Thursday, Dec. 09, 2010
Journalist Freed After Tweets
Japanese journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka had been held against his will in Afghanistan for five months. But when a soldier showed Tsuneoka his new Nokia phone and asked him to help access the Internet, the reporter saw a way out. First, he set up Internet access and showed the captor how to visit al-Jazeera's site. Then he introduced his captor to Twitter and sent out two tweets in English, the first announcing, "I am still alive, but in jail," and the second revealing his current location. The next day he was released. Though his release may not have directly resulted from the posts, Tsuneoka's incident shows the power of social media to send a message, even in war zones.