US – Saturday, November 7
National
Military base is site of soldier’s rampage
An Army psychiatrist who had treated soldiers wounded in foreign wars opened fire with two handguns on soldiers preparing for foreign deployment at the Fort Hood U.S. Army post in Texas on Thursday, killing 12 and wounding 30 others.
 
International
Sante D’Orazio: You can’t hide from this lens
With Sante D’Orazio behind the camera, celebrities will do the craziest things. Famous faces from Angelina Jolie to Pamela Anderson have posed for the photographer. Now D’Orazio presents his favorite photos from the past 10 years in a new book, “Barely Private.”
 
The Word
A wee little way to try to get famous
There are hundreds of ways to get your name in the paper: appear on reality TV, get knocked up by a reality star, film yourself while getting knocked up by a reality star ... the list is endless. But here’s a new one: A model named Yvette Monet has put a restraining order on ex-boyfriend Verne Troyer, according to RadarOnline.
 
Movies
A ‘Carol’ that hits some high notes
REVIEW. There is something creepy about the way Robert Zemeckis makes movies. In his last three films — first “The Polar Express,” then “Beowulf,” and now “A Christmas Carol”— the director has employed a hybrid method that crosses live action with animation. He no doubt thinks the work is pioneering, but “pioneering” usually has a positive connotation.
 
Business
Wal-Mart: $20 meal for 8 people
NEW YORK. Wal-Mart has cut prices on turkeys and other Thanksgiving staples. U.S. stores began yesterday selling whole, 12-pound turkeys for 40 cents a pound. That’s a third of last Thanksgiving’s average price.
 
My Travel
Get your groove back in Jamaica
Haunted colonial mansions, triathlons and motivational theme parks — not things you think of when you think of Jamaica? Think again, mon. Jamaica is fast becoming the health and activity capital of the Caribbean. Feel like you need to recharge rather than merely relax? With direct flights on JetBlue launching in January and locals that welcome you with open arms, you’ll be getting your groove back in no time.
 
Updated 23:30, December the 8th, 2008
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 For the record Arianna Huffington, blogger, media person of the year

 
HuffingtonHuffington
 

Huffpost: Sometimes there is only one side to the story

Background

Name: Arianna Huffington
Age: 57
Born: Athens, Greece
Lives: Los Angeles
Family: Daughters Christina and Isabella
Background: M.A. in economics from Cambridge University; author of books on Picasso and Maria Callas; TV commentator; columnist; former candidate for governor of California
In the news: As founder of the Internet news phenomenon Huffington Post

 

INTERVIEW. Arianna Huffington may arguably be the most influential woman in American media.

Greek-born, she runs the Huffington Post Web site, which covers politics, lifestyle and gossip, and has just been named I Want Media’s Person of the Year.

Since its launch in 2005, the site has become America’s biggest news phenomenon. In September, it had 4.5 million visitors, a 472 percent increase from September 2007. The site’s columnists range from politicians to celebrities like Alec Baldwin and Mia Farrow.

Huffington’s latest book, “Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe” has just been published in the U.S.

How do you convince so many famous people to blog for HuffPost?
It doesn’t take as much convincing as it did when we first launched. People understand now that it’s a very good way express their thoughts and opinions. They realize that what they write will be read and picked up by the mainstream media. They also have control over their message. Nobody reads press releases any more — if you want to say something, you blog about it.

News, not views, has long been the central pillar of journalism. Has that changed? HuffPost often doesn’t pretend to be neutral.
We [at the Huffington Post] offer both news and views. The success of HuffPost is, of course, partly the result of new technology, but also of traditional papers losing credibility. They always present two sides of an issue as if they are equal. Sometimes it’s not like that.

Will HuffPost and other blog sites lead to the decline of traditional newspapers?
Not necessarily. More and more people get their news online, but they also read newspapers for other information. A lot of papers are also moving their content online. You have to, now that people expect to get news around the clock.

HuffPost added celebrity and lifestyle reporting about a year ago. What are your future plans for the site?
We now have a green section and international reporting. We don’t have foreign correspondents; instead we primarily aggregate foreign news.

Do you have any plans to get involved in Greek politics?
No. I love Greece and feel completely Greek, but my home is America.

Elisabeth Braw
Metro World News