reflections on journalism and activism by @oddletters

(Spring reading!)

Asked by Gordon Brown what the UK could do to use the internet properly, Tim Berners-Lee replied that the government should put all its data online. He later reported Brown saying, "OK, let's do it."

Zimbabwe’s beleaguered independent media won a major victory when an official commission granted publishing licenses to four daily newspapers, including The Daily News, the nation’s leading paper before it was outlawed seven years ago.

Uganda's revising its Press Act to muzzle journalists in advance of oil development. Excellent.

One of the most beautiful pieces of writing I've read in a long time.

"For all the sound and fury, citizen journalism once again did nothing but spread misinformation at a time when thousands people with family at the base would have been freaking out already, and breach the privacy of those who had been killed or wounded. We learned not a single new fact, nor was a single life saved."

He was 'arrested' after he "took pictures of military men passing near a dead boy". The beating started after he made calls to his bosses. He was reminded that he was under the "detention of military men who only take orders from the president."

Lydia Cacho was offered UN amnesty. She decided to stay in Mexico and keep reporting.

Reuters tells AP to suck it up, be a news agency.

Uganda's Independent newspaper site hacked; hacker posts "MUSEVENI IS DEAD" on front page

the AP's new scheme to protect their news "has no bearing on someone's rights under US copyright law"

great conversation between Ethan Zuckerman & the NYT's Robert Mackey on journalistic responsibility and citizen media

when saving lives trumps open "democracy" online

"What’s really interesting to me is the extent to which news reporters seem to have chosen Twitter as the go-to source for reactions to news events. It makes sense - there’s a premium in the news business on speed, on having a story faster than anyone else does, so the need for the quick quote makes Google hours to slow to help you. And the 140 character limit guarantees that whoever you quote will be pithy and limited to a single soundbite.

This, in turn, also increases the chance that you’ll be wrong."

"PATRICK Otim, a freelance journalist based in Pader, northern Uganda and 10 other men were yesterday charged with treason in a Kampala court."

badass.

"I do not think it is such a terrible thing that your journalism students are entering an uncertain world. It's the kind of world that is ripe for enterprising journalists. It is the kind of world that needs to be reported on and explained."

Hilarious.

The story of man is told in headlines around the world. Eligible headlines must be at least moderately amusing, published online and must start with the word "man."

pretty sweet example of what can be done with a little bit of cell phone technology

day of protest against internet censorship

censorship in Uganda

",,,the medium is hard to dismiss as a reporters' tool, particularly in countries where cell-phone networks reach farther than the internet. At 4:53 am local time on January 18th Juliana Rotich, a blogger in Kenya, tweeted in her own cablese, “in town n

new favorite web site

86 journalists killed in 2007 - up 244% over five years

Anna Politkovskaya Award to recognize women who are defending human rights in zones of war and conflict