TV anchor gloats over death

Listening Post

The Lebanese newsreader whose remarks caused a media storm.

Last Modified: 15 Aug 2007 09:54 GMT

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Lebanese TV channel NBN

Lebanese TV channel NBN got into hot water last week, when a newsreader gloated over the assassination of the anti-Syrian politician, Walid Eido.

She was caught on mic saying "So what took them so long to kill him. Fatfat should be next. I'm counting them down."

NBN issued an apology and fired the offending newsreader but could not stop the story going global. Her remarks were posted on pro-government an Nahar's online newspaper. From there the clip spread to YouTube and was picked up by the Saudi owned al-Arabiya news channel, which played it over and over again. CNN also ran the story bringing it to an international audience.

The controversy stirred up by the comments reflects the fractured nature of the media in Lebanon and the tensions in Lebanese society between pro-government and pro-Syrian supporters.

A new generation of viral advertising is sweeping the internet

Our other top story this week is the new generation of viral advertising sweeping the internet. With TV advertising revenues down by as much as 15 per cent, the internet is the new frontier for advertisers. Viral ads are often cheaper to produce than conventional television commercials. However, their survival and distribution depends wholly upon their ability to amuse, entertain and intrigue. They are spread by internet users who choose to post them on social networking communities like MySpace and Facebook or who email them around their friends. We went to Shoreditch in East London to meet two of the brains behind the viral ad phenomenon.

Hackers tampered with the webcam image, adding pictures of a fake nuclear blast

In Newsbytes, we look at the other big media stories this week. In Iraq the body of kidnapped newspaper editor Filaih Mijthab was found in northeast Baghdad four days after his abduction. He is the latest victim in a string of attacks against journalists working for state run media.

Czechs watching morning television had a shock when they saw a local beauty spot blown up in front of their eyes. Hackers had managed to tamper with the webcam image and add their own pictures of a fake nuclear blast complete with mushroom cloud.

Finally, our video of the week is a viral ad for an anti-malaria health campaign – and a lesson on how to catch a mosquito with a pair of chopsticks.

Watch this episode of The Listening Post here:

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