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The Great Reporters, by David Randall, Pluto Press £14.99
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21/11/05: This book would be worth reading just for the account of how Meyer Berger, a New York Times reporter, spent six hours interviewing people about a killing spree by a young army veteran which left 12 neighbours and passers-by dead. Berger then went back to the paper and in two and a half hours wrote a 4,000-word account for the first edition, with not a word changed by the editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize for the report.
There are other revelations. ‘I doubt if one journalism student in 10,000 knows his name,’ Randall writes about another of his selections, J.A.MacGahan. The impact of MacGahan’s reports from Bulgaria on the Turkish atrocities after a Bulgarian uprising against the Turks, which appeared in the London Daily News in the summer of 1876 is well described. It was news reporting which literally changed the map of Europe. Russia launched a war against Turkey in the spring of 1877 and the nations of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania came into being.
It is a difficult, indeed perilous, task to select the ‘thirteen best journalists who ever lived’ and one could disagree with some of the journalists chosen - nine Americans and four Britons. But that is not to deny David Randall’s enthusiasm and clarity in presenting his selection.
A couple of complaints. Reading the book whets the appetite to find out more about some of the journalists but there is no bibliography to help the reader. Also, whilst Randall quotes some chunks of text by the journalists, it would have been good to have complete articles to read by them.
That said, if you want to find out more about George Seldes, Nelly Bly or Ernie Pyle this is the book.
Last modified: Monday, November 21, 2005
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
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Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
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Previous stories
Events & Announcements
A Matter of Opinion by Victor Navasky New Press £16.95
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CPBF News: AGM
Check it out
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A brief guide to the Freedom of Information Act
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Access broadcasting: two new links
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New link to 'Observatoire Français des Médias'
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BOOK REVIEW: Dissecting the US Republicans
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