Media toll in war on Iraq

BY rsf| IN Media Practice | 23/03/2003

Reporters Sans Frontieres

Three journalists were reported missing and one wounded on
Saturday 22nd March 2003 in the south of Iraq. These four journalists
working for British Independent Television News (ITN) came under fire
at Iman Anas, as they drove towards Basra in unmarked vehicles and
away from any military convoy. Terry Lloyd), 51, a British national, cameraman Fred Nerac and local fixer Hussein Othman were all reported missing. Belgian journalist Daniel Demoustier, a freelance was wounded and reportedly taken to hospital.

In another incident an Australian journalist working for American ABC
television was killed on Saturday 22nd March 2003 in a booby-trapped
car explosion in Iraqi Kurdistan. The blast happened at the
checkpoint outside the village of Khormal, near the Iranian border.
This border zone which is the base for an Islamist Kurdish group
Ansar Al-Islam had been bombarded overnight 21st-22nd March by US
missiles. A photographer who was an eye-witness at the scene said
that the attack appeared to be aimed at journalists of whom they were
many present. Another journalist was wounded in the explosion.

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn of the death of a
journalist and that three others are missing: These men have paid a
high price for their willingness to report freely and fully on
military operations in Iraq. In a conflict characterized by a highly
charged media battle the search for independent news is all the more
essential to ensure that international reporting can be free of
distortion and propaganda. "The protagonists in this conflict should
be warned not to use these tragedies to justify limiting still
further the freedom of movement of journalists working in the field,"
said Robert Ménard general secretary.

Reporters Without Borders urgently appeals to belligerents not to
take any action that would knowingly endanger life or safety of
journalists. The organisation recalls that during the 1991 Gulf War
four journalists were killed. German photographer Gad Gross was shot
by the Iraqi army in Iraqi Kurdistan. Three British freelance
journalists covering the war for the BBC were killed, most likely by
their Turkish guide.

These latest casualties add to a long list of journalists killed
while doing their job. From 1992 to 2002, more than 500 journalists
were killed, almost half of them in war zones.

--
Vincent Brossel
Asia - Pacific Desk
Reporters Sans Frontières
5 rue Geoffroy Marie
75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 70
33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax)
asia@rsf.org
www.rsf.org