Way to Russia Community and Forum

init6 · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject: The Death of Truth

The news channel I have long heralded as the best, and only, world news in America is going permanently off the air at midnight tomorrow. NewsWorld International was on the air for almost 11 years (http://www.nwitv.com) and the worst part is that it is being replaced by this crap - http://current.tv

This is the channel that Al Gore is involved with. It's staffed by "young people" and geared toward Gen-Xers. What kind of idiotic crap is this? I don't want "pop news," I want real, international news about things that matter - not Medicare, not Social Security, and damn sure not six hours of coverage of the latest reality show.

The last 10+ days I have in this country are going to be completely devoid of decent news since I can't get Deutsche Welle on its own. Special Assignment with Bill Cunningham, the hands-down best half-hour program about a new country and situation each week, was the best show of its kind anywhere. It's over. Why was this channel shut down? It's not a competitor to "Current_." It was such good news, soley international in scope, that no US company would undertake their mission - it had to be broadcast from Canada.

I'm angry, I'm saddened and I'm disgusted. My best and biggest source for real journalism, completely missing from American airwaves today, is dead for no other reason than Al Gore's misguided and doomed venture into pop news needed to eliminate some competition apparently.

BAH! Evil or Very Mad

cyndy22 · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:38 pm Post subject:

So sad. Good luck getting the news quality that you want in Russia. LOL

e · VIP Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 654

init6 · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject:

I clicked the "Live TV" link and German Journal, in English, started playing. Wink

So I am not totally freaking out, since I can get the Journal and, presumably, European Journal as well. But Special Assignment is dead and that sucks ass. Especially considering who bought them out and forced them out of business.

I know Russian news is highly biased because it's all state-run, but it's mostly news about Russia which you hardly get in the West anyway. European Journal ran a piece on Dagestan last week and, surprisingly, they run a LOT of stuff on Russia. But it's a weekly, not a daily program.

I will still have access to satellite channels in Moscow, though, even if I have to pay monthly for them. I doubt I'll be watching much TV but, given my chosen major/profession, I basically need to watch international news. I guess I'll be scouring the websites of the Japanese and German news outlets (thanks, E!) to try to get NHK-World (English-language Japanese news), BBC, ITV, etc, etc.

And ironically, my Dad was watching their "we're gone" statement, said how much he liked NWI and immediately switched it over to FAUX News. Confused

Only 12 days left...

traceymill · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 6:23 am Post subject:

well Casey, just got back and I must say the BBC was the only English news I could find, and of course The Moscow Times, which is weirdly slanted in a anti-american sort of way.(quite refreshing actually) I was in a rented flat and had no choice for television, just what was provided. I am sure in Moscow you can get almost anything. Saint Petes was the same, anyway, Good Luck to you and your travels, I had a wonderful time and will return next summer. If you are still in Moscow I will look you up for a drink! Cool

mr-barley · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 7:11 am Post subject:

Yeah, when I was in Moscow the only Engish channel was BBC News. Of coarse I was there during the tsunami so it 24-7 Tsunami TV.I don't need TV anyway. The internet is much more stimulating.

Talula · Frequent Guest Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Posts: 55

I listen to NPR news. You can listen to it on the net.

http://www.npr.org/

Anya · Lounge Lizard Joined: 19 Feb 2004 Posts: 157

Echoing El Casey's frustration... I remember World Net which I previously used to get on cable some years ago (was a combination of VOA and C-SPAN and other similar stuff). I mean most of the programmes I don't watch since they were crap or in other languages, but they had 'Washington Window' discussion and analytical programme that does Easten Europe and a lot of Russia-related issues. Well they discontinued the programme since no one watched it. I still have old tapes which I refer to time to time and they make great research material.

I guess if a news/ analytical programme doesn't attract enough viewers, it gets the axe, regardless of the quality of the reporting or analysis. That was the last time I watched any TV programme regularly. I just go to the internet and get my daily fix of news these days.

Rick · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:43 am Post subject:

I mostly use an rss-reader to grab my news together from the internet. a few sources from 3 or 4 different countries, the weather report and a few comics to complete the 'digital newspaper'.
An advantage to browsing the sites themselves is that i can skip the obvious rubbish that's always among the articles. Sometimes i read the Dutch version of some article, sometimes the English or the German.

init6 · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject:

Well, when it comes to online news I scour the net and read outlets from several different countries. Some of my friends that are huge news junkies get a little miffed when I tell them to please stop bombarding me with links about Bolton, Roberts, Bush, etc. because "since I leave in three weeks, I could care less." To be honest, I'm getting tired of having my guts knotted up and getting more grey hair over stuff I can't even control. But that's the nature of the business, I guess.

What I don't understand with NWI is that a lot of people were watching it. It was owned by a media holdings group, unfortunately, but wasn't owned by Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, etc. Unfortunately, it wasn't owned by the CBC either (which would've meant state-owned, hence not likely to be sold).

I guess I will just have to say, "Kudos, Canada, on broadcasting real news and having excellent journalists!" and "Stick it in your ass, Al Gore, your channel SUCKS." Because I tried to watch it the other day. And it does. I don't need some 20-something telling me about "totally awesome returns" in the real estate industry and how much "cashola" I can make. No, folks, I am not making this up. It is disgusting.

If you want to puke (either bulemic or just bored), check your listings and find "Current_." It sucks that bad. I predict it'll be off the air within 18 months.

Talula · Frequent Guest Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Posts: 55

Funny, I turn President Bush off when ever he comes onto my news station so I don't have to listen to him. I didn't vote for him and I don't want to listen to him talk about the war in Iraq anymore. All the other radio stations seem to be focused on the war in Iraq and I'm tired of hearing about it. I will start listening when they start telling us what improvements they are doing here in the U.S.A. NPR is good news because they do little stories that are uplifting and inspiring for the listeners that are not war related.

MrSpice · Lounge Wizard Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 3431

Talula: I don't think you can expect to always have the president that you like. You can probably find quite a few people that would feel the same way you do about John Kerry. Fortunately, he is not the only one making decisions and there are 2 other branches of government that are in the game here.

If you feel that there's not enough diversity/choice on radio, I am curious to know where people have better choice. Certainly not in Canada where news are dominated by CBC which is a government owned and controlled news station, hardly independent or interesting.

If you find the regular radio unsatisfying, you can now listen to satellite radio with over 150 channels on either Sirius and XM.

I personally think that Aaron Brown's program on CNN at 10pm and Special Report with Brit Hume on Fox News at 6pm are the best news shows on TV today. I lived in Britain for a month can can compare our coverage to theirs (and I also watch BBC news sometimes on PBS) - these 2 shows are simply great.

e · VIP Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 654

El Casey, here's to add to the some of the stupidity heard on that network: Serious political comedy.....ehm sorry......."commentary" from Fat Mike of NOFX who only had to say about Democrats: "They're not cool", and "I'm pretty cool, but I'm not cool enough to get to some people" . The reponse: Wow thats some of the coolest and smartest commentary i've heard in a while. I'm finding politics much cooler everyday now that we've gotten cool people involved. Brick wall

Nice one Al Gore. And this guy was supposed to be our president? I now found something worse than Fox "News", and the US version of CNN (although the international CNN is much better).

And i'm with you 100% Talula regarding switching off and away when Bush II comes on and the media overkill regarding Iraq, and why I stopped reading the NY Times and the welcome relief NPR brings.

init6 · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject:

MrSpice · Lounge Wizard Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 3431

init6: First, don't exaggerate with this "king george" stuff and don't exaggerate the influence and power that the president has. Obviously, he has a lot of power, but even on such controversial decisions as Iraq the whole congress gave him the authority to make that decision to invade, including many democrats. If you don't like it - vote them out. Florida is a very important state, as you know, and the how Florida votes often determines the way the whole country goes.

Yes, I did watch CBC many times as I visited Canada many times. I find their news coverage dry, their resources are nothing compare to american news networks and they are clearly biased towards the left which you would expect from any company that is financed and controlled by government.

As far as girl from Aruba is concerned, I also change the channel once they start taking about this non-story. Both programs I just mentioned don't cover financial news most of time. I think both of those programs are excellent and have very analytica/fair coverage of the day's events. You should check them out before judging.

Satellite radio costs $12.95/month with lower rates for those willing to pre-pay for a year (about $10/month). That's hardly very expensive. That's how much you would pay for one premium channel like HBO. You are saying it's not "for the rest of us". Are you saying you can't afford $10/month? Do you have cable TV?

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