Results matching “a polarized soc”

In these days, it is difficult to be a French journalist when you have to talk about the Paris suburb riots. Either you are accused of self-censorship and political correctness, or of damaging France's image by excessive coverage!

The first answer is to point out that some of the most well-known French columnists and journalists have reaped as they sowed: during the London attacks and the Katrina hurricane, they gave a lot of lessons, saying that such catastrophies couldn't happen in France.

Agence France-Presse reports that two new pro-oppositions dailies have been launched among dozens of titles in the Ivory Coast press last month in preparation for the highly politicized election campaign ahead of the October polls.  One title, The Latest News from Abidjan, issued its first 12-page tabloid edition on May 30^th in which it laid out its goal to publish a diversity of opinions through this time of political change.  The other new title, the North-South daily, printed its first edition on May 17^th.  Each paper will take much of its editorial content from the current lead opposition daily, The Patriot.  Media in the Ivory Coast has been known to be highly polarized, with many pro-government dailies and radio stations. 

Source: Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse reports that two new pro-oppositions dailies have been launched among dozens of titles in the Ivory Coast press last month in preparation for the highly politicized election campaign ahead of the October polls.  One title, The Latest News from Abidjan, issued its first 12-page tabloid edition on May 30^th in which it laid out its goal to publish a diversity of opinions through this time of political change.  The other new title, the North-South daily, printed its first edition on May 17^th.  Each paper will take much of its editorial content from the current lead opposition daily, The Patriot.  Media in the Ivory Coast has been known to be highly polarized, with many pro-government dailies and radio stations. 

Source: Agence France-Presse

I'm working on a presentation for the next Middle East Publishing Conference to be held in Dubai on 17 and 18 January 2005. Here are the four points I want to develop, but it is not at all a final text. Please let me know if you agree or not.

My main concern is that if you see signs of positive evolution in Arabic countries, the « global picture » is missing. As positive signs, I just point to the re-birth of an independent press in Lebanon, the new generation of newspapers in Egypt and obviously the growth of Al Jazeera and the new Arabic TV channels.

1) When I talk to Arab or Muslim editors or publishers, I have the feeling that they don’t consider themselves as representatives of the Fourth Estate. They say they represent their country or the idea they have of their country, but it is very rare to hear that they are first a « counter-power » and that their main function is to be a watchdog of the three other powers, executive, legislative and judicial. Until this mentality has not changed, I don’t see how editors, producers and journalists can work as a group linked by a common and strong ideal.

2) Secondly, there is a tremendous lack of media institutions in the Arab world. Newspapers are not setting up national associations of newspapers and the same thing goes for the TV channels. In America, the Washington Post and the New York Times are competitors, but they work together within the NAA (Newspapers Association of America). And for the TV networks, same scenario : Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are always quarelling and they don’t want to see that they have common interests… This lack of common or national institutions explains why Arab media have a very little voice in international organisations.

3) Thirdly, the incredible and recent growth of TV channels in the Arab world is a challenge for all of us. Usually - and even in India or in China -, there was first the development of printed media, then of broadcast media, and a lot of broadcast journalists were trained in « traditional » newspapers. That’s not the case with Al Jazeera or Al Arabiya with a generation of citizens and a generation of journalists who only know this media. The risks are twofold : it creates a huge imbalance between media and the expression of citizenship is perverted: you can begin a political or an ideological debate in a TV show, but it’s impossible to pursue it or to find a consensus without the relay of printed media. It is not their sole responsability, but what I see through Al Jazeera or Al Arabiya is the emergence of a pseudo-TV democracy. A genuine democracy needs other tools and other commitments: democracy is like a chain with newspapers, radio, TV, websites and blogs. If one link in the chain is missing, there is no more chain.

4) Let me finish with a fourth argument about globalisation and the Arab world. I’m always surprised by the love/hate (or hate/love) relationship between Arabs and Americans. As a Frenchman, I can understand that, but it also appears that here in the Gulf, it’s an obsession. As if the world was divided in two parts and that Japan, Europe or South America were just bit players. For instance, when I open an Arab newspaper, the op-ed pages are full of articles from American (sometimes English) syndications, never with columns from Germany, Spain, Brazil or India. Arab media live in a polarized world that forbids them to consider a real globalised world. And now, I'm waiting your comments. I'm sure I can improve my understanding of Arab media with your feedback.

I begin with the conclusion of Andrew Sullivan in Time magazine about bloggers and the Rathergate: "Does this mean the old media is dead? Not at all. Blogs depend on the journalistic resources of big media to do the bulk of reporting and analysis. What blogs do is provide the best scrutiny of big media imaginable—ratcheting up the standards of the professionals, adding new voices, new perspectives and new facts every minute. The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them." And I finish with his introduction, an unappropriate statement from Jonathan Klein, former senior executive of CBS 60 Minutes, on Fox News "Bloggers have no checks and balances. [It's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."

Source: Time

I begin with the conclusion of Andrew Sullivan in Time magazine about bloggers and the Rathergate: "Does this mean the old media is dead? Not at all. Blogs depend on the journalistic resources of big media to do the bulk of reporting and analysis. What blogs do is provide the best scrutiny of big media imaginable—ratcheting up the standards of the professionals, adding new voices, new perspectives and new facts every minute. The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them." And I finish with his introduction, an unappropriate statement from Jonathan Klein, former senior executive of CBS 60 Minutes, on Fox News "Bloggers have no checks and balances. [It's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."

Source: Time

I begin with the conclusion of Andrew Sullivan in Time magazine about bloggers and the Rathergate: "Does this mean the old media is dead? Not at all. Blogs depend on the journalistic resources of big media to do the bulk of reporting and analysis. What blogs do is provide the best scrutiny of big media imaginable—ratcheting up the standards of the professionals, adding new voices, new perspectives and new facts every minute. The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them." And I finish with his introduction, an unappropriate statement from Jonathan Klein, former senior executive of CBS 60 Minutes, on Fox News "Bloggers have no checks and balances. [It's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."

Source: Time

“We need to think a lot harder about what constitutes news. News needs to be more tuned to personal priorities and this means journalists moving from “wide audience, low relevance” stories to ones with low audience and greater relevance.” says Jim Chisholm in the latest edition of the international journal Newspapers and Technology.
The consultant adds that "the new News is unlikely to win its creators many Pulitzer prizes. But the new News is what media consumers will pay for.”