Real-life journalism beats The Onion

"Hardline Islamists have condemned four young Somali men to a double amputation for stealing mobile phones and guns."

BBC website published this article today. At first, it struck me that with the events in Iran, there are also other bad [ok, I censored myself - a different word was here before] things going on around the world.

But then I read the article and to me it looks like an onion-style joke. I know that serious news outlets have strict rules when it comes to language, neutrality etc. But at some point it crosses the fine line between neutral, detailed reporting and bad craziness. Tarantino, anyone?

"The al-Shabab group has carried out amputations, floggings and an execution in the port of Kismayo but such punishments are rare in the capital."

'Oh, really? That's interesting. Let's think about it over a cup of tea.'

'Yes, obviously it'd be much different to have your hand cut off in Mogadishu and not in Kismayo.'

"It is not clear where the leg will be cut."

Ok. I know. I too think it does make a difference. But when you put it like that, with this balanced neutral tone, it sounds like poor comedy!!! They're gonna cut their legs off!!

"No date was set for the punishment, which will be carried out after the health of the accused is assessed."

Because it's perfectly normal to check if people are healthy enough to have their limbs amputated. (I know it is! but it shouldn't be! and it shouldn't be written about in a manner that makes it seem normal!)

"Furthermore, Monday was very hot and the court decided that carrying out an amputation in such conditions could lead the accused to bleed to death."

that was under the cute mid-title: 'Too hot to amputate'

"Amnesty International said the four men had not been given a fair trial."

Because if they had a free trial, well, then it's ok?

(The AI actually protested the whole idea of 'these cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments' - as also reported in the article; but somehow the BBC decided the fair trial is more important here.)

Transformers 2

Behind the scenes - transformers 2 negotiations. What do you think about the part after 2:00??

More on new media and democracy

David blogs about his time in Warsaw. You can also see us listening to one of the New Media New Democracy debates: the photo was used by one of the debaters to prove his point:

At the beginning of my presentation I took a picture of my audience. It is a symbol of how the way we use media changes around the world. Media consumers more and more often become media makers and the distinction between the two roles disappears.

(I feel strange when I can't tag a photo to show who's where.. too much facebook)

And another picture, no point to prove this time (from the left: Joe Rospars, me and David Silver):

New Media New Democracy Forum

I'm back from the New Media New Democracy Forum organized by Gazeta Wyborcza and US Embassy. Again, as yesterday, some very interesting discussions. First with Joe and David, who today talked more about democracy. Thanks, among other things, to difficult questions from an independent journalist from Khazakstan.

Then there was an interesting panel about new media and traditional media in Poland. More here (only in Polish).

Joe Rospars and David Silver in Warsaw

Joe Rospars and David Silver at a FOR debate today.

Joe told us how the grassroots movement forged during the Obama campaign is still alive and well. I've seen the Organizing for America e-mails etc but didn't expect people to stay so involved even after the election. The campaign had a clear goal, a strict timeframe, obvious opponents.. And now? But it seems the number of meetings organized through Obama's supporters network is only slightly lower than before 11/4. I wasn't the only one suprised by that, Piotr Pacewicz from Gazeta Wyborcza being one of the others.

David talked about how the generation of his students is becoming a generation of media makers, sharers and commenters - and how that can be used to start great conversations and help explore the world around us. We also started to talk about the risks of such use of new media.

The other topic was the September Project. It promotes grassroots-organized conversations about freedom and democracy. Maybe David will inspire us to have such events here in Warsaw in the fall!

(and of course there was lots of other stuff but this post is long enough already!)