France launches 24/7 news channel

by oldfrog Tue Dec 5th, 2006 at 05:34:07 PM EST

France launches 24/7 news channel By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 41 minutes ago
PARIS - France goes head-to-head with CNN and the BBC from Wednesday with the launch of its state-funded 24/7 news channel, part of President Jacques Chirac's efforts to make his country's voice heard.
France 24 will broadcast two channels, one in French and the other mostly in English.
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It will transmit to Europe, the Middle East and Africa via satellite, initially reaching an estimated 75 million households in more than 90 countries.
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Programming on the French and English channels will be virtually identical, with 10-minute news bulletins every half-hour, and a selection of reports, talk shows and news magazines filling between-bulletin gaps.

more at : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_re_eu/france_news_a_la_francaise

France launches 24/7 news channel | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 0)

One of the reviews here (on NPR) said that the content was essentially the same as on CNN, BBC, etc. It will be interesting to see what is different about their coverage... My bet is that 99% of the time they will agree, and it will only be on issues where there is a clear nationalistic interest that differences arise.

by asdf on Tue Dec 5th, 2006 at 10:35:18 PM EST

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 1)

I don't know what you mean by "they will agree".

Even if a lot of the TV shooting on the ground is made by the same agencies, it's the comments that count and the amount of material sent sent too.

I had the opportunity to discuss the US MSM coverage of the war in Lebanon last summer on another blog. What I know of, what was shown in the US was 90% rockets falling on Israel and 10% bombs falling on Beirut. The European media tried at least to show 50/50 and French TV showed very interesting reports from "the other side". I imagine that the BBC did too.

US media don't show French or other European troops on different theaters. US media have been showing so far what was "acceptable" to the US administration and this was considered as "librul propaganda" by Fox News pundits.

So the mere showing of an alternate reality would be a big plus to the US citizens, even i I doubt that a majority will have anything but theoretical access to this for us "normal" coverage.

by oldfrog on Wed Dec 6th, 2006 at 12:57:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 0)

their website is useless, clearly not a priority, i hope they will broadcast there soon.

by fredouil (fredouil@gmailgmailgmail.com) on Wed Dec 6th, 2006 at 01:27:49 AM EST

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 1)

I heard about this on NPR (public radio US) and wondered if there was any chance I could see it. But it's looking like I won't be (no satellite, can't even get into their webpage as it requires a flash version I don't have). Hopefully they sort that out. Odds are, most Americans (who could probably benefit from the alternative), won't be able to see the channel except if parts of it are put online...

by R343L (reverse qw/ten.cinos@l343r/) on Wed Dec 6th, 2006 at 01:51:27 PM EST

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 0)

it's running free online at

http://www.france24.com/live/

by oldfrog on Wed Dec 6th, 2006 at 05:34:24 PM EST
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Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 0)

wacky, when I tried to visit their site, I just got errors about flash, so I gave up. :)

Rachael

by R343L (reverse qw/ten.cinos@l343r/) on Wed Dec 6th, 2006 at 05:38:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: France launches 24/7 news channel (none / 0)

paste that stream into winamp or mediaplayer

mms://live.france24.com/france24_en.wsx