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There seem to be some news events that can be guaranteed to make listeners agitated, not because of the story itself, but because, for some people, what is being covered just doesn't seem like news.

Tiger Woods addresses a press conference last week. Picture: Getty

The recent statement made by golfer Tiger Woods about his private life was just such an event. It was an unusual sort of press conference, since very few members of the press were in the room with him - his mother was there in the front row, and a group of friends, colleagues and sponsors also attended.

And no one was allowed to ask questions, which are usually a feature of press conferences.

All of this prompted listeners' to contact Over To You as you can hear on this week's programme: "tabloid gossip" was one fairly typical comment.

So Rajan and I went to the World Service newsroom to talk to the man in charge of all the news and current affairs programmes, Andrew Whitehead, and see how he felt about the amount of coverage given to Tiger Woods.

You can hear his response in this week's programme - he'd given plenty of thought to the subject, so please contact us with your comments on this subject.

Vancouver

Another topic this week is coverage of the Winter Olympics - or, in the view of listener Petr Baudis, lack of coverage.

He wondered whether it was perhaps scarce resources that have limited the reporting - or whether the concept of winter sports is something that just doesn't appeal if you live in a part of the world where snow and ice are things you read about but never experience.

Pam Poole is the editor of World Service Sport, and she explained to Rajan what needs to be taken into account when deciding which sporting events to cover.

But regardless of where you live in the world, I wonder how you feel about Winter Olympics coverage?

Cathy Packe is the Producer, Over To You

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service and
its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and atÌý02:40 on Sunday (GMT).Ìý

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• - What's this?

For many of us, it's hard to imagine a world without the internet.

I do sometimes pause and reflect how on earth I did my job - and indeed ran my social life - without going online. Was I a different kind of person then? Did I get out and meet people more? Was the pace of life slower? (And as for life without a mobile phone - well that's like contemplating some bygone era now consigned to the history books!

Of course there are many parts of the world which are only now beginning to enjoy the benefits of the web and indeed many others that are yet to have the privilege; we shouldn't forget that only something like a fifth of the world's population is connected.

And let's not forget either that there are costs to being linked across cyberspace. Privacy is threatened, the web can be abused by individuals and governments, and some very dodgy dealing can take place via websites...

All of these aspects of the internet revolution are being examined by the new World Service SuperPower season.Ìý

On this week's programme, our producer Cathy Packe finds out what's in store for us. Aside from Aleks Krotoski's (pictured) flagship four-part series Virtual Revolution, which charts 20 years since the invention of the world wide web, there are plenty of other fascinating programmes in the line-up.

Cathy finds out how the digital revolution is still throwing up new advances for disabled listeners, and how hitherto excluded areas of rural Africa are getting involved via the mobile phone and an initiative from the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Hausa service.

But our main focus on this week's Over To You is the evolving power struggle over the internet between authoritarian regimes and opposition movements. In the latest salvo in the cyber war in Iran, the government is allegedly deploying a crack force of computer experts - the so-called cyber army - to filter and block antagonistic websites and blogs, whilst also pumping out their own propaganda.

We talk to the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, now operating from London after . He tells us about how the internet has become a lifeblood for many people in that country - not just as a way of disseminating information but also enjoying popular culture.

And I meet , an expert on how the internet is transforming life in Iran. As he told me after the interview, the internet is fundamentally altering political discourse in Iran at a hectic pace - so much so that he can't decide where to draw a line in the chronology he's currently writing. Every time he marks out a finishing point, something else significant happens!

But how has it been for you? Has your life been irreversibly changed by the internet? Or would you like it to be, if you're not yet able to get connected? Is the world a better a place for it? Or is it just another means of communication at the disposal of a human race, still bent on pursuing its same short-sighted agenda?

Big thoughts, personal anecdotes - whichever, we want to hear from you.

Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service and
its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and atÌý02:40 on Sunday (GMT).Ìý

• Listen to previous episodes ofÌýOver To You
• Subscribe to the podcast
  
• Send the team your feedback by email (overtoyou@bbc.co.uk), telephone (44
  144 960 9000), SMS (447786 202006) or by leaving comments on this blog.

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Of the dozens of documentaries broadcast by the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service every month, Opposing Obama has caused more of a stir than any I can think of for a very long time.

This was columnist Gary Younge's two-part journey through Eastern Kentucky and into Arkansas talking to anti-tax protesters, fundamentalist Christians, libertarians, Democratic and Republican Party officials and ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet, to find out how they view the last year under Barack Obama.

US President Barack Obama listens to a question during a town hall meeting at Nashua High School North, 2 February, 2010. Picture credit: Getty Images

Some of the more forthright views about Obama were included in trailers to publicise the series. These trailers brought in turn some strong opposition from listeners who thought the whole idea of the programmes was unfair.

Unyime Nseyo described the topic as "inflammatory". And Alambo Datonye Fred e-mailed from Port Harcourt Nigeria to say: "You've advertised extensively your documentary on those who feel Obama has done nothing but you don't make an effort to have another documentary on those who feel he is a good leader. What's happened to your long-held values of fairness and balance?"

And the content of the programmes sparked an interesting debate on our blog. So on this week's Over to You, as promised, we try and get answers as to why the programmes were commissioned and you can hear Gary Younge responding to those blog comments.

Also Murray Holgate, the Network Manager of the World Service in English, defends what one e-mailer called the "incredibly negatively-worded, overdramatic, endlessly repeated trailers".

Scratching the surface

And don't miss the other item in this week's programme.

There's a lively encounter between Dr Geoff Wade, an academic in Singapore who's been researching Chinese relations with Southeast Asia in the Ming Dynasty for over 20 years and Nick Baker, the producer and presenter of the documentary China's Forgotten Admiral.

Nick set out to tell the fascinating story of Zheng He, a eunuch, a Muslim, possibly even a giant and one of the world's most historic important naval figures.

But Dr Wade doesn't think Nick took a rigorous enough approach to his subject and may have misled his audience by emphasising the commercial rather than the military nature of the Admiral's voyages. And sparks fly!

What's your view on historical documentaries?

Can a programme that's only 23 minutes long ever do more than scratch the surface of a topic?

Penny Vine is this week's producer of Over To You

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service and
its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and atÌý02:40 on Sunday (GMT).Ìý

• Listen to previous episodes ofÌýOver To You
• Subscribe to the podcast
  
• Send the team your feedback by email (overtoyou@bbc.co.uk), telephone (44
  144 960 9000), SMS (447786 202006) or by leaving comments on this blog.

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"iPad, therefore I am", as the philosopher Descartes might have said, if he had been around today and into all things sleek, cool and techie

The launch of this half-way house between a netbook and an iPhone was certainly treated by parts of the media with a reverence normally bestowed on breakthroughs in Middle East peace negotiations - or at the very least, like a new collaboration from the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Elvis.

Well, to technophobes like me, it felt like that, anyway.

Steve Jobs: a master of hype. Is the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú falling for it? Picture: Getty Images

And it seems Digital Planet on the World Service tried to take an equally sceptical approach until the sheer weight of media hype and tweets from Apple fans persuaded them otherwise. And the reason for their reticence was an awareness that the line between journalism and product promotion is very blurred in the digital world.

I discuss this on this week's Over To You with the presenter of Digital Planet, Gareth Mitchell. It's very difficult for him, as he admits, to ignore the arrival of any big launch from the likes of Apple - or Microsoft for that matter - firstly because the PR spin is so brilliantly executed by Steve Jobs (the CEO of Apple) et al, and secondly because it feels like the rest of the world is talking about it... including mainstream news programmes like Newshour on the World Service.

The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú has compliance rules when it comes to mentioning branded products, so it takes care on issues like this.

So what do you think?

Is the media putty in the hands of companies like Apple? Where do you draw the line? What counts as news and what, however inadvertently, counts as advertising?

• More reading:
• Digital Planet can be downloaded as a podcast here
• And you can follow and on Twitter too!
  

Obama drama

Also on this week's programme there's more fallout from the Opposing Obama series. Not just the trails now but the programmes themselves - although these are attracting praise as well as criticism.

And next week we'll be talking to someone closely involved in the making of Gary Younge's examination of antipathy towards the US President. So tell us what you think, if you've heard the documentaries.

Global Minds

And a happy story on this week's programme as we deal with blind listener Petr Parisek's complaint that the Global Minds survey conducted by the World Service seemed to exclude his participation.

We talk to the Global Minds Senior Research Manager, Jennie Sallows - someone who can fix problem for Petr, and does so.

So if there's anything we can help you with...

Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú World Service and
its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and atÌý02:40 on Sunday (GMT).Ìý

• Listen to previous episodes ofÌýOver To You
• Subscribe to the podcast
  
• Send the team your feedback by email (overtoyou@bbc.co.uk), telephone (44
  144 960 9000), SMS (447786 202006) or by leaving comments on this blog.

• Bookmark with:
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• - What's this?