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This article explores fundamental issues in performance measurement systems broadly conceived. Three key moments or themes are identified. First, the foundations of measurement in counting practices, and their inherent reductionism, are considered. Second, the relations between measurement and technologies of monitoring and control, such as auditing, are discussed. Third, first- and second-order measurement (meta-measurement) are distinguished, respectively as particular institutions of counting and data production, and as related dense networks of calculating experts operating on these numbers within specific cultures of objectivity. Finally, arguments about the consequences of performance measurement systems are evaluated, contrasting democratic enthusiasm for performance measurement control technologies with the view that they are some kind of 'fatal remedy'. In place of a simple dichotomy of trust or distrust in numbers, the development of performance measurement instruments is argued to be a cycle of innovation, crisis and reform, which continually expands into new regions of social and economic life, and which expresses varying degrees of commitment to precision.

Ruminates on US journalists reporting on human rights, humanitarian issues, & genocide. Discussion opens with some consideration of the challenges in securing coverage for humanitarian issues, presenting examples related to coverage of the Democratic Republic of Congo & the African AIDS epidemic. Next, some problems arising once a reporter has the permission & resources to report on humanitarian issues are addressed, touching on the cost & the derivative nature of American reporting. Attention turns to the issue of neutrality & taking sides as a reporter, presenting the dangers inherent to both. In closing, how the author has confronted these challenges in her own work is described. J. Zendejas

Discusses the process of reporting on human rights, humanitarian issues, and genocide; some focus on the challenges of getting attention for situations that do not involve strategic interests of the US.