Hello everyone. This week has been crazy busy for me (and for everyone else!) so we didn’t have time to do either a Recap Monday or a Feature Wednesday. However, we’ve got loads happening this weekend and in the upcoming weeks so there should be plenty this coming Monday/Wednesday including (!) a guest post from Jennifer Hoyer so there will be updates! Thank you to all for your patience and your continued support–we do what we do because of you! 
Btw, tomorrow, Renee will be at City Hall doing the Indigenous Storytelling Event–this is the last reminder about this event! City Hall, 1:30 t0 4:00 p.m., Heritage Room. Use Personal Storytelling to break down barriers surrounding Indigenous peoples. It’s sure to be an interesting event so stop by and participate!
I, on the other hand, will be at MediaCamp which looks to be exceptionally interesting as new and traditional media collide in this unconference. (Yeah, I don’t know what that is either but I’ll report back on Monday).
Onto your Friday MashUp!
Press Peers Honor Report Killed on Duty
The Media honors Michelle Lang, a Calgary Herald reporter, who died in Afghanistan, for World Press Freedom Day, which was back on May 2, 2010. Ms Lang was killed in on December 30, 2009 with four soldiers by an improvised explosive device.
The media catches a lot of flack for what they print, how they print it, the quality of their analyses and coverage of issues but let us never forget that there are real people who put their lives on the line to do their jobs. Ms Lang was one such reporter but there are hundreds of others. Freedom of the press is an enshrined right because the media is a defense against corruption and secrets. The industry, like many others, deserve a hard look at how they conduct business but in the meantime, we should remember the hundreds of reporters who struggle and fight for their right to speak out in defense of the issues.
Speaking with an Accent Leads to Discrimination: Study
New research confirms that people who speak English with an accent from certain geographical areas are discriminated against. In a time when it’s no longer acceptable to openly discriminate against skin color or culture, accents are now the target. This applies to people who speak English but with an accent that denotes their origins from somewhere else that isn’t English-speaking (in other words, Brits and Aussies have cool accents; everyone else, not so much).
Even if someone speaks the dominant language fluently with a foreign accent, people believe they have a shaky mastery of the language, she found, and those with accents are generally thought of as less intelligent, less educated and not as pleasant to listen to.
The study is published in the May edition of Personality and Social Psychology Review by a PhD candidate named Agata Gluzek from Yale University.
Girls Summit to Precede G20
A select group of young women between the ages of 18-20 from each of the member countries of the G20 will be convening in Toronto, June 15-18, to talk about the pressing challenges that face women, drawing inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals.
A woman aged 18 to 20 from each of the member countries of the G20 will be invited to Toronto at no expense for the first-of-its kind gathering, which is intended to raise awareness among world leaders of the role girls and women play in global economic productivity, and their often-untapped potential.
The process works by women in that age group registering online then being randomly chosen. The initiative is being spearheaded by the Belinda Stronach Foundation and more information about this initiative can be found here.
This is pretty cool. Considering Canada’s highly controversial stance on maternal health (maternal health without safe access to abortion is an oxymoron), a discussion about what exactly constitutes as a maternal health from people it is most likely to affect is crucial. At the very least, the campaign gets young women involved in thinking about important global issues so there is that.
All right, that wraps up your Friday MashUp for the week of May 3-7, 2010. Have a great weekend and hopefully we’ll see you at the Indigenous Storytelling Event (or MediaCamp if that’s where your interest is!)
