Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Which Journalists are Dying in Iraq?

This passage from DefenseTech.org, makes a crucial point about Western reporters relying on local stringers in Iraq.

The abduction of 28-year-old Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll in Baghdad on Jan. 7 has had a profound effect on the city's Western press corps. More so than ever, unembedded media in Baghdad are fortified in a handful of besieged hotels that are under constant surveillance by insurgent groups. Few Western reporters ever leave these hotels, instead relying on local stringers to gather quotes and research stories. And some reporters are finally throwing in the towel, forever abandoning this relentless and unforgiving city.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Iraqi journalists and support workers are bearing the brunt of the war-related carnage. Of the 60 journalists killed in the line of duty in Iraq since the war started, 41 of them were Iraqis. And CPJ believes that all 23 of the media support workers killed on the job there were also Iraqis. The U.S. press doesn't pay nearly as much attention to their deaths as it does to cases involving Western journalists. But the grim reality is that it is mostly natives dying in the noble pursuit of war-zone reporting.

1/18/2006 3:48:52 PM by Mark Jurkowitz | Comments [1] |
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