Interesting note about Al Jazeera America...while the network is great at showing offshore news that no other broadcast media in the United States covers....highly recommend it just for that alone, it tends to take rightward shifts on its own. For example, no mention at all about Pope Francis New Yearss speech insisting that Catholics need to be concerned with Climate Change/Global Warming, and his critique of capitalism especially in regards to the increasing economic inequality and the treatment toward the poor. However, a documentary about financial corruption in the Catholic Church is being run over and over and over again. Almost as if trying to discredit anything the Pope says anyway....true, the financial corruption in the Church is an issue, but its hardly new, and has been a problem for literally centuries. Pope Francis has a message that impacts everyone, and the financial corruption in the church is of importance only to those that loyally write checks to their church. How about a documentary about the legalized financial corruption that allow the rich to control our government for their own direct benefit but to the detriment of everyone else? That is a tad more important as it impacts everyone.... Al Jazeera had some excellent specials about the immigration issue, plight of the middle class, and the failings of the criminal justice system, but every time Al Jazeera America seems to be moving into the progressive direction, something jerks it right back. Al Jazeera America definitely gets points though for its coverage of Ferguson early on...though they dropped that issue of late...of course. They are also the only broadcast media to portray what is happening to the Palestinians from the Palestinian point of view. RT has some good coverage, but besides being ridiculously pro-Russian to the point where Putin it has become obnoxious, RT cant seems to give equal time to great wing left wing intellectuals and bat shit crazy conspiracy theorist. I know some of you are RT loyalist and probably dont discriminate the difference. The chief saving grace of the network is probably Thom Hartman. The only really good source of broadcast media for those that lack time continues to be DemocracyNow.org and TheRealNews which are online.....Democracy Now being available on satellite TV on Free Speech TV. Ive heard good things about Link TV which is available on Satellite but havent really watched it. Of course, yes...we all know MSNBC is corporate run media that for instance said absolutely nothing about the threat to Net Neutrality...as it is now owned by Comcast, we know why. Fox News discussed the issue more than MSNBC but of course as government control without being honest to its viewers. The network of course also will not critique the capitalism itself and always leads to the Democratic Party as the good guys, without being critical enough on the Democratic Party. However, I still enjoy Rachel Maddow...she does cover stories no one else does, especially on environmental issues....Chris Hayes is pretty far to the left for a liberal, and Lawrence ODonnel, while coming across as an NSA schill, has been quite critical of police brutality, and deserves kudos for that. While Im not a particularly big fan of the Ed Show, his show has been the only one on Cable to even talk about the negative implications of the TPP. That leaves the other online broadcast show...The Young Turks. Outside of two stories, one highlighting how Republican congressman had to contend with a further to the right opposition while the Democrats had no far left contenders and another regarding how some of the rich were getting tax deductions for campaign contributions, The Young Turks this year didnt lead to me to any news I wouldnt catch elsewhere. Their editorial comment while fine didnt give me any points of view that I wouldnt have thought of myself. Now that Glen Ford of the Black Agenda report, and Tom Ferguson who is an expert on campaign contributions, Bill Black, Tom Wilkerson, and others have been regularly contributing to TheRealNews, you can get much better information on that online source. For even more unique editorial commentary, you are better off trying Jason Unruhe of MaoistRebelNews on YouTube. There are times where I strongly disagree with Jason, but Im assured that hell give me commentary that is unique. For instance Jasons analysis on Obamas announcement to normalize relations with Cuba is very well worth watching. Although Im not about to bash liberals for praising Obama on the move, as the country does need to end the embargo, Jason makes strong points regarding what this means for the future of Cubas achievements in socialism which are worthy taking note of...the country has supplied hundreds of doctors to West Africa to fight Ebola...something no other nation in the West has done. Not to mention, as Jason points out, is this backstabbing Venezuela, who has been helping Cuba for years by providing cheap oil to the country. One should not that at the same time Obama announced he wants to normalize relations with Cuba, he put in place harsh sanctions on Venezuela. A source of interesting news not covered anywhere else and thoughts from an anarchist perspective is that provided by Franklin Lopez aka The Stimulator on SubMedia.tv. Probably the best detailed coverage of protest against the G-8 and the UN Climate meetings I have ever seen....all from the far left... I wish there was a source of broadcast media that was labor news focused, but there isnt any. There are other good sources....Ralph Nader has a radio show on Pacifica, all of the podcast are on Nader.org which is worthwhile, Marxist economist Richard Wolff does a weekly radio show which I have to admit I often miss but I loyally listen to his monthly reviews on his YouTube channel. What broadcast news show (radio, TV, of online show) do you favor? :)
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 04:24:21 +0000
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