The Monrovian Analog Blogger 117
An anonymous reader writes "Motherboard.TV reports, 'In Monrovia, Liberia, there’s a guy taking the matter of a lopsided, state-run media and reshaping it into a free-of-charge, independent news-aggregator—all accomplished with dry-erase board and couple markers. (Sorry, internet!) Each morning, at 10:45 AM, Alfred Sirleaf wakes up and heads down to his bulletin board to post the day’s news, culling together a slate of stories his countrymen might otherwise never see. Grateful readers line up in droves, on foot and in cars, to read these updates, in what has been described as the country's — and probably the world's — only analog blog.'"
Re:Not for long... (Score:5, Informative)
He'll probably be properly "censored" soon.
He was arrested [nytimes.com] before and went into exile for a while as well. He's been at this for several years.
Re:what a great idea! (Score:1, Informative)
Well what he does is read the morning newspaper and summarize the top stories and so on and puts it up for those who can't afford newspapers or other forms of media.
He's more along the lines of a filter for the news or a free distributor.
You could probably call him a thief if you're really up in arms about copyright. He's not going out and finding the news himself, he's taking it from actual newspapers, infringing on their copyrights. Bit of a dick move, but you could.
Also, was he short or was it just the suit, which may add a sense of professionalism but also stands out quite a bit. But yeah, the video makes him seem pretty short.
Taking freedom of speech for granted.. (Score:1, Informative)
Thank goodness he can't have comments, look at the inspiring material /. has to offer in response to one man's struggle against a state-controlled media. They used the term analog blog because he's not printing a paper or taking the news to anyone, he's putting it all up on a blackboard and people are coming from miles around to see it. And we the people of the internet have nothing better to do with our lives than pick apart the semantics of the news report and mock it because it's been done for a long time. No, it's not some incredible new technology, but it is something incredible that deserves admiration, not your smug, sarcastic leering.
Re:whooooooooosh (Score:1, Informative)
Last time I checked "making fun of people who cannot afford even basic things that are outdated for us" was not particularly funny.
Re:Not for long... (Score:5, Informative)
Probably because it was being used to mean kidnapped or killed.