Thanks for posting this. I've been watching it. It is good, as it usually is. You can watch/read Al Jazeera via the Internet. IF you want access, you'll have to write to your cable provider and congressional reps.
George --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > This series from "Frontline" is powerful and, I think, a must-see. I know we send a lot of e-mails around, and I know many of us rant and rave about all sorts of issues. Truth, it must be hard somedays to decide what latest issue is worth worrying about, which cause warrants our attention. But the following is worth a look. It's a four-part series about media and how perceptions are shaped in the newest Information Age. When you think about it, just about everything we think and feel is influenced by someone else: whether it's Madison Avenue telling us who's beautiful or what kind of car is hip, American Idol pushing no-talents off as singers, rappers telling us what it is to be "real", Hollywood pushing the myth of half-naked Spartans fighting an army of degenerates, or the President influencing our thoughts on everything from religion to social issues, we're bombarded with sights and sounds and slogans that say "This is good" or "This is bad". Nowhere has this been in more evidence recently than the ideological battle of America vs. the Middle East, and America vs.--America, where soundbites, controlled messages, and subtle manipulations have been used to sway the public and pit us against each other. Indeed, I wonder how many of us--even those who think of ourselves as "free thinkers"--realize how much our minds are influenced by the media, and just how partisan and subjective that media has become nowadays. > > I watched the fourth part of the series, "War of Ideas", last night. It focuses on how Arab and Middle Eastern TV is fast approaching the sophistication of American TV, technologically, and, especially, psychologically. One guy compared an Arab station to Fox, with the same slickly packaged pandering-to-the-crowd format. It touches on Al-Jazeera and its influence, and the regrettable (in my opinion) decision made by all major content providers in the US not to carry Al-Jazeera English, the new entity aimed at brining a Middle Eastern viewpoint to the English-speaking world. Chilling that our government has basically made a decision for us on what we can watch, especially given how many respected *American* reporters have signed on with Al-Jazeera English. Not to mention, the audience of Arab- focused cable and TV outlets is *huge*, and how can Americans make informed decisions about American Mid-East policy if we don't even know what the hell the Middle Easterners are thinking? Perhaps if we'd had some more knowledge taht up front, no one would have been foolish enough to think "Shock and Awe" would result in a cowed-but- grateful Iraqi populace greeting our troops with open arms. > > The entire series can be viewed online at the following address http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/newswar/ > A brief quote from the synopsis: > > ...Drawing on more than 80 interviews with key figures in the print, broadcast and electronic media, and with unequaled, behind-the- scenes access to some of today's most important news organizations, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman examines the challenges facing the mainstream news media, and the media's reaction, in "News War," a special four-part series. > Bergman traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration's attacks on the media and the post-Watergate popularity of the press to new obstacles presented by the war on terror and changing economics in the media business and the Internet. The topic has special resonance for Bergman, whose career as a journalist for FRONTLINE, The New York Times, ABC News and 60 Minutes has included reporting on the issues that are critical to the current controversies. "There has been a perfect storm brewing in the world of news," says Bergman. "Not since the Nixon administration has there been this level of hostility leveled at news organizations. [But] unlike the confrontations of 35 or more years ago, today's news war sees the very economic foundations of the business shifting."... > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
