Monday, April 14, 2003

Don't you know there's a war on?
Reuters - Media Watchdog Concerned CNN Had Armed Guard
A media watchdog expressed concern on Sunday that a CNN team reporting from Iraq (news - web sites) was traveling with an armed guard, saying it set a "dangerous precedent" that could imperil other journalists.
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) made the comments after an incident in the northern Iraqi town of Tikrit in which a security guard hired by CNN fired his machinegun at a checkpoint when the CNN convoy came under gunfire.
..."CNN appears to be going too far. This could come back to haunt them and other journalists. Journalists should not be traveling around with armed guards," [RSF spokesman Jean-Francois Julliard] added.

I'd hate for the international symbol for "journalist" to become a bullseye. I wonder if RSF considers the embedded reporters traveling with coalition military units to have an "armed guard". If it isn't, nothing is.
News flash for M. Julliard: Reporters are not God. You could get killed out there. CNN, of all agencies, has reason to know that. (See earlier NYT op-ed by Eason Jordan.)

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