Viewpoint 1b - From City Media Productions

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 7 of 7

Day 7 - the final day - of Video Blogging Week, and I look back and see what I've learned over the last 7 days about video production and myself.



These video blog entries will continue, and we will continue to evolve the visual style and presentation. It's an organic process and given time, we will improve the Viewpoint video posts and what you will see in the near future, will be quite different from what you've seen this week. But I hope you stay with us and continue to watch the show evolve over the weeks and months to come. Stay tuned!

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 6 of 7

It's day 6 of Video Blogging Week here on Viewpoint, and we somehow manage to go from Doctor Who and Michelle Ryan in a catsuit, to the conservative press.



Tomorrow, we round up the week long experiment and look back over what the experiment has shown me so far.

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 5 of 7

Day 5 of Video Blogging Week



Another post tomorrow.

Katie Couric on Dick Cheney: Give Obama a chance

In her latest edition of her notebook, Katie Couric puts forward the idea that Dick Cheney crossed the line when criticising President Obama for "...making the country less safe...".



The truth is, Dick Cheney's attack was out of line, and pure politicing. The US political system seems to have taken politics to new depths since 2001, and it would seem that some people would like to have it stay down there.

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 4 of 7

It's day 4 of Video Blogging Week here on Viewpoint, we made it to the halfway mark, but not entirely unscathed. Whislt I had planned to talk about the more fun stories that I cover, events in the news took a more serious turn, som I ended up covering different ground



Hopefully, day 5 will be back on track tomorrow.

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 3 of 7

Day 3 of Video Blogging Week 2009, and this time, my thoughts turn to the upcoming Star Trek film due for worldwide release in May 2009.



The halfway point comes tomorrow. Day 4 of 7. I wonder what we'll talk about tomorrow...

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 2 of 7

Here's the day 2 post for Video Blogging Week.



Day 3 will be posted tomorrow.

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 1 of 7

This is my first video blog post for Video Blogging Week 2009, which begins today, and continues until the 11th April.



Another post tomorrow, for day 2.

Heidi Klum – Thigh high Leather platform boots

Daily Mail has the pictures.

Anchor attacked on More 4 News

I didn’t see this happen live, but only just found out about it.  ITN’s Alex Thompson, who is currently the main anchor of More4 News, the sister programme to Channel 4 News, and his cameraman, are interrupted by a protestor.  The result is a scuffle, and the studio anchor, who isn’t familiar to me, has to take the lead in to the next report.

Have to say, the protestor is a bloody idiot for thinking he could interrupt something like this and get away with it, and I have to say to those who think that this was an arranged act, to stop being so cynical about news broadcasting.  You don’t arrange for these kinds of interruptions.  Ever.

Myleene Klass in PVC

Myleene Klass dons PVC for a photo shoot in the current issue of Look magazine here in the UK.  The trouble is, if you go to the website for Look, you’ll find nothing about it.  No pictures, no interview, nothing.

Instead, the Daily Mail covers the story for the online audience, including the pictures.  Of course they put their usual ultra-conservative spin on it, but it would have been better to have the story on Look’s website with the original context to link to.

Magazine websites annoy the hell out of me.  They publish these stories and photoshoots in their magazines, but their websites have nothing from the magazines in them, absolutely nothing!

Putting stories that you publish in your magazine onto your website is a way of promoting the magazine and getting the online audience involved.  But without these articles on your website, you have no way of generating online interest in your website.

Get your act together!

Time to say no to biased media

You mean like Fox News Channel?

This seems to be a bit of a problem for FOX as they advertise something called “The FOX Nation” that will be launching on 30th March 2009.  The trouble is they leave themselves wide open to an accusation of hypocrisy.

Fox News Channel = Biased Media.  Talk Radio = Biased Media.  Both are HEAVILY Conservative, yet they seem to think otherwise.  They seem to think they’re “Fair and Balanced”.  Yet they have a predominacne of Conservative voices and no Liberal voices at all, at least not on the TV channel. 

If FOX want to practice free speech, then maybe John Moody should stop sending out his daily talking points, and they should ACTUALLY report some real news.  Then he could actually have a liberal host their own daily show on the network, so that both sides get free speech on the network. 

I won’t hold my breath waiting for this to happen.

Fox News’ Megan Kelly vs Britney Spears??? Watch out for the claws!!!

On Fox News Channel’s American Newsroom today, there was a segment in which anchor Megyn Kelly called out Britney Spears for the video to her new song “If You Seek Amy”.  This comes after Kelly put the song in her “Kelly’s Court” segment back in January, because she claimed the title was just “the F word” spelled out in disguise.  Having gone through it several times, and read through the lyrics, if it is the case, and it is a reasonable probability, then I think it’s actually two words that she’s saying.  The F word that Megan refered to, and the last syllable of “Amy”.

However, Britney has referenced the previous America’s Newsroom segment in her music video, by using a programme name, set and anchor that bare a passing resemblence to Megyn Kelly.  She probably found out about the segment and decided that a piss take would be a bit of fun.

Of course, Megyn, like all the other Fox News actors and actresses, goes totally overboard, calls Britney out, invites her on the show, then goes all catty, meowing to the camera and baring her claws.

Stop being so bloody predictable!  The song was obviously an attempt to draw some publicity, and the video as well, and it’s worked.  A little free publicity and she’ll get that song to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in no time flat.  Not sure that this will have the same effect over here for the UK Number 1 spot.  But we’ll have to wait to find out.  Maybe she’ll just create another controversy over here, though I couldn’t guess on which show she’ll create it on.

Anyway, here’s the segment from America’s Newsroom…

Newsbusters highlights “ultra secret website”!!! Nice story, shame about the facts.

Newsbusters, the Media Research Center blog that constantly busts news, that the rest of us would like to see unbusted and unbiased, spins another one out of control, by highlighting a story on politico.com about a website where journalists meet to discuss things off the record.  Newsbusters however, manages to make it sound like some secret, left-wing plotting cabal, ultra secret, website that is so hush hush you’re not supposed to even know it exists.

So, if that were the case, why did anybody even agree to talk about it???

Jeffrey Toobin of the New York Times has the quote of the article here saying that the list is probably in “…general agreement about the stupidity of today’s GOP…”  Yeah, I think that’s something everybody, except current GOP members it seems, can agree on, and with proof like this Newsbusters article, I wonder how the GOP can even possibly argue their way out of this one.

St Patrick’s Day – March 17th 2009

To one and all, a very happy St Paddy’s Day!

S4/C comes under pressure from Welsh language activists.

Most of the time, I have no problem with Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish language activists.  They're promoting minority languages in a world that seems to be dominated mostly by English.  But this is going into the "looney tunes" category, because it is silly.

A welsh-language pressure group, complaining about a proposal, not something that is definitely happening, but a proposal, that S4/C takes over the English language news on ITV Wales.

I admit it would be good if they managed to take over their own provision for news, from the BBC.  But I will applaud them for having the guts to even propose a move to take on the production of ITV Wales News.  Maybe it will show ITV that regional news is not regarded by every broadcast corporation as a liability, but as something to be proud of.

Dick Cheney shows up the failure of Conservative-Republicanism.

The Republican Party as of late seems to resemble a circular firing squad.  Even when they're aiming at the opposition, they do a "Dick Cheney" and hit their own men.  But now, the original has decided to add his bullets into the mix, and despite being aimed at US President Barack Obama, he manages to only shoot the Republicans collectively in the foot.

He appeared on CNN's State of the Union with John King, and proceeded to demonstrate yet again why the Republican Party not only lost both in 2006, and 2008, and why it will continue to lose until it disengages itself from rabid right wing conservatives like Rush "Limburger" Limbaugh.

"Limburger" and his fellow right wing talk show hosts, such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, are the public face of the GOP right now.  And Ugh!!! What a revolting face it is.  And the likes of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, John McCain and Lindsay Graham, do nothing to improve the public face of Republicanism.  In fact, if anything, they've actually managed to make it look worse now, than at election time back in November 2008.  Add into that mix, the new, and perhaps soon to be evicted, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt "Gingrinch" Gingrich, and a few others, and you have the political equivalent of a mass of bird poop!

The "circular firing squad" description that has become prevalent over the last couple of weeks, is very apt, but in some ways, doesn't do the situation real justice.  On top of this, you have moderate republicans, and rabid conservatives fighting for what is left, of the soul of the party, after "Emperor" Cheney and "Darth" Bush basically tore it out.  It's not just random shots being fired, it's an ideological battle, between unmoveable, unshakeable, unfathomable conservatism, which believes it is right, and everybody else is wrong, even the majority, and the more moderate republicans who have read the tea leaves correctly and realise that the centre ground NEEDS to be retaken in order to make the party electable again, and believe that conservatism will ultimately destroy the party.

Perhaps the conservative movement should get behind their own parties.  They have two of them after all.  The American Conservative Party, and the Conservative Party of the United States of America.  Why tack themselves onto the Republican Party?

The answer of course is simple.  The conservative movement, knows full well that it cannot run and win under its own banner.  Therefore, they tack themselves onto the more moderate Republican banner to become winners.  They think that by doing that, the public won't notice that Conservatism, and Republicanism, aren't necessarily the same thing.  The only time they go against that meme is a time like now when by linking the two, they've brought the Republican Party down badly, so they try to highlight the fact that Republicanism and Conservatism are different agendas.  Sorry guys, but you can't have it both ways!

At this point in time, it's difficult to see how the Republican Party can come back into electability, because right now, it looks like it's heading further and further out towards the extremities, and as the UK's Conservative Party proved from 1997 until recently, heading back to your base is a sure fire way to make yourself unelectable.

Ivan Cameron 2002-2009

It's not that often that I talk about UK politics, usually because US politics is more fun, and often easier to take the mickey out of.  But this post is not about mickey-taking, it's about a young life, the oldest son of the Leader of the Opposition, who died overnight aged just 6.

Ivan was not an ordinary boy in the normal sense.  He had Cerebral Palsy, and Ohtahara Syndrome, a particularly severe and nasty form of Epilepsy.  Most sufferers usually die before they are 2 years old.  Some might say Ivan was lucky to live so long.  I say, he was lucky to have such dedicated parents as David and Samantha Cameron.

I have Epilepsy myself.  I used to be a sufferer of Grand Mal Epilepsy, which is fairly serious, but thankfully, not a patch on Ohtahara Syndrome.  These days, I suffer only with Petite Mal, which even compared to Grand Mal, is nowhere near as bad.  I have massive sympathies for David and Samantha, coping with an epileptic in the family is something my own parents managed ably, but add cerebral palsy to the mix, and I think David Cameron has shown just what a good parent he truly is.

Whilst I might not agree with his party's policies, I send my deepest sympathies and condolences to David and Samantha Cameron, and their close relatives and friends. 

Rest in peace, young Ivan.

Fox News demostrates the worst of press release journalism

Both NewsHounds and Media Matters for America highlight a recent example of the worst example of "press release journalism" that I have ever seen.

If you don't know what I mean, Press Release Journalism is simply taking a press release that some company has put out, and basically publishing it without any form of counterspin or criticism or equalisation. Most newspapers do this to a greater or lesser degree. Most of the time, it is free advertising for whoever put out the press release. But at its worst, say when a political party, political organisation or pressure group is the beneficiary, then it is nothing less than allowing propoganda and bias to go unchecked.

Well, the beneficiary of this particular piece of lazyness was the Senate Republicans, who put out a press release and Fox News dressed it up and presented it as their own research. But the reason this one was so easily spotted, was the fact that there was a typo in the press release, giving an article date as 12/19/09 instead of 12/19/08. Now that would not have passed even the most cursory of checks. So it would seem that Fox News didn't even check the press release over at all, before using it, cos their graphics department re-used the same text from the release as part of their full screen graphics, typo and all.

NewsHounds says this proves that Fox News is in the GOP's pocket. Media Matters says it's lazy journalism. I say that it is in fact both lazy press release journalism, and inherent republican bias at Fox News. Shame on you, Fox News Channel!

Porn star to turn politician?

Hey, stranger things have happened in the past, but this would be a case of poacher turning gamekeeper. CNN's Sean Callebs reports on a campaign to oust Senator David Vitter, the Republican senator from Louisiana.



Hey, if I could vote for her, I would!

Scolari sacked as Chelsea Manager

Well I have to say that this is a bit of a surprise. At the beginning of the day, we were expecting Tony Adams to be sacked as Portsmouth Manager and that happened as predicted, but this came out of the blue, literally and figuratively. Ray Wilkins will take temporary charge as the search begins for a new manager.

BBC News and Sky Sports News are all over the story as is Setanta Sports News.

Idiot Brigade Awards - Wednesday 4th February 2009

Today's awards start with the Best Act of Political Suicide, which goes to the leader of the UK Conservative Party, David Cameron. In Prime Minister's Questions today, after PM Gordon Brown had said "Does anybody want British jobs not to go to British workers?" Cameron stood up and without saying the word, basically answered 'Yes'. His response was that the PM had basically was a protectionist and an oppourtunist, and was pandering to people's fears. Way to go, Cameron! That's really talking the economy up. Oh and nice to have known you, since that one statement just lost him the next election next year.

But now to the medalists, and the bronze medal goes to CNN's Lou Dobbs, for parroting a talking point without checking it. He claimed, as others have done before, that more than $4blln dollars would go to advocacy groups like ACORN under the cover of a neighbourhood stabilisation programme. In fact, The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is a programme from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a government department. Lou, you used to be a journalist, a business journalist, and a damn good one. Now, you're starting to sound like a poor man's Rush Limbaugh!!!

Our silver medal today goes to Dick Morris who has been caught lying! Back on 24 November 2008 on Hannity and Colmes, Morris denied claims that he was working with the National Republican Trust, claiming they had only bought ads on his website. But in an email to his mailing list, which also appeared on his website, Morris says and I quote, "...As I did during the election, I am working with the National Republican Trust to do what I can to stop this (stimulus) package from passing..." So not only did Dick Morris lie about his relationship with the National Republican Trust, but he wants the USA to remain in recession! Charming fellow!!!

But today's runaway winner has to be Bill O'Reilly, who last night on his Fox News show, accused some of his favourite bogey-men, The New York Times, the ACLU and George Soros, of using the illegal immigration issue as a cover for creating a one-party state. Funny, cos the Republican party just tried to use 9/11 over the past 7 years as a cover for creating an effective one party state! A Republican party state. But guess what... in 2006, the electorate threw the Republicans out of Congress, and then two years later, threw them out of the White House. I guess they're smarting a bit!!!

ITV drops the ball, again!

ITV1 was showing the Everton vs Liverpool FA Cup 4th round replay tonight, and it was 0-0 with just a few minutes left of extra time. Suddenly, ITV's playout system decides to start running commercials, early. And so we never saw the winning goal happen live. By the time the people at The London Studios realised something had happened and managed to override the system to get us back to the game, Everton were celebrating the goal, which we did not see happen. We got to see all the usual replays, but once again, ITV almost literally dropped the ball in their sports coverage yet again.

And as I say that it looks like their playout system has chosen now to throw a complete wobbly. Makes me think of the old Windows 95 dialog box of doom which used to read "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down!".

Sky News returns to Studio A with a new look

Sky News launched a new schedule earlier this week, and today, Wednesday 4th Febraury, one day before their 20th birthday, they launched their new look with instead of one big set with 8 presentation points, they're using 4 smaller sets.

The first set we saw at 6am was the new look to Sky News Sunrise.



The desk had been described as a chat show desk and it has to be said, the look is somewhat reminiscent of a chat show set, like the interview sets for Jay Leno's Tonight Show, or the Late Show with David Letterman.

But it does give Sunrise a very distinctive look, which is more relaxed than Sunrise had previously been. This set is also used for Jeff Randall Live.

The second set we saw at 10am was a desk based set for Sky News Today.



This seems to be the basic set, which may well get used on other programmes.

The third and final set we saw was at 2pm for Afternoon Live.



This set has also been used for the infamous News Sport & Weather, for 15 minutes, every 15 minutes.

Live at Five used the second set, but with the anchor desk rotated to a different position.



This is also done for Sky News at Ten. This gives Live at Five and Sky News at Ten an almost flagship style look compared to the other bulletins and programmes.

I like the new sets, they have managed to make the one studio look much better than it did even when the new studio was launched in 2005. Now, if they can just take out the slight conservativeness that has infected their agenda in the past few years, they'll be heading back to the top of the news channel wars. But until they lose that very slight bias they have, they will lose out to BBC News 24.

More snow in Truro

I promised more footage and here is some more. I shot this early morning on Tuesday 3rd February 2009. These were the kind of scenes people in Truro, Cornwall were waking up to.



More snow is in the forecast for Wednesday night and early Thursday, so we could well be seeing more snowfall then. Up to 20cm is expected, and if any does fall near me, I'll bring it to you here on Viewpoint.

Viewpoint on video. 1a: Snow in the UK

My perspective on the snow in the UK

Snow has been falling across the UK from Kent, up to Scotland and down to Cornwall. It's been reported that this was the most extensive snowfall for around 20 years. It's certainly the first major snowfall I have seen since November 25th 2005, which was the last time we saw about 1 inch or so of snow fall. And it continues to fall as I type this.

Earlier today, I shot some footage of the snow falling, and I've uploaded it for you to see. To those who live in areas like the northern parts of British Columbia in Canada, or around the Rockies, this will look likem a small flurry to you. To us here in Cornwall, this is some serious snowfall. We rarely see any snowfall like this currently, yet in the past, I remember at one point when this kind of snowfall was a good day, not a bad one.



Depending on the conditions as things develop through the night, I might be able to bring you more footage later on. We'll see what happens.

Blagojevich removed from office

So, the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, has not just been impeached, but he's been fired from office.

Next thing you know, "Blago" will be going round the news and talk shows again, to tell everybody how wrong the Illinois legislature was and he'll channel more historical figures like Churchill and JFK, and who knows who else, just to try and win the media war.

Guess what, Blago. You just lost your job, and you lost the media war, when you got arrested!

PETA's SuperBowl ad rejected by NBC.

The Huffington Post reference a New York Post article about NBC rejecting an advert from PETA. The ad is available to view at the Huffington Post page, and why it was rejected.

To be honest, I reject PETA, because it does not act like responsible people do. Instead of actually working towards preventing animal cruelty, they criticise celebrities who do not agree with them, recruit celebrities to promote them and waste their time and money on ads that rival Republican party candidate ads and teleshopping infomercials on the stupidity meter.

PETA is a protest group, pure and simple, and such groups should be cosigned to where they belong, on the lunatic fringe.

CNNI starts, slowly, with Breaking News

CNN International got off to a slow start this evening.

It took them 10 minutes to actually activate the video feed, and another 6 minutes to get sound going. But there was breaking news out of New York to greet us, about a plane that had crashed into the Hudson River. I say it crashed but to be honest it looked like it had landed, cos it was intact.

CNN International had joined their domestic network for coverage from Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Meanwhile BBC News had joined BBC World at about 9.30pm for continuing breaking news. Coverage was presented by BBC World's Mike Embley and BBC News Channel's Sophie Long. They stayed with BBC World's breaking news coverage from N8, whilst N6 produced the BBC News at Ten for BBC1 viewers only.

Sky News had dropped their 15 minutes every 15 minutes bulletins for breaking news coverage as well.

At the time I write this, CNNI is still carrying CNN domestic coverage, whilst BBC News Channel is continuing to carry BBC World News for the moment. Sky News is continuing their breaking news coverage as well. CNN.com is also carrying coverage online right now as well.

CNNI arrives on Freeview

CNN International has finally arrived on Freeview. Officially it launches at 9pm tonight with Back Story, followed by World Sport, World News Europe, The Situation Room and CNN Today, ending it's broadcast day at 1am.

Even though the EPG slot on 84 is properly there, there is as yet no MHEG for the channel. Also, there is an interesting note. It lists the channel as "CNN" not CNNI. Now, whether this means anything at all, especially since the channel is listed as CNN on Sky's EPG and has been for some time, is anyone's guess. But here's mine.

CNN has been making less use of the CNN International name for a while, and more and more reference to the channel only as CNN. Perhaps they intend to phase out the International part and have it seem like one CNN across the world. Either that or out of CNN International will come regional versions of CNN for each part of the world. Heck, they're almost there already. It wouldn't take much more to get to that point.

We will see in time, but first, we'll see how they launch at 9pm tonight. With Back Story being the first programme, I get a sense it will get mentioned by host Michael Holmes.

Campbell Brown: Mr President, you are wrong on Katrina.

I rarely highlight Campbell Brown's commentaries, called "Cutting Through The Bull", simply because far too often she misses far better stuff because she thinks she'll sound too much like Olbermann or O'Reilly. However, when something does punch her buttons, she does react to it, like she did on President Bush's final press conference Monday.



Unfortunately, the video cuts off too early and misses the best part, which sums up her comments nicely, so I quote it here.

"Mr. President, you cannot pat yourself on the back for that one. We will debate the war in Iraq, national security, the economy and the rest of your legacy. Those debates will continue for years to come. But on how you handled Katrina, there is no debate."

Well spoken, Campbell. More commentaries like this one that you obviously care about would help your program no end.

Trifecta of lost souls.

It's funny how things always seem to come in threes. Whether they be good, or bad, really does not matter. It always seems to be a trifecta of either triumph or trouble.

The same seems to apply to famous people dying. Just 2 days ago, we lost one of the greats of sports broadcasting in the UK. David Vine started his career at Westward Television in Plymouth back in the 1960s. He started as an off-screen producer before being asked in front of the cameras one time on Westward Diary because the regular sports presenter hadn't turned up. From that day on, he never looked back.

He moved to the BBC in the 1970s and was a regular presenter on shows like Ski Sunday, Match Of The Day, and even hosted Miss World. He commentated on the Winter Olympics many times, and hosted Snooker coverage for over 20 years.

He retired from on-screen presenting in 2000. But since then, he has worked behind the scenes at BBC Sport as an adviser. David's easy going, gently humourous style has long been missed on screen, and his prescence will be missed off screen. David Vine was 73.

Today, we have had two famous actors die. Number 6, Patrick McGoohan, as he was known in the late 1960s ITV show The Prisoner, passed away today. Whilst he was best known as Number 6, he was also John Drake in ITVs Danger Man, and he also appeared in films, such as Ice Station Zebra and Escape From Alcatraz. He also made guest appearances in other TV shows. He made 4 guest appearances in Columbo alongside Peter Falk, and also appeared alongside Angela Lansbury in an episode of Murder She Wrote. McGoohan also directed episodes of The Prisoner and Columbo amongst others. Patrick McGoohan was 80.

Ricardo Montalban had already had a 20+ year career before he took on the role of Khan Noonien Singh in the first season Star Trek episode, "Space Seed". About 15 years he reprised the role of Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. It's reported that he agreed to take on the role again in the movie for a mere $100,000 purely because he loved the role of Khan so much that he actually wanted to play it again. For may sci-fi fans, he permanently became Khan, despite having only appeared in the role twice. That was a testament to the quality of his acting.

However, he guested on many different shows over a 30 year span, too numerous to mention. Search out his IMDB profile for a comprehensive listing. He did however have two series regular cast roles to his name. Mr Roarke, the owner of "Fantasy Island", and Zach Powers in the Dynasty spin off "The Colbys". In later years, he provided his voice to many animations. Ricardo Montalban was 88.

Worst Person In The World: Joseph Wurzelbacher

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Worst Person In The World: Glenn Beck

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bob Schieffer: Evoking Great Memories

Katie Couric: Unknown Soldiers.

Anger over French minister returning to work 5 days after giving birth.

This story has been around for a couple of days now, since French Justice Minister Rachida Dati appeared at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, just 5 days after giving birth to her daughter Zohra by caesarean section on Friday.

Under French Law, women are guaranteed 16 weeks paid maternity leave, with 10 weeks usually taken after giving birth. But, the French Labour Code doesn't apply to government ministers.

Feminist groups in France haven't let that particular fact enter their heads and have criticised her and said that other employers could use Dati's quick return to work as a way of pressuring female colleagues back to work quickly. Err, no. They have to abide by the law of the land, just like everybody else has to.

SuperCasino launches... still no CNNI

A new gaming channel, SuperCasino has launched on Freeview channel 48. It basically features roulette with the opportunity to place your chips by phone or internet.

Now I have to say that although it's launched, my Top Up TV box can watch it fine, but my ordinary Freeview box hasn't twigged that it has launched and it still says "New Channel Please Wait" when I try to watch it.

Not that I will be watching it much longer. Like all gaming channels, this basically a load of crap. The boredom of having the same game every 3 minutes, does my head in. And the presenters, trying to be suave and sophisticated, and yet warm and friendly, basically comes across as Yeuch!

This is one channel that Freeview needs to lose, as quickly as it gained it.

On a related note, Nuts TV is still broadcasting, and there is no sign yet of CNNI. We know that Nuts TV is due to close this month, and information had leaked out that it was supposed to be yesterday, but apparently not. A lack of official information doesn't make this any better. There's also a degree of confusion over whether the channel will broadcast for 4 hours a day or 24 hours a day.

As soon as there is any information reported that seems credible, I will bring it to you.

Worst Person In The World: Bill O'Reilly

For the first time this year, Bill O'Reilly takes top spot in the MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann Worst Person In The World honours list. Something to do with scaring people into thinking that there will be another 9/11 under Barack Obama, I believe...

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Special mention goes to the Malk Maid, Michelle Malkin. After being out of it for so long, she finally says something really stupid. She claimed that those doing the Minnesota recount were providing moral help and support to Al Franken, and that Republicans were left out in the cold when it came to the canvassing board, a board which by the way is made up of 2 Republicans, 2 Independents and 1 Democrat!!!

Worst Person In The World: Congressman Cliff Stearns

Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida takes the honours in Wednesday's Worst Person In The World for inisting that Congress shuts up shop on Thursday so he can go an watch Florida in NCAA National Football Championship!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Special mentions have to go to both the BillO boy, and to Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade. Billy get his mention for his parroting of extreme right wing talking points against Leon Panetta, who by the way, has yet to be officially announced as the intended director of the CIA.

Brian Kilmeade get his mention for his "sensitive" handling of the naked skier story. You'll see why when you play the video.

Global Economic Downturn: Even the porn industry wants a stimulus package!

How do you know when things are really bad in the economy? Well, when the porn industry goes to the government for money!

It was the number one story in the Countdown last night and Keith Olbermann's guest was Village Voice's Michael Musto.

Oh boy! Comedy fest, here we come!!!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I think they're milking this situation a bit and are home to cream some of the $700 billion already approved for the banks. They may well have to bone up on their politics if they want to flex any muscle in Washington.

Okay, okay, I'll quit the bad puns now!

Katie Couric: Presidential Power Lunch

New channel arrives... but it's not CNNI...

...at least not yet. Channel 48 has seen the addition of SuperCasino.

SuperCasino has been airing every night at 11pm on Nuts TV. Now it seems to be moving to a channel of its own.

This question how long the CNNI slot will be and what times it will air. 9pm-1am seemed to be a bad set of times for CNNI. However, maybe a 7pm-11pm slot, which is regarded as EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) primetime, is looking more likely.

This would tie in with information being reported on various forums about changes to CNNI's EMEA evening schedule. Perhaps the Freeview channel will be used to highlight the schedule. We shall soon see. It will not be long now. We should have a clearer picture by the end of Friday.

Late Show Top Ten: Questions

This one's quite good. The Top Ten Questions.



Personally, I think Numbers 1, 2 and 6 are excellent questions!

Late Show monologue: 6th Jan 2009

David Letterman delivers another excellent monologue on the CBS Late Show.

Ann Coulter continues her Guilt-fest

Ann Coulter appeared on NBC's Today show today, twice. Once again, I present the appearances to you so you can hear how nutty she really is, or you can save yourself the mental scarring and not bother to watch. The choice is yours.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Once again, don't buy her book, don't buy into her conservative propoganda. She's all spin and no facts.

Worst Person In The World: Sarah Palin

Governor Sarah Palin won Tuesday's Worst Person In The World honours.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Special mention goes to Comedian Rush "Limburger" Limbaugh, for accusing comedian come senator, him, Al Franken, of stealing the election. Perhaps he should reminded of a charge that he dismissed back in 2000, that a certain George W Bush stole the election in Florida, thereby giving him the WhiteHouse. They say that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The trouble is Limbaugh and his ilk throw concrete blocks in houses that are all glass, on quicksand foundations. Yet they still, just, manage to keep their heads above the waterline.

Katie Couric: The Senate, Roland Burris, Al Franken and the economy.

In her latest notebook entry, Katie Couric talks about the distractions that Roland Burris from Illinois, and Al Franken from Minnesota are to the important work of stimulating the economy.



Yes, these two situations are distractions. The Democrats blocking Burris, the Republicans blocking Franken. I'm afraid it's business as usual in Washington DC, and both sides have lost their focus.

Late Show top 10s: Too Much Football

Another favourite feature of mine from the Late Show with David Letterman is the Top Ten. From Monday's show here is the Top Ten Signs You Are Watching Too Much Football.



Number 2 is particularly good!

Late Show monologue: 5th January 2009

I don't often highlight the monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman, often because their own sites usually do a great job of doing that for them. But I'm going to highlight Letterman's because I can embed those, and I cannot find a steady source of Jay Leno monologues that I can embed. So here is David Letterman's first monologue of the year, from the CBS Late Show.



David and Jay are consistently sharp and funny, unlike a lot of other comedians today who rely on shock value to make them funny. That usually means, they're not funny. Jay and David always are. I don't tend to watch the shows for their interviews, I watch for the monologues and the Late Show Top 10, and the monday Headlines, the things that are what make them stand out from the competition.

Ann Coulter is Guilty...

... of being an idiotic Conservative firebrand. And the book buying public are guilty of feeding her psychosis by buying her books. And the media is guilty of feeding her psychosis by giving her airtime. And now I'm guilty of feeding her psychosis by embedding said video of her appearance of CBS's The Early Show.

You can watch if you like, and hear how nutty she really is, or you can save yourself the mental scarring by not bothering. The choice is yours.



The worst part is, she always dresses on her book covers in a way that is pleasing to the eye and to our more basic instincts. The latest evidence in this is the cover to her new book Guilty.


Talk about false advertising! A pleasing image on the front, and total propoganda inside. Don't be fooled by the pleasing cover. Don't buy it.

Katie Couric: Bush and Obama should work together on Gaza.

I was pre-occupied yesterday with happening in the UK and Irish broadcast media, so this entry in the notebook by Katie Couric got missed by me when it was initially posted but I'm glad I caught up with it now, cos it is worthy of note, even if it is a mere pipe dream that she proposes.



I just cannot see Bush and Obama getting together on this issue. I have a feeling that Obama is going to be very different when it comes to the Israel/Palestine situation, and I think the Israelis knew that too. That's why the military operations had to be now, because they know when Obama comes into office, they will not have such strong support as they have had from "Dubya". I have to say that I think this may be the last throw of the dice for Israel to get what they want, because they're scared that an Obama administration may just force a settlement on both sides, that neither want, but may have to live with. Israel is trying to get the upper hand now, rather than possibly come of worst in a diplomatic situation.

Bob Schieffer: A political year of the unexpected.

On Sunday's Face The Nation on CBS, Bob Schieffer looked back at where they were 1 year ago, and what had happened since then.


Watch CBS Videos Online

I don't think anybody predicted what happened this year just gone. It was an historic year, and January 20th will be a day to remember, not just for Barack Obama, and America, but for the world at large.

Worst Person In The World: World Net Daily

Monday's Worst Person In The World honours on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, went to Joseph Farah, the proprietor of right wing fringe website WorldNetDaily, who manages to contradict his own site's reporting on Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Special mention to Cincinnati right wing talk host Bill Cunningham, whose claim that poor people are poor because they lack values, ethics and morals, make it sound like poor people are democrats and rich people are republicans! Someone try telling Bill O'Reilly that, cos he seems to think that George Soros, who is consistently on the Rich List, is a democrat!!! Actually, he is. Which makes Bill Cunningham something he should be very used to being. Wrong.

TV3 rebrands itself, and Channel 6 becomes 3e!

TV3 is Ireland's main commercial broadcaster, even though RTE also takes advertising too. Recently TV3 bought out Channel 6, one of the smaller commercial broadcasters in Ireland. Yesterday, TV3 got a new look and Channel 6 became 3e.

So, what's the relationship between these channels. Think of it as a similar relationship between Channel 4 and E4 in the UK. Channel 4 and TV3 are the main channels, whilst E4 and 3e are the secondaries, both specialising in entertainment programming. You won't find news on E4, nor will you on 3e.

A little video of the rebrands. First, the rebrand of TV3, which took place during the News at 5.30, which has had the new look for a few months already.



And now, the rebrand of Channel 6, which happened at 10.25am that morning.



Personally, I'm not sure these rebrands look too good. But, give them time to bed in, and they may yet evolve into something quite nice. We'll see.

GMTV's new look for 2009 launches

As I told you yesterday, GMTV introduced a new look this morning. Unfortunately, due to technical problems, I was unable to record this morning's edition. My PVR decided to crash overnight. However, there are some clips on YouTube, which I am presenting here. Many thanks to the original posters.

First off, how GMTV opened at 6.00 am this morning.



Next, a little time lapse to show the old set being demolished and the new one being constructed.



And finally, the titles for GMTV with Lorraine, the new name for LK Today.



I'll try again tomorrow morning, and hopefully get you some stills. But these videos are excellent.

Breaking News: Al Franken declared winner in Minnesota

Fox News is reporting that Democratic candidate Al Franken has beaten sitting Republican Senator Norm Coleman in the long-contested, recounted US Senate seat in Minnesota.

More on this story shortly when we have it.

Price Drop TV disappears on Freeview

It was actually around 9am this morning when Price Drop TV was switched off of Freeview transmitters around the UK.

As far as I'm concerned, it's good riddance to bad rubbish. I was surprised I actually stayed watching it for as long as I did last night. To my mind, shopping channels, along with gaming channels and religious channels, are the most mind-numbing, boring, uninteresting, sleep-inducing, unentertaining rubbish that digital television has to suffer.

Freeview currently suffers with too many similar channels like Price Drop. QVC and Bid TV are two more such channels along with the two Smile TV channels and Gems TV. Losing these channels will not just help Freeview, but help the whole digital switchover, which is already underway.

At least a decent station is on the way to replace. EPG information for Quest, a new channel from Discovery Networks Europe, is due to launch soon, but we do not yet know when. All the EPG data says is "Quest Coming Soon". There's also no video or MHEG being transmitted either.

As soon as I can find out any more information, I'll bring it to you.

Chris Lowe retires from BBC News

Chris Lowe, who has been a reporter and news anchor with the BBC for around 37 years, retired last night from his latest role, as weekend evening anchor for BBC News 24/Channel. He got an unexpected surprise last night from his co-anchor, Anita McVeigh.



For those of us who are news junkies, like myself, Chris Lowe has been a steady hand at the anchor desk, and good reporter. He will be missed.

GMTV gets a new look.

GMTV starts a new year, with a new look. New set, new graphics, new members of the team, even a new news set. No longer will GMTV News be from a little CSO sub set in the studio.

I hope to have some pictures, though they'll be camera at the screen rather than proper full screen pictures after the new look has launched.

Freeview starts changing!

At about 1.30am overnight tonight, Price Drop TV will leave Freeview after being outbid for its slot on the multiplex.

This represents the first move in a major set of changes for Freeview, and for British and Irish broadcasting.

It has been reported that Discovery Networks Europe has bought the slot, and we will see a new channel called Quest arriving soon. At the moment though, there is little information about this channel, and nothing from the Freeview EPG.

I will be watching this happen, and I will report back later with any new information that I come up with. But this is only the first move to happen just this week in the UK and Ireland broadcasting scene. Lots more due to happen, especially on Monday. More information on that shortly.

Matt Smith is the 11th Doctor

Matt Smith, who starred alongside Billie Piper in The Ruby In The Smoke, is to be the new Doctor, the 11th Doctor.

He also appeared with Billie in Secret Diary Of A Call Girl in one episode, as well as roles in Moses Jones, The Street, The Shadow In The North, and Party Animals.

Viewpoint welcomes Matt Smith to an exclusive club with only 11 members. William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Ecclestone, David Tennant, and now, Matt Smith, all of whom are, The Doctor.

One of the benefits of the Internet.

One of the great things that I find about the internet these days is that it allows you to look back in time to a degree and see just how right or wrong we have been.

Back on December 17th 2006, at the end of another edition of Face The Nation on CBS, Bob Schieffer talked about Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana. Unfortunately, there's no video, but we do have a complete transcript.

Evan Bayh is a well-regarded, two-term Senator from Indiana but he is not exactly a household name. So when he announced two weeks ago that he was thinking about running for the Democratic presidential nomination, even he knew it was a long shot.

He acknowledged it was a David-versus-Goliath kind of thing, but he remembered that David did pretty well.

True enough, but yesterday Bayh realized why the smart money is usually on the giants — because they are giants — and he quit the race as quickly as he had entered.

"Whether there were too many Goliaths or whether I'm just not the right David, I concluded the odds were longer than I felt I could possibly pursue," he said.

In other words, he took a look, realized he had no chance and decided not to waste his time or the country's.

How refreshing! None of this "I decided I wanted to spend more time with my family," or the catalogue of excuses we've come to expect from usual wanna-bes — or even worse, one of those ego trip campaigns that all involved know is headed nowhere except to get some TV time for the candidate.

Bayh just concluded it wasn't to be and said so.

The one downside is, that is just the kind of straight talk we need more of in politics.

A man so candid about himself and his chances might have had some interesting thoughts on other subjects. In a way, I'm sorry we won't get to hear them.

In a way, what Bob wanted to happen has happened, because Barack Obama has been refreshingly straight when it comes to politics during this 2008 campaign. Now as we approach the time of his inauguration as President, we as citizens of the world, would like to see more politicians be this refeshingly honest and candid.

We haven't seen too much of it from the Republican Party, and something tells me we won't see much honesty from them.

Brits open their wallets.

In this, the final London Comment of 2008, Simon Bates talks about the global economic recession, and how the stiff upper lip seems to be turning the other cheek and opening its wallet.



More London Comments to come in 2009.

The 11th Doctor will be...

...revealed tomorrow, Saturday 3rd January 2009 at 1735 GMT during a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential, airing on BBC1 in the UK

We'll let you know exactly who it is, as soon as we know ourselves. Stay tuned!

Russian Professor predicts end of USA in 2010. Where's the right wing outrage?

I am a bit late to this story but it seems I'm not the only one. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Russian professor, Igor Panarin, has been predicting for years that the USA will collapse in 2010. Now apparently, the Russian state media are taking great interest in his theory.

He predicts that Alaska will become part of Russia, Hawaii will go to China or Japan, and the mainland will split into 4 separate republics. He predicts a Texas republic, which stretches from New Mexico to Florida will become part of Mexico, The California Republic, stretching from Arizona up to Washington, will become part of China, Atlantic America, stretching from Maine to the Carolinas, will become part of the European Union, and the rest of the states will come under Canadian influence.

Now in some ways, what this professor suggests is laughable, but not entirely. Alaska had at one time been part of Russia. Texas, New Mexico and a number of other southwest states were part of Mexico at one time. Indeed, at one time Texas was a separate republic of its own, albeit only for 9 years.

There are plenty of other examples of states that existed in the geography of what we now know as The United States of America. And this would not be the first time someone correctly predicted a major superpower breaking up. French political scientist Emmanuel Todd predicted the break up of the Soviet Union in 1976. 15 years later, the previously unthinkable actually happened.

Crooks & Liars have the story too, but they don't give it much credibility. They rightly point out many people have predicted the end of the world before now, and they've been wrong. But how many people even in 1989 as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, predicted the collapse of the USSR? Not many that I can remember.

My question is though, with the left seemingly laughing it off, where is the expected right wing outrage at this Russian professor who dares to suugest the implosion of their beloved USA could even happen? Could it be that they would secretly like something like this to happen? I hardly think so. Could it be that they are so worried about the upcoming Barack Obama presidency that they haven't even noticed this? It's quite possible. There's already been talk of an "Obama recession" under way and he hasn't even taken office yet.

Maybe we all need to consider what this professor says in a different context. Whilst his predictions do seem to be a bit off base, the idea of Republican states in the MidWest forming a breakaway republic of their own in order so that the Republicans could claim a permanent power base of their own, might not be so far fetched. And whilst there is no evidence that there is any support for such a movement now, I have learned in the years since 1989, to never say never when it comes to unthinkable and unbelievable events.

The Berlin Wall falls, the Iron Curtain collapses, the Soviet Union disintegrates, all within the space of 2 years. In 1988, I wouldn't have believed it possible. A stable government exists in Northern Ireland, something else that I didn't believe was possible. The USA just elected a black president, something else many belived wouldn't happen for a long time yet. Never say "never" in this world, for you may end up being proved wrong.

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2009

Happy New Year everyone.

I've set myself a challenge this year. To try to do at least one post a day here at Viewpoint, and I hope I'm up to the task.

With this being post number 1 for January 1st 2009, I think I can say I have succeeded for day 1 of this 365 day challenge. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up for the whole year, and hopefully dpo more than one post a day, but at least do one.

Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it.

Eartha Kitt 1927-2008

Eartha Kitt was known as a singer and an actress. To me, she will always be known as Catwoman from the third season of "Batman" in the 1960s.

Rest in peace, Eartha.

Santa visits the Pyramids

I have just seen the following video report arrive here at the Viewpoint newsroom from NORAD.



More updates as we get them, as we continue to track Santa.

Santa over Moscow

Santa, or as he is also known worldwide, Saint Nicholas, is currently flying over Russia. These pictures have just been picked up by the NORAD SantaCams stationed in Moscow.



As we get more pictures in, we'll bring them to you.

Santa visits the International Space Station

Santa has taken a detour from his terrestrial route and gone up into space to visit the Astronauts in the International Space Station in orbit over the Earth.



Santa has sent me a message here at Viewpoint to let all European boys and girls know that they should be in bed, ready for him to visit later. He assures me that he's making good time, and as I write this, he's just arrived in the African continent.

Santa passes through India.

Santa has been in India just recently. We've recieved pictures of him at the Taj Mahal, but I have read reports as well that Santa made a brief stop in Mumbai and has passed on his very best wishes to the relatives of those who lost the lives in the Mumbai attacks.



I've just recieved a report that says Santa is gaining height at the moment, and I expect a report any minute.

Santa spotted over Mount Everest

Our SantaCams have spotted Santa flying over Mount Everest and the rest of Himalayas in Nepal. This report came into us a little earlier on.



More footage coming into the Viewpoint newsroom here and we'll bring it to you shortly.

Santa arrives in China

Santa arrived in China earlier, and made his way into Russia as well. The following pictures were recieved from our cameras tracking him along The Great Wall Of China. Even Santa has to use whatever aids he can for navigation.



More reports on their way into us here at Viewpoint.

Santa passes through Japan like a bullet!

Earlier today, Santa passed through Japan, famous for its bullet trains. We recieved the following video report earlier on from NORAD, who are tracking Santa's progress around the world.



More reports coming into us and we'll bring them here shortly.

Santa goes through Australia

Earlier today, Santa crossed the Tasman Strait and into Australia near Sydney. The following footage was sent to us from NORAD.



There's more footage on its way into the Viewpoint newsroom, and I'll bring it to you shortly.

Santa in New Zealand earlier

Earlier today, NORAD picked up Santa flying over New Zealand. These pictures came into us in the Viewpoint newsroom a short while ago.



More pictures are on their way into our newsroom here at Viewpoint.

Santa Cam at the North Pole.

Earlier today, NORAD picked up radar emissions from Rudolph's nose, and we received the following video report.



More reports coming into us here at Viewpoint and we'll continue to update.

If Bozo The Clown and The Malk Maid are more sensible than you, You're In Trouble!!!

And THAT is exactly what has happened to Fox & Friends' Gretchen Carlson, and "The Mannity" himself, Sean Hannity, or perhaps that should be "The Vannity", on recent Fox News Channel programming. So noticeable was it, that it caught Keith Olbermann's attention and made last Friday's Worst Person In The World.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Special mention as always to the one, the only, the O'Riginal Fox News nutball, Bill O'Reilly, for saving the "War On Christmas!" Only so he can inflict it again on us all next year. Yawn!

Viewpoint Update: TSX technical glitch

BNN is now reporting that the TSX will not trade today due to the computer crash that happened earlier today.

The good thing is, with the Dow and US markets having only slightly moved at this point, Dow down about 36 points, there is little in the way of catch up to do. However, I do expect to see some extra trading tomorrow, or whenever the TSX next opens.

TSX in Toronto closed after computer crash.

BNN in Canada is one of the few online places that is reporting the Toronto Stock Exchange has halted trading after a computer crash. I'm looking out for more information on this, but a lot of other sources are not reporting this story. Fox Business Network seems to be the only one so far, with neither CNBC or Bloomberg seemingly acknowledging the story.

There's currently no information on when the TSX will resume trading, or indeed if it will resume today. The market closes for the day at 4pm EST, same as the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ. I will keep monitoring this story, but I'm surprised this is not regarded as much of a story in the global business media. The exchange trades around half a billion shares a day, so although it is not a large exchange, it does some serious trading. And all too often, it doesn't get much coverage as it's New York neighbours do.

This is the third time this year that the TSX has halted due to technical issues, and it is a situation I will continue to keep a close eye on.

Sometimes, Less IS more!

In this London Comment from CBS News Up To The Minute, BBC Radio 5 Live's Drive presenter and former ITN reporter Peter Allen tells us all how we could make do, with a little bit less.



Now that's probably the most useful thing I've seen on the internet today!

Nigella winds up PETA. Kudos to her.

Several sources are reporting this story about Nigella Lawson's comments on BBC1's The One Show on Tuesday. The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, Metro, The Daily Star and The Sun, are all amongst the many sites reporting this story.

PETA are widely quoted but PETA and their celebrity endorsers have been shown to be hypocrites before, and no doubt will be again. But it seems their outrage has yet to reach their own website.

On doing a search of their site for Nigella Lawson, it came up with no results at all.
Not only that, but even their front page has nothing relating to this "growing controversy".
This faux outrage of a common-all-garden pressure group is sounding more tired than Rip Van Winkle! So-called Animal Rights supporters have shown their true colours before, by kidnapping people, who are merely just a different breed of animal, and even graverobbing! And these actions only undermine the message and do nothing to help against real animal cruelty. So instead of taking out their outrage on celebrities, perhaps they should be dedicating their time, to supporting the RSPCA in the UK or the ASPCA in the US, who take action against people who REALLY committ cruelty to animals, and help bring real offenders to justice.

I won't hold my breath waiting for them to actually do something useful.

Mumbai Attacks: More media coverage

The story is nearing the 24 hour mark, and whilst the morning papers this morning were in general somewhat lacking the real scale of the story, the big exceptions being The London Times, The Guardian and The Independent, the news channels and the internet have been all over this story.

Whilst the news channels are returning to some kind of normality, the story does still dominate. Only channels like NDTV 24x7 and CNN IBN, which are both based in India, have stayed exclusively with the story. CNN International and Al Jazeera are staying heavily with the story as are BBC News Channel and Sky News.

RTE News has majored on the story, just like other network bulletins. RTE News Six-One, the BBC News at Six and the ITV Evening News were amongst the many network bulletins where they majored on the story.

Mumbai attacks: More media coverage

Unsurprisingly, the continuing developments in Mumbai dominate the news, though most channels currently are covering other stories as well. Even GMTV seems to have taken on a more sombre tone this morning with the story getting more coverage than most international stories do. There is a ticker running this morning with continual information about this one story. I don't see much GMTV normally, but I don't remember GMTV running a ticker normally. I could be wrong.

Not surprisingly NDTV 24x7 and most of India's other major news channels are running the story as continual breaking news. CNNIBN is one that does too, and is currently supplying pictures to sister network CNN International, who continue to cover it as breaking news. Star News seems to be one of the few that has switched away from it.

Al Jazeera is majoring on it, with a lot of breaking news coverage but they do attempt to cover over stories as well. Most channels seem to be on normal schedules with the story dominating the news. Fox News Channel is running normal programmes, but with Fox News Alerts replacing ad breaks in some cases. DW-TV is on normal programmes, but the story dominates.

ITN's online channel also leads with the story but continues on it's roughly normal schedule. Press TV from Iran also leads with the story, but also continues to cover other stories. CNBC is also providing some coverage too, using the resources of CNBC TV 18, their Indian partner.

I'll have more on the media coverage of this story, later on.

Mumbai Attacks: Media Coverage

Whilst the media has been all over this story, there is no real surprise that NDTV 24x7, CNNIBN, Star News, Zee News and Headlines Today, the major news channels in India, are the primary sources for all the world's news channels.

Fox News, Al Jazeera, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, CNN International and France 24 are all over this story, as are MSNBC and CNN US, . In Australia, ABC News Breakfast on ABC2 has been covering the story heavily. Sky News, rather surprisingly, haven't switched to breaking news, despite their Indian sister station Star News being right in the center of the action. They decided to stick with 15 minutes format. After 10pm, they switched to a breaking news format.

BBC News Channel switched at 10pm to the usual BBC News at Ten simulcast with BBC1. After the simulcast, they switched back to breaking news. BBC News Channel and BBC World News are due to simulcast together at 1am UK time, so, dependent on what happens in this story, the simulcast may be a breaking news format rather than the usual bulletin format.

News Roundup: Wednesday 26th November 2008

Plymouth Sound: A lesbian soldier has been given almost £190,000 compensation after being harassed by a male sergeant.

Plymouth Sound: A male escort accusing Boy George of false imprisonment asked to be handcuffed during an erotic photo shoot, a court has heard.

Digital Spy: Trisha Goddard has said that she has won her battle with breast cancer.

Comment: This is good news. Good news so rarely gets covered these days, that it's actually nice to be able to report some. Cancer, in any form, is not a nice thing to have, I've lost family, friends and colleagues to cancer, so I'm pleased that for now, Trisha has beaten hers.

Deutsche Welle: German federal police arrested two men Tuesday, Nov. 25, for operating a radical Islamist website and they are likely to face charges of supporting terrorism, prosecutors said.

Yahoo! 7 News: A Japanese man upset by the death of his pet turned himself in after fatally stabbing a bureaucrat and his wife, Japanese police and media said on Sunday.