Dr. Sima Samar, chair of the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, posed that rhetorical question to me during some small talk after a Canadian Journalism Foundation session on democracy, journalism and  the courts.

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In March 2005, kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was on her way to Baghdad airport after her captors freed her. At a U.S. checkpoint, soldiers opened fire, wounding her and killing Italian secret service agent Nicola Capilari.

Italy charged Mario Lozano in absentia after the Bush administration refused to turn him over. An Italian court has dropped the charges, saying it had no jurisdiction. Sgrena plans to appeal that decision.

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From the Tyee:

Journalism faces a crisis around the world and unless it's fixed, society is in big trouble, American scholar and media activist Robert McChesney says.

"The market's not going to solve the problem.... The technology's not going to rescue us."

Great journalism requires resources, institutional support, well-paid journalists and competition, McChesney told an audience at the Simon Fraser University downtown campus Saturday.

Creating institutions that can produce great journalism is going to take "enlightened, engaged, creative policy-making," he said.

"Short of that, we'll never be a free society."

Two ostensibly human life forms were on the College St. TTC streetcar this afternoon.

One of them has a lizard sitting motionless on his left knee.

He extolls the virtues of the lizard as a pet to the other guy, who has close-cropped hair, a chain around his neck and is wearing basketball shorts -- in short, kind of thuggish-looking. His eyes did not radiate intelligence.

The other guy grunted out one question about the approximately 25- to 30-centimetre-long lizard: "Does it suck dick?"

Bear in mind that the other guy delivered this question without a hint of humour or irony. In fact, he had me thinking that if the answer was 'yes,' TOG might consider getting a lizard for himself. Unfortunately for him, the pet owner answered in the negative.

"No, she's a virgin," he replied. "She's a lady of high morals. She would never do anything like that."

"That thing stinks," observed the other guy.

"That would be me," said the owner. His hair condition suggested it had been some time since its last shampooing.

The other guy quickly excused himself and got off at Spadina.

He walked out of a CBS 60 Minutes interview on Sunday after host Leslie Stahl asked him about his wife Cecilia.

It's useful to know the interview was conducted before their divorce became public on Oct. 18.

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The recently departed press secretary from the Bush White House spoke at the American Magazine Conference. Here are some observations recorded by Jim Bercovici of Portolio.com's Mixed Media blog: (h/t to Romenesko)

On the newspaper business: "The newspapers have to realize that they are a niche market and the one thing they can do better than anyone else is analysis. As a guy who spent the majority of his career in print media and loves writing, it scares me that newspapers are in the state they're in."

On the effects of the 24-hour-news cycle on journalism: "There are structural problems right now that make it very difficult to cover the White House the way it should be covered....People are trying to keep up with the electronic media. So what happens is you end up thinking, what can I do quickly and what can I do that people are going to watch? ....If you're doing it in real time, you can get real stupid." ...

On his alma mater, Fox News: "There's perceived bias on the part of Fox because they don't treat conservatives as knuckle-dragging morons....I think the rap on Fox having a bias is an unfair one. My sense is rather than grousing with a winning formula, people ought to learn from them."

Maybe. Heck, maybe even probably (do I hear an 'undoubtedly'?). Their track record on being skeptical of U.S. government claims about adversaries does not inspire optimism, writes Lawrence Martin.

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The Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson on the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's antipathy towards the news media and its roots in the Conservative mindset.

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From the BBC:

A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun, authorities said.

The accident happened after James Harris, 37, put his gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant.

One of a pack of hunting dogs following behind stepped on the trigger, and up to 120 birdshot pellets hit Mr Harris in the left calf at short range.

A local official told a news agency the injury was "not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time".

Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told the AFP news agency it was not uncommon for hunters to be shot by their dogs.

"I hear about it a couple times a year," somewhere in the country, he said.

Globe and Mail editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon had this exchange with a reader over the watchdog role of newspapers during an online chat about the new features in the Saturday paper:

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From the BBC:

Kyrgyz security services have seized a contacts database belonging to murdered Uzbek journalist Alisher Saipov.

The 26-year-old was shot dead by an unidentified gunman as he walked out of his office in the city of Osh, near the border with Uzbekistan, on Wednesday.

Saipov was one of the most outspoken journalists in Central Asia and was well-known for his harsh criticism of Uzbekistan's President, Islam Karimov.

A Kyrgyz official has said Uzbek agents may have been involved in the murder.

Ombudsman Tursunbay Bakir Uulu said that according to reports received by Kyrgyz security officials, a "special service" of the neighbouring republic had been ordered to kill the journalist.

Here is the Reporters without Borders report on Uzbekistan for 2006.

The organization calls Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov a predator of press freedom.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to fully investigate Saipov's slaying.

Nhem En will be asked to testify against former Khmer Rouge bosses at their crimes-against-humanity trial in Cambodia. Nhem En had a unique job -- photographing the arrivals at Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, knowing they almost certainly wouldn't leave alive.

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From the BBC:

Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe.

Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.

The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites.

The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on scales of human skin and produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep.

The warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for the creatures, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in shorter supply.

From a Toronto Star story on the exopolitics movement: Those who believe there are intelligent extraterrestrials who have made contact with Earth and have much to teach us, but who blame the damned media for stifling debate by ridiculing the believers!

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If you're a journalist working in a conflict zone and you find yourself snatched, here's some advice: Find ways to discreetly exercise some control and always think about escaping.

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency hastily held a news conference. Reporters could call in and listen, but they couldn't ask questions. However, there were some "reporters" there, firing decidedly slow fastballs at the FEMA honcho.

Hmmm, who employed those reporters?

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The Guardian website has launched a new effort -- Tread Lightly.

From the introduction:

Do you want to live a more low-carbon lifestyle, but are unsure where to start?

Tread lightly is a community of people committed to reducing their CO2 emissions through making weekly pledges and recording their actions against their pledges.

This will enable people to step up their efforts to reduce their own CO2 emissions, and also to track the combined efforts of the community.

Mosquitoes.

The so-called New York Yankees fan is cheering for the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

This would be like a Canadian politico cheering for the Soviets in '72.

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The BBC's Alan Johnston spent the tail end of his stint as Gaza correspondent as the unwilling "guest" of some militants. They snatched him on March 12 and released him on July 4. Here's his story and here's a timeline.

The Tyee has some selected quotes from a public conversation in Berkeley, Calif. between Oh Yeon Ho, founder of Oh My News; Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; and citizen journalism evangelist Dan Gillmor.

Salon columnist Sydney Blumenthal has written an afterward to an about-to-be-released reissue of Walter Lippman's Liberty and the News, first published in 1920.

It seems the problems of almost 90 years ago have much in common with American journalism's travails today.

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Former ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff had a chunk blown out of his skull while on assigment in Iraq in January 2006. He has recovered enough to return to an on-camera reporting job with ABC News, and is trying to raise money for Iraq veterans who have suffered brain injuries.

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On Tuesday, The Guardian -- the progressive British news organization -- launched GuardianAmerica.com.

From The Guardian news release:

Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian, said: "There is clearly a demand in the US for the Guardian perspective on global news and comment. Under the editorship of the talented political commentator and journalist Michael Tomasky, Guardian America will enable us to meet that need, providing a discerning US audience with quality multimedia journalism, and the very best comment and analysis." ...

Guardian America has an editorial team of eight based in Washington and will also be supported by the extensive resources of the Guardian across the globe. The Guardian is taking a unique in house approach to its multimedia journalism; complementing video news feeds with audio and video footage created by its own in-house team.

Emily Bell, Guardian News and Media's Director of Digital Content, said: "At a time when many media organisations are cutting back, we are making a significant investment in our journalism, creating a new type of multimedia content which showcases the best Guardian journalism and story-telling in all its forms. We hope to make the most of this offering during the American primaries and beyond."

If you pop into the New York Times's new building, you'll see banks of small screens, 560 in all, flashing 156 years' worth of words and phrases from the venerable newspaper.

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From the blurb to a commentary by author Naomi Klein in the Guardian: Finance journalists have attacked my book, but I remain devoted to their papers. After all, they supplied the facts I used.

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From the BBC:

Air pollution in Beijing will not significantly improve before next year's Olympic Games, a United Nations report suggests.

In some cases, pollution is said to be more than three times the safe limits set by the World Health Organization.

The report seems to contradict claims from Beijing Olympic officials that air quality will not be a problem.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said events may be postponed if pollution was too bad.

From the BBC:

Saipov believed he was safe in Kyrgyzstan

A prominent journalist and an editor of an Uzbek-language newspaper has been shot dead in the Kyrgyz city of Osh near the border with Uzbekistan.

Police have confirmed that 26-year-old Alisher Saipov died in a gun attack.

Police say that they are questioning witnesses and that for now, they have no other details.

Saipov edited was the region's only Uzbek language publication which challenged the government, and reported for the Voice of America.

He was shot dead as he walked out of his office in the centre of Osh.

The NYT's David Carr dissects Stephen Colbert's appearance on NBC's Meet The Press.

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From the BBC:

Global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries could trigger a mass extinction, UK scientists have warned.

The temperatures are within the range of greenhouse phases early in the Earth's history when up to 95% of plants and animals died out, they say. ...

They found that global diversity is high during cool (icehouse) periods and low during warm (greenhouse) phases.

"Our results provide the first clear evidence that global climate may explain substantial variation in the fossil record in a simple and consistent manner," said Dr Peter Mayhew of the University of York.