Hotel Journalism

[Dave Wilton]

Is it too early to start collecting WOTY nominees for 2005?

hotel journalism, n., the practice of reporting on events in a dangerous
place from the safety of one's western-style hotel.

AFP, 12 Jan 2005 1433 hrs (GMT +8) in
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/126951/1/.html (time
is when it was posted to this web site; I believe the AFP wire story may be
dated 11 Jan): Leonard Doyle, foreign editor of The Independent in London,
said, "we make a big effort not to do what you might call 'hotel
journalism,' and we make a very big effort not to sub-contract work to local
Iraqi journalists -- we think that's basically unfair. It's a risk to them.
We carry the same risk."

Of some 2200 Google hits, almost all are associated with the Independent or
with Robert Fisk, its Baghdad correspondent. We'll see if it catches on.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net