Reinventing Global News for the Youtube Era: Link TV World News iPad App Curates Best News Videos, Raw Videos, and Documentaries, Related from Around the World

Jason Gordon, jason@pkpr.com

Patrick Kowalczyk, patrick@pkpr.com

PKPR, 212.627.8098

Caty Borum Chattoo, cchattoo@linktv.org

For video & photos: http://news.linktv.org/apps

San Francisco, CA (October 30, 2012) -Revolutions happen. Russian punk rockers

are sent to jail. The shooting of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl galvanizes a

country - and the world.  A free iPad app launching today helps viewers

make sense of global events by curating the best television news, raw videos,

and documentaries from around the world.

ever are turning to YouTube for breaking international news, the LinkTV World News app for iPad is for news

junkies overwhelmed by the glut of online video and underwhelmed by mainstream

coverage of international news.  Paul S.

Mason, president and CEO of Link TV, noted that a simple YouTube search for "Libya"

may generate more than 200,000 results, with little guidance as to which videos

are the most informative, relevant, and trustworthy.

"The LinkTV

World News app does the heavy lifting so users don't have to," said Mason. "A

team of seasoned journalists using the best semantic 'smart search' technology

sifts through thousands of newscasts and raw videos to bring people the stories

that matter most."

Feature

highlights include:

• Watch the world's most

  EYE-OPENING

  NEWS VIDEOS

  , selected by a team of international editors from over 125

  mainstream, state-run, and alternative outlets, including BBC, Reuters,

  CNN, France 24, The Guardian, The New York Times, Democracy Now!,

  and more.

• Go behind the news with

  user-generated RAW VIDEOS related to stories of the day

• Use an interactive

  WORLD

  MAP

  to explore the world's video news
• Leveraging the latest

  SEMANTIC

  TECHNOLOGY,

  the app filters through more than 50,000

  INTERNATIONAL

  NEWS SOURCES

  - from major newspapers to small local blogs - to provide

  users with deeper context around every video story.

• Watch

  FEATURE

  DOCUMENTARIES

  from around the world--providing the bigger picture

  behind breaking news

• Learn more about global

  issues and trends through comprehensive IN-DEPTH SECTIONS featuring

  VIDEO TIMELINES, and up-to-the minute Twitter updates.

• PERSONALIZE GLOBAL NEWS FEEDS of world

  news and topics to follow

• TAKE ACTION on world issues

The app was
created by Link TV, the independent digital media company and television

network dedicated to connecting US audiences with coverage of international

news and culture. The app was developed in partnership with The Bertha

Foundation, a leader in supporting social impact media projects.  Earlier this month, Link TV announced its

expected merger with KCET, the Los Angeles-based independent public TV station;

the expected merged organization, KCETLink, is one of the nation's largest

independent public TV networks and is described as "a transmedia company that

acquires, produces and distributes provocative global programming targeted to a

national audience across multiple media platforms." 

"It is an

increasingly connected and complex world, and The Bertha Foundation believes it

is vitally important to offer access to a diversity of voices, whether it be

from a veteran broadcaster or an eyewitness," said Rebecca Lichtenfeld of

Bertha Philanthropies.

The app was

designed by Method, the award-winning firm behind

innovative media experiences including the BBC iPlayer and

range of semantic tools to surface the best video coverage and related articles

and information, including Zemanta, Freebase, and Daylife.

Link TV has also

partnered with digital video platform VidCaster to develop a GoogleTV app that

delivers the same curated collection of international news videos.

With the app,

Link TV builds upon its 13-year track record of using satellite TV and digital

media to connect audiences to international news coverage they cannot find anywhere

else. It broadcasts and streams groundbreaking programs focused on the Middle

East (Mosaic), Asia (LinkAsia), and the

Americas (Inside Story Americas),

as well as documentaries and television series like the acclaimed Danish drama Borgen,

# # #

About Link Media & Link TV

Link Media uses media and the power of stories to engage, inform and inspire its

audiences to participate in transformational, sustainable change on issues of

global importance. Founded in 1999, Link Media operates the Link TV national

network and the websites LinkTV.org, LinkNews and ViewChange.org. An independent and

non-commercial media company, Link Media acquires, produces and delivers global

news, documentaries and cultural programming over three distribution channels:

broadcast, Web and mobile devices.

Link TV is

available as basic service on DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel

9410, reaching more than 33 million US households. Select Link TV programming

also airs on 220 cable outlets, including in New York,

Los Angeles and San Francisco, reaching an additional 22

million homes. Link also streams much of its content online at

LinkTV.org. For complete background information, program schedule and Internet

streaming, go to LinkTV.org. Follow on

Twitter @linktv, and on Facebook

at www.facebook.com/linktv.

The Bertha Foundation believes in the power

of social activism. We champion passionate lawyers, storytellers, and social

entrepreneurs working towards a more decent and just world.

• Lawyers: We aim to inspire and

  enable the work of socially minded lawyers and are committed to

  strengthening the field of public interest law.

• Storytellers: We believe in the

  power of visual storytelling to educate, inform and inspire action, and

  are dedicated to supporting the creation and distribution of social impact

  media projects. Documentaries are central to this vision.

• Social Entrepreneurs: When people

  have the right tools and opportunities, they are best placed to solve

  their own problems. We support those using business principles and

  innovation to create sustainable large-scale change.