Points of View
International information on national television
Should the coverage of international information be left to big "global" channels and that of national news to national televisions? This is an easy dichotomy to make and not entirely wrong. However, because national papers also have a part to play in the handling of international problems, it is their duty to take part in the debate.
Their duty is to show the world to the national television viewers. Nowadays – and it will no doubt be the case for many years to come –, national television is the sole medium of information for many citizens. It is therefore up to newspapers to transcend the borders existing in people's everyday lives, and to make human beings, who are egocentric by nature, look beyond their own existence. When a national channel broadcasts international news, two circles coincide: one whose events have an influence on the national level, and an other one, more distant, whose events occur in the rest of the world. Television becomes the fundamental link between national and extra-national life. It literally allows information to flow inside one country and between countries.
Another point is that if there were no national or regional televisions, there would be no international information since they are its main element. The national television is the local relay or anchorage, an elementary link in the planet's network. When national events occur that have a global influence, national television becomes all important as a source of images and information for other televisions, amongst which, « globalised » televisions. The prompt intervention of the national media ensures a certain regulation of the network. What would happen to international information if it were to be the business only of « globalised » televisions? Imagine an omnipresent and supposedly omniscient media heavyweight. How easy it would be for it to distort, manipulate, lie about the truth!
One question remains and is that of means: how can a national channel – whose territory, audience and therefore market are by definition limited – compete with the news giants, especially those broadcasting information continuously? The answer is simple: it cannot. For events given excessive media coverage, the most rational thing to do is to give clear and synthetic didactic information based on the pictures provided by foreign agencies and televisions: there is no use in engaging a race that cannot be won with the better-off media channels. On the other hand, the smaller redactions should take advantage of the media interest and cast light on one or the other of the forgotten aspects of international news – there are always some.
Preserving such a window for national televisions is not a wager; on the contrary, it is a mean of survival for such media. Of course, proximity information gives it its identity, its legitimacy, its added value compared to foreign televisions' reports. But it isn't self sufficient.
International information, on the other hand, allows national television to distinguish itself from autochthon televisions and therefore to maintain itself on an internal market that is becoming more and more competitive.
-- Amélie Boguet
Translated into English by Marguerite Cornu, Research Assistant trainee at CERMAM
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/vue/international_information_on_n/
- Publié le 2 August 2006