A novel idea by any time standard - reviewing the worlds press and not only how it depicted their own domestic news but also news of other countries in their press. Since the world was much larger in 1969 and since news traveled slower (without the aid of Satellites and only marginally had portable video tape recorders in favor of film), you would think our access to it at the time would be pretty nonexistent. Well . . .no.

In the 1960's, fledgling Public Television network N.E.T. (pre-cursor to PBS) ran a weekly series called World Press In Review, which basically consisted of a bunch of Foreign press representatives sitting around a conference table, discussing how the world viewed America via the news and how the rest of the world looked at each other in terms of news.

A fascinating hour (yes, it was an hour). This segment is from February 16, 1969 and among the topics were the Santa Barbara Oil spill and how the British Press viewed it. The conflict between Red China and Russia. The ongoing situation in Northern Ireland. The recent hangings of Jews in Iraq and how it affected tensions in the Middle East. Israeli views of the new U.S. President Nixon. Two different interpretations of the same interview with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, one from Newsweek and the other identical interview as translated by a leading Egyptian paper. Europe and Nixon. Europe and The Soviet Union. Europe and The European Union. India and Pakistan. India and the Soviet Union. India and Nixon.

We don't get that kind of dialogue anymore. And since the world has become substantially smaller, you would imagine a program of that sort would be a natch for Cable. Well . . . no.

Strange.