Joanne Tomkinson
Joanne Tomkinson joined AlertNet from Oxfam in 2007. She regularly scans the global coverage of emergencies and digests the most interesting highlights for AlertNet's MediaWatch section.
MEDIAWATCH: Aid agencies and government under fire in Pakistan
Aid agencies and the Pakistani government are both failing to support people who've fled the country's military offensive against Taliban insurgents - so say Pakistani bloggers and commentators debating the unprecedented humanitarian emergency unfolding in the country's northwest. With an estimated 2 million people displaced by fighting between the army and Taliban, and with the battleground now likely to widen to take in new areas, Pakistan is in the midst of one of the world's largest displacement crises. ...
MEDIAWATCH: Furore over Afghan women's law
The Western media has been furiously discussing a new Afghan family law which it says takes a big step back toward the oppressiveness of the Taliban era. But in Afghanistan there seems to be far more concern over the foreign criticism than debate about the legislation itself. "A return to servitude," is how Britain's Times newspaper brands the law, which it calls an "abomination". ...
Website seeks to reunite refugees
Imagine you've been uprooted suddenly by violence or a natural disaster - in the chaos of fleeing for safety, there's a chance you'll be separated from someone you love. For refugees who don't know the whereabouts of friends and family, tracking down people widely dispersed across countries and even continents is a very difficult business. A new, free internet search engine proposes a refreshingly simple solution to the problem of reuniting families torn apart as they are forced from their homes by conflict or a disaster. ...
MEDIAWATCH: Is African opinion hardening against Bashir?
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has traditionally found considerable support in Africa and the Arab world, but there are growing signs in some quarters of the media that the tide of opinion is beginning to turn against him. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Bashir last week over war crimes in Darfur, a decision that some analysts fear could spark more regional turmoil. Khartoum has already responded by kicking out 13 major foreign aid agencies. ...
MEDIAWATCH: Africa debates ICC ruling
Amid the global coverage and loud debate over the ICC ruling, one voice has been notably absent: those in Darfur itself. Cut off from the media and lacking the tools to make their voices heard, it is hard to know what those whose suffering is at the core of the debate actually think. One telling glimpse, however, comes from UK reporter Rob Crilly. In Zam Zam camp in North Darfur at least, he reports, the view of victims of the devastating conflict is indifference inspired by ignorance rather than outrage. ...
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