In the past few months, there have been three very high-profile cases of journalists being captured, imprisoned, and accused of espionage. They include two Americans who are now trapped in North Korea, and one Iranian-American who is being held in a notorious Iranian prison. Roxana Saberi has been charged with espionage by the Iranian government. […]
As many as two million people are being displaced because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China. “Up the Yangtze” chronicles the life of two teenagers who work on a cruise ship that gives “farewell” tours to those who want to see the Yangtze before the dam alters it forever. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1fFuynf-Yw” […]
Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Myers was only 30 years old when he died in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was thousands of miles from his home in Hopewell, Virginia when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) wounded and killed him. But as fate would have it, his death and return to his family in the […]
In a country like China that is already so restrictive of press freedoms, it’s surprising that the grip of control could be tightened any further. Yet, according to a new press release from the non-governmental organization Freedom House, that’s exactly what is happening. Freedom House says it is “dismayed by new Chinese Internet restrictions,” which […]
Despite its age, this film continues to be relevant. “The Killing Fields” is a film about friendship and survival with the backdrop being civil war. It is the true story about New York Times reporter Sidney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) and Cambodian journalist and translator Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor) in early to mid-1970s Cambodia. [kml_flashembed […]
Journalism is a competitive professional field, where journalists often work hard to get the unique angle, the scoop, the exclusive. But it’s also a collegial profession with a tradition of journalists helping each other in both small and big ways. In the current climate of layoffs and downsizing in the media industry–notably the decline of […]
Newspapers in both the United States and Europe are considering seeking public support as their print editions struggle with plummeting revenues, rising costs and declining circulations. Closures and lay-offs have gone much farther in the United States than in Europe. But European journalists, aware that it may be their turn next, are sounding the alarm […]
Press freedom in war-torn Afghanistan is regressing to a Taliban-era level of restrictions, according to a recent report. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based press advocacy organization, visited Afghanistan in January to survey the current situation. Their report is entitled, “We have free speech, but we’re not safe and don’t act responsibly.” “Because of the […]
The Overseas Press Club of New York will host a distinguished panel of foreign correspondents and news entrepreneurs on Monday, March 30. The panel will be composed of Washington Post New York bureau chief Keith Richburg for Dispatches magazine, Marc Rosenwasser, executive producer of World Focus, and Charlie Sennott, executive editor and vice president of […]
Carlotta Gall is the Kabul-based veteran war correspondent with The New York Times who reports on both Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Read one of her recent report from the front lines, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban Close Ranks. I caught up with her last week while working on a piece for an upcoming article for Quill, […]
This documentary is scary. It deals with the issue of water, who owns it and who controls it in different parts of the world. Should water be considered public for everyone to enjoy, like air? Or should it be held in private hands, like oil? It is obvious where Irena Salina, the film’s director, stands: […]
Frontrunner Monday, March 30 at 6:45p.m. at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, 25 West 52 Street The Bread Winner The Asia Society in cooperation with the Foreign Policy Association, at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th St) in New York City, on Monday, April 6 at 6:00p.m. *** Two documentaries depicting the […]
A recent New York Times article explores a quizzical addition to the U.S. media scene: Chinese state-run media. Several, in fact the largest, state-controlled media plan to spend a small fortune in order to expand overseas. In the midst of what looks like a major crisis for journalists and readers, media companies and outlets left […]
Bob Schieffer, a journalist with more than five decades of experience, said it best during a recent event at the New York Press Club: “A free press is vital to a healthy democracy.” What an encouraging thought at a time of dramatic changes in the news business. And what a fitting prinicple in light of […]
The world should never forget. This documentary tells the tales of several Hungarian Jews who survived the camps in World War II. Their stories are heartbreaking and still fresh in their minds more than 50 years later. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/H6HG0iNHREo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] One woman tells of how she wore her favorite swimsuit under her […]