English: RIYADH. At the photo exhibition, Russia: the Country and the People. With Head, Editor-in-Chief of the RIA Novosti information agency Svetlana Mironyuk and Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz. Русский: ЭР-РИЯД. На фотовыставке «Россия: страна и люди». С главным редактором «РИА Новости» Светланой Миронюк и принцем Сальманом бен Абделем Азизом. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RIA Novosti bureau in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Russia (Photo credit: ccchan19)

The police don't get it - ostracising reporters is against the public interest

Roy Greenslade on why the police have withdrawn help from journalists, and why that is counter-productive

Why the journalistic elite is failing to hold power to account

DWT76

23 Sep 2013

Part of the problem of asking why journalism doesn't hold the powerful to account is that the question is mistated.
The media is not some relatively neutral, intervening force that reports on the doings of politicians and business. The media is Big Business; therefore it is reasonable to expect that the media will report the news in a way that is broadly conducive to business interests. So long as the principal concern of a newspaper (or TV news provider) is selling audiences to advertisers, this will remain so.
This is further compounded by the close, intermingled culture and relationships between journalists, politicians, and senior business people. When a journalist can quickly become a PR advisor or MP (Hugh Pym, Ben Bradshaw) or vice versa, it's little wonder that a collective mindset develops. Journalists socialise with politicians and frequently only read each other's writings. It's an insular, dysfunctional world, increasingly irrelevant to large swathes of the country. It's also pernicious and dangerous. The cost can be weighed in tons of brown corpses.

UnsleepingMind

23 Sep 2013

'Should we journalists not worry about whether we are genuinely serving the public interest?'

That would be a genuine concern if those in the top ranks of the journalistic world really had anything resembling an ethical backbone. What we have in the UK -- and the same goes for the US -- is a propaganda system that operates in the interests of corporate power and privilege; a system that plays to the interests of an extremely rich and powerful elite. How can the 'public interest' ever be served when the vast majority of journalists are happy to play the part of corporate courtiers and PR prostitutes?

'By taking part in this charade, surely we not holding power to account.'

Don't flatter yourself. Today's breed of journalists are seduced by power. They see it as their duty to cozy up to it, rather than challenge those who wield it. Indeed, but for a few chosen people in the corporate media -- the fig leaves -- the entire edifice is rotten to the core. Profit is the sole concern; and truth is incidental its pursuit.

Index on Censorship magazine

Upcoming issue: Mission creep -- defending religious tolerance and free speech

The winter issue of Index on Censorship magazine brings together articles from writers including the Bishop of Bradford, Salil Tripathi, Samira Ahmed and Kaya Genc. There’s an interview with Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti ahead of the opening of her new play, and 10 years after Bezhti; while cartoonist Martin Rowson writes and draws about how comedy and religious offence come into conflict.

A complete guide to who controls the Russian news media

Today's surprise announcement out of Russia: The Russian government was shuttering external-facing news agencies Ria Novosti and Voice of Russia. But inside Russia, a growing web of cross ownership colours the way Russians view their neighbours. Olga Khvostunova explains in her report for Interpreter Magazine

"A special committee that will have the right Senators on board"

Anonymous said...: Yes but now? Seems Canadian Journalists, face limits on free speech.
Dec 3/2013
www.indexoncensorship.org

We all know how Politicians detest, the truth being told about their underhanded deeds.

However, Canada is no longer a democracy. Harper is a dictator and he, hates his dastardly deeds, being published. Christy Clark wants the internet monitored. She has a lot to hide too. She detests her lies being published too. She works for Harper so, she REALLY hates the web.

Crime Minister Herr Harper will use every dirty tactic in the book, to hide his crimes in this expense scandal. Herr Harper's henchmen are, useless, gutless, spineless wonders.

Harper stonewalls and blocks every investigation, that could throw him in the brig.

China making strides in escalating drone race