war

March 20, 2009

Blogging military blogging

I came across a blog called Soldiers in the blogosphere recently. It’s run by an active duty US Army Major, Jakob Bruhl, and is part of his graduation requirement from the Air Command and Staff College. Maj Bruhl discusses whether soldiers should be encouraged to write blogs and over the last few weeks he has […]


March 9, 2009

Reuters honours conflict photographers

Reuters has announced the winners of its own internal journalism awards for 2008. Notable among the winners were Goran Tomasevic’s image of a US soldier in action against the Taleban in Afghanistan, named as Photograph of the Year. Belgrade-born Tomasevic began working for Reuters during the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s the agency says. Ukrainian […]


March 6, 2009

US military revisits blogging

The US military remains at the forefront of social media and military policy but recently new questions about the value of blogging have been raised. There has been plenty of debate in particular on the US Army Combined Arms Center site about the role of blogs as a means of strategic communication. Apparently, ‘the US […]


March 3, 2009

Counterinsurgency and new media

The Small Wars Journal has put together a collection of thoughts on the impact of new media on the way the US military has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Well worth bookmarking, reading, and re-reading. I was going to pick out a ‘best of’, but I was struggling. It’s all very interesting. It includes thoughts […]


March 2, 2009

(Not) contacting the IDF through social media

In my post about the Israeli Defence Force and their use of social media during the Gaza conflict, I said I was trying to chase up the IDF for a comment or response to it. I, for one, would be interested to hear their take on it. Several emails have met with no response, so […]


February 27, 2009

Digital War Reporting

Just flagging up a book to watch out for later this year. Digital War Reporting is being written by Stuart Allan and Donald Matheson, two authors I’ve already cited on numerous occasions in my PhD. In the book they explore ‘how new technologies open up innovative ways for journalists to convey the horrors of warfare […]


February 16, 2009

Ong Nuoi

The city of Da Lat lays in the highlands of Vietnam about 300 kilometers north of Saigon.  The 1,500 meters above sea level is a welcome cooling altitude to an otherwise stifling heat Southeast Asia is known for.  I am in Da Lat to honor family members of my girlfriend who have passed away.  A […]


February 9, 2009

Gaza media coverage – missiles and messages

Last Thursday, I was at Gaza: Missiles and Messages at the Frontline Club. It was a discussion about the media coverage of Gaza and it was standing room only. (You know an event’s popular at the Club when somebody feels it’s necessary to dust down the wooden church pews to augment the seating.) Below I’ll […]


February 5, 2009

Gaza: Missiles and Messages

You can now watch the full event here. A debate on media coverage of the conflict Gaza including contributions from: Jonathan Miller (C4) Alan Fisher (Al Jazeera) Harriet Sherwood (The Guardian) Ruthie Blum Leibowitz (The Jerusalem Post) via skype Lior Ben Dor (Israeli affairs specialist) Location: The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 2QJ […]


January 14, 2009

Finbarr O’ Reilly discusses Congo LIVE

Reuters snapper Finbarr O’ Reilly will be discussing his experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo and what first took him to Africa live online today, Wednesday, Jan. 14. Finbarr will use the excellent mobile phone video broadcast tool Qik to broadcast live at 17.00 GMT / 1200 ET. You can follow Finbarr on Twitter […]


December 17, 2008

The Pirate Panic Button

The ships that make the two-day run from Mombasa, Kenya, to Somalia carrying vital humanitarian supplies are frequent targets of pirate attacks — and have been for more than a decade. How have ship’s crew adapted? Same way the pirates have adapted over the years: with simple technology and no-nonsense tactics. On Wednesday, the small […]


December 19, 2007

One Soldier’s War in Chechnya

It was with some pleasurable anticipation that I awaited this book from the Frontline’s Books Editor. He wanted “a soldier to review a soldier’s book.” When it arrived, I did what I do with all books before starting to read it in earnest: examine the cover, look at the photos, check for maps. This volume […]