“Beyond The News”

Variety is reporting that France 24 has dropped the slogan “Everything you are not supposed to know” in favour of “Beyond the news”

According to Damien Amadou the former sounded “a little too conspiratorial”.

Ya think?

It sounded like a cross between the New York Times and the X-Files.

“Beyond The News” is much better, and in light of the new slogan France 24 Watch has offered up some advertising ideas to cycle after the excellent iceburg series:

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The Dailymotion Factor

One of the most interesting facets of France 24’s launch is its “partnership” with video-sharing site Daily Motion.

Daily Motion, bel et bien francaise, is a popular video sharing site in the spirit of the now ubiquitous Youtube.

The site is not well known in the United States outside of the techie community, but it is a well regarded Youtube alternative to those who know it.

Its good to see France 24 parter with Dailymotion becuase it shows the TV news industry begining to engage new media, which is the future of all media.

So far the partnership seems to be limited to Dailymotion providing video viewer participation on certain France 24 talk shows, which is great, but to truly engage new media, France 24 should go one tep further.

Rather than partner with Dailymotion, France 24 should become it.

France 24 should be the first major news orginization to allow their videos to be shared and posted though embedding. France 24 is the upstart underdog in the international news race, it needs an agressive, innovatve distribution strategy to overcome the many obstacles it faces.

“Youtubing” France 24’s content so that it could be viewed away from France 24’s website would make it more available to the online world.

I’m certain there will be all kinds of copyright issues here. (Although today Dailymotion itself is a more prolific copyright violator than even Youtube). And these issues may be intractable in the short-term.

But in the long term, every news orginization will have to find a way to allow videosharing, because the market demands it. If France 24 can find a legal way to be the first news network to enable the embedding of its videos, it would instantly transform France 24 into the darling of the internet, increase the network’s audience, and establish France 24’s future firmly in a new media strategy.

Next on France 24?

Lost in Translation…

“Internaut” n’est pas un mot Anglais.

C’est peut-etre dans le dictionaire, mais personne ne le dit.

“Web users” “Web surfers” sont beaucoup plus courant.

On comprend “Internaut”, mais c’est comme on dit “jadis” au lieu d’ “il y a longtemps” en Francais. Ca a de l’air archaïque et un peu bizarre .

Helpful Hint 01: Web News

Beginning a series of minor suggestions for the France 24 team, France 24 watch offers a helpful hint.

Create a webpage at france24.com that coresponds to the segment “Web News”.

On this page list all the links that were talked about in each on-air segment so people who watched the show and want to visit the sites mentioned can find them easily.

Create a web address, (perhaps “france24.com/webnews”) and mention the address at the end of each “Web News” segment.

This will increase in interactiviy of the site and create a good reason for casual viewers to visit France24.com.

Have a suggestion for France 24? Post it in the comment section!

Analysis: France’s Role in Africa

France 24 has done itself a huge favor in running stories critical of France’s involvement in her former African colonies.

For the better part of four decades, France has been accused of murky dealings in Françafrique including propping up dictatorial regimes, facilitating corruption, and human rights abuses.

Many of France’s actions over the years have come dangerously close to American actions in Iraq, which-for a news network who owes its existence to global outrage over American meddling in the Middle East- could be a thorny conflict of interest. In order to have any credibility whatsoever in the United States and United Kingdom, France 24 must be as critical of France’s actions in places like Chad and Cote d’Ivoire as it is of American actions in Iraq.

Fortunately, it has.

Coverage of the current situations in Chad and Rwanda, where there are legitimate claims of French misbehaviour, has been remarkably evenhanded.

France 24 has even reported Rwandan claims that France was tacitly complicit in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, arming and training its perpetrators.

Such claims are controversial, but well-founded.

By broadcasting them France 24 is building its credibility, vital to its success in the Anglophone world.

France 24 Reacts to the Blogoshpere

France 24’s segment “Web News” featured a quick sample of reaction to the news channel’s launch.

The three posts were markedly more positive than the ones reviewed here on F24 Watch, but they were admittedly from a wider range of countries.

This is a good time to point out that this blog, although the blogger is perfectly bilingue, will focus on the Anglophone world’s view of the English version of France 24.

Why America Needs France 24 Most of All

Three looks at Francophobia in the United States, all humorous in their own way:

France 24- The Blogosphere Reacts

France 24’s launch has drawn mixed reactions from the blogosphere.

On balance, a majority of those who blogged on the subject held a mildly skeptical view of the new network. Although most bloggers found something positive about the new network and remained hopeful that it will improve, a vocal minority looked at France 24 unfavourably. Let’s take a look at a representative sample of blog posts…

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In a typical expression of guarded optimism, Charles Bremer– Paris corespondent for the Times of London blogs the following in a post entitled “Now Watch The World A La Franàçaise“.

“Looking at France 24, the first impression confirms that it is a noble effort by serious and very enthusiastic journalists.”

He aggrees that the network’s French flavour was a welcome anecdote to the “Anglo-Saxon” biases of CNN and the BBC. He adds, however, a commonly heard worry:

“I wonder if the service — state funded but editorially independent, like the BBC — may not turn out to be technically unwieldy and a bit of a hybrid. For a start, the technical challenge is immense, especially on the modest 85 million euro budget.”

More specifically he mentions the almost universally panned feature of the new network:

In English, there are too many annoying voice-over translations and French journalists performing in imperfect English.

Bremer discusses the question of editorial independence, concluding that we will only know if France 24 is truly independent when after it has been tested, that is to say the next time something extremely embarrassing to the French government happens.

Bremer closes with high praise for France 24’s decision to stream live over the Internet, lauding that France 24 is now the first Western news channel available in China.

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A post on the blog Cyril’s Press Pass called “First Impressions of France 24” had a decidedly more mixed review. In its entirety:

I like:

* the presentation, clear with big titles and large squares
* good integration of video
* separation of sections is very clear
* easy to switch from French to English to Arabic
* great debates of important personalities

I don’t like:

* long loading time (especially for the live broadcast)
* dispatch titles are cut off
* you can’t see other users’ first impressions
* blogs are not visible enough
* the ad seems out of place
* search function doesn’t work well
* the customization did not work and is limited

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A more critical tone was taken on Duck News Network:

And our first impression?

“Oh.”

That’s it. “Oh.”

The post continues, criticizing the network’s lack of originality:

The channel promises to deliver “a fresh perspective on news”, but, frankly, it doesn’t. Not on the first day, anyway. It is, sadly much the same as all the other channels with which it aims to compete. Only not quite as good.

It concludes:

Our original warning that France 24 will become a minority business channel in hotel rooms still stands. Things can only get better.

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James Cridland in his “A News Channel Without a Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi, and One With” draws a harshly articulated, but commonly-heard unfavourable comparison with France 24’s recently launched competitor Al Jazeera English:

Tremendously unappealing programming; done without any panache or joie de vivre. Technical problems abounded, but so did simple boredom. Really not impressed…

…One channel that is surprisingly excellent is Al Jazeera. An outstandingly professional channel, with a very different outlook on world news.

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Simon Dickson, a new media consultant in the UK offers his opnion in a post entitled France 24: A Poor Start.

Dickson takes issue with the overdubbing, and concludes with the dreaded comparison:

Frankly, it looks amateur – rolling news done on the cheap. And when it’s a single press of the remote control away from the uber-slick Al Jazeera English, it looks even worse.

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Respected British journalism professor, and former TV presenter Adrian Monck adds in his post “France 24- Fromage… Dommage!” another comparison:

side from the pretty dreadful Google translate issues, France 24‘s Anglo version is basically Euronews with cheap anchors and cheap sets interspersed with overly repeated, over-long segments.

Adding more specific critiques:

The circular debate set is cold and everyone’s too far apart. Remote guests are cut in horribly. The framing stinks. The audio sucks. It’s a tough watch.

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Liberty Scott, a curiously Republican-sounding Kiwi took a broader view and attacked the very viability of a government subsidised news network:

However, the French government, ever looking for a way to prove how utterly unresponsive government is to what people actually are willing to pay for, has funded and launched France 24, a global TV news channel in French and English. The concern has been that the other channels reflect an Anglo-Saxon view of the world. Well, had the French government not taxed and regulated its own broadcasters into submission, this could have happened spontaneously, but France and entrepreneurial flair are words that don’t go together often.

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And finally Gareth Cartman’s “An Evening With France 24” takes an unusual look at France 24, liveblogging its launch minute-by-minute. Some highlights:

8:43 – The first news broadcast seemed to go off without a hitch apart from the odd nervous stumble and “errr” from the reporter in Lebanon

8:44 – Ooh look, the first advert is for a Citroen. Yeah, that’s French. I’m relieved now.

8:48 – Dominique’s blathering on about the French viewpoint being “insolent and cheeky”. Love it. You go, Dom.

9:15 – I didn’t know Javier Solano’s English was so… average. “My own wind took me here”, he says.

9:30 – Well, Iraq is still the headline news on both channels. And I’m off to do something other than watch the news. Conclusions? Well, it’s yet another news channel and the headlines seem to be the same as CNN or BBC World, but it’s almost refreshing – maybe it’s all those light blue graphics or Andrea Sanke’s charming little slip-ups – but I quite like it. Obviously, it’s early days and we haven’t seen any of the programming for real yet, and the bombast from politicians like Dominique de Villepin is a bit painful but if it means we don’t have the war-mongering of CNN to put up with in hotel rooms, then it can only be a good thing. Allez France24.

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Summary: The blogosphere is largely skeptical on France 24 so far, with those sympathetic to the project tempered by early shortcomings.

Among the most common complaints are:

1. The programs done entirely in voiceovers on the English channel.
   
2. Over-repetition of segments.
3. Overall technical inferiority to the competition. (graphics, audio, etc.)
   

Although I agree with many of the critiques I’m still bullish on the network’s prospects, if for no other reason than the strong demand for a less American voice in global news.

I ‘ll be adding my own review of France 24’s launch soon.

Stay tuned, and let your own voice be heard.

Add your reactions to France 24 in the comments! : )

Where’s Mélissa?

The American Dream

The blogosphere is abuzz with reaction to France 24’s debut, a topic which I’ll cover more thouroughly later. But for now, a surprising find.

Perhaps the most surprisingly widespread reaction I have come across- especially from Americans- is the following question:

Why didn’t they hire Mélissa Theuriau?

Apparently Americans have a shockingly high awareness of the former LCI anchor, and many assumed the French would put thier prettiest face forward on thier beloved new network. We can presumably thank “Le Youtube” for this phenomenon. Just one video of Mme. Theuriau has been viewed more than 387,000 times.

Even a staunchy conservative blog that posted a francophobic rant that went so far as to call France 24 “The Frog Network” (a reference to American distaste for the precieved French fondness for eating frog legs), had to include a compliment to Mme. Theuriau.

France is notorious for assigning diplomatic value to its beauties (I remember reading once that Sophie Marceau inexplicably accompanied François Mitternand to trade negoiations in Asia.)

But I’m not even sure Mme. Theuriau speaks English, and besides Andrea Sanke looks quite a bit like her.

If Mme. Theuriau happens to be anglophone, however, her popularity abroad would be a very strong asset for a network looking for English-speaking viewers.

The Competition

France 24 is a network destined for a very niche televevision market: the global 24 hour news channel.

A global news channel is distinct from lesser “international” news channels by thier reporting and availiblity on every inhabited continent. This distinguishes them from regional international channels like TeleSUR, EuroNews, or Channel News Asia.

There are really only three truly global competitors to France 24: CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera English.

Watch this blog for upcoming tête à têtes comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each network with France 24.

Antoine Schwarz Calls For Public Media Shake Up

Antoine Schwarz, head of Radio France Internationale, called for a shake-up of France’s internaional public media in an article written in Le Monde.

The article, which largely served to welcome France 24 to the French media scene, also critized the lack of coordination between the five publicly financed French internatoinal media outlets.

“Several orginizatons with similar missions coexist: RFI, TV5, Canal France International and France 24. Each develops on its own without any real coherance, and with reduplication of resources. France is the only country which allows this kind of segmentation in its international broadcasting efforts”

M. Schwarz called for the National Assembly to “lay the groundwork for a new orginization” in order to “define a coherent strategy and optimise our resources.”

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France’s current system of five publicly financed international television and radio broadcasters clearly needs to be refined. There are most certainly cost sharing opportunities to be had, and I believe that France’s services would do better to operate under a universal brand akin to the BBC, rather than the coufusing mix of acroynms one finds today. That said, however, it is probably wise to keep operational contol seperate to allow each broadcaster to focus on what it does best.

France 24 and TV5, however, should at the very least merge thier news divisions.

500,000 Stream France 24

Acording to the prestigious entertainment mag The Hollywood Reporter, France 24 had 500,000 people watching their premiere stream live on Dec 6.

75% of the hits came from Francophone Europe, mainly France. 15% from North America, mostly the US and 10% from the rest of Europe, mostly the UK.

Over 100,000 of these hits in the United States, an encouraging sign for what I feel should be France 24’s target market.

Podcasts Due For 2007

The weekly newsmagizine L’Express is reporting that France 24 plans to offer podcasts sometime in 2007.

No details yet on languages, format, etc.

Review: France 24’s Website

The France 24 website went live today, and its like nothing else in 24-hour news. Everything about it screams innovation and nouveauté. But nothing more so than the video.

The site has integrated video on-demand with its text content more tightly than perhaps any news site on the web. Nearly every news story has a short 2-3 minute video attached to it that can be played either from the main navigation page, or on a seperate page with the full text underneath.This method of integration is seamless and infinately preferable to the CNN site which awkwardly inserts pop-up links into text stories.

Navigation is also a strength, with simplicity defining the easy-to-use navbar at the top of the page. Stories are sorted by category on a top row, then by region on the second row in slightly smaller font.

Clicking one of these links will bring up a box-based story selection menu in the middle of the page, with one top story leading and two secondary stories in bold. This “three first” style is reminiscent of the much lauded BBC Site, which pioneered the concept.

Clicking a particular story will launch a panel to the left that gives a summary of the story. From there one has the option of viewing the video or viewing alone or reading the full text w/video.

The site’s visual presence is impressive. Everything from the coloring to spacing to font size has been well thought out. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the clean video box, which doesn’t display the standard Windows Media Player borders and buttons, but simply shows a clean video window.

The site is available in three languages, English, Arabic, and French with a small , simple navbar below the header to switch between them.

Advertising is light and elegant, so far consisting only of a small flash box in the right margin of every page. Considering the budget difference between BBC News and France 24, one advertisment isn’t much to complain about.

If there’s one big worry about the France 24 site its in archiving. Both the BBC News and CNN sites owe much of their influence in the blogoshpere to the fact that they archive every article they post in an easy-to-link format. Looking at France 24’s site, I don’t see indication that they are arhiving their stories. Indeed with videos attached, the bandwidth costs may be prohibitive.

Aside from this uncertainty, there are still some bugs on the site. The search page usually turns up stories with the title “no title”, the “Most Recomended” tag feature looks pretty but puzzingly cannot process French accents, and the weather page offers two choices for United States city forcasts: Biloxi, MS and Biloxi, MS., niether of which are very big and located in the part of the country least likely to get their weather from a French news channel.

Overall though, this site represents a daring, innovative direction for a 24 hour channel’s news site and promises to be a highly useful resource. The site’s nouveauté may even represent the new way forward for web news in the Youtubed, video-centric era.

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Pros: Tight integraion of video and text content; excellent visual styling; easy-to-use interface, seamless trilingual presentation.

Cons: Questionable archival capabilites; still some bugs to be resolved

Rating: 8/10