إعادة الأحد، ١٢ مايو ١٩٩٦

In Central Europe, TV News Unfolds

Date: 13 May 1996

By Jane Perlez

Jane Perlez

No matter how much the post-Communist governments in Central Europe pledge to free their state-owned television stations from political interference, old habits die hard. From Bucharest to Budapest, government-run television dominates and the programming, particularly in news, remains predictable and safe. But privately owned stations, many operated by Western investors, are slowly loosening the government grip, with more adventurous news shows and recently released Hollywood movies as the lever.

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MEDIA: TELEVISION;A generation gap in news viewership is suddenly wider.

Date: 13 May 1996

By Lawrie Mifflin

Lawrie Mifflin

WE take it as a generational rule of thumb that young people are less interested in news than their elders are. But that gap has grown suddenly wider, according to a new survey that finds the percentage of people under the age of 30 who say they regularly watch network television news has dropped by more than one-third in the last 12 months. The survey, to be released today by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, found that 42 percent of all Americans say they regularly watch one of the three traditional nightly news broadcasts, on ABC, CBS or NBC, down from 47 percent a year ago. But among those under 30, only 22 percent said they watch network nightly news, down from 36 percent last year.

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Cuban Journalist Sent to Exile After Threat of a Prison Term

Date: 13 May 1996

By Anthony Depalma

Anthony Depalma

Faced with a wrenching choice between prison and exile, one of Cuba's leading independent journalists flew to Madrid last week, denouncing the repression of the Castro Government and defiantly vowing to continue working for its downfall. "The Government was able to expel me from Cuba, but the project that I started there will continue," the journalist, Rafael Solano, said in a telephone interview from Spain. When he arrived there on Thursday morning, he was welcomed by the Spanish police, who offered him protection. "Even if I am not there, I will continue defending freedom of expression and supporting independent journalism in Cuba," he said.

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TELEVISION;Five Years Later, The Gulf War Story Is Still Being Told

Date: 12 May 1996

By Eric Schmitt

Eric Schmitt

EXPLOSIONS AND THE ACRID smell of war still haunt the CNN anchor Bernard Shaw. Baghdad, once Bob Simon's dreaded prison, is now familiar turf for him as a CBS correspondent. And after virtually vanishing from American television screens, Arthur Kent, formerly of NBC, is now reporting for CNN. Five years after the end of the Persian Gulf war, the television correspondents whose familiar faces brought the 43-day conflict into living rooms across the country hold varied memories from -- and find myriad lessons in -- a war that propelled them in different directions afterward.

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A Modest Beginning

Date: 13 May 1996

The promise of free air time for Presidential candidates by the four major commercial networks, plus PBS and CNN, is a healthy development. But the networks' move is really just a baby step. The commercial networks could multiply their offer ten-fold and still be paying only a tiny rent on the publicly owned broadcast bands they occupy so profitably. Each offer is different, but the offer of an hour at the end of the campaign -- or a few minutes on a more regular basis -- falls far short of the frequent prime-time sessions with Presidential candidates that make sense from the voters' standpoint. Furthermore, it has to be noted that none of the network proposals even begin to address the problem of communicating on television by candidates for Congress. The need of candidates and their parties to raise mounds of special-interest money to buy broadcast time is one of the major corrupting influences in American politics. A workable remedy is contained in bipartisan campaign finance bills pending in both chambers of Congress. The measures, which themselves deserve to be a subject of debate in the Presidential campaign, contain sensible provisions providing free or reduced-cost air time for candidates who agree to reasonable limits on their spending.

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Journalism Faculties Have News Experience, Too

Date: 13 May 1996

To the Editor: Re "Journalism Education Less Focused on the News" (Business Day, May 6): Research showing that journalism graduates are being trained by people with doctorates but little practical experience disserves those of us in the trenches of colleges and universities who are striving to educate young people to become reporters.

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 12 May 1996

International 3-10

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 13 May 1996

International A3-9

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World News Briefs;Rioting by Vietnamese Continues in Hong Kong

Date: 12 May 1996

Reuters

Rioting Vietnamese in a detention center in Hong Kong hurled rocks and spears today as the police fought back with tear gas in a second day of rioting by boat people resisting deportation. The Vietnamese waved banners, shouted slogans and bombarded the police from barracks rooftops after authorities tried to round them up for the latest wave of forced repatriation. Security forces said six officers were injured in the clash.

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World News Briefs;In Bid to Restore Order, Algeria Proposes Reforms

Date: 13 May 1996

AP

Algeria's President proposed constitutional reforms today, including measures to enforce separation of religion and politics in a country torn by a four-year-old rebellion by Islamic militants. Under the changes outlined by President Liamine Zeroual, political parties would be prohibited from making explicit displays of religious and ethnic militancy. The proposed reforms also would promote free-market economics, reduce the presidential term, and establish a supreme court and senate.

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