Global Journalist

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. The annual celebration began with a proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. 

The dramatically swift democratic reform in Myanmar has been the geopolitical surprise of the past year. The new government -- headed by former military Thein Sein -- freed thousands of political prisoners and signed truces with rebel groups. 

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, had the media’s support when he was elected five years ago, promising a citizen’s revolution that would take advantage of the country’s natural resources to lift people out of poverty.

Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist.

When two high-speed trains collided on a bridge in southwestern China, the first report from the scene came from a victim, one minute later.  Her Twitter-style post ended with a dramatic cry for help.

Diplomatic distress over Iran’s nuclear program is reaching a fever pitch.

Documentary filmmakers, like journalists, seek to capture true stories in their work.

Nigeria appears to be on the verge of a civil war. The instigator of escalating sectarian conflict seems to be a militant Islamic sect known as the Boko Haram. 

Advocates of media freedom and human rights say conditions are getting worse under Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s authoritarian rule. The last international monitor, Human Rights Watch, was evicted last year.