News
Axing the handouts for ‘subsidy junkie’ regional media
Watch the full event here. Journalists need skills other than subbing and writing: they need to fill a niche and to stop being afraid of dealing with money. And with the new Lib-Con government finally and conclusively shutting the door on the idea of giving over public funds to support innovative multimedia regional franchises (Independently […]
RESCHEDULED: On the media: What now for local and regional media in the UK?
View in iTunes Tickets booked for the original date of May 19 are still valid for this event. The media industry has never faced more uncertainty or doubt over its future than now. And nowhere is that anxiety more felt than in local and regional print and broadcast publishing. Labour’s plans to revolutionise local TV […]
Photography and Slander in Uzbekistan
In February this year, the Uzbek documentary-maker and photographer, Umida Akhmedova, was sentenced by a Tashkent court for “slandering the nation”. William Wheeler takes a closer look at the case.
Little hope for change: Iran, Democracy and an international war of words
View in iTunes Watch event here. By Nicole Green Far from approaching domestic or international equilibrium, Iran is instead facing further instability and a worsening human rights record following on from the Presidential election which shook the nation last June. That was just one of the conclusions the audience took away from a lively debate […]
A lesson in information operations
That’s what Andrew Exum at the Center for a New American Security thinks the Israeli raid on the Free Gaza flotilla provides.
Murdoch vs Al Jazeera: Paywalls vs Free to All
We admirers of the Times are wrestling with whether to give in to Rupert Murdoch’s new pay wall that now deprives us of free web access or refuse to sign up and sign in. Do we strike a blow for Rupert’s profits and more money ploughed into field journalism or resist and try and show […]
Don’t mention anything about the war
Given the euphoria over Germany’s Eurovision win, it was probably only an event of the magnitude of the German President resigning that could bump Lena off the headlines… But as tabloid Bild shows not by much… The surprise resignation of President Horst Köhler has both politicians and the media playing over and rewinding the tape […]
Mobile phones: Reporting in your pocket
Last year arguably saw unprecedented attention on the use of mobile phones for content creation in some shape or form. Whether SMS updating crisis mapping platforms such as Ushahidi, using Twitter to update followers on breaking news, or simply to use as video cameras, in a sense there was plenty to demonstrate their […]
Fatima Bhutto speaks out against Pakistan’s digital liberty crackdown
By Gouri Sharma Fatima Bhutto has criticised authorities in Pakistan for cutting off access to Facebook earlier this month. Bhutto used her appearance at the Frontline Club on Wednesday to highlight wh she things th the government was wrong to ban access to social networking sites for containing what it has called "blasphemous" content. If […]
The blog as a weapon in an era of information war
I’ve been doing some research into the coverage of the Gaza conflict (back end of 2008, front end of 2009) on blogs. One of the English-language blogs that covered the war was the Muqata blog. The Muqata blog was started in 2005 by ‘Jameel’, a Jewish settler who had lived in Chomesh in Gaza before […]
Shooting with Malian musketeers
I’ve just got back from a short filming assignment in Mali and still trying to remove fine red dust from all of my camera equipment. I’ve worked in West Africa several times but this was my first trip to Mali. I’m indebted to an old friend in Bamako in the form of the BBC’s Martin […]
Lindsey Hilsum on the passion and idealism of journalism
Download this episode View in iTunes By Nicole Green Live-streaming a phone call to Israeli authorities while standing on the rubble of Palestinian homes, or reporting on the victims of genocide in Rwanda, where women care for the families who murdered their own, are experiences few journalists can count in their reporting history. But that […]
How Facebook users can report casualties in Afghanistan before the military
Recently Facebook changed its privacy settings which meant that a lot of people’s profile information is now far more public than they might realise. Facebook users who joined with the expectation that their information was only going to be shared with a select group of online ‘friends’ are finding that all sorts of other people […]
Invitation to Amnesty International Annual Report launch
Our friends at Amnesty International have asked us to let you know about the launch of its 2010 Annual Report later this week: Amnesty International will launch its Annual Report 2010 at an embargoed press event hosted by Claudio Cordone, the organization’s interim Secretary General, at its international headquarters in London. Cordone will discuss […]
The Tehran-Tbilisi Connection
Iran isn’t exactly known for its free media. Exactly the opposite, in fact: Freedom House rates it as one of the ten worst places for freedom of speech in the world. So it’s somewhat bizarre that Mikheil Saakashvili’s government here in Georgia – with its pretensions to European-style liberal democracy – has just signed a […]
The Times paywall is just the start – but will readers pay?
Pic credit: Chris King By Patrick Smith One way to boost newspaper revenues as print circulation and advertising revenues fall through the floor is to charge readers to read stuff online. The only problem is: will a generation that has grown up with free news content – that believes in a free web – cough […]
Will Apple save the news business? Apps, iPads, paywalls and how to make money from news
View in iTunes There’s no shortage of news around at the moment, but is anyone making anyone any money from it? As the print-based media come to terms with a shrinking advertising market and a promiscuous digital audience, many are looking to high-end devices such as Apple’s iPhone and iPad, which touches down in Britain […]
Inconvenient timing: Selling the climate change story after climategate
While last autumn’s climategate scandal has not completely decimated the public’s belief in global warming, campaigners and scientists need to reach out to unconventional audiences and getter better at communicating the facts if they want to tell – and sell – the climate change story. That was the consensus at last night’s Frontline Club discussion […]
Russian war correspondent discovers journalism is more dangerous at home
In this New York Times article we learn of the fate of Mikhail Beketov who dared to investigate corruption in Moscow. Beketov, a former army officer, had reported from both Afghanistan and Chechnya but Russia proved to be more dangerous. As his paper, Khimkinskaya Pravda, wrote about the dealings of local officials and questioned party […]
Somali Officials Resign as Fighting Escalates
by DAVID AXE Sheikh Adan Madobe, speaker of the U.S.-and U.N.-backed Somali parliament, resigned today after his support in the weak governing body collapsed. Prime minister Abdirashid has also resigned after seeing his own influence wane amid continuing violence in the East African country. "The president is going to appoint a new prime minster and […]
How difficult is it to cover a modern war effectively?
I thought I’d have a long overdue experiment with AudioBoo. I have been recorded by somebody else on Twitter and Journalism but thought it was time to give it a go myself…I reckon short and sweet is the way to go rather than rambling on and on and on. But if you think you can […]
What would Orwell say? How the web is championing top quality journalism
For all the scaremongering, hand-wringing and hair-pulling that has taken place over the last few years, the state of journalism is in fact alive and well and even aided by the internet revolution. But anyone at Wednesday’s Frontline event with three writers shortlisted for the Orwell Prize could see that great stories still can and […]
War and Aid: does humanitarian intervention help or hinder?
Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi It is time for yet more soul searching for the international aid industry. Hot on the heels of Bob Geldof’s spat with the BBC over the exact whereabouts of cash raised for Ethiopia in the 80s, comes Linda Polman’s new book War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times. If you couldn’t be […]
Somali Islamists = Environmentalists?
Guardian photo. by DAVID AXE Just two weeks ago Somali Islamic group Al Shabab advanced on a Harardere, a pirate stronghold in central Somalia. "The pirates began retreating with the hijacked vessels and crew to Hobyo, another pirate stronghold about 108 kilometers to the north," Voice of America reported. This after years of inaction by […]
A date with democracy? Somaliland’s presidential election is set (for now)
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything from Hargeisa. Life in the de facto (but unrecognized) independent Republic of Somaliland has been very quiet and the democratic deadlock affecting overdue presidential elections has continued. Is no news good news here? An absence of the oft-reported (if little fully-understood) blights of southern Somalia – piracy, […]
Israel and Palestine: Personal stories from Combatants for Peace, part three
On 28 July the Frontline Club asks: is the best route to peace in the Holy Land to put down guns and start talking? Four members of the Israeli-Palestinian activist group Combatants for Peace will be on hand to talk about how they plan to do just that. Tickets and more information on that event […]
Admiral Mullen’s social media strategy
The Public Affairs Office looking after Admiral Mullen has revealed his social media strategy for 2010 by sticking it up on Slideshare. Admiral Mullen is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for US forces and admitted a while ago that his wife reminded him to use his Twitter account. Some interesting bits […]
First Wednesday Pre-election Special: Is this really a ‘change’ election or just more of the same?
Download this episode View in iTunes Pic credit: Chris King, Kat Banyard and Ivor Gaber at the Frontline. By Patrick Smith If there’s one word the British people probably don’t want to hear any more, it’s change. But – bear with us – with less than 12 hours to go before the polls close, the […]
Pre-Election Night Special at the Frontline Club
View in iTunes On the eve of polling day, First Wednesday will be an opportunity to discuss some of the issues that have come up – or haven’t – during this election campaign. We’ve had TV debates, "Cleggmania" and a hung parliament remains a possibility but how much does the […]
Orwell Prize event: read our profiles of Peter Hitchens, Amelia Gentleman and John Arlidge
The annual Orwell Prize rewards journalists who most closely follow George Orwell’s aim of making “political writing into an art”. And it’s that art we’ll be celebrating on Wednesday 12 May at an exclusive panel discussion with three writers shortlisted for this year’s prize. Here we look at the life and work of our special […]
