This is the archive blog of Journoz.Com, the Guide to Internet Information Sources for Ethical Australian Journalists. To view the main website, click here:
Archive:
December 02, 2004
The bad guys
You can find
brief profiles of terrorist groups from around the world at this site from the US Naval Postgraduate School's Library (
http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/tgpndx.htm). Groups include Al-Qaida, Jemaah Islamiya, and others.
Posted by belinda at
04:07 PM
|
Comments (0)
October 15, 2004
Know your enemy
The
Terrorism Knowledge Base is a look-up tool for groups, regions, countries, incidents, legal cases and documentation. Find it at
http://www.tkb.org/. You can use the map to find regions or you can search for groups by name, e.g. Abu Sayyaf, al Qaeda. Groups that are linked to what you searched for are also made available in the results.
Posted by belinda at
11:01 AM
|
Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
As it was
Anyone wanting to see
front pages chronicling the
September 11 attacks can find them at the
Screenshot Archive of Online News Sites: September 11, 2001. The site includes more than 250 news and other Web sites from September 11, 12, and 13, 2001. You can browse by publication or by country of origin.
Posted by belinda at
12:41 PM
|
Comments (0)
May 06, 2004
Prisoner abuse in Iraq
MSNBC has put up the
full text of the report prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba on
alleged abuse of prisoners by members of the 800th Military Police Brigade at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. Find it at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894001/. The site disclaimer says :
The report includes graphic descriptions of events some readers may find objectionable.
Posted by belinda at
12:44 PM
|
Comments (0)
May 04, 2004
Iraq body counts
Cable broadcaster CNN has a site about the
numbers of coalition deaths in Iraq at
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/. It lists confirmed deaths in the Iraq war and the ongoing occupation. Each entry includes the name, age, unit, home town, details of death, and some entries include photographs. Another site for this kind of information is
www.iraqbodycount.net/, which aims to provide an update of reported civilian deaths in the Iraq war and occupation. It includes an incident-by-incident database. It was compiled by a number of mainly UK-based academics and others working for peace.
Posted by belinda at
11:31 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 12, 2004
Could we give any more?
Forget poor intelligence or mistaken judgments about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, says
Derek Woolner, a Visiting Fellow at the University of NSW at ADFA. That's not the issue -
ANZUS is. He asks:
How much sovereignty are Australians prepared to give up to stay on good terms with the United States? Good question. Read his words at
http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/2004/03/00622.shtml.
Posted by belinda at
02:27 PM
|
Comments (0)
November 21, 2003
Casualties of war?
Literature now coming forward on journalists and trauma shows that some journalists experience symptoms of
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of covering disaster and traumatic stories. However, a vast majority don’t. Psychologist
Cait McMahon is conducting a
survey which journalists are encouraged to respond to. The survey, and other background, on the project, can be found at
http://www.journotrauma.cjb.net/. The study aims to establish what is the best way of enhancing the psychological wellbeing of journalists. The study will examine -
- Post traumatic growth (a positive response to trauma)
- Post traumatic stress (a negative response to trauma)
- Depression, anxiety, anger and dissociation as potential responses to covering trauma related stories
- Personality traits
If you can assist, please complete the (anonymous) survey.
Posted by belinda at
11:26 AM
|
Comments (0)
November 12, 2003
Who are the bad guys?
The US
Congressional Research Service has produced a document on
foreign terrorist organisations - what they call FTOs for short. Find out who they think the baddies are at
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/25996.pdf. According to the document, the list "
publicly stigmatizes groups and provides a clear focal point for interagency cooperation on terrorist sanctions; however, some argue that it is inflexible and misleading, since groups that are not on the list are still often subject to U.S. sanctions." Also, once they make the list, groups stay on it for two years, regardless of activity.
Posted by belinda at
04:01 PM
|
Comments (0)
July 01, 2003
A pretty penny
They had a war and now they have to pay for it.
The Cost of the War in Iraq contains "a running total of the amount of money spent by the U.S. Government to finance the war in Iraq."
$69 billion, and it ain't over yet since the troops are still there. The figures are "based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office," and may differ from those compiled by the US Department of Defense. The report includes an explanation of how the calculations were worked out, and shows what could have been achieved had the money been spent instead on education, children's health, affordable housing, and energy alternatives. Read the whole thing at
http://www.costofwar.com/.
Posted by belinda at
10:26 AM
|
Comments (0)
June 10, 2003
Conflict directory
A new directory is always a handy tool for journos needing new contacts. The
Directory of Organizations for Conflict Prevention in Asia and the Pacific is an online source list of NGOs, United Nations' organisations, intra-governmental bodies and other international bodies involved in
conflict prevention in Asia and the Pacific. It's at
http://www.conflict-prevention.org/.
Posted by belinda at
10:02 AM
|
Comments (0)
June 04, 2003
Still there ...
The
US Congressional Research Service has looked into the question of whether
Al Qaeda is still up and running. The paper, "
Al Qaeda after the Iraq Conflict", is available online at
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/21191.pdf and concludes that "
for the time being it seems that Al Qaeda (or its successors) has emerged from a period of inactivity and remains a very serious threat, requiring concentrated attention and vigorous countermeasures on the part of its prospective targets."
Posted by belinda at
02:48 PM
|
Comments (0)
April 28, 2003
War dead
Associated Press has a freebie database on armed forces' war dead in the Iraq conflict. The basic search at
http://fmmac2.mm.ap.org/war2/search.php is just that - basic; the
Advanced Search offers a lot more options such as searching by cause of death, such as Friendly Fire, by name or by location. All casualties listed are from coalition forces - there is no information on civilian casualties. You can also use the database to search for Freed POWs or soldiers listed as missing.
Posted by journoz at
12:06 PM
|
Comments (0)
April 14, 2003
Unlikely media star?
Iraq's Information Minister
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has become an Internet darling and now has a fan site at
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/. One of the quotes from the site explains his appeal: "In an age of spin, al-Sahaf offers feeling and authenticity ... His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources."
Posted by journoz at
09:46 AM
|
Comments (0)
April 09, 2003
Alternative views
A Canadian librarian has created
Iraq 2003: Sources of News to link people to alternative sources of news on the Iraq war. These include weblogs, alternative newspapers and online sources, anti-war organisations and campaigns. There are also links to mainstream media, weblogs and diaries from embedded journalists, think tanks and research groups. Find the page at
http://cronus.uwindsor.ca/units/leddy/2002.nsf/HelpSubjectGuidesIraq2003.
Posted by journoz at
08:50 AM
|
Comments (0)
April 07, 2003
War stuff
The
Institute of War and Peace Reporting at
http://www.iwpr.net/ has news and a special subscription report on Iraq. Go to the
Iraq Programme link to subscribe to the emailed
Iraqi Crisis Report. The
US's Central Command site has constant updates on what's happening militarily. See for yourself at
http://www.centcom.mil/.
Posted by journoz at
09:03 AM
|
Comments (0)
April 03, 2003
The Internet and the Iraq War
TV still rules for war news, according to a newly released
Pew Internet & American Life report,
The Internet and the Iraq War: How online Americans have used the Internet to learn war news, understand events, and promote their views, (
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Iraq_War_Report.pdf. Still, 77% of online Americans have used the Internet in connection with the war and the under-30s are increasingly visiting blogs for war news. The figures for news media use are as follows:
TV - 89% (all Americans) (87% for Internet users)
Newspapers - 24% (all Americans) (21% for Internet users)
Radio - 19% (all Americans) (22% for Internet users)
Internet - 17% (internet users only).
Posted by journoz at
10:21 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 31, 2003
In plain English
The US-based
Society of Professional Journalists has produced an alphabetical guide to the
Geneva Conventions (
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/index.html) to help journalists quickly get to information they need. Use the reference guide at
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/definitions2.html, see the history (
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/history.html) and the full text of the Conventions (
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/texts.html).
Posted by journoz at
12:17 PM
|
Comments (0)
March 28, 2003
War: A Defining Moment for Net News
The Internet is doing well as a news medium in this war, according to
Steve Outing. Read his
Stop the Presses colmn on the issue at
http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1848575
Posted by journoz at
09:12 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 27, 2003
Telling it as it is?
Poynter.org has a guide to which images of war should be shown and how they should be handled at
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=26594. Another Poynter column (
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=36&aid=4349) urges reporters to seek truth and report it as fully as possible, while a third (
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=6329) suggests that understatement can be a powerful tool..
Posted by journoz at
09:50 AM
|
Comments (0)
Freedom of speech?
Al Jazeera's web site (
http://www.aljazeera.net/) has allegedly been repeatedly hacked, making the site unavailable.
ZdNet has the story at
http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/security/story/0,2000024985,20273183,00.htm. The station has called on the US to ensure a free press after Al Jazeera reporters were ordered off the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Yahoo! News has that story. It's at
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=599&ncid=762&e=9&u=/nm/20030326/media_nm/iraq_aljazeera_dc. Seems like many people are not willing to allow the Al Jazeera message to emerge online. The English version of the site at
http://english.aljazeera.net/ is flashing a
Temporary Site message, so they obviously feel shaky.
Posted by journoz at
09:00 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 26, 2003
Silencing Al Jazeera
According to MSNBC (
http://www.msnbc.com/news/890311.asp), the newly launched English version of Qatar-based station
Al Jazeera was trashed by hackers in a massive denial of service attack only hours after being launched. Keep trying it at
http://english.aljazeera.net/.
Posted by journoz at
10:18 AM
|
Comments (0)
Why reporters go to war zones
Sydney Schanberg, whose book,
The Death and Life of Dith Pran, was made into the movie,
The Killing Fields, has a piece in the
Village Voice about why journalists are drawn to return to war zones, even after horrific experiences. Read it at
http://villagevoice.com/issues/0313/schanberg.php
Posted by journoz at
10:13 AM
|
Comments (0)
Media under fire
Researchers from the Politics and Public Administration Group and the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Group of the Parliamentary Library have written a new current issues brief entitled
Media Under Fire: Reporting Conflict in Iraq. Sections include technology-driven jargon, battling for hearts and minds: the media versus the military, and embedded or embroiled, enmeshed and entombed? Available in
HTML (
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib21.htm) and
PDF (
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib21.pdf) formats.
And the cost is ...
The Library has also produced Economics of War with Iraq in PDF (http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib20.pdf) and HTML (http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib20.htm).
Posted by journoz at
09:07 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 25, 2003
Satellite images of Iraq
A range of satellite images of Iraq, including
Baghdad and the now destroyed Presidential Palace, can be used free of charge, courtesy of
DigitalGlobe. The site says "Permission is granted to electronically publish, publish in hard copy and broadcast these satellite images if proper attribution to DigitalGlobe is provided." Find the images at
http://www.digitalglobe.com/gallery/iraq/ and be sure to read the
Usage Guidelines.
Posted by journoz at
09:47 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 24, 2003
News, and more news
The
Newseum has a section called
Today's front pages where you can see a lineup of front pages from a range of countries and in a number of languages. Check it out at
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/. (Thanks to Susan M for this tip.)
Posted by journoz at
02:26 PM
|
Comments (0)
March 21, 2003
Iraq backgrounders
Find a whole range of well-organised information about Iraq at Sabrina Pacifici's site at
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/002169.html#2169. Link categories include country information, Government reports and web sites, maps, military and war-related sites, news-related sites and special news reports, NGOs, reports from organisations, Saddam Hussein, sanctions, human rights and the anti-war movement, and the United Nations and weapons-inspection sites.
Other good resources for background and history are The War on Terrorism: Saddam Hussein and Iraq at http://www.lib.ecu.edu/govdoc/iraq.html, Iraq Conflict: The Historical Background at http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/histindex.htm and Iraq Crisis at http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/irqindx.htm.
Posted by journoz at
12:52 PM
|
Comments (0)
March 14, 2003
Covering the war online
Online Journalism Review has a two-parter starting up called
Covering the war online. Find Part one,
Battle Stations, at
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/technology/1047595519.php. It addresses whether the Internet and new technology may level the media playing field. Part two will be called
Mobilizing the Media.
Posted by journoz at
11:07 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 10, 2003
UN statements - the latest
Find the lot easily (Hans Blix, Jack Straw, Colin Powell, et al) via the Resourceshelf (
http://www.resourceshelf.com). A briefer URL for these items is
http://tinyurl.com/71wg.
Posted by journoz at
01:17 PM
|
Comments (0)
March 05, 2003
War stories
The
Committee to Protect Journalists (
http://www.cpj.org/) has just produced a free handbook called
Covering conflict safely. You can get it in
HTML or
PDF versions. It covers many areas, such as training, protective gear, health precautions and insurance, knowing the hot spots, reporting in hostile terrain, the rules of war, captive situations and how to recognise and handle stress reactions.
Posted by journoz at
09:30 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 03, 2003
Covering Iraq
The excellent Poynter.org (
http://www.poynter.org/) has created a page of resources for journos covering Iraq. Find it at
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=20231. On the same site, check out Al Tompkins's Iraq page at
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=18641, which provides a lot of links to news sites such as Al-Jazeera, Iraqi News Agency, KurdSat and others.
Posted by journoz at
09:24 AM
|
Comments (0)
February 28, 2003
"Human shield" story
From the CIA, no less. Find their report,
Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of Human Shields at
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/iraq_human_shields/index.html.
Posted by journoz at
02:05 PM
|
Comments (0)
February 24, 2003
Coming, ready or not ...
The US has launched a new site to prepare its citizens for terrorist attacks. Ready.gov (
http://www.ready.gov/) explains how to make an emergency kit, how to decide a plan of action and has sections on potential kinds of threat, e.g. chemical, biological, nuclear blasts, radiation and explosions.
Posted by journoz at
10:10 AM
|
Comments (0)
February 17, 2003
Military news fix
Jane's, the defence, security and intelligence publisher, are now offering email alerts for free. These include
Jane's News Briefs, a weekly headline and abstracts service that provides links through to live stories on janes.com, and
Jane's Defence Weekly e-mail alerts, which appear as soon as new stories are posted to the
Defence Weekly web site, handy if you need to keep on top of military and defence industry issues. Sign up for either or both at
http://www2.janes.com/public/alerts.html, or just visit the main site at
http://www.janes.com/, which has latest news.
Posted by journoz at
11:42 AM
|
Comments (0)
February 14, 2003
The (parlous?) state we're in
Peter Mares has a think piece about the cost of going to war with Iraq at
http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00217.shtml. Mares, a broadcaster with ABC Radio National, spoke at a forum at the Perth International Writers Festival on 7 February.
And who'll be doing what?
The Parliamentary Library has a briefing on forces and likely tasks for Australia’s contribution to the war in Iraq at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/2002-03/03cib11.pdf
Posted by journoz at
09:27 AM
|
Comments (0)
North Korea nerves
The Parliamentary Library has a Research Note on the implications of what North Korea is up to for Australian trade at
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn23.pdf.
Posted by belinda at
09:27 AM
|
Comments (0)
February 12, 2003
Since war looks ever more likely ...
... you may as well be prepared. Reuters has a new site up for war correspondents. AlertNet at
http://www.alertnet.org/ provides country data, info on relief operations and links to satellite images as well as news. As you'd expect, there is a link just for Iraq.
Posted by journoz at
09:17 AM
|
Comments (0)
January 29, 2003
War and moral courage
David Bowman's Fourth Estate column at APO Online looks at truth in war reporting. It's at
http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00200.shtml.
Posted by belinda at
02:27 PM
|
Comments (0)
October 22, 2002
The Iraqi Precipice
The Library's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Group has produced an e-brief
The Iraqi Precipice. It's at
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/FAD/iraq.htm and covers the Gulf War, September 11 and its aftermath, the 'axis of evil' comments and the US's new hopes for regime change.
Posted by belinda at
02:22 PM
|
Comments (0)