Journalists and unions accuse EU-backed Euronews of pandering to oppressive regimes

Euronews, the rolling news channel which was set up to provide a European counterpoint to the American news network CNN, has been reduced to a second-rate news service broadcasting “sponsored” propaganda programs for oppressive regimes, its journalists and unions say.

Staff at the multi-language channel — which gets about a third of its funding in subsidies from the European Union — went on strike this week after workers backed a no-confidence motion against the station’s management. […]

Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are among a list of undemocratic regimes — where human rights abuses are widespread — which have paid the network to send a broadcast team to produce short programs that are noticeably free of any criticism.

Several Euronews journalists complained that many of the channel’s news programs now avoided criticizing Turkey following the failed coup there in July. …

CNN has been paid by corrupt countries to make those countries look good with propaganda posing as news.

CNN and the business of state-sponsored TV news
Glenn Greenwald, 4 Sept 2012

The network is seriously compromising its journalism in the Gulf states by blurring the line between advertising and editorial

• Report: why didn’t CNNi air its own ‘iRevolution’ documentary?

Tuesday 4 September 2012 15.02 EDT First published on Tuesday 4 September 2012

Today I reported on the refusal of CNN International (CNNi) to broadcast an award-winning documentary, “iRevolution”, that was produced in early 2011 as the Arab Spring engulfed the region and which was highly critical of the regime in Bahrain. The documentary, featuring CNN’s on-air correspondent Amber Lyon, viscerally documented the brutality and violence the regime was using against its own citizens who were peacefully protesting for democracy. Commenting on why the documentary did not air on CNNi, CNN’s spokesman cited “purely editorial reasons”.

Even so, the network’s relationships with governments must bear closer examination. CNNi has aggressively pursued a business strategy of extensive, multifaceted financial arrangements between the network and several of the most repressive regimes around the world which the network purports to cover. Its financial dealings with Bahrain are deep and longstanding.

CNNi’s pursuit of sponsorship revenue from the world’s regimes:

CNNi’s pursuit of and reliance on revenue from Middle East regimes increased significantly after the 2008 financial crisis, which caused the network to suffer significant losses in corporate sponsorships. It thus pursued all-new, journalistically dubious ways to earn revenue from governments around the world. Bahrain has been one of the most aggressive government exploiters of the opportunities presented by CNNi.

These arrangements extend far beyond standard sponsorship agreements for advertising of the type most major media outlets feature. CNNi produces those programs in an arrangement it describes as “in association with” the government of a country, and offers regimes the ability to pay for specific programs about their country. These programs are then featured as part of CNNi’s so-called “Eye on” series (”Eye on Georgia”, “Eye on the Phillipines”, “Eye on Poland”), or “Marketplace Middle East”, all of which is designed to tout the positive economic, social and political features of that country.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/04/cnn-business-state-sponsored-news

CNN Journalist ‘Governments Pay Us To Fake Stories’, Shocking Exposé

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYyngKSpRUs

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