Feral Beast: Gadaffi loyalists try to muzzle foreign press

Friday, April 8, 2011

Gadaffi loyalists try to muzzle foreign press

More than 70 attacks on the media covering the war in Libya have been committed since revolutionary fervor hit the oil rich North African country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is keeping a log, linked here

These include “two fatalities, a gunshot injury, 41 detentions, 11 assaults, two attacks on news facilities, and the jamming of Al Jazeera and Al Hurra transmissions,” the committee stated. Additionally, “at least six local journalists are missing amid speculation they are in the custody of security forces.” Others from 20 different news organizations have been deported , despite an official "invitation" to be accredited in Tripoli. Two American freelance journalists and two photographers were grabbed today. James Foley, of the GlobalPost, Clare Morgana Gillis, an American freelancer writing for The Atlantic; Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer; and Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer are believed to be held prisoner by loyalists.

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Feral Beast? Try Lemming

If the press were an animal, what kind of animal would it be? I’ve got my answer. A legion of lemmings, furry and well-intentioned, but ultimately condemned by their nature to follow each other mindlessly off a tall cliff, over the Paris Hilton peak or into the Invade Iraq crevasse. The words “feral beast” certainly wouldn’t come to mind. It’s not particularly accurate or particularly evocative. But that is how the departing British prime minister, Tony Blair, sees journalists: as malicious tormentors who have tried to tear him limb from limb.

--Gal Beckerman of the Columbia Journalism Review

“Journalism is a form of cartography,” write Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach of Pew. “It creates a map for citizens to navigate society. Inflating events for sensation, neglecting others, stereotyping or being disproportionately negative all make a less reliable map.”

"Journalism is good at solving small problems or taking small bites of a big problem. It’s not good at solving big problems." Adapted from David Simon, creator of The Wire.

Retrospective : five decades of journalism as reported by CJR

Fake AP Stylebook reminds us: Unless you're doing a story on the Muppets, you are not a gonzo journalist.

"The once idealized information superhighway has become a parking lot of error, misinformation, rumor and junk." Poynter Institute, advocating a broader definition of who is a journalist.