United Arab Republic

A little bit of history I just learned:

The United Arab Republic was a union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961 when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the ‘United Arab Republic’ until 1971. The President was Gamal Abdel Nasser. During most of its existence (1958-1961) it was a member of the United Arab States, a confederation with North Yemen.

For your cocktail party conversation.

North Georgia Mountains

Anonymous sources and personal allegations

The New York Times Public Editor points out that the Times doesn’t always follow its internal guidelines on not publishing anonymous personal allegations. If the subject is accused of a crime, the chances are far greater:

It was no surprise that the case against Robert Joel Halderman, accused of blackmailing David Letterman, involved money and sex, a former colleague at CBS said. Halderman “lived on the edge” and had “a bit of a checkered love life.”

Was it proper for The Times to report such statements from people who would not stand behind them? The paper has a policy that says anonymous sources should not be used lightly, but as a last resort, and should not be allowed to engage in personal attack or speculation. These tidbits seemed at best like gossip and at worst unfair suggestions of motive or guilt.

Reece Pendleton, a reader from Chicago, asked “why on earth” The Times would grant anonymity to someone making “prejudicial comments — nothing more than smears” about Clark, who had been identified as a “person of interest” but had not yet been charged. The paper just wanted to “spice up” the story, he thought. Ellen Comisar, a former Times graphics editor who lives in Rochester, N.Y., wondered “what possible justification could there have been” for the anonymous comments about Halderman.

It is a common scenario: A sensational crime is committed or alleged, and reporters — nine of them on the Annie Le story — scramble to learn everything they can about a suspect. They aim for a balanced portrait, but readers can take comments that a person was hard to get along with or “lived on the edge” as not-so-subtle clues to the question they really wonder about: Did he do it?

When the comments are anonymous, the potential unfairness can be compounded because readers have no way to evaluate the motives or credibility of those doing the talking. Pendleton, for example, wondered if the remarks about Clark could have been payback by a co-worker for a past run-in.

One NY Times reporter and editor defended their anonymous allegation by arguing they were doing the reader a service in conveying this information. It’s an understandable argument.

But, I would ask whether the paper gains more in releasing that anonymous information or adhering to its own guidelines — rules that were created so that the paper would gain credibility in its fair treatment of all the people it covers.

I’ll go with the latter.

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More on free speech

The editor of the GSU newspaper suggests we move the free speech zones where protesters currently have the right to protest. Here’s his point:

Here’s a solution: change the free speech zones on our campus. These zones are the permitted places for people not affiliated with Georgia State to come and speak out about whatever subject they wish. Of the four on campus, two go through major thoroughfares on our campus – Library Plaza and Unity Plaza. Let’s remove these two places from the list, and limit the potential chaos from ensuing as it did last week.

We had a lively discussion about the merits of this proposal in class today. I am opposed to it. What good is free speech if no one can hear you?

GSU and Free Speech

Here’s an article from the Georgia State newspaper about a “being gay is a sin” rally held last week on campus. Here’s a quote from a GSU official explaining why the group has the right to speak on campus:

GSU is strongly committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech. Respect for those rights requires the university to tolerate expressions of opinion that may differ from its own. As a public institution, we cannot ignore the fact that citizens broad protections in the exercise of their speech. It is not required that their speech be couched in inoffensive terms. We encourage civil and reasoned discourse, but we recognize that confrontational speech may fall within the realm of protected speech.

Well said. Free speech for all requires tolerating speech you don’t agree with.

Downturn in economy depresses job market for journalism and mass communication graduates

Bad news for my journalism students:

The sharp downturn in the national economy and the collapse of the economic model for media industries had significant impact on the job market that the 2008 journalism and mass communication graduates entered as they completed their studies.

As a result, significantly fewer of them than a year earlier–when the job market already was weak by historical standards–had at least one job offer on graduation, were able even to land a job interview, or find full-time employment.

These are the key findings of the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates, released Aug. 5 at the meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Boston.

Only six in 10 of the graduates had full-time employment six to eight months after graduation. That is the lowest level of full-time employment reported by graduates of the nation’s journalism and mass communication programs in the 23-year modern history of the graduate survey.

The only good news for 2008 graduates was that those who did find work received the same average salary as graduates a year earlier. With deflation, that actually represented a very slight increase in purchasing power capability.

But my local Panera Bread is hiring!

Feds to issue new medical marijuana policy

Good news:

Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.”

Particularly good news because the feds raided a pot center in California earlier this year.

Here are some earlier thoughts on the U.S. drug policy.

The Peace (Keepers) Prize

Great column from Thomas Friedman on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. He suggests Obama accept the award on behalf of America’s armed forces:

Members of the Nobel committee, I accept this award on behalf of all these American men and women soldiers, past and present, because I know — and I want you to know — that there is no peace without peacekeepers.

Until the words of Isaiah are made true and lasting — and nations never again lift up swords against nations and never learn war anymore — we will need peacekeepers. Lord knows, ours are not perfect, and I have already moved to remedy inexcusable excesses we’ve perpetrated in the war on terrorism.

But have no doubt, those are the exception. If you want to see the true essence of America, visit any U.S. military outpost in Iraq or Afghanistan. You will meet young men and women of every race and religion who work together as one, far from their families, motivated chiefly by their mission to keep the peace and expand the borders of freedom.

So for all these reasons — and so you understand that I will never hesitate to call on American soldiers where necessary to take the field against the enemies of peace, tolerance and liberty — I accept this peace prize on behalf of the men and women of the U.S. military: the world’s most important peacekeepers.

You should read the rest — he offers a great recap of instances in which the U.S. military contributed to peace. Nice to see Friedman making this point.

Knockoffs point to success

Did not realize Snuggies were so sucessful that competitors had entered the market.