I spoke at an Arizona newspaper editors meeting, decades ago, about Associated Press foreign coverage. Someone needled me: “What makes you think a miner in San Manuel gives a damn about what happens in (he paused a moment to think of a bizarre sounding name) Zambia?” For one thing, I replied, a copper boom in Zambia had tanked the world price. Soon after, the San Manuel mine closed, throwing the whole town out of work. Today, what is happening in Zambias across our only planet threatens human survival.

After 39 years of covering global stories for AP and several years editing the International Herald Tribune in Paris, I am now happily independent. MortReport is a labor of love, with a lot of help from my friends: old-style correspondents of hard-won experience and young ones with fresh eyes. We report first hand, with sources we have learned to trust. We base analyses on non-alternative fact.

The problem today is not fake news, which is easily debunked. It is well-meant real news that is too often distorted by omission or confusion. Karaoke journalism lets anyone step up to the microphone, even if they don’t know the lyrics.

Stories that matter – climate chaos, clashing civilizations and the rest – are all linked, and we connect the dots. The usual who-what-where questions are not enough. We add historical continuum in broad context: the why and what next. Sometimes, we just have fun.

MortReport is also meant as a by-example teaching tool. Some argue today that all journalism is advocacy. We believe that objectivity – trying to get it right, in broad context – is not only possible but also essential to the survival of open democracy. Balance is not possible when reporting on human events, but fairness is.

Please note our address is www.mortreport.org. Some guy who snagged mortreport.com wants 30,000 bucks. Right. And, in fact, we are not-for-profit. My veteran colleagues and I earn no salary. There is no paywall, and we will not rattle a tin cup. But all support is gratefully accepted to cover plane tickets, libel lawyers, and modest emolument for young reporters who need it. Make an online donation by credit card here. Checks may be sent to Reporting Unlimited, 2114 W. Grant #38, Tucson, AZ 85745. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please email: mort.rosenblum@gmail.com.

For more than you want to know about me, and to see my other work: www.mortrosenblum.net.