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MEDIA KIA in IRAQ??

A4sForever

A4sForever

BTDT OLD GUY
pilot
Contributor
WOW. I heard a report today that 208 reporters and media "staff" have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March, 2003.

The report also stated that this number is more than the total of WW2, Korea, and Vietnam -- combined!! I doubt that, but anything COULD be true.

That's hard to believe, but if so ... I wonder , why??
 
A4sForever said:
WOW. I heard a report today that 208 reporters and media "staff" have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March, 2003.

The report also stated that this number is more than the total of WW2, Korea, and Vietnam -- combined!! I doubt that, but anything COULD be true.

That's hard to believe, but if so ... I wonder , why??
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Do you still have the source? I've heard of reporters who have been killed, but I wouldn't have expected 208!
 
i wonder if "staff" includes interpreters. those guys have been targeted for their collaboration with collation forces and it might help to explain the high number.
 
A4sForever said:
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

O.K. Consider the source .... not denyin' .... just sayin' .... :)
Click to expand...

That number includes mainly local stringers for various news agencies, including local and international networks. And I believe they include interpreters, cameramen and others too. Not many 'western' journalists have been killed, though there have been a few notables.

The biggest difference nowadays is that instead of having their own large staffs that do all of the reporting, most news organizations, from the AP to Al Jazeera, rely on freelancers or others who are on temporary/loose contract to the organization or get paid for individual stories. This has led to a wide proliferation of this type of reporter, instead of the more 'traditional' type in previous wars who was a salaried employee. That, and reporters are now targeted nowadays where they were once seen as 'neutral' and 'safe' by both sides. As a result, news organizations have to rely on these freelancers, often natives since westerners are targeted especially by terrorists, with all of the good and bad that comes with using these people. And there are a lot of them out there, trying to get paid.

One of the best examples of a one of these new type of reporters is Jill Carroll, who was working as a contract reporter for the Christian Science Monitor when she was kidnapped. Only when she was released was she hired on as a full time salaried reporter for the paper. A sympathy hire if you may.....
 
If they are counting locals I am not surprised at all. Most of the press corps stays in the green zone fat dumb and happy and pays locals (wonder who else might be paying them also) to go get their story.
 
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