German News - Dw-tv (journal) Vs Cnn?, Been watching German News show called Journal on DW-TV, who knew? Options

[Todd Simpson]

Many of my students are German so I've been learning more about German culture and have been watching a German News show called JOURNAL shown in the states on Public Broadcasting in English. It's broadcast on DW-TV originally.

One thing I noticed and wanted to ask any Germans about, is that the newcast, a modern newscast mind you, mentioned some historical component, like unification, or the peace treaty and four party system involved in rebuilding, in every single story. I was taken by how much history plays in to modern news broadcasting. If you watch CNN here in the states, it's lots of stuff about the president, the economy, etc. History is barely mentioned, then again, it's barely mentioned in our general education as well.

It may not be a German thing but a European thing in general to contextualize modern news in terms of history. Perhaps it's because the states have relatively little history that we focus very much on the here and now and on the future.

As many students here are European, I was wondering about your perspectives? Have you guys watched much American Television? CNN and such? Does it seem quite different?

Thanks
Todd

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Sep 10 2010, 05:19 AM

[Saoirse O'Shea]

I think many Europeans would follow the adage, 'if we do not learn the lessons of history we are condemned to repeat the mistakes'. Media here is no different as history is seen as part of the contextualisation of a news report.

In addition, at least where I live, we are surrounded by history in the sense of a long duree as opposed to the relatively short history of the USA. One of my local cities Sevilla is 1000s of years old and centres on a Cathedral built on a Moorish Mosque opposite a Moorish Palace from before the Crusades. Another local city, Cadiz has a wall plaque that reads (paraphrasing here a bit), 'Admiral X born here in XXXX commanded the ill fated Spanish Armada'. In addition here in Spain there has been a lot of discussion concerned with recent history and, in particular, the 'legacy' of Franco. There's even a popular TV program called (rough translation) 'Tell me what you did' about life during that time. If you watch many of Pedro Almodovar's films they revolve (Volver - film joke) around his reaction against Franco. This discussion of Franco and his 'legacy' includes those who argue that they would rather not discuss it at all. History here surrounds us and so reaches beyond the class room in to social and cultural life.

From a slightly different angle there's an Irish saying, 'The problem for Ireland is that we can not forget Ireland's history and England's part in it. The problem with the English is that they choose to forget'. Again, it's context, culturalisation and socialisation in addition to education.

One noticeable thing, to me, about USA News as opposed to European News - and this is not a criticism of either, it's an observation: US news is more internally focused on the US whereas European news tends to look outward. That is, US World News tends to see world events in terms of how they affect and are affected by the US; European World News reports it as 'World News' in its own right.

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[Mudbone]

The thing about the big news organizations in the US, such as CNN, MSNBC, ABC etc, (Fox news is not a legitimate news organization, but a mouth piece for the right wingers in this country - but thats another topic ) is that their main priority is to make money - informing people is secondary. In the UK there is a television tax, and from what I understand that is used to fund the BBC. The result is the BBC isn't reliant on advertisers for revenue, and therefore can be more objective.

PBR in the US also isn't profit driven, and thats why they have in my opinion the most informative news in the US. PBR brings up historical references frequently, and many times have historians to give their opinions on current topics.

You might want to check out The Young Turks on YouTube, as far as politics go, they're very fair, reasonable, and objective. And more importantly always back up everything they say with facts. They're pretty much middle of the road, not far left or right, and more importantly, they're not loyal to any party or ideology. They bash both sides when its justified.

Oh, just one more thing, CNN outside of the US is TOTALLY different than the CNN broadcast here, way more informative. They have to be, when other news international news organizations are more objective.

You should really check out AlJazeera English, it will really open your mind to the world outside the US. They get demonized by the US media because they actually report the news. Yes, sometimes they report stories that are unfavorable of the US, but as we all know now, invading Iraq wasn't exactly brilliant, or even within American values and principles.

I hope my rant doesn't turn this thread into a political argument This is a guitar forum after all

I know this thread is targeted towards German members of this site, but I just had to give my two cents. Das tut mir Leid. Schones Wochenende!

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[fkalich]

One noticeable thing, to me, about USA News as opposed to European News - and this is not a criticism of either, it's an observation: US news is more internally focused on the US whereas European news tends to look outward. That is, US World News tends to see world events in terms of how they affect and are affected by the US; European World News reports it as 'World News' in its own right.

But don't assume that implies that all Americans are not very aware of other places in the World, and their History. If you asked me to name every British Monarch since Alfred, I might struggle a bit on a few, but I could name most of them, and tell you things about each of their times. There is no country in the world that I cannot tell you something about, and their history, often quite a bit about.

I never read newspapers, consider them a waste of time, I have not watched what is called "news" for years, and have not missed a thing worth knowing. 99% of it is just trash, the more you watch/read/listen, the dumber you get. BBC is no better. The 1% worth knowing, you will hear about it from other sources that don't turn your brain into oatmeal mush. I read books, primarily. I have some foundations that keep me abreast of other things I should know about by email, such as animal protection, environmental issues and how they are being dealt with in Washington, etc. You don't have to expose yourself to junk food information sources to stay on top of things.

People that do watch any of that the US that have intellects will watch PBS or listen to NPR. Commercial networks are just entertainment, you might as well be watching cartoons.

Here is some news. This is a new book that I recommend, dealing with science. Very popular among laymen interested in that, my library has got or has ordered 15 copies, two of those audio books. See, you don't need the commercial networks to get news worth knowing. The New York Times has some good outlets. But come one, CNN? Trash, I turn away from it if it is on a tv I pass, I protect my gray matter.

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This post has been edited by fkalich: Sep 10 2010, 06:46 AM

[Saoirse O'Shea]

But don't assume that implies that all Americans are not very aware of other places in the World, and their History.
...

Don't worry as I wasn't and don't .

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[Todd Simpson]

Thanks for the replies I've been watching news from just about anywhere but the States recently as I"m finally seeing how naval gazing and going to the next commercial is what most news is about here. All of the posts made really good points and I must agree with the thread as a whole. I've checked out al jazeera English on my iphone (which is where I started watching international news) through a TV app and it really makes you realize how perspective based and inward looking most of our "news" is. I'm to the point where I only watch BBC, PBR, DWT, etc. I'm a bit of a history buff so it's always cool when some BBC broadcaster makes a historical reference to contextualize a story. It almost doesn't happen on CNN U.S.

Todd

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