News
Foreign Policy bought by Washington Post
Foreign Policy magazine has been acquired by the Washington Post Company. Washington Post editor and foreign correspondent Susan Glasser will join the magazine as executive editor, “Foreign Policy is a terrific magazine, and I’m pleased it will become a part of our company,” said Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of The Washington […]
Journalists in prison
Every year the Committee to Protect Journalists releases a list of journalists imprisoned around the world. Every year since 2001, the United States has featured on this list. Joel Simon blogs about this further on the CPJ Blog, The annual appearance of the United States on CPJ’s imprisoned list since 2001 corresponds precisely with a […]
For sure they will kill us
Jason Motlagh writes on the Washington Times blog about the increasing dangers of reporting from Afghanistan. According to the post, “the government was responsible for at least 23 of the 45 reported incidents of intimidation, violence or arrest of journalists between May 2007 and May 2008” Unsurprisingly, it’s the Afghan journalists who are most at […]
Jaime FlorCruz working the China beat
Jaime FlorCruz, CNN Beijing bureau chief, talks about life of a foreign correspondent in China in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The 57 year old FlorCruz has been based in China for the past seven years, “It took time and effort to overcome professional and nationality-related barriers, to stare down political biases and racial stereotypes … […]
Daniel Pearl jam session
FODfest, or Friends of Danny, is a concert tour to celebrate the life of Daniel Pearl, the WSJ journalist murdered in Pakistan in 2002. The first show takes place on what would have been Pearl’s 45th birthday on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, reports the […]
It’s All Our Fault
It’s starting to look as if the problems in Somalia are all down to the inability of journalists to cover the conflict there properly – rather than say the complete hash of things made by the country’s neighbours, the United Nations’ and donors’ misguided attempts to prop up an unpopular government of warlords, and the […]
All at Sea
Don’t get me wrong. Somalia is one of my favourite countries in my patch – whether sipping cappuccinos in a bombed out hotel or admiring the golden white beaches it’s a fascinating place – and I’m lucky enough to count a handful of Somalis as friends, and never tire of listening to them explain the […]
Kenya, The Pirates and those Rather Embarrassing Tanks
Pirates with the MV Faina (US Navy pic) So where were the MV Faina’s 33 T-72 tanks heading? The fog of misinformation surrounding their destination suggests a fresh scandal brewing. As soon as I heard the ship had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia last week, I was content with the information […]
The business of death
Hugh Sykes writes on the BBC website about the dangers for Iraqi journalists trying to report on the ongoing war. Almost 300 media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003. Most of the dead are Iraqi, The editor of the Baghdad daily paper al Sabaah, Falah al Mashal, told me: “Journalism all over the […]
100,000 signatures commemorate death of Kenji Nagai
Protesters in Japan presented the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo a 100,000 signature petition protesting the murder of video journalist Kenji Nagai in the Burmese capital Rangoon one year ago. The group also asked for the return of his camera equipment, The group led by Kota Kinoshita, who was a close friend of Nagai, had collected […]
Our next door neighbours are foreign countries
[video:youtube:nokTjEdaUGg] I didn’t want to post this here… but I have to. If there’s one thing that impacts the work of foreign correspondents and war reporters more than any other it is US foreign policy. Should the Republican party win the US election in November Sarah Palin will become Vice President. She got her first […]
Arrests made in Mexico grenade attack raise questions
The attorney general’s office announced Friday afternoon that it arrested three men in connection with the two grenade explosions in Morelia, Michoacan, last week that killed 8 people and left more than a hundred injured. According to a statement from Asst. Atty. Gen. Maricela Morales Ibañez, the suspects were arrested in the town of Apatzingan, […]
US Army General challenges the military to embrace new media at Milblogging Conference
“We need to change the organisational culture of our military. A culture that emphasises control of all pertinent events within our battlespace. And yet the stark realisation is that we cannot control all aspects of this new media…” This is an extract from a video of Lieutenant General William Caldwell speaking at the recent Milblogging […]
Nightmare bureaucracy in Mexico? Share your story
The Mexican government launched a competition Thursday to find the worst examples of inefficiency within the bureaucratic machine. The initiative is asking people to submit the most outrageous examples of inefficiency and corruption they have experienced when dealing with officials and government agencies in Mexico. The effort is being overseen by la SecretarÃa de la […]
Pirates of the Indian Ocean
I thought it might be instructive for any students of journalism who read this blog to detail my typical interaction with one of the foreign desks for which I work. FD: Good morning, Foreign. ME: Morning. You are probably no doubt sick of pirates… FD: HAAAARGGGGH ME: …but I wondered whether you might have noticed […]
What Shall We Do with the Pirate Sailor?
So, what do you do when you arrest a bunch of Somali “fishermen” in two small speedboats loaded down with AK-47s and RPGs in the Gulf of Aden where pirates have come close to shutting down one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes? You let them go. Well you do if you are the Danish […]
Gael Garcia Bernal mocked for essay on Mexico attacks
Gael Garcia Bernal, the Mexican actor and heart throb, has responded to the bombings in the Mexican state of Michoacan last week with a column for the newspaper El Universal. The article, written from Europe in complicated Spanish, is a poetic tribute to the eight people who died in last week’s bombings in Morelia, and […]
Burmese journalist Win Tin released
Burmese journalist Win Tin was released from prison today after 19 years behind bars. The 78 year old, who is Burma’s longest serving political prisoner, vowed to continue to protest against the ruling junta, The 78-year-old Win Tin said he would continue to wear his light blue prison uniform as a show of protest against […]
The Uncertainty Principle: Somalia and the Art of Quantum Mechanics
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it – Niels Bohr If you are not completely confused by quantum mechanics, you do not understand it – John Wheeler It is safe to say that nobody understands quantum mechanics – Richard Feynman For a small part of […]
Jean-Paul Ney in danger
Jean-Paul Ney, the investigative journalist and war reporter arrested in Ivory Coast nine months ago, is in ill health according to the Intelink website, Today after 9 months in jail, the health of Jean-Paul Ney is in danger. He has been hospitalized twice for Malaria and typhoid fever, and put back in jail each time. […]
Morelia: informality characterizes bombing investigation
It’s been a few days since I returned from the bomb site in Morelia, Michoacán. I visited there on Wednesday; two days after a double-grenade attack in the city’s centre during its Independence Day celebrations killed eight people. The death toll rose from 7 to 8 at the weekend when a 13-year-old boy died from […]
In defence of the shocking
Bernard-Henri Levy picks apart the media reaction to the Paris Match Taliban photographs taken by photographer Veronique de Viguerie and asks the question – When are news photographs too shocking for public consumption? – After firing a broadside at the commentators and government officials who lambasted de Viguerie and Paris Match, he offers a staunch […]
The Kurt Schork newsroom
Matt Von Pinnon writes about the building of a newsroom at Jamestown College campus in the United States in memory of Kurt Schork, the Reuters reporter who was killed on May 24, 2000 in Sierra Leone, The Kurt Schork Newsroom. In a retrofitted space in the basement of the college’s library, now sits a multimedia […]
Mark Austin on “autocuties”
Last week Mark Austin, ITV war reporter and news reader, complained about pretty boy and pretty girl reporters who read the news in a studio, but have little experience in the field. He termed them “autocuties”, “I do think there are a number of pretty young women and handsome young men without a solid journalistic […]
Mark Mardell in hostile environments
Mark Mardell heads into hostile territory for the BBC, but this is just make believe. The BBC’s Europe Editor found it increasingly daft that he was missing out on stories because he hadn’t done the requisite hostile environment training course, Why am I here if I don’t want to get close to gunfire? Well, I […]
Shanty Soundtrack
HMCS Ville de Quebec So I’ve been able to do some pretty cool trips during the past four years in Africa. My five days aboard a Canadian frigate, HMCS Ville de Quebec, were probably among the most fun. The frigate was pulled away from its Nato duties in the Med a couple of months ago […]
Muaid al-Lami wounded in Baghdad bomb
Muaid al-Lami, head of Iraq’s national journalists’ union, was among six people wounded in a bomb blast outside the union offices in central Baghdad today according to Reuters, “Some vehicles outside caught fire and it shattered all the glass in the building,” union member Hassan al-Aboudi, who was in the building at the time, told […]
Video: Mexico Bomb Victim Tells His Story
“And then I heard a thump. There was a patrol car parked in the street blocking the cars – a transport patrol – and I heard something hit the patrol car. I turned round to see and something rolled…when it stopped I realized that it was a grenade.” Rafael Bucio, a 30 year old car-parking […]
FBI investigate death of Cambodian journalist
Two FBI agents arrived in Cambodia this week to help investigate the killing in July of local journalist Khim Sambo and his son. Khim was gunned down in the streets of the Cambodia capital in July. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior reportely invited the duo to contribute in a “purely supportive” role, Chan Soveth, […]
Caution urged over Somalia kidnap video
Reporters Without Borders urge caution when watching the video aired by Al Jazeera earlier this week that purports to show kidnapped journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan held hostage in Somalia, “We have to be very careful of this video,” said Leonard Vincent, head of the organization’s Africa desk. “We don’t know who sent it, […]
