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Oil prices have surged, almost reaching the $140-a-barrel mark [EPA]
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This week on The Listening Post: the oil price crisis that has gripped the world and put economics on the front page. Have the media got to grips with such a slippery subject? Also a British documentary creates a drama in the courts after upsetting Muslim preachers.
The price of oil is at an all time high. Consumers are feeling the pinch, while producers are seeing profits go through the roof. Just why 2008 has seen the surge in prices it has (almost reaching the $140-per-barrel mark) is a mystery even the media's best talking heads cannot agree on. Peak oil, speculation, supply and demand, political instability, China and India's booming growth, all these reasons and more are seized upon by the pundits trying to bring clarity to the story. Does the media's coverage ignite our understanding or does it throw fuel on the fire, increasing the speculation that may be raising prices?
In part two The Listening Post's Sinead O'Shea goes to England's second city, Birmingham, to explore a story that put media coverage of Islam in the law courts.
In 2007 Channel 4 broadcast a documentary called Undercover Mosque. Produced by the independent production company Hardcash Productions it used an undercover cameraman to expose what it claimed were Muslim preachers pushing the boundaries of racial tolerance. The subsequent furore saw first the preachers and then the documentary makers investigated by the police in a row over slander and
misrepresentation.
In the last few weeks the police have been forced to retract their accusations against the programme makers and have faced criticised for the previous stance. We find out why the film continues to cause such controversy.
In this week's Newsbytes: the Arab League's plans for broadcasting regulations are rejected by some of its members, Israel's war games get the New York Times leak treatment, the strange work and death of a Macedonian crime reporter, Islamic militants release a kidnapped news anchor in the Philippines, and how Iraq is not the story it used to be.
Our internet video of the week is an example of what happens when one of the world's top gymnasts takes his incredible skills out on to the street. Damien Walters is a young man to watch – if you can do so without suffering vertigo.
Watch part one of this episode of The Listening Post
Watch part two of this episode of The Listening Post
This episode of The Listening Post aired from Friday, June 27, 2008
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