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JOURNALISTS PAY THE PRICE OF WAR
Press release from the Stop the War group, 8 April 2003 condemns attacks on journalists."I don't understand why they were doing that. There was no fire coming out of this hotel - everyone knows it's full of journalists. They knew exactly what this hotel is. They know the press corps is here. I don't know why they are trying to target journalists. There are bound to be casualties but that tank shell was aimed at us. This wasn't an accident. This seems to be a very accurate shot. What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to carry on if American shells are targeting Western journalists?"
David Chater, Sky News correspondent, who was inside Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel when it was hit.
More and more evidence is emerging that US forces are at best careless in firing on positions in Iraq that are sheltering journalists attempting to report the war.
TODAY
At least 5 journalists were injured when a US tank fired on the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad where many members of the international media are staying. Four Reuters staff have been taken to hospital. Some reports also say that a Spanish reporter was killed.
US aircraft appear to have bombed (it may been a missile strike) the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera TV killing journalist Tareq Ayoub and injuring at least one other staff member. The office was almost completely destroyed.
US aircraft hit the Abu Dhabi TV office in Baghdad where injuries have also been reported.
DURING THE WAR
The death of Tareq Ayoub (see above) brings the death toll of journalists and others working for media organisations to eight in just 19 days. Others are missing and presumed dead.
The following are the other seven confirmed dead:
Terry Lloyd, ITN correspondent
Paul Moran, freelance Australian cameraman
Kaveh Golestan, freelance BBC cameraman
Michael Kelly, American journalist and Washington Post columnist
Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, BBC translator
Gaby Rado, Channel 4 News foreign affairs correspondent
David Bloom, NBC TV correspondent
The following are another five that are still missing:
Fred Nerac, French ITN cameraman who went missing in the ambush that killed Terry Lloyd on March 22.
Hussein Osman, Lebanese translator who went missing in the ambush that killed Terry Lloyd.
Wael Awad, Syrian reporter working for the Dubai Arabic TV station al-Arabiya. Not seen since March 22.
Talal Fawzi al-Masri, Lebanese cameraman working for the Dubai Arabic TV station al-Arabiya. Not heard from since March 22.
Ali Hassan Safa, technician working for the Dubai Arabic TV station al-Arabiya. Not heard from since March 22.
Some non-mainstream reports say that either earlier today (Tuesday 8th April) or yesterday an Iraqi missile hit the headquarters of the USA Army’s 3rd Infantry Division to the south of Baghdad. Among the dead were two reporters - one from Spain and one from Germany - and at least three US soldiers. Many other troops were injured in the attack and 17 military vehicles were destroyed. According to the reports the US military has placed a ban on coverage of the incident.
The US military is continuing to target both television and radio transmitters in Iraq, which is illegal under international law. Casualty figures of Iraqi journalists as a result of the bombing of radio and television facilities are unavailable.
Luis Castro and Victor Silva, both reporters working for RTP Portuguese television, were held by the US military for four days at the end of March, had their equipment, vehicle and video tapes confiscated, and were then escorted out of Iraq by the 101st Airborne Division. They were also beaten up and deprived of food and water. Despite possessing the proper "Unilateral Journalist" accreditation issued by the Coalition Forces Central Command, both journalists were detained as they were travelling towards Najaf.
According to Castro:
"We were ordered down on the ground by the soldiers. They stepped on our hands and backs and handcuffed us. We were put in our own car. The soldiers used our satellite phones to call their families at home. I begged them to allow me to use my own phone to call my family, but they refused. When I protested, they pushed me to the ground and kicked me in the ribs and legs."
A lieutenant in charge of the military police told me, `My men are like dogs, they are trained only to attack, please try to understand'.
I have covered 10 wars in the past six years - in Angola, Afghanistan, Zaire, and East Timor. I have been arrested three times in Africa, but have never been subjected to such treatment or been physically beaten before. The Americans call themselves liberators and freedom fighters, but look what they have done to us. I believe the reason we were detained was because we are not embedded with the US forces. Embedded journalists are always escorted by military minders. What they write is controlled and, through them, the military feeds its own version of the facts to the world. When independent journalists such as us come around, we pose a threat because they cannot control what we write.
The Americans in Iraq are totally crazy and are afraid of everything that moves. I would have expected this to happen to us at the hands of the Iraqis, but not at the hands of the Americans. This is typical of the American attitude, as related to us by British forces. The attitude is 'shoot first and ask questions later'".
When asked by Arab News what he intends to do next, Castro replied:
"Return to Iraq as soon as possible to tell the truth to the world about what is happening there."
Lindsey German, Convenor of the Stop of the War Coalition, commented:
“Evidence is mounting that US forces in particular are at best casual in their attitude to targeting buildings containing journalists. Luis Castro’s evidence suggests that some US troops have treated journalists with violence and threats.
This behaviour is a clear breach of the Geneva Convention. It is utterly unacceptable that journalists are being made to pay the price of this brutal and unlawful war.”
Last modified: Thursday, April 10, 2003
Previous war reporting stories
"Reporting Iraq: the Challenge for Public Service Broadcasting" - Speech by Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, March 27, 2003.
IFJ says attacks on journalists in Iraq are "Crimes of War" that must be punished
Amnesty International questions attacks on Palestine Hotel and Al-Jazeera
ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS ARE "WAR CRIMES" SAYS NUJ
MTV Europe heads tells station not to broadcast videos of war
Kucinich Takes to The House Floor To Call For An End to The War
Radio Vatican spreads pope's anti-war message around the world
US Drops 'E-Bomb' On Iraqi TV
We Work for Peace and Justice
WHILE OTHERS STOOD SILENT...
War Update from www.rense.com
24/7 Journalism Exposed
Bitter Rice - an Israeli looks at the war
Leaked BBC memo explains negative attitude to coverage of dissent.
PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ
Reporting War on Iraq: The Challenge for Public Service Broadcasting
MEDIA ACTIVISM (continued)
WAR SPIN
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (II)
Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (I)
BUSH'S "BLUEPRINT FOR US GLOBAL DOMINATION"
SELLING THE WAR
WAGING WAR ON IRAQ TO WIN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS
WAR TALK
Not in My Name: A Cutting-Edge Film-Documentary
The Axis of Spin
WITHOUT COMMENT
CENSORSHIP & DISINFORMATION - The War of Minds
New Video Documentary: "NOT IN MY NAME"
WITHOUT COMMENT
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
War Reporting
"Reporting Iraq: the Challenge for Public Service Broadcasting" - Speech by Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, March 27, 2003.
IFJ says attacks on journalists in Iraq are "Crimes of War" that must be punished
Amnesty International questions attacks on Palestine Hotel and Al-Jazeera
ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS ARE "WAR CRIMES" SAYS NUJ
MTV Europe heads tells station not to broadcast videos of war
Kucinich Takes to The House Floor To Call For An End to The War
Radio Vatican spreads pope's anti-war message around the world
US Drops 'E-Bomb' On Iraqi TV
We Work for Peace and Justice
WHILE OTHERS STOOD SILENT...
War Update from www.rense.com
24/7 Journalism Exposed
Bitter Rice - an Israeli looks at the war
Leaked BBC memo explains negative attitude to coverage of dissent.
PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ
Reporting War on Iraq: The Challenge for Public Service Broadcasting
MEDIA ACTIVISM (continued)
WAR SPIN
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (II)
Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (I)
BUSH'S "BLUEPRINT FOR US GLOBAL DOMINATION"
SELLING THE WAR
WAGING WAR ON IRAQ TO WIN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS
WAR TALK
Not in My Name: A Cutting-Edge Film-Documentary
The Axis of Spin
WITHOUT COMMENT
CENSORSHIP & DISINFORMATION - The War of Minds
New Video Documentary: "NOT IN MY NAME"
WITHOUT COMMENT
