One of the coolest things with my current Television channel subscription is – I get access to news channels from various countries. Besides the local news channel (CNA – Channel News Asia), I have access to the following:
- Sky News – UK
- CCTV News – China
- NHK World TV – Japan
- France 24 – France
- Deutsche Welle – Germany
- Russia Today – Russia
- FOX News Channel – USA
- CNN International
- HLN – USA
- Bloomberg Television
- CNBC Asia
- Times Now – India
The cool part of having such access is – for contentious international topics, I get to see the viewpoint of multiple parties. And that’s where it really changes your perspective about international news. I have learnt to be more sceptical, and I tend to no longer take news at its face value.
For e.g. – The way the disputes in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle-east are covered by American news channels are far different than the way they are covered by Russia Today. Or the Asian border disputes as covered by CCTV as compared to NHK are vastly different. You get to really listen to everyone’s point of view and makes you more tolerant.
I think for everyone to have a peaceful co-existence it is important that news from different regions (or from neighbouring countries) is broadcast.