Shooting War: A Photographer's Vision

Photographers can't wait for the perfect shot as war happens all around them. "When shooting pictures at a time like this, there is a split-second chance to make a frame that reflects my feelings about what I am witnessing--the craziness of the environment and the pain and danger that are ever present," Marcus Bleasdale writes in Nieman Reports from Harvard University.

Surrounded by danger -- he never knows if in the next minute he will be hit, arrested or shot -- the photojournalist seeks "to represent the reality of what is happening." Bleasdale uses both words and pictures to share that reality.

Visit his website to see more of his award-winning work, hear his podcasts and see how journalists today are using technology to communicate across platforms.

Are You Surprised?

Checking my Yahoo mail just now, I spotted a news flash on the Yahoo homepage: Dubai gets surprise $10 billion lifeline - A last-minute infusion of cash keeps the glitzy city-state from plunging deeper into crisis .. Who came to the rescue..."

Did I check to find out? You bet. Was I surprised? Hardly. How about you?

Oh, I haven't mentioned the name of the knight in shining armor. Click HERE for the AP story sent out by Yahoo! Finance

What's the word on the street (read: gossip) on your BlackBerry?

Cut-and-Paste Dubai

The National this morning takes a look at what the British media has been writing about Dubai and headlines "Cut-and-paste critics give Dubai an unwarranted pasting". In many ways, this article is a good model for your media criticism essays. Note the point of view established at the start, backed up by examples. What's missing for me are the names of the publications whose coverage is being assessed.

It makes a different what publications are being considered and in what section the articles appeared. In only one instance, at the very end, does the writer cite specifics -- a travel story in The Sun, a gossipy, celebrity-driven tabloid. How has The Financial Times reported the Dubai story? The Guardian ? The Economist? What stories have run on front pages or in business sections?

I also wondered at first glance why the writer looked only at British media when the WWW gives access to the world, including a translation service for foreign-language press. But note who is writing this article. It is not a National staff writer but "an adviser to the London-based Arab Media Watch, whose mission is "Objective British Coverage of Arab Issues." That explains why only British coverage is assessed but not why he neglects to tell the reader what publications he is discussing.

I also want to know something about the person who is making the case. What are his credentials? Goggling the writer doesn't turn up much more than he is a journalist. Nothing on Facebook or LinkedIn.

All this goggling takes time, time none of us has. With all the information choices out there today -- in print, online, on the airwaves -- it's important to be a critical consumer of the news. One way is to decide what news sources you find credible. And even then read with a critical eye. Where do you go if you want to find reports you feel you can trust?

Invasion by Minaret?

Switzerland has all of four minarets in the whole country, but 57.5% of the Swiss voters just supported a national referendum to ban construction of any more. Key is swaying opinion was a billboard poster showing a veiled woman in the foreground. Behind her is a small forest of minarets, looking like missiles, on a Swiss flag. "At least for the time being, the minaret has replaced the veil as the dominate symbol of the tense relationship between Islam and the West," writes Christopher Hawthorne, the architectural critic of the Los Angeles Times . Read what Hawthorne thinks and see the billboard poster.

Billboards are mass communication, too.

Dubai: Too Much, Too Soon?

That's what BBC television suggested this morning. Here we are with front-row seats on a financial crisis that is rocking the world, but we may have to go seeking outside sources to find out what is going on and what it all means. Reuters in a story with the combination dateline DUBAI/ABU DHABI says you wouldn't know about the crisis that is "sending a shudder through global markets" if you relied on local media. Crisis, what crisis? Debt-ladened Dubai just shrugs is the headline on an article posted on Reuters today.

Where are you following the story? What do you think are the most creditable media stories? And were those "negative" stories we read about Dubai earlier in the year unfair reporting by foreign journalists or an unbiased look at what is going on? How should local media be reporting this story of global importance?

Dying Newspapers, Dying Profession

Those who regularly read this blog were born too late and too far away to understand why journalists mourn the death of "traditional" media like newspapers, news magazines and television news. But Michael Gerson, writing on Journalism's slow, sad death, wasn't. In a Washington Post op-ed piece, he points out that "what is passing is not only a business but a profession -- the journalistic tradition of nonpartisan objectivity." This was a profession that had "rules about facts and sources and editors who enforced standards." Reporting was a mix of public service and adventure undertaken by people who -- for the most part -- tried to report the news without bias or inaccuracy. A tough assignment, anywhere.

What we have now is "a kind of intellectual theft," he writes, by news aggregators (like Yahoo News!) and bloggers, freely sharing their own personal take on whatever without bothering to collect news or investigate. Today you can get an overload of information -- fast -- almost entirely from sources that agree with you. What could have been a window on the world has become tunnel vision.

Good luck, kids.

What War Costs

Talk about bringing war home to readers/viewers! Take a look at this YouTube video from GOOD , a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits who make a magazine,videos and events "for people who give a damn." The New York Times covered the launch of the "Magazine for Earnest Young Things" a little over three years ago but not as a media or business story. It ran in the "Fashion & Style" section.

Lots to consider here: YouTube delivering "war coverage," media gone cross-platform (magazine,videos and, yes, events), highly privileged young people who want to change the world.

Wikipedia Wither?

The Wall Street Journal says Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages. Wikipedia.org is the fifth-most-popular Website in the world---what would we do without it? What's interesting here is what the evolution and aging of Wikipedia may say about other online communities. As Andrew Lih, author of Wikipedia Revolution, told the WSJ, on-line communities "evolve and wither." And the question, Lih says, is "How can you maintain something that relies on an unorganized crowd?"

Ophra Says Goodbye -- Sort of

Here in her own words

"Historic Television Moment"

That's what Tim Bennett, president of Oprah Winfrey's Harpo, announced yesterday in a letter to ABC affiliate stations. The moment comes today when Oprah tells her viewers that she is ending her hugely popular daytime talk show on 9 September 2011.

Oprah started her TV career as a Baltimore, MD anchor but couldn't deliver the detachment anchors need to report the news, so the station gave her an early morning talk show. She moved on to host A.M. Chicago in 1984. When the show was syndicated two years later, the Oprah Winfrey Show was born. In no time, it became America's top talk show, and the rest is history.

When Time put her on the cover ("The Beloved Oprah") on 5 October 1998 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, the headline on her profile read: "She didn't create the talk-show format. But the compassion and intimacy she put into it have created a new way for us to talk to one another."

Ah, but do not weep, dear readers and Oprah viewers. Oprah isn't retiring. Look for her in two years on her very own cable network, OWN. Oprah Winfrey Network, of course. See the New York Times for more.

Newspaper is not paper, it's news, says Slim

Mexican mogul Carlos Slim is happy with his investment in the New York Times, including a loan which earns him 14 percent interest. "The newspaper is not paper. It's about news and content," he tells the Wall Street Journal in this video clip . He says the brand is strong and sees profit in an electronic Times.

News FROM Iran?

The Toronto Star reports that New York Times stories about Tehran these days are datelined from Toronto, not exactly in the neighborhood. But that's one of the places where Iranian journalists have fled. According to the story ,....with depressing regularity, Canada is becoming a safe haven for the world's exiled journalists.

New Model for News Agencies

Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse in its previous incarnation as Agence Havas, the world's first international news agency, have been around since the middle of the 19th century, selling international news to subscribers. But here's a new spin on the old idea: ARA or Associated Reporters Abroad. ARA's slogan is "We cover Europe for you," but not in the same old way.

"Now more than ever, readers are hungry to understand the world better and they deserve more than just the news wires. With our network of journalists, ARA fills in where a traditional model of foreign-based, salaried correspondents no longer applies," according to AFA's website.

Here's how it works:

Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA) is a Berlin-based agency whose mission is to increase and deepen foreign news coverage by connecting freelance reporters throughout Europe with editors and news directors across the English-speaking world. Each week, we will offer story ideas from our foreign correspondents via our website and electronic bulletin. Editors decide which stories they want to assign – or come up with their own proposals – then work directly with our correspondents to complete the projects. Alternatively, editors can choose from our selection of completed stories. ARA works in all the major formats: print, audio, video and photography. Providing high-quality features and breaking stories, investigative reports, analyses, profiles and reviews, our goal is to be a reliable, affordable, one-stop shop for original content from around Europe and later, the Middle East and North Africa.

The Knight Foundation in the U.S. found the concept of a network of freelance correspondents so innovative that it awarded AFA a $100,000 grant. Read more in the grant proposal .

"Ordinary Citizens With a Gadget"

The World News Prism sees a media world in which "ordinary citizens with a gadget" will be writing "the first draft of history," a job professional journalists have always claimed. But that doesn't mean an "ordinary" citizen can't be a fine reporter with only a little bit of training. CNN's "unedited"and "unfiltered" iReport is a user-generated news site. CNN offers an iReport Toolkit to help citizens with a gadget to tell their stories like a pro. No matter who's telling the story -- pro or ordinary joe -- it needs news basics, connects to the reader and involves the "hard work" of writing and editing.

More about Burma VJ

Click here to see what Richard Gere says about Burma VJ -- Reporting from a Closed Society. The actor is a practicing Buddhist and actively supports the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Independence Movement.

Googlezon EPIC2014

Is this the future of journalism? How close to this vision of the future are we?

Goggle's "Moral Responsibility" to Save Newspapers?

Or just good business?

"We need these content partners to survive. We need their content. We are not in the content business," Goggle CEO Eric Schmidt tells Search Engine Land, "a news and information site covering search engine marketing, searching issues and the search engine industry. Yep, search engines have become an industry.

And Schmidt is out to save old-fashion news organizations, not just newspapers. "Well-funded, targeted professionally managed investigative journalism is a necessary precondition in my view to a functioning democracy," he believes.

Who but trained journalists working for established media have the resources to dig out what's happening?

"Let's talk about Afghanistan," Schmidt says. "How many free bloggers are there that are in a safe-house in Afghanistan with the necessary support structure to do the kind of deep investigative reporting on what's really going on in the world? I'm not talking about the ones that are embedded in the government."

Long interview with lots of food for thought -- and discussion.

Is Rio's Win Chicago's Gain?

That's what The Wall Street Journal is asking today after Rio won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. International sports events -- particularly the Olympics - are really exercises in public diplomacy or public relations as practiced by nation states. Why do you think Obama did that overnighter to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago to the committee?

All eyes will be on Rio come Summer 2016, a great opportunity to show off Copacabana to the world. But it will cost plenty, and there's no guarantee that a positive image will result.

Julie V.Iovine, executive editor of the Architect's Newspaper, writes in the Journal:

Asking whether the Olympics is good for a city is like asking if speed dating will lead to a long, solid marriage. The answer to both: It depends. When it comes to the long-term impact of the Olympics on urban well-being, the historical record is surprisingly mixed. Nor do past Olympic hosts provide reliable guidelines for how to guarantee the best outcome. Winning the bid is definitely more like shooting a class V rapid in an untested kayak than like lining up a foul shot in basketball. Both could involve sinking.

Burma VJ TRAILER

Here's the preview. Movie plays in Abu Dhabi at 4 p.m., Thursday, 15 October, at the Marina Mall Cinestar 3. I'll be there. Will you?

In 2007, Buddhist monks in Rangoon led a peaceful anti-government uprising against the military dictatorship of Burma. A group of video journalists armed only with cell phones and digital cameras secretly filmed the demonstrations, at the risk of torture and imprisonment. This tension-filled documentary about oppression and censorship illustrates the power of independent media in struggles against totalitarian regimes.

Where Bilingual Emiratis Get Their News?

This just out: UAE Nationals far and away prefer The National over the Khaleej Times and Gulf News, according to a study commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Media Company, which publishes The National.

"The biggest surprise of the survey is that The National is now, by a pretty significant margin, the number one English newspaper among UAE nationals. This is great news for our reporters and editors, but I can imagine that the advertising people upstairs are also fairly happy out it," writes The National's own "Beep Beep" technology blogger.

Why do you think Emirati nationals are so taken with the newspaper, which debuted only 18 months ago? Anybody in your family read it online or in print?

Where's the Line Between Blog and Newspaper?

The Christian Science Monitor, a well-respected international newspaper that recently stopped publishing anywhere but online, says the line gets more blurred all the time. "As traditional media gets 'bloggier,' blogs begin to look more like their traditional forebears," according to the Monitor. What blogs do you follow? What newspapers?

Yes, My Good Lady, What News May I Serve You Today?

That last item made me think of what I posted almost a year ago on Monday, October 27, 2008. Rather than make you search through the archives, I'll just post it again:

It occurred to me that by starting this blog, I have become your news butler, serving up tasty little tidbits of news to please you. That’s just what Nicholas Negroponte predicted would happen, but he was thinking of a robot, not a professor. “Don’t squirt more bits at me,” said the M.I.T. computer scientist and Internet visionary way back in the 90s. You gobble up millions of bits every day, by the way. Bits are the basic unit of information in this digital age.

Negroponte could already see that we would all soon be overwhelmed by the information coming at us through the Internet. What he wanted was not more bandwidth but “intelligence in the network and in my receiver to filter and extract relevant information.” That’s where the news butler or “interface agent” would come in. “Image a future where your interface agent can read every newspaper and catch every broadcast on the planet, and then, from this, construct a personalized summary.”

Writing in Wired magazine, he contended that we really don’t want more “info grazing” and “channel surfing.” We want help, help in making sense of it all. Maybe he’s not talking about a news butler but a blogger.

Or maybe Fast Flip!

Flip Through Some Pages -- Fast

Want to flip through newspaper and magazine pages fast, sampling the world press from your laptop? Goggle has just launched an experimental news hub called Fast Flip . It's sort of like flipping through the pages of publications at a newsstand. The site is organized by how popular (including recommendations and headlines), sections (such as "world," "health" and "opinion"), topics ("Serena Williams" and "swine flu") and sources (the publications that created the content).

The New York Times suggests that Google," long seen as a enemy by many in the news industry," is hoping to cast itself as media's friend by making it easier for readers to read newspapers and magazines. What do you think?

Information R/evolution

The Gutenberg Revolution -- introduction of the movable-type printing press in the 15th century -- revolutionized how human beings look at, organize, categorize, arrange the world. Because of the German Johannes Gutenberg, books began to have page numbers, indexes, tables of content and author accountability. Now in the 21st century, the Internet Revolution has changed the ordering of our world yet again.

How Images Change Our World

Today in class I mentioned the 1972 photo of a naked child fleeing a naplam attack in Vietnam. Shot by an Associated Press photographer, it is credited with changing American public opinion and ending the unpopular war. What a coincidence that a story about "Girl from iconic Vietnam photo inspires" popped up on my Yahoo! desktop tonight!

Why do you think it became one of the most haunting images of the war?

How Has Your World Changed?

That's the question BBC is asking its viewers and Web visitors in a series this month called Aftershock: How has your world changed? The series explores the global economic meltdown that began in September 2008 and has affected the Dubai work force. Visit BBC on television and also on the Web . The site has nifty interactive features, including a world map and a primer on recession basics and jargon. On TV, catch the dramatic promo -- international investment bankers throwing Molotov cocktails at riot police. Aftershock is a good example of television going behind breaking-news headlines. The associated website is a must-read for anyone wanting to know what's going on in the world today.

Once Upon A Time in Book Publishing...

Welcome to Fall Semester 2009. We've already started talking about technological revolutions in international communications and how Gutenberg's moveable-type printing press in the 15th century changed not only how manuscripts were reproduced but also changed our world. By the end of the 20th century, book publishing had acquired all sorts of new tools, including the typewriter. Have you ever seen a typewriter ? Read what a retired book publishing executive and literary agent says about the last century when "When Book Publishing Had Scents and Sounds." How many of the items she mentions have you ever used -- or even seen?

Iran Blocks Facebook

This just in from the Associated Press by way of Yahoo News: Facebook block ahead of Iran vote hampers youth .

The decision, critics said, forces Iranians to rely on state-run media and other government sources ahead of the June 12 election.

It also appeared to be a direct strike at the youth vote that could pose challenges to Ahmadinejad's re-election bid.

An advisor to a pro-reform candidate was quoted as saying that "Facebook is one of the only independent sources that the Iranian youth could use to communicate." How are Emirati young people using Facebook to communicate beyond casual exchanges among friends?

Twitter -- Helping Reporters Out

We have talked extensively about social networks this semester, among them Twitter. Social networks have greatly changed how "news" is disseminated (spread). Anybody and everybody with a mobile can be a reporter today. But "real" journalists are also tapping into these social networks to help them report stories. Mashable, the social media guide Hoda investigated, has a good Journalist's Guide to Twitter . Take a look at the guide and see the many ways professional journalists are using Twitter. What do you think about it as a journalistic tool? Pluses? Minuses?

Death of Print?

Zayed University students this semester in COM 408 are in good company. The first year I taught at the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, Howie (Howard) Kurtz was not only one of my students but one of my advisees. Now he's got his own Wikipedia listing and is also media writer for The Washington Post. He is really into new technology with over 4,000 Facebook friends and he twitters, but he is worried about the future of print.

"The real question is for the public, not journalists: Does it want to pony up for news, whatever the media that prevail? It's all a matter of priorities. Before you write this off as an American problem, consider who's doing the reporting that the computer aggregators are serving up as news.If major news organizations die, who reports the news? The Washington Post and Goggle are talking collaboration, but Kurtz has his doubts: Hanging over the talks is the reality that the search giant, while funneling vital traffic to news sites, vacuums up their content without paying a dime. How much would you pay for international news? Be honest.

"Muslim Nomanic Culture" Versus Pirates

The world's navies haven't stopped Somalian pirates from seizing everything from small fishing boats to a Saudi oil tanker off the Horn of Africa. In the first of a series of articles called The Pirate Chronicles, The New York Times suggests that an "Islamic Backlash" is underway in the failed nation of Somalia. ...here in Garoowe, the pirates are increasingly viewed as stains on the devoutly Muslim, nomatic culture, blamed for introducing big-city evils like drugs, alcohol, street brawling and AIDS.

Grass-roots, antipirate militias are forming. Sheiks and government leaders are embarking on a campaign to excommunicate the pirates, telling them to get out of town and preaching at mosques for women not to marry these un-Islamic, thieving “burcad badeed,” which in Somali translates as sea bandit. There is even a new sign at a parking lot in Garoowe, the sun-blasted capital of the semiautonomous region of Puntland, that may be the only one of its kind in the world. The thick red letters say: No pirates allowed.

The reader knows about the sign -- and what is developing in the lawless region -- because a journalist and a photographer were there to report. You don't get that kind of coverage from satellite photos! The reporting team interviewed many different kinds of people to provide broader perspective and even tracked down a leading pirate. Interviewed over a camel meat and pasta lunch, the pirate said, "Ha! Me eating with white men. Like the cat eating with the mice!"

The story takes you there with with words, maps, photos, links to related stories and videos and offers readers an opportunity to share their thoughts. Your laptop is your ticket to a first-hand look at what is going on in an important region. How do you like the interactive, cross-platform approach to international news?

Urban Legend or Automatic Spam Block?

I just got an email, supposedly from Blogger, saying this site, a class blog if anyone is monitoring, has been blocked as a potential spam site. Alert said that if I didn't click on a link for a review, the site would be shut down in 20 days. Before I click fill a review form, I'm trying to find out if this is legit or some spam itself. It looks as though the blog is still functioning -- I hope at least through the super news quiz. Stay tuned and email me if difficulties.

All News is Local

Just what could news about Zimbabwe and South Africa have to do with us, you probably are pondering as you review international news events since the beginning of the semester. One answer could be found in The National Business section yesterday in a story headlined Dubai World invests in Zimbabwe game park . Sultan bin Sulayem, Dubai World chairman, is quoted as saying its African subsidiary was investing " in game parks both in Zimbabwe as well as in South Africa." Political, social and economic developments in those countries aren't just happenings in far away lands. Dubai World and the U.A.E. have a growing financial stake in southern Africa. And the more the emirates invest in countries around the globe, the more local -- an important --international news becomes here.

As long as it feels good in your hands.....

This post really belongs on the Mirror blog, but I can't resist because the magazine involved is Newsweek , which long has been an important international news weekly. It is published in several languages, including Arabic. But soon nothing will be the same about the publication, launched in 1933 and now owned by The Washington Post . The new design, coming next week, "is meant to be less daunting, more entertaining and easier to navigate," writes assistant managing editor Kathleen Deveny. "It will be printed on higher-quality paper, which instantly will make it feel better in your hand. I think the new design is sophisticated and airy, and makes the stories we work so hard on seem more inviting." Well, as long as it feels good.

Welcome to Crane Country

No, it's not a bird-watching site, it's The National's new real estate blog. I just got a promotional email Introducing Crane Country which says the goal is "to become a central lens on this part of the UAE -- the construction sites, the power shifts, the evolution of skylines and disputes that are arising between different groups in the supply chain." And it's also going to look at developments in the region. Check it out for both design and content.

Dubai Twitter Treasure Hunt

Emirates Business 24/7 reports that international hotel chains are using social network sites and blogs more and more in marketing. Cost factor but also an amazing way to connect directly with clients. The micro-blog Twitter "is generating communication traffic around the globe, providing another platform where Internet users can voice their opinions and companies can listen to them." And it's happening here in the Emirates. The InterContinental and Crown Plaza in Dubai are offering prizes totaling Dh100,000 in a Twitter Treasure Hunt , "one of the largest ever giveaways over Twitter." What do you think of the promotion?

What's In A Name?

The new flu strain, which surfaced in Mexico, threatens to turn into a pandemic . It has already turned into a major international news story. What to call it "has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones," says a story today in The New York Times . It has a scientific name of course -- H1N1 virus -- but what the man on the street and headline writers call it is something else. Here is a great case study in crisis management for PR students. Why?

Covering Conflicts

War makes headlines, but today's conflicts are getting harder and harder for journalists to cover as we've been discussing. Last week's handout in class pointed to the difficulties of reporting on what is going on in northwest Pakistan and the Swat Valley . Yesterday I shared Mark McDonald's story (NYT/IHT), dateline Hong Kong, reporting at considerable distance about what's going on in yet another human tragedy in Sri Lanka. A dateline, by the way, indicates "place of writing."

Class assignment was to consider the attribution in McDonald's story. In other words, what were the sources of the reporter's information? I also shared a NYTimes story about how satellite imaging is being used to estimate how many people are trapped behind combat lines. All those little dots. An amazing reporting tool, satellite imaging, but how much more powerful a story with quotes from real people who can be identified by name and photography that shows humans, not dots. Compare today's story in the NYTimes From Sandy Stip of Sri Lanka, Tales of Suffering as War Traps Thousands to the class handouts.

Why Time & Newsweek Will Never Be The Economist

The American news weeklies Time and Newsweek used to be what everyone in the U.S. read to keep up on the news. Their international editions have long been popular overseas. But they just aren't what they used to be. Now there's talk that they want to be more more like the British-based Economist . Just won't happen, says this media report from Vanity Fair magazine. "There are only so many Americans who actually care about international news."

A global problem?

Big Social Network News

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the founders of MySpace,"the pioneering website that made social networking a mainstream phenomenon" are leaving the company, which Murdoch (remember him?) bought four years ago to add to his News Corp. empire. According to the WSJ, News Corp. wants "to show that a large conglomerate, with a portfolio that includes many old-media properties including newspapers" can success in generating serious revenues and earnings. Even the most popular social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook haven't done this so far. Will News Corp.'s synergy work?

Founded in 2003, MySpace imitated Friendster, a popular site at the time, but let users customize profile pages and create any identity they wanted. It still is the main social-networking site in the U.S. though not all that popular here. Facebook surpassed McSpace's world-wide audience last year, according to the WSJ. Facebook has come in with its own innovative features, including having third-party software developers write applications for Facebook. Have you run across this news elsewhere?

Lots to discuss here. Who wants to start?

Great Dance Routine: James Cagney and Bob Hope

Movies have always been a form of public diplomacy, winning friends, influencing people and indirectly building a nation's "brand name." Here's a classic scene from an American movie in 1955. The U.S., Egypt, France, Japan, China and now India are among the nations whose films have had international impact. What do you think new push for Emirati films will do for the image of the UAE around the world? Enjoy the song and dance of this YouTube clip.

The Pirate Economy

The Somalian pirates, who have been capturing headlines as well as ships, seem to appear out of nowhere in small boats and then disappear with their prizes, but go deeper to understand what's happening off the Horn of Africa . The same Internet that gives us Twitter also makes it easier to find out what's behind the headlines. You can goggle or sign up for free news alerts from magazines like Foreign Policy , which just posted The Pirate Economy.

The recently relaunched daily online magazine, an off-shoot of the print magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel Huntington and Warren Demian Manshelis, is a good place to go for international news and analysis.
Check out Foreign Policy's Morning Brief blog to keep up with major international news stories.

Pardon My Obsession

Of course I am not alone in following this long running drama happening off the coast of Somalia. It has all the elements of a great news story -- or great movie -- action, conflict, heroes. But who are the villains? Look behind that twitter or instant news update and what is going on here? Who are these "pirates," why are they taking on international naval powers and why have they been so successful? Through an Associated Press news story, posted 46 minutes ago, I just learned that Undeterred Somalian pirates highjack 3 more ships "in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world's fight against piracy." Two of the "ships" were Egyptian fishing boats! So what's the profit in that? Dinner? More importantly, the AP story supplies this background: the three pirates who were picked off by Navy snipers in the rescue were between 17 and 19 years old. That grabs me. What does it take for an international news story to "grab" you?

Do You Twitter?

Suddenly I'm receiving emails telling me that people I barely know -- in one case, someone I have never met -- is following me on Twitter, a social network based on one-line messages which started only three years ago and now is right up there behind Facebook and My Space. Last month alone it nearly doubled the number of new users! Whether from your computer or your mobile, you can let people know your every move -- and mood. But that's just the beginning of what Twitter can do. It has amazing applications in medicine, news gathering, customer relations, research as The New York Times explains in Putting Twitter's World to Use . To see who's twittering, check out We Follow , a "user powered twitter directory." Nearly 3 million people are twittering news, nearly a million of them through CNN.

What's Behind One-Minute News

If you're one of those people who couldn't care less about what goes on in the world, maybe you should check out the BBC's one-minute world news updated 24 hours a day. But you'd be missing the really good stuff BBC has to offer like a behind-the-headlines piece headlined Could 19th Century plan stop piracy? It's all about a 19th century British Prime Minister who advocated gunboat diplomacy and Commodore Stephen Decatur, who made short work of the Barbary pirates off North Africa in 1815, and how things have changed. By the way, the US Navy just pulled off a daring rescue of the American sea captain. You could be following this story online, but maybe you'd rather wait for the movie. Who would play Capt. Richard Phillips?

Just the Good News, Please

Human Rights Watch, a leading human rights organization, doesn't think much of the U.A.E. proposed press law. Look for a report next week entitled "Just the Good News, Please, U.A.E. Media Law Continues to Stifle Press." According to a HRW e-mail statement, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the law would "restrict free expression and interfere with the media's ability to report on sensitive subjects." International analysts say the new law could make the U.A.E. less attractive to international media companies and could endanger UAE aspirations of becoming a media hub in the Middle East.

How Wikipedia Works

You've all visited Wikipedia of course. What would you do without it? There's even a name for the people who write and edit pages for Wikipedia --- Wikipedians. You can see what a Wikipedian looks like on Facebook , which has several Wikipedian groups. Andrew Lih, an early Wikipedian himself and a former colleague of mine at Columbia, just wrote The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World's Greatest Encyclopedia . Operating much like a a city, it is -- according to Andrew -- a "global community of passionate scribes." Do you trust what you find on Wikipedia?

Facebook---Advertising Giant?

Who hasn't heard of Facebook as an online social network, but did you know that it is becoming an advertising giant? This from one of the most emailed articles today in The New York Times:

New 'engagement' ads ask users to become fans of products and companies--sometimes with the promise of discounts. If a person gives in, that commercial allegiance is then broadcast to all of the person's friends on the site. A new kind of engagement ad, now being tested, will invite people to vote -- "What's your favorite color M&M" for example -- and brands will pay every time a Facebook member participates.

If you are looking to a career in advertising, think interactive as well as print. Here's what one interactive account director says about the future: "Advertising used to be a one-way communication from advertiser to consumer, but now people want to have a dialogue. And Facebook is becoming the default way to do that, not only in the States but really the whole world." Facebook recently introduced advertising tools that let companies target messages according to the language they use on Facebook or their geographic location.

Read the whole story to see how Facebook is changing how we communicate with each other and the world. Are you a member of Facebook? How do you use it and how many friends do you have? Have you signed on as a fan to any product?

Serendipity & The News

Serendipity is a word that means "an occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way" or - in other words -- tripping over something you didn't expect to find. "Serendipity" is what happens when you turn the pages of a newspaper and find yourself pulled into an article by a headline or a photo. And it's what happens when you get your news from a news aggregator like Yahoo News. This morning I tripped over Bankrupt paradise on my Yahoo desktop. Thumbnail photo showed an alluring beach with palm tree and the teaser copy read, "World's most indebted nation...This island playground for the rich has incurred enough debt to equal its entire economy." I had to click on the link to satisfy my curiosity.

The story was written for Fortune , an American financial magazine and not one that I usually see. So thanks to the serendipity of Yahoo News, I tripped over it in cyberspace.

Do you know where the Seychelles are? Do you know anyone who has ever vacationed there? Why do you think the information in this story might be useful to someone in Abu Dhabi?

More Dubai Doomsayers

Poor Dubai! For a long time, it has gotten more than its share of international press -- and wanted it! But lately, the news has taken a negative turn. Here's Econmist.com blogging on an article in the Guardian from Britain with the headline Look on my works, ye Dubai-watcher . Here in Amman at the Columbia University Symposium, I just heard that the Dubai Dubai Lagoon has been shelved. Ozymandias, indeed.

Photos Tells Stories, too

Magnum, arguably the world's most prestigious photographic agency, was founded in Paris in 1947 by four photographers to reflect the mix of reporter and artist. One of those founders was the late Henri Cartier-Bresson , considered the father of modern photography. This week we will be visiting an exhibit of his work at the Emirates Palace. Comparing the camera to a sketch book, he took his Leica into the streets and into the countryside to capture mood and events. You will see 160 of his photos, taken around Europe between 1929 and 1991. Read The National's review of the show.

Happy Birthday World Wide Web!

Yes, I know. You can't remember a time before WWW, but it was created 20 years ago this month. A computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee looked at the Internet and decided the rapidly expanding global network of interconnected computers could use some organizing. Berners-Lee, now Sir Timothy, wrote a proposal called, "Information Management: A Proposal" and here we are. The Economist celebrates by exploring how the "bland title" changed everything about the way we do science - and how we live. Sir Timothy planned to blow out the candles today.

Word of the Day

"Globally, English has become the leading media language for international communication," William A. Hachten and James F. Scotton write in The World News Prism: Global Information in a Satellite Age. But, they add, one of its appeals is that "it is easy to speak badly." The Internet can help you expand your vocabulary a word at a time. Wordsmith, a worldwide online community of about 500,000 readers, has been sending out a word-a-day since 14 March 1994! It was quite a revolutionary concept back then. You can sign up for the free service at A.Word.A.Day . How useful it will be, I don't know. This week's theme is 15-letter words like subintelligitur and infundibuliform , which don't exactly roll off the tongue.

Try OneLook Word of the Day instead. OneLook works like this: every hour a computer program selects five words lots of people are looking up in an online dictionary. "These words tend to reflect topics that have appeared in the world news or in discussion groups across the Web," according to the site. And the words look much more practical -- as well as shorter! Bookmark the site or sign up for home delivery.

In Case You Missed This.....

...and you probably did unless you were scrolling way down the Business screen of the International Herald Tribune website. I chanced upon the story U.A.E. bailout of Dubai 'comes with strings attached' in the business section of today's print edition. There is something to be said about the serendipity newspapers offer. Story is by a Bloomberg News writer. Bloomberg News, remember, is a financial news service founded by the man who is now mayor of New York City -- Michael Bloomberg. See what readers around the world are reading about the relationship between Abu Dhabi (old money) and Dubai (nouveau riches). And start checking out the business sections for international news!

How to Save Newspapers

Any of you watch the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? In the U.S., this Comedy Central program is a major source of "news" for people your age. No, Jon Stewart isn't a newsman. He's an actor and comedian. And, no, The Daily Show isn't a news show like ABC News, but it does offer up news commentary and interviews with major figures. Pervez Musharraf hawked his book on the show when he was Pakistani president. Take a look at this recent segment in which Stewart interviews Walter Isaacson, the former Time magazine managing editor, on "How to Save Your Newspaper." Then read what Isaacson wrote in a Time cover story of the same name.

Listen for the word "aggregator" in the interview. And, oh, by the way, both the video and the magazine article are free.

Googlezon EPIC2014

Where does reality end and fantasy begin? Watch this video about what our news world will be like in 2014. Discuss on the blog and in class.

The World's Front Pages

Want to see what newspapers around the world are featuring on their front pages? See how their design as well as news choices compare? Then go Washington, D.C. Not literally, of course, but virtually to the Newseum, the world's most interactive museum. At Today's Front Pages , pick where in the world you want to read a front page: USA, North America, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, South America, Africa. Then roll your mouse over the map and click on the spot you want to visit. Lots of fun but will also help you brush up on your geography! Even my hometown newspaper is on it. See if you can find The Telegraph in Alton, Illinois. Hint: it's on the Mississippi River in southern Illinois.

Reinventing the Internet

“Unless we’re willing to rethink today’s Internet,” says Nick McKeown, a Stanford engineer involved in building a new Internet, “we’re just waiting for a series of public catastrophes.”

That quote from a New York Times article published on February 14: Do We Need a New Internet? As the story points out, the Internet has "the burden of carrying all the world's communication and commerce." Are we are in danger of a digital Pearl Harbor? What do you think?

"Too Dubai"

Dubai is taking its hits in the international media. The Wall Street Journal in its weekend edition did a Q&A with Anna Wintour, Vogue editor on "why 'value' is in and 'too Dubai' is out." Wintour contends that people want to look understated in these troubled economic times. "I don't think anyone wants to look overly flashy, overly glitzy, too Dubai, whatever you want to call it. I just don't think that's the moment. But I do feel an emphasis on quality and longevity and things that really last." And that just may be Abu Dhabi! Back on October 31, this blog discussed the suave image Abu Dhabi is presenting to the world. Scroll down to the original post or read With Little Bluster, Abu Dhabi Makes Investment Noise in the IHT on 29 October 2008.

News Aggregators

News what? Aggregator-an Internet company that collects information about competing products and services and distributes it through a single website. In the case of a news aggregator, the competing products and services are news organizations. Yahoo and Google have become your news butlers, picking and choosing information that you receive. In a sense, they also have become the "gatekeepers" that editors traditionally have been. Scary in many ways. It's a computer, not a human intelligence making the choices. But, that said, you might find such a service a valuable addition to following the news on the websites of the International Herald Tribune, The National and The Economist. Check out the top world news and international headlines from Yahoo! News . Also, the world section on Goggle News .

Off With Her Head!

That's what the Queen orders in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when Alice displeases her. Like Alice, journalists traditionally have risked death, imprisonment, fines for trying to report what they see. Each nation has its own press laws, growing out of the nation's political, economic and cultural heritage. We will be discussing comparative media systems this week -- just when a draft for new press laws in the Emirates is in the news. Take a look at Spelling out freedoms of the press in The National today to see what people are thinking. What do you think about press laws?

How the World Sees You

Following international news isn't just reading about what is happening outside your country. It's also reading what the rest of the world thinks about your homeland. Media coverage helps shape a nation's image. So take a look at what was the most emailed and the most blogged story in the New York Times yesterday: Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down. Do pay attention to what is said about the new draft media, which "some say is already having a chilling effect on reporting on the crisis."

Course Over, News Goes On

And the blog will go on, too, though postings won't pick up until after the spring semester starts. Feel free to visit -- and comment. The pirates played a big part in the fall semester, so it's only fitting to to post the latest news: Some of the pirates drowned with their loot after releasing the Sirius-Star crew. Just deserts, some would say.

Al Jazeera

The Guardian

Abu Dhabi Grabs Headlines in 2008

2008 was the defining year for Abu Dhabi media says this story in The National today. How much reported in this retrospective is news to you? What names do you recognize in the article that you might not have known in September? And do note -- in case you just happen to meet him sometime -- that Edward Borgerding, named chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) in March, previously was a top Disney executive. Just so you know, formerly he was Executive Vice President of Walt Disney International in Hong Kong and Senior Vice President of Walt Disney International Television in Hong Kong and London. His cross-media duties included overseeing operating units for television, home video, consumer products, digital media, theatrical distribution and Disney Channels. He was the one who started the Disney Channel in Taiwan-- the first outside the US -- and the Disney Channel in Dubai and in Australia. And now ADMC has launched Imagenation Abu Dhabi, to make feature films here. See how it all connects!

What's Wrong With Vogue?

That's what the fashion critic of the New York Times is asking this first day of 2009. An international news story? you ask. Yes, in the sense that Vogue is an international brand and published in 18 countries. Yes, in the sense that many of its stories go far beyond fashion. Yes, in the sense that it has been called "the world's most influential fashion magazine." Yet even Vogue is challenged by the Internet. The median age of readers is around 34, but "you don't feel that the magazine has considered how changes in the social networks and Web-subcultures have influenced women's ideas about themselves." Hmmmm, now there's a thought....