So, should sites like Wikileaks be shut doiwn?

I thought Wikileaks WAS shut down, but its mirror sites were what was up?

Anyway, the instant you shut down Wikileaks, a mirror or a different site with the same objective will pop up. Short of ending free speech on the Internet, it's not gonna change anything.

I've heard a lot of incredible stories about western “orientalist” adventurers penetrating amazingly deep into the muslim world when it was far more insular than now. That said, such a situation is an excellent argument for setting up a regional office independent from government authorities rooted to the area through the coordinated efforts of professional local stringers producing firsthand reporting, rather than deceiving oneself into the belief that “embedded journalism” is journalism.

Eric,

What's "embedded journalismn"?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

^it's what happens when the journalist is embedded with the troops they're reporting on/with.

Eh, even if the troops hide nothing from you, there's still only so much you can learn that way...

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

That's your call; you're warned of the risks ahead of time; you want to go off on your own and get killed....don't complain.

Perhaps give Journalists a special internationally-recognized, highly-visible uniform?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Yeah, so the insurgents know who to shoot/kidnap first.

Or more as a "we don't care what happens to this guy". Highly visible uniform got a laugh out of me.

Fight smart, not fair.

^You're not the only one.

^^^You know the insurgency/Taliban/AQ don't follow the Geneva Convention right? A highly visible uniform isn't gonna do shit against kidnapping or execution.

That would kinda' clash with the whole “inconspicuous observer of events who doesn't want to be beheaded on TV” thing.

Eric,

Why would they behead a freaking journalist? In fact, why would a journalist be a target at all?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

^Where the fuck have you been for the last 10 years?

Morocco, Spain... I remember the entire school watching those begeading videos on their mobile phones. Laughing. I never wanted to see them. Dude, Not Funny!.

But I am asking: why journalists?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

They don't like journalists, they perceive journalist to be working in collusion with western powers or....they're just fundamentalist dicks.

You assume I have knowledge of the inner workings of the mind of a radical Islamist.

edited 1st Mar '11 12:46:26 PM by Kino

I thought you were the sort of guy that thought they had the intricacies of the human brain figured out to be something as simple as "humans are fundamentally selfish creatures" or something similar. You know, the sort that thinks the whole world is a joke and they are among the few who "get" it, the sort that wear cynicism like a veneer of sophistication. If that impression was wrong, I apologize.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

I thought you were the sort of guy that thought they had the intricacies of the human brain figured(Most of it) out to be something as simple as "humans are fundamentally selfish creatures" or something similar. You know, the sort that thinks the whole world is a joke(Just some countries and regions) and they are among the few who "get" it, the sort that wear cynicism like a veneer of sophistication(Unless an individual is cynical and sophisticated). If that impression was wrong, I apologize.

What allows you to discriminate like that which regions get to live and which get to be glass?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

When did I say I get to decide where gets turned to glass?

Random google search on "journalists kidnapped" reveals:

Lots of them getting 'targeted' in Iraq!

O hai there, Mexico.

Afghanistan, there's a shocker. Two French journalists kidnapped by the Taliban.

Ooh, Somali pirates!

And finally, here's a list of the 850 journalists killed between 1991 and 2009. Note how red many of the countries are.

I submit to you, the reader, the proposition that no, quite a lot of people don't care about the supposed neutrality of journalists. To them, they represent merely [the hated west/an opportunity/someone they can kidnap and get money from/ooh a warm body/the police/the drug cartels/insert entity here].

<Mod Hat ON>

Wikileaks, people. If you can't stay on topic about it, I will conclude that the thread has run its course and lock it up.

<Mod Hat OFF>

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

We're discussing the particular of which methods journalists could use not to get collaterally murdered. Does that count as offtopic?

Very.

What's precedent ever done for us?

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."