Monthly Archives: October 2009

North Korea’s Next Supreme Leader… His Son.

North Korean poster

Today’s big news coming out of South Korean intelligence circles is North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-II, decision to appoint his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, to a post in the ruling communist party. Yes, you guess it, Mr. Kim Jong-Un is expected to take over some time between 2010 and 2012 from his ailing father…

If only the Supreme Leader would give me more notice, I’d plan a parade or something… Nothing too big or lavish… After all, we need to save ourselves for the official party in 2010 or 2012…

To celebrate today’s news, I offer some excerpts from Canadian graphic novelist Guy Delisle, “Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea”. His work experiences as an animator has brought him to the most dangerous and remote places in the world, Burma, Shenzhen, China and Pyongyang, North Korea. Its a fantastic read. Pick one up. I promise you won’t be disappointed… Check out Delisle’s website http://www.guydelisle.com/

Delisle 1

Delisle 3

Delisle 4

Pyongyang

The Lense: Communist China’s 60th Anniversay Parade.

What a remarkable video! One year ago this would not be possible. It’s about time that photo-journalists be given the technology to combine HD video and still photography in one camera.

Check Dan Chung’s blog dslrnewsshooter.com for the latest tips, ideas, and insights to news gathering, documentary and factual shooting.

Will Google’s Tsunami Change Journalism?

Google Wave

The upcoming release and anticipation of “Google Wave” could fundamentally change how journalists perform their work. Everyone’s talking about it. From the financial industry to your local small business shop owners, the prospects of Google Wave and what it promises could have a tsunami-like impact on how we communicate and interact with the each other.

Here’s what some LA Times journalists are saying.How Google Wave could transform journalism.

“We’re not going to e-mail our co-writers with every new lead and minute detail we dig up. But if we’re sharing a virtual notebook, we can scan through…or search the newest findings as they’re logged, make comments and highlight our favorite bits. Then, when it comes time to write, we can rearrange and discuss the story’s flow in the same software. Thanks to the openness of Wave, collaborative pieces between bloggers could become more common.

Having worked at a major network news organization (CBC) in Canada, Google Wave’s promises is no different then what broadcast journalists and television producers use in newsrooms to communicate and perform their work with software tools like AVID iNews, AVID DTV, access to subscription wire services offered by Reuters, APTN, CNN etc. However, that said, what makes Google Wave so groundbreaking is its open source platform and interface. Will we see the 24/7 newsroom open to the public? Readers, viewers, bloggers and news junkies could very well have the opportunity in real-time to become instant breakers, aggregators and collaborators of a major news story.