News
High-ranking prisoners in Azerbaijan
Republic of Azerbaijan gained its independence from Soviet Union in 1991, but many of its ruling elite had enough time to pass through country’s penal system. RFE/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani section reports that two presidents, two parliament speakers, two prime ministers, one prosecutor general and two state counselors in Azerbaijan either were imprisoned, or fled the […]
Burying the Red Apple
Armenia today celebrated International Women’s Day in pretty much the same way it always does. As a patriarchal society, women are expected to dress up and men present them with flowers. Forget talk about women’s rights and equality, although one small group of activists from Armenia and the Diaspora had other ideas. Instead of observing […]
If You Bend Over Far Enough…
The fallout from Sudan’s decision to expel 13 international charities and shut down four local ones continues. Millions of people will be without water, food and medicine unless or until the agencies who remain in Darfur can step in. That is a big negative when the only entry in the plus column is […]
Legal graffiti hits the walls of Mexico City
In a country with such a rich artistic heritage of mural-ism, graffiti is a popular past-time for many of Mexico´s youth.
Last week, Henry Chalfont – a photographer and filmmaker who has focused his career on documenting the form of street art — paid a visit to el Faro, a community arts center in the working class neighborhood of Iztapalapa, Mexico City. The event was organized by Graffitarte, a Mexico City-based arts group.
In a country with such a rich artistic heritage of mural-ism, graffiti is a popular past-time for many of Mexico´s youth.
Last week, Henry Chalfont – a photographer and filmmaker who has focused his career on documenting the form of street art — paid a visit to el Faro, a community arts center in the working class neighborhood of Iztapalapa, Mexico City. The event was organized by Graffitarte, a Mexico City-based arts group.
US military revisits blogging
The US military remains at the forefront of social media and military policy but recently new questions about the value of blogging have been raised. There has been plenty of debate in particular on the US Army Combined Arms Center site about the role of blogs as a means of strategic communication. Apparently, ‘the US […]
Rosenblum’s Renegades
Michael Rosenblum and his Concentra-backed DNA conference put their money where their mouths are.A hefty 10,000 Euros prize for best video journalist of the year and hardware for best breaking news vj. 4 of the 8 finalists work for newspapers and the big winner was Alexandra Garcia of the Washington Post for her feature on […]
Camp Services Shut Down
Aid officials in Sudan used to tell me their humanitarian operation was suffering death by a thousand cuts. They struggled to get personnel and equipment into the country, local staff were expected to inform on their employers, and NGOs were routinely smeared in the media. But still they managed to get aid to more […]
Islamists, New Somali President Sign Peace Deal
In late January, Ethiopia withdrew its last soldiers from Somalia after more than two years of bloody occupation and insurgency. Their departure immediately catalyzed a dramatic chain of events. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) that had been backed by Ethiopia, the U.S. and the U.N. fled to Djibouti and, in apparent desperation, signed a peace […]
The Eye Camera
Ready for this? Canadian documentary maker Rob Spence who lost his eye in a shooting accident when he was 10 now waiting for his prototype eye camera to be implanted. Second day keynote conversation at the Digital News Association conference in Brussels. Pretty surrealistic discussion about ethical issues for a journalist whose eye is […]
Exhibition: Child Welfare in Kutaisi and Georgia
After undertaking some photographic work for the London-based Children’s Charity EveryChild in the Republic of Georgia in 2006, I visited the country’s second largest city of Kutaisi early the following year to further document social work and the reintegration of socially vulnerable children back into their biological families or with foster parents. It’s been a […]
The Who will pay for journalism?
Hard times breed new journalism models. Donation driven journalism is nothing new. Christopher Albritton was something of a pioneer at the beginning of the second Gulf War. Sandeep Junnarkar used donations to fund a long form journalism project – Lives in Focus – on AIDS patients and access to medicine in India. He continues along […]
Bashir Reacts
Only about one par made it into The Times story today so the whole thing is posted below. There may be more NGOs on way out. Diplomats also braced for expulsions today – they take longer to arrange. And what about the peace v justice debate? I’ll post on that later, but it seems for now that […]
Buyer Beware: 419 Real Estate at Your Service
Maybe there’s a house-sitting problem in Kano? I stared hard at the sign painted on this house wondering if it was just a bit of rough English. Apparently not. It means exactly what it says. Locals in Kano reckon if you leave your house, say during a holiday, you may return to find that […]
The Armenian dram collapses
As if two closed borders and an economy based on the oligarchal control of imports of goods mainly paid for by remittances from abroad wasn’t enough, the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) yesterday devalued the national currency, the Armenian dram, as the global economic crisis finally hit the country. During Sunday’s opposition rally to mark […]
Aid Workers Forced From Camps
Foreign aid workers have been ordered out of key locations across Darfur as the Sudanese Government flexes its muscles before a decision today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on whether to charge President al-Bashir with war crimes. The six NGOs are: Oxfam, CHF, Solidarites, MSF-France, MSF-Holland, Care International. The locations are: Abu Shouk, Gereida, […]
Pirate Attacks Decline … but for How Long?
After a year of escalating piracy off the Somali coast, during which pirates seized more than 100 large vessels, in early 2009 the rate of attacks decreased markedly. On Feb. 22, pirates captured a Greek-owned vessel carrying coal. Despite this, the first two months of the new year represented a “lull” in piracy, according to […]
The View From The Camps
We’re all set. My email inbox is filling up with contact details of Darfur activists available for interview, NGOs are being booted out of camps and I have stocked up on provisions (Maryland cookies, Laughing Cow cheese triangles, and water, since you asked). All we need now is tomorrow’s decision from the International Criminal Court […]
Counterinsurgency and new media
The Small Wars Journal has put together a collection of thoughts on the impact of new media on the way the US military has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Well worth bookmarking, reading, and re-reading. I was going to pick out a ‘best of’, but I was struggling. It’s all very interesting. It includes thoughts […]
Paranoid or Prepared? What’s in my bag.
Some people may be shocked by the things I carry. In addition to crucial items like, you know, my phone and camera and notebook and stuff, I always throw this small floral pouch into my bag when heading out to snap photos and do some reporting. 1) Handkerchief: essential for whipping excessive sweat off my […]
Bracing for impact
Juba, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of South Sudan, is currently extremely tense, awaiting the reaction of national president Omar al-Bashir to tomorrow’s International Criminal Court decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant against him. Should the ICC go ahead with the indictment – for ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity […]
The crime, the landless and the media
Today the president of Brazil Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, spoke for the first time about a recent event that has created huge polemic in the national media. On 21st February, four security guards were killed during a conflict with the internationally known landless movement, or MST, in São Joaquim do Monte, in the state […]
So dusty you can taste it
I think I’ve swallowed half of the Sahara since I arrived in Kano in northern Nigeria on Sunday afternoon. It’s the harmattan haze. Fine sand and dust hangs thick in the air over the city along with air pollution. Poor visibility led to my flight on Saturday being diverted back to Abuja, then a few […]
Chicken Roundabout
A friend of mine lives near here and so do I, but we only realised how close we are when we started talking about the chicken roundabout. Chicken roundabout is a unique, and special place where a colony of chickens have managed to inhabit a busy roundabout on the A143 busy main route through East […]
1 March anniversary passes without incident
Despite some concern that yesterday’s first anniversary of the deadly post-election clashes between opposition supporters and security forces might end in trouble, the day passed peacefully. Although the event to mourn the deaths of 8 civilians and 2 policemen had not been authorized by the municipality, the authorities did not intervene to prevent the gathering. Given […]
Reza at the Frontline Club
I’ve always been fascinated by Afghanistan. Alongside with the stories of journalistic derring-do that came out of the Vietnam War, the wild tales emerging from Afghanistan in the post-Soviet, pre-Taleban times probably got me hooked on the idea of journalism as a career. Chief among the legendary Afghans in those times was Ahmed Shah Massoud, […]
(Not) contacting the IDF through social media
In my post about the Israeli Defence Force and their use of social media during the Gaza conflict, I said I was trying to chase up the IDF for a comment or response to it. I, for one, would be interested to hear their take on it. Several emails have met with no response, so […]
Philippine press attacks
In the latest attack on a journalist in the Philippines, Ronaldo Doong was attacked by two armed men while travelling on a highway in Colorado village in Digos City in the southern Philippines on Saturday. The brodcast journalist, who works for University of Mindanao’s Radyo Ukay, sustained bruises and cuts during the assault. The attackers […]
22 attacks on journalists in Cambodia
A report by the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) catalogues a series of 22 attacks against journalists in the south-east Asian country between 2008-2009. In addition the report slates unethical practices among journalists including bribery and corruption and those pretending to be journalists who are not, The press release urges the Ministry of Information to […]
Finbarr O’ Reilly in Congo
Reuters photographer Finbarr O’Reilly has been travelling through the Democratic Republic of Congo taking some incredible photographs along the way. The Boston Herald showcases 38 images as a part of their excellent Big Picture series. Reuters recently held a live chat with Finbarr in Liberia which we hosted on this blog. Photo by Finbarr O’Reilly […]
Blood Trail at True/False film festival
Blood Trail, the documentary film produced by club member Richard Parry along with club founder Vaughan Smith, is showing at the True/False film festival in Columbia, Missouri until March 1. The film documents 15 years in the life of war photographer Robert King – from naive beginner to accomplished professional. Robert and Richard are in […]
