23 October 2013

Johan Nylander - a dork. And this is official.

I hope that none of the expletives I used upon reading the CNN article The photos North Korea didn't want you to see will seep into the text of this post. If they do, I wouldn't apologize though.

Johan Nylander, you see, was a "sole Western journalist covering a unique bicycle race in North Korea last month". You can read his whole story in that article, but the main point is that upon Nylander's leaving the NK territory an overzealous border guard deleted about 90 photographs from his camera. The photos were (miraculously, as Mr Nylander seems to think) recovered by a computer expert. And for some reason the intrepid reporter decided to share with the whole world - including the NK various arms of the repressive regime - the details of the pictures' recovery process:

"When they deleted the file on the card, they did not delete the whole file instantly, it just released the space of this file for future use -- the content is still there," Benjamin Wong, owner of Vector Data Recovery explained to me.
Which, I think, puts a full stop to the future attempts of visiting journalist(s) to recover their pictures. Now that NK is aware of the mistake.

It is permissible for a journalist to be unaware of computers' intricacies - even of fairly simple things like the one described above and should be known to a professional user of a digital camera. It is inexcusable for a journalist not to consult someone with a grain of common sense before publishing this useful for NK regime tip.

For that matter, there is no excuse for CNN not editing that "useful" tidbit out of the article. But then, for quite some time, I am not sure on whose side CNN really are...

Oh, and here is a picture of the hero:


He is the one on the left, if you wondered. Just so you know to keep your distance if you happen to meet him. A walking disaster area, that git has to be...

8 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

A journalist writes...

Actually, it is not permissible for a journalist to be ignorant of the broader details of digital file deletion and erasure. It's like basic potty training, and knowing when it's your round.

Yes, I know we that we recently witnessed the ridiculous spectacle of Guardian staffers setting to motherboards with angle grinders and the like, but that was meant to be silly.

With kind regards,
Mr Lunchtime O'Booze

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Not a Dennis Rodman in sight!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Upon review of the pictures a thought or two. These are potemkin people, potemkin villages, all in a potemkin event. You must wonder if they ban these pictures what is the reality behind the curtain. I think I have a pretty good idea.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

As you say, but I wanted to give him some leeway. Still a dork.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Dennis doesn't cross the borders like some peasant, he jets in and out.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I think your idea hits the spot. As for why these specific pictures were deleted: dunno, probably some random selection by a policeman who wanted to show his zeal and loyalty.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

It's the Communist News Network. But of course.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yeah, I am starting to suspect as much.