Two years ago, I saw a colleague of mine on the German news program, Journal. A frequent guest on the show, he always provided the Israeli view whenever there was an important event to comment on in the Middle East. After sending Robert an email to let him know I'd seen him on TV, surprised, he asked what I was doing watching German television. "Television news stinks here in the US," I remember writing back to him. "The offerings are nowhere near as good as what you get in Israel. We try and watch as many European news programs as we can."
Eating dinner last night, I recalled my conversation with Robert as I watched our latest local news import, Russia Today. Hosted by local public television station Channel 32, RT provides an amusing Russian take on international news. Viewing two segments - one on the debate about the establishment of US anti-missile bases in the Czech Republic, the other, the Venezuelan government's granting of sweeping new powers to President Hugo Chavez - I was immediately struck by how nostalgic RT was for the Cold War. Speaking to Czech opponents of the American initiative and Venezuelan supporters of Chavez, Russia Today's reporters made no bones about their biases. Anything that irritated the US was fine by them.
As someone who spent their teens in the US during the 1980s, to have imagined watching a Russian program on American television would have been unthinkable. Let alone, a Russian news broadcaster supportively reporting on the progress an arch-enemy was making in consolidating their revolution. By no means a politically progressive show, (witness RT's endless profiles of successful Russian entrepeneurs) it was still a hoot taking this aspect of Russia's political temperature as I switched back and forth between RT, Larry King Live, and yet another annoying Benny Hill rerun on the BBC.
"I hear that we're going to be getting better programming in the near future," I remember telling Robert in Tel Aviv as we sat together in his apartment watching live footage of Saddam Hussein's trial. " I sure hope so," he replied, pointing to his TV and laughing. "Imagine if you could watch events like this. Its totally unprecedented to see such things, even here, in Israel."
Given the eclecticism of contemporary Israeli media consumption, that, I'm sure of. For example, in December, the Guardian reported that Israel's largest sattelite TV provider, Yes, had dropped BBC World from its roster in favor of the new al-Jazeera English network. Say what? Despite all of the criticisms levelled at the BBC's Israeli coverage in recent years, an Arab broadcaster beat out a longstanding British news outlet for sattelite television subscribers. How's that for counter-intuitive.
When asked to comment on this, an Israeli relative of mine told me, "All the right-wingers are saying its Arab Israelis who demanded this change. Honestly, I think it was Jews. How else would the Ashkenazim who don't speak Arabic know what the Arab world is thinking?"
Back on the home front in San Francisco, our viewing preference remains BBC World. Every morning, Jennifer and I sit in bed and watch a full hour's broadcast while we drink our coffee and read the newspaper. Even though its only an hour long (and only in the morning,) between this, Deutsche Welle, and even Russia Today, its still a hell of a lot better than relying solely on CNN. Nevertheless, we hear from our cable provider that they'll be adding a dedicated BBC World news channel very soon.