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Show fJ GVS continued from pax? And filtering ihe news with a particular political bent can breed misinformation and mistrust. "It's very easy to go online and only get one point of view," said Charles Lipson, University of Chicago international relations professor. "The big cost of news today is the cost of getting a good source as opposed to any source." Lipson publishes one of the most comprehensive online lists of links to Middle East news at charleslipson.com. He clearly labels the links' country of origin with a Hag. As war talk on the Web has grown, so has the number of warblogs, typically impromptu, strcam-of-conscious writings posted by amateur analysts, though well-known columnists and pundits are now joining in. The number of all active blogs is estimated at about 500,000. Nielsen says monthly traffic to blogspot.com, the leading host of blogs recently bought by Google, has increased 500 percent, to 1.4 million, in January. Solutions continued from page 2 B L 0 T . Ju" S U A L j L A N A M 1 3 C L 0 C K R A D I ONE R I K I 5 "TrfH I N K I N G T W I C E E B B 0 M j S A T FJ Y eSJ S D 0 E SLjSrClT L D 1 h"rV rrT GREASE DMQ D E LM L K E N R 0 U;Ej R T I A I N D EISMS 0 S i Jls S A N TIE ; JP A N I CrjR E E L 0 1 L I S 1 0 N j 0 sTsTaT A RT IA1I N G A S T A bTa T H U E S H I M M A T eJr" I All liiii Tim a R A "cf ?0 S E DtjXG E D mm "Blogging is an online equivalent of going to a demonstration," said Colin Hunter, a co-founder of Antiwar.com, and of chipmaker Transmeta. Antiwar.com operates from a renovated guesthouse at his Athcrton, California home. Warblogs range from well-reasoned opinion . pieces to political rants to quirky parody. They can create virtual rallying points for the like-minded, and their influence sometimes goes far beyond their limited traffic numbers. Charles Johnson, one-time guitarist and former Jarreau band member, has generated a loyal following, but also controversy, by posting virulent anti-Israeli speeches and writings from Arab leaders he collects from Middle East-based Web sites virtually unknown to most Americans. He says the point of his site, littlegreenfootballs.com, is to expose Arab world thinking and thereby build sympathy for war and Israeli causes. Critics say Johnson, who emphasizes he is not - I i 'Hi'f . " fhitry t-f ..1 0 People by the millions are going to the Internet for the lastest war news, reports and to check out the "warblogs," electronic diaries addressing views on the conflict with Iraq. Jewish, is fueling anti-Arab hysteria. But no one was more surprised than Johnson when the English language Web site of Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, picked up a parody written by a contributor to his i t. v - x.- i-jl; - i it r-y J I i rNir itMV-t-j ' ...... site and then published it online as straight news. The parody included a fake quote from the Arab League calling Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon's trip to space aboard the Columbia space shuttle an "illegal Zionist occupation of hV nihil -1 nmri ifiw' -r-ir tv ..A nt-, IIIIMl ilft ' Earth orbit." The entire episode occurred before Columbia's tragedy. "Now I try to clearly label the parody," Johnson said. "When the number of people paying attention to you hits a few thousand, you have to be more careful." ;'l -;; ir ..t., ?. .r,w t "!i vifcfs |
