Show Student journalists seek ordinary Iraqis David Los Angeles Times A US U.S. soldier returns home from Iraq pregnant Her husband husband husband hus hus- band is outraged But you should be happy she tells him I came back backwith backwith backwith with an Iraqi prisoner This nugget of humor is brought to you by War Var News Radio an innovative and sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times irreverent form of journalism journalism journalism jour jour- practiced by students at Swarthmore College The joke related in English by an Iraqi businessman aired in a segment segment segment seg seg- ment titled Comedy at War on a hour half-hour weekly radio program run by students and devoted exclusively to Iraq War News Radio was created a year ago as an antidote and supplement to mainstream media coverage of Iraq Convinced that commercial news outlets focused too heavily heavily heavily ly on violence and incremental developments the students tried to home in on more personal personal personal per per- topics all from miles away The programs program's reporters have never been to Iraq Instead they troll the Internet for mail e-mail addresses of ordinary Iraqis then use a free Web-based Web phone system to interview them on matters great and small They also track down US U.S. soldiers Iraqi movers and shakers and experts on everything everything everything every every- thing from Iraqi poetry to the Party Though confined to their campus studio the reporters have produced incisive and startling reports on daily life in Iraq They have interviewed an Iraqi doctor whose daughter was killed at a US U.S. checkpoint a US U.S. soldier whose convoy was hit by a roadside bomb while delivering school supplies supplies supplies sup sup- plies and the top executives of the Iraqi airline and stock exchange The stories tend to be intimate intimate intimate inti inti- mate and intensely personal And unlike most radio or TV stories from Iraq they run from four to seven minutes and sometimes longer a lifetime in commercial broadcasting Last month the program featured featured featured fea fea- stories on a Muslim Marine in Iraq US U.S. military attempts to improve communications communications communications with Iraqis tensions between Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters and the Muslim holiday Eid ul A regular feature called Iraq has probed the history of the Party the Sunni-Shiite Sunni schism the 1958 coup that toppled toppled toppled top top- pled Iraq's monarchy and Britain's colonial influence Weve tried to go way beyond the stereotype weve we've all had at one time of Iraq as a Godforsaken wasteland plagued by car bombs and violence violence violence vio vio- vio- vio lence said War News Radio host co-host Wren Elhai 19 a political political political ical science major The college pays the programs program's programs program's programs program's pro pro- grams gram's annual budget budget budget bud bud- get but students say it does not interfere with substance or tone The only up grown in inthe inthe inthe the cramped ground-floor ground office known as the war room is Marty Goldensohn 59 who serves as paid adviser professor mentor and allaround allaround all- all allaround around news junkie v Goldensohn a year 30 veteran veter veter- an of public radio whose rich baritone is heard on some segments segments seg seg- segments ments calls ea each h of his young reporters a smart smart rigorous thinker with a heart This is a brilliant kind of ivory tower where the kids learn to think objectively he said The concept was Lets Let's harness all this intelligence and passion about Iraq and the war and do something that really matters In the war room this month a tracked pieces in them stories progress among on Iraq's black market and an Iraqi Olympic hopeful War News reporters culled through Web sites chat rooms and Internet phone directories to connect with Iraqis They call for free on a Web-based Web phone service called Three of the programs program's two dozen staffers speak Arabic Others such as Elhai use a cheat sheet of Arabic phrases similar to the phrase cards carried carried carried car car- ried by US U.S. troops in Iraq Many of the reporters like their cohorts in the mainstream media are skeptical of ty After hearing President Bush describe Iraqi attitudes toward the US U.S. occupation in his State of the Union speech last month program host co-host Amelia Templeton decided to seek out experts everyday Iraqis Student Journalists Cont on Page 7 I Student Journalists Cont from Page 4 With all due respect the president isn't the expert on that she said I wanted to give ordinary Iraqis the chance to speak for themselves Her interviewees expressed a wide range of opinions on the occupation Templeton said much like Americans Her reporting over the last year has not crystallized her views on the war she said On the contrary contrary contrary con con- her thinking is more complex and My views have become far muddier now she said Ive gone to a place of less certainty certain certain- ty and that's intellectually challenging Is it presumptuous for students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents at a year a private private private vate college to define the essence of Iraq without going there War News Radio reporters say they are just one voice on the subject not the definitive voice We acknowledge that were we're not getting the full picture picture picture pic pic- ture but at least we get close Elhai said We acknowledge our biases and try to work past them The students are not journalism journal journal- ism majors Swarthmore has no journalism program But they arc are fast learners who have expanded the boundaries of conventional news-gathering news often with surprising results |