Sunday Roundup

Just back from Lagos, Nigeria, where I took part in the second African Media Leadership Forum, which brought together journalists from 46 African countries. New media play a powerful role on the continent, where traditional media face constant government restrictions, over 300 million Africans have cellphones, and locals are being trained to use texting and camera phone video to report from rural areas. Hearing the stories of many of the journalists present was a powerful reminder that, in much of the world, being a journalist requires great courage. "I've been arrested 136 times," a journalist from Cameroon told me. "The government threw grenades into our offices," said a newspaperman from Liberia, "so we went down the street and started another paper." It makes the rheumy bleatings of the likes of Glenn Beck feel even more contemptible and pathetic.

 

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[editorial]

New subject, i don't know how else to present it:
Have you considered a story on the effects on the stockholders of the 100+ banks that have gone under. Much has been said about the massive bonuses/payments to the "too big to fail" folks, and the massive unemployment. How about the losses to the stockholders of these smaller banks. they aren't publicly traded, so the shareholders are primarily the "used to be wealthy" of these communities. How much have they lost, individually and in total. How about using one of them as an example of the losses. How many/much do their losses equal in bonuses paid to the "too big to fail" folks. It seems the wealth of middle America (geographic) is being stripped with these losses.

[ericmiami]

"... rheumy bleatings of the likes of Glenn Beck..." Marvelous, Arianna!

[LeftCoastLarry]

Glenn Beck is from Mount Vernon, Washington. I have a lot of family in the area. My grandfather homesteaded not far from there a hundred years ago.
Embarrassing.
The really sad part is the mayor of Mount Vernon gave him a hero's welcome a few weeks ago and presented him with a key to the city.
I hereby apologize to the world for the mayor of Mount Vernon and for Glenn Beck.

[bleeplander]

I imagine that the headlines they risk their lives over have a bit more substance than those we tend to get about celebrities and politicians sexual dalliances.

[NC Pete]

Good for you Ariana! Journalism in Africa is indeed in dire straights. I'm sure your appearance there (married $$$ etc.) made a big impact.

[IssuesInFocus]

Great that you were able to visit Nigeria... ready to see you take on the rest of the world. New media is now the MESSAGE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVuK43PyywQ

[logic63]

You are right about the stae of journalism here when it boils down to Glen Beck and his ilk. American journalists have gotten too passive and care too much about not offending anyone on any position and a lot of it has to do with the almighty dollar. If we had actual investigative reporting in the media we would all be better off.

[brady61995]

its more that the papers are all owned by corporations so the writes are limited to what they can cover and the news is entertainment tv at best. Arriana keep moving and exposing and screaming i think what you do is great. thank you

[LMPE]

More than anything, I like hearing about media developments in parts of the world about which we rarely hear. Keep up the good work, Arianna!

[brady61995]

agreed its easy to forget there is a world out there other than what is fed to us via the us media which is always sensationalized and dumbed down for mass consumption.

[sector1463]

Don't you mean News Corp and Fox News owned by Rupert Murdock? The NY Post. Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones. The Star. He has influenced our NEWS for a long, long, time.

[Alexandre Laudet]

We often forget what freedom of press means until we meet people from countries where journalists risk life and limb to do their job. it's great that gatherings such as the African Media Leadership Forum take place and that African and western journalists can exchange ideas and experiences. Not that oppressive governments necessary listen but the more the world learns about what is going on the more questioned repressive techniques will become. of course there will always be danger for journalists, pursuing stories on criminal activities and been threatened or worse. I salute journalists' courage and dedication.

[NC Pete]

I also salute and admire the courage of true journalists... from wherever they come! Leave your agendas at home though.

[Addis09]

There's truth to what Arianna says here.

Every time I see or hear reports of repression in the so-called developing countries of the world, I can't help but to appreciate the power structure of the West. Of course, power is power no matter how you slice it - those who have it want to keep it, so they define and shape "open dialogue" from the perspective of their own interests and that of their economic and political allies. They do this civilly, however – they just ignore your interests and continue about theirs. As the basic requirements for human existence – food, shelter & clothing – is already covered for all in this age of excess, there is no need to torture, kill or imprison people for “yapping in vain.”

In short, we still only see what the powerful elites want us to see on this side of the hemisphere, yet at least we're free to criticize them and the process all day long from the outside without any fear or anxiety.

There is fear of “exclusion,” or “access denial” rather, but that’s another issue altogether.

The point is: when it’s all said and done, we’re still extremely fortunate to be on this side of the hemisphere. At least I know I am…

~Addis
http://www.thoughtiswack.com

[Pupadup4oBama]

I'm VERY glad to be on this side. I realize how fortunate we are to live in this great country for all it's faults the system DOES work.

[rancone]

we care not to expand health insurance to all - especially the less fortunate - but "the system DOES work" - for whom - oh! those it should work for ????

[Pema]

wonderful arianna!!!!!!!!!!
if you can help these people it might do more for africa than all the aid we have given them.

[Balzac]

It's important to keep in mind, "Solidarity, not Charity".

[ericmiami]

So called "Aid" seems to accomplish nothing. So says Paul Theroux after revisiting Africa.

[Jolimont]

She's funny!

[Beatriz09]

Funny ... ?!?

So you think that if in one country a 'journalist' can try to convince his audience that his president is a dictator, a fascist etc., and then see his income rise still more, while in another country vaguely suggesting that you don't think that what the president did was the best idea is enough to be jailed and get a granade in your office ... you think that's "funny" ...

Maybe your planet is called "Play Station" ... ?

[Balzac]

You should have been with me overlooking the victory parade down Broadway!

[hazelflagg]

At the last big ITU conference activists rallied around one point. Human rights can't be viewed independent of technology. UN records prove the fears of NGO's are being realized. Technology is creating silent victims.

It isn't the journalist whose workplace is bombed who has courage, but the writer in the jungle in Columbia who has no place to work. It isn't the one arrested 136 times who is brave, but the one who police refuse to arrest. Instead they're disenfranchised in one of many electronic ways, permanently crippled or allowed to be killed from disinformation. The World Council of Churches decades ago published a pamphlet about misinformation using communications satellite

As the 2nd generation in tourism, in my 20's I advised a travel agent - Cookie, working for a travel agency owned by a newspaper editor, that she could learn international ticketing and the politics of travel abroad. Years later a reporter for his paper died chasing a drug story in Bolivia. That news organization didn't educate reporters about transborder data flow.

Courage is in warning that silence on uses of technology is insane. A drug trafficker wasn't the only one who killed this reporter. The greed and fear of an industry afraid of being discovered as frauds contributed. The light to see the truth is in your eyes but not in your heart.

[Beatriz09]

Having your office bombed and being jailed more than a hundred times and still continue to do your work isn't being brave ... ?

What kind of computer are you writing this message on... ? A computer located in the Colombian jungle, or a computer installed in a nice cosy American home, where journalists' office are never bombed, nor the bedrooms of people like you and I who without any risk at all write some comments on a blog ... ?