by Jonathan Sharp | 13 Dec 2023 | China, Decoder Replay, History, Human Rights, Politics
Hong Kong youth tried to assert their rights three years ago. The repercussions are still being felt. Agnes Chow fled to Canada and feels she cannot return home. Agnes Chow, center, a prominent pro-democracy activist who was sentenced to jail for her role in an...
by Shefali Malhotra | 15 May 2023 | Asia, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
The Indian government has proposed strengthening privacy protection, but at the cost of transparency. Is this about protection or repression? Photo illustration by News Decoder. India’s proposed digital privacy law is creating fault lines between the right to privacy...
by Marcy Burstiner | 16 Mar 2023 | United States
To much of the world the U.S. is a beacon of free speech. But how much freedom teens have depends on where they live and what school they attend. The New York State legislature is considering passing a law that would prevent public high schools from censoring student...
by Jessica Strickland | 22 Aug 2022 | Culture, Media Literacy, Spain
News Decoder’s correspondents have covered the world’s biggest stories over decades. Here are books they suggest would-be journalists should read. “Books to read for aspiring journalists” I was looking for publications that would help me, as well as...
by Susan Ruel | 13 Jul 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Journalism, Media Literacy, Personal Reflections
Marie Colvin started as a journalist writing for a New York trade union. She ended up a war correspondent who changed people’s lives. Medical staff examine Marie Colvin in Colombo’s eye hospital in Sri Lanka, 17 April 2001. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) A...
Susan Ruel reflects on the life and career of Marie Colvin, an accomplished foreign correspondent killed in Syria in 2012. Colvin reported on major conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, believing someone has to go there and see what is happening. “She always told the stories of the ordinary men and women who bore the consequences of the power struggles and wars waged by political leaders,” Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Robert Mahoney said. With more journalists murdered or missing this year than in nearly all of 2021, the rights of journalists in war zones cannot be taken for granted.
Exercise: Ask students to discuss how media coverage of war and conflict zones has evolved and what they think accounts for the increased threat against journalists.