J-Topics

Journalists in Libya face one of the toughest environments for news media -- the government has forbidden foreign journalists from entering the country, suggesting they will be treated as Al Qaeda "collaborators" -- but they're still finding ways to get in and get their stories out, Brian Stelter reports in an interesting piece for The New York Times.

He continues: "The host of foreign journalists that arrived in eastern Libya from Egypt in recent days have reported being greeted like liberators by the antigovernment forces there. News executives said Thursday that they were making hour-by-hour determinations about where it was safe for their journalists to be -- and about how much detail to disclose to viewers about their locations."

Lara Logan's sexual assault by a Cairo mob should have media organizations rethinking how they might better support reporters in the field, especially if they are female. Former CBC Radio News Managing Editor and NPR News VP Jeffrey Dvorkin has some suggestions about where news managers might look.

Jeffrey Dvorkin teaches in the journalism program at Centennial College/University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. He is a member of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma and the Executive Director of the Organization of News Ombudsmen.

In the midst of celebration, Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, an Egyptian-born journalist, was asked to put aside his journalistic impartiallity for a moment to to the viewers how he personally felt about President Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

An Egyptian reporter that was shot last week while covering the intial violent clashes in Cairo has died, USA Today reports, making him the first journalist to die in the protests. CTV reports that "Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud was 'shot by a sniper' while he was taking photos from his balcony four days ago, not far from central Tahrir Square."

Journalists have been increasingly targeted by pro-government protestors, and have reported attacks, arrests and stolen or damaged gear.