Journal-isms April 1

N. Korea Says It Will Try U.S. Journalists

"Two American journalists detained in North Korea will be indicted and tried on charges of perpetrating ‘hostile acts’ against the Communist state, a crime punishable by years in a labor camp, the North’s state-run news agency reported on Tuesday," CHOE SANG-HUN reported¬† from Seoul, South Korea, for the New York Times.

Joohee Cho added Tuesday from Seoul for ABC News, "’We can clearly see that North Korea has begun to use those reporters as a bargaining chip,’ said Moo-Jin Yang, professor at the Graduate School of North Korean Studies, referring to Pyongyang’s statement today that it plans to indict and put the two women on trial for ‘suspicions of illegal entry and hostile acts.’

"Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for the San Francisco-based Current TV founded by former Vice President Al Gore, were detained by North Korean guards at the northern border with China March 17."

"It is by no means clear that Ling and Lee were arrested on North Korean territory," Reporters Without Borders said. "Several sources on the Chinese side of the frontier told Reporters Without Borders that the North Korean border guards probably crossed the Tumen (the river that forms the border) while Ling and Lee were filming on the Chinese bank. In a documentary made by South Korean journalists called ‘On the border,’ North Korean border guards can be seen crossing the river and landing on the Chinese side without running into any problems."

ABC’s report continued, "’Their leaders are well aware of the fact that the Obama administration will have no choice but to put priority on negotiating the release of those two women, because they are American citizens,’ said Hak-Soon Paik, a senior fellow at Sejong Institute. ‘Those talks could only be dealt with in a bilateral situation and that’s exactly what Pyongyang has been striving for when negotiating missiles and nuclear programs.’"

• Tom Plate, Korea Times:¬†Small Incidents Trigger Wars

image: (attached) Caption: Ray Sanchez

Last U.S. Newspaper in Cuba Pulls Out

"In yet another symbol of the fall of American newspapers, the man billed as the ‘only U.S. reporter based in Havana’ is leaving Cuba," Bob Norman reported¬†Monday for Florida’s Broward-Palm Beach Post.

"Sun-Sentinel Executive Editor Earl Maucker told staff during a meeting on Friday that the newspaper is shutting down its bureau in Havana and bringing reporter Ray Sanchez, whose Sentinel photo at left still includes his former distinction in Havana, to work in Fort Lauderdale, a newspaper source confirmed."

"Since the Dallas Morning News bureau in Cuba was shut down in 2004, the Sun-Sentinel’s Havana bureau, jointly run with the Chicago Tribune, has been the only U.S. newspaper operation on the island. The only American news organizations left with a presence on the island are AP, NBC, and CNN."

When Sanchez left Newsday in 2007, he told Journal-isms, "I left Newsday after nearly 15 years of work there because I was fortunate enough to land a job in Havana. It’s an incredible time to be in Cuba."

• Bob Norman blog, Broward-Palm Beach Post: Sun-Sentinel Columnist Ralph De La Cruz Says Goodbye