The definition of public service broadcasting? America's hurricane season may be nearly over - but mother nature certainly intends to go out with a bang this year. A couple of weeks ago I was glued to the New Orleans tv stations' coverage of Gustav - and as I write, I'm watching streaming coverage of Ike from KHOU in Houston.

It's at times like this that you really come to realise what public service broadcasting is all about. All the local stations (on TV and radio) are broadcasting round-the-clock coverage - not to sensationalise the story, but to tell local people what they need to know in order to stay safe.

During Gustav, a viewer emailed in to one of the New Orleans channels to thank them for their coverage. They said it was a welcome contrast to the way some of the national media were doing the story (focussing on how bad things could get).

I urge you to check out some of this coverage because, quite simply, it's public service broadcasting at its best:

KHOU | KPRC | KTRK | KRIV

Labels: Hurricanes, Public service, TV

¶ 8:41 AM 0 comments

Studio 60 heads off into the sunset It's not really a surprise, but I'm still very sad to hear that Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip won't be coming back for a second series.

Labels: Studio 60, TV

¶ 1:22 PM 0 comments

Making Panorama out of a crisis If you haven't seen last night's edition of Panorama - which investigates Scientology - it's well worth taking a look. Thoroughly interesting viewing, especially after the Scientologists released a video of reporter John Sweeney 'losing it'. The incident was included in the final programme.

Subject matter apart, the programme's raised some really interesting issues about journalism and editorial accountability.

• Watch the programme
• John Sweeney's take on events
• The programme editor Sandy Smith on the BBC's Editors' Blog
• The Scientologists' "Panorama Exposed" site

Labels: Journalism, Panorama, TV

¶ 1:00 PM 0 comments

Current TV: It's the future Current TV, Al Gore's television channel, has launched in the UK. It's a British version of the American channel, which runs on user generated content - or, as they like to call it, VC2 (viewer created content).

I have to say I was expecting it to be like YouTube on the telly - videos of dogs doing funny things and teenegers miming to Britney songs etc. But it isn't at all like that, and it's actually pretty addictive stuff.

All the 'pods' are bite-size chunks rarely more than 5 minutes long - so you can dip in and out whenever you like. And the mix of stuff is so random that I've found myself watching for ages without getting bored.

In half an hour's viewing I saw a piece following journalists in a war zone, was introduced to the phenomenon of 'bouldering' (climbing rocks and buildings with just your bare hands), and caught a clever and genuinely funny cartoon set in the White House. Eclectic stuff, and well worth a watch.

It's on Sky Digital channel 229 and Virgin Media channel 155.

Labels: TV, Web 2.0

¶ 4:16 PM 1 comments

Why TV isn't like chocolate There's no doubt that, thanks to the internet, the world's become a much smaller place. Except when it comes to television, that is...

I'm finding it more and more frustrating that, in this day and age, someone living in Britain can't enjoy the same TV shows as someone living in the States - at least not quite as soon, and in quite the same way. If you're reading this is the USA, clicking here will bring up the latest episode of CSI, in broadband quality - for free. If you're reading this anywhere else, you'll be politely told that you're not allowed to watch. Naturally it cuts both ways, and the BBC's on-demand shows are blocked to anyone outside the UK.

Of course, there are plenty things I can do in America that I can't do in the UK. I can't buy Mountain Dew and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in Britain, as much as I'd like to. But it's not quite the same thing, is it? This is like having the Mountain Dew and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups right in front of me in the supermarket, but locked in a glass case.

Obviously TV is big business, and this is all about rights. If NBC was allowed to let someone in the UK to watch the latest episode of Heroes on their site, then they might not watch it when BBC2 finally starts showing it later this year. But - and here's the thing - UK channels aren't even allowed to make big-name American shows available for free online.

That's the reality - but is it really an excuse? Isn't this just a case of old media holding back new media? There are, of course, numerous ways to circumvent the rules (and naturally, by this, I mean getting friends in the US to send me tapes...) But I'd say it's time for a total rethink of how shows are distributed - beacuse, in reality, not much has changed since the days when people were watching first-run episodes of Bonanza.

Labels: TV

¶ 10:45 AM 0 comments

3 reasons why it's a good week for TV
1) BBC News 24 has unveiled a lovely new set of graphics which - shock horror - are designed to take up as little of the screen as possible. Very encouraging.

2) Heroes and Studio 60 are back from their Christmas break in the States - easily two of the best new series in years.

3) Both of the above mean that I haven't had to turn to Celebrity Big Brother for entertainment.

Labels: TV

¶ 8:42 PM 0 comments

France 24: C'est Parti! It's the second international news channel to launch in as many months - so someone's really spoiling us news junkies this Christmas. As a big francophile, I was just as excited about France 24 - Chirac's 'CNN a la francaise' - as I was about Al Jazeera English.

The thing that makes this launch most interesting is that it's not really one channel - it's two - yet it's still one. A bit like the Fiat Brava/Fiat Bravo, which was technically the same car, but not. Lost me already? Yes, me too. But the gist is, France 24 has both an English and French feed (Arabic and Spanish will follow) which follow essentially the same running order, but are presented by separate teams.

More ambitious than it sounds - and I think they're doing a pretty good job so far. It does look a bit cheap, and the English service seems to be relying heavily on Global Radio News for its 'foreign correspondents'. But, with its concise, 10-minute bulletins and round-table debates aplenty, it certainly seems to be living up to its promise to do things in a French way.

But, for me, the really exciting stuff is to be found on France 24's website. Navigation is slightly eccentric, but live streams of both the English and French channels are available in decent quality (Al Jazeera English take note) - which is almost enough to win me over by itself.

It gets much better than this, though. It's Television 2.0, as the Brussels Journal puts it. In the word's of France 24's web boss Stanislas Leridon: "every article and every piece of video will be open for comments from readers and viewers." And just to prove the point, there's a tangle of top tags on the homepage that'll be familiar to bloggers, but quite an innovation to users of news channel websites.

Labels: France 24, TV, Web 2.0

¶ 8:32 PM 0 comments

There but for the grace of CBS goes YouTube CBS was loving YouTube this week. Lost Remote reported this press release from the broadcaster, in which CBS proudly and willingly credits its new partnership with YouTube for increasing ratings of some of its shows on the box. They've done really well - 29.2 million views of the 300 videos they've uploaded since the partnership started a month ago; and an increase in viewing figures of up to 7% for some programmes. Finally proof that broadcasters are now viewing YouTube as a friend rather than a foe?

Er... not quite. Up until a couple of hours ago, this link was a video of a technical meltdown on the CBS Evening News - which resulted in a premature end to the programme, with Katie Couric forced to stand awkwardly while a very very long version of the end credits rolled. Now it's been "removed at the request of CBS because its content was used without permission". Not much of a honeymoon.

Labels: CBS, TV, YouTube

¶ 9:11 PM 0 comments

The dangers of watching news channels with the sound down I glanced up at the newsroom tv this morning to see News 24's breaking news strap declaring 'Hussain Reprieve - death sentence commuted'. This led me to automatically jump to the mistaken conclusion that Saddam Hussein had been let off the hook (never mind the difference in spelling - news channels make typos all the time!). On further investigation, however, it became clear that this story was actually about the British man Tahir Hussain, who'd been on death row in Pakistan. It just goes to show that (1) it's a good job I wasn't reading the news today and (2) even inch-high letters sometimes aren't enough to get the message across.

Labels: TV

¶ 8:39 PM 2 comments

Al Jazeera English: First impressions

Absolute first impression: wow. The channel looks amazing - stunning studios around the world, great presenters who I already know, and nice, clean graphics that tell the story. From what I've seen, the content looks pretty good too - interesting stories and interviews, live reports from places like Zimbabwe, and generally exactly the sort of global coverage they promised.

I get the impression, though, that the channel wants to break news more than it wants to cover breaking news. The fact that, for the time being, live news programmes will only be on between noon and midnight would seem to support that. So, while it all looks very promising, I get the impression that it's the sort of channel I'll be watching to broaden my horizons, rather than to get a full briefing on the latest news.

But while the TV side of things is great, AJE's web presence is less than impressive. Their website looks nice, and makes good use of images - but in reality provides nothing more than news stories (many of them from agencies). No interactive features, no analysis, no blogs - not even any video. Compared with what CNN or BBC News has to offer, AJE's site is sadly lacking.

I was expecting to be able to watch a decent quality stream of the channel online too - but all the site offers for free is a pitiful 56k feed on a 'free trial' basis. If you want better than that, you have to subscribe - which, given AJE's deep pockets, and the fact that channels like BFM in France offer a decent stream for nothing, seems pretty miserly.

Thanks to the website, I didn't get to see the launch live - but here's the first few minutes of the channel courtesy of someone who did...

Labels: Al Jazeera, TV

¶ 10:22 PM 0 comments

Al Jazeera English : Still waiting... I'd love to give you my thoughts on the launch of Al Jazeera English, but instead I'm staring at a 'server too busy' message on my screen. As I don't have access to Sky Digital at the moment, I was hoping to watch the launch via the channel's website, as promised - but no such luck

The site - which, incidentally, they tried to launch only a minute before the channel - seems to have gone into meltdown. So not a very good start at all. More on the channel itself when I finally get to see it.

Labels: Al Jazeera, TV

¶ 12:28 PM 0 comments

The way to Al Jazeera
Only a couple of days to go until the launch of Al Jazeera's much-trumpeted (and much-delayed) English language news channel - and I for one will be watching with interest. News channels don't launch every day, and certainly not ones that promise to change the way we see the world.

International news is very much my bag, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how they do things - and finally finding out the truth behind all the rumours that have been flying around about editorial agendas and bias. Considering the line-up of outstanding journalists - including Rageh Omaar and David Frost - I suspect the channel will be far more objective than people are suggesting. But time will tell.

Labels: Al Jazeera, TV

¶ 7:52 PM 0 comments