Andrew Stroehlein
Covering crisis
Journalist Andrew Stroehlein is Director of Media and Information for the International Crisis Group, the conflict resolution organisation, where he promotes responsible coverage of current and potential conflicts and helps draw attention to forgotten wars around the world.
Tax information?
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Please read this blog -- but only if you're rich. Thats essentially the message of a recent op-ed in the Washington Post. In If Everyone's Talking, Who Will Listen?, Dusty Horwitt first drags out the tired clich about todays society having too much information, that we are all overloaded with too many blogs, too many web sites, fragmented TV and micro-audience radio shows. He says the proliferation of outlets and the shrinking of major TV network news audiences make broad-based political action, like the civil rights movement, increasingly difficult to achieve. ...
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Please read this blog -- but only if you're rich. Thats essentially the message of a recent op-ed in the Washington Post. In If Everyone's Talking, Who Will Listen?, Dusty Horwitt first drags out the tired clich about todays society having too much information, that we are all overloaded with too many blogs, too many web sites, fragmented TV and micro-audience radio shows. He says the proliferation of outlets and the shrinking of major TV network news audiences make broad-based political action, like the civil rights movement, increasingly difficult to achieve. ...
Georgia and citizen war reporting
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Evgeny Morozov has a great piece over at openDemocracy dealing with citizen journalism in the Georgia-Russia conflict. It confirms my opinion of citizen journalism -- which in short tends to be the same as my opinion of citizen dentistry. Some things should be done by professionals. A sample from Morozovs article, Citizen war-reporter? The Caucasus test: [The conflict] was a perfect opportunity for citizen reporters to fill in the gaps [of official claims and counter-claims by belligerent parties]. The fact that they didnt in the first days of this quick war may reveal that - in war reporting at least - the great promise of citizen journalism is often an empty one. ...
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Evgeny Morozov has a great piece over at openDemocracy dealing with citizen journalism in the Georgia-Russia conflict. It confirms my opinion of citizen journalism -- which in short tends to be the same as my opinion of citizen dentistry. Some things should be done by professionals. A sample from Morozovs article, Citizen war-reporter? The Caucasus test: [The conflict] was a perfect opportunity for citizen reporters to fill in the gaps [of official claims and counter-claims by belligerent parties]. The fact that they didnt in the first days of this quick war may reveal that - in war reporting at least - the great promise of citizen journalism is often an empty one. ...
Blogging from Gori
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
As the Russian occupation of Georgia continues with no signs of Moscow's promised withdrawl, journalist Goga Aptsiauri from RFE/RL is one of the few people able to report from inside the town of Gori, under Russian control. His blog from occupied Gori makes interesting reading. A sample: I'm writing this on the balcony of my apartment. The town has electricity, but when I look outside, only a few windows are lit; residents are still afraid to leave lights on at night. There are no Georgian channels on television -- the channel that used to host Rustavi 2 now runs the Russian channel, Rossia. I guess the signal is coming from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. So right now, Rossia is the only TV channel that Gori residents can watch. Ideological warfare, I guess. For more, read here... ...
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
As the Russian occupation of Georgia continues with no signs of Moscow's promised withdrawl, journalist Goga Aptsiauri from RFE/RL is one of the few people able to report from inside the town of Gori, under Russian control. His blog from occupied Gori makes interesting reading. A sample: I'm writing this on the balcony of my apartment. The town has electricity, but when I look outside, only a few windows are lit; residents are still afraid to leave lights on at night. There are no Georgian channels on television -- the channel that used to host Rustavi 2 now runs the Russian channel, Rossia. I guess the signal is coming from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. So right now, Rossia is the only TV channel that Gori residents can watch. Ideological warfare, I guess. For more, read here... ...
Media power and responsibility
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Gideon Rachman had a great piece in the FT on Monday. In American journalism, still a model, he contrasts US and UK media, finding that although American newspaper journalism seems self-reverential, long-winded, over-edited and stuffy, it does have an advantage over its British counterpart in that the Americans take the idea of journalism as a civic duty much more seriously. With a foot on each side of the pond, I don't really want to get into the cross-Atlantic contrast exactly. The cited Reuters Foundation report on The Power of the Commentariat, showing that UK commentators don't regard themselves as powerful is more interesting, as it touches on something that goes beyond commentators to editors and others who decide what becomes a story and what doesn't. ...
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
Gideon Rachman had a great piece in the FT on Monday. In American journalism, still a model, he contrasts US and UK media, finding that although American newspaper journalism seems self-reverential, long-winded, over-edited and stuffy, it does have an advantage over its British counterpart in that the Americans take the idea of journalism as a civic duty much more seriously. With a foot on each side of the pond, I don't really want to get into the cross-Atlantic contrast exactly. The cited Reuters Foundation report on The Power of the Commentariat, showing that UK commentators don't regard themselves as powerful is more interesting, as it touches on something that goes beyond commentators to editors and others who decide what becomes a story and what doesn't. ...
Stable Balkans generating less crime
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
A new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that, despite its reputation, the Balkans has become a low-crime area. According to UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa, who is launching the report today, The vicious circle of political instability leading to crime, and vice versa, that plagued the Balkans in the 1990s has been broken. It seems to be further welcome news, coming fresh after the study reporting that global terrorism is decreasing, which I blogged last week. See, there are some good news stories out there, even if the usual fare in our line of work is tediously depressing. But before you get too cheery, the new UNODC report, Crime and Its Impact on the Balkans, also points to enduring links between business, politics and organised crime that make the region vulnerable to instability. ...
Next entries
Author: Andrew Stroehlein
A new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that, despite its reputation, the Balkans has become a low-crime area. According to UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa, who is launching the report today, The vicious circle of political instability leading to crime, and vice versa, that plagued the Balkans in the 1990s has been broken. It seems to be further welcome news, coming fresh after the study reporting that global terrorism is decreasing, which I blogged last week. See, there are some good news stories out there, even if the usual fare in our line of work is tediously depressing. But before you get too cheery, the new UNODC report, Crime and Its Impact on the Balkans, also points to enduring links between business, politics and organised crime that make the region vulnerable to instability. ...
