@Ea1785 @NPR international correspondent Frank Langfitt '82 asks: "Who will be the hero of your own life?" pic.twitter.com/cIJy06VCdL
— Kevin James O'Brien (@KOB14) April 22, 2014
I hope you were impressed and inspired by Frank Langfitt and the stories he shared today.
I appreciated how he began with the first line from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens:
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
Read more: Best First Lines of Novels
Much was notable, and I hope EA has a video of his presentation (I hope to embed it in this post).
Read more of Frank Langfitt - for example enthralling three part series on Somali pirates.
Today, one point that resonated with me was the way in which social media played a role in ending labor camps in China. Imagine a tweet retweeted 30 million times rescuing a woman's life. But also imagine being sent to a labour camp in China for retweeting.
Meanwhile, Ellen's Oscar selfie - a team photo of Hollywood stars crashes Twitter. It makes me think that social media is a powerful tool and how we use it can say a great deal about our values and our culture.
When Frank Langfitt spoke of values and truth - in journalism and in the world - we see values such as the stripes and truth not in abstract notions or grandiose ways - or even cynical cliche.
We see the power of the pen not as an example of metonymy, but real power to change history, save lives, and make a difference in the world.
Putting themselves in harms way, journalists like Frank Langfitt offer us stories that go beyond soundbites and headlines. I confess in Twitter age and 24 hour news coverage we are inundated with headlines, yet we rarely read further - and we question the integrity of the sources.
Frank Langfitt is a journalist worth following because as Rev. Squire said today, he gives voice to others that may not have a voice and he lives the EA Stripes.
China Ends One Notorious Form Of Detention, But.. http://t.co/6Afsxb4pwz "The juxtaposition of luxury and authoritarianism..."Frank Langfitt
— Kevin James O'Brien (@KOB14) April 22, 2014
One of the questions about decline of "print" journalism - like poetry - suggests that you can't make money or make a living with words or stories.
As Frank Langfitt mentioned, investigative journalism is expensive, but there will always be a demand for news - for stories - and I'd like to think there will be a demand for journalists with integrity.
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