• J-Source

    A disgrace to journalism: shoe-throwing

    In a tone of hilarity and snickering approval the story of Iraqi “journalist” Muntadar al-Zaidi’s throwing his shoes at U.S. president George W. Bush at a news conference has flooded all forms of media. Responds an editorial in the Globe and Mail: “The moment world leaders think they will be the target of projectiles thrown…

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    Nolen: Out of Africa

    Globe and Mail Africa correspondent Stephanie Nolen is taking up a new post in New Delhi and leaving Africa. The Globe published a remarkable first-person piece in which Nolen “bids farewell to a place she’s come to love, she reflects on how it has changed, and how it changed her.” She writes of covering African…

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    Bankrupt: Tribune down…

    Under “mountains of debt and falling ad revenue” the Tribune Company, the American owner of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. federal court, reported the New York Times. The company — along with its once-venerable newspapers — was bought last year by real estate investor Samuel…

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    Coats insulated with newspapers

    Just as death notices are being written for newspapers someone has a new use for them. A new design for a coat lined with newspapers “is being hailed as a major breakthrough for street-level aid,” reported the Calgary Sun. The Salvation Army is handing out the “15 Below Jacket” to street people and the working…

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    Europe’s access convention criticized

    The Council of Europe recently adopted a Convention on Access to Official Documents. The convention’s language is rather inspiring: it refers to aims of greater unity; ideals and principles; the importance in a pluralistic, democratic society of transparency of public authorities. There is quite a lot about the right to access to official documents to…

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    Conflicts of interest

    The New York Times has a massive piece, One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex, about Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired American four-star Army general, military analyst for NBC News, paid lobbyist for American defence contractors, and early enthusiastic supporter for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. McCaffrey, said the Times, “reveals the myriad and often undisclosed connections between…

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    Social networking on the WSJ

    The Wall Street Journal will launch a social network for business people, starting Tuesday. If it’s successful, says a New York Times blogger, “it could provide lessons for other news organizations trying to build deeper connections with their readers: New community features will allow WSJ.com’s million or so paid online subscribers to comment on every…

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    Glocal

    In A Penny for My Thoughts? Maureen Dowd interviews James Macpherson, the self-styled, bow-tied “pioneer” of “glocal” news. Macpherson owns a Pasadena news outlet that fired all professional journalism staff and outsourced local coverage of things like town hall meetings to piecemeal contractors in India. … Where’s the liquor? Or something harder?

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    European news network in English

    The English online version of German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and NRC.nl/international, the English-language Web site of Netherlands daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad, announced a new partnership “to launch a Europe-wide network of publishers of high-quality journalism on national, European and international affairs.” A story in SPIEGEL ONLINE said the partners “plan to exchange content on a…