<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: The Heroism of Bearing Witness in the Press
Review: At a time when print journalism has often been justly criticized in the U.S. as medium of entertainment, without independent moral backbone, Tony Collings has written a moving, brilliant record of the deadly struggle between a free press and totalitarian goverments around the globe. Collings is an experienced broadcast journalist and an eye-witness to much of the corruption and terror hidden and sustained by censorship everywhere, from Russia to Columbia. He argues that press freedom is an essential and enabling condition for the expansion of democratic reform in reactionary regimes. But perhaps what is most moving about WORDS OF FIRE is the many true stories of personal courage, the harrowing dangers faced by journalists in our historical era as they attempt to unmask the face of tyranny with only the truth of their words.
Rating:
Summary: Press Freedoms in Danger
Review: Author Anthony Collings knows how to bring this vital topic alive. In the USA, we take press freedom for granted. If anything, some of us feel there's too much of it about: we often sympathize with Hollywood stars who punch out swarming paparazzi. But in much of the world (and not just the kleptocracies and one-party regimes), simply getting the basic truth to press can be a career-ending or even life-threatening endeavor. Collings wisely decides to illustrate this by focussing on individual cases, many of which will astound you. This is an important book on an important subject.
Rating:
Summary: Journalists of Courage
Review: For the American layperson who may not be familiar with the dangerous situations and murky but volatile undercurrents journalists often face in foreign trouble spots, Tony Collings book "Words of Fire" will be revealing in its accounts of journalists who have given much--even their lives--to the cause of truth and democratic ideals. As an international journalist himself, Collings knows well of what he writes. This work might even raise the level of regard in which journalists are held as defenders of the people's right to know. Here Collings is talking about the important issues shaping the growth and development of any of a myriad countries, not the latest American fad-gossip which passes for "news" on tabloid TV in the U.S. For the professional journalist with overseas experience--and I include myself in that category with friend and former CNN colleague Tony Collings--I found his work well researched, well written and a good account of what is the best in our craft.
Rating:
Summary: Journalists of Courage
Review: For the American layperson who may not be familiar with the dangerous situations and murky but volatile undercurrents journalists often face in foreign trouble spots, Tony Collings book "Words of Fire" will be revealing in its accounts of journalists who have given much--even their lives--to the cause of truth and democratic ideals. As an international journalist himself, Collings knows well of what he writes. This work might even raise the level of regard in which journalists are held as defenders of the people's right to know. Here Collings is talking about the important issues shaping the growth and development of any of a myriad countries, not the latest American fad-gossip which passes for "news" on tabloid TV in the U.S. For the professional journalist with overseas experience--and I include myself in that category with friend and former CNN colleague Tony Collings--I found his work well researched, well written and a good account of what is the best in our craft.
Rating:
Summary: Press Freedom: An Endangered Species
Review: In this timely study, Tony Collings reveals the precarious state of press freedom around the world and the heroic struggle to claim the right to it by everyday journalists. Collings draws on his background as a seasoned journalist and academic to argue for the centrality of press freedom for the expansion of democracy in the 21st century. This pioneering study merits serious attention for what it has to tell us about seemingly "free" nations with whom the U.S. deals everyday, but who routinely oppress their people and deny them access to an independent media. The implication of global connectivity make press freedom more important and perhaps more endangered than ever before. WORDS OF FIRE provides insight into one of the most important frontiers of struggle in the coming decades.Note: Mr. Collings is a colleague of mine in the Dept of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan
Rating:
Summary: What you don't see on the evening news...
Review: Just when you think journalism has succumbed to the lowest entertainment denominator, Tony Collings does all of us in the profession and all of our viewers and readers a favor. "Words of Fire" reminds us what dedicated journalists are up against in many countries when they try to tell the truth and expose crime and corruption. I have a bias. Tony is a friend and colleague. And as a journalist I've been mugged by the KGB in Moscow, detained by East German border guards and held at gunpoint by Palestinians during an early mideast war. In hindsight and in comparison to the accounts in Collings' work, those were mere inconveniences. I've also lost friends who died in pursuit of a story. "Words of Fire" is a valuable reminder of how and why good journalists take the risk.
Rating:
Summary: Journalists at risk
Review: Tony Collings writes stories of courageous men and women who are fighting to bring the truth to their readers. Collings writes from the vantage point of an international correspondent who has risked his own life to cover world danger spots. This book should be read by anyone who values a free press.
Rating:
Summary: An Endangered Species: Press Freedom around the World
Review: Using his experiences as an international broadcast journalist and his critical perspectives as an academic, Tony Collings has produced a terrific study of a major issue confronting the planet in the 21st century: the endangered status of press freedom around the world. As Collings argues, the strategic power of a free press in supporting democratic reform has never been greater in modern history, and paradoxically, never been more endangered for nations large and small. Using lively anecdotes of journalists risking their lives to perform their democratic function, their effects on international politics, and data collected by watchdog organizations, Collings shows the indispensable yet precarious status of the press in many nations we sometimes mistakenly presume to be "free." The story is a complex and swiftly changing one. Collings provides a remarkable global portrait of the press at work, as well as a challenge to readers to devote our sustained efforts to supporting press freedom abroad.
<< 1 >>
| 
