Do you guys have access to overseas News channels on TV?

[corksean]

I live in Ireland and thanks to the miracle of satellite I have access to a huge amount of news channels, both domestic and foreign.
As well as local and British Channels such as the BBC and Sky News I have, amongst others, CNN, CNBC, FoxNews (spit), Bloomberg TV, CCTV-9 (Chinese), DW-TV (German) and Euronews, all in English. (I even have Al-Jazeera but by the time I learned Arabic it will probably have been closed or blown up).
So I can look at any story from a number of different angles and very quickly spot any attempt at spin or censorship. Is this true of the US or do you only have access to domestic feeds on TV?

BTW, Sky News in the most popular wholly News channel over here, and is owned by Rupert Murdoch. However it is generally very "Fair and Balanced" because the regulators make damn sure of it. First sign of turning into a European FoxNews and they would come down real hard.

[robbedvoter]

1. Nope. Not us. With satellite, we have BBCA - entertainment only

BBC - strictly sitcoms. There's entertainment from Canada - Trio, some news from Germany - NWI and a good channel - LINK - wich gives more varied news from the world (I expect Murdocj to purge that from Direct TV any day now). Everithing else is "Murkan - and since Murdoch bought Direct TV, there are about 100 Faux channels and many religious. red-necky ones.

[corksean]

2. That is sooo fuckin' depressing

[CottonBear]

3. No such luck here in the USA

With my expanded basic cable I get NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX (spit, hurl, ughh!) and CSPANs 1 and 2. CSpan has the BBC Prime Minister's Questions once a week and also CBC (Canada) about once a week. In order to get overseas news, I go to the internet.

On a daily basis I log onto CNN International, BBC, Guardian, Independent (UK), AlJazeera, ElMundo and the International Herald Tribune as well as Carribean and South American online news sources.

I found a good website (US Naval College) which has links to newspapers from all over the world. I log onto various Irish, British, Australian and European sites and also sites from Asia and the Pacific.

It is truly a chore to be well informed if you are a resident of the US. Most of the uniformed masses believe whatever is spit out at them from the mainstream media, Fox "news" and right wing talk (hate) radio. I loved that that Irish journalist who asked Bush tough questions when he was over there last fall. He's not used to journalists who actually do their job by asking real questions and expecting honest answers. She was a woman reporter. I don't know her name or the news organization that she is employed by.

We would love to have your media regulators over here!

EDIT: What is the prevailing Irish opinion RE: Bush and Iraq? How do ya'll feel about Bill Clinton? Is he still well liked there?

[corksean]

4. That reporter works for RTE, Ireland's national TV station...

I saw the interview and the thing was no one here thought that interview was out of the ordinary, just a standard interview. One thing I would say about Fox news especially, NOT ONE of their presenters / commentators / sycophants could get a job this side of the pond with any news organisation. Do ANY of them have an accredited journalistic background?

[CottonBear]

8. I wish that she could come over for a * press conference!

As for the FOX newscasters, a few of them are "journalists" (Brit Hume and Chris Wallace used to work for other networks), however, they have all drunk the FOX News kool aid. Whatever credibility that they had previously has been thoroughly trashed. Most of them seem to be pretty boy and cover girl news readers. The worst of the lot are the Fox and Friends coffee klatch gang in the mornings. They should be dizzy with all the spinning of the news that they do. In addition they regularly trash Europeans and Muslims. Unfortunately, many Americans tune into FOX, Rush and Hannity as their only news sources. Many Americans are lazy, anti-intellectual and have no desire to learn how the rest of the world views the US.

[corksean]

10. I read somewhere that Ailes picks prospective reporters for Fox News

by watching them on TV with the sound turned down to see if they're "photogenic" enough. Please tell me that's not true!

[corksean]

9. Bush is UNIVERSALLY despised here in Ireland

I don't know anyone who rates the guy as a leader / politician and the overwhelming view on the Iraqi invasion is that it should never have happened. Bush was here for a summit a few months back and never left his security cordon or appeared in public. Compare this to Clinton who visited while in power to help out with the peace talks in Northern Ireland. They lined the streets wherever he went and the level of support was awesome. Even Reagan got a good reception when he visited but nothing could compare to the reception afforded JFK when he came in the early sixties. Granted he was the first Irish American to attain the Presidency but even now people talk about going to see him when he travelled through Dublin. My mother took a picture as he passed and it's disturbingly similar to the pictures taken in Dallas that fateful day, smiling and waving in the open top car.
Clinton is still a regular visitor here, mostly playing golf and still hugely popular.

[corksean]

12. Here is the link to the interview

Her name is Carole Coleman.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56_1c.smil

Link is in the first paragraph

[eaprez]

on the direct tv lineup there is.....

http://www.nwitv.com/

[eaprez]

5. on the direct tv lineup there is.....

http://www.nwitv.com/

[prairierose]

6. Nope, BBCA is the closest

thing we have to outside news sources. Which is why I read several foreign papers online. Thank heavens for the internets! People here who have dishtv have access to freespeechtv and linktv which are alternative news sources. And for those of us who live in the middle of nowhere.....I listen to airamerica radio online.

BTW, we used to get DW - TV on PBS but that is a thing of the past & I miss it. Could this possibly be one of the reasons so many Americans are so ignorant & xenophobic? :think:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. When I was in Japan this fall, I learned that even they

get better international television than we do in the states. Not only that--they get to pick the channels they want!

On my cable system in Minneapolis, international television consists of the International Channel, directed mostly at immigrant communities, and therefore not always subtitled; the Spanish-language channels, for which many of the entertainment programs are produced in Latin America although the news programs are mostly U.S. based; BBCAmerica, which has BBC news, one decent night of mysteries, and the occasional one-shot drama special, but is taken up mostly with reruns of old comedies and brainless DIY shows; and News World International, which is mostly Canadian.

[ElectroPrincess]

11. We get News World International (Canadian) Channel on our

Northern Virginia Cable system.

Real Journalism, even if it originates from our neighbors to the north, is a welcome relief from the swill of only American Propaganda News networks' spin (FOX, MSNBC and CNN).

[Digit]

13. Direct TV

The only shows I watch are Countdown and The Daily Show.
Maybe we should start an email campaign to bring us news from outside the country, like BBC News.
I had been thinking that 37/month was too much for the limited channels anyway.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi corksean!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[corksean]

19. I Thank you

[Stinky The Clown]

15. I am beyond dumbfounded that no one sees the profit potential

in developing a news channel that presents a left leaning point of view. There are literally millions of us starved beyond belief for a news channel that sees things our way.

I have no stats to back this up, but it seems to me that we, as a group, represent a real pool of real disposable income and would be very attractive to sponsors. I can't believe that only right wing news is salable in the US.

Why does no one attempt to tap into this? Even Al Gore says his new channel (if and when we ever see that) is going to be a young adult entertainment vehicle, not a news alternative. Shit, I'm not even a young adult ........

Every time I think of this, I wish I were rich. Cuz I'd start such a channel and get even richer.

Oh well ......... back to going through my international news site internet bookmarks .......

[corksean]

20. Would it not be better to have an unbiased News channel?

Otherwise the freeps would just diss it the way we do with FoxNews. Believe me, it's not that difficult to be fair in reporting.

Taking the whole theme one step further, what kind of regulation, if any, does the US have regarding ownership of multiple media outlets as this can give rise to monopoly situations?

[steely]

16. No, but it's available if you look for it and pay in SE Penna.

Broadcast (air) some public stations (WYBE) may play Korean, Arab, German (Deutsche Welle) seht gut, France (france2) (subtitled), BBC, Polish (stolat!), etc., 30 min news programs. Only problem here in certain cases is the language. These shows I believe are done mainly for the benefit of the various ethnic groups in/near Phila.
Cable - not usually - we're stuck with whoever serves the region.
Satellite (Major)- Dish Network = ?; Direct TV, as above.
Satellite - Big Ugly Dish (2? meter slang) (your own system) - yes, but people with these systems don't usually go for international stuff.
Satellite - Special - Definitely, but it's usually a dedicated feed - my one neighbor gets a Sat re-link of CCTV (China) (via Chicago I think), and another gets stuff from Europe for the feeds from Portugal. These 2 neighbors pay extra of course for these extra systems.

I envy your choices.

[steely]

17. BTW - only been to Europe 3 times and I loved the countries,

the food, the history, the people, the news - everything.
Awesome awesome awesome - the news stands and the various cultral infuences and perspectives - extremely stimulating and yet calming. Here, I just feel brainwashed and overwhelmed with advertisments.

anyway - cheers

[steely]

18. Oh, and Welcome to DU!!!

jus' saw the numbers

[corksean]

21. Thanks, I'm starting to feel right at home!