As part of a collaborative effort to draw upon CNN News Group’s international services, CNN/U.S. will offer a simulcast of CNN International’s Your World Today from noon to 1 p.m. (ET) each weekday, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. The simulcast will begin Monday, June 6.
"The simulcast demonstrates the depth and reach of the entire CNN News Group and not just one domestic network," Klein said. "We cover international news better than anyone. Why not give our U.S. viewers a real opportunity to see the type of stories they cannot see anywhere else?"
"Can't see anywhere else," indeed--you certainly can't see it on the dumbed-down, jingoistic, tabloid-ized US version of CNN. When I was in Ireland and England last year, I was astonished to be reminded how much different the international CNN was--it's almost like . . . real journalism! No American flag-waving, no slavish devotion to Karl Rove's Talking Points Of The Day[tm], and perhaps best of all, no coverage of the idiotic Jerry Springer-esque stories that American viewers apparently can't get enough of.
As dcmediagirl.com cautiously observes, "No one in Hong Kong gives a fuck about bug-eyed American runaway brides."
It's only an hour a day--and unfortunately it's scheduled for 9am Pacific time--but it's worth catching if you can, just for to see the difference. If my cable company offered CNNI as a premium channel, I'd subscribe in a heartbeat.
I gave a heads-up a few weeks ago that CNN was going to begin simulcasting CNN International’s "Your World Today" for American audiences.
Today was the launch, and CJRDaily gave their generally complimentary write-up the snarky--but oh, so richly deserved-- title "CNN Stuns U.S. With Actual News"
It runs from noon to 1pm Eastern (9am to 10am Pacific). If you can, by all means catch it--videotape it (remember when that used to be called "time shifting"?), TiVo it, phone in sick from work, or just go into the nearest bar and tip the bartender a fiver to change over from ESPN for a little while. You'll be astonished at just how really, really lame is the international news packaged for domestic American consumption (and the domestic flavor as well).
As CJRDaily recounts the story, when CNNI went to commercial after a long block of stories this morning,
Stunned by 15 straight minutes of actual news, we heard an equally incredulous CJR colleague in the background quip, "It's weird to be watching news." And indeed it was.
I remember reading once that Buddhism
is the only major religion that embraces humor – often of the
slapstick variety – as a method of instruction in its principles. As one such story
goes, a master was seated under a tree when a pupil, whom he had not
seen in several years, approached and addressed him. "Master,"
said the pupil, "since the last time I was in your presence, I
have traveled far and wide. I have met and talked with people of all
walks and stations of life – kings and princes, farmers and
merchants, old and young, paupers and thieves. And not once did I
strike any of them with my staff."
To which the master replied, "That
proves your staff is too short."
(Rim shot!)
I really don't know if it's the only
religion with a sense of humor. Louis Untermeyer edited an anthology
on humor which teed up a few stories from the Old Testiment which he
evidently thought were knee-slappers, but they left me with kind of a
dry taste in my mouth. Most people I
know have at least a handful of "a rabbi, a priest, and a
minister are walking down the street" jokes, although I confess
I'm not aware of any in which the Protestant gets the punchline. (If
you know of any, please share.) Are some religions better at making –
and taking – a joke?
I am saddened and angered at the murder
of the artists and staff at Charlie Hebdo, by assassins who –
let's put this plainly – cannot take a joke. They obviously don't
represent most Muslims, or Islam. And only someone spoiling for
another war in the Middle East fought by someone else's family
members thinks otherwise. But, to repeat, no sense of humor.
If pressed, I'd prefer to go with
#JeSuisAhmed,
the cop who died defending the French satirists although, despite my
preference for free speech over the right to shoot people who offend
your religion, I know I'm still too much a bystander to
play the "I am Spartacus" card.
But,
as more than one artists points out this week, the American answer to
turbulent (or any other sort of) political/editorial cartoonist is
too often simply to give them their severance package (if they have
one coming) and let them hope for the best in syndication. (See the p3 Iron Cross awards, below.) In point
of fact, that's why Tom
Tomorrow, Keith Knight,
Tom the Dancing
Bug, Mark Fiore, and
Berke
Breathed became regulars here at p3,
although they didn't really need the insignificant boost: They were
regulars at Salon.com before they got handed the mitten around 2010
in favor of the new editorial policy more tilted toward click bait.
Most
of the cartoonists I follow played off the pen/sword trope (generally
without giving
credit to Bulwer Lytton). There were so many working the same
small cluster of themes that the p3
Certificate for Harmonic Toon Convergence has
been suspended this week. So most
of them didn't make the cut, unless they did something surprising or
unusual with the theme (for example, Pat
Bagley). For an unfiltered roll call of Charlie
Hebdo-themed cartoons,
start with Cagle
Toons. There are more, and the links are below.
And as the more
locally-minded may have noticed, the Republican majorities used their
first day in power to go after choice, dignity in retirement, and any
attempt to stop Wall Street thimble-rigging. We'll get to that, too.
And
we'll even note the awkward fact that a broken-window
strike by the NYPD may be the best thing that's happened to the
city in years, except for the shake-down revenue the city is currently doing
without.
p3 Medal for Taking Something
Terribly Important But Wonky and Putting It Into a Metaphor That Most
People Will Get:Tom
Toles.
p3 World Toon Review: I'm going
to draft behind CNN
International and Euronews.com
on this one. (This might also be a good time to scroll down to the
Comic Strip of the Day link,
below. You can always scroll back up here when you're done.) Update: Also too, here's Yastreblyansky's review, and his French is much better than mine. I bet he's never ever been served a deep-fried telephone directory in a French restaurant.)
Fifty-fifty! Heh! Bluto
grabs the treasure map and gets a head start on Popeye. That's
probably most of what you need to know about "Dizzy Divers,"
directed in 1935 by Dave Fleischer (and, uncredited, Willard Bowsky).
Uncredited voice work by Billy Costello (Popeye), Gus Wickie (Bluto)
and Bonnie Poe (The Slender One). Watch for the diving helmet
custom-fitted for Popeye's chin. In spectacular 2-D and gorgeous monochrome.
The Big, And Getting Bigger Since We
Threw Out The Rulebook and Welcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon
Block:
Test your toon captioning powers at The
New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon
contest. (Rules here.)
And you can browse The New Yorker's cartoon gallery here.
