In praise of the foreign reporter

This blog will often put the way towards great journalism and there is a great piece of international reporting in the New Statesman courtesy of Tristan McConnell who reports from the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.

It begins

After dark, the dull thud of mortars and the staccato popping of machine guns come more frequently. Sometimes the explosions make it hard to sleep, so I lie awake counting, learning to read the Mogadishu soundscape: one . . . two-three . . . four. Pauses follow sequences of explosions like Morse code, each bullet and mortar landing somewhere, ending or ruining a life.

Kampfner quits

So what has been happening at the New Statesman?

Its Editor,John Kampfner resigned yesterday with immediate effect,literally putting this week's magazine to bed and then telling the rest of the staff that he was leaving.

The rumour mills are out with some saying that his long term relationship with the magazine owners Geoffrey Robinson was not a good one

According to Guardian media

One source with knowledge of the magazine said the departure had been on the cards since Christmas, after the relationship between Robinson and Kampfner broke down.
"Geoffrey thinks too much money has been spent on redesign and marketing for too little return," the source said.

Iain Dale says

Reading between the lines it seems perfectly clear that he has had a big fallout with the NS owner, Geoffrey Robinson MP.

and believes it may be to do with tht fact that

Kampfner has been notably lukewarm in his opinion of Robinson's hero Gordon Brown (who he funded to a lavish extent when in opposition).

Whatever the reasons,Kampfner has been a great asset to the weekly magazine and I fr one will miss his input.I wish him well with whatever venture he follows

Public Interest v Private Trust

When is it correct to leak to the media?

The case of Derek Pasquill who last week had his case thrown out by the Old Bailey is examined in the New Statesman today.

The question arises whether a strong moral justification is grounds enough for betraying a work confidence.
There is no doubt reading the article that Mr Pasquill was genuinely abhorred by the foreign office's dealings with the Islamic world.There is also justification under public interest that the media were alerted to this policy.

However nothing illegal was being done,the Foreign office would argue that this was simply one aspect of its policy.Certain individuals in the government were against it but these discussions could have taken place within the normal channels of government or Parliament.

The arguments are not able the press' rights but those of the government.A civil servant has a duty of care to his employer and Mr Pasquill breached the trust that his position held.

Some things to read over Xmas

Check out the Sidney awards in the New York Times which go to the authors of the Best magazine articles in the States.



Nick Paumgarten,writing in the New Yorker on the joys of commuting is a particually good one

Roughly one out of every six American workers commutes more than forty-five minutes, each way. People travel between counties the way they used to travel between neighborhoods. The number of commuters who travel ninety minutes or more each way—known to the Census Bureau as “extreme commuters”—has reached 3.5 million, almost double the number in 1990. They’re the fastest-growing category, the vanguard in a land of stagnant wages, low interest rates, and ever-radiating sprawl. They’re the talk-radio listeners, billboard glimpsers, gas guzzlers, and swing voters, and they don’t—can’t—watch the evening news. Some take on long commutes by choice, and some out of necessity, although the difference between one and the other can be hard to discern. A commute is a distillation of a life’s main ingredients, a product of fundamental values and choices. And time is the vital currency: how much of it you spend—and how you spend it—reveals a great deal about how much you think it is worth.

Also Richard Dawkins' on God at Xmas in the New Statesman

December 25th is a date to celebrate not because it is the disputed birthday of the "son of God" but because it is the actual birthday of one of the world's greatest men