USA Today hides the substance

Wow, USA Today is trendy. If journalism was like fashion, then USA Today would be mod. The Web site is littered with user comments and recommendations- anyone can tell they are striving to create a communal feeling. You can comment on everything- Holiday Travel, Sports, Online Shopping, Movies, or, surprise, National News.

In case you haven’t noticed- they’ve strayed from giving normal, or expected, titles to their coverage areas, choosing instead to prominently feature things like “In the Cafeteria,” “Going Green,”  and “People” (which, naturally, features celebrity news).

 The top toolbar is designated “The Essentials.” And what exactly are the essentials, you ask? Well, for USA Today they are: Markets, Scores, Politics, Games, Lotteries, Video, Photos, Subscribe, Reader Services, Blogs, Site index. Well, as a reader, I’m glad to know I should consider the lotto scores essential to my daily news intake but not the war in Iraq or the genocide in Darfur.

USA Today loves its community. In addition to user comments, recommendations and blogs there is a prominent dynamic lead of reader comments on the top right. . And they definitely encourage the online membership option

This could all be considered creative and innovative, or, for the cynics out there, another case of dumbing down the news.  

Arab nations to gather in Maryland and discuss Arab-Israeli peace

Updated Monday Nov. 26, 2007: Syria announced Sunday that it would attend the Middle East Conference, which begins tonight, after officials were promised that Golan Heights would be on the agenda.  The country, which was holding out,  supports groups oppossed to peace between Israel and Palestine.

Egypt and the United States have managed to coax the majority of Arab leaders to attend a peace conference in Annapolis, Md. next week. However, Syria continues to hold out. Syria is a key player in Middle Eastern politics and conflict. For, as the Middle Eastern saying goes: “There cannot be war without Egypt- but there cannot be peace without Syria.”

            And Syria is using this leverage to have its political goals heard. Before Syria joins ship, its government demands the conference address the issue of Golan Heights, Syrian land that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Israel’s occupation of the area has made thousands of Syrians refugees in their own homeland and prompted violence in the region.

            The Bush administration said Friday that they were willing to discuss Golan Heights but not explicitly put it on the agenda. However, Syria wants it on paper. Arab League officials said they were optimistic about Syria’s attendance.

            Israeli officials are thrilled by the decision of 15 Arab nations to attend the conference, which may lead to the negotiations necessary to establish Israel and Palestine as two separate states.

See The New York Time’s full story.

Zoe’s Ark lied to Air firm hired to transport Chadian children

As discussed in the blog on Nov. 7, members of Zoe’s Ark were arrested Oct. 25 for attempting to “rescue” African children from war-torn Sudan.  They planned to fly the children, who they alleged were orphans, from Sudan’s Darfur region to Europe, where the children would be put into foster care. However, U.N. officials report that most of the children were not orphans at all. Some of the children’s parents have said that the organization’s members told them their children would be taken to eastern Chad to be educated, but not to France.

            Zoe’s Ark members lied to Chadian parents and to Girjet, the Spanish air charter company hired to transport them. Group members told Girjet they were supported by the United Nation’s refugee agency, UNHCR, and the French President’s wife, Cecilia Sarkozy.  

            However, the UNHCR and French government have denied involvement in the humanitarian group’s plot to take 103 African children out of Chad.  In fact, French officials were undoubtedly angered by the situation, which has strained relations with its former colony, a country  that desperately needs European Union peacekeeping forces in its eastern region.

            Zoe’s Ark went so far as to place fake bandages on their heads and bodies after telling Girjet that the Chadian passengers needed “special surgical and medical attention.” Girjet also received e-mails from French doctors authorizing the children to travel.

The seven Girjet crew members, three French journalists and a Belgian pilot who were arrested with Zoe’s Ark have been released. The six group members remain in custody.

See the related Washington Post story.