Cubicles Aerial

An Englishman in Bangkok

Posted September 25th, 2006 at 5:30 am by Ezra Palmer, Yahoo! News

Number of Comments 2 Comments / Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Trends & News

A bloodless coupNews of the coup in Thailand broke on Tuesday morning, and toward the end of the day I started looking around on Flickr to see if people in Bangkok were uploading anything interesting. It was so soon after the coup that very few images were available. Still, they were interesting, and I thought I might have a chance to build a small slideshow of some sort. I sent notes via Flickr mail to the photographers asking if they would be willing to have their photos included in a special feature on Yahoo! News, and if they might be interested in being interviewed.

By 7 the next morning there were still relatively few images posted, but those few pictures were really fascinating — pictures of people posing beside tanks, soldiers with flowerstotally unexpected stuff in the context of a military takeover.

By mid-morning, half a dozen Flickr users had responded to my queries. I really struck pay dirt with a guy named Dan Caspersz. A transplanted Englishman working for the United Nations, he was literate and observant, and like me he was struck by the incongruity of the festive atmosphere amidst a coup d’etat. We recorded a five-minute telephone interview on a conference bridge, which spit out a .wav file. Multimedia producer Chris Strimbu and I then boiled the interview down to 90 seconds, Chris illustrated it with our small library of Flickr images.

We posted the feature on Wednesday afternoon, with news still breaking in Bangkok. Very cool!

This isn’t the first time we’ve used Flickr images in news, but it’s the most ambitious effort so far. More to come…

Ezra Palmer
Managing Editor, Yahoo! News

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet, Be First!)
Loading ... Loading ...

Post a commentPost a Comment Bookmark ThisBookmark This Digg ThisDigg This

2 Comments Add your own

Comment Alan Leff | September 25th, 2006 at 5:37 pm

Well, another Bay Area company succumbs to India.
Funny, you don’t have anything on your site, about the 10k people you are going to let go…so you can take the jobs to India!
People really need to see what you really are! Money hungry jerks that don’t give a damn about the people that have made you what you are!
You should be ashamed!

Nicki Dugan | September 25th, 2006 at 9:38 pm

Thanks for the comment, Alan, but I think you might be confused. Ezra’s post is about the military coup d’état in Bangkok, Thailand.

Post a Comment:

Notes: Please note that Yahoo! may, in our sole discretion, reject comments for any reason we deem appropriate. Links of value to readers are welcome, but please use them sparingly - wield spam and you're banished forever.

This is a moderated site and comments will appear if and when they are approved. We will review the queue several times daily, so please don't resubmit if your comment doesn't appear immediately.

Close This Box

Enter your email address:

Recent Posts:

Our response to Carl Icahn
May 15, 2008

Live from the Roosevelt Room
May 15, 2008

Business and human rights
May 7, 2008

Do you know where your mouse has been?
May 5, 2008

Ok, so now what?
May 4, 2008

Faceball ShowdownFree is Good FairThis way to free wayCoffee cup artEco-raffles!Gently used sporting gear

View Yahoo! on Flickr

Recent Readers: Provided by MyBlogLog

About Yodel Anecdotal

A look inside the big purple house of Yahoo!, where we'll provide insights into our company, our people, our culture, and the things we think about in the shower. Learn more.

Write to Us

Have a great story to tell about how you've used Yahoo!? Or have a story you'd like us to tell? Drop us a line.

Comment Policy

Give us your $.02. We encourage your comments, quibbles, questions, and suggestions. But please mind your manners. You know the drill... stay on topic, be respectful, and avoid spam, profanity, or anything that violates our Terms of Service.
Learn more about our comment policy.

Shameless Self-Promotion

The Latest News From Yahoo!
Company Info
Become a Yahoo
Yahoo! For Good
All Yahoo! Services