As
BuzzFeed,
VICE &
Mashable Talk
Int'l News,
What of Better
UN Coverage?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 18
-- When
representatives
of BuzzFeed,
VICE and
Mashable
described
their non-US
news coverage
on Thursday,
the
event's title
was a question:
“What in the
World are
[they] up to
as they expand
their
international
coverage?”
But most
audience
questions
focused on how
well or badly
they pay, why
they generally
don't use
freelancers,
at least in
war zones, and
whether the
“unmediated”
news style
ascribed to
VICE is even
possible.
VICE
News' Jason
Mojica
diplomatically
declined to
describe
restrictions
imposed by the
Islamic State
to profile the
group in
Raqa'a. When
asked about
the lack of
back-story in
the piece, he
said if
viewers
are watching
on a computer
they can
search for the
information
they
need.
Mojica
recounted when
TV networks
called VICE to
get in contact
with Simon
Ostrovsky, he
realized the
networks don't
do
reporting
anymore; they
just report
from the
studio.
Louise
Roug, Global
News Editor of
Mashable (disclosure
here)
said her
organization
which began
covering tech
and social
media is now
opening
bureaux in
Australia and
London. She
sent a
correspondent
to
Erbil, but
wouldn't to
Syria.
Miriam
Elder of
Buzzfeed spoke
of keeping
overhead low
-- no office,
and
“don't stay in
the Ritz.” One
questioner in
the audience
wondered
if her story
of staying
with a friend
in DC rather
than a hotel
meant
staff are
coerced into
not being
remunerated
enough.
Elder said
people are
paid well --
just don't
stay in the
Ritz. She
recounted
Rosie
Gray finding
how Putin's NYT
op-ed was
placed,
and wondered
why in
the Internet
age anyone
would write a
story merely
ABOUT Putin's
op-ed, which
could simply
be linked
to. Why
indeed.
Inner
City Press had
wanted to
attend, but
got caught up
in the UN as
the
Security
Council meeting
on Ebola
ran until 8
pm. Watching a
live-stream
of the NYU
Journalism
Institute
event from
the UNSC
stakeout
was a bit
surreal, and
gave
rise to this
question: how
are these
three covering
the UN? How
would
they do it
differently
than those
here?
As
it is, the UN
Secretariat
doles out
information
that Big Media
includes as a
paragraph of
longer,
round-up
stories. Few
write what is
obvious to
many here,
diplomats and
staff, that
the UN
Secretariat
has become
subservient to
the US (or to
France,
in the case of
UN
Peacekeeping).
Perhaps
because the UN
is in
the US, it
is not
viewed as
exotic
international
coverage. But
it is worth
covering,
and
differently.
That is is one
of the things
that the new Free UN
Coalition for
Access is
trying to
bring about,
along with a Freedom
of Information
Act for the UN.
Watch this
site.
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