quietfanatic
Ancient One
I only have Australian free-to-air but it seems good enough for me.
Here are descriptions of the main channels.
Channel 9
Owned by Murdoch, it has the Aussie 60 minutes, biggest budget and highest ratings. I don't watch it for those reasons. The only thing that I like about 9 is that they have excellent camera work for sport. The only problem is that the bastards are starting to put the big events on Fox Sports instead of normal TV. News reporting is reminiscent of Fox news style.
Channel 10
A channel concentrating on entertainment with the Simpsons and the films that 9 doesn't buy, as well as many of the other American shows. I almost never watch it. Reporting is less biased and not particularly good.
Channel 7
Owned by Packer, it takes more risks with new ideas and does worse than the other two commercial channels. Again, the reporting is not that good.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Government owned and funded, it has the best programs and the lowest budget. It has many of the programs from the BBC and more intellectual programming. It is constantly under investigation by the government for anti-conservative bias and is always found to really be, fair and balanced. It is the best by far (in my opinion of course), and consequently has the lowest ratings.
Lateline is an excellent news program with fine analysis and sharp, independent reporters. They are able to take risks with controversial reporting because nobody watches them. The 7:30 report is hindered by it's timeslot in that Kerry O'Brien has to restrain himself from mangling interviewees.
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)
Sometimes called the 'ethnic channel'. This is partially government funded, and has commercials in 10-15 minute sections between programs. They have strange new programs of their own and foreign films, series and documentaries. Some people think it's only good for the sex scenes from the European movies, but actually their independence and the cultural diversity of their employees means that they have some of the best news programs. They have no pressure from other groups to be nice, and understand and care about other cultures.
Dateline is the best investigative reporting program in Australia, and maybe in the world. Because they are poor, they do not send in full camera crews, but rather a single reporter. Although they are over stretched, with a handicam, laptop and case being all they have for support, they write scripts on the fly and get them sent back to the excellent editors in Australia. Because they work alone, they are unobtrusive and are able to gain footage that best captures the feeling of a place, as opposed to a setup for the main networks. It was an SBS reporter on Dateline that was recently abducted when in Iraq, and then released when they found out that he was not working for the coalition. He was able to get a better and more accurate viewpoint than the reporters 'on the outside' as he also had the support of the local media, in a place where US soldiers refuse to go.
So how is TV and the media in your countries? Which news programs are the best. From the little I've seen from America, PBS seems to be alright, and WGBH Boston the best, with some outstanding news and documentary programs.
Here are descriptions of the main channels.
Channel 9
Owned by Murdoch, it has the Aussie 60 minutes, biggest budget and highest ratings. I don't watch it for those reasons. The only thing that I like about 9 is that they have excellent camera work for sport. The only problem is that the bastards are starting to put the big events on Fox Sports instead of normal TV. News reporting is reminiscent of Fox news style.
Channel 10
A channel concentrating on entertainment with the Simpsons and the films that 9 doesn't buy, as well as many of the other American shows. I almost never watch it. Reporting is less biased and not particularly good.
Channel 7
Owned by Packer, it takes more risks with new ideas and does worse than the other two commercial channels. Again, the reporting is not that good.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Government owned and funded, it has the best programs and the lowest budget. It has many of the programs from the BBC and more intellectual programming. It is constantly under investigation by the government for anti-conservative bias and is always found to really be, fair and balanced. It is the best by far (in my opinion of course), and consequently has the lowest ratings.
Lateline is an excellent news program with fine analysis and sharp, independent reporters. They are able to take risks with controversial reporting because nobody watches them. The 7:30 report is hindered by it's timeslot in that Kerry O'Brien has to restrain himself from mangling interviewees.
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)
Sometimes called the 'ethnic channel'. This is partially government funded, and has commercials in 10-15 minute sections between programs. They have strange new programs of their own and foreign films, series and documentaries. Some people think it's only good for the sex scenes from the European movies, but actually their independence and the cultural diversity of their employees means that they have some of the best news programs. They have no pressure from other groups to be nice, and understand and care about other cultures.
Dateline is the best investigative reporting program in Australia, and maybe in the world. Because they are poor, they do not send in full camera crews, but rather a single reporter. Although they are over stretched, with a handicam, laptop and case being all they have for support, they write scripts on the fly and get them sent back to the excellent editors in Australia. Because they work alone, they are unobtrusive and are able to gain footage that best captures the feeling of a place, as opposed to a setup for the main networks. It was an SBS reporter on Dateline that was recently abducted when in Iraq, and then released when they found out that he was not working for the coalition. He was able to get a better and more accurate viewpoint than the reporters 'on the outside' as he also had the support of the local media, in a place where US soldiers refuse to go.
So how is TV and the media in your countries? Which news programs are the best. From the little I've seen from America, PBS seems to be alright, and WGBH Boston the best, with some outstanding news and documentary programs.