happy day

Maggie Fick is blogging. This is great news; Maggie reports from Juba for the AP, contributes all over the place, and has a great grasp on the situation there, especially with respect to the upcoming referendum on southern independence. If you're interested in Sudan and/or in great reporting, you should definitely add her to your feed reader. In the meantime, check out this post on the Media and War-Mongering in Sudan. From that post:

These news clips illustrate the tendency—rather, modus operandi—of the international media coverage of Sudan to highlight the worst case scenarios surrounding the key upcoming events instead of the best possible outcomes. Since I’m a member of this media corps, I can affirm that this is the case. My short experience to date as a journalist has taught me that—surprise!—editors do not think a story with a headline to the effect of “All looks set to go smoothly in Southern Sudan’s crucial independence vote” is newsworthy. Instead, a headline to the effect of “tensions rising,” “concern mounting,” and the like is what editors want to read, because they know it is what readers online around the globe will be likely to click on as they skim the news.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Maggie!