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Censoring Arab journalists
A Middle Eastern journalist friend recently had an opportunity to sit round a table with a senior political figure from the region. He asked the man a fair, but critical question. The politician brushed it aside. When the meeting ended, the politician sought him out for a quiet word, along the lines of: Your owners…
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Breaks off News At Ten
News At Ten returned. With no commercial break. Deliberate? Permanent? Odd feeling in what was otherwise a very familiar programme package (well, I did work on it years ago). But down to business. You want an old-fashioned critique of an old-fashioned show? Start with the Bongs (the headlines). Hasnat Khan exclusive/Diana Georgina Edmonds murder Antarctic…
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The return of News At Ten
The old wisdom would have been that the coming News At Ten battle is between two types of television news. One side, the Beeb, driven by the need to inform. At its best patrician and provocative. At its worst dull. The other side, ITN, driven by the need to tell stories, at its best emotionally…
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What’s gone wrong at Al Jazeera English?
Check out the anonymous piece below on Al Jazeera English, posted – bizarrely – in the comments section of a Dubai media blog on 26 December, 2007. It certainly chimes with some of the things I’ve heard. And further below, more on soft-pedalling re. Saudi Arabia at AJE’s Arabic sister channel: What’s gone wrong at…