News
Peace not war
In Jakarta, Indonesia the government is trying to encourage the national press to put the focus on peace journalism and not war journalism, “It would be better for the national press not merely to develop war journalism such as communal violence or clashes,” Henry Subiakto, assistant for mass media to the information and communications minister, […]
David Axe heading to Chad
Frontline blogger David Axe is heading to Chad and Sudan tomorrow. He’ll be blogging when he can. He’ll also be the second Frontline blogger to experiment with the mobile phone live streaming video tool called Qik. Kyle is already a big fan, but David will see how (and if) the service works in the field. […]
Kaki Cruises to Win
Abubaker Kaki is world indoor 800m. He trains with blocks of concrete Abubaker Kaki’s build-up to the Olympics continues in impressive style. Last night he won the Golden Spike 800m, his second win in his last two outings. The men’s 800m featured two outstanding juniors, Abubaker Kaki of Sudan and Kenya’s David Rudisha. The finish […]
Reporting the red zone
The New York Observer begins a week of reports, called Reporting the Red Zone, focussing on the lives of journalists stationed in Baghdad, “It’s the oft-stated phrase that truth is the first casualty of war,†said Michael Ware, CNN’s Baghdad correspondent, on the telephone from Iraq. “In this war, as in every other conflict, everybody […]
Silent mourning for Abdul Samad Rohani
TV and radio stations across Britain mourned the loss of Abdul Samad Rohani with a two minute silence. Meanwhile a memorial to the young reporter, who worked for the BBC in Helmand province, has been organised, The memorial had been organised by Afghan journalist unions for their murdered colleague. Some speakers read poems, a traditional […]
No sleep in Stockholm
Mohammed Omer, winner of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn prize, talks to Menassat in Stockholm. The biggest problem for the Rafah resident in the Swedish capital? He can’t sleep, it’s too quiet. No bombs, “It’s strange. I can hardly sleep here. Where I come from, quietness represents the calm before the storm. Whenever Israel attacks Gaza […]
The China Guide for snappers
Photo District News Online talked to ten photographers who have photographed in mainland China and asks their advice on how best to work in this heavily censored country, “Sometimes the political situation is dominant (anti-NATO riots 1999, the annual party congress), and sometimes it fades. But during the Olympics you can be sure it will […]
What’s the economic model for news?
[video:youtube:a3n6qMGvpw8] We’re watching the Roman Empire fall apparently and we’re in the era of barbarian thieftans. Can’t argue with that. Josh Marshall, founder of Talking Points Memo blog, paints a paperless picture for the future of news at a conference last month at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Films from the frontline
John D. McHugh’s latest video report from Afghanistan is live on The Guardian website. John also has another film, “Captain McChrystal’s Thanksgiving” and a new audio slideshow called “Not fit for task” up on the site too. Both are part of a “flash” presentation. John dropped me an email to say he’s working hard on […]
Banned from Afghanistan?
Sir Max Hastings says he’s been banned from the battlefields of Afghanistan by Defence Secretary Des Browne. Hastings has been a regular visitor to war zones for more than 20 years. Talking to The First Post he explains further, “I asked to go, as I’ve so often gone to British battlefields all over the world, […]
Ziv Koren and the finger camera
Annaliza Savage, Wired.com’s multimedia editor, writes about how photographer Ziv Koren used a “finger camera” on top of his camera while photographing conflict zones. Film director Solo Avital later used a mix of stills and video to produce the More than 1000 Words documentary, In order to film Koren on the West Bank, Gaza and […]
A Well-Earned Break for Kenyan MPs
Missed this gem yesterday in The Nation. Parliament resumes this afternoon to prepare for the Budget to be read on Thursday. The House took a break three weeks ago after it became apparent that it did not have business to transact. These, you remember, are some of the world’s most highly paid MPs. And I […]
How much violence can we show?
The New Times in the Rwandan capital Kigali ponders whether or not BBC World should have shown the picture of a man whose right ear had been chopped off in violence in the run up to the Zimbabwe election “run off” later this month, Such pictures quite often pose a dilemma for the media; they […]
Guardian announces head of international news
Harriet Sherwood was appointed as head of international news at The Guardian today. Sherwood joined the paper in 1989 rising from sub to the position of Foreign editor five years ago. She is one of five new heads announced at the newspaper.
Algeria withdraws press credentials
Two journalists, one working for Reuters the other for AFP, have had their press credentials withdrawn according to The Media Line, The Reuters journalist reported an explosion in Algeria earlier this week, in which it said 20 people were killed. The government said the bombing never occurred. The Reuters journalist has meanwhile submitted his resignation. […]
Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani sentenced to six years
Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, a veteran journalist and one of Yemen’s most prominent democracy advocates, has been sentenced to six years in jail with hard labour for supporting an alleged terrorist group. He spoke with Amnesty shortly before he was imprisoned, “The authorities in Yemen are trying to silence me and they even appear to be […]
Philippine TV crew abducted
Three journalists from the Philippine network ABS-CBN in the southern Philippine province of Sulu were abducted on Sunday. They are journalist Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, and assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama, Armed men seized the three journalists from a car in Maimbung town on Jolo island on Sunday morning, according to The Associated Press. The […]
Ahmad Rafat wins press freedom award
Ahmad Rafat, deputy director of Adnkronos International (AKI) has won the Ilaria Alpi Television Journalism Award for Freedom of the Press. The Italo-Iranian journalist hit the headlines last week when he was barred access to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s global food summit, Rafat, who has spent years writing about political and social […]
Human rights and the Olympics
Reporters Without Borders urges the leaders of the Olympic Movement to consider the respect for human rights and freedom of expression in awarding future Olympic Games to avoid the controversy around the Beijing Olympics and torch procession, “Discussion of the criteria for assigning future Olympics must begin now if a new Beijing Games situation is […]
U.S. Warship Rescues Somalis
“USS Russell (DDG 59) responded to a vessel in distress between Bossasso, Somalia and the Yemeni coast in the Gulf of Aden June 8,†the Navy reports. Russell hosts the kickass The Destroyermen blog: A Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 air asset notified Russell of the small boat’s distress call. Russell, operating nearby, proceeded at […]
Know your DBIEDs from your HBIEDs
Deborah Haynes, Baghdad Correspondent for The Times, navigates the world of military acronymns, As a journalist, I spend a fair amount of time asking someone to translate into real English (or at least real American English) what is being said when on an embed with soldiers. link Even so, Haynes does a fine job of […]
The view from a British soldier in Afghanistan
As I’ve discussed previously finding a British military blogger updating from Afghanistan or Iraq is a difficult task. This is about the best I can find at the moment. Lachlan MacNeil is section commander of Section 1, 2 Platoon, A Company, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He’s currently in Helmand province in Afghanistan fighting the […]
In a Perfect world…
I’m an avid user of Google News, but I’m not sure I’ll ever see a day when the front page looks like this. via cyberjournalist
How to be a Journalist
I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with some extremely talented journalists over the years. Many of them have delivered sage words of advice. Some are still ringing in my ears. For anyone aspiring to be a penniless freelancer who can only afford to live in Africa, here are some of the nuggets that helped […]
From Gaza to London
Mohammed Omar, in an article republished by the International Middle East Media Center, tries to work out a way to get from Gaza to collect the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London next week, How can I get out at a time when Israel is not allowing even the most urgent medical cases […]
“Sweet Jesus! Apple has just revolutionized citizen journalism with their AP app for iPhone”
Well, that’s according to @tacomasha on Twitter. @tonysteward is more restrained – Okay, the AP iPhone app is legit, it will take citizen journalism to a whole new level. Exciting! As is @miguelmanalo – Dude AP on-the-go citizen journalism? Kickass. And @benkerney – AP’s new iPhone app will win citizen journalism And others. So, what […]
Reporting from Sarajevo
Vildana Selimbegovic recalls her baptism into the world of war reporting in an interview with Transitions Online today. She talks about reporting in Sarajevo, present day threats to journalists in Bosnia and the future for the country, “My university professors used to tell us, ‘Do you really think that you can easily become a war […]
BBC on journalist deaths
Jon Williams, BBC World News Editor, blogs about the deaths of Abdul Samad Rohani and Nasteh Dahir, the two BBC journalists killed this past weekend, Last year, the International News Safety Institute reported that two journalists had been killed every week over the past ten years – a thousand media workers lost their lives between […]
How the soldier repairs the gramophone
BBC journalist Allan Little talks to Sasa Stanisic, author of How the soldier repairs the gramophone – the English translation of which arrives in bookshops tomorrow – and remembers the day the war arrived in the town of Visegrad, on the River Drina, which separates Bosnia from Serbia, I and countless other western reporters ran […]
Murdered BBC journalist buried
Abdul Samad Rohani, the 25 year old BBC journalist murdered in Helmand province on Sunday, was buried in his home cemetery in the district of Marja today, “Unknown armed men had abducted Rohani and his body was found yesterday. He had four bullets shot at his chest. We are investigating the case.” A relative who […]
