Swiss TV

There seem to be a lot of Arabs in Geneva - a suspicion that is supported by the fact that there are FOUR Arab televison stations on the hotel TV. One is Al-Jazerra and the others seem to be the state networks of Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This is gripping television, let me tell you. The programming for the Saudi network appears to be completely monolithic - a cleric looks into the camera and says stuff, hour after hour.

And how are Americans portrayed? In the space of 24 hours, I saw two shows dedicated to portrayals of the Ku Klux Klan: one was a seventies drama and the other was a movie with Ronald Reagan. On the international CNN station, they show the Daily Show with Jon Stewart late at night. The promos have a voice over saying "Jon Stewart knows America's place in the world" and then they show Stewart deadpanning: "Everybody hates us." Nice.

The sports network? Soccer cricket soccer snooker soccer skiing soccer.