Dear Death Row Blogger

With millions of sites floating through the blogosphere, who really has time to peek at even a fraction of them? Blogophile reads them for you and presents a weekly roundup of the buzz on must-read blogs. Blogophile appears new each Wednesday, and is written by CBSNews.com's Melissa P. McNamara.

Blogging From Death Row

Anti-death penalty activists are using blogs as part of a new strategy to carry their message to a wider audience, The Washington Post reports.

Meet Vernon is one of the more controversial examples because it belongs to death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans, who answers questions from readers. Evans was sentenced more than two decades ago for the contract killings of potential witnesses in a federal drug case. He is scheduled to die next month in Maryland.

Technically, you can't blog from jail so activist Ginny Simmons gives the blog life, relaying questions to Evans in his jail cell and posting his responses. Evans' blog is part "Dear Abby," part anti-death penalty resource.

Evans apologized in court for the double murders, but maintains his innocence on his blog. Some bloggers are unconvinced, and vocal in cyberspace. "So please, maybe he would be convicted of murder, but he would never lie. He swears. It's on his blog," Modell Report blogs. Ace of Spades blogs, "I have little doubt that you have some outside interests, apart from murder-for-hire. You probably like puppies and ice cream. That's a human thing. But a desire for justice is also a human thing, you know."

But it's Bruised Orange's blog, which makes me question if the activists' blog strategy is effective. "I do object to death row inmates having access to weblogs, but not because I think that the internet should be deprived of the voice of any one blogger or because I find them ineffective or distasteful," blogs Bruised Orange, who opposes the death penalty. "(But) yes, I believe that they are ineffective and distasteful, and very misguided. Misguided because they assume that people like me would be less likely to support the death penalty if we only got to know these death row inmates as individuals."

Cross-Unders Are The New Cross-Overs

In a new twist, everything from music videos, to books, to skits that appear on big-budget television shows are crossing under, not over, into bootleg Web video blogs. As the New York Times notes, fans are rediscovering online snippets of television shows that may have once drawn attention only accidentally. The widely heralded "Lazy Sunday" (a.k.a. "Chronicles of Narnia rap"), which began as a Saturday Night Live skit may be the best example of a little-noticed television performance transforming into an online wonder. Video blogs like YouTube are contributing to this phenomenon, helped by blogs circulating favorite clips to friends.

In fact, the popular Narnia rap has spurred a bicoastal rap battle online. California-based actor Mark Feurstein, along with two friends, took on the SNL rappers with their West Coast-centric parody, "Lazy Monday" (a.k.a. "Color Me Mine"). It has generated over 100,000 hits on YouTube alone. And two kids in Chicago had a little fun, recreating their own "Lazy Sunday" rap.

But it works both ways. Mr. Britney Spears, Keven Federline, is a victim of unwanted online fame. "Never has a song inspired so much ridicule so quickly," Stereogum reports on its video blog, referring to Federline's new recording. "I can barely keep up with all the Internet musings on Keven Federline's Popazao."

Here's how that happened. MTV Raw news showed Britney's hubby rocking out to his new song in his studio. Surely it drew some television viewers, but only when the video made its way to YouTube did it become the new "Lazy Sunday" for satirists. The song is widely mocked in the blogosphere. Perhaps the greatest proof the song has become a certified spoof? James Lipton read its lyrics on Conan O'Brien.

Maybe Federline expected this online treatment. "My prediction is that y'all gonna hate on the style we create, straight 2008," he recently said. Then again, isn't any publicity good publicity?

Blogging Iraq

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt's injuries are a startling reminder of the dangers journalists face in Iraq.

Even before their injuries drew bloggers' attention to the dangers facing journalists, Columbia Journalism Review's Paul McLeary wrote in an online series (or blog) from Iraq, "For reporters in Baghdad, death or abduction are very real possibilities every time they leave their protected areas."

For freelance reporters, often lacking the security team a big news outlet affords its staff, the risks may be especially great. Freelancer Michael Yon, a 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, traveled to Iraq last year, and was embedded with a unit there. His blog is drawing a lot of attention this week, as he is back in the U.S. to write a book about his experience. His blog postings about his journey were praised for providing an honest account of the situation on the ground.

For example, in a Dec. post, Yon describes a meeting U.S. commander Colonel Petard organized with about sixty important local leaders in downtown Baquba. The meeting resulted in an honest discussion of democracy and Iraq's future, Yon blogged. Even when a bomb shattered the peace inside, the meetings continued. Yon recalls: "I hoped the media would be all over the story of the democracy in that room. But it was not…The only coverage I could find was about the car bomb, with one report erroneously saying it had ruined the Peace Day meeting. Not even close."

But, as violence in Iraq continues, stories Yon reported on may be even harder to come by. As McLeary reminds readers in a recent post, "The members of the press here aren't above reproach, but the situation they find themselves in is almost impossible -- and one that could go bad for anyone at any moment, as November's bombing of the al Hamra hotel and Jill Carroll's abduction illustrate graphically, and tragically."

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