Reporters on the Job
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WHO SAID THAT? Reporter Michael Jordan filed his story about United Nations security concerns Thursday (
see story), and then dashed off to a seminar. He teaches a journalism class at Long Island University in Brooklyn. "I took my students to a panel discussion on investigative journalism. One of the questions dealt with anonymous sourcing in stories, and the risks associated with that practice. I realized that I ought to go back and amend my story to explain why I used unnamed officials in my UN piece," says Michael. UN officials are discouraged from speaking to reporters on the record - only official spokespeople can do that, he says.
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CIGARETTE-PACK ART: The Monitor's European correspondent Peter Ford has his doubts about the persuasive powers of the graphic photographs due to be displayed on European cigarette packets next year (
see story) - at least as far as young people are concerned.
Peter, a former smoker, recalls an anti-smoking lecture he attended while a student in England, during which he was shown slides of diseased lungs and healthy lungs as an encouragement never to take up cigarettes. "My arty mates and I found it easy to overlook the real message of the pictures because the smokers' lungs - textured and multicolored - were aesthetically so much more interesting than the specimens representing healthy organs."
For those smokers who do find the images repugnant, Peter says there are enterprising companies that have already begun selling sleeves that slip over cigarette packets to hide the jarring new health warnings. What's on the sleeves? Smiley faces.
David Clark Scott
World editor
Cultural snapshot
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SOLO CIRCUIT:
US adventurer Steve Fossett (left) and Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Atlantic) Thursday held up a model of the jet aircraft that will attempt the first nonstop flight around the world by a lone pilot.
ALASTAIR GRANT/AP
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