The complexity of the US "Fiscal Cliff"

TV screen shot: Last night the Belgian program "Ter Zake" tackled the difficult subject of the US "Fiscal Cliff".

Or was it the "Ficscal Cliff"?

Read the full post...

#CNNfail: CNN versus Twitter on the Iran protests

Since the onset of the post-election violence in Teheran on Saturday, Iranian Twitter-ers have been using two main tags to identify their updates: #iranelection and #CNNfail.

The latter was to protest the lack of coverage of the protests by the mainstream traditional media, of which CNN took the brunt. The #CNNfail tag became so popular that US broadcaster found it necessary to take a defensive stand (or was it a justification?) on the air:



Did he just say 'we should be transparent'? He actually said this on CNN? Wooohahahaha. The words "transparent" and "CNN" should never be used within the same sentence.

I find it hilarious CNN is pushed into a corner and actually finds it useful to prove "we have covered this as of F-R-I-D-A-Y. And here is the video clip to prove it!"

By the way, Twitter scheduled a 90 minutes maintenance on Monday, which upset all the Twitter-ers in the Iran protests and beyond, making #nomaintenance the 3rd most used tag for a while...
Update: It worked! Twitter has rescheduled its planned downtime for tonight.

Related posts:
Who is on Twitter from Iran?
Social media buzzing after elections in Iran

Video discovered via The Huffington Post

Read the full post...

A Super Bowl surprise...

US sports fans in Arizona got a surprise when their TV coverage of American football's Super Bowl was interrupted by a porn movie.

Tucson-based KVOA-TV said it was "dismayed and disappointed" after some cable viewers had their match coverage disrupted towards the end of the game.

The clip showed a woman unzipping a man's trousers, followed by a graphic act between the two.

"I just figured it was another commercial until I looked up," viewer Cora King told the Arizona Daily Star. "Then he did his little dance with everything hanging out."

The interruption happened just after the last touchdown by the Arizona Cardinals, who lost the match to the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Full)

[Ed: Dismayed or not, rumour has it KVOA-TV's subscriptions went up by 1,230% in one day...]

Picture courtesy AP (the real interesting Super Bowl picture was sensored)

Read the full post...

BBC: No ads for Gaza aid appeal

Normally when Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launches an aid appeal, major television channels provide slots for short video ads, often fronted by celebrities, explaining the emergency and how the public can donate money.

In late November, for example, when the coalition of 13 British-based aid agencies asked for funds for their work in eastern Congo, the BBC backed the campaign, airing a two-and-a-half minute film presented by actress Juliet Stevenson.

But not this time: British broadcasters declined to run adverts for the DEC's latest appeal "to help ease the desperate plight of people affected by the conflict in Gaza".

A BBC spokesman said:

"Along with other broadcasters, the BBC has decided not to broadcast the DEC's public appeal to raise funds for Gaza. The BBC's decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation, and also to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story." (Full)

Several UK ministers urged the BBC to recognise "immense human suffering" and show the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. 200 people protested in front of the BBC's studios.

Rivals ITV, Channel 4 and Five -at first supportive of the BBC decision- reversed their decision and will show the charity appeal. They said the issue "transcends politics". (Full)

Update:
Here is a summary of backlashing opinions on the BBC's stand. Where they took the decision not to air the appeal in order not to show a perceived bias, clearly it all turned against them. A strong bias was perceived after all.

Thanks to "E" for the tip.
Picture courtesy Wesam Saleh/Maan Images

Read the full post...

News: Vote for your CNN Hero

Did you vote for your CNN hero yet? My favourites are Yohannes who sets up libraries for children in his native Ethiopia, and Viola organising girls' education in rural Senegal.

With thanks to Temmy for the tip.

Read the full post...

News: UK's Supernanny Not That "Super" (UN)

Britain faces severe international criticism for imprisoning children as young as 10, tolerating corporal punishment and broadcasting "invasive" reality television shows such as Supernanny.

The UN's committee on the rights of the child (CRC) is due to release its latest assessment of the UK's record of looking after its 13.1 million people aged 17 and under. Areas of concern are likely to include Britain's record on eradicating child poverty, its relatively low age of criminal responsibility, the use of asbos on children and the provision of health services for adolescents.

The UN noted that more children aged between 10 and 14 are being locked up in England and Wales - increasingly for more minor offences - than in any western European country.

One rapporteur, Lucy Smith, queried "the invasion of children's privacy as a result of reality television shows such as Supernanny, which showed children behaving terribly and portrayed them in a terrible light". The use of "ultrasound devices to disperse groups of children ... further infringed on children's right to association". (Full)

More posts on The Road about children

Picture courtesy Channel 4.

Read the full post...

News: US-sponsored Middle East TV station reaps little success

Al-Hurra, or "The Free One" in Arabic, is what US media call "the centerpiece of a U.S. government campaign to spread democracy in the Middle East".

$350 million and four years after it began broadcasting, the station is widely regarded as a flop in the Arab world where it has struggled to attract viewers and to "overcome skepticism about its mission". [ed: ahum]
It has also been embarrassed by journalistic blunders. One news anchor greeted the station's predominantly Muslim audience on Easter by declaring, "Jesus is risen today!"
Al-Hurra also covered a December 2006 Holocaust-denial conference in Iran and aired an unedited hour-long speech by the leader of Hezbollah. (Full)


Source: The Road Daily
Cartoon courtesy slate.com

Read the full post...

News: From Al Salam - Darfur

MSNBC's video news service on Darfur, showing the Al Salam refugee camp here .

Read the full post...

Rumble: The Adventures of Rageh in Iran

Talking about Bagram airport in my previous post... One time I met this guy at Bagram. His face was familiar. Even when he introduced himself as Rageh Omaar, that did not ring a bell... Until I saw his companion pulling out a camera with the BBC logo on it... (Sometimes I am hopeless, ha!). He is one of those guys with a very open face, and a very positive aura around him. Something you can not say about all TV personalities and anchors unfortunately.

Here is an excellent BBC video from Rageh about life in Teheran. Take a cup of coffee (make that an Xtra Large Latte with sugar for me, please!), or tea, sit back, relax and watch this video. It lasts for 90 minutes, but it is worth it. Views like a movie, I find....

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, the movie tonight is about "Life in Teheran, in Iran, slightly behind the scenes, but surely behind the Western news headlines". Enjoy.
(no, I said Xtra Large please!)


It was nice to hear this Persian accent again. It has been such a long time. Feels like I kinda missed it.

PS: Duly noted how the BBC links this video: www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/misc/ragehinsideiran.shtml
Sometimes, we just can't help it.. It is too deeply entrenched in us to categorize things in the world into boxes labeled by religion... This video hardly touches religion, though.

Thanks for the video link, Gina!
Picture courtesy of Shahram Razavi

Read the full post...

Islamabad Stories#2: The US Special Forces Have Arrived!

Islamabad, Pakistan. Sept 14 2001

Yawn!

Another interagency coordination meeting. Since 9/11 three days ago, we had one every morning. And it goes on and on and on and on… Stuff which is important, no doubt, but not really interesting for me. I don’t have a real say in those meetings, as my unit merely plays a logistics support role. So I sit in the back, in a corner, trying to blend in with the furniture.

I knew exactly how this was going to evolve. Two planes crash into the NY World Trade Center, and all hell was to break loose in Central Asia. The morning after 9/11, it seemed however that few people sitting in this room now, realized how it was going to influence their work, their lives for the coming years… They all had a typical denial reaction. Until it started to hit them in the face. Now, three days later.

And there was no denying the facts anymore today! Pakistan and Afghanistan are now continuously in the news, with the world’s big news networks flying in with plane loads of equipment.

Just as 9/11 happened, we were giving a training for our Afghan staff here in Islamabad. Last night, we took some out for dinner. We picked them up from their hotel, and took them as a treat to one of the fanciest restaurant in town, in the Marriott hotel. As we drove up through the entrance of the Marriott parking lot, there was actually a traffic jam of the small local taxis, each with a huge satellite dish strapped onto their roof rack. Stickers on them for the big news networks. CNN, BBC, Sky, AFP, Fox, Al Jazeera, ITN, ITV, RAI… The hotel’s roof was engulfed in bright floodlights as the anchor speakers were ‘Reporting Live From Islamabad’, with the city lights in the background..

No more denial that our lives were going to take a sharp turn for the worse.. We were going to be in the midst of all the action… And the reactions of the people in the meeting was taking a twist today: from denial to a slight state of panic. The tone of the meeting is definitively much more nervous than the previous days.

Yawn...
My thoughts are running off. I am thinking of the Afghan staff at dinner last night. They were worried about their families left back home in Mazar, Kabul, Faizabad, Jalalabad… Would the Taliban go nuts, and start murdering and plundering? Or empose an ever stricter regime? They wondered how each of them was going to get back home, as we evacuated all international staff from Afghanistan the day after 9/11. We also suspended the UN flights from Islamabad into Afghanistan…

Somewhere, a change of tone in the conversation draws my attention. A lady from one of the agencies starts talking in a low voice. I concentrate again.
She is leaning forward and whispers slowly:

- ‘Yes, I know we will have problems. The US special forces, the spooks, have already arrived. I saw them last night’.
Hey, that was news to me.
- ‘Yes, I am sure. I saw them. Last night I was in the Crown Plaza hotel around the corner’, she continues.
I start thinking.. The hotel she spoke about was where we picked up our Afghan guests last night.
- ‘Four of them arrived, driving a small white, unmarked 4x4.’
Hey, that is funny, we were driving the old office car last night. The organisation’s emblem sticker had peeled of, so there were no more markings on it.
- ‘There was one normal looking guy with three big –I mean huge- guys behind him. One was an Afro-American. They were all dressed the same. Kaki trousers, safari jackets, handhelds on their belts.
Hmmm.. Robert, Martin and Terah were with me. Terah is Ugandan. They are all pretty big guys, now that I think of it. We were all wearing our safari jackets, and yeah, we wore our mission clothes.
- ‘They did not say anything. They just walked into the hotel lobby, picked up some local guys, and drove off again. US special forces. Spooks, no doubt.’
Hmmm…We picked up our Afghan staff last night…

I stand up, cough, raise my hand. The lady stops talking and looks at me as if she sees a ghost. She starts pointing her trembling finger at me. She does not say anything.. Just points at me and after a few seconds, starts blushing.

Everyone turns their heads. They look at me, and then at her. I don’t know what to say. I smile. There I stand with my safari jacket, kaki pants, and with my handheld radio on my belt… Everyone starts laughing.

Since then, rumour had it the ‘Belgian Special Forces’ had arrived. :-)

Continue reading The Road to the Horizon's Ebook, jump to the Reader's Digest of The Road.

Read the full post...

Rumble: Islamabad stories #1 - TV censorship

I am still working on the Dutch eBook about the expeditions. I should be finished inserting the last pictures today. Once that is done, I will get more time to continue writing short stories for 'The Road to the Horizon'.. Meanwhile, just thought of a story today... Actually several. Will publish them as separate blogs, and maybe later combine them to one short story about Pakistan. Here's one:

TV Censorship, the Pakistani Way

When I arrived in Pakistan, there was not much to do in the evenings, but to sit in the guesthouse, read a bit or watch TV. It struck me I would regularly get a test picture on the TV screen, you know, the colour patterns. Like there was some kind of technical problem at the TV station.

Sometimes, hours would go by, and all was fine, and other times, the test picture would appear every couple of minutes. It would happen seemingly at random, no matter if it was a movie, a TV series or a documentary they showed.. It was a mystery to me.

After a while, I figured out that the test pictures appeared each time there was a 'sensitive' scene, where a bit of 'flesh' or some male/female intimacy was shown. Be it a lady in a short skirt, a person undressing (even taking off a shirt), people kissing,... I thought that could not be a coincidence! It was real funny, and really frustrating in some TV shows like 'Silk Stalkings'. You know, those pseudo detective series where all the 'good guys' are longlegged shortskirted young ladies. There was so much 'fleshy' stuff going on, the test screen would be shown every 10 seconds or so. Even during the intro-scene:
One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys got out of a car and BLOOP. One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys leaned forward a bit and showed a hint of bra, BLOOP. One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys kissed their boyfriend and BLOOP.

Each time during the BLOOP, the test screen was shown on TV, and the sound was cut for a couple of seconds, sometimes for minutes. Irritating! Made me loose track of the story.

It was a mystery how this was done. I thought they must have a sophisticated digital code somewhere in the TV signal that said 'BLOOP NOW'... I got intrigued by it all, and watched more carefully.
Hmm, there seemed to be some variations... Sometimes french kisses were not blooped. Or sometimes even kisses on the cheek were blooped. Other times, just showing a bit of an unbuttoned shirt was enough to bloop, and other times, people could get away walking around in their underwear and not get blooped.

One time, I think it was when they showed 'Pretty Woman', some pretty interesting scenes, were not blooped at all. Shocking! Shocking! I mean, I was outraged! A scandal!

Anyway, I did not understand. Until one day, one of my friends went to the TV studio for some work, and unraveled the secret:
In the TV studio, there is one room with some ladies sitting in a row. Each lady was monitoring one TV channel only. Each had two screens and one big button in front of her. One screen showed the TV-signal as they picked it up from satellite or from a tape, that was the input. The lady would push her big red button when 'bad scene' happened. This is when the 'BLOOP' would appear on the output. They monitored the second screen for the TV-signal they were actually broadcasting, to ensure a BLOOP was actually transmitted.

It was clear that some ladies were very strict, and did not allow for any 'flesh', while others were more relaxed about it all. My friend told me that some ladies pushed the 'red button' rather hesitantly, while others were really banging the thing with a big smack. 'Nah, bad, bad, bad, bad! Here, take this. Blaff!'.
As there was no replacement for the 'censor'-girls when they needed to go to the bathroom, either their button was blocked, transmitting a continuous BLOOP, or they just left it 'as it was'.

I guess that time 'Pretty Woman' got aired, either the lady fell asleep, got sick in the bathroom, or maybe got paid to transmit it all. :-)

There are rumours that a technician once patched the red buttons in the studio, and wired a VCR to it, so that all 'blooped' scenes were automatically taped. Afterwards, the juicy scenes were sold on the black market for big bucks... Just rumours of course !

(I got the flying donkey picture from my brother-in-arms, Mark. More of his travel pictures, you can find on http://www.on4ww.be )

Read the full post...

TV Censorship, the Pakistani Way

When I arrived in Pakistan, there was not much to do in the evenings, but to sit in the guesthouse, read a bit or watch TV. It struck me I would regularly get a test picture on the TV screen, you know, the colour patterns. Like there was some kind of technical problem at the TV station.

Sometimes, hours would go by, and all was fine, and other times, the test picture would appear every couple of minutes. It would happen seemingly at random, no matter if it was a movie, a TV series or a documentary they showed.. It was a mystery to me.

After a while, I figured out that the test pictures appeared each time there was a 'sensitive' scene, where a bit of 'flesh' or some male/female intimacy was shown. Be it a lady in a short skirt, a person undressing (even taking off a shirt), people kissing,... I thought that could not be a coincidence! It was real funny, and really frustrating in some TV shows like 'Silk Stalkings'. You know, those pseudo detective series where all the 'good guys' are longlegged shortskirted young ladies. There was so much 'fleshy' stuff going on, the test screen would be shown every 10 seconds or so. Even during the intro-scene:
One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys got out of a car and BLOOP. One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys leaned forward a bit and showed a hint of bra, BLOOP. One of the longlegged-shortskirted-good-guys kissed their boyfriend and BLOOP.

Each time during the BLOOP, the test screen was shown on TV, and the sound was cut for a couple of seconds, sometimes for minutes. Irritating! Made me loose track of the story.

It was a mystery how this was done. I thought they must have a sophisticated digital code somewhere in the TV signal that said 'BLOOP NOW'... I got intrigued by it all, and watched more carefully.
Hmm, there seemed to be some variations... Sometimes french kisses were not blooped. Or sometimes even kisses on the cheek were blooped. Other times, just showing a bit of an unbuttoned shirt was enough to bloop, and other times, people could get away walking around in their underwear and not get blooped.

One time, I think it was when they showed 'Pretty Woman', some pretty interesting scenes, were not blooped at all. Shocking! Shocking! I mean, I was outraged! A scandal!

Anyway, I did not understand. Until one day, one of my friends went to the TV studio for some work, and unraveled the secret:
In the TV studio, there is one room with some ladies sitting in a row. Each lady was monitoring one TV channel only. Each had two screens and one big button in front of her. One screen showed the TV-signal as they picked it up from satellite or from a tape, that was the input. The lady would push her big red button when 'bad scene' happened. This is when the 'BLOOP' would appear on the output. They monitored the second screen for the TV-signal they were actually broadcasting, to ensure a BLOOP was actually transmitted.

It was clear that some ladies were very strict, and did not allow for any 'flesh', while others were more relaxed about it all. My friend told me that some ladies pushed the 'red button' rather hesitantly, while others were really banging the thing with a big smack. 'Nah, bad, bad, bad, bad! Here, take this. Blaff!'.
As there was no replacement for the 'censor'-girls when they needed to go to the bathroom, either their button was blocked, transmitting a continuous BLOOP, or they just left it 'as it was'.

I guess that time 'Pretty Woman' got aired, either the lady fell asleep, got sick in the bathroom, or maybe got paid to transmit it all. :-)

There are rumours that a technician once patched the red buttons in the studio, and wired a VCR to it, so that all 'blooped' scenes were automatically taped. Afterwards, the juicy scenes were sold on the black market for big bucks... Just rumours of course !

Continue reading The Road to the Horizon's Ebook, jump to the Reader's Digest of The Road.

Read the full post...