Tell-tale McClellan gets canned by Dole

Lots of vitriol is flowing after George Bush's erstwhile White House flack, Scott McClellan, started on his book tour, just when we all had assumed he was in permanent Republican lockstep. The latest to enter the fray is Bob Dole, with withering comments submitted to Jonathan Martin at Politico.com

Bob Dole yesterday sent a scalding email to Scott McClellan, excoriating the former White House spokesman as a "miserable creature" who greedily betrayed his former patron for a fast buck.

In an extraordinary message obtained and authenticated by Politico, Dole uses his trademark biting wit to portray McClellan as a classic Washington opportunist.

"There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues," Dole wrote in a message sent yesterday morning. "No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."

Michael Marshall, Dole's spokesman and colleague at the Alston Bird law firm, confirms the message came from the former senator and presidential candidate. "Yes, it is authentic," Marshall wrote in an email.

"In my nearly 36 years of public service I've known of a few like you," Dole writes, recounting his years representing Kansas in the House and Senate. "No doubt you will 'clean up' as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, 'Biting The Hand That Fed Me.' Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years"

Dole assures McClellan that he won't read the book -- "because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job"

"That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively," Dole concludes. "You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?"

He signs the email simply: "BOB DOLE"

surveillance videos of terrestrial aliens to be screened as reality show on ABC

Network television moves closer to achieving an Orwellian "Big Brotherhood" as ABC joins up with the federal Department of Homeland Security. James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter reports on the derivative series:

A new ABC unscripted series will take an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the government's fight against terrorism.

The network has ordered 11 hours of "Border Security USA" from executive producer Arnold Shapiro ("Big Brother"). Shot on location throughout the United States, the series will focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.

A typical episode might jump from a border patrol in Texas to security screeners at a New York airport to a Coast Guard boat off Puerto Rico.

"Border" is billed as the first multiepisode television series to be shot in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as several other government agencies.

"We're showing everyday heroes who are risking their lives to protect us," said Shapiro, who also produced the law enforcement series "Rescue 911" and the classic jailhouse documentary "Scared Straight." "Every mode of transportation to get into the country, we have covered."

"Border" is based on the Australian series "Border Security: Australia's Front Line," which debuted in 2004. ABC purchased the rights to the format and tapped Shapiro to shepherd the U.S. version. Shapiro wrangled the cooperation of the DHS (as well as the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the Secret Service, Customs & Border Protection and Immigration & Customs Enforcement). The network plans to launch "Border" sometime next season.

The security agents depicted in the show stop a wide range of criminal behavior. In one episode, customs finds a human skull shipped through the mail. In another, a Coast Guard boat chases cocaine smugglers.

Yet it's the show's depiction of the government's post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts that's bound to draw the most attention. In one story, two young men of Iranian descent are denied entry into the country when one is found to have relatives with ties to a terrorist organization and the other carries a fake ID.

"That's (the agents') No. 1 mission: to protect the country from terrorists and from terrorist materials, such as bombs," Shapiro said. "We haven't been there with a camera when an actual terrorist has been caught, but we've seen a few people not admitted because they're on watch lists. Nobody wants to be the officer who lets in the next terrorist."

Fox's long-running "Cops" is the most obvious comparison to "Border," but Shapiro emphasizes there will be several differences between the series. Each "Border" episode will intercut between 10 stories that will showcase an eclectic array of locations, law enforcement agents and crimes. Since security agents spend large stretches of time searching for criminal activity rather than responding to emergency calls, Shapiro estimates he had to shoot 100 minutes of footage for every one minute of action used on the show.

"It has more diversity than 'Cops,' and people really learn a lot from watching this," Shapiro said. "You see a lot of people who are not admitted into the country, and you learn why. You will become a more knowledgeable traveler in terms of crossing the border."

But not too knowledgeable. Shapiro said he's been asked to keep confidential a few tactics used by border agents. Otherwise, the agencies welcomed a depiction of their day-to-day efforts.

"They want people to know how diligent they are," Shapiro said. "You hear about every problem that the Department of Homeland Security is having; you never hear about what they're doing that's good."

Such security problems in recent years have ranged from media reports of border agents taking bribes, to ongoing concerns that cargo inspections at airports and shipping ports remain dangerously lax.

Shapiro said "Border" will tell "the other side of the story."

"I love investigative journalism, but that's not what we're doing," he said. "This show is heartening. It makes you feel good about these people who are doing their best to protect us."
ABC makes a run for the 'Border'
Reality show will document homeland security

By James Hibberd

May 28, 2008, 09:54 PM
A new ABC unscripted series will take an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the government's fight against terrorism.

The network has ordered 11 hours of "Border Security USA" from executive producer Arnold Shapiro ("Big Brother"). Shot on location throughout the United States, the series will focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.

A typical episode might jump from a border patrol in Texas to security screeners at a New York airport to a Coast Guard boat off Puerto Rico.

"Border" is billed as the first multiepisode television series to be shot in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as several other government agencies.

"We're showing everyday heroes who are risking their lives to protect us," said Shapiro, who also produced the law enforcement series "Rescue 911" and the classic jailhouse documentary "Scared Straight." "Every mode of transportation to get into the country, we have covered."

"Border" is based on the Australian series "Border Security: Australia's Front Line," which debuted in 2004. ABC purchased the rights to the format and tapped Shapiro to shepherd the U.S. version. Shapiro wrangled the cooperation of the DHS (as well as the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the Secret Service, Customs & Border Protection and Immigration & Customs Enforcement). The network plans to launch "Border" sometime next season.

The security agents depicted in the show stop a wide range of criminal behavior. In one episode, customs finds a human skull shipped through the mail. In another, a Coast Guard boat chases cocaine smugglers.

Yet it's the show's depiction of the government's post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts that's bound to draw the most attention. In one story, two young men of Iranian descent are denied entry into the country when one is found to have relatives with ties to a terrorist organization and the other carries a fake ID.

"That's (the agents') No. 1 mission: to protect the country from terrorists and from terrorist materials, such as bombs," Shapiro said. "We haven't been there with a camera when an actual terrorist has been caught, but we've seen a few people not admitted because they're on watch lists. Nobody wants to be the officer who lets in the next terrorist."

Fox's long-running "Cops" is the most obvious comparison to "Border," but Shapiro emphasizes there will be several differences between the series. Each "Border" episode will intercut between 10 stories that will showcase an eclectic array of locations, law enforcement agents and crimes. Since security agents spend large stretches of time searching for criminal activity rather than responding to emergency calls, Shapiro estimates he had to shoot 100 minutes of footage for every one minute of action used on the show.

"It has more diversity than 'Cops,' and people really learn a lot from watching this," Shapiro said. "You see a lot of people who are not admitted into the country, and you learn why. You will become a more knowledgeable traveler in terms of crossing the border."

But not too knowledgeable. Shapiro said he's been asked to keep confidential a few tactics used by border agents. Otherwise, the agencies welcomed a depiction of their day-to-day efforts.

"They want people to know how diligent they are," Shapiro said. "You hear about every problem that the Department of Homeland Security is having; you never hear about what they're doing that's good."

Such security problems in recent years have ranged from media reports of border agents taking bribes, to ongoing concerns that cargo inspections at airports and shipping ports remain dangerously lax.

Shapiro said "Border" will tell "the other side of the story."

"I love investigative journalism, but that's not what we're doing," he said. "This show is heartening. It makes you feel good about these people who are doing their best to protect us."

Rocky Mountain 'Hi' for Illegal Aliens (from UFOs?) Homeland Security on Standby

Not little green men, exactly, but a purported video of said space aliens, to be shown on Friday as evidence of their existence, is sending shivers of excitement down the spines of Coloradan voters.

"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.

In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too. Is this just Rocky Mountain High-jinx? Don't phone home yet. Just watch this space as Denver's Jeff Peckman screens footage from out there.

Fox News pundit, Liz Trotta, wisecracks over the line

She has since apologized. but rightwing hack Liz Trotta jokes about knocking off Osama, er Obama..."both if we could"...as she pummels Clinton campaign. Fair and balanced? The news moderator seems to be egging her on by playing devil's advocate, and his words don't ring with conviction.

Murdoch makes changes at the top

The Guardian reports the inevitable: Aussie Robert Thomson, formerly of the Times, has been named top editor of the Wall Street Journal (as Feral Beast sources predicted.)

The former Times editor Robert Thomson was named managing editor of the Wall Street Journal last night as Rupert Murdoch tightened control of the world's top selling business newspaper.

Thomson's new role is the top editorial position at the Journal. He replaces Marcus Brauchli, who quit last month amid signs of discontent over the speed of change at the paper since it was taken over by Murdoch's News Corporation in December.

News Corp said the appointment had the unanimous approval of a committee set up to safeguard editorial independence of the Journal. The committee objected to a lack of consultation when Brauchli resigned.

"Mr Thomson's outstanding career as a financial journalist, foreign correspondent and editor equips him perfectly for the position," Murdoch said.

Thomson, 47, is an Australian compatriot of Murdoch and he has been a loyal lieutenant of the press baron for six years. At the end of last year, he moved from London to become publisher of the Journal. His new role gives him formal control of its newsroom which, according to the paper's journalists, he was effectively overseeing anyway. He will also be editor-in-chief of Dow Jones' newswires service.

Murdoch's $5.2bn takeover of the Dow Jones group was highly contentious throughout last year as the Journal's founding Bancroft family struggled to agree on whether to sell up.

Since the deal was sealed, Murdoch has made clear that he wants the paper to diversify away from its business roots to compete with mainstream publications such as the New York Times. A sports page has appeared and there are plans for a glossy magazine.

Thomson can boast a depth of experience in business coverage. Before joining the Times in 2002, he headed the US edition of the Financial Times. He has also served as a correspondent in Beijing and Tokyo, having begun his career as a copy boy at the Herald in Melbourne in 1979.

Murdoch has wasted little time in inserting handpicked people to run the Journal. Les Hinton, a former boss of Murdoch's UK papers, is now chief executive of Dow Jones.

In an attempt to rebuild bridges with the editorial committee formed as a condition of News Corp's takeover, Hinton expressed regret for failing to consult when Thomson's predecessor left and saying it would have been "more appropriate" to do so.

Wire services examined: a good thing?

Debates about the powerful influence of the Associated Press surface, but no one expects the situation to change, especially since newspapers and magazines are rarely funding their own investigations abroad these days. The old saying was "You can's spell cheap without "A.P."...and is still holds.

Fred Burton's spooky Ghost stories out soon

In a world stalked by terrorists, ghost stories are inevitable and even valuable in the 'war on terror' and its abuses. That's why there is anticipation for the launch of this important book on June 3. Courtesy of Stratfor.com, we excerpt the preface to GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, by Fred Burton

The List

I carry a list of names with me at all times. It is written in the black ink of a fountain pen in a hardback black Italian moleskin journal, and it travels with me around town in my weathered Ghurka shoulder bag or, when I’m on the road, in my small Zero Halliburton aluminum case, right next to my Smith & Wesson Model 637 five-shot revolver.

There are about fifteen names on the list at any given time, but really the number varies, depending on the speed of justice in the world. Some of the names on the list are known actors, while others are aliases or secret code names. I classify some as UNSUB, spook language for an unidentified suspect. A few are rogue intelligence operatives who have carried out assassinations and bombings over the years.

Mostly the names are those of the so-called puzzle makers: the tactical commanders who put together terrorist operations and dispatch the foot soldiers to carry them out. They are the brains behind the attacks. Every attack has a cycle of planning and execution, and I have always been fascinated by the planners who can put it all together.

A few of the names on my list are those of the watchers, a phrase stolen from John le Carré’s stories about George Smiley of British intel-ligence. The watchers conduct the preoperational surveillance—the crucial first phase of the attack cycle. Lurking in the shadows, or operating openly with a laptop perched at a Starbucks table, they study a target in detail to find openings to attack. The good ones move like a gentle breeze, are never noticed, and rarely leave a trail.

Others on my list have been trigger pullers in an assassination operation, placed a bomb on a plane, or attacked a building containing innocent children. These are the cold-blooded knuckle draggers, the shooters. In the bloody aftermath of most of these things, a political group will claim credit under the banner of jihad. But in my mind, the prime responsibility goes to the one who squeezed the trigger or connected the detonator’s wires. They are special to me.

Each name on my list has eluded pursuit and is still out there, on the loose. There is a story behind every one. Images of their victims still hover in my view. Some are frozen in time, forever young, with loved ones and family members and children standing by grave sites, left, sometimes forever, to wonder what happened.

I have been told that it is normal to forget. That time heals. For some reason, that has not been true for me. Some nights, after the kids are in bed, I sit and look at the list and pick up my Parker rollerball pen to make updates, add new names, or relish the opportunity to finally cross one off when he has been arrested or slain. The fate of some will never be known. That troubles me the most of all.

I don’t need the list to remember their names, for they are all burned into my memory like the sharp flash of a revolver in a dark alley. I close my eyes and recall the sophisticated street dances of surveillance, the code names and radio traffic chattering in my earpiece while my feet ached from standing so long on post, the sharp smell of a lit time fuse, the feel of an Uzi bucking in my hands, or the satisfying final crimping of a blasting cap. The shadow work, the attack cycle, safe-house meetings, eyes-only back-channel cables, black diplomatic passports in various names, cash reward payments in standard-issue black Samsonite briefcases, hotel rooms with signed receipts under code names, airplane fuselages split by explosions, and kidnapping victims chained to radiators. I remember the bodies of children made unrecognizable by the blast of a truck bomb, embassies lying in rubble, body bags on an airport tarmac. Unfinished business, all of it.

I have been told that James Jesus Angleton, the legendary CIA spymaster known by the code name of “Mother,” kept such a private, handwritten list. Upon his death, Mother’s list was cremated along with his body by the old boys at the Agency, letting him take his secrets to his grave.

My own list remains as current as today’s headlines. Most of the names have long been forgotten by the public, but not by me. I take it personally when justice has not been done, and I intend some day to catch up with every one of them, to help in some way to bring them down. Only then will I remove them from my list.

I have been fortunate enough to have had a hand in scratching off a number of those names. I helped create and lead the Counterterrorism Division of the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State. Very few people have ever heard of us. My training for that work was as a street cop back when terrorism was in its infancy.

In the old days, we cataloged what we knew about terrorists by hand on index cards. Today the agencies collect, sort, and store a daily avalanche of information and analysis with a state-of-the-art datamanagement system. But raw data does not bring wisdom. Information alone cannot distill experience. Computers do not go into the weeds after the bad guys. That is where guys like me come in.

People have always been intrigued by what I do, particularly since most of it was so shrouded in secrecy. Counterterrorism special agents do not court publicity. We have no wish to become targets instead of hunters. We seek the shadows, using secure telephones and untraceable license plates to keep us hidden. Before I left public service, I wore a necklace of laminated identity cards that granted entrance to the inner recesses of the intelligence agencies. My special black passport whisked me past customs officers abroad. My bag was kept packed at all times to answer calls that would have me heading for the other side of the world within hours.

But the rules have changed. It was once thought that security matters and knowledge of the inner workings of terrorism were best kept quiet and left to specialists within the intelligence trade. Now everyone needs to know more, for knowledge is always power. Be it a multinational corporation, a government agency, or an individual citizen, the more you know, the safer you can be.

With this book, I hope to let readers walk in my shoes for a while, to go behind the curtain to look at the “how” as well as the “why” of what I call “the Black World.” I’ll explain the nuts and bolts of how terrorists plot, stalk, and kill, and how counterterrorism agents try to bring the perpetrators to justice. The difference between failure and success can depend upon tiny things: a piece of pocket litter or an offhand boast by an interrogation subject. The truth is often elastic, the process of seeking it like aiming a telescope through a rotating glass prism.

This book is partly a personal catalog of balls dropped, leads not followed, opportunities missed and the ensuing cover-ups. I also have some successes to report and some conclusions that might surprise you, just to show that good things can happen when everything comes together the right way. All too often, success is not quantifiable, and many stories go untold because of the need to protect ongoing operations.

The personal payoff for me comes when we bring down one of the terrorists. I never really care if he’s captured in handcuffs or loaded dead on a stretcher. I don’t care whether the takedown was the result of hard work, bravery, or pure luck. Whenever we take a bad guy off the board, I feel good. I can justify relaxing for a moment and spending time with my wife and children without a second thought. I can take a long jog with my trusty canine partner. I can watch a game of football or visit an old friend.

But for a great many years, during my whole tenure in government service, I found that no matter how much I wanted to leave the Dark World’s burdens behind, the call of the next operation always seemed to bring me back. I couldn’t ever stop thinking that how hard we terrorist hunters worked would determine the speed of justice in the world. And I couldn’t wait for the next opportunity to scratch another name off my list.

Rebekah Wade ready for Wall Street?

Sun sensitive editor

Not quite

There's only one woman whose entrance into Wall Street Journal's newsroom in New York could cause such a stir. That's right - flame-haired Sun editor Rebekah Wade apparently caused quite a stir when she appeared on the newsroom floor in the Journal's New York headquarters earlier this week. Excited reporters unfamiliar with Wade's pedigree immediately googled her name and may have feared all the rumours about new boss Rupert Murdoch radically changing the paper's editorial mix were true. But they can rest easy - Monkey understands that Wade was just making a social visit to ex-Times editor and now Journal publisher Robert Thomson and her boss Rupert. But Wade's appearance in New York will do nothing to quell rumours that she will leave the Sun for a new management job before the end of the year. (source: Guardian Media Monkey )

Washington Post 'Jumps the Shark' and expels more bodies

Here's an insider waxing forth the newsroom antics at the nation's capital daily rag by guest-blogger Sharon Waxman, an Ocford scholar, author, and Hollywood hack from the NY Times as well as a Washington Post style pages veteran.

The Washington Post as I know it has jumped the shark. Crossed a line. Hit the wall. It’s a paper I love with all my heart, and where I worked for eight years. But in a new round of buy-outs I am told, a “blunt instrument” was used to clear the newsroom of 100 more bodies. ‘Grab this chance for a float now,’ they were told, if not in so many words. ‘This offer isn’t coming back.’

These bodies happen to encompass dozens and dozens of years of talent, knowledge, experience and institutional memory, walking out the door in June. The people leaving aren’t employees at the paper; they ARE the paper, which one month ago won six Pulitzer Prizes, including the one for public service. My sources tell me that those leaving include Sue Schmidt, the political news-breaking machine, and many of my old friends from the Style section -- the indomitable John Pancake, arts editor; writers Rich Leiby and Lynton Weeks, deputy arts editor Peter Kaufman, and most sadly to me, Deborah Heard, the assistant managing editor for Style. Heard, a quiet goddess from a small town in the South, was one of the most beloved people in the newsroom, a mentor and friend to writers and a steady hand. Political guru David Broder will move to work under contract. I’m told the Health section writers are mostly gone; Style is a shadow of its former trendsetting self. At this rate, whither the National desk? Whither Foreign? Word is that executive editor Leonard Downie is on his way to retirement (he denied it today to Joe Strupp). The other rumor is that managing editor Phil Bennett will not be his successor. Make no mistake; we are eviscerating the heart of the institutions that act as our watchdogs to power. (While I’m at it, here’s a tip of the hat to colleagues just laid off at The New York Times: the talented Jeff Leeds, who ably covered the music beat in LA; Katie Hafner in San Francisco; Claudia Deutsch in business, and others.)
No one has clear answers to the crisis that faces newspapers today, and the impact that the diminishing of great journalism will have in a free society. But we had damn well better start figuring it out.
Update: I'm hearing of more casualties, the great Annie Groer, longtime film critic Desson Howe, reporter Lynne Duke and film critic Stephen Hunter - a huge loss, in my view.

New BBC bi-monthly mag targets Americans' 'curiosity' and takes on Nat Geo

Stephen Brook, press correspondent of the Guardian, reports

BBC Magazines is to launch a US title aimed at readers with a "curious mind" and will take on National Geographic and other natural history and science publications.

The 100-page full-colour glossy, BBC Knowledge Magazine, will publish six times a year from August and use content from UK titles BBC History Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine and popular science publication Focus.

BBC Knowledge Magazine will aim to maximise subscription revenue, priced at $5.99 on the newsstand and $29.95 for an annual subscription.

"This was always envisaged to be an international project," said Andy Benham, the publishing director of BBC Worldwide's specialist division, BBC Magazines Bristol.

"While we are initially launching in America, where the concept researched very favourably, the magazine undoubtedly has global appeal. We are already looking at a number of exciting international licensing prospects."

BBC Worldwide already sells about 35,000 copies of various titles in the US, including Gardens Illustrated and Homes & Antiques.

But the 85,000 print run for the new Knowledge title will require more investment than for the launch of BBC Countryfile magazine in the UK last year.

The launch will include the mailout of 1.5m promotional items in the US.

"It's pitched towards the idea of curiosity," Benham said. "We are not going to go in there and compete head to head with American magazines."

Benham said a few features would be "National Geographic-y" but that the magazine would be very broad, covering everything from the Falklands war to the country of Colombia.

BBC Knowledge Magazine will be edited in the UK by Sally Palmer, former deputy editor of Focus, with help from US consultant editor John Horgan, a science journalist.

BBC Knowledge is already an established brand, having launched as a television channel in Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia last year as part of BBC Worldwide's new Global Channels business.

Playboy drops, shares droop

Is Playboy irrelevant in the internet age? The Hugh Hefner empire is on a losing streak, and may end up just marketing its bunny ears and other branded items instead of those famous articles for which its readers always claim they bought the venerable magazine-cum-strokebook.

Second quarter losses of $3.1m were bad news for the adult entertainment empire, now run by Hefner's daughter Christie, according to Reuters. The wide availability of free porn downloads seems to have eaten into the demographics Spreadsheet may trump centerspread, foldout or not.

CNN Reporter on the Run in blighted Burma

A CNN reporter who left Burma last Friday was chased by authorities as he reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because of the incompetence of the people after him, reports AP.

Dan Rivers hid under a blanket at one police checkpoint and casually covered up his name on a passport to avoid detection another time. He may ultimately have gotten out of the country due to a stewardess' impatience.

"I was amazed at the lengths they apparently went just to catch me," Rivers said by
telephone from Thailand on Saturday.

Rivers' story illustrates the preoccupation of Myanmar's military government with things other than helping the country recover from a storm that killed thousands and left many survivors homeless. Aid groups have reported difficulties in getting badly needed supplies and relief workers into the secretive country.


Rivers sneaked into the country on Monday - he wouldn't say how - and for a day reported the story without saying his name or showing his face onscreen. (Colleagues speculate that he swam across a river with local guides into the stricken hermit nation.)

CNN, owned by Time Warner Inc., and Rivers then quickly agreed to drop the mask.

"We decided it would have much more impact if I could communicate more directly, if I could look down the barrel of a camera and tell people precisely how bad it was," he said. "I think that type of personal reporting is much more effective than a voiceover on a picture."

But it made him a marked man. A local contact told Rivers' crew the government was looking for him by contacting all hotels where foreigners stayed.

During reporting on Thursday, an immigration official stopped Rivers' group. He took the passports of two crew members and compared them to a picture of Rivers taken from a CNN screen. During the two hours before they were waved on, Rivers said he went to a restaurant and walked the streets, "trying not to look like a white guy with long hair, which was difficult."

The authorities didn't discover the men were from CNN. Knowing his picture was being circulated, Rivers hid under a blanket in the van the next time police checked.

He later resumed reporting away from their van until an official told them to return to their van, where police would be waiting. It was a tough walk.

"There were a lot of things going through our minds then about what we would find at the end of that journey," he said. "At one point I was thinking, 'what if they just shot us and threw us into the river and said it was an accident?'"

There were only two policemen waiting. They asked to see Rivers' passport and he casually covered up his first and last names with his thumbs. They radioed Rivers' two middle names back to their bosses.

They were passed on to another government official, who let them go after being convinced they were part of a relief group. Strategic offerings of cigarettes, water and a candy bar helped.

The crew rushed back to the main city of Rangoon (Yangon).

"I kind of felt that I'd used my nine lives up and it was time to get out of the country," Rivers said. He was afraid for the safety of his Burmese contacts if he were found out and, frankly, didn't want officials spending time searching for him when they had more important things to do.

While on a plane to get out of the country, Rivers was called back to the gate to be searched. He'd been found out. He was thoroughly searched, but fortunately had no pictures with him.

"I thought I was going to get hauled off to some fetid prison for a week," he said.

Eventually, an impatient stewardess demanded authorities make a decision on what to do with Rivers and, thus challenged, put him back on the plane.

Rivers said he hoped to get back in to Myanmar at some point but given the sensitivities it's not likely to be anytime soon.

[Ahem- aren't they called cabin crew these days? But then again, Associated Press uses the junta's preferred terms, so political correctness ain't a factor! He and Barry Bearak ought to start a new group: reporters sans visas

Hacks, geeks and deep pockets: Newstools 2008

Yahoo's unconference rocks!

A media 'un-conference', called NewsTools2008: Journalism That Matters, is underway in Sunnyvale, California. Put on by Bill Densmore, who runs the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, NewsTools2008 intent is to gather journalists, web developers, entrepreneurs, academics and students to discuss technology’s disruption of journalism — and brainstorm on ways to use tools for good. Colleagues Ricardo Sandoval and Susan Ferriss are veteran reporters/documentary filmmakers and are part of the sophisticated and plugged-in mix; Feral Beast plans to glean some insights from them this afternoon.
Despite complaints that even in uber-Tech Sunnyvale, home of Yahoo, internet access from conference rooms is problematical. There's a live video link which helps.