Public International News Ariddia

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Public International News Ariddia
pinalogonewsmob1.jpg
Headquarters: Rêvane
Nationality: Ariddia
Specialty: television news company
Storefront: N/A

Public International News Ariddia (PINA) is the PDSRA’s response to the great international news networks of developed, capitalist nations. PINA is a State-operated company, based in a country in which private enterprise is outlawed. PINA recruits reporters knowledgeable in foreign politics, economics and cultures, and sends them abroad to report on the happenings of the world.

PINA’s resources are limited, but it has got reporters stationed in a number of nations, in constant contact with the company’s headquarters in Rêvane. PINA sends its reports to be shown on Channel Three in Ariddia, and they are also broadcast free of charge in all willing nations. For foreign audiences, PINA also reports on Ariddian news, and focuses on news throughout the Third World and communist nations.


Aims

PINA's stated aims are

  • to offer an "Ariddian perspective" on events and issues of international concern
  • to keep viewers constantly up to date on major events
  • to cover a wide variety of events in an objective manner, and comment on them in depth, to generate debate and help viewers understand the root causes and issues of events
  • to increase awareness of issues considered important in Ariddia, including social issues, the environment, animal rights, the ideology underlying capitalism and consumerism, but also events in "small" countries often ignored by other international media
  • to focus on the cultures and societies of an extremely wide variety of nations and societies, to promote greater awareness, understanding and acceptance of diversity

Broadcasting

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Mélanie Dupré presents the day's news
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PINA has three media of expression. It is, above all, a television channel, broadcasting internationally. But it also has a website (www.pina.ari), which includes both written articles and a continuous live video feed, displaying the same as the television channel.

Television

PINA broadcasts 24 hours a day, and offers a 30 minute news update every hour. Every other half hour is used for in-depth coverage and analysis of current events and issues, and may for example be a report on indigenous culture in a particular country, a report on deforestation in some part of the world, a look at the evolution of social policies and their results in one or more countries, coverage of a specific cultural festival, a report on a new museum somewhere in the world, an in-depth look at the way animals are raised and slaughtered for use by the Allanean CBBC fast-food chain, an interview with a writer, musician or historian, a study of a specific branch of philosophy and its relevance in contemporary society, an analysis of political tensions in a particular part of the world...

Programmes may be in French, English or Wymgani. The news is usually read in French. Whenever one language is spoken, subtitles are provided in the other two languages. When a fourth language is spoken (usually by a person being interviewed), subtitles are in all three Ariddian languages. In addition, many programmes have an interpreter translating what is being said into Ariddian French Sign Language.

More recently, thanks to a partnership with Jeruselem Government News (JGN), and specifically JGN translation services, PINA has become available in monolingual broadcasts, in English, French, Wymgani, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Kufic or Hebrew.

Réseaux is a news programme, consisting in reports and documentaries on world events and current affairs, which is produced jointly by PINA and the KBC, and broadcast by both simultaneously. It is co-presented by PINA's Pauline Wu.

Every day at 6:30PM Rêvane time, PINA broadcasts the Peacock Daily News programme, supplied by the Peacock Daily News Cable and Satellite Network (Pantocratoria).

A partial list of countries in which PINA is broadcast:

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A family in Ropa-Topia watches PINA
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Special cases

  • Zwangzug: Zwangzug Broadcasting runs "selections from PINA" in a special programme on the country's only television channel, but PINA does not broadcast there continuously.
  • Arcantya: selected programmes from PINA are shown on channel Eighty5; PINA's live broadcast is available only on the Internet.

Website

PINA's website is available in French, English and Wymgani, with each version being quasi-identical. More basic, far less complete versions exist in Arabic [1], Russian, Spanish and Dutch. The website is divided into several sections, including "Ariddian Isles", "Uhuhland", various geographical regions, "World", "Culture", "Environment", "Politics", "Sport", "In Depth: Recent Dossiers" and "Have Your Say".

Each section contains written news articles, usually accompanied by PINA's commentaries and analyses. Most also provide access to records of video feeds. The website aims at extensive coverage of major and "minor" events and issues from around the world, in so far as the channel's limited financial means enable.

A continuous live feed displays what the television channel is broadcasting, rendering the PINA channel de facto accessible to people in countries where the television channel is not available (as long as they have uncensored Internet access).

The "Have Your Say" section is divided into two parts:

  • a "React & Interact" message board allows anyone to write their opinion on any topic covered by PINA. Moderators filter only flaming, off-topic comments, extremely offensive comments and gibberish. Users are asked to post in French, English or Wymgani.
  • a "In Depth: Discuss" forum is more heavily moderated. Users are expected to contribute well-informed, well thought-out posts for serious discussions. Posts are reviewed by moderators. Here too, users are requested to post in either French, English or Wymgani.
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promotional poster displayed in Ariddian embassies
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Praise and criticism

Serge Rivage, Ariddian Secretary for Culture, has praised the channel, stating that it "contributes to the diversity of views in the world, and helps people round the planet understand and reflect on an Ariddian perspective". The Ariddian authorities in general have supported PINA, which has interviewed such key Ariddian politicians and diplomats as Aj Ud (former Prime Secretary), Nuriyah Khadhim (current Prime Secretary), Serge Rivage (Secretary for Culture), Julien Loisillon (Secretary for Housing and the Environment), Christelle Zyryanov (Ambassador to the United Nations) and Jane Ranomezanjanahary (Ambassador to OMGTKK), as well as Dr. Sergei Telkijski (spokesman for the Ariddian Red Star).

Others, however, have suggested that PINA, due to its limited financial means, should not overstretch itself by attempting to cover such a wide variety of events, and should focus on a core of key issues. Abroad, some have accused PINA of "leftist bias". PINA has responded that, while its analysis of events is obviously coloured by an Ariddian perspective, its actual coverage of events is objective and unbiased.

One of PINA's most vocal critics is Mobutu Sese Seko, the autocratic President of the Republic of Zaire; the network came under heavy fire by Mobutu and his supporters when PINA interviewed Étienne Tshisekedi, a long-time activist who has been demonstrating for democratic change for years. In brazen fury, Mobutu demanded that the Ariddian government prevent the interview from being broadcast; they refused to do so, prompting Mobutu to accuse them of conspiring with Tshisekedi to overthrow the government. Few people (in Ariddia or Zaire) took these charges seriously, but they did lead to a further chill in the already cool relationship between the two states.

In Pacitalia, reaction to the creation of the network has been mostly positive, with prime minister Fernando Chiovitti and Broadcasting Standards and Operations Commission head Carmine Ferragamo both welcoming another viewpoint on current affairs and the international community. However, on 13th February, 2007, the Guardian, the primary local daily newspaper in Pacitalia's fourth-largest city, Mandragora, published an op-ed piece in its Opinions and Viewpoints section, in which its media affairs correspondent, Spiridon Medis, railed PINA for employing what he referred to as an "embarrassing... ideological double standard" (source). Medis said that while PINA tries to be the voice of the developing world and the face of a communist (or at least heavily socialist) country, it supports capitalism through its active engagement in competition within the media industry, and most of all, through its very existence in a now heavily "free-market" media. (See also Seveci Rokotakala's reply.)

In Eurasia, PINA is welcomed with open arms by both the people and the government, with Prime Minister Sir Phillip Sinclair stating that "as PINA broadcasts into Eurasia, it perpetuates the free market system, providing more competition for the EBG, which can only make the news that my people recieve better."

Impact

It is difficult to measure PINA's international impact, but it is viewed as Ariddia's "voice to the world". In consequence, many foreigners may associate Ariddia with two things: PINA, and the founding of the football World Cup. PINA provides an "alternate" view on international events, focusing on aspects sometimes neglected by other international media, and providing constant commentary and analysis. But no thorough study has ever been attempted regarding PINA's impact on people's views internationally.

PINA was a direct source of inspiration for the Eurasian Broadcasting Group, which has adopted the Ariddian channel's broadcasting format (30 minutes of news every hour), and airs very similar programmes. The EBG's website is an almost identical replica of PINA's, and its promotional poster is virtually a copy of PINA's, down to the same tagline ("Find out why"). Likewise, SBC International's broadcasting format and website are modelled off PINA's, although many differences are present. PINA's success in expanding internationally also inspired foreign channels to go on an expansionist drive (including WNC, KBC, EBG, SBC, CBC and several others).

See also

Links


Television in the Ariddian Isles
Channels: PINA • Channel Three • Parliamentary Channel
Programmes: Compétition Inter-Universitaire • Les Schloumpf • Max Questions • Westville News • T for Two
People: PINA reporters • Tarob Veyidgas
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