The Web: Iraqi blogs building free speech

Gene Koprowski
United Press International

Last updated: Oct. 6, 2004 at 10:04AM
     CHICAGO, Oct. 6 (UPI) — Iraqi citizens in al-'Amil district west of Baghdad lit candles after sunset last evening, said prayers and, for the second consecutive night, quietly protested against terrorism in Iraq, an online dispatch bravely reported Oct. 5.
      An English-language report from a courageous American journalist in the field, where children were killed earlier by terrorist thugs at a celebration for the opening of a water plant? No. It is commentary and news reported by a trio of Iraqi brothers -- a doctor and two dentists living in Basra, Baghdad and Samawa City, in southwestern Iraq -- on their famed blog, Iraqthemodel.blogspot.com.
      That Web log and reportedly 60 others are bringing to light events and public opinion in Iraq that are not commonly being aired in the conventional media in the United States and elsewhere.
      While American bloggers have challenged the veracity of major media reports, their Iraqi counterparts are creating a true, free press, online, in their homeland, for the first time in that country's modern history, using Internet technology. The blogs are getting 3,000 to 6,000 visits per day -- up to 200,000 visitors per month -- their producers told United Press International.
      "This media technology is being used as outreach to tell the world their story," said David Abel, editor and general manager of PoliticsOnline, and publisher of NetPulse and PoliTicker reports, which tracks online political campaigns.
      The Iraqi efforts appear to be self-funded, as sites like Iraqthemodel are selling "T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers and more" online, according to an ad on the site.
      E-mail sciencemail [at] upi.com