Newstalgia World Week - March 29-April 2, 2010
I'm trying something new this week, a roundup of News as presented by media outside the U.S. - I've been complaining a lot lately about how our current state of Mainstream Media gives virtually no useful information on what's happening in the rest of the world, let alone our own country. So I thought I would give this a try. If it works, I'll make this a regular Friday feature.
First off - jumping up to the north of us, a program from the CBC called The Current and an interview with fellow Canadian David Frum on April 1st, regarding his "Waterloo" editorial and the resulting fallout.
(David Frum - Well . .I had no idea he was Canadian, did you?)
Q:"Were you pushed, or did you jump?"
Frum: "I was jumped. . . I mean pushed."
Next up - via BBC's Africa Service, Africa Today covering the recent developments in Niger after their coup and demonstrations in Somalia.
(First the coup and then the crackdowns)
From the Al Jazeera Listening Post, a report on the rift in U.S.-Israeli relations this week with the recent construction going on in Gaza and the various reactions from our State Department and the Israeli cabinet.
(File under: Awkward Photo ops)
ABC Radio National in Australia and their Correspondents Report, featuring a segment on Thai protests and the threatened arrest of an American journalist covering Human Rights violations in Indonesia.
(The continuing protests in Thailand - almost a daily occurrence)
This week, being The Pope wasn't all it was cracked up to be as BBC Radio 4's morning program Today reported on Monday the ongoing calls for his resignation. Also, first reports on the Moscow Subway bombing and China's purchase of Volvo.
(Pope Benedict and the old "what did he know and when did he know it")
Again from the BBC, reports and eyewitness accounts of the Moscow Metro bombing and the upcoming British elections.
(Moscow Metro - ugly and getting uglier by the minute)
And finally, for our Russian friends (or those of you who are brushing up on your language skills), a special report from Moscow Radio on Monday morning of the Moscow Subway bombing as it was unfolding. It's all in Russian but the seriousness and the devastation crosses all language barriers.
So that's a taste of what the rest of the world was listening to this week. Actually, you can too. It's all on your computer, either via Podcasts from iTunes or casual browsing to whatever streaming audio sources you can look up via Google. It's all there and you can check it out. Getting information about what's happening in the world around you is essential. If you can't find it where you live you have to find it where you can. There's too much going on not to know about it.
I watch BBC World News every weekday just before watching the Network news, and the difference in subjects is illuminating. The subway bombing in Russia was a huge story on the BBC, as is the ongoing rift in the Ugandan (iirc) elections, yet neither earn barely a mention on American network news.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
...the US media are too busy reporting that Michael Jackson is making more money dead than he did alive. After all, we gotta find out what's really important, you know.
That's what it amounts to Skruffy , it's pretty pathetic , no wonder we are such dim witted morons here .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Of course he is! It used to be in the Canadian national anthem:
" ... Frum sea to shining sea ..."
until 'as it happens', he became an (R). Then they changed the lyrics.
Snerd
thanks for the comments Mugsy and Gronk! I know I went a little overboard and will cut the entries way down for next week. I also forgot to link the sites they came from, because it's so important to get people over to those sites for their news and information and not rely so much on msm. But thanks for giving the stuff a lisen. I always appreciate the words and read what you say.
Stay tuned,
Gordon
What the hell do you mean you went overboard?? Six stories? Big stories of the week is going overboard? If anything add more but this is very good. Thanks
was frum Canada and even mentioned that Frum was frum Canada but it did seem like nobody else noticed where he was frum. I don't know who the blog I mentioned it came frum but I do know it came frum a C&L blog.
We Canadians certainly know he's Canadian - the name Frum is very famous in Canada, but because of his mother.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Frum
What's amusing/distressing to me is the reception that Frum gets here in the U.S. It reminds me more than a little of how Andrew Sullivan & Chris Hitchens are treated. It's as though modern Americans have never experienced a conservative who isn't a frothing, drooling Troglodyte (like GOP leadership), so when they meet one, they assume he's a genius.
I had enormous respect for Barbara Frum, but Tory David, not so much.
It wasn't until 9/11 that I started watching the BBC news regularly, and checking out news feeds from overseas. I was amazed at how closely they followed US politics, while our own news barely acknowledges that there are other countries on this planet. It's interesting to see what's going on "out there" from a different perspective, as well as finding out how domestic events are viewed by the rest of the world.
Keep it up!
Kingdom Tower
...more of this please!
I hope it doesn't mean less sarah palin/joe the plumber coverage...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This is a great idea... Thank you!
Thanks, Gordonskene!
I like to see what the outside world is saying to get a different perspective.
there wouldn't be such a lack of enthusiasm for 9/11 investigations, Downing St minutes and other serious happening that have affected our country in the last decade plus.
his mother, Barbara Frum was a highly respected journalist, quite different than her son, who is a self-aggrandizing hack.
I used to watch her on occasion on the CBC, because we get that here in Seattle. It was an incredibly large deal in Canada when she died in 1992. And it was nothing, just over the border.
me-oww!
and her death was a shock for Canadians. She was one of a kind.
had interviewed David, she would have kicked his ass both intellectually and substantively.
I never knew what a self important , self centered "island" the US is until I went abroad , it really opened my eyes . They get news from all over Europe and the Americas every day over there . It isn't about news or journalism here , it's about ratings and profit , we are fed a diet of garbage 24 / 7 here , it's no wonder this country is so full of easily deceived simpletons and dummies . The rest of the world is unimportant and doesn't exist here . I like this , bring down the wall !
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/01/damn-oba...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Ann "Box of Whine" Althouse is always worth tittering over.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Butler 52, Michigan St 50.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
you said 'titter.'
me-oww!
and comments, ysb!
2000 bodies in mass grave in Colombia:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/us-...
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32sw1WPuRQ
Of course, complete silence by our "media".
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
propaganda against Venezuela it would be nice to have some real facts about S America. The only reports we saw about Honduras was the MSM corporate propaganda.
What, no
http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ht_batboy06_07...
?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This looks like it will be a very good segment on Fridays or Saturdays. Please continue it.
Well I wrote this before I read any of the other comments so it looks like I am not the only one who feels this way.
would highlight such news, but, oh never mind...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
When in the middle east I always watched Al-Jazeera and BBC World. I highly recommend Al-Jazeera English for extensive coverage as well as even handed reporting. Now Al-Jazeera Arabic is a whole different kettle of "foul".
I know that most of the viewers here keep themselves informed, but please make this a regular feature. I always found it interesting that countries where the state has a little more input on their media, have the most objective, informative media. I have all but stopped watching our televised news, with a few exceptions, since they don't even seem to try and do any actual work or reporting. Please keep it up!
It's called PBS. When it was better funded, it was great. At least they provide some BBC reprograming (Jeeze, I make it sound like liberal brainwashing - reprograming, indeed.)
I like that line in The Living Daylights, where James Bond tells M he's resigning, and M says, "You can't resign, 007. This isn't a country club!"
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Only every Friday? I think twice daily would be nice... but maybe too much to ask. Thank you for these programs, as well as all you do.
..one way or the other.
But al-Jazzera is out. It's "faux noise" for the Middle East.
in our illegal war of "Shock and Awe" based on a lie and with our continued occupation and dirty deals for Iraq's oil with U.S. based corporations:
http://uruknet.com/index.php?p=m64767&hd=&siz...
I thank you very sincerely Gordonskene for this new, and much needed feature, at Crooksandliars. I particularly welcome more news about Israel's continued illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. Apparently Israel is now planning new strikes against Gaza and now there is the news of Israel gagging the news regarding Extra-Judicial killings:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50903
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
As a regular listener and follower of the BBC, I convinced a work friend who only listens to Fox (with the associated unfair and unbalanced view of life that we have come to expect from such a habit) to listen to the BBC. He said he tried it for a week, but found it to be too boring. Our ensuing conversation, on how Fox sensationalises all "news" to the point that anything else is just dull, convinced my friend that he does in fact watch a "jazzed up" version of reality. My statement that watching Fox was like someone who has cream and 5 spoons of sugar with his coffee, if you try it black - it doesn't taste right actually convinced him that he should watch Fox less and try other news outlets more. (I even convinced him its better for his health as he was complaining he gets "mad as hell" watching the news. Perhaps if we all pick a Fox friend and try to wean them off the "Fox teat", perhaps we will get a better informed electorate. Keep the international posts going - great idea.
I get mine w/o sugar or creme, for $0.50 in Miami. All the good stuff (caffeine) condensed into one little 2oz. shot. Lots of time and room for more stuff in the belly and brain. :)
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Thaibaggers?
I listened to the Frum interview the day it was first broadcast. I'm not a fan of Frum's but I honestly thought some of the things he said - criticism of American conservatives, his scathing comments about Sarah Palin - would incite comment in the US media.
But it appears he has already been relegated to the has-been file.
More not less is needed and yes, please post links to all the main pages. Information is power, the more the better.
South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche has been killed on his farm in the country's north-west.
Mr Terreblanche, 69, was beaten to death after a dispute over unpaid wages, local media reports said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8602347.stm
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
..by Deborah Solomon in NYT Magazine a while back. He became a naturalized US citizen on, get this..Sept. 11, 2008 (not entirely sure of the year).
Hard to imagine, but I almost feel sorry for the guy. Could he actually have imagined that there was an intellectual base to the GOP that was open to reason and discourse?
What a schmuck!
As an American born of Canadian parents, I am fortunate to have dual citizenship. I moved to Canada for good in 1975, and it was probably the best decision I ever made. I would never go back. I remember Barbara Frum from the CBC. She was very smart and pretty as well. I kind of wonder if she would've been proud of her son's way of thinking.
Actually, when he's talking sense, I kind of like the guy.
Thanks Merlin. Man, I would love to do it twice a day. Problem is, it's just me. But I'll do what I can.
Thanks for all the great comments. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them!
Gordon
I like this run down very much. Previous comments have covered my recommendations for improvement, so I won't beat a dead horse. After visiting some of these sites in the past, it's nice to see someone doing a weekly roundup. Thanks.
This list would be more interesting if it included stories that don't get covered at all in the US. For example, with all the talk about China's growing economic power in the US, there's a little reported story about China's moves into Africa that would be good for us to hear more about. Things like that.
Comments are closed on this entry