Glenn Reynolds at "InstaPundit" shares my sentiments on the Media reaction to the Gov's News Channel.
IF YOU SCREW UP, THEY WILL BYPASS YOU:
News executives of most Boston television stations are decidedly unenthusiastic about a Bush administration plan to transmit news footage from Iraq for local TV outlets in an attempt to supplement media coverage from that war-torn country.
The satellite link, dubbed "C-SPAN Baghdad," is designed to put a more positive spin on events and circumvent the major networks by making it possible for press conferences, interviews with troops and dignitaries, and even footage from the field to be transmitted from Iraq for use by regional and local media outlets, according to news accounts.
"I'm kind of appalled by it. I think it's very troubling," said Charles Kravetz, vice president of news at the regional cable news outlet NECN. "I think the government has no business being in the news business."
Tell it to the folks at NPR and PBS -- and the BBC-- Chuck! But, really, I'd be happy if the news business were in the news business, instead of letting itself be embarrassingly scooped by Iraqi dentists with digicams and blogs. After dropping that ball, it takes a lot of chutzpah to complain.
Reader Ian Sollars thinks the problem with the Pentagon's approach is that it's not going far enough:
The Pentagon should REALLY make this (a) available streamed live over the 'Net (Quicktime for preference) and (b) archived on the Web (DivX or MPEG2, and they might as well use BitTorrent while they're at it). Take the disintermediation the whole way. There are bloggers left and right who will troll the feeds for news and scoop big media time after time.
Sounds like a terrific idea to me. I wonder if that's what Kravetz is worried about? (More here.) Hey, here's another reason why this war isn't Vietnam -- this time around, it's the news media who don't want the story to get out. . . .
instapundit.com |
