Beaune’s Blog

We’re seeing much discussion today about how to improve news. Bad international actors now flood our information spaces with falsehoods. Interviewers ask naïve questions of their subjects rather than risk losing access. News organisations have reduced staff to the point that ‘journalism’ increasingly refers to pundits who comment on news rather reporters who seek it out.  What can we do to improve things? What follows is one suggestion. Let’s do some curation—and, in the process, shift the reward system. Why not have an international, independent accreditation network for news sources? It would work much as accrediting organisations now do for universities. Information sources would be periodically evaluated by research and journalism professionals using objective standards.  These services would then be assigned tiered ratings. AP, for example might earn a designation of Gold Medal News Source at the end of the day; Discovery Channel might be a Bronze Medal source. Sensational, goss

Five Vignettes from 1001 Nights and Other Short Stories by A T Beaune    ©   2014   All rights reserved. We do not remember days. We remember moments. – Cesare Pavese 1 Cocoa Beach, 1969 The launch of a Saturn V sends a bead of sun into the sky. You squint. The sky darkens around that bead of fire pushing its pale dart. Neighbours stand on their lawns around you, gazing skyward. Only after the glowing bead clears the rooftops does the sound arrive. You feel the rumble as much as hear it. It rolls toward you, takes over your ribs. Windows rattle, birds flee. Over the rumble now sprouts a burning crackle. The crackle and the rumble merge into a single growl of power. On my portable radio a tenor  voice speaks through static. ‘We’ve got us a roll program.’ The climbing fireball sprouts a trailing cloud. It lengthens into a snaking white spiral. ‘Roll complete and pitch is programming.’ Crackle. ‘Copy that,’ says another voice. ‘Stand by for Mode One-Charlie.’ Nearby m