Zoriah - Stories from behind the headlines

zoriah_iraq_war_baghdad_sadr_city_woman_shopping_soldiers, originally uploaded by Zoriah.

Until recently Zoriah Miller was working as an independent photographer and journalist covering stories from Iraq that don't usually make the headlines. His amazing photography, often carried out under the most difficult of conditions however, lead to him being "disemebedded" i.e kicked out after he showed images of dead American soldiers. As the New York Times says;

"The case of a freelance photographer in Iraq who was barred from covering the Marines after he posted photos on the Internet of several of them dead has underscored what some journalists say is a growing effort by the American military to control graphic images from the war."

Click here to read more from the New York Times story.

In WWII the same policy was in place and even in Vietnam where the reporters were given free rein many media outlets refused to run stories or images that showed the US military in a bad light. Like Philip Jones Griffiths before him Zoriah is finding that its not just the military censors that have to be dealt with when covering a war zone but also the indifference of the public unwilling to hear about a war they so enthusiastically supported until very recently.

Thessaloniki - Seattle: Twin cities?

Well, that's what the New York Times thinks. I just came across an article entitled;

"Greek Youth remake "Seattle of the Balkans"


Photo by Yiannis Kolesidis

"Greek Youth remake "Seattle of the Balkans"

"NEAR the seventh-century Church of Aghia Sophia in the northern Greek city of Salonika, prides of revelers are filling art-grunge bars like Urban and Pastaflora Darling! on lively Zefxidos Street. It's a weeknight — a Monday going on Tuesday, in fact — but it feels like a Saturday. The tsipouro is flowing, the New Pornographers are blaring, and the people, a blend of wispy artists bobbing to the music, balding academics recalling their anarchist years and caffeinated students now living theirs, are energized."

OK, considering the gorgeous weather we've been having lately I'm finding this a little hard to envisage. However, it's great to see an article about the city that doesn't drone on about its history using the same old tired cliches that people trot out when they can't be bothered to actually find out about the place for themselves.