News
Zimbabwe – There is no freedom after expression
Memorable quote from Davison Maruziva, the editor of the Independent Zimbabwean newspaper, in the IHT today, Davison Maruziva says there’s plenty of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. Problem is: “There is no freedom after expression.” link The article goes on to discuss the state of the media in the beleagured nation and quotes Zimbabwe Information […]
Niger RFI journalist released
Moussa Kaka, a local reporter for Radio France International (RFI) in Niger, was released from prison yesterday after spending over a year in prison. The charges against him have been “downgraded”. He was originally charged with “complicity in plotting against state authority”. He will now face charges of being “against the integrity of national territory”. […]
Ben Anderson on 24 hours in Helmand
[video:liveleak:89a_1223425254] Ben Anderson talks about his BBC reports from Helmand province in Afghanistan with VBS TV. Part 1 is above and here’s more on the series, “This series is about 24 hours in Helmand, Afghanistan’s most violent province. More..I was with the Queen’s Company, British soldiers who normally guard Buckingham Palace. Their job was to […]
The importance of photojournalism
Joanna Pitman discusses the changing nature of photojournalism in The Times in an era of camera phones in every other pocket and soldier-generated content from the front lines of every other war, “People like Philip Jones Griffiths and Larry Burrows made amazing bodies of work in Vietnam,” says the photojournalist Tom Stoddart. “But after that […]
The Zimbabwean profiled on BBC
Wilf Mbanga and his wife Trish, who produce The Zimbabwean weekly newspaper from their home in Southampton, UK, are profiled by BBC South’s Inside Out programme this week. Wilf is a regular at the Frontline Club and he took part in the Zimbabwe debate earlier this year. The BBC documentary will look at the couple’s […]
Like Eating a Stone
Wojciech Tochman, a Polish journalist, chronicles the aftermath of war in Bosnia in his book “Like Eating a Stone: Surviving the Past in Bosnia†translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Matthew Price reviews the book for the New York Times, If Tochman is sympathetic to Bosnia’s Muslims as they struggle to make their way, he also takes […]
Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani speaks of imprisonment
Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a journalist and former editor of Yemeni political weekly newspaper Al-Shora, speaks about his five month imprisonment with The Yemen Times. He was arrested in June, 2008 on “fabricated terrorism charges”. He also won the Amnesty International Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat during the same month as his arrest, “There […]
An Abomination
Jerome Corsi at the airport yesterday. AP Two things you don’t do in Kenya right now: Criticise Barack Obama when the country is in the midst of Obama mania; suggest Raila Odinga is an extreme socialist who rose to the position of prime minister on the back of violence conducted by radical muslims. Jerome Corsi, […]
RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Awards 2008
[video:google:4851574881284968082&ei] Global Voices rounds up the blogosphere’s reaction to the second anniversary of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Awards 2008 was a private event at the Frontline Club to commemorate Anna’s life and recognise those women working on the frontline around the world. Live Journal blogger markgrigorian has […]
Bajo Juarez campaigns for the dead women of Ciudad Juarez
“She said some words to my mother that I’ll never forget: ‘Don’t be scared, but they just said on TV that they’ve found a girl that fits Alejandra’s description. We still don’t know if it’s her. Don’t be frightened but call and ask,’†said Maria Luisa Garcia, who stayed outside to speak to their neighbor […]
Warlord jalied for BBC killing
Mukhiddin Olimpur, the BBC’s chief Farsi language correspondent in Tajikistan, was murdered in 1995. Nasrullo Sharifov, a rebel warlord, was jailed for 15 years today for murdering the journalist, “Sharifov was directly involved in the murder and confessed during the investigation and court hearings that he personally fired twice at Mukhiddin Olimpur from a Makarov […]
Back in Kandahar
Amniat kharab day. Hokumat kharab day. Taliban kharab day. Security is messed up. The government’s messed up. The Taliban are messed up. I was trying to have a conversation with old colleague of mine from Kabul on the plane down to Kandahar. He’s originally from there, of course, but now lived and worked in the […]
Ethiopian Famine Averted
Among many of the titbits of useful advice I picked up as I worked my way through Britain’s regional newspapers was one that has caused me no end of trouble. “Rob,” one of the old hands at The Herald (I should point out this is a Scottish national paper – not a British regional paper) […]
Mexico memory march turns violent
Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets yesterday to demand justice for the victims of a mass-killing by Government troops on the night of October 2nd forty years ago. Survivors of that bloody night and Mexicans who had not been born then joined forces, chanting “Dos de octubre! No se olvide!” (Oct. 2! Don’t forget!) […]
Women in war
UALR Public radio tells the stories of five women in five different wars. The audio broadcast begins with a female war reporter, Carolin Emcke is a war correspondent and the author of “Echoes of Violence: Letters from a War Reporter.” She tells Steve Paulson that what war survivors ask for most often is the chance […]
Marchers remember the dead of October 2nd 1968
Hundreds of students and other Mexicans congregated on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma, Thursday at 3pm, to march in memory of the hundreds who died that night 40 years ago. These protesters (above) carried a banner that said “Terrorists!” presumably in reference to the Mexican authorities, who have failed to punish those responsible for […]
Mexico to remember massacre 40 years later
Today, people of all ages will march in memory of a massacre that took place forty years ago in Mexico City – an event that remains one of the darkest in the country’s recent and bloody history. On October 2nd 1968 the country was gearing up for the opening of the Olympics here in Mexico […]
It’s split
[video:youtube:KTkqosRiyYo] Roy Greenslade points us to a FOX News election straw poll taken in what looks like your average American diner in Northeastern Pennsylvania. “It’s split,” says the journalist. Really?
Shooting the Messenger Again
Andrew Mwangura, piracy expert, in Mombasa The Kenyan government has already slagged off journalists for reporting on piracy, the UN’s special representative has accused us of passing on pirate propaganda, and now it’s my old pal, Andrew Mwangura, who is getting it in the neck. For the past decade or so he has been monitoring […]
Chris Wattie talks Afghanistan
Chris Wattie, National Post senior national reporter and author of Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan, talks about time in Kandahar with Canadian soldiers, In an enlightening interview, Wattie describes his experience in combat with Canadian soldiers, and tells the stories that most Canadians haven’t heard. He discusses […]
Patrick Cockburn on his son and schizophrenia
Patrick Cockburn talks candidly about his son’s schizophrenia in the Daily Mail today. The Frontline Club regular blames a strong form of cannabis known as skunk for his son’s illness, I blame cannabis for what happened to Henry. He says he smoked a lot between the ages of 14 and 19, but I didn’t notice […]
BBC turned back by militia in South Ossetia
The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and the TV crew he was travelling with were turned back by armed militia men as they attempted to enter South Ossetia. Click the image above to watch the footage.
In Photos: Police torture, Stormtroopers and the next Mexican Revolution
Coyoacan is a sleepy (at least for Mexico City), leafy and green middle class suburb in the south of Distrito Federal, home to many of the capital’s intellectuals and politicians. It is also where the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM – one of the largest and most important universities in Mexico – has its […]
Panjwayi Taliban Interview
I know it’s a little old, but probably most of those reading this blog haven’t seen it, and a lot of what is said here hasn’t changed since early 2007. We made this interview with a Taliban commander in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province while AfghanWire was still up and running. For more of the […]
How does Sarah Palin form her world view? Easy, she doesn’t
[video:youtube:wBttm2hOhhY] I’m not sure this blog can take another dose of Sarah Palin, but here goes. Click the above clip forward on the video above to the 3 minute mark to discover exactly how the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in one of the most important US elections ever forms her world view. If you can’t […]
Soumya Vishwanathan shot dead in Delhi
Soumya Vishwanathan, a TV journalist with the Delhi-based Headlines Today, died after being shot in the head in her car after returning from a late night shift last night, Police said they got a call from an autorickshaw driver about the incident at 3:41 am. “Her Maruti Zen had hit the divider of the road. […]
Threat to Iraqi journalists
Magda Abu-Fadil writes on The Huffington Post about the Iraqi journalist hotline set up recently after the killing of four staff from the Al-Sharqiya TV station in September, 2008, A ministry spokesman said hotlines would be established between various police departments, government agencies, intelligence services, swat teams and journalists to enable the ministry to protect […]
The disappeared in Mexico
Monica Campbell and Maria Salazar publish a special report for the Committee to Protect Journalists on the dangers facing journalists working in Mexico. 21 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 and seven reporters have vanished in the past three years. The report suggests the disappearances are either a new tactic by organised crime […]
Mullah Omar releases his ‘eid message
Just like last year, Mullah Omar, the sort-of Taliban leader, has released a message on the occasion of ‘eid, the Muslim religious festival. Lots of interesting things in what he says, so you ought to read the full text (available in pretty passable English translation here). But before you get there make sure to read […]
Mark Wood steps down from ITN
Mark Wood, chief executive of ITN, is to leave the television company after six years to “pursue opportunities outside the companyâ€. The one time foreign correspondent will remain as Chairman of ITN for the time being. He entered the world of foreign correspondents in 1976. He joined ITN after a stint with Reuters in Vienna, […]
