's Blogs
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Kelly McEvers Explores the Dilemma of a Foreign Correspondent
Kelly McEvers, a freelance correspondent for National Public Radio based in Beirut, Lebanon, reported from Russia as an IRP Fellow in Spring 2006. During that time, she was detained and interrogated in the republic of Dagestan in Russia’s troubled south, and reported on her experience. McEvers's recent documentary, “Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent’s Dilemma,” explores the dangerous nature of work as a foreign correspondent, and presents the question, “Why do otherwise intelligent people risk their lives when they don’t have to?” The documentary is the product of a year-long audio diary in which McEvers spoke with fellow conflict journalists about how they continue their work in the face of imminent danger and if they believed they could stop if they wanted to. She gathers insights from a long list of colleagues, including...
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Cuba Scraps Exit Visa for Citizens
On October 16, the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cuban government announced it will no longer require citizens to obtain an exit visa before leaving the island. Starting in January 2013, Cubans will be able to travel abroad as they please with a passport and foreign visa in hand. As an IRP Fellow in 2004, Eric Sabo reported on health in Cuba from Castro's health optimism to a coma conference that 100 U.S. physicians were not permitted to attend. Last week, Sabo and Adam Williams wrote for Bloomberg, “In a bid to prevent an exodus of the nation’s best and brightest, certain professionals won’t benefit from the change in rules.” Tracey Eaton of The Daily Beast clarified that those who play a role in the country’s “economic, social and technical or scientific...
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How Is Brazil Preparing for the World Cup and Olympics?
No small amount of pressure accompanies the prestige of hosting an international sporting event such as the World Cup or Olympics. When Brazil was awarded both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, the pressure escalated quickly. How will the country balance an economic slowdown, massive infrastructure projects, and controversial slum removal campaigns in anticipation of the two events? Back in 2009, IRP Gatekeeper Greg Victor (Brazil 2001) reflected on Brazil’s rapid ascent to the developed world. As a BRICS nation in the midst of rapid economic development, Brazil has succeeded in maintaining this growth while simultaneously reducing poverty and inequality. According to Brian Winter, an IRP Gatekeeper to Turkey in 2008 and Reuters’ Chief Correspondent in São Paulo, 15 percent of Brazil’s population—a total of 30 million people—entered the middle class during the past decade. While Brazil...
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Pussy Riot’s Conviction and Free Speech in Russia
Back in February, art provocateurs Pussy Riot stormed the stage of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior in their signature balaclavas. For less than one minute—before being escorted away—they lip-synced a “punk prayer” that chastises the Church as a government lackey and pleads for the Virgin Mary to “Drive away! Drive away Putin!” After more than five months in detention, three of Pussy Riot’s members were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison. That the performance was interpreted as a religious rather than political protest leads Simon Shuster of TIME to explore the growing affinity between the President Putin and the Orthodox Church. Amnesty International considers Pussy Riot “prisoners of conscience” and has declared their conviction “a bitter blow...
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