And no one ever believed me when I would tell them that I personally watched CNN staged and exaggerated events back in 2003. It also tells me why mainstream media never really wanted to hire me, because they knew that I only wanted to tell the truth of what I found in my reporting. No wonder the American mainstream media would not buy anything from me. Yet, China, Europe and Russia would!
It tells you about the news in America and worldwide broadcasting from the mainstream.
Now, they want to categorize freelancers and "non reporters" no protected by the first amendment. Just remember who is funding mainstream, governments and corporations.
11 December 2014
03 November 2014
Reporting on the warfront: The problem with ISIS
November 2, 2014
One wonders why there is not much reporting on the warfront, but from a distance and because of that we do not know very much about ISIS and what is really happening on the ground. Journalists do not have many choices in reporting on this conflict, the options are to pledge allegiance with ISIS and go through their approval for release and at the same time risk your life with the U.S. drones that the US government has imposed that okay to have civilian casualties in Syria and Iraq. This means, even if they know that you are there, they will shoot anyway. Reporting from the front would be going on a suicide mission.
With increasing kidnappings and deaths of journalists worldwide, the respect for journalism and telling the story is just about a bye gone and that is dangerous for global citizens.
Here is a great article:
The Things we won't know about ISIS
With increasing kidnappings and deaths of journalists worldwide, the respect for journalism and telling the story is just about a bye gone and that is dangerous for global citizens.
Here is a great article:
The Things we won't know about ISIS
02 November 2014
Guantanamo, smuggle secrets, Snowden
1 November 2014
Back in the days, someone asked if I release incriminating images and information about abuse in a Cuban prison. Back in the days, we did not have super encryption to protect the journalists or identity of another person leaking the information. Still today, I do not understand the technology needed to protect the whistle blower or myself from our governments view on journalism crime. Although, I must insert here, most of the information that whistle blowers decide to "leak out" are things that we the taxpayers and citizens of our world should know. You know, to help fight corruptions and be the "good" people and expose the "bad"
As a good journalist, I felt that I needed to know my whistle blowers and verify his/her and information before I would write anything up and "leak" that information to major media outlets. Yet, there was nothing to protect us...at that time, at least that I was aware of. As a response, the person asked me again if I could help but I needed to meet him/her and see what they had. I did not have any protection to offer and as a result the person just sort of disappeared. A few months later, the images were released all over the world. Of course I thought to myself, dang...I could have been famous from that what did I do wrong? Yet, I was scared to move forward without protection, I knew what the government was capable of.
If this happened to me, and I must insert I was more "visible" in those days during the pre-independent journalism phase of journalism which made me a person that someone like that would approach. What is it like for the independent journalist today? How do we learn to release information that we feel the public should know without having to move to another country and risk going to jail?
I stumbled onto this great article:
ED SNOWDEN TAUGHT ME TO SMUGGLE SECRETS PAST INCREDIBLE DANGER. NOW I TEACH YOU.
Please read, if you are interested in this information
29 October 2014
Victims of ISIS: The non western journalists who do not make the headlines
October 27, 2014 20:06 WCT
The risks of being a journalist these days....not only in the U.S. but around the world.
In the past 10 months, at least 17 Iraqi journalists have been executed by Isis. Many others have been kidnapped, their fate unknown.
The risks of being a journalist these days....not only in the U.S. but around the world.
In the past 10 months, at least 17 Iraqi journalists have been executed by Isis. Many others have been kidnapped, their fate unknown.
Last week, Islamic State militants released a fifth video of the British freelance journalist John Cantlie, wearing a Guantánamo Bay-style orange jumpsuit and appearing to read from a script.
The film’s release was widely reported. Unsurprisingly: since August, Isis has released videos showing its beheading of two American journalists,James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as two British aid workers, David Haines and Alan Henning. All have been huge news events.
Less widely covered were reports that, on 13 October, Isis shot and killed the Mosul correspondent of Iraq’s Sada news agency in the city’s al-Ghazlani camp. Several local sources, as well as a Kurdish Democratic party spokesman and a medical centre, confirmed Mohanad al-Aqidi’s death to numerous NGOs (members of his family have since disputed the reports, and al-Aqidi’s fate is currently unclear.)
There are no doubts about the public beheading on 10 October, in Samarra, 50km south-east of Tikrit, of Raad Mohamed al-Azaoui , an Iraqi cameraman and photographer for Sama Salah Aldeen TV. Azaoui, a 37-year-old father of three, was killed with his brother after Friday prayers. More...
28 October 2014
Obama: Transparency?
October 27, 2014 11:48 WCT
There has been a lot of talk lately from the White House Press of discrimination of who will get chosen to ask questions. If the paper or news outlet does not write positive articles about the administration or inquires too deep about an event, then they will get denied access or receive last minute invitations when it is too late to be present. Many who have been covering the "beat" for years say that this is the most closed administration to press access. Here is an article I found:
USA Today
There has been a lot of talk lately from the White House Press of discrimination of who will get chosen to ask questions. If the paper or news outlet does not write positive articles about the administration or inquires too deep about an event, then they will get denied access or receive last minute invitations when it is too late to be present. Many who have been covering the "beat" for years say that this is the most closed administration to press access. Here is an article I found:
USA Today
At some point, a compendium of condemnations against the Obama administration’s record of media transparency (actually, opacity) must be assembled. Notable quotations in this vein come from former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, who said, “It is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering”; New York Times reporter James Risen, who said, “I think Obama hates the press”; and CBS News’s Bob Schieffer, who said, “This administration exercises more control than George W. Bush’s did, and his before that.”
USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page has added a sharper edge to this set of knives. Speaking Saturday at a White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) seminar, Page called the current White House not only “more restrictive” but also “more dangerous” to the press than any other in history, a clear reference to the Obama administration’s leak investigations and its naming of Fox News’s James Rosen as a possible “co-conspirator” in a violation of the Espionage Act.
FBI Created fake Seattle Times Webpage to nab bombing suspect
October 27, 2014 11:35 WCT
The FBI in Seattle created a fake news story on a bogus Seattle Times web page to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Lacey’s Timberline High School in 2007, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco.
The deception was publicized Monday when Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., revealed it on Twitter. More...
Justice Department inquiry sought in Ferguson police treatment of press
Oct 27, 2014, 6:19am CDT
The PEN American Center will announce Monday that it is calling on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate police treatment of the press at protests following the death of Michael Brown.
24 October 2013
27 September 2013
21 September 2013
Facebook makes Alarming Changes in their Terms
Facebook has altered their terms of service to make it possible for companies that pay the social media network to utilize Facebook users’ content and likeness without compensation or permission. The changes are sure to alienate Facebook’s users in the creative community, who make a living from licensing their work and content.
Read more...
04 September 2013
Dali Lama on success
He is such a wonderful man. Here are his views and I think that it is important for those who want to get into photography and any other arts. Keep punching along!
28 August 2013
10 June 2013
Downsizing of Photojournalism
I knew for quite some time that professional photojournalism was on the downslide, tumbling tumbling as fast as the rate of acceleration and not a bit slower.
It does not surprise me to see yet another full staff "lay-off" due to corporate downsizing and profit making mongols in the newspaper industry. The Chicago Sun-Times is quoted as saying,
"The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."
I understand that news video is increasing in demand for online news but it is not all that should be considered when reporting the news...unless people want just headlines and quick blurps without any real content. In reality this type of news leaves the population sort of ignorant as to what is really going on in the world and why whatever is going on is going on. Sure, one can use a still from a video to create a photograph but the quality is not the same, the angle is not the same and the story is not the same as a still. Will citizens of America see the difference in the quality of both the news and still image? Or will our citizens just turn a blind eye, stay silent and let what happens happen. Below is an image of the first freelance photographer assignment for the Chicago Tribune and tell me if there is a difference:
Nice photograph huh?
I have the feeling that the reporting will change around the same lines. Pretty soon our news will be full of misspelled articles, unchecked facts without any responsibility for its' contents. Just wait and see.
There is another problem. As in most changes those who have "been around" know the difference but those that are young in the world will not know and thus, it will all be accepted as "normal" and good content. We are building a less educated America and the news media insults our intelligence. Yet, we allow it.
I can't believe that those who actually read the news enjoy waiting some time to change from one page with online news? Turning a page takes time because it involves blocked cookies and spyware. Good by turning a page with ease.
I would rather sit down with a cup of coffee and simply turn the pages any day. I can take it outside, I can read it in bed, I can read it at a coffee shop and I can read it inside. I can plop the good old print news and take it into the countryside, lay out a blanket and eat donuts and coffee to my hearts content. I do not need to fight with the glare on my screen, plug in extension chords, carry around a laptop bag or worry about spilt coffee.
Bottom line? The Sun-Times found other ways to acquire images without having to pay for them and they will get the quality as my example above. I already posted a response to when CNN said that they no longer need photojournalists because they can relay on citizen journalism as a valid source for their news. So does that mean if I have an iphone, or cannon point and shoot camera I am a press photographer? Here is an interesting article in the NY Times: "Do Newspapers Need Photographers?"
Or consider the fact that they want to use their reporters to double as photojournalists. Let's consider this fact. One, they will not get paid more for their double duty. Two, they have spent their lives preparing to work with text, not image taking. Three, they will miss the "action shots" because they will need to spend their time jotting notes about the event or the interview. They will not have the time to engage in great photojournalistic shots.
Below is a great Blog from Rob Hart, who was laid off from the Sun-Times:
"Laid off from the Sun-Times"
One fellow photojournalist responded with this, "They're going to use freelancers - hire and fire policies, no need to pay for cameras, cars, pensions, health care - no moral responsibility to anyone providing images or video. Force reporters to shoot iphone pics/video, pay them nothing extra for the extra time and effort because as we all know, just as a photographer can do the job of a reporter standing on his/her head, so a wordsmith can easily do the job of a photographer - NOT! It all comes down to making the bottom line look as attractive as possible at time of sale to Koch brothers or any other taker. It's false economics, false accounting, short term, short sighted greed motivated policies. Such is the way of capitalism these days. Who gives a shit about real people? Just as long as shareholders, hedge fund managers and the banks are making their cut, the peasants can eat bread whilst the emperors parade around naked eating cake...............No need to look at what's happening in Spain, Greece, Turkey or anywhere else where the 'peasants' might just have had enough of this crap."
-Well said!
"The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."
I understand that news video is increasing in demand for online news but it is not all that should be considered when reporting the news...unless people want just headlines and quick blurps without any real content. In reality this type of news leaves the population sort of ignorant as to what is really going on in the world and why whatever is going on is going on. Sure, one can use a still from a video to create a photograph but the quality is not the same, the angle is not the same and the story is not the same as a still. Will citizens of America see the difference in the quality of both the news and still image? Or will our citizens just turn a blind eye, stay silent and let what happens happen. Below is an image of the first freelance photographer assignment for the Chicago Tribune and tell me if there is a difference:
Nice photograph huh?
I have the feeling that the reporting will change around the same lines. Pretty soon our news will be full of misspelled articles, unchecked facts without any responsibility for its' contents. Just wait and see.
There is another problem. As in most changes those who have "been around" know the difference but those that are young in the world will not know and thus, it will all be accepted as "normal" and good content. We are building a less educated America and the news media insults our intelligence. Yet, we allow it.
I can't believe that those who actually read the news enjoy waiting some time to change from one page with online news? Turning a page takes time because it involves blocked cookies and spyware. Good by turning a page with ease.
I would rather sit down with a cup of coffee and simply turn the pages any day. I can take it outside, I can read it in bed, I can read it at a coffee shop and I can read it inside. I can plop the good old print news and take it into the countryside, lay out a blanket and eat donuts and coffee to my hearts content. I do not need to fight with the glare on my screen, plug in extension chords, carry around a laptop bag or worry about spilt coffee.
Bottom line? The Sun-Times found other ways to acquire images without having to pay for them and they will get the quality as my example above. I already posted a response to when CNN said that they no longer need photojournalists because they can relay on citizen journalism as a valid source for their news. So does that mean if I have an iphone, or cannon point and shoot camera I am a press photographer? Here is an interesting article in the NY Times: "Do Newspapers Need Photographers?"
Or consider the fact that they want to use their reporters to double as photojournalists. Let's consider this fact. One, they will not get paid more for their double duty. Two, they have spent their lives preparing to work with text, not image taking. Three, they will miss the "action shots" because they will need to spend their time jotting notes about the event or the interview. They will not have the time to engage in great photojournalistic shots.
Below is a great Blog from Rob Hart, who was laid off from the Sun-Times:
"Laid off from the Sun-Times"
One fellow photojournalist responded with this, "They're going to use freelancers - hire and fire policies, no need to pay for cameras, cars, pensions, health care - no moral responsibility to anyone providing images or video. Force reporters to shoot iphone pics/video, pay them nothing extra for the extra time and effort because as we all know, just as a photographer can do the job of a reporter standing on his/her head, so a wordsmith can easily do the job of a photographer - NOT! It all comes down to making the bottom line look as attractive as possible at time of sale to Koch brothers or any other taker. It's false economics, false accounting, short term, short sighted greed motivated policies. Such is the way of capitalism these days. Who gives a shit about real people? Just as long as shareholders, hedge fund managers and the banks are making their cut, the peasants can eat bread whilst the emperors parade around naked eating cake...............No need to look at what's happening in Spain, Greece, Turkey or anywhere else where the 'peasants' might just have had enough of this crap."
-Well said!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
