Reality Rumors

Reality TV has come to Iraq, as the Web-based series, “Hometown Baghdad” follows young people sharing their lives, fears and hopes in the war-ravaged city.

Combining styles of a documentary and MTV’s “Real World” series, “Hometown Baghdad” has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide — except in Iraq, where it is largely unknown because of the lack of high-speed Internet — since its March debut, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The program of roughly two-minute snippets released thrice weekly on a number of Internet sites follows the lives of three men living in Baghdad. It was filmed by Iraqis during the height of last summer’s sectarian clashes and edited by Americans in New York.

Producers sifted through 50 audition tapes before choosing the three English-speaking youths they hope will connect with a worldwide Web audience.

“This was about trying to engage Americans with the rest of the world,” said Laurie Meadoff, executive producer of Chat the Planet, a New York production company specializing in using the Internet to link young people worldwide. “This is a kind of news for the YouTube generation. It’s not about the politics. It’s about the stories.”