While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom

Jon Snow guides us through what is new on the Channel 4 news website.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkfeCqBuy4

While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom.

It's okay, you're among friends.
You don't have to be shy about venting your frustration about how embarrassingly banal the American network TV newscasts have become of late, of the utterly predictable never-ending dog-chasing-its-tail quality of the U.S. cable newscasts, or the brain-dead nadir that local South Florida TV newscasts reached over this past summer, where you thought they couldn't go any lower and get any more insipid -but then they do.

And you are dumb-struck once again.
And you are reminded all over again what part of America you live in.
The part of America where they can't support a News Radio format.

For instance, recently, the 11 o'clock newscast of one Miami TV station really DID spend more time talking about who might be featured on a prospective Miami-based "Housewives" reality show than they did on what had happened that day at the Broward County Commission's FY 2011 Budget meeting in Fort Lauderdale, and what some of the programs slated to be cut might be and their impact on citizens.

And to compound this, they also DIDN'T mention which Broward commissioners voted for or against the 2011 budget, nor display the names or tally on-screen.

Yes, actual votes by elected officials, that boring civics stuff, especially when compared to talking about dopey Miami wannabe celebs, whom we just know in our hearts will be loathed across the country like they already are among their small circle of friends in the 305 or 954.

And if you're thinking globally not locally, the antidote for all that shallowness, banality and low-quality journalism is closer at hand than you might otherwise think.

And no, I'm not talking about the new and highly-popular Breaking News Twitter feeds, http://twitter.com/BREAKINGNEWS, though for some people, though not me personally, that may actually be a nice addition to their handy news toolbox.

I've written often here over the past year or so about how much I've integrated the Channel 4 News (U.K.) and BBC Radio 5 live diet of news and information into my busy schedule to make more sense of the world.

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two
Listen LIVE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live

Especially since I no longer get the hard copies of all the international relations and foreign policy journals I subscribed to when I was living up in the Washington, D.C. area, and actually could use what I already knew and had read at events at embassies, the IMF, the World Bank, SAIS and myriad think tanks, plus the great schedule of Russian-related events they had over at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center, under Blair Ruble, back when it was inside of the Smithsonian's castle on The Mall.
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1424&fuseaction=topics.profile&person_id=4997

The very informative post-Noon Channel 4 email news updates I receive like clockwork before 1 p.m., the so-called Snowmail, named after veteran news presenter Jon Snow, and authored by him and other Channel 4 correspondents, gives me a real insightful head's up for what to expect later in the day on that night's newscast at 1900 G.M.T., but which I watch much later.

The fabulous Catch Up service on their website allows me to look back at anything that I may have missed within the past 7 days, which tends to happen a lot in the middle of the week due to evening local government meetings I attend.

As I've stated here previously, I often find myself watching the missed news segments on Saturday mornings before I get around to watching the Premier League matches on Fox Soccer Channel, or something on The BigTenChannel.

Plus, the Channel 4 broadcasts are broken down into news segments that are embeddable, thus making them perfect for blogs and websites, as I've used plenty here over the past year to great effect.

Well, at the end of September I received this new video from London that's p at the top of this post, and I think it gives you a pretty good appreciation for what is now available to you if you want to know what's going on in the real world outside of the rather shallow intellectual confines of the Sunshine State.

Such a deeply distressing story on so many levels...

Aid worker may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan

Jonathan Rugman reports aid worker Linda Norgrove may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=631900533001


Channel 4 News homepage: http://www.channel4.com/news/

Channel 4 News Catch Up Service: http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Channel 4 Blogs homepage: http://blogs.channel4.com/news/

Video: Channel 4 News technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen on the browser battle between Microsoft and Google for the British and European markets

I'm finally ready to play catch up on some news videos that I have been meaning to post here for quite some time. I think you'll find them quite informative and entertaining, which is the way the new should always be presented -but isn't. The first is one from February 15th from Channel 4 News (U.K.)

Technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen on the browser battle between Microsoft and Google for the British and European markets, Explorer vs. Chrome for customer loyalty and the $, Sterling & Euros that come to search engines.

February 15, 2010
Segment begins at 04:22

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=66056040001&bctid=66636953001




Benjamin Cohen's informative technology blog is at:
http://blogs.channel4.com/benjamin-cohen-on-technology/


Catch up on the last seven days of Channel 4 News programs with their catch up service at
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

www.channel4.com/news

David is a great name for a British Prime Minister!; Repeat of U.K. debate on C-SPAN at 9 p.m. Sunday

David is a great name for a British Prime Minister!
“We can’t go on like this.”

Above, David Cameron's Year for Change campaign poster,
January 2010.
See the May 2009 video about his series of in-person town hall
meetings -called Cameron Direct- which he held over the
past year at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/?bcpid=4464161001&bctid=22302847001
See also: http://www.conservatives.com/

David Cameron: The Big Society

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2uVYgAuO_c

-----

I watched the 90-minute British election debates in Bristol
on Sky News via Fox News Channel at 3 a.m. Friday
morning and due to lack of sleep,felt like I have a bad case
of jet-lag all day.

The debate will be repeated Sunday night on C-SPAN at
9 p.m. and I strongly urge you to watch it as it was everything
a genuine debate ought to be, which is to say, that some real
insight on public policy ended up being expressed, often in
very articulate ways, despite their campaign's best efforts
to have them talk in a fashion that we might better describe
as, well, American sound-bites-PLUS.

More than what we get here, but less-than-scholarly
banter.

I like David Cameron quite a bit as you probably know by

now from my blog and any conversations with me, and
generally thought he got the better of it by tweaking both
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg, the latter
of whom often sounded in the debate more like a popular
university prof trying to ingratiate himself to liberal activist
grad students to persuade them to help elect him to the city
council, than a person who wants to be the head of the British
government.

I actually think Clegg's somewhat breezy/extreme comments
actually made Cameron sound even better in the comparison,
and Brown's frequent spot-on put-downs of Clegg seemed
especially effective when he talked about the LibDem and
Clegg's longstanding streak of anti-Americanism.

To me, based on what's previously been said in the campaign,
that served to remind many British voters that however
imperfect Brown or Cameron may be, Clegg is still someone
who simply can't be trusted with power.

Many of the initial post-debate polls aired on the Sky News
post-debate program I watched have said as much.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7105405.ece

The best part to me was when all three discussed the issue
of immigration in a serious and thoughtful way that I believe
a majority of Americans would very much like to hear more
of by elected officials in Washington.

Sadly, debate that national Democrats, unions and special
interest groups -and locally, the Miami Herald- are at
great pains to keep sotto voce: the current system isn't
working for the country as a whole and only seems
to encourage illegal entry, corruption and crime.
And the country does NOT favor AMNESTY for illegal
aliens.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7105727.ece

As it happens, this question was asked by a woman who
appeared to be of Caribbean descent and who said that
she'd lived in England for about 13 years.

The audience questions from a group of self-selected people
from the Bristol area -SW England- were all of a much
higher caliber than you'd generally find over here.

See http://news.sky.com/skynews/ and watch the entire debate
here: http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/video?videoSourceID=2261437&flashURL=feeds/skynews/latest/flash/ACT-BB-TH-DEBATE-FULL-220410.flv

Latest polling information is here: Poll of polls: Tories edge ahead http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/vote_2010/poll+of+polls+tories+edge+ahead/3624387

Channel 4's Saturday night newscast, April 24, 2010:
A hung Parliament in store for Britain?
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid62744310001?bclid=79125446001&bctid=79965653001


http://www.channel4.com/news/


C-SPAN
Jon-Christopher Bua and Adam Boulton on
the second debate for Prime Minister candidates, 40 minutes.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/293157-6

Bob Norman zeroes in on Broward School Board; MP's political gaffe on video

Here's the reality we live with now:
In the Coastal Ft. Lauderdale Yellowbook,
the phone number for the "Broward County
School District" is given as 754-321-300.
But when you call that number, you're told that
that number is now the North Central Area office,
except they've now merged with the South office
and are given yet another phone number to call.
Then you are told if you don't know your extension
number, hit # or 411 and an operator will be
right with you. But they won't.
Instead, you get a tape that goes ROUND AND
ROUND like a carousel.
And so it goes at the Broward County School
System.

By the way, I mentioned the other day that Miami
Herald education beat reporter Patricia Mazzei
never stated in her July 31st Herald article who
the four School Board members were who didn't
attend the July 30th meeting, the first budget meeting.

The "draft" of the minutes answers that question.
http://eagenda3.broward.k12.fl.us/eAgenda/1512/Files/07-30-09_1st_public_hearing_budget.pdf

Just so you know, they were Beverly Gallagher,
Phyllis Hope, Benjamin Williams and our own
representative, Ann Murray.

Were they sick, on vacation, at another meeting,
out-of-town for a family wedding...who knows.

As I've previously stated, Murray really needs
to start meeting with the Hallandale Beach and
Hollywood communities in visible ways that she
hasn't so far, and consider creating a website
so that she can get her reform message about
accountability out, such as it is, because right now,
her reform message of last year is completely
muted and she's all but invisible.
Even her friends and supporters know that does
NOT bode well for her re-election prospects
next year.

Murray's is the name that ought to be the one
that's on the tip of people's tongues for zealously
defending the work product of School auditors
-and taxpayers wallets- in anticipation of
Tuesday's School Boar meeting.
Ought to be, but what is she doing?

She's the one who ran on a platform
of fundamentally changing things dramatically
at the Broward School Board, and not
becoming a compliant clone of the existing
members and the pervasive culture of
corruption and cronyism.
Her fate is in her own hands, up to a point,
to be sure, but ultimately, you and I will
decide if she's performed well enough to
be rehired next year.

Broward Palm Beach New Times

Broward School Board Digs Itself Deeper Hole

By Bob Norman

Wednesday, Aug. 12 2009 @ 8:40AM

​If you're really paying attention to the Broward County School Board, you're mad as hell.

Read the rest of the story at:

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/08/broward_school_board_digs_itse.php
-----------
London Calling...
Just received this amusing story and video a
few minutes ago in a Snowmail from
Channel Four in England, written by
Krishnan Guru-Murthy

DUNCAN GAFFE
Alan Duncan may just get away with a gaffe which might have done him in had it come at a different point in the political year. The shadow Leader of the House issued a grovelling apology today after being secretly filmed telling a campaigner what he really thinks about the new regime of MPs expenses and pay. He says he was joking, but he not only says MPs are being "treated like shit" but also suggests nobody talented from outside politics would want to be an MP now. Given a GP has just been elected as the Tory candidate to fight for the seat of Totnes, this is a surprising view. Mr Duncan seems safe for now but there is no doubt it is a major embarrassment.
Watch the video: http://bit.ly/xvQqG

URL: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=33512746001



CHANNEL 4 NEWS SERVICES Online:
Watch our video reports at:
http://www.channel4.com/news/watchlisten/video/


Subscribe to RSS feeds, Snowmail and FactCheck.
http://www.channel4.com/news/subscribe/

Downing Street: 4 British hostages held for 2 years by Iran-backed group in Iraq are dead; U.K & U.S. duped?; Iran protests

"...Britain's worst hostage outcome in
living memory," says Channel 4 presenter
Jon Snow.
That was how it was described Wednesday night
across the U.K. after news was issued about the
death of a the third and fourth hostage.

Friends of Peter Moore, lone remaining hostage,
believe the British government must admit that
mistakes were made in their handling of the
hostage situation, including, most fundamentally,
trusting Iraqi govt. officials and intermediaries.

Apparently, the U.S. was also duped by the
same group of people, as they allowed the release
of someone under their custody to effect release.
Result?
After Iranian-backed Shia militant is released
by U.S. military, U.K. was given two bodies of
dead bodyguards last month and a note saying,
oh, by the way, the other two bodyguards are
also dead.
Looks like they were killed TWO years ago.

The Guardian has the timeline here for the
events that have led us to this point,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/30/iraq-hostages-timeline

URL: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=30548878001&bctid=31112820001



Interview with hostage negotiator Dr. James Alvarez,
who has much experience working in Iraq.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=30548878001&bctid=31113811001



And early this morning, Sam Marsden's column over
at The Independent says it all:

Questions over Iraq collusion in Britons' kidnap

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/questions-over-iraq-collusion-in-britons-kidnap-1765448.html

Marsden doesn't mess around with his intro,
he gets to the heart of the matter:
"Iraqi government officials may have colluded in the kidnapping of five Britons two years ago in a bid to prevent high-level corruption being exposed, it was reported today..."

Obamacare precursor: Pregnant Scot with H1N1 goes to Sweden due to NHS' lack of proper facilities

So, speaking of a national health care plan...

please click Fri 24 July News at Noon Part 2,

and see the reality of the current NHS
URL: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=30437470001&bctid=30621718001

This topic starts at 4:10, following news re

Norwich North by-election won by Conservative

Chloe Smith, now the youngest MP, who received

twice as many votes as her Labour opponent,

Ostrowski, who was, himself, selected by the party

to replace popular Labour MP Ian Gibson,

who was embroiled in the Expenses scandal

as a result of letting his daughter stay at a home,

rent-free, that U.K. taxpayers were actually paying

for.

And for good measure, substitute candidate
Ostrowski caught Swine Flu, and was unable
to campaign the last few days!

When it rains, it pours!

The bigger story is the completely inadequate number

of intensive care beds in the U.K. for victims of H1N1
-esp. units for children- and most particularly in the

SE and SW of England, as well as in the Midlands.

And the National Pandemic Flu Service website was

crashing just hours after being put up, after 100,000

people in the U.K. reported symptoms last week,

twice the number of the previous week.

If you let the segment roll on, you'll come to the

very well-produced report from the previous night,

including comparisons to the flu of 1969,

before anti-virals were available, that resulted in

30,000 deaths in the U.K.

To see their take on Obama's health care plan

and the ads using British doctors and patients

complaining about care under the NHS.

After seeing it, perhaps you'll better appreciate
why I try to watch Channel Four everyday,
or catch up on segments I missed on rainy Saturdays
like this past weekend, when I thought that I'd
be down on South Beach with some friends,
instead of staring at my computer and listening
to the Cards-Phillies game in the background,
after my friends canceled our plans.

See: http://www.channel4.com/news/

Meanwhile, back in Britain on the 4th of July, Channel Four says...

July 4th, 2009

Have been watching and listening all afternoon to some

very interesting and troubling news stories today via

Britain's Channel Four, while trying to get some work

done on some overdue emails and the blogs, before

heading up to Hollywood Beach later for their fireworks,

since Hallandale Beach cut them out this year on

account of costs.

If you watch these news stories, you'll see why I make

a point everyday of trying to find time in my schedule

to watch Channel Four's newscasts,

http://www.channel4.com/news/ via their website's

video, as they all feature top-notch reporters that know

how to tell a compelling story and first-rate production

graphics, maps and visual cues to assist them in this

effort.

http://www.channel4.com/news/watchlisten/video/

(Meanwhile, when a small earthquake hits an area

on the sparsely populated California-Nevada border,

the American cablenets inevitably put an oversize

map of the American West Coast on-screen.

One that shows Washington State, which is only

nowhere near the site of the quake, which while

the focus of the story, is represented by a dot.

What big city that we might've ever heard of is

closest to the area?

We never know, because 15 seconds later, they've

moved on to the next story.)

I'll soon be posting some things I've been working on

the past month about Westminster's expanding

and embarrassing expense scandal, which has a lot

of resonance for me because of the very compelling

CBS4 I-Team investigation stories by Stephen Stock

on the Miami-Dade Commission's discretionary funds,

and the difficulty in finding anything like it in the rest

of the United States.

Yet another "Only in Miami" story.

http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/investigation.carry.over.2.954322.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/commission.mudget.broward.2.957878.html

I should also mention that if you start with the first video

of the U.K.'s Channel Four, they will continue on to the

next news segment unless you pause or stop it.

Let it roll so you can see how they do things, and hear

how much better-written and edited their telecasts are

compared to what we've become used to here.

See old newscasts here:

http://www.channel4.com/news/watchlisten/video/

Important historical changes in the U.K. on rules regarding

double jeopardy finally bear fruit as career criminal finally

gets convicted.

As the result of the direct testimony at Old Bailey of a

victim that refused to die and keep quiet, a man has now

been convicted and sentenced to Life in Prison after

previously being found not guilty of manslaughter in the

death of his former girlfriend, Cassandra McDermott,

and now convicted of that crime and the attempted

murder of a subsequent girlfriend, model Kara Hoyte,

who was initially paralyzed and suffered brain damage

as a result of the heinous attack.

Shocker- his behavior is nothing new, as he had

a long track record of abusive behavior towards

women.

Comes up at 4:04 in this news segment and runs

thru 6:40.

URL link:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=27693009001&bctid=28391597001

Skin Deep

Racial identity in apartheid-era South Africa is the

subject of a compelling new film called "Skin,"

based on the sad but true story of Sandra Laing.

It stars the always excellent Sam Neill as her father,

Sophie Okonedo as Sandra and South African-born

actress Alice Krige as her mother, whom you may

know better as the Borg Queen.

The real Sandra Laing and the director of the film

about her, Anthony Fabian, are interviewed after

some clips of the film, which come out in the U.K.

at the end of the month.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0964586/

See also: Fighting for acceptance

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/arts_entertainment/film_tv/fighting+for+acceptance/3249317

URLK link:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=27494662001&bctid=28486886001

Rogue oil trader Steve Perkins unauthorized moves

cost his company $10 million.

Moral: Irresponsible speculators are likely responsible

for more than 50% of costs of oil?

Length 3:57

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=27693009001&bctid=28424868001

Preview of coming Obamacare?

That one in ten patients entering the hospital in Britain

and Wales are suffering serious harm as a result of

the NHS government-run health care, possibly including

death, is just one of disturbing conclusions of an MP's

report saying bureaucratic targets gets preference over

patient care.

Includes interview with Health Secretary Mike O'Brien,

and argument over wide cleavage over desired principals

and actual practices at these facilities.

This particular story ends at 7:20

URL link:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=27693009001&bctid=28424904001

FYI: At 14:20 of the last segment, we get a LIVE stand-up

at the Old Bailey following Kara Hoyte's brave testimony,

with Cassandra McDermott's family lending their emotional

support to her. It's very touching.