About this British woman jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear 'Mohamed'...

I just did a phone interview for the FSN radio feed with a friend from Sudan. He said that he had not heard people calling for her death (like the news has been reporting). Some people are hurt by what she did, but many feel that she should not be jailed. Unfortunately, those who oppose her incarceration can not openly express their feelings.

Sudan is a very religious country, and naming anything besides a person is offensive to them. But it was the students who named the bear, not the teacher. Even the people who put her in jail must realize that it was an honest mistake. Mohamed is by far the most common name in the country. I think it has more to do with a general anti-western sentiment over the deployment of UN troops in Darfur, than wanting to punish her for this "crime".

In live news production, everything is done at the last minute. Simon and Dennis are in Pakistan producing and shooting for the NewsHour. Apparently the correspondent was making changes until the very last minute. The piece was suppose to be in by 4:00 pm, but we didn't get it until 5:00. I converted it and exported it to a Beta tape as quickly as I could. Helen waited outside the building with her car running and Malcolm stood next to me cussing at the TV (because the piece was so long). The second it finished he ran down, jumped in the car with Helen and raced to NewsHour headquarters.

When I got home, I turned on the TV just as it was airing. It was neat to see the video go from my computer at work straight to my living room.

Today I did an interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Look for the videos on the Washington Post website in the next few weeks. And check out my intimate moment with the Archbishop!

Daniel and I covered the TransAfrica Lifetime Achievement Award Gala tonight. As members of the press, we were allowed access to the VIP cocktail event. Danny Glover is the head of the TransAfrica board, so we got an exclusive interview with him. Check out the finished package.

I had a terribly frustrating day. It was fine until about 6:30pm, when I got a call from the office that I had to come back. Apparently (un-named reporter) had been working on his one page script all day. Not only did he wait until I got home to finish the script, he thought it was acceptable to turn in a script at 6:30pm! Everyone else can write their stories in a matter of hours, but he took literally all day to write one page.

When I got back to the office, he was still tweaking the script and didn't give it to me until after 7:00. I quickly edited the video and showed it to him. He decided that half the pictures didn't work and asked me re-edit them. I gritted my teeth and made the changes. Then he came back into the edit suite and asked me to change the other half of the pictures. I resisted the urge to strangle him, as I made the changes. Finally he watched the piece for the third time and decided to re-write the entire script. I was pissed. I told him that I would either send it the way it was, or he could finish it himself. He stumbled over his words and explained that it wasn't 'broadcast ready', so I left.

After 30 minutes talking to Emily, she convinced me to go back and finish the edit. The boss said that his behavior was unacceptable and would never happen again. I begrudgingly went back and made his final round of changes.

Yesterday I filmed Bush at the White House. It wasn't the first time I have filmed there, but it was the first time President Bush was in attendance. I arrived at 7:30am for an 8:30 pre-set. All of the camera-people waited in the Press Briefing Room (between the West Wing and the main White House building). We were led into the East Room and given about 15 minutes to set up. Then we had to wait in the Press Briefing Room for another hour. The Medal of Freedom ceremony, which I was there to film, started at 10:00. The award recipients were announced and they each took the stage. I was shooting for SABC, so our main subject was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (the president of Liberia). Of course, she sat right behind the podium where I could not get a good shot of her. George and Laura Bush walked in to 'Hail to the Chief'. He spoke briefly about each award recipient and handed out the awards. After the ceremony, the guests were invited to brunch with the president. I thought about taking off my press passes and sneaking in, but I decided that the Secret Service wouldn't be that easily fooled.