Deathtrap Iraq

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - The number of journalists killed in Iraq is now similar to the total who died in World War Two, underscoring the risks reporters face in informing the public about the conflict, press advocates say. The deaths of CBS News cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan on Monday increased the number of journalists deaths in Iraq to 71, as listed by the New York-based...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 30, 2006 - CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who was critically wounded in Iraq by a bomb that killed her two colleagues, was flown today to a U.S. military hospital in Germany. Dozier, 39, is being treated for injuries to her head and lower body, CBS reported. Col. Brian Gamble of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center said Dozier "was responsive, opening her eyes to...

(IPI/IFEX) - The summary of a review examining payments made to the Iraqi media by the US military has concluded that such operations should be re-examined. Prepared by Rear Admiral Scott Van Buskirk, the review was requested after media reports in the Los Angeles Times during late November 2005 showed that the US military was writing pro-American stories, translating them into Arabic and then...

The Voice of America's bureau in Baghdad has been closed for the past six months, ever since the government-funded agency withdrew its only reporter in Iraq after she was fired upon in an ambush and her security guard was later killed. All Western news organizations have struggled with the dangerous conditions in Iraq, which have led to such high-profile incidents as the kidnapping of Christian...

BAGHDAD -- The recent killings of six Iraqi journalists have rattled the country's fledgling press corps, a battle-worn crew that has persisted in covering the nation's turmoil while suffering dozens of dead at the hands of insurgents, government troops and even American forces. "We are scared working as journalists," said Thamer, a burly radio reporter, sitting in the threadbare cafe of the al...

Baghdad - A journalist working for the independent Iraqi News Network has been killed in Iraq, witnesses said Thursday. Sadek al-Shammari of the German-based news organization was shot dead by insurgents in Jisr Diyala, south of the Iraqi capital. More than 100 foreign and local journalists have been killed in Iraq since the US-led occupation of the country in 2003. The US army meanwhile reported...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Freedom to criticize the government is one of the few things flourishing in contemporary Iraq. But editorial cartoonists who are testing the limits of expression face a different threat: extremists incensed by their art. During Saddam Hussein's time, speaking out could bring imprisonment, torture and even execution. Nowadays, the danger doesn't come from the government but the...

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...