A photo too good to miss

by Bob Boynton
The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon went to Iraq — unannounced, of course. Unannounced is the way all foreign dignitaries visit Iraq these days.
This is what he was told by prime minister Maliki
“We consider it [the visit] a positive message to world in which you [Ban] confirm that Baghdad has returned to [...]

Osama turns 50

by Bob Boynton
I can write Osama with confidence that anyone who happens by will know who I have in mind. That is quite remarkable for a man who was unknown before the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Now, only 9 years later, he is such a well known figure that [...]

This is 50

by Bob Boynton
This is it — number 50.

When I started I did not know how far it would go. It has gotten to 50. This is the 50th blog entry at Globalizing News.
It has been going for 15 weeks. That is an average of 3.3 entries per week. Since I was on holiday at Christmas [...]

Slipped in and slipped out again

by Bob Boynton
Al-Zawahiri was back just in time for valentine day [February 14].

This time it was an audio tape so they had to use a photo they already had on hand. Apparently photos of al-Zawahiri are in short supply since this is the same photo they used only a few days earlier. See When Al-Zawahiri [...]

The al-Qaeda franchise operation

by Bob Boynton
Imagine you are 500 strong and hiding in the most remote regions of your counrty. How in the world would you get Aljazeera [English] and CNN World to report on your existance and work?
Branding — we are al-Qaeda!
All you have to do is say al-Qaeda and the global media get excited. Another al-Qaeda [...]

When al-Zawahiri speaks . . .

by Bob Boynton
President Bush delivered the state of the union address to the nation and the world on January 23, 2007. His speech was widely covered by the news media. Each of the four media outlets I follow had a report on the speech. Aljazeera [Arabic] contributed a photo of the president flanked by vice [...]

Another juxtaposition

by Bob Boynton
Perhaps juxtapositions come in pairs. Here is one from the first page of Aljazeera [Arabic] on January 12, 2007.

The president delivered his new plan. What followed? Two days later it was these two photographs.
Evil must be personalized so we are given a photograph of bin Laden and al Zawahiri, his right hand man. [...]

One success after another

by Bob Boynton
There are days when the juxtaposition is overwhelming!
We think of news media as presenting a disconnected batch of news reports. We focus on ‘the story’ rather than the collection of stories. But there are times when it is the entire collection of stories that is hard to escape. We just cannot keep [...]

A magic number: 3,000

by Bob Boynton
US death toll reaches 3,000 in Iraq, Aljazeera [English]
US Iraq death toll ‘hits 3,000′, BBC World
U.S. troop deaths reach 3,000, CNN World
Journalists are ‘believers’ in magic numbers — numbers that are striking, numbers that make us take notice, numbers that a wide audience will find meaningful.
3,000 is such a magic number. All three [...]

A Proud Moment for Aljazeera [English]

by Bob Boynton
They had only opened for business and they already had an interview with Tony Blair. And this is what he said.
Blair Admits Iraq a Disaster
Tony Blair, the British prime minister, has admitted in an interview with Al Jazeera English that events in Iraq since the US-led invasion have been a “disaster”.
But he insisted [...]