Friday, December 17, 2004

A long story in the current Esquire (unposted) by Sara Solovitch about Jumana Hanna, an Iraqi woman who fooled a lot of people with her fabricated stories of abuse and imprisonment. Hanna's story fell apart when subjected to some good reporting. Solovitch is careful to point out that the lies still bespeak a larger truth about the brutality of Saddam's regime, but the article raises some troubling questions about the disconnectedness of the folks inside the Green Zone from the realities of Iraq. Basic questions were never asked, and people went to jail on Hanna's false word while she got a nice new life in California. What does the Washingon Post have to say for itself and its reporter who wrote the original credulous article on which Hanna's acclaim rested? Solovitch doesn't answer that question. I'd like to know. 1:34:45 PM    comment []

The News & Record is asking for suggestions on ways to "enhance the relationship between the paper (and its Web site) and the community," as Lex Alexander puts it his blog. I done told 'em what I think. Now you can. Lex: "For the longest time, newspapers have been an evolutionary business rather than a revolutionary one. Appropriately, for a city named after a Revolutionary War hero, that trend reverses course right here, right now. Join us." 1:22:59 PM    comment []

Off to test the tender mercies of the air travel system. 8:31:11 AM    comment []

Henry Copeland on lessons learned from a local blog-ad campaign in Atlanta. "The small test wasn't a raging success." Interesting for a couple of reasons: the data from the test, and the fact that the owner of the ad company is reporting on a less-than-triumphant test of his product -- accountability is one of the things that makes this kind of advertising different, and Henry is walking the walk. 7:24:25 AM    comment []

Juan Cole: "From the moment that George W. Bush decided to overthrow Saddam and hold democratic elections, he ensured that Shiites would dominate Baghdad, and that Baghdad and Tehran would enjoy relatively warm relations." 7:21:18 AM    comment []

N&R obit for Jessica. 7:18:30 AM    comment []