You can probably think of one young journalist you know who has ambitions to be a foreign correspondent or even a war reporter in some new and exciting place. Please tell them … they can just as easily be killed, injured, threatened, suffer trauma or be thrown in jail … at home, writes journalist and former foreign correspondent Clare Arthurs.
September, 2010
Political snippets: The great Aboriginal art heist
An informant at the National Gallery of Australia tells me that there has been a great art heist from the Prime Ministerial Lodge in Canberra.
Crikey Says: Moving public opinion on border protection
How does it look, for the government, for the private contractor Serco, for the Immigration Department, for a country’s human rights reputation, when a man jumps to his death on our watch?
The benefits of Ahmadinejad
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gets a lot of — rightly deserved — flak from the Western media. But Esquire offers up five reasons why Ahmadinejad is good, like he could help stabilise Afghanistan and also serves as constant comedy fodder.
Critiquing a food critic
Have you ever read a food review and wanted to see how it stacked up against your own tastebuds/sensory organs? Last week W H Chong had the perfect opportunity to compare his views with Larissa Dubecki, editor of The Age’s ‘Epicure’.
Nollywood: the world’s second largest film industry, but for how long?
With around 2400 films produced each year, Nigeria’s film industry “Nollywood” is the second largest in the world. Films are often sold directly to people on the street and the average shoot lasts less than two weeks. But for how long can it maintain such a cracking pace?
Still the Apple of owners’ eyes
Thanks to this year’s iPad, Apple has beaten PCs — again — as the computer brand that consumers are most satisfied with. With a score of 86 out of 100, it was Apple’s highest ever mark.
How employers can take advantage of social media addicts
Social networking websites allow angry consumers to easily vent their frustrations to potentially large audiences, but the pendulum swings both ways: corporations can also harness social media’s powers to promote and defend their brands, writes Josh Bernoff.
Vatican: washing away €23 million worth of sins
Further trouble for the Catholic Church, with Italian authorities seizing a whopping €23 million from a Vatican Bank account, amid allegations of money-laundering.
A great greasy wrap of Big Food news
Crikey’s health blog Croakey has been hoarding food items in recent weeks. Here is a collection of new advertising campaigns that are ruffling the deep fried feathers of food conglomerates such as McDonalds.
Conroy vs Turnbull: a battle of the martians
Now that Malcolm Turnbull has replaced Tony Smith in the shadow communications portfolio, the debate about the government’s proposed NBN will get wild and hairy. Why? Because Conroy is from Venus and Turnbull is from Mars, says David Braue.
revealed 
Why the Titanic really sank
A new book rejects the commonly accepted belief that the Titanic sank because the crew didn’t have time to avoid the iceberg. it claims the disaster was actually caused by a steering blunder that has been kept secret for almost a century.
Why travel agents take the joy out of travelling
Once a backpacker, I now have two kids and my first priority is to make sure they’re going to be safe and that flights, accommodation and probably transfers are all booked in advance. Yet travel agents dismiss me, laments Martin Lane.
How new MPs can avoid old mistakes
New members of parliament would do well to learn from the mistakes of their older, arguably wiser colleagues. Leo Shanahan’s advice includes: don’t take a nap in Question Time and don’t nick bottles of wine from party functions.
Gittins: What does Gillard believe in?
Julia Gillard believes in getting herself re-elected, but is that the extent of it? asks Ross Gittins, as he examines Gillard’s pet issue of education and what needs to happen for a true ‘education revolution’ to unfold.
Villawood asylum seekers’ protest ends, for now
Crikey Media Wrap: Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has barely been in the job a week and has already found himself embroiled in a touchy situation involving a protest by asylum seekers at Sydney’s Villawood Detention Centre, where 11 people staged a 30 hour hunger strike.
Steve Jobs sucks at PR
Apple founder Steve Jobs is notoriously elusive, but also quite rude, as a young student journalist learnt when trying to contact Apple for media comment. Jobs replied “our goals do not include helping you get a good grade.”
Van Onselen: Business should be afraid (again) of Rudd style diplomacy
Foreign affairs is all about enhancing economic ties with other countries, which is something Kevin Rudd handled mediocrely as PM. Business has good reason to be concerned about his performance as Foreign Minister, writes Peter Van Onselen.
On yer bike, Barclays
Melbourne isn’t the only city with a shiny new shared bike system, London is rolling one out too. But, as Jon Day writes, the bikes — which are sponsored by Barclays — have come under attack for being a long way from the utopian ideals of the Netherlands scheme of the 60s.
Mapping the Christchurch earthquakes
You thought there was just one big Christchurch earthquake? You were wrong. There was a total of 150 different quakes in the region and this interactive map lets you watch them unfold.
What’s a stockbroker?
It seems simple enough: stockbrokers buy and sell things, while advisers give investment advice. But Wall St — and the ensuring recession — really messed up how the public view those two distinct occupations.
Is there a conspiracy against Pakistan cricket?
Newspapers don’t run conspiracies, they run a business, which requires them to make money by selling more papers, writes Cricinfo’s Osman Samiuddin, so why is Pakistan hitting out at everyone and everything?
Liverpool and Man United fans hate their owners: why?
Slate investigates why England’s greatest soccer teams and their American owners are a match made in hell.
Is the White House trying to change global warming lingo?
A debate about whether the American government are trying to rebrand language around climate change has spawned from a top science adviser’s description of the term “global warming” as a “dangerous misnomer.”
