News & Updates
Behind the Byline, pt. 1
What are the ethics of reporting on a mass shooting? In the wake of the mass shooting at the Umpqua Community College campus in Roseburg, Oregon on Oct. 1, the University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute hosted a two-part panel forum with those who reported on the...
Asylum process needs change
An income gap that, despite Bernie Sanders’ best efforts, yawns perversely wide. Harrowing rates of gun violence. Racial and religious tensions running high. Call this country afflicted — yet despite our problems, swarms of foreign nationals still yearn to call the...
Analysis: How free is Azerbaijan?
Crossings Radio traveled to Azerbaijan – and you can't talk about the former Soviet bloc country without talking about human rights. Research Fellow Jonathan Bach analyzes the situation in Azerbaijan. Research and quotes used herein have also been used in Bach's...
What’s “Intangible Cultural Heritage”?
What does it mean to safeguard a culture? Do cultures even need protection, and if so, why? Crossings Radio talked with Lisa Gilman, author of UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage, about UNESCO's list of "safeguarded" traditions and...
To Print or Not To Print: In the Studio with Mike McInally
A devastating photo of a young Syrian boy found washed up on Turkish shores took on a life of its own in 2015. Mike McInally -- editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times -- decided to publish the photo to the front page of his newspaper in the relatively small city of...
Azerbaijan elections: a fixed horserace
For an election-time column like this, one might wax philosophical about the possible outcomes of a neck-in-neck match. About the 2015 general elections in Britain, writer Jonathan Freedland quipped in his Guardian op-ed: “As horseraces go, this one should be...
To speak American English is to use lots of ‘foreign’ words
"Speak American!" Sarah Palin counseled to Jeb Bush recently, echoing Donald Trump's criticism of Bush's frequent fluent Spanish while speaking on the presidential campaign trail. Although Palin quickly clarified her advice by adding, "Let's speak English. (A)...
In some spheres, there’s no room for a free press
It’s difficult to imagine taking up residence in a land without freedom of expression. Under the stars and stripes, we have the right to protest oil drilling, probe intelligence agencies over shady surveillance programs and pen columns in the local daily expressing...
Anastasia Stanko & Devices That Can Save Journalists’ Lives
Ukrainian journalist Anastasia Stanko helped start online news station Hromadske.tv, one of the country's only public news outlets, to offer an independent, objective voice to the nation where media is often skewed or biased. Hromadske.tv became popular during its...
The Meduza Project
On March 11, 2014, Galina Timchenko was the editor in chief of Russia's most popular news website – Lenta.ru. The next day, she was jobless. According to a statement issued by 73 of the 81 journalists who worked at Lenta, Timchenko had been sacked so the Kremlin could...
Hamid Mir & The Beauty of Journalism
Hamid Mir is an intrepid journalist who believes in the power and the right of free speech. This belief has awarded him a life of bullets and bombs, yet his conviction is strong. He speaks on the situation in Pakistan, his familial connection to writing and...
Jailed journalist speaks out on opening of European Games
The eyes of the world are on my country, my beloved Azerbaijan, as it hosts the inaugural European Games this month. The tourists and athletes are enjoying the spectacle of the opening ceremony while the international public watches from their televisions at home. But...
Xavier Bonilla & How to Infuriate the President By Drawing a Cartoon
Xavier Bonilla, who draws for the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo under the pen name Mr. Bonil, was called "sick," "cowardly," and an "ink assassin" by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in January 2014. In this episode, he sits down with Crossings reporters Emerson...
UNESCO Chair Steven Shankman’s Work in India
As UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace, I helped establish a new research committee of the International Comparative Literature Association on ethics, religion, and literature. The Comparative Literature Association of India...
Azerbaijan not as free as its leader proclaims
I recently flew to Azerbaijan — the country wedged between Russia and Iran — as a researcher with the University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute, which examines issues related to reporting on conflict and intercultural dialogue. I found that once-disparate...
The danger of uncritical nostalgia
Recalling those good old days — whenever they may have been — is human nature. I work with young University of Oregon journalism students who speak with nostalgic glee about coming home from kindergarten to watch Steve Irwin's adventures on "The Crocodile Hunter" —...
Andris Razāns, Latvian ambassador to the U.S. visits Oregon
Just a few days before four University of Oregon students fly out of Eugene to attend World Press Freedom Day in Riga, Latvia, Andris Razāns, the Latvian ambassador to the United States visited Oregon to deliver an address at Portland State University. Crossings...
George Papagiannis at ‘What Is Journalism?’ conference
George Papagiannis is the head of the UNESCO External Relations and Information liaison office. He previously served as the Director of the UNESCO office in Baghdad. In 2006, Papagiannis lived on the border between Chad and Sudan, where he built a 3-station community...