With the rapidly deteriorating situation in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, many people rely on various online sources to get news directly from the region — whether it’s from Israeli or Arab newspaper sites, local bloggers or video journalists. I’m curious which sources you trust to give you unbiased news, or perhaps how you compare and contrast sources to get both sides. Using your suggestions, I’ll try to piece together a picture of what’s happening in the Middle East, quoting from the most interesting viewpoints and eyewitness reports. So tell us — which online sources do you trust, and why do you trust them? Feel free to name American news outlets, broadcast sites, and any other good sources. And if you’ve had a bad experience, you can expound on that as well. I’ll tally up your votes and use the best comments in the next Your Take Roundup.
Which online sources are helping you follow news from the Middle East?
July 17, 2006
Who We Are
With your host
i am very unhappy that rita cosby show taken off air. her presence is missed. dynamic and sincere delivery of the news. she often scooped all other
channels in coverage. what a stupid move, demoting her. brian williams was good last night.
we are turning the channels regularly, to understand the situation now re Lebanon/Israel
as well as Bush/Rice and U.N. and all the trail
of problems in Congress. thanks for listening.
klayman
Well I think ill start with the one side reporting of PBS news The last few nights on PBS TV has had only supportters of Muslium. And making Isrial the sole aggresser.So only one side of a 2 sided coin. So such a left a extream here I balance it with CBN wich acually has had both sides on there discussing the situation over there.
I get more factual content usally from the right prospective. Were the left is always trying to tell people how to think insead letting people drawing there own conclusions.
And to the 3 ABC,NBC,CBS big networks do they acually do news anymore?
Information Clearing HOuse
I follow CNN or MSNBC. On both networks the reporters in the field and commentators in the U.S. examine both sides of the issues. Fox News commentators show little compassion for the hardships of the Arab population and encourage more carnage by Isreal.
Juan Cole – absolutely fantastic!
http://www.juancole.com
I listen to FOX News as I find that they present all sides, fairly and concisely. It is important to present the news in a balanced manner. If Bosten had been hit with 100 rockets, would we be justified to retailiate the agressor?
We decided to cancel our Satellite Dish channels for a while, and I’m having withdrawals from being addicted to the news channels. Fox news was my favorite. All I have are the networks now. Right now it seems the networks strongly sympathize with the Muslim people and are not showing the world the true nature of the terrorism at work through Lebanon’s Hezbolah military. For example, they will show pictures of the reactions of angry people who are victims and they are pointing the finger at Israel every time. It seems the networks focus way more on the civilian Muslim victims, who already hate and blame Israel, and they make sure to highlight their extreme anger and blame which is focused on Israel. Why don’t the network news channels show more of the truth about the terrorism of Lebanon’s Hezbolah military and how they came to be, so we can understand both sides of the war?
never any american source, cbc canada is average. i often read aljazeera for an opposing view. BBC international is the standard and number one, the next is number twelve or thirteen. deutchevella can be comprehensive. cnn as with all american media are pap and often propaganda. its sad really!
I live in NYC, home to all of the major American networks. However, my disappointment with their coverage has forced me to look elsewhere. FOXNews.com’s chase-the-dramatic-footage-and-focus-on-the-fear methodolgy and blatantly partisan anchors make my brain implode. The sites for NBC, CBS and ABC are a little more even-handed, but all of them carefully tiptoe around their advertisers. CNN was okay, but is closing taking the FOX route.
These are the reasons why I (an American-born citizen) rely on the BBC News site–It’s more in-depth than other that I’m aware of.
Occasionally, I’ll even risk Big Brother’s wiretaps and visit the site for Al Jezeera.
In a democracy (“WE the People…”) that so often trumpets the diversity of its people, why, in this critical time, can we not also celebrate the diversity of their thoughts and beliefs? In any case, why can’t American news organizations (for a change) just give us the facts and allow US to interpret them?
I live in NYC, home to all of the major American networks. However, my disappointment with their coverage has forced me to look elsewhere. FOXNews.com’s chase-the-dramatic-footage-and-focus-on-the-fear methodolgy and blatantly partisan anchors make my brain implode. The sites for NBC, CBS and ABC are a little more even-handed, but all of them carefully tiptoe around their advertisers. CNN was okay, but is closing taking the FOX route.
These are the reasons why I (an American-born citizen) rely on the BBC News site–It’s more in-depth than other that I’m aware of.
Occasionally, I’ll even risk Big Brother’s wiretaps and visit the site for Al Jezeera.
In a democracy (“WE the People…”) that so often trumpets the diversity of its people, why, in this critical time, can we not also celebrate the diversity of their thoughts and beliefs? In any case, why can’t American news organizations (for a change) just give us the facts and allow US to interpret them?
My first choice for unbiased news is BBC. Thirteen is more balanced in its reporting than any other American media company. I read Haaretz to find out what my government is doing about the mideast
My choice, being a Mexican, is BBC, it has a very comprehensive view of the events in the so-called “War on Terror”. I tend to avoid American news outlets, as very rarely do they interview the correct people. On the Internet, there’s DemocracyNow, and, if I had cable, I would also tune in to DeutscheWelle.
My first choice: dw-world.de (Deutsche Welle in English text version – unfortunately can no longer view their news programs from US internet providers);
second choice: TV5.fr;
third choice: independent.co.uk (no other news outlet I’ve seen pointed out as clearly the hypocrisy of Bush’s veto on stem cell research because he couldn’t support the ‘taking of innocent human life’, while the casualties mount in Iraq.
I watch FoxNews. I do not trust ABC, CBS or NBC.
For the Middle Eastern perspective I read Memri.org. They translate news articles from a variety of Mid-East news sources into English. It’s an excellent site. Also when online I check out The Drudge Report, The New York Times Select and the Washington Post. Truthout.org posts articles from William Rivers Pitt and Molly Ivins, two of my favorites. The online New Yorker has excellent articles; long, but very worthwhile. As for UK new sites I read the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian. For full tilt boogie partisan viewpoints I read BuzzFlash and World Net Daily. Whew! The website What Really Happened is very interesting, but watch out – to illustrate the reality of war they posted a photograph of a dead little Afghan child in her grandfathers arms missing her foot. It was so tragic. The look on his face! I’ll never get that image out of my mind. My favorite blogs are the dailykos and Andrew Sullivan.
On TV I watch C-SPAN’s Washington Journal in the morning and the wry Keith Olbermann on MSNBC in the evening. The most compelling reality TV I ever watched was the Senate Hearing on the Terry Schiavo case. I was shouting at the TV! Jeez-Lou_Eez!
I miss the gentleman Bill Moyers on PBS’ NOW, but whenever he does a program I always tune in. Frontline packs a punch and their programs usually have companion websites for reference. I never miss the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. They should win every award there is for presenting the news in a satirical and hilarious way. Plus, their guest list is a who’s who of newsmakers.
I abhor FOXNews. In my opinion they are the propaganda outlet for the White House, the thankfully marginalized neo-conservatives, the RNC, and the Dominionists. Despite being the most watched cable news outlet they have seen their viewership diminish considerably along with the President’s approval ratings. I especially detest Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and John Gibson. In my opinion, they are liars and tellers of half-truths. They continually instigate controversy where there is none and that only serves to divide our beautiful, vibrant country. They shout their questions or condescend to their guests and use straw man arguments continually. When one of their guests gets the best of them (usually by using logic) they flounder so bad that it’s embarrassing to witness. I can’t watch them for any length of time so I keep up on their shenanigans at Newshounds. The Daily Show also provides a counterbalance by combining video clip montages of their commentators parroting the talking points of the Administration and Republican Party and while it is often hilarious to watch, it also illustrates how disturbingly effective repetitive propaganda can be. Al Franken on Air America uses the FOXNews sound bites to illustrate how they lie when they deny saying things that later cause them embarrassment or problems. His favorite targets are Bill OReilly and Rush Limbaugh. It’s a very effective way to expose media personalities when they lie to the public or contribute to the political schism we find ourselves in.
Thank God we have Freedom of the Press! And to each his own. After all, Knowledge is Power!
I think the best and fairest news coverage is the nbc nightly news coverage. It seems that the cable news are quicker to get coverage but try to hold the audience with sensationalism and overdo what they are able to give on the immediate reaction. CBS is not bad and ABC is ok.
how to find a news source that is interested in
local political property theft ????????
our local american legion post 163 property has
been confiscated by the local politicians and we need out-of-area national news coverage to
expose local political theft.
how do we make contact and submit details ????