the guy by the door …

Democracy Now! on Twitter announced:

Democracy Now! is heading to the Gulf this weekend. Send story ideas and guest suggestions on the oil spill to “stories@democracynow.org”

I don’t know exactly who’s going and who’s staying in New York to mind the studio, but there’s a good chance some of the folks will tweet over the weekend. They can only do a full broadcast on weekday mornings. They can post to their website at any time, but if they are on the move that’s hard. Twitter provides an immediacy and off-cycle capability.  If they do tweet from the Gulf it might inspire questions and story ideas. Reasonably thought out ideas longer than 140 characters probably should go to the stories address above.  If you’re following them on Twitter remember that the DN! account has 25,000 followers so replies that are too casual and numerous could flood them.

When they went to Haiti producer and on-air Sharif Kaddous on Twitter shared personal observations:

Surgical mask, bandana, T-shirt, cloth, hand, toothpaste or lemon rind on upper lip. These are all ways in Haiti to cover the smell of death
5:08 PM Jan 19th via Echofon

A week after earthquake, bodies are still being pulled from the rubble. This one lies across from the hospital http://twitpic.com/ytrdz
2:33 PM Jan 19th via Echofon

A river of waste and death streams out of the morgue as they sweep away the remains. http://twitpic.com/ytqqc
2:29 PM Jan 19th via Echofon

The morgue has been largely cleared of corpses. But one remains. Without effective aid, more will come.  http://twitpic.com/ytpji
2:20 PM Jan 19th via Echofon

[I’ve only smelled one decomposing human body. It didn’t smell particularly bad
… until I knew what it was. It was my neighbor Todd. Fifteen years later I can still smell it. The horror. I can only guess what it must have been like for Sharif.]

Producer and on-air Anjuli Kamat is on Twitter and  Havard Alumna and camera operator Nicole Salazar is on Twitter. Nicole ain’t said nothing yet, but I’ll let her know there’s somebody listening.