Listening 5.2. Russia's new tv channel labelled propaganda.

Listen to the tape and say whether these statements are TRUE or FALSE. Prove your viewpoint.

1. The English language news channel called Russia Today works 24 hours a day. _______

2. It's beamed across Europe via satellite. _______

3. All presenters speak English and aim to offer different countries’ viewpoints on Russia’s today reality. _________

4. It provides news from former Soviet countries Ukraine and Uzbekistan. ___________

5. Its Editor in Chief is Margarita Simonyan is 36-year-old. _________

6. She is said to have been appointed by President Putin himself.____

7. Ms Simonyan says that Russia’s image abroad is distorted by mass media. ______________

8. Deputy Editor of Moscow's Izvestia newspaper maintains the style of broadcasting is very much alike Soviet ideas of propaganda . _____

9. Ms Simonian admits the channel being Kremlin mouthpiece._____

10. She says it is owned by the state which means it is censored. _____

11. Ms Simonyan is sure that the audience is not too much sophisticated nowadays. ______

12. Russia Today may give a more balanced view of Russia than the daily news watched by Russians themselves. _________

5.2.1. Tv reporters stand their ground with Katrina coverage

Before you read. Think over the following questions.

-When covering dramatic events what should reporters focus on: the factual account or in-depth analysis of causes and consequences?

-Do you think reporters’ scrutiny of government’s policy could influence decision-making process?

For first time since Sept. 11, cable and network news actively challenge administration

Aggressive reporting of the woefully slow government response to Hurricane Katrina has prompted some experts to believe TV news is finally waking up from a post-September 11, 2001, slumber.

Questioning the administration's response to the terrorist attacks and the subsequent invasion of Iraq was deemed unpatriotic in some circles, and that was reflected in the sometimes timid broadcast news coverage.

So when even Fox News, the cable network widely seen as a conservative alternative to the so-called liberal media, asked tough questions after Katrina and characterized the emergency response as inept, we knew change was in the air.

"There was a disconnect between what they (the government) were saying and what we were seeing on the ground," said Jerry Burke, executive producer at Fox News. "We had seen some of that kind of disconnect in Iraq but not as much as with Katrina. They even used some of the same terminology, saying, 'You're looking at it through a straw,' meaning we were just seeing a small part of the whole picture. But we had enough reporters on the ground to see otherwise."

Fox's Shepard Smith, who has been widely praised for tough reporting during Katrina, zinged the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the White House when he pointed out that survivors trying to flee New Orleans were being stopped and turned back at a bridge checkpoint. "Over there, there's hope," Smith said, his voice rising. "Over there, there is food and water. But you cannot go from here to there. The government will not allow you to do it. That's a fact."

And there was the famous exchange between ABC's Ted Koppel and former FEMA director Michael Brown in which Brown insisted, several days into the crisis, that he had no idea that life inside the New Orleans Superdome had become violent and squalid. Koppel's disbelief turned to palpable outrage when he bellowed, "How could you not know that? It's been reported for days now."

Last week, after FEMA told news organizations they would not be allowed to show dead bodies during recovery missions, CNN sued for permission and won. The initial ban was similar to the Pentagon's policy of restricting photos of soldiers' flag-draped coffins as they returned from Iraq.

But death is a reality of war and natural disasters and thus an integral part of any coverage. Nobody expects TV to show graphic images of the dead, but early on there were scenes of bodies floating face-down in the floods and slumped beside buildings.

So, has Katrina spawned a genuine mood shift in TV news?

"I don't think Katrina is the turning point so much as 2005 is the turning point," said Matthew Felling, media director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit research group that studies the media. "It's an accumulation of things. In Iraq, it's the reality versus the perception and the whole debate of whether we're in the last throes of the insurgency or in for a dozen more years. The momentum has been building toward the media regaining its sea legs." Occasionally aggressive reporting has morphed into advocacy, but Felling draws a careful distinction between the two. "Advocacy is calling for action," Felling said. "Aggressive reporting is calling for answers."

Though reporters were helping arrange Katrina reunions in front of the cameras on an almost hourly basis, Fox's Burke insists his reporters were busy "seeing and reporting. They weren't there to hand out blankets and water. They're witnesses." Burke must not have seen Geraldo Rivera helping rescuers load children onto a helicopter.

The broadcast networks have all but ceded breaking news coverage to cable news. NBC, ABC and CBS devoted newscasts and prime-time specials to the hurricane, but constant coverage has been nonexistent. Considering the boost in ratings for all news outlets during the past couple of weeks, the broadcast networks might wish they had done more. NBC News has been the clear winner, increasing its evening news lead over ABC by nearly 10 percent. And last week's "Dateline NBC" was the No. 1 program, with more than 20 million people watching.

On the cable side, second-place CNN has gained the most in the past two weeks, about 70 percent more in total viewers. Fox, which is still the No. 1 cable news network, doubled its ratings with about 4 million viewers a day compared with CNN's 3 million.

The big news story of New Orleans is winding down. It will be replaced in the weeks and months to come by occasional updates of human interest, blame, scandal and political fallout. Whether the new assertiveness of reporters will diminish remains to be seen.

"What I hope is the legacy of the Katrina coverage is better coverage of policy decisions," Felling said. "The press corps covers policy makers in D.C. and gets lulled by talking points. But those policy decisions have real-world impact, which we saw in full force on the Gulf Coast. If we can connect the dots a little more between policy and effect, then we've earned our stripes as journalists."