More on Iraq, war, and journalism

A few more things too good to leave out....

The 2006 World Press Photo awards have been announced and the winning photos are displayed on the site. The photo of the year is a view of some (obviously rich) young Lebanese women being driven, in a red convertible, through a bombed-out area of West Beirut. Woh. But there's one even more devastating, an Iraq veteran's wedding photo, winner in the portrait category. So sad I can't bear to look at it.

In the Washington Post, Robert Reilly writes about how the Voice of America's Arab radio service has stopped broadcasting news and substituted pop music: Britney vs. The Terrorists:

This change in format provoked other angry questions: Are Americans playing music because they are afraid to tell the truth? Do they not have a truth to tell? Or do they not consider us worth telling the truth to?

In the Neiman Watchdog, by Dan Froomkin: How the press can prevent another Iraq. Lots of reaction to this one from commenters, who question why the press should have to be told these simple guidelines. Note one commenter, researcher Tish Wells of the McClatchy Washington Bureau (formerly Knight Ridder), wants it put on record that her team did not stint on going behind the press information to report on the lead-up to this war.

While the media ignores the Iraq war as much as possible, Think Progress adds up the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death in comparison, which it calls a 'national media embarassment'.

Missed the protests in Washington weekend before last? Still want to do something? Jennifer Earl reports in the Washington Post all the ways protesters are finding new media for their dissent: Where Have All the Protests Gone? Online.

Also on the war, new Sen. Jim Webb is more and more becoming a fluent voice for the opposition to the war. For the latest example: A time for the Senate to lead.

Here's a new site I hadn't seen before: FixIraq.com, which includes this, updated daily from ICasualties.org:

Oh yeah, and then there's this: Bush's Last Day, where you can buy keychains and other items counting down to 1/20/08 (Oooh, I mean 1/20/09, longer than I thought.....)