As one editor put it, Zimbabwe is a hot story: Rife with economic collapse, a spreading cholera epidemic, and until last month a brutal dictatorship, the tales that come out of this ravaged nation are too-often harrowing. Clearly, journalism is a touchy subject here, especially if you’re foreign.
Author: OPC of America
USC Launches Public Diplomacy Magazine
The Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars at the University of Southern California launched the inaugural issue of PD the a magazine focused exclusively on Public Diplomacy issues.
Fare Thee Well RMN
Just shy of its 150th birthday, the Rocky Mountain News, published in Denver, Colorado, closes its presses today.
Pakistan February 25, 2009
The OPC must echo the outrage expressed by Reporters Without Borders at last week’s beheading of a journalist in the Swat valley shortly after he covered a “peace march” related to the implementation of Sharia law there.
Press Freedom Committee Report February 24, 2009
Good news to lead the Committee’s report: Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, a reporter for El Diario del Noroeste in Mexico, was released from federal prison on January 29, pending an immigration hearing in March.
Sierra Leone February 23, 2009
Four women journalists in Sierra Leone were abducted on 6 February by members of Bondo, the secret society that practices female genital mutilation.
Russia February 23, 2009
We write to express our indignation and frustration at the recent outcome of the trial of four suspects in the killing of our colleague Anna Politkovskaya.
Oreskes Says “Digital Natives” Have the Advantage
Those pronouncing the death of journalism are wrong,” said Michael Oreskes, managing editor, U.S. news, for the Associated Press. Before an audience of nearly 200 assembled at the Overseas Press Club Foundation Annual Scholarship Luncheon at the Yale Club on Friday, February 13, he explained that in this age of information overload, only journalism can be charged with the vital task of “separating the wheat from the chaff and to see that the chaff is printed,” alluding to a comment made by philosopher Emmett Hubbard 100 years ago.
3 Acquitted in Politkovskaya Murder, Russia Reopens Case
A Moscow jury ruled unanimously to acquit three men in the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya. On Friday, the presiding judge ordered the case reopened.
More “Death of News” News
Salon has written an article that covers the fresh topic of how newspapers are disintigrating before our eyes. The article suggests subsidizing newspapers and reports on the value of bloggers and why media institutions matter.
Related articles: OPC: Media Meltdown: Our Role as Journalists | New Yorker: Nonprofit Newspapers