Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself

What Global Dispatches is all about

Rwanda, 2008

I started my career as a journalist in the early 2000s, covering politics and foreign policy for a small monthly magazine in DC, the American Prospect. I was an early adopter of blogging and since 2005 anchored a blog about the United Nations called UN Dispatch, which is still going strong. I was a very early adopter of podcasting and 10 years ago started Global Dispatches — World News That Matters, which is the longest running independent international affairs podcast. (Two episodes a week, every week, since 2013!)

Throughout it all, my focus has been on global stories that do not get the attention they deserve. These stories are often overlooked by the media because they don’t directly impact the lives of people in wealthier countries. Often, these stories have little commercial appeal. (It’s hard to sell ads against stories about, say, how climate change is fueling famine in Southern Madagascar). But these stories are vitally important for understanding the totality of lived experiences in the world today — and thus, to me, are intuitively important. Earlier this year my work was cited by three media professors as a pioneering example of “humanitarian journalism.” In their book, they write about a small but “influential group of journalists defying conventional approaches to covering humanitarian crises.” It’s a moniker that describes much (though not all) of what I do.

This newsletter is the newest iteration of my work. It includes pieces I edit from experts in the international affairs community who share news and insights on global issues. It also includes my own writing and analysis about world news, the United Nations and foreign policy, gleaned from 20 years of experience as a journalist. Some are free. Some are for paying subscribers only.

Your paid subscription is how I’m able to do all this. If you want to support our work and see Global Dispatches thrive, please purchase or upgrade your subscription.

Thank you. And reach out anytime!

Mark

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Community Bulletin Board

Oxfam is hosting and participating in several events during UNGA78 focusing on the SDGs, inequality, climate, access to healthcare, humanitarian issues, hunger, and more. Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice and will bring this focus on inequality (Goal 10) and how it intersects with the entire 2030 agenda.

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Paying members can reach our nearly 10,000 subscribers directly! Share news or announcements through our Community Bulletin Board. Here’s how you can make an announcement. Think of it as a classified ad for the global affairs set.