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Interview with Janine Di Giovanni
Posted by James McAuley
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“Janine di Giovanni is a war reporter who has covered nearly every major violent conflict since the late nineteen-eighties. But in her most recent book, “Ghosts by Daylight,” she focusses her reporting skills on a different sort of struggle: that of trying to live a normal life as a wife and mother in light of the horrors she’s witnessed. As her marriage, to another war reporter, crumbles (the two are separated), di Giovanni reflects on learning to speak the languages of war, of destruction, and, finally, of love…” -
Battling over Meaning of Free Expression
“For Tunisian artist Nadia Jelassi, the trouble started in June when her sculptures, along with those of other artists, went on display at a Tunis gallery. Jelassi’s sculptures featured female mannequins in conservative Islamic dress that included robes, with their hair covered. The work was surrounded by a bed of smooth stones. Jelassi says everything was fine until the last day of the exhibit, when a man taking photos asked that some of the artwork be taken down.
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“Of course we refused,” she says. “But before long he came back with a group of bearded men. They scrawled ‘Death to Blasphemous Artists’ on the gallery walls, and later that night broke into the building and destroyed many of the pieces.” -
Blog: NEO-COLONIALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS
A blog of interest on various issues; insights on the Mideast.
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“A bit about me: I’m 23, I’m half-Dutch, half-Egyptian, and I grew up in Lusaka, Zambia. I moved to Egypt for university, where I studied sociology, psychology & anthropology. Then I moved to the Netherlands, where I got an MA in Islam in the West and then another one in Development Studies. I just started a PhD.” -
Teaching journalists to read
“Every six months or so, The Audit, CJR’s financial-journalism blog, holds a breakfast to update interested parties on how the blog is doing. Each breakfast has an invited speaker, and so it was that I found myself at 7:45 this morning in a very posh Upper East Side club, being offered an array of ties to choose from before being allowed upstairs to take my seat between Nicholas Lemann and Victor Navasky.
The main thrust of my speech, which rapidly became a spirited and high-level discussion, was that journalistic entities — newspapers, magazines, websites, and, yes, Columbia J-school itself — have to start putting much more emphasis on reading, as opposed to writing.”
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A voice of Morocco’s democracy
“I first spoke to Moroccan civil liberty activist Maria Karim in May, before her friend and colleague, rapper Lhaqed (the enraged) was sentenced to one year in prison for insulting authorities with a music video made for his song Kleb Adawla, Dog of the State.
Tomorrow, Karim will stand trial for allegedly insulting a prosecutor representing the state in the Lhaqed trial.
Then as now, I was impressed by Karim’s laughter – it creeps up at the most inopportune moments in our conversations.
“In Morocco, we don’t need Kafka,” she said today, over the phone from Casablanca, laughing.
“Every day in our country is a testament to absurdity.”
It’s not for me to say if the laughter comes from fear, existentialism, indifference – feigned or real or a courage of conviction. Here is a transcript of our conversation…”
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Arab Spring nations don’t yet grasp freedom of dissent – CNN.com
“The fall of dictatorships does not guarantee the creation of free societies. There is often a period in which we witness the legacy of tyranny. The Arab uprisings have overthrown tyrants in Egypt and Libya, but the populations and lawmakers have yet to grasp that democracy is not only about free elections but creating free societies.
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When sexual harassment of women increases on the streets of Egypt, when centuries-old shrines of Muslim saints are destroyed with explosives in Libya, when screenings of films such as “Persepolis” trigger riots in Tunisia and Christian minorities across the Middle East feel under siege, then we must stop pretending that all is well with the Arab Spring. But all is not lost either.” -
Writing Rules From Zadie Smith
“In the winter of 2010, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing published in the New York Times nearly a decade earlier, The Guardian reached out to some of today’s most celebrated authors and asked them to each offer his or her 10 rules. My favorite is Zadie Smith’s list—an exquisite balance of the practical, the philosophical, and the poetic…”
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Reporting on Poverty
Following three years of research in an Indian slum, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist discusses what language can’t express, her view that nobody is representative, and the ethical dilemmas of writing about the poor.
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What digital skills do today’s journalists need?
“During this week’s career chat, we talked with Doug Mitchell, a consultant and project manager for NPR who used to teach radio at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.
Mitchell drew upon his experiences in the workplace and the classroom and talked about the digital skills that journalists need to succeed. Specifically, he offered tips about how to acquire these skills and how they can help you in the newsroom.”
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Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Iraq: Challenges and Hopes
“As for the Iraqi journalists, the situation is not so different, for this section that has paid a heavy prize since the year 2003, and still suffering until today over unfair rules which do not protect the journalist on one hand, and passing new legislations that limit the freedom of the press, media and the freedom expression on the other hand.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights Mission made a tour in Iraq in July, 2012, where it visited Bagdad, Basra and Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf, and it met many independent human rights defenders, and those who work for NGOs as well as the journalists, in a field study about the most primary challenges that they face including the violations that take place against them.
The mission concluded that the violations against the human rights and journalists and the harassments against the NGOs are still going on in different methods, but at a less scale than the past years. We will mention them in the report.”
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From London, a Lesson in the Benefits of Free Wi-Fi
“Free Wi-Fi service, like what was offered during the London Olympics, is becoming an important tool for operators in maintaining quality mobile service during a time of skyrocketing data traffic.”
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Is This Title O.K.?
“I think I would be good at coming up with names for perfumes. Or vacuum cleaners. But when it comes to books, the job feels impossible.”
“Beginning – check. Middle – check. End – check. But, hold on a sec, isn’t there something missing? Something rather vital? In fact, couldn’t it be the key to your book’s selling or not? Ah, yes, the title.
Sometimes I think I am going to have to give up and employ one of those companies that do nothing but invent names for things. Usually it’s perfume. Actually I think I would be good at coming up with names for perfume. Or soap powder. Or vacuum cleaners. But when it comes to books, the job feels impossible. Your mission: summarize your entire work in a nutshell. If I could do that (you want to cry out) I wouldn’t have bothered writing the book in the first place!”
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Read? Listen? Who has the time?
“TAMPA—Sitting in my motel room Thursday on the fringes of Tampa, maybe 20 miles and three weather systems away from the convention site, I am surrounded by enough newsprint to equip a Broadway revival of The Front Page. These are all the newspapers, glossy magazine convention specials and other journalistic handouts that I have meant to read since I arrived on Sunday. Later today, when I arrive at my convention workspace, I will also have my pick of all the major newspapers this side of Le Monde. And (sorry to end this paragraph on a downer) I undoubtedly will read none of them.
Relax. This isn’t another jeremiad about the death of newspapers. At my first convention as a fledgling reporter—Miami Beach in 1968—I was awed to discover that stacks of dailies like the Washington Evening Star and the Chicago Daily News were flown in each morning as a promotional gesture. And sadly I never got around to reading them either…”
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Why we need “open journalism” more than ever
“There has been a rush of fact-checking of recent comments made by Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan, but does this mean the traditional media’s obsession with objectivity and the “view from nowhere” has changed? Not really — which is why more alternative sources are necessary.”
“There’s been a lot of sound and fury over Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s speech at the party’s national convention on Wednesday, and how it was riddled with inaccuracies, or what some prefer to call “demonstrably misleading assertions.” Is it news that a politician on the campaign trail would shade the truth, or use underhanded rhetorical tactics? Probably not, but the Ryan speech touched off a powder keg of emotion around the role that the traditional press plays in such acts of political theater, and whether the mainstream media deliberately downplays those kinds of falsehoods. If nothing else, such incidents show that the process of fact-checking and claim-debunking has to be distributed as broadly as possible — particularly to non-traditional sources.”
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Ink-stained assassins
Cartoonists have skewered our politicians in the pages of newspapers for generations. Can they survive in a digital age?
“Yet this is the paradox of cartooning: a few dozen people make a very good living from it, but when eventually they hang up their nibs, will they be replaced? Print sales are falling; the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations show the daily newspaper market contracted 7.79 per cent in the past year. Do cartoons work divorced from the topography of the newspaper page? Will they bring enough “eyeballs” to advertisers to justify their existence on the internet?”
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How The Economist makes millions through events
“To understand the importance that events play in The Economists’s operation, it is useful to note that conferences are organised by a business unit with staff separate from the newspaper called Thought Leadership & Events. Marc Koskela (@MarcKoskela), Head of Marketing Operations for Thought Leadership & Events, said in an email interview that the division hosts between 90 and 100 events a year around the world, with editors from the newspaper chairing the majority of the events. Each region has its own website with a calendar of upcoming events that offer “privileged access to thought leaders”. Last year’s Economist-organized The China Summit was named China Conference of the Year at the Asian Conference awards.”
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How News Organizations are Taking Advantage of iPad’s Features
“The newest iPad has ushered in a new high-resolution Retina Display that renders text that’s similar to the quality you see in print.
The core of most news apps is the printed word. The coarse typography of the iPad 1 and 2 and other tablets led to less than ideal news experiences because letters and words literally don’t stand out as much on low-resolution displays. But that’s changed with the latest iPad.
News outlets have been updating their apps to take advantage of the new iPad, which features a display with twice the pixel density, 264 PPI. Apple says that pixel density qualifies the 9.7-inch iPad as a Retina Display. (Individual pixels are not perceptible by the human eye).”
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JORDAN – Dismay after government approves repressive media bill
Reporters Without Borders is very worried by the Jordanian government’s approval of a bill last week that would radically change the existing media legislation and drastically restrict freedom of information. Parliament is due to begin considering the bill on 2 September.
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“We are disturbed by the decline in freedom of information in Jordan and, in particular, the government’s proposed changes to the press and broadcasting code. Politicians should not interfere in journalists’ work. Media independence is one of the foundations of freedom of information. We call on parliament to reject this repressive bill.
“The new provisions are like a sword poised over the head of every journalist. They show that the authorities are determined to bring journalists and their news media to heel, so that dissident views get as little exposure as possible.”
The bill would make the 1998 press and publications code much tougher, especially articles 38, 42, 48 and 49. Under the amended articles, the officials in charge of enforcing them would have more authority to restrict the freedom of expression of media that are deemed to have acted outside the law. -
App Tells Freelancers How Much to Charge
“Freelancers, specifically designers currently or fresh out of school, often find it challenging to price themselves and their services to potential clients in an informed way. A new iOS app called MyPrice aims to solve this predicament.
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The new app lets you calculate the amount you can reasonably charge for your professional services while factoring in your educational background, experience, the nature of your project, client and location.” -
A Critic’s Case for Critics Who Are Actually Critical
“Working as a critic, you learn to duck incoming words and shards of shattered cocktail glasses. I’ve developed pretty thick skin. Critics take a beating, especially in popular culture. Jean Sibelius’s observation — “No statue has ever been erected to a critic” — seems to be cited somewhere weekly. As well-known quotations go, this one strikes me as especially banal. It implies something disheartening about our culture.”
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Jordan Gov’t defends press law amendments amid backlash from journalists
“Journalists protest against the government’s proposed amendments to the Press and Publications Law outside the Jordan Press Association on Thursday”
“Scores of online media publishers, owners and workers demonstrated at the Jordan Press Association (JPA) on Thursday to express their rejection of the draft amendments to the Press and Publications Law approved by the government a day earlier.
Media stakeholders said the amendments were a setback to press freedom in Jordan, but the government said they did not impose any new restrictions and that the decision to shut down registered online media outlets will be solely in the hands of the judiciary.”
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The Citizen Kane Era Returns
“Last month, the Denver Business Journal showed that international banking scandals can be a major focus of local reporting. In its article “LIBOR scandal may cost Denver schools money,” the low-circulation trade magazine documented how the interest-rate scandal, which originated in the United Kingdom, could end up bilking Colorado taxpayers of millions thanks to a refinancing plan for schools orchestrated in 2008 by then superintendent Michael Bennet. His controversial scheme placed Denver’s public-school-district pension fund in the hands of the finance industry, which later underwrote his U.S. Senate campaign.”
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Additional Restrictions on Internet Freedom |n Jordan
“After government’s green light to block websites under very dubious “ethical” reasons, the Jordanian government approved today the new Publications Law, which gives authorities more power to control and censor the Internet in Jordan, Issa Mahasneh reports.
The Jordanian council of ministers approved today a new law amending the Publications and Press Law of 1998, making the new law, if approved by lawmakers, one of the biggest threats to Internet Freedom in Jordan.
“The draft law was needed to regulate work of electronic sites, make them accountable under the penal code and oblige the ones interested in covering Jordan’s internal and external affairs to register and get license like the print press”, our state-run news agency reported, although news websites were already included in the Press Law and classified as press publications in a 2010 Supreme Court decision, a decision met with fierce opposition from journalist, media organizations and, of course, by Jordan Open Source Association.”
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U.S. viewers watched 36.9 billion online videos in July
“U.S. viewers watched 36.9 billion online videos in July
Millions of Americans watched billions of videos online in just one month, and their favorite platform was Google, followed by Facebook. They also watched nearly 10 billion video ads.According to new numbers released by market research firm ComScore, 85.5 percent of people in the U.S. with Internet access watched online videos in July — that’s 184 million people who watched a total of 36.9 billion online content videos in only one month. For comparison, that is equal to every single person on Earth watching at least five videos each.
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And U.S. viewers’ venue of choice is Google, which is not really surprising given the growth and popularity of YouTube. However, what is surprising is that the No. 2 spot goes to Facebook. This isn’t the first time the social network has gotten so high on the video chart, but it’s been a while since it last took this spot.” -
Book Review: Journalism, by Joe Sacco
“While journalists come in many breeds, none is more purely annoying than the hit-and-run foreign correspondent. In his classic essay “How to Be a Foreign Correspondent,” the late Alexander Cockburn described New York Times reporter C.L. Sulzberger “as the summation, the Platonic ideal of what foreign reporting is all about, which is to fire volley after volley of cliché into the densely packed prejudices of his readers. There are no surprises in his work. NATO is always in crisis … . His work is a constant affirmation of received beliefs.”
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