Giuliana Sgrena is free - her liberator is murdered. Like all hostages, Giuliana Sgrena has been used. If Washington has any skilled diplomats between Rome and Iraq, it would be well advised to activate them at once
A hero dies to save Giuliana
James Madison warned more than two centuries ago, "A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." Media and Democracy
The Blog, The Press, The Media: Why Congress Doesn't Blog...And a Few Members Who Do
The political blogosphere now provides commentary on races all the way down the ballot to the local level.
Yet, despite the proliferation of blogs on the news side of the media, they are a technology only rarely used by politicians. In fact, most congressional websites look at least five years out of date. Only a few have included any kind of blog, even though blogs would seem like one of the easiest ways for a member of Congress to connect with constituents. Of the handful of congressional "blogs," most lack the capability for readers to post comments at will, making them at best a one-way online diary—though the press-release quality of much of the writing leaves much to be desired.
• The Power of Online Community [A Promise to My Grandfather: A Follow Up Flow on ; Propaganda posters from the 1940s express how corporations would like to control what their employees say on a weblog, at a bar, or even to their families Machines & Robots ]
• · Fred Halliday, in Canberra, finds a troubled heart inside the lucky country Media - parliamentary exchange ; The weblog has now reached the point in the cultural life cycle where the word is on everybody's lips, even if most people aren't sure what it is Blog Tool Writing Its Own Story of Success
• · · Robert Scoble, the hardcore technical evangelist at Microsoft, makes you think of possibilities Viral Marketing Manifesto ; Creates structure for discussion There's always a risk, but you always have that risk any time you put an employee on the phone
• · · · That is exactly the question internet publishing and blogging opens up (at least, the best forms of it). Internet based publishers don't control access to some finite distribution system, all they control is access to the audience itself Decentralisation of Ads ; Adsense Update: Fred, $500, and Is Google Trying Harder?
• · · · · Did the ALP really spend $35,000 a week on media monitoring during the last federal election. And did the same monitoring company really also service Liberal HQ in Melbourne for half the price? Did Danna Vale's "stay brave and true" fax to Alan Jones that was instead sent to Steve Price really generate a $15,000 monitoring bill for taxpayers in one day? Inside the media monitoring duopoly? ; This interview reflects the use of a blog as one of their marketing tool Leveraging a blog for business
• · · · · · Christian Lindholm's heavy accent greets me over a clear telephone line from Helsinki, Finland Blogs of our lives ; A judge didn't think so, thus his ruling that three blogs must reveal their sources. The decision has sparked a debate and may chill such sites Are Bloggers Journalists?