Internet News Channels Part 7 – Iran’s Press TV
Part 7 of my news stations you can watch while travelling series. This time it’s Iran’s Press TV.
Press TV is based in Iran and primarily reports on issues in the Middle East and North Africa with at least half an hour a day of Iranian news. It provides a reasonably balanced and thoughtful analysis of the issues of the day, with the occasional joy of snarky, cynically wonderful reporting. It may not be as slick as the big networks and is light on broadcast news from Africa (although it does have an hour of discussion on Africa once a week called Africa Today), Asia and South America but their news site does have some interesting reports from those areas that you don’t see in the rest of the mainstream media. If you have an interest in the Middle East and all the issues that swirl around it, you should spend some time with Press TV to get a fresh perspective from the region.
For light relief, they seem to be football fans and they do report on international sport. Even more bizarrely, they host a segment by Max Keiser on Fridays called On the Edge with Max. If you’ve ever seen Max in action you’d know just how at odds he is with the straight laced front they try to present. As an added bonus, George Galloway has a comment programme where you can ring up and discuss his opinions with him.
It does come with a warning that occasionally you will hear it give thanks to God and it does have religious themed programmes. It’s not unbearable and does make a change, even if this infidel doesn’t know if I’m really happy about being called a wrongdoer because I’m faithless.
All up, I do have a soft spot for Press TV though, it’s serious when it needs to be but also has the occasional flash of humour which is always appreciated. News doesn’t have to be dull.