News, Decentral begins here.
Starting this news blog means picking up a thread where it was left about a year ago. In a brainstorming exchange of emails of 2009 with my former flatmate Thomas Rohland, we considered ways to disclose news from different places in the world to a wider audience without losing local flavour and opinion. The idea itself is the fruit of an even older idea(l) held by myself, and comes close to that of (quasi-)embedded, high-quality journalism. Isn't all news essentially contextual? Don't local observers have greatest contextual knowledge, and often the widest access to the sources of their local news? Don't regular news outlets omit some of the most interesting and telling stories, or in any case frequently copy what international press agencies submit to them?
All this should not be seen as a bashing exercise against the established press, nor is it meant to fundamentally criticise the existing system of correspondents the world over, who sometimes deliver highly-informed and experienced news reports. It certainly does, however, provide a justification for starting a blog like this. With it, we hope to fill a gap of sensible, high-quality news and background from a local perspective, and with a higher-than-average emphasis on contextualising local events for the interested reader the world over.
