Look out, Pajamas Media

Mike Power has a nice roundup of the fiasco that is Pajamas Media, although it was still called Open Source Media when Mr Power was putting that post together. However, it seems that their vision that the Internet offers huge scope for a start-from-scratch news network is catching on:

[AP via WSJ, subs. req'd] Governments across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America agreed Tuesday to launch their own Internet-based news network to counter what they called prejudiced reporting by the Western media.

Plans to create the Nonaligned Movement News Network were endorsed by information ministers and senior officials from more than 80 mainly developing nations such as Cuba, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe, many of which claimed their reputations have suffered because of foreign media coverage.

Malaysia's state-owned news agency, Bernama, will oversee the network and coordinate efforts to help poorer nations boost their technical infrastructure and expertise to contribute to the initiative ...

The name alone will surely send the right into paroxysms of rage, recalling as it does the inglorious days of the Nonaligned Movement making trouble at the UN General Assembly. And the collection of countries ranges from the embarrassing UN Human Rights Commission style rogues to more interesting we'll do it our way countries like Malaysia. But if only for its capacity to cause irritation in the right places, we wish NMNN all the best, and urge them, unlike their bedroom-dwelling competitors, to stick with the name.