Resistance Book Club discussion

For the month of May we'll be reading Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship, by Anjan Sundaram. It's a nonfiction account of the author's running a journalism class in Rwanda, under the dictatorship of Paul Kagame.

Just finished the book, definitely an interesting story and a strong piece in support of a free press. Also a chilling description of life in a dictatorship (interesting to compare with the handmaid's tale, a work of fiction--looks like the handmaids tale did a good job of describing people living in a dictatorship, and how there is no resistance, how everyone reinforces the dictator's rule).

Anyway, this book reads like a work of fiction even though it's a work of journalism. So I'm interested in what some of the responses to it have been from the international investigative journalist community, especially since it notes how complicit western society is in propping up the dictator's rule. Has Sundaram's story been fact checked? Could it even be?

Looking forward to the discussion at book club!

I feel like this book is so new and presents such a stark contrast from the Kagame of the news, since this is the author's on-the-ground eye-witness experience, and Kagame cares so much about cultivating his image to a still-guilty West. The person who recommended this book to me is, herself, a journalist, so I suspect there's still a stir going around in the journalist world.