GREAT JOURNALISM

The tense standoff at Najaf in Iraq is leading to some strong journalism, despite the fact the Iraqi government has ordered all journalists out of the city.

Here are a few worth checking out.

Scott Baldauf of The Christian Science Monitor filed a report on a trip to the Imam Ali Shrine, which begins:

NAJAF, IRAQ -- Technically speaking, what we were about to do was more than risky. It was foolish. But we told ourselves that it was a risk for a cause.

Thursday, several journalists and I began organizing a delegation to enter the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf.

We had two goals: First, to seek what may be the final comments of the top leadership of Moqtada al-Sadr's Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army, who were taking shelter in the holy site. Second, we wanted to help two colleagues, freelance photographer Thorne Anserson and freelance reporter Philip Robertson, get out of the shrine after they had spent a harrowing three days at the epicenter of this armed showdown.

Phillip Robertson, meanwhile, has been doing great work for Slate Magazine.

(NOTE: The photo accompanying the article is credited to Chris Helgren of Reuters. Chris worked for a number of Lower Mainland newspapers several years ago.)

At the New York Times Web site (registration may be required, there's a video report from the Imam Ali Shrine from Warzer Jaff , an Iraqi employee of The New York Times. It requires RealPlayer and this comes with a bit of a warning: the first time I tried to watch it, it hung my computer.

6:37:54 PM    

FUN WITH PHOTOS

The August edition of The Digital Journalist is up and includes a piece by Alex Jones about covering the Tour de France.

He begins his report:

Three weeks. 3,500 miles. No credentials.

How do you even begin to describe an experience like Le Tour? For 3 weeks I neglected things like sleep, food, reliable power, and personal space to give myself an opportunity to shoot the Tour de France. Each day the caravan and the riders passed in a fleeting moment the spot I had meticulously staked out hours or days before.

Read it all to find out what it takes to set yourself loose on a major event, and be sure to click on the link at the end to have a look at the QuickTime video Jones produced.

And when you're done there, check out some of the other content in this month's issue of The Digital Journalist, including The Girl Who Shot Saddam.

5:56:06 PM    

BLOG CRACKDOWN

To protect its multi-million-dollar broadcast revenues, the International Olympic Committee has by and large cracked down on blogging by athletes and coaches.

According to CNN:

The IOC's rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists -- and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first.

Participants in the games may respond to written questions from reporters or participate in online chat sessions -- akin to a face-to-face or telephone interview -- but they may not post journals or online diaries, blogs in Internet parlance, until the Games end August 29.

To protect lucrative broadcast contracts, athletes and other participants are also prohibited from posting any video, audio or still photos they take themselves, even after the games, unless they get permission ahead of time. (Photos taken by accredited journalists are allowed on the personal sites.)

I doubt anyone is going to be too upset that they don't have access to blogs from athletes at the Olympics (after all, shouldn't these people be training and competing?).

But the fact the IOC fears blogs would interfere with its agreements with big media does show how widespread, popular and powerful a tool blogging has become.

10:22:26 AM