What a great idea suggested by journalism lecturer Brett Atwood. In his latest blog, aimed at his students, he advises them to download Livestation so that they can examine the different perspectives on news offered by the various news channels on the player.

Brett picked out our official partner channels, Al Jazeera English, Russia Today and BBC World News and a viewer-added channel, Press TV from Iran. He wrote:

"Some of these stations are sponsored by their respective governments and others are private enterprises. Some of these stations present stories that arguably reinforce their respective government “official policies,” while others offer strong reporting that very much falls within the “Murrow paradigm” of traditional journalism. Can you tell the difference? I would like you to “channel surf” through some of these news stations and then write your observations in your blog."

Yet another use for Livestation; a training tool to help students understand the different takes on news and widen their understanding of how and why news is produced.

It’ll be even easier to compare and contrast the different news perspectives when we release the multi-screen view in the near future. An enhancement that I expect will appeal to all journalists.

In another case, a student studying journalism used Livestation in order to gain the perspective needed to answer a question.

I am very pleased to announce that Press TV has joined Livestation as of yesterday 2 June 2009.

Press TV offers a very distinctive view of international news and it broadcasts from Tehran in English 24/7.

Tonight we have the exclusive opportunity to bring you the first ever Iranian presidential debate live between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (profile here) and his challenger in the forthcoming election Mir-Hossein Mousavi (profile here).

You can read more on the elections on the Press TV site here

The debate will be translated live and the chat room on the Press TV channel on the Livestation player will be available for viewers who want to share their views. We are hoping to have someone from Press TV in the room as well.

Press TV’s producer, Alireza Hajhosseini, will be on location getting firsthand reactions from Iranian Candidates’ advisors and forwarding them to Press TV’s Election Blogger, Farhod Family, during the exclusive live chat at Press TV on Livestation.com.

Join the conversation tonight at 1800GMT (2130 Tehran time) on the Livestation player on Press TV or watch on the website.

Livestation viewers watching a live debate between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his challenger in the forthcoming election Mir-Hossein Mousavi voted in favour of the challenger during and at the end of the 90 minutes event.

Thousands watched the debate live on Livestation and hundreds of viewers took part in a live, instant chat as the two candidates set out their position. Half way through the debate, Press TV producers took a poll of how the candidates had fared.

In the first poll, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad polled 31% of the vote with Mir-Hossein Mousavi winning 47%, with 22% undecided.

In the second poll, as the debate drew to a close, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad polled 38% of the vote with Mir-Hossein Mousavi winning 49%, leaving 13% undecided.

Press TV is the latest channel to join Livestation. You can download the Livestation player free of charge at www.livestation.com

Journalists wanting to monitor and cover the three remaining live Iranian presidential debates can now do so from their desktop and watch a global audience chat about what is being said in real time.

You can capture quotes from the candidates, comments from the audience and take screen grabs of the action and of any live, real-time audience polls.

Earlier this week, the latest live Iranian presidential debate broadcast by Press TV from Tehran was streamed live on Livestation.

Hundreds watched the debate live from all corners of the world and chatted in real time with Press TV producers in Tehran exchanging views and expressing their preferences via the live polls Press TV pushed to their desktop.

This enabled Press TV to guage the mood of those watching the debate and to assess how each candidate had performed.

It gave a fascinating insight, not only into the thinking of those standing for the role of president of Iran, but of the global audience.

It might be useful for your news teams covering that area to monitor the next debates from your desktops or laptops. All you need to do is download the Livesation player, which is totally free and safe, install it on your computer and tune in.

You can minimise the screen and keep it running in the corner of your screen as you write your report. You can even take screen grabs to illustrate your report. If you want to use any of the chatroom comments, you can right click in the chat room pane, ‘select all’ and then edit it for your report. If the producers use the Livestation’s Live Panel and you can take a grab of that, too.

All these newsgathering and newsproduction tools are absolutely free. All you need is a fast broadband connection.

If you want to try it out, here is the remaining schedule:

6 June: Ahmadinejad-Karoubi
7 June: Karoubi-Mousavi
8 June: Ahmadinejad-Rezai

You don’t have to mention that you watched it on Livestation, but a mention and link would be nice.

Tonight we have the second of our exclusive online broadcasts of the Iranian presidential debates. This time featuring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and one of his challengers in the forthcoming election, Mehdi Karroubi.

You can read more on the elections on the Press TV site here

The debate will be translated live and the chat room on the Press TV channel on the Livestation player will be available for viewers who want to share their views. We are hoping to have someone from Press TV in the room as well.

Join the conversation tonight, Saturday 6 June, at 1800GMT (2130 Tehran time) on the Livestation player on Press TV or watch on the website.

Those currently watching the Iranian election through the eyes of Western media now have an alternative perspective that offers a unique insight into the significance of the historic event.

Press TV, broadcast live from Tehran, is now streamed 24 hours a day and seven days a week on Livestation, the destination for live TV over broadband.

With a couple of clicks you can download the Livestation player, absolutely free of charge and totally safe, and be watching the election from an Iranian point of view.

Not only that, but the Livestation player comes packed with a host of interactive features which enables any viewer to engage in real-time live chat about the TV output and take part in instant polls.

Livestation has already streamed the key Iranian presidential debates when hundreds packed the chat room and were polled on who they thought had fared the best.

The Livestation player can be minimised in widget form to sit neatly in the corner of your computer screen set to always on top to enable you to get on with other stuff while you keep an eye on the news.

And you can flick through the current Livestation channel list of official partner channels, such as BBC World, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, France 24, Russia Today, and of course, Press TV, or one of the hundreds of user-added channels that pop up in the player. And yes, you can add any of your favourite legal web streams for your own personal use.

So download now and watch this internationally-significant election from a wide range of perspectives.