Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
Zhao Zan, a researcher in the Beijing bureau of the New York Times, has been held in custody for almost a year, accused of leaking state secrets. An excerpt: For the more than 11 months that he has been incarcerated, Zhao Yan has been held in one of the darkest corners of China's legal system [...]
Wed, August 31 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Arnold Amber, president of the guild at the CBC, takes on CBC president Robert Rabinovitch’s commentary from Tuesday’s Globe and Mail: Some excerpts: It’s clear that Mr. Rabinovitch et al. had no qualms about shutting down the CBC. Apparently, it’s better to deny Canadians their public broadcaster in August than to risk missing coverage of [...]
Wed, August 31 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
This Washington Post column looks at how journalists and newsrooms, particularly from the New Orleans area, are trying to keep people informed despite the devastation. The NYT covers the same ground in this story. Actually, the W-P column also talks briefly about the blogging and podcasting efforts of locked-out CBC staff.
Wed, August 31 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
The governor of Louisiana has ordered everyone out of New Orleans because holes created in the levees can't be fixed. Here's a feature I did last night for CTV.ca on the levee system.
Wed, August 31 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
This Salon photo essay dates back to Aug. 23 (roughly a full blog-year in the past). It shows some disturbing images of the carnage in Iraq and talks about why Americans are spared views of them by the MSM. An excerpt: (free with a day pass) Governments keep war hidden because it is hideous. To [...]
Wed, August 31 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
An Iraqi television journalist was killed on the weekend covering a pro-Saddam Hussein rally east of Baghdad. An excerpt from the AP story carried on Salon.com: Rafed Mahmoud al-Rubai was shot by unidentified gunmen … Rubai, a freelance contributor to the Iraqi TV station Al Irakiya, died instantly, Reporters Without Borders said. “Rafid became a [...]
Wed, August 31 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
The BBC followed up on the notion of journalist safety in Iraq. Here is some of what it had to say: The Brussels-based International News Safety Institute (INSI) said (Reuters soundman Walid) Khalid's death meant that 81 members of the media had died since the war began in March 2003. By comparison, the Vietnam war claimed about [...]
Wed, August 31 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
CBC president Robert Rabinovitch has an op-ed piece in today's Globe and Mail. Here are some excerpts: … Despite the current labour dispute, management and employees at the CBC share a common vision of the Corporation's mandate and mission — hardly surprising, since most of today's managers came up through the ranks as working journalists [...]
Tue, August 30 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
The Toronto Star ran two op-eds on Monday, one defending the CBC, the other saying let's keep the $987 million in our pockets. Here's pro-CBC one: Canada became what it is by developing institutions that promote our identity, says Richard Nimijean And here's the anti one: Were we not Canadians before the very appearance of [...]
Tue, August 30 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Carl Wilson offered up a reply to Warren Kinsella's broadside against him in a Zoilus posting entitled O Kinsella, where is thy sting? On his blog, Kinsella lobbed back a few insults, but didn't bother explaining why he sought a lunch date with Wilson to talk music if he thought the guy was such a putz [...]