In the thick of things

The best thing about being a journalism student at City University is that in addition to covering news, we get to live in the midst of it.

When I was applying to grad school, I read that the University is the leading journalism programme abroad, but because that claim was coming from City, I took it with a grain of salt. I still don't have empirical evidence to support that claim, but if the past two weeks are any indication, I'm now a true believer.

Side note: You'll notice I wrote programme, not program. Today in my print production class we were warned to start avoiding American spellings, so I'm trying to get into the habit of writing colours and programme and privatise. Hopefully you lovely readers won't mind.

Anyway, as I was saying, one of the best aspects of this programme is what happens after classes end. I now realize that this journalism school is teaching students, but it's also the hub of the ongoing debate about the future of news media and 21st century media ethics. Nearly every night there is a lecture or panel or debate featuring the people who are covering the most important stories around the globe, and very often these events become stories themselves.

Last week, I attended a lecture given by Len Downie, the former executive editor of the Washington Post. Discussing 21st century online news, he described news aggregators like The Huffington Post as "parasites." This spawned a bit of a spat in the media world, in which Arianna Huffington responded by saying he was "pointing fingers and calling names."

Tonight, I went to a debate between Julian Assange and David Aaronovitch, a columnist for The Times. Some of you may have heard of Assange--he's the founder of WikiLeaks, the site that was condemned by the U.S. Department of Defense after it released tens of thousands of documents relating to the war in Afghanistan.

Because the names of informants and U.S. personnel were included in what WikiLeaks published, Assange was accused of having "blood on his hands" for having provided the Taliban with a list of who's who in the war effort. WikiLeaks specializes in publishing official documents never-before seen by the public, so the debate tonight was whether, as a sort of watchdog organization, WikiLeaks should be held to the same accountability standards as the mainstream press.

Tonight was Assange's first public appearance in some time, so the media surrounding the event was more than considerable. There were news services from as far as Japan, and the Associated Press picked up his appearance.

Much has been written about Assange, but it was quite the experience to see him in person. My personal view is that he was evasive and calculated, and to be completely blunt, a hypocrite. He railed against the press and the U.S. military-industrial complex for their secrecy and lack of accountability, but when he was repeatedly asked about the vetting process used on the sensitive Afghanistan documents, he refused to reveal his methods. Assange said that WikiLeaks is accountable to the public because it is funded by public donations, but when he was asked about his donors' credibility, he revealed that WikiLeaks cannot actually see who is donating to them, so in actuality he has no idea who's giving at all.

Assange's excuse was that institutions have to be transparent, but not people. He added that privacy has to be proportionate to power. But as Mr. Aaronovitch astutely pointed out, Assange has to be aware that his organization is no longer some minor startup, but a very major public player in the information industry.

The lecture hall was packed, with people sitting in the aisles and standing at the back, and rows of reporters and media industry VIPs. And because I chose this programme, I had a prime seat. If tonight is any indication of the kinds of things to come, it's going to be a great year.

Switching gears completely, last night Allister and I went to this pub called Cittie of Yorke. Possibly the coolest pub I've been to yet, even considering the Court. If anyone's making a trip to London, it's definitely worth a trip to Holborn if you fancy a pint.