The Great Debate UK
from For the Record:
Honoring free expression online
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Breaking Borders event in Berlin that marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event, at which I spoke, took the anniversary as an opportunity to explore how the Internet is playing a role in advancing participatory democracy and free expression around the world.
The media of 1989--television and satellite technology--played a role in bringing down the wall by connecting people and empowering them with information. Now, 20 years later, vastly more powerful information and communication technology is connecting people online, making it more possible to get around efforts at censorship and the suppression of information.
As a result of discussions at the Breaking Borders conference, Google and Global Voices, the international network of bloggers, have established the Breaking Borders Award to honor those who are fighting for free expression.
from For the Record:
The fall of the Wall–and the media’s role
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
It was 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall, the most iconic symbol of the Cold War, fell, on Nov. 9, 1989.
from For the Record:
Dim view of media? Try more transparency
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
This week brought more distressing news for journalists, as a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found the U.S. public more critical than ever of the accuracy and independence of the media.
from For the Record:
A is for abattoir; Z is for ZULU: All in the Handbook of Journalism
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
The first entry is abattoir (not abbatoir); the last is ZULU (a term used by Western military forces to mean GMT).
from For the Record:
Citizen journalism, mainstream media and Iran
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
The recent election in Iran was one of the more dramatic stories this year, with powerful images of protests and street-fighting dominating television and online coverage.
from For the Record:
Counting quality — not characters — in social media
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
Are we too connected?
In recent days and weeks I’ve been wondering if our mobile phones, Blackberries, text messaging and constant access to email and social media have brought us too close together for our own good.
from For the Record:
Flu outbreak: Walking the line between hyping and helping
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
There’s nothing like a disease outbreak to highlight the value of the media in alerting and informing the public in the face of an emergency.
from For the Record:
These pirates shouldn’t be punchlines
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
Kidnapping isn't funny.
Neither are extortion, hijacking or murder threats.
So why have some in the media been laughing—or at least winking—at people who have been doing precisely that—the criminals who have been hijacking ships and crews off the Horn of Africa and holding them for ransom?
from For the Record:
Watching our language: Writing about the financial crisis
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
The global financial crisis may have drained the coffers of investors, businesses and nations, but it’s making our language a bit richer as we discover, revive, coin and develop words and phrases to help make sense of it all.
from For the Record:
Oscar special: Journalists on film
Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
It’s Oscar time, and I’m again reminded of the debt Hollywood and journalists owe each other. Journalists supply Hollywood with great stories and Hollywood sometimes makes us look cool—or at least worth a couple of hours of time and the price of a ticket.
