 | |  |
 |
|
|
|
Reporting
From Iraq Remains Dangerous Job |
Posted:
2.01.06
|
|
|
Last week's explosion of a roadside bomb that injured an ABC
reporter and cameraman, and the recent kidnapping of an American
freelance reporter highlight the dangers journalists face in Iraq.
Printer-friendly versions: PDF
|
|
|
|
|
While reporting from any war zone is dangerous, reporting from
Iraq has become one of the toughest assignments.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 61 journalists
have been killed on duty since the United States invaded Iraq
in March 2003.
On Jan. 29, Bob Woodruff, a co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight,
and his cameraman Doug Vogt were badly wounded by a roadside explosion.
The incident occurred three weeks after freelance reporter Jill
Carroll was kidnapped by an Iraqi insurgent group demanding that
the United States release all female Iraqi prisoners.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basics of
reporting from a war zone |
|
|
|
|
|
Depending upon the news outlet, journalists in Iraq face different
reporting conditions.
Those employed by major news organizations are typically protected
by guards and sometimes ride in armored vehicles.
By contrast, freelance journalists must often fend for themselves.
Many reporters for major news organizations reside in Baghdad's
larger high-rise hotels, protected by cement barriers and armed
guards. However, even those reporters aren't completely safe; a
2005 suicide bomb attack on the Palestine Hotel wounded three journalists.
Reporters for The New York Times, for example, live in a well-protected
compound in Baghdad. The newspaper rents a satellite dish on the
building's roof to access to the Internet and file stories by
e-mail.
Reporters also take portable satellite equipment known as RBGAN's
when moving throughout Iraq. During those travels, the paper employs
drivers and guards for protection.
Given that many local Iraqis work within the compound as cooks,
guards and house staff, reporters have to constantly look out
for the possibility of insurgents infiltrating their numbers.
"It is something we worry about, and watch for," says
Robert Worth, a Times reporter who has covered Iraq since 2004.
 Freelance
journalists, who must fund their reporting with their own money
until they can sell stories to various news outlets, often live
in cheaper hotels without security.
"This is a very, very dangerous place to work as a freelancer.
You're vulnerable to all the people around you," Worth says.
"Whereas if you work for a big group, you're surrounded
by people who have more to gain from protecting you than from
selling you out. This, of course, is not to say we have any kind
of guarantee. It just helps our odds."
|
|
|
|
Working safely |
|
|
|
|
|
Most journalists agree that working in Iraq is far more dangerous
than when the war started in 2003, due to the rise in insurgent
activity.
"Iraq became terrifyingly dangerous almost overnight last
spring [2004]. … It wasn't safe for foreigners to walk the
streets, and car bombs became an almost daily occurrence,"
now kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll wrote in a 2004 American
Journalism Review article.
Those preparing to report from Iraq often attend classes run
by private security firms to prepare for operating in a hostile
environment.
Many journalists wear bullet-proof body armor, but the cost is
over $2,000 -- too expensive for many freelancers.
Another common security measure is the use of a "chase car"
that follows the reporter's own vehicle with armed guards ready
to react should the journalist come under attack.
|
|
|
|
Trying to
get the real story |
|
|
|
|
|
But wearing armor and traveling with armed guards make it hard
to observe ordinary Iraqi society, and reporters must constantly
balance the urge to find and tell interesting stories with their
own safety.
 The
rising danger often prevents direct reporting from scenes of developing
news.
"I grew increasingly reliant, as did most news organizations,
on sending our Iraqi translators and special correspondents out
into the field," Jackie Spinner, a Washington Post reporter
recently returned from Iraq, told the NewsHour.
"If a car bomb went off in a neighborhood that was far too
dangerous, not only for me as an American but for my Iraqi translator
to be seen with an American, I simply let the Iraqi translator
go and do the reporting for myself and come back and tell me what
he saw."
However the reporters working in Iraq agree that the story is
too important not to cover.
"We have over 135,000 troops in Iraq still who are there
every day, who go back out there every day and do it all again.
And I think it's important to tell their story. I think it's important
to tell the story of the Iraqi people," said Martha Raddatz
of ABC News on the NewsHour, explaining why she traveled to Iraq
nine times.
--
by Dave Botti for NewsHour Extra
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
