[Media-watch] FW:

[David Miller {FMS}]

> ----------
> 
>  <<Iraq6.jpg>> 
> Report Accuses United States Over Iraq Media Deaths: "Profound Denial of
> Justice" 
> 
> 14/10/2003 
> 
> International Federation of Journalists' calls for: 
> 
> 
> *	An Independent probe into unexplained killings; 
> *	
> *	New rules to make targeting of media and negligence over
> journalists' safety a war crime; 
> *	
> *	A Global campaign to demand justice for media victims. 
> *	
> *	
> 
> 
> 
> The International Federation of Journalists, the world's largest
> journalists' group, today issued a detailed report on the Iraq war and
> called for a "global campaign to expose the secrecy, deceit and arrogance
> of the United States authorities" surrounding the killing of up to seven
> journalists during and after the war. 
> 
> The IFJ Report, Denial of Justice on the Road to Baghdad, examines the
> safety of journalists during the conflict and focuses on four separate
> incidents in which journalists were killed or are still missing, presumed
> dead. 
> 
> "These incidents have caused outrage within journalism worldwide," said
> IFJ President Christopher Warren. "It is shocking that after six months
> the families, friends and colleagues of the victims still await credible
> explanations about how and why they died." 
> 
> The report, prepared by IFJ General Secretary Aidan White, accuses the
> United States of "flagrant disregard" for the safety of journalists by not
> instructing military commanders and soldiers in the field to avoid hitting
> media targets. 
> 
> In particular, the IFJ says the US should come clean over 
> 
> 
> 
> *	The US tank attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, the home to
> more than 150 media staff, in which two journalists, Jose Couso, a
> cameraman for Telecinco in Spain, and Taras Protsyuk, working for Reuters,
> were killed; 
> *	
> *	
> *	The shooting-up of an ITN camera crew involving US ground and
> airborne forces near Basra, in which reporter Terry Lloyd was killed. His
> two colleagues, Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman, are still missing, presumed
> dead; 
> *	
> *	
> *	A US airborne missile attack on the Baghdad office of the Al-Jazeera
> television in which reporter Tareq Ayoub was killed; and 
> *	
> *	
> *	The shooting by US troops in broad daylight of award-winning Reuters
> cameraman Mazen Dana who was reporting from a prison in Baghdad weeks
> after the war was officially over. 
> *	
> *	"In all of these cases the United States has either failed to report
> or has failed to publish the results of its own investigations," said
> Aidan White. "It has exonerated itself from any responsibility and has
> passed over the lies and deceit of its own people in response to
> eye-witness testimony that challenges official US accounts of events. It
> is a most profound denial of justice." 
> *	
> *	The IFJ report was launched just a day after a meeting in Madrid of
> Spanish journalists' leaders, media organisations and the family of Jose
> Couso, one of the Palestine Hotel victims, and endorsed the proposal for a
> global campaign involving media, journalists, human rights groups and
> international legal experts. 
> *	
> *	"We are not looking for scapegoats," said Aidan White. "In most
> cases we know the individuals who pulled the trigger. But we must
> challenge those who are responsible for the culture of neglect and
> arrogance that puts media staff in harm's way when they are reporting from
> a war zone." 
> *	
> *	In theory, says the IFJ, existing rules should protect journalists
> and media staff. "But they do not work. We need clear and explicit laws
> that will strengthen protection for media staff and ensure that every
> killing of a journalist in a war zone is subject to full and independent
> investigation," said White. "Recently, the UN Security Council
> strengthened protection for humanitarian workers, the same should be done
> for media staff." 
> *	
> *	The Report welcomes the establishment of the International News
> Safety Institute, a global coalition of media groups, which aims to
> improve levels of training and safety for journalists reporting from
> conflict areas. There are also calls for more action to protect freelance
> journalists, who are among the most vulnerable people reporting from a war
> zone, and warnings about the threat that "embedded" journalism poses to
> objective reporting. 
> *	
> *	"The Iraq War was by any stretch, the most extensive and expensive
> media campaign in recent history. It was also the most dangerous," says
> the Report. 
> *	
> *	The IFJ has written to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
> calling on him to urge the United States to end its secrecy over the
> deaths of media personnel and to support demands for the independent
> investigation of the killings of journalists and media staff during the
> war. 
> *	
> *	"The injustice in Iraq must not be allowed to pass," said White. "A
> war fought in the name of democracy should not trample over the rights of
> people to know the truth." 
> *	
> *	Click here to download the report 
> *	
> *	Further information: + 32 2 235 22 00 
> *	The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100
> countries
> *	
> *	News release: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2008&Language=EN
> *	
> *	
> 
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