Saturday, January 21, 2012

Thank you and Goodnight

So was this a case of being cut off because you can't pay your bills or something more sinister. I suppose that really depends how you perceive bias in your news reporting and consumption, the BBC are biased and Press TV are 'Mad Mullahs', blimey how far right are those guys at Biased BBC?

Press TV has been portrayed by some, see above, as a throwback to the bad old days of Pravda, or the right up to date days of China and Fox News (only joking).  Press TV was accused of being politically naive of being a political puppet and for ignoring the truth whilst pursuing its own agenda, which makes it exactly the same as almost every newspaper and television channel that has ever existed. Not that means I am a supporter of some of its editorial content, I think there is something pernicious about any enterprise that criticises a perceived lack of democratic freedoms whilst wilfully ignoring, or failing to recognise, that there are political prisoners in Iran and that even this morning there are reports of the arrests of journalists just days before the Iranian elections.

Increasingly it seems that we the public are not allowed to make up our own minds about which news reports are 'true' and which are completely bonkers. It does seem strange to me, as somebody who trawls the satellite channels for a different viewpoint on news items, that Press TV is perceived as barking (based on a couple of its presenters clearly being two sandwiches short of a picnic) whilst other stations out there which are supposedly following a neutral political line offer much of the same. Of course it's easy to see through the puff of 'enrichment' (thank you Span) and observe the political rhetoric that lurks below but some of the stories that were covered by Press TV were very good. Some of the journalists working on the station were respected in this country as being good at their job and the reports on the occupation were very good, particularly in the even handedness of their Vox Pop street interviews. It seems however that when Ofcom phoned asking for their £100,000 they got the "sorry, this number is no longer available." reply from Tehran.

3 comments:

Span Ows said...

You've got the links sorted I see! And thanks for the link back to me.

This is a money thing isn't it? If it is any sort of censorship then it is very wrong.

I think most people with half a brain learn to get news from more than one source and those with three-quarters even use other sources that aren't saying the same as the first one :-)

Paul said...

Yes I think it is a money thing, you can still watch online but I actually think that online news viewing is a different experience to watching on TV.

I agree about the half a brain but as the Biased BBC site shows if you only get your news from one source you may not get the full picture. Incidentally did you see the Youguv poll results on trusted brands this week?

Span Ows said...

No...just back from my ex's party - yes, that's why I didn't stay late!...so will check the poll tomorrow (I'm don't think I'll be surprised BUT if a certain national broadcaster is there then I can recite various caveats as to why it SHOULDN'T be!

:-)