More MSM Weirdness

[Annie]

Can't give it the DNC subtitle, as this involves France! The problem is global! :shocked:

Links at site, big issue, discussed below:

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005779.php

November 12, 2005
AP Misses Story On French Media Coverage Of Riots

The AP has a report out this afternoon regarding the supposedly cautious approach of the French media on reporting the riots. Elaine Ganley notices the toned-down news coverage of the social unrest and violence, but misses at least one large part of the reason why the French media have started to play down the story:

At least two television stations scaled back broadcasting images of flaming vehicles — a mainstay of coverage — to avoid stoking violence. Some channels decided not to provide daily police figures on the number of cars burned overnight, in the thousands since troubles began Oct. 27.

Is it self-censorship? Or a sense of responsibility?

Television stations that are holding back deny any influence from police, who insist publicity for the riots has fueled "copycat" violence. Instead, the stations say they don't want to play into the hands of rampaging youths seeking coverage of what they see as their exploits.

Perhaps that is what some of the French media told Ganley. She apparently missed the coverage in the Guardian (UK), in which the director of the news service LCI admitted that he had directed a low-key approach to keep leftist politicians in power:

Mr Dassier said his own channel, which is owned by the private broadcaster TF1, recently decided not to show footage of burning cars.

"Politics in France is heading to the right and I don't want rightwing politicians back in second, or even first place because we showed burning cars on television," Mr Dassier told an audience of broadcasters at the News Xchange conference in Amsterdam today.

That quote came from Thursday's conference -- incidentally, the same annual forum that has produced some of Eason Jordan's allegations against the US and Israeli militaries. The admission by a news executive that news presentations get deliberately skewed to suit the political preferences of news executives apparently will not capture the interest of news agencies outside of the Guardian.

Judith Miller's colleagues only suspected her of having some sympathies for the Bush administration and wound up savaging her on the pages of her own New York Times and other newspapers for weeks. Why have these same guardians of journalistic independence remained silent about Jean-Claude Dassier? It seems that the sin is not journalistic bias, but rather a suspected bias towards conservatism that evokes ire from the craftspeople of the trade.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1639538,00.html

French TV boss admits censoring riot coverage

Claire Cozens in Amsterdam
Thursday November 10, 2005

One of France's leading TV news executives has admitted censoring his coverage of the riots in the country for fear of encouraging support for far-right politicians.

Jean-Claude Dassier, the director general of the rolling news service LCI, said the prominence given to the rioters on international news networks had been "excessive" and could even be fanning the flames of the violence.

Mr Dassier said his own channel, which is owned by the private broadcaster TF1, recently decided not to show footage of burning cars.

"Politics in France is heading to the right and I don't want rightwing politicians back in second, or even first place because we showed burning cars on television," Mr Dassier told an audience of broadcasters at the News Xchange conference in Amsterdam today.

"Having satellites trained on towns across France 24 hours a day showing the violence would have been wrong and totally disproportionate ... Journalism is not simply a matter of switching on the cameras and letting them roll. You have to think about what you're broadcasting," he said.

Mr Dassier denied he was guilty of "complicity" with the French authorities, which this week invoked an extraordinary state-of-emergency law passed during the country's war with Algeria 50 years ago.

But he admitted his decision was partly motivated by a desire to avoid encouraging the resurgence of extreme rightwing views in France.

French broadcasters have faced criticism for their lack of coverage of the country's worst civil unrest in decades. Public television station France 3 has stopped broadcasting the numbers of torched cars while other TV stations are considering following suit.

"Do we send teams of journalists because cars are burning, or are the cars burning because we sent teams of journalists?" asked Patrick Lecocq, editor-in-chief of France 2.

Rival news organisations today questioned the French broadcasters' decision to temper coverage of the riots.

John Ryley, the executive editor of Sky News, said his channel would have handled a similar story in Britain very differently.

"We would have been all over it like a cheap suit. We would have monstered the story, and I didn't get the impression that happened in France," he said.