The Essential Edge is pleased to add another column - Mort Unplugged - to its ranks. This is written by veteran journalist and author, Mort Rosenblum, editor and cofounder of Dispatches Magazine, a recently established international quarterly working with The Essential Edge and other partners to improve public awareness through critical and independent quality reporting of global issues worldwide.The latest issue is Out of Poverty.
PARIS - When USA Today appeared in 1982, we pterosaurs (you know, toothy jaws, extinct: reporters) laughed it off as the newspaper for people who find TV too challenging.
These days, its America-first, news-bits-for-dummies formula typifies our national view of the world. And now we've recently had Jon Stewart's ever-lovable Jason Jones laughing off The New York Times as a silly relic that only a grandmother could love.
Stewart, who unfailingly gets it, keeps reminding us he is a comedian. That was a spoof, funny if painful, of what so many of us now call "news."
Bill Keller, the Times' grandpa executive editor, made the real point when Jones sneered at red ink the paper bleeds while Huffington Post rakes in ad profits.
"The last time I was in Baghdad I didn't see a Huffington Post bureau or a Google bureau or a Drudge Report bureau there," Keller said.
Real foreign coverage is expensive and dangerous, he said. "It's a lot easier to sit home and riff on the work that somebody else does."
Reporting is often a dirty word, particularly among those in the aid world who think they know best and feel no need to be accountable to the public-at-large. For well over a decade, however, specialized media groups have been working with local and international journalists to ensure that disaster-affected populations receive the sort of “lifeline” information they need to survive. What many policymakers do not realize is that better informed media can also play a key role in resolving or at least alleviating conflicts. Nonetheless, despite the media’s proven effectiveness as a crucial component of any humanitarian, peacebuilding or recovery effort, such initiatives are still failing to receive the support they need. This lack of commitment, often the result of ignorance, is not only risking lives but costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly even billions, every year. In this two-part series, part of which was previously published in the April 2009 issue of Development and Cooperation , Edward Girardet examines why all too many aid agencies and donors are acting irresponsibly and why they urgently need to clean up their acts. Otherwise, they shouldn't be in the business.
There is not much that anyone can do to prevent a tropical cyclone or an earthquake, but a lot can be done to reduce the impact on people. “What kills is the vulnerability of the population,” says Margareta Wahlstrom, UN Assistant Secretary General and Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction. That was the key message at this week’s four day conference on the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which attracted some 1800 participants. There is little question that disasters are becoming a growth industry. 300 natural disasters last year. The death toll was nearly a quarter of a million people killed and 200 million affected. The bill for damages added up to roughly $180 billion. Not only are natural disasters
more numerous, they are also increasing in intensity. The UN’s
International Strategic Initiative for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR),
which coordinated the 4-day meeting here in Geneva, wants some of the
funding currently earmarked for disaster relief and development
programs to be shifted into preparedness. The platform’s theme this
year is: “Invest today for a safer tomorrow.”
CESSY, France -- A wonderful thing has happened. During a recent house renovation, one of our satellite dishes for receiving most non-English European and Middle Eastern networks broke. We lost nearly 2,000 channels, including Cartoon Network and a few other brainless children’s stations. We decided not to replace it.
More recently, the remote for our free-to-air satellite (Astra2D) for the BBC, ITV and other British channels also broke. We suddenly realized that the children, 9 and 15, were really not that interested in watching TV. They preferred to read, explore the internet, take in the occasional DVD, or do things outdoors.
We’re now wondering whether we can even be bothered to buy a new sat
box. Do we really need TV in our lives? And, well, what about a good book or even, dare one say it, a newspaper?
MOURIOL, France -- As usual, Essential Edge contributor and SatTV specialist John Sidwell of Bigdishsat explores new possibilities and equipment but also problems for those wishing to receive satellite television, particularly free-to-view BBCi Sports Multiscreen. Sidwell also reminds us that free-to-view English language satellite programming, such as all the BBC and ITV channels, including Film 4 and FIVE, can be viewed both in France and Switzerland and do not require Sky Boxes.
GENEVA -- The recently-established Global Humanitarian Forum will hold its second annual meeting at the luxury Hotel Intercontinental 23-24 June, 2009, in Geneva. Climbing on the climate change bandwagon, the organization claims that this will be the world’s foremost humanitarian gathering point with over 400 “high-level” invitation-only participants, including political leaders as well as various heads of companies, development and humanitarian organizations. Chaired by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the forum will officially seek to encourage “multi-lateral dialogue” on the humanitarian impact of climate change. The broader view, however, is that this will emerge much as last year’s forum, notably yet another costly grey suit circus of much show but little substance. (See Mark Hartford's piece last year in The Essential Edge). One improvement, however, is that while media are not included as players they will have access to the meeting. Inshallah. Nathaniel Daudrick, who, until recently reporting out of Egypt, but now in Geneva offers his assessment of what’s going on.
This week, The Essential Edge is looking at Burgundy. Given that the Lake Geneva Region is culturally and historically part of Burgundy, we will be running several pieces on this part of France. The first is by Janet Hill of the Offbeat column.
CLUNY, France -- I think I was one of those kids who always day-dreamed about living in a castle one day. You know the castle – each room smothered in fantastic patterns, beautiful floors and painted ceilings, and a moat to keep out the bad guys.
I still don’t live in a castle, but did find one in Burgundy that fits the bill.
Chateau Cormatin was built on the foundations of a 13th century fortress, but its history doesn’t really get interesting until the late 16th century, when the owner discovered – during the Wars of Religion – that pillage was the way to riches (okay, as the descendant of Huguenots, I’m a bit prejudiced). But the story gets more interesting...
BEIJING -- “I’m here for the hip hop,” says Jamel, an African American from Washington DC. At the moment, Jamel, who describes himself as a “cultural researcher” is watching an “art battle” facing off two top Chinese graffiti artists against a French team from Bordeaux. Jamel finds the music Beijing roughly equivalent to New York or Washington. “People here are great,” he says.
The graffiti face-off ends somewhat inconclusively, but no one seems to care, it is part of a constantly changing series of attractions intended simply to provide an interesting afternoon experience. You could be in Paris, except that the buildings are newer, everything works, and most people are clearly enjoying themselves. (Note from our correspondent: The Essential Edge has the dubious honour of joining the ranks of those international media sites that cannot be accessed in China).
Schengen and Beyond: Better for most, worse for some
GENEVA -- Switzerland’s recent joining of the Schengen Agreement (see previous Essential Edge article) alongside 24 other European countries has made travel a lot easier for many by... Full Story
Karabakh: is war inevitable?
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Armenia and Azerbaijan's dispute over Nagorno Karabakh could erupt in war at any time, warns Wayne Merry in an article published 22 May 2009 by the Open Democracy Network. This... Full Story
The Essential Edge is pleased to add another column - 
Reporting is often a dirty word, particularly among those in the aid world who think they know best and feel no need to be accountable to the public-at-large. For well over a decade, however, specialized media groups have been working with local and international journalists to ensure that disaster-affected populations receive the sort of “lifeline” information they need to survive. What many policymakers do not realize is that better informed media can also play a key role in resolving or at least alleviating conflicts. Nonetheless, despite the media’s proven effectiveness as a crucial component of any humanitarian, peacebuilding or recovery effort, such initiatives are still failing to receive the support they need. This lack of commitment, often the result of ignorance, is not only risking lives but costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly even billions, every year. In this two-part series, part of which was previously published in the April 2009 issue of 
CESSY, France -- A wonderful thing has happened. During a recent house renovation, one of our satellite dishes for receiving most non-English European and Middle Eastern networks broke. We lost nearly 2,000 channels, including Cartoon Network and a few other brainless children’s stations. We decided not to replace it.
More recently, the remote for our free-to-air satellite (Astra2D) for the BBC, ITV and other British channels also broke. We suddenly realized that the children, 9 and 15, were really not that interested in watching TV. They preferred to read, explore the internet, take in the occasional DVD, or do things outdoors.
We’re now wondering whether we can even be bothered to buy a new sat
box. Do we really need TV in our lives? And, well, what about a good book or even, dare one say it, a newspaper?
MOURIOL, France -- As usual, Essential Edge contributor and SatTV specialist John Sidwell of 
GENEVA -- The recently-established 
This week, The Essential Edge is looking at Burgundy. Given that the Lake Geneva Region is culturally and historically part of Burgundy, we will be running several pieces on this part of France. The first is by Janet Hill of the Offbeat column. 
BEIJING -- “I’m here for the hip hop,” says Jamel, an African American from Washington DC. At the moment, Jamel, who describes himself as a “cultural researcher” is watching an “art battle” facing off two top Chinese graffiti artists against a French team from Bordeaux. Jamel finds the music Beijing roughly equivalent to New York or Washington. “People here are great,” he says.
The graffiti face-off ends somewhat inconclusively, but no one seems to care, it is part of a constantly changing series of attractions intended simply to provide an interesting afternoon experience. You could be in Paris, except that the buildings are newer, everything works, and most people are clearly enjoying themselves. (Note from our correspondent: The Essential Edge has the dubious honour of joining the ranks of those international media sites that cannot be accessed in China).
