A blog devoted to on-the-ground reporting around the world.

Charles M. SennottOctober 25, 2012 09:24

A message for the newly unemployed Clark Kent

Now that you've moved on from the Daily Planet, take a look at what GlobalPost is doing.

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Superman flies over the Daily Planet in the DC Comics series. (DC/Courtesy)

NEW YORK — Clark Kent isn’t the only superhero to quit his newspaper job.

I know quite a few men – and women – of steel who’ve packed it in. And I am certain that since these great reporters stopped outrunning trains on deadline and leaping tall buildings in a single bound, there are a lot more bad guys operating in the shadows of the city as a result.

Emily JudemOctober 24, 2012 09:53

The story behind the story: Arieh O'Sullivan on reporting in the Middle East

GlobalPost correspondent Arieh O'Sullivan shares his experience as a reporter based in Israel.

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(Arieh O'Sullivan/GlobalPost)

Throughout his years living in and reporting on Israel, Arieh O'Sullivan has had unique experiences ranging from riding on fighter jets to parachuting with King Abdullah of Jordan.

In a Skype interview, O'Sullivan takes us behind the scenes of his recent article, Israel grapples with blowback from booming drone industry, for GlobalPost's Special Report, The Drone Age.

Charles M. SennottOctober 23, 2012 17:46

Has the digital age changed the ethics of journalism?

GlobalPost executive editor Charles Sennott looks at how reporters find truth in an increasingly digital world.

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(Antler)

NEW YORK – How do you set a standard for ethics in journalism in the digital age?

Is it any different than the ethical standards that have been enshrined by generations past in the old-school world of newspapers and network news?

And how do reporters out there in the world establish ‘truth’ in a landscape where spouting opinion too often prevails over digging for facts?

The Paley Center for Media hosted a gathering of journalists, entrepreneurs and new media thinkers to ponder these questions at a forum on “The New Ethics of Journalism: A Guide for the 21st Century.”

Charles M. SennottOctober 22, 2012 11:32

The Foreign Policy Divide: What really separates Obama and Romney

In anticipation of the final presidential debate of 2012, GlobalPost executive editor Charles Sennott evaluates the candidates' foreign policy stances.

Romney Obama Hofstra debate finger pointing

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US President Barack Obama (R) and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (L) participate in the second presidential debate, the only held in a townhall format, at the David Mack Center at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 16, 2012, moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

BOSTON — When President Obama and Mitt Romney square off tonight for the final presidential debate, the focus is expected to be foreign policy, and the challenge for voters will be to decipher the real differences between them on specific questions of policy.

Emily JudemOctober 19, 2012 15:49

In Search of GroundTruth: A new view of the Arctic oil quest

The first published photographs of Shell's oil rig off the coast of Alaska.

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The Italian sailing vessel Best Explorer, piloted by Capt. Nanni Acquarone, navigates icebergs north of Upernavik, Greenland, July 19, 2012. It is the first Italian boat to complete the Northwest Passage, roughly 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle. (Stefano De Luigi/VII/GlobalPost)

Every week we will be on the lookout for the best examples of GroundTruth in the media. This week, we take our search north.

GlobalPost's recently published Special Report, "The Arctic Melt," aims to get at the huge stakes — economic, environmental, and political — raised as the Arctic melts faster than ever. The melt has spurred a battle at the top of the world that threatens to alter the environment and change residents' way of life. And at the heart of this battle is oil.

Emily JudemOctober 16, 2012 11:11

The story behind the story: David Axe on drones

GlobalPost correspondent David Axe tells us about drones and the future of drone warfare.

When your iPhone's "Siri" directs you to the wrong place, or misunderstands you, or gives you incorrect information, who do you blame? Siri, of course.

David Axe explains that the same logic is being applied to drones. Drones will have voices, Axe said, so it will be easier to "blame the machine."

In a Skype interview, Axe explains this and brings us behind the scenes of his story, "Deadlier drones are coming," published as part of GlobalPost's Special Report, The Drone Age.

Emily JudemOctober 12, 2012 16:39

VIDEO: Rock and Roll in Savoonga

In Savoonga, Alaska, traditional drumming marks the beginning of whaling season.

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George Noongwook, Savoonga resident and chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, drumming before fall whaling season starts. (Screengrab)

At the top of the world, tradition runs strong.

The community of Savoonga, Alaska marked the beginning of the fall whaling season with traditional drumming on August 30. Savoonga, population 704, sits on the northern tip of St. Lawrence Island, a tiny speck of land that's closer to Russia than Alaska. St. Lawrence Island is one of the few remains of the Bering Land Bridge, according to the Alaska Dispatch.

Suzanna KosterOctober 6, 2012 12:42

Anti-drone march to South Waziristan may face standoff with government

Former Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan's demonstration, including 32 US activists, is headed toward a showdown with authorities.

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Pakistan cricketer turned politician Imran Khan waves to supporters at the start of a rally on the outskirts of Islamabad on October 6, 2012. Khan is leading western peace activists and local loyalists on a highly publicised rally to Pakistan's tribal belt in protest against US drone strikes. (A. Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

DI KHAN, Pakistan — An anti-drone march in Pakistan including 32 American activists has now covered well over half the journey from Islamabad, but still no one knows whether it will ever reach its destination, the former Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. It's still a no-go zone for non-residents.

Jason PatinkinOctober 5, 2012 12:10

Darkness on the Delta: Tribal tensions flare in Kenya

The strife between the Orma and Pokomo tribespeople continues after a series of back-and-forth revenge massacres this summer.

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Blood stains the floor of a classroom in Kilelengwani village in the Tana river Delta on September 12, 2012. Orma tribe villagers and the Red Cross claim 8 children were slaughtered in the classroom by members of the Pokomo tribe during an attack by 300 tribesmen on the village which left 38 people dead,167 houses burnt to the ground, and scores of slaughtered cattle. The Kenyan government has authorised a deployment of 1,300 General Service Unit (GSU) officers, the Kenyan specialist riot police squad, in the area and a dusk to dawn curfew, after 112 people were killed in clashes between the Pokomo and Orma tribes since late August 2012. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

Jason Patinkin is a freelance writer and photographer from Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from Columbia University in New York City, he taught middle school science for three years to some extremely brilliant young adults on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Jason is now based in Nairobi, Kenya where he believes he has found the world’s best cup of coffee.

Jason PatinkinOctober 4, 2012 10:40

A church attack in Nairobi’s “Little Mogadishu”

After a bomb explodes in a local Sunday school, Somali Muslims in Kenya face harassment and fear retribution.

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A policeman stands guard next to the site where a blast ripped through a church in Nairobi on September 30, 2012. A suspected grenade attack killed one child and wounded nine others in the church, a day after Islamist fighters abandoned their last bastion in neighbouring Somalia in the face of an assault by Kenyan and other troops. ( SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images)

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is all about "ground truth." The observations, analysis, notes and musings posted here are based on facts gathered in the field from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. We highlight the work of GlobalPost’s team of correspondents and other journalists, bloggers, photographers and videographers around the globe who are out there getting at the “ground truth.”

The term is actually a scientific concept defined by NASA as part of the calibration process of satellite imagery. When NASA measures something with a satellite, an employee on the ground takes the same measurement. That human measurement is known as “ground truth.” If the results differ, the "ground truth" has greater credibility than the satellite does.

In the digital age, as we are bombarded with so much information from afar, GlobalPost takes a similar approach in its journalism, valuing the idea that being there on the ground and calibrating events in human terms is the key to getting it right. We believe in “ground truth.” And this blog is dedicated to that belief.

Read the GroundTruth archive.

Follow on Twitter @CMSennott.

Correspondents

Charles M. Sennott

Co-Founder and Executive Editor, GlobalPost. read more

Kevin Douglas Grant

GlobalPost's Deputy Editor for Special Reports. read more