ANATOMY OF THIS BLOG, PART V -- WORLDFOCUS: A GLOBAL APPROACH TO TV NEWS

We now review the last part of "Anatomy of This Blog." As you scroll down the right-hand margin, you will find the TV and e-news service, Worldfocus -- possibly the first real attempt to bring a truly global perspective to the American TV viewer. If you prefer your news via TV, this is the link for you!

To quote from their website (emphasis added):

"Worldfocus responds to the mainstream media's diminished coverage of international news. All the major networks have closed foreign bureaus and cut resources for international news coverage, which amounted to only 8 percent of all American news coverage last year.

"By partnering with international news organizations, Worldfocus fills the void in international news coverage....The nightly news program and Web site report on events from around the world and cover the stories that don't always make the headlines.

"We approach news in a way that combines the editorial integrity of public television and traditional media with the diverse perspectives of journalists, bloggers and local citizens."

A star-studded international team of producers, anchors and staff labor under the direction of Executive Producer Mark Rosenwasser, most recently a Senior Producer for "CBS Evening News" and winner of 23 Emmy awards. This is indeed a noble and first-rate effort to make American news programs less provincial and more global!

As you log-in to Worldfocus via the link in this blog, you will find the lead story at TOP-CENTER, along with other major stories. Clicking on any of them will take you to the full story. You will see the link inviting you to "Watch The Show Online" -- a great idea, since you won't be tied to the scheduled TV time.

IMMEDIATELY BELOW you will see the major international news stories in capsule form. Click to go to the full story.

Every story featured gives you the opportunity to comment -- a great option for the active, non-vegetative reader!

FURTHER DOWN ON THE PAGE you will see "News by Region," where you can focus on your geographic interests.

I would encourage readers to click the link "Worldfocus Staff Bios" and become familiar with their all-star team.

A great option for the global citizen who wants to be well-informed is to make it a habit to watch the full half-hour show online on a daily basis. If you prefer to get your news via TV, there is no better way to become familiar with the global reality than Worldfocus!

There is a multitude of opportunities to use Worldfocus in the classroom: What stories are featured that didn't make it to the U.S. mainstream media? Why not? Among the stories that the U.S. mainstream media did cover, is the Worldfocus perspective the same as that of other U.S. media? How is it different? How does the "feel" of Worldfocus differ from that of the more common U.S. news programs? Which do you prefer and why?

Good hunting!

ANATOMY OF THIS BLOG -- PART l

I would like to take this opportunity to take you on a brief tour of what is available to you, the readers of this blog, beyond the opinions of the blogger(s). In fact, the other features of the blog may in many cases be of greater value to readers than the contributions of the blogger(s)!

On the left two-thirds of the cover page you have the latest posts, starting with the most recent. Please note that at the end of each post there is a box for you to express your comments, reactions or questions to each post. We really encourage you to do this! You can preview your comments before you are ready to post them. Also, you may want to review the comments of previous readers to each of the posts. You will find much thoughtful analysis and opinions from previous readers!

On the right margin, you find what may be the least interesting part of the blog: the "About Me" section, relating to my personal background. At the end of this section, you may click on the link to view a slightly more thorough version of my personal profile (does anyone really care about my favorite books, or what films I enjoy the most? Doubtful.)

Now comes the good stuff! On the right margin, below the "About me/Profile" section, there is a long section entitled "Comments/Links/Resources." It explains what links are available to the readers of the blog. These are invaluable resources to anyone who wants to develop his/her "State of The World Awareness" and his/her "Knowledge of Global Dynamics," as suggested by Robert Hanvey, in order to become an effective global citizen.

You cannot do any better than using these resources to learn about and understand what is going on in the world today. You will have direct access to: BBC Global News, perhaps the most respected news organization in the world (both print and TV resources); The New York Times Global Edition in association with The International Herald Tribune, the top news and analysis vehicles in the Western world; WorldPress.org, a thorough and invaluable resource for discovering what the world's media is saying about our global reality. (Often the stories covered and how they are covered will be substantially different from what we find in the Western media); and Worldfocus, an excellent and much needed effort by Western news professionals to cover the important stories that somehow bypass the mainstream media. We will return to these great resources in Part II of this post. For now, let's continue to discover what else is available in this blog.

Below the links just outlined, there are boxes for subscribing to this blog, and/or to our readers' comments. Below these boxes there is a "Search This Blog" box for locating material of interest in the blog without having to hunt through all posts.

Immediately below, still on the right margin, there is another box to subscribe as a follower of this blog; we hope that you will consider doing so and be notified of new entries as they are posted. A list of current followers is next.

Finally, the Blog Archive is shown, organized by month of entry. The entries of the current month are outlined; you have to click on each of the preceding months to access previous entries.

We hope that this brief tour will help you get the most from this blog. In the next entry, we will focus in more detail on the wonderful news resources that were mentioned earlier -- The BBC; The New York Times/International Herald Tribune; Worldpress.org; Worldfocus -- and we will describe in more detail the great information available in each of these resources.

Until soon, then.