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Confucius, Cronkite and Credibility

Confucius, Cronkite and Credibility

Con­fu­cius once wrote: If lan­guage is not cor­rect, then what is said is not what is meant…Hence there must be no arbi­trari­ness in what is said. This mat­ters above everything.”

 Putting a 2,500-year-old Chi­nese sage and a tele­vi­sion news leg­end in the same head­line might seem like incon­gru­ous overload.Read the rest

When Loyalty Translates as Body Armour

When Loyalty Translates as Body Armour

In a war zone, what you don’t under­stand is poten­tial­ly as dan­ger­ous as bul­lets, bombs and shrapnel.

Body armour, com­mon sense and luck will help keep you safe from the lat­ter. But the only pro­tec­tion from the per­ils of igno­rance or mis­read­ing of local cul­ture is a smart, loy­al interpreter.… Read the rest

Through a Prism of Chaos and Contradictions

Through a Prism of Chaos and Contradictions

Among the many priv­i­leges of being a rov­ing for­eign cor­re­spon­dent is encoun­ter­ing stark, and some­times edi­fy­ing con­tra­dic­tions in the midst of chaos. Over time, they help build a prism through which to view today’s world.

Since 1973, I’ve report­ed on wars, civ­il upheavals, famines, nat­ur­al dis­as­ters, and uncount­able non-haz­ardous news events in near­ly 100 coun­tries on six con­ti­nents.

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