Fighting swords with pens

Article in Reuters Alertnet says "Khairallah feels that he lives in the shadows of foreign journalists, who often get accolades for articles that he really gathered the bulk of the information for. He feels unappreciated. He dreams of being a famous journalist one day, and of receiving prizes for his work.....

Before the war, Khairallah was getting paid as little as $5 per story and today he gets around $10 from local newspapers and $20 from international publications, but he did not want to disclose their names for security reasons. "I hope one day my name will be recognised, maybe when Iraq gets true democracy and press freedom becomes a reality and not a theory," he said."


Feel that tiny string tugging at your heart? That's the pathos of an unsung hero fighting the guns and bombs in Iraq with his pen. You're appreciated, Khairallah, by me and anyone who's reading this post. Not much, but best I can do at the moment...The poor idealistic chump is a ghost writer, for all the wrong reasons. He's not ghost writing because no-one wants to give him credit. He's ghost writing because he's scared to take the credit. Here's a list of Iraqi bloggers who, it seems, aren't as reticent about taking credit.

Related Links:
1. Council On Foreign Relations
2. Press in Iraq Gains Rights But No Refuge
3. World Press Review - Iraq in the International Press
4. Report: U.S. paying Iraqi newspapers
5. Committee to Protect journalists