Saturday shows

Michael appeared Saturday on both Roland Martin’s special and on John King’s recap special. Finally a chance to go in-depth about what was, wasn’t, and should-have-been said at the debate. As always, Michael lasered in on the salient points as far as the current threat from terrorism, the realities on the ground in Iraq, the true meaning of the surge, what we need to come to grips with as far as the new Iranian regional superpower … this was the Michael Ware who should have been given a much larger role in the post-debate discussions Friday night. Quality of reporting is so much more important than quantity of reporters.

Clips will be up ASAP.

Sound bites

I’m usually the first one to sing the praises of CNN’s commitment to having so many resources ready to cover any story, anywhere. But as soon as I saw the press release about the debate coverage, I was afraid that the zillion-and-twelve reporters and pundits and anchors (oh my!) would lead to… exactly what happened last night.

Specifically: not enough mic time for Michael.

Two questions and two jump-in comments. Not enough. Not even close. Especially since this is the only debate that will cover his area of expertise.

Oh well. Time is time, so I shan’t complain. Oh wait…too late, huh?

By the way, I still haven’t seen any of the debate itself and only these clips from the discussions. Hopefully I can watch it all on Monday!

Debate debate

Not sure when Michael may be on today (IF the debate happens…) but I figured I’d better get a post up here for y’all to discuss what happens.

We certainly are living in interesting times…

Finally some Michael news!

From an article re CNN coverage of the presidential debate on Friday… Michael will be doing commentary:

As the first presidential debate will be focused on foreign affairs, chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and Baghdad-based correspondent Michael Ware will contribute their analysis from a global perspective.

Read the full article here.

My Monday

(Yes, sadly, I am reduced to writing about myself. Ugh.)

My Monday ATC post featured several clips from various Middle Eastern countries, in case there’s anything you missed last week. Alas, no Michael…

Still having problems with the new site software. Am exchanging emails with the developers, they are looking for the glitch. As things stand right now, I actually am unable to update the site, and you can imagine how happy that makes me. (Hint: extremely un-.) I will probably have to revert back to the old software for, seriously, the third time. Probably going to tackle that tomorrow, since Wednesday I go back to work.

I will be having surgery next month, but I promise not to die on y’all. It’s really a very common procedure, shouldn’t even have to stay overnight at the hospital. Then I’ll be good as new! (Oh, and my blood pressure today was 102/70… shows what a week away from my crazy-making job will do!)

New website design

I’m going to do the migration to the new design shortly. I’m doing this because the old design does not work with the latest software upgrade. Plus, the menu was starting to get a little crowded — the more he does, the more options I need, so I chose a new design “wrapper” that is more flexible.

Some changes are cosmetic — yes, a new main photo; you’ll get used to it! — and some are a bit more substantive. Rather then listing each topic by country, everything is now chronological. I think it makes for a more streamlined archive, especially as the site continues to grow.

You may also notice some technical glitches at first — the upload has to be done in two parts: first the new redesign, then I have to upgrade to the latest software, then I have to re-upload the site. Hopefully I can get it all done tonight…

Issue #1 definitely takes over

Not that politics has exactly been bumped off the front page, but the economic meltdown is certainly dominating the news these days. Scary stuff. (Andy Serwer has an excellent article in Time about it, if you’re interested in the hows/whys of what happened.)

So even if Michael is still in New York, not a lot of opportunity for face-time on CNN! (Damn those markets for collapsing at such an inconvenient time for us! The nerve!) One of our intrepid readers sent an inquiry to CNN a couple weeks ago and got this in return:

Greetings,
Thank you for contacting CNN. Yes, Michael Ware is safe and continues to report with CNN. For his latest videos, please log on to our Web site at http://www.cnn.com/video and enter Michael Ware in the search box.
We appreciate you watching CNN.

I know everyone is wondering where Michael is (the mail is piling up!) but that’s all I can tell you. Not sure why Cal Perry is back in Baghdad (although I assume it’s just temporary) or what else may be going on.

I thought yesterday that we might see Michael show up in Yemen, but Ben Wedeman is covering that. He had a great report and blog post this morning — ya gotta love our CNN guys, they just do their thing so well: We were allowed into the area by Yemeni security officials who didn’t coordinate with the Americans. One of the investigators exclaimed to another (and I overheard) “Who the f***k allowed CNN in here?” You go, Ben!

As for me… the doctors are still running tests, I should know Monday whether I need to have surgery. Nothing life-threatening, just painful. Honestly, I’m more worried about my job right now, and the possibility of needing something between 2-6 weeks off for recovery… at a 40% loss of income while on disability! Oh, and my doctor said I need to reduce my stress… HA!

Oh, and I’m redesigning the site. Again. It’s the only way I will be able to upgrade to the new software. Still some grunt work to do to get it finished, so I’m not sure when the change will happen. I’ll try to warn y’all beforehand, though!

For your viewing pleasure…

The wonderful “16″ over on the CNNFan board captured these lovely grabs of Michael on August 25. Click to see the full-size versions…

Cutting through the fog

Michael was on American Morning a little while ago, talking about the troop withdrawals… more soon…

He also talked about Bob Woodward’s new book…

Both clips are now up. (Now with transcripts, as well.)

Also, he’s been on International twice, those clips are converting now.

So, what else is happening…?

Okay, we’re OD’ing on the politics, and the Republicans haven’t bothered to discuss actual ISSUES so far, so if Michael is still in New York, he’s had nothing to comment on. (Although I would have LOVED to hear his reaction to the “she’s Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard so she has military command experience” and “Alaska is close to Russia, so she has foreign relations experience” talking points!)

So what else is going on? Nic Robertson is in Pakistan to cover the elections there. (Did you even KNOW there were elections there this weekend? I didn’t, until about two days ago! And I record CNN 24/7!) There was an attempted assassination of the PM yesterday, and Nic has some fantastic behind-the-scenes footage of his team quite literally chasing the story. (Thanks to Sharon for the tip.)

It would be great if Michael would do some more of this kind of thing. We got a bit of it when he went to Anbar, with the infamous “This is the most dangerous part of the trip” footage inside the car. But a report that airs and then a glimpse at what they had to do to get a story, just for CNN.com … how cool would that be? Okay, I’m greedy, I just want more Michael footage. And some more Tommy footage, too! And a look at what goes on, all the stuff we have NO CLUE about.

Oh, and Nic blogs, too. I’m just sayin’… For someone with magazine writing experience, Michael has been very stingy with his written work since he joined CNN. Okay, he’s working on the book and I know that must take up all his “spare” time. But still. Okay, I’m getting close to whining here, so I’ll shut up now.