A Journalist's Weblog:
Monitoring Suppression of Press Freedoms Around the World
Monday, August 18, 2003
The War Against Terror The Media Journalists in Peril
Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana is the 35th journalist to be killed in the line of duty this year. His death marks the 4th media personnel death since the war was officially declared over.
The media death toll in Iraq is now 20, with two journalists still reported missing.
Dana was shot at by US soldiers as he was filming outside a prison that had been under mortar attack earlier in the day.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that Dana's camera captured the last few moments before he died: "The videotape in Dana's camera showed two US tanks coming toward him. Two shots were fired, apparently from the tanks, and Dana fell to the ground."
The International Federation of Journalists have responded with a demand for an independent inquiry into the matter. Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary has called the incident proof of "casual disregard of journalists’ safety by military commanders."
“There must be a full, independent and public inquiry. We need to know what went wrong and why. We cannot accept that this is brushed aside as just another regrettable incident in the chaos of war.”
Dana's death comes just as the Pentagon released a report on a similar attack on the media at the Palestine Hotel on April 8. A US tank fired upon the building, which was filled with journalists. Two men died that day, another Reuters cameraman, Taras Protsyuk, and Spanish journalist Jose Couso. Others were wounded.
The IFJ has called the Pentagon report a "cynical whitewash" and Reporters Without Borders has deemed it "unacceptable".
These incidents bring to focus the extreme peril war journalists face, and even more importantly, the safety of independent journalists. The IFJ has voiced concern that "journalists working independently and [who are] not part of the group travelling under the supervision and protection of the US military – the so-called “embedded” journalists – are particularly at risk."
“In view of these incidents we must ask whether or not it is safe for independent journalists to work in Baghdad,” said White. “The only way the United States military can restore confidence that they are not ignoring the safety and security of independent media staff is to explain fully why these tragedies happened and to make sure they put in place procedures to avoid such incidents in future.”
