The new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, started his job yesterday. Eager to execute drug dealers and other criminals, Duterte has called for a return of the death penalty in the Philippines. He’s also endorsed killing journalists who take bribes, and he’s made shockingly flippant and misogynistic remarks about rape. A photo essay in Al Jazeera English takes a look at the lives of the poor in the Philippines, many of whom support Duterte for his promises to end crime, in spite of the many extreme positions and inflammatory things he’s said.
"Philippines: The inequalities awaiting Rodrigo Duterte" Al Jazeera English.
The BFG, a Spielberg-produced movie about a friendly giant who befriends an orphan girl, opens in theaters today. The movie is an adaptation of a book by the late children’s book author Roald Dahl. Over at The Daily Beast, they take a look at what made Dahl such a great children’s author. For one thing, Dahl’s works didn’t try to shield readers from the harsher sides of life, like death and cruelty. “He never lied to children about what a mess the world is. If anything, he confirmed what they already knew: that children, like adults, can be stupid and mean, that bullies aren’t always punished, and that the weak must be clever and sometimes even duplicitous if they are to outwit those who persecute them.” The piece also has a rundown of some of the best movie adaptations of Dahl’s other books.
“Was Roald Dahl the best children’s author of all time?” The Daily Beast.
Relations between student activists and the student newspapers that serve their colleges have become increasingly tense, says the news editor of The Brown Daily Herald, Brown University’s student newspaper, writing in The Atlantic. At Brown, activists have refused to talk to the student newspaper and removed reporters from events after the paper published two controversial pieces. Similar incidents have happened at Smith College and infamously at the University of Missouri, where a professor called for "muscle" to remove a photographer from the scene of a protest. Some activists have even called for closing their campus newspapers, and some papers have had their funding slashed due to efforts of activists. The piece takes an in-depth and nuanced look at the issue and the way these different campus groups view the role of the press.
“When student activists refuse to talk to campus newspapers” The Atlantic.
The Columbia Journalism Review has come out with its latest roundup of the best and worst journalism of June this year. This is normally an annual feature for the CJR, but they’ve decided to make the switch to monthly, which is good news for those who like to follow media coverage of the media itself. Among the best acts of journalism this month, according to CJR, include the Washington Post’s dogged investigations into Donald Trump’s elusive contributions to charity, news outlets that chose to publish Stanford rape victim Emily Doe’s court statement, and C-SPAN finding a way to broadcast the Democratic lawmakers’ gun control sit-in, no matter what. As for the worst, CJR lists CNN hiring former Trump campaign Corey Lewandowski as a CNN commentator, and pro-Brexit British newspapers that didn’t bother to fact-check claims of the Leave campaign.
“The best and worst journalism of June 2016” Columbia Journalism Review.
