Happy International Women’s Day
Found this great list of 20 inspirational female journalists via Journalism.co.uk, formed with input from their Twitter followers, and posted in honour of International Women’s Day.
I hadn’t heard many of the names that made the list, and it’s a shame that I hadn’t: I was astounded to see what they had accomplished as individuals and as journalists. It’s always reassuring to see proof that there is great journalism happening out in the world, as well as great journalism by female reporters, photographers and writers.
There were only 20 highlighted, and there are no doubt more than 20 “inspirational women journalists” who deserve the title but didn’t make the cut. That being said, these really do seem like the cream of the crop.
Collectively, these women have reported from Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia, America, Ireland, Russia, Syria, Sri Lanka, China, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, North Korea, Afghanistan, Serbia, South Africa, and Somalia, not to mention a 72-day trip around the world. Recognitions awarded include CNN’s MultiChoice African Journalist, the Martha Gellhorn Prize, and an Emmy, to name a few.
Their work ranges from photographing Marilyn Monroe, to faking insanity and being committed to a “mad-house,” to reporting from Belgrade when NATO bombed Serbia, to covering Tiananmen Square.
Here is the full list, complete with ultra-short bios.
And here are the names in order:
Marie Colvin, Anna Politkovskaya, Veronica Guerin, Ida B. Wells, Martha Gellhorn, Lyse Doucet, Hala Jaber, Kate Adie, Caroline Wyatt, Rachel Carson, Eve Arnold, Nellie Bly, Alex Crawford, Lindsey Hilsum, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, Clare Sambrook, Frances Harrison, Mary Stott, Ida Tarbell, and Fatuma Noor.
Happy International Women’s Day.
The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940):
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power – the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!”
#StopKony
“Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals and I support the international effort to arrest him, disarm the LRA and bring the child soldiers home”
It happened overnight. Or so it seemed. A viral outburst of tweets and Facebook shares linking to a 30-minute documentary video of one man’s goal to make Joseph Kony a household name.
And almost as immediately as #StopKony and #Kony2012 went viral, resistance to the idea and to the video and to the initiative popped up, also in the form of tweets and Facebook shares linking to blog posts.
It’s the nature of the beast: How the Internet works, how a democracy works, how freedom of speech works.
And there is no disagreement that Joseph Kony is a terrible, terrible beast. You would have to be to abduct children, indoctrinate them as child soldiers and force them to mutilate other human beings.
So of course, “I signed the pledge to help bring Kony to justice in 2012,” as many others have. I signed because he deserves to be brought to justice, and nobody with a pulse should be able to argue with that. (How he is brought to justice may be debatable, but even then, I’m not sure it could really be argued with any authority, nor can I see it garnering much support or sympathy.)
I watched the movie this morning, and saw this site this afternoon, which – in a nutshell – questions the authenticity and “ethics” of the #Kony2012 movement.
This is missing the point.
Take Joseph Kony out of the equation, and replace him with any war criminal. Take out the fact that money was spent to make the documentary. And take out the fact that there are other atrocities occurring in our world, and that those may be atrocities that you feel are worth spending money to fight, or warrant being put in the spotlight, but are invisible.
The message of this experiment is not that everyone should feel bad and donate because Joseph Kony is the most terrible person on the planet. The message is that there are people in our world like Kony, and that as citizens of the world, we should not only be aware of this fact, but we should realize that as citizens of the world, we have a human and moral obligation to do something about it: Borders, names, bureaucracy, geography, political affiliation and cultural, religious or ethnic differences aside. It is a much greater cause, and the initiative serves a much greater purpose.
What hit home for me, is the fact that one human being making a promise to another human being has turned into a massively influential grassroots movement that – regardless of what eventually comes of it – has touched so many lives by waking people up to one example of what is going on in the world.
To paraphrase a clip in the video, we shouldn’t be asking ‘who are we’ to take a stand, or question an authority, or fight for what we think is right or just: The question we need to ask is ‘who are we not to?’
#StopKony and #Kony2012 have managed to unite the world with a global discussion about something other than soccer or celebrity, and that is the most powerful thing of all: The idea of an awakened, aware and united global population challenging the way things are, and taking it upon themselves to better the world for the sake of humanity.
10 tips for starting-up
I am in the throes of starting my own non-profit, a youth program for Surrey modelled after the White Rock Youth Ambassador Program that gave me so much back in the day.
Since announcing my intentions, two major things have happened. The first, is the overwhelming support I’ve gotten from friends and family, members of the local community and the province’s ambassador community. The second, is the blunt realization that I have no idea how to start a non-profit, let alone run one successfully.
It’s been a process full of surprises. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Via LinkedIn, I read an article from Forbes headlined: “10 Ways to Build a Business Culture Like Apple.”
It’s a list of 10 “culture building principles” derived from a 10 year study of the world’s 50 best businesses. While I’m currently reading a book that refutes the possibility of there being a set of “ways” to success (“regression to the mean” argues that being a stand-out success one year is largely based on luck), I’ve decided to take the essence of the 10 principles and shape them so they are applicable to starting up a non-profit.
1. Find your purpose. Figure out what you are really trying to achieve; the core ideals behind your work. This makes decision-making much easier when everything you say and do is geared towards achieving a specific higher purpose.
2. When you decide what you stand for, communicate those values, principles and priorities clearly, and stick to them. People follow what you do, and don’t often do what you say.
3. Figure out a plan, and follow it. Your plan should be designed so that it encompasses the organization’s goals, but also maps out how to go about achieving them.
4. “Get your team right and do it quickly:” This one is straight from the article, and is probably one of the most important principles. You need people on your team who support your vision, but who can also bring unique personal experiences and different perspectives to the table.
5. And while you don’t want a team made up of half a dozen leaders, you do want people who can make suggestions, and offer constructive criticism. You need to find the balance between encouraging creativity and maintaining a sense of control.
6. Demand excellence, and set high standards for yourself, your team and your work. W. Clement Stone said: “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”
7. Learn what works best and stick with it. Change what isn’t working and grow.
8. Motivate yourself, and always aim for your goals.
9. Be brave. Sometimes it’s better to make a decision and just move forward, rather than to be stuck in one place, grappling with making the “right” decision. Mistakes are inevitable, and risks can pay off.
10. “Live your desired legacy.” This one is a basic distillation of all 10 principles: Decide what you want to create, go forth and create it.
The original article can be found here. Happy “starting.”
365 days
Tourism Richmond launched an innovative campaign this week: A casting call to all bloggers, foodies, tweeps and online personalities for a gig dining out 365 days in the city.
The perks are fantastic: A year’s worth of dinners-for-two, an apartment in Richmond, a year-long gym membership – to burn off all of the noodles – and, last but not least, $50,000. Not too shabby.
Best of all, the job description basically requires the lucky blogger to engage with the community on Facebook and Twitter, to explore Richmond, take photos and eat. It’s like a paid 52-week vacation in a local city.
The information is available on the tourism Richmond’s Facebook page, and the contest runs throughout March.
Just like YVR’s search for someone to live at the airport for 80 days and 80 nights, I think the competition will garner (it already has) a lot of attention. It’s the perfect PR move: It will highlight local cuisine and rally the community together, and most of all, it does so in a cool and interactive way, with lots of multimedia and online engagement.
My love of food and burning desire to win this opportunity is only half of my reason for posting: It’s the realization that I have no idea where I’ll be a year from now. I could be on the other side of the world, travelling, or here at home wrapping up my final semester of studies before graduation. It’s the realization that 365 days is not a relatively long time, but it’s also an extremely long time to commit to staying in one place, doing one thing.
And I guess that’s the beauty of it: A year’s worth of covering Richmond will force the lucky blogger to find creative ways to highlight the community.
An ambitious project, but completely rewarding: How fantastic would it be to start every day with the goal of experiencing something new, and sharing it with others?
Profits and paywalls
Last semester, one of our journalism instructors asked us to first make a list of all of the magazines, newspapers, online publications and other sources of journalism that we were paying for. It was then followed up with a secondary list of which publications we would pay for.
My first list was empty, and my second list – at the time – consisted of the Globe and Mail, and the New York Times. That’s it.
It’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for the work that goes into writing good pieces of journalism, and it’s certainly not that I don’t care. But with Google quite literally at my fingertips everyday, most of the day, I struggled to define what it is I’d pay for in an age where information is free.
And that is the problem with paywalls.
We are living in a world that places more and more emphasis on education, and on the “right” to information. It’s not enough to wait until the 6 p.m. news to find out which stories we should be paying attention to: We need raw news, raw information, all the time, whenever we want.
This need to know has been accelerated by social media – namely Twitter – and reinforced by the work of Wikileaks and groups like Anonymous, which are exposing once private and confidential information for all the world to see.
An online newspaper site putting up a paywall affects the Internet like a giant boulder affects the flow of a river: Traffic flows around the restriction, with no harm done and no resistance. (Why would you pay to learn what you can learn for free?)
In order for paywalls to be an effective means for accruing revenue, there needs to be a shift in the way society distinguishes between information and journalism.
The digital music industry is a great example. There are two choices: Pay $1.29 on iTunes for a song, or download it for free from somewhere else. One option is illegal, the other is expensive. Regardless, I have only ever purchased my music through iTunes, and have never regretted it. My rational is that I don’t have any problem paying for what I enjoy, and what somebody else has created.
So how is this any different from journalism?
The issue, I think, is that I haven’t looked at journalism the way I have, for so long, looked at music. I treat journalism like information: Something beneficial that I need to know and have a right to know. In contrast, music is a “luxury:” Something I could live without if I had to, an added form of enjoyment that I am willing to pay to enjoy.
What distinguishes journalism from “information” is that journalism is information that has been – or should have been – digested, analyzed, organized and challenged.
And that takes work. Do we have a right to know what journalism uncovers? Yes. But it doesn’t just magically appear either. It needs funding from somewhere, preferably from people who support it, and recognize its value. Most importantly, people need to recognize that its “value” is created by the journalist: Great journalism isn’t just a word-for-word replica of something that happened. Rather, it’s an explanation, an analysis or a discovery of what has happened, what is happening now or what is to come in the future.