Journalism can never be silent
Political journos and junkies take note: Cracked creates a handy guide to evaluate an article’s newsworthiness:
#5. The Headline Contains the Word “Gaffe”
A politician accidentally misspoke in a way that made him or her look silly, and the opponents are pouncing on it.#4. The Headline Ends in a Question Mark
A news story so questionable the publication literally felt the need to mark it as such.#3. The Headline Contains the Word “Blasts”
A politician or other prominent person has taken to a microphone to say something inflammatory about the other side, usually by rephrasing their own party’s talking points over and over.#2. The Headline Is About a “Lawmaker” Saying Something Stupid
A low-level politician with no power said something incredibly stupid, and the opposing party is trumpeting it from the mountaintops to make everyone in the low-level politician’s party look stupid.#1. The Headline Includes the Phrase “Blow To”
Neglecting to explain hugely important policy changes in favor of focusing on the drama, and how it affects the personal political careers of the politicians involved.Read through for explanations and examples of each.
Journalist Security Guide
The Committee to Protect Journalists just released an extensive online guide for journalism security:
This guide details what journalists need to know in a new and changing world. It is aimed at local and international journalists of varied levels of experience. The guide outlines basic preparedness for new journalists taking on their first assignments around the world, offers refresher information for mid-career journalists returning to the field, and provides advice on complex issues such as digital security and threat assessment for journalists of all experience levels.
Topics covered include:
- Basic Preparedness
- Assessing and Responding to Risk
- Information Security
- Armed Conflic
- Organized Crime and Corruption
- Civial Matters and Disturbances
- Natural Disasters
- Health Epidemics and Mass Hazards
- Sustained Risks
- Stress Reactions
Since its proclamation 1993, the worldwide day reminds citizens that there are violations of press freedom in dozens of countries around the world where publications are cnesored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
It is also a day to remember all the journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. (via)
When we categorize books as “boy fiction” and “girl fiction” it’s just another way to promote gender stereotyping. It is predicated on the assumption that people will only read books that reflect their personal experiences, so therefore women will only deign to read about dating, shopping, and kitchen intrigues. This is patronizing to women and undermines one of the core purposes of literature, which is to take us on voyages beyond the scope of our personal experience so that we expand in our understanding and capacity for empathy. And I think most women get this; I think most women are willing to read novels with male protagonists in worlds apart from their own. To imply otherwise is an offense to the gender.
Dear New York Times: A Game of Thrones Is Not Just For Boys | Ilana Teitelbaum, published at Huffington Post on 16th April 2011.
Interesting quote in regards to feminism and fantasy. This was inspired by this article in the New York Times written by Ginia Bellafante.
Professor Elizabeth Handsley, head of the Australian Council on Children and the Media, argues that advertisers are increasingly targeting children with the kinds of messages they have been selling to adult women.
”This sort of marketing is telling children that you have to look a certain way … you need to own and use certain products in order to be happy and successful. And quite often those products are things that we do normally associate with women and their attempts to be sexy for men - things like make-up and clothes and high heels - that are creeping into childhood,” she says.
In some cases the messages are less obvious than those in advertising for adults and pre-teens. The Witchery women’s clothing chain this year launched a range for girls aged eight to 14. That it chose Valentine’s Day for the launch upset many, who argued that eight-year-old girls did not need to be trained to attract men’s romantic approval.
The research also shows that employers avoid expanding secure employment by contracting out, off-shoring, work intensification strategies, and creative employment arrangements such as extended probationary periods and combining permanency (perhaps one day per week) and casual status in the one job.
The research points to an uncomfortable reality: that employment can no longer bear the full weight of aspirations that cover social mobility, social inclusion and participation, equality of opportunity, and alleviation of poverty. However, much of social policy is constructed on the expectation that employment can deliver these social aspirations without doing much of the heavy lifting in its own right. The question: what should social policy be doing?
France’s Muslims hit back at Nicolas Sarkozy’s policy on halal meat
Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to make the labelling of halal meat pivotal to his re-election campaign has infuriated, alienated and dismayed France’s Muslim community, which may number as many as six million, and the backlash is growing. Members of the booming educated and entrepreneurial Muslim middle class say they are tired of being cast as scapegoats in Sarkozy’s wooing of the extreme right and have accused him of dangerous and divisive election tactics.
The phoney war over halal meat erupted in February when Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National, claimed consumers were eating halal unknowingly. Sarkozy, trailing the Socialist frontrunner François Hollande, accused her of whipping up an artificial controversy. Shortly afterwards, with Le Pen snapping at his heels in the opinion polls, Sarkozy performed a volte-face. In spite of surveys showing that voters were less concerned about halal meat than they were about the weather and football, he announced it was “the issue that most preoccupies the French”.
For France’s Muslims – already feeling victimised by a burqa ban, by controversial government-sponsored debates on national identity and by the outlawing of Muslims praying in the streets, a sight Le Pen likened to the Nazi occupation – it was a low blow. (via The Observer)
