LIBYA HIT BY TSUNAMI

For nearly two months our daily news headlines have been led by the push for democracy in Arab nations.


More recently the news has been dominated by Libya with TV stations having reporters on the frontline, in Tripoli and in neighbouring nations.

None-the-less there has been space in every hour for other international and national news, sport, weather and comment.

Not any more. As soon as the earthquake and tsunami struck in Japan all other news ceased to exist.

I wake up every day to Sky News and seemingly the only news in the world is Japan. I wouldn’t mind if the content of the programmes was informative but invariably it is repeating what it told me the hour before and the day before.

I accept the events in Japan are terrible – the worst earthquake and tsunami ever.

Yet to behave as if all other news had ceased is simply ridiculous.

I suspect that come the next TV awards Sky News will receive a gong for its coverage in Japan.

In the meantime Libya’s struggle goes on as it does in other Arab nations but Sky News and other TV stations have enforced their own news blackout – censorship far more effective than anything Gadafi or the other despots could have imposed.

The tsunami has not only swept away thousands of people but also sensible news coverage.

Both are major tragedies.

MAKING A RIGHT CALAMARI OF IT

I have to admit that I was astonished that an octopus in a tank in a German aquarium should have captured the world’s attention by correctly predicting the result of eight matches in the World Cup.

Just on Saturday I sat gob-smacked before my TV as I watched a news item on the octopus named Paul surrounded by hi-tech film crews from the major broadcasters filming the creatures every move – which with eight legs is rather a lot.

Sadly the news presenters on Sky News got their calamares in a twist. Normally the talking heads read straight from the autocue but there are one or two who like to throw in the odd quip which are usually as hilarious as hitting your funny bone.

When the exploits of Paul the English born octopus, who predicted Germany would beat his own country and Spain would triumph over the mighty Hun, were aired we were treated to asides about plates of calamares. Oh dear, oh dear – calamares are squid not octopus and I have to say that whilst I live in Spain under the sun of the Mediterranean diet calamares, pulpo and jibia are not dishes I would seek out. Calamares I could chew on but pulpo and jibia would see me running faster than an eight-legged octopus. Certainly faster than Wayne Rooney!

Just in case you were wondering what you’d do with an octopus should one stray your way (or indeed a Sky News presenter) I bring you a recipe below from Galicia where they know all about these beasts of the deep.

I should also point you to the blog of my esteemed colleague Brian Reyes – My Mediterranean Diet – which as the label says brings you wonderful recipes from this region. He has yet to tackle the octopus – wise man, wise man!

OCTOPUS 'A LA MUGARDESA'

2kg of octopus
4 potatoes
1 green pepper
1 large onion
2 or 3 peeled tomatoes
Oil
Vinegar
Coarse Salt
1/2 teaspoon of hot paprika
3 cloves of garlic

Put 2 litres of water into a pan and, when it begins to boil, put the octopus into it briefly three times. That way it will be more tender and the suckers on the tentacles will not be lost. Then let it cook, over a strong heat, for 40 minutes. When this time is up, put the water to one side so you can use it to make the sauce. Peel and chop the potatoes and partly cook them in the reserved water. Then add salt to them. Finely chop the onion and add it to a frying pan with oil. When it is well done, add the chopped pepper and tomato. After 15 minutes, add 2 or 3 large spoonfuls of octopus cooking water. Put the potatoes in a deep serving dish and the chopped octopus in the centre. Add salt immediately. Lightly fry the garlic and, separately, mix the sweet and hot paprika. When the garlic is browned, add a large spoonful of cooking water and then the paprika mixture. Optionally, you can use a little vinegar. Pour the sauce obtained over the octopus.

By the by I am told that octopus should be eaten very hot indeed - as to Sky News presenters the hotter the better!

WHY IS CNBC LIFE, CRAP?

Living in Spain I subscribe to Canal Digital + which is an amalgamation of the former Canal + and Digital satellite services.

Hence I receive Canal Digital’s own programmes, the main Spanish broadcasters, BBC World, Fox News, Sky News and yes CNBC amongst many others.

Ok you expect some oddities in the bunch like Eurosport. This station always seems to me to feature sports that no other station wants such as skiing, the world’s strongest man, curling and pole sitting. However even Eurosport has left me stunned. Currently on Sky and CNBC there are commercials running for Eurosport inviting you to join the celebrations for their 20th anniversary in May. Next May it has to be! No last May!

Then there is Sky News. In between the standard programming when the UK takes commercials Sky puts out a graphic text and photo news, sport and weather round-up. Except more often than not the photos or text are missing and as for the weather map I have no idea when that refers to – May probably.

However the pick of the crop has to be CNBC. Now I understand that NBC has been taking a battering in the USA for some years now. I visited the WNBC radio station back in the early 1970s and have had a strong loyalty for it ever since. I adored Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in the 80s so was delighted to discover CNBC amongst my package.

Now CNBC is a serious business and financial broadcaster Monday to Friday and I am sure it is top notch. However at weekends it loosens its tie and relaxes a little – no it relaxes too much.

I latched on to it because it showed both Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and Conan O’Brien from New York...now of course we just get Conan with little chance I guess of seeing Jay’s prime show when it starts in mid September.

Over the weekend CNBC brings us CNBC Life. Let me quote from the CNBC website: “CNBC Life is CNBC’s weekend block of ‘lifestyle’ programming in EMEA. Featuring eighteen hours of carefully selected premium programming, CNBC Life covers five areas: travel & leisure, sport, luxury, entertainment and current affairs.”

That frankly is a lie. Either CNBC are idiots or they think their viewers are – and its not the latter.

The lifestyle programmes on travel, luxury and leisure have been repeated ad nausea for the past two years or more.

I should add that the “carefully selected premium programming” means we have to sit through travel programmes that were recorded in, wait for it, 2002!

The travel programmes themselves have been edited to make fillers and a recent show about Greece had its edited version appearing in the midst of the main programme so I viewed everything twice.

More often than not the Conan O’Brien shows are repeated some over the same weekend or following weekend – the same professional scheduling was with us when Jay Leno did the show.

Now my point is this – as one of the world’s major broadcasters NBC has a huge library of current and recorded material at its disposal. So why is CNBC filling its schedule with programming that is anything but “carefully selected premium programming.”

And more pertinently – why is CNBC Life, CRAP?

PIE IN THE SKY

I never wrote about Michael Jackson when he was alive – if I had I doubt whether it would have been positive.

Sticking to the age old adage - never speak ill of the dead - I will not write about him now.

Yet I will talk of his passing and more specifically Sky News.

When I tuned in to Sky News on Friday – at around 6.00 Spanish time – his death was deemed as breaking news.

When I tuned in to Sky News – at around 14.00 – it was still breaking news.

Again on Friday evening –it was still breaking news.

In between times as far as Sky was concerned there was no other news.

There were no demonstrations in Iran.

No atrocities in Iraq.

No attacks in Afghanistan.

No world economic crisis.

No British MPs pay scandal.

No train crash in Madrid.

Wimbledon had been forgotten.

Indeed apart from Michael Jackson dying all was right with the world.

Now even Michael Jackson can only die once. However if all it takes for all our problems to disappear is for a pop or film star to fall off this mortal coil – then there’s no shortage of candidates.

Indeed we could start the process with a Sky News newsreader!

(As I tuned in to Sky News this morning it was still breaking news. Only now the Prima Dona has been flown to Los Angeles and posted outside the coroner’s office. As 23.00 LA time passed she told us with due gravitas that the body of Michael Jackson was still inside and the family only had a short time that night to have it collected. She then interviewed a member of the paparazzi who said he had blue prints of the building – a helicopter in the air – and when that body moved he’d know about it. An official from the coroner’s office then emerged – told us that Michael Jackson’s remains had been taken to another location just after 21.00 – several hours earlier - and when asked “was it in secret?” replied: “no – in a van”. Laugh I could have cried!)