Listeners like Dona Bolding Hamilton notice that reporters are now increasingly in danger in Iraq. They worry about the safety of NPR correspondents and reporters in war zones:
I am concerned about the extreme risks to those covering the crisis in Iraq. While the news from the region is valuable, the lives of those reporting and producing are invaluable. I just want to say it is okay with this listener if means alternative to the physical presence of correspondents on the ground are found to get information to us. I am worried about them!
Hamilton is not alone.
Ann Cooper is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York. Cooper, a former NPR correspondent, keeps track of how dangerous the job of foreign reporting has become. But she thinks that in some ways, being a correspondent has always been dangerous.
"The danger is unbelievable. In World War II, Joe Morton was an American reporter for the Associated Press. He was executed by the Nazis. During the Cold War, Western correspondents were often jailed behind the Iron Curtain because their profession was seen as a form of espionage."
From Protected to Vulnerable
Cooper notes that during the Cold War, American reporters were sometimes declared persona non grata and expelled from the country. But now that the distinctions between journalists and non-journalists have blurred, newsgathering is a much more dangerous operation than it was before. Cooper says that in war zones, local reporters are even more vulnerable than American correspondents. "American reporters have the support of influential news organizations backing them up," she says. "The local reporters are seen by the factions as expendable."
Because regional conflicts proliferated after the Cold War's end, there is more fighting now than there used to be. Danger is increasingly a daily fact of life. More journalists are being injured and killed now than any time since the war in Vietnam.
Cooper adds that the availability of newer and more portable technologies has allowed reporters to get much closer to the fighting. Satellite phones allow reporters to file from the front lines. More live battle reports mean that reporters are being injured at a much higher rate than ever before.
As American foreign correspondents get closer to the mayhem, so do freelancers and locals hired to assist the reporters as drivers, translators and "fixers."
Increased Dangers for 'Media Workers'
These "local hires"-- also known as "media workers" -- are also in harm's way, Cooper emphasizes. "In Iraq, it's often too dangerous for western reporters to go out to gather the information," she says. " Iraqis who assist westerners are now being injured and killed in record numbers.
"The numbers are appalling: In 2003, 13 journalists were killed in Iraq. 12 were foreign correspondents and one was Iraqi. So far in 2004, 20 journalists have been killed. 14 of them were Iraqis. Nine Iraqi media workers have also been killed on assignment for western media organizations."
But is Iraq more dangerous than other wars?
Cooper thinks in some ways it is: "As a result, news organizations have recognized that more training is necessary than before. During the war in Bosnia, a lot of reporters went without any training in battlefield survival or even basic first aid. That's changed and news organizations such as the BBC, CNN and NPR are much more conscious of getting reporters ready before they leave for a war zone."
Hostile Environment Training
Among American media organizations, CNN especially has been in the forefront of this preparation. CNN, Reuters and the BBC have worked with two U.K.-based companies -- Centurion and AKE -- that have pioneered "hostile environment training" for journalists. As well, the BBC has borrowed freely from the battlefield-training manual of the Royal Marines.
Some news managers have questioned whether this training may have a downside: Could it inadvertently impart a false sense of security among reporters? Could reporters with battlefield training lose their status as non-combatants among the factions? Cooper thinks that more knowledge is better than less. "News organizations are far more conscious of security and the post-assignment psychological issues. That's a very positive development."
One seasoned NPR correspondent agrees but thinks that more support is needed -- both before and after the assignment.
'More dangerous...'
"Iraq is more dangerous than other wars," says the reporter. "There is no anonymity to being on assignment there. If you are on the street, you are identified as a foreign reporter. If you are in an armored vehicle, that's an obvious giveaway. Journalists are seen as targets of opportunity for kidnapping by the insurgents. It's a lot like Beirut was in the 1980s."
Some of that needed support comes from an organization called The DART Center for Journalism and Trauma (See link below).
Bruce Shapiro is the field director of the Eastern US for DART. He says the need to support journalists is increasing, as more news organization approach DART for help and advice -- about both pre- and postwar assignments.
"We are seeing a lot more post-battlefield stress, especially among younger reporters who often come straight from regional newspapers or TV stations into Iraq. That, combined with the lighter, more mobile technology, means that reporters can be reporting from isolated areas for longer periods of time without the contact and support of a larger news operation," Shapiro says. "Photographers and radio reporters are particularly stressed, since they can be out in the field for weeks or months without ever getting back to their newsrooms."
"Some of the most vulnerable are also some of the most experienced reporters," says Shapiro. "We don't always get tougher. We have limits."
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