To watch part two click here

In the News Divide this week, The Listening Post looks at the media coverage of war on Gaza – in Egypt.

Egyptian media, which traditionally has an impact throughout the Arab world, is divided these days between a tightly controlled anti-Hamas state broadcaster, a print sector critical of the Mubarak government, and an active and influential blogosphere.

With Palestinian casualties topping 1,000, we explore the role the various voices play in covering a war that will have real consequences for the country and the region.

In part two, The Listening Post's Meenakshi looks at the state of the Sri Lankan media.

Last week, privately-owned television station MTV was called 'unpatriotic' by the state media for its coverage of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels, and raided by masked gunmen.

Two days later, the editor of an anti-government newspaper was shot dead on his way to work.

These attacks against media outlets critical of the government came just ahead of a major push by the government forces on Tamil Tiger strongholds, and raised serious questions about the direct – and indirect – influence of Sri Lankan government on the country's media.

In Newsbytes, we report on how a Palestinian cameraman has been accused of faking news footage of his brother's death; the British Broadcasting Corporation's Persian language service being cold-shouldered by the Iranian government; an attack by masked gunmen against the Mexican TV network Televisa, for its coverage of the country's drugs trade; and, finally, how John McCain's spokesman for ordinary Americans, 'Joe the Plumber', is sent out to Israel by a conservative US website to 'cover' the Gaza story.

Finally, in our internet Video of the Week, we bring a retrospective of some of the funnier elements of eight years of George Bush's stay at the White House. The people at 236.com at the Huffington Post have trawled through their video archives to find the 'best bits' of what pollsters say is the most unpopular administration in US history.

Click here to watch our Video of the Week.

This episode of The Listening Post airs at the following times GMT:

Friday, January 16, 2008: 1230 and 2030
Saturday, January 17, 2008: 0430
Sunday, January 18, 2008: 0600
Monday, January 19, 2008: 0530
Tuesday, January 20, 2008: 0730 and 2330
Wednesday, January 21, 2008: 0300 and 1000