Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

« Richard Sambrook breaks through the firewall || Back to Blog | Yahoo's anti-DRM stance - If it's a stunt, I still like it »

September 22, 2006

Ethanz' holiday in Zimbabwe

They turned off the Internet when Ethan left Zimbabwe. Here's Ethan's conclusion

I find it hard to believe that a government which can't pay its bandwidth bill is systematically monitoring the internet communications of half a million people. But threatening to monitor those communications creates a panopticon effect - by telling people they're under observation, many (most?) will behave as if the government's watching. And in a country where transgression can mean indefinite detention and abuse while in custody, it's hard to blame people for wanting no remain firmly on the right side of authority

This is just one of five affectionate, frustrated posts Ethan's done from Zimbabwe:
My Holiday in Harare
You Might Be Having a Currency Crisis If… (Hint: The currency has an expiration date. For real.)
Photos from Zimbabwe
Reading Between the Lines.

This is terrific reporting. (Some great photos, too.) If the MSM think they can do better, then they damn well should send someone to Zimbabwe and do it. (If they were smart, they'd send Ethan.)

Posted by D. Weinberger at September 22, 2006 05:58 PM

Comments

Overseas news bureaus are shrinking by leaps and bounds...even the big newspapers have just a few. You'll see a story about Panama and it will be datelined Mexico City, as if having someone in the same general region of the planet somehow makes it better reporting...grrrr.

Posted by: Suebob | September 22, 2006 07:40 PM

mmmmmmm

Posted by: mm | September 23, 2006 08:02 AM

sfdasfas fs f

Posted by: mike | September 23, 2006 08:03 AM

"If the MSM think ..."

I bow to the future of foreign journalism - unpaid (?) freelancing from well-off businessmen or philanthropist travellers.

[Not that I'm criticitizing the material, just the evangelism].

Posted by: Seth Finkelstein | September 23, 2006 01:28 PM

Re: Zimbabwe......I can't blame the blacks finally shaking off the shackles of dependency on the last vestiges of white supremacism though...living in the shadow of that ghastly system would be the equivalent of Jews living in a world that had a similar dispensation with Nazis....not very pleasant I would imagine.

Posted by: jimnoz | September 26, 2006 05:21 PM

Post a comment

Guidelines for Commenting

Basically, you can say what you want. (Click here for the fine print.)

If you haven't left a comment here before, your comment may be put into a queue for me to approve. Sorry for the delay. Blame the damn spammers.