PJ'S EVERYWHERE:

Blogger Media at the Forefront of the Middle East Coverage War (PRNewswire, 7/21/06)

Pajamas Media (PJM) is providing special extended coverage of the Middle East War in conjunction with its new initiative called Politics Central. Within the PJM Network of 90 bloggers are several in theater commenting on the war between Hamas, Hezbolla and Israel from a first hand perspective. Pajamas has also been providing a real time and continuous chronology of news events via its global editors and contributors. Within PJM's new Politics Central initiative, PJM is distributing exclusive podcast interviews that are longer and more in depth than typical cable news organizations are able to provide.

With full-time editors in Sydney, Barcelona and Los Angeles working with contributing bloggers worldwide in such places as Tel Aviv, Haifa, Baghdad and Washington, Pajamas Media has been offering round-the-clock battlefield reporting in tandem with the most thoughtful commentary from the global blogosphere and traditional sources. Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Gerard Van der Leun in Seattle, Pajamas Media mixes the best news and views from on-the-scene citizen journalists with seasoned professionals in an unprecedented manner.

A literal living chronology of the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah War has been created and made available on the Pajamas Media front page (http://www.pajamasmedia.com). "This chronology's intention is to give the public moment-to-moment access to the vicissitudes of the war and ultimately to provide historians with a record of the evolving struggle," says Pajamas' CEO Roger L. Simon.

In the early stages of the war, PJM wanted direct and exclusive coverage from the Middle East. With this Politics Central readers could actually hear what was going on from the people on the ground themselves.

"When we discovered a seventeen-year old -- Eugene -- blogging from a bunker in Haifa ('Live from an Israeli Bunker' @ http://www.israelibunker.blogspot.com), we jumped at the opportunity to do a podcast interview with him," said Simon. After Simon's podcast with Eugene was published on the Pajamas Media site, the young man from Haifa was immediately interviewed by the Washington Post, CNN and NBC, creating a virtual blog firestorm.

Pajamas Media's Politics Central is now planning other podcasts from the Middle East to appear in the next few days. Some of these will feature Arab bloggers talking with Israeli bloggers.