Life magazine is back. Reason #237 to subscribe to the local rag starting October 1.

I wish the magazine all success and I hope the management at Time Inc. will see to it that the contracts they offer photographers and writers are equitable. Wishful thinking?

Via Jonathan Dube

Divergent viewpoints. Hard to find them in your local newspaper? Well, go alternative!

Via Bernice Yeung

California First Amendment Coalition, in conjunction with the Society of Professional Journalists, NorCal chapter, presents “RESISTING GOVERNMENT SECRECY IN A TIME OF TERRORISM,” CFAC's 2004 open government assembly – a 2-day conference featuring premier investigative reporter SEYMOUR HERSH as key note speaker.

Friday, October 8 and Saturday October 9 at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

To be sure that you'll be able to get in – and to take advantage of our discount for early registration – register now or call CFAC at (415) 460-5060.

CFAC's program this year is rich in journalistic, legal and national security experts leading lively panel discussions on, among other topics:

*news coverage of the Iraq war;
*subpoenas against reporters;
*information controls under the Patriot Act and other
federal laws;
*the civil liberties/national security trade-off in
the U.S. Supreme Court;
*access to courts and state agencies; and
*international press freedom (or lack thereof).

For the full program, click here.

If you can attend only one conference this year, this is it. The experience will leave you well-informed, energized and
with a renewed commitment to First Amendment principles.

For more information, contact: Peter Scheer, Executive Director, California First Amendment Coalition at (415) 460-5060.

Via Laura Taflinger

The BBC carried this report about an enterprising journalism project. Something almost revolutionary about a popular newspaper produced by slum dwellers, for slum dwellers. While circulation numbers aren't going to threaten the Deccan Herald in Bangalore, Slum Jagathu, or “Slum World,” promises to address the often muffled voices of the poor and disenchanted.

Keeping in line with the paper's motto, I wondered if there could be a way to teach kids and adults to use cameras so that they could document their lives and the image published on a regular basis in their own newspaper. Question is if they would even consider an outsider stepping into their lives to teach them? Treading social class dynamics is a tricky business, but it can be done gingerly.

New York University's j-school has a terrific resource for working journalists. Scroll down the page to “Get Up To Speed.”