November 2011
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“I’ve never stopped loving Andy. He’s my son. He made a terrible...”
– People often ask - why did you want to be a journalist? My answer has frequently been, “because I want to tell people’s stories. The stories of people who are rarely heard.”
I think one excellent example of how journalism can tell open us to such worlds is this Guardian feature...
October 2011
3 posts
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Murder - the leading cause of death among...
This statement from Article 19 about journalists in conflict zones is a good wrap on the dangers they face there, especially as we mark the 10th anniversary of the Afghan conflict.
According to the Afghan non-governmental organisation Nai, the 10-year conflict has left 22 journalists dead, 6 of whom were women, and seen 23 journalists kidnapped. Nai’s figures for violence and intimidation...
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How to write a good journalism job application
Commonsense advice, but good nonetheless, and applicable across all industries, not just the media.
“Why most journalism job applications are ‘disappointingly poor’ - and how to ensure yours isn’t
There’s an awful lot written about how to apply for journalism jobs - but most of it comes from the applicants’ perspective. Instead, today we have a piece from a...
September 2011
4 posts
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“Nobody will pick them from the doormat wondering how the world has changed from...”
– This quote, by veteran British newspaper man Ian Jack, is, of course, about newspapers. Much has been written about the possible demise of the print medium, which has been the source of some of the best journalism in the history of the news industry.
Jack’s op-ed in The Guardian is worth a...
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Remembering September 11, 2001
I was watching the BBC’s coverage of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States an hour ago when they replayed the start of the “10 O’Clock News” in Britain, which of course led with footage of the Twin Towers collapsing.
I realised how difficult it was (for me at least) to revisit the early horror and shock of what had just unfolded on...
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August 2011
2 posts
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July 2011
1 post
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June 2011
2 posts
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WatchI though this little animation was pretty cool, though I have to admit, having recently rewatched Star Wars IV: A New Hope, I saw it more as the Death Star (I know, I know). You can read the article “Welcome to the Anthropocene” here.
theeconomist:
jonberkeley:
Here’s a step-by-step of an illustration for this week’s Economist cover, about the dramatic effect we insignificant...
May 2011
1 post
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April 2011
2 posts
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Myths about the future of journalism
This five-point list by The Washington Post is an excellent wrap of the problems journalism is facing or is not facing.
1. The traditional news media are losing their audience. 2. Online news will be fine as soon as the advertising revenue catches up. 3. Content will always be king. 4. Newspapers around the world are on the decline. 5. The solution is to focus on local news.
I certainly have...
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March 2011
3 posts
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“If you want to employ a proper journalist rather than a cheap web monkey, the...”
– Now, I know talk about the divide between print and online/digital journalists has been discussed over and over again since … well … since the internet came about. So it’s been quite a few years. Yet comments like the above are still held in newsrooms today.
Kevin Anderson (who I...
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December 2010
2 posts
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“Better that right counsels be known to enemies than that the evil secrets of...”
– Benedictus de Spinoza, a 17th-century Dutch philosopher (via paulbradshaw)
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November 2010
5 posts
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“As I see it, it’s wrong to write about people without living through at least a...”
– Ryszard Kapuściński (via felixandalex.com)
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'What have we done in 10 years?' →
compoundliving:
The attitude of most of the international workers here seems to be one of resignation. They try to do what they can, on an individual level, but are unsure about what exactly they’ve done. What have we done in 10 years here? And though everyone laments the security restrictions that prevent travel to the places where we can actually do some good, no one wants to get killed,...
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October 2010
5 posts
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“How bad do you want to be a reporter? Bad enough to work nights and weekends?...”
– an Oct. 1 posting on JournalismJobs.com by the Illinois Valley News in southern Oregon. (via washingtonpoststyle
)
Yes, this is the reality of a media job. Sad but true.
(via carlosmonteiro)
… and of course, with the economic crunch and the easy access to news for free on the internet,...
September 2010
6 posts
6 tags
Life as a foreign correspondent →
kigaliwireroughbook:
Former Guardian Foreign Editor Harriet Sherwood writes about her new life as a foreign correspondent three months into the job. Previously, she wrote about her thoughts before heading overseas,
a correspondent’s role is surely to go beyond that, to dig out the stories that aren’t immediate “news”, to provide context and analysis, to allow those whose voices are routinely...
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'Towards a mutualised news organisation' →
This looks very promising. Hopefully it’ll be replicated for other topics and at other news websites.
carlosmonteiro:
The Guardian gives external bloggers the power to publish with a 50/50 ad revenue split. It sells ads against the bloggers’ pages; the bloggers, in turn, get half the revenue from the exchange.
and an interesting observation:
You would not know it from general media...
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The fact checkers
When I was watching the wires daily as an online news editor, one of top picks to read on the internet was AP’s “FACT CHECK”.
Now, I don’t know if it’s an old or new initiative, or if the other major wire services do it for their domestic markets, say AFP for France, Reuters and PA for the UK, but I think it’s a good one.
I suppose it’s generally fair to...
August 2010
6 posts
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“Dreams are important, otherwise sleep is just eight hours of nothing”
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Pakistan floods: 20 million affected and counting
This is just a wee post on some of the information about the Pakistan floods I’ve come across online.
What’s happening now? The news is that the Pakistani government says 20 million people have been affected by the floods, higher than the UN estimates of 14 million. For a quick analysis on the Pakistan government and military response, this is a short piece in The Guardian by Owen...
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Dry Mouth - Kabul Life: Loss of another good... →
I felt I should reblog this. It’s a moving tribute by a friend of one of the doctors - Dr Karen Woo - who was shot dead in northern Afghanistan with nine others on Friday.
My mate Karen was killed on Thursday. We weren’t very close and there are many who are much more devastated than me: her boyfriend, her family, her colleagues and friends, but I wanted to pay a small tribute.
Karen was...
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Gitmo: a place where the rules change daily
My colleague recommended me this great piece by Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg, who has written in detail about the censorship that goes on at Guantanamo Bay.
It’s a place where, if you ask why, they tell you, “That’s the rules ma’am.” If you say that wasn’t the rule a year ago, a month ago — they shrug and say that’s the rule today.
…
...
July 2010
4 posts
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WatchGreat to see The Guardian placing a long-form video in its front-page image slot.
It’s not often that you get to see an in-depth piece on the front-page of news websites, as many are more focused on quick-turnover, here-today-gone-tomorrow stories.
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June 2010
2 posts
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“Thanks everyone for all the really kind messages after yesterday. They mean a...”
– That’s the first tweet that ousted Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wrote since he was pushed out by the Labor Party and new PM Julia Gillard. There was no doubt that yesterday’s quick and dramatic removal of Rudd, who was elected as the leader of the country in 2007, left many...
April 2010
3 posts
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Hellacious headlines
I’m a big fan of witty headlines in newspapers. But there seems to be much less of them online, perhaps due to the nature of the medium, the need for SEO headlines etc.
So I’m using this blog post as a way to collect some good ones as I come across them. Please do post as comments any good ones you see too!
Here’s two to start off with:
Slog with less grog is too much to beer:...