[RawAlex]

JR: it isn't about what you PERSONALLY do, it is what americans on average do - and they get their news in a half hour around dinenr each day and then watch dateline NBC or 20/20 and think they are informed. That is where the average american finds out what is going on in the world.

Yes, CNN covered the story of the protests... and gave as much coverage to the responses from Condi Rice and GW etc... balanced coverage from an american point of view, I guess.

It isn't about "our news is better than your news", and if that is what you think, you miss the point. The point has to do with the control of the news media by the politicians - not direct ownership or direct ordering, but by controlling the news cycle, they control what the american public in general sees, hears, and understands. They spin stories to create public opinion - and the media are often the willing lapdogs attempting to fill up time in newsmagazines and "debate" programs that don't debate anything.

America is one of the two major parties in the event - your news is not likely to be 100% unbiased, now is it? (and if you think it is, just wait for the next "soldier away from home" or "suffering back home" fluff piece created mostly to tug at your heartstrings and create sympathy.

Have some fun - watch the news tonight (say NBC Nightly News, example) and check to see how things are presented - try to keep a non-emotional view of things, and look at how much of the news is "fact", how much is "s'posin'" , how much is "sympathy" and how much is "fluff". You will find that mostly you aren't getting news, you are getting OPINION and SPIN. Try to watch the news discounting that stuff, and you will find the real stories hiding underneither.

How do you think the media keeps finding sympathy plays to put into the news? You think they just turn up?

JR, you are better than this... stop the fluff, get to the guts dude! :-)

Alex