Archive for the ‘Shoptalk’ Category
Let’s play, “Why is this news?”
In this report from Uganda (slow down! 20 clicks a month!) we learn that: A man tried to steal a motorcycle in Kampala. A crowd gathered. They beat him. Then they set him on fire. Then the police showed up, and they fired into the crowd. Maybe they meant it to be a warning shot. [...]
Why you should pay for the New York Times
So as of March 28, my favorite past-time and yours (to judge from what I can infer of my readership) is about to get expensive. No more critiquing the New York Times for free. It’s gonna cost at least $15 a month. That’s to read it online and on your mobile phone. It’s $25 to [...]
Can pay-for-performance save US Aid? Why Tina Rosenberg didn’t convince me
Tina Rosenberg trumpeted Cash on Delivery (CoD) in 1500 words in the New York Times recently, and I’m really confused about why. Here’s the summary: Aid is inefficient and forward-paid. Cash-on-delivery is paying for results once you’ve seen them. Aid should do that. (I don’t think aid works exactly the way Rosenberg describes so simply, [...]
In crisis, who is media for?
Among the many talents of my friend Aaron Ernst is one for language. He recently translated tweets from a victim of the earthquake in Japan, who lives in Sendai, and they’ve got me thinking aloud… The tweets: @Kchang40 I’m a quake victim from Sendai City. As electricity has begun to be restored, I’ve been watching [...]
The double standards of rape reporting — and outcry
Lots of folks have been outraged by the NYT coverage of a gang rape in Texas. The coverage veered often and unnecessarily into blame-the-victim territory. The NYT has defended their story, saying they were just reporting what victim-blamers in Texas were saying, not blaming the victim themselves. I won’t rehash the many sensible objections to [...]
Silly women and their sexual assault. Don’t they know it’s complex?
At a small school in Pennsylvania, students staged a sit-in to protest the way their campus handles rape reports. This piece, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, says that on a campus of 2400 students, there were five sexual assaults reported last year. Any woman will tell you that’s got to be a case of underreporting. The [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [