Author Archives: Despina Durand

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About Despina Durand

part-time goth, full-time critic

Mass murder: is the media to blame?

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We can’t make these events into history. Journalism is the first draft of history, so that is where we must start. Twenty dead children are of interest to everyone. Whether they are most important or not, can be debated (and depends, largely, on where they are from. I record here, despite the perhaps now-clichéd nature of the comment, 20 dead white kids are worth more than 20 dead black kids, and you won’t even hear about them if they’re actually from Africa. There were a number of outraged remarks to the tune of “What about Sudan?” And it could be replaced with so many places). Continue reading →

I didn’t even know he was ill

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Some of the first things that appear when you search “press criticism” are questions about whether it is dead or dying and whether or not Twitter is the culprit. I went looking for press criticism, because it was mentioned in our textbook, and I had no idea what it was. It turns out that press criticism is writing about journalism. When we’re talking about the presentation and content of Fox News or the New York Times, we’re engaging in press (or media) criticism. In fact, much of what we do here on these blogs is media criticism! Continue reading →

Leveson Report & and self-regulation

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Last week or the week before, I did one of my stories for WMUA on the ultimatum issued by David Cameron to the newspapers of Britain with regards to self-regulation.

Some years ago, the News Corps owned News of the World publication was under investigation for hacking the phones of (according to Wikipedia) first, “celebrities, politicians and members of the British Royal Family” and then later, “murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London bombings.” This, as one might imagine, did not go well for News of the World (which shut down due to all its advertisers taking their business elsewhere). However, it also caused Cameron to commission a report, forming a special committee, headed by Lord Justice Leveson, to look into not only the News of the World scandal, but also the wider culture and practices of UK newspapers. Continue reading →

Greece posed for a complete meltdown.

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This is just a quick aside (I have all these blog posts planned, but I need to get this off my chest).

Most of you probably don’t know this, but I’m half-Greek. Greek enough that my grandmother lives in Athens, even though my mother was born in this country. I speak Greek and have visited my grandmother, in Greece, every summer since I was born.

What most of you are probably at least peripherally aware of is that Greece is currently facing some serious difficulties because of their economic woes. Continue reading →