Shortly after Algeria's presidential election last April, the Ministry of Communications abruptly ordered correspondents for Dubai-based broadcaster Al Arabiya and its rival, Al Jazeera, to suspend news operations in Algiers indefinitely. No convincing explanations were given, but Algerian officials had complained bitterly about Al Arabiya's election coverage and were apparently …
Read More »The Pressures of 24-Hour News
This article appeared originally in the guide to News Xchange 2004, Algarve, 18-19 November 2004 The twenty-first century terrorist fights with a Kalashnikov in one hand and a video camera in the other. Ten weeks ago, from the ruins of the Beslan School, a tape surfaced showing the hostages, pathetically huddled …
Read More »Book Essay: War Correspondent Memoirs Personalize Conflict
The grizzled editor squinted at me through a haze of gray smoke from the omnipresent cigarette protruding from his thin lips. He glared at me with a mixture of chagrin and condescension after my suggestion that some day I would like to write books. The Pall Mall bobbed as he …
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