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Vienna (pte042/26.03.2003/14:34) - As the US and Iraqi governments wage comprehensive media campaigns to keep up domestic morale and win the favour of world audiences during the war in Iraq, the Internet has become the scene of a phenomenon called "warblogging" - a variant of "weblogging".
The site http://www.warblogs.cc provides links to war-related reports from several agencies, papers and news stations. One of the site's founders, George Paine, runs his own site dedicated to the assembly of information on the war in Iraq http://www.warblogging.com . Journalist Christopher Allbritton, is using his warblog to take a critical look at the news spread by major agencies and raise money to return to Iraq as an independent reporter http://www.back-to-iraq.com . BBC reporters are keeping a log of their own http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/2876855.stm .
Among less formal warbloggers, "Salam Pax" http://dear_raed.blogspot.com is gaining a high profile. He claims to be reporting from Bagdad as events unfold, providing a civilian Iraqi perspective on the war. While some have speculated that Salam Pax may be a hoax created by the CIA, others are convinced he is real. Another warblogger by the name of Lt Smash is keeping a diary from inside the US military http://www.lt-smash.us/ .
Access to real information is becoming a premium in times of war, with many expressing doubts about the neutrality of so-called "embedded" reporters travelling with US troops. The Financial Times http://www.ft.com noted that embedded reporters had been using terminology such as "show" and "performance" to describe actions carried out by the US military. Warblogging on the Internet may at least provide an alternative to mainstream news sources, even if also unreliable.
At the same time, the battlefield Internet has seen hack attacks on US and British government sites. The latest victim may be the website of Arabian news station Al-Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/ , which was still down at 2 PM (CET) Wednesday afternoon. It is not clear whether the Arabic portal and its only recently launched English mirror site have collapsed due to excess page impressions or a hack attack.
According to Comscore Media Metrix http://www.comscore.com , Internet traffic on news sites has increased by 40 per cent since the war began. Some news portals have increased their capacity since the September 11 attacks. (newsfox-special Iraq)
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