Time to add one more TV to your office.

After watching Al Jazeera/English for a few weeks, I can recommend it as a source for news (especially international news) and views.

Many of the correspondents are familiar faces from CNN, ITN and ABC.

They were first in North America with live video of the assasination of Pierre Gemayel (followed by CNN, FNC & MS).

As I watch Andrea Mitchell on MS talking about Christmas Trees in Seattle, they're at least 7 minutes into a piece covering Hank Poulson's trip to China (a trip by the way, that only CNBC is covering competently in North America).

As CNN was running 'yet another' James Kim story, they were live with coverage of the Pinocet funeral.

While I watch with a critical (if not skeptical) eye, there have been many stories where I've just said Wow! - because of perspective, or because a story they did was unique - never never making it on to CNN/FNC/MS/ABC/CBS/NBC.

With all the belt tightening these days, you'll be pleased to know that Al Jazeera/English is free to air. I hope you get one of your satellite guys to hook you up.

I also enjoyed skipping down memory lane with That Girl -- though I was stronger than your co-worker and only watched four or five episodes. I remember what an impression that show made on me as a 10-year-old girl realizing, I could be anything I wanted when I grew up! Just look at Ann Marie!

Brian -
I know you have those TVs in your office. I hope one of them was tuned to CSPAN at noontime and that you saw the tape of Barack Obama in New Hampshire on Sunday. I've seen lots of politicians and Obama is the real deal. He's got it all - particularly an ability to connect with his audience because he speaks their language and uses few notes. It's two years since he spoke at Boston and he hasn't lost a beat.........
Joan Chapman, Cheshire, CT.

Yesterday evenings broadcast highlighted President Bushes latest research tour, starting out with a visit to the State Department.

And we only thought a Democracy left no room for Demagoguery and Dictatorship! Where is the balance of power in the US anyway? Does the legislative branch any longer play a role in our country? Will the Democrats really step up and represent the WILL of the people?

brian,
will you please get on the phone and tell bush to stop talking to all these old generals who are retired and start speaking to some younger, progressive military men AND WOMEN currently in the armed forces. besides the GI joes on the ground and on the front lines getting blown up each and every day, there must be some intelligence personnel at the stragegy table, or behind the computer screens watching similated scenes of all the civil war carnage being thrown our way. and brian, could you please tell bush that the word "winnable" sounds stupid when all the people getting blown up in iraq each and every day probably don't feel like winners, they don't feel ANYTHING in fact because they're dead. and to any of nbc's viewers who undertand the network has sanitized the news, i find that msnbc on my cable line-up has plenty of good old fashioned truth about the war, the illegal activities of politicians, and the idiotic way bush refuses to pay attention to the truth: we need to disengage our troops from iraq, and yes bush, syria and iran matter.

Stephanie Umbro, Maine you can watch c-span FREE online here. http://www.c-span.org/ Look down towards the bottom of the page for "LIVE STREAMS"

Brian - timing is everything! Last night during the broadcast, as you broke for a commercial you referenced the upcoming segment on how familiar faces encourage my generation to buy products. I laughed out loud at the commercial that ran on my KC affiliate - suddenly Sally Field's face filled my screen and told me about her favorite bone density solution. Cracked me up! I clearly remember several years ago when it became very obvious how marketers were targeting my generation - all my favorite songs from the 60's were suddenly on almost every commercial I heard and saw. Some of it subtle, some not so subtle. Guess it works.

In my very first post on my blog I commented on the vast difference in reporting on the US network's national news broadcasts and the BBC. Last night, I sat minding my own business with NBC on in the background when all of a sudden the BBC news came on and it was like I was in a different universe. Yesterday was the day that Kofi Annan decided to present his last speech as UN Secretary General. He chose to deliver this speech in Independence, MO. Why, because that is the birth place of President Truman and the location of his library. Truman was a strong supporter of the United Nations.

In his speech, Annan strongly rebuked the policies of the United States saying "no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others." In his comments afterward, he denied that the speech was directed at President Bush but it is clear from the rest of his speech that this was a justifiable conclusion. Annan wants the US to own up to its position as a world leader and be true to its own ideals which in the past five years we have selectively ignored. It was a damning speech but it wasn't on NBC. In my view I believe the network news shows should proffer an international view that leads to greater understanding and comprehension of international issues. It doesn't look like NBC even sent a reporter.

Just when I thought the contrast couldn't be any worse, the next story on BBC was about the startling lack of basic knowledge of key congressional leaders regarding international facts and issues. The story is titled, "Al-Qaeda Confuses US Congressman" which is worrying enough. The editor of Congressional Quarterly had occasion to ask certain members things like, who is Sunni and who is Shiite, what is the difference, what is Hezbollah and a number of other things. He specifically mentioned Silvestre Reyes who is the incoming House Intelligence Committee chair. You may say he is just gearing up, but in fact he has been on the committee for many years. Perhaps, NBC doesn't think this is a story however, when there is so much wrong information circulating about our foreign affair forays - Saddam supported 9/11 terrorists for example - one would think that NBC and others should jump on this story as evidence that even our leadership isn't sufficiently educated about the facts. That being the case how can we expect the electorate to know what's going on?

Brian,
I enjoy watching you on the news but I have noticed a lack of coverage about the corruption of our legislators. The Abermoff situation has been put on the back burner. How many senators and congresspersons have been bought and paid for by big business,PACs and special interest groups. The American people that they represent deserve to know and the news networks should be following this more closely.

Brain...When is NBC Nightly News going to start broadcasting in HDTV? The "Today Show" is in HD, and to tell you the truth, I believe that NBC owes you a HD broadcast.

Keep up the good work. I do love NBC by the way.

I have really enjoyed reading these posts. Great insight into the news as well as what goes into reporting it. I will keep reading daily. You've taken a great step here.

You mean to tell me that Obama wasn't elected last month? Isn't that what all the fuss was about? Isn't it going to be '09 in a couple weeks? I'm already tired of presidental politics. It's going to be a really LONG campaign!

If I had cable, I'd be watching C-SPAN too. Guess I also need a life!

The listening tour is of no value if Bush is tuning it out. The Generals from Desert Storm have the insite of what direction we need to proceed. This war parallels that of Vietman & the enemy tactics which we are not accustomed. We walked away & didn't fare worse for that

Fantastic broadcast tonight. I think you should do a special package on the history of the media "electing a president" - whether the proverbial "media annointing oil" has worked or not. That would be quite interesting.

Oh, the Bills won on Sunday too. THAT is the big story. Forget the Saints!

Brian it's not 6:00 pm yet here in California, so this comment is on your written word. I noticed how Iran is starting to open itself up to the world even if the topic is the Holocaust as that's been a subject the Iran President has spoke of often.
As for Bush's PR campaign on talking and listen well all I can say is you can fool some of the people sometime but now he can't fool the people anytime. Bush as already made his decisions because it some ways he's trapped. The backroom deals are done and there's no way out but to stay the course. It's the money that's the reason for the continued conflict as profiteers have been promised big buck. We have spent 2 Trillion dollars on Iraq/Afgan and it's still not enough.
Senator Obama is the new kid on the block. Yes he's smart but taking the top job well. As I'm an African American I'm proud to see him step up to the plate and show honesty and leadership. But after Bush and his lack of knowledge, backroom deals, chaos around the world, torture of prisoners and continued lies well is Senator Obama ready. I don't see black or white it's just about the right person for the job. I'm glad he's letting us know what he's thinking and speaking the truth. We have to pay alot of attention this time to who sits in the White House. I only wish the few honest Republicans would step up to let us know where they stand. So far only the GOP followers like McCain, Romney and now Brownback have stepped up and well that's like keeping Bush in office.
As for the up coming report on baby boomer well Brian here's reality it's hard to be a baby boomer in 2006. All the dreams, hard work and looking to retirement is out the window. Now it's just deal with what's happening now and pray you don't get sick. If you get sick as a baby boomer well let's say it's all over. Let's hope the young people do better then we did. We had dreams of a better life only to bring it to this point of destruction.

Brian--you make me laugh! And now you've got me sitting here in my study looking speculatively at the walls!

The heck with C-Span this weekend, there was one heck of a football game on NBC last night. (If you are a Saints fan.) An on-side kick with a what--18 pt lead in the 3rd Qtr! WOW! The Saints are FOR REAL! And isn't that great. Go Saints! All the way! Can you imagine the parade should that happen?!!

"That's IF the news media don't elect Sen. Barack Obama president by acclamation and consensus by then... "

That made me lmao, You should run it by SNL. It could make a good skit. Heck go all the way with the push, and have him host SNL one night soon.

Nice to know there are other "weird" yet typical folks in your office too!

Except that it would have to be passed by Congress and we know they would never pass a bill that would limit their visibility, wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a predetermined date for launching a presidential campaign? My suggestion would be 6 months before Election Day in the year of the election. Prior to that any "listening tours" (where funny they never seem to listen but just run at the mouth), investigative trips, etc would all be illegal along with print and media blitzes. Imagine the news could actually be about the news.

Fasten your seatbelts folks; it is going to be a bumpy ride to 2008.