France24 is kicking US media on this Columbian Rescue story

France24’s website is lame. Their set is visually unappealing, and they have a lot of talking heads who don’t really say much. But in the coverage of the rescue mission in Columbia, they’ve been smashing US coverage left and right. Live press conferences from the military, interviews with the key players, coverage of the arrivals of the family and their reunification. They’ve done a really good job covering this story (which is a bit of an obsession in France).

Anyway, we’ll see if they can keep it up. Russia Today (another of MHZ’s stations) hasn’t had much, and I haven’t flipped the dish to catch Al Jazeera English service but I doubt they’ll have much interesting to say.

France 24 Special Coverage]]>

10 thoughts on “France24 is kicking US media on this Columbian Rescue story”

  1. Hey Andrew. Thanks very much for your kind words about our Betancourt coverage. I’m concerned that you don’t like the Web site, though. We’re redesigning it and I’d love to hear your input. Can you get in touch? I’d love to chat with you – mebbe by phone this weekend?
    thanks,
    derek
    Derek Thomson
    Editor in chief new media
    FRANCE 24

  2. Hey Andrew. Thanks very much for your kind words about our Betancourt coverage. I’m concerned that you don’t like the Web site, though. We’re redesigning it and I’d love to hear your input. Can you get in touch? I’d love to chat with you – mebbe by phone this weekend?
    thanks,
    derek
    Derek Thomson
    Editor in chief new media
    FRANCE 24

  3. Hey Andrew. Thanks very much for your kind words about our Betancourt coverage. I’m concerned that you don’t like the Web site, though. We’re redesigning it and I’d love to hear your input. Can you get in touch? I’d love to chat with you – mebbe by phone this weekend?
    thanks,
    derek
    Derek Thomson
    Editor in chief new media
    FRANCE 24

  4. Hey Andrew. Thanks very much for your kind words about our Betancourt coverage. I’m concerned that you don’t like the Web site, though. We’re redesigning it and I’d love to hear your input. Can you get in touch? I’d love to chat with you – mebbe by phone this weekend?
    thanks,
    derek
    Derek Thomson
    Editor in chief new media
    FRANCE 24

  5. Al Jazeera English has had two correspondents, Monica Villamizar and Mariana Sanchez, in Colombia covering the story live and getting reactions over there. Monica is Colombian and Mariana is Peruvian. Many of Al Jazeera’s correspondents are natives of the region and native speakers, so they tend to have indepth knowledge of the issues they cover and strong contacts.
    AJE also has a European broadcast centre in London which has been anchoring a lot of the coverage, including reports from a French stringer based in Paris and at least two other reporters in Paris covering the French political angle and the strong feelings and sympathies among the French public for the Betancourts.
    The Americas broadcast centre in Washington DC anchored a lot of coverage about the American hostages, in fact reporter Kristen Saloomey has been following and covering the story for months and reported on the plight of one of the families about six months ago and has been back to the family home since their rescue.
    AJE coverage from reporters on the ground and contributions from key players, political and military analyst interviewees has been extensive.

  6. Al Jazeera English has had two correspondents, Monica Villamizar and Mariana Sanchez, in Colombia covering the story live and getting reactions over there. Monica is Colombian and Mariana is Peruvian. Many of Al Jazeera’s correspondents are natives of the region and native speakers, so they tend to have indepth knowledge of the issues they cover and strong contacts.
    AJE also has a European broadcast centre in London which has been anchoring a lot of the coverage, including reports from a French stringer based in Paris and at least two other reporters in Paris covering the French political angle and the strong feelings and sympathies among the French public for the Betancourts.
    The Americas broadcast centre in Washington DC anchored a lot of coverage about the American hostages, in fact reporter Kristen Saloomey has been following and covering the story for months and reported on the plight of one of the families about six months ago and has been back to the family home since their rescue.
    AJE coverage from reporters on the ground and contributions from key players, political and military analyst interviewees has been extensive.

  7. Al Jazeera English has had two correspondents, Monica Villamizar and Mariana Sanchez, in Colombia covering the story live and getting reactions over there. Monica is Colombian and Mariana is Peruvian. Many of Al Jazeera’s correspondents are natives of the region and native speakers, so they tend to have indepth knowledge of the issues they cover and strong contacts.
    AJE also has a European broadcast centre in London which has been anchoring a lot of the coverage, including reports from a French stringer based in Paris and at least two other reporters in Paris covering the French political angle and the strong feelings and sympathies among the French public for the Betancourts.
    The Americas broadcast centre in Washington DC anchored a lot of coverage about the American hostages, in fact reporter Kristen Saloomey has been following and covering the story for months and reported on the plight of one of the families about six months ago and has been back to the family home since their rescue.
    AJE coverage from reporters on the ground and contributions from key players, political and military analyst interviewees has been extensive.

  8. Al Jazeera English has had two correspondents, Monica Villamizar and Mariana Sanchez, in Colombia covering the story live and getting reactions over there. Monica is Colombian and Mariana is Peruvian. Many of Al Jazeera’s correspondents are natives of the region and native speakers, so they tend to have indepth knowledge of the issues they cover and strong contacts.
    AJE also has a European broadcast centre in London which has been anchoring a lot of the coverage, including reports from a French stringer based in Paris and at least two other reporters in Paris covering the French political angle and the strong feelings and sympathies among the French public for the Betancourts.
    The Americas broadcast centre in Washington DC anchored a lot of coverage about the American hostages, in fact reporter Kristen Saloomey has been following and covering the story for months and reported on the plight of one of the families about six months ago and has been back to the family home since their rescue.
    AJE coverage from reporters on the ground and contributions from key players, political and military analyst interviewees has been extensive.

  9. Thanks Louise for the comments. Guess I need to switch over and catch some of the coverage.
    I haven’t watched much of AJE’s coverage, focusing instead on France24 which has (and continues to do) a great job covering this story. Part of it is probably my own laziness as I have to switch the TV from the cable box (quite easy to use) to the Free to Air satellite (which is a bit more difficult). Add to that the fact that the mother-in-law has the FTA pointed toward her Chinese ‘soap opera channel’ pretty much 24/7 and it’s just so hard to AJE.
    AJE is having a hard time breaking into US cable companies, given the disdain most hold toward Al Jazeera in general. I’ve watched a bit and there are times you can see an overemphasized or charged word slip in where it shouldn’t, but their coverage is by and large pretty interesting. If you really want to see ridiculous bias, you should check out PressTV from Iran. It’s just comically bad.
    For those who have an FTA dish, you can get AJE off of Galaxy 25, 97 degree West, transponder 16.
    http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy25.html
    11999 H
    tp 16
    Al Jazeera English
    463
    4025
    4035 E

  10. Thanks Louise for the comments. Guess I need to switch over and catch some of the coverage.
    I haven’t watched much of AJE’s coverage, focusing instead on France24 which has (and continues to do) a great job covering this story. Part of it is probably my own laziness as I have to switch the TV from the cable box (quite easy to use) to the Free to Air satellite (which is a bit more difficult). Add to that the fact that the mother-in-law has the FTA pointed toward her Chinese ‘soap opera channel’ pretty much 24/7 and it’s just so hard to AJE.
    AJE is having a hard time breaking into US cable companies, given the disdain most hold toward Al Jazeera in general. I’ve watched a bit and there are times you can see an overemphasized or charged word slip in where it shouldn’t, but their coverage is by and large pretty interesting. If you really want to see ridiculous bias, you should check out PressTV from Iran. It’s just comically bad.
    For those who have an FTA dish, you can get AJE off of Galaxy 25, 97 degree West, transponder 16.
    http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy25.html
    11999 H
    tp 16
    Al Jazeera English
    463
    4025
    4035 E

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