2 on -- a French view

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jose M Guardia <joseg () guardiasociados com>
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 20:29:48 +0100
To: Richard Jay Solomon <rsolomon () dsl cis upenn edu>, Dave Farber
<dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: FW: [IP] a French view

I'd say that Le Monde Diplomatique is probably further left than the
typical left-of-center represented by Le Monde (the journal), but of course
this is a personal opinion. In any case, Le Monde Diplomatique's
circulation is a tiny fraction (then again, it's a monthly) as compared to
the daily Le Monde, which has a biggest impact on public opinion as you
know from your experience living in France. I wouldn't dare to say that
LMDiplomatique is a fringe publication, but it's read mostly among people
quite in the far left (anti-globalization activists, etc).

But I totally agree with you 1) it's great to have access to views from far
away, which is something only the Internet allows. I am myself able to
reach, from Barcelona where I live, multiple points of view, and somehow
getting wider perspective than the overwhelmingly predominant anti-war (and
too often plainly anti-American) position on European mainstream media. But
that's another story :-)

and 2) I totally agree on the importance of reaching to different
viewpoints, even when they are opposed to your own. That's the way you can
be sure that your opinion is not simply a lack of contrast with other
opinions. As I wrote in a previous message to IP, and excuse me for the
self-quote, "I think that it's
important to receive all kinds of information, because one can only be sure
of his opinions when confronted with opposing views, not when kept drinking
his own bathwater, so to speak."

All the best,

Jose M Guardia


------ End of Forwarded Message

------ Forwarded Message
From: Richard Jay Solomon <rsolomon () dsl cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 15:29:11 -0500
To: Jose M Guardia <joseg () guardiasociados com>
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: FW: [IP] a French view

After reading the French version of LeMonde online (www.lemonde.fr)
and the English version of LeMonde Diplomatique (and I don't read
them every day, just once in awhile), you sure could fool me that
they weren't the same editorial staff. The viewpoints of the latter
are so identical to the former, i thought they were the same, & I
knew that the LeMonde newspaper was widely circulated in France. I'm
mainly interested in just finding out what other people read and
think in order to figure out why they think that way. I approach this
as a former propaganda analyst. My main observation is that the job
of the propagandist is getting more complicated, and the risk of
blow-back is orders of magnitude higher, due to the Internet, DBS,
cable, DVDs, low-budget videos, etc., etc. I don't think the
mainstream media have a clue, or even gives a damn until it hits
their revenue stream. They live in a completely different world,
financially and informationally. Very weird times. So far, only the
overfed record industry takes the technology seriously. The others
seem to think it's a passing fad, or just something to cover in their
features sections.

But there is so little analysis out there about the news industry
itself, we really don't know what we don't know. I used to do this
stuff decades ago when it was much easier.

I was in Barcelona a month ago -- too bad I didn't know about you, it
would have been fun to meet. I relied on the Herald Tribune and the
English version of La Pais which appears as a daily supplement to the
IHT, but doesn't seem to be online. Whatever the political leanings
of La Pais (I don't read Spanish that well), I wasn't too surprised
to hear the results of the polls when I got home. That's what I mean
about reading what other people see. It's a better advance warning
system than listening to your own TV commentators.

Richard


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