I've Got News for Reporters

In this article, from Reporters Without Borders, reporting on the death in April 2003 of two journalists at the Baghdad Hotel, the reporters have this to say.

"Reporters Without Borders called today for the reopening of the enquiry into who was really responsible for the US Army’s “criminal negligence” in shooting at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on 8 April 2003 and causing the death of two journalists - Ukrainian cameramen Taras Protsyuk (of Reuters news agency) and Spaniard José Couso (of the Spanish TV station Telecinco)."

As you read further into the article, you find these statements.

"The US shelling of the hotel was not a deliberate attack on journalists and the media. It was the result of criminal negligence."

And this.

"At the bottom level, Capt. Wolford and Sgt. Gibson reacted as soldiers in a battle situation. They directly caused the death of the journalists and wounded three others, but should not really be held responsible because they did not have information that would have made them aware of the consequences of firing at the hotel."

And this.

"Their immediate superiors - battalion commander Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp and brigade commander Col. David Perkins - also appear not to blame. Their reactions and the accounts of embedded journalists indicate they too had not been properly informed by their own superiors."

Which leads the reporters to conclude this.

"It is inconceivable that the massive presence of journalists at the hotel for three weeks prior to the shelling, which was known by any TV viewer and by the Pentagon itself, could have passed unnoticed. Yet this presence was never mentioned to the troops in the field or marked on the maps used by artillery support soldiers. The question is whether this information was withheld deliberately, out of contempt or through negligence.

At the top level, the US government must bear some of the responsibility. Not just because it is the government and has supreme authority over its army in the field, but also because its top leaders several times made false statements about the incident. They also talked regularly about the dangers journalists faced in Iraq."

So, if I understand this correctly, journalists think that the military high command should be briefing the troops in the field as to the whereabouts of reporters, especially if they are highly concentrated in one area, to facilitate the reporters’ safety during periods of intense conflict.  If, said reporters, who mingle both with coalition troops and those opposing them, happen to be in an area of a fire fight, coalition troops should refrain from protecting themselves until they can assure reporters’ safety.  Whether the troops realize said reporters are in the area or not, which of course they should be aware because, afterall, they are reporters you know.

I refer you Reporters Without Borders, and possibly common sense, to the following words of Colonel Hal Moore, as delivered in the movie We Were Soldiers, to the reporter Bill Galloway.

"I can’t guarantee your safety."

If Reporters Without Borders desire safety for their club members, they should consider being reassigned to the entertainment desk, say in Des Moines.

Posted by on 01/20 at 05:09 AM

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