At a time when so many hip, glossy magazines with deep pockets aren’t very aggressive on the Web, it’s refreshing to see an 83-year-old nonprofit thrive online. The Council on Foreign Relations and its venerable publication, Foreign Affairs, have kept themselves more than just relevant in the digital age, they are a model for quality online publishing. They have also made themselves a go-to destination for journalists trying to understand important international topics.
Collectively, CFR.org and ForeignAffairs.org have done a terrific job of capitalizing on the Council’s resident expertise, as well as extending the shelf life of the scholarly articles in the magazine. The overall impression is that the Council isn’t just a think thank, it’s a “do” tank.
One useful section of the site is “Background on the News” — articles from past issues of Foreign Affairs that are relevant to today’s events.
After the Madrid train bombings, the site republished a March/April 2003 essay by Jonathan Stevenson examining how Europe and America defend themselves (not very well, he wrote). Also available, on the subject of tracking terrorists, is a July/August 2003 essay by Jessica Stern about how tough it is to destroy al Qaeda. Some essays, like Stern’s, also have a postscript by the author, updating the essay.
CFR has its own “Background on the News” section (they need to come up with a new name!), but this consists of backgrounders written mostly by CFR.org staff on dozens of topics. These are good ways for journalists to understand topics new to them. Examples: U.S. troop rotation, Islam and democracy, India-Pakistan peace talks.
Other resources to check out (available from The Source for Ideas and Information, which brings together various features onto one page):
- Council Experts is a listing, by region and by topic, of various experts and scholars, including biographical data and contact information. Globalization alone has seven experts; national security and defense has 17.
- TerrorismAnswers.com is a terrorism encyclopedia that Jon Dube praised in an Aug. 2003 column.
- Campaign 2004 is a one-stop shop about all things international for this year’s U.S. presidential elections.
- Gwertzman Q&A is a series of interviews with newsmakers, experts, and journalists conducted by Bernard Gwertzman, consulting editor and former editor-in-chief of nytimes.com and foreign editor of The New York Times.
Like most publications, Foreign Affairs is trying to make money off its archives. You can search back to 1973 and, in most cases, buy a copy of a specific piece. They do give away the first 500 words of many articles, but that’s not a lot when most are north of 7,000 words each.
One of the most popular archived pieces is “The Clash of Civilizations?” a 1993 essay by Samuel P. Huntington that has had a second life after 9/11 (the 9,176 words are downloadable for $5.95; you can also read “If Not Civilizations, What? Samuel Huntington Responds to His Critics”).
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SAJA’s 10th Anniversary Convention and Job Fair is June 17-20, 2004 at Columbia University in NYC & the SAJA Journalism Awards entry deadline is April 2. You don’t have to be South Asian to attend or enter the contest!
