Country ... USA
Politics 2012 ... Truth and Lies

Listening Post ... The politics of telling the truth Why has the mainstream US media failed to get past the rhetoric of political ads during this presidential campaign?

COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

The politics of telling the truth Why has the mainstream US media failed to get past the rhetoric of political ads during this presidential campaign?

By the time Americans head to the polls in November, they would have been exposed to $3bn worth of ads. Political ads rarely tell the truth and in this year's election campaign, facts have tended to matter less. This is where mainstream media should step up.

But so far, the US media have not shown the appetite or the stomach to get past the rhetoric and get to the truth. In this week's News Divide, we look at the politics of telling the truth in a heated election campaign.

This week's News Bytes: Julian Assange gives his first televised interview since entering the Ecuadorian embassy three months ago; in Bolivia, the relationship between President Evo Morales and independent media takes another hit; the hijab makes its debut on Egyptian state TV; and Al Jazeera's websites are hacked by a group allegedly supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Here at Listening Post, we regularly profile government-backed news channels. In the past, we have looked at Russia Today, Iran's Press TV and France 24. This week we turn our attention to a channel broadcast out of Venezuela, Telesur.

Inspired by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and jointly funded by other left-wing governments in the region, the channel's aim was to provide an alternative perspective from Latin America's predominantly right-leaning private media.

Depending on what reviews you read, the channel is a much needed news source or the propaganda arm of Hugo Chavez. In this week's feature, Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro on the South American news channel for the South, from the South.

Have you ever caught yourself making up little mind games to make your surroundings seem more exciting? Things like walking down the street without stepping on any cracks, or challenging yourself to touch that tree branch? In 'Games We Play', Ian Bennett from Follow The Foot brings those games in our imagination to life. It is a stunning piece of work that manages to capture a quirky aspect of our life. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! It is our Internet Video of the Week.

Source: Al Jazeera