Jessica K asked:


I am very involved in the war situation in Gaza. While watching a news broadcast in CNN, it seems their news is unbalanced. They’re statements seem very biased, showing facts only on Gaza’s side. For example, they summarized the sequence of events of the situation in Gaza starting with Israel attacks. They act completely oblivious to the fact that Hamas started the missile attacks days before. The sequence they presented is very misleading.

Also, CNN news constantly features stories of Palestinian woman and children wounded and dying. They present these stories by saying While Israeli bombs create clouds of smoke over Gaza, Palestinians suffer with lack of medical supplies… etc. The way these stories are presented, from the choice of words to the tone of the reporters voice shows utter disgust for the actions Israel is taking to protect it’s people and country.

I’ve heard that CNN has a reputation of biasing news in their party (Democrats) favor. News should be objective without opinion interfering, especially when broadcasting events as huge and important as these. CNN, being a main world news channel, should know this.

Does anyone else notice this bias?

BOYD

My vote counted. Erudite asked:


Source: Cnn News this morning. What did they show? They showed a Marine holding prisoners but the prisoners looked very brave and the Marine was shaking like a leaf in a wind storm. Why was the Marine shaking?

RONNY

Nazir Hussain asked:


How many times you have heard this and then waited anxiously for the news…?

Against the background of the tsunami with devastating consequences, hurricanes in the USA which did an untold amount of damage to lives and property. Add to his the loss of life, homelessness coupled with chronic shortage of food directly attributable to the South Asian earth quake… you almost expect bad news all the time.

Do we always get all the NEWS or do we get the NEWS that higher powers decide we should have access to? I found myself asking this very question during a recent visit to the USA..

My self-actuated assignment imposed intensive workload during the day. During the course of the evening, I wanted to find out what was going on in the rest of the world. My quest to keep up with the current affairs across the four corners of the world forced me to flick through 100s of channels; I tried the well established names such as CNN and NBC along with all the local media. Every one of these news providers focussed on home news.

The phrase “NEWS” is an acronym standing for North, East, West, finally S for South. In that regard, is it not reasonable to expect news from across the world? Clearly, people in some quarters don’t subscribe to this view as I found out to my cost. I found myself in a virtual vacuum; a feeling of being somehow disconnected from the rest of the world or the world that I had become accustomed to. My mind was deprived of essential information; a news feed, and it was almost asking for information.

I was asking people around me for information about the rest of the world… someone mentioned an explosion in England.. please tell me more I asked what and how this explosion happened.. Was there any loss of life? Did my friends and family suffer as a result of this explosion. I sincerely hope.. this is not another act of terrorism by some group wanting to make or leave its mark on the civilised world. I could not find any information. What impact does such a scenario have on people I was asking? People live their entire lives and don’t even find out or get to know about the rest of the world.. How sad?

Finally, the dire consequences of localised news focus creates a kind of unhealthy ignorance that we don’t need. We are living in an information age yet some mediums prevent the free flow of that information. If we are going to change the world then we need to know the world, we need to replace the vacuum with information and we need to ensure that it is flowing in a natural manner. CNN, NBC & FOX NEWS… here is your chance to make your contribution to the world by making the American public aware of the rest of the world and its existence. Visitors to the USA will benefit as well.

CNN is one global network which does reach people across the world. However, a lot more needs to be done to bring the world closer together and now.



MICHEAL

Nicole Evans asked:


There are a lot of plans on the table to supply the owners of portable devices with video that can be viewed on the go. These schemes range from dedicated over the air digital TV channels that are designed to specifically target users of portable devices like mobile phones to data networks that run in parallel to the normal digital voice network that allows mobile phone users to communicate using traditional speech. Among all of the different schemes that are used to supply users of mobile devices with video, there’s one source of video that’s largely overlooked: the Internet.

While most mobile phones don’t have the Internet capabilities that allow them to access online video, this is an easy task for the vast majority of smart phones. After all, part of the whole point of smart phones is to enable their users to surf the Web, and this is more true with the latest generation of smart phones than it ever has been before. After all, many devices like the iPhone, the Helio Ocean, the newer Blackberries, and the Palm Treo; can all almost serve as laptop computers in miniature.

The iPhone by Apple and the Helio Ocean are especially adept at this because of the fact that they both of 16:9 aspect ratio screens and can take advantage of WiFi hot spots as a source of Internet access, and most WiFi connections are capable of providing streaming video. The Prada Phone (though not available in the US) and several Nokia models can also be used this way.

While a lot of people don’t take advantage of it, there’s a lot of TV content available for free on the Internet. Most of the major TV networks provide streaming video feeds of their most popular TV shows. Many other TV network’s will provider short “Teaser” videos about shows that can provide shorter entertainment and give viewers an idea of what a TV show is about even if they don’t have time to actually watch it. There’s also a largely untapped resource of video in the form of news sites like CNN and NPR and a wide variety of other media outlets that supply video. And, of course, there’s always YouTube for a huge variety of interesting- if unprofessional- video entertainment to enjoy.

Another source of video for some types of portable devices is the video download. Everything from popular mainstream TV shows to full length movies are available for download from various online video stores. While downloading a video from an online video store and then side loading it to a portable device obviously requires much more planning than simply watching streaming video directly off of the Web, it provides a lot more flexibility. For example, these videos can be viewed on portable devices in places where an Internet connection is unavailable or unreliable, making this a great option for traveling.

Plus, some of the newest smart phones mentioned above can handle this kind of video as well, though they won’t be able to store as much of it as a dedicated portable video device.

All of these examples illustrate that there are already a wide variety of choices available when it comes to mobile TV viewing.



OLIVER

We won! 20 Jan 09 (Erudite) asked:


Three years ago most Americans said YES to the war in Iraq. Why has it changed? Why do most Americans want the war to end? How come we thought there was WMD?

LEON

uditi asked:


  palistan wont hand over indias  most wanted                                                                                                                                                   

Pakistan won’t hand over India’s most wanted

DOUBLESPEAK: Zardari says that the terrorists - if found guilty - would be tried in Pak.

.



But Zardari said India has provided no proof the gunman is Pakistani. “We have not been given any tangible proof to say that he is definitely a Pakistani. I very much doubt … that he’s a Pakistani,” Zardari

 AP – Gujarat state police inspector Subhash Raval, center, inspects the documents and identity cards of fishermen …

MUMBAI, India – The gunmen who attacked Mumbai set out by boat from the Pakistani port of Karachi, then later hijacked an Indian fishing trawler that carried them toward this financial capital on their ******* mission, a top police official said Tuesday.

As evidence of the militants’ links to Pakistan mounted, Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Ghafoor said ex-Pakistani army officers trained the group — some for up to 18 months — and denied reports the men had been planning to escape the city.

“It appears that it was a ******* attack,” Ghafoor said, providing no other details about when the gunmen left Karachi, or when they hijacked the trawler.

The revelations came as a senior U.S. official said India received a warning from the United States that militants were plotting a waterborne assault on Mumbai. The Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of intelligence information, would not elaborate on the timing or details of the U.S. warning.

The Indian government is already facing intense public accusations of security and intelligence failures after suspected Muslim militants carried out the three-day attack across Mumbai last week, killing at least 172 people and wounding 239.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said his country gave a list of about 20 people — including India’s most-wanted man — to Pakistan’s high commissioner to New Delhi on Monday.

India stepped up the pressure on its neighbor after interrogating the only surviving attacker, who told police that he and the other nine gunmen had trained for months in camps in Pakistan operated by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. On Tuesday, U.S. officials also pointed the finger at Pakistani-based groups, although they did not specifically mention Lashkar.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to arrive Wednesday, and the U.S. is pressuring Islamabad to cooperate in the investigation of the siege that paralyzed Mumbai and left six Americans dead.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said extremists were “apparently targeting Americans and Britons, but the truth is that most of those who were attacked were Indians.”

Gates also told a Pentagon news conference that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, was headed to the region.

Of greater concern for India was the apparent failure to act on multiple warnings ahead of the Mumbai attacks, which Indian navy chief Sureesh Mehta called “a systemic failure.”

India’s foreign intelligence agency also had warnings as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks on Mumbai, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter.

The information, intercepted from telephone conversations apparently coming out of Pakistan, indicated that hotels might be targeted but did not specify which ones, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the details.

The information was relayed to domestic security authorities, but it was unclear whether the government acted on the intelligence.

The Taj Mahal hotel, scene of much of the bloodshed, had tightened security with metal detectors and other measures in the weeks before the attacks, after being warned of a possible threat.

But the precautions “could not have stopped what took place,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the company that owns the hotel, told CNN. “They (the gunmen) didn’t come through that entrance. They came from somewhere in the back.”

The building was the last to be cleared, following the Oberoi hotel, the Jewish center, and other sites struck in this city of 18 million.

India said evidence from the interrogation of the surviving attacker, Ajmal Qasab, pointed to Lashkar, which was outlawed in 2002 in Pakistan under U.S. pressure.

Ghafoor said the gunmen were trained by ex-Pakistani army officers.

Qasab told police his group trained for about six months in Lashkar camps in Pakistan, learning close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling of explosives, satellite navigation, and high-seas survival, according to two Indian security officials familiar with the investigation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give details.

Qasab told investigators the militants hijacked an Indian vessel and killed three crew members, keeping the captain alive long enough to guide them toward Mumbai. The men then came ashore at two places, officials said.

For the first time, the U.S. also said there is reason to suspect that the terror attacks were the work of a group at least partly based in Pakistan.

The remarks, from a senior State Department official, did not detail the evidence, and did not single out any terrorist organization, but they were the closest a U.S. official has come to laying blame for the assaults.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is under way, was careful to say that the evidence was not all in.

Nevertheless, India has demanded action from Islamabad and summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner to India on Monday night, giving him a list of “those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives of Indian law,” said the Indian foreign minister, Mukherjee.

India also has demanded that Pakistan take “strong action” against those responsible for the attacks.

India presented Islamabad with a similar list after the 2001 attack on India’s parliament. But while tensions then between the nuclear-armed nations escalated so rapidly that many feared imminent war, the talk this time has been more subdued.

“Nobody is talking about military action,” Mukherjee said Tuesday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

However, he later appeared to backtrack, telling the NDTV news channel that “every sovereign country has the right to protect its territorial integrity and take appropriate action.”

Pakistan also seemed to be taking initial steps to comply.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi offered to establish a joint investigation with India and said the government wanted to continue a peace process begun in 2004 and broadened this year to include cooperation in fighting terrorism.

“We are examining it, we are considering it, and after consultation we will give a reply,” Qureshi said of the list. “We do not want to do anything which could fan tension. We want to de-escalate matters.”

He said he had told India, “We will fully cooperate with you, so that we can reach the bottom.”

Topping India’s list is Dawood Ibrahim, a powerful gangster and the alleged mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bombings, India’s most deadly, which killed 257 people. Ibrahim fled to Dubai and later to Karachi. Pakistan has denied he is now in the country.

Several members of the list are wanted in the 1993 attacks, apparently carried out in retaliation for the demolition of a 16th century mosque by Hindu nationalists in northern India.

The other prime fugitive on the list is Masood Azhar, a suspected terrorist freed from an Indian prison in exchange for the release of hostages aboard an Indian jet hijacked to Afghanistan in 1999.

India has listed Azhar, the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, as the “principal accused” in the attack on parliament.

India also demanded the leaders of two Kashmiri militant groups, Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, and several leaders of an uprising by Sikhs.





CALEB

Chuck asked:


How do they cover the news differnently?

LEVI

Danny Wirken asked:


The Sky News Blog is UK’s first blog site dedicated to a daily news show. Since a blog is similar to an on-line diary where the writer’s thought is posted, how effective would it be when used in relation to news? Sky News is a 24-hour television show in Europe who has for its main competitor, the BBC News-24.

History of Sky News

Sky News first began broadcasting in February 1989 and has transmitted continuous live news ever since. It quickly gained a reputation for journalistic integrity which gave it the much needed prestige despite operating on a shoe-string budget. It has likewise remained unique in an industry where presenters are rapidly hired and fired. Many of its original presenting team remains with the channel.

Other channels have tried to emulate Sky’s standards and methods but were not always successful in doing so. It was the only channel at its league until the launch of the BBC News-24 in November 1997. Sky News filed a complaint with the European Commission which argued that the publicly funded BBC News-24 was unfair and illegal under the European Union Law. However, the commission ruled in favor of BBC stating that the state aid was justified due to the public service remit of BBC.

To be competitive, the Sky Channel launched its Sky News Active which was a 24-hour service providing headlines on demand. Due to its success, the 8-screen video news service was likewise launched which was way ahead of the standard 4-screen. The Sky News Poll was also popular with its new question for each day. It has become common for questions and subjects to change throughout the day depending on news and developments.

Sky News won a 5-year contract to supply news bulletin to the British Terrestrial Channel Five in the year 2005. On the same year, Sky News was relaunched from a brand new studio in West London, replacing the one that has been used for almost 17 years in Isleworth. Along with the transfer came heavy revision of music and on-screen graphics. The station has a very recognizable line like CNN which is read every hour, giving the show name and presenters.

This renowned news broadcaster also has a forum called the Sky News Panel, which is basically an on-line research group. It lets its members express their opinions on various subjects. It makes use of short surveys which would only take minutes to complete. Some surveys are targeted at specific profiles but may be weighted to the UK population where national opinion is needed.

Anchors in the likes of Eamonn Holmes and James Rubin have been secured while experimenting on new schedule and format. Sky News aims to provide a fast moving, highly-produced program that gives everyone a chance to catch up on all the news that matters. Emphasis is given on pace, pictures and people combined with the best footage of the day and sharp reporting from field correspondents.

The Live at Five on Sky News features dedicated spots for sports, showbiz as well as its own weblog. The blog spot is Sky News’ way of taking the time out to hear the reader’s views on the news that have caught their attention. A selection of contributions to the blog is read out daily so that real opinions get on the show.

The Sky News Blog

Sky CEO Rupert Murdock has discovered the wonders of the Internet and has placed particular interest on social media and blogging. His interest brought him a step further when he bought various on-line companies including Intermix and http://IGN.com. Not one to be left out from the fun, Sky came out with its first blog in an attempt to connect with its audience. It is widely believed that Sky’s acquisition of Tim Levell, the former editor of the BBC Action Network, had a lot to do with this move. In fact, he has provided some of the posts found in the blog.

The blog is personally led by Sky News at 5 anchorman Jeremy Thompson. It thankfully looks and feels like a real blog which cannot be said for many other things that call themselves blogs. This is actually Sky’s first attempt at blogging but it seems to have succeeded in avoiding the most obvious pitfalls related to it.

This blog is designed to be identifiable and distinct from the channel’s news website offering. Whereas the news website and TV channel delivers news, blogs explain how and why such news are being delivered. This is what is usually referred to as “back channel conversational content”. However, since the launch of the blog coincides with the relaunch of Sky News as a whole, discussion on topics not necessarily thought provoking such as the show’s new set have been occupying considerable space in the blog. Conversations regarding the process of how editorial decisions are arrived at for example are probable discussion of interest to readers.

Large companies and organizations who have managed to establish web presence need to maintain strong control of their blogs. This would necessitate hosting those blogs within their own domain space. Hosting a blog on a third party might not be able to provide seamless integration with the rest of a company’s website. There are important aspects to be considered such as quality control and availability. A site that goes down or begins to bug-out necessarily affects the individual reputation of companies.

The blogosphere is quite partial to personality led blogs. This is one of the reasons why the Sky News blog works. However, it could benefit from more posts written by Jeremy Thompson.

The blog encourages as many people as possible to take part in the discussion of various topics. The company has adopted a light touch policy which essentially allows for any comments as long as it is not offensive, ****** or irrelevant. Participants are further encouraged to be constructive, friendly and informative.

Pre-moderating of comments was done during the experimental stage. This is expected to change as the site develops well. The blog is primarily linked to the Live at 5 shows and not the whole channel thus moderation of comments is done during daytime working hours.

Contributors are requested to provide their names, physical address and e-mail address although these details do not get published on the site. It is just a way for the company to determine the intentions of those people who would like to be a part pf their blog. Anonymous postings are not published. Sky News is perceived to have made a very brave move when it plunged head-on towards the blogging world. Whether or not their blog accomplishes something over and beyond the accomplishments of its regular websites would depend on the people handling it and how much they are prepared to meet the changing needs of consumers.



MARCELINO

XxHollister09xX asked:


…or can you just get a bachelors degree to become a CNN news reporter/anchor?

ROBBIE

Bo Pilgrim asked:


She’s got red hair and solid blue eyes with either very small pupils, or none at all, I can’t tell, but they look solid blue on TV. Does this concern you spiritually?

In her still pictures she appears to have pupils, but when she’s on tv she does not.

And could she be other-worldly, like a vampire or reptilian?

TOMMIE