Canuck tweets while Bangkok burns

/> The photo above courtesy of Kees


Is this a good idea? Tweeting while Bangkok burns... Mark MacKinnon, an earnest Canadian journalist from the Globe & Mail, breezed in from Beijing and might have been more alert to the nuances of the situation in Thailand if he weren't thumbing his blackberry every few minutes. The chaos unfolded right outside the Foreign Press Association (at Chidlom station on the fabled skytrain) and more and more, one of Asia's great capitals looks ripe for revolution, especially if the revered King expires. Still, in retrospect it's instructive to see the chaos unfold in real time, and the rumors affirmed or supplanted. MacKinnon even photo-tweets during an ambulance ride!
(hat tip to Kees for final photo; middle one tweeted by Mark MacKinnon.

AP chief: Journalists need access to battlefront

Journalists need reasonable access to battlefields to provide the public a realistic view of what is happening in Afghanistan and other war zones, the top executive of The Associated Press said Thursday.

Tom Curley, president and CEO of the AP, said the coming months will tell whether the Obama administration's decision to deploy thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan "provides a true path forward or is just another turn in the bend of what so far seems to have been an aimless - and deadly - war."

Curley's speech kicked off a conference on war and journalism at the University of Kentucky. The conference, Covering Conflicts in a Modern World, continues through Saturday and features discussions on the role of media in foreign policy, military and media relations, media ethics in conflict reporting, war reporting and war in film. It is open to the public.


Pressure to reform Afghanistan's weak government and fight corruption have increased since President Barack Obama took office last year. Another 30,000 U.S. forces are heading to Afghanistan to try to oust a resurgent Taliban and secure large swaths of the country.

News organizations covering the conflict could not take credit for the latest changes in U.S. tactics, Curley said.

"But the fact is that war coverage by a free and independent media with reasonable access to the battlefield forces policy makers to deal with the reality of what is happening on the ground instead of what they want the public - or even Washington - to think," he said. "Nowhere is truth more at risk - or more elusive - than in today's wars."

News media had been reporting the chinks in the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan shortly after American forces drove the Taliban from power following the Sept. 11 attacks, Curley said. Soon afterward, the U.S. focus turned to Iraq.

"The repercussions of this can't be understated: While official reports were claiming a beaten-down Taliban, AP was reporting just the opposite," he said. "The U.S. administration already was looking to Iraq, of course, and didn't have the resources to devote to Afghanistan, which helps explain such official misinformation. It had to make Afghanistan a success to enable Iraq."

Journalists covering conflicts like the one in Afghanistan understand the risks they take to cover the story, Curley said. Late last year, AP photographer Emilio Morenatti lost his lower left leg when the Stryker vehicle he was riding in ran over a bomb. Two soldiers also were badly wounded.

"This relentless risk of harm separates war coverage from all other journalism we pursue everyday. AP spends more money on it per story than anything else we do," Curley said. "I am convinced ... that it is more important than anything else we do."

Read more here. Of course, if that Wikileaks video of their Iraqi photographer being shot from the air is anything to go by, Reuters would agree.

Unreliable Sources - John Simpson's memoirs

The bulky Beebster bashes Rupert Murdoch and looks forward and back into the world of British hackdom. His "Unreliable Sources" sounds like an excellent and weighty read. See the review in today's Guardian.

Hailing hacks killed before deadline

AN average of two war reporters per week are killed in the line of duty, and even more die after uncovering corruption and publicising politicians' pecadilloes. This spectacular monument has just been erected atop Broadcasting House to honor their sacrifices in getting news out to the world, according to the BBC online

A memorial to journalists killed while doing their work is to be unveiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The 10m (32ft) glass and steel cone atop central London's BBC Broadcasting House will shine a beam of light into the sky every evening at 10pm.

It is dedicated to all news journalists and those who have worked with them, including drivers and translators.

Over the past 10 years an estimated two war reporters have died each week, with many more killed covering corruption.


Relatives of some of the victims will join the UN Secretary General for the dedication ceremony.

Abdul Samad Rohani and Nasteh Dahir
The BBC's Abdul Rohani and Nasteh Dahir Faraah were both recently killed

The memorial's inauguration follows the recent deaths of two BBC journalists, Abdul Samad Rohani and Nasteh Dahir Faraah, in Afghanistan and Somalia.

Rodney Pinder, director of the International News Safety Institute (INSI), which works for more safety for journalists, said: "These men and women are the unsung heroes of democracy, for without a free press there can be no freedom.

"This shaft of light in the capital of international journalism is a visual reminder of their sacrifice."

The implicit contract, whereby journalists place their lives at risk to help us understand the world and its events better, needs to be reaffirmed

BBC Chairman Sir Michael Lyons drew attention to the risks taken by many journalists in the course of their work.

He said: "The implicit contract, whereby journalists place their lives at risk to help us understand the world and its events better, needs to be reaffirmed.

"At moments like this that sacrifice is properly valued and the loss is widely shared."

The sculpture, entitled Breathing, is by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.

It was specially commissioned and selected as a result of an international competition for the BBC's public art scheme.

The BBC also commissioned a poem to complement the structure by ex-war correspondent and poet, James Fenton.

A year-and-a-half ago, Resolution 1738 was passed by the UN Security Council which demanded an end to attacks on journalists.

The full text of the James Fenton poem is:

We spoke, we chose to speak of war and strife – a task a fine ambition sought – and some might say, who shared our work, our life: that praise was dearly bought.

Drivers, interpreters, these were our friends. These we loved. These we were trusted by. The shocked hand wipes the blood across the lens. The lens looks to the sky.

Most died by mischance. Some seemed honour-bound to take the lonely, peerless track conceiving danger as a testing ground to which they must go back

till the tongue fell silent and they crossed beyond the realm of time and fear. Death waved them through the checkpoint. They were lost. All have their story here.

CBS journalists missing in Basra, Iraq

Two journalists working for the American network CBS are believed to have been abducted in southern Iraq, the BBC reports.

Police and witnesses said they were seized from a hotel in the city of Basra by at least eight gunmen.

CBS released a statement saying the two were missing and that efforts were under way to find them.

The network did not name the journalists and it requested that others refrain from speculating on their identities.

"CBS News has been in touch with their families and asks that their privacy be respected," the statement added.

The journalists were taken from the Sultan Palace Hotel, police and witnesses said.

A member of staff was quoted as saying the gunmen had arrived at the hotel earlier in the day and inquired about who was staying there. They are said to have returned later in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Other reports say the group were masked and carrying machine-guns.

The disappearance of the journalists comes amid continuing concern about the dangers faced by media staff in Iraq. International media watchdogs report dozens of journalists killed each year since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern at the fate of the two.

"Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists and the deadliest conflict for the press in recent history," it said.