Study: Nearly half of world’s jailed journalists come from Web

More than print, TV or any other medium, online journalists are now the most-jailed category of journalists worldwide. A study by the Committee to Protect Journalists said that the online reporters, editors and bloggers make up 45% of the 125 journalists it found behind bars, the first time the Web category has eclipsed print (42%) since the study began in 1997.

CPJ director Joel Simon observed that without organizational support, online journalists are easier targets. “The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door, they are alone and vulnerable,” Simon said in a news release.

The study notes that in China, which leads the world in captive journalists, 24 of the 28 currently behind bars did their work online. Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan round out the top five countries on the list of journo jailers.

Read more about the report at the CPJ web site.http://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/cpjs-2008-census-online-journalists-now-jailed-mor.php

Frontline blogger covers war with soldier’s eyes

A former Special Forces soldier has created a loyal following on the Web with his accounts of frontline soldiers’ daily work in Iraq. Is this journalism?

Michael Yon was not a journalist, and he wasn’t sure what a blogger was. He had been in uniform but not in combat, and he wanted to keep it that way. He went to Iraq thinking he would stay for a month, and maybe find a way to write about the war after he got home. Instead, he has spent most of the last three years in Iraq, writing prolifically and graphically, and racking up more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist, according to the United States military. He has been shot at, buffeted by explosions and seen more people maimed — fighters and civilians, adults and children — than he can count.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/business/21iraqblogger.html?ex=1358658000&en=53fb1d5051560fa3&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink