The Baghdad Blogger will be a guest at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival.* Known by the pseudonym Salam Pax (“Hello Peace”), the young Iraqi started an online diary in September 2002. His English blog detailed everything from his daily life to criticisms of the Iraqi government — an act that could have led to his execution. When the Iraq War started, Salam Pax attracted a worldwide following, as readers turned to him for one citizen’s story of the war. Now a columnist for The Guardian, Salam Pax will show his documentary, Baghdad Blogger/Salam Pax, at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Blogging has opened the doors for communication that sidesteps the filters of usual gatekeepers. For citizen journalists, this means unfettered access to the public. But, for businesses, blogging poses an opportunity to sidestep media editors and analysts, as well as the confines of direct mail and 30-second ad spots. How interesting, then, that The Guardian and film festivals have taken note.

(c) 2004 by Andrea Coutu. Vancouver Marketing Consultant. All rights reserved.

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