Unabhängiges Bürger-TV in Kanada geplant

--- Wo wir gerade schon beim Bürger-Journalismus sind -- ein ungewöhnliches, weil auf das Fernsehen setzende Projekt ist da in Kanada geplant, berichtet Technology Review:

On June 15, Toronto-based Independent World Television (IWT) announced plans to launch a television channel by late 2007 that will incorporate citizens' voices into its programming mix. ... IWT is asking individuals to donate $50, preferably via the Web. According to the group's prospectus, if 500,000 people donate $50 apiece, IWT will be able to be sustain its first year of production. ... IWT plans to offer stories that today's mainstream media doesn't cover, such as the "Downing Street Memo," which alleged that the Bush administration made the facts fit its policy in the runup to the Iraq War. In most cases, according to IWT staffers, such stories aren't covered because of corporate and government pressures, direct or indirect. Even PBS, the group claims, is tainted by commercial and government interests through its corporate underwriting and government grants -- more today than ever before. ... As an example of the kind of fare IWT plans to offer, the program J-Pop will feature video footage shot by citizens, uploaded to the site via a BitTorrent application, vetted by IWT editors, and aired. "The model will be a network that's a marriage of professional and citizen journalism," says Matt Thompson, Internet director of IWT. "The time is right to apply [citizen journalism] to television." ... Finally, there's the philosophical challenge facing IWT: its model upends entrenched perceptions and habits about mass media news. And doing so can be a risky business. In 2000, for example, Chicago television station WBBM abandoned the popular "if it bleeds, it leads" approach dominating local newscasts, in favor of a more sober approach that spent time examining the nuances of a story. After nine months, though, the experiment failed, with the station's ratings plummeting to an eight-percent share, according to a report in Columbia Journalism Review. Indeed, one could argue that, given the success of networks such as Fox News and programs such as Lou Dobbs on CNN, people want spin in their news.

Ohne Spin keine interessante Nachricht, das ist auch mal eine nachdenklich stimmende These. Und hoffentlich ergeht es den Kanadiern nicht wie so manchem Projekt im Rahmen des "Offenen Kanals" hierzulande.

Und sonst: Vom Antiterrorkampf direkt in den Antidrogenkampf: Der Anti-Drogen-Kampf in Afghanistan wird für die deutschen Truppen zunehmend zur Gefahr. Westliche Nachrichtendienste gehen davon aus, dass die Deutschen nicht unbeteiligt bleiben könnten, wenn die internationale Gemeinschaft verstärkt gegen den Drogenanbau und seine Hintermänner vorgehe, FTD.

U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan. Global-Warming Science Assailed, Washington Post.

Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll. Increasingly pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about President Bush's plan for Social Security, Americans are in a season of political discontent, giving Mr. Bush one of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and even lower marks to Congress, according to the New York Times/CBS News Poll, NYT.

Neues deutsches "Meta-Blog" zum Datenschutz: www.metaowl.de. Meta-Eule hörte sich wohl nicht gut genug an?

Rechtsführer für US-Blogs von der Electronic Frontier Foundation, teilweise auch für deutsche Blogger interessant.

Zwischen Macchiavelli und Ultra. Iran: Die Entscheidung über den neuen Präsidenten ist vertagt. Das Reformlager hat aber schon verloren, Telepolis.

Die EU im Chaos: Ganz ohne die üblichen diplomatischen Floskeln ist der große EU-Krisengipfel zu Ende gegangen. Nach stundenlangen Verhandlungen sprach Bundeskanzler Schröder Klartext. Er nannte das Verhalten der Briten und Niederländer, die einen Finanzkompromiss torpediert hatten, "beschämend". Die Krise Europas ist nun tiefer als je zuvor, Spiegel Online.

Al Qaeda No. 2 Decries U.S. Idea of Reform. On New Video, Zawahiri Says Jihad Is Only Way to Achieve Change, AP in der Washington Post.