Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media rights group, called the shooting "extremely disturbing" and said the Reuters soundman was the 66th journalist or media assistant killed in Iraq since the invasion of 2003, three more than died in 20 years in Vietnam.This reminds me of that Eason Jordan thing a while back. I don't want to open up all that again.
But.
What's up with all the journalists killed in Iraq? Why is the military so indifferent to them?
1 comment:
I'm not sure that it's merely a case of the military being indifferent to the media. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the differences between Vietnam and Iraq.
For most of Vietnam, the conflict was away from the cities, and "in country", where not many journalists went. (Some did, to be sure, but it wasn't a regular beat.) In Iraq, the journalists were initially embedded in military units (which was stupid, and needlessly risky for everyone), which resulted in some of the deaths. I suspect some of the others have to do with the fact that in insurgents are willing to use IEDs and other indescriminate devices in populated areas - which will also result in the deaths of journalists.
In short, it's a dangerous job in a very dangerous area, with people who do not respect medics (either Red Cross or Red Crescent), the media, or various relief workers.
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