Joe Bloggs

Public Radio again

I've talked about Public Radio before. If you have an interest in news and current affairs I really don't think you will find anything better than the publically funded broadcasters - at least in the 'free world' anyway. The Internet is a wonderful source of information when you know what you are looking for, but public radio brings to your attention a myriad of subjects you would not necessarily think to look for.

I was listening to an excellent program on Radio National (the Australian Broadcating Corporation's specialist journalism and arts network) in the car this morning where they were discussing Africa and how it is projected to the outside world by the media. "If you relied on the world's media, your understanding of Africa would be limited to occasional heroes and daily disasters. A continent of millions reduced to the famous and nameless." Very unfortunate, but very true and Africa isn't alone. How much do we really know about South America or even Asia? I can appreciate that we don't have the time to discuss/read/listen about everything that goes on in our world, but a little more balance and depth and more global news on peak time TV and radio really wouldn't go amiss. At the risk of sounding like some wishy-washy liberal I do think it would lead to a greater understanding of why our world is what it is, and that in turn lead to less conflict. (OK, that does sound wishy-washy, but knowledge is power.) A transcript of the programme I was listening to will appear here soon. I'll make sure to highlight it again when I see it there.