Lara Logan’s Plea From Baghdad

laralogan.jpgCBS News’ Baghdad Correspondent Lara Logan recently sent out an e-mail pleading for friends and colleagues to push CBS to air her “Battle of Haifa Street” report on any of their news programs. They have thus far agreed only to post the video on their Web site. Watch it here and you’ll see why they’re hesitant to broadcast it. The 2-minute clip closes with a soundbyte of an Iraqi citizens’ experience with American troops that may be just too balanced and accurate for today’s U.S. media: “They told us they would bring democracy, they promised life would be better than it was under Saddam. But they brought us nothing but death and killing. They brought mass destruction to Baghdad.” The text of Logan’s e-mail is below:

From: lara logan
Subject: help

The story below only appeared on our CBS website and was not aired on CBS. It is a story that is largely being ignored, even though this istakingplace verysingle day in central Baghdad, two blocks from where our office is located.

Our crew had to be pulled out because we got a call saying they were about to be killed, and on their way out, a civilian man was shot dead in front of them as they ran.

I would be very grateful if any of you have a chance to watch this story and pass the link on to as many people you know as possible. It should be seen. And people should know about this.

If anyone has time to send a comment to CBS – about the story – not about my request, then that would help highlight that people are interested and this is not too gruesome to air, but rather too important to ignore.

Many, many thanks.

Redesigns, Big Hits and News Bits

Without warning, I was forced to select a new design and mold it to my liking today after upgrading from WordPress 2.0.7 to the new and improved WordPress 2.1 (for the record, I was using 2cDarkGrey1.1 from GFX, slightly modified. You’re now looking at an altered Andreas Viklund template).

This is hardly an inconvenience as I’ve been waiting for a kick in the ass to lighten up the dark background here at netZoo. The BEST feature about WordPress 2.1 — posts are auto-saved… I can’t tell you how many times I’d mistakenly close the tab I was posting in, or open a new window, only to find the post that I was working on entirely unrecoverable. Thanks Matt and the WordPress team!

I’m rather excited about a few upcoming releases — 2007 really may turn out to be the best new music year ever, before Q1 is even out. And, once again, NYT is reporting the imminent demise of DRM-protected music (“…in the next two to five years,” says Real’s Rob Glaser).

Here’s a glance at some of the brilliant record drops for Tuesday, January 23, 2007, with some audio samples provided for your educational use only.

The Broken West — I Can’t Go on I’ll Go on (Merge)
listen to “Down in the Valley

Clinic — Visitations (Domino)

Deerhoof — Friend Opportunity
listen to +81

Julie Doiron — Woke Myself Up
listen to You Look So Alive

The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Listen to Kingdom of Doom

Menomena — Friend & Foe
Listen to Wet and Rusting

Of Montreal — Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer
Listen to Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider

The Shins — Wincing the Night Away
Six Parts Seven — Casually Smashed to Pieces

Continue reading “Redesigns, Big Hits and News Bits”

CJR: Give it Up Already, TribCo

An unsigned editorial in the Columbia Journalism Review declares that the Tribune has to pull out of the newspaper business entirely — in addition to relinquishing ownership of the LA Times ASAP.

Meanwhile, I got a voicemail today from an LAT subscriptions-bot saying that my Fri-Sun subscription (which costs $1.25/wk — offer is here) will now include Thursdays at no additional cost. Any chance I can donate these free papers to ensure the job security of my favorite columnists that have not yet been laid off?

The CJR article is here. Kevin Roderick summarizes and points to additional links at LAObserved here. A thoughtful post at labrainterrain on the depressing state o’ the Times. Also, Mack at LAVoice.

la times flickr photo by debaird
photo from debaird’s flickr.

NYT Online Props Cash In … New L.A. Homeless Map

“The New York Times Co. said on Tuesday that it expects its Internet-related businesses to generate about $270 million in revenue in 2006” according to Reuters

The figure accounts for all NYTco owned Internet properties, including about.com. Online revenues may grow an additional 30 percent in 2007.

I think a handful of newspapers will see some hefty returns on their online properties next year if they go with the flow. (Also, great article in the Times — “Blogs and Jazz,” lots of links!

LA’s Downtown News, the underrated weekly with the killer map of downtown as well as a new MetroMix-y what’s happenin site teamed up with Cartifact for another great downtown mashup — the L.A. Homeless Map.

BlogBurst now offers topic-based widgets for inclusion on their online newspaper partner sites. I still haven’t seen any action from the service despite being an original content provider.