Cross-posted at DailyKos. In one of the deadliest weeks in Iraq, reports the International Federation of Journalists, five journalists have been killed, one of them beheaded. Not one single media outlet in the world has covered the beheading, and scarcely noted the other deaths Details below:
Thanks only to an Egyptian newspaper, we know that “Romania still awaits news about the kidnapped journalists in Iraq.” The last time the three journalists were seen, reports Egypt Election Daily News, “was when the Qatar-based TV station Al Jazeera aired a tape showing the three Romanian journalists [PHOTO] who disappeared in Baghdad on Monday, March 28.”
Reports Democracy Now!:
In addition, a journalist working [for al-Sabah newspaper, Ahmed al-U’badi, was beheaded in Baghdad apparently by a group known as al-Jihad and al-Tawhit].
I am furious. (What else is new.) I checked every wire service and newspaper. There isn’t a single story about the beheading of the Al-Sabah newspaper journalist, except for Electronic Iraq‘s reproduction of the IFJ press release.
I am furious. (What else is new.) I checked every wire service and newspaper. There isn’t a single story about the beheading of the Al-Sabah newspaper journalist, except for Electronic Iraq‘s reproduction of the IFJ press release.
Will anyone note his death except for a small cadre of international journalists?
You may remember my diary on April 9: “Justice Denied: Media Killings That Haunt the United States.”
The diary focused on the media groups worldwide are questioning the shootings and killings of journalists in Iraq, and the announcement by the Newspaper Guild-CWA and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists that called on the administration to “heed the requests from journalists around the world for an independent investigation into the record number of deaths among media staff covering the war in Iraq.”
The 8th of April, we woke up early in the morning, and we saw some tanks already on the bridge. They were not hiding. They were there. When the attack happened, I saw them the first time like four hours before the attack on the bridge. I was in the 16th floor of Palestine Hotel, and I was waiting for a phone call from my radio station in Spain, because I had to be on the air, and I was on the balcony. Suddenly, my phone rang, so I went inside the room. And when I was doing that, the attack came. At first, I thought that I was dead. I felt completely empty inside me. I couldn’t hear anything. Then five seconds later, I reacted. I started to touch myself. I discovered some blood in my leg, and I decided to run. … [Read the entire interview with journalist Olga Rodriguez]
Clearly the U.S. is not acting to ensure the safety of journalists and, unless the journalist is European or American, the story gets no play.
Visit IFJ for a detailed list of all 14 cases in which journalists were killed in Iraq in incidents involving US forces, and the IFJ letter to President George W. Bush.
Learn more about an important new documentary on the killing of journalists at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. The site is titled, “Jose Cuoso: victim of US war crime.”
The IFJ report notes that “[t]he death toll among Iraqi journalists continues to rise”:
The IFJ backs a statement from the Kurdistan Syndicate protesting over the killings and terrorist acts and calling on the Iraqi authorities to ensure safety for journalists. The Syndicate is working with the IFJ and other Iraqi groups in a programme to assist and protect media staff in the country.
For further information please contact +32 2 235 22 06
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries
OT News Note: Democracy Now! today has an extended segment on Marla Ruzicka. You can watch or listen. Transcripts are usually up by 11 AM PDT. Amy Goodman interviews
Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi blogger and architect (whose blog we visited last Saturday, thanks to DuctTapeFatwa’s link); Tim Rieser, aide to Democratic Senator to Patrick Leahy of Vermont; and Kathleen Aguilera, good friend of Marla Ruzicka as well as Campaign Director of her NGO, Campaign for Innocent Victims In Conflict.
