Investigative vocalists: the musical talents of world-renowned journalists

Our woman on the ground at GIJC Lillehammer (well, she was on duty for Journalisten.no, but we managed to nab a little bit of her spare time) has sent these rather insightful pictures back. It turns out that there might be a correlation between investigative skills and musical talent.

Introducing…on harmonica, David Kaplan, the director of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Playing with him is Mark Hunter on guitar, founding member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.

And, Ana Simonovska, a Macedonian journalist with an exceptional voice, accompanied by David Kaplan.

Musical talents aside, here’s Sonali Samarasinghe, being caught on a mobile phone camera as she’s awarded the Global Shining Light Award, for her articles covering corruption and abuse of power in Sri Lanka.

It seems that the musical talent wasn’t shared by the British journalists - where was Robert Fisk while these pictures were taken?

All photos courtesy of Kristine Lowe, for Journalisten. The full set can be seen over at Flickr. Kristine Lowe completes her reportage over on her blog.

Similar posts:

• #socialweb: Web 3.0 - the social web (video)
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: using the social web seminar - #socialweb
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Investigative journalism conference was conference 1.0, says high-profile blogger
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Norway’s Journalisten - a role model for UK journalism trade titles?
• The journalist of the future: must want to stay at home

RSF is calling for EU ministers to further protect journalists in exile

Today saw the start of the ‘Building a Europe of Asylum’ ministerial conference in Paris, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have used the opportunity to ask the 27 ministers responsible for asylum policy to do more to protect the dozens of journalists and free speech activists who are forced into exile each year.

“The current situation is dramatic and most journalists seeking asylum - who mainly come from Eritrea, Iran, Iraq or Sri Lanka - have difficulty finding refuge,” the letter says. “The long waits in the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the almost systematic refusal of western embassies to grant them visas force the great majority to risk their lives by resorting to illegal immigration methods.

“For this reason, there is an urgent need not only to recognise the refugee status of journalists in your country seeking asylum but also to facilitate procedures for protected entry and emergency resettlement.”

The two-day conference begins today.

Similar posts:

• Risky business: BBC must take risks, says Lyons, but creates ‘high risk’ programme register
• Cameron calls for restraints on BBC’s commercial operations, supports local media
• Journalism in Africa: New media laws force journalists to pay ‘registration fees’
• MSN maps journalists’ deaths
• European Commission approves Reuters/Thomson merger