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Poland's Past Jozef Kasparek, reply by Martin Malia April 12, 1984 Issue To the Editors: ...It is not true that, before World War II, "political parties, unions, and free expression were not curtailed...." Articles in the press were often pulled by county (powiat) or province (województwo) censors. The editor of the Wilno Slowo ("Word"), Stanislaw Mackiewicz, was arrested and confined in the Bereza Kartuska concentration camp for political prisoners. The editor of the Dziennik Wilenski ("Wilno Daily"), Jan Obst, was beaten up with impunity by military officers for having called Pilsudski a buffoon. A standing joke with Polish readers, accustomed to finding blank areas in their newspapers, was: "Q. When is an article pulled by the censors? A. When it lies too much, or when it tells too much truth!" ... Jozef Kasparek Polish University in Exile Martin Malia replies: Professor Labrousse is quite correct to point out that the phrase "It is not necessary to hope in order to undertake, nor to succeed in order to persevere" is not by Pascal. It is, however, far from certain that it is by William the Silent. Les citations françaises (Paris, 1952) and the Encyclopédie des citations (Paris, 1959) both state that, though this aphorism is generally attributed to him, it is to be found neither in his printed works nor in biographies by contemporaries. In any event the exact wording in the original French, William's principal language, is: "Point n'est besoin d'espérer pour entreprendre, ni de réussir pour persévérer." But whoever first said it, it is an excellent rendering of what one heard constantly in Poland during the sixteen months of Solidarity: "What we are doing is impossible and at the same time necessary." Professor Kurczaba, also, is correct to say that there was "persecution" in Counter-Reformation Poland to the extent that the "Arian" (i.e., Unitarian) Polish Brethren were expelled from the country in 1660. Indeed, I was quite aware of this fact when writing, as well as familiar with George Williams's splendid two volumes of annotated documents on the Brethren. If I did not mention their expulsion, it is because the incident was not significant enough in general Polish history for inclusion in an article that, despite its relative length, was still a highly synoptic account, directed moreover to explaining how Poland got to be what it is today. Thus a sentence describing the dissidents' elimination from political life after 1660 was reduced to an adjective saying that this occurred "without notable persecution," a qualification I then imprudently deleted. (Similarly, the far more numerous, historically more important, and - from Nicholas I to Stalin - more devastatingly persecuted Uniates were relegated to a mere footnote.) More basically, however, I cannot agree with Professor Kurczaba's assessment of the historical significance of Polish Protestantism. One can say of the Polish Reformation, again synoptically, that it was the most wide-ranging and diverse in Europe; that its "left" or anti-Trinitarian wing was the most radical anywhere, advocating as it did total separation of church and state, communistic social leveling, integral pacifism, and a rationalistic proto-deism; and that, as of the 1570s, it appeared that the Reformation would win, endowing Poland with a national Calvinist church. Nonetheless, after a generation or two, the movement withered away leaving few traces behind it (except for the German Lutheran cities of the north); and this occurred, not because the movement was persecuted out of existence, but because its principal sponsors, the independent-minded szlachta, abandoned it for a revived, populistic Catholicism as a result of the crisis of national survival produced by the mid-seventeenth-century Swedish invasion, the "Deluge." Furthermore, the expulsion of the Polish Brethren must be seen in historical perspective. Until late in the eighteenth century everywhere in Europe, church and society were viewed as a single whole, and religious nonconformity was held to be tantamount to sedition, at least potentially. Anti-Trinitarians, moreover, were considered to be particularly abhorrent, veritable "blasphemers" who had wholly abandoned Christianity. When they were discovered they were usually burned - the wellknown fate of Servetus in Calvin's Geneva - while Puritan-Parliamentary England and even the cosmopolitan Dutch Republic decreed, if they did not often enforce, the death penalty for Arian proselytizing. In Massachusetts Quakers were still hanged in the 1660s. Indeed, almost everywhere the issue of the Reformation was determined by state power, on the basis of cuius regio, eius religio. Only in Poland (and in Hungarian Transylvania) did the will of society and individual conscience play a decisive role in the outcome of the Reform; and it is beyond dispute that nowhere else did there exist a statute of toleration as liberal as the "Warsaw Confederation" of 1573, which justifiably earned for Poland the title Paradisus hereticorum, the refuge of such dissident luminaries as Commenius from Hapsburg Bohemia and of Faustus Socinus from Tridentine Italy. Nor was the blow against the Polish Brethren very harsh when it came: they were expelled for treason more than for heresy, since they had in fact collaborated with the Swedes more obdurately during the Deluge than the average of the szlachta; they were given three years to turn their belongings into movable form; and the related though more moderate Czech Brethren of Commenius were soon allowed to return - a treatment anodyne in comparison to the vast number of expulsions and deprivations of property carried out almost contemporaneously by Louis XIV against the Huguenots or by Cromwell against Irish papists. As for the Polish Counter-Reformation, although the militant Vasa monarchy and the Jesuits would not have been adverse to using the coercive power of the state, neither the traditions of the szlachta nor those of the Roman Catholic episcopacy, hostile in principle to forced conversion because of its earlier experience with the Teutonic Knights, would allow this. The result was that the return to Rome, even in the case of the Union of Brzesć (Brest-Litovsk) in 1596 with most of the Orthodox, was accomplished by persuasion, through revivalistic preaching, pilgrimages to popular shrines, and above all by promoting Marian devotion. It is the voluntary nature of this reconversion that for the first time made Poland a Catholic nation, with potent consequences down to the present day - which was the main point I wished to make. For it was largely by employing the affecting Baroque theater associated with the ancient shrine of Czestochowa, and by adapting this style of piety to such contemporary churches as that of Mary Queen of Poland in the steel center of Nowa Huta, that Cardinal Wyszynski and John Paul II achieved the national-libertarian "mobilization" that contributed so much to Solidarity. In contrast, in Czechoslovakia and Hungary Catholicism was restored in the seventeenth century in significant measure by foreign, Hapsburg force; thus, though the majority religion, it is not felt as distinctively national. In Bohemia, therefore, the national liberation myth still derives from Hussitism and in Hungary from Calvinism, a dispersal of moral energies that is certainly one factor in those nations' weaker resistance to Sovietism. Further, Professor Kurczaba's comparison of the "diaspora" of the Polish Brethren with the Great Emigration is a considerable exaggeration. In 1660 few Poles regretted the small and intellectually distinguished sect of the Brethren, whereas the emigration of 1831 was experienced as a national catastrophe. The nineteenth-century exiles, moreover, produced the great corpus of Romantic literature which is still the staple of Polish culture. True, the Arian exiles had underground cultural significance for England and Holland and, ultimately, Massachusetts (as well as, through the Czech Brethren of Poland, for launching German Pietism); but they left almost no legacy in the Commonwealth itself. Indeed, the Arians had to be rediscovered in Poland in the twentieth century, first of all through the researches of the historian Stanislaw Kot in the 1920s (summarized in English in his Socinianism in Poland, Boston, 1957); the subject has been greatly developed since 1960 by Jan Tazbir, some of whose work is also available in English, notably A State Without Stakes (New York: Kosciuszko, 1973). Since this rediscovery, the Arians have furnished a kind of retrospective utopia for a certain secular and positivistic Polish left; for by no means all Poles have been happy with the heavy weight of the mainline Catholic and Romantic traditions. For such intellectuals the Arians are seen, rather arbitrarily, as precursors of the Enlightenment "Camp of Reform" that produced the revolutionary Constitution of May 3, 1791, as well as, just possibly, of a radical democratic or even humanely socialist Poland. But this view, however estimable, offers a moral not a historical genealogy, a vision of Poland as it might have been, not as it in fact developed. Profesor Kasparek, finally, is quite correct in his enumeration of arbitrary practices under the Colonels between 1936 and 1939. Indeed, the list could be lengthened; and I would have been better advised to have stuck to my original draft: "parties, unions, and free expression were not significantly curtailed." For I do stick to my main point: namely, that in interwar Poland, despite very real abuses - and, among some of the colonels, an affinity for fascist ideas - it was always possible for the various oppositions to speak out and to organize on behalf of their views. And after 1933 this was always true nowhere else in Europe east of the Rhine except in Czechoslovakia. Thus a coalition of the Morges Front (Paderewski, Sikorski, et al.), the Socialist party, the Peasant party, and the liberal elements of the National party was quite ready and waiting to take over from the defunct Colonels in 1939. To conclude this list of revisions, in retrospect I should have said more about Abraham Brumberg's Poland: Genesis of a Revolution, which is clearly the most comprehensive and provoking examination of the background of Solidarity. I should also have indicated more prominently (not just in a footnote) that the periodic volumes of Poland Watch (Washington, DC) provide the best chronicle and analysis of developments since the coup of December 13, 1981. For the Poles, though absent from the front pages of the West since Walesa's Nobel Peace Prize in December, 1983, have by no means given up on their eternally unavoidable pursuit of the impossible. - - April 12, 1984 - - The Solace of Intrigue V.S. Pritchett The New Sound of Liszt Charles Rosen A Case of Hysteria Charles Rycroft I'm the Greatest! Arthur Schlesinger Jr. The Joy and Malice of It All Robert M. Adams More Deep in New Zealand

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In Washington, Leaking As A Way Of Life By Linton Weeks Jun 15, 2012 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email President Richard Nixon tells reporters he will not allow his legal counsel, John Dean, to testify before Congress in the Watergate investigation, March 15, 1973. Leaks about the Watergate break-in eventually helped lead to Nixon's resignation. And his administration fought and lost a Supreme Court battle over leaking of the so-called Pentagon Papers about Vietnam. Charles Tasnadi Originally published on June 15, 2012 1:27 pm A leak - in a pipeline, at a nuclear plant, within a top-secret agency - can be dangerous, disastrous, deadly. But sometimes a leak can also be a good thing - drawing attention to a larger systemic problem. The debate over news leaks bubbled up again this week after reports that The New York Times relied on information from top-tier and unnamed U.S. officials to reveal details about the U.S. cyberbattle against Iran. Some suggest that the leaks came from the White House, but President Obama publicly denies it. Some believe that releasing such sensitive information compromises national security; others maintain that the public's right to know trumps security concerns. This week also marks the 40th anniversary of Watergate, a political scandal driven by leaked information. President Nixon was so concerned about leaks that he put together a group of "plumbers" whose mission was to seal the leaks. But the seal - and the scandal - broke, and Nixon was forced to resign. In Washington, leaking has long been a way of life. And, certain people argue, leaks are necessary outgrowths of an open society. Bad or good, leaking in Washington is part of the landscape. Mark Leibovich, a political reporter at The New York Times and author of a forthcoming book on the inner workings of Washington, says, "Leaks have acquired a pejorative, even sinister connotation, mostly because the people inside big, important organizations are always cursing, condemning them - or prosecuting people for them." In fact, Leibovich says, "leaks are the pressure valves of democracy. They are outlets, sprung randomly - and sometimes rampantly - through which information escapes." Leibovich explains that in most cases, "proper channels" communications amount to salesmanship and propaganda. That, he says, "is the government's bodily waste." A Brief Look At Leaks From earliest America, the artful leak has led to scrutiny - and occasionally revision - of government. To quote Founding Father Benjamin Franklin: A small leak can sink a great ship. In fact, as noted on the History.com website, Franklin himself was involved in a pre-Revolution leak scandal. While in England in 1772, Franklin was in receipt of more than a dozen private letters that revealed the anti-colonial sentiments of a royal governor. Somehow excerpts of the correspondence found their way into a Boston newspaper. The governor was chased out of the colonies, and Franklin was reprimanded by the Brits and returned to America, where he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. More recent decades have brought Watergate and the Pentagon Papers case that saw The New York Times publish top-secret documents chronicling how the U.S. government misled the public and Congress about the Vietnam War; and the Valerie Plame affair, in which Plame's husband alleged that the George W. Bush administration let it leak that Plame worked for the CIA. The mother lode of all leaks, of course, has been the WikiLeaks dump - a data drop of more than 1 million secret and classified items, including more than 250,000 documents from the U.S. State Department. WikiLeaks, which went online in 2008, has led to a fair number of stories and investigations. The master leaker behind WikiLeaks is Julian Assange, whom some see as an e-hero and others an e-goat. On his site, Assange solicited under-the-table submissions of off-limits documents. Leakers came from out of the woodwork. Leakers Among Us Leaks can come from many sources, including: Whistle-blowers: dismayed insiders who reveal essential, often sensitive information because they feel it is the right thing to do; Ax grinders: disgruntled folks who use information as a weapon to inflict harm on another person or group; Gossips: motormouth people who can't keep a secret and desire to be perceived as in-the-know about the story behind the story; Cowards: those who render "inside" opinions in exchange for our indulgence of their cowardice (aka "anonymity"); Innocents: those who possess and speak of insider information but may not realize its import or the intent of the listener. Leaks of sensitive information can be inadvertent or on purpose. And, according to Mike Riley, the same is true about the leaks plumbers must confront day in and day out. Owner of He-Man Plumbing in Palo Alto, Calif., Riley specializes in sewer and drain cleaning. He has a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Stanford University, so he understands the nature of leaks. "There are two kinds of leaks that plumbers deal with," Riley says. "The first is the accidental leak" - those that come from burst pipes and dripping faucets. "Then there is a second type of leak that is on purpose," he says. "Those come from fail-safe trip valves and other kinds of valves that are designed to provide relief when too much pressure builds up." The proliferation of those blowoff valves has virtually eliminated explosions of boilers and water heaters, Riley says. Extolling the virtues of beneficial leaks - those that activate when too much power builds up in an enclosed environment - Riley sounds like a reporter. And when reporter Leibovich talks, he alludes to the plumbing. "As reporters," he says, "we rely on leaks as nutrients for our stories, allowing us to flush away the bodily waste of 'proper channel' spin."Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit . View the discussion thread. © 2016 KWIT

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Short reviews of Out on Assignment and Famous Long Ago By James Boylan July / August 2012 Out on Assignment: Newspaper Women and the Making of Modern Public Space | By Alice Fahs | University of North Carolina Press | 360 pages, $37.50 Frank Luther Mott's once-standard history, American Journalism (1962 edition), covered in two paragraphs the era to which Alice Fahs now gives a whole book - the impact of an energetic, determined cohort of several hundred women journalists on the metropolitan press of the 1890s and early 1900s. Mott listed a name or two, but made it clear that he did not consider women's work part of the grand march of journalism history. Fahs, a history professor at the University of California, Irvine, says that "we have missed an entire generation of female journalists and a richly networked public community." In an era when women were barred from the sweat and smoke of the newsroom and from covering most hard news, a wave of the young, educated, and ambitious found their way into the papers nonetheless. They created down-to-earth women's pages and advice columns that enhanced both circulation and reader loyalty. They performed eye-catching stunts, such as trying out an electric chair for size (Kate Swan of the New York World) or going undercover as waitresses, models, or domestic servants. Others, such as Nixola Greeley-Smith (Horace Greeley's granddaughter) and Kate Carew gained fame as audacious and probing interviewers. Still others, such as the durable Fannie Brigham Ward, transformed travel writing into foreign correspondence; Ward was one of the few Americans in Cuba at the start of the Spanish-American War. The newcomers gained celebrity as representatives of a new social type, dubbed the "bachelor girl," independent, striving, and often charming as well. Usually, their goals were simple - money and advancement. Fahs distinguishes them from another type known as the "New Woman," who was usually wealthier and devoted to causes. One who played both roles was Rose Pastor, who began as a cigar-wrapper in Cleveland and later joined the English-language Jewish Daily News in New York. She went to interview the philanthropist J. G. Phelps Stokes, and Rose Pastor, journalist, soon became Rose Pastor Stokes, reformer, socialist, and ultimately communist. Fahs suggests that the legacy of this half-forgotten generation stretched beyond journalism. She does not claim that these reporters made a permanent place in American journalism for women; in fact, that goal was not truly achieved until 60 or 70 years later. But she sees their influence in the campaign for suffrage. They covered the story, and found myriad ways to smuggle the issue into their newspapers. And in the end they won. Famous Long Ago: My Life and Hard Times with Liberation News Service | By Raymond Mungo | University of Massachusetts Press | 204 pages, $19.95 The reissue of Raymond Mungo's Famous Long Ago, first published in 1970, does not make one nostalgic, but at least it invokes vividly an unpredictable and dangerous time. (The title is taken from Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row.") Mungo's bumpy narrative covers roughly a year, ending in the summer of 1968, at the crest of his generation's dope-fueled revolt. In 1967, Marshall Bloom and the author, both erstwhile hellraising college editors, left the United States Student Press Association (and its sponsor, the CIA-supported National Student Association) and founded the Liberation News Service (LNS) to feed material to the growing underground press. Incidentally, CJR was a subscriber, and I recall the mailings as being oddly unlike the flamboyant alternative press in tone and appearance. The service consisted of many cleanly typed pages with informative, well-edited articles from the left that of course did not find their way into the mainstream press. (Samples are still available online.) Based at first in decrepit surroundings in Washington, DC, LNS's first big story was the massive antiwar demonstration at the Pentagon in October 1967. The young Mungo (he was about 22) records the turbulent office politics that led, in 1968, to a schism with a faction he dubs The Vulgar Marxists. By this time the office had moved to Claremont Avenue in New York, near the Columbia campus, an advantageous site for covering the 1968 uprising at the university. The Mungo-Bloom faction absconded to rural New England, taking with it a printing press and a cache of lns funds. Mungo describes in lurid tones a violent night during which the New York faction tried to retrieve the taken goods. Allen Young, an important figure in keeping LNS going, has called Mungo's account "self-serving and one-sided." Probably so. But the story reveals something of the audacity, even recklessness, that enabled the young left to capture the attention of the nation and the world - and the shallowness and impulsiveness that made it too weak to survive. Mungo lives on, having taken other paths; his LNS partner, Bloom, committed suicide in 1969. James Boylan is CJR's founding editor.

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A Lesson in "Information Dominance" By UltimaRatioReg George Friedman over at STRATFOR has had a couple of very interesting articles on the subject of, and fallout from, the 30 December Khost suicide bombing attack at FOB Chapman. In his first article, Friedman made several excellent points regarding security procedures, complacency, and the sophistication of the attack. His second article is re-posted below. I would submit that we should take notice that we have been on the short end of the Intelligence War in Afghanistan, and should not be enamored of such new phrases as "information dominance" until we can do the most basic of tasks in war, which is to tell friend from foe. PAKISTAN, U.S.: RUMORS AND FALLOUT FROM THE KHOST BOMBING According to widespread rumors in the United States, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence had a hand in the Dec. 30, 2009, attack in Khost, Afghanistan, which killed several CIA agents. While luck played a definite role in the attack, the skill in preparing the double agent who detonated the suicide bomb used in the attack has led some to see a state role. Such a role is unlikely, however, as Pakistan has little to gain by enraging the United States. Even so, the rumors alone will harm U.S.-Pakistani relations, perhaps giving the Taliban some breathing room. Speculation is rife in the United States about the possible role played by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, Pakistan's foreign intelligence service, in the Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in eastern Afghanistan that killed multiple CIA agents. Much of this discussion traces back to a report citing unnamed U.S. and Afghan government sources as saying a chemical analysis of explosive residue suggesting the use of military-grade equipment points to ISI involvement in the incident. This is a faulty basis to establish an ISI link, as the Pakistani Taliban have used military-grade explosives in numerous attacks against the Pakistani security establishment since late 2006. Still, rumors alone of ISI involvement will suffice to harm U.S.-Pakistani relations, which will serve the jihadists' ends quite nicely. To a large extent, chance aided the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in carrying out the attack. Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi's arrival gave the group the opportunity to carry out an attack at a heavily fortified facility belonging to the world's most powerful intelligence organization. That said, the preparation of the double agent for the attack showed definite skill. While it has shown a great degree of skill in pulling off attacks against major army, intelligence and other security installations in Pakistan, the TTP previously has not been seen as being capable of handling a foreign double agent for a complex operation outside Pakistan. In this incident, the TTP managed to conceal al-Balawi's true activities while in Pakistan. Admittedly, keeping close track of al-Balawi in Pakistan would have been a challenge to the CIA due to the agency's fairly weak humint capabilities there, and because his jihadist hosts would have been extremely cautious about using communications devices that would show up on sigint monitoring. And while remaining below the radar while in jihadist country in the Pakistani northwest is one thing, circumventing all CIA countermeasures is quite another - and is something previously thought beyond the TTP's known capabilities. Such sophistication rises to the level of the skills held by a national-level intelligence organization with tremendous resources and experience at this kind of tradecraft. However, even this does not mean the ISI was involved in the attack. The ISI falls under the control of the Pakistani army and the government, and the Pakistani state has no interest in carrying out actions against the United States, as this could seriously threaten Pakistani national interests. Also, it is clear that the ISI is at war with the TTP. For its part, the main Pakistani Taliban rebel group has specifically declared war on the ISI, leveling three key ISI facilities in the last eight months. It is therefore most unlikely this could have been an officially sanctioned Pakistani operation. The possibility that jihadist sympathizers in the lower ranks of the Pakistani intelligence complex may have offered their services to the TTP cannot be ruled out, however. Given its history of dealing with Islamist nonstate proxies, the Pakistani intelligence apparatus is penetrated by the jihadists, which partially explains the ability of the TTP to mount a ferocious insurgency against the state. Even though there is no clear smoking gun pointing at the ISI, rumors of its involvement alone will harm the already-fragile U.S.-Pakistani relationship. Concerns similar to those in the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai attack - that the situation in Pakistan has reached a point where the state no longer has control over its own security apparatus and now represents an intolerable threat to U.S. national security - will emerge again. While the situation in Islamabad might not be dire, a U.S.-Pakistani and Indian-Pakistani breakdown is exactly what that the jihadists want so they can survive the U.S. and Pakistani offensives they currently face. C) STRATFOR 2010 We are clearly dealing with an enemy who knows our Center of Gravity far better than we know his. And one who is sophisticated enough to attack the critical vulnerabilities associated with that CG. As was pointed out in a previous article, in the badlands of Pakistan, where US agents could not and did not have the ability to observe or control Khalil Abu-Malal al-Balawi, the TTP (and anyone who offered clandestine help) "ran circles around" the CIA in turning al-Balawi into a double agent for their uses. I would further state that they did so with startling ease, without arousing a bit of suspicion from the Americans so eager to exploit him. I would suggest that what Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and others accomplished with this operation truly represents what we have come, somewhat arrogantly, to call "Information Dominance". And has very little whatever to do with technological sophistication. The 30 December attack on FOB Chapman and the ripples it created should serve as an impetus for a harsh and uncompromising internal examination of theories, assumptions, techniques, and training. From Langley (and Foggy Bottom) on down. We shall see if it does. About UltimaRatioReg Posted by UltimaRatioReg in Foreign Policy " New Acting Superintendent for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Skipper of USS Cowpens Relieved for 'Cruelty', but career still alive? "

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What New Revelations About the Media, Pa., FBI Break-In Teach Us About Intelligence Reform Today SlateHistoryThen, again.Jan. 9 2014 12:45 PM Band of Burglars The infamous Media, Pa., FBI break-in paved the way for the Church Committee. Can it inspire intelligence reform in our own time? By Beverly Gage One of the Media burglars, Temple University Professor of Religion John Raines. Courtesy Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University Photography Dept On Tuesday, one of the biggest unsolved cases in FBI history burst wide open. In a new book, investigative journalist Betty Medsger revealed the identities of the anti-war activists who broke into the FBI's office in Media, Pa., in March 1971 and made off with the agency's secret files.* They were, it turns out, ordinary middle-class people: "a religion professor, a daycare center worker, a graduate student in a health profession, another professor, a social worker, and two people who had dropped out of college to work nearly full-time on building opposition to the war," Medsger writes. On March 8, 1971, they pried open the FBI office door with a crowbar, stole hundreds of files, and shook the intelligence establishment to its jackboots. News coverage of the book and a related documentary, 1971 by filmmaker Johanna Hamilton, has focused, understandably, on their astonishing personal story: how the burglars planned and carried out the break-in and why they felt they had to act as they did. The parallels with Edward Snowden are obvious. Here, too, are people who risked their freedom to expose government secrets they believed to be damaging American democracy. One of the Media burglars, former Temple University religion professor John Raines, made the connection explicit in a recent appearance on the Today show. Asked what he would say to Snowden, he offered a self-conscious smile, then a modest shout-out: "From one whistle-blower to another whistle-blower, 'Hi!' " The idea that one brave whistle-blower can make a difference is compelling, and it's true as far as it goes in the Media case: The burglars did take serious risks, and they did expose important secrets about FBI civil liberties abuses. But it's what happened after the burglary that really made the Media theft matter - and provides a model for anyone hoping to see genuine intelligence reform today. Advertisement It's because of Media that we first learned about COINTELPRO, the FBI's secret counterintelligence program aimed at domestic dissenters. The Media theft also fueled calls for reform that led to the creation of the Church Committee in 1975 and the restraining of the intelligence establishment that followed. Neither of these outcomes, however, was the direct result of the burglars' actions. The perpetrators came and went, committing their dramatic act then disappearing back into private life for the next 43 years. It was up to everyone else - journalists, activists, senators, and representatives - to take what they had exposed and to turn it into something meaningful. The burglary itself was the brainchild of William Davidon, a physics professor at Haverford College and a passionate opponent of the Vietnam War. In 1966, Davidon had traveled to Vietnam with the left-wing Reverend A. J. Muste and earned the dubious honor of being expelled by South Vietnamese officials. By 1970, Davidon had begun to entertain more radical tactics for ending the war. Working with the nonviolent Catholic peace movement, he helped to carry out raids on draft-board offices around Philadelphia, in which activists would steal and often destroy selective service files. This gave him an even more ambitious idea: What if he could break into an FBI office and steal the documents there? It was conventional wisdom on the left that the FBI was spying on anti-war activists, but director J. Edgar Hoover held his files sacrosanct, refusing to provide raw FBI material even to congressional committees. As Medsger tells it, Davidon saw direct theft as the only way to find out what was really happening. We thought she was an inspired progressive child development guru. Really she was a wanted criminal hiding out among the blocks and crayons. John Witt on Bonnie Raines, one of the Media FBI burglars Not everyone he approached was enthused about the plan. "You know, somebody says to you, 'Let's go break into the FBI office,' " Media participant Keith Forsyth recalled. "So you look at them and say, 'Yeah, okay, let's go break-in. Then, after we finish that, let's go down to Fort Knox and steal a few million.' " By early 1971, though, Davidon had assembled an eight-member team, including Forsyth; Raines; Raines's wife, Bonnie; and a Philadelphia-area social worker named Bob Williamson. (Medsger's book identifies five burglars by name and two by pseudonym; she did not locate the final participant.) As the story has been told ever since, the break-in itself always came across as a last-minute, amateur-hour job in which the burglars simply lucked out. In fact, as Medsger shows, they planned carefully for months, casing the FBI office night after night, holding dozens of logistical meetings, even setting up a fake door for lock-picking practice. When the big night came, they found that the FBI had put a new high-security lock on the main door, requiring the deployment of a crowbar on an alternate entrance rather than those hard-won lock-picking skills. Other than that, things went more or less as planned. Working quietly in near-total darkness, they stole every file in the office, then retreated to a Pennsylvania farmhouse to sort through what they had gathered. Advertisement The revelations went well beyond anything the activists had imagined. The FBI was, indeed, spying on the anti-war movement, just as it was spying on a vast range of civil rights, New Left, and student groups. But it was also seeking, in the words of one stolen document, to "enhance the paranoia" of anti-war activists through repeated interviews and harassment. It is worth noting that many of these efforts were far more intrusive than the passive National Security Agency surveillance recently documented by Snowden; the FBI was planting rumors, intimidating activists, and using agents provocateur. On the other hand, Hoover's FBI never had access to truly mass surveillance technology, and even its most aggressive programs never reached anything like the indiscriminate data-gathering of today's NSA. The last act of the Media burglars was to photocopy the documents and mail them off to a handful of carefully selected recipients, including Sen. George McGovern, who had just announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Medsger herself, then a reporter at the Washington Post. With that, the burglary team packed up the farmhouse and dispersed, agreeing never to contact one another or to speak of the events again. A few violated the agreement in small ways; Davidon, for one, could not resist occasional bromides against the FBI. For the most part, however, they simply continued on with their private lives. On Tuesday, my colleague John Witt emailed me with the news that "FBI burglar Bonnie Raines was my preschool teacher" in Philadelphia in the mid-1970s. "We thought she was an inspired progressive child development guru," he notes. "Really she was a wanted criminal hiding out among the blocks and crayons." Much of Medsger's book focuses on the FBI investigation that followed: five years, more than 200 agents, millions of dollars, and ... bupkis - no arrests, no trial. The real drama happened outside the courtroom, as the stolen documents began to come to light. The burglars' decision to remain anonymous had important consequences for how the files were received. Without an individual culprit (or hero) to embody the cause, the Media story never quite achieved the legendary status of the Pentagon Papers, leaked three months later by Daniel Ellsberg. At the same time, anonymity shifted the debate away from act itself - whistle-blowing or treason? - and toward the content of the documents. Unlike Snowden or Ellsberg, the Media burglars had little ability to control how people interpreted what they had risked so much to present. In that sense, the break-in was an enormous leap of faith: The burglars committed the initial act but left it up to everyone else to finish the job. Some of their faith proved to be misplaced. On the day the first files arrived in reporters' mailboxes, Attorney General John Mitchell issued a press release urging recipients to return the documents to the FBI, for fear of jeopardizing national intelligence capacities. His arguments will sound familiar to anyone who has followed the Snowden case: "Disclosure of information in files stolen from an FBI office in Media, PA," the press release insisted, "could endanger the lives of some federal agents and the security of the United States." McGovern complied with the request, sending the files back to the FBI. Publicly, he claimed that he supported a congressional investigation of FBI abuses but could not condone the law-breaking by the burglars, whoever they might be. Advertisement It was reporters, rather than politicians, who took up the cause during these early weeks - most notably, Medsger herself at the Washington Post. In that sense, the Media burglary foreshadowed not only the Pentagon Papers but also the Watergate scandal, which began with another burglary a year later, in June 1972. In Watergate, as in Media, early press reports kept the story alive and revealed enough sordid details to push congressional committees to take up the issue. Of particular significance in the Media case were the efforts of NBC reporter Carl Stern, who seized upon a strange word - COINTELPRO - in one of the stolen documents and filed a successful Freedom of Information Act request to find out what it meant. COINTELPRO turned out to be the single most important revelation to emerge from the Media files - a "counterintelligence program" of operatic proportions, still the most infamous of Hoover's many infamous violations of civil liberties. Indeed, Hoover himself had anticipated what might happen, quietly canceling the COINTELPRO in April 1971, a month after the Media burglary. It took another four years, however, for Congress to launch a full-scale investigation of the FBI. During that time, Hoover died, the Watergate investigation blew up, the Vietnam War ended, and Richard Nixon resigned from office. Given that timeline, it is something of a stretch to say that Media led directly to the Church Committee. What we can say is that the Church Committee might not have happened without the Media burglary - and without everything that happened in between. In the end, the Church Committee (which investigated the CIA and other intelligence agencies as well as the FBI) was a mixed success. After months of research, the committee delivered a searing multivolume report, still one of the most critical government documents ever published on the subject of U.S. intelligence. From that outcry came many of the institutions that govern espionage and surveillance today, including the congressional intelligence committees and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. These were real changes for the time - the first substantive efforts at legislative and judicial accountability in the history of American intelligence. But as recent events have shown, they had real weaknesses and limitations. Today, we are once again facing a legitimacy crisis within the intelligence establishment, arguably the greatest such crisis since the 1970s. As in the 1970s, this is also a moment ripe with possibilities for reform. President Obama has called key lawmakers to the White House on Thursday for a private conference to discuss what to do next about the NSA. This discussion would not be happening without the evidence provided by whistle-blowers like Snowden. But as the Media burglary suggests, whistle-blowers can only do so much. What happens next is up to the rest of us. Correction, Jan. 10, 2014: This article originally suggested that author Betty Medsger also made a documentary film about the FBI break-in. The documentary, 1971, is by filmmaker Johanna Hamilton. Beverly Gage, a Yale history professor, is the author of The Day Wall Street Exploded.

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News Polar Vortex Explained By: Atish Baidya Posted on: Friday, January 10, 2014 < < Back to Two words almost guaranteed to send shivers down people's spines for the rest of winter: polar vortex. Earlier this week the frigid Arctic air, not felt by large portions of the country in almost two decades, had many people muttering four-letter words at said polar vortex, Mother Nature and anyone or anything else people chose to blame for the bone-chilling temperatures. But what exactly is a polar vortex? According to meteorologist Ryan Fogt with Ohio University's Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis most people have heard about it before. "The polar vortex is basically just another description for the jet stream," Fogt said. "It is called the polar vortex because typically the jet stream spins around the North Pole in basically a straight almost west to east fashion. In the winter it is the strongest and it's the weakest typically in the summer season but it does exist year around." The jet stream acts like a dividing line between cold arctic air to the north and warmer tropical air to the south. It isn't a straight line, it is more like a wave, and when conditions are right the jet stream can dip farther south allowing the cold arctic air to spread over parts of the contiguous United States. Fogt said those changes in the jet stream can be difficult to predict. "There are just natural imbalances that are trying to be redistributed," he said. "They aren't things that are easy to predict, certainly not much more than a week out." This particular cold snap isn't a good prediction of what the rest of the winter will be like either. "It doesn't look like there is a lot of predicative capacity as far as how old or warm it will be for the rest of the season," Fogt said. "Normally for winter predictions or seasonal predictions you are going to base those off sea surface temperature patterns. Right now, in the Pacific, which is the main ocean basin that influences the US, the patterns of the sea surface temperature are near normal," Fogt explained. "Sea surface temperatures, which respond much more slowly to changes in the atmosphere or changes in energy, are not giving us a sign one way or another what winter might be like." But in the age of social media, the intense mainstream media coverage of this week's shift in the jet stream translated into tweets, retweets, pins and Facebook posts with people generally using the frigid weather as signs for or against global warming. Fogt, however, cautions against using a weather event like dip of the jet stream as evidence of climate change. "Weather is the day-to-day variations in the earth's atmosphere, he said. "They drive regions of high pressure and low pressure; cold air and warm air; cold fronts and warm fronts; precipitation, cloud cover, all those sorts of things from day-to-day." "Climate is the average conditions that describe conditions over much longer time scales and when we average things over several decades, approximately 30 years or longer, we can get an idea of what the average conditions are for a region and whether or not they are changing." VIDEO: Learning About The Dangers of Lightning Severe Weather Conditions On Wednesday Ripe For Possibility Of A Derecho Warming Station Opened in Athens During Cold Snap Polar Plungers Brave Freezing Waters For Special Olympics

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Why did Sulzberger hire Abramson? Her style never suited him. He got exactly what was advertised. By Douglas McCollam As the fallout from Jill Abramson's abrupt dismissal as executive editor of The New York Times on Wednesday continues to reverberate among the media commentariat, the blowback against Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. shows little sign of slackening. Yesterday Sulzberger felt the need to rebut the widespread accusation that Abramson was canned, at least in part, because she was negotiating for a compensation package in line with those of her predecessors. Nothing of the kind, Sulzberger maintained. Abramson was let go because of issues pertaining to her "management" of the newsroom. This seems absurd. Sulzberger understood exactly what he was getting. Even before she landed the top editorial post, Abramson's managerial style was recognized to have more in common with old-school editors who stomped on toes and didn't care how loud you squealed so long as the story got done right - something at which she excelled. Abramson cut her teeth in journalism under Steven Brill, the founder and editor of The American Lawyer magazine and Court TV, among other media ventures. The stories of Brill's epic rages and his demanding and at times demeaning management style are legendary. While Abramson never operated at that level of shock and awe, there is undeniably a strain of Brillian DNA in her editorial style. To her supporters and admirers, of which there are many, her abrupt banishment was just another example of the pervasive gender bias in the upper rungs of media management. While Abramson was often criticized as being condescending, brusque, and high-handed, those same qualities in a man, so the complaint goes, are lauded as being tough, demanding, and self-assured. So why did Sulzberger hire her in the first place? If there was ever a believer in the modern, kinder, and more inclusive management style, it's Arthur Sulzberger, for whom team-building exercises, mission statements, and leadership retreats are a longstanding passion. If Abramson's formative management model was that of the demanding martinet, Sulzberger's was the band-of-brothers ethic of Outward Bound. The fact that Abramson reportedly had to retain an outside consultant to help refine her management style (a Sulzbergian touch if ever there was one) probably tells us what we need to know about her demise. In a way, Sulzberger's choice of Abramson is part of an ongoing yin-yang pattern during his tenure. Sulzberger's initial hire as executive editor in 1994 was the low-key Joe Lelyveld. In 2001, when Sulzberger wanted to shake up a snoozy newsroom, Lelyveld was succeeded by the dynamic and headstrong Howell Raines. After Raines' pugnacious style (as well as assorted reporting scandals) proved toxic to newsroom morale, Sulzberger moved him out in favor of the mild-mannered Bill Keller, who had narrowly lost out to Raines previously for the top job. When Keller's tenure was up in 2011, Sulzberger again opted for a more polarizing figure to lead the newsroom, choosing Abramson over the runner up, the popular Dean Baquet, only to reverse course and promote Baquet less than three years later. Baquet, much like Keller before him, promises a more "humane" approach to newsroom management. In part these gyrations can be attributed to the increasingly threatening environment the Times has been operating in over the last decade or so. In March, an internal report obtained by BuzzFeed, noted that the Times' digital operations, a key to the company's long-term survival, are lagging far behind both new-media rivals and other old-media players. Like many established corporations, the Times, despite all the confabs, mission statements, and jaw-boning, struggled to adapt to the digital age, wallowing for years in the tide like a newspaper company with a technology section bolted on to the side. Given this, it could be concluded that Abramson wasn't allowed a customary executive reign at the Times - strive 'til 65 followed by a cushy slot on the editorial page - because she wasn't savvy enough to navigate the paper's transition to a digitized universe. Except by all accounts Abramson was fairly tech savvy, far more than her successor, Baquet. In fact, under Abramson's leadership, the newsroom finally seemed to be finding its digital way. Still, Baquet's ascension may confirm that the Times executive editor is no longer expected to be a principal architect of the company's digital platform - which wouldn't be the worst idea in the world; Abramson's effort to bring The Guardian's Janine Gibson in as her managing editor for digital - another reported flashpoint in her relationship with Sulzberger and Baquet - suggests as much. As Sulzberger fights to preserve America's last newspaper dynasty, he seems to be placing a greater value on having a team player handle the print legacy, one that will keep the peace, keep up standards, and avoid creating distractions while he focuses on the horizon. The company has spent the past several years stripping down and jettisoning assets deemed superfluous to its new identity - often at a substantial financial loss. Now Sulzberger's stewardship approaches the critical passage. He will either successfully complete the company's transformation into digital media or preside as his family joins the Grahams, the Chandlers, the Bancrofts, and other ink-and-paper relics in the archives. However disruptive the fallout surrounding Abramson's dismissal grows, it's small brew compared to the task ahead. And in the end, who would argue that Sulzberger isn't entitled to pick his own crew for this last leg of the journey? Douglas McCollam is a contributing editor to CJR. Tags: Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Dean Baquet, Jill Abramson, New York Times Trending stories

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When Amateur Photographers Make the Front Page @olivierclaurent Are camera phone-equipped amateurs to blame for professional photographers' financial woes? A new exhibition, now on show at the Visa pour l'Image photojournalism festival, aims to bring a definite answer to the question. There's a widespread belief within the community of professional photographers that amateurs, armed with cheap camera phones and DSLRs and supported by new media organizations and social sharing communities, have become full-fledged economic rivals. It's no secret that journalism is a sector in crisis - dwindling advertising budgets coupled with a deep-seated reluctance from media actors to evolve in the face of change have led many organizations to seek alternative ways to sustain their operations. But is the amateur photographer to blame? On July 7, 2005, when four British Islamists detonated bombs aboard three of London's underground trains and one double-decker bus, commuters Adam Stacey and Alexander Chadwick used their camera phones to shoot images from the darkness of the city's tunnels, which journalists couldn't reach. Their photographs ended up on television and, in some cases, on the front pages of international publications including the New York Times and the Washington Post. Two months later, the French newspaper Liberation raised the alarm, asking: "Are we all journalists?" It accused amateurs of trivializing and privatizing the news, with journalists left to wonder "whether the scaremongers who predicted the end of the media had been right all along." For Samuel Bollendorff, a French photographer and documentary filmmaker, amateurs are just scapegoats for a profession that has refused to accept its share of responsibility in its economic struggles. "My role as a photographer, at least the way I see it, is to try to understand how people around me produce, distribute and consume images," he tells TIME. "For the past few years, we've heard the worse things about amateurs, which are accused of having brought photojournalists to their knees. I thought it was important to take a look back at these claims and uncover these amateur images that have made the front pages over the years." Bollendorff's survey, which he put together with Andre Gunthert, an associate professor at the French School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, has gone on show this week at the Visa pour l'Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France. The exhibition includes images of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Rodney King's beating, abuses at the Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's hanging and of the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, among many other events. "When we brought these images together, we quickly realized that, within the past 15 years, it was hard to find 30 images that had a worldwide impact," notes Bollendorff. These images, Gunthert argues, might have made the front pages, but they didn't lead to a change in the way newspapers use imagery. "If you look at the media today, they're not covered in amateur images," he tells TIME. "On the contrary, we're still seeing a large majority of professional images." In fact, he adds, most start-ups whose business model has been to sell amateur images to newspapers have, so far, failed to grab significant market share from established image agencies. For Bollendorff this could be explained by the fact that most amateur "images" are actually stills that have been extracted from video files. "I find it interesting that photographing comes naturally to photographers, but amateurs have a tendency to make videos. Then, the journalist comes in, seeks that witness, gets the video and edits it down to one image." This was particularly evident when Libyan rebels filmed, using their camera phones, a captured Muammar Gaddafi being beaten and stabbed to death. "Photographers and journalists only arrived on the scene later on, and they could only collect these amateurs videos - some of them even taking photos of these videos playing on the rebels' phones," Bollendorff says. For Visa pour l'Image's director Jean-Francois Leroy, this retrospective is proof that "it's become more difficult for professional photographers to be the first witnesses of an event." Instead, the challenge is to produce images that will contextualize that particular event and add more layers to the initial photograph. Bollendorff hopes his show, which will travel to Paris in November, will bring an end to photojournalists' propensities to blame amateurs for the current state of the market. "Yes, there's a real crisis within our industry, but it's due to the fact that media organizations now belong to large conglomerates where profitability is important. It's an internal problem, but it has nothing to do with amateur images." Amateurs Make the Front Page is on show at the Visa pour l'Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France until 14 September. Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent

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News Indian Ocean Quake, Tsunami Scare Tests Preparedness April 11, 2012 8:00 PM Daniel Schearf Patients are evacuated from a hospital in Banda Aceh in Aceh province, Indonesia, after an earthquake hit the western coast of Sumatra, April 11, 2012. Experts say the earthquake and tsunami scare off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, was a successful test of disaster preparedness in the region. Tsunami warning sirens on Thai beaches blared and people quickly headed to high ground shortly after Wednesday's 8.6 magnitude quake struck the Indian Ocean about 430-kilometers southwest of Banda Aceh. Evacuation orders were also issued in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Burma through TV, radio, and mobile phone text messaging. In the end, the quake did not create a dangerous tsunami, there was little damage, and few casualties. "From our perspective the fact that the warning went out five minutes, no more than five minutes after the earthquake erupted, went out in Indonesia and was followed shortly after that by other warnings within the system at 8:45, 8:46, 8:48, I think went extremely well," said Wendy Watson Wright, a spokeswoman for the U.N. cultural agency's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission based in Paris. "I also believe that, in Indonesia at least, that the population showed that they have learned and that self-evacuation was taking place in Aceh." The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission developed the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake in 2004 caused massive waves that killed 230,000 people, mainly in Indonesia. Aceh was the worst affected. Laurence Dare with the Asian Network for Free Elections was in Aceh to monitor local polls when Wednesday's quake occurred. Coincidentally, he had just finished a visit to the 2004 tsunami museum when the ground started to shake. "People did not know what it was at first, but after, you know, 15 seconds everybody started to rush away from the building. The building itself was swaying and there was a big pane of windows that was moving quite a bit. And, I think a lot of people were worried that they might break and come down," said Dare. "So, everybody went out toward the road and not long after that it seemed like everybody jumped in their cars, on their motorbikes, and just started heading in one direction. Which, I learned, was in the direction away from the ocean." Dare said although there was some panicking and crying, people knew to get away from the beach and did so in an orderly fashion, obeying traffic rules. Aceh and the rest of the region were spared from major damage largely because the quake, while at about the same depth below the ocean as the one in 2004, moved horizontally rather than vertically, creating much smaller waves. "They took the early initiative and issued the warning, and people heeded it. So in many ways it was very encouraging, but obviously we would also like to say that there is still much work that needs to be done. There is still a lot of end-to-end disaster preparedness that needs to take place. It is a good sign, and in some ways I think it was a lucky escape," said Esther Lake, a spokeswoman for the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. Lake says that governments have built up impressive infrastructure and improved public knowledge since the 2004 tsunami, Wednesday's quake was a good opportunity to assess disaster preparedness at local levels. Gabrielle Paluch contributed to this story. Related Indonesia's Aceh Elects Ex-Rebel Governor Tsunami Watch Canceled After Huge Quake Off Indonesian Coast Technologists Look to Improve Uses of Social Media During Crises

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Dalila nearly dead, Erick nearly a hurricane; areas to watch in the Atlantic basin TropicalAnalystwx13 , 4:12 AM GMT on July 06, 2013 Tropical Storm Erick has been steadily intensifying today, and the storm is very close to attaining hurricane intensity. As of the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, the system was located within 30 nautical miles of 16.7N 103.5W, or about 165 miles south-southeast of Manzanillo, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds were unchanged from the previous two updates, but the minimum barometric pressure had fallen to 991 millibars. Erick was moving towards the northwest at 10 mph, farther right than its west-northwest trajectory this morning. Even satellite loops reveal a well-defined tropical cyclone, with upper-level outflow in all quadrants except the northeast, prominent spiral banding namely confined to the south and east semicircle, and deep shower and thunderstorm activity just east of the center. Convective activity has warmed relative to this morning, but this is likely attributed to diurnal minimum. During this phase, the air temperature is warmer than the ocean temperature. This creates a region of subsidence above the ground, or a cap, that limits the height - and intensity, accordingly - of thunderstorms. The peak of this phase occurred a few hours ago, however, and we should see the storm become more active convectively by morning. Several instruments have done a good job at sampling Erick this afternoon, with both ASCAT Metop-A and ASCAT Metop-B catching the entirety of the system; both showed winds of 45-50 knots. Given the low bias of the instrument, this would suggest an intensity of 50 to 55 knots, which gives credence to the NHC's set intensity at the time. Several microwave passes throughout today have indicated a developing inner core, and in fact, a 0052z F-17 91H pass indicated the presence of an eyewall and associated eye with Erick. This eye has not yet become visible on geostationary imagery, and this prevented the NHC from upgrading the system to a hurricane; however, this feature could become visible at any time, and Erick could become a hurricane at any point tonight as well. In fact, latest satellite images show the storm has taken on the '9' structure, an appearance usually indicative of a developing hurricane. Satellite intensity estimates from SAB...TAFB...and UW-CIMSS-ADT...were T3.5/55 kt...T3.5/55 kt...and T3.6/57 kt, respectively. It should be stated that the auto-generated SAB value has reached the hurricane threshold, at T4.0/65 kt.Figure 1. Infrared satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Erick.Forecast for ErickThe environment for Erick continues to favorable for steady intensification. An anticyclone aloft is providing low wind shear for the storm while also creating decent ventilation channels, mid-level relative humidity values remain near 80% indicating a lack of dry air, and sea surface temperatures are currently above 29C. One potential caveat to a more quick pace of intensification is the potential for land interaction over the next 24 hours or so, combined with lowering ocean heat content. The National Hurricane Center has stated concerns about the storm tracking over a cool track created by former Hurricane Dalila, but this is not depicted in the STEXT file. As just mentioned, the environment is not dry; however, if Erick passes too close to the coastline of Mexico, strong winds that move inland will be capable of pulling more stable air off the mountainous terrain of the region, subsequently disrupting the inner core of the cyclone. Due to this concern, I have lowered my peak intensity from 80 knots to 75 knots, which is ever so slightly above the SHIPS/LGEM consensus. Between 36-48 hours out, Erick is expected to cross the 26C isotherm as it pulls away from the southwestern coastline of Mexico; combined with very dry air farther west, no ocean heat content, and unimpressive divergence, the storm is expected to weaken to a tropical storm. Further exposure to these conditions should weaken Erick to a tropical depression in 72 hours, and the storm is likely to become a post-tropical cyclone in 96 hours.Erick is currently moving northwest in response to a dying mid-level area of high pressure further inland over Mexico. This motion is expected to continue for the next two days or so before the ridge over the West United States shift southeastward and causes Erick to turn west-northwest. Until then, the concern for a landfall is gradually increasing. The 00z statistical and dynamical model suite is further east than its processor, which was farther east than its processor as well. The global models have been shifting ever so slowly east as well, and the 18z GFS namely is showing the center of Erick moving onshore near Cabo Corrientes in 24 hours. While I am not quite ready to depict such given that the model consensus is just offshore, it should be stated that the possibility of a landfall is not zero. Due to the proximity to the coastline, the government of Mexico has extended the Tropical Storm Warning to include the shore from Zihuatanejo to Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. Given the ongoing trends, it would likely be viable to issue a Hurricane Watch for the northern portion of this warned area. Remember, a Tropical Storm Warning means tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours. A Hurricane Watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours. The warned regions should expect winds of at least 40 mph and torrential rainfall capable of accumulating to a half foot of more. Such accumulation will likely lead to life-threatening mudslides, landslides, and flash flooding. Increased swells and rip currents are to be expected along the coastline. At the end of the forecast period, Erick is expected to track due west as its upper-level center decouples from its low-level center and the latter becomes embedded within the east-to-west flow across the Pacific....FORECAST POSITIONS/MAX WINDS...INIT 06/0300Z 16.7N 103.5W 60 KT 70 MPH 12H 06/1200Z 17.5N 103.9W 65 KT 75 MPH 24H 07/0000Z 18.9N 105.4W 75 KT 85 MPH 36H 07/1200Z 20.2N 106.8W 70 KT 80 MPH 48H 08/0000Z 21.4N 108.9W 60 KT 70 MPH 72H 09/0000Z 23.0N 113.0W 35 KT 40 MPH 96H 10/0000Z 23.0N 117.5W 25 KT 30 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW120H 11/0000Z 23.0N 122.5W 20 KT 25 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOWDalila nearly deadSeveral hundred miles west of Tropical Storm Erick lies a dying Tropical Depression Dalila. As of the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Dalila was located within 15 nautical miles of 17.1N 122.6W, or about 435 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Maximum sustained winds were 30 mph, the minimum barometric pressure was 1006 millibars, and the storm was movi--drifting--west at 2 mph. Satellite loops show the storm is but a low-level swirl with a few high clouds above. After firing convection persistently through early this afternoon, decreasing sea surface temperatures have abruptly halted this process. If convection does not fire over the next 6 hours, the storm will no longer meet the criteria of a tropical cyclone. Regardless of status, the system is not expected to be a threat to any landmasses. Figure 2. Infrared satellite imagery of Tropical Depression Dalila.Atlantic disturbancesIn the Gulf of Mexico lies the surface trough that has been mentioned over the past few days. A bit of forced convergence and help from the Bay of Campeche led to the formation of a weak but distinguishable low-level circulation this evening. Little convection exists over this feature, and what is present is being heavily sheared from the west as a result of upper-level winds around the base of the large trough north of the system and upper-level outflow from Tropical Storm Erick in the East Pacific. Satellite loops reveal that the main swirl of 94L, inherently dubbed by the National Hurricane Center, may be dissipating as a new one forms farther northeast in a region of maximized convergence. Regardless, it is unlikely this system will become a tropical cyclone anytime soon. The current steering pattern indicates 94L should drift northward into the weakness created by the aforementioned trough for the next day or two; after this time, the ridge situated off the North Carolina coastline is expected to expand westward and push the disturbance into the Texas coastline. Development chances are not zero, but likely lie between 20-40%. As the ridge off the East Coast builds westward, the trough is expected to weaken and pull northeast. The southern portion of this trough, much like what has happened over the central Atlantic the past two days, is expected to get pinched off and develop into a cut-off upper-level low that backs southwestward. While this setup should allow for upper-level ridging, and lower shear accordingly, to develop across the western Gulf of Mexico, the question remains whether or not the system is inland at this point, and if not, whether it has sufficient time to become a brief tropical cyclone. Regardless of classification, beneficial rainfall is expected along the immediate upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines. As of the 8pm Tropical Weather Outlook, the NHC gave this system a 20% chance of tropical cyclone formation within 48 hours.In the central Atlantic north of Puerto Rico lies a well-defined, cut-off upper-level low. This feature developed from a strong trough over the central Atlantic that was subsequently pinched off by an expanding region of high pressure nearby. This same high has caused the low to begin retrograding southwestward, and this motion is expected to continue for a little while longer before a turn towards the west occurs. Satellite loops reveal this low is essentially bare of shower and thunderstorm activity, though this is not to be unexpected from a cold-core feature. Maps from the University of Wisconsin-Madison indicate the storm has been steadily working down towards the surface, and in fact, a balm of vorticity already exists at 850 millibars. However, this feature is far from meeting the criteria of a tropical cyclone, and may never do so. Sea surface temperatures are very warm, in excess of 28C. The biggest structure for this upper-level low will be the strong pressure gradient created by the high to its north; this gradient is accelerating the low level trade winds across the region the low is tracking into. A tropical cyclone requires a closed low-level circulation; if winds are moving quickly westward, it is difficult to get easterly winds on the southern side of a low-pressure area. Regardless of development, gusty winds and sporadic rainfall is likely to affect the Bahamas and Florida through the weekend and into early next week. The NHC has not highlighted this feature in their TWO, but I believe it has a 10% chance of eventually becoming a tropical cyclone.Our last stop takes us to the eastern Atlantic, where yet another well-defined tropical wave for this time of the year is positioned. Satellite loops do indeed show a well-defined system, with an obvious low-level spin just north of an area of deep convection. Were this August, this wave would be able to become quite a tropical cyclone; however, because it is July, the Saharan Air Layer is in abundance across the region, and mid-level dry air as a result of the strengthened Bermuda high lurks nearby as well. Convective activity is being fueled solely by the monsoon trough at this time. If the feature detaches, which it needs to do in order to meet the criteria of a tropical cyclone and which it is expected to do, it is unlikely to look nearly as healthy as it does at this point. Wind shear is actually a conducive 5-15 knots across the entirety of the central and eastern Atlantic. As the wave tracks west to west-northwest, it is likely to continue to find a favorable shear pattern, though once again, moisture is scarce. None of the reliable computer models develop this wave, though many do show it impacting the Lesser and Greater Antilles with decent rainfall in roughly a week. The NHC has actually highlighted this feature in their TWO, and they give the feature a 10% chance of development within 48 hours.Figure 3. Infrared satellite imagery of the Atlantic basin, highlighting the three areas of interest.Tropical Storm Risk updateTropical Storm Risk, the public consortium consisting of experts in insurance, risk management, and seasonal climate forecasting at University College London, has issued their July forecast update from the Atlantic basin. Quite surprisingly, the experts have lowered their seasonal numbers for the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season to 15 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes, with an Accumulated Cyclone Energy index of 112 units. This reduction comes as a result of so-called cooling of the Main Development Region over the past few weeks. While I admit ocean temperatures cooled relative to the past few months in June, they have since rebounded, and are forecast to continue warming for much of this month. Their in-house model has changed from a forecast of MDR SSTs being 0.19C above average during the August-September timeframe to a forecast of MDR SSTs behind -0.1C below average during the August-September timeframe; as stated in their report, this would be the most dramatic switch in ocean temperatures since their inception. I see no reason to believe why such a forecast would pan out, however. A secondary issue brought up in their report was the concern of trade winds across the Caribbean and Atlantic during the peak of the season. This may be a valid concern due to the unusual strength of the Bermuda High the past two months; it is worth noting, however, that the high is typically strongest this month and levels off in intensity thereafter. You can view their full report here.I'll have a new blog tomorrow,TropicalAnalystwx13 Tropical Cyclones of 2013 Tropical Weather Top of Page 3:53 AM GMT on August 01, 2013 TropicalAnalystwx13 has created a new entry. "I'll have a new blog tomorrow"Liar. It's been days, almost two weeks!Can't believe you gave up to your pillow. Shame... Thanks Cody! LemieT Nice blog Tx Member Since: August 15, 2009 Posts: 0 Comments: 414 Very informative blog post...thanks again Cody! Member Since: November 6, 2010 Posts: 14 Comments: 9385 Thanks, bro. Member Since: March 7, 2007 Posts: 640 Comments: 23033 HurricaneAndre Member Since: June 11, 2013 Posts: 25 Comments: 4867 Great blog that covers every area of interest and completes with the TSR update. Lets see what the wave does as it approach the islands by next Tuesday. TropicalAnalystwx13's WunderBlog Small town USA guy. Politics nerd. Soccer fan. Interested in eyewalls, deformation zones, and hook echos. Wilmington, North Carolina TropicalAnalystwx13's Recent Photos TropicalAnalystwx13's Wunder Photos GOES East 1-km Visible Hurricane Sector Image Tropical Tidbits Model Page CaneFever Hurricane Links AdriansWeather Tropical Weather Links Pennsylvania State University e-WALL

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Sandy Hook: After the Shooting, a Stricken Town Struggles On The last of the burials are over, but memorials to the 20 children and 7 adults killed in the Dec. 14 rampage are still growing as Newtown, Conn. ponders how to move past a senseless tragedy By Christina Crapanzano / Newtown, Conn. Dec. 24, 2012 Share Craig Ruttle / APMembers of the Rutter family of Sandy Hook, Conn., embrace early Christmas morning as they stand near memorials by the Sandy Hook firehouse in Newtown, Conn. Email On Friday morning, Deanne Komlo was tiptoeing through the memorial on Church Hill Road, repositioning teddy bears - wet, matted and facedown from the morning's showers - one by one against the base of each of the 27 angel cutouts on the grass hill. Some of the stuffed bears tumbled down as soon as she walked away, but she returned and gently placed them on their backs with their arms outstretched, as if they were waiting to be hugged. Another woman was going around picking up each candleholder and emptying the rainwater that had collected inside. It would rain again before sundown. When the two women reached the bottom of the hill, they hugged through tears for several seconds. They had never met before, although Komlo has spent several hours at this memorial since it first appeared in the weekend after the shootings. They discussed what more they could do to help: a bake sale? Snowflake crafts? Prayer? While they talked, a third woman went around straightening any angels that had started to lean, trying to resecure them in the softened, muddy ground. (MORE: The Remaking of Newtown: Will Tragedy Make It Stronger?) In Newtown, Conn., memorials to the victims of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history have sprouted up wherever there is open grass or sidewalk space. The piles of offerings along the streets leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School have grown 3 ft. tall and several feet wide, spilling over and blocking sidewalks. Everyone knows that the piles - filled with sealed letters, new toys, candles and flowers - cannot stay there permanently. But even while Komlo accepts that the memorial she tends will eventually have to come down, she continues to maintain it. Like many in the town, she doesn't know what else she can do. It's been more than a week since 27 people - including 20 children, six school employees and the mother of the shooter - were killed in Sandy Hook, and the community is slowly trying to find a path toward closure. On Friday, a moment of silence, led by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, was held at the town hall to mark the one-week anniversary of the tragedy. That evening, a vigil at the Fairfield Hills Campus drew more than 1,000 people. On Saturday, Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra announced that the meticulously maintained memorials would be "gathered and processed into soil that will serve in the foundation of a future permanent memorial." On Sunday afternoon, the flag at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Main Street was raised to full mast - a position it had not occupied since the shootings on Dec. 14. (MORE: The NRA Responds to Newtown: America Needs More 'Good Guys' with Guns) It had been a long week for the town residents, and particularly for the families of victims. More than a dozen motorcades have passed down Church Hill Road since the shootings. While many families had asked that their funerals be private, mourners showed up anyway, waiting in the cold and rain, even if they did not know the victim personally. Everyone in Newtown knows someone at Sandy Hook Elementary. Their mom worked there. Their friend ran an after-school daycare for some of the students. Their former teachers taught there. No one in the town is untouched. "When someone asks you, 'Did you know someone involved?' ... It's Newtown - everybody knows everyone," resident Jeffrey Keating, 20, says. In the time since the shootings, Sandy Hook has been inundated with offers of aid. Within hours of the shooting, police officers from across the state raced to the scene, unbidden, to help in any way they could. Just a day after the tragedy, counselors and teachers from nearby states arrived to see if anyone needed advising. Trainers traveled with therapy-certified "comfort dogs" from six states away. Someone from Hawaii sent 26 lei necklaces on ice. High school students baked cookies and delivered them to police officers stationed at the town's flagpole. Newtown residents raided craft stores in search of green and white ribbon - Sandy Hook School's colors. One man ran 26 miles Friday morning - a mile for each of the victims from the school. People from across the U.S. donated money to local restaurants, requiring that they give Newtown residents free cups of coffee. (MORE: Sandy Hook Victim Dylan Hockley: A 'Beautiful Butterfly' Whose Life Was Cut Short) Doll donations have flooded local churches. "Tons of teddy bears," Keating, who volunteered to help sort the stuffed toys, said. "Literally, we have rooms in the basement of the church that are stacked 8 ft. tall by 20 ft. deep. I've never seen anything like this in my life." The last of Sandy's Hook's victims was laid to rest on Sunday. Unlike the memorials, which people crowd around daily, the graves of the children do not gather hordes of visitors or gifts. Indeed many of the children and teachers who shared a classroom just 10 days ago have now been buried far apart. Teacher Victoria Soto, reportedly killed while trying to defend her students, was buried in Stratford, Conn., 20 miles to the south. Six-year-old Dylan Hockley's services took place in Bethel, Conn., while his teaching aide Anne Marie Murphy - who died with her arms wrapped around him, trying to shield him from the bullets - was buried in her hometown of Katonah, N.Y. On Saturday afternoon, firemen hung a banner outside of St. Rose of Lima Church, where Monsignor Robert Weiss conducted services for several victims this week. The banner quoted the Gospel of John 1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (MORE: Twenty Brighter Stars: Shocked Connecticut Town Mourns Its Slain Children) No decision has been made about the future of the Sandy Hook Elementary School building. Some residents call it a "sacred" spot, while others just want it torn down. (Students from the school will resume classes in January in the neighboring town of Monroe, in a building reportedly being set up as a close replica of Sandy Hook Elementary - where students can find their pens, crayons, notebooks in the exact location they left them on the day of the shooting.) And as the traffic gets lighter and the camera crews and out-of-state cars leave Church Hill Road, Newtown residents hope to return to some kind of normal - although a return to how things were before the tragedy seems far out of reach. "I don't think we'll ever get back to normal so long as all of us who live in town remember," says Matt Cole, 24, one of the organizers of Friday's vigil. "Maybe three or four generations down the road, the town will get back to normal." Just after noon on Sunday, as a final police motorcade passed through town, patrons of the Sandy Hook Diner on Church Hill Road turned away from the counter and looked out the window. Pedestrians stood still and waited, not moving until the vehicles passed. Later, after the last recorded church bells had rung and the rumbling of police motorcycles had faded away, high school musicians set up on the street outside of a downtown coffee shop and began to play Christmas carols. Across Church Hill Road, a man dressed as Santa Claus stood near the comfort dogs - both, presumably, providing the same service. Mourners still arrived with toys and flowers Sunday night to add to the memorial piles, before they are taken away. MORE: Sandy Hook Shooting: The Speculation About Adam Lanza Must Stop

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News Frontier Left, Right, and Off Target PEJ report's misguided focus on "ideology" in nonprofit journalism By Greg Marx, CJR A new report on non-profit news startups from the Project for Excellence in Journalism has been attracting a little bit of attention in media-critic circles since its release Monday morning. (Well, a little bit of the attention not devoted to Murdochgate, anyway.) And the report is worth a quick read for the cautions it raises about the transparency, or lack thereof, surrounding funding sources at the 39 state and national non-profit outlets it analyzed. But less useful, if perhaps more revealing, is the way the report's authors handle what might be called the "objectivity issue." Though the freighted O-word is never actually used, the report is shot through with a circa-1991 sensibility that what makes journalism trustworthy and valuable is a commitment to "balance." (That's a word that is used, repeatedly.) It's a blinkered approach, and one that leaves the PEJ study often seeming oblivious to what is good, and what is not-so-good, about the new non-profit ecosystem. The tone is set in one of the opening paragraphs, which asks (emphasis added): Who are these new players in journalism? Are these sites delivering, as they generally purport to be, independent and disinterested news reporting? Or are some of them more political and ideological in their reporting? How can audiences assess this for themselves? In short, what role are these operations playing in the changing ecosystem of news? The study finds that the fact that a news site is a non-profit does not define what kind of news it produces. Some fit squarely into the traditions of independent news gathering, which dictates offering a wide range of perspectives and ideas about current events. Others fall more closely toward what might be considered partisan news or even political activism. Many of the sites examined here, moreover, purport that they were started precisely to fill the gap left at the state level from cutbacks in traditional media, especially newspapers, and thus present themselves as functioning much as traditional media once did. The idea seems to be that nonprofit sites that report the news from a particular ideological perspective have worked some deception on the public, perhaps on behalf of shadowy funders with political motivations. The concerns about funding and transparency are not unwarranted, and CJR has written about those issues before. But the notion that when nonprofit news sites work from a particular political perspective - just as political magazines have done, well, forever - they break some implied promise is, as new-media scholar Chris W. Anderson notes on Twitter, a little perplexing. For example, the American Independent News Network (AINN), deemed one of the most "ideological" news sources in the PEJ sample, writes on its own "About" page that its reporting "emphasizes the positive role of democratically elected government in securing the common good and social welfare" - so the fact that the network's stories tend to highlight the virtues of government programs, or the peril represented by cuts to those programs, is hardly surprising. The deeper problem, though, is that the study defines "ideology" in a way that doesn't necessarily tell us anything meaningful about the quality of the reporting being analyzed - and it's quality, measured in terms of accuracy and honesty, insight and significance, that we should be worried about. The report's discussion of ideology depends heavily on judgments about whether stories capture multiple viewpoints, or whether, by weighting one view more heavily, they favor a preferred theme. (Including multiple viewpoints, and a balance between views, is clearly the correct way to do journalism, in the eyes of the report's authors.) That sounds good, and indeed the sites that score as "non-ideological" under PEJ's framework - which include ProPublica, California Watch, and The Texas Tribune - do outstanding work. But the limits of the authors' approach become clear when they apply it to individual stories. For example, they write: Some sites commonly offered multiple points of view. A Sept. 16 synopsis of a gubernatorial candidates' debate in MinnPost, for instance, featured three candidates from three different parties - a Republican, a Democrat and a member of the Independence Party, and gave roughly equal space to each of the three candidates and their differing points of view. Assuming this is the story the report is referring to (the PEJ report doesn't embed links to the individual stories it mentions), that's a fair description. And, in fact, MinnPost writer Doug Grow's account of the debate is a good piece of journalism. But the "roughly equal space" given to each candidate is unremarkable, and has very little to do with the article's quality. Most debate stories give roughly equal space to each candidate, after all, and most debate stories are also turgidly written and deeply unilluminating. Grow's piece is good because it rejects the traditional debate write-up formula in which all the reporter has to do is devote an equal number of grafs to each candidate, and instead offers critical analysis of the exchanges between the candidates and the moderator. Whether that analysis is "ideological" (in this case it's not, especially) is a less interesting question than whether or not it's honest and intelligent (it is). But that latter question goes unasked throughout PEJ's report. Or consider this passage, from the report's discussion of "story themes": One theme common in the coverage on sites that leaned in a conservative direction was the idea that government regulation hurts economic growth. An example is a Sept. 2 story in the Nevada News Bureau about a group of Nevada business leaders opposed to federal labor legislation they thought would stifle job growth. While supporters of the legislation were quoted in the piece, most of the article gave voice to opponents of the bill. "Adding burdens, expenses and red tape onto Nevada's job producers is the fastest way to destroy jobs, not create them," declared business leader Clara Andriola. Assertions and quotes echoing ideas such as Andrioloa's outnumbered those on the other side in the story by a ratio of five-to-two, and the story was deemed to reflect primarily a conservative idea. The favoring of a particular theme seems to distress the report's authors. But the real problem with the story in question is that it's just not very good - it's a recitation of boilerplate quotes from one side (in this case, anti-union folks), leavened with a few boilerplate quotes from the other side (in this case, pro-union folks). Metro dailies have been producing exactly this sort of not-very-good article for decades - including, in many cases, apparent preference for pro-business or pro-labor themes - so it's hard to see how the blame lies with the NNB's status as a non-profit start-up. It's also hard to see what more "balance" would have achieved. Had the number of quotes on each side been made even, but the level of pressure brought upon the talking heads remained negligible, would the story have become good? Hardly. The tendentiousness of the report's framing is further illustrated in its note that an AINN "story" that claimed that the expiration of unemployment benefits would push more people into poverty "contained no assertions to counter the idea that government is a force for good in society." The "story" turns out to be a blog post that consists almost entirely of an excerpt from a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a center-left think tank. Yes, ideologically-aligned news sites publicize the work of sympathetic think tanks. No, they don't get perfunctory comments from people who hold ideologically opposing views for each blog post. And no, those posts don't carry the journalistic authority of longer, more deeply reported stories, nor do they pretend to. None of this is remarkable, nor will it deceive any sentient reader. Meanwhile, the possibility that reporting from a specific ideological perspective might, at times, be helpful, goes unmentioned in the report. The Washington Independent, AINN's now-defunct flagship, produced lots of excellent work that stood apart from the output of commercial media, and was informed by the outlet's liberal leanings. (See for example Annie Lowery's August 2010 article, "Death and Joblessness.") And the watchdog.org family of sites, classified as ideologically conservative by PEJ, uncovered widespread errors in the official data on federal stimulus spending. I'm not a close reader of the Watchdog sites, but their impact seems thin overall; the importance of those errors turned out to be overstated. But if that's the case, it's not because there's an inherent problem with a right-leaning news operation dedicated to exposing government waste and inefficiency. It's because the sites need to do better work. (In fact, ideology can be an important motivator of valuable investigative journalism.) The PEJ report is suffused throughout with a sense that it's the obligation of the new non-profits to reincarnate as best they can the status quo ante, when newspapers around the country sought to deliver, to lift a phrase from the report, a "high level of neutral reporting." But it's worth remembering that, in many times and many places, the status quo ante wasn't all that good. Investigative reporting was rarely written and rarely read, too much political journalism leaned on a he-said-she-said formula, policy was often poorly understood, important stories went untold. Today, many non-profit sites are working in that tradition of "neutral reporting." At their best, they do outstanding journalism - often, better than what many readers had access to in an earlier era. Other non-profit sites are working from clear ideological perspectives - and at their best, they too produce reporting that can stand up to anything, and brings value to readers and the democratic conversation. Isn't that something to be happy about? Tags: Nonprofit Journalism, Project for Excellence in Journalism Trending stories

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Lessons from the response to the David Weigel flap By Greg Marx, CJR It's been three days since David Weigel, the reporter and blogger best known for his coverage of the conservative movement, resigned from The Washington Post after intemperate remarks he'd made on a private e-mail list about some of his subjects were made public. In that time many smart things have been written and said about a reporter's responsibilities - and the relationship between reporting, opinion, and analysis - in the modern media environment. Some not-very-smart things have also been said. Unfortunately, several of the latter have emanated from the precincts of Weigel's erstwhile employer, which seems to understand it has to find a way to incorporate into its pages the intelligence and energy that is flourishing in some quarters of online political journalism - witness the hiring of Weigel, Ezra Klein, and Greg Sargent - but also to be determined to protect the sacraments of newspaper reporting as they are traditionally understood, for better and, unfortunately, for worse. Consider these thoughts from several anonymous Post staffers which were relayed Friday in a blog post by The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg: "This is not just sour grapes about the sudden rise of these untrained kids, though I have to think that some people in the building resent them for bypassing the usual way people rise here. This is really about the serial stupidity of allowing these bloggers to trade on the name of the Washington Post." "It makes me crazy when I see these guys referred to as reporters. They're anything but. And they hurt the newspaper when they claim to be reporters." "Ezra Klein is a talented guy, but he's just an absolute partisan. If this is where journalism has to go, so be it, but I don't want to go there." "The lack of toilet-training is right. Everyone makes mistakes, but you can mitigate the number of mistakes through seasoning. Some people here are still put through seasoning, but others aren't. It shows, and it's embarrassing." (The commenters had apparently been moved to speak after reading an earlier, spectacularly misguided post by Goldberg, from which he later backtracked, twice.) It is pretty clear those comments reflect not just a response to the current controversy, but a generalized dislike of the new crop of online journalists, one that's not necessarily informed by a close reading of their output. (Other than founding the e-mail list from which Weigel's remarks were leaked, and recommending Weigel to the Post, Klein had nothing to do with the recent episode. Meanwhile, though his stint at the Post may not represent his best work, Weigel is clearly a talented reporter. He grabbed the story of a resurgent conservative movement sooner than almost anyone else, followed it to places many reporters didn't know existed, and in both his straight reporting and analysis he brought fair-mindedness and a commitment to accuracy to the job.) So what are the revanchists at the Post objecting to? A lot of things, probably, not least the professional threat posed by the relentlessly prolific Web-native crew. But I think the fault being found with folks like Weigel and Klein here is not only that they blur the lines between opinion, analysis, and reporting, or that they are too obvious about what's presumed to be the latent liberalism of the national press (a charge that's incoherent as applied to Weigel, whose own politics are hardly those of a standard-issue liberal). It's that they have cultivated a journalistic persona - an individual voice, a body of experience shared with readers, and a lens through which they view the world - that colors everything they do, from writing for the Post to writing on personal blogs to sending messages over Twitter, and that is not thoroughly subordinated to the institutional imperatives of the Post. In other words, they've built their own brands, which put their selves at the center of their work - as Maureen Tkacik writes in the cover story of the May/June issue of CJR, "one's humanity is inescapable when one commits to blogging all day for a living." It's easy to see the economic advantages to them in doing so, and to see the advantages to the Post in acquiring those brands. It's also easy to see why some Post staffers would object for reasons beyond self-interest: when one's humanity is always on display, there are going to be some embarrassing moments, no matter how much "toilet-training" has been provided, and those moments will reflect poorly on the institution. But what the complaints don't recognize is that this approach isn't only about self-aggrandizement or a license for punditry (which, actually, didn't appear often on Weigel's "official" blog). It's a response to the straitjacket of "traditional" journalism, which presumes that there is only one way to tell a given story, and that all professional journalists will converge on it. It's a tool to get past false equivalence and he-said/she-said reporting and blandly written, conventional-wisdom-spewing "news analysis" stories, and of saying, "Here is what I, an intelligent, critical observer who has earned your trust (or not) by virtue of my prior work, find to be interesting, newsworthy, and true - and, as important, what I find to be not true." It is one response to the very real editorial failures of political journalism, which too often result in mummified, sterile accounts that fail to inform readers of what is actually at stake. Here's Tkacik again: From a commercial perspective, "branding" has consistently bestowed its greatest rewards on those capable of projecting a kind of elusive authority that turns consumers' fears, insecurities, aspirations, unarticulated dreams, etc. into healthy profit margins. But a sense of humanity is also a kind of authority. And maybe the best policy for our beaten-down population of journalists just naturally involves letting down the old guard of objectivity and letting go of illusions of unimpeachability. Rather than train journalists to dismiss their own experiences, what if we trained them to use those experiences to help them explain the news to their audience? Allow their humanity to shape their journalism? This isn't some radically profound notion - it only seems that way in the context of the ridiculous zero-sum debate over the relative merits of "straight" news versus the self-absorbed nature of blogs. Maybe there is a way to combine the best of both. Of course, the existence of this model does not mean that there are no rules (Weigel was right to apologize for some of his comments, and he's now offered futher reflections on what he calls his "hubris"), and it does not mean that the journalist is allowed to be complacent and incurious (here, Amy Sullivan, a frequent critic of media coverage of conservatives, presents an argument against Weigel on these grounds). Nor does it mean that we all must become persona-cultivating, brand-building bloggers in order to live up to our mission as truth-tellers - there are plenty of political journalists, including some at the Post, who pack insight and discernment into the standard forms. But it does mean that institutions like the Post have both an opportunity and an obligation to take advantage of what this new model offers - to find a way to, as Tkacik writes, "combine the best of both." Instead, at the first sign of trouble, they cut Weigel loose. And rather than thinking about how it might have made this experiment work - for example, by making clear to readers this was an experiment in a new form, or by providing support from an editor who could help Weigel navigate the shifting terrain - the Post seems determined to draw the wrong conclusions. A point-missing blog post by the paper's ombudsman, Andy Alexander, contained this passage: "I don't think you need to be a conservative to cover the conservative movement," [managing editor Raju] Narisetti told me late today. "But you do need to be impartial... in your views." He said that when Weigel was hired, he was vetted in the same way that other prospective Post journalists are screened. He interviewed with a variety of top editors, his writings were reviewed and his references were checked, Narisetti said. "But we're living in an era when maybe we need to add a level" of inquiry, he said. "It may be in our interests to ask potential reporters: 'In private... have you expressed any opinions that would make it difficult for you to do your job." Who knows what that remark about being "impartial... in your views" is supposed to mean, or whether it would make any more sense without the ellipses; focus instead on that last line. If there is any reporter anywhere who has not expressed views in private, or on a bar stool, that might make it difficult for him to do his job were they made public - and I doubt that there is - he is barely a sentient human being, let alone a good journalist. In the course of encountering the world people draw conclusions and form views, and a good journalist encounters more of the world than most folks. What's happening now is that the fiction that those convictions don't, or shouldn't, shape the tasks of journalism is disappearing. That doesn't mean that anything goes; it means we have an opportunity to establish a new set of journalistic values - one that valorizes fair-mindedness, intellectual honesty, and proving your point with serious reporting, and that accepts a variety of ways to achieve these goals. Weigel is not blameless here, but as a colleague said to me over the weekend, "If you're the Post, you have to find a way for somebody like Dave to work." The rest of journalism already is.

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Broadcasters focus a new lens on Africa Faeeza Ballim Anchor aweigh: Komla Dumor will present the BBC's daily programme, Focus on Africa. (Madelene Cronjé, M&G) To get to the boardroom of the BBC Africa bureau in Johannesburg is like a mini-journey through the international broadcaster's past, present and future of eight decades' of news-gathering on the continent.You pass its state-of-the-art radio and TV studios and go through a small but busy newsroom, with large wall-mounted monitors broadcasting BBC World news, next to clocks ticking away the different time zones. Then you go along a corridor of editing rooms, where someone is digitising the bureau's massive tape collection. The walls of the corridor are covered with sepia photographs of slim and smiling old BBC hands such as George Alagiah, Milton Nkosi and Glenn Middleton set against African sunsets.The future of the BBC's African broadcasting fills the boardroom with a big voice and a large smile, and exudes a passion for the continent. His name is Komla Dumor and he will be the anchor of the broadcaster's new television programme, Focus on Africa, starting on Monday evening on BBC World. It will be the first daily television news programme (30 minutes long) dedicated to Africa by an international broadcaster.Ghanaian-born Dumor was in South Africa recently on a whirlwind promotional tour. Challenges and prospects"I am incredibly excited to be part of a programme that will provide solid coverage of Africa's challenges and prospects," he said. Africa is no longer the lost continent - it is now a continent with audiences that broadcasters want to capture. It is a three-horse race at the moment between the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera International, but the field is expected to grow."Africa is the fastest-growing news market in the world," said Solomon Mugera, BBC's Africa editor, who was in Johannesburg with Dumor. And the audience is both in Africa and overseas.Focus on Africa is not the first of its kind. Kim Norgaard, CNN Johannesburg bureau chief, said: "It is nice to welcome the BBC to something we have been doing for years." CNN has three dedicated African shows. "Africa is a business story," Norgaard said: "There are many who look at Africans as consumers."Depiction of the continentThanks to satellite broadcasting, there are eager viewers beyond the continent. Isaac Mangena, e.tv's continental operations editor, said e.tv was pleasantly surprised by the size of its viewership in the United Kingdom, but not all were Britons. "The audience is also Africans in the diaspora interested in what is going on at home." But international coverage of Africa has long been a source of controversy. Critics have attacked the depiction of the continent as a "hopeless place of death", according to Professor Tawana Kupe, dean of humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand and associate professor of media studies. However, there has been a shift: "Com­pe­tition between news stations and critiques over the years have led to gradual change in representation," he said.Others have criticised foreign correspondents for engaging Africans superficially. Recently, Binyavanga Wainaina, director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Writers and Artists at Bard College in the United States, made fun of their cosy relationship with international non-governmental organisations in an article in the Guardian."If a foreign correspondent needs to know what exactly is going on in Sudan, their weekly lunch with the Oxfam guy will identify the most urgent issues." But Focus on Africa seems a step in the right direction. "A new Africa is emerging," Dumor said. "The old stereotypes are being challenged and a new, compelling narrative is being written." Instead of incessant reports of coups across the continent, the success of the Nairobi stock exchange and mobile phone penetration were now deserving of mention. According to Dumor, effective report­ing meant that "you have to breathe the air and taste the dust". Africa by AfricansWith an 80-year-long presence on the continent, BBC radio's correspondents are integral to the new service. Peter Burdin, Africa bureau editor, said: "We have 65 correspondents in 45 countries reporting on a daily basis. And so we will be unleashing young journalists who are already in place." Dumor said: "These will be reports on Africa by Africans. We are not flying in some expert for South Africans to say you don't know what you're talking about."This will give the BBC an edge. For e.tv's Africa 360, a programme with a similar agenda, one of the key challenges has been continental representation. "BBC has been there, they've had a radio presence and they can use those people," Mangena said. "We are a step ahead with TV broadcasting, but they already have a footprint across the continent."Does this mean only Africans should cover Africa? Nkosi, a BBC analyst at the Johannesburg bureau, said not. "I will defend the internationalism of journalism." A veteran journalist from Soweto, he went on to head the BBC bureau in South Asia. "I think that whole thing of parachute journalism is a cliché, honestly. There are many people who fly in and do fantastic pieces."Immediate perspectiveThe international media has a role to play in painting African pictures. "Local journalists are sometimes more interested in the immediate perspective," he said. "It is important to get a sense of the way others see us, otherwise we'd be buried in our own stories."A recent online spat over the coverage of Africa elicited some biting comment. Tristan McConnell is a Global Post journalist based in Nairobi. In response to indignant criticism about "stereotyping and incomplete analysis" by correspondents, he wrote: "When I write that the people of the Nuba mountains are terrified of Khartoum's Antonov bombers ... it's because I've lain in the dirt with them when the bombs fell. I've seen the terror on their faces and I've felt it myself."As Nkosi said: "The problem is when you see African people on TV, surrounded by flies, going to the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] tent. This [Focus on Africa] will be an opportunity for audiences to see Africa in its glory."TV guideCNN has three dedicated African shows that air globally several days a week: Inside Africa, Marketplace Africa and African Voices.Focus on Africa will be the BBC's first daily TV programme dedicated to Africa. Al Jazeera has a weekly investigative programme, Africa Investigates. CCTV broadcasts a daily one-hour news show, Africa Live, from a bureau in Nairobi.E.tv broadcasts Africa 360, and eNews Prime Time on DSTV, Sky B in the United Kingdom and affiliated channels around the globe. BBC AfricaBBC BBC takes issue with 'unconstitutional' set-asides BBC presenter arrested in Zimbabwe

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A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Blogging By Josh Catone2010-08-03 11:24:50 UTC In honor of Mashable's five-year anniversary, this series is supported by IDG. Customers are talking about your brand and products - find out what they are saying with IDG Social Scout. Five years is eons in Internet time, and a lot has changed in the blogosphere since 2005. Sites have been born, sites have died, sites have grown up and others have faded away. Entirely new blogging formats have been created and business empires have been built on the foundations of humble blog beginnings. Today's blogosphere is larger and more diverse than it was five years ago, and yet only a few blogs - the so-called "A-listers" - have risen to a place of dominance in the new media landscape. The blogosphere of 2010 is also powered in many ways by social media, something that barely existed five years ago, and was likely an afterthought to most hobbyist bloggers of the day. How did we get from there to here? What follows is a look back at the last five years in the blogosphere. In July 2005, by penning his first post on this site, Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore was joining a blogging movement that had already swelled to over 14 million blogs, and was growing at a rate of 80,000 per day. Yet, while most of those bloggers were of the journaling variety, Mashable was entering an evolving blogosphere. While 2005 was not the first year in which any one person made a living at blogging, it does mark a number of important milestones in the transition of the blogosphere as a place of primarily random thoughts and banalities to one that now supports a growing number of burgeoning media empires. Blogging has entered the mainstream consciousness as a legitimate source of media, likely due to the sheer number of blogs on the Internet today (133 million and counting), even though the vast majority of blogs are still likely personal. According to the 2009 State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati, professional bloggers are blogging more than ever, while hobbyists are blogging less. One reason for that, as we'll explore, might be the rise of social media. Blogging as a Business In February of 2005, blogger Jason Kottke decided to quit his job and move from a hobbyist to a full-time blogger. Though his experiment ultimately failed, Kottke's bold move was in many ways indicative of a emerging blogging mentality that was to become more common over the next five years: Treating the blog as a startup enterprise. Though large blogs like Boing Boing and DailyKos were already gaining influence compared to their mainstream media counterparts, three events in particular in 2005 helped legitimize blogs as viable business endeavors. First, Arianna Huffington launched The Huffington Post with a $2.5 million seed investment. Since then, the site has become the most popular blog on the Internet and a leading voice in American politics, with millions of contributors, both paid and unpaid. Furthermore, it has taken in about $37 million in venture capital funding. Of course, The Huffington Post's rise to the top was not instant, but the site's story is one that has affirmed the blog's rightful place in the media business pantheon. The second major event of 2005 was AOL's purchase of Weblogs, Inc., the parent company of popular blogs like Engadget and Autoblog, for a reported $25 million. The successful exit of that major blogging property - one of only a handful of such blog networks in existence at the time - encouraged the development of the network model, in which multiple blogs are launched in tandem and link to one another for SEO reasons. Three years later, many of the Weblogs, Inc. blogs had seen triple- or quadruple-digit visitor growth, and the company had moved from paying a group of freelance writers on a per post and traffic basis, to hiring a growing number of full-time writers. The most important occurrence for blogging in 2005, however, might have been the launch of Federated Media. Backed by The New York Times, Omidyar Network and a handful of angel investors, FM was one of the first major advertising firms to focus on blog properties, and that made it a lot easier for fledgling blog startups to grow into the major media brands that many of them have become. Given the injection of cash from ad agencies like Federated Media, bloggers were able to spend more time producing content and had the capital to hire help. It was that simple combination of cash and time that caused the blogging model to ultimately be so successful, according to Steve Spalding, a Digital Business Strategist and Founder of the blog How To Split An Atom. "As [blogs] kept making more content, they kept appearing in Google and kept getting linked to by bigger and better sites, which lead to more traffic, more relevance, more links and most importantly, more money," he said. "Eventually you hit the tipping point where traffic, cash and relevancy make you skyrocket above the competition, which is where many of the big blogs find themselves today." Fast forward five years, and the Spalding equation (time + money + content) has worked its magic across the blogosphere. According to Technorati, 28% of bloggers reported earning some sort of income from blogging in 2009, and of those, the mean annual ad revenue for bloggers is over $42,000 - a healthy income in many parts of the world. Disclosure: Mashable works with Federated Media. The Rise of Social Media Perhaps the biggest shift in blogging culture over the past half decade has been the rise of social media. One of the most visible ways in which social media has affected blogging is that it changed the type of content that dominates the blogosphere. According to Scott Rosenberg, co-founder of Salon.com and author of Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What it's Becoming, and Why it Matters, social media provided a new home for a lot of minutiae around the blogosphere - status updates, shared links, passing observations - and freed up blogs for longer form, more valuable writing. "In [the early] days it was common to hear the complaint from old media curmudgeons that blogs were worthless because, you know, who wants to know what you had for lunch?" said Rosenberg. "So today those messages are all on Facebook or Twitter, the curmudgeons get to toss their complaints at shiny new targets - and blogging, miraculously, has become the center of gravity for in-depth, substantial dialogue and inquiry online." Said Rosenberg, the rise of social media has birthed a blogosphere with more high-quality and thoughtful content. Social media hasn't killed blogging, or replaced it, he said, but social networks have "deepened it, given it more clarity and heft." For Spalding, social media has created a more dynamic atmosphere, one brimming with new opportunities for networking and fodder for posts. "[Social media] hasn't changed my world but it has expanded it in ways that are difficult to talk about unless you've spent a lot of time in the trenches with it," he said. Of course, for blogs, traffic equals money, so the most important change brought about by social media over the past five years may have been that social networks are increasingly a source of high quality traffic. According to a report from earlier this year via web measurement firm Hitwise, Facebook is now sending more traffic to news sites than mainstream aggregators like Google News. Twitter is also starting to move up the referrer ranks for news and media sites, said Hitwise. While only a handful of blogs qualify for inclusion in the "news and media" category at that firm, it's probably safe to assume that social media sources are becoming more and more important traffic generators for the generally very web savvy blogosphere. In fact, Hitwise reported last year that Facebook had become the top traffic referrer for the popular entertainment blog Perez Hilton. (There isn't much more hard data to back that, however, beyond what I can deduce from the referrer logs of Mashable itself.) When news of Facebook's rise as a legitimate source of referral traffic spread across the web, noted blogger and PR veteran Steve Rubel commented on his blog, "If the 2000s was the Google decade, then the 2010s will be the Facebook decade." That's even more true for bloggers if we replace "Google" with "search," and "Facebook" with "social media." Where getting visitors to your website over the past decade was often focused around search engine optimization, attention has shifted in the last five years to social media and the ever-expanding myriad of options and niche sites therein. SEO is still important, of course, but it is now a much smaller piece of a more complicated puzzle. Blogging Infiltrates News Media "[Blogs] are an essential part of the news landscape, and they have gained more credibility - mostly because there's less knee-jerk anti-blog reaction today," said Rosenberg in an e-mail interview. "We now have serious and respected news providers and cultural agenda-setters that started out as independent blogs (like Talking Points Memo and Boing Boing). We also have blogs that are manned by employees of major old-fashioned media organizations." In December of 2009, Mashable's Community Manager (and then freelance contributor) Vadim Lavrusik wrote that the future journalist will - out of necessity - borrow many of the tools and techniques cultivated by bloggers over the past decade. "To be a social journalist and one that engages in online communities, journalists will have to practice blogging regularly and serve as curators of other content on the web," he wrote. "Journalists of tomorrow will be participating in the link economy by gathering, synthesizing and making sense of other content across the web." The "link economy," in which authors link to one another to add context and provide readers with different viewpoints, has long been the domain of bloggers. Of course, one oft-hurled criticism is that bloggers don't add original reporting, they just link to it and comment on it. While that may be part of what many bloggers do, and while that may have been partly (but not completely) true five years ago, it certainly isn't the whole story today. Most of the major blogs that were founded in the past 5 to 10 years offer a mix of their own reporting, curation of reporting from the around the web, and commentary. The debate about whether bloggers are journalists has even reached the upper echelons of government. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that would extend traditional media shield protections offered to journalists to bloggers. That, for many, was a clear message that blogging as a medium had become a vital part of the news media landscape. And indeed, in the intervening years, blogging has been instrumental in documenting human rights abuses, has been cited for prestigious awards and has outranked the mainstream press in search listings. Over the past five years, mainstream journalists are finally starting to accept that curation of news is a legitimate journalistic pursuit. When the political blog Talking Points Memo broke the U.S. attorney scandal in 2007, it was their ability to bring together information from other reporters and synthesize and clarify that information for readers that made them such a leading voice on the story. "[Talking Points Memo founder Matt] Marshall and his staff broke quite a few 'scoops' in their months-long investigation into the firings," wrote Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review. "But they shed much light on the emerging scandal by stitching together reporting from local journalists as well. TPM Media reporters gathered information by working phones, swapping e-mails, and searching documents, as well as following reporting from San Diego's Union-Tribune and North County Times, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and McClatchy's Washington bureau covering the firings of respected local U.S. Attorneys and their replacement with Bush administration loyalists." According to Niles, current American media newsrooms are isolated and rarely rely on reporting from competing news outlets. Blogs, on the other hand, practice the increasingly more accepted art of curation, allowing them to "reveal a more complete and accurate truth for their readers." Perhaps even more elucidating, as Rosenberg noted, almost every major traditional media outlet has added blogging over the past five years to their stable of distribution channels (to be precise, 48.55% of media outlets now have blogs; that number is likely higher among the major, national outlets, though). From the New York Times to CNN, from the Wall Street Journal to The Guardian, blogs are now an important and prominently displayed way to deliver the news. And the number of journalists blogging is expected to increase. The Changing Landscape of Blog Software One other major event would reshape the blog world in 2005: The launch of WordPress.com. The free, hosted blogging service gave anyone access to a full WordPress installation, something that previously required some technical expertise (though a few web hosts were already offering their own hosted solutions). It can't be understated the dramatic effect that WordPress.com has had on blogging. Along with the self-hosted version of the software, WordPress accounts for some 25 million blogs, of which over 11 million are hosted on WordPress.com and serve over 2 billion pageviews each month. Statistics aside, what WordPress really offered to users was a marriage of ease of use with power. WordPress is a powerful software package - one that many websites use in lieu of a full content management system - and WordPress.com brought that power to the masses in an easy to use package. WordPress.com has been a major component of the growth of the blogosphere over the past five years. Yet, WordPress' rise isn't the only major story in the world of blog software over the last half decade. The other is the advent of tumblelogs. Tumblelogs are stream of consciousness weblogs that have distinct ways of displaying different types of content - text, quotes, videos, photos, links, etc. Though only recently have news outlets begun experimenting with them for serious blogging, tumblelogs have become extremely popular due to their ease of use. Tumblr, the most popular tumblelog hosting service, has seen extremely impressive growth since launching in 2007 and now serves over 1 billion pageviews per month, making it about half the size of WordPress.com. In other words, tumblelogs have been firmly embraced by mainstream users as a legitimate form of blogging. The interoperability of tools has also made the technical bits of blogging easier, said Spalding. Five or six years ago, for example, it wasn't very easy to find a video and insert it into a post, but now you can locate a video in seconds on YouTube and embed it by copying and pasting a few lines of text. Those improving tools, like WordPress.com, Tumblr and YouTube embeds, are what have caused the wild growth in the blogosphere over the second half of the the last decade. "Blogging tools have made it easier for people to focus on content production rather than the often tedious process of content formatting. If anything is responsible for the popularity of blogging the steady improvement of the tools over the years has to be it," Spalding said. Blogging has come a long way since 2005. From a rather unorganized collection of mostly personal diarists, to a major voice in the news media landscape, blogging is clearly one of the stars of today's Internet. "These days almost everyone is a 'blogger' and the delineation between someone who gets 5 visitors a year and 50,000 visitors an hour is a little blurry," said Spalding. "I think that's a good thing because, the faster we walk away from the label 'blogger,' the faster we can get down to the real business of producing valuable content for the people who are looking to read it." The community of those who call themselves "bloggers" has grown to the point where generalizations no longer work. When everyone is a blogger, a blogger can be many different things. "There are so many different [blogging communities]," said Rosenberg. "There's the political blogosphere with its various partisan subsections, the tech blogosphere (with subdivisions for developers and startup people and VCs and social media folks and more), the world of BlogHer, the crafts people, the culture bloggers, the cool gang in Tumblr-land, the science bloggers and law bloggers and librarians and on and on. As blogging went mainstream, it came to reflect the diversity of the human population, not perfectly of course, but widely enough to warn us all off from making broad statements about its attitude or makeup." That splintering of the blogosphere is likely to continue into the next decade. The big blogs will continue to grow and become more ingrained in the media landscape, while niche communities of bloggers will further codify. The blogosphere will, as Rosenberg said, continue to reflect humankind's diversity. Specifically, though, blogs will probably evolve over the next five years in ways we can't yet fathom. "These days, I just enjoy the ride," Spalding told us. That's good advice. Series supported by IDG In honor of Mashable's five-year anniversary, this series is supported by IDG. Brand listening is the foundation for an effective social marketing campaign. Understand what your prospects care about before you engage with them, with IDG's brand listening services. IDG Social Scout can help you to understand your prospects' conversations, plan a social marketing program and implement it. IDG has the audience and content expertise to meet your objectives. Start with a solid plan that IDG Social Scout services deliver based on analysis and insight. Learn more about how IDG Social Scout can help you by clicking here. More Social Media Resources From Mashable: - HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog- A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile- A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Social Media- 11 Free Services for Scheduling Social Media Updates- HOW TO: Send an Audio Tweet Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Bluberries [img credit: rishibando] blogging, blogger, federated media, Media Lists, Social Media, social-media-retrospective-series, tumblelog, tumblelogs, tumblr, WordPress

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What Do You Pack For A Seven-Year Trip? Journalist Paul Salopek, shown here with his supplies in Ethiopia, is setting out on a seven-year walk that will take him to the tip of South America. Paul Salopek is already a well-traveled journalist - a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who has spent most of the past two decades roaming across Africa, Asia, the Balkans and Latin America. This, apparently, has not sated his wanderlust. So now he's in a dusty village in Ethiopia's Rift Valley, ready to launch a seven-year, 21,000-mile journey on foot that will take him from Africa, across the Middle East and through Asia, over to Alaska and down the Western edge of the Americas until he hits the southern tip of Chile. Why? "The short version is I'm interested in narrative, I'm interested in storytelling," Salopek, speaking by satellite phone, tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. "After jetting around the world as a foreign correspondent, after flying into stories, after driving into them, helicoptering in, even, I thought about what it would be like to walk between stories. Not just to see the stories we were missing by flying over them, but to understand the connective tissue of all the major stories of our day." Enlarge this image Salopek plans to follow this route on his seven-year journey, but says he may have to make revisions when he reaches turbulent areas. Courtesy of National Geographic Salopek said he chose his route based on the migration out of Africa by early humans. But, he said, it's more a journey about the future than the past. "I don't want this to be misperceived as a journey about the past," he says. "I'm using the past as a road map. I'm using what scientists are telling us are the closest approximations of how we dispersed out of the mother continent, Africa, about 50,000 to 70,000 years ago." But, he adds, "it's very much about the present day. It's about how we've changed the world, and how the world is being radically altered in our view by such things as the Internet. I'm starting out this walk with about 35 percent of the world wired. By the time I reach Patagonia in 2020, about 80 to 90 percent will be wired." Salopek noted that he was among the rural Afar people in Ethiopia, and some of the men sport a dagger on their traditional belts - along with a cellphone. Salopek is a National Geographic fellow who has written frequently for National Geographic magazine. He will be sending dispatches from his journey and you can follow him at . Here are some of the interview highlights: Salopek has reported for years from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. Rebecca Hale/National Geographic On obstacles he will face "There will be challenges along the way. Often, they'll be challenges I'm not even thinking of. My personal experience in these regions is that, the first impulse, even in turbulent areas, is not one of hostility, it's one of generosity. That's not to say you can't get in a lot of trouble very fast; I have been in the past. But generally, the first reaction to people has been one of generosity." On getting through turbulent parts of the Middle East "It is a bottleneck ... I know northern Iraq pretty well. I've worked there a long time, I have friends there. That's not going to be the most serious concern. I think the most serious concern is what will Syria be like when I reach there 18 months from now, and what will our relations be with Iran six months later." On taking occasional breaks "The idea is not to turn it into a Herculean wilderness traverse. These areas are going to be challenging enough, so if I'm faced with the ... desert and an inhabited fringe to the right, my choice is going to be pretty obvious. I'll go where the people are, because I'll be living on local economies ... the idea is to be with people most of the time." On what one packs for a seven-year trip "The main thing that will not change though all the climates I will be walking through is basically how to get the story out. So I'll be taking an ultralight laptop, a satellite phone, a local cellphone and a camera and a digital recorder - so basically the kit any traveling writer or foreign correspondent would carry around the world. And I'm getting the lightest possible stuff I can buy. And the beauty is the technology is moving in my direction, getting smaller and smaller. And the cool part of the story is that it will be changing as I go. And the stuff I'm carrying now will seem ancient when I reach Tierra del Fuego in 2020." When Cultural Heritage Is At Risk, Italy's Art Police Come To The Rescue Venezuelan Authorities Halt Drive To Recall President Nicolas Maduro More Stories

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More Who Really Killed JFK? Experts Pick the Wildest Conspiracy Theories posted by Thomas Flynn Fifty years ago, John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas and Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the crime. Depending on whom you ask, however, that may be either all we really know about the assassination or all there is to know. No crime in American history has inspired as much debate - or as many books - as the events of November 22nd, 1963. Not all conspiracies are created equal; we asked twelve scholars of the crime of the century for the most unbelievable theories they've ever heard. Vincent Bugliosi, author of Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy The secret service agent whose gun accidentally goes off and kills the president. Its just unbelievable. In the first place, no one heard his gun go off. There were nine other people in that limousine, and they didn't hear a gun go off. You normally would, if you're sitting one or two feet from someone and their gun goes off. The notion that he fell backward, and the gun went off and just happened to hit the president in the same place Oswald had been aiming at, but had happened to miss a second earlier. To show you how not credible these sorts of theories are, at one time or another, conspiracy theorists have accused 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people by name of being involved in the assassination. Priscilla Johnson McMillan, author of Marina and Lee: The Tormented Love and Fatal Obsession Behind Lee Harvey Oswald's Assassination of John F. Kennedy, The most outrageous theory about the assassination would be any theory that says Lyndon Johnson had anything to do with it. This is a popular theory because one of maddening things about the Kennedy Assassination, what people cannot accept, is the disparity between the magnitude of the deed and the insignificance of the perpetrator. Anthony Summers, author of Not in Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the J.F.K. Assassination One is spoiled for choice. The notion that a member of the President's Secret Service detail shot JFK by mistake rates high amongst theories that some take seriously. Then there is the proposal that an impostor lies buried in Oswald's grave. Ludicrous, yet it led to the body being exhumed. At the crazy extreme, I keep an initially sane-sounding letter that offered to prove Kennedy was merely "removed from office" and escaped by crouching down on the floor of the limousine. This rates high in my Loonies file. There is a very basic reason that almost 60% of the American people think there was a conspiracy. They are confronted by a great contradiction. The first official investigation, the Warren Commission, found that there was a lone gunman, Oswald, while the House Assassinations Committee concluded that there was "probably" a conspiracy. That aside, people have now had well over forty years of hearing conspiracy theories ranging from the credible to the deranged. Finally, for many people - and this is society's problem - the mysteries of the assassination have become grisly entertainment. To a great extent, blame the media for that. Dean R. Owen, author of November 22, 1963: Reflections on the Life, Assassination, and Legacy of John F. Kennedy The most outrageous conspiracy theories are that there was a "double" to Mr. Oswald and that the Warren Commission combined the biographies of two men into one, that Mr. Oswald was a CIA operative who had become a security risk, Mr. Oswald had been paid by a representative of Cuban leader Fidel Castro to assassinate the president. The culture of assassination conspiracies is fueled, in part, by the improbability that Lee Harvey Oswald, an odd, some might say disturbing, individual, could have acted alone. How is it that our 35th president was gunned down by a lone Communist armed with a $12 rifle and delusions of grandeur, in a city that, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. characterizes in my book, was "a seething cauldron of right-wing depravity?" The only person able to explain fully his reasons was himself killed two days later. Mark Fenster, author of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture I would put the entire genre of alien conspiracy theories in there. Most of them are focused on Kennedy's supposed knowledge of or interest in aliens and alien abduction. No doubt someone has alleged the reptilians did it. I prefer plausibility in my conspiracy narratives. At a certain level, many of them are plausible. There are enough anomalies and coincidences in the event and enough mysteries surrounding it, and that period in political history is so rich, that many of the earthly theories seem at least minimally believable. My preference for consuming CIA-based conspiracies is personal and not particularly rational, given that I'm not convinced that the CIA of that era has shown itself as an organization to be exceptionally competent at doing anything but ruining other countries and people's lives in openly secretive ways. Pulling off a JFK hit and keeping it secret this long would be the mark of an incredibly competent plot. James Piereson, author of Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism I think the most outlandish is David Lifton's theory - from his book Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy - that Kennedy's body was stolen between Dallas and Washington, and his wounds were altered to suggest he was shot from the back when in fact he was shot from the grassy knoll. That seems to be the wackiest I've encountered. Then there's the one involving Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down in a U-S flight over the Soviet Union in the spring of 1960 - when the U.S, was sending surveillance flights over the Soviet Union. Oswald served at an Air Force Base in Japan from 1958 to 1959 where flights like these were taking off. He was a radio operator there. He wasn't given access to the U-2, but the enlisted men saw these planes taking off from the base. Powers, after he was shot down, was exchanged for a Soviet spy in 1962. He came back and wrote a book in which he claimed that Oswald gave the Soviet union the information they needed to shoot down the U-2 - how high they fly, where to aim their surface to air missiles. That has never been authenticated and the CIA has always denied it. What are the chances this one man, Lee Harvey Oswald, was involved in the two most major incidents of the Cold War? 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Melinda Quintos de Jesus Vergel O. Santos Luis V. Teodoro About CMFR A CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY BLOG Posted by LVTeodoro | Posted in Luis V. Teodoro | Posted on 16-04-2012 SINCE 1986, conventional wisdom in the Philippines has paid tribute to the role of the "alternative press" in the overthrow of the Marcos regime that year. During the period of open dictatorship (1972-1986), the alternative press was defined, though only tacitly in most cases, as that part of the press separate from and independent of the controlled or "crony" press- i.e., the press consisting of newspapers and broadcast media owned by close Marcos associates and that were under government regulation. In the "alternative" category were the semi-legal and underground newspapers, news dispatches and magazines published by Church and human rights groups as well as by the armed resistance movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, and such tenuously legal publications as Jose Burgos' WE Forum and Malaya. Despite their ideological differences, these publications were united by a common purpose: they provided information the controlled press was unable and unwilling to provide, and the corresponding analyses the information called for, in behalf of the argument that such realities as the violations of human rights, the war in Mindanao, the corruption that was approaching record levels, the energy and rice crises, and the exponential growth of the anti-dictatorship resistance were the best arguments against the Marcos kleptocracy. They were, in short, alternatives to the captive and crony press that had made commitment to reporting "good news" in behalf of the dictatorship its collective mantra. The conclusion that the alternative press, because driven by the imperatives of anti-dictatorship resistance, was a new phenomenon in Philippine press history rapidly became unquestioned, and eventually conventional, wisdom. The term "alternative press" has been variously defined as that part of the press consisting of magazines and newspapers published by groups, movements or individuals advocating social and other changes, as distinguished from that part of the press consisting of publications published by business and political interests committed to the defense and preservation of the status quo. The publications so categorized are "alternatives" to what is usually referred to as the "mainstream" publications in that they provide options for the public other than what is dominantly available in terms of information the latter either do not provide, or, if they do provide them, interpret according to the interests of those who control them. In the Philippine context, Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar and Graciano Lopez Jaena's La Solidaridad, Andres Bonifacio's Kalayaan, and other publications of the revolutionary movement and government during and after the reform and revolutionary periods of the late 19th century as well as such publications during the US occupation of the Philippines as Teodoro M. Kalaw's El Renacimiento constituted the alternative press in that they were alternatives to the Spanish and early US colonial press. The alternative press was therefore also the alternative to the dominant interests and corresponding viewpoint of those in control of the ruling system. Suppressed during the US colonial period (the "Aves de Rapina" libel case silenced El Renacimiento), the alternative press went underground during the Japanese occupation to provide Filipinos information on the real state of the country and of the resistance against the Japanese. Again receding into the background at the end of the war, the alternative press assumed the various forms (semi-legal, legal, and underground) Filipinos became familiar with during the Marcos dictatorship. So understood, the alternative press in the Philippines is therefore not a development born out of the martial law experience, but a tradition over a century old. Inherent in the alternative press tradition is its serving as an instrument of both exposure of as well as resistance to the realities and abuses of the prevailing social, economic and political systems by providing the information citizens need in furtherance of understanding, and, what is equally relevant, changing those systems. Historically, once "normalcy" has been restored (e.g., when US power was consolidated enough at the turn of the century, the Japanese driven out and independence "granted" in 1946, Marcos overthrown and democracy "restored" in 1986) the alternative press has either receded into the margins of Philippine culture, or parts of it absorbed by the "mainstream" (e.g., Malaya and the Philippine Daily Inquirer). But what is currently noticeable is that, together with the urgency of the need to address the crisis of Philippine society - the persistent and growing poverty, injustice and violence of it; the decline and mockery of what has passed for democracy - is the only too evident failure of the "mainstream," or more properly, the dominant, press to provide the information and analysis understanding the crisis requires. The economic interests of media owners and the sheer intellectual vacuity, the corruption and the incompetence of too many "mainstream" practitioners are at the roots of that failure. As a result, the alternative press is becoming a major source of citizen enlightenment during supposedly "normal," but actually critical times. While they no longer publish hard copies, the advent of the Internet has enabled such alternative publications as Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly not only to survive, but also to lengthen their reach to those disaffected by the bias, triviality, sensationalism, and shallowness of the dominant ("mainstream") press and who're anxiously looking for relevant information and analyses. Among their growing constituencies are students and young professionals, social and political activists, and those Filipinos resident in and/or working in other countries across the globe. The worsening crisis of Philippine society, and with it the inability of the dominant press to explain or even to simply document it, are making the current forms the alternative press has taken more relevant than ever to a people desperately in need of the information and analyses akin to those that, over a hundred years ago, such alternative publications as La Solidaridad and Kalayaan provided.

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In Egypt, new newspapers and old problems Citizens need good journalism to explain confusing times, but many Egyptians don't trust their media By Jared Malsin, CJR CAIRO, EGYPT - Egyptian newsstands today offer a lively range of options, including three government-owned papers, papers affiliated with political parties, and several privately-owned papers, some of which sprung up since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Since only 30 percent of Egyptians have access to the Internet, according to 2011 figures, newspapers, along with television and radio, are likely to continue playing a key role in Egyptian media for years. Although overt government censorship was ousted along with Mubarak, Egypt's burgeoning independent press is facing a new and more complex set of challenges. A lack of government transparency coupled with questions about the political and business interests controlling privately owned newspapers are adding to public skepticism of the mainstream press at the precise moment journalists are needed to cover the country's difficult, delicate transition from military to civilian rule. "We are moving from state ownership to oligarch ownership," Hisham Kassem, a veteran of the independent press here, said in an interview in his apartment steps from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. "In Egypt, the newspaper is owned by an individual who has nothing to do with the profession, but is there for the influence." Kassem, who in the 1990s founded the independent but now-defunct Cairo Times and later published the pioneering independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, is in the midst of launching a new cross-platform media company called Algomhouria Algadida (which translates as "The New Republic," though it has no relation to the Washington, DC-based magazine, he said). However, Kassem's project remains, for the moment, in a holding pattern while he waits for jumpy investors to feel assured that the political situation in Egypt has stabilized. He recently had cable laid in an empty newsroom that he hopes will, by the end of the year, produce high-quality content for a newspaper, website, television station, and radio station. Kassem says he plans to establish total editorial independence by insuring that no one investor will control more than 10 percent of the company. This business model is an attempt to confront an existing problem of so-called "anchor investors," usually business figures, often with connections to the old regime, who own controlling stakes in key news organizations. According to a recent report produced for the Ford Foundation, these investors treat the mainstream media "as pseudo-empires, fundamentally influencing public opinion." "In post-uprising Egypt, wealth is still owned by remnants of the old regime, and many of those individuals control an important share of the media market," the report states. Even the owner of the respected Al-Masry Al-Youm is Salah Diab, a prominent businessman in the oil sector. According to media expert Rasha Abdulla of the American University in Cairo, it's difficult to ascertain the full extent of the anchor investor problem, because the relevant business records are not made available to the public. "There's no transparency of ownership, so we really are not sure who owns particular newspapers," she said. Abdulla also said rumors of investor interference in content undermine public confidence in the media. "People are skeptical of the editorial policies or the intentions of the newspapers almost at all times, because we have not seen newspapers that have consistently been doing a good job, and we are always hearing stories of 'so and so made a phone call and it affected the outcome of this particular article,'" she said. Meanwhile, the alleged investor meddling comes at a time when, owing to an otherwise baffling political situation, clear reporting and critical analysis could not be more desperately needed. An ongoing power struggle is playing out in Egypt between the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president, Mohamed Morsi, and the generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces who took power when Mubarak stepped down. After Egypt's Constitutional Court, in consultation with the generals, dissolved the recently elected parliament last month, most political deliberation has taken place behind closed doors. In other words, facts are in short supply. Michael Hanna, an analyst with the New York-based Century Foundation, said that amid the confusion and the government's lack of transparency, some of the press have resorted to what he called "rumor-mongering." He pointed to "crazy, scurrilous stories about the MB [Muslim Brotherhood] and their plans for violence" during the run-up to the delayed announcement of the result of the presidential election in June. "I think there's a very obvious place right now, particularly because of how opaque everything is, and the lack of verifiable facts - there's a real need for that kind of longform, investigative journalism and look at systemic issues," he added. Despite the challenges, Egyptian media are far freer than before. Rasha Abdulla observed, "People have broken the fear factor. No one is afraid to speak out anymore, whether in a newspaper or on television or to their neighbor. People are not shutting up anymore." Jared Malsin is a freelance journalist based in Cairo Tags: Arab Spring, Egypt, newspapers Trending stories

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An Interview with Don Barlett What journo newbies (and the rest of us) can learn from an old master After writing nearly 500 posts over the last few years on health care, Medicare, and Social Security, I have observed that, for the most part, voices of ordinary people affected by policy changes decreed by elites and passed on by the press have been absent from the discussion. That raised a question: Why and for whom are we really writing? So I turned to Don Barlett, a partner in the legendary reporting duo of Barlett and [Jim] Steele of the Philadelphia Inquirer, later of Time and now at Vanity Fair. They have the distinction of winning two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards, so I figured they could tell me about why their work connected with the public, especially in ways that reportage does not always do today. Their series "America: What Went Wrong" chronicled what was happening to workers in the early 1990s in a period of great economic dislocation. It was later turned into a book. Their new book, The Betrayal of the American Dream, will be out next year. Trudy Lieberman: What was the key ingredient that made your series, "America: What Went Wrong", connect with people? Don Barlett: It brought all the pieces together. One phrase we heard over and over was "I thought this was happening only to me. They thought they were alone." There's no question the story hit a nerve because people saw themselves in it. There were 400,000 to 500,000 reprints, and the book was on the best seller list for eight months. TL: Can you give some specifics about how that series connected so strongly with ordinary workers? DB: We interviewed workers who had lost their jobs in industries that had given people a solid middle class living. And not high-income jobs. Jim would interview a shoe worker in Missouri and I would interview a glass worker in West Virginia and when we returned to Philadelphia and typed up the notes, the stories were identical. These industries were the glue that held small towns together. For the first time you saw how government policies were destroying a way of life. TL: What else was going on? DB: The news media portrayed this economic dislocation as a temporary recession. But in fact it was structural. In western Pennsylvania, work from a transformer plant was being shipped to Mexico. Wages were being lowered and benefits eliminated. A lot of the blue collar guys had nothing. One called COBRA a fraud. He had just gotten a bill for it which he had a hard time paying. We each spent a lot of time in different parts of the country. Reporting was an ongoing process. We interviewed people who worked in these plants and they were having a problem finding new work. All of a sudden, their lives were turned upside down by forces they never saw coming. The series was very popular with people, but not with economists. That was the last time people still believed their government. TL: What do you mean by putting all the pieces together? DB: We looked at who was profiting. Who was making money off these government policies that led to the destruction of people's lives. This is still going on today. We've been getting e-mails from people asking when are you going to revisit this issue. A number of people are saying 'I just discovered this' (the old series). TL: Is the web a good medium for this sort of reporting? DB: Yes and no. Yes for gathering information. Not necessarily for replacing the function served by newspapers. You need to walk people through a complex issue so they understand it. There's no walking through on the web. You lose them. It's a great research tool, but as a communications tool, it leaves much to be desired on serious issues. It's great for gathering information but someone has to put it together and explain what it means. TL: Is that being done? DB: Everybody is trying, but you can't deal with all serious issues in a sound bite. There are longer pieces but readers are in and out. They don't seem to be absorbing it. TL: But in some ways the web does let us connect with people. DB: The clicks don't reflect anything. The page views don't reflect anything. They can be a nervous tic. But if people take the time to write an e-mail or a letter, they're hurting, and they're connecting. TL: Is the web, then, a superficial way of connecting? DB: Yes. It's in keeping with the Facebook mentality. Everybody wants to know where I am today, but that's different from really connecting with the economic concerns of people. It's the Paris Hilton-Lindsay Lohan School of Connectivity. TL: Why are we disconnected from our readers? DB: It's difficult to overcome the drum beat of sound bites. There are some great young reporters so it's not an age thing. What's missing is a sense of fairness, equality and inequality, right and wrong that journalists traditionally brought to their reporting. Like so many other aspects of American life - business and government come to mind - what's missing is a moral compass: Is this right or wrong? TL: Do reporters think about that today? DB: Not so much. Journalism has become a business. It's no longer a calling. Everyone's job seems to be in jeopardy. People are worried about their next paycheck. TL: Has the specialization in journalism with all the training programs and fellowships backfired? Some think that this has encouraged journalists to write for their sources. DB: Yes. Today's journalists often forget the audience earlier generations wrote for - the average person. Now they write for Wall Street or Silicon Valley or Capitol Hill or cable television talking heads. Their questions are framed in economic terms not in moral terms - is this right or wrong. There used to be moral outrage in the newsroom, but now not so much. Where you really see this is in the use of language. Here is where journalists have literally lost their moral compass. TL: Can you explain this a bit more? DB: In stories on taxes, reporters often ask whether it's fair to impose higher tax rates on someone who has worked hard and achieved success. The implication is that someone who doesn't make much money has not worked hard. Nonetheless, reporters often ask, "Do you really want to raise taxes on someone who is successful?" That usually means those who have made a lot of money. TL: So we are not framing or asking the right questions? DB: Yes. We don't know what we need to know unless we ask the right question. You listen to TV reporters, and they inevitably ask the wrong question so the problem is framed wrong or from a point of view. Americans are not dumb. But journalism is dumbing down the information it delivers. Sometimes it's political. Sometimes it's laziness. TL: Can you give me an example? DB: The classic example was weapons of mass destruction. The question should have been are there weapons of mass destruction, not where are they. By framing that way, people are misled into believeing the weapons exist. Once that theme was picked up, the media was off and running. TL: Any other examples? DB: Take end-of-life care. The question is "can we afford to spend $80,000 for treatment that extends life for two months?" Nobody asks that question. It's usually framed in terms of rationing or denying care. Or to take another example. There's a study by one Wall Street firm that shows that corporate taxes are really high. And then you read the fine print and see what income was excluded from taxes. But nobody looks at what taxes corporations actually pay. That's the question to ask. TL: How about Social Security? DB: There were these huge surpluses. Where did the money go? To finance a war? Here's another. Why are there caps on how much earnings can be taxed for Social Security. (Income over $106,000 is not subject to Social Security payroll taxes.) That's not asked. TL: Why? DB: Because it inevitably leads to an accusation of engaging in class warfare, even though the war was waged long ago and lost. TL: Are news organizations interested in producing stories that tackle questions like that? DB: Some are; some are not. It's important to remember that however bad things may seem today, there is no comparison with the 1950s, when critical reporting on business did not exist. TL: One time I heard you speak at a meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists and you said "make no mistake about it, we are lying to our readers." Can you explain what you meant? DB: This idea of pretending that the market, and by extension our insurance system, works in health care is a flat out lie. We don't have an insurance problem. We have a health care delivery problem. Health care could be provided through other arrangements - and not necessarily by the government. Yet the entire debate is keyed to guaranteeing insurance, indeed the big issue now is forcing people to buy insurance. TL: What is going wrong with America now? DB: For tens of millions of working people, America could become a third world country. The job market is bleak. Pay in most fields is going down - not up. Home ownership is becoming increasingly iffy. There are no more guaranteed pensions. Congress is anxious to slash Social Security. Health care protection is marginal. And the outlook for the next generation is even darker. All this at the same time there is more wealth concentrated in fewer hands than at any time in history, and members of Congress, perhaps even a majority, want the people in the middle and the bottom to pick up the bills for the excesses of the past decade enjoyed by Wall Street. Trudy Lieberman is a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. She is the lead writer for The Second Opinion, CJR's healthcare desk, which is part of our United States Project on the coverage of politics and policy. She also blogs for Health News Review. Follow her on Twitter @Trudy_Lieberman. Tags: Campaign Desk, Don Barlett, economic dislocation, Jim Steele, recession, reporting basics Trending stories

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You are in: UK Front Page World UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales UK Politics Business Sci/Tech Health Education Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo Sunday, 4 June, 2000, 13:02 GMT 14:02 UK Pegasus Bridge was the first target on D-Day The story of the airborne assault on Pegasus Bridge in the early hours of 6 June 1944 was immortalised in the classic film The Longest Day. Major John Howard's 180-strong company of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, from the 6th Airborne Division, were the first troops to land at the start of the D-Day offensive. Their mission was to seize the strategically vital Pegasus Bridge across the Caen Canal on the left flank of the Normandy landings, to secure an area for British and Canadian forces to protect against any German counter-strike. Maj Howard's company approached their target in towed gliders - which could be incredibly effective, but just as often were disastrous death-traps. Surprise attack They were piloted by some of the best flyers around, trained to fight on foot after abandoning their crashed aircraft. Assault on bridge helped amphibious landings His men swooped in silently before dawn, landed right on target, and took the battle-hardened Germans completely by surprise. Allied commanders feared German armoured divisions, against which airborne troops had little hope, might break through and massacre the vulnerable amphibious landing forces. Although the airborne troops had less real combat experience than the Germans, they were very well trained. Maj Howard's company held the bridge - named after the winged horse symbol of the 6th Airborne Division - until relieved by British troops advancing inland later in the day. Complex operation Their commander, who died in May last year, was awarded the DSO and the Croix de Guerre avec Palme for his bravery. D-Day was probably the most difficult and complex operation ever undertaken in the history of war. But the whole offensive could have been compromised when a Czech officer wrote a book shortly beforehand, predicting exactly where an amphibious invasion would land and suggesting that airborne forces might be dropped to secure either side against German counter-attack. Veterans lead the way The Germans assumed it was a deception - it was in reality exactly what happened. The original 110 foot-long Pegasus Bridge was removed to make way for the widening of the Caen Canal in 1993 and dumped in a lorry park. But the 165-ton bullet-riddled structure was rescued and has now become part of a memorial to British airborne forces next to the original site. "That old bridge may be just scrap iron to some, but to the people who fought here it is a proud symbol of the greatest invasion in history," said Wally Parr, 77, one of the men who fought there, in February. 'Sentimental rubbish' "Of the 181 troops who captured the bridge, there are now only 30 of us left." Interviewed shortly before his death aged 86, Major Howard laughed at the way he was portrayed in The Longest Day, describing it as "sentimental rubbish". General Sir Michael Gray, Chief of the Airborne Services Normandy Trust, described him as "a brilliant trainer and a hard man". "The job suited his character," he said. "He trained his men meticulously beforehand with dedication and left nothing at all to chance. "The fact that the operation was so precise and successful was fundamentally down to his training. It was brilliantly done." Click here for more news and features Stories from the beaches The �miracle� of Dunkirk One boy�s terrifying mission Rescued from defeat Veterans answer your questions The spirit of Dunkirk - your views Your Dunkirk memories See also: 04 Jun 00 | UK Prince praises 'Dunkirk spirit'

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Sean Penn Calls Progress in Haiti 'Extraordinary' By BRIDGET MURPHY | February 26, 2013 | 10:29 PM EST Actor-director Sean Penn gestures as he speaks, while the former prime minister of Haiti, Michele Pierre-Louis, listens while they participate in a discussion at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass. Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 regarding Haiti in the wake of a devastating earthquake three years ago. Penn is the co-founder of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Sean Penn remembers smelling dead bodies when he arrived in Haiti after the earthquake. But now there's music in those same streets even as the country faces many years of rebuilding, the Academy Award-winning actor said Tuesday. Penn said "extraordinary" changes have happened since the Jan. 12, 2010, natural disaster killed more than 300,000 people and left about 1.5 million homeless. He also called the Haitian people resilient in his remarks in a forum at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The actor is an ambassador-at-large for Haiti's president and CEO of aid group J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which started with a goal of bringing painkillers to earthquake victims. It became an agency that manages a camp for displaced people and works to resettle them. It also does other aid work such as clearing rubble, repairing damaged homes and running a community center and clinics. Former Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis and Ken Keen, the Army lieutenant general who commanded the U.S. military relief effort in Haiti, joined Penn as panelists to discuss the progress in Haiti since the earthquake. Pierre-Louis spoke of the strength of the Haitian people but also of promises, including from the government, that haven't been kept. "Today there is reason for hope, but at the same time, there is a lot to be done," she said. The former prime minister also spoke about the need for the international intervention when it comes to helping middle-class Haitians who lost homes get loans so they can rebuild. Keen said stabilizing security will be a major factor in the country's recovery, with everything else becoming more difficult without effective policing. Penn said investment in manufacturing and jobs in Haiti would help solve the challenges because displaced people need work. He also said relief organizations can make a difference by helping with education initiatives because the first thing parents ask before resettlement is where their children will be going to school. The actor dressed casually in cowboy boots and jeans, his dark straight hair combed back and falling below his collar. He also wore a scowl for some of the evening and criticized some media coverage he said misrepresented what was happening in Haiti. In particular, Penn took issue with some reporting on his organization's work to demolish the National Palace, the presidential home in Port-au-Prince that became a symbol of the scale of devastation and government inertia following the natural disaster. He said that it wasn't him and a bunch of "white guys" with "jackhammers" who did the demo and that nearly all his agency's workers are Haitians. But the actor grinned after answering an audience question about how to bring visibility to Haiti's reconstruction effort. He said the country wouldn't triumph over its problems next year, but it would happen. "It's coming in 15 years," Penn said, "and I hope I see you there." Printer-friendly version

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Share Claremont McKenna Students Advocate for Independence of Student Newspapers By Susan Kruth November 1, 2013 Brad Richardson, editor-in-chief of the Claremont Independent, a Claremont McKenna College student newspaper, wrote last week to urge students to support a partial separation between The Forum, another student publication, and the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC). Richardson explained why removing The Forum from the direct authority of the ASCMC would be beneficial for the publication and for the Claremont community: The reform measure consists of two main points: "The [Forum] Editor-in-Chief will no longer be an employee of ASCMC" and "The [Forum] Editor-in-Chief will no longer be chosen by the election committee of ASCMC." Under the current system, the Forum editor-in-chief is placed in an untenable position, fraught with potential conflicts of interest. Most acutely, the editor-in-chief is both charged with determining journalistic content directly related to the practices and policies of ASCMC while also being a paid employee of that very organization. The editor-in-chief is similarly hindered by having access to ASCMC's closed-minute discussions and confidential email dialogues, which effectively inhibits him or her from coordinating content and prompting investigative journalism related to ASCMC. Finally, the format for selecting the Forum editor-in-chief, via the ASCMC Elections Committee, allows ASCMC to select a candidate beholden to their will. Forum editor Ana Kakkar reported that the executive board of ASCMC has approved the amendments to the ASCMC constitution that would make this change, and the ASCMC Senate will vote on the amendments this Monday. Kakkar wrote: I encourage all of you to recognize the benefits this separation will provide every person on this campus; as the voice of Claremont McKenna College, the Forum hopes to be able to provide honest and complete information on everything that happens on campus. In order to do so, it is important for us to maintain independence from each party we may comment on - ASCMC being one of the primary parties. FIRE, too, has seen student newspapers limited in their ability to report fully and accurately on important matters because they fell under the jurisdiction of another school entity. For example, in May 2012, funding for the University of Memphis' student newspaper The Helmsman was drastically cut by the school's Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee after members of the student government took issue with the content of the newspaper. Thankfully, in that case, funding was restored after FIRE and the Student Press Law Center stepped in. FIRE commends the staff of the Claremont Independent and The Forum for advocating for the independence of Claremont student publications in order to protect the integrity of student reporting.

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Death knocks and the PCC - is it time to amend the editors' code? Chris Wheal, the journalist who had to deal with journalists when his nephew was killed in a freak accident, spoke about his experience of "death knock" journalism when interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme this morning. He repeated some of the story he first wrote about on his blog, most of which I repeated in this blog on Wednesday. But he made a further point (reinforced on his own blog today) that could have far-reaching implications, because he pointed to a crucial difference between the National Union of Journalists' code of conduct and the editors' code of practice, that is administered by the Press Complaints Commission. In terms of dealing with intrusion into grief, Wheal argued that the NUJ code is stronger. It states that a journalists "does nothing to intrude into anybody's private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest." By contrast, the editors' code states that in cases involving personal grief or shock, "enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively." This interview prompted a swift response from the PCC. One of its officers contacted Wheal and agreed to hold a meeting with him next month to discuss the issues he raised. Wheal tweeted on the conversation with the PCC, saying that the commission agreed it was "time for a change." I fancy this was an overstatement. For a start, the commission itself cannot amend the code (which is the responsibility of a committee composed entirely of editors). However, Wheal is surely right to see the call as a positive move. The PCC had already acted proactively by sending editors an advisory note about coverage of the funeral on Monday. I also thought the Today segment interesting because the interviewer, Evan Davis, who began a question by stating: "The problem, of course, is that we don't a system for handling the press in these circumstances..." Well, the truth is that we do. The PCC regularly takes action when stories such as these break. Unless the story is huge (such as the Cumbria killings) the PCC cannot know about it unless someone informs it. But the major problem - as I have said so often, and I know this view is shared by the PCC chairman, Peta Buscombe - is that too few people know about the PCC's work in this area. Even Chris Wheal, a veteran journalist, appeared to be unaware that a single phone call to the PCC at the first sign of a journalist appearing on his grief-stricken sister's doorstep would have led to the commission contacting editors. The PCC's profile is just too low (in spite of claims that the majority of the population know about its existence). And even if it is known, people do not know of the work it carries out behind the scenes. Why? I suspect it's because newspapers and magazines do not give the PCC and its functions enough publicity. Wheal, incidentally, has some very practical solutions to offer on his blog, Time to change? National Union of Journalists Evan Davis

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6 Questions For The Man Who Tracks Texas Trends By Matt Stiles Jul 3, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Lloyd Potter, the state demographer of Texas Office of the State Demographer Originally published on July 3, 2013 8:47 am All this week, NPR is taking a look at the demographic changes that could reshape the political landscape in Texas over the next decade - and what that could mean for the rest of the country. Few know Texas' population as well as its official demographer, Lloyd Potter, a professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio. He talked with NPR this week about his research. Describe in broad terms what's happening in Texas, in terms of growth and demographics. "We have these major urban areas that are growing - both in terms of numbers and in terms of speed - faster than anywhere else in the country. So that's the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the Houston area. And if you look at the Austin metro area, it's also growing rapidly. "People are moving to Texas because we have job opportunities while other places are losing opportunities. The cost of living is lower here. We've been fairly effective in recruiting industry and businesses to locate here and create jobs. "We also have a number of other things that are related to the fracking and oil and gas extraction. If you look at Midland and Odessa, those were the fastest-growing areas in the country last year. ... All of the counties where there is drilling activity are seeing explosive growth. "The other interesting thing that gets a fair amount of attention is the shift the state has been experiencing in terms of its racial and ethnic composition. In the last decade, a significant proportion of our population growth can be attributed to the Hispanic population. It's around 65 percent of the growth. We also have the Asian population in Texas. Even though it's a relatively small group, it grew by over 50 percent in the last decade. "The African-American population is holding its own, growing at the pace of the state. And then the non-Hispanic white population isn't growing as quickly as the other groups. We're not seeing a decline in white population yet, but as the baby boom generation ages into mortality, they don't have cohorts coming in to replace them. So we'll start seeing in the next decade some decline in the non-Hispanic white population at the same time we're seeing these other groups continue to grow dramatically." On the question of the demographics, what is driving the growth, particularly in the Hispanic population? "Illegal immigration is a small percentage of it. It really is largely being driven by natural increase. That's births minus deaths. From a population perspective, we would describe it as a young population. There are more people who are younger in that population. "That also is then enhanced by the fact that we have a significant amount of net in-migration into the state of people who are of Hispanic descent. Many of those persons of Hispanic descent are moving into Texas from other states because we have job opportunities. If you look at Arizona and other states that have enacted immigration laws that seem to be difficult for Hispanic people, or make them feel like they're in a hostile environment, some of their residents are moving to Texas, again because we have opportunities." You've studied the "youth" of the Hispanic population. As those Texans come into voting age, they could have a significant influence in the conversation in Texas, I presume. "Well, the young Hispanic population already is a significant influence on the conversation in Texas, and that's become more so nationwide. "Obviously [youth] has some implications for the voting-age population. In each age group going younger, there are more and more kids. So as those kids age into the labor force and voting age ... there's potential for them to have a very significant influence on the outcomes of elections. "The way that they vote when they go to the polls will also have influence on that. That's been a big part of the discussion in the press, about turning Texas blue [Democratic]. People are anticipating that if they can mobilize the Hispanic population, which typically votes more for Democrats, then there's potential for a shift." When you're at a cocktail party, what two or three facts about the state will capture someone's attention? "The major things are that we're growing faster than any other state [4.2 million new residents from 2000 to 2010]. Some people are generally aware of that, but they aren't specifically aware that we added more people than California in the last decade, and even post-census we're estimating that Texas continues to grow faster than other states. "And then there's the significant growth in the Hispanic population as opposed to the non-Hispanic white population. That's a very significant historic shift in a state that has traditionally been dominated by the non-Hispanic white population. That has implications across the country. As Texas goes, we're likely to see the rest of the country going in the coming decades." Can you imagine doing your work in a state where there isn't major demographic change or growth, like in New Hampshire* or somewhere? "It would probably be a little more boring. I frequently say ... that Texas is the most interesting state to do demographic work out of all 50. The characteristics of our population are very dynamic, and there's always something happening that's of interest. I know some of the demographers in other states, and their jobs are interesting. But I have no doubt that mine is much more interesting." How does one become the "state demographer" of Texas? What was your trajectory to that job? "Well, first you have to be a demographer. I trained at the University of Texas at Austin in sociology and demography, so I have a Ph.D. in demography. I've worked in demography-related activities and fields for most of my career. "You need to be interviewed by the lieutenant governor's office and the [Texas House of Representatives] speaker's office, and then both the speaker and the lieutenant governor make nominations to the governor. The governor actually makes the appointment, so you have to go through the process of being vetted by the governor's office as well." *New Hampshire grew more slowly than the country as a whole from 2000-2010, though at a higher rate than a few other states. Forgive me, Granite State residents. Matt Stiles is data editor on NPR's news applications team. Follow him on Twitter at @stiles. Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit . View the discussion thread. © 2016 HPPR

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As a roving NPR correspondent based in Austin, Texas, John Burnett's beat stretches across the U.S., and, sometimes, around the world. Currently, he is serving as Southwest Correspondent for the National Desk. In December 2012, he returned from a five-month posting in Nairobi as the East Africa Correspondent. Normally, he focuses on the issues and people of the Southwest United States, providing investigative reports and traveling the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. His special reporting projects have included New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, and many reports on the Drug War in the Americas. His reports are heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. Burnett has reported from more than 30 different countries since 1986. His 2008 four-part series "Dirty Money," which examined how law enforcement agencies have gotten hooked on and, in some cases, corrupted by seized drug money, won three national awards: a Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Investigative Reporting, a Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists Award for Investigative Reporting and an Edward R. Murrow Award for the accompanying website. His 2007 three-part series "The Forgotten War," which took a critical look at the nation's 30-year war on drugs, won a Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award for Excellence in Reporting on Drug and Alcohol Problems. In 2006, Burnett's Uncivilized Beasts & Shameless Hellions: Travels with an NPR Correspondent was published by Rodale Press. In that year, he also served as a 2006 Ethics Fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. In 2004, Burnett won a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for investigative reporting for his story on the accidental U.S. bombing of an Iraqi village. In 2003, he was an embedded reporter with the First Marine Division during the invasion of Iraq. His work was singled out by judges for the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award honoring the network's overall coverage of the Iraq War. Also in 2003, Burnett won a first place National Headliner Award for investigative reporting about corruption among federal immigration agents on the U.S.-Mexico border. In the months following the attacks of Sept. 11, Burnett reported from New York City, Pakistan and Afghanistan. His reporting contributed to coverage that won the Overseas Press Club Award and an Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award. In 2001, Burnett reported and produced a one-hour documentary, "The Oil Century," for KUT-FM in Austin, which won a silver prize at the New York Festivals. He was a visiting faculty member in broadcast journalism at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in 2002 and 1997. He received a Ford Foundation Grant in 1997 for a special series on sustainable development in Latin America. Burnett's favorite stories are those that reveal a hidden reality. He recalls happening upon Carlos Garcia, a Mexico City street musician who plays a musical leaf, a chance encounter that brought a rare and beautiful art form to a national audience. In reporting his series "Fraud Down on the Farm," Burnett spent nine months investigating the abuse of the United States crop insurance system and shining light on surprising stories of criminality. Abroad, his report on the accidental U.S. Air Force bombing of the Iraqi village of Al-Taniya, an event that claimed 31 lives, helped listeners understand the fog of war. His "Cocaine Republics" series detailed the emergence of Central America as a major drug smuggling region. But listeners may say that one of his best remembered reports is an audio postcard he filed while on assignment in Peshawar, Pakistan, about being at six-foot-seven the "tallest American at a Death to America" rally. Prior to coming to NPR, Burnett was based in Guatemala City for United Press International covering the Central America civil wars. From 1979-1983, he was a general assignment reporter for various Texas newspapers. Burnett graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in journalism. Federal Crackdown Merely 'A Respite' For Aryan Brotherhood Of Texas By John Burnett Oct 4, 2016 Edit note: This report includes some graphic scenes. The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas originated in prison in the early 1980s as a protection racket for white inmates, but as the tattooed gang members were released into the free world, they became one of the most violent crime syndicates in America. Two years ago, the Justice Department trumpeted that it had "decapitated" the leadership of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, or ABT. Seventy-three gang members were convicted, including all five regional generals. For Sale: A Texan Symbol Of Defiance By John Burnett Oct 2, 2016 On Oct. 2, 1835, a small group of rebellious colonists in what is now South Texas defied Mexican rule with the memorable battle cry: "Come and take it!" The dare referred to a small brass cannon, but it became a declaration of Texas' independence and grit as famous as "Remember the Alamo." Today, you can see a twist of the historic slogan on the Come and Wash It Laundromat and Come and Style It beauty salon, both in the town of Gonzales. Texas Prisoners Sue Over 'Cruel' Conditions, Citing Extreme Heat Sep 12, 2016 A group of inmates in Texas is suing the state prison system, the nation's largest, arguing that extreme heat is killing older and infirm convicts. The inmates allege it constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" and they're asking the courts for relief. From Homemade Weapons To Inmate Art, An Inside Look At Life Behind Bars Sep 6, 2016 It's no wonder that in Texas, home to the largest prison system in the nation and the busiest death chamber in the developed world, there's a museum about its prisons. To find it just look for the sign with the ball and chain on Interstate 45, north of Houston. Jim Willett, the Texas Prison Museum director, is not your typical museum docent. His deep knowledge of the artifacts of state-ordered punishment comes from the years he oversaw the looming, red-brick penitentiary in downtown Huntsville known as The Walls. Borderland Trump Supporters Welcome A Wall In Their Own Backyard Aug 12, 2016 Polls show that the idea of building a wall across the southern border remains unpopular with the general public and especially in the U.S. borderlands. But not everyone living near the international divide opposes a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico. Donald Trump has a small, zealous following along the southern frontier. Dallas, A Grieving City, Honors Slain Officers; Awaits Obama's Visit Jul 12, 2016 Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit . In Dallas, Tragedy Falls On Already-Embattled Police Department By John Burnett Jul 11, 2016 The calculated killing of five uniformed officers would be traumatic for any metropolitan police department in America, but it has fallen especially hard in Dallas, where the police force already suffers from low pay and poor morale. Citizens in Dallas are rallying around their officers in blue, suggesting the tragedy could be a turning point for the embattled department. Love And Mourning Hang Over Orlando Jun 18, 2016 Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit NPR. Legal Medical Abortions Are Up In Texas, But So Are DIY Pills From Mexico Jun 9, 2016 Women who want an abortion in deeply conservative Texas have slightly more choice these days than they had a few months ago. In March, the Food and Drug Administration simplified rules on abortion medication, allowing patients to take the standard regimen of abortion drugs later in a pregnancy. In Texas, Strict Laws On Clinics Drive Demand For Abortion Pill Jun 8, 2016 Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit . U.S.-Mexico Border Sees Resurgence Of Central Americans Seeking Asylum May 31, 2016 Immigrants fleeing gang violence in Central America are again surging across the U.S.-Mexico border, approaching the numbers that created an immigration crisis in the summer of 2014. While the flow of immigrants slowed for much of last year, nothing the U.S. government does seems to deter the current wave of travelers. Texas Judge Refuses To License Child Care Facility In Immigrant Detention Center May 6, 2016 The federal government's controversial immigrant family detention camps in south Texas are back in court. A Texas state judge has blocked a state agency from licensing the childcare facility inside a mammoth, 2,400-bed private lock-up. The detention facility was opened to temporarily confine undocumented mothers and children who have been surging across the Texas-Mexico border fleeing dangerous conditions in Central America. Does Carrying A Pistol Make You Safer? Apr 12, 2016 There is a pistol-packing revolution going on in America. Nearly 13 million Americans have permits to carry concealed handguns - triple the number just nine years ago - and that figure is low because not every state reports. U.S., Canada Pledge To Lower Methane Emissions In Oil And Gas sectors Mar 11, 2016 Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript DAVID GREENE, HOST: Here is President Obama yesterday. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BARACK OBAMA: Canada's joining us in our aggressive goal to bring down methane emissions in the oil and gas sectors in both of our countries. U.S. Churches Offer Safe Haven For A New Generation Of Immigrants Feb 9, 2016 U.S. churches are again defying federal immigration authorities. Across the country, a handful of congregations are opening their doors to offer safe haven to Central American immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally and are under deportation orders. The new sanctuary movement echoes an earlier civil disobedience campaign by churches in the 1980s. The newest church in America to openly challenge federal immigration laws is St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Austin, Texas. Ten days ago, the congregation took in Hilda and Ivan Ramirez, a Guatemalan mother and her 9-year-old son. Pages1 © 2016 WCQS

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Friends | Press Room | Contact Us Combat and Resistance Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Overview - How Vast was the Crime Nazi Germany and the Jews- 1933-1939 Rise of the Nazis and Beginning of Persecution Persecution of non-Jews The Outbreak of WWII and Anti-Jewish Violence Conquest of Poland and Attacks on Jews Expansion of German Conquest and Policy Towards Jews The Ghettos Daily Life in the Ghettos The Beginning of the Final Solution Invasion of USSR and Beginning of Mass Murder Murder of the Jews of the Baltic States Murder of Romanian Jewry The Implementation of the Final Solution Introduction Deportation to the Death Camps Death Camps Auschwitz-Birkenau The World of the Camps Labor and Concentration Camps Daily Life in the Camps Jewish Armed Resistance and Rebellions Jewish Soldiers in Allied Armies The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death Rescue by Righteous Rescue by Jews The World's Reaction The Fate of the Jews Across Europe Murder of the Jews of Poland Murder of the Jews of Western Europe Murder of the Jews of the Balkans and Slovakia Murder of Hungarian Jewry The Final Stages of the War and the Aftermath Remaining Ghettos and Camps Last Jews in the Last Months of the German Reich The Anguish of Liberation and the Surviving Remnant Warsaw, Poland, The capture of Jews who had hidden in a bunker On July 22, 1942, on the eve of the Ninth of Av in the Jewish calendar, the Germans began the mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto. By the time they ended on September 21, Yom Kippur, some 260,000 inhabitants of the ghetto had been deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. The deportations were carried out at the Umschlagplatz - a train station and adjacent square situated on the edge of the ghetto. Those deported were packed into sealed, locked freight cars with little water and poor ventilation. When the deportations began the Nazis promised that people who voluntarily reported for "transfer" would receive three kilograms of bread and one kilogram of jam. After a few days the volunteers stopped coming, and the Nazis switched to siege tactics: city blocks would be closed off and the Jewish Police would remove the buildings' residents to the streets. The Germans would carry out a selection while Polish or Ukrainian policemen would search in the abandoned homes for Jews in hiding. Many Jews who hid in the buildings or tried to escape the selection on the street were murdered on the spot. Most of the Jews who underwent the selection were chosen for deportation and sent to the Umschlagplatz. After the deportations to Treblinka between 55,000 to 60,000 Jews remained in the Warsaw ghetto and they were concentrated in a few building blocs. The area of the ghetto was thus severely reduced. A sense of bitter disillusionment and abandonment settled upon those who remained in the ghetto, the majority of whom were teenagers. Many blamed themselves for not resisting and for allowing their families to be deported. It was clear to them that they would share the same fate. Thus, they resumed the attempts at establishing a fighting underground organization. The first attempts to establish an armed resistance organization within the ghetto took place even before the deportations. The "anti-Fascist bloc" was established between March-April 1942, based on a communist cell in the ghetto. However, the Gestapo discovered its leader in May 1942, who was arrested and murdered. Representatives of three Zionist youth movements ("Hashomer Hatzair," "Dror," and "Akiva") established the first cell of the new organization. Members of the "Poalei Tzion" party joined them in October. Thus the "Jewish Fighting Organization" (ZOB) was established. Within a short period of time other youth movements joined the organization as well as non-Zionist parties - the "Bund" and the Communists. The commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization was Mordechai Anielewicz of "Hashomer Hatzair", who was 23 years old. The Revisionist Zionist youth movement "Beitar" established its own fighting organization, the "Jewish Military Union" (ZZW). On January 18, 1943, the Germans launched another Aktion. The underground leadership, believing it to be the onset of the final deportation, ordered its forces to respond with arms. Upon discovering the resistance the Germans decided to halt the Aktion. This incident marked a turning point for most of the ghetto population, which from then on prepared for mass resistance and for hiding in underground bunkers in the cellars of homes. The final Aktion began on April 19, 1943, the eve of Passover. The fighting groups and ghetto inhabitants barricaded themselves in bunkers and hideouts, their demonstrations of resistance taking the Germans by surprise. The ZOB scattered its positions throughout the ghetto; the ZZW did most of its fighting at Muranowska Square, impeding the Germans' attempts to penetrate their defenses. In response, the Germans began to systematically burn down the buildings, turning the ghetto into a firetrap. The Jews fought valiantly for a month until the Germans took over the focal points of resistance. It was the first popular uprising in a city in Nazi-occupied Europe. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising became an example for Jews in other ghettos and camps. The uprisings that followed, however, were smaller in scope because of their isolation, a shortage of arms and hostile surroundings. Donate Now Video Testimonies The Mass Deportation from the Warsaw GhettoHalina Birenbaum, Masha Putermilch, and Yosef Charny Additional videos Fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Photographs from the Warsaw Ghetto Voices from the Inferno: Holocaust Survivors Describe the Last Months in the Warsaw Ghetto Announcement of the Evacuation of the Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, July 22, 1942 From a Report of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto on its Activities Call to Resistance by the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1943 SS General Stroop on the Battles in the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt. Final Report from the German Battle Diary, April-May 1943 Extract From a Report by the "Delegatura" to London on the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt Metal box in which part of the Oneg Shabbat archive was hidden. More Artifacts

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To Photography, and Photographers I'm in Amsterdam, participating in the jury process for this year's World Press Photo awards, probably the Premier awards in the field of photojournalism, drawing entries from something like 70 countries from around the world. In the course of the week, we go through some 100+ thousand images, in both singles and story categories (Daily Life, General News, Sports, etc. etc. see Worldpressphoto.NL for more info.) The days are long and incredibly tiring. I don't know when the last time was that you looked at twenty thousand photographs in a single day. For me it was today. The startling thing is how attuned you can become to looking at pictures quickly, and separating the "keepers" from the "might have beens." Of course it eventually becomes a somewhat subjective decision: photographic technique, esthetics, and news value, among other things, all come in to play. You try and balance things out so that the winning pictures which emerge at the end of a two week process are more than worthy. And in most cases the only reason a picture more remarkable didn't win is that it's author didn't get around to entering the competition. World Press has been around for over fifty years, and seen its yearly celebration of news photography grow like a mad weed. I was on the jury in 1997, and chaired it (as I am now) in 1999, but compared to the sheer volume of imagery, it seemed at the time to be a bit more manageable. Additionally, the biggest change is that instead of sending prints or slides, which for years caused there to be ceiling high stacks of Carousel trays in every room, everything comes in digitally. In most cases the pictures are shot digitally, so the process is less encumbering than before. You merely edit your work, clean it up and send the files to Amsterdam. All the entries are catalogued by a small battalion of what is probably the finest professional organization I have ever worked with. The staff is amazing: thoughtful, efficient, helpful and always breaking for a coffee when that umpteenth picture has finally caused your head to ache. The other jury members are a great mix from around the world - Dakar, Paris, Mexico City, Hamburg, and Seoul were my teammates in the first week. We all bring a particular sense of what photography is about for us, and what it should mean in the world at large. The decisions and conversations about photography are really wonderful, if occasionally bordering on the contentious. But more often than not, rather like the Continental Congress, open discussion and frank criticism leads to a final product of which we are all proud. I write this on day 5 of what is a 15 day process, so as of yet I have no clue what will win anything, though I have seen a lot of really great work. Inspiring, individual, thoughtful. And it's because I'm right in the middle of the judging process, or will be next Monday, that I won't be able to attend another event which I would truly like to see. That afternoon, at the Maison Europeen de la Photo, a wonderful photo-centric space in Paris, a long overdue exhibition will open, honoring a photographer who is, sadly, probably unknown to young photogs now just learning the craft. Henri Huet, a soft spoken, totally dedicated French-Vietnamese who worked for years for Associated Press, will finally have his due. Henri was a great photographer, who covered the war in Vietnam for many years, and always brought to his work the eye of someone whose blood was of that soil. He was a staff photographer for the AP, and covered both the civil and military stories in Vietnam: sometimes they were the same. In 1966 he won a Robert Capa Gold Medal (Overseas Press Club of America) for his work of a US Army medic tending to the wounded. (Here is that work, in Digital Journalist.) Always ready to get back into action, he came back to Saigon from abroad in late January 1971 when it looked as if a big build up in I Corps (South Viet Nam) would mean something was being planned to interdict North Vietnamese supply traffic on the Ho Chi Minh trail, just a few miles over the border into Laos. Thousands of South VN troops were ferried over the junglesque hills, in large part by US helicopters, to try and establish positions which would slow down the resupply traffic. In what was the first instance of an official US decision to try and control press access, the normally user-friendly American choppers (you could often just walk up to a crew chief, and if he was going where you wanted to go, he'd say "jump in") started refusing to take Press over the border, and insisted that any Press jaunts be handled by the South Viet Namese Army. The VN Army was well equipped but for the most part much less trained and experienced than American chopper crews. And so it was I found myself at a base camp near the Laotian border on the morning of February 10th, 1971, trying to secure a seat on a chopper which had been assigned to the press. I'd gone to Quang Tri (about 40 miles away) the day before to ship film, and had just returned, and thereby found myself at the back of a very small line. There were four news photographers, a reporter, and a Vietnamese Army photog all waiting for the first Press chopper to take them to the story. As they started to get aboard, I realized there would probably not be room, but that made no real sense to me, as I was working for TIME, and did absolutely NOT want to lose this scoop to the others there. They represented the main news organizations, Henri Huet of AP, Kent Potter of UPI, Larry Burrows from LIFE, and Keisaburo Shimamoto from Newsweek. Between them something like 35 years of experience in Viet Nam. So I kept trying to harangue the VN Army major who'd been tasked with taking care of the journalists. And the clearer it became that I might not get on that bird, the more worked up my pleas. Finally, as the engines began to whine, a reporter friend from TIME, Jon Larsen, came over and gave me some sage advice. "If you keep annoying that guy you'll NEVER get to Laos. Why don't you walk away, cool off, and come back later." I did just that, still fuming over the situation. In one last look I saw them all settle into their webseats as the helicopter readied to take off and head west into the Laotian jungle. Henri and DB, I Corps, 1971It was less than an hour later, while walking by the VN command post, the same major who had kept me off the bird came outside and said in halting English, " I think maybe your friends shoot down Laos." And as I started to ask what he meant, he spun around and walked back inside. Moments later I ran into LIFE reporter John Saar. John was a few years older and infinitely more experienced in working in VN, and often worked with Larry, the icon whose photo reportages on Vietnam for LIFE were the definitive photographic work. I recounted to John what I'd just heard, and we both wondered what to do next, who to talk to in order to find out what the hell was really happening. As we started to walk, I saw in the distance Hal Ellithorpe, the LIFE stringer who I'd seen get on the chopper with Larry, and for a moment I was relieved. "Boy, am I glad to see you," I said to Hal. He asked why and I once again recounted what the major said. "But if you're here, that means everyone is back safely.""Oh no," Hal said. "I didn't go. They did a hover test, the bird was too heavy, and Larry looked at me and said "LIFE's a picture magazine... you can came later. I never left."And at that moment it all sunk in. They probably were lost. No one knew for sure just yet. But to get away from that moment, I left the area, and went off shooting for the rest of the day. That night I returned to Quang Tri, where the press briefing center was, and in a moment I'll never forget, as I walked into the back of the briefing room, Brian Barron, a young silver haired BBC correspondent turned around to me and whispered... "have you heard, Larry Burrows has been shot down in Laos." It didn't then, and in many ways even now doesn't make sense to me. Seeing them one minute, they being "lost" the next. The calculations that war photographers go through carry a large basket of unknowns with them. You can try and figure what is and isn't worth trying to do, what might or might not be a little TOO dangerous, but these are always done with false math. There is no formula. And if it might be safe for someone else to take a lonely stroll up Hiway 13 towards the sounds of battle, it won't necessarily be that safe for you. We all try and make our guesses based on the best of what we know, and what we suppose could happen. But it's not a science.That day five very talented photographers died in a helicopter crash on a jungle hill top in Laos. Their lives, the stories they covered, the families they left behind would be forever changed by that one helicopter ride. A most moving and literate description of not only the day they disappeared but of the enormous effort launched by two journalists from AP - photographer Horst Faas and correspondent Richard Pyle - is contained in their book Lost Over Laos. It's the kind of book young photographers of conflict would do well to read, but I suspect most don't, figuring that nothing like this will ever happen to them. I suppose that is what we all think when we enter in zones of conflict be it the jungles of Vietnam or the streets, this week, of Cairo. Nothing is certain. Nothing is a given. You try and do your best work, and keep in mind that the whole point of journalism is sharing those pictures with others. The words, the pictures, they have to get out, they have to be reproduced somewhere for it all to matter. We have the newspapers and magazines (and a few websites) which still keep the work of those photographers alive for people to see. But there is something quite impressive about photographic prints, and so next week's opening of the Huet show in Paris is a wonderful tribute to a helluva nice guy whose heart was in his pictures. I only knew Henri in passing. The week before the helicopter ride, most every journalist in Vietnam was buzzing around Khe Sanh, or Ham Nghe, looking for a way to scoop everyone else. No one succeeded, though in the hanging around, we did end up posing for a few "fourth estate" group shots near signs saying "No Press Pass This Point." I'm not sure I ever really have thought of myself as a War Photographer, other than about six months in Viet Nam in the 2 years I lived there. That feeling kind of came and went. I guess I thought there might be something more I could offer in my pictures than work that would rival that of the steely nerved colleagues who truly knew what they were doing. Henri's pictures, published in a beautiful book by his niece Helene Gedouin "I Was a War Photographer in Vietnam" shows that his work and his attitude were something special. There is much to learn from his photographs, so if you are anywhere near the Maison Europeen de la Photo next Monday, do yourself a favor. Drop in. Next Thursday the 10th will be the 40th Anniversary of that fateful helicopter ride. It will be the last day of the work of the World Press Jury, deciding what this year's Press Photo of the Year will be. I'm already pleased to be able to actively participate in a process that helps keep photojournalism alive and well. But when I grab a drink that night, the first people I'm going to toast will include the talented and wonderful folks who rode that chopper on what they hoped, as journalists would be another chance to illustrate the first draft of history. Cheers, my friends. We're just sayin'.... David Lisa Hogben What a really beautiful way of honouring a colleague... a great tribute and it is a fitting thing to remember the people who have gone before us... Cheers and good luck with picking a winner... hehehehehe... Jay Carey just when you began the story about the helicopter and Larry Burrows, I feared what was coming. my lasting image by Burrows, I believe, was of the head-bandaged soldier rushing to another fellow wounded on the ground. That image is when I saw that a bit of blurring helped to tell the situation and you felt the empathy of one wounded going to another for comfort-both ways.safe-keeping David. Beautifully crafted David....thank you for reminding us why we are in this business...and good luck with World Press...a daunting yet extremely rewarding process...my regards to Michiel and the gang....you are in good hands! Cheers, Jim Colton. Hélène Gédouin Thank you David, thank you for Henri! Vous nous manquerez au vernissage! Quel bel hommage... Hélène Chuck Zoeller Well said David. Let me point out that the Exhibit at Maison Europeenne de la Photographie also includes selected Vietnam work by Henri's celebrated colleagues, including, to name a few, Larry Burrows, Horst Faas, Nick Ut, Eddie Adams and...David Burnett. We're sorry you can't attend the opening, but your work will speak volumes. Larry D Hayden Very nice tribute and thank you. Thanks much for this, Dave. David H. Mikko Takkunen Thank you David for another great blog entry. Truly enjoyed reading this. Now I have to look up the book 'Lost Over Laos' Mike Putzel Beautiful piece, David. What a dreadful day. We still miss all of them. MP Arnold Drapkin said...many thanks for your reminiscence of that day, filling in pieces like this are an important part of the mosaic of history...good luck with World Press...I know you and your colleagues will choose wisely and I look forward to the result. Tom Herman an eloquent tribute to all four who perished that sad day, and to all the other brave snappers who never made it back. You scribble nearly as well as you shoot, David. Thanks. richard pyle David Want to say again that we'll seriously miss you at the Paris exibition. Thanks for the mention of ``Lost Over Laos,'' where, I would note, your story of that grim day first appeared. For those who might be interested, ``Lost Over Laos'' was published by Da Capo Press in 20032 and 2004 (updated paperback edition), and the trace remains of the four photographers and seven South Vietnamese military men were interred at the Newseum in Washington in 2008. The long overdue recognition of the great combat photographer and gentleman Henri Gilles Huet, on the 40th anniversary of their deaths, is yet another chapter in a story that never ends. David,Breathtaking. Thank you. Cheers,Joe Much respect to you and yours from a youngin'. Wendy Marijnissen Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing David! RB Scott Like Jay Carey, I knew what was coming because I arrived at LIFE about the time Larry Burrows went down. David, you write as well as you shoot. As usual, you impress. DB--Thnx for your touching firsthand account. Doug Wittrock A beautiful tribute to a photographer who defined that war in images that were and are unforgettable. I grew up with that war, and Life magazine was probably responsible for me wanting to become a photographer. That is to say, Larry Burrows, and many other talented photographers who worked for them.Though I have been in Afghanistan, it wasn't as a photographer (sadly) but there is a lot of storytelling to be done there. In my own small way, I hope I have done a bit of that myself. FinallyFast Good luck picking a winner, as much as I like looking at photos, I don't think I would want that job. And the story was really good, great tribute to those who have lost their lives trying to get the story out. things I see Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I was an AF photog for VN, and I remember this story so well, but didn't know your connection. Over the years I've admired your work. Although the years have had their toll & I no longer make a living shooting pics, I shall always keep seeing, as I know you do too! On! Wisconsin... Al. Al Jazeera, That Is And Just Like That..

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Numbers show that newspapers are indeed doing more with less By Steve Myers A chart making the rounds this week showed that annual newspaper advertising revenue has fallen from a high of more than $60 billion around 2000 to about $20 billion in 2011. Stunning, yes. Put that chart against ASNE's annual survey of newspapers' newsroom employment and you see see something else: Newspapers employ about the same number of journalists as in the late 1970s, and they're paying for them with roughly the same amount of advertising revenue as in the 1950s. How's that for confirmation that journalists are doing more with less? The chart posted by University of Michigan professor Mark J. Perry showed that print advertising revenue is at a 60-year-low, just over $20 billion. Now, some of that decline has been made up with digital ad revenue, which according to Poynter's Rick Edmonds adds about $3 billion to the $21 billion from print. Newspapers have mitigated declining ad revenue by raising the price of the paper. They used to have about an 80/20 split between advertising and circulation; now that's about 70/30 as papers get a larger share from readers. "Circulation revenues are as high as they ever were," Edmonds told me. So add another $10 billion in circulation revenue to ad revenue, and the industry takes in about $34 billion annually. On the employment side, ASNE counted 41,600 people employed in newspaper editorial operations in 2010. That's a bit lower than it was when ASNE started tracking employment in 1978, when newsrooms employed 43,000. Technological advances, of course, are one reason newsrooms can have 1970s-level employment with 1950s-level revenue. Other than the phone and the notepad (anyone still use those?), the toolbox of the modern journalist is a lot different than it was in the post-Watergate era of newspapering. And then there are the demands: a news cycle measured in minutes; a proliferation of publishing platforms, including blogs and social media; and the time spent promoting one's work and responding to readers. And yet reporters aren't the ones who have seen the most change. That would be the folks who work while they're asleep, running the presses, inserting ads and hauling the bundles around. The decline in newspaper editorial employment, however, doesn't signal an overall decrease in journalism-related employment. In 2010, Michael Mandel used Bureau of Labor Statistics figures to show that the number of "news analysts, reporters, and correspondents" had rebounded after dropping. I think his conclusions are still relevant: The hiring is happening in nontraditional industries. More journalists are self-employed. Strong employment figures don't mean that these people aren't being asked to work longer or accept lower pay. Related: Ken Doctor poses some questions publishers should consider as they try to shift their business from print to digital (Newsonomics) Steve Myers Steve Myers was the managing editor of Poynter.org until August 2012, when he became the deputy managing editor and senior staff writer for The Lens, a nonprofit investigative news site in New Orleans. Before working at Poynter Online, Steve spent about six years in Mobile, Ala., as a reporter for the Press-Register, focusing on local government accountability. He was a 2006 Ohio State University Kiplinger Fellow and an Open Society Institute Katrina Media Fellow. Contact him by email at . Follow him on Twitter at @myersnews. Layoffs/buyouts/staff cuts

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Possible City Pitch A Story & Tips TOURS & EVENTS Philadelphia Inquirer Building In the early 19th century, Philadelphia was burgeoning with industrialization and an attendant boom of population, modernization, and media. Six newspapers were engaged in lively competition based on who could produce the most entertaining copy or uncover the latest scandal. At that time, the media was less focused on current events than it is now, and content often consisted of editorials, letters from readers, poetry, travel narratives, and recipes. John Norvell, a former editor of the city's Aurora & Gazette, started the Pennsylvania Inquirer with printer John R. Walker in 1829. While their intentions were entrepreneurial, they ostensibly established their paper as a populist alternative. In the first issue of the Inquirer, the editors dedicated the paper to the "maintenance of rights and liberties of the people, equally against the abuses as the usurpation of power." They affirmed the right of the minority to set forth its opinion, "however discordant they may be with those of the majority." Though they placed their support behind then-current president Andrew Jackson, they issued a condition: "We condemn a blind, indiscriminate vindication of the acts, right or wrong, of any administration as much as we reprobate a factious and uniform opposition to them." After only a few months, Norvell and Walker had difficulty competing, and sold the Inquirer to Jesper Harding. Harding worked quickly to improve the paper's circulation: he obtained the first American serial rights for several Charles Dickens novels and eventually absorbed four rival Philadelphia papers. Harding's son William took over the paper in the 1840s, and innovated from the start, changing the paper's name to the Philadelphia Inquirer, cutting single-copy prices, establishing delivery routes, changing the paper's size, and positioning newsboys on the streets. Under William, the paper supported Abraham Lincoln for president and gained renown for its subsequent Civil War coverage. Harding filled the paper with special correspondence, war maps, and woodcuts of generals, admirals, and political figures. The Inquirer gained a national reputation for its objective coverage of the war, which boosted its circulation to 70,000. Following the war, Reconstruction took its financial toll on the country, and Harding sold the paper to James Elverson in 1889. Elverson characterized his paper as "progressive" and "Republican." The Inquirer campaigned for public works and created task forces to investigate large city projects and agendas. Elverson's son James, known as Colonel Elverson, took over the paper in 1911 after his father's death. Elverson intensified the pursuits of his father's administration; the paper became known as the "Republican Bible of Pennsylvania," and it followed public works campaigns. While the paper often changed spaces as it grew, Elverson was responsible for the construction of its current building at 400 North Broad Street. Dedicated to his father, the eighteen-floor structure contained the latest technology in the industry, including the largest composing room in the world, the fastest printing presses, an assembly hall, an auditorium, and a water filtration and refrigeration plant. Colonel Elverson and his wife lived on the 12th and 13th floors, where pieces of their art collection presently remain. A golden dome tops the building, and underneath there is a four-faced clock. Upon its completion, thousands of visitors toured the facilities. After Elverson's death in 1929, ownership of the paper passed to his sister, Eleanor Elverson Patenotre. The Inquirer's sole female owner had no interest in managing the paper. She did seize the opportunity to give employees and the public a greater stake in the paper, as she reorganized its capital structure and made 49 percent of the company's stock available to them. The Depression and other events necessitated a series of sales of the majority share, and the changes of leadership were reflected in the paper's public identity. New owner M. L. Annenberg declared it an "independent newspaper for all the people"; it subsequently passed to his son Walter H. Annenberg, who became one of Philadelphia's most prominent cultural leaders and philanthropists. Knight Newspapers, Inc., a large national newspaper chain, acquired the paper in 1969, and oversaw an era of editorial independence and quality reporting that garnered many national awards between 1975 and 1990, including eighteen Pulitzers. While profits and circulation soared in the 1980s, hard cuts by the parent company and a push toward local coverage in the 1990s led to circulation drops. This precipitated the paper's sale to a group led by local businessman Brian Tierney. Tierney vowed to revitalize the paper, but, as was the case with many other newspapers nationwide, circulation figures continued to decline. Presently, the Inquirer's daily circulation is about 340,000, with an average of two million readers of print and online editions. The paper focuses on maintaining local and web coverage, as newspapers continue to adapt to the changing needs of contemporary readers. Research: Sarah L. Hunter Site Photos: Joseph E.B. Elliott Project: Newsroom 2009 In 2009, the Philadelphia Inquirer celebrated its 180th anniversary. Like newspapers worldwide, the paper is battling financial and market forces as communications technology evolves at breakneck speed - from the Internet and e-mail to texting and Twitter. The future of journalism is increasingly uncertain, yet news continues to play a significant role in generating history and informing cultural self-understanding. People connect to information through different horizons of reception, but media fragments linger and recur in various ways. From President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, or the events of September 11, 2001, to local events, Facebook updates, advertisements, or celebrity snapshots, certain media materials leave psychical imprints. Throughout the Inquirer's history, as is the case with most newspapers, its representations of society were molded by its predominantly male leadership. The paper's coverage catered to their particular perceptions of the public good and the desires of its audience. Working in the milieu of Dadaist photomontage artist Hannah Höch, Mir made an edition of the paper that pastiches ephemeral articles and images from 2000 to the present: bits of advertising, headlines, announcements, images, and words that together form a picture of the paper's representations of women. Fragments shorn from a temporal archive, the scraps contain concrete kernels of historical forces. According to Walter Benjamin, the cognizance of these discarded, forgotten objects jolts us out of our understanding of the past and present as a grand progression. Through this awakening, the artificial continuum is revealed as such, and the 'now' is opened to new potentials. Change inherent in these defunct elements is indicated by Mir's re-assemblage. The work conveys new narratives of women out of the vast expanse of Inquirer detritus, through which the viewer charts personal agendas, desires, and memories. Philadelphia readers may recall some of these articles and photos, though their original meanings are overwritten or made strange. The Inquirer has been instrumental in creating Philadelphias identity by shaping its stories, but now the paper must entirely re-imagine itself in order to survive. The ontology of "news" - as a record of the past and transcription of the present - may change, similarly to our understanding of "woman" through the discourses Mir unveils and challenges. Newsroom Philadelphia was installed in the Inquirer headquarters. In addition to framed copies of the eight original montages that Mir created, the work was printed by a news press in an edition of 5,000 copies that were to be free take-away multiples for visitors. Following a controversy over the content and intentions of the project, these editions were destroyed. Co-Producer: Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia Support for development and planning of this project has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. Aleksandra Mir concentrates on contemporary social processes, cohabitation, and the everyday. Attuned to popular cultures, she focuses on the traces remaining from public and private exchange; in particular, she examines the pathways and transformations of information through conversation and the media. From this material, Mir turns mundane objects and cultural detritus into renewed experiences that are critical, yet often whimsical and entertaining. Her work frequently takes the form of a site-specific, situation-bound process, intervention, happening, or installation. Mir is a Swedish-American citizen, born in Poland, who lives and works in Palermo, Sicily. She received her BFA in Media Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and subsequently attended the New School for Social Research, studying cultural anthropology. All of these subjects conflate in her present practice. As a student in New York, she looked to 1960s and '70s political art for influences (Fluxus, Allan Kaprow, Eleanor Antin, Vito Acconci, Hannah Wilke, Ray Johnson, et al.), aspects of which are still present in her work. She has exhibited in a range of international exhibitions and garnered public commissions at venues including the Biennale of Sydney, the Whitney Biennial, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Venice Biennale and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Her first solo show was in 2006 at the Kunsthaus Zürich. She won the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel. © 2011-2016 Hidden City Philadelphia | Contact | Privacy | Terms of Use top ↑

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GeorgeScialabba.Net Book reviews, commentary, and more. Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. By Henry Hurt. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, $19.95 In September 1964 a special commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, having investigated the assassination of President Kennedy, reported its conclusions: Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, murdered Kennedy; Jack Ruby, who shot Oswald two days later on national television, also acted alone. Few people who've gone into the matter believe that the Warren Commission came anywhere near the truth. According to the Commission, Oswald fired from a sixth-floor window at a moving target (the Presidential limousine) approximately 200 feet away. Using a low-grade World War II bolt-action rifle with a misaligned scope, he got off three shots in 5.6 seconds. His line of sight was obscured by an oak tree until a split-second before the first shot was fired, so he had virtually no time to aim. Nevertheless, he scored two lethal hits out of three attempts. This scenario is incredible. In many subsequent tests no expert marksman could duplicate Oswald's alleged achievement under conditions of equal difficulty. And Oswald was not an expert marksman; he was a poor one, according to his Marine commander, colleagues, and test records. In fact, only a minority of experts could even get off three shots in the required 5.6 seconds using Oswald's rifle. It is likely that no one in the world was capable of the feat of marksmanship attributed by the Commission to Oswald. It is, at least, obvious that Oswald was not capable of it. This objection by itself disposes of the Warren Commission's main conclusion. But there is much more. - The Commission claimed that one bullet blasted Kennedy's skull and was itself destroyed by the impact. Another missed the limousine altogether and was never recovered. The third, which has come to be known as the Magic Bullet, hit Kennedy in the back, turned upward while passing through his body, and exited through his neck, changed direction again in midair and entered Governor John Connally, smashed Connally's rib, exited his chest, and finally shattered his wrist. This bullet (Commission Exhibit 399) was later found on a stretcher in the hospital where Kennedy and Connally were brought. It was in pristine condition, having suffered virtually no deformation or weight loss. All of this, like Oswald's superhuman marksmanship, is a fiat physical impossibility. - Every doctor who examined Kennedy before the official autopsy stated that the neck wound was an entrance wound, which means that he was shot from the front - i.e., not by Oswald. - There is a fairly high-quality home movie of the assassination, which shows Kennedy's head hurtling backward from the impact of a bullet. Notwithstanding sophistical attempts to explain it away as a bizarre neurological reaction, this head motion has made it unmistakably clear to the thousands of people who've seen the him that Kennedy was shot from the front. - Most witnesses to the shooting, including police, looked or ran toward a grassy knoll in front of Kennedy, where the shots seemed to have come from - not toward the building at his rear where Oswald was supposedly firing. Within two years of the Warren Report's publication, Mark Lane, Sylvia Meagher, and others had exposed hundreds of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in it, and the number has risen during the last two decades. Moreover, the report and the investigation that preceded it were full not only of mistakes but also of misconduct. The autopsy notes were burned. The CIA withheld crucial information on Oswald's background. The FBI harassed witnesses and falsified interview summaries. Commission counsel ignored or disparaged witnesses whose testimony did not fit the commission's preconceived conclusions. Jack Ruby himself, who hinted at the existence of a conspiracy and pleaded for safe conduct to Washington so he could give further testimony, was refused. Worse yet, since the Warren Report's publication, the major government agencies have uniformly displayed what Henry Hurt, in "Reasonable Doubt", describes as "appalling obdurateness" toward independent investigators. "Hardly a piece of useful evidence," Hurt writes, "has come willingly from government coffers. Almost all of it has been fought for by researchers and lawyers who refused to accept the government's simplistic explanations for withholding documents." What's most frightening about this chapter in American history is not that a President was assassinated by a conspiracy whose members and motives may never be known. (Though some people have made extremely plausible guesses: above all, Carl Oglesby in "The Yankee and Cowboy War.") Leaders can be replaced in a functioning democracy. Nor is the most frightening thing that a commission of inquiry headed by a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court proved utterly biased and incompetent. Errors can be rectified in a functioning democracy. What's most frightening is that government officials at all levels apparently regard citizen initiative as a threat to bureaucratic prerogative, as something to be deflected or damned down. So much for our functioning democracy. "Reasonable Doubt" summarizes and updates the by-now classical critique or the Warren Commission Report. It also demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that "the government has never wanted to know any new information" about the JFK case that would distort the long-standing official version." Hurt is thorough, accurate, judicious: it is hard to imagine a better introduction the whole subject or a more devastating indictment of official obfuscation. Equally deplorable, though barely mentioned by Hurt, is the history of thumbsucking on this question by the major media, especially "The New York Times" and CBS. Hurt calls the Warren Commission's investigation a "national disgrace," but refrains from suggesting anything more sinister, and in particular professes himself agnostic about the nature of the assassination conspiracy. Carl Oglesby and others have shown, though, that considerations of means, motive, and opportunity point in one general direction: the clandestine right. Mapping this subculture - which included organized crime, parts of the Cuban exile community, and members of the CIA Operations Branch - was a prime achievement of the Warren Commission's critics. Their collective efforts exposed an American heart of darkness which the rest of the political culture has yet to confront. Hurt's book does contain one sensational revelation, though he is careful not to exaggerate its credibility. For the first time, someone has confessed to participating in a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. This person, a 59-year-old Mississippi man, is now seriously emotionally disturbed - institutionalized, in fact - But as Hurt shows, there is a core of verifiable detail to the man's story that compels attention. Or would, if anyone except a dwindling bend of critics cared whether the events of November 22, 1963, signified an outburst of random violence or an attempted coup d'etat.

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A New Generation Of Vets Faces Challenges At Home August 3, 201210:18 AM ET Homeless veterans, their families and volunteers line up for food at Stand Down, an annual event hosted by the Veterans Village of San Diego. The Veterans Administration estimates that 67,000 vets are homeless nationwide. David Gilkey/NPR Stand Down, a three-day event supporting 1,000 veterans, is hosted in a tent city on the grounds of San Diego High School. It's a one-stop shop to help homeless vets get a fresh start. It offers health care, addiction therapy, showers, clothes and even an open-air court with pro bono lawyers to clear up fines and misdemeanors. Dr. Jon Nachison speaks during the 25th opening ceremony of the Stand Down event. While the population is mostly from the Vietnam era, newer, younger faces have started to trickle in as vets return from Afghanistan and Iraq. Nachison, a Vietnam veteran, is the founder and director of Stand Down. Veterans stand in the center of the grounds, surrounded by American flags. Bob Korchnak, a former Navy battleship sailor, gets a shave and a haircut after traveling from Ohio to take part in Stand Down. Korchnak was arrested numerous times in San Diego for panhandling and came back to take advantage of the court program to deal with outstanding legal issues. Jill Millard volunteers in honor of her son Gregory, who was killed in action while deployed with the Army in Iraq. Carlos Laguna did two tours with the Marines in Iraq. He says post-traumatic stress led to heavy drinking after he finished serving, and he credits Veterans Village of San Diego for helping him get clean. Homeless vets wait for their legal packets and their court-appointed attorneys before going before Judge Roger Crauel. Crauel has been holding court at Stand Down for several years. Steve Binder, the County of San Diego deputy public defender, has been helping veterans with their legal troubles for more than 15 years. He helps run the court, where veterans can free themselves from a cycle of legal troubles. A legal courtroom in session. Nathaniel Roberti came to Stand Down to enroll in the Veterans Village San Diego residential program, which helps get homeless vets off the streets. A judge gave him that option instead of prison. Chris Stavran lives in the Veterans Village of San Diego residential program instead of serving prison time for child abuse. He attributes his heavy drug use to post-traumatic stress. Homeless veterans of the Vietnam War have been a face of American poverty for decades, and now some veterans of a younger generation are dealing with the same difficult issues. "I had my apartment up until 2011," says Joshua, a 28-year-old Navy vet, who asked not to give his last name because of the stigma of being homeless. "[I] couldn't keep up with the rent; I did a little couch surfing and then ended up on the street for a while." The economy is tough, and he was surprised that his skills in the Navy didn't translate into anything marketable once he mustered out. He says he wasn't equipped to deal with the civilian world after years of military structure and support. "It was a total life change and I was like, 'I don't understand, I served, I have all these skills and no one is willing to hire me,' " he says. Enlarge this image Joshua, 28, had trouble adjusting to civilian life in a tough economy after eight years in the Navy. He asked to not share his last name because of the stigma tied with being homeless. Joshua has been living at a residence run by Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD), and recently he joined about 1,000 homeless vets at an annual event called Stand Down. It's a tent city on the grounds of San Diego High School, where, for three days, homeless vets can sleep on dry cots and eat warm meals. A Range Of Services Veterans Village has been holding the event for 25 years. Local and national charities provide medical checkups, dental care, showers and new clothes. There's even an open-air court to clear up outstanding warrants that might make it hard to get a job. Organizers say Stand Down aims to clear all the obstacles that could prevent a fresh start. The event still primarily serves veterans from the Vietnam War, though it now includes some younger faces. The majority of Iraq and Afghanistan vets at this summer's Stand Down are not homeless, but volunteers there to help out. Mike Judd did two combat tours in Iraq, and he now works at Veterans Village. It doesn't surprise him that many of his contemporaries are hitting hard times. "Right out of high school, now they're a soldier, now they're a Marine," Judd says. "They spend months, years in combat, in military bases, in barracks, and then they're given like a week to become a civilian. I know very little, but I saw this coming." The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs have recently stepped up efforts to combat the problem, including a $100 million program announced in July. The VA estimates that about 67,000 vets are homeless, a 12 percent reduction from the previous year. Enlarge this image Paul, a former sniper with the Marines, did two tours in Iraq and says it was hard to reconnect with the civilian world. He declined to give his full name. The White House has announced a plan for no vets to be homeless by 2015, but it recognizes that the new generation of vets, many of them exposed to multiple combat tours, has its own set of problems. A Sense Of Alienation "I kind of feel separated," says a two-tour Iraq vet named Paul, who also declined to give his full name. "I don't like most people, I don't have many friends. It's not that I don't like normal civilians, it's that I can't identify with them." Paul, a Marine sniper, says combat left him with post-traumatic stress. He came to Stand Down to apply for a spot in the Veterans Village residential program. A judge ordered him to choose between that or prison for his second drunken driving charge, when police also discovered a loaded gun in his car. Paul admits he drinks too much, and he also admits that he misses the thing that traumatizes him. "You can't get quite that rush, that feeling on the edge that you get in combat," he says. "It sounds kind of twisted, but I enjoyed it very much. Save the fact that I lost some friends and lot of friends got maimed. But you know if I could, I'd go back right now." But when he gets out of Veterans Village, Paul will have to learn to interact with the civilian world, which he still finds incomprehensible. "You have a military at war, and a nation at the mall," he says. "What [are] peoples' priorities especially in my age bracket? All they care about is Facebook, the Kardashians, pop culture [and] their iPhone." At the end of the Stand Down weekend, Paul did land a space at Veterans Village San Diego. After about a year there, he might still not relate to the crowds at the mall, but he may figure out a way to deal with them. Program Teaches Vets How To Survive The Classroom June 6, 2012 Obama Seeks To Gain Support Among Military Voters May 24, 2012 Military Looks To Redefine PTSD, Without Stigma May 14, 2012

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The bin Ladens: a family history Save for later Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll's portrait of the bin Ladens, a family torn between Islam and the West. By Chuck Leddy The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century by Steve Coll Penguin Press 688 pp., $35 View Caption About video ads of The rags-to-riches story of the bin Laden family begins with Mohamed bin Laden, who started as a bricklayer for an American oil company in the 1930s and later began his own construction business. As far as politics went, Mohamed Bin Laden appeared to have none.But he did have many wives and 54 children. Among these was Osama, born in the late 1950s to a 15-year-old mother, one of seven children Mohamed is believed to have fathered that year. While Osama was still a child, his father died in a private plane crash with an American pilot at the controls. (Airplanes and the bin Ladens are oddly connected. At least eight of Mohamed's sons and a few of his daughters took flying lessons; Osama's oldest brother, Salem, died piloting his own plane in Texas in 1988.)Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll draws upon more than 150 interviews and thousands of documents in The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in The American Century, an absorbing history of the bin Laden family, whose most famous member masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Coll's story is a family biography rather than a portrait of Osama, but in the telling much is revealed about the young man who grew up in a family almost as secular as it was pious, "one degree separated from Mecca and two degrees from Las Vegas." Coll describes how the bin Ladens built their family empire by becoming the official construction company of the Saudi royal family. The bin Ladens have grown rich over the past half century through lucrative government contracts with the House of Saud - building roads, palaces, and renovating Muslim holy sites. The bin Ladens: a family history After Mohamed, the next bin Laden patriarch was the charismatic, Westernized Salem bin Laden. Salem relied on his outrageous humor and great wealth to ingratiate himself with King Fahd. Coll tells one story about Salem bin Laden making a bet with King Fahd that he could get four Western women to marry him at the same time. Coll describes the scene as Salem gathers four of his girlfriends in one room and promises them houses and lifetime financial security if they'll marry him. (Salem lost the bet when one shocked girlfriend refused.)Salem bin Laden was a jet-setter who loved American music and Western women, but he also held conservative Islamic beliefs. When one of his sisters fell in love with an older Italian man, Salem "agonized and fumed," says Coll. The bin Ladens were as diverse and conflicted as any large family, notes Coll - but this one happened to be caught between the allure of Western permissiveness and the dictates of Islamic piety. Osama bin Laden became the family's most pious member.Coll shows us how young Osama, while in high school, grew enamored of the Muslim Brotherhood and their aim to "replace secular and nationalist Arab leaders with Islamic governments." In his 20s, Osama would become a major fundraiser on behalf of Islamic fighters battling Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan. Both the Saudi government and the bin Laden family supported Osama in these efforts.In 1986, Osama bin Laden used his fundraising and organizational prowess, skills honed in the family business, to start his own brigade in Afghanistan and, later, to create Al Qaeda. As Coll explains: "Osama would make three indispensable contributions to Al Qaeda, all derived from his experiences as a Bin Laden: his emphasis on diversity and inclusion, his confidence about money and administration, and his attraction to the technology of global integration."Osama's split with his family and Saudi Arabia can be traced to the first Gulf War. He vehemently opposed basing US troops in Saudi Arabia. Ironically, the bin Laden family business helped build US military facilities. As Osama spoke out against the evils of US bases, he became persona non grata in Saudi Arabia.In Sudan, the exiled Osama met with several of his brothers who tried to convince him to rejoin the family business and stop his jihadist rants against the Saudi royal family. Under pressure from the Saudi government, the family eventually severed ties with Osama publicly and divested him from the family business.Coll makes it clear that Osama bin Laden views America much the way he saw the Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan, as corrupt imperialists ripe for defeat. Coll explores the possibility that the bin Laden family continued to help Osama after they officially renounced him, but he finds no hard proof. Osama's personal wealth remains a mystery that Coll - despite his efforts - is never able to quantify.Since 9/11, Osama's radicalism has placed the bin Laden family in a difficult situation, Coll explains: "To please American audiences, the bin Ladens would have to seek forgiveness and denounce Osama," while they need to be more nuanced about Osama "in the Arab world, where the family's financial interests" lie.The bin Laden family construction business continues to thrive today, Coll tells us, and Osama's influence remains a powerful one in the world of radical Islam. Coll's exhaustively researched and elegantly written account shows the bin Ladens to be consummate survivors.• Chuck Leddy is a freelance writer and member of the National Book Critics Circle. Private Empire Three Bin Laden family members killed in private jet crash (+video) Three of Osama bin Laden's relatives killed in UK plane crash

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Facebook driving more traffic to news sites: study - Taipei Times Facebook driving more traffic to news sites: study Facebook is driving an increasing amount of traffic to news sites, but Google remains the top referring service, according to a study published yesterday.The study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at the behavior of news consumers online during the first nine months of last year using audience statistics from the Nielsen Co.The study examined the 25 most popular news Web sites in the US, looking at how users get to the sites, how long they stay there, how deep they explore a site and where they go when they leave.An average of 40 percent of the traffic to the top 25 news sites comes from outside referrals, the study found, with Google Search and, to a lesser extent, Google News the single biggest traffic driver.The Nielsen figures did not break down where the remaining 60 percent of a news site's traffic comes from, but the study said much of it stems from direct visits to the home page of a news site."Far from obsolete, home pages are usually the most popular page for most of the top news sites," the study said, and were the most viewed part of the site for 21 of the 25 studied.Google Search was responsible for driving an average of 30 percent of traffic to top news sites with the Drudge Report and Yahoo also ranking as major traffic drivers.However, social media - and Facebook in particular - is "rapidly becoming a competing driver of traffic," the study said.At five of the top 25 sites, Facebook was the second or third most important driver of traffic.SHARING NEWS"If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next," the study's authors said. The Web site drawing the most traffic from Facebook links was The Huffington Post with 8 percent of its visitors landing on the site that way.Twitter, somewhat surprisingly, "barely registers as a referring source," the study found.Only one Web site in the top 25 - the Los Angeles Times with 3.53 percent - derived more than 1 percent of its total traffic from Twitter.Many visitors to top news sites are what the study described as "casual users" people who visit just a few times a month and spend a total of just a few minutes there at a time.On average, 77 percent of the traffic to the top 25 news sites came from users who visited just one or two times, the study said, with the percentage varying among sites. Yahoo News, had lowest number of people visiting only once or twice, but it was still more than half at 55 percent.More loyal and frequent visitors - what the study called "power users" - return more than 10 times a month to a particular site and spend more than an hour there during that time.However, power users make up an average of just 7 percent of total users among the top 25 sites, the study said. CNN had the most power users - 18 percent - while 16 percent of Fox New's audience fell into that category.Only six sites had power user figures in double digits."Overall, the findings suggest that there is not one group of news consumers online, but several, each of which behaves differently," the study said. "These differences call for news organizations to develop separate strategies to serve and make money from each audience. Advertising may help monetize some groups, while subscriptions will work for others."

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The World's Best Profession THE FULLY LOADED MAGAZINE The MAGAZINE BIZTRO EAT, PRAY, LIVE THE SKED WEB COLUMNS GROUP MAGAZINES The Newswire LATEST/TOP NEWS /outlookindia /outlookindia /outlookindia /outlookMagazine digimag.outlookindia.com / The Magazine BOOKS & CULTURE SOCIETY 17 October 2005 Journalism must go back to the trenches, rediscover the basics Jayachandran A Colombian university was asked what aptitude and vocational tests are administered to persons wishing to study journalism. The response was categorical: "Journalists are not artists." These views are, however, fuelled precisely by the conviction that print journalism is a literary genre. Fifty years ago, journalism schools were not fashionable. This craft was learned in newsrooms, print shops, run-down corner cafes, and at Friday night parties. Newspapers were produced in a factory-like setting, where the right training and information were provided, and views were generated in a collaborative atmosphere in which integrity was preserved. Journalists formed a tight-knit group. We shared a common life and were so fanatical about the profession that we talked of nothing else. Advertisement The work itself fostered a group friendship that left little time for one's private life. Although there were no editorial boards in a formal sense, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the entire staff gathered spontaneously to take a break from the tension of the day and to have coffee in any place where there was editorial activity. It was a kind of loose gathering at which there was heated discussion of the topics of each section and where the finishing touches were added to the next morning's edition. Persons who did not learn in these 24-hour roving academies of fervent debate or those who became bored with all the talking that took place there were those who wanted or believed themselves to be journalists, but in reality were not. At that time, journalism fell into three broad categories: news, feature stories and editorials. The section requiring the greatest finesse and carrying the greatest prestige was the editorial section. The reporter's job was the one that was the most undervalued, since it implied that the person doing it was a novice who had been relegated to menial tasks. Both time and the profession have demonstrated that the nervous system of journalism operates in a counterclockwise fashion; to wit: at age 19, I was the worst student in law school and began my career as a member of the editorial staff. Gradually, by dint of hard work, I made my way up, working in different sections, until I became a plain old reporter. Advertisement The practice of this profession required a broad cultural background, which was provided by the work environment itself. Reading was a supplementary job requirement. Persons who are self-taught are usually avid and quick learners. This is particularly true of persons of my era, inasmuch as we wanted to continue to pave the way for the advancement of the best profession in the world, as we ourselves called it. Alberto Lleras Camargo, a perennial journalist who was, on two occasions, president of Colombia, was not even a high school graduate. The establishment of schools of journalism later on was the result of a reaction in academic circles to the fact that the profession lacked scholastic backing. At the moment, this does not apply to the print media only, but to all areas of the media that have been or will be invented. However, in a bid to expand, even the humble name assigned to the profession since its beginnings in the 15th century has been abandoned. It is no longer called journalism, but rather communication sciences or mass communications. Generally speaking, the results have not been encouraging. Students who graduate from academic institutions with unrealistically high expectations, with their lives ahead of them, seem to be out of touch with reality and the main problems of life in the real world, and attach greater importance to self-promotion than to the profession and innate ability. This is particularly true with respect to two key attributes: creativity and experience. Advertisement The majority of students enter the profession with obvious deficiencies: they have serious problems with grammar and spelling and do not have an instinctive grasp of the material they read. Some take pride in the fact that they can read a secret document upside down on the desk of a minister, that they can tape casual conversations without informing the speaker, or that they can publicise a conversation that they agreed beforehand to treat as confidential. What is most disturbing is that these ethical breaches are based on a risque view of the profession, one that has been consciously adopted and is proudly rooted in the sacrosanct importance attached to being the first to know something, at any price and above all else. The notion that the best news is not always the news that is obtained first, but very often is the news that is best presented, means nothing to them. Some of these persons, aware of their deficiencies, feel that they have been cheated by their universities and do not mince words when blaming their teachers for failing to instil in them the virtues that are now demanded of them, particularly curiosity regarding life itself. Clearly, this is a criticism that can be levelled at education in general, which has been corrupted by the plethora of schools that persist in the perverted practice of providing information rather than training. However, in the specific case of journalism, this seems to be compounded by the inability of the profession to evolve at the same pace as the tools of the trade, and by the fact that journalists are getting mired in the labyrinth created by technology as it hurtles forward. In other words, there is fierce competition among companies to acquire modern tools while they have been slow to train their staff and adopt the mechanisms that fostered team spirit in the past. Newsrooms have become aseptic laboratories where people toil in isolation, places where it seems easier to communicate via cyberspace than by touching the hearts of readers. Dehumanisation is spreading at an alarming pace. It is not easy to understand how technology, in all its glory, and communications, which takes place at lightning speed, things that we all hankered after in our time, have managed to hasten and exacerbate the agony associated with closing time. Advertisement Beginners complain that editors give them three hours to complete a task that really cannot be done in fewer than six, that they ask them for material for two columns and then at the last minute give them only half a column, and that in the chaos of closing time no one has the time or the inclination to provide them with an explanation, let alone a word of consolation. "They don't even scold us," said a novice reporter who was anxious to receive direct feedback from his bosses. Silence reigns: the editor who was a compassionate sage in times gone by barely has the energy or the time to keep up with the punishing pace imposed by technology. In my view, it is the haste and restriction in terms of space that have reduced the stature of reporting, which we always considered to be the most prestigious genre, but also the one that requires more time, more research, more reflection, and superb writing skills. Reporting is, in reality, a meticulous and accurate reconstruction of facts. In other words, it is the news in its entirety, as events actually occurred, presented in a way to make the reader feel as though he actually witnessed them. Before the invention of teletypewriters and telexes, someone in the field of radio communications with a fanatical devotion to the profession quickly captured the world news amidst the cacophony of the air waves, and a scholarly editor prepared it, complete with details and background information, in a manner akin to the reconstruction of the entire skeleton of a dinosaur from a single vertebra.Only the interpretation of the news was off-limits, since this was considered to be the sacred preserve of the editor-in-chief, whose editorials were presumed to have been written by him, although this was not the case. In addition, the penmanship was almost always famous for its flourish. Renowned editors-in-chief had personal linotypists whose job was to decipher this handwriting. One significant improvement made in the past 50 years is that the news and reports are now accompanied by comments and opinions, and background information is used to enrich editorials. However, this does not seem to have achieved the best results, since this profession has never seemed more dangerous than it does now. The excessive use of quotation marks in statements, either false or true, provides an opening for innocent or deliberate mistakes, malicious distortions, and venomous misrepresentations, which give the news the force of a deadly weapon. Quotations from sources that are entirely credible, from persons who are generally well-informed, from senior officials who request anonymity, or from observers who know everything but are never seen, make it possible for all kinds of offences to go unpunished. The culprit erects a fortress around himself by citing his right to withhold his source, without asking himself whether he is not allowing himself to be easily exploited by that source who, in transmitting the information to him, packaged it in the manner that best suited him. I think that a bad journalist believes that he depends on his source for his livelihood, especially if it is official, and for this reason considers it to be sacrosanct, agrees with it, protects it, and ends up entering into a perilous relationship of complicity with it, which even leads him to look askance at other sources. Perhaps this may sound too anecdotal, but I think that there is another major culprit in this process: the recorder. Before its invention, the profession managed quite well with three tools of the trade, which, in truth and in fact, were really one: a notebook, uncompromising integrity, and a pair of ears that we, as reporters, still used to hear what was being said to us. The professional and ethical use of a recorder did not yet exist. People should teach their young colleagues that a cassette is not a substitute for one's memory, but rather, a sophisticated version of the humble notebook that provided very reliable service during the early years of the profession. The recorder hears but does not listen, and, like an electronic parrot, repeats but does not think. It can be depended upon but does not have a heart, and, in the final analysis, its literal rendition is not as reliable as that of the person who pays attention to the live words of his speaker, uses his intelligence to assess them, and judges them based on his ethical standards. While it does, in terms of the radio, offer the enormous advantage of providing an immediate and literal rendition of words, many interviewers do not listen to the responses provided because they are thinking about the next question. Because of the recorder, excessive and misguided importance is attached to interviews. Radio and television, by their very nature, have transformed them into the supreme genre. However, the print media also seems to share the mistaken view that the voice of the truth is not so much that of the journalist who witnessed an event but of the interviewee who provided a statement. In the case of many newspaper editors, transcription serves as the acid test. They confuse the sound of words, stumble on semantics, trip up on spelling, and become ensnarled in syntax. Perhaps the solution is to return to the modest notebook, so that journalists will use their intellect to edit as they listen and let the recorder occupy its rightful place as an invaluable witness.In any case, the assumption that many ethical and a host of other lapses that debase and bring shame to modern journalism do not always stem from a lack of morality, but also from a lack of professional skill, is a comforting one. Perhaps the shortcoming of mass communications academic programmes is that they teach many things that are useful for the profession, but very little about the profession itself. Clearly, humanities programmes should be retained, although they should be made less ambitious and rigid, in order to provide students with the cultural background that they do not receive in high school. However, any kind of education should focus on three key areas: assigning priority to aptitude and vocation; establishing categorically that research is not a speciality of the profession, but rather that all journalists must, by definition, be research-oriented; and building awareness that ethical standards cannot be a product of happenstance; like the drone of a bee, they must be the constant companion of every journalist. The ultimate objective ought to be a return to the basic level of education by offering small group workshops, which provide a critical appreciation of historical experiences, within the original context of public service. In other words, insofar as learning is concerned, the spirit of the 5 pm get-togethers should be revived. I belong to a group of independent journalists, based in Cartagena de Indias, that is trying to achieve this throughout Latin America through a system of experimental, itinerant workshops bearing a rather lofty-sounding name: Foundation for a New Approach to Journalism in Ibero-America (Fundacion para un Nuevo Periodismo Iberomericano). This is a pilot programme geared toward journalists who are just beginning their careers. They work in one specific area - reporting, editing, radio and television interviews, and a host of others - under the guidance of a veteran of the profession. In response to a public announcement of the foundation, candidates are proposed by the media organisation with which they are working, and that organisation covers travel, accommodation and registration expenses. Persons must be under the age of 30, have a minimum of three years of experience, and demonstrate their aptitude and level of skill in their area of speciality by providing samples of what they consider to be their best and worst work. The duration of each workshop depends on the availability of the guest instructor, who rarely can spend longer than one week. During workshops, the instructor does not attempt to provide participants with theoretical dogma and academic biases; instead he seeks, during the round table, to strengthen their skills using practical exercises, with a view to sharing with them his experience gained in practising the profession. The goal is not to teach people how to be journalists, but rather to hone the skills of those who already are, through practical exercises. No final exams or evaluations, diplomas or certificates of any kind are given. The sifting process will take place through the practical application of their skills. It is not easy to assess the benefits reaped thus far from a pedagogical standpoint. However, we are heartened by the growing enthusiasm of persons attending the workshops, a phenomenon that is already providing fertile ground for nonconformism and creative rebellion within the media circles of these persons, an approach that is supported, in many instances, by their boards of directors. The mere fact that 20 journalists from different countries met, over a five-day period, to discuss the profession is already a sign of their progress and of the progress of journalism. In the final analysis, we are not proposing a new way of teaching journalism; rather, we are seeking to revive the old way of learning it.The media would do well to support this rescue mission, either in their newsrooms or through scenarios created for that express purpose, in a manner akin to the air simulators who recreate every incident that can occur in flight so that students can learn how to avoid disaster before they actually encounter it in real life. Journalism is an unappeasable passion that can be assimilated and humanised only through stark confrontation with reality. No one who does not have this in his blood can comprehend its magnetic hold, which is fuelled by the unpredictability of life. No one who has not had this experience can begin to grasp the extraordinary excitement stirred by the news, the sheer elation created by the first fruits of an endeavour, and the moral devastation wreaked by failure. No one who was not born for this and is not prepared to live for this and this only can cling to a profession that is so incomprehensible and consuming, where work ends after each news run, with seeming finality, only to start afresh with even greater intensity the very next moment, not granting a moment of peace. (Copyright: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Courtesy: Inter-American Press Association) READ MORE IN: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Media Journalists Society Essays Adhir Choudhury Lost The Compass? Download the Outlook Magazines App. Six magazines, wherever you go! Play Store and App Store FROM OUTLOOK Press The Great Paper Chase The Hindujas may have established a cable distribution network, but the dream of owning a journal continues to... 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MediaCitizen How Will the Murdoch Implosion Be Felt in the U.S.? A scathing report in Britain that Rupert Murdoch and other News Corp. executives engaged in a cover-up of "rampant law breaking" may have ramifications for the media mogul in the United States. How far-reaching those consequences are depends on U.S. politicians' willingness to face down one of the most powerful media figures of our generation. But chinks in Murdoch's armor have deepened since last week, when a U.K. government investigation found that News Corp. executives hacked private phone messages, bribed government officials and then sought to conceal this wrongdoing, in part by giving misleading testimony to British law enforcement and Parliament. The investigation, conducted by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, concluded that News Corp.'s media empire is so corrupt that Murdoch is "not fit to run an international company." The report leaves in question Murdoch's bid to take a controlling share of Britain's largest satellite TV firm, BSkyB, a deal requiring approval of the country's media regulator Ofcom. But Murdoch's problems may extend well beyond British shores. At issue is whether News Corp. meets the minimum ethical standards required of broadcast license holders in the U.S., where the company controls 27 local TV stations among its consolidated media holdings. When granting broadcast licenses, the Federal Communications Commission must determine whether applicants meet character qualifications in accordance with the Communications Act. In making that judgment, the FCC is entitled to consider past conduct of media owners even if that conduct does not relate directly to their broadcasting interests, and may consider any pattern of misbehavior. The agency also is supposed to weigh whether the grantee serves the public interest. Broadcast licenses come up for review and renewal every eight years, but the FCC can revoke licenses at any time during that term. Captive and Cowered Unfortunately, the federal agency has a dismal record on renewals. The numbers tell the story: Over the FCC's more than 75 years in existence, it has granted well over 100,000 broadcast license renewals while denying only four on the basis of failure to meet public interest obligations. And while viewers regularly petition the agency to deny a broadcaster's renewal on such grounds, you would have to go back more than 30 years to find the most recent instance in which the FCC responded by pulling a license. The FCC's oversight system "operates almost on auto-pilot to the benefit of current license holders," writes Steve Waldman, the lead author of the 2011 FCC study "The Information Needs of Communities." He attributes the dearth of FCC action against stations to commissioners who "no doubt feared denying licenses would trigger contentious battles with broadcasters." And no broadcaster more aggressively pushes back against government oversight than News Corp., which has spent more than $61 million to lobby Washington and another $8.1 million on campaign contributions. It's a way to buy influence among elected officials that has paid handsome dividends for the American company. On Tuesday, MP Tom Watson singled out Murdoch for overseeing a culture of corruption that has spread through News Corp. "More than any individual alive, he's to blame," he said. "Morally, the deeds are his. He paid the piper, and he called the tune. It is his company, his culture, his people, his business, his failure, his lies, his crimes, the price of profits and his power." Watson added that Rupert and his son James "lied and cheated, blackmailed and bullied. And we should all be ashamed when we think how we cowered before them for so long." It's an indictment of the Murdochs but also of Watson's fellow politicians, which can be transposed to this side of the Atlantic where a U.S. body politic too often regards media moguls as above the law. New York Times reporter David Carr has exposed a litany of offenses committed on U.S. soil by News Corp.; its subsidiary New America Marketing, to take just one example, hacked into competitors' computers. In addition, News Corp. is alleged to have hacked into the phones of the families of 9/11 victims and to have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids the bribing of foreign officials to further a U.S. company's business interests. For these and other alleged crimes the company is already the subject of a Department of Justice investigation. But as the British Parliament has shown, Congress also has a role to play. Parliamentary hearings in the U.K. exposed the duplicitous nature of News Corp. executives and the extreme lengths to which they would go to cover up crimes and mislead the public. Congressional hearings in the U.S. could bring to light even more misdeeds by a company that thinks itself too big to fail -- or be held accountable before the law. All things media, online and off... but mostly on. Karr is the senior director of strategy for Free Press, the nation's largest media reform group. Comments at MediaCitizen are my own. Brian Lehrer ShowListening PostDemocracy Now!Al TimesMinneapolis Star-TribuneThe GuardianOther WordsDenver PostOrlando SentinelHuffington PostBill Moyers & Co.MSNBC.comUSA TodayNew Jersey Star-LedgerSalon. Inundated (pdf) The Police, the iPhone and Your Right to Record Super PACs Tell Lies, but the Media Spread Them Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch? How Will the Murdoch Implosion Be Felt in the U.S....

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Buckling to Bigotry: The Newseum Dishonors Murdered Palestinian Journalists By Nima Shirazi | Wide Asleep in America | May 13, 2013 Just two days before Palestinians commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Nakba, the names of two Palestinian cameramen targeted and killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza last November were dropped from a dedication ceremony held to honor "reporters, photographers and broadcasters who have died reporting the news" over the past year. The move followed an Israel lobby pressure campaign led by anti-Palestinian organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the American Jewish Committee, efforts that were openly supported by the Israeli government. The Atlantic Wire's J.K. Trotter summarizes: Two days after Washington, D.C.'s Newseum announced its intent to honor Hussam Salama and Mahmoud al-Kumi, who were killed in November while working as cameramen for the Middle East-based Al-Aqsa TV, the well-known temple of journalism has decided - for now - not to recognize Salama and al-Kumi, citing their employer's deep ties to Hamas, a Palestinian organization currently designated by the United States as a terrorist group. The Newseum, which honored 82 journalists on May 13, 2013, stated that it had "decided to re-evaluate their inclusion as journalists on our memorial wall pending further investigation," even though just last week, in response to the hysterical reaction to Salama's and al-Kumi's initial inclusion, the museum had affirmed and defended their decision, noting that "the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers all consider these men journalists killed in the line of duty." Indeed, as Joe Catron notes, Reporters Without Borders has pointed out, "Even if the targeted media support Hamas, this does not in any way legitimize the attacks," while the Committee to Protect Journalists "found that the Israeli military's official justifications for its attacks on journalists...'did not specifically address CPJ's central question: how did Israel determine that those targeted did not deserve the civilian protections afforded to all journalists, no matter their perspective, under international law?'" The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers includes both Salama and al-Kumi on its list of "69 Media Employees Killed in 2012," as does the International Federation of Journalists in tis report, "In the Grip of Violence: Journalists and Media staff Killed in 2012." Human Rights Watch, in its December 20, 2012 report on "Unlawful Israeli Attacks on Palestinian Media," concluded, Four Israeli attacks on journalists and media facilities in Gaza during the November 2012 fighting violated the laws of war by targeting civilians and civilian objects that were making no apparent contribution to Palestinian military operations. The attacks killed two Palestinian cameramen, wounded at least 10 media workers, and badly damaged four media offices, as well as the offices of four private companies. One of the attacks killed a two-year-old boy who lived across the street from a targeted building. The Israeli government asserted that each of the four attacks was on a legitimate military target but provided no specific information to support its claims. After examining the attack sites and interviewing witnesses, Human Rights Watch found no indications that these targets were valid military objectives. "Just because Israel says a journalist was a fighter or a TV station was a command center does not make it so," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Journalists who praise Hamas and TV stations that applaud attacks on Israel may be propagandists, but that does not make them legitimate targets under the laws of war." HRW added, "The two men's families, interviewed separately, said the men were neither participating in the fighting nor members of any armed group. Human Rights Watch found no evidence, including during visits to the men's homes, to contradict that claim. Hamas's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, has not put either man on its official list of killed fighters - an unlikely omission if the men had been playing a military role." For the Newseum to be bullied into omitting Salama and al-Kumi from its rededication ceremony by avowedly Zionist groups and right-wing media outlets demonstrates that the institution itself is no less a propaganda outfit than Al-Aqsa TV. This shameful last minute decision effectively grants the U.S. and Israeli governments the ability to decide who is and who is not a journalist and who should and who should not be honored for their work. But the decision also reeks of hypocrisy and Manichean double standards. The Newseum is essentially suggesting that sycophantic journalists parroting government propaganda may be legitimate targets in military operations and should be labeled combatants, rather than civilians who enjoy press freedoms and are subject to protection. Yet this only extends as far as the U.S. State Department says it does. The ADL's Abe Foxman called Salama and al-Kumi "members of a terrorist organization advancing their agenda through murderous violence" and "terrorist operatives" who "were working for a propaganda outlet, not a legitimate news organization." The AJC's David Harris echoed these sentiments, labeling Salama and al-Kumi as "brazen terrorists" and "two individuals who were integral to the propaganda machine of the Hamas terrorist organization," that could not be considered "a legitimate media operation." Such terms as "terrorism" and "terrorist" are perhaps the most loaded, politicized, exploited and, consequently, meaningless words in our current lexicon, employed as a bludgeon against critical thinking in order to reinforce "us vs. them" narratives. Apparently, the Newseum has determined that our propaganda deserves respect and admiration, while their propaganda (in this case, documenting on camera the effects Israeli bombs and missiles have on the human flesh of Palestinian people at Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital) should be condemned, targeted and investigated. By this measure, plenty of alleged propagandists grace the memorial wall of the Newseum already, with more added during today's ceremony. Mohamed Al-Massalma, a freelance reporter for Al Jazeera, was killed by a sniper while covering the Syrian civil war in Busra Al-Harir in late January 2013. The Syrian journalist, working under the pseudonym Mohamed Al-Horani, was "an activist in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad," before joining Al Jazeera. In January 2012, Mukarram Khan Aatif was gunned down in the Pakistani town of Shabqadar by members of the Pakistani Taliban. Aatif was a journalist working for Deewa Radio, the U.S. government's Voice of America Pasto-language service. He was among those honored by the Newseum this year. The taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) and its affiliated services have been legally banned from broadcasting or distribution here in the United States for the past 65 years because of a Congressional act prohibiting the government from propagandizing to its own citizens. Only last year was this law reversed; the ban will be officially lifted this coming July 2013. VOA is literally U.S. government propaganda, yet its reporters are accorded due protection from violence, as they should be. Another VOA journalist, Mohammed Ali Nuxurkey, was killed in an al-Shabab bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, this past March There is no doubt he will be added the Newseum's wall next year. If any distinctions are to be made among different categories of journalists caught in the line of fire or deliberately targeted for murder, international law does not, in fact, favor the Foxman's and Harris' of the world. While war journalists who are not embedded with troops or themselves soldiers taking direct part in hostilities are legally protected by the law of armed conflict, embedded reporters are not necessarily similarly protected. According to international law professor Sandesh Sivakumaran, writing for the Oxford University Press, embedded journalists, while civilians, may be "casualties of lawful attacks" as "[t]he law allows for the targeting of troops and that targeting may result in bystanders or embedded reporters becoming casualties." Still, embedded journalists who were killed while accompanying American occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - a policy promoted by the U.S. military in order to ensure positive reporting on American actions (some might call that propaganda) - have also rightly been accorded a place in the Newseum's memorial. Journalists like Spanish reporter Julio Anguita Parrado and German correspondent Christian Liebig, killed by Iraqi missiles in an April 7, 2003 attack on the U.S. Army's 3rd Division headquarters in Baghdad, are honored by the Newseum as is NBC News soundman Jeremy Little, killed in Fallujah in July 2003 while embedded with the Army's 3rd Infantry. Sivakumaran also explains that "[j]ournalists who work for media outlets or information services of the armed forces" are legally considered "members of the armed forces," and therefore "don't benefit from the protections afforded to civilians and their deaths don't constitute a violation of the law." As such, the Newseum's glaring duplicity is all the more evident when considering the case of James P. Hunter. A staff sergeant, reporter and photographer with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Hunter was killed on June 18, 2010 by an IED while covering the massive U.S. offensive taking place in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for The Fort Campbell Courier, an Army newspaper in Kentucky. He was an active duty soldier and the first Army journalist to die in combat since 9/11. Still, the Newseum saw fit to honor Hunter on its memorial wall. Yet in the case of Salama and al-Kumi, "Israeli officials sought to justify attacks on Palestinian media by saying the military had targeted individuals or facilities that 'had relevance to' or were 'linked with' a Palestinian armed group, or had 'encouraged and lauded acts of terror against Israeli civilians,'" according to Human Rights Watch. "These justifications, suggesting that it is permissible to attack media because of their associations or opinions, however repugnant, rather than their direct participation in hostilities, violate the laws of war and place journalists at grave risk." If repellant statements, including the justification of and praise for acts of violence against civilians, are the benchmark of propaganda and thereby constitute legitimate targeting for death by those opposed to such statements, then countless American journalists and commentators from across the political spectrum would be subject to the same fate as Salama and al-Kumi. Warmongering and incitement abound in the editorial pages of The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Liberal commentators like Joe Klein and former White House spokesman Robert Gibbs exhalt the extrajudicial executions by flying robot of countless civilians, including a 16-year-old American citizen in Yemen and hundreds of children in Pakistan. Right-wing pundits like Jennifer Rubin and her friends at Commentary and The Weekly Standard openly advocate for the murder of Iranian and Palestinian civilians, endlessly call for permanent war and occupation, support torture and indefinite detention, advocate for the assassination of whistleblowers, scientists and foreign officials, and justify the war crimes of their preferred military forces and governments. Just days before the car in which Salama and al-Kumi were traveling, marked clearly as a press vehicle, was blown up by an Israeli bomb, Rubin published a post praising the IDF assault on Gaza. Hardly able to contain her glee, Rubin anonymously quoted "an old Middle East hand" declaring that, after weeks of sporadic Israeli airstrikes ("a form of messaging to Hamas"), "the Israelis escalated. But still they are avoiding infrastructure, hitting pinpoint high-level Hamas target." A recent B'Tselem report on Israel's actions last November, however, "challenges the common perception in the Israeli public and media that the operation was 'surgical' and caused practically no fatalities among uninvolved Palestinian civilians," noting that, "in some cases at least, the [Israeli] military violated IHL [international humanitarian law] and in other cases there are substantial reasons to believe IHL was violated." Israeli airstrikes killed 167 Palestinians in Gaza, at least 87 of whom were noncombatants, including 31 minors. Two days after cheering Israeli war crimes, Rubin set her sights on a bigger target. "Israel can keep swatting down Hamas, using air power or, if need be, going into Gaza on land," she wrote. "It has a solemn obligation to defend itself against what was a deliberate escalation by Hamas in the number and quality of weapons launched against Israel's civilian population. But even with the most robust U.S. support this is not a long-term solution. That will only come when Iran is dealt with, either militarily or via regime change." Anyone arguing that Rubin could be targeted with violence for writing her opinions would be labeled sociopathic and lambasted for incitement, and for good reason. And there is no doubt that if correspondents from Israeli Army Radio or employees of the state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority were killed, they would be honored by the Newseum, without so much as a whiff of dissent, let alone outrage. It is evident that, as always, Palestinians are subject to unparalleled scrutiny and suspicion due to the tireless defamation and lobbying efforts of big-moneyed Zionist organizations and ideological zealots. But is it surprising that the Newseum should jump on this bias bandwagon? In the late 1940's, Bugsy Siegel's former publicist Hank Greenspun was recruited by Jewish militias in Palestine to help them fight against both the occupying British and indigenous Palestinians. He hijacked a yacht and laundered $1.3 million through Mexico in order to smuggle machine guns stolen from the U.S. Navy in Hawaii to the prolific terrorist group Irgun, which had blown up Jerusalem's King David Hotel the year before and would massacre the residents of Deir Yassin a year later. Soon thereafter, Greenspun was apprehended by the FBI while attempting to illegally ship surplus combat airplane engines to Haganah. In 1950, he was convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act and fined $10,000 for his arms deals. The same year, he purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal and renamed it the Las Vegas Sun, serving as publisher for the next four decades. Upon his death in 1989, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres called Greenspun "a hero of our country and a fighter for freedom - a man of great spirit who fought with his mind and his soul; a man of great conviction and commitment." In 1993, a one-acre plaza in the Jerusalem Botanical Garden of Hebrew University was dedicated to him. In 2006, the Greenspun Family donated $7 million to the Newseum, which named a terrace in his honor. It overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue. Jewish groups slam 'Newseum' for honoring Palestinian journalists killed by Israelis (alethonews.wordpress.com) May 14, 2013 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, War Crimes | Al-Aqsa TV, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Gaza, Hamas, Newseum, Palestine, Sarah Leah Whitson, Zionism | 3 Comments HRW Double Standards: Gaza Rockets at Zionist Entity Violate War Laws Al-Manar | December 24, 2012 Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip "violated the laws of war" by firing rockets at populated areas in the Zionist Entity during the eight-day war last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. Citing Zionist army figures, HRW said that approximately "1,500 rockets were fired at Israel between November 14 and 21," of which "at least 800 struck Israel, including 60 that hit populated areas." These attacks "killed three Israelis, wounded at least 38, several seriously, and destroyed civilian property," HRW said, noting that there were also rockets fired from Gaza "that fell short of their intended targets in Israel apparently killed at least two Palestinians". "Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. HRW rejected claims by the armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee that their targeting of Israeli civilians was a legitimate "reprisal for Israeli attacks that killed civilians in Gaza". Last week, HRW said that the Zionist Entity's attacks on media facilities and journalists in Gaza also violated the laws of war. But the organization didn't mention the bombing of the Palestinian civil infrastructure and houses in Gaza. 191 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed during that fighting. Most of the Palestinian fatalities were civilians, although Israel says 30 senior militants were among the dead. Four of the Israelis killed by rocket strikes were civilians, and two were soldiers. HRW said that under the laws of war, "civilians and civilian structures may not be subject to deliberate attacks or attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets." December 24, 2012 Posted by aletho | War Crimes | Gaza, Palestine, Sarah Leah Whitson, Zionist entity | 1 Comment Featured Video Manufacturing Dissent

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Related Program: All Things Considered After Mosul's Fall, Iraqis Adjust To New Normal Under ISIS By Deborah Amos Originally published on June 20, 2014 5:08 pm Not all Sunnis are on board with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, even if they oppose the Iraqi government. One ranking Sunni cleric in northern Iraq calls ISIS "scum" and hints at limits to the group's influence.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. After days of fighting, here's the situation in Iraq. The Sunni extremist group ISIS is still holding much of the north and west of the country. Iraq's government has amassed security forces and volunteer militias north of Baghdad. The spiritual leader of the Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, today, called for the formation of a new government that can unite the country. And meanwhile, the first city seized in the lightning offensive by ISIS, Mosul, is coping with new leadership. NPR's Deborah Amos spoke with a top Sunni cleric who says the people of Mosul want neither ISIS nor the Shiite-led government. DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: These days, more residents of Mosul are returning to the city than leaving. There are still families who come to the sweltering tent camps on the outskirts of Erbil, lining up for the distribution of food and water. This family arrived two days ago, but Nadia and her husband, Yousef - like most people, they only give their first names for fear of reprisals - say they are already making plans to go home. NADIA: (Foreign language spoken). AMOS: The rebels who came to Mosul - they didn't make any problems for us, says Nadia. They just stay at the checkpoints. She feared the Baghdad government might bomb the city, but she says she believes reports that her neighborhood is calm, and is anxious to go back. The fall of Mosul - the rapid collapse of the Iraqi army has energized many Sunnis. The top Sunni religious leader in Iraq, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Rafea al Rifai, says he supports what he calls the Sunni revolt. UNIDENTIFIED MEN: (Foreign language spoken). AMOS: We meet at his apartment in Erbil. This is a rebellion against a tyrant in Baghdad he says, referring to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Now the people of Mosul will run their city. GRAND MUFTI SHEIKH RAFEA AL RIFAI: (Through translator) Mosul is now one of the cleanest cities in Iraq. Simply, the residents have cleared many of the trash and the burned vehicles and all these things and also, more importantly, now they live in peace. AMOS: Sheikh Rifai says there are committees forming to govern Mosul that include tribal leaders and former military officers under Saddam Hussein. In telephone calls to the city, one resident said he was joining a committee. He is an ex-officer. Others said the food markets are open, but the electricity controlled from Baghdad is scarce. But the grand mufti played down the role of ISIS, the group reportedly leading the revolt. He dismissed reports of a strict set of rules issued by the group as propaganda. The ISIS goal of building a caliphate is nonsense, he says. This is a revolt of the Sunni community, he insists, to build a better state. RIFAI: (Through translator) These people, whether it is through the ISIS scum or whether it's the Shia fighters that you have on the side of al-Maliki, all these groups are essentially killers. You cannot establish a state with these killers and these scum. AMOS: So you dismiss their call for a caliphate in Mosul? RIFAI: (Through translator) No, no. There's nothing like this at all. The people of Mosul are the ones in charge, and they are the ones who will build the state. AMOS: His dismissal of ISIS is striking. He called the militant ideology backwards. We're not at war with Shia Muslims, he said, only with his murderous government. His comments may indicate another struggle ahead. The alliance that seized Mosul in a surprisingly quick offensive included ISIS fighters who have their own agenda in Iraq. But for now, Mosul is calm, says Um Ghofran, a 42-year-old housewife. UM GHOFRAN: (Foreign language spoken). AMOS: We don't know who these people are, she says, but they are helping us. They didn't kill anyone. The picture in Mosul is still unclear. Um Ghofran says she was able to go to the market with her daughters. Maybe these people can run the city, she said. But her voice was unsure. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Erbil. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. © 2016 KENW

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Eric Westervelt Vance Jacobs After nearly a decade as an award-winning Foreign Correspondent with NPR's international desk, Eric Westervelt returned in September 2013 to domestic news with a new national beat covering American education as an Education Correspondent. In this role, he covers the news, issues, and trends in classrooms across the country, from pre-K to higher education. He has a strong interest in the multiple ways in which technology is disrupting traditional pedagogy. Westervelt recently returned from a 2013 John S Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. The fellowship focused on journalistic innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship and the future of news. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent based in the Middle East and then Europe. From 2009 to 2012 Westervelt was Berlin Bureau Chief and Correspondent coverage a broad range of news across Europe from the debt crisis to political challenges in Eastern Europe. In 2011 and 2012 his work included coverage of the revolutions in North Africa from the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt to the civil war and NATO intervention in Libya. As a foreign correspondent, Westervelt has covered numerous wars and their repercussions across the Middle East for NPR as Jerusalem Bureau Chief and as Pentagon Correspondent. Prior to his current assignment, he spent several years living in the Middle East reporting on the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Afghanistan and elsewhere. As Jerusalem Bureau Chief he covered the turmoil in the Gaza Strip, and the 2006 Second Lebanon war between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. He also reported in-depth on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict across Israel and the occupied West Bank. During the US-led invasion of Iraq, Westervelt traveled with the lead element of the U.S. Third Infantry Division, which was the first army unit to reach Baghdad. He later helped cover the Iraqi insurgency, sectarian violence and the on-going struggle to rebuild the country in the post-Saddam Hussein era. Westervelt was one of the few western reporters on the ground in Gaza during the Fatah-Hamas civil war and he reported on multiple Israeli offensives in the coastal territory. Additionally, he has reported from the Horn of Africa, Yemen and the Persian Gulf countries. Prior to his Middle East assignments, Westervelt covered military affairs and the Pentagon reporting on a wide range of defense, national security as well as foreign policy issues. Before joining NPR's Foreign Desk nearly a decade ago, Westervelt covered some of the biggest domestic stories as a reporter on NPR's National Desk. His assignments spanned from the explosion of TWA flight 800 to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He also covered the mass shooting at Columbine High School, the presidential vote recount following the 2000 Presidential Election, among other major stories. He also covered national trends in law enforcement and crime fighting, including police tactics, use of force, the drug war, racial profiling and the legal and political battles over firearms in America. The breadth and depth of his work has been honored with the highest awards in broadcast journalism. He contributed to NPR's 2002 George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath; the 2003 Alfred I. duPont - Columbia University award also for 9/11 coverage and the war in Afghanistan; and a 2004 and a 2007 duPont-Columbia University Award for NPR's coverage of the war in Iraq and its effect on Iraqi society. Westervelt's 2009 multi-media series with NPR photojournalist David Gilkey won the Overseas Press Club of America's Lowell Thomas Award Citation for Excellence. In lighter news, Westervelt occasionally does features for NPR's Arts Desk. His profile of roots rock pioneer Roy Orbison was part of NPR's 50 Great Voices series. His feature on the making of John Coltrane's classic "A Love Supreme," was part of the NPR series on the most influential American musical works of the 20th century, which was recognized with a Peabody Award. Before joining NPR, Westervelt worked as a freelance reporter in Oregon, a news director and reporter in New Hampshire and reported for Monitor Radio, the broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor. Westervelt is a graduate of the Putney School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Reed College. 50 Great Teachers: Socrates, The Ancient World's Teaching Superstar By Eric Westervelt Oct 29, 2014 Today, NPR Ed kicks off a yearlong series: 50 Great Teachers. We're starting this celebration of teaching with Socrates, the superstar teacher of the ancient world. He was sentenced to death more than 2,400 years ago for "impiety" and "corrupting" the minds of the youth of Athens. But Socrates' ideas helped form the foundation of Western philosophy and the scientific method of inquiry. And his question-and-dialogue-based teaching style lives on in many classrooms as the Socratic method. A New Orleans Charter School Marches To Its Own Tune By Eric Westervelt Oct 13, 2014 This year, NPR Ed is reporting on the dramatic changes in the New Orleans school system. All startups face big hurdles. But when you're a startup school in one of America's poorest cities, without deep-pocket backers, the challenges are daunting. Oscar Brown is a New Orleans native. He grew up in the Desire housing project, a little over a mile west of his current home in a neighborhood ravaged by the storm that struck nearly a decade ago. Digital Natives, Except When It Comes To Textbooks By Eric Westervelt Oct 10, 2014 The spiral of destruction. We're not talking about instability in the Middle East or Ebola. We're talking textbooks. Q&A: Dana Goldstein, Author, 'The Teacher Wars' By Eric Westervelt Sep 6, 2014 I recently came to the education beat after spending the better part of a decade as a foreign correspondent, mainly reporting on conflicts in the Middle East. Shortly after turning in my Kevlar vest for chalk dust, I was struck by how intensely polarized the education reform debate is in America. I'd traded real mortar fire for the rhetorical kind: Man the barricades, incoming Common Core! Which raises the question: How did we get here? The Myth Of The Superstar Superintendent? Sep 4, 2014 At corporations, leadership matters. A lot. Think of the impact of the late Steve Jobs at Apple or Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg today, to name a couple. CEOs often play a vital role in bolstering a company's performance, image and culture of success. (Although studies show that obscenely high CEO compensation isn't always the best incentive.) Lessons In Manhood: A Boys' School Turns Work Into Wonders Jul 27, 2014 This summer, All Things Considered has been taking a look at the changing lives of men in America. And that means talking about how the country educates boys. In Berkeley, Calif., a private, non-profit middle school called the East Bay School for Boys is trying to reimagine what it means to build confident young men. In some ways, the school's different approach starts with directing, not stifling, boys' frenetic energy. Violence Spikes Anew In Iraq, As Islamic State Looks To Expand Jul 27, 2014 Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript ERIC WESTERVELT, HOST: Q&A: A Union Leader On Tenure, Testing And The Common Core Jul 11, 2014 The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is holding its annual convention in Los Angeles through this weekend. For the AFT's more than 3,500 national delegates descending on LA, there is a lot on their plate and big challenges ahead for the nation's second-largest teachers union: the Common Core, tenure and fierce debate about testing, to name a few. From Calif. Teachers, More Nuanced Views On Tenure Jul 10, 2014 In the weeks since a California judge overturned the state's rules governing teacher tenure, the political noise has only grown louder. Advocates on both sides of the issues have largely stuck to "give-no-ground," press-release rhetoric that risks drowning out educators in the middle. I've spoken with educators around the state since the ruling, including many who say they want protections but also real change. Giving Boys A Bigger Emotional Toolbox By Eric Westervelt Jun 25, 2014 This story is part of the "Men In America" series on All Things Considered. Is America's dominant "man up" ethos a hypermasculine cultural construct, a tenet rooted in biological gender difference or something in between? Educator Ashanti Branch doesn't much care or, more accurately, doesn't have time to care. He's too busy trying to make a difference in boys' lives. A High School Band Where Everyone's Voice Can Be Heard Jun 11, 2014 (This is Part 2 of a two-part report. Read the full piece here.) On the surface, the PS 177 Technology Band looks like a typical high school orchestra. But there are two big differences. First, while they use traditional instruments, they also play iPads. And all of the band members have disabilities. Some have autism spectrum disorders. "I'm Tobi Lakes. I'm 15 years old. I'm in ninth grade. I'm four grades away from college." iPads Allow Kids With Challenges To Play In High School Band Jun 11, 2014 Tablet computers and a creative teacher have helped open doors for some kids with serious learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. The P.S. 177 Technology Band is in Queens, N.Y.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . iPads Allow Kids With Challenges To Play In High School's Band Jun 11, 2014 There's a steady stream of hype surrounding the pluses and pitfalls of classroom tablet computers. But for a growing number of special education students tablets and their apps are proving transformative. The tablets aren't merely novel and fun. With guidance from creative teachers, they are helping to deepen engagement, communication, and creativity. California Teacher Tenure Ruled Unconstitutional Jun 10, 2014 A California judge today ruled the state's laws governing teacher tenure and the firing of public school teachers unconstitutional, saying they interfere with the state's obligation to provide every child with access to a good education. The plaintiffs in the case, Vergara v. California, argued that the tenure system for public school teachers in California verges on the absurd, and that those laws disproportionately harm poor and minority students. In his ruling, Judge Rolf M. Treu agreed. As More Speakers Get The Boot, Who's Left To Send Off Graduates? May 14, 2014 Graduation Season? More like Disinvitation Season. As students across the country prepare for pomp and circumstance, college and university administrators are grappling with a series of commencement speech boondoggles. This year alone, nearly a dozen big-name commencement speakers - including the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - have been invited to speak at graduation ceremonies, only to withdraw or have their invitations rescinded in the wake of campus protests. In Tulsa, Combining Preschool With Help For Parents Apr 23, 2014 At preschools in Tulsa, Okla., teachers are well-educated and well-paid, and classrooms are focused on play, but are still challenging. One nonprofit in Tulsa, the Community Action Project, has flipped the script on preschool. The idea behind its Career Advance program is simple: To help kids, the group believes, you often have to help their parents. One Approach To Head Start: To Help Kids, Help Their Parents By Eric Westervelt Apr 23, 2014 President Obama has called repeatedly on Congress to help states pay for "high-quality preschool" for all. In fact, those two words - "high quality" - appear time and again in the president's prepared remarks. They are also a refrain among early childhood education advocates and researchers. But what do they mean? And what separates the best of the nation's preschool programs from the rest? Maze Of College Costs And Aid Programs Traps Some Families Mar 25, 2014 In the past 20 years, the average burden for a four-year college graduate in the U.S. has gone from about $9,000 to nearly $30,000 today. The percentage of students carrying debt has shot up from less than half to nearly 70 percent these days. At a large public high school in Freemont, Calif., southeast of San Francisco, Alyssa Tucker and Thao Le sit on a metal table. Both come from families with modest incomes. College Applicants Sweat The SATs. Perhaps They Shouldn't Feb 18, 2014 With spring fast approaching, many American high school seniors are now waiting anxiously to hear whether they got into the college or university of their choice. For many students, their scores on the SAT or the ACT will play a big role in where they get in. That's because those standardized tests remain a central part in determining which students get accepted at many schools. But a first-of-its-kind study obtained by NPR raises questions about whether those tests are becoming obsolete. A Push To Boost Computer Science Learning, Even At An Early Age Feb 17, 2014 Political Rivals Find Common Ground Over Common Core Jan 28, 2014 Supporters of the new Common Core education standards adopted by 45 states say the standards hold American students to much higher expectations, and move curriculum away from a bubble-test culture that encourages test preparation over deeper learning. Teacher Job Protections Vs. Students' Education In Calif. Jan 26, 2014 Transcript RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: To California now where a polarizing lawsuit goes to trial tomorrow. At issue, whether job protections for public school teachers undermines students' constitutional rights to an adequate education. The students and parents who filed the lawsuit say it could provide a model for challenging teacher protection laws in other states. But to unions and state officials, all the lawsuit does is demonize teachers. NPR's Eric Westervelt has the story. The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course Dec 31, 2013 One year ago, many were pointing to the growth of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, as the most important trend in higher education. Many saw the rapid expansion of MOOCs as a higher education revolution that would help address two long-vexing problems: access for underserved students and cost. In theory, students saddled by rising debt and unable to tap into the best schools would be able to take free classes from rock star professors at elite schools via Udacity, edX, Coursera and other MOOC platforms. To Make Science Real, Kids Want More Fun Dec 17, 2013 Are American kids being adequately prepared in the sciences to compete in a highly competitive, global high-tech workforce? A majority of American parents say no, according to a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Parents Say School Security Has Increased Since Newtown Massacre Dec 14, 2013 Most parents of elementary school-age children say their schools boosted security following last year's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., according to a poll from NPR in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Charter Schools In Philadelphia: Educating Without A Blueprint Nov 22, 2013 This is final story in a three-part report on Philadelphia schools in crisis. Shayna Terrell is in a good mood: It's report card night at the Simon Gratz Mastery Charter high school in North Philadelphia, and parents are showing up in good numbers. Unrelenting Poverty Leads To 'Desperation' In Philly Schools Nov 21, 2013 This is the second in a three-part report on Philadelphia schools in crisis. Philadelphia's Center City area sparkles with new restaurants, jobs and money. After declining for half a century, the city's population grew from 2006 to 2012. But for people living in concentrated poverty in large swaths of North and West Philadelphia, the Great Recession only made life harder. Duncan Apologizes For 'Clumsy' Common Core Remarks Nov 19, 2013 Education Secretary Arne Duncan is in some hot water over remarks he made last week suggesting that opposition to Common Core of Standards was coming from "white suburban moms." He has since pulled back from those remarks. Trim Recess? Some Schools Hold On To Child's Play Nov 7, 2013 It's recess time at Ruby Bridges Elementary School and a third-grader is pummeling a plastic tetherball with focused intensity. He's playing at one of more than a half-dozen recess play stations on the school's sprawling cement playground - there's also wall ball, basketball, capture the flag, sharks and minnows, a jungle gym and tag. For The Tablet Generation, A Lesson In Digital Citizenship By Eric Westervelt Nov 1, 2013 This week on All Tech, we're exploring kids and technology with posts and radio pieces about raising digital natives. Look back at the stories and share your thoughts and ideas in the comments, by email or tweet. Pages" first © 2016 91.5 KIOS-FM

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Radio stations ill-prepared for earthquakes Reportfrom KATHMANDU, 26 October 2012 (IRIN) - Radio stations in Nepal, critical sources of emergency information, are ill-prepared to withstand or operate in the event of an earthquakes, experts warn. "If there is an earthquake now, radio broadcasters would be vulnerable given that they are stationed in earthquake-vulnerable buildings," Man Thapa, programme manager of the UN Development Programme's comprehensive disaster risk management programme, told IRIN. According to the Association of the Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB), there are 350 radio stations across the Himalayan nation, with 36 in the capital Kathmandu alone, a city located in one of the most seismically active zones in the world. The majority in buildings are not earthquake resistant. Although there have been no specific studies on radio stations' structural vulnerabilities, most experts agree that the situation is fragile. With over 44 percent of the population illiterate, according to government's Nepali Living Standards Survey (2010-2011), radio remains the most powerful information medium for the majority of Nepal's 29 million inhabitants. "The role of radio becomes crucial because during an earthquake, people want information first more than anything, and they look to the radio as the best means of communication," said Ganesh Kumar Jimee, programe manager of disaster preparedness and response for the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), a local NGO. Over 90 percent of the population owns a radio set and tunes into the radio stations across the country, according to a 2012 study (not available online) by Ujyaalo 90 Network. Ujyaalo has the largest community radio network, with an audience of half million in the capital and 15 million across the country. It's also the only radio station located in an earthquake-resistant building, and it is planning a series of earthquake preparedness trainings for its reporters. "Very few radio stations will perhaps withstand an earthquake of a large scale. We are worried about them as most don't even have back-up plans in case of damage to their own infrastructure," Ujyaalo head Gopal Guragain noted. There is urgent need for contingency planning, such as finding alternatives locations to immediately operate radio broadcasts in case of damages to the main station, he explained. "Although our building may not be 100 percent earthquake-proof, our back-up plan helps us to immediately revive our broadcast in case of serious damage." In the event of a major earthquake, plans are now in place to use their basement and ground floor, where a back-up transmitter and antennae have been installed and a diesel-powered generator is on standby. Other broadcasters have yet to implement such planning, according to ACORAB. "There are lots of possibilities, but nothing has been initiated by most radio stations, especially on how to keep their equipment secure and [how to ensure] the safety of their own reporters," said ACORAB executive director Rabindra Bhattarai. While much needs to be done, Bhattarai concedes most stations don't have the resources to implement any changes. Moreover, journalists have yet to be properly trained in how to report in a post-earthquake environment. Following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck northeastern India, Nepal and Tibet in September 2011, fear mongering was a major problem. Rumours quickly spread that the quake was simply a prelude to a much larger seismic event like the one predicted for the country's densely populated Kathmandu Valley In Kathmandu, 270km west of the quake's epicentre, buildings were evacuated and traffic came to a standstill. "At the time, broadcasters could have played a very important role in calming people with a radio message that this was only a rumour spread across social networking websites and through SMS," he said, describing the incident as a major wake-up call for radio stations to be better prepared. NSET hopes that radio stations will start their own preparedness and contingency plans and that they will work together to develop their own standard operating procedures about messages to be delivered in pre- and post-earthquake situations. Currently, a total of 20 radio stations are broadcasting public service announcements 10 times a day, with support from NSET, about earthquake safety tips and preparedness. "If the system doesn't survive, how will radio broadcasters serve the community during an earthquake disaster? This is something they have to think about very seriously," Pitamber Aryal, director of the Nepal Red Cross Society disaster department said. According to the NRCS, an earthquake measuring 7 to 8 on the Richter scale in Nepal's Kandmandu Valley could kill up to 50,000 people, injure 100,000 and destroy 60 percent of buildings, leaving 900,000 homeless. nn/ds/rz Primary countryNepal Theme: Disaster Management Content format: News and Press Release Disaster type: Earthquake

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" Blinking on the Bench Harvard Conference: "Ideology, Psychology & Law" " Journalists as Social Psychologists & Social Psychologists as Entertainers Posted by The Situationist Staff on February 25, 2008 Daniel Weiss has a fantastic essay, titled "What Would You Do?: The Journalism that Tweaks Reality, then Reports What Happens," in a recent edition of the Columbia Journalism Review. His essay surveys a broad range of journalistic experiments - ranging from the sensationalistic to the profound, some executed in collaboration with social psychologists and some by journalists flying solo - and argue that they are essentially homages (conscious or not) to experiments conducted by such "golden age" social psychologists as Stanley Milgram and Situationist contributor Phil Zimbardo. Weiss also explores the appeal and scientific merits of those journalistic experiments. The essay is well worth reading in its entirety. For those interested in a sampler, we offer some representative excerpts below. On a Friday morning last January, a group of Washington, D.C., commuters played an unwitting role in an experiment. As they emerged from the L'Enfant Plaza metro station, they passed a man playing a violin. Dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt, baseball cap, and jeans, an open case for donations at his feet, he looked like an ordinary busker. In reality, he was Joshua Bell, an internationally renowned musician. The idea was to gauge whether Bell's virtuosic playing would entice the rushing commuters to stop and listen.The experiment's mastermind was Washington Post staff writer Gene Weingarten, who had dreamed it up after seeing a talented keyboardist be completely ignored as he played outside another metro station. . . . For three-quarters of an hour, Bell played six pieces, including some of the most difficult and celebrated in the classical canon. Of 1,097 passersby, twenty-seven made donations totaling just over $30. Seven stopped for more than a minute. The remaining 1,070 breezed by, barely aware of the supremely talented violinist in their midst. [See video below.] When Weingarten's account of the experiment ran in the Post's magazine three months later, readers followed the narrative with rapt attention that contrasted starkly with the indifference of the commuters. The article was discussed on blogs and other forums devoted to classical music, pop culture, politics, and social science [For a previous Situtionist post on this experiment, click here.] Weingarten said he received more feedback from readers than he had for any other article he had written in his thirty-five-year career. Many were taken with the chutzpah of disguising Joshua Bell as a mendicant just to see what would happen. Others were shocked that people could ignore a world-class musician. Still others argued that the results were insignificant: rerun the experiment outdoors on a sunny day, they said, and Bell would draw a massive crowd. I was one of those rapt readers, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of the piece's appeal. Was it just a clever gimmick or was there something more profound going on? At the same time, the story felt familiar. Indeed, Weingarten's experiment was a recent entry in a journalistic genre with deep, quirky roots. Working on a hunch that begs to be tested or simply struck with an idea for a good story, journalistic "experimenters," for lack of a better term, step out of their customary role as observers and play with reality to see what will happen. At their worst, these experiments are little more than variations on reality-TV operations that traffic in voyeurism and shame. At their best, they manage to deliver discussion-worthy insights into contemporary society and human nature. The very best, perhaps, serve up a bit of both. In any case, the growing number of journalists and news operations who do this sort of thing are heirs to a brand of social psychology practiced from the postwar years through the early seventies. During this period, considered by some the golden age of the discipline, experiments were bold and elaborately designed and frequently produced startling results. Many were conducted outside the laboratory and often placed subjects in stressful or disturbing situations. These experiments also have roots in forms of investigative, immersion, and stunt journalism that have been practiced for more than a century. In 1887, while working on an exposé of asylum conditions, muckraker Nellie Bly demonstrated that one could feign insanity to gain admission to a madhouse - and when she began to insist that she was in fact perfectly sane, doctors interpreted her claims as delusions. In so doing, Bly anticipated psychologist David Rosenhan's classic 1972 experiment in which "pseudopatients" claiming to hear voices were admitted to psychiatric hospitals and then kept for an average of several weeks despite reverting to sane behavior. It's difficult to pinpoint when the genre shifted, but by 1974, when New York City's WNBC-TV asked its viewers to call in and pick the perpetrator of a staged purse snatching from a lineup of suspects, the journalistic experiment had attained its modern form. The station was flooded with calls and, after fielding over 2,100, cut the experiment short. The results: respondents picked the correct assailant no more frequently than they would have by guessing. Over the last decade, as best-sellers such as The Tipping Point and Freakonomics have lent social science a sheen of counterintuitive hipness and reality television has tapped into a cultural fascination with how people behave in contrived situations, journalistic experimentation has become increasingly common. In addition to The Washington Post Magazine, it has been featured in The New York Times, Harper's, and Reader's Digest. Its most regular home, however, has been on network-television newsmagazines. ABC's Primetime has staged a series of experiments in recent years under the rubric "What Would You Do?" which enact provocative scenarios while hidden cameras capture the reactions of the public. Chris Whipple, the producer who conceived the series, refers to it as a "Candid Camera of ethics." Starting with a nanny verbally abusing a child, the series has gone on to present similar scenarios: an eldercare attendant ruthlessly mocking an old man; a group of adolescents bullying a chubby kid; a man viciously berating his girlfriend, seeming on the verge of violence; etc. The sequences tend to begin with the narrator pointing out that many pass right by the incident. Several witnesses are confronted and asked to explain why they didn't step in. One man, who gave the fighting couple a long look before continuing on his way, reveals that he is an off-duty cop and says he determined that no laws were being broken, so there was nothing for him to do. The focus shifts to those who did intervene, and the camera lingers over the confrontations, playing up the drama. These experiments are, in a sense, the flip side of the reality-TV coin: rather than show how people act in manufactured situations when they know they're being watched, they show us how people act when they don't. . . . In the world of print, Reader's Digest has come closest to making such experiments a franchise. Over the last two years, the magazine has pitted cities around the world against each other in tests of helpfulness and courtesy, to determine which city is most hospitable. The first round used the following three gauges to separate the rude from the solicitous in thirty-five cities: the percentage of people who picked up papers dropped by an experimenter; the percentage who held the door for experimenters when entering buildings; and the percentage of clerks who said "Thank you" after a sale. When the scores were tallied, it was clear that Reader's Digest had hit the counterintuition jackpot: the winner was New York City. . . . The notion that New Yorkers are more polite than commonly believed was also at the center of a 2004 experiment conducted by The New York Times. Reenacting an experiment originally performed by graduate students of social psychologist Stanley Milgram at the City University of New York in the early seventies, two Times reporters asked riders on crowded subway cars to relinquish their seats. Remarkably, thirteen of fifteen did so. But the reporters found that crossing the unspoken social boundaries of the subway came at a cost: once seated, they grew tense, unable to make eye contact with their fellow passengers. Jennifer Medina, one of the reporters, says that she and Anthony Ramirez, her partner on the story, found the assignment ludicrous at first. "It was like, 'What? Really? You want me to do what?'" she says. "We made so much fun of it while we were doing it, but we got so much feedback. It was one of those stories that people really talked about." And papers around the world took notice: within weeks, reporters in London, Glasgow, Dublin, and Melbourne had repeated the experiment. [To read the Times article, click here.] The appeal of the best journalistic experiments . . . runs much deeper than their entertainment value. Medina [the Times reporter] came to see her role in the subway experiment as that of a "street anthropologist or something, which is essentially what [reporters] are supposed to be doing every day." . . . In that quirky, postwar "golden age" of the discipline that informs today's journalistic experimenters, researchers captured the public imagination with bold, elaborately choreographed experiments that frequently drove subjects to extreme behavior or confronted them with seemingly life-or-death situations. Given the dramatic nature of these experiments, it's little wonder they've provided such inspiration to journalists. Bill Wasik, an editor at Harper's, started the flash mobs trend in 2003 as an homage to Milgram, whom he considers as much performance artist as scientist. Flash mobs were spontaneous gatherings in which participants showed up at a given location for a brief period and did something absurd, such as drop to their knees en masse before a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex at Toys "R" Us. In a piece published in Harper's, Wasik explained that he saw the mobs as a Milgram-esque test of hipster conformity. Like a hot new indie band, he hypothesized, the mobs would rapidly gain popularity before being discarded as too mainstream and, ultimately, co-opted by marketers, which is more or less what happened. Wasik argues that the popular resonance of experiments by Milgram and others of the golden age derives from the compelling narratives they created. "It's like a demonstration whose value is more in the extremes that you can push people to and the extremes of the story that you can get out of what people do or don't do," he says. . . . Due in part to the rise of ethical concerns, contemporary social psychologists rarely do experiments that take place outside the laboratory or that involve deception or stressful situations. This has left journalistic experimenters as a sort of lost tribe of devotees of the golden-age social psychologists. . . . Journalistic experiments have been criticized far more consistently for their scientific, rather than ethical, shortcomings. Robert Cialdini, an Arizona State University social psychologist, believes strongly in the value of communicating psychological insights via the media, but he has found that journalists don't always value the same material that he does. For a 1997 Dateline segment on conformity, he conducted an experiment showing that the number of people who donated to a New York City subway musician multiplied eightfold when others donated before them. A fascinating result, but even more fascinating to Cialdini was that people explained their donations by saying that they liked the song, they had some spare change, or they felt sorry for the musician. These explanations did not end up in the finished program. "To me, that was the most interesting thing, the fact that people are susceptible to these social cues but don't recognize it," says Cialdini. "I think that's my bone to pick with journalists - they're frequently interested in the phenomenon rather than the cause of the phenomenon." So maybe journalists can and should be more careful in how they design experiments, but that debate, in many ways, is beside the point. The best examples of the genre are undeniably good journalism, and the lesser lights, for the most part, amount to innocuous entertainment. Indeed, my hope is that some enterprising reporter is even now hatching a plan to find out whether Joshua Bell really would draw such a big crowd outdoors on a sunny day in D.C. To read the entire essay, click here. For related Situationist posts, see "Busker or Virtuoso? Depends on the Situation" and "The Milgram Experiment Today?" This entry was posted on February 25, 2008 at 12:04 am and is filed under Entertainment, Social Psychology, Video.

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Journalists in Trouble Iran's Bloggers from Heaven December 10, 2009 Iran -- A citizen journalist's photograph of plainclothes police's surveillance of Iranian demonstrators around Art University, Tehran, 07Dec2009 Share Several days before the traditional Students Day holiday on December 7 sparked a new wave of opposition in Iran, Fred Petrossians, On-line Editor in Chief for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, spoke to an audience in the European Parliament about the role of citizen media in the protests that swept the country during the presidential elections last June. "The internet was a vital instrument for the green movement and the opposition in Iran during the June elections," he said. "Social networking was like a gift from heaven."Iranians used social networking tools to communicate with each other and to convey reports, photographs and films about the protests to the wider world and build international support. This "citizen media" was so important, Petrossians said, "that the Iranian judiciary named FaceBook, Twitter and even Google's new Persian-to-English translation software as part of a vast conspiracy against the Islamic regime."The regime of course retaliated against these "virtual writers," then and now. They are "easy targets," according to Petrossians, since most lack any institutional affiliation and, in some cases, experience in confronting the regime. Stressing the enormous risks that accompany the activism, panelist Kamran Ashtary, European coordinator for United4Iran, described the student movement as "active but desparate."Petrossians told the audience that Iran is the first country to jail a blogger and the home of the first blogger to die in prison. At least six bloggers were counted in Iran's jails before the December 7 crackdown, and other bloggers have reportedly been arrested in recent days. They and other journalists detained and jailed during the government crackdowns have been tortured, humiliated and vilified in mass show trials. Petrossians launched his March 18 Movement this year to raise awareness about persecuted bloggers around the world. Petrossians spoke of the Revolutionary Guards' use of the internet to suppress dissent, describing the practice of "crowd sourcing," whereby photographs of "offenders" and "spies" are posted on websites and users are exhorted to volunteer information about them. Ashtary acknowledged such tactics and said that the government is becoming increasingly "preemptive" in its response to challenges. Indeed, in the days leading up to this week's protests, internet connections in Iran slowed down and mobile-phone networks experienced problems.Suggesting ways that the EU can support activists in Iran, the panelists pressed the audience to talk about arrests in the media, in public forums and directly with Iranian diplomats. "I have a friend who was in jail," Petrossians said, "who told me that when his interrogators found out that his name had been mentioned in the international press, they treated him differently - less brutally." Such recognition also gives the victims enormous moral support. In addition, the EU should prevent sales of "tools of repression" - electronic filtering technology - to Iran; consider sanctions on Iranian officials; facilitate asylum procedures for Iranians at risk; and expand its contacts in Iran to include activists, not only officials. The panelists concluded with a call for greater support for protest events. "The Iranian opposition needs more media channels, more coverage," Petrossians said.The panel was organized by the European Foundation for Democracy and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Boguslaw Sonik, a Member of the European Parliament and delegate to its Iran Caucus. Ladan Boroumand, Research Director for the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation and 2009 recipient of the Lech Walesa Award, also joined the panel. Five Iran Videos You Must Watch Back to top

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FCC targets big media The commission decided this week to increase regulation of the cable market and to allow some newspapers to own a radio or TV station in the same market. By Alexandra Marks, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor - The potential for more diverse, democratic voices in local news has either just gotten better thanks to the Federal Communications Commission, or been set back in an FCC corporate Christmas giveaway.So go the differing interpretations of this week's votes to change the rules that govern the complex and fast-changing US media landscape.In a contentious, late-night meeting on Tuesday, a split commission voted to allow some newspapers to also own a television or radio station in the same market, which partially lifted a ban that's been in place for more than 30 years. In an equally controversial vote, though, the FCC also decided to increase regulation of the cable market, passing a rule that would cap at 30 percent the portion of cable stations that can be owned by one company. So what does it all mean to the reader, viewer, and Web surfer? It depends on where that person sits. Everyone agrees on the goal, which is to ensure plenty of diverse voices in the public sphere. But the question is, in this digital world where TV can now be watched on the computer, either through a high-speed phone line or a cable connection: What's the best way to guarantee no one group gets too much power over what people see? "The simple math is that if you consolidate, you have fewer voices," says Monroe Price of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "But that's hard to tell empirically.... Things are changing so fast."Still, there are clear ideological lines. Consumer advocates and Democrats in general applaud the FCC's decision to increase regulation of the cable industry, which they believe has been taking advantage of customers.For years, cable rates have been going up faster than the rate of inflation, and the industry opposes allowing consumers to pay only for the channels they want - instead of a set package. In addition, cable giants such as Time Warner and Comcast have now allied themselves with large content producers like Viacom, Disney, and Fox, giving them enormous power over which cable channels thrive."Basically, if you don't get carried on their systems in their towns, you can't make it as a national channel," says Ben Scott, the policy director of Free Press, a grass-roots and media policy group in Washington, D.C.The cable companies, including Comcast, see things rather differently. They believe the regulatory cap is "unconstitutional," in the words of Comcast's executive vice president, David Cohen. He argues there's already a plethora of ways for different voices to get to the public - the phone companies, direct broadcast satellite, and, yes, even YouTube.As for prices shooting up, the cable industry says that's just because consumers now have more channels."Every time you put another channel on, you have to pay for it," says a cable-company executive who asked her name not be used. "The price per channel has gone down dramatically compared to what you got 10 years ago."On the issue of newspapers being allowed to own broadcast companies, the divisions are just as deep. Consumer advocates and some media scholars are opposed, saying it sets up a scenario where one local company could dominate news and debate."This is just giving big business what it wants," says Edwin Baker, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania. "All of the democratic values at stake favor the dispersal of media over consolidation."Business interests, including the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), dispute that. They believe that if newspapers - which are struggling to survive the loss of subscribers and advertisers to the Internet - can partner with local television stations, they can improve and enhance local news. "And it's not a giveaway to big business: The newspaper industry is the least consolidated and most diverse of any media outlet," says John Sturm, president and CEO of NAA.But all these arguments could be moot. Both of the FCC rule changes have to be approved by a federal court. And members of Congress are already lining up to write legislation to block one or the other of the new rules. Why government should not police TV violence and indecency TV violence tough to curb despite FCC's new plea Coast-to-coast flashes on the great convergence of the media

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How To Podcast #19 - Jan Schaffer fosters innovation, media entrepreneurship January 5, 2013 by ItsAllJournalism Jan Schaffer, the executive director of J-Lab, wants to help media entrepreneurs find new ways to succeed. A Pulitzer-Prize-winning business editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, she left her daily journalism gig in 1994 to become one of the pioneers of the growing civic-journalism movement. Jan Schaffer, executive director, J-Lab (Photo by Megan Cloherty) In 2002, she launched J-Lab to help journalists develop new projects with innovative technologies. "I think journalism is very much in flux," Schaffer said. "A lot of legacy news organizations have been disrupted. But at the same time, a lot of media entrepreneurs are coming up with entirely new media products that are very exciting. They are filling the gaps that have been created by old media, where old media has pulled out of areas or pulled reporters off the streets. So, there's a lot of innovation going on and a lot of entrepreneurship going on." "I think journalism is very much in flux. A lot of legacy news organizations have been disrupted." For 10 years, the J-Lab at American University in Washington, D.C., has funded media startups, particularly community startups and ones founded by women entrepreneurs. Through the Knight-Batten Awards for news and innovation it has distributed more than 200 prizes in support of journalists' creative ideas. "The people who apply sometimes they are ... professional journalists who have taken buyouts in their news organization or they've been downsized by their news organization or they just see an opportunity that they want to pursue on their own," Schaffer said. "And other times, they are people we would call civic catalysts. They're people active in their community who see a gap in news-information and they have a lot of historical knowledge about their community and they want to convert their civic participation into a kind of media participation." Entrepreneurs turning the eye on media As more and more media entrepreneurs take advantage of the disruption going on in mainstream media, Schaffer sees the role of these startups evolving, sometimes even assuming the role of media watchdog. "We have seen citizens become media creators on their own and startup their own initiatives in one way or another," she said. "The tech tools are very easy to use for anyone. We have seen them take a more active role in responding or sometimes criticizing media reports that come out when they think they're either unfair or incomplete, or they have something to contribute in the way of a tip or some knowledge so that they can crowdsource a story. And I think we sort of see it in a demand for more transparency in reporting. Citizens don't just take your word for it anymore." One of Schaffer's hopes is that more people will step forward and launch websites that fill the roles vacated by disappearing legacy news outlets. "I certainly think we'll see, and I hope we do see, watchdog sites happening in every one of the 50 states," she said. Examples of such sites include: WisconsinWatch Vermont Digger "They're doing investigative and enterprise stories, and they seem to be making a go of it," Schaffer said. "Many of them have organized into their own professional group, the Investigative News Network. I think we'll see more of that." Deep dive into networked journalism In December, J-Lab released Networked Journalism: What Works, a report on collaborative pilot projects at nine news outlets across the country. "The deal was we asked one legacy news organization - eight of them were newspapers, one was a public radio station - to try to partner with five independent, hyperlocal news startups in their communities for a year and see how it worked," Schaffer said. Read a transcript of the Jan Schaffer interview. While two of the nine projects failed, the remaining seven projects succeeded. "I think a couple of our takeaways were that the hub news organization really needs to give their partners visibility on the homepage to drive traffic to them, because they're not paying them for content," Schaffer said. "They're really doing outbound links. So, you need to give them traffic as an incentive to participate in any kind of network. I think the partners, on the other hand, need to produce enough content that they get the visibility on the homepage that drives the traffic so that it's a win-win for both partners." Teaching entrepreneurship Schaffer is not only helping budding civic journalists with their startups, she's also teaching professional journalists looking to make a mid-career leap into launching their own media projects as in instructor in a new graduate program at American University. "This is a very innovative program that just launched in September, and American University's School of Communication is doing it in partnership with the Kogod School of Business," Schaffer said. Students meet every other Saturday and one night a week for 20 weeks in this 10 course, 30 credit program. Schaffer just finished teaching the Seminar in Media entrepreneurship class, in which students developed projects on a variety of topics, from sports apps to education and geographic-based websites. "I think that universities are going to undergo the same disruption that news organizations have undergone." "We realized that media ideas are coming from a lot of different places," she said. "They're coming from traditional journalists. They're coming from nonprofits and NGOs [non-governmental organizations] who are now creating a lot of media products that can be commoditized, but they don't think of them that way." While the idea behind the the graduate program is to help older students develop their own projects, Schaffer sees a growing need for entrepreneurship to be part of the curriculum for all journalism schools. "I think that universities are going to undergo the same disruption that news organizations have undergone, and, as new competitors come on, much more technologically savvy, we'll see a lot more online learning. And so, journalism schools need to figure out how they fit into that and how they can come up with creative new products, new degree programs, stackable degrees. Certificates or whatever. I think that will happen in academia. It has to happen." - Michael O'Connell RELATED PODCAST: Amy Eisman leads new media entrepreneurship program If you like this post, please share it along: #18 - Kate Gardiner: Time for journalists to take back their audience #20 - Love to hate the media? Download a daily dose of media criticism Related Posts#164 - Is marketing the Devil's work?#41 - John Sullivan - Portrait of an investigative reporter#37 - FOIA advocate Rick Blum tells journalists to be patient but persistent in seeking government records#96 - Politics, funding collide in making of Citizen Koch documentarySubscribe Receive updates from It's All Journalism October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 Podcast Subjects Association of Alternative Newsmedia It's All Journalism Online News Association Tiffany Shackelford Copyright © 2016 It's All Journalism ·Pintercast Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

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A Barrio of Many Colors World War II broke out, bringing a wave of Central Americans to work in the factories that supported the war effort. The postwar flight of the Irish middle class to the suburbs, and the arrival of succeeding waves of Central American immigrants seeking political refuge and economic opportunity, gradually changed the face of the Mission District once again. It became a barrio, a rich blend of many cultures of Latin origin - Mexican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Chilean, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan. In the 1960's, as the shadow of urban redevelopment threatened the jobs and homes of Spanish-speaking immigrants, the Mission District was a hotbed of radical political activity. The famed case of Los Siete de la Raza, a group of seven sons of Central American immigrants accused of killing an Irish American police officer, polarized the neighborhood along racial lines. Many young Latinos were catalyzed to participate in progressive organizations such as the Farmworkers Movement. The Mission District was also home to the political theater of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, as well as the highly politicized artistic community, which founded the Galleria de la Raza to show and sell their work. Art spilled out into the streets in the form of stunning murals, many of which articulate the struggles of the neighborhood's Latino immigrants who came to the Mission District in the sixties, seventies and eighties. In the late seventies, the barrio identity was threatened by gentrification, and by an influx of Asian and Arab families who were buying up businesses, apartment buildings and homes. But today the neighborhood's rich and colorful Latin American identity remains strong in the midst of a diverse community of nationalities, cultures and classes. Why Did Central Americans Immigrate to San Francisco? Central Americans were originally drawn to San Francisco because of the 1849 Gold Rush. At that time, coffee became a cash crop in Central America and, since San Francisco was the chief processing center for the major coffee companies, some migration of Central Americans to San Francisco was inevitable. During the early twentieth century, many Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and other Central Americans were recruited to work on the construction of the Panama Canal. After it was completed, a number of them joined shipping lines operating in the Canal, which brought them to the doorstep of San Francisco, the main port on the West Coast at the time. To escape civil unrest in their countries in the 1920s and 1930s, natives of Nicaragua and El Salvador moved to a small barrio south of Market Street. This barrio had originally been formed in 1910 by refugees from the Mexican Revolution. The munitions factories of World War II drew more Central Americans to San Francisco. More were to follow in succeeding decades because of the liberalized immigration laws of the postwar years and political struggles in their homelands. In the 1960's and 1970's, the American government responded to the demands of civil rights proponents and admitted more Latin American political refugees into the country. The 1980's saw increased immigration from war-torn El Salvador and Guatemala. Unlike the earlier Central American immigrants, these refugees entered the country illegally, since the U.S. government supported their countries' leadership. As a result, tens of thousands of undocumented Central American refugees have found their way to the Mission District. Within the umbrella of the Mission District barrio, they form their own barrio, linked by a common insecurity and a desire for a new life. Take me to The Mission home page Take me to the Neighborhoods Menu page

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Press freedom leads to happiness, environmental quality, study finds August 6, 2012 Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that citizens of countries with press freedom tend to be much happier than citizens of countries without free presses. Freedom of the press is viewed by many as a cornerstone of democracy. But can it actually help improve people's lives and make them happy? Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that citizens of countries with press freedom tend to be much happier than citizens of countries without free presses. Edson Tandoc, Jr., a doctoral student in the MU School of Journalism, says that press freedom directly predicts life satisfaction across the world. "We already know that having reliable, objective news sources can benefit democracy, but in this study, we found that press freedom also benefits communities by helping improve the overall quality of life of citizens and, in the process, by also making them happier," Tandoc said. "People enjoy having an element of choice about where they get their news. Citizens of countries without a free press are forced to rely on the government for information, when what people really want is diversity in content where they are free to get the information they want from the source of their choosing." Tandoc and his co-author, Bruno Takahashi from Michigan State University, analyzed data from 161 countries using a 2010 Gallup Poll evaluating happiness levels around the world. Tandoc and Takahashi compared those happiness levels with Freedom House's press freedom index which rates the level of each country's press freedom. They also examined human development statistics gathered by the United Nations as well as the Environmental Performance Index created by researchers at Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Tandoc found that the more press freedom a country enjoyed, the higher the levels of life satisfaction, or happiness, of its citizens tended to be. "The road to happiness isn't direct; it is a complex path or web that includes many different influences and interrelationships," Tandoc said. "Things like improving the economy alone are insufficient for increasing happiness. Protecting press freedom is also an important component of the happiness web." Tandoc also found that countries with higher levels of press freedom enjoyed better environmental quality and higher levels of human development, both of which also contribute to life satisfaction. He credits this to the watchdog function of the press, which helps expose corruption of all levels in a community. "A country with a free press is expected to be more open about what is wrong in their societies and with their environments," Tandoc said. "A free press is likely to report about poor human conditions and environmental degradation, bringing problems to the attention of decision-makers. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that press freedom is positively related to both environmental quality and human development." Explore further: Information freedom tied to politics, culture, economy Information freedom tied to politics, culture, economy (PhysOrg.com) -- A study by two University of Arizona journalism professors indicates that Arab countries are not quite ready to embrace government transparency. In absence of other democratic institutions, freedom of press can lead to cycles of violence While many have argued that media freedom is integral to a functioning democracy and respect for human rights, a new study is the first to examine the effects of media freedom in countries that lack such democratic institutions ... Internet access a fundamental human right: OSCE Access to the Internet should be seen as a fundamental human right and respected as much as freedom of expression, the transatlantic security body OSCE said in a report Friday. Water: More Valuable than Diamonds A new study by University of Arkansas economists shows a strong relationship between economic freedom and access to water. David Gay and Charles Britton, economics professors in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, and ... A more progressive tax system makes people happier The way some people talk, you'd think that a flat tax system -- in which everyone pays at the same rate regardless of income -- would make citizens feel better than more progressive taxation, where wealthier people are taxed ... In Brief: EU calls for greater Internet freedom Ensuring freedom to receive and access information is a top priority for the European Commission when it comes to Internet governance. Recommended for you

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Novelist * Essayist * Speaker ON "NARRATIVES" SURVIVE OR FLOURISH? CONTRA ANARCHISM ON ENVIRONMENTALISM How George Soros bought the Mainstream Media The next time you hear (or voice) accusations about "political bias" in the mainstream media (a.k.a. the "MSM") -- or you wonder why a unified chorus of media voices all arise, simultaneously and "spontaneously," to offer identical opinions (often in the same words) on a given topic -- consider The Source. I have capitalized those two words, hoping that they become a form of rhetorical currency when describing left-wing billionaire financier George Soros and his role as mainstream media impressario. Soros has taken it upon himself to make sure that the MSM chorus all sing from the same page, in the same key, on any issue of interest to him. The Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute is about to release a major report describing the astounding reach and influence of Soros's money in the mainstream media. Dan Gainor of the Center has just published a two-part series on FoxNews.com that summarizes the report's findings. In part one, we learn that Soros and his network of advocacy and funding groups have close ties with some 30 major media outlets-including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC. Big names in "mainstream" journalism sit on the boards of Soros's organizations and funding-recipient groups; millions of dollars from his foundations and funding conduits go into MSM "journalism" (read: propaganda) projects; and even so-called journalism "watchdog" groups and newspaper ombudsmen -- who are supposed to police the news media for bias and violations of ethics -- are in his hip pocket. Gainor notes: Journalists, we are constantly told, are neutral in their reporting. In almost the same breath, many bemoan the influence of money in politics. It is a maxim of both the left and many in the media that conservatives are bought and paid for by business interests. Yet where are the concerns about where their money comes from? Fred Brown, who recently revised the book "Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media," argues journalists need to be "transparent" about their connections and "be up front about your relationship" with those who fund you. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots.Part two of the series reveals that. . . Since 2003, Soros has spent more than $48 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news - journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations. And that number is an understatement. It is gleaned from tax forms, news stories and reporting. But Soros funds foundations that fund other foundations in turn, like the Tides Foundation, which then make their own donations. A complete accounting is almost impossible because a media component is part of so many Soros-funded operations. . . . It turns out that Soros' influence doesn't just include connections to top mainstream news organizations such as NBC, ABC, The New York Times and Washington Post. It's bought him connections to the underpinnings of the news business. The Columbia Journalism Review, which bills itself as "a watchdog and a friend of the press in all its forms," lists several investigative reporting projects funded by one of Soros foundations. The "News Frontier Database" includes seven different investigative reporting projects funded by Soros' Open Society Institute. Along with ProPublica, there are the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting and New Orleans' The Lens. The Columbia School of Journalism, which operates CJR, has received at least $600,000 from Soros, as well. Imagine if conservative media punching bags David and Charles Koch had this many connections to journalists. Even if the Kochs could find journalists willing to support conservative media (doubtful), they would be skewered by the left.Read the two-part series, and you'll understand exactly why the mainstream media have become members in good standing of our Ruling Class. Much of it can be traced back to The Source. UPDATE -- As Gainor pointed out, consider how the media have been treating libertarian billionaires David and Charles Koch, brothers who have contributed heavily to classical liberal/limited government/free market causes and political movements: The Koch brothers have been on the receiving end of non-stop attacks from liberal journalists and academics ever since Jane Mayer published a hit piece on them last year in The New Yorker purporting to show that their contributions were behind the rise of the "Tea Party" movement. This wildly exaggerated claim was meant to cast the Koch brothers as great villains, but villains possessed of a satanic combination of power and tactical brilliance. In a predictable course, Mayer's fairy tale was circulated by the columnists and editorial writers of the New York Times and from there through a network of second-level columnists and political magazines until at length it came to the attention of the credulous foot soldiers of the liberal-left who have kept the pot boiling in recent months with ever more inventive and exaggerated versions of the original lie.The media double standard is obvious: They'll trash the Koch brothers "non-stop," but not breathe a peep against George Soros. After all, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm a best-selling author and an award-winning journalist and editor. My first novel, "HUNTER," hit #4 on the Kindle Bestseller List and #1 in "Mysteries & Thrillers," as well as the Wall Street Journal's "Top Ten Fiction Ebook" list. It's available as a Kindle ebook and a trade paperback at Amazon.com; an audiobook edition is available through Amazon, Audible.com, and iTunes. The sequel, "BAD DEEDS" has won stellar reviews from readers, and also the Conservative-Libertarian Fiction Alliance "Book of the Year 2014 Award." I've contributed to Breitbart's "Big Government" blog, PJ Media, and many publications. Be sure to visit my FICTION blog, "The Vigilante Author," at: , where I discuss thrillers, "indie" publishing, and the hero of my debut novel, Dylan Hunter -- "the new face of justice." Join My Fiction Email List! To join my email list for news about my forthcoming novels and public appearances, just follow this link. I promise I won't share your email address with anyone, or send you spam. Thanks! "HUNTER" -- Kindle edition "HUNTER" -- Print edition "BAD DEEDS" -- Kindle Edition "BAD DEEDS" -- Print Edition THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: My fiction blog Dylan Hunter's Facebook Fan Page ecoNOT Mark Steyn -- author and commentator Thinking Objectively Matt Ridley: Global Warming Versus Global Greening Follow @RobertBidinotto

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"At a time when the need for independent journalism and for media outlets unaffiliated with and untainted by the government and corporate sponsors is greater than ever, Project Censored has created a context for reporting the complete truths in all matters that matter. . . . It is therefore left to us to find sources for information we can trust. . . . It is in this task that we are fortunate to have an ally like Project Cen-sored." - Dahr Jamail"Most journalists in the United States believe the press here is free. That grand illusion only helps obscure the fact that, by and large, the US corporate press does not report what's really going on, while tuning out, or laughing off, all those who try to do just that. Americans-now more than ever-need those outlets that do labor to report some truth. Project Censored is not just among the bravest, smartest, and most rigorous of those outlets, but the only one that's wholly focused on those stories that the corporate press ignores, downplays, and/or distorts. This latest book is therefore a must read for anyone who cares about this country, its tottering economy, and-most important- what's now left of its democracy." -Mark Crispin Miller, author, professor of media ecology, New York University."Project Censored shines a spotlight on news that an informed public must have . . . a vital contribution to our democratic process." - Rhoda H. Karpatkin, president, Consumer's UnionBuy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this col-lection of suppressed stories allows us." - San Diego Review"Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcasting outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism." - Walter Cronkite"[Censored] should be affixed to the bulletin boards in every newsroom in America. And, perhaps read aloud to a few publishers and television executives." - Ralph Nader"The staff of Project Censored presents their annual compilation of the previous year's 25 stories most overlooked by the mainstream media along with essays about censorship and its consequences. The stories include an 813% rise in hate and anti-government groups since 2008, human rights violations by the US Border Patrol, and Israeli doctors injecting Ethiopian immigrants with birth control without their consent. Other stories focus on the environment, like the effects of fracking and Monsantos GMO seeds. The writers point out misinformation and outright deception in the media, including CNN relegating factual accounts to the "opinion" section and the whitewashing of Margaret Thatcher's career following her death in 2013, unlike Hugo Chavez, who was routinely disparaged in the coverage following his death. One essay deals with the proliferation of "Junk Food News," in which "CNN and Fox News devoted more time to 'Gangnam Style' than the renewal of Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' law." Another explains common media manipulation tactics and outlines practices to becoming a more engaged, free-thinking news consumer or even citizen journalist. Rob Williams remarks on Hollywood's "deep and abiding role as a popular propaganda provider" via Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. An expose on working conditions in Chinese Apple factories is brutal yet essential reading. This book is evident of Project Censored's profoundly important work in educating readers on current events and the skills needed to be a critical thinker." -Publisher's Weekly said about Censored 2014 (Oct.)"Project Censored continues to be an invaluable resource in exposing and highlighting shocking stories that are routinely minimized or ignored by the corporate media. The vital nature of this work is underscored by this year's NSA leaks. The world needs more brave whistle blowers and independent journalists in the service of reclaiming democracy and challenging the abuse of power. Project Censored stands out for its commitment to such work." - Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and associate professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University"Hot news, cold truths, utterly uncensored." - Greg Palast"One of the most significant media research projects in the country." - I. F. Stone"Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know." - Cynthia McKinney"Activist groups like Project Censored . . . are helping to build the media democracy movement. We have to challenge the powers that be and rebuild media from the bottom up." - Amy Goodman"Project Censored interrogates the present in the same way that Oliver Stone and I tried to interrogate the past in our Untold History of the United States. It not only shines a penetrating light on the American Empire and all its deadly, destructive, and deceitful actions, it does so at a time when the Obama administration is mounting a fierce effort to silence truth-tellers and whistleblowers. Project Censored provides the kind of fearless and honest journalism we so desperately need in these dangerous times." - Peter Kuznick, professor of history, American University, and coauthor, with Oliver Stone, of The Untold History of the United States"[Censored] offers devastating evidence of the dumbing-down of main-stream news in America. . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens." - Los Angeles Times"Censored 2014 is a clarion call for truth telling. Not only does this volume highlight fearless speech in fateful times, it connect the dots between the key issues we face, lauds our whistleblowers and amplifies their voices, and shines light in the dark places of our government that most need exposure." -Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers"Project Censored brings to light some of the most important stories of the year that you never saw or heard about. This is your chance to find out what got buried." -Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System."For ages, I've dreamed of a United States where Project Censored isn't necessary, where these crucial stories and defining issues are on the front page of the New York Times, the cover of Time, and in heavy rotation on CNN. That world still doesn't exist, but we always have Project Censored's yearly book to pull together the most important things the corporate media ignored, missed, or botched." -Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare, cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK. Debate on Torture and Public's Right to Know In March 2014, Democracy Now! hosted a debate between former CIA Acting General Counsel John Rizzo and human rights attorney Scott Horton to address criticism of the Obama Administration for its having closed an investigation of CIA officials' actions since 9/11. The debate addressed the methods the CIA used to capture and question potential threats to the U.S., how the CIA's mission has evolved to include targeted killings via drone strikes, and the question of whether or not the American people have a right to know about the CIA's actions. While the debate moved back and forth between these different topics, it centered the extent to which the American public should be informed about CIA operations and the decisions its government has made concerning terrorists since 9/11. The main moral issue here is whether or not the government should be allowed to perform certain actions (i.e. kidnapping, torture, murder, etc.) against potential threats to the country in the name of the American people and for the (supposed) protection of the American people, without first telling them what they are doing. Another matter raised was how the U.S. would respond, if other countries utilized the same methods of interrogation on U.S. citizens. Source: Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "A Debate on Torture: Legal Architect of CIA Secret Prisons, Rendition vs. Human Rights Attorney," Democracy Now!, March 28, 2014, . Student Researcher: Yusra Qureshi (Indian River State College) Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen (Indian River State College)

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Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this col-lection of suppressed stories allows us." - San Diego Review"Project Censored interrogates the present in the same way that Oliver Stone and I tried to interrogate the past in our Untold History of the United States. It not only shines a penetrating light on the American Empire and all its deadly, destructive, and deceitful actions, it does so at a time when the Obama administration is mounting a fierce effort to silence truth-tellers and whistleblowers. Project Censored provides the kind of fearless and honest journalism we so desperately need in these dangerous times." - Peter Kuznick, professor of history, American University, and coauthor, with Oliver Stone, of The Untold History of the United States"Most journalists in the United States believe the press here is free. That grand illusion only helps obscure the fact that, by and large, the US corporate press does not report what's really going on, while tuning out, or laughing off, all those who try to do just that. Americans-now more than ever-need those outlets that do labor to report some truth. Project Censored is not just among the bravest, smartest, and most rigorous of those outlets, but the only one that's wholly focused on those stories that the corporate press ignores, downplays, and/or distorts. This latest book is therefore a must read for anyone who cares about this country, its tottering economy, and-most important- what's now left of its democracy." -Mark Crispin Miller, author, professor of media ecology, New York University."Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know." - Cynthia McKinney"For ages, I've dreamed of a United States where Project Censored isn't necessary, where these crucial stories and defining issues are on the front page of the New York Times, the cover of Time, and in heavy rotation on CNN. That world still doesn't exist, but we always have Project Censored's yearly book to pull together the most important things the corporate media ignored, missed, or botched." -Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare, cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK."Project Censored continues to be an invaluable resource in exposing and highlighting shocking stories that are routinely minimized or ignored by the corporate media. The vital nature of this work is underscored by this year's NSA leaks. The world needs more brave whistle blowers and independent journalists in the service of reclaiming democracy and challenging the abuse of power. Project Censored stands out for its commitment to such work." - Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and associate professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University"Project Censored brings to light some of the most important stories of the year that you never saw or heard about. This is your chance to find out what got buried." -Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System."One of the most significant media research projects in the country." - I. F. Stone"At a time when the need for independent journalism and for media outlets unaffiliated with and untainted by the government and corporate sponsors is greater than ever, Project Censored has created a context for reporting the complete truths in all matters that matter. . . . It is therefore left to us to find sources for information we can trust. . . . It is in this task that we are fortunate to have an ally like Project Cen-sored." - Dahr Jamail"Project Censored shines a spotlight on news that an informed public must have . . . a vital contribution to our democratic process." - Rhoda H. Karpatkin, president, Consumer's Union"Hot news, cold truths, utterly uncensored." - Greg Palast"Censored 2014 is a clarion call for truth telling. Not only does this volume highlight fearless speech in fateful times, it connect the dots between the key issues we face, lauds our whistleblowers and amplifies their voices, and shines light in the dark places of our government that most need exposure." -Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers"Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcasting outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism." - Walter Cronkite"Activist groups like Project Censored . . . are helping to build the media democracy movement. We have to challenge the powers that be and rebuild media from the bottom up." - Amy Goodman"[Censored] should be affixed to the bulletin boards in every newsroom in America. And, perhaps read aloud to a few publishers and television executives." - Ralph Nader"[Censored] offers devastating evidence of the dumbing-down of main-stream news in America. . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens." - Los Angeles Times"The staff of Project Censored presents their annual compilation of the previous year's 25 stories most overlooked by the mainstream media along with essays about censorship and its consequences. The stories include an 813% rise in hate and anti-government groups since 2008, human rights violations by the US Border Patrol, and Israeli doctors injecting Ethiopian immigrants with birth control without their consent. Other stories focus on the environment, like the effects of fracking and Monsantos GMO seeds. The writers point out misinformation and outright deception in the media, including CNN relegating factual accounts to the "opinion" section and the whitewashing of Margaret Thatcher's career following her death in 2013, unlike Hugo Chavez, who was routinely disparaged in the coverage following his death. One essay deals with the proliferation of "Junk Food News," in which "CNN and Fox News devoted more time to 'Gangnam Style' than the renewal of Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' law." Another explains common media manipulation tactics and outlines practices to becoming a more engaged, free-thinking news consumer or even citizen journalist. Rob Williams remarks on Hollywood's "deep and abiding role as a popular propaganda provider" via Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. An expose on working conditions in Chinese Apple factories is brutal yet essential reading. This book is evident of Project Censored's profoundly important work in educating readers on current events and the skills needed to be a critical thinker." -Publisher's Weekly said about Censored 2014 (Oct.) Peter Dale Scott On the March 14, the Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio with Mickey Huff with Peter Phillips covers the theme Deep Politics, the Deep State, and Dark Events. Their first guest is author, scholar, and former diplomat, Peter Dale Scott, long time reseracher on the topic in its many guises from JFK to 9/11. The show continues with independent journalist and filmmaker Kristina Borjesson concerning the TWA Flight 800 event about which she recently produced a comprehensive documentary film investigating the many unresolved controversies. Listen here: Peter Dale Scott

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Wikileaks Needs to Fine Tune Its Media Strategy Nikolas Kozloff Author, 'Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left' If anyone had any doubts about WikiLeaks' potential to exert profound political change, recent events in Tunisia may serve to undermine such skepticism. As the civil unrest unfolds, some will wonder what actually caused the fall of the despotic Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime. While it would be a stretch to argue that Tunisia represents the first "WikiLeaks revolution," it's clear that some U.S. cables emanating from the American Embassy in Tunis severely tarnished the local government's reputation. The documents, which reported on embarrassing corruption plaguing the Ben Ali regime, were widely discussed amongst Tunisian bloggers and fueled long-simmering tensions within civil society. Perhaps, then, WikiLeaks represented the straw that broke the camel's back. As he observes the volatile political scene in North Africa, Julian Assange might feel as if his wildest expectations have been superseded. Indeed, some are already discussing the possibility of unrest crossing over into neighboring countries, exerting a kind of "domino-like effect" throughout the autocratic Arab world. How many other damaging documents from U.S. embassies around the Middle East have yet to be released, and what are the ramifications? As they watch Ben-Ali flee from Tunis, many despotic leaders may worry about their fate. Progressive forces should cheer events in Tunisia, yet I would argue that on balance "cablegate" has failed to live up to its greatest potential. As it seeks to fundamentally alter power relations, WikiLeaks should take stock of the past two months or so of "cablegate" and figure out what has worked and what has, to the contrary, fallen flat. If it wants to maximize its impact, WikiLeaks might consider a) releasing documents that complement critical, breaking stories; b) prioritizing certain regions of the globe over others; c) concentrating on specific instances of U.S. government malfeasance so as to fundamentally alter the terms of Washington's foreign policy, if such illegality is demonstrated through the documents; d) releasing more politically relevant cables and saving the less important documents for later; e) reassessing its overall media strategy in the United States. I would be the last one to downplay WikiLeaks' many journalistic coups and accomplishments, Tunisia being only the most recent and noteworthy, but the fact is that cablegate has failed to prompt serious debate within the U.S. about the way in which Washington conducts its foreign policy. If it seeks to alter this equation and exert an impact where it matters most, WikiLeaks should become shrewder about what documents it releases and the actual proportion of such releases. The debate is not over whether to release all of the documents at once, which as Wikileaks correctly points out would fail to do the cables justice, but how such a staged release might work. Thus far, the whistle-blowing group has opted for a geographically diverse approach in which separate portions of the globe receive relatively equal and fair exposure. Yesterday, for example, I noticed that all of WikiLeaks' cables related to Holland whereas a mere four days ago the cables pertained to Iceland. On the positive side, such a strategy grabs the attention of diverse media outlets all over the world. The approach will appeal to WikiLeaks volunteers who are based in many different countries and who strive for greater political transparency at home. Assange, who has been criticized as overly autocratic, may have felt that such a modus operandi was desirable given the diffuse nature of his organization. I don't know how decisions are reached within WikiLeaks, but if one region was favored above all others then volunteers might have become discouraged and, needless to say, Assange can ill afford additional problems with morale at this point. Rethinking Media Strategy for the Middle East On the other hand, Assange's strategy thus far has lacked political focus: as soon as the media reports on one story, WikiLeaks releases another batch of documents from a different part of the globe. A more sensible approach would be to declassify relevant documents pertaining to just one or two regions, and for my money the Middle East makes the most sense. In terms of sheer urgency, Iraq and Afghanistan should be a top priority, though releasing sensitive documents from North Africa would be surely welcome right now. In hindsight, releasing the Ben Ali cables at the exact moment that the democracy movement was taking off in Tunisia was a stroke of genius, and by declassifying further sensitive documents from around the region WikiLeaks could give a leg up to nascent democracy movements. In this sense, it is more desirable for WikiLeaks to be flexible and improvise depending on the news cycle, as opposed to simply rotating the geographical focus every few days or so. For insight into cablegate, head to WikiLeaks own website. If we are going by simple numerical importance, Baghdad is second only to Ankara in terms of actual cable volume. In a bar graph, cables are organized into separate colors without further explanation, though presumably green refers to "unclassified," orange stands for "confidential" and red stands for "secret." It's difficult to make out the exact numbers on WikiLeaks' bar graph, but it appears as if the whistleblowing group holds about 7,000 cables from Baghdad, of which only 30 have been released. It would seem that Baghdad alone sent a whopping 1,000 secret cables to Washington, the greatest number recorded for any foreign U.S. embassy. The U.S. embassy in Kabul meanwhile is less prolific but still substantial with about 3,500 cables, of which only 50 have been released. What's with the long hold up here, and why have the releases slowed to a trickle? It would seem that WikiLeaks banked on the New York Times and expected that America's most influential paper would help it sift through many of the State Department's most important documents. It's understandable that WikiLeaks would turn first to the Times, one of the few outlets which actually pursues investigative journalism and sets the bar for wider media coverage. Clearly, however, that strategy has proven unsatisfactory as the Times hasn't published many stories based on cablegate. It's anyone's guess as to why the paper failed to take advantage of WikiLeaks scoops, but I suspect that the Times simply cannot bring itself to question the underpinnings of U.S. foreign policy. Understandably, WikiLeaks wants to be scrupulous in vetting its material, but by the time all relevant cables are disclosed from Kabul, the war in Afghanistan will have claimed many more lives. Perhaps, WikiLeaks simply lacks the capacity to evaluate all of the documents in its possession. What, then, are WikiLeaks' options? One strategy would be to join forces with assorted media activists in an effort to pressure the Times to move faster. The alternative is to partner with other media outlets and foreign policy experts, from The Nation to Mother Jones to The Huffington Post to Juan Cole to the National Security Archive. From there, news and analysis would flow to progressive TV and radio such as Democracy Now! or the Rachel Maddow show. Coming to Terms With America's "Informal Empire" In terms of sheer urgency, the Middle East takes priority over other regions of the globe. Yet, if WikiLeaks truly seeks to have an impact on the tenor of U.S. foreign policy, then it should consider devoting more time and resources to Latin America. Arguably, the region still constitutes America's "informal empire," though much of the U.S. public seems apathetic or oblivious to this fact. TV outlets haven't helped much, either: though MSNBC briefly covered WikiLeaks revelations that Hillary Clinton requested personal information about Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, including psychological details and medications, in general the media hasn't shown much interest in cables emanating from U.S. embassies around Latin America. One possible reason why is that WikiLeaks, to my knowledge, has not uncovered any overt illegalities on the part of the U.S. government. Perhaps, Washington has cleaned up its act in Latin America and there is no "smoking gun" that would incriminate high level State Department officials. Given the U.S. track record in the region, however, I find this difficult to believe. What is more probable WikiLeaks that Wikileaks, for whatever reason, has simply glossed over its most damning evidence or is biding its time before releasing sensitive material. Whatever the case, I find WikiLeaks' approach to Latin America baffling. According to its own site, the whistleblowing group holds about 3,000 cables each from U.S. embassies in Bogotá and Caracas. Yet, to date WikiLeaks has only released 28 and 27 cables, respectively, from both diplomatic posts. That is perplexing given that U.S. diplomats were concerned about Chávez's wide-ranging influence over South America's leftist "Pink Tide" (officials were even concerned about Venezuelan influence as far afield as the Falklands Islands). Though the left would like to claim that the U.S. played a significant role in Chávez's brief ouster in April, 2002 the concrete evidence is lacking. For Assange, documenting this period should be a top priority, though to date WikiLeaks has only published certain Caracas cables from 2004 to 2010. Presumably, there would have been much correspondence between Caracas and Washington in the early years of Chávez's reign and throughout 2002-03 when political destabilization was at its highest. WikiLeaks could focus on this period, yet instead the organization has chosen, inexplicably, to concentrate on Brazil. According to WikiLeaks, there are more cables pertaining to the U.S. embassies in Bogotá, Caracas, and even Tegucigalpa than Brasilia [to date, WikiLeaks has released 219 cables from Brasilia compared to just 2 from Tegucigalpa]. Furthermore, with the exception of early cables released by WikileWikiLeaksaks which document relations between Washington and the Brazilian Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim, the Brasilia documents don't reveal anything too earth-shattering. Shaking Up the U.S. Public WikiLeaks needs to get its Latin America material out to the U.S. public, but so far its media strategy hasn't proven very effective. The only paper that has been consistently running stories on the region is Spain's El País, an outlet which had earlier partnered with WikiLeaks. For whatever reason, however, even El País has been tapering off in recent weeks. The Norwegian paper Aftenposten also got its hands on WikiLeaks cables, but to date editors at the publication have chosen to concentrate their resources on European documents. At one point, Aftenposten asked its readers for research suggestions, and a couple of days later looked into such conspiratorial topics as the Bilderberg society and U.F.O.'s. The New York Times, meanwhile, only writes about Latin America when WikiLeaks cables reinforce the notion of Third World corruption. Take, for example, the case of rightist Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli who reportedly asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA to help him carry out illegal wiretaps on his political foes. Last month, the Times published a story on Martinelli in which the DEA was portrayed as a somewhat beleaguered agency forced to deal with shady and unsavory characters throughout the Third World. Though the Times mentioned that Martinelli may have wanted to spy on his leftist opponents, the paper failed to contextualize the wider political backdrop which pitted a pro-corporate and pro-U.S. president against combative organized labor. Similarly, the Times passed when it came to other important stories which have cast the United States in an unflattering light. Take, for instance, U.S. cynicism toward Bolivia and Cuba, nations that have been pushing for a more radical agenda at international climate change summits. One would think that WikiLeaks cables might create a furious "climategate" scandal, yet the Times chose to ignore the matter. Furthermore, the Times failed to report on cables that revealed that the FBI kept tabs on the Mapuche, a Chilean indigenous group fighting for its ancestral lands and against the pro-corporate and pro-U.S. regime in Santiago. In yet another oversight, the Times ignored additional cables showing that the U.S. and Costa Rica may have shared high level intelligence in an effort to thwart Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. To be sure, none of these revelations expose blatant illegalities, yet they reveal U.S. foreign policy as deeply immoral and crass. Is the U.S. public ready for a wholesale debate about these cables and changing the way business is done at the State Department? Recently, the Daily Show had a rather witty if somewhat cynical take on WikiLeaks. During a monologue, comedian Jon Stewart suggested that the U.S. public is already aware of previous coup d'etats in such diverse nations as Guatemala, Chile and Iran, and as a result is totally jaded (the discussion about fomenting unrest in the Third World starts at about 5:00). For WikiLeaks, which has worked hard and taken risks, the U.S. certainly provides a dispiriting picture. Given that the New York Times is an unreliable partner, the whistleblowing group might calculate that the progressive media is more likely to run stories about the U.S. cables. Yet, even as some commentators loudly proclaim their socialist credentials, MSNBC pundits rarely provide any coverage of foreign events, preferring instead to dwell on Sarah Palin and refute whatever Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck said over the course of the afternoon. What is it going to take for the U.S. public to sit up and pay attention to cablegate? Perhaps it will be a hard sell any way you look at it, though WikiLeaks might want to consider becoming more creative and innovative in its media strategy. Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left (Palgrave, 2008) and No Rain in the Amazon: How South America's Climate Affects the Entire Planet (Palgrave, 2010). Visit his website, Follow Nikolas Kozloff on Twitter: Msnbc Hugo Chavez Julian Assange Bolivia Tunisia Riots

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Jewish World Review June 4, 2012/ 17 Sivan, 5772 Are We at a Demographic Inflection Point? By Michael Barone | Demographic forecasts generally take the form of predicting more of the same. Old people have been moving to Florida for the past several years, and old people will move there for the next few years. Immigrants have been streaming in from Mexico, and they will continue to do so. You get the idea. Most of the time these forecasts prove right. But sometimes there are inflection points, times when some trends stop and others begin. My read of recent demographic data suggest we may be at such a point right now. These inflection points are usually not recognized at the time. For 25 years during and after World War II, there was a vast flow of blacks from the South to the big cities of the North. People assumed it would go on and on. But it stopped, abruptly, in 1965, just after passage of federal civil rights acts and at the beginning of a period of urban ghetto riots in the North. There has been no mass movement of blacks from South to North ever since, but rather a slight net move in the other direction. Or consider the migration of millions to sunny California that started during World War II and accelerated in the postwar decades. It came to a halt in the middle 1980s, just as Southern California's President Ronald Reagan was opening the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Since 1990, Americans have been moving out of California to other states in large numbers. The Golden State's population growth in the last two decades has reached the national average only because of Latin and Asian immigration. That immigration, to California and elsewhere, is one of the two big demographic trends that has reshaped the country over the last 40 years. The other is the movement of vast numbers of people from high-tax states in the Northeast and industrial Midwest to lower-tax and more economically vibrant states elsewhere. Both these movements have halted, at least temporarily. American mobility is near an all-time low. As in the Depression of the 1930s, people tend to stay put in hard times. You don't want to sell your house if you're underwater on your mortgage. And immigration has plunged. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that from 2005 to 2010, more people have moved from the United States to Mexico than the other way around. I suspect that reverse migration is still going on. The question is whether those trends will resume when - if? - good times return. My prediction is that we won't ever again see the heavy Latin immigration we saw between 1983 and 2007, which averaged 300,000 legal immigrants and perhaps as many illegals annually. Mexican and other Latin birthrates fell more than two decades ago. And Mexico, source of 60 percent of Latin immigrants, is now a majority-middle-class country. Asian immigration may continue, primarily from China and India, especially if we have the good sense to change our laws to let in more high-skill immigrants. But the next big immigration source, I think, will be sub-Saharan Africa. We may end up with prominent politicians who actually were born in Kenya. Continued domestic out-migration from high-tax states? Certainly from California, where Gov. Jerry Brown wants to raise taxes even higher. With foreign immigration down, California is likely to grow more slowly than the nation, for the first time in history, and could even start losing population. Fortunately, governors of some other high-tax states are itching to cut taxes. The shale oil and natural gas boom has job-seekers streaming to hitherto unlikely spots like North Dakota and northeast Ohio. Great Plains cities like Omaha and Des Moines are looking pretty healthy, too. It's not clear whether Atlanta and its smaller kin - Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville, Jacksonville - will resume their robust growth. They've suffered high unemployment lately. But Texas has been doing very well. If you draw a triangle whose points are Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, enclosing Austin, you've just drawn a map of the economic and jobs engine of North America. Texas prospers not just because of oil and gas, but thanks to a diversified and sophisticated economy. It has attracted large numbers of both immigrants and domestic migrants for a quarter century. One in 12 Americans lives there. America is getting to look a lot more like Texas, and that's one trend that I hope continues. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. JWR contributor Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner. Michael Barone Archives © 2009, Washington Examiner; DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

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Newseum Spotlights Ethnic Media and Media of Color Margaret Summers | 2/7/2014, 8:56 p.m. Cathy Hughes, who got her start working in local radio, went on to found the Radio One and TV One networks. Hughes and her media companies will be among the contemporary ethnic media and media of color featured in the Newseum exhibit, "One Nation With News for All." (Jason Miccola/Johnson Photography/Radio One, Inc.) During the early 1800s when slavery was flourishing in the U.S., two African-American freedmen in New York, Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm, launched the nation's first African-American weekly newspaper, Freedom's Journal. "We wish to plead our own cause," wrote the co-editors on the first edition's front page. "Too long have others spoken for us." This spring, the Newseum, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, will open "One Nation With News for All," an exhibit recognizing historical figures of color and ethnic groups in the U.S. media such as Cornish and Russworm, and their role as a voice for people of color and immigrants seeking citizenship. Freedom's Journal's front page, third edition. The first African-American newspaper published in the U.S. will be featured in the Newseum exhibit, "One Nation With News for All." (Courtesy photo) "Ethnic media and media of color is the story of America," said Patty Rhule, the Newseum's senior manager of exhibit development. "They drew attention to issues that mainstream media wasn't covering. They covered stories that would not otherwise be told. "For much of America's history, news was controlled largely by white males," Rhule said. "Even in colonial times, news was told from their points of view, not from the views of women, or people who spoke Spanish. But stories told by ethnic media and media of color are just as [significant]. Mainstream media is recognizing the importance of other audiences. As our country grows more diverse, stories told by ethnic media and media of color will help us all understand each other better." Rhule said the exhibit will consist of 60 artifacts, including El Misisipi, the earliest known Spanish-language newspaper in the U.S. published in New Orleans beginning in 1808; Freedom's Journal, founded in 1827; the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, published in 1828 to advocate for the rights of Native Americans; and Golden Hills' News, the first Chinese-language Asian-American newspaper, published in 1854. Golden Hills' News was founded to assist Chinese immigrants who flocked to California during the "gold rush," hoping to discover gold and strike it rich. "I don't think these newspapers have ever been together in one exhibit before," Rhule said. "Our [exhibit] team has been reaching out to people nationally to find and collect archival newspapers and other materials. It has been an exciting process." Rhule said one artifact of particular interest is Ida B. Wells' diary. Wells, one of few African-American women reporters in that era, wrote articles against lynching that were published in African-American newspapers. Today's ethnic media and media of color generates its own news and presents a unique editorial perspective on current events. In the aftermaths of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, Rhule said, ethnic news media and media of color worked to reunite families separated in the storms. Contemporary ethnic media and media of color featured in the exhibit will include the Radio One network, ImpreMedia, the largest U.S.-based Spanish-language news operation, and the national "Angry Asian Man" blog. "I hope that visitors to the exhibit gain a new appreciation of ethnic media and media of color, and how they changed the country with their fight for equality and justice," Rhule said. "Theirs is not just a history story but a today story, as they are covering news in new and exciting ways." The "One Nation With News for All" exhibit opens May 16 and runs through Jan. 4, 2015. The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. Newspaper Publishers to Address Newseum Event Newseum Exhibit Serves as a Testament to Ethnic Media Publishers Discuss Role of the Black Press Newseum Exhibit Honors the Civil Rights Movement Support

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Three towns to pursue joint emergency dispatch center Published July 17. 2013 3:00PM | Updated July 18. 2013 12:53AM By Greg Smith, Day Staff Writer Results of a study by the towns of Waterford, New London and East Lyme bolster the idea of a regional emergency dispatch center and have led to work on an implementation plan.The feasibility study released on Wednesday recommends the creation of the New London County Regional Communications Center at the Waterford Emergency Communications Center, where it would take the least amount of capital investment to convert it.The study concludes that with incentives from the state and federal governments, regionalization would save money and improve efficiency, especially during a large-scale event."Our three municipalities are geographically and socially connected in ways that make this especially critical for us," according to the report.New London's Development and Planning Director Tammy Daugherty worked on the study with fellow project managers Waterford Police Lt. Brett Mahoney and Sgt. Stephen Bellos, and East Lyme firefighter Bill Allen."The information we have right now is very compelling," Daugherty said. "We have a great foundation."The study shows that the towns could save a combined $61,000 annually in equipment and maintenance costs.Fewer people would be required to run a regional operation. While the three towns currently employ 21 full-time and 25 part-time workers, a consolidated dispatch would eliminate the need for part-time staff while retaining the full-time positions, according to the study. The estimated combined savings is $153,693 a year, $88,936 of which is currently funding the 16 part-time dispatchers in East Lyme.Upgrades to the entire communications system, which would dispatch medical, fire and police for each town, would be about $452,000, plus about $54,250 in annual maintenance fees, according to a quote from Tritech Software Systems included in the study.The state Department of Safety Emergency Telecommunications offers up to $750,000 in transitional grants and yearly subsidies for consolidation, with more money available for each town that joins.The impetus for the regional system was New London's recent $2.38 million radio system overhaul, which switches the city onto Waterford's digital system and allows it to use Waterford's infrastructure for New London's signals.East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica, Waterford First Selectman Dan Steward and New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio all released statements Wednesday saying they were encouraged by the potential for efficiencies and looked forward to more information.An implementation plan is expected to be completed by year's end and will further delve into labor issues, financing, governance structure and time lines for implementation."All interested parties and political bodies will have input into the process and will have a seat at the table," Finizio said in the statement. "What this feasibility report demonstrates, however, is that the benefits of this regional approach from both a public safety and monetary standpoint, indicate that the time has come to act. It is time to move this forward." Montville considers options for regional dispatch efforts Regional Dispatch Center Three-Town Agreement Regional Communications Center Feasibility Report

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You are here Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post duel over democracy 5 June 2003 It wasn't a border dispute so much as a margin dispute. More to the point, it was the highly-flammable material between the margins that fueled last week's clash over press freedoms and democracy between two of Israel's most influential newspapers. Compared with the leading Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot (published only in Hebrew and with a weekday circulation of 350,000), the dailies Haaretz (50,000 per weekday) and The Jerusalem Post, (a mere 15,000 per weekday) are not the biggest players on the Israeli media market. But both Haaretz and The Post command an influence beyond their numbers in Israel. Must-reading among visiting diplomats and journalists, the weekly international edition of The Post, and the two papers' English Web sites draw large numbers of American Jews, thereby informing the Middle East debate within the world's largest, most powerful Jewish Diaspora community. So when Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken floated the charge that Israeli press freedoms where in jeopardy, word washed up on American shores. Several American publications picked up the story, and it was easy to see why. Schocken, considered by many to be a mild mannered liberal, was apoplectic. "To declare Israel today as a democratic state is equivalent, though with certain differences, to the definition of South Africa during apartheid as a democratic state," he said. In a state this oppressive, Schocken flared, "it is doubtful that the press will want to fulfill its mission as the watchdog of something not especially valued." This was caustic stuff. Even the conservative press in Israel, largely desensitized to outbursts of extreme liberalism, couldn't help but wince. It recovered quickly. In The Jerusalem Post, where pans of Haaretz appear regularly enough to qualify for their own section, Schocken's comments were written off as just another of Haaretz's extreme left twitches. "The certain differences Schocken glosses over are of course crucial," huffed a column by Daniel Doron, president of the think tank Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress. "When Israel deprives some Palestinians of certain rights," he argued, "it is not a total denial based on racist ideology, as is the case in apartheid. It is a temporary and partial denial common during war." But Schocken had plenty of ammunition for his case. He cited a study by the Israeli Democracy Institute, an independent research association, which monitors the condition of Israel's political system. The IDI's findings, released on May 22nd, asserted that Israel suffered from something termed a "formal democracy." That is, a democracy with low political participation, high social inequality, and general instability. As evidence, the study noted some social conflicts (tensions between Jews and Arabs), some statistics (23 percent of Jews don't think democracy is the best form of government), and some scattershot conjectures. Among these was one Schocken seized on: a decline in the freedom of the press. In fact, this wasn't news. For years, newspapers on both sides of the political spectrum have railed against the glut of special interest groups in the Knesset, each vying for a share of government funding. Like Haaretz and other papers on the left, Israel's conservative press has long derided this proliferation of pork barreling as un-kosher, even undemocratic. This was well-trodden territory. By comparison, Haaretz's freedom of press charges where fresh blood in the water. According to The Post, Schocken's squawking was further proof that Haaretz, a Zionist stronghold at the time of its founding in 1919 by a group of Russian journalists, had strayed too far to the left. Now that the right-wing Likud Party controlled 80 percent of the Knesset, the paper was acting out its frustrations. "They (Haaretz) like to complain a lot because their agenda is not being accepted," scoffed one Post contributor in an interview. "It's ludicrous," he added. Alex Safian, director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, (CAMERA), also pointed to the shift in Israeli politics as Haaretz's real issue. But as Safian noted, "That's democracy in action." Last week wasn't the first time that Haaretz became the target of right-wing wrath. Haaretz reporters working in the Palestinian territories, for example, are perennial sources of controversy. While reporters from most Israeli newspapers are banned from the territories, Haaretz reporters are welcome; a privilege the paper pays for by submitting to a certain amount of self-censorship. This is a problem, critics say, because it turns Haaretz into a megaphone for the Palestinian Authority (PA); the paper will savage the Israeli Defense Forces' every transgression while ignoring the brutality of the PA. Haaretz has vigorously defended its reporters. In a lecture he gave last fall at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Schocken argued that the paper's reporting from the Palestinian territories provided "the relevant truth as nearly as it may be ascertained," and was crucial to "the ability of Israelis to make decisions about their destiny." Even Haaretz's own staff conceded that some criticism of its coverage was understandable. This seemed to be Managing Editor Hanoch Marmari's point when he addressed a conference for international newspaper editors last year. As violence against Israelis intensified, Marmari reasoned, "some of our readers have found it difficult to accept an Israeli reporter who shows sympathy or even compassion for Palestinian casualties." But critics, many of them with Jerusalem Post bylines, haven't been satisfied with this non-concession. What about Amira Haas? they ask. Indeed, Haas, a Haaretz reporter based in Gaza, is a go-to bad-apple for those interested in pillorying Haaretz. Haas achieved infamy in 2001, when she wrote a story about Palestinian "eyewitnesses" who claimed to have seen the Jewish community of Hebron celebrating the shooting of a Palestinian by spitting on his corpse and hooraying. They even passed out candy, she wrote. It was a disturbing story. Just one problem: it never happened. Television cameras at the scene exposed Haas' story for a fake, and a Jerusalem court convicted her of lying with malicious intent, fining her $60,000. Since then, Haas, who did not respond to requests for an interview, has been used as conclusive evidence to discredit Haaretz reporting. For their part, critics of Haaretz at The Jerusalem Post, aren't exactly models of journalistic morality. Once a loyal champion of the liberal Labor party, The Post took a hard rightward turn in 1988, when it was remade to reflect the conservative-nationalist agenda of its new owner, Hollinger Inc. When that editorial agenda was thrust onto The Post's news pages, it alienated many of the paper's longtime reporters. "The problem at The Jerusalem Post is that politics enter news coverage, choice of stories, language, often in ways they might not even begin to realize," says a former Post employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The paper, says the ex-reporter, often gives disproportionate amount of type to organizations that share its conservative views. This can result in reporting that's downright irresponsible: the paper might give short shrift to a scholarly scientific study while spotlighting quack research prepared by a think tank with the right politics. "Its weird,"the reporter says, "but that's The Jerusalem Post." By American standards, the open partisanship of such influential daily newspapers might be alarming. But the idea of newspapers as bastions of truth and objectivity is a uniquely American pretense, CAMERA's Safian explains. The Israeli press, he says, is modeled largely on British tabloids, for which a cheeky political outlook was a time-honored prerogative (It's no coincidence that Conrad Black, The Jerusalem Post's owner, also owns the U.K. tabloids The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.). Moreover, in Israel, the daily paper has always been considered the most effective instrument for advancing the message of a political party, and, as an Israeli writer once said, "to make sure the party's followers received the 'correct' educational guidance." To apply American standards to the Israeli press, Safian warns, would be misguided. Can a free press really survive in this politically-saturated climate? Sure, Safian says, one only has to adjust the definition of "free press." What's more, he says, a broad spectrum of political ideas from across the political spectrum might be the best remedy for Israel's ailing democracy. As for Schocken, asked by Aufbau for his response to critics at The Jerusalem Post, the Haaretz publisher responded, "I'd rather not argue with The Post. They are entitled to their view, I am to mine." As long as that's the case, freedom of the press in Israel would seem assured. Looking Behind Ha'aretz's Liberal Image Despite Netanyahu denial, campaign to smear Haaretz as "enemy" of Israel already underway 19 January 2012 Canadian media attempt to silence on Israel

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Latin America News Dispatch News from the Western Hemisphere Radio Dispatch Brazil, Dispatches, Southern Cone Black Brazilians' Income Doubles, But Major Disparities Persist by Luis Henrique Vieiraon April 15, 2012April 16, 2012 6 A recent study released by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil shows that the income of Brazilian blacks increased over 40% between 1999 and 2009, compared to a 20% rise of whites' wealth. However, the difference between the income of whites and blacks in Brazil is still significant. Despite improvements, Brazilian blacks still earn less than half as much as whites, according to DIEESE, a federal research institution for Brazilian labor unions. Brazilianist Jeffrey Lesser, a professor of History at Emory University in Atlanta and a specialist in ethnicity and race, said the income disparity is due to hidden racism in Brazil, though racism is officially considered a crime. "Compared to the United States, Brazil in general has public environments with much more cordial relationships. It is so impressive that Brazilians do not like to put the finger on a wound. The law that regards racism as a crime also hides prejudices that many people indeed have," Lesser said. According to a study by Popular Data Institute, just slightly over 60% of Brazilian blacks owned cell phones, television or refrigerators in 2001. In 2010, ownership of these three items among blacks jumped to close to 90%, the same percentage of whites who owned these items before 2001. The percentage of black Brazilians who reported owning washing machines climbed from 10% to 53%. The Brazilian government's Institute of Applied Economic Research attributed the increased prosperity of blacks in the last decade to social programs of income distribution such as Bolsa-Família, which provides financial aid for low-income families - the largest direct cash transfer program in the world. Bolsa-Familia serves 13 million families in Brazil and is similar to the Oportunidades cash transfer program in Mexico. Economist Marcelo Neri, author of the FGV study, said an effort in the 90s to give more than 90 percent of the population access to basic education during Itamar Franco and Fernando Henrique Cardoso's terms especially benefited racial minorities. The government of former Brazilian president Lula da Silva later instituted affirmative action in Brazil's university admissions. "The main effect of access to basic education is that blacks have left the informal economy and started to get the same labor rights as anybody else. They left domestic labor, construction jobs, and agriculture work in distant areas. Finally, they joined the middle class work-force. Bolsa-família has helped a little, but not as much as education," Neri said. Neri also cited the increasing number of Brazilians who self-identify as "black" ("negro") in the census as another crucial factor in blacks' reported income growth. "There are more and more people being considered black. This may be helping to improve the statistic. And also, that shows an improvement in their self-esteem," he said. According to the 2010 census, there are 97 million African descendants in Brazil, comprising 50.6 percent of the Brazilian population - the largest number of blacks outside of Africa. Lesser praised the policy of the Lula administration to include African studies in the Brazilian schools. He denied that Brazil was a racial democracy before Lula, as often advertised. "That [policy] was very important. To be self-declared black in Brazil is much more acceptable than in the past," he said. However, the accuracy of the FGV survey is disputed by sociologist and columnist Demétrio Magnoli. He pointed out that the survey used the term negros in reference to Brazilians who may self-identify as pretos (blacks) and pardos (browns), terms provided on the IBGE (the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) census. "Negro is basically a term invented here and created based on a political doctrine called racialism. Also, they are talking about a group that represents almost half of Brazilians. It is a very big group of people to be statistically accurate data," said Magnoli. Magnoli argues that the FGV survey results represent changes in Brazil's economic and regional reality over the last decade. "The so-called new Brazilian middle-class emerged in droves from the northeast and north, where everybody is self-declared pardos and where the economy is booming like China. In the center-south region, most people call themselves whites, but the economy didn't grow much and there was already a large middle-class in states like São Paulo or Rio Grande do Sul," he said. David Raimundo dos Santos, an equal rights activist and director of a non-profit pre-university course aimed at black students, said that despite improvements, the government has not given racial inequality the attention it deserves. "The Brazilian government, through different parties in power, has tried to improve the lives of northeasterners, blacks, and women. We started affirmative action. Prejudices are declining. However, some programs still carry the same old vices," he said. According to Santos, a program launched by Brazilian President Dilma Roussef called Ciência Sem Fronteiras (Science without Borders) will give out 75,000 scholarships for study abroad, but only 5 percent of the scholarships benefit blacks. Santos believes that civil participation is required to address inequality. Brazil's Banco Itaú, now Itaú-Unibanco, had only 153 black employees in Brazil in 2003. After huge protests in front of some branches, the number of black employees has increased to 2,700. "Blacks and whites should be conscious that we are a society of privileges," said Santos. "We have to think about that and pressure the government and the private sector. Then, we can move towards a more equal place." Image: cassimano @ Flickr. Featured Image: Fotos Gov/BA @ Flickr. This entry was posted in Brazil, Dispatches, Southern Cone and tagged Brazil, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, racial inequality. Bookmark the permalink. Like? Share with your friends.FacebookGoogle PlusTwitterPinterestLinkedInEmail About Luis Henrique Vieira You might also like Argentina, Southern Cone, Today in Latin America Defeated Argentine Presidential Hopeful Expected to Support Center-Right Macri in Runoff Cuba, Dispatches, United States Cuban Folk Legend Silvio Rodríguez Visits U.S. for First Time in 30 Years Dispatches, Haiti, United States Rally For Immigration Reform Held in New York City; Immigration Organizations Want Comprehensive Law In 2010 Brazil, News Briefs Brazilian Soccer Fans Face Backlash for Offensive Tweets Post navigation Next Article Cuba Divides Sixth Summit Of The Americas Staff/April 16, 2012April 17, 2012 Previous Article Haiti: Vaccination Project Launched To Fight Cholera Outbreak Staff/April 13, 2012April 15, 2012 6 comments emorais morais says: April 16, 2012 at 9:46 pm For the science without boarders to work, my country has to change current legislation about validation of foreign degrees. Brazil lesgislation is too broad and unequal about that. As an example, I would cite my wife. She attended an american university for B.S. in nursing. Currently, she is a MRN and teaches at two illinois colleges. USP of Brazil denied to validate her degree. Consequenly, she could not practice in Brazil. Only 30% of a foreign degree that is entered for validation in University of Sao Paulo are validated. It is a huge shame. Pingback: Headlines on Brazil, past 24 hours | anu2lah Pingback: Headlines on Brazil, past 24 hours | Anda SUKA? Gara Hality says: April 26, 2012 at 4:21 pm So many words.......... Angela Silva says: May 7, 2012 at 3:45 pm I think the author forgot to mention a big number of issues. The process of integration of the large number of former slaves in the Brazilian economy was not easy as it may seem. In Bahia, over 90 percent were slaves. How can you put all these into the economy overnight? The result was the favelas. The Brazilian industrial revolution just happened almost 50 years later. Aziza Bailey says: May 27, 2012 at 10:04 pm It is very sad that in 2012, Africans and many of their descendents still face issues of racism, economic disparity and repression. Not only is Brazil now coming in terms with itself as it enters a new economic era but this horrific pattern repeats itself all throughout Latin America even when blacks are in the majority. It's not about integrating former slaves into a society but about civilizing the larger society. A ridiculous, outdated "anti-moorish" phenomenom still persists.. NO wonder some blacks feel inferior and hide their identity and reclassify themselves under a different ethnic group when they can. What's even more horrific? Native Brazilian Indian groups.... Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. 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Froma Harrop: US and Canada: Together at last? April 8, 2014 10:40:00 AM What country do Americans overwhelmingly like the most? Canada. What country do Canadians pretty much like the most? America. What country has the natural resources America needs? Canada. What country has the entrepreneurship, technology and defense capability Canada needs? America. Has the time come to face the music and dance? Yes, says Diane Francis, editor-at-large at the National Post in Toronto. Her book "Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country" is both provocative and persuasive. "The genius of both societies is that they are very good at assimilating people from all over the world," Francis told me. "So why can't they do it themselves?" Relatively small differences are why. Canadian intellectuals have long portrayed the United States as their violent, unruly twin. Many conservatives in this country, meanwhile, deride Canada as the socialistic land of single-payer medicine, gun control and other heavy regulation. "I don't buy the narrative of American exceptionalism or Canadian superiority," says Francis, a dual citizen (born in Chicago). "Both have good points and bad points." Americans close to the border already think a lot like Canadians, she notes. Some northern states actually have more liberal laws and lower crime rates than Canada's. "They are more Canadian than Canadians." But set aside these "local" considerations. There's a big, scary reason the countries should merge: to create a united front against outside aggressors, especially China and Russia. These countries' sights are set on Canada's rich and poorly defended open spaces. "Neither nation upholds the same values as Canadians or Americans," Francis writes, "and they represent Trojan horses that are eager to partition an already weak, fragmented Canada." She goes on: "China has targeted Canada for years because of its enormous oil sands, its undeveloped resources, its dominant Arctic position, its backdoor entry into the U.S. market and technology sector, and its vast landmass capable of supporting millions more people." For example, China's state-run oil company was able to buy Nexen, the Canadian oil giant, for $15 billion -- despite loud public opposition and warnings by Canadian intelligence. China got a trade deal giving it special market access for 31 years, while Canadians are still banned from buying China's iconic corporations. Meanwhile, the melting Arctic is exposing massive resources. Canadian blood pressure rose when Russian explorer Artur Chilingarov announced, "The Arctic is Russian" -- and then his sub planted a Russian flag on the seabed. Canada can hardly defend its territory in an age of resource grabbing while ranking 14th in defense spending and 74th in military manpower. Only the United States can do that, which, of course, it's been doing all along. Americans are tiring of providing free rides to other countries. The United States and Canada could reach the altar by several paths. One would start with a single currency, move to a customs union and end at political union. Europe is already at monetary union. "The countries have different health care systems, different taxes, but there's no border." What does each partner have to offer? "Canada's best assets include its resources, stability and banking system, its strong relationship with the United States and an educated, law-abiding people," according to Francis. America offers a culture of risk taking and entrepreneurship. It leads the world in technology and defense. "There's no excuse for two countries as similar as us to not get rid of the border after 26 years of free trade," Francis says. A merged Canada and U.S. would occupy more land than Russia or all of South America. It would become an energy and economic powerhouse less subject to foreign intrigue. And few countries would mess with either of us. printer friendly version | back to top

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First Amendment News Military efforts to control press could make truth a casualty Afghanistan is about as removed as one could imagine from being at the center of a First Amendment controversy. Nonetheless, there was a dust-up recently over the press's ability to report freely on U.S. military operations there, and the dust has barely settled. A few weeks ago, Stars and Stripes - a newspaper historically published about and for the military - reported that a Washington, D.C., public relations firm, the Rendon Group, was evaluating the work of journalists who had asked to accompany U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The evaluations, the newspaper said, were being done with an eye toward rating applicants for so-called "embedded" positions on a positive-negative scale - and screening out those likely to produce stories critical of the war effort. Despite denials of any attempt to muzzle reporting, criticism of the program grew until the Pentagon decided Aug. 31 to cancel it. Officials said the process was intended only to give on-the-ground commanders background information on the journalists they would see in the field, including the kinds of questions they might ask. But Stars and Stripes said the program went further: Along with ratings such as "neutral to negative" about reporters' work, there was advice on how their reporting might be influenced. To be sure, no one was talking about brainwashing or outright censorship on dispatches sent home. An earlier Stars and Stripes story quoted an Army spokesman as saying, "If a reporter has been focused on nothing but negative topics, you're not going to send him into a unit that's not your best ... . We're not trying to control what they report, but we are trying to put our best foot forward." Still, the point of a free press is to be able to report freely - without consideration of what a commander or a general or the U.S. government in general wants the press to see and report. The First Amendment exists to guarantee that a variety of views will be available to the public. Reporting from the battlefield historically has often been censored and controlled. Author Phillip Knightley, in the original and updated versions of his book The First Casualty, wrote about war correspondents as "heroes and myth-makers." Knightley traces the start of war reporting to the 1854 assignment of a London Times reporter to cover the Crimean War - and he documents examples of military censorship as well as occasions when the news media became, in effect, an ally of the armed forces. Justifiably or not, there's still a debate over the influence and tint of news reporting during the Vietnam War. Not many years ago, critics were attacking U.S. news media for being too "pro-war," for failing to challenge Bush administration accounts of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some even slammed news anchors for wearing flag lapel pins, accusing them of subtly taking political sides. The notion of having reporters accompany troops into the field is controversial in itself: Many worry that even without any attempt by commanders to influence coverage, reports will be skewed - either by the limited "soda-straw" view that correspondents necessarily will have, or the impact on objectivity resulting from the camaraderie of reporters and soldiers sharing life-and-death experiences. Fighting an unpopular war while maintaining public support for troops, funding and policy may well be the difficult task of today's military - but that task cannot include shaping the news and remain in keeping with the meaning of the First Amendment. At the same time, the task of journalists free from government control is to present facts - good, bad and in-between - as best they can. That would seem best done by letting as wide a variety of journalists as possible report what they learn from the widest possible set of experiences. These ought to include embedded assignments as well as seeing the military's "best foot forward." To paraphrase Knightley, for a free press and a free society, truth ought to be "The First Necessity." Gene Policinski is vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C., 20001. Web: . E-mail: . More articles related to First Amendment News.

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Viewing Record 203 of 208 documentary William Horavitch family eating dinner. Williams County, North Dakota. Lee, Russell overall: 6 7/8 in x 9 in depressionfsagelatin silver printnorth dakotafamilyportraitdepression erab&wdocumentarydinnerfoodgreat depressionfarm security administrationphotojournalismtablewestmeal Add tag American, 1903-1986 Russell Lee's early works, relaying sensitivity to human plight, socioeconomic dynamics, and the unique representational capabilities of photography, made him an attractive recruit for the New Deal's Farm Administration Security (1935-1944). Roy Stryker, head of the Information Division of the FSA (known as the Resettlement Administration until 1937), contracted photographers to garner support for federal aide initiatives by publicizing rural and small town destitution during the Depression in the United States. The photographers employed under the FSA (which also included Charlotte Brooks, Esther Bubley, Marjory Collins, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Jack Delano, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott) produced images that greatly impacted how both policy-makers and the general public understood the Depression. By addressing public infrastructure and natural disaster with depictions of everyday lives, Lee showed the nation's complex challenges in a more accessible way. The image, Child flood refugee taking a nap, Tent City near Shawneetown, Illinois (1937) focuses in on a small boy sleeping in a temporary shelter to convey the massive wreckage following the Great Ohio River Flood of 1937. The subject looks just as helpless and innocent as the doll lying beside him. His clean space signals the dignity of this subject and his fellow refugees, while the coat he uses as a blanket and the single shoe underneath his bed points to flood victims' general lack of resources. These telling details seem all the more poignant because they appear inside the boy's living quarters. Photographs of interiors were rare at the time since the slow film then demanded additional lighting. Lee's solution was attaching his camera to a flashgun, which produced harsh areas of light and shadow, while lending scenes a sense of intimacy. Lee's small and quiet 35mm Contax camera allowed him to get up-close and personal with his subjects. Yet, even before shooting, he often conversed with them and inquired about their daily routines to establish a trusting rapport. Like the portrait of the young refugee, Lumberjacks at dinner. Camp near Effie, Minnesota (1937) suggests Lee's active involvement with the communities that he photographed. The image shows another high-contrast interior, but, this time, one accommodating a large crew. Lee's long shot and slightly raised angle emphasize the linear formation of lumberjacks seated around a sizable dinner table. From this vantage point, the men's subtle dining movements seem almost synchronized. Although these Mid-western laborers represent a demographic hard hit by the Great Depression, Lee accentuates their orderliness to imply their work potential and the propriety they share. In this regard, Lee's sympathetic and meticulous work can be considered a model, encouraging Americans from different walks of life to care for one another. Russell Lee was born in 1903 in Ottawa, Illinois. He completed a BA in chemical engineering at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1921). He attended art classes at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (1929-31) and those conducted by John Sloan at the Art Student League in New York (1931-1935). He worked as a photographer for the Air Transport Command (1943); and the United States Department of the Interior (1946-47) among other governmental and commercial organizations. Lee taught at the University of Missouri (1949-62) and the University of Texas at Austin (1965-1973) where he developed a photography program. He is the recipient of a resolution from the Coal Mine Administration (1947); a photojournalism award from the Workshop Directors of the School of Journalism, University of Missouri (1954); and a memorial resolution from the Texas State Senate (1986). A backyard in Maunie, Illinois, after the floodLee, RussellFebruary 1937A child flood refugee taking a nap. Tent City near Shawneetown, IllinoisLee, Russell1937More by this artist Home

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From Our Own Correspondent EDITORS' BLOG Last Updated: Saturday, 29 May, 2004, 13:25 GMT 14:25 UK Hero-worship in the ruins of Rafah By Alan Johnston BBC correspondent in Gaza Following the destruction by Israeli troops of dozens of homes in Rafah, BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston explains how many Palestinians see members of the militant Islamist organisation, Hamas, as heroes making a stand in the area. Hamas is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force We turned the corner slowly, and there suddenly, crouching in the headlights, was a masked gunman. He was laying a roadside bomb. It was a rough-looking thing that appeared to be bound up with plastic clingfilm. It was easy to imagine that the gunman had put the device together in his kitchen, but that just seemed to make it all the more menacing. And as we moved slowly on through the streets you noticed that there were more masked men in the darkness. The Hamas fighters were on patrol, and they needed to be. Their enemy was among them. The Israeli army had moved into a corner of Rafah the night before. Its tanks sat at the end of the main street. Its soldiers were ransacking the Tel Sultan neighbourhood in a hunt for what they call terrorists. For the Israelis the men of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are a constant, deadly threat. 'Martyrs' From their ranks come suicide bombers, the kind of men who have taken hundreds of Israeli lives on buses or in restaurants. And if you were an Israeli soldier, you'd probably rather meet the Hamas man in Rafah, than back home. Better to take him on in his own alleyways than find him stepping into your Tel Aviv caf�. But many people in Rafah see the Hamas fighters in quite a different light - to them, the men in masks are heroes. Armed only with light weapons, they confront Israel's tanks and helicopter gunships and they have died in large numbers. In death they are honoured as martyrs for the cause of Palestine. Their hoods come off and their faces are revealed on posters plastered on Rafah's battered walls. Prayers are always said for them at the central, Al Awda mosque. It is a solid block of a building that has about it the feel of a fortress. From its minaret fly black and green banners, the flags of the fighters. When the bodies emerge from the mosque, and the march to the cemetery begins, it is led by a van loaded with loudspeakers that blast out demands for revenge. On the south side of town the Israelis have been demolishing houses that they say the fighters use as cover for attacks on the soldiers. From the ruins I met an old lady in a black veil trying to salvage what she could from the ruins of her home. All down the alleyway, her neighbours believed that the Israeli bulldozers would be back, and that their homes would be next. In the eyes of many people in Rafah, the fighters are making a stand They were poor people, and they needed to save what they could. They were loading worn out televisions and cookers and carpets onto donkey carts. And as they worked, the air was filled with the sound of gunfire from just a few streets away. The old lady in the veil raised her voice above it. "They call us terrorist," she said. "But they're the terrorists. They kill our sons, and they drive us from our homes." She said that when someone does that, you have to defend yourself. When I met a little boy, called Ala, I asked him what he thought when he saw the Hamas men move through the streets armed and hooded. "We call on God to give them victory," he said. "Terrible retreat" In the eyes of many people in Rafah, the fighters are making a stand. And that is important because like all Palestinians they are haunted by memories of a terrible retreat. The UN estimates at least 1,600 people have lost their homes Hundreds of thousands of them left their towns and villages in what is now Israel in the summer of 1948, the year that Arab forces lost out, and the Jewish state was founded. For some the journey into exile ended in the tents of the Rafah refugee camp, at the end of the Gaza Strip, which was then under Egyptian control. And the town that has grown out of the camp remains a place suffused with a vast sense of loss. Families from different villages have stuck together down through two generations. I stayed in an area known as Barbera, where all the streets are full of the descendants of what was once the Palestinian village of Barbera. They tell you that the old place, which was famous for its grapes, has become part of an Israeli township now, not far from the city of Ashdod. One afternoon an old man came slowly up the alleyway on a donkey cart. He was selling grapes, and he chose to make a small, cruel joke on these people of long lost Barbera. "Grapes," he called out. "Grapes from Barbera." A man lounging in the shade of a tree called back, "Barbera and its grapes have all gone." "I know", said the old man gently. "Everything's gone." From Our Own Correspondent will be broadcast on Saturday, 29 May, 2004 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. Read more personal reflections from BBC correspondents around the world Alan Johnston in Italy Kevin Connolly on intervention in Syria Jenny Cuffe in Zimbabwe Nick Thorpe in Hungary Kieran Cooke in Ireland Anniversary website SEARCH FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT: Download or subscribe to this programme's podcast Advance information about current affairs programmes Palestinians adopt a new tactic to deter Israeli attacks, but this is a high-risk strategy Squaring circle Gaza women killed in siege Doubts over Lebanon peace Palestinian despair Anger and grief in Beit Lahiya Reports and analysis B Netanyahu Ahmed Qurei AA Rantissi In-depth coverage

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Click here to search Publishing: Year In Review 1994 Melanie Anne Cooper Peter Curwen William A. Katz Maggie Brown Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content. See All Stories In Britain 1994 was marked by an extraordinary bout of price cutting among the country's quality broadsheet newspapers, leading to the fiercest battle for readers since the 1930s. It embroiled the U.K.'s best-known titles--The Times, Daily Telegraph, and Independent--with the clear winner being Rupert Murdoch's The Times, which ended the year with sales up nearly 50%.The battle had actually commenced in September 1993 when The Times declared war by cutting its price from 45 to 30 pence. When it became clear that circulation was being adversely affected, Conrad Black's Daily Telegraph, desperate to keep daily sales above one million, responded in June 1994 with a price cut from 48 to 30 pence. The Times reacted by undercutting further, to 20 pence. In August the Independent, trying to prop up its own falling sales, which had hit a low of 267,000, responded by cutting its price from 50 to 30 pence.The new prices meant that newspapers, which were concentrated in London, were more dependent than ever before on advertising revenue and were looking hard at editorial costs. News International, controlled by Murdoch, attempted with partial success to raise its advertising rates by 15% in September to take advantage of the new readers it had attracted. The year ended, however, with analysts questioning how long such artificially low cover prices could last, the consensus being that the participants had fought themselves to a standstill. Those newspapers that had not lowered prices were also facing up to the unpalatable fact that there was little opportunity for circulation growth.One early sign of the pressures came in January 1994 when Newspaper Publishing, owners of the Independent and Independent on Sunday, announced a major restructuring, which led to Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and the Irish Independent becoming shareholders alongside the two main continental shareholders, El País of Spain and La Repubblica of Italy. The Independent, launched successfully with a brand of politically independent journalism and comment in 1986, subsequently moved into the Canary Wharf skyscraper, with MGN providing a range of services to save costs. As the year ended, however, it was still incurring large losses. British newspapers spent the year critically examining their output. There had been a definite shift away from general-interest colour supplements by advertisers. A number of newspapers concluded that they had to attract more women readers, and the Mail on Sunday relaunched its market leader You Magazine in October to concentrate on lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and cookery, a move that was leading it and others to compete head-on with women's weeklies and monthly magazines. There was also renewed debate about journalistic standards during the year, with the government backing away from publishing a White Paper outlining new laws to restrict the use of photo lenses when people were on private property and of surveillance devices to tape conversations.In France two daily newspapers, InfoMatin (backed by Le Monde) and Aujourd'hui (a sister title for the Amaury Group's Paris title Le Parisien), made their debuts in January. Given that only 50% of French people read daily papers, the two new ones had relatively successful launches and appeared to find niches. Hachette Filipacchi Presse also found success with a new weekly, Infos du MONDE, which relied on sensationalist journalism. In September the respected French daily tabloid Liberation was relaunched, doubling its size while retaining its cover price. Le Monde, the solid, sober afternoon paper started in 1944, promised a new, livelier format for 1995.Although Russian journalists, a privileged group with perks and prestige under the old regime, had fallen on hard times, many found a way to supplement their reduced incomes. It was estimated that more than half of Moscow's journalists took money to write favourable stories. "Before, we advertised the Communist Party for free," said one newspaperman. "Now, we do the same for the commercial structure, only this time it's for money." There was even a name for it, skritaya reklama, "hidden advertising." In 1994 the Russian Journalists' Union established a code of professional ethics stating that such practices were unacceptable. The Los Angeles Times helped publish the first English-language edition of Oslobodjenje, the only daily newspaper left in the besieged city of Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Times paid for a press run of 30,000 copies, which were distributed in Washington, D.C., and at college campuses and churches in selected cities. Bosnian relief activists in the U.S. did the translation. Internet Firsts: Fact or Fiction? In a survey of 732 U.S. editors, publishers, and advertising and marketing executives, only 25% of the respondents rated the newspaper industry as "very healthy." The survey, by the Foundation for American Communication, found the biggest threat to the industry to be declining readership, particularly among the young. In an ongoing effort to establish contact with the younger generation, newspapers continued to experiment with electronic media. The New York Times, for example, announced that it would begin a six-month test during which it would offer its help-wanted classified advertising on the Internet. The president of the newspaper's Information Services Group said that this was the latest effort to "explore new ways of delivering information and advertising." If successful, the on-line service could be expanded to include other types of advertisements. Earlier in the year, the Times had started offering stories about cultural and leisure activities on America Online.The Boston Globe took another direction by joining with New England Cable News, a 24-hour all-news channel. The station set up a small studio in a corner of the Globe's newsroom, and at a specific time every hour, a Globe reporter, editor, or columnist was interviewed by a TV anchor. The paper expected more than half of its 450-member staff to get airtime by the end of the first year. The Orange County (Calif.) Register had a similar arrangement with a local channel, and other papers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, were exploring the potential for partnerships between newspapers and television.A similar experiment at the Chicago Tribune, started more than a year earlier, had flourished. The Tribune Company's cable news channel, ChicagoLand TV, was reaching 1.1 million homes, more than 90% of local households with cable TV. Appearances by Tribune staffers were scripted to fit their primary role as print journalists. "I don't ask anybody to come on this channel and provide analysis when they are reporters," said ChicagoLand's director of news and programming. "I ask them to come on and tell us what they know, not what they think." Russian Revolution of 1917 endoplasmic reticulum (ER) One high-profile effort to reach the younger generation did not succeed. "Hip Replacement: New York Times Curbs Cool Section" was the headline in a Wall Street Journal story about the demise of the ill-fated Sunday section, Styles of the Times. Media critics had ridiculed the idea from the start for such front-page stories as "The Arm Fetish." The section, which reported on lifestyles, fashion, and social trends, was folded into the paper's Metro Report.The Wall Street Journal unveiled two new weekly sections in 1994 devoted to regional business. Following on the Texas Journal, which was introduced in 1993, the Florida Journal and the Southeast Journal would feature four pages of locally reported business news. In addition, the Wall Street Journal Americas was launched. This two-page section of international business news would be published in the morning editions of eight Latin-American papers belonging to a federation of Spanish-language newspapers with a circulation of over one million. The Wall Street Journal also began its own weekly list of best-sellers. Unlike other fiction and nonfiction lists, this one would compare the relative sales of books in both categories.The Miami (Fla.) Herald, which already had a Spanish-language edition, broadened its base by printing new features in Creole and Portuguese. With an estimated 200,000 Haitians living in the area, the Herald initiated a page of news capsules in Creole as a Sunday feature. To attract the 300,000 Brazilian tourists who visited Miami each year, the paper added a page of news in Portuguese.A project called "Voices of Florida" linked six newspapers across the state in an innovative attempt to engage voters and find out what was on their mind. The Miami Herald, Florida Times-Union, St. Petersburg Times, Tallahassee Democrat, Bradenton Herald, and Boca Raton News--referred to as "the cartel" by critics--used phone banks, computer bulletin boards, town meetings, and polls and interviews to elicit information from voters. They then used the responses to question Florida's gubernatorial candidates. Not all the journalists involved were comfortable with a deal in which their papers had to share information and run one another's stories. The impetus for the project--the belief that traditional campaign journalism was failing the electorate--prodded other papers, such as the Dallas (Texas) Morning News, Boston Globe, and San Francisco Chronicle, to team up with National Public Radio affiliates and TV stations to elicit from voters their opinions on issues. The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its examination of local race relations. Pulitzers were awarded to the New York Times (spot news reporting) for its staff coverage of the World Trade Center bombing; the Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin (investigative reporting) for its coverage of corruption in the state court system, which led to the resignation of the chief justice of the state's Supreme Court; Ronald Kotulak of the Chicago Tribune (explanatory journalism) for two series on discoveries in the neurological sciences; Eric Freedman and Jim Mitzelfeld of the Detroit (Mich.) News (beat reporting) for coverage of spending abuses in the Michigan state legislature; Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune (national reporting) for Eileen Welsome's stories on the effects of the U.S. government's radiation experiments on unsuspecting citizens in the 1940s; and Isabel Wilkerson of the New York Times (feature writing) for her reports on the floods in the Midwest and her profile of a 10-year-old boy living in a crime-infested area on the South Side of Chicago. The Dallas Morning News took the award for international reporting for team coverage of violence against women in different areas of the world. Other winners were the Washington Post (commentary) for William Raspberry's views on politics and society; the Boston Phoenix (criticism) for Lloyd Schwartz's writings on classical music; Michael P. Ramirez of the Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn. (editorial cartooning); the Toronto Star (spot news photography) for Paul Watson's picture of an American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by Somali civilians; the New York Times (feature photography) for a picture of a vulture hovering nearby as a starving Sudanese girl collapsed taken by freelancer Kevin Carter (see OBITUARIES); and R. Bruce Dold's series in the Chicago Tribune (editorial writing) on the Illinois welfare system and the story of a three-year-old boy killed by his mother.Maggie BrownMelanie Anne CooperMagazinesOverall, 1994 saw a sharp revival in new magazine launches in Britain as advertising revenue revived after four years of slowdown. The London-based The Oldie weekly magazine, devoted to those over 50, closed down in July, however, after circulation had plummeted from 100,000 in 1992 to 20,000. It was restarted in September as a more modest monthly. Men were also being served; it was announced that the battle for their attention waged by the U.K. editions of GQ and Esquire would be joined in January 1995 by a British edition of the U.S. Men's Health magazine.Pearson PLC, the international media and entertainment group that published the Financial Times, moved into the general magazine market for the first time in 1994 with the £ 52.5 million purchase of Future Publishing, which produced 30 consumer and computer magazines, including a new title on the Internet. Future Publishing, founded in 1985 by entrepreneur Chris Anderson, had grown rapidly from a humble £ 30,000 start.In Poland the French publisher Hachette Filipacchi Presse launched an edition of Elle magazine in September with a print run of 250,000. The publisher was responding to the potential market of young and relatively well-educated Polish women eager for this type of magazine. It followed a more modest launch for Elle in the Czech Republic.In Germany, where newsmagazines were a growing market (partly because there were no Sunday newspapers), publisher Gruner & Jahr launched the Berlin-based Tango, targeting 20- to 39-year-olds with a mix of news and celebrity gossip. This market was already being served by the influential Der Spiegel, founded after World War II, and Stern, owned by Gruner & Jahr, which together sold about two million copies weekly. Maggie BrownSome U.S. publishers continued to be skeptical about a switch from print to on-line and CD-ROM formats, but by the end of 1994 many were changing their minds. For one thing, more and more computers were coming with built-in CD-ROM players. Time, along with a number of other magazines, joined Newsweek in offering a digital edition as part of the electronic newsstand. The real breakthrough, however, seemed to be in multimedia CD-ROMs, such as Substance, a pop music title. The first issue allowed the viewer not only to see and hear a heavy metal band but also to watch an interview with its leader and to read standard text about it and other groups. Similar multimedia magazines were promised on-line, particularly when the speed of sending pictures and sound increased enough to make it economical to use networks, such as the Internet, for transmission.In lockstep with developments in personal computers, new magazines appeared in the U.S. in 1994 to meet the needs of not just the traditional computer buffs but also the whole family. Among the new entries were Home PC, a monthly catering to the estimated 15 million American households with personal computers; Family Computing, a quarterly from Scholastic Corp. that concentrated on the use of the computer for entertainment and education; and FamilyPC, a joint effort of Walt Disney Co. and Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. that featured reviews of CD-ROMs, including magazines, as well as advice on how to use the Internet and the new consumer networks.For those who hated text and loved pictures, the new Elle topModel was a find in 1994. Primarily for young women, it was filled with little more than pictures of top models. Another new entry was InStyle, a primarily pictorial version of People. Time Inc. called it "celebrity journalism," which meant even more faces and little or no verbiage. (The wildly successful People celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1994.) Returning to words, Dell brought out a bimonthly, Louis L'Amour Western Magazine, which was filled with tales of the frontier.At New York magazine a new editor was attempting to remodel the weekly on its earlier years. At The New Yorker editor Tina Brown continued her tailoring job to make what had been a literary delight look like Vanity Fair. (In a retrial, writer Janet Malcolm was found not guilty of libel for statements made in a 1983 New Yorker article.) The Library of Congress announced the publication of a new magazine called Civilization; it was to draw on the library's collection and offer a variety of material in the same popular format as Smithsonian and Natural History.The advertising revenues of periodicals were up in 1994 even though newsstand sales were in a slump. Sales of leading magazines in supermarkets, airports, and drugstores declined sharply. The basic reason was increased reliance on subscription sales. Thus, when subscriptions failed, magazines closed. Among those publishing their last issues in 1994 was the six-year-old Lear's, a magazine for older women.The National Magazine Awards in 1994 for feature writing, fiction, and essays and criticism went to Harper's Magazine. Wired was recognized for its contribution to rapidly evolving computer technology. Health took prizes for general excellence and best single-topic issue. The design award went to Allure, and Fortune won the personal service award. William A. KatzBooksAdvocates of resale price maintenance (RPM) for books in the European Union (EU) suffered several setbacks in 1994. At the end of June, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice recommended that an appeal against prohibitions on RPM in respect of interstate trade be struck down. At the same time, the Competition Authority in Ireland refused to grant a license for the U.K.'s Net Book Agreement (NBA) to be introduced there. In addition, the U.K. Office of Fair Trading applied for a judicial review of the NBA. The review could take up to two years, but publishers appeared to be unwilling to finance a defense, given that the NBA continued to be undermined. Book Club Associates, for example, began looking for up to 50 additional retail outlets. In addition, a second warehouse club (Cargo Club, owned by Nurdin and Peacock) followed CostCo's example in challenging the NBA, although it conceded in May that discounted sales would be made only to trade customers. The issue of parallel imports also remained of concern, with pressure being exerted by U.K. publishers to expel U.S.-originated titles from other EU member states in order to prevent their indirect exportation to the U.K. It nevertheless remained unclear whether parallel imports were economic in practice.As from July 1, 1995, copyright protection in the EU was to be extended to the author's lifetime plus 70 years. The protection would be extended to works by EU nationals and works first published in a member state. U.S. works that had not acquired EU origin or were not otherwise protected in a single member state would not benefit.There were relatively few takeovers in European publishing in 1994. In March, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck (VGH), based in Stuttgart, Germany, bought 20% of the multimedia publisher Voyager. In April, Baring Communications Equity bought the legal publisher Codex of Prague from the Hugo Grotius Foundation to add to a 30% stake in KJK of Hungary and to the purchase of Simon & Schuster's children's list. International Thompson Publishing bought the German book publisher IWT Verlag to add to its prior purchase of Wolfram Fachverlag. The trend to computer-linked acquisitions was also reflected in Paramount Publishing's purchase of the book and software operations of Markt & Technik of Germany.Book publishing in the EU became more concentrated during 1994. In the U.K., for example, 49 publishers accounted for more than 50% of all turnover at trade prices. In 1994 Cassell and Pavilion were among those seeking stock exchange quotations in order to obtain capital for growth, indicating that current economic trends clearly were set to continue.The U.K. experienced a major expansion of books onto supermarket shelves with specially tailored products from such publishers as HarperCollins and Dorling Kindersley. The emphasis was upon quality, and every title was expected at least to break even. Retail bookstores expressed alarm, but it remained unclear whether supermarket sales increased the overall size of the market or ate into sales elsewhere. The production of cheap versions of out-of-copyright classics in the U.K. expanded considerably with the introduction of Penguin Popular Classics. The higher reaches of literature clearly did not need to be either inaccessible or overpriced, although puzzle and quiz books were the most popular category of book. Peter CurwenThe close of 1993 had the book-publishing industry in the U.S. in suspense as QVC Network Inc. and Viacom Inc. continued their heated battle to take over Paramount Communications Inc., the multimedia giant and parent company of Paramount Publishing, an umbrella title given to Simon & Schuster and its subsidiaries. At the same time, Paramount was setting a closing date for its $553 million purchase of Macmillan. In February Viacom emerged the winner, acquiring 51% of Paramount Communications. In May, Viacom announced that it was changing the name of Paramount Publishing back to Simon & Schuster, much to the approval of Paramount Publishing's chief executive officer, Richard E. Snyder.If Snyder believed, however, that the name change signaled insurance for his position in the new company, the management of Viacom wasted no time in disabusing him of that notion. In an astonishing move that stunned the industry, Viacom dismissed Snyder, a 33-year veteran and industry legend, on June 14. Viacom paid Snyder a reported $10 million on the remaining four years of his contract. In his three decades with the company, Snyder had become famous for an aggressive, controversial, and confrontational style that turned a small trade house into a multibillion-dollar publishing giant. Industry insiders were shocked at the sudden move by Viacom because they feared the sudden loss of such a key publishing figure would have a destabilizing effect on trade publishing. Simon & Schuster's president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Newcomb, was named Snyder's successor. Under Newcomb's direction Simon & Schuster completed the integration of Macmillan.There was good reason for the industry's concern over destabilization. In January, months before Snyder's dismissal, several trade houses folded or greatly reduced their literary imprints. Citing reasons of efficiency and cost cutting, Houghton Mifflin announced in January that it was eliminating Ticknor & Fields, a small but distinguished literary imprint. At the same time, Harcourt Brace cut its adult trade division drastically, firing half of the division's 24 New York-based employees and reducing the numbers of titles published. Harcourt General (the parent company of Harcourt Brace) called the move a "realignment." Another simultaneous development was the folding of Atheneum, Macmillan's esteemed literary imprint, into the Scribner's line by Paramount Publishing, Macmillan's new corporate owner. The three events shook up literary agents and authors who found their projects orphaned or their futures with the houses unclear. Whether the moves were a death knell for quality publishing, as some claimed, or an intelligent way of streamlining money-losing propositions, as others countered, the result was illustrative of publishing's ages-old identity problem: was it a purveyor of culture and ideas or a commercial concern?The competitive marketplace came under the spotlight again in May when the American Booksellers Association (ABA), an organization of independent retail booksellers, filed an antitrust suit against five publishers, claiming that they were offering illegal "secret" deals, prices, and promotions to various chain bookstores and discount outlets. The publishers named were Houghton Mifflin, Penguin USA, St. Martin's Press, Rutledge Hill Press, and Hugh Lauter Levin. The suit grew out of independent retailers' concern over publishers' preferential treatment of chain stores, discount outlets, and warehouse clubs and the independents' doubts over their ability to survive on such unequal terms. In accordance, the suit asked the court for an injunction that would force the publishers to offer their terms to all customers. Lawyers for the publishers filed a motion that argued that the suit should be dismissed since the ABA did not, as a trade organization, have the legal standing to file the lawsuit. (The ABA's counsel argued that the group had "associational standing.") Lawyers for the publishers also asked the court to stay the ABA action pending a resolution of the Federal Trade Commission's 15-year investigation of six other publishers on similar charges.Money did not seem to be a problem for three publishers who offered their authors multimillion-dollar deals. HarperCollins signed best-selling author Jeffrey Archer to a new three-book deal, reportedly in the neighbourhood of $21 million. Alfred A. Knopf agreed to pay Pope John Paul II more than $6 million for English-language publishing rights to his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope. The money would be given to charity. Clive Cussler cashed in with a lucrative deal with Simon & Schuster--$14 million for two books, making him the publisher's highest-paid author.The 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction went to E. Annie Proulx (see BIOGRAPHIES), author of The Shipping News (Scribner's), which also had won the National Book Award in 1993. David Remnick won the prize for nonfiction for Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (Random House). Best-sellers for 1993, as reported by Publishers Weekly, were, in fiction, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller (4,362,352), The Client by John Grisham (2,927,376), and Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend, also by Waller, (1,978,342). In nonfiction the best-sellers were See, I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh (2,587,600), Private Parts by Howard Stern (1,228,298), and Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld (1,106,000). Total book sales in the U.S. rose more than 6% in 1993, to over $18 billion. Beth LevineSee also Literature.This updates the article publishing. Publishing: Year In Review 1994 IntroductionNewspapersMagazinesBooks "Publishing: Year In Review 1994". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 28 Oct. 2016<>. Publishing: Year In Review 1994. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Publishing: Year In Review 1994", accessed October 28, 2016, .

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Attacks on the Press 2010: Internet Analysis Also Available in Español, Français Exposing the Internet's shadowy assailants by Danny O'Brien For the past decade, those who used the Internet to report the news might have assumed that the technological edge was in their favor. But online journalists now face more than just the standard risks to those working in dangerous conditions. They find themselves victims of new attacks unique to the new medium. From online surveillance of writers through customized malicious software to "just in time" censorship that can wipe controversial news sites off the Internet at the most inconvenient moment, the online tools to attack the press are getting smarter and spreading further. ATTACKS ON THE PRESS: 2010 • Main Index • International Institutions Fail to Defend Press Freedom • Exposing the Internet's Shadowy Assailants Africa • Across Continent, Governments Criminalize Investigative Reporting Americas • In Latin America, a Return of Censorship Asia • Partisan Journalism and the Cycle of Repression Europe and Central Asia • On the Runet, Old-School Repression Meets New Middle East and North Africa • Suppression Under the Cover of National Security In March, Andrew Jacobs, a correspondent working for The New York Times in Beijing, peered for the first time into the obscure corners of his Yahoo e-mail account settings. Under the "mail forwarding" tab was an e-mail address he had never seen before. That other e-mail address had been receiving copies of all of his incoming e-mails for months. His account had been hacked. Jacobs' experience as a journalist in China is not unusual. Over the past two years, other members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) have been the victims of a series of targeted computer hacks. In 2009, carefully crafted e-mails from an elaborately constructed false identity--"Pam Bourdon," economics editor of the Straits Times--were sent to their local news assistants via unpublicized e-mail addresses. If the assistants opened an attached document, they were shown exactly what one might expect from the e-mail's cover explanation--a detailed list of dates that "Bourdon" would be available during a Beijing visit. Simultaneously, a hidden program capable of taking over and spying on the recipient's computer would launch. Control of the assistant's computer--and that of anyone who opened the forwarded document--would pass to remote servers controlled by unknown parties. In early 2010, Jacobs and FCCC members suffered another series of hacking attacks on their Yahoo Web-based e-mail accounts. After revealing these attacks in April, the FCCC found its own website brought down in a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) assault, a form of censorship by information overload in which hundreds of thousands of computers are coordinated to send or demand data from a single website, causing its connection to the Internet to choke or its server to crash. The attacking computers are part of a "botnet," ordinary home computers that have been taken over using malware just like the one installed by the Pam Bourdon e-mail, and remotely controlled en masse from afar. When CPJ exchanged e-mails with Jacobs later in the year, he seemed philosophical about the degree of surveillance in which he and his Beijing colleagues worked. "Yes, I feel vulnerable," he wrote, "but I've always assumed my e-mail was being read and that my phones are tapped. ... It's most unfortunate and creepy, but to be honest you just get used to it and communicate accordingly." Surveillance and online censorship interfere with the work of international journalists, but they are direct threats to the lives and liberty of local reporters worldwide. Illegal online surveillance has led to the incarceration of dozens of local journalists, most notably the Chinese editor Shi Tao, whose Yahoo e-mail activity was used as evidence in 2005 to sentence him to 10 years' imprisonment on antistate charges. Roughly half the people on CPJ's 2010 census of imprisoned journalists conducted their work online, either as independent writers or as editors of Internet news sites. The Chinese government has traditionally monitored foreign journalists very closely, from their electronic activity to their phone calls and movements. The state employs the world's most sophisticated technology to watch and suppress its citizens. But governments with lesser reputations for understanding technology are now using increasingly sophisticated tools. During the 2009 election protests in Iran, Western commentators emphasized how Internet-savvy the protesters were, drawing an implicit contrast to the regime. But when Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari was arrested and tortured in Evin Prison, his interrogator was quick to demand his Facebook and e-mail passwords to comb through for contacts. In December of that year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had created a 12-member military unit to track people "spreading lies and insults" about the regime online. Iranian journalists working in Europe have reported hacking attacks similar to those detailed by Jacobs and the FCCC. One exiled journalist described receiving threats containing details that could only have been collected from authorities intercepting instant-message conversations. Another, Manuchehr Honarmand, exiled editor of the website Khandaniha, told the National Journal that his website had been disabled three times by hackers. Omid Habibinia, who worked for the BBC Persian service and state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, had fake Facebook accounts created in his name, in order, he believed, to deceive his sources into communicating with their opponents. The breadth and variety of online attacks on reporters in 2010 demonstrates that they were not the exclusive domain of governments willing or able to spend millions on military cyber-commands. Even the poorest of authoritarian states were able to marshal, or at least benefit from, sophisticated, high-tech attacks against independent media. The most straightforward of cyber-attacks is government-mandated online censorship: the nationwide blocking of media websites. This practice, long established in countries such as Iran and China, has now spread to countries with some of the smallest Internet usage rates in the world. In May, Rwanda's two primary Internet service providers blocked the online version of the tabloid Umuvugizi, the first time the country had blocked any website, according to the Rwandan news agency RNA. The country's Media High Council--which had banned the print edition of the paper, known for its critical coverage of the government--also ruled that publishing Umuvugizi online was unlawful. Afghanistan joined the league of countries censoring their citizens' Internet connections with a law passed in June; it quickly began blocking not just the "immoral" sites that the law had singled out, but independent news outlets such as Benawa. A Pashto-language site, Benawa was blocked after it incorrectly reported that the first vice president, Mohammed Qasim Fahim, had died. (The site corrected the error within a half-hour.) According to the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, only 4.1 percent of Rwanda's inhabitants use the Internet; in Afghanistan, the figure is less than 3.5 percent. Individual Internet access is almost nonexistent in Burma, one of the world's most censored countries, but Internet cafés are very popular. A 2008 CPJ report found that Internet café users were routinely circumventing government blocks to visit banned news sites run by exiled journalists. Now, the government appears to be stepping up high-tech attacks on these exile-run news sites. Three exile outlets--Irrawaddy, the Mizzima news agency, and the Democratic Voice of Burma--came under DDOS attacks in September, coinciding with the anniversary of the 2007 Saffron Revolution, a series of anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks that was eventually quashed by military force. The attacks recalled earlier efforts but far exceeded them in force, Irrawaddy editors told CPJ. The exact origin of the DDOS attacks was unclear, but the effects were not. The exile-run sites, which traditionally provide some of the best firsthand information from the severely restricted nation, were being blocked not just from Burmese audiences but from international viewership as well. In Vietnam, more than a quarter of the relatively youthful population was online in 2010, according to ITU data. The country's communist government has made Internet control one of its priorities, and the sophistication of surveillance and attacks on Vietnamese online media now rivals that of any nation in the world, including China. Websites covering news of the Vietnamese government's bauxite mining policies--a controversial issue because of potential ecological damage and the involvement of Chinese companies--were taken offline in early 2010 by DDOS attacks. The thousands of computers used in this attack were controlled by a large domestic botnet of computers infected by a specific kind of malware. Researchers at Google and McAfee, a computer security company, uncovered the source of this infection. A blog post by McAfee's CTO, George Kurtz, described a Trojan concealed in the software downloaded by many Vietnamese residents to allow them to enter native text accents when using Windows computers. In February, CPJ reported on a direct hacking attack that took down the Vietnamese news site Blogosin. The site's editor, Truong Huy San, who also used the name Huy Duc, soon posted a message on a newly created home page to say that he would stop blogging to focus on personal matters. The attack occurred on the same day as the trial and conviction of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a writer and editorial board member of the online magazine To Quoc. (Thuy was sentenced to three and a half years.) The e-mail accounts of two other bloggers, Pham Thi Hoar and Huy Duc, were hacked at the same time, Human Rights Watch reported. Can governments like Burma and Vietnam really commandeer and coordinate such elaborate methods of silencing online voices? It is difficult, if not impossible, to trace the true origins of DDOS attacks, the targeted hacking of websites, and even the final destination of secretly forwarded e-mails. Just as the Internet's decentralized and interconnected systems allow journalists the ability to speak anonymously and preserve the anonymity of sources, they can also misdirect and shroud the location of malicious actors. The best that advocates can do to trace these attacks is deduce their originators from the nature of the target. When Google revealed in January 2010 that it had experienced a serious security breach--and simultaneously announced that it was ceasing to censor search results on its Chinese search engine--the company implied that Chinese authorities were behind the events. The clue to that connection was in the nature of the targets. Google said that it had "evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists." That pointed to Chinese state involvement, even though some of the "command-and-control" computers involved in directing the attacks turned out to be based in Taiwan. Did the Chinese military or intelligence services target Google, one of the largest technology companies, and then cheekily use stolen computer access on Taiwanese turf for the task? Do the Burmese authorities plan an annual attack on exile media, and then illegally invade computers in India to do the deed, as the logs recorded by Mizzima indicated? Ronald Deibert and Nart Villeneuve of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, in partnership with computer security consultants at the SecDev Group, have conducted some of the most detailed postmortems of online attacks on the press, including the malware sent to Chinese foreign correspondents, and a forthcoming examination of Burma's DDOS incidents. Their academic work firmly states that they cannot connect such events directly to the Chinese or Burmese states. Deibert says the evidence they have collected does show, however, that both attacks utilized techniques and strategies common to petty cyber-criminals, including individual "hackers" who work simply for the thrill of bringing down a highly visible, but vulnerable target. Villeneuve believes that the connection between the operators of these attacks and the regimes that benefit from silencing or intimidating the press doesn't need to be explicit to be useful to both parties. "My sense is that these criminal operations don't always have an interest in repressing free speech," he told CPJ, "but they could see it as advantageous to be on good terms with the state. It's quid pro quo: You attack Tibetan news sites for a while, and perhaps law enforcement will turn a blind eye to you stealing credit cards." The world Villeneuve describes is all too familiar to any journalist, online or off, whose beat encompasses an authoritarian state. Governments do not always have to directly silence the media; they can turn a blind eye as criminal organizations or "patriotic" supporters of the regime do their dirty work for them. Both benefit from suppressing a free press; without independent journalists, corruption and complicity between official powers and shadier forces is unchecked. The Internet is an incredibly powerful tool for journalists working in repressive regimes, but it alone cannot save the press from censorship, surveillance, and abuse. Those who want to shutter the free press are rapidly gaining the resources and the allies they need to take their battle to the online world. Without the counterbalance of technical and logistical support to independent journalists, the Internet may even disproportionately help their opponents. But advocates can work to mitigate the risk and stop third parties from being enlisted in the abuse. Ethiopia has a tiny Internet audience, but its government has one of the world's most oppressive press records. Its security apparatus forced the journalists of the independent newspaper Addis Neger to flee the country before the May 2010 national elections. As it does for hundreds of other exiled journalists, the Internet gave Addis Neger journalists the opportunity to keep publishing and stay in touch with their homeland. But before Addis Neger's editor, Mesfin Negash, had the chance to create an independent website, he had an incomprehensible setback. His Facebook page, containing all of the online contacts that Addis Neger had accumulated, had been deleted by Facebook's own support staff. For reasons that were never made clear, but could well have involved a coordinated set of complaints by opponents of Addis Neger's critical government coverage, Facebook had deleted Negash's account and removed his link to an audience of 3,000 fans in Ethiopia and its diaspora. After CPJ contacted Facebook to emphasize the importance and legitimacy of Addis Neger's work, the company restored contact between Negash and his online supporters. Facebook would not explain the deletion except to say it was "a mistake." Within days, Negash was able to send his readers word of his new online newspaper-in-exile at addisnegeronline.com. It came just in time to report on the May elections. The battle for a free press online is frequently invisible, even for those involved in the conflict. Andrew Jacobs had no idea his e-mail was being monitored until the day he explored his computer settings. Facebook had no knowledge of the vital role its infrastructure was playing in the battle for a free press in Ethiopia. Similarly, many journalists and bloggers making an unsupported foray onto the Internet may have no idea of the threats facing them. CPJ and other advocates have to ensure that journalists are aware of this new generation of attacks--and that everyone knows what they can do to help. Danny O'Brien is CPJ's San Francisco-based Internet advocacy coordinator. He blogs at . Addis Neger, Blogger, Citizen Lab, DDoS, Democratic Voice of Burma, Facebook, FCCC, Google, Hacked, Imprisoned, Internet, Irrawaddy, Mizzima News, Surveillance, Yahoo Attacks on the Press: Journalists caught between terrorists and governments Going it alone: More freelancers means less support, greater danger Covering war for the first time--in Syria

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Pentagon Channel targets troops Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes Evidence of Pentagon Psychological Warfare Operations Against U.S. Citizens Surfaces in Want Ads Mainstream Media is Pentagon's Propaganda Arm Propaganda of The Police State "We provide news and information and focus on the morale of our military as well," says Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of Defense, who oversees the Pentagon Channel. "We don't shy away from the tough stuff," she says, "but we embrace the stories that are uplifting and important for our morale." For example, segments called "Why I Serve" spotlight members of the military and their stories, and a monthly show features military members and their families at Camp Pendleton, a Marine base near San Diego. "The American Veteran," meanwhile, highlights benefits and services for - you guessed it - veterans. Other shows spotlight individual branches of the military. Not everything is happy news, however. In its daily news roundup, the Pentagon Channel's reporters and anchors cover fatal attacks and events such as the recent court-martial of an Army sergeant accused of carrying out an attack against fellow soldiers in Kuwait before the Iraq war. But the spin is invariably pro-military. The on-air staffers "aren't reporters," says Ralph J. Begleiter, professor of communication at the University of Delaware. "That's a hugely important distinction. They're not journalists. They're salesmen." Pentagon Channel senior producer Scott Howe, a veteran of military journalism, puts it another way. "We are an advocate of the Department of Defense and its voice," he says. "We obviously don't air speculation out in the civilian media that questions what the department is doing or its motives." Military-sponsored news reports are hardly anything new. The government even operates an institution called the Defense Information School - motto: "strength through truth" - to train its troops to publish newspapers and produce news shows. What makes the Pentagon Channel different is that the public is getting a look at it through cable systems, ostensibly so reservists and military families can watch it more easily. The channel, which was launched last May, is broadcast at many military bases and on public cable in major cities. It also streams live on the Internet. There are no numbers on how many civilians may watch. Most other Pentagon news services have limited, military-only audiences. The Stars & Stripes, the military's overseas daily newspaper, is available in the US via the Internet. (Once produced by service members, its staff is now mostly civilians.) The Pentagon Channel "raises enormous questions," says Professor Begleiter, who is fighting the military over access to photos of flag-draped caskets of dead soldiers returning from abroad. "It's like any other government organization that puts out press releases or video releases or CD-ROMs or movies." Ms. Barber bristles at the idea that the Pentagon Channel is offering government propaganda. To her, the network is simply offering a form of corporate communication. "You would never tell a CEO that they can't talk directly to their employees. That's just what we're doing with the Pentagon Channel." The difference, critics say, is that the Pentagon is funded by taxpayer money - $6 million to start up the channel - and not stockholders. Matthew T. Felling, media director at the watchdog group Center for Media and Public Affairs, wonders whether it's worth it. "If the question is whether it's wiser for $6 million to [better arm] the troops or get them critical information, that's a tough call," he says. "But that's not the need that the Pentagon Channel is addressing. It isn't getting raw information to them. It's providing reassurance programming." E-MAIL THIS LINK Enter recipient's e-mail: << HOME

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Digitised NRS still has far to go, Ironside accepts Mike Ironside is leaving the National Readership Survey with his legacy writ large - but a big challenge remains for his successor, he tells David Benady. Ironside: oversaw the launch of NRS Padd, which measures online readership and is being expanded to mobiles and tablets Looking tanned and relaxed, fresh from a Caribbean winter break, Mike Ironside, the outgoing chief executive of the National Readership Survey, is in a suitably reflective mood. Sipping an orange juice, the newspaper veteran and for-mer managing director of The Mail on Sunday is happy with where his five-year tenure has led the organisation. "I think I've left the NRS in a really good place, but there's still a hell of a lot to do," he says. There's no indication as to why he is leaving, though the 60-year-old is adamant there are no plans to retire fully: "It would drive my wife mad." Ironside believes he has radically transformed the newspaper and magazine research organisation since taking the helm in January 2009. His most significant move has been the introduction in 2012 of NRS Padd, which adds data about the consumption of newspapers and magazines on PC websites to the survey's traditional measurement of print reading gleaned from face-to-face interviews. Including online data is a significant step that has challenged some of the doom and gloom permeating the publishing industry, Ironside argues. While print circulations may be in decline, Padd shows the news and magazine brands are being read online. He adds: "Everywhere we go, they love the figures. It shows readership has just fragmented into different platforms. The challenge is how do you then monetise that. Luckily, that is [the publishers' challenge] and not mine." Ironside is now working on the launch of a new tool for publishers that will move the NRS on to the next stage in its evolution. In the second half of this year, the NRS will update Padd so it measures readership on mobiles and tablets. Existing Padd data fuses findings from the 36,000 face-to-face readership interviews carried out annually by Ipsos Mori with information about website visits from comScore's panel of 70,000 tracked computer users. The next stage - which has yet to be named - will combine this with comScore data derived from the mobile operator joint venture Weve, which collates information from EE, Vodafone and O2 about users' visits to mobile websites, usage of apps and data on tablet usage. It will cover 13 news brands and 24 magazine brands. Combined with estimates for reading in print and on PC websites, the new data will show publishers' total brand reach. Carat's head of press, Zoe Bale, says Ironside has effectively dragged the NRS into the digital era, but fears it is still a rather old-fashioned institution: "Padd has changed the game - it enables us to sell across channel. But it doesn't break readers down by demographics." So it won't tell you which audiences are visiting different parts of a website, Bale explains. She adds: "Padd is just an overall figure - you don't know which part of the site people are going to." The Guardian has developed new research that gives far greater granularity about audiences and The Telegraph has similar data. However, this does not allow for like-for-like comparisons between titles. Bale says the NRS should aim towards creating data that offers this level of depth. The figures show readership has just fragmented into different platforms. The challenge is how you monetise it But progress has been made. When Ironside joined the NRS, its findings were presented to media agencies and publishers every quarter in printed folios the size of telephone directories. He has overseen the digitisation of the research to make it available via desktops, and implemented training programmes to ensure everyone in the industry understands how to interpret and crunch the data. He also restated the purpose of the NRS as it was being outpaced by the ABC: "The ABC came along and basically stepped into the space that the NRS used to own. For planners and buyers, it is a question of either/or: 'Do I look at readership or circulation?' So the argument was that they were actually complementary. You don't see many circulation figures shopping at Waitrose, but you do see ABC1s. We are all about people data and it is how you use that to the benefit of your media planning and sales approach." Although Ironside has considerable experience in newspapers, the man leaving the NRS team and a £5 million research budget in June admits he was an accidental boss. He says: "I didn't intend to do this. It was never part of my agenda. I really enjoyed it, and since it [my departure] has all become more public, a number of people have had conversations with me." As for his next move? "I'm just going to take it as it comes, but I haven't got a plan as such." But he is effusive in his praise of his successor, Simon Redican, who will join the organisation from the Radio Advertising Bureau, where he is the managing director. "I think he's really well-placed and a good choice. He is enthusiastic about this role," Ironside says, adding: "It's a big challenge because we have done a lot out there and we have been very well-rewarded by the industry in terms of recognition for doing that." NRS Padd: Daily Mail titles command highest print and digital readership in UK Quality newsbrands enjoy readership highs in 2013 'You can't just do words,' says Trinity Mirror's Rupert Howell

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Goodbye Globe, hello global New York Times By Jack Shafer March 1, 2013 Tags: boston globe | mike bloomberg | New York Times | newspapers | sulzbergers The New York Times Co. has been shedding its non-core assets, smoothing its cost structure, strengthening its balance sheet and rebalancing its portfolio with such haste over the past two years that only a cruel and unusual press critic would urge it to quadruple those efforts. I am that cruel and unusual press critic. The company was a diversified media outfit 10 years ago, owning eight television stations; two radio stations; 16 newspapers in addition to the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune; and a slew of websites. It had a market cap of about $7 billion. Today, the emaciated operation is worth a notch over $1 billion on a good day. The television stations were liquidated in 2006, but the most aggressive dismantling began 20 months ago, as piece by piece the Times Co. steadily broke off chunks of itself and put them up for sale. To Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp went the About Group for $300 million and to Halifax Media Holdings its Regional Media group of newspapers for about $145 million. The company shed its stake in the Fenway Sport Group (Boston Red Sox) in two installments for a total of $180 million and sold off its share in the job-search engine Indeed.com for $164 million. The stripping of the old media conglomerate to its Times-ian essence - the Times itself and the rebranded International Herald Tribune as the International New York Times - will be complete when it finds a buyer for the Boston Globe and its allied properties. One research analyst predicts the Globe could go for $175 million provided the Times Co. covers the pension liabilities. On the cost-cutting side, the Times, which has repeatedly waved wads of buyout cash at its staff to reduce headcount, most recently persuading an additional 30 of its 1,100-plus journalists to leave the building permanently. (Disclosure: One of those departees is Jim Roberts, who just became my boss's boss at Reuters.) But these efforts at getting smaller aren't guaranteed to save the company. The Times's business model shifted last year, as the newspaper began to reap more revenue from its subscribers than its advertisers, reversing the ancient daily newspaper equation. This shift is less a marker of the growth of subscriber revenue ($781 million last year) than it is of the ongoing decline in ad revenue ($700 million last year) that is plaguing the Times and other newspapers. Print advertising, long in decline at the Times Co. newspapers, dropped again in 2012, which is true of the entire industry. The growth in digital Times subscriptions isn't even a half-full glass, as Henry Blodget recently explained at the Business Insider: "[D]igital simply generates much less revenue per reader than the print business." How much less? By Blodget's calculations, the average print subscriber to the Times generates about $1,100 of revenue a year ‑ versus $175 for the average digital subscriber. Because there's no realistic reason to believe that print advertising will ever come roaring back, and even less reason to think that declining newspaper readership across all age groups will reverse, we may already have experienced a kind of "peak Times," as measured by the newspaper's financial footprint. Blodget's crystal ball is not as perfect as it is provocative. When he ran the Times Co.'s financials back in late 2008, he predicted that it would default on its debt, a theme that Michael Hirschorn promptly repeated in the Atlantic. And the Times Co. still stands. So keep that in mind. To be fair to the Times Co., nearly every newspaper company in the developed world has played defense since the beginning of the Great Recession by selling assets and cutting staff. But that caveat aside, many of the Times Co.'s major wounds are self-inflicted. In the previous decade, the company spent more than $2 billion - about twice its current value - on a stock buyback, something Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the company since 1997, considers "the stupidest thing" he's done. With a developer, Sulzberger also built a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper, the New York Times Building, as its new headquarters in 2007 at a cost of about $612 million to the company. Caught stark raving naked in the financial crisis of 2009, the Times Co. had to borrow $250 million at 14 percent interest from Mexican plutocrat (and Times stockholder) Carlos Slim Helú. In 2009, it also had to make a $225 million sale-leaseback deal (with an option to buy) on its space in the Times Building. The first year's rent: $24 million. Even given all that, the Times Co. crisis isn't immediate - thanks to the asset-sell-off - merely pending. It has only two alternatives I can imagine, neither of them savory for the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which has owned the controlling shares in the company since 1896. It can continue to divest, downsize, and retrench its way to profitability or it can pass the newspaper on to a billionaire who possesses the desire to sustain it, a goal even Times haters must support on some level. The obvious billionaire, who has expressed such an interest in the past, is Michael Bloomberg, the brilliant entrepreneur behind Bloomberg LP., the mayor of New York City, and the self-appointed Caesar of America. Bloomberg could swallow the Times for breakfast and not be hungry for another acquisition until lunch. Say what you will about Bloomberg, and I have, he runs a decent media commissary that serves journalistic nutrition in data packages, in news stories, on TV, in opinion pages and in magazines. The members of the Ochs-Sulzberger family (pdf), who haven't seen a dividend check from the Times Co. since 2009, may eventually surrender family solidarity in exchange for hard cash - as did the San Francisco Chronicle's de Young family, the Los Angeles Times's Chandler family, the Boston Globe's Taylor family and the Wall Street Journal's Barcroft Bancroft family - and sell to the highest bidder. The parallels between Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones, the Journal's parent company, and the possible purchase of the Times by Bloomberg aren't perfect. But they do line up, with both newspapers ceasing to be ATMs for the families that control them, both finding themselves the lust objects of billionaires, both experiencing turnover in the top editor and CEO slots, and both losing their footing. If the Times Co. avoids Bloomberg's digestive tract and decides to go it alone, it should consult the business strategies of the founder of its dynasty, Adolph Ochs, who competed in an even more bloodthirsty newspaper market at the turn of the last century against the likes of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Media scholar and historian W. Joseph Campbell tells me in an interview that Ochs bought the New York Times at its nadir in 1896 "and pursued a slow, uncertain trajectory toward dominance." "Ochs succeeded in part because he remained focused," Campbell continues. "He didn't become a press lord. He bought two newspapers in Philadelphia in the early 20th century, but didn't hold them for long." Ochs left the media-chain building, newspaper partisanship and campaigning for high office to Hearst, he tells me. If Adolph were in charge and sensed the newspaper's future at risk, I'd wager that the first thing he would vacate is the trophy building (pdf) his great-grandson built. Publishing empires - Times Mirror, Tribune, Hearst, Time Warner - have long expressed their oversize egos by building towering palaces to demonstrate their cultural dominance. The translucent, open-air Times Building was designed to convey "transparency, reflection and adaptability" - a glass house from which stones are tossed daily - to symbolize light and openness as opposed to the industrial grubbiness of its former West 43rd Street fortress, as Aurora Wallace writes in her 2012 book, Media Capital: Architecture and Communications in New York City. However much sense the Times Building made as a symbol or an investment when architect Renzo Piano first sketched it, there is no way the diminished Times Co. can afford such a palatial home. At present, the company occupies 20-plus floors of the 52-story tower, as well as its cellar. I've never wanted the gift of flight as much as when I've walked the boulevards the company calls its corridors. You could play touch football in the newsroom and hardly disturb a soul, in part because it's so airy and in part because there are so few people there, especially in the newsroom. After moving to much cheaper digs, something more startup-style than four-star hotel, Adolph would fire Arthur Jr. - not out of spite or anger but because he's made too many wrong calls to justify his $5.9 million salary. (I won't even discuss the $24 million golden parachute Sulzberger gave outgoing CEO Janet Robinson in December 2011.) Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s plan to launch a Portuguese edition of the Times to take advantage of the upcoming Olympics and World Cup in Brazil seems to have gone nowhere, and thanks to the paper's exposes of the Chinese ruling class, the paper's Chinese edition is routinely blocked from the view of ordinary readers in China. Yet Sulzberger hasn't blown every call: You've got to admire the pay wall he and the company have built, which has attracted 640,000 paid digital subscriptions, and his ongoing commitment to his family's ideals about "quality" journalism. But if a family heir fails - and who not on his payroll would say he has not? - then the heir must go. I'm agnostic about new CEO Mark Thompson's prospects. He has not been at the company long enough to do anything but cut staff and attempt to sell the Boston Globe again. But in hiring the former head of the broadcast- and Web-oriented BBC, the company remained consistent with the strategy the Times Co. started pushing last year to extend the Times brand in mobile, video, social engagement and new global markets. As Joe Pompeo wrote in August, that strategy sadly but wisely leaves print behind. What Thompson and his company need are new sources of revenue. A deep, lucrative deal with a broadcaster like ABC News or the NBC channels would help, and as a former BBC-er, Thompson is probably already on it. CNBC reportedly paid the Wall Street Journal about $15 million a year for its branded news. Yet it's hard to imagine that any of the networks are going to be that eager to help the Times build its video brand if the Times intends to eventually build out an independent presence on the Web and compete with them. Likewise, anybody who is counting on Web advertising revenue for a boost hasn't been paying attention to the surplus of inventory available and the falling prices. The core audience for the lucrative print Times, which continues to subscribe no matter how high the company sets the price, is dying off. The crisis the Times Co. faces is not unprecedented. As Wallace points out in Media Capital, the newspaper business has always been in crisis, from the yellow journalism debates of the 1890s, which the Times eventually won, to the advent of radio and television, to the political heat that Richard Nixon brought, to the rise of the Internet. It's usually the industry that does the fretting, she writes, and not the citizenry. The good thing about crises, she writes, is that they give license to those who want to do something radical and daring. Selling to Bloomberg would be radical and daring, and perhaps the most elegant solution. But if the Sulzberger family intends to carry on, it is going to need better ideas than I can summon. Beyond urging them to do everything cheaper without disturbing the paper's mystique, beyond adding readers and selling more ads, which is what they presumably have been trying to do for a century-plus, what can we exhort them to do? Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr.'s father saved the paper in the 1960s by turning the paper's news focus away from New York City, and by plundering the suburbs for readers. He and his editors made a similar migration in the 1980s and 1990s, as the paper maintained its New York-centric view but catered to readers across the country. I wouldn't want to take the bet that making the next step ‑ going global ‑ will really make a difference. I give advice only if the subject agrees not to take it. What's your policy? Send to and my Twitter feed, which writes checks in the evening that the morning can't cover. Sign up for email notifications of new Shafer columns (and other occasional announcements). Subscribe to this RSS feed for new Shafer columns. PHOTO: The New York Times building is seen in New York, February 7, 2013. The New York Times Co on Thursday reported higher quarterly revenue as more people paid for its digital newspapers, and its shares jumped 11 percent. REUTERS/Eric Thayer Unsolicited advice for Jeff Zucker, CNN's new boss Next Post " Does anyone care about newspaper ombudsmen? No comments so far Jack Shafer is a Reuters columnist covering the press and politics. Any opinions expressed here are the author's own. Reuters Analysis & Opinion Vladimir Putin creates a new Praetorian Guard By Jason Fields Prince, Bowie and Haggard: Icons? Legends? What's the difference? By Lynn Stuart Parramore What to read into a growing alliance between China and Pakistan By Anja Manuel Americans are helping eight million people break this bad law By Uzoamaka Emeka Nzelibe The next Chernobyl may be intentional By Bennett Ramberg

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| NETWORK | | SERVICES | POLLS Collaborative Reporting Ethnic Media Headlines Ethnic Media Network Growing Old, Growing Poor NAM en Español Original NAM Content The Movement to Expand Health Care Access Summit Sheds Light on Voter, Candidate Disconnect Over Environment Story tools AResize Share and Email New America Media, News Report, Valeria Fernández, PHOENIX, Az. -- Voters across the Southwest and Arizona say this election year they want to see action on conservation and preservation of the environment, though the issue doesn't appear to be high on candidates' list of priorities. "This is really something that unifies people across this region, a basic belief that there's a value to the region's natural resources which is worth protecting," said Dave Metz, one of the authors of the 2012 Colorado College State of the Rockies Conservation in the West poll. "That sentiment plays into their view of how the environment and the economy interact on the West," added the pollster. Metz spoke at an environmental media summit convened by New America Media to shed light on attitudes among minority and mainstream voters on issues like environmental protection and conservation.The new poll shows that Latino voters in six inland western states have strong pro-conservationist views, in some cases stronger than their white counterparts.Of the 336 Latino voters polled, 87 percent said they believe it is possible to protect land and water while still preserving a strong economy and good jobs, compared to 78 percent of the general public. Most of those polled agreed that enacting preservation measures and laws protecting the environment would not have a damaging effect on the economy as suggested by politicians that oppose such regulation."The poll is a call to action from the audience saying we care about these issues, and we as journalist have to respond as to how we want to cover it," said Sandy Close, executive director of New America Media.Despite the poll's results, several panelists highlighted the disconnect between public opinion and action coming from the federal and local level."From the armchair people think environmental issues are important: 'Yes, we can have jobs and we can have our wildlife and our protective areas,'" said Matt Skroch, executive director of the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, which focuses on the protection of public lands. "Those opinions, for whatever reason -- money and politics, special interests, and lobbying -- aren't actually making an impact on the way our decision makers are doing their job."Skroch said that the result of that disconnect has posed major "threats to our natural heritage here in Arizona today" through bills in the Legislature like HCR 2004.If the measure goes to the ballot and wins, all public lands and parks would be under the exclusive authority of the state's government.Skroch said the bill was "clearly unconstitutional" but that he welcomed the debate if it goes to the polls.The issue of renewable energy was also a key part of the summit that was attended by over a dozen members of the ethnic media representing Latino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Native American and African-American communities across Arizona.Andy Bessler, the southwest regional organizer for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal to Clean Energy & Community Partnerships said renewable energy is becoming a campaign issue, but is not being framed appropriately for conservative voters.Rather than focusing on efforts to curb global warming, says Bessler, the issue needs to be framed in the context of energy security and diversity. Dave Richins, program director for the Sonoran Institute's Sun Corridor Legacy Project, spoke about the importance of maintaining habitable communities in urban areas in states like Arizona."It's important to tell the story about land tenure in Arizona," he said. "[And to] understand the difference between national parks, and the bureau of land management lands, between wilderness areas and state trust lands"Also at the summit were a variety of stakeholders on the issue of environmental preservation, from groups focused on the preservation of the Colorado river to water rights in the Navajo and Hopi nations."Latinos are concerned about these issues," said Sal Rivera, from Nuestro Rio, a 13,000-member strong organization working to protect the Colorado River. Rivera acknowledged, however, that there are challenges, especially in Arizona, where most of the debate has focused on the polarization over immigration legislation and enforcement. "We are focusing on the importance of job creation and thousands of jobs that depend on the river, focusing on the fact that the river is changing dramatically," he said.Most panelists agreed about the need to connect the larger issue of preservation to the daily health and well being of voters. Wahleah Johns, co-director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition Transition, gave the issue immediacy.Johns said there was growing concern among members of the Navajo Nation about Senate Bill 2109, introduced last February by Arizona senators Jon Kyl and John McCain. The bill includes three water projects that would bring drinking water to the Navajo and Hopi reservations in exchange for the tribes waiving their water claims to the Little Colorado River."They're pushing this bill on our nation in exchange for keeping the Navajo generating station open to keep more coal mining for the next 50 years or more," said Johns. "Looking into the future, I feel our generation is going to be dealing with the debt of the decisions that are being made today and 40 years ago."The Little Colorado River is considered a major source of life for Native-Americans in the area and also a sacred site. Currently, while there is a power generating station on these lands, over 18,000 homes in the Navajo Nation do not have electricity and 50 percent are without running water. "When I come to Phoenix I can't help but think about what we traded in for you all, for this city to grow 30 years ago. There's an inequity in this state that is built on the resources of our communities," Johns said. "It needs to be recognized by leadership in the state. How do we move forward to a path that is sustainable, that is equitable? Whether you are Latino, Navajo or Hopi." Share and Email | Print | Comments You must be logged tin to leave a comment Disclaimer: Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of New America Media. NAM reserves the right to edit or delete comments. Once published, comments are visible to search engines and will remain in their archives. If you do not want your identity connected to comments on this site, please refrain from commenting or use a handle or alias instead of your real name. Cultural Stigma Hurts Asian American Teens with Depression 中文 Editor's Note: The following article is part one of a three-part series on... Overcoming Depression: A Young FilAm Shares His Experience I battled major depression and anxiety since I was a child and through my teenage... Services/Advertise New America Media, 209 9th Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94103

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Conrad Black's Example WASHINGTON - Conrad Black is back in Canada. He controlled the third-largest string of English-language newspapers in the world before he became entoiled with the United States Department of Justice. For his friends it was a terrible loss. We missed him and we have missed his newspapers. He made the Telegraph papers in London a beacon of civilized discourse and a sound source of news. They provided better information on the high-jinks of Bill Clinton than any news source here, save the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and, ahem, The American Spectator. The Telegraph papers were great newspapers and his other publications, for instance, Spectator of London, were eminently civilized too. They still are, though they miss Conrad's journalistic touch. He got in a corporate imbroglio that became a nightmare for him. My comrade in arms Seth Lipsky of the New York Sun understands the ins and outs of it far better than I and claims Conrad was innocent. Who am I to doubt Lipsky? He knows the law. He studied the charges against Conrad, and has pronounced him blameless. Everything Lipsky says has the ring of truth to it. Conrad's problems began with minority shareholders in his company, Hollinger International, complaining about his expenses. Rather imprudently Conrad submitted himself to their investigations. They invited one Richard Breeden in as special investigator eight years ago. Breeden proved to be a man with an ax to grind. The product of his ax work was to charge Conrad with stealing more than $400 million from the corporation. By the time federal prosecutors took over the case that number was down to $80 million in charges. In court the figure was whittled down to $60 million. Finally, after years of dickering, Conrad at great expense to the government, to Hollinger, and to himself stood guilty of a fraud charge of but $285,000. Through it all Conrad went to trial on 13 counts of which the jury acquitted him of nine counts. The most serious of those 13 counts were charges of racketeering and tax evasion. Conrad beat them all. The jury convicted Conrad on obstruction for obeying an eviction order from Hollinger and taking his property from his erstwhile office. Tom Wolfe summed up the jury's behavior: "They had to get him for something." It is a long way from $400 million to $285,000. The other three charges on which he was found guilty involved "honest services fraud." He went to prison on this charge and on the obstruction charge, but he hired a gifted lawyer, Miguel Estrada, who took the charges to the Supreme Court and got the honest services law overturned. That is about the only thing I can say that was good about the federal government's proceedings against Conrad. We can thank him for eliminating the misuse of "the honest services" clause, but boy did it cost him. He spent a fortune on lawyers, lost his liberty, and his papers are all gone. Last Friday, Conrad left his Florida prison and flew back to Canada. He will not be allowed back in the United States due to his conviction. He has been one of America's most ardent defenders, but his days here are no more. He is up in Toronto sipping white wine, living in his handsome mansion surrounded by his family, and enjoying his freedom. How will he spend his time? My guess is that, with a few comforts added in, he will spend it much as he spent his time in prison. He will write. While in prison he finished two major books and wrote innumerable book reviews and columns for the general press. He will lecture and travel. He will speak out on prison reform, most notably the reform of the draconian system that nailed him. Once the federal system focuses its attention on a private citizen, he is almost helpless to thwart it. Conrad came close but he missed and spent almost 42 months in the clink. During his incarceration I kept in contact with him as did others. He maintained a vast correspondence. His spirit was amazing. He never complained. He was not spiteful. He was always upbeat, indeed jaunty. He was astoundingly resourceful both in his defense, which he took a hand in, and in his wide-ranging journalism. Bill Clinton envisaged a fate for me not unlike Conrad Black's, for my pursuit of Bill in the 1990s. I am not sure I would have measured up.

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Last modified 1415 days ago (Dec. 13, 2012) Return to Peabody Gazette-Bulletin Print museum under new guidance PHS alum returns to head project By SUSAN MARSHALL Peabody Historical Society members are excited that 1957 Peabody High School graduate George "Wes" Bentz thinks one of the great things about his retirement is being able to return to Peabody with some regularity and take charge of the Peabody Print Museum. The museum began as a retirement project of former Peabody Gazette-Bulletin editor Bill Krause, in the mid-1990s. During those years, many small town newspapers were merging or being sold to neighboring publishers and much of the aging equipment that languished in the back rooms of those newspaper offices was headed for the scrap pile. However, Krause and a friend, Bill Jackson of Wichita, wanted to preserve it, get it up and running, and have a place to show people how newspapers were printed long ago. Word of Krause's museum project got out and newspaper owners across the state offered him their printing relics. Some were still capable of doing the work they were meant to do, others would only be good for parts, but Krause took all that he could get. Krause had a "band of guys" who took trucks and trailers to small town newspaper offices to retrieve the equipment. A time or two, the museum doors had to be removed from their hinges and a ramp fashioned to get the machinery over the threshold. An extensive collection was assembled. Eventually, Krause's health failed and he was no longer able to work on the project. For a brief time twin brothers Josh and Jacob Marshall both knowledgeable about old printing techniques, moved to Peabody and hoped to get the museum going. However, after a couple of years, they also gave up and moved on. "Wes's experience and interest in the printing business is just what we need," said Carmen South, historical society board member and PHS classmate of Bentz. "We also were recently contacted by Derek Hamm, assistant professor of graphic design at Tabor College. He has an interest in the older printing methods and wants to have his students come in and work with the equipment." Bentz and his wife, Shirley, are renting the former LeRoy Mosiman home south of town and they return to Peabody from St. Louis, Mo., as their schedules allow. Bentz worked in the Peabody Gazette office from sixth grade to his freshman year in high school. He worked first for Dwight Hinshaw and then for Bill Krause after Krause bought the Peabody Gazette in 1954. "It was something I really loved doing," he said. "Of course, I knew nothing about the newspaper or printing business and I have no idea why Duane Hinshaw ever hired me, but it was something I never forgot." "I had asthma pretty bad and I couldn't work in the fields or barn with my dad," he said. "While the other guys my age were driving tractors and combines, I was running presses, casters, and metal saws. Hinshaw paid me $4 a week and it was the best job I ever had." Bentz has been spending his time organizing the equipment and re-grouping it into a working museum for visitors. "We will be getting rid of some of the 'extra' machines that are duplicates, not in working condition, or are a different make or size and would not be good for spare parts," he added. "There are five or six machines that no one knows how to operate. We will be researching these as we go along to find out just what we have." Bentz said they have enough spare linotype parts to last quite a long time. "The presses are another matter," he said. "At some point we will need to find other machines or parts." Bentz said the ultimate goal, besides preserving the equipment and getting it running, is to make the museum a hands-on experience. "We'd like for people to be able to enjoy a working museum," he said. "It would be great for visitors to actually see the steps needed for printing a page or a simple sign." Hamm shares Bentz's goals and enthusiasm. He would like his students to be considered a resource for the museum. "I have many students with an interest in the older printing items. We can arrange for them to get credit for work they do at the museum and at the same time they will get a good background in the history of their craft," he said. Bentz and Hamm have developed a list of things volunteers could do to help progress at the museum move forward. "We could use some carpenter, electrical, and painting help," Bentz said. "And we need some volunteers to learn a bit about printing so they can repair or run presses, melters, saws, Linotypes, the addressographs, and other equipment. Others can learn to sort and put away type, slugs, matrixes, etc. or learn to set type." He would like to train local individuals so that someone always is on hand for demonstrations. "Peabody has a wonderful collection of equipment," he said. "It would be a shame for it to be hidden away and never used. I'd like to see to it that doesn't happen." For more information or to volunteer, contact Bentz at (314) 704-7901 or . Last modified Dec. 13, 2012

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Commerece Journalism Professor Analyzes Role of Political Cartoons, Social Media During Syrian Crisis Leave a reply This entry was posted on April 5, 2014 By Mike Krings Political cartoons aren't just for newspapers any more. A University of Kansas professor and her students analyzed how political cartoons were presented on Facebook during the Syrian uprising, the themes they explored, reactions to them and what they can tell us about social media use in Syria. When Syrians rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, the government began a severe crackdown against its people. Hyunjin Seo, assistant professor of journalism, and doctoral students Goran S. Ghafour and Ren-Whei Han archived and analyzed 164 political cartoons from the Comic4Syria Facebook page, a site devoted to posting cartoons from professional and amateur illustrators about the conflict and the suffering of the Syrian people. The researchers examined cartoons from July 24, 2012, when the page opened, until Nov. 23, 2013.Seo and her co-authors analyzed the images to understand more about the topics of the cartoons, the frames they used, characters depicted in them, how they depicted men, women and children and which types of images drew the most reaction from viewers. Examining political cartoons from Syria in a digital age served several purposes, as social media has allowed more people to share political opinions freely. The medium is also undergoing transition from being the domain of newspapers, especially in countries such as Syria with significant media censorship. "As the platform has become more democratic, I think there are a lot more studies that can be done about the role of political cartoons," Seo said. "Their use in Syria was very interesting as the landscape of Syrian opposition is very complicated." The researchers analyzed the structure of the cartoons to determine common features. Of the 164 images studied, 81 percent featured Arabic only, while 11 percent featured English only and about 8 percent featured both Arabic and English. Nearly half, 47 percent, of the cartoons featured both male and female characters, 39 percent featured only male characters, and only 1.8 percent featured only female characters. The rest featured characters whose gender was unclear or did not feature human characters at all. Of the cartoons featuring human characters, 60 percent featured only adults, while 28 percent featured adults and children, while 3.7 featured only children, and the remainder were characters whose age group was unclear. Syrian cartoons averaged more than 243 "likes," with the highest number of likes reaching 1,531. Comments made on the images averaged 11.77, ranging from zero to 110. The images were also shared frequently, including one that was shared 3,237 times. The researchers examined frames used in the cartoons and identified six: freedom, oppression, international influence, hypocrisy, media influence and sectarianism. Oppression was by far the most common frame, at 52 percent, while freedom and international influence followed at 14 and 12 percent, respectively. The president's regime was by far the most common topic, featured in 89 percent of analyzed comics. Mental torture and physical torture were also common, featured in more than 50 percent of the cartoons as well. The most common topics and frames did not necessarily draw the most viewer reaction. "There were cartoons examining media effects and how they were distorting facts and supporting al-Assad's propaganda," Seo said. "Those were the cartoons that received the most likes." Cartoons with a hypocrisy or oppression frame followed media influence in most likes generated. Freedom and sectarianism received the fewest. Media-influence cartoons were also the most shared, followed by international influence and hypocrisy. Those patterns held true for cartoons that generated the most comments as well. Media influence was once again at the top. In terms of cartoon topics, martyrdom was the most effective, generating more likes and comments than others such as mental torture, al-Assad's regime and others. However, in terms of which topics were more likely to be shared, mental torture rated the highest, followed by martyrdom, international influence and the Syrian regime. When examined by types of characters featured, those with political leaders of other countries received the most likes, comments and shares. Seo and her co-authors will present their research in May at the International Communication Association Conference in Seattle. The research is part of an ongoing line of work in which Seo has analyzed the role social media can play in social change. She has studied social media use during the Arab Spring, Twitter images used in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Internet connectivity in the Middle East. She is beginning a new grant-funded study in which she'll analyze the Facebook use of al-Assad and opposition forces during the ongoing uprising and civil war. She was also selected as an emerging scholar by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in recognition of her work. The analysis of Comic4Syria images not only adds to visual communication studies, it helps provide a deeper look at how Syrians viewed the uprising, especially important in a region of the world in which media censorship is common practice and crackdowns were common against both Syrian and foreign journalists. "Social media has emerged as an important channel through which Syrian civilians document the Syrian revolution and people around the world get a glimpse of what was happening in Syria," the authors wrote. "By analyzing political cartoons posted to the Comic4Syria Facebook page, this research helps provide a more nuanced understanding of digital media-facilitated communication practices in Syria." Mike Krings is a public affairs officer in the KU News Service. ← Real-Time Marketing vs Real-Time Content: Do You Know the Difference? Making Social Media Secure → ------------------------------------------------------=> Social Networks Adapt to Prevent Cyberbullying=> Expert Social Media Marketing Tips=> Why Your Restaurant Needs Social Media=> How Social Media Has Changed Politics: It's Not Just...=> Cyfe Is The Dashboard For The Rest of Us CoolSocialCareers.com © 2016 The Social Media Monthly. All Rights Reserved. | Website Designed and Developed by B Two Design

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Militants Reportedly Overrun Tikrit, As 500,000 Flee Mosul By Bill Chappell Jun 11, 2014 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email A cellphone photo shows an armored vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces in flames Tuesday, after hundreds of militants launched a major assault in Mosul. Some 500,000 Iraqis have fled their homes in the large city since militants took control. Originally published on June 11, 2014 10:32 pm This post was updated at 10:30 p.m. ET As refugees stream out of Mosul after the Iraqi city was captured by forces of the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, NPR's Deborah Amos passes along reports that Tikrit, the hometown of the late dictator Saddam Hussein, has also been overrun. The Associated Press says "soldiers and security forces [in Tikrit have] abandoned their posts and yielded ground once controlled by U.S. forces." According to AP: "There were no reliable estimates of casualties or the number of insurgents involved, though several hundred gunmen were in Tikrit and more were fighting on the outskirts, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council of nearby Samarra." The latest news comes amid reports that a half-million people have been streaming out of Mosul, which was seized by Islamist militants this week. ISIS militants took over much of the city after Iraqi security forces seemingly abandoned their posts. In a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council called the moves by al-Qaida-affiliated militants in Iraq "an attempt to destabilize the country and region." "The members of the Security Council reiterated that no act of violence or terrorism can reverse a path towards peace, democracy and reconstruction in Iraq, underpinned by the rule of law and respect for human rights, which is supported by the people and the Government of Iraq and the international community," the Security Council said. This morning, hundreds of people were filing past checkpoints on the road from Mosul to reach northern Iraq - a sight witnessed by NPR's Alice Fordham, who reported on the takeover for Morning Edition. While ISIS has previously taken over smaller territories and towns in Iraq, Mosul is a hub of commercial activity and has a population of about 2 million. It was a hotly contested city during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. "This is a really key, strategic city," Fordham says, "and I don't think anyone was expecting it to fall so fast, so completely." There are reports that the ISIS fighters might now be heading toward Baghdad. The group might also gain control of a crucial oil refinery. A report by the International Organization for Migration says an estimated 500,000 people have fled Mosul since hostilities began Saturday morning. The Iraqi security forces left the city Monday. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "has asked Parliament to declare a state of emergency," the BBC reports. "This is a hugely symbolic victory for the most extreme, violent and sectarian terrorist group in the Arab world today," Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution tells NPR's Amos. Riedel says the takeover raises big questions about the U.S.-trained Iraqi military, and that any response isn't as straightforward as building infrastructure or training soldiers. "It's not a question of giving them airplanes or Humvees," he says. "It's a question of building a political state to which they feel some kind of loyalty. America can provide Humvees. America can't build a state for them." A statement from the White House press secretary Wednesday night said the U.S. "will stand with Iraqi leaders across the political spectrum as they forge the national unity necessary to succeed in the fight against ISIL." Noting that Mosul is Iraq's third-largest city, the Christian Science Monitor reports that "the scale of the catastrophe, as troops loyal to Mr. Maliki flood north and troops controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government rush west and south, can't be overstated. Chicago is the United States' third-largest city. Munich is Germany's. Osaka is Japan's." The figure of 500,000 people displaced in Mosul eclipses the 480,000 people that the U.N. recently estimated had fled Iraq's Anbar province in the first six months of this year.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . View the discussion thread. © 2016 WVXU

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Send Page To a Friend How Truth Slips Down The Memory Hole John Pilger, applies to current events Orwell's description in '1984' of how the Ministry of Truth consigned embarrassing truth to a memory hole. He highlights the killing of a Palestinian cameraman by the Israelis as an example of how "we" are trained to look on the rest of the world as quite unlike ourselves: useful or expendable. By John Pilger 0726/07 "ICH " -- -- -One of the leaders of demonstrations in Gaza calling for the release of the BBC reporter Alan Johnston was a Palestinian news cameraman, Imad Ghanem. On 5 July, he was shot by Israeli soldiers as he filmed them invading Gaza. A Reuters video shows bullets hitting his body as he lay on the ground. An ambulance trying to reach him was also attacked. The Israelis described him as a "legitimate target". The International Federation of Journalists called the shooting "a vicious and brutal example of deliberate targeting of a journalist". At the age of 21, he has had both legs amputated. Dr David Halpin, a British trauma surgeon who works with Palestinian children, emailed the BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen. "The BBC should report the alleged details about the shooting," he wrote. "It should honour Alan [Johnston] as a journalist by reporting the facts, uncomfortable as they might be to Israel." He received no reply. The atrocity was reported in two sentences on the BBC online. Along with 11 Palestinian civilians killed by the Israelis on the same day, Alan Johnston's now legless champion slipped into what George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four called the memory hole. (It was Winston Smith's job at the Ministry of Truth to make disappear all facts embarrassing to Big Brother.) While Alan Johnston was being held, I was asked by the BBC World Service if I would say a few words of support for him. I readily agreed, and suggested I also mention the thousands of Palestinians abducted and held hostage. The answer was a polite no; and all the other hostages remained in the memory hole. Or, as Harold Pinter wrote of such unmentionables: "It never happened. Nothing ever happened... It didn't matter. It was of no interest." The media wailing over the BBC's royal photo-shoot fiasco and assorted misdemeanours provide the perfect straw man. They complement a self-serving BBC internal inquiry into news bias, which dutifully supplied the right-wing Daily Mail with hoary grist that the corporation is a left-wing plot. Such shenanigans would be funny were it not for the true story behind the facade of elite propaganda that presents humanity as useful or expendable, worthy or unworthy, and the Middle East as the Anglo-American crime that never happened, didn't matter, was of no interest. The other day, I turned on the BBC's Radio 4 and heard a cut-glass voice announce a programme about Iraqi interpreters working for "the British coalition forces" and warning that "listeners might find certain descriptions of violence disturbing". Not a word referred to those of "us" directly and ultimately responsible for the violence. The programme was called Face the Facts. Is satire that dead? Not yet. The Murdoch columnist David Aaronovitch, a warmonger, is to interview Blair in the BBC's "major retrospective" of the sociopath's rule. Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four lexicon of opposites pervades almost everything we see, hear and read now. The invaders and destroyers are "the British coalition forces", surely as benign as that British institution, St John Ambulance, who are "bringing democracy" to Iraq. BBC television describes Israel as having "two hostile Palestinian entities on its borders", neatly inverting the truth that Israel is actually inside Palestinian borders. A study by Glasgow University says that young British viewers of TV news believe Israelis illegally colonising Palestinian land are Palestinians: the victims are the invaders. "The great crimes against most of humanity", wrote the American cultural critic James Petras, "are justified by a corrosive debasement of language and thought... [that] have fabricated a linguistic world of terror, of demons and saviours, of axes of good and evil, of euphemisms" designed to disguise a state terror that is "a gross perversion" of democracy, liberation, reform, justice. In his reinauguration speech, George Bush mentioned all these words, whose meaning, for him, is the dictionary opposite. It is 80 years since Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, predicted a pervasive "invisible government" of corporate spin, suppression and silence as the true ruling power in the United States. That is true today on both sides of the Atlantic. How else could America and Britain go on such a spree of death and mayhem on the basis of stupendous lies about non-existent weapons of mass destruction, even a "mushroom cloud over New York"? When the BBC radio reporter Andrew Gilligan reported the truth, he was pilloried and sacked along with the BBC's director general, while Blair, the proven liar, was protected by the liberal wing of the media and given a standing ovation in parliament. The same is happening again over Iran, distracted, it is hoped, by spin that the new Foreign Secretary David Miliband is a "sceptic" about the crime in Iraq when, in fact, he has been an accomplice, and by unctuous Kennedy-quoting Foreign Office propaganda about Miliband's "new world order". "What do you think of Iran's complicity in attacks on British soldiers in Basra?" Miliband was asked by the Financial Times. Miliband: "Well, I think that any evidence of Iranian engagement there is to be deplored. I think that we need regional players to be supporting stability, not fomenting discord, never mind death..." FT: "Just to be clear, there is evidence?" Miliband: "Well no, I chose my words carefully..." The coming war on Iran, including the possibility of a nuclear attack, has already begun as a war by journalism. Count the number of times "nuclear weapons programme" and "nuclear threat" are spoken and written, yet neither exists, says the International Atomic Energy Agency. On 21 June, the New York Times went further and advertised an "urgent" poll, headed: "Should we bomb Iran?" The questions beneath referred to Iran being "a greater threat than Saddam Hussein" and asked: "Who should undertake military action against Iran first... ?" The choice was "US. Israel. Neither country". So tick your favourite bombers. The last British war to be fought without censorship and "embedded" journalists was the Crimea a century and a half ago. The bloodbath of the First World War and the Cold War might never have happened without their unpaid (and paid) propagandists. Today's invisible government is no less served, especially by those who censor by omission. The craven liberal campaign against the first real hope for the poor of Venezuela is a striking example. However, there are major differences. Official disinformation now is often aimed at a critical public intelligence, a growing awareness in spite of the media. This "threat" from a public often held in contempt has been met by the insidious transfer of much of journalism to public relations. Some years ago, PR Week estimated that the amount of "PR-generated material" in the media is "50 per cent in a broadsheet newspaper in every section apart from sport. In the local press and the mid-market and tabloid nationals, the figure would undoubtedly be higher. Music and fashion journalists and PRs work hand in hand in the editorial process... PRs provide fodder, but the clever high-powered ones do a lot of the journalists' thinking for them." This is known today as "perception management". The most powerful are not the Max Cliffords but huge corporations such as Hill & Knowlton, which "sold" the slaughter known as the first Gulf war, and the Sawyer Miller Group, which sold hated, pro-Washington regimes in Colombia and Bolivia and whose operatives included Mark Malloch Brown, the new Foreign Office minister, currently being spun as anti-Washington. Hundreds of millions of dollars go to corporations spinning the carnage in Iraq as a sectarian war and covering up the truth: that an atrocious invasion is pinned down by a successful resistance while the oil is looted. The other major difference today is the abdication of cultural forces that once provided dissent outside journalism. Their silence has been devastating. "For almost the first time in two centuries," wrote the literary and cultural critic Terry Eagleton, "there is no eminent British poet, playwright or novelist prepared to question the foundations of the western way of life." The lone, honourable exception is Harold Pinter. Eagleton listed writers and playwrights who once promised dissent and satire and instead became rich celebrities, ending the legacy of Shelley and Blake, Carlyle and Ruskin, Morris and Wilde, Wells and Shaw. He singled out Martin Amis, a writer given tombstones of column inches in which to air his pretensions, along with his attacks on Muslims. The following is from a recent article by Amis: Tony strolled over [to me] and said, "What have you been up to today?" "I've been feeling protective of my prime minister, since you ask." For some reason our acquaintanceship, at least on my part, is becoming mildly but deplorably flirtatious. What these elite, embedded voices share is their participation in an essentially class war, the long war of the rich against the poor. That they play their part in a broadcasting studio or in the clubbable pages of the review sections and that they think of themselves as liberals or conservatives is neither here nor there. They belong to the same crusade, waging the same battle for their enduring privilege. In The Serpent, Marc Karlin's dreamlike film about Rupert Murdoch, the narrator describes how easily Murdochism came to dominate the media and coerce the industry's liberal elite. There are clips from a keynote address that Murdoch gave at the Edinburgh Television Festival. The camera pans across the audience of TV executives, who listen in respectful silence as Murdoch flagellates them for suppressing the true voice of the people. They then applaud him. "This is the silence of the democrats," says the voice-over, "and the Dark Prince could bath in their silence." This article was first published at the New Statesman on "comments" below to read or post comments Comment (0) Comment Be succinct, constructive and relevant to the story. We encourage engaging, diverse and meaningful commentary. Do not include personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and emails. Comments falling outside our guidelines - those including personal attacks and profanity - are not permitted. See our complete Comment Policy and use this link to notify us if you have concerns about a comment. We'll promptly review and remove any inappropriate postings. Send Page To a Friend In accordance

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ABC News Facing 300-Person Cut By Chris Rovzar In a move ABC News president David Westin is describing as an effort to "anticipate change, rather than respond to it," the organization will cut around 300 jobs. According to the Los Angeles Times, this top-to-bottom restructuring of the newsroom is partially a response to a weak advertising market, and partially an effort to focus more on digital reporting to prepare for the future. From the LAT: Many of those remaining in the pared-down news division will be expected to both produce and shoot their own stories, acting as "one-man bands," a model increasingly being adopted in television news. The process is expected to begin Wednesday morning when employees receive a letter asking for volunteers to take buyouts and leave the company. Newsroom employees have heard that the network is seeking to shrink the newsroom by as many as 300 positions, approximately 20% of the 1,400-person staff. If not enough employees volunteer to leave, layoffs will likely follow. This isn't the first round of cuts ABC News has faced in the past couple of years, but it is by far the steepest to occur all at once. Rumors of the restructuring have been buzzing around the offices for a couple of weeks now. The effort, which in part is aimed at avoiding having to make future successive cuts, will be divided into six goals, according to an all-staff memo from Westin, obtained by Daily Intel. From: Westin, David L. Sent: Tue Feb 23 15:39:58 2010 Subject: ABC News Transformation Over the past several years, we've seen a lot of changes - changes at ABC News and in the news industry overall. I'm proud of the way we've responded both to unexpected transitions in our programs and to the economic realities of our business. We've adapted quickly and effectively and - above all - put our audiences first. Our programs are stronger today than they were ten years ago. This is a credit first and foremost to the men and women at ABC News. But all of us are good reporters. We can see that our entire society is in the middle of a revolution - a revolution in the ways that people get their news and information. The digital age makes our business more competitive than ever before. It also presents us with opportunities we couldn't have imagined to gather, produce, and distribute the news. We can have great success in the new world - but only if we embrace what is new, rather than being overwhelmed by it. The time has come to anticipate change, rather than respond to it. We have a rare opportunity to get in front of what's coming, to ensure that ABC News has a sound journalistic and financial footing for many years to come, and to serve our audiences even better. But we must move boldly and promptly. In the past, we've sought out less expensive ways to replicate what we've always done. The time has come to re-think how we do what we are doing. To that end, we anticipate that between now and the end of the year ABC News will undergo a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise. We will be guided by one central principle: In everything, we will ensure that we put our audiences first - providing them with first-rate journalism covering the things that matter the most to them in ways no one else does. And, we will do it with a business model that ensures we will be here for our audiences for many years to come. The transformation will have six basic components: 1. In newsgathering, we intend to dramatically expand our use of digital journalists. We have proven that this model works at various locations around the world. We believe we can take it much further; 2. In production, we will take the example set by Nightline of editorial staff who shoot and edit their own material and follow it throughout all of our programs, while recognizing that we will continue to rely upon our ENG crews and editors for most of our work; 3. In structure, we will combine our weekday and weekend operations for both Good Morning America and World News; 4. In special events, we will rely upon our program staff through the day and night to cover unexpected events and marshal personnel from across the division to cover scheduled events; 5. In newsmagazines and long-form programming, we will move to a more flexible blend of staff and freelancers so that we can respond to varying demand for hours through the year; and 6. Overall, we will eliminate redundancies wherever possible. An essential part of this intended transformation will be extensive training in the new technology - whether in the field or in-house. This is an extension of the digital bullpen training we've undertaken already, but it will be on a scale that we have not seen before. This training program and changes it will make possible in all of our operations will make ABC News the place to work in the digital age. We won't just be preparing people for the new world; we will be living in it. When we are finished, many job descriptions will be different, different skill sets may be required, and, yes, we will likely have substantially fewer people on staff at ABC News. To ease the transition, we are offering a voluntary separation package to all full-time, U.S.-based, non-union, non-contract employees. Information and details of the program will be sent to your home address in the next few days. The response to this voluntary program will determine the extent to which we will need to make further reductions. I encourage everyone to talk with their supervisor if they have any questions. Any voluntary separation offers for union-represented employees will be in accordance with our obligations under the applicable labor agreement. Whatever changes we make overseas will be done in compliance with local laws and, where required, include management consultation in advance. Throughout this process, I will keep you informed of where we are and where we are going with the transformation. Tomorrow, I will discuss this on the 9:30 call, and we will be holding meetings with various groups of staff in New York. Kate O'Brian and I will be in Washington next week to explain what we are planning in person and to take questions. Either Kate or David Reiter will be travelling to the bureaus in the coming days to do the same. I won't pretend that all of this will be easy. But I do truly believe that it will be good for ABC News. I believe in this institution. I believe in its mission and in its future. As always, I will need your help in making sure that we are as strong as we can be for many years to come. westinabc newsin other newsmedia

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>NSA Spying Scandal >Why SPIEGEL Is Posting Leaked NSA Documents About Germany NSA in Germany Why We Are Posting Secret Documents Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that Germany is home to the NSA's most important activities on the Continent. It's time the German public knew what they are -- and about their own government's involvement. A DER SPIEGEL Editorial Graffiti art is seen on a wall near the headquarters of the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham. In the wake of the NSA scandal, the relationship between Germany and the United States has been rocky. When the first Snowden leaks emerged last summer, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government declared the affair over before it even got going. But when Berlin learned last autumn that Merkel's private cell phone had been monitored, the trans-Atlantic relationship hit a new low. There were discussions of possible consequences and of changes being necessary in the way Germany approached its North American ally. Then the chancellor travelled to Washington and peace returned. Ever since, trans-Atlantic policy-makers and intelligence agencies have been yearning to return to normalcy, to a world in which the division of labor is clear: the NSA as omnipotent global intelligence service, and the Germans as their willing helpers. In the pre-Edward Snowden era, this division of labor was wrong. Now, it is downright negligent. SPIEGEL has now released dozens of crucial documents that show how the NSA operates in Germany and how tightly it works together with the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency. The material in Snowden's cache shows that Germany is the NSA's most important location in continental Europe. In the German capital, antennae installed on the roof of the US Embassy can listen in on Berlin's government district. In the NSA's European headquarters in Griesheim, located in the central German state of Hesse, the Americans sift through emails and phone conversations from Europe and Africa in order to extract usable information. US interests are, after all, diverse and broad -- ranging from the Islamists in Yemen to the German chancellor in Berlin. The NSA isn't merely an intelligence agency, it's a power-political instrument that safeguards "information dominance for America," as one-time NSA head Kenneth Minihan once put it. It isn't just aimed at terrorists or heads of government, but at German citizens: Their emails and text messages also run through the intelligence agency's computers. Partners and Adversaries The German government has long tolerated US arrogance. Berlin suspected some of what was going on and chose to ignore much more. But it also had concrete knowledge about the omnipresence of the NSA, primarily because the BND played a role in its operations. The fact that the BND cooperates intensively with the NSA -- and not just when it comes to counter-terrorism, but also in the undifferentiated mass monitoring of global communications -- is demonstrated by documents from the Snowden archive. The Germans are partners and adversaries at the same time. The chancellor swore an oath to defend the German constitution. Furthermore, spying on Germany is not allowed according to the criminal code. The constitutional rights of German citizens are not bendable according to the current state of German-American relations. There are two possible explanations for what happened. The first is that the US and German governments coordinated with one another to determine what the NSA is allowed to do in its facilities in Griesheim, Wiesbaden, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. If that's the case, the chancellor and her interior minister need to inform the public, because it means they share blame for the actions of the Americans -- and for the Americans' apparent use of data acquired in Germany to kill suspected terrorists. The second possibility is that the NSA is acting on German soil without the knowledge and approval of the German government. If that's the case, their operations constitute espionage and should prompt the German government to act as it does in other, similar cases. SPIEGEL's publication of the secret documents is also in the interests of the German government. Berlin has attempted to convince Washington to hand over the NSA's Germany files -- without success. It is thus hardly surprising that intelligence agencies and parliamentarians have asked SPIEGEL for access to the Snowden documents. Journalists are, first and foremost, tasked with informing the public, which rightly expects that it will be told what the NSA is doing and what it is allowed to do. The partnership between the United States and Germany would improve were it freed of its emotional baggage. Some of the two countries' interests coincide. But others do not. When in doubt, the German government should side with those being spied on, and not with those doing the spying. Article... The NSA in Germany: Snowden's Documents Available for Download (06/18/2014) Abbreviations Explained: How to Read the NSA Documents (06/18/2014) New NSA Revelations: Inside Snowden's Germany File (06/18/2014) Spying Together: Germany's Deep Cooperation with the NSA (06/18/2014) Embassy Espionage: The NSA's Secret Spy Hub in Berlin (10/27/2013) NSA Spying Scandal US Spying wildberry 06/21/2014 "Why We Are Posting Secret Documents" is an interesting title. Could the answer be "because it will boost our circulation - and create a useful bit of publicity in the media generally"? Or could it be [...] Or could it be "because we enjoy tweaking the tail of the US beast and don't give a damn about using stolen files and thereby jeopardising future cooperation with our most important ally"? Or possibly a combination of all these . . .

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Home > Photography > Could iPhones replace news photographers? The... Could iPhones replace news photographers? The Chicago Sun-Times thinks so By Richard Grech Like many newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times relies on a staff of photographers to provide images for its stories. But last week the paper did something unimaginable: it laid off its entire staff of 28 full-time photographers. While it's no secret newspapers across the country are struggling to make ends meet, the move by Sun-Times goes beyond just budget cuts. Citing a need for more video content, the Sun-Times will utilize freelance photographers and require its reporters to shoot photos and videos for the stories they cover. "The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network," the paper said in a statement. So, how does the Sun-Times plan to replace this loss? According to the Poynter Institute's media blog, media blogger and former Sun-Times writer Robert Feder posted on his Facebook page that reporters will begin a "mandatory training today on 'iPhone photography basics' following elimination of the paper's entire photography staff. 'In the coming days and weeks, we'll be working with all editorial employees to train and outfit you as much as possible to produce the content we need,' managing editor Craig Newman tells staffers in a memo." The iPhone has become an invaluable tool for reporters on assignment and citizen journalism, especially with late-breaking news, but asking reporters to become photographers and videographers is like asking waiters to become the chefs. While the iPhone can be considered suitable for newsgathering from a hardware standpoint, the person using it is a different matter. Photographer Alex Garcia of rival paper Chicago Tribune writes, the "idea that freelancers and reporters could replace a photo staff with iPhones is idiotic at worst, and hopelessly uninformed at best. That's because the best reporters use a different hemisphere of the brain to do their jobs than the best photographers. Visual and spatial thinking is very different than verbal and analytical thinking. Even if you don't believe that bit of science, the reality is that visual reporting and written reporting will take you to different parts of a scene and hold you there longer. I have never been in a newsroom where you could do someone else's job and also do yours well. Even when I shoot video and stills on an assignment, with the same camera, both tend to suffer. They require different ways of thinking." We hear about newspapers trimming their staff often, both the Sun-Times and Tribune included, but this move is seen as a major move especially since it's coming from a large metropolitan paper. But it also points to the fact that more and more people are gravitating toward the Web for news, with video content playing an increasingly important role. PetaPixel also points out that the Sun-Times' website design (shown at right) does not allow for large compelling photography, which may have played a role in the Sun-Times' decision. Perhaps this move was inevitable, as future journalists will be required to multitask as both reporter and photographer/videographer. According to the New York Times (via AP), the Chicago Newspaper Guild, the union representing many of the laid-off photographers, plans to file a bad-faith bargaining charge with the National labor Relations Board. No photographer at the Sun-Times was spared, not even John H. White, a longtime staffer who won a Pulitzer Prize for the paper in 1982. Update: We incorrectly referenced Robert Feder as a Chicago Sun-Times writer. He was formerly with Sun-Times and is now a media blogger. (Main image via Pete Markham/Flickr)

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Three things I learned about political media from endless Obama/Romney election coverage deggans Monday, November 5, 2012 1:19pm If you've been reading press coverage of the election as the final days wind down, it's hard not to wonder if some media types are starting to lose it - just a little bit. Nate Silver, a poll expert who runs the influential FiveThirtyEight blog and writes for the New York Times, pushed back last week against widespread sniping against his methods by challenging MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough to a $2,000 bet backing his prediction of a victory by President Barack Obama. (The loser would donate the money to charity.) Donald Trump's ransomlike offer to donate $5 million to charity for Obama's college and passport records was covered by mainstream outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, CBS News and the New York Daily News. And stories after each presidential debate seemed increasingly focused on minutiae circulating through social media such as bayonets and binders full of women. "It certainly brings about a feeling of exhaustion," said Dylan Byers, who covers media for POLITICO, noting the Internet-fueled 24/7 news cycle has increased the flow of stories and pushed journalists hard this election season. "Because of how fast the media moves now, there's greater demand for news coverage than there are stories. People are going to look back, and perhaps wish they had spent more time on bigger pieces with greater impact." Check out Byers excellent list of the big stories from the 2012 election cycle. The truth is, it has been a long election season - for journalists and media consumers. But along the way, I've learned a few things about how the current jangle of media outlets works in covering the biggest political event in the world. Here's my list of what I've learned about politics and media in this election. 1) Social media smartens up and dumbs down the coverage. This emerged sharply during the debates. Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr made instant analysis available as news organizations sent out messages with their reporting on issues such as oil and gas exploration or tax policy within moments of each candidate speaking on the issue. We also saw entire news cycles dominated by talk about empty chairs, Big Bird and binders full of women, courtesy of the Internet's ability to turn any kinetic public moment into a snarkily entertaining message. Still, POLITICO's Byers had an interesting take, noting that the fixation on Mitt Romney's offhand debate remark on consulting "binders full of women" for job hires in Massachusetts eventually brought public discussion back to women's issues. "Do I think 'binders full of women' was the most substantive thing said during the debate? No, obviously not," Byers added. "Is it worthwhile to have a conversation about equality in the workplace? Absolutely." 2) The political press has a tough time putting issues on the national news agenda if neither candidate wants to talk about them. Critics pointed out that the presidential campaigns and even the televised debates missed addressing a host of important issues, from the rise of poverty rates during the recession to questions on climate change, pollution and the environment. But the media seem to have a limited ability to jump-start such talk itself. Richard Prince, author of an online column centered on multicultural media issues called Journal-isms, said few media outlets have looked at how Romney might distance himself from controversial older Mormon tenets on race or the truth in charges Obama hasn't sufficiently addressed problems of race and people of color. "We're not hearing much about urban issues or these other issues," Prince said. "It's as if (they) sort of got pushed off the table." 3) News consumers don't just want fact-checking, they want truth-checking. As the editors at the Tampa Bay Times' PolitiFact website can attest, there has been a healthy debate during this election cycle about the efforts of fact-checkers - particularly when they deliver a verdict lots of people don't like. Fact-checkers' travails often demonstrate that "truth" can be much harder to verify or determine than "facts" - a reality some critics are too quick to dismiss. Facts can be easier to verify. But judging what a collection of facts means often requires making a judgment call - embodied in PolitiFact's handy Truth-O-Meter ratings - which can be a more open question. That's why CNN anchor Candy Crowley got so much flak for correcting Romney during the second presidential debate, saying that Obama did use the phrase "act of terror" one day after an attack in Libya, contrary to the GOP challenger's claim. The truth was that the administration also kept implying the attack was connected to a public protest days after Obama's words, leading PolitiFact to give Romney a "Half True" rating for a claim that would seem an easier call. What also seems true is that this campaign cycle has seen the full flowering of partisan news outlets such as MSNBC and Fox News, along with online sources such as Twitter, BuzzFeed, Tumblr and more. "A lot of these news outlets have come into their own," Byers said. "So there's going to be a desire to break free; do something different than how people have done it before. That's what's next." [Last modified: Monday, November 5, 2012 1:19pm]

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Murdoch Scandal Jumps the Pond Timothy Karr Senior Director of Strategy, Free Press and Free Press Action Fund The media scandal that's snared Rupert Murdoch and other News Corporation executives in Great Britain has crossed the Atlantic, and could cause more homegrown trouble for the U.S.-based media company. In the past 48 hours, Democratic Sens. Jay Rockefeller, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez have called for an investigation of News Corp., saying that the behavior of Murdoch's executives and staff in England raises serious questions about the legality of the conduct of the company under U.S. law. And the calls haven't been exclusively partisan. On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Peter King said the allegations of News Corp phone hacking were "disgraceful" and warranted an FBI investigation. Rep. Mary Bono Mack intends to discuss the scandal at a House hearing today on Internet privacy, a staffer said in an interview on Wednesday. Already a range of groups including Free Press, Public Campaign, ThinkProgress, CREDO Action and Media Matters for America has collected signatures from 100,000 Americans demanding an investigation. ColorofChange.org is organizing a sizable protest to occur outside Murdoch's Manhattan townhouse on Thursday. New Allegations to Come It's clear from reports in the media that more allegations are going to surface, and that they'll not be limited to crimes committed in the United Kingdom. Reporters at the Murdoch-owned news properties allegedly hacked the phone messages of more than 4,000 people, including the voicemail of a 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler, which set off a furious public backlash in Britain. But News of the World journalists were based in the United States during the time the paper allegedly hacked into people's phone records. We already know that some reportedly tried to pay a New York City police officer to hack into the phone messages of the American families and victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. We also know that News Corp., as an American company, is accountable to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which states that U.S. companies can be prosecuted for crimes committed abroad. (Part of the investigation unfolding in the UK involves $160,000 in bribes allegedly paid to police by Murdoch executives to stifle an investigation of the phone hacking). On Tuesday, former New York State Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer wrote that the Justice Department has been very actively prosecuting FCPA violations in recent years. "The News Corp. case presents a pretty simple test for Attorney General Eric Holder," Spitzer wrote. "If the department fails to open an immediate investigation into News Corp.'s violations of the FCPA, there will have been a major breach of enforcement at Justice." Murdoch Not Above the Law Murdoch has amassed a worldwide media empire, which in America includes Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, and hundreds of local broadcast stations and cable channels. For too long, Murdoch has leveraged his enormous media power to get what he wants from leaders in Washington and London, and to insulate himself and his company from official scrutiny. This is exactly the problem that media reformers have been warning about for years. When one company amasses too much control over a nation's public discourse, democracy suffers. It seems clear now that Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. colleagues believed that their tremendous media power placed them above the law. But fortunes are turning, and Rupert Murdoch must now answer for all that has happened under his watch. If he or his executives broke the law, they need to be held accountable in the United States. Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: Peter King Rupert Murdoch News Corp Mary Bono Mack Robert Menendez

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June 10, 2009by Steven StotskySpreading Falsehoods About Israel on the Internet A popular feature of news-oriented web sites are the talkback threads that accompany news articles and opinion columns. CAMERA's monitoring of talkback threads on some popular news sites reveals an alarming proliferation of conspiracy theories and slurs directed against Israel and its supporters. While it is important to allow the free expression of opinions, responsible web sites need to diligently filter out slanderous accusations and misinformation. The absence of fact-checking on talkback threads encourages both deliberate and unintentional spreading of misinformation about Israel and the Middle East conflict. CAMERA's review of Huffington Post articles on Israel during brief periods in March and May, 2009 provided examples of both unchecked slander and misinformation. A particularly pernicious problem was the use of the talkback threads by some commenters to direct readers to web sites that promote both anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda. The Huffington Post was chosen for review due to its large audience and because of the steady volume of hostile sentiment directed towards the Jewish state and its supporters that accompanies articles dealing with Israel. Several themes and tactics used by anti-Israel commenters stand out in the talkback threads: Themes: 1) There is a steady repetition of conspiracy theories claiming excessive Jewish influence in America. American Jews who support Israel are derided as disloyal citizens or agents of Israel. Unsubstantiated accusations that Jews control the media, American foreign policy and the Congress abound. AIPAC, a lobbying group promoting strong ties between Israel and America, receives particular attention. A comment appearing on a thread discussing the recent meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (May 20, 2009) is typical: The only reason Israel has been able to get by with this is because American Jews have bought off Congress in a number of ways - all real. The talkback to a March 10, 2009 piece describing opposition to the appointment of Chas Freeman, a vocal critic of American support for Israel, to a sensitive intelligence post shows how conspiracy theories can take over the public forum. The thread is rife with calls for "taking back America" and criminalizing AIPAC, an organization funded by voluntary contributions of American citizens. Meanwhile, the lobbying activity by groups with an anti-Israel agenda, some of which receive substantial foreign backing, are largely ignored. The conspiracy theorists manufacture many "facts" to prove their arguments, but the underlying assumption is that there can be no legitimate reason to support Israel. The argument that American support for Israel is based on a shared ethical and cultural heritage has no resonance with conspiracy theorists. They are also blind towards existing political realities. Poll after poll for the past 50 years indicate the American public sympathizes with Israel over the Arabs by ratios of as much as 5 to 1. But attempts to introduce such objective information are met with ridicule and condescension by conspiracy theory proponents. 2) The comment threads reveal widespread ignorance about basic facts of the conflict and about Israeli society. American financial support for Israel is routinely exaggerated, often to the point of absurdity. An article discussing tensions between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on May 20, 2009 generated a series of comments reciting false figures: 30 billion a year goes to that country [Israel]... Israel stole 2.3 trillion dollars from the Pentagon when Dov Zackheim was controller of the Pentagon under Rumsfeld. Another piece critical of Israeli settlers on June 1, 2009 elicited the comment: money given to Israel by the U.S. comes out to approximately $55,000 annually per person in that country. The actual figure is less than three billion dollars,amounting to about $400 per Israeli citizen. Nearly all of it is in the form of military aid. Alongside complaints about American aid with Israel are the denials that Israel has ever provided anything to America in return. Israeli software expertise, medical innovations, water conservation methods and shared intelligence are not acknowledged by these detractors. Nor is there any attempt to inject a balanced perspective. Aid to Israel is only a minor component of American foreign commitments to the defense of its allies, yet the far more costly commitments to the defense of Europe, Japan and South Korea receive no consideration. Israeli society, laws and polices are misrepresented in order to tar Israel as a racist and exclusionary state. The following statements from the talkback thread associated with the previously mentioned piece on tensions between Netanyahu and Obama are instructive. The correct facts have been added after each falsehood: You have to be Jewish to hold office in Israel. Fact: There are Arab and Druse members of Parliament, judges, government ministers and military commanders. Most Israelis are of European origin. Today there are six million Europeans and Americans who happen to be Jewish occupying land that was peacefully occupied by Palestinians before 1948... Fact: Over half of all Israelis are of Middle Eastern and African origin. Fact: Jewish settlement prior to 1948 drew in Arabs from surrounding regions into what had previously been mostly depopulated areas. The Palestinians are fighting for survival against Israeli extermination. Fact: The population of Gaza and the West Bank is ten times what it was in 1948. Since Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, the average Palestinian lifespan has increased from 48 to 72 years. All measures of health and well-being improved steadily from 1967 to 2001. Despite intensified conflict since 2001, this has not been reversed. (Refer to data collected by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Palestinian Authority's Central Bureau of Statistics.) The United States ALREADY paid the price for Israel's abuse of the Palestinians - it was called 9/11. Fact: Osama Bin Laden's own statements leading up to 9-11 indicate that the main focus of his and al-Quaeda's anger was American involvement in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. 3) Lax editorial oversight creates an accomodating environment for inflammatory statements that were once deemed unacceptable by respectable publications. In the May 20 article cited above, one commenter proposed forcibly removing Jews from their homes. Another agreed, adding: Good suggestion. I would give them Texas so they can bring in all the jews from all over the world. Then, the world will take a deep breath of relief. These comments are not limited just to articles criticizing Israel, a piece discussing the recent test of a new Iranian missile on May 21, 2009 prompted one commenter to suggest that the "commotion over the missile launch" was an Israeli ploy to incite the world against Iran. Nine of the first ten comments expressed sympathy for the Iranian regime whose leader has openly vowed to erase the Jewish state. Another article about a leaked Israeli report revealing Venezuela and Bolivia were supplying Iran with Uranium for its nuclear program garnered mostly sympathetic comments for Iran while portraying Israel as a greater threat. Even articles only tangentially related to Israel, like a May 19 piece on the attempted bombing of a Bronx synagogue by several Muslim converts was met by a string of six negative comments about Jews. A frequent refrain on articles highlighting growing anti-Semitism is that Jews are always complaining about anti-Semitism. An open letter by several eminent Jewish scholars and humanitarians protesting the appointment of a senior Egyptian official to the post of Director General of UNESCO (the UN organization tasked to promote education and scientific cooperation) because he urged the burning of books by Israeli authors and made other denigrating statements about Israel and Jews, inspired a commenter to respond: When people start openly questioning the fitness of Zionists to lead important institutions, I'll listen. I point the finger at the Israel as the problem . Go to the root of the problem. But you cant see past your religious identity. Israel means constant war. Tactics: Freed from the space limitations and editorial vetting of traditional hardcopy newspapers, web commenters can post as often as they choose. One frequently noticed commenter had posted 5000 comments in less than 5 months. CAMERA reviewed several hundred posts belonging to this commenter and found that all dealt with Israel. A brief survey of several other frequent commenters suggests such prolific and focused commenting is not unusual. The anonymity guaranteed to posters who use fictitious screen names reduces any self-imposed restraint that might otherwise exist due to being openly associated with one's ignorant and hateful comments. Interestingly, another blog, Power Line has now instituted a policy of requiring commenters to reveal their real names. The Huffington Post through neglect or quiet support, accomodates the zealotry of some commenters. The Huffington Post is by no means unique in this regard. The electronic comment boards of internet news sites like London's Guardian and the Independent newspapers, are rife with unsubstantiated charges against Israel. The sentiments expressed on their comment boards naturally flow from the steady diet of op-ed diatribes and slanted reporting they provide their readership. While the Huffington Post contains its share of negative portrayals of Israel and its leaders, favorable perspectives on Israel also regularly appear in its news coverage and commentary. Yet, regardless of whether the articles are antagonistic or supportive of Israel, the comment threads almost invariably become littered with hostile sentiments. CAMERA does not suggest that these sites restrict opinions. Clearly, the Huffington Post and other sites cater to an audience with a range of opinions on Israel and the Middle East conflict. But if the Huffington Post and other news sites seek to gain acceptance as credible, mainstream news providers, it is hoped that they will find a way to moderate comment threads so that they don't become a forum for bigots to sound off and a source for misinforming the public.

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Spreading the gospel of LinkedIn for Journalists By Madison Gray The classroom at the City University of New York sat attentively watching the browser on the large screen point to LinkedIn. Everyone in the room was familiar with the social network, but they were journalists and had come to see how they could use it for their own specific purposes. Yumi Wilson While explaining how the audience could use LinkedIn, Corporate Communications Manager Yumi Wilson was also ushering them through a social media door, one she has unlocked for journalists in person or through online webinars over the past several months. It's all part of an expansion strategy for LinkedIn, which has seen membership grow exponentially from 32 million members in 2008 to 300 million in 2014. One part of that strategy is inviting journalists into a group called LinkedIn for Journalists, which boasts more than 55,000 members. Wilson said she wants journalists to use LinkedIn as a tool for research, as well as one for connecting with others and conducting job searches. She reaches out and spreads the gospel of LinkedIn wherever she finds people in the news business. "I think when you're growing communities you have to be proactive," said Wilson, who was an associate professor at San Francisco State University when she first became involved with LinkedIn. She started working for the network full time in September 2013. "I reach out to people who might not be using LinkedIn for Journalists, or not using the platform. I use our LinkedIn search tool to find journalists at various newspapers who haven't been using it." As part of her outreach, Wilson draws about 200 people into her monthly webinars. During the sessions, she gives tips on improving social media profiles on LinkedIn, using it for searches, and exposing profiles to others who may be searching for the journalists. When they are done with the training, the journalists receive premium memberships for a year, which gives them access to advanced features available on LinkedIn. Although Wilson's evangelism has much to do with the popularity of LinkedIn for Journalists, its significant following also comes from users spreading the word amongst each other. "My webinars are normally full; the next available one is in July and that is the result of people finding out about it through word of mouth," said Wilson. She says the journalists who become a part of the community have turned it not only into a one-stop shop for researching stories and sources, but for discussing media news as well. "I find as a moderator discussions about the industry are most popular. But let's say a fellowship has been announced, you can also announce it here. Some may share a job within the group, others may share information about the tutorials." When users engage LinkedIn's advanced search tools, they can carry out investigations of people and companies that may otherwise have taken days. This is because people and companies create profiles that they want people to see and they post them to connect with others. In Wilson's view, social media like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter will increasingly serve as a reporting tool, and as similar websites launch, that use will only continue. "Journalists are going to Twitter to stay on top of the news, they go to Facebook to find regular voices, and LinkedIn is where you connect with experts to speak on their fields. As new platforms come out, we're going to see more of that," she said. Cher Jones, a social media trainer and head of the Toronto-based firm Socially Active, has been watching LinkedIn's progress and believes that it has evolved into an important tool for those in news. "Immediately what you're finding, especially for journalists who have a credible profile, is that they can leverage that with whomever they are trying to connect with, and that is a big deal, particularly when you're doing an investigative piece," said Jones. "On the professional career growth side, LinkedIn is a living, breathing CV of your past successes. It's different than a resume, because if you're actively seeking recommendations where people are talking about your work ethic, people are recognizing how important that is in getting interviews or insider information." Wilson said she plans to continue to travel to journalism conferences and newsrooms, introducing the platform to as many people in the news business as she can. She believes that it will become as essential a tool for reporters in newsgathering as it is for job recruiters filling positions. But she warns that social networks should not replace tried-and-true methods of reporting. "What I've learned is that nothing replaces the face-to-face meeting," she said. For a job or story, you still want to meet that hiring manager or source. What social media helps to do is make reaching out to people a bit easier. Wilson can be reached at or find her on LinkedIn. Madison Gray is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based multimedia journalist specializing in urban issues and criminal justice. The Detroit native has written for TIME.com, the Associated Press, and the Detroit News, among many others. Follow him on Twitter @madisonjgray. Related: Live chat replay: How to make LinkedIn work for you Madison Gray Madison Gray is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based multimedia journalist specializing in urban issues and criminal justice. The Detroit native has written for TIME.com, the Associated Press, and the Detroit News, among many others. Follow him on Twitter: @madisonjgray

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Reporting The American Dream By Staff Originally published on May 27, 2012 7:55 am Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: All this summer, we're going to be looking at the American Dream. What it means to people and why it matters. We'll hear from musicians and politicians, business owners and immigrants about how the American Dream factors into their lives. And we'll ask whether these dreams are still attainable. Our first couple of pieces will be from NPR White House correspondent Ari Shapiro, who takes an historical look at how the American Dream has played out in politics. And NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie, who explores whether the dream of moving up the economic ladder is still within reach. Ari and John join me now in the studio. So, hi, to both of you. JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel. ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel. MARTIN: OK. So, Ari, for the purposes of this series, how are we defining the American Dream? SHAPIRO: Well, there are obviously many different definitions and we'll try to explore the breadth of them over the course of the summer. But as a good starting point, pollsters ask two basic definitions. On the individual, they ask: Do you believe that success is within you own power or due to factors beyond your control? And then, on a collective level, they ask: Do you believe that the next generation will have a better life than the previous generation. Those two measures sort of get at this theme that is deeply, deeply rooted in American ideology. And what's interesting is that today some polls show that while majorities of Americans still believe in these two things, the majorities are much smaller than they once were. So, for example, if you look at this individual success - whether it's within your control or beyond your control question - one recent polls show that today it measures in the mid-50 percent range, whereas in the '90s, it was in the mid-70 percent range. So we're seeing something like a 20 percent drop in recent decades. MARTIN: OK. So, John, of course a big the American Dream, as Ari just put it, is whether the children are better of than their parents, economically. Is life getting better for subsequent generations? So what have you found out? Are they? YDSTIE: Well, for about two-thirds of Americans, it's still true on a very basic level, that they're doing better than their parents. They have higher incomes than their parents, even adjusted for inflation. However, it's often the case that the incomes are just a little bit higher than the parents and that they are stuck on the same rung of the income ladder as their parents. This is especially true if you're poor or if you're very well off. People at both ends of the income ladders tend to stay there. For instance, 40 percent of the people who began at the bottom, stay on the bottom rung. MARTIN: So those are the extremes. What about the people in the middle. YDSTIE: Well, if you're in the middle you have a pretty equal chance of going either way - moving up or down. But the big surprise for most Americans, I think is that, you know, we have this idea that America is exceptional in terms of the opportunity to move up the ladder. And it turns out that's not true. A number of European countries and Canada have higher rates of economic mobility than the Untied States. Kind of surprising. Another worrisome statistic is that during the past decade, even before the recession, incomes for most Americans weren't rising at all. And when you factor in the effects of the recession, incomes have declined for most Americans during the last decade. MARTIN: OK. so, Ari, we're painting sort of a fragile picture of the American Dream right now. What does this mean in the world of politics, where it feels like every time you turn around there's another politician invoking the American Dream SHAPIRO: Right, well, President Obama and Mitt Romney both say they are running to restore the American Dream and make it available to everyone. The two of them talk about the American Dream and what it is in kind of similar terms. But the path to make it accessible to everyone is very different, between Romney and President Obama. So a lot of this focus is on what I like to describe as the floor and the ceiling. The floor being the level below which the government will not let people fall - so, social welfare safety net stuff. The ceiling being the limitations pushed on high achievers. So, you have Governor Romney talking about lowering the floor, scaling back some of the safety net and also raising the ceiling - lowering taxes on the wealthy, for example. He talks about that incentivizing the American Dream. If there isn't such a safety net, he says, people will have more motivation to achieve more. And if there's less of a limitation on achievements, similarly, people will have inspiration to pursue the American Dream - emphasizing the individuality. Then you have President Obama kind of emphasizing the need for us all to look out for each other, level the playing the field, strengthen some of these safety nets, and have the wealthy, as he puts it, pave their fair share - maybe bringing the ceiling down a little more, increasing the taxes on the wealthy. Two very, very different paths to achieving the same end of making the American Dream available again to everyone. MARTIN: Now, John, you have spoken with social scientists about all of this. What are they saying about how to preserve the American Dream, as we've known it? YDSTIE: Well, at the foundation is education and equality of opportunity. Americans still believe that we live in a meritocracy, and that if you work hard and you have some skill, you'll be rewarded. They're less concerned about things like inequality of income. They are concerned about equality of opportunity. So a people like Isabel Sawhill at the Brookings Institution and Stuart Butler at The Heritage Foundation - two think tanks with quite different political perspectives - suggest that focusing on policies that support investments in education and health and other opportunity-enriching things is the way to go. MARTIN: Well, it's a fascinating project and we're going to forward to hearing all of those stories in the next weeks and months. NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie and White House correspondent Ari Shapiro, our series American Dreams starts this week. Thanks to both of you. YDSTIE: You're welcome. SHAPIRO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.View the discussion thread. © 2016 KTTZ

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Lines blur between blogs, newspapers A marriage made in cyberspace: As traditional media gets 'bloggier,' blogs begin to look more like their traditional forebears. By Gregory M. Lamb, Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor / A marriage made in cyberspace. Only 3.5 percent of news stories appear first in the blogosphere and then percolate into traditional media. Dan Vasconcellos When Jon Kleinberg wanted to study how news items bounced around the Internet, he set up an experiment. He tracked phrases in the news at the time - such as Barack Obama's colorful presidential campaign line about putting "lipstick on a pig" - and traced their use online. For comparison, he split his analysis into two parts: the 20,000 or so "mainstream" news sources, as identified by Google News, and some 1.6 million "blogs."The conclusion: Attention seemed to peak first among the "mainstream" sites - on average about 2-1/2 hours before interest surged in the blogging community. That finding, released in a paper by Professor Kleinberg and two coauthors in July, needed to be interpreted very carefully because Google's idea of the "mainstream" press includes numerous sites not affiliated with any newspaper or magazine. This new mainstream encompassed political talk sites such as the Daily Kos and celebrity gossip sites like Gawker and Just Jared. Bloggers appeared on both sides of the ledger. Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., remains excited about this "meme-tracking" algorithm and its ability to view news cycles scientifically and discover complex underlying patterns, which he plans to refine. But he also says he probably won't try to divide "news" and "blog" sites in the future."News and blogs now exist on a continuum, so there's really no such thing as a two-part classification of the world into news and blogs," he says. "You really have to think about the whole spectrum."His conclusion is echoed by close observers of the news world. Rather than any bright line between journalists and bloggers, they say, the picture gets muddier by the minute.Not that news seekers are obsessed with the topic. Some argue that only professional journalists notice - or care."There's a lot of confusion between what's mainstream media and what's other forms of media," says Sreenath Sreenivasan, a professor who teaches new media at Columbia University's school of journalism in New York. But the average person poking around online doesn't "necessarily focus on that issue," he says."I have friends who get all their news from their Facebook news feed," he says. They get links to news articles from friends, but they'll also get news of friends who changed jobs, moved to a new house, or entered a new relationship. "That's all 'news' to them," Dr. Sreenivasan says. It's not about mainstream versus nonmainstream. It's all about, "What is news to me?" he says. Rather than relying on familiar news organizations, people are more apt to trust their friends' judgment. People may not even notice where the news item originated. "If my friend Jim sent me this article, I'm going to trust it more because he sent it to me," Sreenivasan says."The best newspapers are going to end up looking like the best blogs, and the best blogs are going to end up looking a lot like the best newspapers," predicted a 20-something new-media prodigy named Garrett Graff five years ago. Now, "that's virtually happened," Mr. Graff says. In 2005, he made news as the first blogger ever to be issued credentials as part of the White House press corps. This month, he takes over as editor in chief of long-established Washingtonian magazine, with 400,000 monthly readers of print and 400,000 more online.Today, big blog sites such as The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, or Talking Points Memo - sites originally designed to be different from newspapers - "are basically evolving into newspapers," Graff says.They have bureaus, reporters, and editors."The term 'blogging' is going to become obsolete because what we once considered blogs are morphing into something broader," adds Tom Rosenstiel, a veteran news-media analyst and journalist who now heads the Project for Excellence in Journalism in Washington.On the other side of the equation, traditional reporters are blogging themselves, as well as posting observations on Twitter.com throughout the day, holding a two-way conversation with readers in which they not only dispense news but pick up information that enhances their reporting.Other traditional journalists are jumping to new-media sites. Politico, a website covering US politics, was started in 2007 by two former Washington Post reporters. Now it has more White House correspondents than any print-based media outlet."It's a really fascinating evolution that I think has happened much more quickly and with less hurrah than most people expected it to," Graff says.Maybe we should be talking about "big-time" media rather than "mainstream," Sreenivasan suggests. A dwindling number of American news organizations have the financial muscle to report methodically on the big stories, he says, especially in remote (and expensive) regions such as Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran.Still, old-fashioned but online newspapers set much of the news agenda, these experts argue - at least for now. In contrast, most blogs act chiefly as news "amplifiers," taking that information and redirecting it, getting more attention and broadening the discussion of the original report."That's going to change as newspapers begin to shrink further and as alternative operations grow," Mr. Rosenstiel says. "But day in, day out, much of what you see in other media started in newspapers."What's developed is a "symbiotic relationship" between traditional news organizations and new media online "in which they are both helped," Graff says."Both sides need each other," Sreenivasan agrees.The Drudge Report, for example, wins a huge online following by displaying headlines from traditional news sites. But Drudge, in turn, drives traffic back to the original publications, creating a "win" for both parties.While newspapers are struggling financially, they're also enjoying a boom in readership, the first upturn in 20 years, Rosenstiel says."The audiences for even struggling publications like the San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe are larger than they've ever been," he says. "The problem is that the Web isn't generating revenue. So all those new readers and consumers aren't bringing with them any financial benefit to the news operation."As traditional and new media may be morphing into one another, one aspect of news may be lost in the transition, Graff suggests: the bread-and-butter newspaper story. The Washingtonian's website sports the short news snippets that people seek online, while the print magazine luxuriates in leisurely in-depth reads of 6,000 words or more."What I think you're going to see die," he says, "are the mid-length stories, from 500 words to 2,000 words, that are too long for people who aren't interested in the subject, but too short for people who are." Social media age shocker? On politics, newspapers get more respect. Parenting: Here we go, a Monitor blog for parents Brian Williams: Fake news, real news, and the state of journalism

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Tom Gjelten VIEW SLIDESHOW 1 of 2 Tom Gjelten covers issues of religion, faith, and belief for NPR News, a beat that encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and social and cultural conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world. In 1986, Gjelten became one of NPR's pioneer foreign correspondents, posted first in Latin America and then in Central Europe. In the years that followed, he covered the wars in Central America, social and political strife in South America, the first Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Gjelten's latest book is A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story, published in 2015. His reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994 was the basis for his book Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege (HarperCollins), praised by the New York Times as "a chilling portrayal of a city's slow murder." He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent's View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton). After returning from his overseas assignments, Gjelten covered U.S. diplomacy and military affairs, first from the State Department and then from the Pentagon. He was reporting live from the Pentagon at the moment it was hit on September 11, 2001, and he was NPR's lead Pentagon reporter during the early war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Gjelten has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years. His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a "Notable Nonfiction Book," and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their "Best Books of 2008." His new book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story (Simon & Schuster), recounts the impact on America of the 1965 Immigration Act, which officially opened the country's doors to immigrants of color. Since joining NPR in 1982 as labor and education reporter, Gjelten has won numerous awards for his work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a regular panelist on the PBS program "Washington Week," and a member of the editorial board at World Affairs Journal. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and freelance writer. Unbelief As A Belief System: Core Tenet For Christians' Fight For Religious Rights By Tom Gjelten Dec 14, 2015 Christian conservatives who are battling for the right to promote their faith in public or official settings see themselves locked in an epic contest with a rival religion. But that rival isn't Islam. It's secularism. Conservatives Call For 'Religious Freedom,' But For Whom? Dec 11, 2015 Terrorism and economic woes may be big concerns, but Republican candidate Ted Cruz sees another issue dominating the presidential race. "I'm convinced 2016 will be a religious liberty election," he said in a recent interview. Cruz says religious people, devout Christians in particular, are routinely marginalized and harassed for their beliefs, and that such treatment has gotten worse under the Obama administration. Some American Muslims Irritated By Obama's Call For Them To 'Root Out' Extremism Dec 8, 2015 President Obama's request that American Muslims help "root out" and confront extremist ideology in their communities is getting mixed reactions. Muslim leaders say they want to help, but some are not happy that they are being singled out. Reconsidering The Pilgrims, Piety And America's Founding Principles Nov 26, 2015 The Pilgrims are among the early heroes of American history, celebrated every Thanksgiving for their perseverance in the New World against great odds. To Christian conservatives, they are role models for another reason as well: They were deeply committed to their Christian faith and not afraid to say so. In the Mayflower Compact, the governing document signed shortly before the Pilgrims disembarked in Massachusetts' Provincetown Harbor, Pilgrim leaders said they undertook their voyage across the Atlantic "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith." Poll Finds Americans, Especially Millennials, Moving Away From Religion Nov 2, 2015 Religion is apparently weakening in America. A new report from the Pew Research Center shows that the percentage of Americans who say they believe in God, pray daily and attend church regularly is declining. Among the findings: The share of Americans who say they are "absolutely certain" that God exists has dropped 8 percentage points, from 71 percent to 63 percent, since 2007, when the last comparable study was made. Influx Of Non-European Immigrants Defines America Today Oct 7, 2015 During the past half-century, 59 million immigrants have moved to the United States, making it the No. 1 immigrant destination on the planet. Pope Francis Canonizes Spanish Missionary Junipero Serra Sep 23, 2015 Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: Latino Catholics now have a saint of their own thanks to Pope Francis. Junipero Serra was a missionary who brought Christianity to the native populations in what is now California. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) What To Watch For During Pope Francis' U.S. Visit Sep 22, 2015 Pope Francis arrives in Washington, D.C., this afternoon for his first trip to the U.S. Here's a look at some of the key moments to watch during the leader of the Roman Catholic Church's six-day visit. Tuesday: The President Greets The Pope Built By Immigrants, U.S. Catholic Churches Bolstered By Them Once Again Sep 9, 2015 Nearly a century ago, immigrants from Germany and Ireland founded St. Helena Church in a working-class neighborhood in north Philadelphia. Immigrants, and their children, still fill the pews at St. Helena's - but the vast majority of them are now from Vietnam, Latin America, the Philippines and Africa. Weekly masses are conducted in Spanish and Vietnamese as well as English. The senior priest, the Rev. Joseph Trinh, is himself a Vietnamese refugee. One of his associate priests is from Haiti, and another is from Ecuador. Modern Catholics Test The Pope's Infallible Authority Sep 4, 2015 Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Pages" first

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WBIW " News " state Tornado Season Begins, Counties Under Advisories (INDIANAPOLIS) - This morning 47 Indiana counties are now under advisories, watches, or severe weather warnings. Bad tornado season ahead? Nobody really knows Tornado season is starting, but don't ask meteorologists how bad it will be this spring and summer. The very nature of tornadoes makes them the wildcard of weather disasters. It's just hard to figure when and where they'll appear. In February, one hit Rome, Ga., the National Weather Service said, with winds of 95 mph, leaving a 3-mile swath of destruction. It's not the first one of the year. In January two people were killed by separate twisters in Alabama. Preliminary reports showed 95 tornadoes struck in January, compared with 16 in January 2011, a particularly stormy year. The season usually starts in March and then ramps up for the next couple of months, but forecasting a seasonal outlook is DIFFICULT. Tornadoes are too small and too short-lived. They don't develop like blizzards and hurricanes, which are easier to project. They pop in and pop out. The storms that give them birth may last only a few hours. Hurricanes and blizzards are lumbering beasts that spend days moving across the satellite maps. When a hurricane approaches, coastlines get days to evacuate. With a tornado, if the weather service can let people know 20 minutes in advance, it's considered a victory. "The Joplin (Mo.) tornado (that killed 158 people last May) wasn't violent until just about the time it got to the hospital," said Harold Brooks, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory, in Norman, Okla. "Even when you're in the field, there are still times when you're surprised by the intensity of the event and how quickly it started." If a forecast for a hurricane or blizzard is off by a mile, it's still bad weather. But a mile difference means no damage in a tornado, Brooks said: "It's so much finer in time and space on the tornado, it does make it a harder problem." It takes a piece of debris only a few seconds to fly around an entire tornado; it takes hours to circle a hurricane. Yet tornadoes, though smaller, can have stronger winds. Since 1950, there have been 58 tornadoes in the United States with winds exceeding 200 mph; six last year alone. Only three hurricanes have made U.S. landfall with winds more than 155 mph. "A lot of things have to come together at once to have a tornadic storm and the skill at forecasting all those things is near zero," said Howard Bluestein, a professor at the University of Oklahoma. "They are definitely more unpredictable." All this comes on the heels of one of the worst tornado years in U.S. history. Tornadoes in 2011 started the earliest ever - New Year's Day - killing 550 people, injuring 5,400 and causing $10 billion in damage over the year, the most in U.S. history. The 2011 season had the most tornadoes in a single day and a single month on record. But if you ask tornado experts what that means for this year, they'll answer that they just don't know. Some meteorologists mention La Nina, as an indicator. It's a cooling of the central Pacific Ocean. Scientists have noticed a correlation between strong La Ninas and active tornado seasons - including last year. But it's not that simple or clear-cut, Columbia University professor Michael Tippett said. The current La Nina is weakening so much it shouldn't be a factor this year, several experts said. Tippett has a new study that gives some hope, pointing out potential factors -- vertical wind shear, updraft and a type of rainfall - that might help for long-range tornado forecasts. Later this summer, meteorologists will meet in a special conference to try to figure out how to do that type of longer-term tornado prediction. And the National Weather Service is installing new radar for live forecasting, tracking and distinguishing of tornadoes that could save lives in real-time because forecasters can be more certain in their warnings, said National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Schlatter. All those elements together mean that maybe by 2020 or so, meteorologists will be able to say watch out this season or relax a bit - but not just yet, said federal researcher Brooks.

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Worst earthquake since Loma Prieta shakes Napa Valley A Napa firefighter inspects one of four mobile homes that were destroyed in a gas fire Sunday at the Napa Valley Mobile Home Park. AP Photo/Ben Margot/ Turlock Journal The Napa Valley area is under a state of emergency following a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck between Napa and American Canyon at 3:20 a.m. today. This was the largest earthquake in the Bay Area since the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, almost 25 years ago. The 6.0 magnitude quake was followed by a 3.6 magnitude aftershock at 5:47 a.m. The earthquakes and resulting damage prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties. "There's collapses, fires," said Napa Fire Capt. Doug Bridewell, standing in front of large pieces of masonry that broke loose from a turn of the century office building where a fire had just been extinguished. "That's the worst shaking I've ever been in." Three major injuries have been reported and 87 people treated at Queen of the Valley Hospital as of 11 a.m. today, according to the City of Napa. The earthquakes caused some major structural damage in the area including four mobile homes destroyed and three residential fires. The Napa County Fire Department has responded to dozens earthquake related incidents and has received 10 additional CAL FIRE engines to assist with earthquake and aftershock related calls. Three historic buildings were also damaged, along with other downtown Napa properties. The City of Napa is also reporting approximately 60 water main leaks, but both the city's water treatment plants are running and water remains safe to drink. However, some residents are without access to water due to main breaks and no or low pressure. PG&E has reported that 29,000 customers have experienced power outages in Napa County and crews are responding to approximately 50 reported gas leaks. College student Eduardo Rivera, 20, told the Associated Press that the home he shares with six relatives shook so violently that he kept getting knocked back into his bed as he tried to flee. "When I woke up, my mom was screaming, and the sound from the earthquake was greater than my mom's screams," Rivera said. Napa Valley residents and visitors are encouraged to stay off the roads and utilize phones for emergency purposes only. Use of 911 and local emergency rooms should be restricted to life threatening emergencies only. The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at the Crosswalk Community Church in downtown Napa. The earthquake happened within a 70-km-wide (44 miles) set of major faults of the San Andreas Fault system that forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates near the north shore of San Pablo Bay. The bayshore areas in the San Francisco Bay region are underlain by landfill and bay mud and have experienced disproportionately greater damage during historic earthquakes. Such damage is caused by soil failure in the fills and amplification of ground shaking by the soft bay mud. At this time, the United States Geological Survey is estimating the probability of a strong and possibly damaging aftershock - magnitude 5 and larger - in the next 7 days at approximately 45 percent. In addition, approximately 25 to 60 small aftershocks - magnitude 3 to 5 - are expected in the same 7-day period and may be felt locally.

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Putin Strikes Again Jamey Gambrell July 19, 2007 Issue Russian journalists have suffered crippling attacks in recent years, as Vladimir Putin pursues his policy of strengthening the "vertical" dimension of his administration's "power pyramid." The Kremlin's geometrical terminology means enforcing, from the top down, an ideology intended to align all sectors of Russia's "managed democracy" (another key phrase of the Putin era) into tidy, clearly demarcated, easily controlled zones of activity and influence. No strong minority views, no awkward revelations in the press are to mar the sleek façades of the state. The messy disarray normally associated with functioning democracy - the irritating criticism, noisy opposition, and inconvenient news uncovered by investigative reporters (what Russians proudly called glasnost a mere seventeen years ago) - has been summarily and sometimes harshly dealt with. The techniques range from mild bureaucratic harassment of news organizations to physical attacks on individual journalists. The body count among Russian reporters is now thirteen murders in the line of duty since Putin has been in power. In each case the reporter was investigating or had published stories critical of government or business officials. No one has been convicted of these killings, even in the rare instances when the police have apprehended suspects. The murder last October of the brave, rash Anna Politkovskaya, about whom Robert Cottrell wrote eloquently in these pages recently,1 got worldwide attention but others are little known abroad. The Committee to Protect Journalists found in 2006 that Russia was the third most deadly country in the world for reporters.2 Murdering journalists is simply the most visible manifestation of the constant campaign against the press. Far more effective are the economic, judicial, and administrative measures being used systematically to quash human rights and information-gathering organizations and other genuinely independent members of civil society. Frequent tax audits and expensive, time-consuming re-registration procedures have been among the weapons of choice. In recent months there have been raids on news organizations to confiscate "illegal software"; shuffles of top-level management between government-controlled and "private" national television stations that provide most Russians with their news; managerial directives to present 50 percent "positive" news; "stop lists" of politicians and activists not to be mentioned on the air; and an end to live, on-the-scene reporting and live talk shows.3 Local television and radio stations are especially vulnerable to ad hoc attacks - e.g., the regional governor or big-city mayor who tells companies not to advertise on "disloyal" TV stations, the municipal authorities who suddenly discover problems with a lease, or violations of fire or sanitation codes. One of the most recent victims of the Putin bureaucracy has been an NGO called the Educated Media Foundation (EMF), formerly known as Internews Russia. Over the past decade, this nonprofit organization has trained more than 15,000 Russian broadcast journalists, mostly from the provinces, in the best practices of journalism. It has, for example, conducted seminars, workshops, and classes for news writers, editors, managers, advertising directors, and program producers that have helped them to establish independent television and radio stations. It has given awards for documentaries of high... - - July 19, 2007 - - An American Hero Garry Wills Lest We Forget Joyce Carol Oates What If? Anita Desai Our Biotech Future Freeman Dyson More The Beach Boys Enigma

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Africa News Empowers Citizens to Report Online by Sokari Ekine October 13, 2008 Over the past couple of months I have been following a new African news portal, Africa News, the latest in the 12-year history of African online news media. Africa News goes much further than previous attempts to create online news communities serving Africa; the site includes content submitted by locally based citizen journalists who use mobile phones and the Internet to submit stories for publication. But it's important to understand past attempts at news portals in Africa before assessing this new one. I remember the excitement back in the late 1990s when broadband was first introduced and many news and commercial sites began to rush online. Even more exciting for me was the launch in 1999 of Nigeriaworld, one of the first online portals reporting news from Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, as well as the continent as a whole. From there, I could read up on all the latest news and more. Nigeriaworld, which is part of the Odili group of online media, was very much ahead of its time in that it didn't just publish news but tried to create a space for the exchange of ideas. It published reader submissions, enabled comments and provided users with their own web pages to showcase their work and ideas. Recreating a Village Square In 2003, Nigeria Village Square was launched, building on the success of Nigeriaworld. According to its "About" page, NVS aims to replicate the late afternoon tradition of sharing news and gossip, and so on: In traditional African settings, people from all corners meet at the Village Square after a hard day's work to sip unadulterated palm-wine, share news, gossip, jokes, music, dance, events and opinions. Visitors to the square are warmly welcomed and can get directions, information and clarify misconceptions. The Nigerian Village Square has been established to play this role for Nigerians and Friends of Nigeria across the entire globe. We convene in our virtual village square to exchange information about our country, the communities in which we currently reside and the larger world around us. More importantly, ideas developed here enable us improve our lives and advance the country's ideals. Unlike Nigeriaworld, NVS focuses more on publishing articles submitted by commentators, academics, activists and local celebrities rather than on providing news coverage. NVS taps into the Nigerian tradition of highly charged debate. It is not a site for the faint-hearted and writers publish there at their peril. A cursory glance at the article titles and comments reveals much of the cynicism and humor that characterizes Nigerian society. A good example that shows how no one is more critical of Nigeria than Nigerians is a piece by Okey Ndibe on 48 years of independence, "A Fool at (Almost) Fifty." He writes: Tomorrow Nigeria will turn, by one mode of reckoning, 48 years of age. It is safe to forecast that this, like most of the country's preceding anniversaries, is bound to be a somber anniversary. At 48, which is virtually 50, most Nigerians remain apprehensive about the direction of their country. One of the salient statements that struck a chord with me from the moment I first heard it is the declaration that a fool at 40 is a fool forever. Nigeria, at almost 50 years of age, is flirting with dangerous, tragic folly. While NVS and Nigeriaworld have concentrated on providing news portals together with commentary and analysis, Africa News publishes reports from locally based citizen journalists who submit their stories using mobile phones and the Internet. I use the term "citizen journalists" as most of the reporters are freelance independent reporters from small communities who would otherwise not have the opportunity to publish within a global context. Africa News was started by two Dutch journalists and an entrepreneur with the aim of publishing a "more balanced view" of the continent - one in which news is not sensationalized and where local stories are produced by local people. The site exists in stark contrast to Western media, which is often highly selective about which African stories it regards as important. Africa News concentrates on the stories that Africans themselves believe to be important. One of the reasons the founders chose Africa was because the continent has one of the fastest growing mobile markets, which is crucial to a news service that relies on mobile phones for much of the stories. The hope is to eventually provide each reporter with state-of-the-art mobile phones and small digital recorders such as the Flip videocamera which is presently only available in the U.S. Currently, the site's citizen journalists are using Nokia phones to send their reports. Africa News is an ambitious project. There are now some 250 reporters from 32 countries but the aim is to create three times this number and to provide them with the necessary technology to produce their stories. I recently asked Ben White, responsible for commercial development for the site, how they hope to recruit so many reporters in 33 countries. How will they manage this number of reporters with the potential to produce a huge amount of content? "We already do," he told me. "The network is growing by the day. Local media talent find Africa News on their own or via word of mouth. Members are looking for a place to share their views and opinions with the world. Via this network our members are starting to link and coordinate activities with each other...Our network is comprised of African media talent, journalists, photographers and filmmakers, as well as people looking to further develop their CV and establish a career in media. Our editorial team works with the network [of contributors] on a constant basis." Funding Partnerships Apart from a few Google Ads, the site relies on "partnerships" from aid agencies and businesses for funding - something they call the "Really Simply Reporting" program. "For a reasonable fee, organizations can commission their own mobile reports," White said. "We put together a briefing on a project, event or theme and send this out to one of the local journalists in the field. They can then make a visit to the location and collect the necessary text, photo and video. The report is then uploaded and edited before we send it off to the client. Our partner organizations use these mobile reports for their own websites, newsletters and other communication. These reports are often used in the effort to better communicate with stakeholders - the partners, clients and donors that would be interested in knowing more about what is happening on the ground." Africa News' reports look fine, presented on glossy sites with professional videos. But I still have the sense that they allow "partners" to present themselves and their work uncritically. I would like to see some of the local reporters investigating the partners and making independent assessments on the projects rather than simply collating text, photo and video. One of the things that sets Africa News apart from other similar "citizen media" sites is that the commissioned reports mean Africa News can afford to pay its reporters for their work. This makes journalism a more sustainable career option for these citizen reporters. In addition, the site has established a training center in Accra, Ghana, where editorial staff work with reporters on a daily basis. It should be noted that contributors are not required to be professional journalists; anyone can register and contribute. The sheer amount of content on the site - text, photos, video and podcasts - can appear overwhelming at first, but most of the content is made up of short, easy-to-read stories between 200 and 400 words. Unfortunately, this also means that the stories can lack depth. There is a need for more background information to help the reader fully understand the stories in context, which is very important in overcoming stereotypes and myths around Africa. More linking would help solve this problem. Accompanying photos or videos add to the vibrancy of the site, distinguishing Africa News from many mainstream media outlets that rely solely on long blocks of text. These criticisms aside, Africa News is an impressive venture that provides space to people who have long been invisible to the media - independent journalists, bloggers and just about anyone who has a story to tell. Sokari Ekine is an activist with a background in human rights in Africa. She presently works with The Global Women's Strike and Kabissa: Space for Change in Africa. Sokari blogs at Black Looks, Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine and Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign, and is the African correspondent for MediaShift. Tagged: africa africa news cellphones nigeria Comments are closed.

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Whatever happend to the Piers Corbyn UK Coldest May? Tuesday, June 5th 2012, 6:45 AM EDT Those of you who followed the UK Forecast for May 2012 by Piers Corbyn would have noticed that the last 9 days of May turned into a mini heatwave in the UK and put an end to what was a very daring and bold forecast made by Piers in mid April and posted on the front page of the Daily Express. I have put up a few comments on this in defense of Piers in another section and it would seem that the event on the Sun on the 17th May (The Sun Finds It's Mojo)) seems to be the main suspect. The event on the Sun went world wide and not only disturbed the Northern European pressure systems that was producing the cold flow of air to the UK but other areas in the World were also having colder then average temperatures at the same time. Take a look at this YouTube produced a day after the major solar event on the Sun and listen to what the forecaster had to say about the weather pattern changes in Northern Europe. The Irony is that Piers uses the Sun to make longrange forecasts but as you will read from this report from NASA, the Sun does not always do what Piers expects it to do, hence his long range forecasts are never put forward as being 100% accurate, just 80%. Thats 80% higher then long range forecasts produced by the Met Office, who at the end of the day are only able to make a guess if the temperatures will be higher or lower then average for the month. That's not very useful if your a farmer who has snow and frost in the first half of the month and a heat wave in the second half, only to be informed by the Met Office that it was an average month for temperatures and they were correct with their monthly forecast! This graph shows the neutrons detected by a neutron detector at the University of Oulu in Finland from May 16 through May 18, 2012. The peak on May 17 represents an increase in the number of neutrons detected, a phenomenon dubbed a ground level enhancement or GLE. This was the first GLE since December of 2006. Credit: University of Oulu/NASA's Integrated Space Weather Analysis System On May 17, 2012 an M-class flare exploded from the sun. The eruption also shot out a burst of solar particles traveling at nearly the speed of light that reached Earth about 20 minutes after the light from the flare. An M-class flare is considered a "moderate" flare, at least ten times less powerful than the largest X-class flares, but the particles sent out on May 17 were so fast and energetic that when they collided with atoms in Earth's atmosphere, they caused a shower of particles to cascade down toward Earth's surface. The shower created what's called a ground level enhancement (GLE). GLEs are quite rare - fewer than 100 events have been observed in the last 70 years, since instruments were first able to detect them. Moreover, this was the first GLE of the current solar cycle--a sure sign that the sun's regular 11-year cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum. This GLE has scientists excited for another reason, too. The joint Russian/Italian mission PAMELA, short for Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, simultaneously measured the particles from the sun that caused the GLE. Solar particles have been measured before, but PAMELA is sensitive to the very high-energy particles that reach ground level at Earth. The data may help scientists understand the details of what causes this space weather phenomenon, and help them tease out why a relatively small flare was capable of producing the high-speed particles needed to cause a GLE. "Usually we would expect this kind of ground level enhancement from a giant coronal mass ejection or a big X-class flare," says Georgia de Nolfo, a space scientist who studies high speed solar particles at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "So not only are we really excited that we were able to observe these particularly high energy particles from space, but we also have a scientific puzzle to solve." The path to this observation began on Saturday, May 5, when a large sunspot rotated into view on the left side of the sun. The sunspot was as big as about 15 Earths, a fairly sizable active region, though by no means as big as some of the largest sunspots that have been observed on the sun. Dubbed Active Region 1476, the sunspots had already shown activity on the back side of the sun - as seen by a NASA mission called the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) -- so scientists were on alert for more. Scientists who study high-energy particles from the sun had been keeping their eye out for just such an active region because they had seen no GLEs since December of 2006. In addition, they had high hopes that the PAMELA mission, which had focused on cosmic rays from outside our galaxy could now be used to observe solar particles. Such "solar cosmic rays" are the most energetic particles that can be accelerated at or near the sun. But there was a hitch: the satellite carrying the PAMELA instruments were not currently usable since they were in calibration mode. Scientists including de Nolfo and another Goddard researcher, Eric Christian, let the PAMELA collaboration know that this might be the chance they had been waiting for and they convinced the Russian team in charge of the mission to turn the instruments back on to science mode. "And then the active region pretty much did nothing for two weeks," says Christian. "But just before it disappeared over the right side of the sun, it finally erupted with an M-class flare." Bingo. Neutron monitors all over the world detected the shower of neutrons that represent a GLE. Most of the time the showers are not the solar energetic particles themselves, but the resultant debris of super-fast particles slamming into atoms in Earth's atmosphere. The elevated levels of neutrons lasted for an hour. Simultaneously, PAMELA recorded the incoming solar particles up in space, providing one of the first in-situ measurements of the stream of particles that initiated a GLE. Only the early data has been seen so far, but scientists have high hopes that as more observations are relayed down to Earth, they will be able to learn more about the May 17 onslaught of solar protons, and figure out why this event triggered a GLE when earlier bursts of solar protons in January and March, 2012 didn't. PAMELA is a space-borne experiment of the WiZard collaboration, which is an international collaboration between Italian (I.N.F.N. - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), Russian, German and Swedish institutes, realized with the main support of the Italian (ASI) and Russian (Roscosmos) Space Agencies. Karen C. Fox NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Solar Climate Change: Look what the Sun did when it found it's Mojo! Source Link:

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Department of Public Affairs Reporting BreadcrumbsUniversity of Illinois SpringfieldChoose a DegreeDepartment of Public Affairs ReportingAboutWhat You Can Do With This Degree What You Can Do With This Degree PAR and your future If you want to be a working journalist, then PAR is a perfect match for you. The program enjoys an excellent placement record, averaging close to 100 percent for each graduating class. Last spring's graduates, for example, are now working as reporters/producers for newspapers and broadcasters in Chicago, other Illinois cities, Indiana, Iowa, and Nevada. The Class of 2014 includes reporters/producers with print and broadcast media in Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas. In all, more than 700 students have gone through PAR over the last four-and-a-half decades, and roughly two-thirds of them currently are with the media or in media-related fields. Their ranks include editors, columnists and reporters at the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Arizona Republic, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Indianapolis Star, The (Baltimore) Sun, The Seattle Times, the Kansas City Star, International New York Times, and other major metropolitan newspapers, as well as with The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News, Newsweek, and POLITICO. Broadcast alums are executives, producers, and reporters with television and radio outlets in the Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, Atlanta, Tampa-St. Pete, Phoenix, Seattle-Tacoma, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham, Indianapolis, San Diego, Nashville and other markets throughout the U.S., as well as with Al Jazeera, C-SPAN and National Public Radio. PAR alums also account for roughly half of the Capitol press corps, including four bureau chiefs. Actually, there'd be something amiss if the PAR program did not post impressive placement results year after year, considering what graduates bring to the table. PAR products start their professional careers fresh from full-time jobs, cleverly disguised as internships, covering the complexities of Illinois government for the state's leading media outlets. They have the clips and the resume tapes to show what they did in the demanding environment of the Statehouse, where, in Mr. Dooley's words, "Politics ain't beanbag." In addition to finely-honed reporting and writing skills, PAR grads also acquire in-depth knowledge of the most critical public affairs issues of the day, from abortion regulation to welfare reform, including such topics as school finance, health care, and taxation. In short, students leaving the PAR program are prepared to step into the most demanding beats a newsroom has to offer, and the media managers who do the hiring know it. That's why managing editors and news directors with openings on their news staffs call us looking for alums who might be available; in fact, frequently the callers are PAR grads themselves. So not only is there life after PAR, but the program's track record shows that graduates have bright prospects for a great job and a solid professional career. Public Affairs Reporting Department and UIS Links

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Media Blitz Al Jazeera America needs to break through in year two Opinion: The U.S. may not care enough about world news to tune in JonFriedman Ehab Al Shihabi, chief executive officer of Al Jazeera America NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Al Jazeera America's journalists have had a successful rookie campaign on U.S. television. The news network established a reputation for consistently presenting serious, fact-based news and information to an audience that typically seemed to get more excited about the daily proclamations of Kanye West than Benjamin Netanyahu. Now Al Jazeera America faces a pressing challenge on the business side: increasing its brand awareness. To read more about its origins, see this story. Al Jazeera America's sweet spot is international reporting, particularly from war zones. So the network has a big opportunity these days as the Israel-Palestinian battles rage on and on, and violence in the Ukraine continues. Even the most celebrity gossip-obsessed American cable television viewer has become aware of the gravity of these and other global situations. Meanwhile, advertisers respect the fact that Al Jazeera America's audience is likely to be well-educated and affluent, characteristics attached to people who care about the world stage. Al Jazeera America said on Aug. 8 that it will highlight its coverage of Gaza with an ad campaign, highlighting an area other media outlets find it difficult from which to report. But when will Al Jazeera America become destination viewing for a discerning, global-minded American audience? It's not so much a question of Al Jazeera, which launched Aug. 20, 2013, raising its reporting or production game. It's more a matter of the network finding ways to woo the folks in the colonies who typically tune in to Fox News, CNN or MSNBC for their daily news fix. Clearly the network needs to upgrade its marketing effort. As distasteful as it might be to Al Jazeera America's journalists and executives, it's unfortunately fair to suggest that a segment of the audience might still associate it with some sort of secretive operation that has an eyebrow-raising corporate name. Ridiculous? Of course. Inherently racist? I'm afraid so. But Al Jazeera America, controlled by the Qatar-royal family's Al Jazeera Media Network, has to overcome this obstacle. Al Jazeera America is determined to let the quality of its journalism speak loudest. In a memo circulated to Al Jazeera America employees on Aug. 6, Chief Executive Officer Ehab Al Shihabi wrote: "In year two, we are going to continue to grow our distribution, continue our outreach efforts, extend our brand, introduce TV Everywhere and develop our advertising business. Most importantly, we will continue to deliver high-quality journalism online and on the screen." "In other words, AJAM will be looking to continue its branding and awareness campaigns, while extending its reach via traditional (cable distribution) and less traditional (TV Everywhere) means," noted CapitalNewYork.com. Al Jazeera will need to step up its business efforts. Nielsen points out that an average of 19,000 viewers tuned in to Al Jazeera in prime time each night during July. Its CEO wrote to staffers: "I know there has been a lot of talk about ratings," he wrote. "Let's put things in perspective. Other cable-news networks have been on television for decades - we're a year old. We're still growing our brand awareness as well as our distribution, which is a little more than half of all U.S. cable homes." By comparison, the Fox News Channel garnered roughly 2.2 million viewers in prime time during July, CNN averaged 515,000 and MSNBC attracted 648,000. The message from Al Jazeera's CEO seemed more in the spirit of a rah-rah declaration than any sort of sign of desperation. After all, it's a major achievement to go from nowhere to somewhere in the span of a year, especially in a business as crowded as cable television. But the bigger accomplishment - of seeing large numbers of people leaving traditional American news outlets and tuning in to Al Jazeera America - remains a fanciful goal at this point. More from MarketWatch Jon Friedman is a New York-based writer and a lecturer in journalism at Stony Brook University. Follow him on Twitter @JonMediaWeb.

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InternationalNational Dangerous Hurricane Matthew threatens Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba By DAVID MCFADDEN - 10/2/16 11:49 PM PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - An extremely dangerous Hurricane Matthew moved slowly over the Caribbean on Sunday night, following a track that authorities warned could trigger devastating floods in parts of Haiti. The powerful Category 4 hurricane had winds of 145 mph (230 kph) late Sunday. Its center was expected to pass to the east of Jamaica and then cross over or be very close to the southwestern tip of Haiti late Monday or early Tuesday before reaching Cuba on Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. Rain was already falling on Jamaica, but forecasters said the southern Haitian countryside around Jeremie and Les Cayes could see the worst of the rains and punishing winds. "Wherever that center passes close to would see the worst winds and that's what's projected to happen for the western tip of Haiti," said John Cangilosi, a hurricane specialist at the U.S. center. "There is a big concern for rains there and also a big concern for storm surge." Matthew is one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history and briefly reached the top classification, Category 5, becoming the strongest hurricane in the region since Felix in 2007. The hurricane center said the storm appeared to be on track to pass east of Florida through the Bahamas, but it was too soon to predict with certainty whether it would reach the U.S. coast. Officials with Haiti's civil protection agency said there were roughly 1,300 emergency shelters across the country, enough to hold up to 340,000 people. Authorities broadcast warnings over the radio telling people to swiftly heed evacuation warnings, trying to counter a common tendency for people to try to stay in their homes to protect them during natural disasters. In a Sunday address carried on state radio, interim President Jocelerme Privert urged Haitians to listen closely to the warnings of officials and be ready to move. "To those people living in houses that could collapse, it's necessary that you leave these houses to take refuge in schools and churches," he said. Teams of civil protection officials walked the streets of Les Cayes and other areas urging residents to secure their homes, prepare emergency kits and warn their neighbors. They also evacuated people from some outlying islands. Many Haitians appeared unaware of the looming hurricane. "No, I haven't heard anything about a bad storm coming here," farmer Jean-Bernard Mede said with a concerned expression as he took a break from walking three cows along a dirt track outside the flood-prone town of Leogane. "I'll do what I can for my animals and my family." Forecasters said the slow-moving hurricane was expected to dump 15 to 25 inches (40 to 60 centimeters) of rain over southern Haiti, with a few places getting as much as 40 inches (100 centimeters). The impoverished country is particularly vulnerable to devastating floods because of the steep terrain, with hillsides and mountains often devoid of trees that hold back water because they have been cut down to make charcoal for cooking fires. Many Haitians live in flimsy houses that are not able to withstand a serious storm, typically built of scraps of wood with corrugated metal roofs. As of 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), the storm was centered about 325 miles (520 kilometers) southwest of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince. It was moving north at 5 mph (7 kph). A hurricane watch was posted for the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of the Dominican Republic, where authorities began mandatory evacuations of areas at risk for flooding. The hurricane earlier had been projected to be closer to Jamaica, but still was a danger to the island. "The center of the system is looking more likely that it will pass to the east of Jamaica but it won't miss it by that much, so they are still going to see impacts," Cangilosi said. "The impacts are maybe going to be a little lower there than they would be in Haiti and eastern Cuba." After passing Jamaica and Haiti, Matthew was projected to reach Cuba. The center was expected to pass about 50 miles east of the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, where authorities evacuated about 700 spouses and children of service members on military transport planes to Florida. The U.S. installation has a population of about 5,500, including 61 men held at the detention center for terrorism suspects. Navy Capt. David Culpepper, the base commander, said emergency shelters had been set up and authorities were bracing for 80 mph winds and storm surge and heavy rain that could threaten some low-lying areas, including around the power plant and water desalination facility. "We have no choice but to prepare ourselves for to take a frontal assault if you will," Culpepper said. Cuban President Raul Castro traveled to the eastern city of Santiago to oversee preparations for Matthew's arrival. A report on state television showed the 85-year-old leader discussing the hurricane's path with ministers and saying: "This is a hurricane we need to prepare for as if it were twice as powerful as Sandy," the 2012 hurricane that devastated much of Cuba's second-largest city. Hundreds of Cuban soldiers were moving in convoys around the city and state workers with chain saws cut tree limbs overhanging power lines and homes. Trains from Havana to eastern Cuba were cancelled and the government called on residents of eastern Cuba to move livestock to high ground, tape up their windows and store potable water ahead of the hurricane's arrival. Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Miami, Evens Sanon in Haiti and Ramon Espinosa in Santiago, Cuba, contributed to this report. VIAThe Associated Press TAGSAccidents and disastersCaribbeanCubaDavid McFaddenEvacuationsEventsFloodsFloridaHaitiHurricane Matthew 2016JamaicaJocelerme PrivertLatin America and CaribbeanNatural disastersPort-au-PrinceRaul CastroStormsWeatherWeather forecasts DAVID MCFADDENThe AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, as a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members, it can maintain its single-minded focus on newsgathering and its commitment to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism. STAY CONNECTED17,916FansLike183FollowersFollow6,187FollowersFollow ABOUT USNobody covers Columbus, Indiana and the surrounding areas like The Republic.Contact us: FOLLOW US © All content copyright The Republic, a publication of AIM Media Indiana unless otherwise noted. ');

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Louis Hau Newspaper Circulation: Parsing The Numbers Come Monday, don't expect to see many newspaper companies breaking out the champagne and party hats. It'll be time once again for the Audit Bureau of Circulations' semi-annual release of U.S. newspaper circulation figures. A fresh batch of ABC numbers has seldom been a cause for joy during recent reporting periods as print circulation continues to tumble amid the migration of readers to the Internet. But as you absorb the sure-to-be lower numbers, it's worth remembering that this ritual doesn't provide a complete picture of the newspaper industry's overall health. The industry's most pressing problem isn't the state of print circulation, which has been in decline since the mid-1980s. Instead, it is figuring out how to generate more advertising revenue from both its shrinking but still lucrative print product and its growing online properties. In one sense, circulation data can understate the newspaper industry's financial challenges. Declining circulation can affect how much a newspaper charges for print advertising, its biggest and most lucrative source of revenue. But print advertising has been sinking faster than circulation as the slowing economy and new Internet ad platforms like Craigslist have decimated newspaper classified ads, particularly for the help wanted, real estate and automotive categories. Newspaper print ad revenue plunged 9.4% in 2007 to $42.2 billion, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Meanwhile, average daily circulation at leading U.S. newspapers fell 2.6% during the six months ended Sept. 30, from the same period a year earlier, according to ABC. While the two statistics don't measure the same time period or sample size, the trend is clear: Print circulation is holding up better than print advertising. But in other ways, circulation declines can sometimes exaggerate a newspaper's operational problems. Many papers have been deliberately reducing circulation as they pull back from heavily discounted subscriptions and efforts to draw readers in outlying parts of their respective circulation areas where they have lower market penetration. Doing so saves on marketing and newsprint costs and results in an "improved quality" of circulation that appeals more to advertisers, says Ed Atorino, a newspaper analyst for Benchmark & Co. in New York. One such example: industry bellwether Gannett . During an analyst conference in New York in March, the publisher of USA Today and more than 80 other daily newspapers explained why the company's February operating results included a cumulative 4% decline in daily circulation and a 6% drop on Sundays. "We've made some strategic decisions to cut areas where the circulation is not profitable and it's not serving the key audiences that our advertisers are looking for," said Bob Dickey, president of U.S. publishing for Gannett. "In some markets, we've also leveraged some new price increases and there's always a pushback when we raise our prices." Similarly, New York Times Co. Chief Executive Janet Robinson said, during the company's annual shareholders meeting this week, that a key part of the company's efforts to cut costs was its "shift away from less profitable circulation by reducing promotion, production, distribution and other related costs." Another reason why circulation declines aren't a wholly reliable barometer of overall performance is that the print editions of newspapers are incrementally accounting for a smaller proportion of a newspaper's total ad revenue. In 2007, Internet advertising accounted for 7% of the industry's total revenue, up from 5.4% in 2006, according to the Newspaper Association of America. The transition to the Web is occurring more quickly at some newspaper chains. For instance, McClatchy reported this week that its online advertising revenue accounted for 11.3% of total ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 8.6% total ad revenue for full-year 2007.

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" Media Maven Dark Ages By Marcy Burstiner In the information infrastructure, newspapers represent the outmoded grid. But if you tear down the grid without having a replacement in place you will find yourself in the dark. Think about that as we prepare to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure projects meant to shore up our collapsed economy. We spent $700 billion to save our banks. We will spend tens of billions to save the auto industry. Both are central to our economy. Not so the hundreds of thousands of workers in the news industry. The newspaper is never the top employer in a town. Its collapse does not create a chain effect on suppliers across the country and world. As the deliverer of bad news, many people might find it a relief to not have it on their doorsteps. So saving the journalism industry from collapse is not part of the Obama agenda. Maybe it should be. To get a sense of the scope of the problem check out the site . There you will find an interactive map that plots out the more than 15,000 jobs lost last year. It counts another 2,000 this year. Small papers are shutting down and some very big ones are on the verge. Now, I won't argue that the government should bail out newspapers. But saving the industry should be part of the national discussion. Because it will be hard to have any national discussion without them. Newspapers are a thing of the past, no doubt about that. It makes little sense when you have electronic communication to have information go from the mouth of a source to a notepad to a computer to a printing press to a truck to a driveway to a kitchen table, with multiple reporters, photographers, editors, designers and delivery people involved in the process. But just because you ditch the newsprint doesn't mean that you ditch what's on it. Trucks replaced the stagecoach a long time ago, but that didn't change the need to transport goods from one place to another. And you still needed people to make the goods in the first place. Last month Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group, based in Denver, told its 3,300 workers in California to take a week off without pay. That means that come spring break, you might see some of the reporters at the Times-Standard around town sans notebook. It won't likely be in Starbucks. Most of these people live paycheck to paycheck and one of those paychecks will be half the size they need. In the boom times, owner Dean Singleton didn't hand out hefty bonuses to these workers. But in bad times, they are expected to share in the pain. Big newspaper chains like Gannett and MediaNews can furlough workers because they count on one thing: That readers won't notice wire copy and barely rewritten press releases filling papers and news sites. People not in the news business think that they can get news for free on the Internet. But most of the news found in blogs, seen on TV or heard on the radio originated from newspaper reporters. Outside of big cities, Associated Press news feeds come off of reporting done by local newspapers. If the local papers go under, the feed from that region disappears. The news you will get for free over the Internet will be straight out of the mouth of corporate public relations people and politicians. Or you will find so many different takes on a happening that you won't know what the heck is really going on. As a country we need to start valuing information products as highly as we do other goods and the information economy as central to our larger economy. Long term, I'm bullish about the news industry. In 1990, I found myself without a job in a dismal job market. By 1998, there were so many jobs for reporters, people were getting bonuses just for finding job candidates. In upturns people are hungry for information and willing to pay for it. When the economy swings back round, that will happen again. But we need information in a downturn just as much, if not more so, than in boom times. Everyone seems to be looking at Barack Obama to solve all of our problems. But he and other policymakers won't solve problems few people know about. That's where news organizations come in. In one of his first acts, Obama ordered the CIA to close its secret prisons overseas. But the only reason the prisons became a campaign issue in the first place was because the New York Times exposed them. Ask yourself: Regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats control Congress or the presidency, do you want a government unchecked by the press? Here in Humboldt, we all seem to complain about the quality of our local newspapers. But without the hard-working reporters at the Times-Standard, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon and North Coast Journal sitting in on boring court hearings and council and commission meetings, spending countless hours on the phone tracking down business people to get tedious information needed to inform readers about new business developments and patiently spending time with families to let us know what is happening in our schools and neighborhoods, we wouldn't have a clue as to what's happening in our small, isolated world. Try finding people who you can trust to do that for free. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people, seems to be the only politician connecting the health of the news industry to the health of California. KCBS in San Francisco quoted him speaking to a recent press gathering: "It saddens me when I hear that the newspapers have to lay off writers because I think we need the writers, they are important," said Schwarzenegger. "The more coverage all these different subjects get, the better it is for the people of California." It could be worse. Singleton could shut down the Times-Standard, and the 49 other papers in the state that he owns, altogether. I doubt the T-S makes any money for him. The Arcata Eye and North Coast Journal, under local ownership, also fight for their survival. Tomorrow when you pick up a paper imagine the county without them. Workers in all industries are losing their jobs. Only you won't know about any of that if the journalists go. Marcy Burstiner is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Humboldt State University. More Media Maven " Marcy Burstiner Contact Us Marcy Burstiner is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Humboldt State University. If there's something about the media that confuses you, e-mail her at . Warning: This Column Contains Objectionable Material by Marcy Burstiner Latest in Media Maven Make Them Care

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Support Public Media Today...Every Donation Matters, Every One Related Program: Morning Edition Rescuers In India Try To Reach Sailors Trapped In Submarine By David Greene Originally published on August 14, 2013 7:16 am Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit . Transcript DAVID GREENE, HOST: In India, rescuers are trying to reach 18 sailors feared trapped in a submarine that caught fire after a massive explosion in Mumbai last night. The defense ministry said at least some of those on board have been killed. This smoldering sub is in its berth at a highly secured naval base, with only a portion visible above the surface. This incident comes as a setback for India, just as the country is trying to beef up its military. And for more, we're joined by NPR's Julie McCarthy from New Delhi. Julie, good morning. JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Good morning, David. GREENE: So what do we know, at this point, about these rescue operations? MCCARTHY: Well, navy divers have been deployed to inspect the site and to recover the personnel on board. The defense minister confirmed that there have been deaths among those sailors. But there are very few details. He would only say it's a tragedy; it's a loss for all of us. You know, this disaster raises these memories of an explosion onboard this Russian nuclear submarine, that killed all 118 onboard, about 13 years ago. And in fact, David, this diesel-powered submarine was built in Russian shipyards for the Indian navy. It was delivered in 1997, and it was recently refurbished there. GREENE: Well, do we have any sense for what caused this big explosion? MCCARTHY: Well, the public relations officers of the Indian navy said it's an internal explosion. And when he was asked if terrorism could be involved, he repeated: It's an internal explosion. And he said, quote, "A non-naval person getting on the submarine is out of the question." He said the board of inquiry has been named, with a rear admiral leading it. But David, you know, these television images from the scene showed this huge fireball over the navy dock where the sub was berthed. A huge fire then engulfed this vessel ship, and turned the night sky over Mumbai's dockyards this glowing red. And in a city that was besieged by Pakistani militants in 2008, there is a constant dread of terror attacks. But defense experts are saying it's highly improbable that sabotage could have been involved in this submarine disaster. GREENE: Well, as they try to figure out exactly what happened there, let's talk about the larger context here, Julie. I mean, this seems like a setback for a country that really has been trying to increase its military might. MCCARTHY: Well, yes. The loss of this sub is being described as a major setback. In fact, it's the worst on an Indian submarine. The Indian navy now has only 14 submarines. And this disaster puts a damper, David, on a week when India, with great fanfare, had launched its first homegrown aircraft carrier. India has been modernizing its fleet, as you mentioned. And defense analysts say it's spurred by its rivalry with China, that's rapidly expanding its sea power. GREENE: And there's also been news about an old rivalry, India's rivalry with Pakistan, that's been on the boil this week. I mean, there's been ongoing fighting in the disputed region of Kashmir for days now. How significant is that? MCCARTHY: Well, these tensions are very significant. In fact, the tensions along the line of control, this de facto border, are described as the worst since a cease-fire agreement was signed in 2003. The tripwire was the killing last week of five Indian soldiers near the border. Pakistan denied any cease-fire violations, but things have escalated very rapidly. India's opposition lambasted the government for even considering talks with the new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, next month at the U.N. And last night, Pakistan's National Assembly unanimously slammed what it called unprovoked aggression along the border. But David, we have to remember, this is Kashmir. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over it. So it's always a very impassioned place, and freighted with dangers. GREENE: All right. That's NPR's Julie McCarthy, joining us from New Delhi. Julie, thanks a lot. MCCARTHY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.View the discussion thread. © 2016 KRWG

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Globe wins Pulitzer for Boston Marathon bombing coverage The announcement of the breaking-news award was met with a moment of silence in the newsroom for the victims. NEW YORK -- The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news was awarded to The Boston Globe on Monday for its "exhaustive and empathetic" coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and the manhunt that followed.The announcement of the breaking-news award - coming just a day before the anniversary of the bombing - was met with a moment of silence in the newsroom for the victims.The attack last April 15 killed three people and wounded more than 260 near the finish line of one of the world's most celebrated races, transforming a celebratory event into a scene of horror and heroics.The Pulitzer committee says the Globe won in the breaking news category for its "exhaustive and empathetic coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt that enveloped the city, using photography and a range of digital tools to capture the full impact of the tragedy." The Washington Post and The Guardian won the Pulitzer for public service for revealing the U.S. government's sweeping surveillance efforts in stories based on thousands of secret documents handed over by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. The winning entries about the NSA's spy programs revealed that the government has collected information about millions of Americans' phone calls and emails based on its classified interpretation of laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks. The disclosures touched off a furious debate in the U.S. over privacy versus security and led President Barack Obama to impose limits on the surveillance. The stories were written by Barton Gellman at The Washington Post and Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewan MacAskill, whose work was published by The Guardian US, the British newspaper's American operation, based in New York. "I think this is amazing news," Poitras said in New York. "It's a testament to Snowden's courage, a vindication of his courage and his desire to let the public know what the government is doing." Snowden, a former contract employee at the NSA, has been charged with espionage and other offense in the U.S. and could get 30 years in prison if convicted. He has received asylum in Russia. Journalism's highest honor, the Pulitzers are given out each year by Columbia University on the recommendation of a board of distinguished journalists and others. The New York Times won two Pulitzers in photography: Tyler Hicks was honored in the breaking news category for documenting the Westgate mall terrorist attack in Kenya, and Josh Haner was cited for his essay on a Boston Marathon blast victim who lost his legs. The Center for Public Integrity's Chris Hamby won the award for investigative reporting for his reporting on how lawyers and doctors rigged a system to deny benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung disease. The Pulitzer for explanatory reporting was given to The Washington Post's Eli Saslow for reporting on food stamps in America. No award was handed out for feature writing. The two winners of the public service award receive gold medals. The other awards carry a $10,000 prize. The prize for national reporting went to David Philipps of The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colo., for an investigation that found that the Army has discharged escalating numbers of traumatized combat veterans who commit crimes at home. The Pulitzer for international reporting was awarded to Jason Szep and Andrew R.C. Marshall of Reuters for their reports on the violent persecution of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar. It was the news agency's first Pulitzer for text reporting. The Oregonian newspaper was awarded a Pulitzer for editorial writing, with the judges honoring a selection of works that focused on reforms in the public employee pension fund. The prize was the third in the newspaper's history for editorial writing. The Tampa Bay Times' Will Hobson and Michael LaForgia won in local reporting for writing about the squalid housing for the city's homeless. "These reporters faced long odds. They had to visit dicey neighborhoods late at night. They had to encourage county officials to be courageous and come forth with records," said Neil Brown, Tampa Bay Times editor and vice president. "And in the end what they were ultimately doing was standing up for people who had no champion and no advocate." The Philadelphia Inquirer's architecture critic Inga Saffron won for criticism. At The Charlotte Observer, Kevin Siers received the award for editorial cartooning for his "thought-provoking cartoons drawn with a sharp wit and bold artistic style." Sig Gissler, who administered the prizes at Columbia, said the reporters on the NSA story "helped stimulate the very important discussion about the balance between privacy and security and that discussion is still going on."

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Barnett: Advocacy, Membership Groups to Push Non-Profit News by Jaclyn Schiff June 7, 2010 The erosion of the traditional business model for news has led many to go down the non-profit path. The result is a slew of new non-profit news websites. The Bay Citizen, which launched at the end of May, is the newest and joins the likes of ProPublica, MinnPost, and the Texas Tribune, to name just a few. But as the closing of the non-profit Chi-Town Daily News last year indicates, running a non-profit isn't easy. Jim Barnett Perhaps no one understands this as well as Jim Barnett. After almost two decades as a newspaper reporter, Barnett threw his efforts into launching his own non-profit news service in 2005. Managing a non-profit proved to be a major challenge and Barnett realized he'd need some new skills in order to be successful in this space. These days, he's pursuing a masters in non-profit management at George Washington University, working as an in-house adviser to AARP's publications group and doing some editing for the Washington Post News Service at night. He's also been expanding on his academic work on his blog, The Nonprofit Road, and more recently on Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab blog. I think you'll see a lot more advocacy non-profits doing more to fill the void in traditional journalism." - Jim Barnett I spoke with Barnett to examine the outlook for non-profit journalism, the government's role in the future of news, quality indicators for good non-profit news sources, and more. ADVERTISEMENT You've been blogging about non-profit journalism since 2009. You're pursuing a non-profit management degree at GW and you even tried to launch your own journalism non-profit. It's fair to say you're pretty invested in the model. Are you concerned that the activity in the non-profit journalism space will slow down at all because of the drop in newspaper layoffs? How do you think non-profit journalism will evolve over the next five years? Jim Barnett: While it is true that the bloodletting of the past couple of years has created a huge talent pool for non-profit startups, I think the model really is riding its own trajectory. What now seems like a flurry of interest I think is actually the result of a longer-term trend that I think will continue as the economy recovers and the newspaper industry stabilizes. I think the recent uptick of interest in the non-profit model can be traced to events in 2004, as it was becoming painfully apparent to many in the news business that the newspaper model would not translate simply or easily into the digital age. One was Louisiana State University's March 2004 symposium, "News in the Public Interest: A Free and Subsidized Press," which attracted thought leaders. The non-profit model was a major topic of discussion, and it soon began gaining traction within journalism circles. In November 2004, Columbia Journalism Review published an essay by Phil Meyer of UNC-Chapel Hill entitled "Saving Journalism." In it, Meyer talked about the non-profit model as a way 'to keep the spirit and tradition of socially responsible journalism alive until it finds a home in some new media form whose nature we can only guess at today.' After a lot of talk that year, things really started taking off. In 2005, the Voice of San Diego was launched. Two years later came ProPublica and MinnPost. Today, there are many more, small and large. And now, other non-profits that do advocacy and education are exploring how they can use the tools of journalism to help fill the void. How will the non-profit model evolve over the next five years? I don't think anybody can say with any degree of certainty. We're in a period of great experimentation, and much will be up to luck and circumstance. But when you think about how much has happened since 2004, I do think it is clear that the sector has achieved a critical mass that will carry it for years to come. I will risk two general predictions. I think you'll see a lot more advocacy non-profits (think Human Rights Watch or American Red Cross) doing more to fill the void in traditional journalism. And I think you'll see more journalism sponsored by membership groups (think Council on Foreign Relations) and online communities (Spot.Us) that function like membership groups in many ways. You're no stranger to criticism of non-profit journalism. Do you believe the model has its limits or is it journalism's silver bullet? Barnett: It's by no means a silver bullet. I'm always very careful to say that the non-profit model is an answer, not the answer. But the non-profit model is especially useful in certain areas, such as public affairs reporting from D.C. and state capitals that have been abandoned by many newspapers but that we need to function as a society. This is not a new revelation. I like to remind people that the non-profit sector in journalism dates to 1846 when a group of New York newspapers formed a cooperative to cover the Mexican-American War. That cooperative serves us now as the non-profit Associated Press, and the economic forces that made it a good idea then remain in force today. Is there anything non-profit journalism does better than traditional newspaper journalism in its heyday? Barnett: That remains to be seen. But I do think the non-profit model does as good a job as any of matching newspapers' ability to take risks, throwing reporters and resources at a story without any promise of financial return. In most for-profit models of the digital age, news stories must serve two masters: Each must meet the standards of journalistic inquiry and each must carry some share of the freight by generating online advertising revenue. In the non-profit model, the case for philanthropy can be built around the pursuit of objective journalism without the same pressure to generate immediate readership and revenue. You've written about the Newspaper Revitalization Act and the FCC's Future of Media project. What role should the government play in the future of journalism? Barnett: First, we need to separate the concepts of journalism and the media - in this case, newspapers - that deliver it. I'm not a huge fan of the Cardin bill because it attempts to give newspapers - not necessarily journalism - a special place in line for government help. I think government creates problems in any industry when it starts picking favorites, no matter how noble the cause. If newspaper publishers really want to operate under non-profit status, they can do so under existing law. But the real problem is the economics: Publishers must serve shareholders first, and they generally do better by continuing to cut costs (read: news staff) even if they lose circulation and quality. The Cardin bill does nothing to reverse the newspaper death spiral. Do you think public subsidies, such as the ones suggested by Robert McChesney and journalist John Nichols, are a good idea? Barnett: Whether one thinks subsidies are good or bad, they are a fact of life for any major media enterprise. Earlier this year, David Westphal and Geoffrey Cowan at USC released a masterful report showing the pervasiveness of government subsidies to news media of all kinds, and they argued that this is exactly how the Founding Fathers intended it. I think their report enlightens the debate immensely. To oppose subsidies on principle is a bit like the health care reform protestor last July demanding, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" But what level or what form any subsidy should take is way beyond my little realm of expertise. With so many different journalism non-profits sprouting up, earlier this year you blogged about the need for a 'Good Housekeeping seal of approval' for non-profit journalism and outlined some ideas for criteria. You said you'd be doing additional research on this and that it would be a topic of discussion at the We Media conference. So we're following up, any new insights? Barnett: I've wrapped up my research and am working on a post for the Nieman Journalism Lab that I hope to publish soon. The question I tried to tackle was this: 'What steps can non-profits take if they want to be legitimate news providers?' There are some great examples out there, and not all come directly from within boundaries of traditional journalism. Some advocacy non-profits such as Human Rights Watch establish legitimacy as fact-finders and align their case for philanthropy with that mission. Other non-profits such as the American Red Cross use the tools of journalism as a means of accountability and transparency to donors. Stay tuned, my post should go live this week. What's next for you? Any plans to expand your role in the non-profit journalism world? Barnett: One thing's for sure - I'll be wrapping up my academic career next year when I get my master's from GW. Beyond that, I hope to apply some of the things I've learned to my day job as a strategic analyst at AARP. We put out some high-quality publications, and I think we have a lot to contribute at a time of great change in the news business. What role do you see non-profit news organizations playing in the future of the press? Share your thoughts in the comments. A writer, reporter and media consultant, Jaclyn Schiff is up at the crack of dawn to tackle the headlines of the day for her job at the non-profit Kaiser Health News. When she should be catching up on sleep, she can usually be found updating her Twitter feed or Tumblr blog, MEDIA Schiff (pun intended). Schiff covers non-profit news for MediaShift. Tagged: advocacy bay citizen jim barnett nieman journalism lab non-profit non-profit road propublica Comments are closed.

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Gun Violence Requires Focus On Young Stan SimpsonContact ReporterThe Hartford Courant Seven years ago, I disagreed with a New Britain minister - who once was my pastor - when he started a petition to bring metal detectors to the high school. His well-intended response was to allegations that a student at the school was found with a loaded pistol and ammunition.In 1993, years before the Rev. Alfred Smith's petition, a New Britain High student was shot and killed on the high school steps by rivals. The pastor had enough. The month that the petition was drafted, September 2006, a loaded gun was allegedly brought into Bloomfield High by the son of a Hartford police officer. In yet another gun-related incident that month, two 16-year-olds were arrested after one of them was found in possession of a loaded gun at an East Hartford alternative school. Police were responding to a tip that the boys were planning to kill three of their peers.These incidents were seven years after Columbine and before school massacres at Virginia Tech and Newtown.The rampant gun violence among youth stems from the evolution of a new generation; some of whom fashion themselves gangstas with a shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality when it comes to exacting revenge.I told the Rev. Smith then that bringing metal-detecting wands to a public school was akin to using them at a place of worship. Sacrilegious.The Newtown slayings - 20 students and six teachers killed; plus the shooter and his mother - have raised the level of discourse about how to curb gun violence. My position has not changed on metal detectors at public schools.Certain schools, those in crime-ridden neighborhoods, absolutely need a soft police presence on or near campus. There are times when an officer is needed on the ground to handle immediate criminal and arrest-related matters, such as assaults or altercations that filter from the streets onto campus. We're kidding ourselves, though, if we think simplistic solutions such as stiffer gun controls and more armed guards will stop the madness. It will simply leave playgrounds, churches, grocery stores, libraries and train stations as other public targets for a deranged person.Remember, there were armed personnel at Columbine and Virginia Tech. The more perplexing problem is how do we retrain an entrenched mind-set among some young people that picking up a gun is a viable option when under duress or feeling disrespected.Gary Slutkin, a Chicago epidemiologist who studied diseases in large populations, sees youth violence not so much as a crime, but as a mental health disease that is highly contagious. The malady, he told me a few years ago, needs to be detected early and treated vigorously.Slutkin's CeaseFire organization, which was profiled in The New York Times Magazine, attempts to diffuse street violence by identifying potential street conflicts and intervening with peaceful solutions and alternatives.Chicago is still mired in urban violence. In the last three years, 260 city schoolchildren have been killed; 13 times the number of children slain in one horrifying day in Sandy Hook. The Newtown killer apparently had a dysfunctional home environment. His dad (and brother ) had little contact with him. A similar profile is seen with most urban gang members.So, why don't we supersize what CeaseFire attempts by identifying young people from particularly difficult family backgrounds - urban, suburban and rural - and infuse intensive conflict resolution interventions and counseling.Dr. Anthony Morgan, the former chief of general surgery and trauma at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, started a prevention program several years ago called "Let's Not Meet By Accident." It was designed for high school teens to understand firsthand the inner workings of an emergency room operating table - and the consequences of irrational and reckless behavior by their peers.Morgan would have a student lie on the operating table, while telling the others graphically about operations and incisions he performed in trying to save victims of street violence or injuries caused by riding in cars while intoxicated or without seat belts. Morgan wanted to change the behavior of young people by teaching them to value their lives and others.The horrors in Sandy Hook put an exclamation point on the burgeoning problem of gun violence and mental health issues in America.It's an epidemic, folks. Let's treat it as one.Correction: A New Britain High School student was shot and killed on the school steps in 1993. The year was incorrect in a previous version of this column posted Jan. 3 at 3:25 p.m.Stan Simpson is host of "The Stan Simpson Show'' ( and Saturdays, 6:30 a.m., on FOX CT).

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Open letter backs Egypt reporters Media organisations have sent an open letter in support of journalists being held in Cairo, including Peter Greste / Major news organisations today wrote an open letter to the Egyptian authorities protesting against the continuing imprisonment of a number of journalists in Cairo. BBC News, ITN, Sky, Reuters, NBC News and ABC News called for the reporters to be set free to resume their impartial and balanced coverage of events in the country. Those held include correspondent P eter Greste, who was arrested with two colleagues working for Al Jazeera in a Cairo hotel on December 29. Twenty journalists working for the network face charges of joining or aiding a terrorist group and endangering national security. The letter says: " Since December 29 last year the foreign correspondent Peter Greste has been held with two Al Jazeera colleagues in Egypt's Tora prison, accused of news reporting which is 'damaging to national security'. This week he goes on trial. "We know Peter Greste to be a fine, upstanding correspondent who has proved his impartiality over many years, whichever of our organisations he has been working for, and in whichever country. "In one of his letters from prison, Greste writes that he had only been in Cairo for two weeks before interior ministry agents came into his hotel room. "'We had been doing exactly as any responsible, professional journalist would - recording and trying to make sense of the unfolding events with all the accuracy, fairness and balance that our imperfect trade demands.' "That fits the man we know." The letter tells how Greste left his native Australia in 1991 to work as a freelancer for Reuters TV, CNN, WTN and the BBC. In 1995 he was the correspondent in the Afghan capital Kabul for the BBC and Reuters. He then worked for the BBC News channel in London, and as a BBC foreign correspondent in Mexico and Chile. It adds: "He returned to Afghanistan to cover the start of the war in 2001, then roamed across the Middle East, Latin America and, for the last nine years, Africa, where he is the correspondent for Al Jazeera. In all that time, he has polished his journalistic reputation. "Greste is being put on trial because of the Egyptian government's decision on December 25 to add the Muslim Brotherhood to its list of terrorist organisations. He writes that when this happened 'it knocked the middle ground out of the discourse. When the other side, political or otherwise, is a "terrorist", there is no neutral way... So, even talking to them becomes an act of treason, let alone broadcasting their news, however benign.' "In total, twenty journalists including Greste are facing charges. Sixteen are Egyptians accused of belonging to a 'terrorist organisation' and four are foreigners accused of assisting it, or spreading false news. "We think the Egyptian authorities are profoundly mistaken in their actions. "The role of an impartial journalist is to try to enrich people with knowledge, culture and information about their world: to report and explain, and to reflect all sides of the story. "Whatever the local conditions, a fundamental principle of any country should be freedom of speech - the existence of critical voices that can test the mettle of a system. As history shows, that's vital. "So we think Egypt's move is deeply damaging to the future of impartial journalism in the country and that its actions are unjust, and unacceptable. "A hard-working, honourable journalist, with a track record of achievement, has been put in jail, awaiting trial, for honestly practising his trade. "So we would like to add our voices to those that have called for his release, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. "Peter Greste and his colleagues should be set free so that they can continue with the kind of impartial, balanced reporting he has so eloquently defended from his prison cell." Tomorrow, journalists, politicians and human rights activists will gather outside the Egyptian embassy in London to demand an end to the intimidation of journalists in Egypt and call for the immediate release of all detained journalists. The demonstration, organised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), will start at 11.30am and is being held the day before the trial of four journalists begins. Under the charges, foreign-born journalists could face up to seven years in jail, and Egyptian journalists up to 15 years. Journalists from Al Jazeera English currently under detention are Greste, Mohammed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, who have been detained since December 29. Their colleague Abdullah Al Shami, of Al Jazeera Arabic, has been detained since August 14 last year and is in the third week of a hunger strike, the NUJ said. Michelle Stanistreet, the union's general secretary, said: "The situation facing journalists working in Egypt is dire. The arrests and brutal attacks are a deliberate attempt to silence journalists and prevent them from doing their job - giving citizens access to vital information and news. "The trial of Al Jazeera English journalists, on ludicrous allegations of damaging national security, should be halted and all journalists immediately released. "This repression of all journalists in the country, who are operating under outrageous pressure and intimidation, undermines press freedom in Egypt and calls into question the government's attitude to basic human rights." The Egyptian authorities published a list on February 5 of 20 journalists they accused of aiding terrorists while working in the country. Of the 20, nine are Al Jazeera staff. Correspondent Sue Turton, one of the 20 accused, is expected to attend the demonstration. Ms Turton, an award-winning correspondent who worked for Sky News, ITN and Channel 4 before Al Jazeera, and who has reported from Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine, said: "I am astounded that a warrant is out for my arrest because of my reporting in Egypt last year. "I didn't treat the situation there any differently to every other story I've reported on in almost 25 years as a TV reporter. I have no allegiance to any political group in Egypt or anywhere else and no desire to promote any one point of view." Promoted stories

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Mexico's peacebuilders: Adrián López Director, Editorial Group NoroesteOriginally an engineer from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Adrián decided to make journalism his profession. Since 2008, he is the director of the newspaper Noroeste and collaborates with several non-governmental organizations and business chambers in Sinaloa. He teaches ethics and citizen engagement in his alma mater and is currently a candidate for a Master in Public Management.What work have you spent doing over the last decade?When I was studying for my master's in applied ethics I was invited to become Business Director for the newspaper El Mazatlan. That was my introduction in to journalism. I lived in Mazatlan during a very difficult time. In March 2008 the economic crisis in the United States began. Mazatlan is a city that lives from American tourism. However, the worst crisis came later when in 2011 Mazatlan became the city with the second highest murder rate in the country, nearly 307 homicides per year. Cruise ships stopped coming after the U.S. warned its citizens not to travel to Sinaloa. This had a heavy impact on the economy.What are the biggest challenges in your profession?We were the first newspaper in Mexico to present a set of criteria for violent content. Basically, we only publish violent content when two requirements are met: if it strengthens the rule of law, and if it is related to topics beyond security, for example, politics, vulnerable groups or the business sector. The journalistic tendency is to say that the news is made up of gunfights and shootouts, but we decided to give our stories a more ethical treatment. The idea is to not only be a mirror of reality but to build a message. We realized that we could contribute more to social stability if we found a way to treat violence without increasing fear or undermining economic development.What have you accomplished?It is very difficult to survive as an independent newspaper in this country. However, we have successfully positioned ourselves as a serious newspaper, objective, truthful, and critical. We follow issues that are sensitive to citizens, but are not always pleasant for the political class, as in the case of the driving licenses. There was a clear violation of human rights in the requirements to process a driving license in Sinaloa. We consulted with many experts and gave the issue wide coverage, and ultimately promoted a collective citizens movement against the measure. We also developed a network called "Open Parliament Sinaloa", led by Noroeste with another eight civil society organizations. Its objective is to keep track of local congress decisions and make public every discussion session.Is there freedom of expression in Mexico?To say that there is, is a fallacy. I say that if Mexico were Twitter, Peña Nieto would not be president, however, Mexico is Televisa. The media at the state level receives funding by Governors, this happened after they realized that investing in their image could help them become President. We have media owners that have always been close to power, and that kills any chance of independent journalism.Do you feel safe as a journalist in Mexico?It is clear that as you become more visible, you become more undesirable to the powers that surround you (editor's note: López was shot in an alleged assault). In Sinaloa, journalism is very difficult because we are caught in the crossfire between two actors: organized crime, which is a powerful force that goes completely unpunished; and the government, which also goes completely unpunished, although it is a bit more cautious about risk. That mix is a perfect breeding ground for a journalist to be a victim of violence. In our case we have been besieged and threatened and have about 90 previous investigations opened at the Public Ministry and at the Attorney General's office.Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Mexico's future?I see a pessimistic scenario in which things will not change much, organized crime in Mexico is a very complex problem and we continue without attacking the root of the problem. We keep burying bodies as if nothing happened. My optimistic viewpoint tells me that we are not the same Mexico we were in the seventies. We are approaching new levels of public discussion, of public demands, that are strongly broadcasted through new technologies and social networks. About 70 million young people in this country have a smartphone. I think that's the hope, that Mexico, being such an unequal country, finds a way to have a common conversation. Just ten tweets sent to a senator are enough to make them start thinking about the political consequences of their actions. Toggle navigation Vision of Humanity Indexes UK Peace Index US Peace Index Mexico Peace Index Global Peace Index News & Resources Our Vision Contact Sign up for the newsletter Subscribe Take Action Contact us Vision of Humanity is an initiative of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). IEP have offices in New York and Sydney. For more specific inquiries related to the peace indexes and research, please contact IEP directly. General enquiries: Data request: Media: PO Box 42, St Leonards, NSW 1590, Job opportunities and internships are listed on the Institute for Economics and Peace website. See them here. Explore the state of global peace on interactive maps See the latest peace news and research

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Sequestration May Make Hurricane Season Stormier Than Usual By Greg Allen May 16, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Listen Listening... Originally published on May 16, 2013 12:13 pm Transcript DAVID GREENE, HOST: The actual effects of those automatic federal budget cuts, known as the sequester. The actual impact of those cuts can be as hard to predict as, say, a hurricane. Which means several challenges for government forecasters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration won't release its official forecast for the hurricane season until next week, but other meteorologists are already predicting numerous storms. The question is whether the sequester will deal its own blow to government forecasters, just as they're dealing with a busy hurricane season. From Miami, here's NPR's Greg Allen from Miami. GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: It was just a few days before Halloween last year and director of the National Hurricane Center, Rick Knabb was doing his best to send a message to residents in the Northeastern U.S. DR. RICK KNABB: Don't focus too much on the fact that this could become a post-tropical system before making landfall. That's not going to change the fact that this large system, Sandy, is very capable of producing several life-threatening hazards over a very large area. ALLEN: As it turned out, Superstorm Sandy ended up as the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history. And it followed much the same path as Hurricane Irene, a year earlier. Together, the two events are a reminder that hurricanes are a threat to the Gulf and the entire East Coast. In Florida, a state used to preparing for and responding to hurricanes, the state's governor, Rick Scott, recently flagged another issue - the budget cuts ordered to federal agencies as part of sequestration. GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT: My biggest concern is that while they say sequestration will stop during a disaster, are they going to be ready in the meantime? Are they going to have an impact on our National Guard, are they going to impact on our training, things like that? ALLEN: Florida's National Guard says about half of its 2,000 full-time personnel will have to take four furlough days, mostly likely during hurricane season. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, says sequestration will cut a billion dollars from his agency's budget. Fugate spoke at a recent conference of emergency management groups in Ft. Lauderdale. CRAIG FUGATE: And I'm not going to tell you FEMA is going to so more with less money. What I am going to tell you is we're probably going to do fewer things, but we're going to do them better. ALLEN: Fugate said, after a disaster, that means not duplicating efforts of the states and the private sector. After Sandy, for example, when millions were without electricity and gas, it was the power companies and service stations that provided much-needed relief. FEMA personnel will have to take furlough days this summer - as will employees of the National Weather Service. Dan Sobien, the head of the union representing National Weather Service workers, says the furloughs come on top of a hiring freeze that has cut the agency's workforce by almost 10 percent. DAN SOBIEN: It has left many offices around the country - not all - but many offices around the country severely understaffed, to the point where some of the functions they do just aren't going to get done. ALLEN: Miami's National Hurricane Center, for example, is short-staffed in its information technology division - personnel that are vital in getting hurricane forecasts and warnings on the Web and out to the media and the public. For forecasters and researchers - including those who staff the hurricane hunter flights - the furloughs are expected in July and August - just as the storm season is ramping up. Hurricane Center chief Rick Knabb says furloughs will be cancelled if a storm develops. But Sobien is skeptical. He says storms often develop with very little notice. SOBIEN: You usually don't have three or four days, the amount of time it would take to do an administrative action, to cancel somebody's furlough and bring them back to work. You usually don't have that kind of time to call somebody in because the weather is getting bad. ALLEN: FEMA chief Fugate says his agency has enough money to cover aid promised to individuals affected by Superstorm Sandy. Less clear is how much FEMA has for state and local governments still working to rebuild from the storm. And that doesn't begin to address the potential threat - and the costs - of another active hurricane season. But at the recent hurricane conference, Fugate had advice for emergency managers who think things may be different this year because of budget constraints. Victims of a disaster, he said, don't care. FUGATE: They don't want to hear your excuses, and they don't want to hear how bad your day was, or how much your budget got cut. Because, when they lost their family, they lost their homes, they just want to know that government and the rest of the team's there for them. ALLEN: A commitment that may be tested if this hurricane season is anything like last year's. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GREENE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.View the discussion thread. © 2016 Alabama Public Radio

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The struggle for press self-regulation in contemporary South Africa: charting a council can keep government control out of media. But that is, ultimately, a valuable by-product of doing the right thing in terms of upholding quality standards and requiring editors to publish apologies and corrections when found wrong. Acting as a sop to a predatory government should never constitute the motive force or raison d'etre of self-regulation." Self-regulation for political reasons risks becoming a synonym for self-censorship. What is also important to record is that self-regulation is also not a system in the interests of the media as such. This is because, as Nelson Mandela (1996) has articulated, "Freedom of expression is not a monopoly of the press; it is a right of us all". The point of self-regulation therefore is to promote journalistic standards in the interests of "all". In turn, that means that a system which is independent of not only government, but also the media itself. A press council has to be above the "us" and "them" when it comes to complaints by a given party against a given medium. Accordingly, a press council is not a token or charade that beneath the rhetoric actually serves to protect the journalists from complaints. "Its credibility rests wholly in it being an authentic independent process of redress to citizens when, as too easily happens, media ethics go awry and people's rights are enfringed" (Berger, 2009). If this is a primary purpose of self-regulation, it is not contradictory for the IFJ (1999) to argue that journalists and their organisations should promote public confidence in the media by establishing systems of self-regulation. Breit (2005)takes this issue further by criticising how journalistic self-regulation in Australia has tended to treat the public as passive recipients of information, rather than integral parties to the process. She observes that this situation relies heavily on complaint-driven processes, rather than moving into the realm of media literacy and engagement with audiences on the recognition that the "consumption of news is not a passive activity". This evokes not just an autonomous role for a press council, but a highly pro-active one. One debate here has been the issue of whether a council should behave like a "media observatory" which combines research, advocacy and pro-activity roles along with the conventional and narrower role of receiving and adjudicating complaints. There has been some debate in South Africa 1

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Related Programs: All Things Considered Big Cities See Violent Crime Rates Fall In 2013 By Cheryl Corley Jan 3, 2014 Related Programs: All Things Considered ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Listen Listening... Originally published on January 3, 2014 8:43 pm Transcript AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: At the start of this new year, a number of cities in the United States, including its five largest, have a common story to tell about crime. In 2013, they all saw violent crime rates drop significantly. Some also saw murder rates drop to historic lows. From Chicago, NPR's Cheryl Corley reports. CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: The sharpest declines in crime last year occurred in New York City and Philadelphia. Los Angeles and Houston saw reductions as well. Statistics show Chicago was a safer city, too, despite some high-profile murders that made national headlines, like the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, the teenager who performed at inauguration events and was shot a week later not far from President Obama's Chicago home. University of Illinois-Chicago criminologist Dennis Rosenbaum says New York and L.A. added more police, but most of the reductions in crime in the country were due in part to smarter policing and new technology. DENNIS ROSENBAUM: We're not just looking at hotspots policing, which has been shown to be effective - in other words, concentrating police resources in areas where there's a likelihood of violence or violence has occurred - but also looking at hot people. There's people that are at risk both of being homicide victims, as well as offenders. CORLEY: Authorities in New York, the country's largest city, say it had the fewest number of murders in half a century. At 330 violent deaths, it was a 20 percent decline. Chicago also witnessed historical low rates of crime and violence. At a press briefing, police superintendent Garry McCarthy says the 415 murders that occurred last year, down from 506, were the fewest for the city since the 1960s. GARRY MCCARTHY: Four hundred murders is nothing to celebrate, let's be clear. But the fact is progress is being made. CORLEY: In addition to more officers in high-crime areas, McCarthy pointed in part to the use of intelligence like using data to map crime and to track individuals involved to help prevent retaliatory gang shootings. But even more significant, McCarthy said in an interview with NPR, was the big drop in actual shootings and the decline in Chicago's overall crime rate to the lowest it's been in four decades. MCCARTHY: We have 18,000, almost 20,000 less crime victims in this city from two years ago, which is stunning. It's almost 25 percent. And, you know, what people across the country need to know is the fact that, you know, there's areas of this city that definitely have issues but the vast majority of the city has virtually none. CORLEY: The numbers may be real but in some neighborhoods they are viewed with skepticism. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Let's give a welcoming applause for the principal, Mr. Ross, for opening up the doors for us. CORLEY: At a meeting in a South Side Chicago school, activists and ministers said the community had to tackle the violent that plague some areas of the city's South and West Sides. Nathuan Harron(ph) lives on Chicago's West Side, and he says he doesn't believe reports about the city's declining crime rates. NATHUAN HARRON: Because they shoot every day, all day. Well, where I come from, they shoot every day, all day. CORLEY: Andrew Papachristos, a Yale University criminologist, says there are areas in Chicago where crime is stubbornly persistent. But he says there's far more crime elsewhere. ANDREW PAPACHRISTOS: Chicago's rate is in the middle of the pack. And in fact, our rate as a city is dwarfed by the rates in places Flint, Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis, that have rates that are multiple times higher than that of Chicago. CORLEY: Papachristos says Chicago's crime rate is more similar to Minneapolis or Houston. In Houston, police put the unofficial count of murders for last year at 217, just four fewer than the year before. In Philadelphia, murders dropped by a rate of about 26 percent. In Los Angeles, there were 16 percent fewer murders than the previous year. UIC criminologist Dennis Rosenbaum says despite their dramatic reductions in crime many cities experienced in 2013, there's still much work to do. ROSENBAUM: The reality is we still need significant attention to prevention. CORLEY: Which he says means address underlying causes of crime like concentrated poverty and the lack of jobs in order to sustain a declining crime rate in the years to come. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. © 2016 WQCS

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Home > Blogs > Info & Media Pro-Test One of the major scourges of modern journalism is what media watchers call "false balance". This is where journalists want so much to look "balanced" that they inject balance into a story where none actually exists. We see it all the time as stories degenerate into a "he says, she says" format where the reader is left completely baffled as to whether there's any truth, or just two equally valid competing opinions.A good example was the Independent's recent feature on animal testing, which presents a "Yes/ No" section at the end with completely contradictory information in it. Since some of the information relates to scientific fact, both interpretations cannot - by definition - be true. One is right, the other is wrong. It's not a matter of opinion.The same problem plagued the Newsnight debate on animal research on BBC2 this week (view it here). The format itself induced false balance: Mel Broughton, a convicted arsonist and animal rights campaigner was put up in a head-to-head against Pro-Test's Tipu Aziz, who is one of Europe's leading neurosurgeons and a professor of neuroscience at Oxford University. Broughton is interested in only one thing: banning animal testing. He does not care about the science. Last time I challenged him and some fellow travellers at their regular stand in Oxford city centre, Broughton told me that a computer model of the entire human body had just been invented, so there was no need for animal research. Of course, that was a total lie - no such model exists, and as our recent post on the 3Rs illustrated, we are nowhere near developing one. The problem is that anti-science campaigners like Broughton are quite adept at wielding fraudulent statistic and pseudo-scientific language that can sound quite convincing to people without a background in science (which would include me!).But it was left to Oxford MP Evan Harris to point out that the vast majority of scientific opinion favours continued animal research, and that only a few ideologically-committed and totally isolated individuals like French professor Claude Reiss oppose it. Newsnight was content to let anti-science campaigners from organisations like the BUAV and Europeans for Medical 'Progress' claim that scientific opinion was split. It's not. There is reason and fact on one side of this debate, and anti-reason and pure emotion on the other, as a recent article on Hidden Agendas illustrated.Claude Reiss has been thoroughly discredited by the scientific community: during his time at the academic journal Biogenic Amines, he allowed articles by his friend Jarrod Bailey from anti-vivisection campaigning group Europeans for Medical 'Progress' to get published in the journal without peer review. Peer review is a process where scientists read each other's work prior to publication to make sure facts and methods have been checked and are scientifically sound. Abandoning it allows people to publish lies or misleading information that are legitimised by the reputation of the journal. The editor of Biogenic Amines said of Claude Reiss: "After his 2 years stay in the editorial board, he did lots of harm to the journal and we all forced him to resign." Yet Reiss is invited to speak with the full authority of the title "professor" and no mention of his completely discredited reputation is made.Similarly, a remarkable amount of air time was given to Oxford graduate Sharon Howe and her cronies. Ms Howe grabbed a few column inches by "handing her degree back" to Oxford in protest at the construction of the Oxford biomedical research facility. What we don't hear is that she handed back only her Oxford MA - a special degree for which no additional work is required past the undergraduate level and for which a fee is paid, usually about £20, effectively a money-making process for Oxford colleges - and her original degree was English literature, which hardly gives her the authority to pronounce on scientific issues. Likewise, her sidekick, the "fellow of Mansfield college" who scandalously accused the University of suppressing those who dissented from the building of the lab (actually, the reverse is true, but that's another story), is a lecturer in philosophy - again, not scientist. Howe's group, unsurprisingly, contains no scientists and has no backing in Oxford's scientific community. But again, these people are consulted on the specific question as to whether animal research is effective.Newsnight, to their credit, divided the issue up sensibly into scientific, ethical and political parts. There are indeed different issues at stake: scientifically, does it work, does it yield useful results? Ethically, even if it does work, are we justified in doing it? And politically, if you don't think we are justified, what methods of protest or resistance are valid, e.g., is violence appropriate?On the science, ask scientists. Don't allow people who are coming at the debate from the ethical side of the argument to spin falsehoods about how it's "backwards" or claim that since "animals are not people", it can't work. There is one point of view in the scientific community, the people who actually know: it does work. Every medical advance and all future cures will flow from animal research. Fact - not opinion.On the ethics, ask whoever you like. But then we should be curious when someone like Mel Broughton gets all tongue-tied when asks about the ethics, eventually stammering that it's irrelevant because the science is bad. Utterly false. And then to claim, as he did, that he wouldn't kill a malarial mosquito to save his own life, is surely ridiculous. But the convoluted argument he made flowed directly from the fact that he was confronted - as were we all - with the incredibly moving sight of Tipu Aziz's patient, Mike Robbins, demonstrating the amazing device that Tipu installed in his brain to control his Parkinson's. Mike, who has bravely tried to demonstrate this device at Oxford Town Hall in the past, only to be set upon by anti-vivisectionists, went from uncontrollable spasms to completely normal, and vice versa, at the flick of a switch. Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler rightly demanded of Broughton: "would you deny Mike Robbins this treatment?" And Broughton could not, on live TV, answer honestly and say "yes". In reality, that's exactly what he would do.And this, really, is what the animal research issue boils down to: science provides insight into, and treatments and cures for, all manner of human ailments; some of us want the benefits of modern medical science to be available to everyone and for scientists to feel confident and proud of their work; some of us would deny those treatments by destroying the means by which they are achieved. It is not a battle of animals versus people, it is a political struggle between those who support science, and those who oppose it. posted by Lee at 2:23 PM About This is blog is where you can find out information about the activities of the pro-animal testing campaign group, Pro-Test, and links to media coverage. • Nothing to hide, so why hide it? • Recent press reports on the "3 Rs" and rising number of animal experiments • What we've been up to • Pro-Test March II: 600 citizens stand up for science • University sends official representative to march with Pro-Test • 'The shame of our silence' • March speakers confirmed • New poll puts support for animal research 'at record high' • Lady Margaret Hall and Pembroke College JCRs are Pro-Test! • Some recent press hits since 3 April 2006. Home | About | Facts | Blogs | Action | Get Involved | Contact | Links Pro-Test 2006 (some rights reserved)

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