Less than five minutes ago, (approx 10.30 a.m.) BBC Radio Five Live was 'discussing' the Giuliana Sgrena story. The correspondent, Tamzin Smith, was asked to explain why this story had caused such outrage and anger in Italy. Ms Smith offered the US /Whitehouse version first - it's absurd to suggest that the journalist and her entourage were targetted deliberately ; the vehicle she was in was travelling too fast as it approached a checkpoint. Then the 'other' side - some believe that Giuliani was indeed targetted because the US cannot tolerate the tacit Italian policy of dealing with kidnappers.

Several crucial facts, as described by Giuliana Sgrena herself, writing for her newspaper, 'Il Manifesto' (translated versions of the piece have been available online since the week-end) - the car she was in was not travelling 'too fast' ; the occupants of the car had been in regular contact with Italian and US authorities who were following their progress towards the airport ; at the time of the shooting the vehicle had passed all checkpoints and was only 700 yards from the airport.

A couple of other important details so far unmentioned in UK mainstream - the vehicle carrying Sgrena and her bodyguards has disappeared, cannot be inspected. Sgrena was due to meet with refugees from Fallujah, where she personally witnessed evidence of the use of banned weapons, possibly including 'napalm' (or whatever its new brand-name is...) The original 'Il Manifesto' article by Sgrena herself outlines what she saw in Fallujah, her anger at the US action in the city, and her frustration at being unable to get her story 'out'. She also has detailed first-hand accounts of torture and rape from victims.

I hope this story helps illustrate how I would like to see the 'list' working - by simply keeping one another informed about what's happening then we can, at least, contribute to an alternative 'history' of what's happening in Iraq, and barring destruction of the www and each and every hard-drive of those who choose to view the information, that history will remain alongside the 'official' mainstream version for others to examine in years to come.

Last year I contributed a series of messages to media-watch regarding an incident reported by ITN News. It involved the torture of a teenage girl by prison guards at Abu Ghraib, witnessed by an Iraqi journalist. That was on May 8th 2004, less than a year ago, and the incident, now, does not 'exist'. It is well-nigh impossible to find any mention of it anywhere. (The BBC ignored it completely, as well as ignoring requests to explain why the story was not considered newsworthy when ITN ran it, for a full evening, as an 'Exclusive'. )

On BBC Radio Scotland (Sunday March 6th), Ruth Wishart's show spent considerable time rubbishing the efforts of online writers (or bloggers) and dismissing them as conspiracy theorists and politically-motivated provocateurs. The examples mentioned above are just two incidents where mainstream-media coverage gives cause for deep concern, and it's only by improving the quality and scope of online/alternative coverage that we can hope to bring producers and agenda-setters to account. Also bear in mind that 'journalists' such as Wishart would not waste time discussing the efforts of their online competitors unless they were deeply worried - a brief scan of the 'official' versus the 'online' history of Blair/Bush's Mid-East adventures shows that these people certainly have cause to be worried. (Interestingly, Wishart's guest did concede that the 'net' has thrown up some interesting writers, and he mentioned Andrew Sullivan as a sterling example -- ????!!!! If you're not familiar with this guy's work, check out some of the stuff he's done, a lot has appeared in the Sunday Times. hint - he once referred to GW Bush as 'this young and gifted president...' )

In six months from now, people will struggle to place the name of Giuliana Sgrena, just as we never ever knew the name of the wee girl in Abu Ghraib who was beaten, naked, by six uniformed men. Hopefully, in time, humane historians will make their assessments of what has happened 'in our name', and those accounts will perhaps include the efforts of projects like this.

Right now (11 a.m.) BBC Fve Live News has mentioned the Sgrena story, and stated that the journalist's car was shot at 'near a checkpoint'. A subtle shift, but perhaps significant (i.e. 'near' the checkpoint, but on which side of it ?)