Standing up for journalism

There is a  mailing list for left-leaning journalists at Britain’s prestigious National Union of Journalists. Not so long ago the conversation was about whether this ‘left list’ was moribund. Now there’s a lively debate about sending a letter to the ‘The Journalist’ (the in-house rag) to voice dismay “that the leadership of our union has seen fit to ‘celebrate’ the satire of Charlie Hebdo.” Continue reading

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Charlie and the chocolate factory

Paris felt the lash of Islamic terrorism last week – 20 dead, more than a score injured. Journalists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were methodically executed;  hostages slaughtered at a Jewish supermarket, a policeman and woman slain amidst the mayhem. Three gunmen laid siege to Western security and freedom of expression – on television –  until they were killed.The threat posed by radicalised Muslims could not be more  present or clear. Continue reading