I am a journalist. It’s what I do, it’s what I am. That’s about to change.

I am a journalist. It’s what I do, it’s what I am. Probably the most defining thing of who you are is what you do. In my case, that has been linked to several things in the past decade, all converging into journalism. That’s about to change.

It’s difficult to change course. Yet sometimes you feel you have reached a wall and you need to go the other way. That’s not only how I feel now but also how I’ve felt for the last couple of years. It is the reason why I am embarking into this new career as a paramedic.

It’s really recent in my memory but this August marks the 10^th anniversary of the date I consider my baptism into journalism. Back in 2004, ten years ago, still in my second year in college, I was fed up with no getting responses from anyone to work, not even as an intern –apparently it was a requisite to be in the final two years of your studies. So I said “fuck this” and did the same that many journalists before me had done: pack my bags, grab my camera and head into somewhere newsworthy: Palestine.

From that trip, I brought back my first published story, lots of photos, a broken camera (I blame Ben Gurion guards) and many friends, stories and contacts. Later would come Bosnia, Iraq, Syria or Egypt. In between, in order to pay the bills I had to work on anything I could. I tried to keep it related to communications, so I wouldn’t miss the train: business intelligence, corporate communications, analyst, blogger, social media consultancy gigs…

But the truth is that the freelance lifestyle never took off. I blame myself. Maybe it’s that I’m not good enough. Or it could be something else. I am a disaster as a commercial agent, have zero selling skills and although I enjoy getting into, and telling the story, the whole process of selling it was extremely tiring. I’m useless at it. In a market dominated by freelancers, that’s bad.

It didn’t help being in an industry that pays barely livable fares per job and where some people even expect you to work for nothing. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills. Without a decent pay, journalism mutates from the most beautiful job in the world to the most beautiful hobby in the world.

Neither did help that I probably never recovered from the psychological hit that was having to witness as a mere TV spectator, from New Zealand, the Arab Spring. The Middle East had been my specialty since even before I started and in their most defining moment I was trapped in the other side of the world. It was a huge blow, a hard pill to swallow. Sat in my apartment of Auckland, I think, I missed the train completely.

Despite it, I didn’t despair. I was decided to find my place. I tried then London, which paid decent wages and there was work. But it didn’t work. Somehow, something was missing. The photocalls with famous people didn’t fulfill me.

I got into journalism with the idea of contributing to create a better world, like many others. But unlike them, I have kept that goal since then. The reality, however, is that I can’t do much. For all the stories of bad border crossings that I have, I also have stories of people thanking me for being there, thinking that my camera or my pen will awake minds in Brussels or Washington to stop a genocide or help them combat an invisible foe.

That’s bullshit. We really can’t do shit.

I might get an article published on the tragedy of the Kurds, or a picture of a kid in the rubble in Gaza on the front page, but even if it’s seen or read or heard it’ll be forgotten under the latest Kardashian appearance or Ronaldo’s volley goal in the last game. You and everyone else will read it and go on with your life. And that’s ok. I get it. Only that those in the news departments shouldn’t think like that, but they do.

And then it’s when people I followed or I had met started to fall. It wasn’t the first time that it had happened. But somehow this time, and thanks to the effect of social media, it punched closer to me. It was different than reading of the deaths of the reporters of the past. These guys had given me tips, we had shared a beer or we had run together for cover.

Jim’s death last week is just the last straw of two years of being in a really uncomfortable place, wishing for the happy ending of a kidnap of a colleague or lamenting the death of others. Could have it been me instead of Ricard or Jim or Azem had I stayed in the course I was on until 2011? More than 270 journalists have died in the last two years alone.

All that for nothing. People in general don’t care about such boring things as politics and the deaths of others far away. Although many people approached me after Jim’s death to express their condolences, there’s one friend that after asking me “Who is that Jim?” and me explaining him everything, he just said: “Oh, ok; weird stuff”. Even worse, after Jim’s death I have had to see not only some media trying to make it into a circus but also conspiracy theorists insulting the memory of someone they never met for the sake of their stupid cause.

All that made me rethink my priorities. A lot has changed since I started. I have changed too. When I walked between the rubble in Nablus and met Yasser Arafat in Ramallah back in 2004, I was enjoying the single life. Now I have a stable relationship with a wonderful woman with whom I talk constantly about our future together. I think with two people (or more) in mind now, not just me. Considering that, is it fair for me to risk my life for a misery of a salary in a job that has almost no real repercussions empowering people?

I probably could keep doing it if it paid well. Or if it wasn’t so risky. Or if it was worth it and really helped people. But journalism today doesn’t click any of those boxes. Even worse, I think journalism is dying as we know it. A few selected ones will prevail while most will be forced to find greener pastures in other jobs. And don’t get me wrong, there’s a plethora of excellent journos that will survive; but I’m not in that group. Still, I could keep trying if my personal circumstances were different. But my priorities have shifted now.

This is why I’m starting a new career and trying to become a paramedic. It still has the stress, long hours and risk of journalism, even some of the ingratitude and impotence against certain situations. But it’s worthy, you help people and you have an immediate effect on their life. Especially that fact, that you do change the life of someone, you can literally save them. It also lets me go back to my girlfriend and a hypothetical future family every day after the shift. And it has a better future while being decently paid.

Yet I know I’ll never be able to leave journalism completely behind. It’s just a big part of me. I’ll come back to this blog and the Facebook page from time to time. This is a bittersweet failure, one that has made me the man I am today and that has given me so much, but at the same time one that has also led me to this situation. I regard in high esteem and appreciation the colleagues I’ve met that keep doing a great job against all odds and I hope they continue to do the job they are doing. They’ll find a way to make it matter, I am sure of that.

I do know that this new life as a paramedic will probably be a better fit for me in my present and future situation. To the despair of my girlfriend, I don’t rule out going back into a conflict zone or disaster area when I graduate, but this time in a humanitarian role, closer to the stories of those I listened to for ten years and, this time yes, being able of helping them in a direct way.

It’s been a great ride. But it’s time to change.

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Boston conspiracies or the triumph of human stupidity

Sooner or later it always happens. After any tragedy -or feat- created by man there is always a group of people waiting to jump to talk about conspiracies. It happened and happens whether with 9-11 or the Moon landing. The Boston bombings weren’t going to be less and in the Internet age, just in a week we have all kind of theories.

Personally, I am very skeptical of the skeptics. For others, it is easier to see conspiracies.

A website has compiled “evidence” that, according to the author, shows that everything that happened in Boston was orchestrated. There are some that are based on physical similarities, such as arguing that Jeff Bauman is actually a double amputee Iraq veteran named Nick Vogt. However, beyond a certain physical resemblance, they are two clearly different individuals.

Others say that the Chechen eldest brother was alive when arrested. As proof, they show a video posted online in which they say the naked person being escorted by police is the oldest of the Tsarnaev.

This however conflicts with the testimony of dozens of neighbors. And a very obvious fact: Tamerlan Tsarnaev had a hairy chest (seen both in old photos and in post-mortem pics distributed by the police), while the guy in the video is shaved.

Other theory suggests that a private security company (Craft International) is the one that planted the backpack-bombs. Some even claim that the same three individuals of that company who were in Boston were also in Sandy Hook after the shooting that killed several children and adults in a local school.

If so, these three men would be doing a lot of overtime. It is hard to believe that a security firm has only three men in charge of doing all the dirty work of conspiracies.

On the other hand, is not so hard to believe that just as in the case of Bauman-Vogt it is just a physical resemblance. Nor is it hard to believe that in the birthplace of capitalism it is normal to hire external companies to do the work of the police and take over part of the security of a public event.

Quite another thing is to think that there are private security companies that want to cash in the misfortune of others. That's not a conspiracy; it's as real as life itself. Vultures are everywhere, but taking advantage of disasters does not mean they want to nor have the ability to provoke them.

There are many more theories. Like the one that puts a wounded Saudi citizen as a terrorist involved in the attack who spoke to Michelle Obama at the hospital, implying it was all a Government plot and a false flag attack.

Conspiracists forget to mention that the First Lady also visited many more people wounded in the attack in the same hospital as part of a visit by the President and her. Maybe the President and the First Lady visiting wounded people in a terrorist attack seems like a weird thing to these conspiracists too.

But even if we accept for a moment that any of the theories raised could be plausible –which they aren’t-, to do this for the simple fact of doing it, for fun, would make no sense. The question to ask is not who, but why. The motive behind the actions is what gives us more information about an event in itself.

Who wins here? Not the Obama administration, for starters. The bombers didn’t use assault weapons but handmade devices, which does not serve to promote legislation for gun control as the U.S. government wants to do.

It has not been either an enemy country behind the attack, no matter how Muslims are the Chechens. In fact, in the past Chechnya has been a great tool to poke Russia and Putin in the eye, for their violent handling of the problem. Russia has told many times America to mind their own business and let them take care of their “internal affairs” alone.

It makes no sense to organize this now and be forced to agree with Russia that the Chechens are terrorists, nor is viable an invasion in Chechnya (Russian territory).

In the end, many of the conspiracy theorists, and many of those who jump on the bandwagon with them, are the same who commit serious blunders in other matters. From using the attack to defend their personal causes (such as the possession of firearms or the legality of torture of detainees) to order the stupid idea of an invasion of the Czech Republic (which forced the Czech ambassador to issue a statement reporting that Chechnya and the Czech Republic are in fact two different entities and geographically separated).

The youngest of the brothers, now that he has begun to talk, will certainly further clarify things.

Meanwhile, I personally find the tinfoil hatters have a vast the imagination. But in the end, in these cases it is best to apply Occam's razor: the correct solution is the simplest. In this case probably the brothers Tsarnaev were lone wolves acting alone.

A possibility, by the way, that should be even more frightening. In a more or less organized group, even if it is based on cells, it is easier to control what will happen. If we are fighting lone wolves that can act independently and at any time, everything gets much more unpredictable and dangerous.

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War like a videogame

GoPro cameras have found a place in Syria too. The results, however, are kind of surrealist. It almost transforms the video below in a picture taken out of a videogame. Something that, on the other hand, it wouldn't be that weird in a conflict that has seen a homemade tank controlled by a Playstation gamepad or a remote-controlled rifle operated from a laptop.

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Friendly fire 07/12/09

- The risks of citizen and amateur journalists in war areas.

- Airbus A400M to take off. Finally.

- India concerned over China, Pakistan military "nexus".

- Israel's pro-settlement soldiers worry leaders.

- So, where the hell is bin Laden?


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Say "cheeeese"!

This past September, when nearly all the world’s leaders were in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Platon, a staff photographer for the New Yorker, set up a tiny studio off the floor of the General Assembly, and tried to hustle as many of them in front of his lens as possible. The project involved months of work. While immersed on it, some as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fell on the main rule that rulers have asked their photographers and painters for centuries: “Make me look good”.

Results finally are here. I don’t know if Mr. Netanyahu will be pleased with his picture, but there are indeed a few interesting points in the poster. Like for example, seeing together Gordon Brown (UK) and Brian Cowen (Ireland), who look like brothers. And in fact, even their political careers are very similar: both are in a shaky chair after substituting a troubled former leader, and coming from managing the Economics portfolio.

Standing with Cowen, just below is the Czech president Václav Klaus. Surprisingly, it’s not the only time the Czech has been behind Cowen; he signed the Lisbon Treaty -introduced the past Tuesday- only after Ireland passed it. The third one in the mess of Lisbon, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, is also around close to them.

But that’s not the only funny relationship. Ahmadinejad (Iran) and Chávez (Venezuela) are really close too. The same as Netanyahu (Israel), who is on the right of Obama (USA); left for us seeing the poster. Of course, Berlusconi is in the area where all the women in the collage are. Odinga (Kenya) on the other hand, is more reluctant of Kagame (Rwanda), who he observes with caution. And finally, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain) only needs a beret with a red star on his head to look like ‘Che’ Guevara.

The original poster with more info, here.



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1983

 
Thanks to the blog Checkpoint Jerusalem, this week I discovered the short movie “1983”. The plot goes around what would happen if before getting into a movie you should pass a security check as those from Ben Gurion international airport. When the reporter Dion Nissenbaum asked the director why the title was “1983”, he answered: “What comes after 1983?” The short movie’s action itself, I’m sure it will be familiar to anyone who has gone through one of these random checkpoints.

Because, let’s face it, Ben Gurion controls are desperating. I remember the case of an old Russian Jew who left Israel swearing to me he will never come back again via the airport. I know as well cases of people being interrogated for hours -and consequently, losing their flights- and going through latex-gloved searches naked in separated rooms. It’s so bad that in the hotels they recommend you to give yourself a reasonable margin of hours in the airport before the flight is scheduled.

For journalists it is even worse. In my last visit to Ben Gurion airport, a French freelance photographer who was about five spaces behind me got suddenly surrounded by five security guards that started to ask him every kind of questions. His Press-labeled jacket and his cameras didn’t help him to pass unnoticed.

It’s obvious that journalists are screened harder because of our job. And trying to get unnoticed not always works. Searches for residual explosives in the clothes or the questions about if we know any Palestinian or we have travelled to other countries in the region are common. That’s why it’s not good to have your Nablus, Jenin or Ramallah sources in your agenda or your phone. Also, the trip from the security check to the plane is usually made with an -unwanted- escort.

Luckily, sometimes it gives you the chance to have a good time.

Once, in the baggage control check, my cover as tourist got blast. The beautiful girl examining my backpack didn’t believe me when she saw my cameras, lenses, laptop and all kind of notebooks with notes. Instantly she made me take all my things out of the backpack and the suitcase. All of it. Even what was on my clothes' pockets ended over the table.

When she reached the lateral pocket of my backpack, and started to put everything over the table, the fun started. Several condoms, almost a full pack -I hadn’t time to use as many as I wanted-, started to come out. As they were coming out, the girl’s face was turning more and more red and she was saying lower and lower her shameful “I’m sorries”. Of course, all that was provoking a more and more wider joker smile on me. With more shame on her side than on mine, the screening ended up much sooner than expected, putting as fast as she could everything back in my suitcase.

I was lucky, but it’s not always like that. The official reason for the screenings is that it is for our own security. Like to avoid any bad guy putting a tic-tac bomb inside the souvenir we got from Hebron or Bethlehem. But all the process is less than charming. And after a few similar experiences, you start to question yourself if it ever works.

In fact, as Dion Nissenbaum tells, is difficult to believe Ben Gurion controls are for security reasons only. You start to think if they are not to harass the travelers -especially Arabs or journalists, among others. Or even worse; just a way to gather intelligence.

1983 from Modi on Vimeo.

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The decade in 7 minutes

From now on, we will start to see lots of videos like this one. A summary of the decade; the ten first years of the 21st century... All will be more or less the same. Here is the first one, made by Newsweek:



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Obama superstar

Like if anything else was necessary to elevate Obama to the heavens, now he has been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. The coronation of his Highness Obama has had more to do with the canonization of a (laic) saint than with the recognition to his achievements. That’s why everybody is asking why. And why now.

Because let’s face it. Obama may have promised a new world, but little of that has been unveiled for now. The White House has done small gestures to break with their precedent. It has been, for example, the first time the US has condemned a coup de état made by the right and the army in Latin America. Also, tortures and Guantanamo issues are slowly getting better. But as for the rest, all we have are just promises. The general opinion is that the committee in Oslo has decided it betting for his future achievements. But how easy will he get it?

Obama has promised a cut in the nukes, and this is probably the easiest task of all. The Russians are willing to do it, especially because they have already problems to maintain their current stock. But a hypothetical reduction of the two superpowers arsenals wouldn’t have an immediate effect on the world’s stability, quite the contrary: everything would be the same, with more countries like China, closer to equalize the power of Russia and the USA.

The American president has also promised too a new era for the Middle East, but so far the achievements are minimum. His speeches were great, no doubt to that. But far from freezing the settlement construction in the West Bank, he might have to counter a peak in the hostilities. The increasing clashes in Jerusalem plus the outrage after PA’s decision to postpone the vote on Goldstone report -suspectedly in exchange for a permit to Wattaniya mobile operator to start in business- have made the situation way worse than what it was in 2008. Some Israeli media are even predicting a new Intifada.

But the biggest problem for Obama will be Afghanistan. Leaving already Iraq, the now known as the “Obama war” will take yet too much blood and sweat from the ISFOR to develop results. And that outcome will be most likely what will measure Obama’s performance in office back in History. But for now, he has nothing.

His speech writer, however, should have been awarded with the Literature Nobel Prize.

Barack Obama
Photo: Jonas Karlsson

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Red rules

A compilation of newspapers' frontpages of the day after the big day in China. Red rules. Via GuerraEterna, via Danwei.




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Inside Obama's war

We had already seen the Britons in action in Afghanistan. Now it’s time for the Marines. And for Obama’s worst nightmare: finally, he’s got a war on his own. Afghanistan is, finally, Obama’s war.




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Irish posters (Lisbon version)

We already knew about Irish predilection for weird posters. These elections weren’t going to be different, and Coir has taken to the streets a whole bunch of colourful lies in posters. Sometimes, it’s difficult to distinguish them from the fake ones. Guess which ones are fake from these:










Solution
Fake: no. 1, 4, 5 and 7.
Real: no. 2, 3 and 6

In the Yes side there is some creativity too. Here is the poster Generation Yes organization -mostly formed by college graduates- has outside the Tripod club:





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Fun index

Who said economy has to be boring? That guy hadn't seen, for sure, this app from Puma. A good way to cheer up when everything goes down. There is a different version for each of the main indexes. Via YesButNoButYes.



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Photoshots

Last week's meeting of President Obama with the world leaders in the Met in New York has gifted with some photos. Quite a lot, as everyone wanted to be on the photo with the coolest kid in the block and his wife. Sometimes it is just a reminder on how international politics are made.

Like this photo with Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the President of Ecuatorial Guinea. If you have oil, it doesn't matter how many human rights you don't respect.


Of course some of them are just hilarious. Like this one from the President of the Republic of The Gambia. Anyone can tell me what that guy has on his hands?

Others were such good photoshop material that had to be removed from the library. Like the one from President of Spain, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero and family. Don't look for it in the general index; it was already removed:

While Zapatero's family might be frightening, other's families you'll love to invite to your house. Specially the daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. I want to believe she is over 18:

By the way, if all those guys had just made a couple of shots with two statues resembling the Obamas, no-one had noticed the difference. Both Michelle and Barack look almost the same in all the shots.

And having such tall hosts like the Obamas, it's funny how some guests appear really small. Like the President of the Republic of Nauru:

Or the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, who tries to hide the height difference with a hat (epic fail):

Of course, there is the opposite situation with the big Emir of the State of Qatar. In that jacket, can fit at least two Obamas.


Who said politics is boring?

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Together or separated?

One of the last ads from Israeli cellphone operator Cellcom shows a few IDF soldiers playing soccer resides the wall in the West Bank. The balls isn’t theirs, but from the other side. Some Palestinian(s) throw it over the wall, the Israelis throw it back and a small game starts among the two sides.

This is the ad:



A Facebook group is already asking to pull out the commercial. They argue it is racist. Sincerely, it can be accused of many things -first of all, for not being careful with sensibilities- but not of racism.

Cellcom’s business is tending -communication- bridges among the people. Both Palestinians and Israelis, because its network covers all the region. If in Hamas’ HQ in Gaza, or in the Knesset in Jerusalem, ones and the others were doing the same, we should be now talking about the shameful wall mirror of the one in Berlin.

There is a clear statement in the commercial:

"After all, what are we all after? Just a little fun."

I wish that were true. We wouldn’t be arguing now if it was.


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Less #iranelection, why?

When you don’t have eyes to see what happens somewhere, you try to guess what’s going on by observing the outcome. After more than two weeks of unrest from the opposition in Iran, tweets and online info is declining now.

For the past few weeks, the trend #iranelection in Twitter only backed down after Michael Jackson’s death and after the shocking victory of the USA soccer team over Spain, world’s top ranked team. Now, however, is way down in the list.

According to the CNN, the arrests and the repression is a key player in the decrease of cyber-activity from Iran opposition. Well, it may be, but I think there is another factor more important than that into the equation.

As I have stated here before, long after the CNN, the BBC and the Western media leave their attention for Iran behind, in the Persian country still will be mourning for Neda and the opposition. But not now.

The reason is the 40 days of duel that states Islamic faith. For the duration of that month, few won’t be aware of the outrage. With the dimension of the repression, the dozens of deaths and the detentions still going on, the cycle is just refuelling to fire back later.

Another goal to the CNN from Internet and Jon Stewart? Maybe.




All posts on the Iran Presidential Elections 2009 published in Worldwide, here.

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Jong-il strikes back

It seems like if Kim Jong-il North Korea was determined to appear on the frontpage of worldwide newspapers everyday. In the last two weeks, we have had news from Korea in three different fronts.

Probably the less worrying is the concerning to the leader succession. Continuous rumors about Jong-il’s health problems have leakened to the press for years, in a way similar to what happened to Castro. But still, very few is known about this issue.

Many sources identify Jong-il’s youngest son as the most plausible successor of his father. Kim Jong-un was, apparently, finally desinged as that after last nuclear tests. But even that is unclear even after a week.

Not much more is known about Jong-un himself. He is around 25 years old and educated in Switzerland. That and a photo of him when he was 11 years old is everything known about him. His older brother, however, is well known. But he doesn’t represent any threat. Not interested in politics, the older son of Jong-il prefers the casinos of Macau to his homeland.

Last week also were on the frontpages around the world the news about two American journalists arrested in the border with China and condemned to 12 years of forced works. Accused of espionage, they will be “re-educated” in a labor camp. But according with what is known about North Korean labor camps, it won’t be pleasant.

The bad taste joke that plays destiny with the US is that re-education methods used in these camps are the same used in Guantanamo (in fact, the ERE survival guides which are the basis for Guantanamo tortures were written after the experiences with the Koreans and Vietnamese) So, if Guantanamo’s methods are not torture, the US won’t be able to claim tortures on the two journos.

But clearly, the biggest issue has been the military escalade. It all started with North Korea’s missile. After the missile came a nuke test. And they may be more on the way, despite the warnings and sanctions from the UN.

The USA has already responded deploying troops and exercising with the South Koreans at the south of the DMZ. The DPRK gave back the ball chasing South Korean vessels and entering into SK national waters. This maritime tension continues growing up to today and there are worries about an attempt to launch a naval clash from the north. It is especially suspicious not the fact of North Korean vessels patrolling the area, but the ausence of movements from the Chinese fishing fleet.

Then Clinton warned Pyongyang with including it again in the list of terrorist states if they continue that way. Meanwhile, plans to face a possible ground invasion from the north of the 38 parallel were taking place.

Jong-il’s regime threatened then with a nuke total offensive and a “merciless attack”. But according to Gates, they wouldn’t be able to do so and the US may abort that attack immediately. Japan is on alert too and recently the American Senate opened the gate for the Raptor exports. Another reason for Jong-il to think twice before attacking.

However, the most plausible scenario is just a few more up toned words, maybe another nuclear test to provoke from Pyongyang and more sanctions from the UN. And then, back to every day’s game. Although some people in Washington are already theorizing about a postapocaliptic aftermath to the second Korea war, many more argue it will be highly improbable for that to happen. Thank God, because this was starting to be a bit worrying after Ahmadinejad’s victory.



Photo: DMZ / The Guardian - AP


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Please, kill my colleagues (Journo's dixit)

OK, let’s face it. Some individuals are just idiots. Stupid people who can’t do anything to avoid it. They were born like that: idiots. Fanatism only emphasizes that quality, the stupidity. And if they have a pulpit to widespread their stupidity even more, they don’t hesitate using it, because they are stupids.

Last example of this is Ralph Peters. Neocon, ex-soldier and journalist for the New York Post and Fox News. In one of his latest works in The Journal of International Security Affairs, Peters suggests that the American Army should consider targeting the war correspondents if they don’t bend to the official guidelines. The emphasis is mine:

Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media. Perceiving themselves as superior beings, journalists have positioned themselves as protected-species combatants. But freedom of the press stops when its abuse kills our soldiers and strengthens our enemies.

It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last one right-wingers Americans ask for the elimination of those dangerous journos. They always have had violence up to hand, whatever it was to shot down photographers or unpleasant abortist doctors -although Tilles is not the only one. At the beginning of the year, Joe the Plumber, that guy who become famous by not being a plumber but campaigning for McCain-Palin, asked for a news blackout in Israel. But at least, he didn’t want to shot down his colleagues.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem to be necessary to shot down the journalists in war zones. David Axe, a war reporter on his own, back-arguments Peters smartly. But even without going so far, there is already something way more effective going on to censorship information and the journalists: make it impossible to them to live from journalism. If the media continues lowering reporters’ salaries, work conditions, safety and making them junk contracts, too few will follow the path. Too many tears, too few laughs.

If it wasn’t because journalism is a drug, many of us would have already given up. It’s much easier to live serving cocktails. The salary is crap, the hours kill you, you are most likely being exploited and you get to know a lot of drunken people and gorgeous women. Just like journalism, but at least behind a bar you don’t have to dodge bullets.



PS. Mr. Peters, there are better ways to climb up positions within your media company than killing your colleagues. In fact, I think right now many of your colleagues are (I’d say, all of us in journalism are) quite mad at you. But don’t worry; we are educated and civilized. We won’t suggest someone to send you to a war zone to be killed.

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Friendly fire 17/05/09

- Fighting the Taliban in shorts. Kudos to David for the link. On other terms, the oldest casualty in Iraq is a Vietnam veteran.

- The economic crisis through Google Earth eyes.

- Zombie ants. No, it isn’t next horror blockbuster title; it is something real.

- Iran frees American journalist, who flies home. She wasn’t in jail enough to get a place inside the Time 100 most influential people of the world in 2009.

- Wars simplified to a fool-proof mathematical formula. It’s a pity that for now is everything but accurate.


EXTRA: A military analysis on Star Trek.



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World leaders' summit... in Facebook!

Does anyone not know Facebook? For those living out of this galaxy, Facebook is a social network on the Internet. And everybody is there. Your friends, your exs, your school friends, the dog of the Quinns... Even Worldwide is there (and if you still don't follow us there, click here)

But, do you know who else is on Facebook? World leaders (click here to enlarge image).




Kudos to Jehad for the image.

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Presidential Nip-Tucking

Spot the seven mistakes in this photo:



Well, actually they are less than seven, but the most important is on Obama. On his pecs, to be precise. As the own Washingtonian magazine admits, the graphic team played with Photoshop over the Presidential musculature.

If we compare the photo with the original, taken by Bauer-Griffin, the Washingtonian kids changed the color of the pants, his skin tone and the volume of his pecs.

This isn’t, however, strange to politicians. They use Photoshop in every campaign they do. But some magazines also use it on them and that’s seen with less permissivity. It is highly remembered the scandal in France after Paris-Match Nip-Tucked the presidential body of Nicolas Sarkozy to make him slimmer.

The one who didn’t have to make use of Photoshop (or at least is unknown if he did) was Vladimir Putin. It’s a pity the photos look like just out of a Russian bride/groom-by-mail catalogue.


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