:
A SURPRISE VISIT (2#) -

U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen has made
an unscheduled visit to Islamabad.

:: Dawn ::

* * * * *
The UNICEF Polio Team
has been released by the
Taliban militants who kidnapped them.

...

:
SATURDAY SELECTIONS (2#) -

A lovely feature story about the guy behind the Afghani Bloggers Association. Nasim Fekrat has taught himself many things and is really an inspiration to us all.

"I believe blogging will change things," he says.

:: Recommended at Slate.

* * * * *
Offended: The case of Dutch cartoonist
Gregorius Nekschot is written up by Andrew Higgins:

The contrasting Danish and Dutch responses "show that there is a serious struggle of ideas going on for the future of Europe," says Flemming Rose, a Danish newspaper editor who commissioned the drawings of Muhammad in Jyllands-Posten. At stake, he says, is whether democracy protects the right to offend or embraces religious taboos so that "citizens have a right not to be offended."

:: From WSJ ::

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:
SoFlo: MARITAL SHOTS FIRED -

A local Soap Opera going on around here involves the Police Chief of a nearby town whose wife allegedly picked up a Beretta 9 mm and squeezed off a few shots near him to get his attention.

He was only recently promoted to Chief; his increased responsibilities may have put some extra stress on their marriage. We hope they go into counselling.

Since the MSM is desperate to fill their Newshole, the professional yentas are stirring the pot and raising questions about the whole episode.

:: SF Sun-Sentinel ::

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:
KHYBER PASS & Beyond (2#) -

A UNICEF Polio Vaccination team has been kidnapped by suspected Taliban in Sakhi Pul as they were returning to Peshawar Thursday and they are being kept there in chains, according to the Dawn newspaper.

A perceived decline in Law and Order has adversely impacted the tourism industry lately in Peshawar and the NWFP. I'll bet.

But it's an interesting article anyway.

...

:
AFGHANI RUNNER MISSING -

Mehboba Ahdyar, a 19-year-old Afghani gal, who is supposed to compete in the Olympics has gone missing from her training base in Italy. She may be seeking asylum in Norway... or... she may be getting treatment for a leg injury... or... some people are worried that extremists may have kidnapped her.

:: SEA Media ::

...

:
WRIT ISSUED -
Meredith Kercher Murder Case (#2) -

A formal Writ of Indictment has been issued against the three major suspects. It is expected that a judge will convene a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.

Frank in Perugia shares the skinny from there. He describes some of the basic strategies the Defence lawyers are expected to use. Guess who allegedly sent Knox flowers for her bday. My lips are sealed. I wonder how he found out...

::Guardian:: ..... and ..... ::PShockperma::

...

:
A LITTLE SOLITAIRE -

Two teenage boys from Atlanta have been freed from a Taliban-backed madrassa in Pakistan.

Noor Elahi Khan and his brother Mahboob Elahi Khan have arrived home on American soil with the help of Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX).

Filmmaker Imran Raz says:

"The remaining 78 children
must be returned to the United States."

Instead, maybe their parents
should be deported as Undesirables.

:: This needs to be further discussed.

...

:
Central Florida:
DEEP SHOOTERS WANTED -
For Grassroots Videocam Project -

St Petersburg: The local CBS TV affiliate is introducing a Citizen Journalism program, giving the participants a videocam and training so that they can contribute grassroots video stories of news happening in their own neighborhoods.

:: Eric Debbins reports on his Blog
at the SP Times via Romenesko.

...

:
INK-STAINED WRETCHES (4#) -

At the Mindworks Media Company outside New Delhi, which helps prepare The Miami Herald, the staff works two to three shifts a day, seven days a week. Photo included. [buswk]

* * * * *
"What is that image on the cover, so strangely antiquated and modern at the same time? Why is the woman on the bottom covering her eyes? What are those wires it appears she’s about to fly into?" [nyer]

* * * * *
IF YOU ARE STOLEN,
CALL THE POLICE AT ONCE.

PLEASE OMNIVOROUSLY PUT
THE WASTE IN GARBAGE CAN.

DEFORMED MAN LAVATORY.

Chinese "Language Police" have been
trying to clean up signs in awkward
English before the Olympics in August.

* * * * *
"Refrigerator Journalism" means that
a newspaper can never be too local.

:: Philip Stone explains.

...

:
Bookish: IN AN ENGLISH VEIN (6#) -

There's a Literature Festival going on in London.

Not to be outdone, Paris had a Literary offering, too. JS Rafaeli reports from an English-language literary festival in Paris which, he says, was "a resounding success."

"One of the joys of festivals like this is the exposure to stories that one would never usually come across."

:: London Lit Fest :: .....and..... :: Paris Lit Fest ::

* * * * *
# Laura Lippman's Baltimore detective, Tess Monaghan, signs on as bodyguard to a bratty young actress who is working on a Hollywood movie being shot in the city.

Another Thing to Fall is reviewed
by Susanna Yager with a thumbs-up.

# And Jeremy Jehu reviews
some Historical Mysteries there, too.

* * * * *
# Tabloid Tales Tamilesque: Blaft, a new independent publishing house is producing an anthology of Indian "pulp" or genre fiction in English, which includes 17 stories.

"Mad scientists! Desperate housewives! Murderous robots! Scandalous starlets! Sordid, drug-fuelled love affairs!" screams the lurid back cover of The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, in the tradition of all those trashy American pulp paperbacks.

:: Reviewed here by
Pradeep Sebastian, who says it's fun.

# And a brief travel memoir of someone who goes in search of the Cairo cafe patronized by the writer Mahfouz.

...

:
Across the Pond:
7/7 ANNIVERSARY &
DR WHO FINALE (#3) -

A subdued ceremony was held at the railway station where the four terrorists first convened for their sinister mission. London mayor Boris Johnson and Tessa Jowell laid flowers outside King's Cross at 8:50am.

:: Daily Mail with photos .....and..... :: ITV ::

# Apart from this somber note, folks have been ga-ga over the season finale of the latest Dr Who season. Many on both sides of The Pond are looking forward to Steven Moffat taking the helm; he wrote that haunting episode The Empty Child which was broadcast on PBS this past season. [guard]

...

:
THE CURRIED PAPERBOY (2#) -

Yes, it's The Delhiami Herald issue again -

"As an old newspaper man... American newspapers edited by another country is an outrage. Outsourcing newspapers is offensive."

While I sympathize sentimentally with Mr Stancliff's feelings about the Outsourcing of American newspapers, I don't see an easy solution to this distressing problem in the near future. There can be no doubt by now that Outsourcing is causing much financial pain to Americans as some of their work is sent abroad to places like India.

Many American newspapers today are no longer being operated by Newspaper companies. Instead, they are being operated by Media Corporations, which typically use their newspapers as vehicles to deliver advertising and junk mail. I have noticed that an increasing number of Americans lately have been expressing a vocal disenchantment with the Media Corporations.

Newspapers used to employ youngsters as "Carriers" to deliver their product. The youngsters became casualties of this transformation when the newspapers became too unwieldy for the youngsters to carry. Newspapers today are often delivered by an adult driving an SUV who throws the newspaper package, which is bundled in a plastic bag, at your home.

As an American consumer, you certainly have the right to criticize the newspaper you are buying, but try to be thoughtful when doing so:

= Eschew knee-jerk labels.
= Be as specific as possible about your target.
= Try to focus on behavior, not personal attacks.

:: Dave Stancliff :: Eureka Reporter ::

:: Robbie Corey-Boulet :: reports on
Outsourcing, Mindworks Global Media,
and Express KCS from New Delhi, India.

...

:
Newspapers: ABANDONING SHIP (7#) -

Elvis may have left the building long ago,
but have you heard about The Record?

The Bergen Record of Hackensack NJ is getting ready to vacate their flagship building in Hackensack. They are moving their HQ to Garret Mountain, which is not in Bergen County. Fleet Street is very famous as a synonym for the British Press, but newspapers migrated from there, too. Periodically, newspapers need to update their equipment, and their companies need to undergo restructuring.

Thus, The Record's move is just a symbol of the end of an era. It joins the Hackensack Ghosts of Christmas Past along with: the Arnold Constable Department Store, the Oritani movie theater, and the Womrath Book Shop.

Now known as The Record of North Jersey or the North Jersey Media Corp [njmg] or simply North Jersey Dot Com, it is a privately-owned company accountable to no one else. And it is perhaps most famous for its long-running success at avoiding the unionization of the newspaper's staff.

How's their Local Coverage? They seem to hire reporters from other areas of the country who are not familiar with Bergen County - at least for the half century I lived in their territory.

Can The Record do anything right? I am told it has a very good Sports section, but I don't read Sports.

So, who's the Keeper of the Blogs in NJ? At the bidding of Jeff Jarvis, the NJ Blog Keeper is at the Star-Ledger, of course.

You may have recently read much public hand-wringing and mourning over changes occurring at some other newspapers. Most U.S. newspapers are currently experiencing some advertising losses. But each newspaper is unique with factors which are peculiar to it alone. Like Tolstoy's remark about happy and unhappy families.

:: Steven Hart's commentary:
..... Dilbertization of The Record;

:: Bob Torricelli's commentary: because
even a broken clock can be right twice a day.

:: Paul Schwartz who works for The Record responds.
Notice his nasty tone - he just proved Torricelli's point.

"Freedom of the Press
belongs to those who own the presses."
-- Walter Lippman

+ Maybe not so much anymore ;-)

...

:
TV: COUCH POTATO NOTES -

Waking the Dead on PBS -

Summer TV in America is not the complete
washout that some would have you believe . . .

I first came across this series recently by chance and initially couldn't figure out the setting. I finally figured out that we were in the London Metropolitan Police Department, but took it to be the Homicide Unit. Actually, it turns out, this series is set in the Cold Case Unit.

The first story in the series I happened upon was probably Multistory, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The next story I watched was Breaking Glass. I thought this latter story was good, but was disappointed in the ending.

The most recent story I watched was Burn Out [#103-104], which was outstanding. It's about a War Photographer - and the biography of this man was very thoughtfully constructed. The story was plausible; the characters and their motivations were believable. If it didn't happen, it could have happened. The story rang so true that I formed the impression it might have been based on or inspired by real people.

At first, I found the scheduling notes for this series somewhat confusing, but I believe I have sorted it out now. The story is broadcast in our area after the Mystery! series late Sunday; and then the same story is repeated late Friday evening.

Maybe this series is an acquired taste that grows on you.

:: Waking the Dead :: from wikipedia .

...