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The worst journalistic outrage ever?
I have just been re-reading Edward Behr’s memoir of life in journalism. Its account of the war in Algeria has this numbing tale of journalistic behaviour, which must rank as one of the gravest professional outrages ever committed: …for sheer callousness, it was difficult to beat the French freelance photographer, with excellent OAS connections, who…
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How journalism could save the CIA…
Journalism sounds worthy and old-fashioned. But relabel it Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and it holds a new fascination for governments. There’s an excellent report (available here) by Richard A.Best Jr and Alfred Cumming, about how intelligence agencies over-value secret intelligence and sometimes miss OSINT – or what journalists would call “the bleedin’ obvious.” But the…
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Stockwell 2: Policing public information
The IPCC‘s Stockwell 2 report is undoubtedly the best account of the management confusion surrounding the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. Well, it’s the only one. There is a key problem. The central claim in all police communications was that de Menezes was challenged, refused to comply and was then shot. This, Stockwell 2…
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When do security journalists stop being journalists?
I‘d love to see the difference between a US Defence Dept Video News Release and the piece Frank Gardner presented tonight on the BBC 10. Go view it. The pay-off to his online copy notes: …until terrorists actually detonate a dirty bomb, the funding for coping for one [sic] is thin on the ground. Some…