one cannot blame the journalists alone for the decline of journalism. Their importance has diminished more than in any other previous election. “They now share newspaper pages and TV broadcasting time with people who call themselves strategists or consultants and who are either in the pay of a party now, or have been in the past.
“Journalists and strategists deliver their commentaries, side by side and in harmony, on CNN and Fox News. Make way for Karl Rove, the architect of George W. Bush's two electoral victories, who is now under contract with Fox News, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. “Raise the curtain for Dick Morris, once the closest adviser to Bill Clinton, who is a fixture on practically every TV channel. Cast the spotlight on Donna Brazile, who appears on CNN as a commentator on every election night – the audience only learns in passing that she is actually a member of the exclusive Democratic National Committee and one of her party's superdelegates.
THE NEW YORK TIMES CASTS A CRITICAL EYE OVER THE STATE-RUN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE RUSSIA TODAY NEWS CHANNEL
The New York Time said that judging from the news lately, Russia is restoring its old Evil Empire image – military parades in Red Square, . corruption, dead journalist – but you’d never know it by watching Russia Today.
The New York Times commented, “On Russia Today, an English-language news channel begun in 2005 and financed by the Russian government, a more generous picture emerges. “In this Russia, corruption is not quite a scourge but a symptom of a developing economy. And concerns about street thugs, poverty and Ukraine’s aspirations for European Union membership trump fears over Putin’s grip on power.
“This Moscow-based channel’s view of Russia is available to 120 million television viewers worldwide. That includes 20 million in the US since last summer, when Russia Today was added to Time Warner Cable’s digital package in the New York City region.
“The Russian government has already poured more than US$100 million into Russia Today, prompting charges that Kremlin sponsorship affects its coverage.
“The station is part of the state-owned news conglomerate RIA Novosti, and news organisations routinely refer to it as ‘state-run.’
Although it was conceived to counter what it sees as a Western news bias against Russia, the channel bills itself as “an autonomous nonprofit organization,” and its executives say they do not take orders from the Kremlin.”
But the New York Times did point out that state-sponsored news aimed at viewers abroad was perhaps pioneered by the US itself.
It said, “The concept of state-sponsored news aimed to viewers abroad is not new. During the cold war Western-financed radio stations like Voice of America, , which began broadcasting in Russian in 1947, existed in part to counter Soviet spin.
“Russia Today has inverted the recipe, broadcasting in English from Russia in the hopes of improving Russia’s increasingly ominous image in the West.
And it is but the first in what has become a veritable parade of state-financed anglophone news channels.
“Since Russia Today’s debut Iran (Press TV), China (CCTV-9), France (France 24) and Qatar (Al Jazeera English) have created their own English news networks. Al Jazeera’s English spin-off is clearly the leader of this pack, drawing on the credibility of its Arabic-language counterpart and the deep pockets of the emir of Qatar.”
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