The 'Rubicon' blog
– news on journalism practice and theory

click for mission statement

Monday 08 March 2010

Rubicon - If it is a newly released MI5 file it must be a story - not

Today's release of some more MI5 files show a recurrent and fundamental contemporary flaw in news judgement - that a story appears in a MI5 file does not automatically make it is a news story.

The 'Nazi cyclists might be spies' story provides a classic example of this. The files release has been widely published across the media today. But this story was well know in 1937, when as the file states, a story appeared in the Daily Herald. Its certainly been recycled since. There is nothing in the MI5 file that adds anything but incidental detail to existing knowledge. The trend to sell stories from MI5 files as new is recent and growing case of churnalism.

Journalists simply do not know or ignore any prior publication of storioes in these files. Even the BBC's excellent Document radio series has a tendency to ignore previous publication. It is a dfisservice tot viewers, listeners and readers who do not know what importance to place on these overblown stories.

Released Intelligence files should only make the news if they reveal something new. But then reporters don't seem to be able to say: "There is nothing new in this document release. In fact it is boring."

The challenging stories are the ones the intelligence services do not release.

Rubicon

[ Read the rest ... ]
comment: 0

News - Internet access is 'a fundamental right'


Internet users around the world are attracted by the availability of information

Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests. The survey - of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries - found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide. Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.
Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens. International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access.
INTERNET POLL

The findings in detail [477 KB]
Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
"The right to communicate cannot be ignored," Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News. "The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created." He said that governments must "regard the internet as basic infrastructure - just like roads, waste and water". "We have entered the knowledge society and everyone must have access to participate." to read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8548190.stm
comment: 0

Sunday 07 March 2010

Comment - Schools are churning out the unemployable


From The Sunday Times
February 21, 2010

Harriet Sergeant

The latest unemployment figures are a shocker. Eight million adults are “economically inactive”. That means one in five people of working age does not have a job. A new and expanding group, poignantly described as “discouraged” workers, have even given up looking. They are right to be discouraged but wrong that there is no work. A report out on Friday points out that a fifth of firms and a quarter of employers in the state sector are still hiring — despite the recession. Except they are taking on migrant workers — not our home-grown “discouraged” variety. The managing director of a medium-sized IT company explained why. High-flyers — Oxford and Cambridge graduates — are still as good as any in the world. His problems come when he tries to recruit middle management. Last year he interviewed 52 graduates — all educated in state schools. On paper they looked “brilliant students”. Each had three As at A-level and a 2:1 degree. He shook his head. “There’s a big difference between people passing exams and being ready for work.”


to read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7034975.ece
comment: 0

Saturday 06 March 2010

Lecture - Institute of Ideas

Thursday 18 March:
Claire Fox will chair the ESRC-funded LLAKES Research Centre event, Post-Recession Blues: who is being hit the hardest?, a ‘Question Time’ style debate part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science in London, featuring Professor Danny Dorling, Adam Lent, Anna Fazackerley, Geoff Mason, and David Willetts. 12-3pm. For reservations contact Magdalini Kolokitha.
comment: 0

Conference - Seymour Hersh will be a speaker at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference 2010!


 
 
One of the most awarded investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh has accepted the invitation made by the GIJC 2010 to be a keynote speaker in Geneva. Known as early as 1969 to be the journalist who broke the My Lai scandal in Vietnam, Seymour Hersh has more recently exposed the Abu Graib scandal. Hersh has published eight books, including, most recently, "Chain of Command" which was based on his reporting on Abu Ghraib for The New Yorker.
 
It is the first time that Seymour Hersh will speak at a GIJC and he will open the morning session on Friday the 23rd April.
 
Do register now on www.gijc2010.ch/registration.

comment: 0

Go to page  [1] 2 3 ... 42 43 44