Photos of injured Burmese monks taken by a citizen journalistDespite the danger of defying a military junta that is determined to quash the current wave of protests, and Internet penetration of only 1%, Burmese citizen journalists, activists, and former professional journalists have shared news and images with the rest of the world. They have even managed to skirt an Internet blockade by linking their computers directly to a computer outside of the government's censorship reach. One blog included a description in English that read, "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting." Ellana Lee, the managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific said, "When traditional methods and professional journalists can't provide footage, and personal safety allows, citizens rise to the challenge time and again, often with remarkable material. Even in countries like Myanmar, the spread of the Internet and mobile phones has meant that footage will always continue to get through and the story will be told, one way or another."

The New York Times reports that Freedom's Watch is working with the American Enterprise Institute to lobby for war with Iran. "'If Hitler's warnings were heeded when he wrote Mein Kampf he could have been stopped,' said Bradley Blakeman, 49, the president of Freedom's Watch and a former deputy assistant to Mr. Bush. ... The idea for Freedom's Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker. ... One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008. Raising big money 'will be easy,' the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million. ... Since the group is organized as a tax-exempt organization, it does not have to reveal its donors. ... Among the group's founders are Sheldon G. Adelson ... sixth on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's billionaires; Mel Sembler ... who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Gioia, a former ambassador to Malta. ... Mr. Sembler, who is on the board of directors of the American Enterprise Institute, said the impetus for Freedom's Watch 'came out of A.E.I.' last winter."

Congress has jettisoned proposed amendments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) legislation that would have expanded the agency's powers over drug industry direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns promoting prescription drugs. "One major reason: the drug industry found powerful allies among media and advertising firms who were determined to protect one of their biggest and fastest-growing advertising categories," write Anna Wilde Mathews and Stephanie Kang in the Wall Street Journal. While drug industry advertising represents only 3.5% of the U.S. advertising market it "registered the highest growth rate among the top 10 U.S. advertisers, growing 13.8% to $5.3 billion from $4.6 billion in 2006." Instead of the FDA having the power to reject advertisements on drugs with serious safety concerns, the agency will only be able to review and comment on proposed advertisements. Dan Jaffe, the executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, described the final bill as "a success for the entire advertising community."