International Tv News - The Way Forward

Edward Victor and Sarah Smith interview award-winning CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera journalist, Afshin Rattansi, about newsgathering and his novel, "The Dream of your Decade - The London Novels" published by Booksurge and accessible on Amazon.com.

Edward Victor: Afshin Rattansi, your new book looks at -among other things- the way news is produced in newsrooms. Given that you have worked at three major networks, the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera, do you assume there has been any transform since you wrote your book?

Afshin Rattansi: A character in the third novel in the quartet reappears to perform at a large media organization about the time in the war on Yugoslavia. That war was covered in an extraordinary way and was widely criticised afterwards. Following all, reporting on a huge selection of a huge number of individuals dying within the heart of Europe is what journalism textbooks following Globe War II have been written for and but, anybody employing Television news to find out what occurred in Sarajevo would happen to be confused at very best. It was only soon after the war that some excellent programmes had been produced.

"The Dream with the Decade" offers with unwitting bias or unwitting lack of balance. Every story was nuanced by the life experiences in the type of persons that get the jobs in newsrooms. Although the book bargains with coverage of stories around the environment, healthcare and several other troubles, the in-built bias of journalists reaches its apotheosis with regard to war reporting. Whether or not it be the wars on Latin American states inside the 1980s or the war on Yugoslavia within the 1990s, it's remarkable how tough it truly is for a viewer to hear a spectrum of views on any war.

Edward Victor: You also began the developing world's very first English language 24 hour satellite Tv news and present affairs network, primarily based inside the Middle East. As the man in charge, did you use your knowledge to produce news differently?

Afshin Rattansi: I hope so. Though I was the editor of your channel, there had been the constraints any manager would have around the way we broadcast news. Most lately, in the BBC, 1 realised the constraints on a really properly established network when reporting the run-up for the war on Iraq. In the Dubai Channel, we came from a building world viewpoint and concentrated around the financial background. "Follow the money" was the watchword when we covered, say the Ethiopia-Eritrea war or the privatisation of organic resource management demanded by the IMF. I usually thought it was fascinating that Business Week outsold The Economist and that Business Week magazine was typically the most effective supply for genuinely having a balanced view of a story. Everything from the most nearby - one example is, food resources or crime prevention - for the most global - say, Kyoto, the drug trade or nuclear arms - typically has private profit at the heart of it.

Whether or not it be Hollywood or the matter of Palestine, following the money is often a fairly fantastic way for journalists to cover a story...and becoming incredibly wary of Microsoft's "copy and paste" functions when allied to Reuters and AP wire stories. Reuters, following all, is mainly a financial solutions business and although it has superb journalists, their "daily wraps" on the key stories from the day will not be these that most concern ordinary folks, certainly not the greatest proportion of humanity or the greatest audience.

Sarah Smith: Al Jazeera is launching an English language station. The expert on Al Jazeera, Hugh Miles, wrote about (in Al Jazeera : How Arab Television News Challenges America) how the Arabic language station hired you -as an award-winning journalist- after the channel became a lot more productive and wanted to raise its profile. Will you be operating for the English language station?

Afshin Rattansi: I absolutely haven't been approached. And while I believe it has the possible to become anything excellent - even constructing around the operate that creating globe international stations have already been making due to the fact the Dubai Channel - I'm as but unsure of your path the channel is taking. They've taken on some excellent personnel. I believe what might be important - not merely for sound editorial reasons - are going to be whether or not they can carve a niche that separates them from business leaders for instance CNN, the BBC and Fox. You will find plenty of free-to-air international Tv stations, now. But Al Jazeera Arabic was distinctive for the reason that its viewpoint was shared by a swathe of persons in the Atlantic towards the Indian Ocean that just wasn't compatible with all the significant corporate names in news.

Sarah Smith: But why have you not wanted to become aspect of such an thrilling project - offered your published function on managing start-up Television stations, having cable access, writing remits and so forth? You had been, soon after all, the initial ever English-language recruit to Al Jazeera.

Afshin Rattansi: So far, I've currently been told that there's no location for me around the network so, naturally, they've missed anything crucial in the start-up with the new channel! But, far more seriously, it has to be stated that inside the market, there are actually some excellent journalists who, I would have thought, would have been best recruits. International Tv station start-ups are usually complex and maybe management on the new station includes a lengthy range program that entails much more industrial BBC-style news in the starting to achieve market place access. My very first boss at the BBC, Paul Gibbs, is among the directors with the new channel so I know that they have some heavyweights on the subject of knowing the market. He will probably be commissioning programmes and at the BBC Business enterprise Unit was recognized for innovative strands of programming.

Sarah Smith: The channel has hired some journalists quite a great deal from the neoliberal suitable. David Frost who's a friend of Israel even checked using the U.S. and UK governments before he would take on a job in the station. Their head of news, Steve Clark, developed very appropriate wing programmes that had been pro-Israeli. Do you've any fears concerning the channel?

Afshin Rattansi: As I stated, start-ups are generally quite fraught. And one particular should try to remember that you will discover many men and women who're willing the failure of Al Jazeera International. I know Steve and he seemed comparatively sane! I certainly do not feel it may be stated - as some are alleging - that the English language station has been hijacked by the CIA or one thing, as some are possessing it.

As for the a lot more disturbing bits of news we get regarding the start-up of the English language Al Jazeera channel, I think we ought to wait and see. Frost is really a large name and Tv stations do want stars. With all of the funds getting thrown in the new channel, let's hope that they're getting the genuinely top notch producers and reporters and not people that are merely the dregs of huge, corporate news broadcasting, looking for a tax-free salary and also a bit of sun!

Edward Victor: The book that concerns Tv news in "The Dream of the Decade" has been in comparison with Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop". Really should it be read as a satire or did any on the items in the book essentially happen.

Afshin Rattansi: Of each of the books within the quartet, probably that a single, "Good Morning, Britain" would be the most autobiographical. Alas, many of the crazier factors with regards to the naivety of reporters are fundamentally true. I definitely remember a really posh reporter who was unaware of public healthcare and when he went to cover a story about hospitals went to the only hospital he knew - an incredibly pricey private a single - in order that the entire report became an advert for how superb medical care was within the UK. I've also met my fair share of war correspondents who delight in the perceived Hemmingway persona, obscuring the problems of geopolitical power in any theatre of war.

Sarah Smith: What broadcast news solutions do you feel are very good and how can journalism normally get superior?

Afshin Rattansi: I assume you will find some gold requirements at the moment. Among them is BBC World Service radio which while showing tiny in the way of innovation and frequently obscuring power-lines, nonetheless manages to really feel genuinely worldwide. Certainly, CNN when my tiny brother is anchoring is also fantastic! I've to admit that Fox News, which is performing effectively in the ratings, a minimum of puts its heart on its sleeve - tacitly admitting it has an angle. It's significantly additional frightening to watch news which suggests that it really is unbiased when it can be.

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