Many have predicted this would be the ‘Asian Century.’ But the world is increasingly fractured as we enter a new “Cold War.” Elderly wait for a free vegetarian lunch in Dingxing, southwest of Beijing, China, 13 May 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) For some...
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed the global total of refugees to over 100 million. Refugees are like you and me — but not always welcome. The author (center) with two Afghan refugees at Branko Pešić school in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2019. (Photo courtesy of...
Dmytro Shelukhin is a Ukrainian working for a UK investment bank. But like many émigrés, he is finding meaning helping his home nation fight Russia. Dmytro Shelukhin on the way to Ukraine with war materiel (photo courtesy of Dmytro Shelukhin) For the past eight years,...
Like many big global news stories, the war in Ukraine has released a tsunami of ink, making it difficult for journalists to find a fresh angle. Jeffrey Mo, a fellow at the University of Toronto, manages to break new ground with a simple story about a Ukrainian émigré who sends war matériel to armed forces in his embattled home country. Mo lets Dmytro Shelukhin, a Ukrainian working for a UK investment bank, be the protagonist of the story, which discreetly underscores both the high stakes involved in the conflict and the depth of Ukrainian defiance.
Exercise: Ask your students to identify an issue dominating the news around the world – such as climate change or human rights – and to find a local angle. Then they should interview someone directly involved in the local matter and write a story capturing that person’s experiences and thoughts.
How we perceive events like the war in Ukraine depends on our news sources. While never perfect, news media perform invaluable services. Russian President Vladimir Putin appears on a television screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany, 25 February 2022....
Dictators can be loathed. But their abrupt departure from office can trigger turmoil because they have put themselves alone at the centre of power. U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, 16 June 2021 (Saul Loeb/Pool via...