Medill National Security Reporting Project
Medill/GlobalPost investigation sheds new light on $3.2 billion U.S. mine clearance and victim assistance effort.
→ Visit the project site
→ Read more about the project
Medill/USA TODAY investigation of U.S. international food aid programs finds significant, entrenched problems
Read about the project.R.I.P. James Wright Foley, 1973-2014
#MedillRemembers James Foley, One Year Later
Remembering James Foley's life and legacy one year after his death at the hands of the Islamic State.
→ Continue to the story.
→ James Foley: A legacy that lives on (VIDEO)
Major TV networks sign onto freelancer safety compact
Read about the compact, which was signed by Medill NSJI Co-Director Ellen Shearer at Columbia University in September, here.McCormick Foundation renews grant for Medill National Security Journalism program
EVANSTON, Ill. — The Robert R. McCormick Foundation has renewed a $1 million grant to fund the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative at Northwestern University over the next two years.
The NSJ program provides journalists-in-training and working journalists with the knowledge and skills necessary to report accurately, completely and with context on events and issues related to defense, security and civil liberties. The initiative began in January, 2009 with an initial three-year, $1.3 million McCormick Foundation grant. The grant was also renewed for $1 million over two years in 2011.
Posts by Tim McNulty
The future of Asia reporting
(Mar. 06, 2013)[field name=”by”] Last year, Al-Jazeera English closed its Beijing bureau after Chinese authorities refused to renew a correspondent’s press credentials. The move was the latest in a line of news organizations that have decided to pull reporters out of China. … Continue reading
PTSD and Journalists
(Mar. 05, 2013)[field name=”by”] [field name=”by”] Philip Grey served in Iraq starting in 2003. He now reports for The Leaf Chronicle and experiences mild Post-Traumatic Disorder (PTSD). He compares his symptoms to a low-level toothache; there is no way of getting rid … Continue reading
Not your mother’s Northwestern ROTC
(Mar. 05, 2013)[field name=”by”] Many college students spend four years trying to avoid “real life,” putting off decisions about their future. College students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps don’t have that luxury. Their daily schedule is laid out from day one … Continue reading
Veterans and the media
(Mar. 05, 2013)[field name=”by”] Once a soldier, always a veteran. At least as far as the medias concerned. Whether its a business, profile, or crime story, a persons status as a veteran is always relevant. A person who served in the military … Continue reading
Mistakes and reporting
(Mar. 05, 2013)[field name=”by”] In 2008, Randy Brown was told to prepare for deployment to Afghanistan. As a member of the 2nd Brigade, 34th Infantry of the Iowa Army National Guard, Brown was one of 3,000, the largest deployment of National Guard … Continue reading
Journalists and military history: a caution
(Mar. 04, 2013)[field name=”by”] Is the self-proclaimed “history buff” journalist the best reporter to have in a war zone? Not necessarily, according to historians, political scientists and former U.S. military officers, who say faulty interpretations of the past may confound a writer’s … Continue reading
Introducing Data Minefield
(Nov. 09, 2011)We are pleased to present The Data Minefield, a project that encompasses original research on the U.S. government’s use of data mining tools for national and homeland security, as well as similar uses around the world. Heading the project was … Continue reading
U.S. Cyber Command tasked with protecting Dept. of Defense from Internet explosion
(Jul. 11, 2011)The role of the U.S. Cyber Command is to operate and defend Department of Defense electronic networks, mainly those with the .mil Internet address, Col. Rivers Johnson, the Command’s public affairs officer, told conferees at the 2011 Medill National Security … Continue reading
Some historic context over the decision not to release photos of a dead bin Laden
(May. 05, 2011)The argument for releasing photos of Osama bin Laden to confirm his death has merit, but I suspect bloodlust against the man who generated fear in American society for the last decade also fuels the desire for proof positive that “you will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again.”
President Obama’s decision to withhold the images of Osama and his sea burial also has merit. He didn’t want others using them for propaganda and incitement for retaliation. Obama also told CBS’ 60 Minutes: “That’s not who we are. You know, we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies.”
Displaying images of corpses provokes strong arguments on all sides but for administration officials it is never a matter of just taste or civility but a moment of cold political calculation for both foreign policy and domestic politics. Continue reading
The ‘new norm’ of homeland security
(Mar. 22, 2011)The Department of Homeland Security’s first director, Tom Ridge, notes that terrorism and the threat of terrorism has become the “new norm,” just as the threat of nuclear war was the new norm for an earlier generation of Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Ridge, a former congressman and governor of Pennsylvania, has always seemed one of the most level-headed and plain-spoken of government officials.
He takes note in this terrific discussion (video) that during that same era of mutually assured nuclear destruction, the United States prospered socially and economically, as well as engaging in many remarkable events, including the Civil Rights movement, the race for outer space and the Vietnam War.
Earlier this month, marking the eighth anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security, C-SPAN aired this discussion featuring Ridge, his successor, Michael Chertoff and the current Secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano. Continue reading
