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21 Aug 2011 00:09

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About, World: Tips and tricks: How to follow the Twitter action in Tripoli

  • Recently, our friend Matthew Keys had a pretty good idea called Quotse. Pretty much, the whole idea is that he drops his news-gathering secrets to those who might find a use for it. The piece he wrote about YouTube searches for breaking news stories was particularly helpful. In that spirit, we’d like to drop a couple of suggestions of our own. How do you parse through Twitter during really complex cases like Tripoli, where you’re hearing things from so many directions that you may not know where to start? As you guys might have noticed last night, we had to change our techniques on the fly because Twitter changed the way its search engine works. Anyway, here are some tips we’ve built up from that experience, as well as things we’ve learned over the years:
  • Basic tools Some like TweetDeck; we don’t. You can get lost way too easily. Fortunately, there are alternatives like HootSuite, which does the same thing with less visual clutter. It’s good to be fluent with multiple Twitter apps. We also dig Echofon. Also, if you find certain users to be trustworthy, put them in a Twitter list. Here’s our Tripoli list.
  • Intermediate tricks One of our favorite tricks for following a breaking news story is to do a search for a topic with the name of a popular image service behind it. Examples: “tripoli yfrog,” “libya twitpic” or “#feb17 youtube.” The result? Sometimes you might catch things — amazing photos, for example — before anyone else. Be sure to credit the source.
  • Advanced queries Twitter supports searches which don’t seem particularly obvious. For example, you can search by latitude and longitude. Use this tool to find your location, then paste it into this setup: “geocode:(your code),15mi”. Now, put that into Twitter. Pretty awesome, right? It’s not perfect (there are false positives aplenty), but it’s a great start.
  • » The key part? Use your head. Not every piece of information is a gem. Confirm information as much as possible, don’t accept info based on one report, keep an eye on Twitter accounts that have proven trustworthy with information in the past, and keep changing your searches as stories evolve.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 May 2011 16:14

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World: NATO airstrikes rock Tripoli during the night

  • Witnesses claim Gaddafi’s compound was the target: Some have cried foul over NATO’s increased bombings against Gaddafi territories, saying that the mandate for civilian protection, but the U.N. resolution authorizing the no-fly zone uses a rather vague phrase in defining the mission. It states: “…to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.” A pro-military force type might read that and say, “well, the civilians are in danger as long as Gaddafi is in power.” We’d likely agree with that. It is a bigger and bloodier mission than expected, however, and that may have consequences in public opinion and diplomacy. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2011 10:06

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World: Alleged Libyan rape victim escapes to Tunisia amid backlash

  • I still do not know what I am going to do. Of course I’d like to see my family.
  • An alleged Libyan rape victim • Revealing to the world that weeks after loudly revealing her brutal plight to a hotel full of journalists, she has left Libya and relocated to Tunisia as a refugee. She escaped, she says, in a military car wearing a head cover that covered everything except one eye. After a “very tiring” trip, she is currently staying at the French embassy in Tunis while she considers her fate. Let’s hope she never has to go back, or if she does, it’s at a time when the culture around her better understands her plight. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2011 11:48

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World: NATO airstrikes rattle Gaddafi’s home/military compound

  • NATO unleashes attacks in Tripoli: The strikes early Monday morning came with reports from NATO officials that nobody had been badly harmed, though Libyan state TV later claimed 45 civilian casualties. The odds of civilian death in this regard aren’t negligible, as Gaddafi has hosted throngs of still-loyal citizens at his sprawling residence to act as human shields, fully hoping that the risk of killing them would deter NATO from launching attacks like this one — be warned that there is a small amount of graphic imagery in the video. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Mar 2011 13:50

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World: Gaddafi rachets up violence; explosions in Tripoli

  • explosions heard in libyan capitol: For the first time since the Libyan rebellion began against Muammar Gaddafi, a series of explosions were heard in Tripoli during daylight hours. Reporting indicates there were three loud blasts, over the course of about twenty minutes. This comes amidst generally dire news for the Libyan rebellion, to say nothing of the citizenry; a witness tells CNN that a large scale butchery has gone on in Misrata, with Gaddafi’s forces killing civilians and driving them from their homes in a bid to claim control. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Mar 2011 08:36

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World: Libyan government official: Men accused of rape suing the accuser

  • I heard that the attorney-general brought her in for questioning because she is now not just the accuser, she is the accused. There is a case against her.
  • Libyan government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim • Revealing the woman who dramatically accused a number of men of violently raping her has been sued for those claims. “Now the four guys are having a case filed against her because instead of going to a police station and filing a case against them she went to the media and exposed their names,” he noted. “Now their honor is tainted, their families black-named and this in the Islamic law is a very grave offense.” Because, as we all know, it’s all about the men accused. Why not try the case first? (By the way, this is the same man who called her a “prostitute.” Yuck.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Mar 2011 23:34

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World: Arrests made in Libya in wake of rape allegations

  • » Amongst the arrested: The son of a high-ranking Libyan police officer. Also, the woman’s family says that government employees (some of whom have accused her of being a “known prostitute and thief,” as if that’s at all relevant) have offered her money and a house if she retracts her allegations. Something tells us she won’t.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

26 Mar 2011 11:31

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World: On “naming the victim” in the terrible Libyan rape story

  • We’re supposed to be all Libyans, we are all brothers, but this is what the Gadhafi militia men did to me.
  • A reported rape victim • Talking to hotel staffers who were trying to restrain her (and her story) at the hotel where members of the press were invited by Gaddafi’s government. We’d like to note one thing: The AP notes in their article that the policy on naming rape victims is to only do it when they volunteer their names, as she did in this case. We think that we don’t have to necessarily follow that standard in this case. We greatly debated it, though. We can tell the story just as well without it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Mar 2011 10:54

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World: Libya: Pro-Gaddafi troops’ gains cheered, then disputed

  • Today, there was celebration in Tripoli by pro-Gaddafi supporters who heard that troops made significant gains over the rebel forces throughout the country. Guns were everywhere, even in the hands of little kids – as you might notice in the utterly shocking photo above. The BBC, however, reports that the excitement appears misguided, as the gains against rebel forces weren’t nearly as successful as originally reported. “Tripoli is full of rumours, and versions of the truth,” writes BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen. “Some are closer to reality than the others.The regime does appear to feel much more secure than it did 10 days ago when I arrived, even though it is more isolated. More of day-to-day life in Tripoli has resumed.” (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2011 15:00

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World: A video glimpse into the chaos, brutality in Tripoli

  • Not for the faint of heart: This Al Jazeera English clip gives a stark and worthy overview of the bloodshed in Libya, including some particularly grisly shots taken from the streets of Tripoli. Be advised that it’s rather unpleasant to watch, but nonetheless – there’s a truth to the grim images that needs to be presented in times like these. It’s important for the ability of Libyans to make themselves and their horrific struggle known, and to inform our international conscience. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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