News
New Rebel Group in DRC
Just when you thought you had a handle on what was happening among the myriad militia groupings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Independent reports the emergence of a new rebel army The findings of collaboration with the Tutu rebels by the Rwandan government came on the same day that some of its leaders […]
Who’d Have Thought It?
Certainly not Tony Blair, Paul Kagame’s new best friend and adviser, who has said Rwanda does not control Laurent Nkunda and his rebel army. Nor Foreign Office minister Lord Mark Malloch-Brown who told me exactly the same thing in Goma last month Lord Malloch-Brown said the region’s rich tin ore and coltan seams were a […]
Music to my ears
Coming to Cambodia, I expected breaking my back on dirt roads, dealing with reluctant officials and seeing worse poverty than I ever had. I got that, but so much more too. I spent my past two weekends in places I’d never thought I’d be, especially in Cambodia. The weekend before last, I was attending the premiere […]
Newspapers in dire straits
The ever erudite Jon Stewart sums up what has been one of the worst weeks for newspapers ever. The sad thing is, the worst is yet to come. 2009 looks grim, grim, grim. Video link via Sambrook The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c Clusterf#@k to the Poor House – Final […]
By way of introduction
I’ll begin with the disclosure that I am writing under a pseudonym. Michael O’Riordan is not my real name. Also, I can’t mention for whom I work except to say that my employer is one of the two national newspapers in the Emirates. Why? The UAE is a police state where, up until a few […]
Frontline Club Annual Party 2008
We held the Frontline Club annual party and Journalism Awards on Friday 28 November. A great time was had by all. Romain Kedochim very kindly took photographs on the night and you can see in the slideshow above. This year the Frontline Club Journalism Award went to Photojournalist Yuri Kozyrev for his exceptional coverage of […]
Live from Kandahar
Frontline blogger Alex Strick van Linschoten will be experimenting with some live video broadcasts using Kyte.tv from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Although as Alex says in an email, they’ve sped up the GPRS data connection ($20/month for unlimited data!) in Kandahar…so i can now stream live shows (sort of – it’s more like it can […]
For Sale: Lord’s Resistance Army feature
Earlier this year photographer Kate Holt and I chartered a plane to fly from Dungu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the tiny village of Doruma which was recovering from repeated attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army. We found people living in fear of the next assault, as LRA raiding parties roamed the jungle […]
The biggest youth movement in Azerbaijan dissolves itself
Yesterday, on 9th December, “Ireli” (“Forward”) Countrywide Youth Movement – the biggest and strongest such organisation in Azerbaijan unexpectedly dissolved itself. The news was so out of the blue that, not only ordinary “Ireli” members, but even local news portals were caught unprepared to it. So what happened? Why a movement so carefully and painstakingly […]
Pulitzer Prize to recognise online only outlets
The Pulitzer Prizes are set to recognise online only publications. The 2009 awards are in April and will take into account “text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet.” “We continue to keep an eye on the changing media scene and try to make appropriate adjustments as we go along,” he told […]
U.S. refuse to release Reuters photographer
The U.S. military in Baghdad have refused to comply with an Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruling to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a Reuters freelance photographer. Mohammed has been held by U.S. forces since early September, 2008. On November 30, the Iraqi court said there was no evidence against him, “Though we appreciate the decision of […]
My African Year
So it’s that time of year when one of my clients puts together its review of the year. As usual I’m tasked with writing 800wd on the African year. As usual it’s something of a gloomfest. Here’s how it looks so far Zimbabwe – the old crocodile is still clinging firmly to power, while his […]
Video: Mexico’s method for speedy snowman building
The giant ice rink in Mexico City’s Zocalo is back this year — all 9,843 square feet of it. Inaugurated at the end of November, the rink is part of Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard‘s “Invierno en la Capital” (Winter in the Capital) initiative.
Political Casualties of a Lost War
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has reshuffled his cabinet as his government tries to deal with the fall-out from the disastrous war with Russia in August and prevent public discontent from escalating. News reports focused on the high-profile sackings of the defence minister and the foreign minister. But the defence minister’s departure was probably inevitable given […]
Somalia: The Mess Continues and a Lot of It is Our Fault
Human Rights Watch is publishing a report today accusing all sides of war crimes in Somalia. I’ve been trying to get a story away for the past couple of months on how British-funded police have been shooting up schools, looting and arbitrarily detaining journalists (see below). “The combatants in Somalia have inflicted more harm on […]
Earthquake Anniversary
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 1988 earthquake which devastated much of northern Armenia leaving 25,000 dead and many more homeless. Despite huge amounts of foreign aid flooding into the country after the tragedy, poverty in the second largest city of Gyumri remains high and thousands remain without homes leading Unzipped to agree that […]
Conflict Resolution and Education
With some media outlets reporting that momentum to striking a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues, the reality on the ground in both republics is that the two populations are not ready for resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on mutual compromise. The situation is reportedly worse in Azerbaijan, but many Armenians also […]
Al Jazeera English in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
After a hectic two days accompanying a film crew from Al Jazeera English to interviews and locations I had planned for them before their arrival, time for a break now they’re in Nagorno Karabakh. If the official representation of the disputed and self-declared republic had anything to do with it, the whole schedule would have […]
Mexico hosts its first human rights film festival
Immigration, women’s rights, illegal detention and human trafficking are some of the themes that will be examined next week during Mexico’s first human rights film festival.
Micahel J. Kavanagh and Taylor Krauss reporting from Congo
Michael J. Kavanagh, from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, reports from a refugee camp in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with footage from cameraman Taylor Krauss. Earlier today we blogged how the two got caught up with the secret police in the DRC. You can read the full story on the World Focus website, […]
Somali journalist injured in Mogadishu
Rasmi Mohamud Mohamed, a journalist with Somaliweyn local radio, was injured in an exchange of gunfire at a checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu yesterday. According to a report by Abdi Guled at Mareeg the bullets struck Rasmi’s left shoulder, Speaking to Mareeg online Rasmi has told that she was in 50-50 condition according to […]
Detained by Congo secret police
Cameraman Taylor Krauss was held by secret police in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week. He talks about the experience on the World Focus site, I knew a padded handshake could solve things in a country where [former president] Mobutu used to tell his citizens to “fend for themselves.†But I also knew […]
Dawa Khan Meenapal talks of Taliban kidnap ordeal
Dawa Khan Meenapal, RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent, talks to the radio station about his recent kidnap ordeal at the hands of the Taliban in Zabul Province on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. During his captivity he says he was treated fairly and that his captors were listeners (and fans) to his reports, I […]
Max Stahl documenting East Timor
British journalist and filmaker Max Stahl has been documenting the history of East Timor since the 1991 massacre at Dili’s Santa Cruz cemetery. He calls it is “his life’s mission” to give the fledgling country an audio visual record of its recent history. To that end he has set up an audio-visual centre in the […]
Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso wins Reporters Without Borders award
Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso has won Reporters Without Borders Journalist of the Year award for “helping an independent press to survive in Cuba”, After daring to challenge to the state’s monopoly of news and information, González was arrested on 18 March 2003 along with 26 other dissident journalists during the crackdown known as the “Black Spring.†[…]
A foreigner in my own land
Sean Langan writes in the Guardian about his life reporting foreign conflicts beginning in 1998 before his kidnap in Afghanistan earlier in 2008. He talks about that feeling – reverse culture shock – common to anyone who has lived and worked abroad for any length of time, Over the past 10 years I have spent […]
Mexican men ask for an end to violence against women
Posters such as the one here popped up on bus stops and billboards along my route to work across central Mexico City last week. They feature men well known in Mexico — journalists, sports personalities, actors and singers — asking that their fellow males stop beating up and abusing women.
Media advertising campaign targets violence against journalists
A television, radio and print advertising campaign called "What you don’t know can hurt you ("Te hace daño no saber" in Spanish)" is to launch here in Mexico in an attempt by press freedom groups to raise public awareness about violence against journalists and to demand more action from the government of President Felipe Calderon.
Jestina Mukoko abducted in Zimababwe
Jestina Mukoko, a prominent journalist and executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted from her home in Norton about 40km from the captial Harare by “15 men in plain clothes” yesterday, according to the African Press Organization, “Everything must be done to secure the swift release of Jestina Mukoko and to ensure her […]
Peter Lloyd’s job held on ice
ABC report that jailed foreign correspondent Peter Lloyd could end up keeping his job after he completes his ten month Singapore prison sentence for drugs possesion, The director of news and current affairs, John Cameron, said Lloyd was one of the best journalists to have worked at the ABC. “His colleagues feel for him,” Mr […]
