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The myth of press freedom in Dubai
So what price press freedom for the occupants of Dubai’s Media City? Now that the Dubai authorities have shut down two independent UAE-based TV channels (GEO and ARY), it all looks a little bit wobbly. The test comes, and the UAE caves in. But in all of this, few questions have been asked about Dubai’s…
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A biologist uncovers the goal of television journalism
I sometimes feel like a fraud as a former TV journalist: audiences in retreat; accusations of superficiality; and the sense of being somehow “special” disappearing from the genre. It takes a biologist to remind me of the extraordinary power that still lurks within television journalism. That power is not rational and restrained but emotional and…
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The Rise and Fall of the TV Journalist
Adam Curtis did this for BBC Four. So, like me, you probably never saw it…
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The Police vs. Channel 4
Remember Undercover Mosque, the investigation in Channel 4’s Dispatches strand? Ofcom’s decision in respect of Undercover Mosque throws the ball firmly back into the court of West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service. This was their statement from back in August 2007: [Assistant Chief Constable] Anil Patani for West Midlands Police said: “As a…