Committee Recommends: Week 7

Welcome to the 7th week edition of ‘Committee Recommends’. As our tired brains limp towards the end of term, this range of content drawn from across the media will provide you with a welcome and much-deserved alternative to problem sheets or essays.

From depictions of first love to machinations in online media, we hope you find something you enjoy!

LONG READS

The dark and dirty legacy of racism at Oxford University

“With all of its attempts to present a multicultural diverse institution to the outside world, the university still seems to find itself embroiled in scandal after scandal”

For all Oxford students this take from gal-dem writer Nimo Omer is essential reading, encouraging us to reflect and more actively engage with the racism that pervades this universities history and, crucially, parts of its present.

What the high-profile departures at Vox say about journalistic say about editorial independence

“Compelling evidence points to a big cost associated with ideological bubbles – ideological outliers within an organization are valuable, especially in journalism”

The winds of change are blowing through Vox as several long-term staffers have left in recent weeks, including editor-in-chief and co-founder Ezra Klein. This Atlantic piece looks at what the departure of another co-founder, Matthew Yglesias, says about diversity of opinion in media organisations.

Charting the merger of Buzzfeed and Huffpost

“Buzzfeed’s monthly readers were down 23% year-on-year in October, while HuffPost US has seen decline of 45% in the past three years”

With worrying consequences for the future of digital journalism, the consolidation of what had been two of the fields most promising titles bodes ill for journalistic independence as more and more independents are being bought out. This piece from the Press Gazette looks at how early promise has begun to fade more and more.

How Dominic Cummings wasted the biggest opportunity of his life

“Despite his intellect, Cummings was precisely the wrong person for the job. He was enamoured with data but scattergun and haphazard in his own management style”

This (very) long read, born from a collaboration between The Economist and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, looks at Cumming’s grand ambitions to revolutionise the machinery of government and the future implications of his tumultuous time at the heart of government.

IN THE NEWS

Sarkozy faces corruption trial

The first of several investigations into the former French President’s time in office threatens to open a pandora’s box of greed and cronyism, with startling details of illicit deals and bugged phone calls, it’s a political drama that would not be out of place in a House of Cards series.

Sudan braces for up to 200,000 fleeing Ethiopia fighting

Conflict in the north of Ethiopia has precipitated a mass displacement of civilians, a worrying development in a potentially catastrophic humanitarian disaster.

A BIT OF LISTENING

The rise, fall, and resurrection of the Taliban

This NYT podcast serves up fascinating analysis combined with a personal history from a reporter who grew up in Afghanistan and now reports there. The US has gone from bitter fighting with the terrorist organisation to working with them against common enemies, representing a remarkable microcosm of wider events in the Middle East.

WATCH LIST

LoveSick: First Love

This deeply moving and artfully drawn edition of Nowness’ LoveSick series depicts a first love in all its raw and unbridled sensuality.

That’s all for this week. Interested in writing for us? Contact us to chat about submissions.