RT correspondent injured in Damascus crossfire(47.9Mb)embed videoA group of international journalists – including members of RT’s Arabic team – have been caught in crossfire in Syria while covering the army’s operations outside the capital. RT’s correspondent suffered light injuries while trying to escape.Syrian government forces have been trying to clear the area of rebels occupying the Damascus suburb of Daraya. Several international journalists, including Russians, Iraninans and Syrians, joined the group to report on the early morning operation and found themselves caught in heavy gunfire.“We were moving from street to street, and when we reached the dock, my colleagues and I got caught in crossfire,” RT Arabic correspondent Kamel Saqer explained.“We tried to escape, running one after another fearing that armed rebels would notice us. A Syrian army soldier accompanied us the entire time – he constantly kept his eye on the situation and helped us to escape the gunfire.”It was unclear whether the rebels were deliberately targeting journalists, all of whom were wearing bulletproof vests with clearly visible word ‘press’ on them, Saqer said.The firing was very intense and it was difficult to find shelter, Saqer added. “I ran and fell down, I hurt my arms – but the Syrian army doctors gave me first aid on the scene. So I could continue to do my job.”One of the Syrian cameramen was also slightly wounded.‘There’s no way to be safe in wartime’According to recent studies, Syria was the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with over 50 correspondents killed while covering the conflict. “The reality is there is no way to be safe in wartime,” an award-winning war correspondent Russ Baker told RT. “It is just inherently dangerous.”A member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition previously said that Russians in Syria have become legitimate targets, claiming they are “cooperating with enemy forces”And Baker believes that the very fact that most journalists are perceived as somewhat biased increases the danger to them during the wartime.“The reality is that very few news organizations are seen as truly objective or open minded. And I suppose that just as people from RT may be seen as in some ways skeptical of the rebels, American journalists are going to face the opposite kind of thing.”“Unfortunately I now consider a lot of combat coverage to be sort of in the realm of entertainment,” he added. “And what I mean by that is that it doesn’t really provide people with any kind of great insight into what really is going on.”Many international journalists are reported missing or have been detained in Syria, one of them is Ukrainian Anhar Kochneva who is being held captive by the Free Syrian Army. Generally there i
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s no condemnation of such cases from the world powers which back the opposition, and Baker believes that is because such incidents do not fit the reality they are trying to present.“This is a general problem that all journalists have to be treated alike and we’ve got to have some kind of standardization of the criteria. But war is a game of propaganda and unfortunately there is very little context to any of this.” … Read More
RT correspondent injured in Damascus crossfire
Al Jazeera buys Current TV in bid for US airtime
After announcing in October that it was considering looking for a buyer, struggling American cable channel Current TV has been purchased by Al Jazeera. The move will see the Qatar-based international news outlet gain new access to American viewers.Current, founded in 2005 by former US vice president Al Gore and business partner Joe Hyatt, was “built on a few key goals: To give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling,” Gore and Hyatt said in a statement. “Al-Jazeera has the same goals and, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us,
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” the statement continued. The pan-Arab news outlet, which has had trouble courting distributors stateside, is currently only available in a few US metropolitan areas. The acquisition will give Al Jazeera access to about 60 million American homes, or three fifths of the country’s cable and satellite television subscribers. According to a report in the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog, people with inside information on the deal claim that Al Jazeera will create a New York-based news team, while slightly under half of the programming aired in the US will be produced by Al Jazeera English. The buyout is expected to mean the close of most of Current’s programming.Current was a relatively unknown force in American media until 2011, when it made a name for itself by hiring MSNBC defector Keith Olbermann who was fired a year later. … Read More
The sky’s the limit: Kim Jong-un to be TIME’s ‘Person of the Year?’
After being bestowed the title of ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ in a spoof poll, North Korean “heartthrob” Kim Jong-un was chosen as Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ in a readers’ vote. Beating Olympic medalists and rights activists, Kim Jong clinched 5.6 million vote
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$(“.tail_text”).html(“The US publication stressed that the results of the poll are unofficial and that the actual wine, chosen by TIME magazine editors, will be revealed later on December 19.“While we don’t make our selection based on the poll results,” said TIME executive editor Radhika Jones in an interview with the publication, “it’s always interesting to see where some of our preferred candidates end up.” The publication also mentioned that online forums had launched campaigns to hijack voting in favor of the North Korean leader who assumed leadership from his deceased father Kim Jong-il in January of this year. “Some of the highest vote tallies got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan who launched a campaign to manipulate the results, pushing North Korea’s supreme leader to the top of the list,” wrote TIME.The candidates for Times ‘Person of the Year’ accolade ranged from Korean singer Psy, performer of the infamous smash hit ‘Gangman Style’ to the Burmese leader Suu Kyi in a poll that covers the year’s news in the “broadest sense.”North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol-Ju attend the opening ceremony of the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground on Rungna Islet along the Taedong River in Pyongyang in this July 25, 2012 photograph released by the North’s KCNA to Reuters on July 26, 2012. (Reuters/KCNA)Newly-inaugurated Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi drew the short end of the stick in the online poll, receiving the largest quantity of “no-way” votes and a flurry of impassioned comments about his inclusion on the shortlist of candidates.It is not the first time Kim Jong-un has been awarded such a prize. Satirical publication The Onion published a spoof poll in November, naming the “devastatingly handsome” North Korean leader the world’s sexiest man of 2012. Despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of the poll, Chinese publication Chinese People’s Daily Online took it a little too literally, earnestly informing readers that Kim Jong-un was named Sexiest Man Alive 2012.North Korea has been in and out of the headlines throughout this year for its contested rocket launches that are widely thought to be a guise for missile tests by the international community. On Wednesday Pyongyang carried out a successful rocket launch to deliver what they claim is an observational satellite into orbit. The move was met with strong condemnation from the UN, who met to discuss a new set of sanctions with which to punish the Asian country. North Korea has hailed the launch as a massive victory for the country, as thousands gathering in a government staged rally on Thursday to celebrate the mission success.”This was achieved thanks to the Great Marshall Kim Jong-un’s endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom,” said president of the State Academy of Sciences Jang Chol in a public address.North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visits a military unit on an island in the most southwest of Pyongyang in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang August 18, 2012. (Reuters/KCNA)This file photo taken on April 15, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L) applauding during a military parade in honour of the 100th birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang. (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)”);
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The US publication stressed that the results of the poll are unofficial and that the actual wine, chosen by TIME magazine editors, will be revealed later on December 19.“While we don’t make our selection based on the poll results,” said TIME executive editor Radhika Jones in an interview with the publication, “it’s always interesting to see where some of our preferred candidates end up.” The publication also mentioned that online forums had launched campaigns to hijack voting in favor of the North Korean leader who assumed leadership from his deceased father Kim Jong-il in January of this year. “Some of the highest vote tallies got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan who launched a campaign to manipulate the results, pushing North Korea’s supreme leader to the top of the list,” wrote TIME.The candidates for Times ‘Person of the Year’ accolade ranged from Korean singer Psy, performer of the infamous smash hit ‘Gangman Style’ to the Burmese leader Suu Kyi in a poll that covers the year’s news in the “broadest sense.”North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol-Ju attend the opening ceremony of the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground on Rungna Islet along the Taedong River in Pyongyang in this July 25, 2012 photograph released by the North’s KCNA to Reuters on July 26, 2012. (Reuters/KCNA)Newly-inaugurated Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi drew the short end of the stick in the online poll, receiving the largest quantity of “no-way” votes and a flurry of impassioned comments about his inclusion on the shortlist of candidates.It is not the first time Kim Jong-un has been awarded such a prize. Satirical publication The Onion published a spoof poll in November, naming the “devastatingly handsome” North Korean leader the world’s sexiest man of 2012. Despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of the poll, Chinese publication Chinese People’s Daily Online took it a little too literally, earnestly informing readers that Kim Jong-un was named Sexiest Man Alive 2012.North Korea has been in and out of the headlines throughout this year for its contested rocket launches that are widely thought to be a guise for missile tests by the international community. On Wednesday Pyongyang carried out a successful rocket launch to deliver what
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they claim is an observational satellite into orbit. The move was met with strong condemnation from the UN, who met to discuss a new set of sanctions with which to punish the Asian country. North Korea has hailed the launch as a massive victory for the country, as thousands gathering in a government staged rally on Thursday to celebrate the mission success.”This was achieved thanks to the Great Marshall Kim Jong-un’s endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom,” said president of the State Academy of Sciences Jang Chol in a public address.North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visits a military unit on an island in the most southwest of Pyongyang in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang August 18, 2012. (Reuters/KCNA)This file photo taken on April 15, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L) applauding during a military parade in honour of the 100th birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang. (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)
Hillary Clinton Wants More Money for Alternative Media Propaganda
Ben Swann takes a look at statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the need for more money to put out the American governments message. … Read More
