Iraq

12 May 2006 – With seven more media workers killed in Iraq in recent days, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) yet again stressed the indispensable role a free press plays in establishing a democratic country and called for full security for journalists. "Everything possible must be done to improve their security and ensure that media...

While many journalists were embedded with U.S. military units during the initial invasion of Iraq, today such deployments are few and far between. Today instead, what is often portrayed as reports from "on the ground" are more often what we veterans call "balcony reporting." The embed program allowed journalists to live, eat, sleep and patrol with a company- or platoon-size unit for an extended...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A reporter who worked for a pro-Sunni Iraqi television station was gunned down in Baghdad, making him at least the fourth media worker killed in Iraq this month, Iraqi officials and the station said Thursday. Saud Muzahim al-Hadithi was found dead - shot repeatedly in the head - in Baghdad's notorious Dora neighborhood last week, said Iraqi army Capt. Ali Yaeen. News of his death...

WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Five journalists have been killed in recent days in Iraq, the most dangerous country in the world for news professionals according to a press freedom group. "The first few days of May have been exceptionally murderous for the Iraqi news media," Reporters Without Borders said in a Tuesday statement. "We can no longer find words to express our horror at the tragedies...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced shock at the death of five journalists and media assistants in the space of a few days in Iraq. "The first few days of May have been exceptionally murderous for the Iraqi news media," the press freedom organisation said. "We can no longer find words to express our horror at the tragedies constantly suffered by the press in Iraq, where 93...

BAGHDAD, 9 May 2006 (IRIN) - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that the killing of two Iraqi media workers whose bodies were recently discovered south of Baghdad "reflects the continuing dangers for journalists working in Iraq". Laith al-Dulaimi, a reporter for the privately-owned TV station Al-Nahrain, and Muazaz Ahmed Barood, a telephone operator for the station...

New York, May 8, 2005 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murders of an Iraqi reporter and a media worker whose bodies were discovered early this morning south of Baghdad. Laith al-Dulaimi, a reporter for the privately owned TV station Al-Nahrain, and Muazaz Ahmed Barood, a telephone operator for the station, were kidnapped by men disguised as police officers at Diyala Bridge while...

PRAGUE, May 2, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Like so many of his colleagues, Radio Free Iraq (RFI) Baghdad bureau chief Nabil al-Haidari has had close brushes with danger. In November 2005, a car bomb ripped into the downtown hotel that housed RFI's Baghdad office. "Our former office of Radio Free Iraq in Baghdad was bombed," al-Haidari told RFE/RL. "It was really severely damaged and even now that office is...

New York, May 1, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the criminal charges brought against two Danish reporters accused of leaking state secrets by publishing intelligence reports that questioned the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Danish journalists say it is the first time that reporters have been indicted in their country for leaking state secrets, Agence...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Iraq Civil Society and Independent Media Program (ICSP) works to strengthen Iraq's emerging commercial and public service media, emphasizing professional news and public affairs reporting to better inform and engage the Iraqi public in the democratic process. The ICSP program provides varied and ongoing support for developing media outlets at...