Another News Service Launches...

Mags, one of my fellow bloggers and friends, posted something similar on her blog...I cannot really do better. (The only reason this entry is longer is because more has been said in the media since the launch)

I was there when AlJazeera's English service launched on Wednesday, Noon, November 15th 2006.

It was due to launch some time ago but technical problems delayed the event. I understand up until it came on air it was to be known as AJI(International)but at the last minute there was a change requested from those who help finance the service. So it is now to be known as AJE(E for English)

It is amazing how many British and American based, respected journalists have joined the new channel and we have to hope that the fact they have means that their faith in the service and they have been taken on by the new service shows a commitment to offering a fair and as is possible an unbiased view of world events. It probably has a harder job to achieve this because it will not want to be accused of following a Western line nor be accused of following a line that makes it appear against all things that the West does. The fact that these journalists wanted to join must mean that their possible fears have been laid to rest. Its bound to be different. Of course there are plenty of journalists from across the world that we will see.

For now and the foreseeable future cable and satellite will reduce how many in the UK will see it as its unlikely to be seen on Freeview. But it is available in Europe, the States and across the globe. It has bureaus and news centres in many places including Washington and London.

Presenters and reporters have been recruited from the BBC, Sky, ITN, CNN and others and most are well known faces and who have built a reputation over many, many years.
Roughly, we have via satellite 9 news based stations that we can view broadcasting from the States, UK, China and India I believe and now AlJazeera. I understand that another news service will launch soon from France backed by the French Government.

I will watch with interest. The first programme from seasoned broadcaster Sir David Frost this weekend has an interview with Tony Blair the British Prime Minister. No doubt viewers and broadcasters across the globe will watch this interview with extra interest.

I have found a Russian news service in English. It appears to share airtime with a Jewellery selling channel but from what I can see from the electronic programme guide is on air from the afternoon onwards well into the evening. Even the channel number and title would initially give no inkling that it is carrying either of these services. I suppose when its established it will go into the selection of news broadcasters such as Sky, CNN, Fox News and BBC News24.

For now I have no idea whether its a commercial broadcaster or has some input from the Government as we used to hear Radio Moscow. I remember listening to some its output on shortwave many, many years ago.

I am not alone as another blogger who writes on media matters mentions this channel in one of the lastest entries...

See the following link Shrew Media

As reported in the Guardian today:

"The BBC World editor, Richard Porter, has said al-Jazeera's English-language channel will be a "serious competitor" to the BBC and CNN, although he questioned some of its early editorial decisions.

Mr Porter, who oversees the commercial 24-hour international news channel, said al-Jazeera English seemed to share similar values to BBC World, although he said its decision not to report on Downing Street briefings - as revealed by one of al-Jazeera correspondents in an interview yesterday - could not be right."

Is he correct? Possibly, but then again that's his opinion and Al-Jazeera never said that it was trying to copy or take the same view as the BBC or whoever and will do things differently. We have to decide if the editorial slant is from the owners of the station or the reporters are allowed to report things as they see them whether it pleases the station or not. But that should be true of any news gathering organisation in principle. And whether, they can remain detached. My very good friend Rupe has seen and taken images of many news events around the world, serious and not so serious. The image speaks for itself and is a captured moment in time. To some extent any report is only a snapshot. The written word can change the inference of what we are reading or seeing if it accompanies an image. And though, photographs can also be manipulated in Rupe's case I know that what I am seeing is as it was and I know that whether she agreed or disagreed with the situation what I am seeing is genuine and true. What we feel is left to us who are looking at what is being presented to us.

If any conflict comes into the equation it possibly would be at the editorial stage where the editor decides which image is used and which is unused.

"Where we appear to depart from Al-Jazeera is in our attitudes to reporting what happens in the west," he said.

"I think it's wrong not to challenge and test what people in power have said, but you can't dismiss it simply because they've said it.

That may also be true but how many stories on Western media go unchallenged. How many times do we let what we hear go over our heads without questioning what we've been told or read?

Trivial, I know but I heard a story about Free Range Eggs being sold as such but a Governement Department discovered that non free range eggs are being sold as being so...but further investigation suggests it is one distribution company caught out, it is not the whole egg industry. Later on, my Mum had heard a report on television news which either because the report was shorter or how it was reported, she had a different take on the story which probably was inaccurate and then you have to ask how many others were left with that opinion. Often because television news depends more on images and talking heads, radio is able do it better.

The same reports says that Mr Porter said the launch of the new channel had also made BBC World look again at its own performance.

"Competition is good in any market, and certainly since we've known the date of their launch, we've been looking at our own programme plans for this period to make sure we'll be looking our best," he said.

"We've also been asking ourselves some tough questions about our own agenda. For example, although we're proud of our British heritage, we don't aim to cover British news - unless it has some international significance or resonance."

Maybe he should offer a larger take on how the UK sees events around the world as well as delivering some of the output as straight and fact based. It would do no harm to say here is the news...and now here is a British take on what is happening. The only problem being that as so many different voices have an opinion these days, how can you say what is a majority opinion of the population? Isn't that one reason why some blogs have been set up? To get different opinions out there that are not being heard? You can argue whether they have an agenda or just say things as they see them.

"He added there had been some discussion as to whether BBC World should cover the state opening of parliament live, adding it had eventually been agreed to as it was "one of the more important set-piece events of the year" and had international significance because of the bills on terrorism and climate change."

Surely, if we want the world to see how the UK works and it is an event in British life, this should be carried and not questioned in the sense that it would be dropped. This is a case where we could explain and hopefully make the world more informed and understand us more. Isn't that the idea of news?

Some or all of the Guardian article is taken from a blog that Mr Porter has on the BBC Website

In amongst comments made by people who have read his blog, Thomas Hopston gives a list of British presenters who are now at AlJazeera...
* Sir David Frost
* Riz Khan (BBC, CNN)
* Felicity Barr (ITN)
* Stephen Cole (BBC) I can ammend Thomas' list in that Cole has worked for both CNN and Sky
* Jane Dutton (BBC, CNN)
* David Foster (Sky)
* Steff Gaulter (Sky)
* Shiulie Ghosh (ITN)
* Kimberly Halkett (GLOBAL TV)
* David Hawkins (CBS News)
* Darren Jordon (BBC)
* Dave Marash (ABC)
* Rageh Omaar (BBC)
* Veronica Pedrosa (BBC, CNN)
* Shahnaz Pakravan (BBC, ITN)
* Mark Seddon (Various)
* Barbara Serra (Sky)
* Lauren Taylor (ITN)

And I have seen some reporters I know from their previous work on tv and radio including Jackie Rowlands and John Cookson.