News without the glitz
Streaming video clips show the bleak side of war in Iraq.
A representative from the New York Times late Thursday contacted me with some breaking news. The venerable paper of record was posting rare video clips and interviews from inside Iraq's Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.
For people following the war, this was a glimpse inside the last hold-out of radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army. While news reports today differ over whether the militants have given up one of the holiest Shiite shrines, the video clips were a testament to how the Web can offer a parallel, multi-dimensional element to the news.
The media has been criticized during the initial phase of the war for the rah-rah reporting among embedded correspondents, especially among the cable news networks. What people forget is that news outlets outside the cut-throat competition between CNN, Fox News and MSNBC continue to report a raw version of the war. Just check out Reuters' Web site, which offers video clips of fighting throughout Iraq.
It's not pretty, it's not extensively edited. And anyone can watch it.