ramblerandgambler

• Al Jazeera is often seen as the 'alternative' to the bad/misleading/biased mainstream media, of course no matter how hard one tries, there is always an element of bias in journalism, but is there a sense in the newsroom of this difference between AJ and other mainstream outlets?

• Is there any danger of this trend changing form what you've seen?

• What's the closest scrape you've ever gotten into in the field?

• What was your first big story?

There is a common sexual position called The Missionary Position, there are many jokes to be made about this fact if one finds themselves in the position of a missionary....if you like that sort of thing, jokes and laughing and such.

Towards your own gate, not the enemy's...

An 'operative' i know who was in country to deal with this problem said that it wasn't just a question of money. You can grow the best melons and strawberries in the world in afghanistan, the farmers were happy to do it, but the problem is transport. There are no roads, no refridgerated trucks, you cant export them because you cant get them to the airport in a short amount of time. If you've grow a pound of opium, you can keep it in a shed for a year and sell it for the same price as the day you harvest it.

Did you start your zine as a response to the decline in printed media, is that something you're worried about?

Do you subscribe to the idea that it's harder and harder to make a career out of writing or would you agree that it's still just as possible as before (more books were printed last year than ever before, but also more people subscribe to the NY times online than read the print edition) but you just have to be better in order to be noticed because every asshole with a blog calls himself a writer? Does genius always rise to the top?

Do you find it worrying that 'joke' news outlets (similar to and including the onion), like the daily show, have become a main source of information or for some people and that it forms people's opinions rather than people reacting to what they see ont eh actual news? (if that makes sense at all)