A Curious Commentator

The New York Sun has recently run a piece trashing France 24′s decision launched an Arablic version. I’m not quite sure what the argument intially was, but the piece boils down into a polemic about anti-semitisim in France.

The strangest thing though is that the author of the highly-critical piece claims to be an assistant editor at France 24.

The conservative blogosphere is all over it.

I don’t know what to make of this.

New Distribution Methods

Amongst 24hr news channels, France 24 has thankfully led the way in internet distibution methods- streaming their content live over the internet for free.

But streaming video is already becoming an also-ran technology of of the Internet age. Although wonderful for those who want to sit down and watch the network from anywhere in the world- streaming video hardly takes advantge of two characterisitics which define Youtube’s success: video-on-demand and the ability to embed videos in blogs, personal webpages, myspace pages, etc.

To truly posper in the new era of social media, TV news networks must embrace the Youtube model by allowing their videos to be cut up and embedded all over the net.

Who wants to wait 20 minutes to hear the headline news? Who wants to watch a great news story once- and then never be able to share it with their friends, family, co-workers, and the public at large?

Slicing and sharing a news channel’s content is the future of news, which is why France 24 Watch welcomes the recent creation of an official France 24 Youtube page. Ultimatly, it would be wise to find a video partner that allows for advertising and the distibution of content from the France 24 website itself. But this is a good first step towards adapting to the future of media.

France 24 Poll: International Opnion of French Election

France 24 has another excellent poll up, in partnership with the International Herald Tribune and Harris Interactive.

This enquete looks at the view of France from abroad, sepcifically the French presidental election.

74 percent of American respondants wanted France’s new president to improve US ties, but only 31 percent had a positive image of thier French allies, and 19 percent wanted her to surrender her seat on the UN Security Council.

Americans, however, were more supportive of European enlargement than the French or the British, with 27%, 20%, and 17% respectively responding favourably to the idea of addimg more members to the union.

Overall, general opnions of France were very favourable in contential Europe- 74% in Germany, 69% in Italy, and 63% in Spain and less favourable in Great Britian (43%) and the United States (31%).

Again, the poll is having a big echo in the media chambers. Even the conservative American news outlets have highlighted the poll- although they’ve chosen to focus on the negative image the French have of themselves.

En Direct De…

 

The biggest complaint against France 24′s content has been that there have been few live reports by corespondents. In thier place the network usually ran stock footage with a voiceover.

No more. France 24 now averages 2 live linkups per 10 minute news segment.

France 24 Interviews Iranian President

On the same day United Nations sanctions against Iran were passed at the UN Security Council, France 24 interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the current nuclear impasse. The timing of the interview assured that France 24 got a mention in many of the lead stories accross the US. Good to see France 24 getting such high-profile guests.

Another Stellar France 24 Poll

France 24 has released another great poll, this time measuring European attitudes at the 50th anniversry of the EU. In a wise mov, the poll was done in partnership with the Psris-based International Herald Tribune, one of the world’s most influential international newspapers.

Highlights:

-Most Europeans think Turkey’s entry in to the EU is inevitable.

-Most Europeans think that English will be the continent’s primary language by 2050.

-Europeans are incredibly optimistic about renewable energy.

-Europeans believe that Christianity will remain the majority religion of Europe in 2050.

France 24 “Presses Ahead”

After three months on the air, in international news media is becoming less skeptical of France 24′s chances for survival. Paris based International Herald Tribune has an article up praising France 24′s quality and pondering its future in a post-Chirac era.