An American computer science student called Brian Ledbetter has a fascinating blog at www.snappedshot.com wherehe writes stories which question images presented by the media. Part of the site deals with stories about kidnapped journalists.
The following story, “Peruvian Photgrapher kidnapped!”, about Jaime Razuri, a photographer from french news agency France-Presse, is interesting because it shows some of the obstacles facing a blogger trying to report the news. Firstly, Brain L admits that his stpry is four days old, and he’s trying to catch up. Then he provides a link to a blog which he has asusmed to be the journalist’s blog, but actually turn out to be a site dedicated to the liberation of this particular journalist.
If Brian had been working for a newspaper or TV news medium, he would probably have gotten into trouble for publishing unverified information. However, this example shows how human fallibility can creep into personal blogs, where there is no editor to oversee and question stories handed in by the reporter.
AFP photographer Jaime Razuri has been kidnapped “by unidentified gunmen” in the Palestinian Territories! I’ll have more details as soon as I get them, but for now, here are some pictures of a demonstration calling for his immediate release.
(This shows you how behind I am — The kidnapping occurred 4 days ago, according to wire reports. Still working on catching up, so bear with me, folks!)
From what I can tell, this is Jaime’s blog. I don’t have any translations handy, but I’ll be scouring it shortly. Update: The blog is dedicated to Jaime’s liberation, it is not his. Reading comprehension before coffee = Bad. Reading comprehension en espanol before coffee = Worse.
According to the Palestinian government, which is controlled mostly by Fatah, Mr. Razuri was kidnapped by Hamas. Considering the source, I’ll take that with a grain of salt.
Other bloggers: Not Ready for my Burqa, EuropeHorizon, Joshuapundit, Israelated, Letra Suelta, Power and Control, Yoni the Blogger, Black Dog Brigade, Pajamas Media, Backspin.
Nevertheless Brian covers many interesting stories of kidnapped journalists on his blog. His blog concentrates on photojournalism and provides some particularly dramatic images of the journalists in trouble.
May 20, 2007 at 2:47 am
Leigh,
Thank you VERY much for the kind words! I regret that I don’t always get the story right, but I do try my best, given the information I have… I also do my best to admit where I’m wrong, as you can see in the example you provided above, so at least my editorial corrections don’t get buried at the back of the paper. That, to me, is the biggest difference I see between the blogosphere and the “real” news: We (well, the “royal” we—I’m speaking for myself here, of course) provide full disclosure to our readers, and allow them to see not only the editorial process that we use to put together our material, but also information which may throw some of our theories into dispute. We don’t try to bury our corrections in a place where nobody’s looking—those bloggers who have tried doing so have quickly been outed by such useful tools as the Internet Archive and Google Cache.
In any case, I hope you continue to enjoy Snapped Shot as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you for the positive feedback!
Most Respectfully,
Brian L.