[IMC-bristol] Iraq war - media killings/injuries report

[Ecovillage Network UK]

'Why did the US Information Services and senior officers repeatedly issue 
statements in the aftermath of the event that were clearly untrue regarding 
hostile fire from the Palestine Hotel?'

'BBC reporter Jonathan Marcus complained that the media service was very 
stage-managed. There was the over-arching American press operation which 
was very much a public relations exercise if you like, he said.'

'Jules Crittenden ... told how he became actively engaged in the fighting 
in support of the armed group with whom he was travelling. He ...helped to 
kill three Iraqi soldiers.'


http://www.ifj.org/ HOT OFF THE PRESS
Justice Denied On The Road To Baghdad

IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) 48 page A4 report
Safety of Journalists and Killing of Media Staff During the Iraq War

1. You can download and print it out as an Acrobat document from the IFJ site
PDF FORMAT  http://www.ifj.org/pdfs/iraqreport2003.pdf

2. Or get copies for £1.00 each from the branch office here in Bristol
- email  bristol at nuj.org.uk   -   call 0117 944 6219   or call in at 10 
Picton Street but phone first.


Tony Gosling

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the beginning of 2003 a new war in the Persian Gulf, this time dedicated 
to the overthrow of the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, was 
'inevitable'.The only question was when the shooting would start....

The US and the UK invested millions of dollars in an expensive media show. 
At Central Command in the Qatar desert,a media centre, soon to be 
discredited, was set up to provide a running news service for 
correspondents. Another 600 reporters were 'embedded' with military 
units.Travelling with the invading forces,they were the shock troops of a 
real-time war, providing instant news from the frontline to feed a media 
machine hungry for information. Alongside and around them, but not under 
military control, were up to 2,000 independent or 'unilateral' journalists 
spread out over the territory of Iraq, looking for stories not filtered by 
military spin doctors, that might provide insight
into the reality of the war.

It was, by any stretch, the most extensive and expensive media campaign in 
recent history.It was also the most dangerous.By the end of the war, 1 May, 
16 journalists and media staff had been killed or had died covering the 
war. Three months later the number reached 20.

The unexplained killings of seven journalists by coalition forces in four 
separate incidents in Basra and Baghdad provoked unprecedented outrage 
among journalists around the world.The IFJ was among the most outspoken 
critics of a military and political culture that has led to astonishing 
complacency and neglect over the safety of journalists.

The impulse to monitor, control, and manipulate the information process had 
led to a casual disregard of journalists' rights to work safely and to 
report independently.

This report provides a brief overview of events.It examines the unexplained 
deaths and poses questions that must be answered, it discusses the need for 
long-overdue changes in international law. to give new levels of protection 
for media staff, it reports on the experiences of some journalists – 
“embedded ” and “unilateral ” – and, finally, it rallies support for the 
the cause of the International News Safety Institute, a new global campaign 
to improve journalists’ safety.

The Iraq war, like so many before it, provides confirmation that the safety 
of journalists and media staff must be paramount.It's a simple truth, but 
one still not understood by governments and many negligent media organisations.

Aidan White
IFJ General Secretary - International Federation of Journalists




Bristol branch - National Union of Journalists
10-12 Picton Street
Montpelier
BRISTOL
BS6 5QA
England
http://media.guardian.co.uk/
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/bushnonazi.html
http://www.gegrapha.org/uk/default.htm
http://www.gn.apc.org/media/nuj.html
http://www.nuj.org.uk
http://www.cpj.org
http://www.ifj.org
+44 (0)117 944 6219