Ich bin ein Obama

Last Modified: 24 Jul 2008
By: Channel 4 News

As we go on air we'll be live in Berlin, where Barack Obama is following in the footsteps of JFK and making his pitch to be the next US president.

As we go on air tonight we'll be live in Berlin, where Barack Obama is following in the footsteps of JFK and making his pitch to be the next US president.

Our team there, Nick Paton Walsh et al, tell us the crowds a mile from the Brandenburg Gate are enormous and the enthusiasm for Mr Obama's first foreign policy speech on foreign soil about transatlantic relations is eagerly awaited.

McCain thinks it's over-eagerly awaited by the media, and his campaign is running videos of sycophantic references to Barack Obama by assorted media figures.

So far it seems Channel 4 News has not offended the Arizona senator. But it is a serious issue which I discuss tonight with Brian Williams, the main anchor for NBC's nightly news.

But as interesting will be the content of Barack Obama's speech. By locating it in Germany, it suggests he will be looking for a relationship with Europe rather than the traditional cherry picking of special relations here and there.

What is certain is his appearance in Berlin, his speech and his status as Democrat candidate owes a good deal to the presidency of Bush and his conduct on foreign policy since 9/11.

Here, the motor racing chief Max Mosley has won his privacy action in the high court against News of the World. The judge ruling said the paper had no justifiable reason for publishing pictures of Max Mosley indulging in consensual sex, even if it included S&M.

Mind you, the judge did say that had the paper been able to prove the alleged Nazi element of this activity the outcome might have been considerably different. We'll be talking to News of the World's lawyer at seven. The paper is already labelling this as a blow to press freedom and warning of a "chilling effect" on investigative journalism. Sour grapes or a real concern?

Has the file sharing horse already bolted from the stables? There is a feeling today's government lead initiative to try to clamp down on free music downloads on the internet is occurring after the horse had bolted.

It's pretty clear that well-run bands and music companies are already finding other ways to make money and that it is perhaps too late for the heavy hand of the law. Ben Cohen's on the case.

We have a revealing and searing interview with an Iranian dissident who describes his torture and suffering at the hands of Tehran's security authorities. It's a horrible account that bears out many of the claims made by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Finally, in this age of nuclear power enthusiasm the French have had yet another problem at one of their plants, and 100 people have been infected.