IPI Report

     WAIS is deeply cognizant of the importance of international journalism in our new world, and we hail the appearance of the latest issue of the IPI Report (1999, fourth quarter). The International Press Institute has its headquarters in Vienna, and its Report now comes out of the Missouri School of Journalism. Its primary sponsor is the Knight Foundation, which supports also the Knight Fellowships at Stanford.
     The last issue of he Report as usual records the hazards to which journalists are exposed and their devotion to their profession in difficult circumstances. It covers not just the printed press, but also satellite TV, which jumps over censorship. There are interesting articles on Al Jazeera of Qatar, which thwarts Middle East censorship, and Phoenix TV of Hong Kong, which has a tacit agreement with the Chinese government.
     John C. Merrill has updated his study of "The Global Elite", the "world's best newspapers." The choice is obviously invidious. The New York Times is rated first, while the venerable Times of London has been dropped in favor of the relatively new Independent. The Los Angeles Times comes in eighth. There are four English-language, three German-language papers. One each from France, Japan and Spain complete the ten.
     Both The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch and the Atlanta Constitution were dropped because they have de-emphasized international news, as have many other good newspapers. This reflects the lack of interest in the American public.
     In an aside, we may note that the address of Senator Jesse Helms to the U.N. Security Council, which shocked some WAISers, turned out to be part of an excellent master plan. It is to have annual meetings of the Foreign Relations Committee with the Security Council to improve international understanding of the position of the U.S. and to increase American interest in the U.N. and world affairs. This seems to be a most laudable initiative.
     In the IPI Report there are also items which call attention to the limitations of journalism. As WAISers well know, I view the novel (fiction) as a 19th-century phenomenon which should be superseded by faction, of which journalism is a good example. The prestige which attaches to the Booker Prize seems outmoded, as does the Nobel Prize for Literature. An Indian woman who won the Booker Prize, Arundhati Roy, is fighting the construction of the Narmada Dam in India. It is a highly technical matter which a novelist is not qualified to judge. Hence the need for journalists specializing in fields, like science, which require special training. This is the way journalism is going.

Ronald Hilton - 1/23/00