Our intention at Small World News, far from being to “randomly get a direct quote” is, as you can read in Alive in Baghdad’s mission statement:

Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq. Through the work of a team of Americans and Iraqi correspondents on the ground, Alive in Baghdad shows the conflict through the voices of Iraqis. Alive in Baghdad brings testimonies from individual Iraqis, footage of daily life in Iraq, and short news segments from Iraq to you.

We have been producing nuanced stories about the complicated issues facing Iraqis in Baghdad since 2006. We also briefly ran a bureau in Mexico and produced stories from Gaza during the latest incursion by Israel.

Our goal is to empower local stringers to produce quality journalism that provides our audience with knowledge they won’t come by otherwise. By pushing a model that depends on the readership/viewership to support financially the content they want to see, we believe we will begin to build a network that has community investment and will stand the test of these trying times.

perhaps you’d be interested in our previous work: http://aliveinbaghdad.org , http://aliveinmexico.org , or most recently http://aliveingaza.org

Thanks for your interest.

Regards
Brian Conley
CEO
Small World News

Dear Small World Editors,
Your citing the use of Reuter’s Mobile Toolkit was interesting, particularly useful to a stringer.
Your subsequent suggestions that this toolkit allows for on the scene interview is less useful because just randomly getting a direct quote from someone in a crowd is good only in adding color and texture to the story (especially if the person is irate and frothing in the mouth with emotions) but it doesn’t advance the core content and give clarity to the story being covered.
From the mainstream world-press, I have not seen or heard any mention of a simple but critical fact that world-shipping of goods to Europe must sail through the Gulf of Aiden (where most piracy occur) to the Red Sea then the Suez Canel as a short cut to European destinations, otherwise shipping has to go completely south to the Indian Ocean pass Cape
Town then sail northeast completely around the African continent in the Atlantic Ocean clockwise to reach the strait of Gilbraltor to reach Europe–an impossible route.
This is Somali’s grave threat to the stoppage of world commerce and that’s why it is the crisis that it is.
Regards,
Franklin W. Liu
FrankWYLiu@aol.com