Here is a summary about Salam Pax and the blog from Baghdad. This presents a whole set of interesting questions for Journalism Educators, as well as opportunities and perhaps even a glimpse at the future of some kinds of news...

Hunting the Baghdad Blogger Many people, including some of our readers, question whether Salam Pax, a.k.a. the Baghdad blogger, is real. (See last week's NSD for more.) Might he just be someone practicing an elaborate hoax? Tech journalist Paul Boutin thinks Pax is the real McCoy after ferreting out that he probably uses Uruklink, Iraq's state ISP, to transmit his blogs to the Blogspot server in California. Diane, who writes the Letter from Gotham blog, has maintained more personal communications with Pax and also thinks he's genuine. Her conclusion is based on personal but pretty convincing evidence regarding, in part, Jewish history in pre-1948 Iraq. The "Where is Raed?" blog seems authentic, and its commentary rings true. The tone is of someone who is sad war has come to his city and who regrets its impact on normal life. For a deeper look at Pax, check out this superb article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Finally, Wired has a story about how the immense popularity of the blog was causing bandwidth problems for the hosting ISP. NSD 9.11: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.11.html#BS1 Boutin: http://paulboutin.weblogger.com/2003/03/20 Letter from Gotham: http://gotham.realwomenonline.com/archives/002105.html Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/magazine/daily/5490233.htm Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58206,00.html Raed: http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/