Newsnig8t

Media critics get to work

Thanks to Yesbutnobut for these links to a Mediamatters, a blog which has followed Fox News coverage of the question: how would the London bombs impact the G8 summit. Link 1. Link 2. Link 3. It's worth pointing out that Mediamatters is dedicated to being on the case of Fox journalists, just as BiasedBBC is there to point out the inadequacies of the organisation I work for. There are 95 comments on that site's story on 7/7, which form a kind rolling commentary on Newsnight on the night of the bombings.

"What about fighting bribery?" - Mark Thomas

Activist and comedian Mark Thomas (pictured) has sent me this contribution to the blog. Can the G8 leaders - who many on the streets of Edinburgh think are part of the problem - really be part of the solution, he asks.

"The creation of the debt is not something that occurred because Africa happens to have a load of profligate spenders as leaders, who have charged around spending money hand over fist like Elton John in Harrods. Though there are notable examples of this...

I meet the African bloggers

I've just been to a seminar with five African journalists who have been brought to the UK by NGO Panos to cover the G8. Some of them are accredited, others will, like me be outside the fence. We had a fascinating discussion about how developed world hacks see Africa - and they did not completely trash my report on sugar, which we watched together. Big day for aid as Bush is set to announce a fairly big hike in aid. I am scurrying around as usual. Watch tonight if you are remotely interested in the outcome at GlenE....

"Memory is the pillar of justice" - Berenice Celeyta

The guest blogs are now coming in fast. I asked Berenice Celeyta (pictured) to write one after I found out she was coming to Edinburgh to speak at the main MPH rally on Saturday 2 July. She's one of the leaders of a trade union in Colombia called SINTRAEMCALI, which has opposed privatisation. In Colombia she has 24-hour-a-day bodyguards. Now while a lot of the muscle on show in the VIP tent in Edinburgh will be there to guard the celebs from their fans, Berenice's bodyguards are there to stop her being assassinated. You can read the background to Berenice's situation here. She's titled her contribution to Newsnig8t: "Another world is possible where human beings can enjoy the egalitarian dignity fundamental to our being".

It's hard hitting so I am keen to hear and post responses...

"A Year of Optimism" - Wiseman Nkuhlu

Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu (pictured) has made the journey from Robben Island prison to the boardrooms of major African and global companies. He's the head of the Nepad executive and is due in London next week for a business summit on Africa called Bending the Arc, which is looking at what the private sector can do to help attain the Millennium Development Goals. He sent me this contribution for the blog:

"2005 presents an historic opportunity for Africa. The continent’s development is now at the centre stage of the world agenda and the potential for lasting change has never been greater. Of course, this is not the first time that there has been optimism around Africa’s development...

A whole slew of G8 Blogs

UK Indymedia has posted links to a whole list of people blogging the G8, including yours truly. I can exclusively reveal that a major UK national newspaper, nay global, is to unleash one of its most talented hacks into the blogosphere to do likewise. I will bring an extra ready meal should he care to drop by to my tent on top of Wether Hill on the night of 5 July, as I wait for the anarcho-syndicalist re-enactment of that scene from Lord of the Rings where they light the beacons (closely followed I suspect by a slightly fractious re-enacment of the Battle of Minas Tirith). The Indymedia list is split into two parts: in a move that is sure to hasten a final written warning from my bosses, the Indymedia people have neglected to include me among "the enemy".

"We are fatigued with charity, we know we can do it ourselves"

Even those who remember the word "Ujamaa", and know it was the philosophy behind Julius Nyrere's attempt to collectivise agriculture in the 1960s, probably wonder whether it has anything more than academic relevance to today's debates about development. Talking to Marie Shaba last night reminded me that it does. She's the chairperson of the Tanzanian Association of NGOs, and had just come back from Downing Street, where she'd been doing some straight talking to Tony Blair...