Hope is not a plan

MSNBC just aired a report on Amber Holloway. The reporter was a young, blond woman who would make a perfect lead in a TV movie on the subject.

Fox news is reporting on the exact same topic right now.

CNN is reporting on a thwarted school shooting, with a discussion of the role of Myspace in revealing it; CNN headline news right at this moment is discussing air pollution in the U.S., and its relation with disease.

This is perhaps a 1.5/4 in terms of real news stories across all four channels.

NNN, the Non-Aligned News Network, was recently launched out of Malaysia as the reporting wing of the twenty-seven-year-old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The NAM, outlined here, was originally an effort to make a formal "third option" for nations that wanted to avoid alignment with NATO or the Warsaw Pact. In practice, many of its member nations have been heavily involved with one side or the other (for example, membership includes both Cuba and North Korea). With the end of the Cold War, much of the NAM's relevance dissipated.

Malaysia appears to be making a push for the NAM again, leading the way with the NNN as a "non-major-power" news option. They may be coming to that role too late with too little, as Al Jazeera is effectively just that, being relatively independent of specific national backing or influence. The founders appear to be aware of this concern:

The NNN sees itself as an alternative source of information rather than being in competition with other major news services. Essentially it would serve as a conduit for NAM member countries to tell their story and use it as a yet another tool of communication for them.

The service is less than a week old, but for the moment, it's in my regular news rotation. For reference, that rotation includes:

The BBC
Al Jazeera
CNN
NNN
IRIN

Secondaries:

Chosun Ilbo
Xinhua

The secondaries carry their bias out in the open, but are worthwhile as reflections of that biased perspective.

An exercise -- pick a news channel and track their coverage of the current conflict surrounding Israel.

From my survey, CNN and MSNBC tend to alternate between views of and interviews in Lebanon and the same in Israel. In contrast, Fox sits firmly in Israel, emphasizing the effects there. Lebanon is shown as seen from the Israeli border, as a target.

...and Fox just suggested the fear that Hezbollah might be waiting to strike in the U.S. Americans might not care about what happens to Israel, so it's best to suggest a threat at home.

I've heard many commentators ponder whether there will be a widespread backlash against Hezbollah for initiating the current conflict. There won't. The Arab world isn't listening to reports of Katyusha strikes in Haifa. They're reading things like this:

Israeli jets have hit central Beirut for the first time and dozens more people have been killed in continuing air attacks across south Lebanon, raising the toll there to about 295 people.

Taken from this Al Jazeera story.

As any wedding photographer could tell you, the exact subset of pictures you choose to represent an event colors the final view of that event.

This discussion looks at how a genuine tragedy (civilian deaths in Qana) was stage-managed for maximum impact, most likely by Hezbollah members.

Just as the urge for story can generate a crisis, so too it can lead to an overly simplistic view of the world and its events -- one that is open to manipulation.

Top stories this morning:

BBC: Russian plain crashes in Ukraine

al Jazeera: First witnesses heard in Saddam trial

CNN: JonBenet suspect due in court

NNN: Pakistani shot dead by India's anti-terrorism squad in Mumbai

Fox gives equal billing to Iran ready for 'serious negotiations' on nukes and 'Nothing crazy' about Karr.

So a full point to the BBC, al Jazeera and NNN for leading with actual news. Half a point to Fox for mixing and matching, and a solid zero for CNN.

In this article, the New York Times reports that Vladimir Putin made some really unpleasant remarks to Israeli diplomatic officials concerning the oustanding rape charges against Israeli president Moshe Katsav. I'm not surprised that a former KGB officer who spent much of his career suppressing internal dissent is an unpleasant person who says grotesque things. What caught my eye in the first place was this roundly inappropriate NYT headline for the story (I am not a regular NYT reader, so I only notice their stories when they filter through my Google RSS listings):

"Putin’s Asides on Israeli Sex Scandal Overheard"

Rape charges aren't a "sex scandal," any more than someone walking into a school and killing some kids is a "sport shooting scandal."

Off to write to the NYT now. That's just irresponsible reporting.

Showing today (and then over and over again this week) on al Hurra, the American Arabic-language news station:

Messing With Heads

Think smoking pot is a harmless pastime? Think again. According to the latest scientific research, it can cause psychosis, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders. And worryingly, teenagers - the people who indulge most – are those most at risk. In this eye opening documentary, young users now being treated for psychosis speak candidly about their experiences.

Good grief. Why are we wasting our air time trying to propagate American anti-drug culture into the Arab world? Is it all a clever ploy to convince radical Islamists that we, too, are a bunch of controlling fundamentalists?

Actually, I'd feel a lot of respect for the producers at al Hurra if that's the goal, as it's one area where official American national policy coincides well with radical Islamist beliefs.

If you're curious and speak Arabic (or just want to watch video in a language you don't understand), some of the programs produced by al Hurra can be downloaded from their website.

Added note: Unsurprisingly, the drug problem in Iraq is not centered on pot. Of all the things one might produce in-country or smuggle across the borders, pot would probably be the most difficult (that said, people are doing it). Instead, most of the abused drugs are either pills or non-pharmaceutical solvents (e.g. sniffing glue). I would think that the dangers of sniffing glue -- which definitely will cause brain damage -- would be good to publicize on al Hurra.

IRIN article
BBC article

I just emailed al Hurra to ask them about their choice of coverage in this case.

Let's take a look at the top three headlines from a couple news sources.

The BBC leads with:

• US extends troops' tour of duty
• China PM to address Japan MPs
• BBC's day of action for reporter (the reporter in question is Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped last month in Gaza

al Jazeera has:

• Explosions rock Algiers
• China urges Japan to remember past
• US soldiers to stay longer in Iraq

CNN attempts to emulate its lessers with:

• MSNBC drops Imus
• Exonerated Duke players want changes
• Soldiers ordered to extra time on front line

Gosh. It's good that nothing important is going on in the world, so CNN can run the same leads as Fox news ( Fox also has Imus and the fate of a bunch of random college students in North Carolina as two of three leading stories). Maybe I can lobby to have CNN run "human interest" stories from my neighborhood. There's this awesome lemonade stand down the street that's totally more important for the nation to know about than suicide bombings in Algiers or the state of Chinese-Japanese relations.

Aim higher, CNN. Aim higher.

In this article, David Leonhardt mentions several ways that Lou Dobbs misrepresents things in his broadcasts. Two key examples:

• Incorrectly saying that there have been 7,000 leprosy cases in this country the last three years (and blaming that on illegal immigration) -- in fact, that's the tally for the last thirty years, and the case total for last year was less than any single year from 1975 to 1996.
• Stating that one third of Federal prison inmates are illegal aliens, when it's actually 6%, which is lower than the percent of our whole population that is here illegally (that's 7%)

Dobbs also makes alarmist, Tim McVeighish statements about an immigration bill being a first step toward a North American Union of Canada, Mexico, and the US. Watch out, Lou -- those black helicopters may be coming for you next. Better pull the bar codes off the backs of all those road signs.

CNN's hiring of tools like Lou Dobbs and courtroom gossip columnist Nancy Grace has gone a long way to kick their reputation while it was already down and bleeding.

As reported in this BBC article, BBC reporter Alan Johnston was freed today. Mr. Johnston was kidnapped about four months ago during his regular press work in Gaza. His kidnapping sparked more than the usual round of outrage, as his was seen as a fair voice that could publicize Palestinian needs and concerns to the world at large. After months in captivity, things sped up considerably when Hamas forcibly took control of Gaza and promised they'd secure his freedom. Despite initial threats to kill Mr. Johnston should Hamas try a rescue, the self-styled "Army of Islam" finally gave in and released him and a number of other captives, unharmed.

The BBC has a timeline of the process, which began on the third of July when Hamas flooded the Sabra district of Gaza, where Johnston was being held, with gunmen. The BBC and other sources describe Hamas's negotiation process in fairly vague terms, but I would not be surprised if the leverage they used on the "Army" involved some manner of threats not just to its members, but to their families.

The final words, from Mr. Johnston:

Johnston praised Hamas for winning his freedom. "If it hadn't been for that real serious Hamas pressure, that commitment to tidying up Gaza's many, many security problems, then I might have been in that room for a lot longer," he told the news conference later during the day.

Asked if he would return to Gaza, Johnston said: "After many months of kidnapping, I think I need a break."

This Time Magazine was on the rack last week in gas stations throughout California. The intent of the imagery is clear, blatantly so -- the star-spangled "A" that represents America is shown being hoisted out of Iraq. The choice of a helicopter is particularly evocative, since it's a call-back to the classically tragic images of the last helicopter leaving South Vietnam.

But let's talk about that helicopter. The silhouette on the Time Magazine cover is clearly that of a Soviet-made Hind helicopter. Now, that could be a subtle meta-statement comparing America's presence in Iraq to that of the Soviets in Afghanistan. It could be, but I find myself doubting it. Instead, I suspect that the cover artist just pulled up reference on military helicopters irrespective of national origin, and the editors at Time didn't fact-check properly, or didn't care to make a correction.

Either way, Time is once again placing itself firmly in the mainstream of sloppy journalism. If you can't pick the right reference for a magazine cover -- especially when the silhouette of one American helicopter is so well known -- why should we trust you to handle actual news?

The "investigation" into the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has now netted some additional suspects -- this time, including Lt. Col. Pavel Ryaguzov, a member of the Federal Security Service. Col. Here's the official word, as reported by the BBC:

Investigators believe that he could have passed on details of Ms Politkovskaya's address to another suspect, who in turn gave them to the killer, the source said.

Given that Ms. Politkovskaya wasn't in a protection program at the time, it's hard to say why the killers would have needed a member of the FSS to provide the address of a random journalist. Maybe there are no phone books in Russia. Col. Ryaguzov is added to the already quirky list of suspects centered on a former Chechen politician:

Chief prosecutor Yuri Chaika said at the time that among the suspects were serving and former security officers and that their ringleader was a Chechen gang boss.

Mr Chaika said there were indications that the murder plot had been masterminded abroad with a view to discrediting the Kremlin.

Given that Ms. Politkovskaya was known for writing pieces that exposed abuse of Chechen civilians by the Russian army, this is incredible, in the traditional meaning of the word. That said, a security service that is capable of bombing its own people might well see that as a plausible story to feed to the public.

BBC article

Perhaps there's an inverse correlation between article size and article significance?

Go to the extended to see what the BBC and al Jazeera were running at the same time.

Prince Harry will be withdrawn a bit early from his deployment to Afghanistan following the revelation that he's there by the Drudge Report. This came on the heals of an apparently accidental initial leak by an Australian magazine that discovered he was in Afghanistan and didn't realize there was a news embargo on the topic.

Of course, they perhaps they should have had the wit to realize not to report it anyway.

Seriously, there's very little immediate news value to the target markets (Australia, Europe, America) to know that a royal is in the field. In contrast, however, there's tremendous news value for this same item if one is a member of the Taleban looking to hit a high-value target in the current Afghanistan conflict. Whereas our interest is mostly celebrity, their interest is of a more problematic nature -- one that ought to have taken precedence.

One interesting comment in the aftermath of this came from a participant in an online discussion hosted by Washington Post's Kevin Sullivan:

One cannot help being struck by the contrast between, for example, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who said that his five strapping sons were serving America by helping in their father's campaign, and Prince Harry, who not only went through Britain's West Point, Sandhurst, but worked diligently to then get into the fighting. His grandmother vetoed deployment to Iraq, so he went to Afghanistan -- and to one of the deadliest areas, Helmand province.

That's worth recalling later, the next time someone is hawkish with other people's children and a dove with their own.

The BBC article

Compare and contrast. These were all grabbed within the last five minutes

The BBC's focus is obvious

al Jazeera hits the mark

You can find it on the Fox front page, at any rate

But God damn it, CNN, what's wrong with you? I had to highlight the headline to make it visible.

As the O'Reilly show runs its "Is It Legal" segment in the hotel lobby where I'm accessing wireless, they just spent some time complaining that the SEC should have "done more" to stop Madoff, and that it "dropped the ball."

One of the commentators cogently noted that apparently none of these people did their due diligence either. I'd like to politely point back to this post and its quote that, paraphrased, says, "You wanted no regulation, you got no regulation. Live with it."

I'm not particularly happy with the culture of insane laissez-faire we've been operating with over the last eight years, but I think if you were going to whine about regulations holding you down last year, you have no place complaining that the SEC didn't "do its job" when the deregulation you desired happens to bite you.

If you called for regulations when they were unpopular, you're free to say "I told you so." If you called for deregulation, you're SOL, and should stop talking now.

An addendum to this post sparked by an O'Reilly show element. The guy guest hosting the show today asked a travel expert why flights were canceled this week when there were "four flakes" of snow where he lived.

The travel expert went on to explain the concept of how snow at a hub airport screws up the flight network.

It would make me sigh, but Fox news pretty much is the benchmark for vapid anti-intellectualism cloaked in a fragile veneer of timid self righteousness.

I've been talking with a friend recently about the incredibly damaging dichotomy that exists in how we treat individuals and their finances versus corporations and their finances. CNBC in particular has been going after homeowners, couching the concept of walking away from a failing mortgage as somehow immoral, even as they happily push for the necessity of the feared Federal government subsidizing significantly more poorly made decisions at the corporate level by buying up "toxic" debts.

With that in mind:

It may or may not surprise you to know that there are a number of American journalists being held, most likely illegally, by foreign governments at the moment. Here's the rundown:

Roxana Saberi, who has worked for the BBC, NPR, and Fox News has been in detention in Iran for an ever-progressing series of charges that started at "buying alcohol," then transmuted into "working as a journalist without credentials" and is now "spying." Her parents recently traveled from the U.S. to see her (for 20 entire minutes, sadly). As for the spying charges, her lawyer can't comment yet because he hasn't been allowed to see the charges against Ms. Saberi.

More from the BBC on Roxana Saberi

At the same time, Euna Lee and Laura Ling from Current TV were recently detained by the North Korean government, as alluded to in this announcement in North Korean 'news' source KCNA. Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling were picked up near the North Korean border -- exactly where is a huge issue, as the North Korean official statement has them illegally entering the country, but a number of other sources suggest that North Korean soldiers crossed into Chinese territory to grab the two reporters.

More from the BBC on Euna Lee and Laura Ling

If you'd like to express your concern about the detention of American citizens by hostile nations, you can click here to write to your relevant politicians.

As I mentioned before, American journalist Roxana Saberi is being put on trial in Iran, ostensibly for being an American spy. When last we checked in, her lawyer hadn't been allowed to see the specific charges against her; now the (closed) trial has begun, with a verdict expected in a couple weeks.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has demanded her release.

"That a government expresses an opinion without seeing the indictment is laughable," he said.

Presumably, given that the general charge is spying on our behalf, our government is actually in a position to evaluate the indictment even without seeing the specifics.

Once again, I suggest you contact your political representatives about this issue.

BBC article