War on Iraq - smh.com.au
Here is another article on the media coverage of the war. The most relevant passage:

On the right, the Fox News Channel is the leading propagandist for the US war effort. Soon after the shooting began on Thursday, Fox anchor Shephard Smith announced, "The liberation of Iraq has begun." The first missile strike on Baghdad was, he said, designed to "cut the head off the snake".

I heard him say this several times, once just as a Fox embedded reporter crossed the Iraqi border with a unit of the American Army. If you think that this is somehow "fair and balanced" then I think your perceptions are tainted by several assumptions about what journalism is supposed to be. I heard talk radio yesterday, on WLW, whine about Peter Jennings and Dan Rather. I think they expect journalists to be like Shephard Smith. I don't mind if a journalist shows a little emotion when something bad happens to American soldiers, but to illustrate glee like a skirt wearing cheerleader turns my stomach. If people are fooled to think Fox News is not biased towards conservatives, they must be smoking crack.

War Coverage in the Blogosphere
If you are here looking for expansive blogging on the War you can do no better than Sean Paul Kelley at www.agonist.org. John at www.blogsofwar.com also is putting out great coverage.

'I'll see you all when it's over,'
A nice story from Howard Wilkinson. This is old-fashioned local reporting. Howard has taken an international story and made it relevant to Cincinnati, while providing something unique. I hope the local television news teams take a lesson from Howard. We don't need them repeating wire reports or what their network news teams say. Go out and get local news. Parroting what the Wires or Networks report will not get you a better job, or any awards.

AP Wire: Ohio Anti-War Protests
Not much significant actions from the protestors today. NYC seemed to have more of an impact, but is still seems to be a super minority now. I think the only ones left protesting now are your professional protestors, Marxists, and anti-everything gadabouts.

Showdown in Iraq: A Special Section from The Enquirer, The Post and WCPO
This is actually a good site for general information on the Iraq War. There is a good mix of reference websites, news, and links to locally related information, including a place to post messages of support to the troops.

CincyNation.com: WCPO needs to let Networks cover the war
CincyNation provides the following commentary:

We're told that WCPO has taken it upon itself to "cover" the war. Very interesting development from a station known for sensationalized local reporting. Fact is, WCPO is reading Associated Press reports and running tapes from ABC News and CNN. So why not let the networks do what they are trained to do? Extra annoying is a blue scroll Channel 9 is using at the bottom of the screen for 'breaking news.' The color is distracting and the scroll information, we're told, tends to be older news rather than breaking.

I think I agree with this assessment of WCPO. I would prefer they refrain from the crawler and from the local updates on the international story. If they have relevant local news, fine, but let the national journalists do their job. I do not mind WCPO switching to CNN if ABC is lacking in coverage, which last night (03/19) was the case when ABC delayed interrupting regular programming longer than the rest of the networks. ABC does provide good coverage and has had good front line report thus far.

Updated News Outlets still in Baghdad
Still in Baghdad (as reported)
CNN: Nic Robertson & Rym Brahimi - total of 4 people
NPR: Anne Garrels - Plans to stay throughout
Peter Arnett - freelance for MSNBC and National Geographic. - Plans to stay throughout
ITN
BBC: Total of 7 including 3 reporters - Rageh Omar -Plans to stay throughout
Washington Post -Anthony Shadid
AP - Hamza Hendawi
Reuters - Staff of 19
Sky News
Independent - Robert Fisk (what an ass)
Christian Science Monitor -Scott Peterson
ZDF (Germany)
Al Jazeera
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age - Paul McGeough
San Franscisco Chronical - Robert Collier
Los Angeles Times - John Daniszewski
Irish Times - Lara Marlowe
New York Times - John Burns and Photographer Tyler Hicks
Al-Arabiya (Dubai)
Abu Dhabi TV
Lebanese Broadcasting Company
Richard Engel - Free lance for ABC (and BBC?)
and other various French, German, Japanese and Dutch media outlets.
Guardian - Suzanne Goldenberg

Not in Baghdad are NBC, ABC*(has free lancer in Baghdad), CBC Radio, FOX News (kicked out), China's official Xinhua news agency, Boston Globe (kicked out), USA Today, Daily Telegraph, London Times, Newsweek (at least ordered to leave by Bosses), US News & World Report, Time, Wall Street Journal, CBS .

Boston Globe, LA Times, and USA Today stories.

AP Story from Baghad on problems of reporting from Baghdad.

Anticlimactic to the Max
I am taken aback that the President of the USA would announce war, shut down the White House and then go to bed.

WAR!!!

Group intends to expand its boycott
Here is the bottom line motivation of the CBUF's action:

Frierson said the group plans to expand its boycott by enlisting people outside of Cincinnati to boycott businesses that are based here.

The word that comes to mind is extortion. I can only speculate what business will be targeted. Do they want to target Kroger? or P&G? or 5/3 Bank? Who is their mark? I seriously wonder if that the CBUF organizes people in other cities to picket, boycott, or otherwise defame, damage, or defile innocent third party companies located in Cincinnati, will they be investigated for potential civil/criminal RICO statute violations? I will not hold my breathe while I wait to find out.

What is their new and ever changing set of demands? Would it be enough if they get a million dollars each and then every white person agrees to move out of the city? Are we seeing the beginnings of the Balkanization of Cincinnati and racial politics? I see no purpose but a movement to segregate from the whole community, while tearing it down and instilling revenge. From my viewpoint this revenge seems to stem from the anger of not being accepted for being segregationists. It is astonishing that the self anointed inner city black community leaders actually think people would understand the attitude they put forth where they refuse to be part of a society where blacks are not the dominating force.

This episode is yet another step back in race relations. The CBUF appears to not want good relations; they just want to help "their own." Greed and selfishness sometimes get you ahead and sometimes is all you can do to survive, but when others want to help, it only drives that help away when you demand help only under your own direction. I am close to knocking down the brick wall my head has been beating against for the last 2 years. I wonder if they will postpone any more protests until after the war. I somehow doubt that. The real question is how they will deal with extreme racist wing of their “movement.” Will their new tact for relevance be sidetracked battling it out with the clown posse? If you live by the bigoted comment, you will die by the bigoted comment.

Updated News Outlets still in Baghdad
Still in Baghdad (as reported)
CNN: Nic Robertson & Rym Brahimi - total of 4 people
NPR: Anne Garrels - Plans to stay throughout
Peter Arnett - freelance for MSNBC and National Geographic. - Plans to stay throughout
ITN
BBC: Total of 7 including 3 reporters - Rageh Omar -Plans to stay throughout
Washington Post -Anthony Shadid
AP - Hamza Hendawi
Reuters - 19 Staff
Sky News
Independent - Robert Fisk (what an ass)
Christian Science Monitor -Scott Peterson
ZDF (Germany)
Al Jazeera
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age - Paul McGeough
San Franscisco Chronical - Robert Collier
Los Angeles Times - John Daniszewski
Irish Times - Lara Marlowe

Not in Baghdad are NBC, ABC, CBC Radio, FOX News (kicked out), China's official Xinhua news agency, New York Times, Boston Globe (kicked out), USA Today, Daily Telegraph, London Times, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Time, Wall Street Journal, CBS .

With CBS leaving today, CNN is the only American based TV network in Baghdad.

The Black United Front Announces Withdrawal From Collaborative Agreement
I guess the CBUF was giving in to the "Man" to much and they had to show they are still "black" enough by getting out of a collaborative that they have not lived up to anyway. I guess Damon Lynch needs more attention, and wants to unit with he bigoted segment of the black activist community (CJC, Black Fist, and Kirland). It is obvious that CBUF no longer wants a resolution; they want power and more "Benjamins." This section of the article illustrates the illogic:

The Black United Front explained that they were pulling out of the collaborative agreement because they wanted to focus their efforts on their boycott of downtown and did not want the boycott to become an excuse for the collaborative agreement's ideas not to be implemented.

So the collaborative’s goals are no longer part of the demands of the boycott? I guess no one gets paid with the collaborative, no one meaning no one amongst the boycotters. This step is a huge mistake for the CBUF. They will get little attention for doing this on the eve of war, and basically it will be deemed as a flip flop from the non-black community. The average Buzz caller will be overjoyed. The scorched Earth goal of the boycotters just got a shot in the arm. I really now see that no one in the boycott "leadership" wants this to ever end, unless all of us non-black people just leave town, which unfortunately sounds like the goal of many of the boycotters.

Cranley retreats on his choice for Booth's vacant council seat
Britton or Cole? Why not Jane Anderson? I understand that Cole was a Democrat, but was not endorsed. Cole got more votes, so on general principal she should get the nod, no matter what her party affiliation is. I just hope Jane is not being ignored because of her race. Akiva Freeman would be next in line if Jane were unable to serve. Why is this starting to sound like the Miss Cincinnati beauty pageant?

Simon Leis, Step Down
Chris Anderson calls for the current Hamilton County Sheriff to step down. Chris is right. Leis has been a thug for years, and the latest incident is minor in comparison to the legal messes that would have caused a Democratic Sheriff to be in jail.

Updated News Outlets still in Baghdad
Still in Baghdad (as reported)
CBS: 1 reporter
CNN: 2 reporters -Nic Robertson
NPR: 1 reporter - Plans to stay throughout
Peter Arnett - freelance for MSNBC and National Geographic. - Plans to stay throughout
ITN
BBC: Total of 8 including 3 reporters - Plans to stay throughout
Washington Post
AP -Hamza Hendawi
Reuters
Sky News
Independent - Robert Fisk (what an ass)
Newsweek
Christian Science Monitor
ZDF (Germany)
Al Jazeera
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age - Paul McGeough

Not in Baghdad are NBC, ABC, CBC Radio, FOX News (kicked out), China's official Xinhua news agency, New York Times, Boston Globe (kicked out), USA Today, Daily Telegraph, London Times.

I will try to keep one post each day and update it when new information is known. There are many other foreign news agencies that are in Baghdad, but I am unable to determine which outlets are represented.

Booth to resign from council
Big news and big speculation will follow. This part sounds bad though:

Booth said he would stay out of the selection process unless Democrats asked for his input. He did say, however, that it would be important for City Council to appoint another African-American.

"It makes a difference in terms of the kind of representation we have," he said. "We're elected to serve all people. But council as a whole should as much as possible demographically represent Cincinnati."

Quota's are immoral and illegal. If race is made the deciding factor, then a legal challenged should be mounted against it. The Democrats should appoint the Democrat who got the next most votes in the last election, if that person is willing to serve. If not that person, then the Democrat with the next most votes who is willing to serve. I hope this does not turn into a boycott demand. Succumbing to that would be even more undemocratic then the current method to replace Council members.

News Outlets still in Baghdad
Here is the list of reporters or news outlets that I have found reports indicating they are still in Baghdad.
CBS: 1 reporter
CNN: 2 reporters
NPR: 1 reporter
Peter Arnett - special assignment for MSNBC and National Geographic.
ITN
BBC: Total of 8 including reporter(s)
Washington Post
New York Times
AP
Reuters
Sky News
Independent - Robert Fisk (what an ass)

There are others who are in the Kurdish area of Northern Iraq, but as far as I understand those reporters will not leave. I am sure there are many other outlets in Baghdad, but I can't find references to any others. Some of the outlets that are not in Baghdad are NBC, ABC, CBC Radio, FOX News, China's official Xinhua news agency.

Change of Focus
After much thought and random longs to branch out, I am officially opening up the topic of my blog to anything and everything, not just Cincinnati and Ohio. Cincinnati and Ohio will still be my focus and majority of my content, but with the impending war almost upon us, I will have much to say about media coverage of the war, and responses to the war here in America and the rest of the world. I have been slowly expanding topics that I used to reserve to my other blog, PulpStalag the Blog, but now that blog will become more of a semi-loose place to be semi-creative.

War Prediction Time
It is fairly clear war will be this week or not at all. I will make a "bold" prediction of the day and the time of the start of the war, and when it will hit the news. My Picks:

Date: Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
Time Attack Begins: 5:11 PM EST
Time Press First Reports Attack: 6:25 PM EST

If you care to make a guess, just add it to the comments section. The winner will get a free mention on the blog. Ties will be judged using the "Price is Right Rules" on the time the attack begins.

A Note to Conservatives Speaking Out Against Celebrities Speaking Out Against the War
The more attention you give them, them more attention they get. What I laugh about most is the shock as to why people would listen to celebrities on any subject. I guess they forget this while they drink the Pepsi Brittany sells, wearing the "be like Mike" sneakers, or talking on the telephone pimped by Howie Long for Radio Shack.