Journalism Glance
It has a familiar ring: “Investigators are looking for about a dozen more people in connection with a wide-ranging terror investigation that has already netted arrests in Colorado and New York City..."
That’s the lead sentence of a CNN “breaking news” report filed Tuesday about a frantic search for alleged terrorism plotters within the United States. But a closer inspection of the story — and that of others in the past week — reveals that despite the hooplah, federal authorities have yet to charge the men they’re accusing of a terror-related crime.
Media hypes terror plot, despite the fact no one is charged with terror
Why I Love Al Jazeera
Over just a few days in late May, when I actively monitored Al Jazeera (although I watched it almost every evening during a month in Sri Lanka), I was treated to penetrating portraits of Eritrean and Ethiopian involvement in the Somali war, of the struggle of Niger River rebels against the Nigerian government in the oil-rich south of the country, of the floods in Bangladesh, of problems with the South African economy, of the danger that desertification poses to Bedouin life in northern Sudan, of the environmental devastation around the Aral Sea, of Sikh violence in India after an attack on a temple in Austria, of foreign Islamic fighters in the southern Philippines, of microfinancing programs in Kenya, of rigged elections in South Ossetia, of human-rights demonstrations in Guatemala, and of much more. Al Jazeera covered the election campaigns in Lebanon and Iran in more detail than anyone else, as well as the Somali war and the Pakistani army offensive in the Swat Valley. There was, too, an unbiased one-hour documentary about the Gemayel family of Christian politicians and warlords in Lebanon, and a half-hour-long investigation of the displacement of the poor from India’s new economic zones.
TVNL Comment: You can see Al Jazeera broadcasts right here on our web site. You have to be a member to view the broadcasts but membership is free.
Anatomy of Injustice: The Unsolved Killings of Journalists in Russia
Only Iraq and Algeria outrank Russia on the list of most life-threatening countries for the press. Seventeen journalists have been murdered in Russia since 2000. In only one case have the killers been punished. This is a sorry record for a great and powerful nation that embarked on democratization after more than 70 years of brutal repression.
That is why the Committee to Protect Journalists is releasing an unprecedented report that calls on the international community to help reverse this slide toward lawlessness. Our mission is to protect journalists, and we are less and less able to do so in Russia.
The death of news in Afghanistan
The truth is that good old-fashioned journalism is no longer possible in today's war zones, and especially in Afghanistan. Hence the rise of rooftop journalism, in which sharply dressed reporters address the camera from inside fortified compounds.
As a result, the most consequential war of our time is reported principally by "embeds", journalists embedded for short periods with army units. It is a trade-off for freedom for access. It has produced some vivid journalism, both in print and online, but is inevitably one-sided.
Editor: Student newspaper censored by school
The editor of the student newspaper that school administrators stopped from being printed earlier this week says her principal was trying to censor controversial but factual information about a new cafeteria services provider.
Taylor Erickson, 17, a senior at the Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana, said Principal Sue Vaughn primarily objected to an article reporting that independent vendor Alegre Foods is a Christian company whose "mission" is to "serve God." The Long Beach-based group was hired this year to run the school's cafeteria.
Turkish Media Group, Critical of Government, Is Fined $2.5 Billion
Turkey’s Tax Ministry this week slapped a $2.5 billion fine on a media group, Dogan Yayin, a conglomerate of newspapers and television stations that has been the most critical of the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s strong-willed prime minister.
The Media's Instinct to Cover Crazy People
It's a universally acknowledged fact these days that Fox News is doing a rotten job covering the health care debate. But what about the liberal media? By constantly harping on the craziest of the crazy protesters to set them on a tee and whack their crazy lies with a three wood, maybe they're not helping to make the fundamental point, which is that crazy sideshow fanatics don't deserve to take up the bulk of every cable news hour.
TVNL Comment: There IS no cable news hour. It is always infotainment, never news.
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