News & Views Exchange Central

Re: Reuters cameraman killed in Gaza

Author: ShirazVelvet
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2008-05-09

Yet another deliberate killing of a journo

Translators and interpreters' discussion board

Author: newsbee
Forum: Journo Links
Date: 2008-04-17

Russian and English translators and interpreters are welcome

http://www.terps.ru/ - homepage
http://www.terps.ru/board - forum

Reuters cameraman killed in Gaza

Author: me
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2008-04-17

GAZA (Reuters) - A Reuters cameraman was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in what appeared to be an Israeli military strike.

Fadel Shana, 23, was covering events in the enclave for the international news agency on a day of intense violence when 16 other Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Two youths passing by died in the same explosion that killed Shana, witnesses said. The cameraman had stepped from his car to film an Israeli tank dug in several hundred meters (yards) away.

Video from Shana's camera showed the tank opening fire. Two seconds after the shot raises dust around its gun, the tape goes blank -- seemingly at the moment Shana was hit.

Reuters soundman Wafa Abu Mizyed, 25, sustained a shrapnel wound and was being treated in a Gaza hospital.

The Israeli army declined immediate comment on what caused Shana's death. It expressed sorrow but also said journalists were putting their lives at risk in areas of combat.

The Reuters vehicle was an unarmored sport utility vehicle bearing "TV" and "Press" markings. The blast on a country back road left the car shattered and ablaze. Shana's body amour had been partially torn off. Abu Mizyed had no recollection of the incident, which occurred in good light around 5 p.m. (1400 GMT).

An Israeli military spokeswoman, Major Avital Leibovich, said there had been clashes there throughout the day after the three Israeli troops had been killed overnight in the same area.

Associated Press photographer to be released from jail

Author: me
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2008-04-15

BAGHDAD (AP) _ The U.S. military says it will release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after more than two years in custody.

The statement said Hussein will be freed Wednesday now that Iraqi judicial committees have granted him amnesty for all allegations.

Hussein has been in custody since April 12, 2006 when he was detained by U.S. Marines for alleged links to insurgents. The AP and Hussein deny any improper links and say he was only doing his job as a journalist.

AP President Tom Curley expressed relief after the statement issued by the military on Monday.

"In time we will celebrate Bilal's release. For now, we want him safe and united with his family. While we may never see eye to eye with the U.S. military over this case, it is time for all of us to move on," said Curley.

Re: How the Beijing Olympic logo was created

Author: aestewart
Forum: Anything Goes
Date: 2008-03-12

Egad!

How the Beijing Olympic logo was created

Author: me
Forum: Anything Goes
Date: 2008-03-08

http://iivee.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/create-beijing-olympic-logo/

Re: Litvinenko case. Reloading, please wait...

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2008-02-12

Jees! Who is that guy?

Sexy lawmakers elected to Russian parliament

Author: me
Forum: Video Forum
Date: 2008-01-24

Da!

jipfI_cTu5Y

Litvinenko case. Reloading, please wait...

Author: me
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2008-01-23

Never mind the Russian language spoken in the clip, just pay attention to the targets

1J7WzJskNfM

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2008-01-16

Flak jackets are pretty uncomfortable, especially at high temperatures, especially for Muslim women...

Happy New Year!

Author: newsbee
Forum: Anything Goes
Date: 2007-12-23

Best New Year greetings to all visitors and registered users! Come and join in our discussions more in the year 2008!

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2007-12-16

Funeral in Qana

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2007-12-16

Aftermath...

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2007-12-16

In this photograph from 2006, journalists relax in the shade of caskets near a mortuary in the city of Tyre. Hundreds of caskets have been prepared for the war dead in southern Lebanon.

Adding YouTube video to messages

Author: newsbee
Forum: Board Issues & Feedback
Date: 2007-12-16

You can embed YouTube video clips into the board messages in the following way:

Copy the ID of any video (v=B2UsCzim6cc), which comes after v=, and paste it into the message. Highlight and click the YouTube tag.

Here's an example:
B2UsCzim6cc is the ID, after enclosing it with YouTube tags, you get:

B2UsCzim6cc

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2007-12-16

IMG_1862.jpg

Re: Covering Lebanon at war

Author: me
Forum: Dream/Nightmare Assignment
Date: 2007-12-16

Finally, here are some photographs showing the work of journalists in Southern Lebanon during the 2006 war.IMG_1916.jpg

Re: Intro to the Photography Forum

Author: newsbee
Forum: Photography Forum
Date: 2007-12-16

Now you can attach photographs and even YouTube video clips to enjoy them right inside the messages.

Author: newsbee
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2007-11-27

From Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military says it has "convincing and irrefutable" evidence that an award-winning Associated Press photographer is connected to the insurgency in Iraq.

The photographer, Bilal Hussein Zaidon, faces charges in the Iraqi Central Court based on the evidence, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell and other U.S. military officials would not say directly what charges he faced. They referred reporters to the Iraqi court system.

Hussein, an Iraqi who lives in the western Anbar province city of Ramadi, has been held without charge by the U.S. military since April 2006, when bomb parts and insurgent propaganda were found in his house after the U.S. military asked to use it as an observation post during an operation.

Hussein was already under suspicion by the U.S. military because he arrived at terrorist attack sites so quickly that they suspected he had advance knowledge of attacks, according to Morrell.

Morrell said the reason for the delay in charging the man was that "additional evidence had come to light that the man was a media operative who had infiltrated The Associated Press."

Morrell said the Iraqi court system would hold a hearing later this month to determine if there was enough evidence to continue to trial.

Hussein is being held by the U.S. military in Iraq.

AP chief executive officer and president Tom Curley said the agency has "grave concerns" that Hussein's rights are being "ignored and even abused" and called on the United States to release the photographer.

"The steps the U.S. military is now taking continue to deny Bilal his right to due process and, in turn, may deny him a chance at a fair trial," Curley said. "The treatment of Bilal represents a miscarriage of the very justice and rule of law that the United States is claiming to help Iraq achieve."

One of Hussein's photographs was among a series of 20 AP photographs that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in 2005.

Relief or hygiene only!

Author: aestewart
Forum: News of the World
Date: 2007-11-26

I'm not sure where they are going... but definitely to strenuously check and make sure "the elections" have a hall pass if they plan to skip my lecture!

And no more 'smoking' ouside the cafeteria!

Human rights activist and journalists beaten in Ingushetia

Author: newsbee
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2007-11-26

Russian Federation: Human rights activist and journalists beaten in Ingushetia

Amnesty International is shocked and appalled by the latest attack against a human rights defender and members of the media in the southern Russian Republic of Ingushetia.

According to the Human Rights Centre Memorial, Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre Memorial, and three journalists from the Russian TV station REN TV, Artem Vysotskii, Karen Sakhinov and Stanislav Goriachikh, were woken up and taken from a hotel in Nazran, Ingushetia, during the night of 23 to 24 November by armed masked men in camouflage. The armed men took all their possessions from the hotel, including computers, money, notebooks, their clothes and mobile phones, and put plastic bags over their heads threatening to shoot them. The four men were then driven to an unknown place, where they were beaten and abandoned after two hours. As they had not been given time at the hotel to dress or take their shoes, they had to walk barefoot to the nearest police station in the village of Nesterovskaia, where they sought assistance.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted sources within the police stating that the abduction was carried out by “the military”.

In the morning of 24 November, the four men told the police of Nazran about their abduction and ill-treatment. At the police station they were examined by a medical doctor who recommended that Artem Vysotskii should be urgently hospitalized. However, the police did not let him go and only allowed the three journalists to leave the police station at around 1pm. Oleg Orlov was allowed to leave the police station earlier, at around 11.30am.

Human rights defenders in Nazran believe this was an attempt to prevent the media from monitoring and reporting about a demonstration, which was planned to take place in Nazran that day. A staff member from Memorial in Nazran told Amnesty International that a police officer came to the Memorial office later that day. He apologized for the ill-treatment of Oleg Orlov and said “the armed men did not know who he (Oleg Orlov) was”. Amnesty International is not aware of any similar apology being made in respect of the three journalists.

"The Russian government must take immediate steps to investigate the abduction and ill-treatment of human rights defender Oleg Orlov and the three journalists and to bring those suspected of violations to justice," Amnesty International said.

At the same time Amnesty International learned about the reported ill-treatment of those who had gathered in Nazran to demonstrate against the local authorities and repressive actions by law enforcement officials, including enforced disappearances, unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment.

According to participants in the demonstration, special forces (OMON) shot above the heads of the demonstrators and beat several of them with batons; reportedly some demonstrators threw stones and eggs at the police. One participant told Amnesty International that only 70 or 80 demonstrators were present and the police vastly outnumbered them. The police detained several young men and took them to a police station.

"The Russian and Ingush authorities must also investigate promptly impartially, independently and thoroughly whether excessive force was used against demonstrators," Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International also calls on the Council of Europe and the United Nations human rights mechanisms to take up this incident with the Russian authorities and to closely follow any investigations opened.

"The Russian and Ingush authorities must put an immediate end to human rights violations, and investigate all allegations effectively.”

Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

Author: newsbee
Forum: News of the World
Date: 2007-11-19

Where do you think the Russian elections will go? Somewhere?

Send the ticket!

Author: aestewart
Forum: News of the World
Date: 2007-11-16

Really?

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- An international security organization said Friday its election observers would be unable to monitor next month's Russian parliamentary balloting because Moscow had refused to issue them visas on time.

The development underscores the tensions with the West about the state of democracy under President Vladimir Putin. The standoff threatens to deepen Western doubts about the legitimacy of the Dec. 2 elections and harden Russia's insistence that the West lacks the right to criticize how they are carried out.

Russia has already come under criticism because it had said it would allow the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send only 70 observers - far fewer than in previous Russian elections - for the vote.

"We have not received a single visa for the 70 observers," OSCE spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "We have tried everything. ... But we sadly now have to conclude that it is not possible."

Russia's top election official, Vladimir Churov, denied it has refused the visas and said they were waiting in Warsaw at the headquarters of the election monitoring office, the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

But Gunnarsdottir said that the visas were certainly not ready by late Thursday, when the OSCE made the "difficult" decision to abandon plans to monitor the elections.

"Even if the visas are there now, it's too late. We would have needed them last night," she said.

Churov insisted that Russia was "certainly ready to receive" any and all monitors, adding that "if one of the missions makes such a decision (not to attend), then that is their decision."

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer

I absolutely volunteer to monitor Vladimir's elections! Would be refreshing after all these boring, "going nowhere" campaigns in the U.S.

Da da da!

Author: aestewart
Forum: News of the World
Date: 2007-10-30

Denis,

Delighted with your contribution, Nice to see the Russian team is still in top form.

I am forwarding this immediately to my son (who is in competitive paintball competition team "Childhood Issues Anonymous" (or, CIA) and hope to institute similar event right here, also as soon as feasible!

fantastic! rofl, etc!

shooting enemies of the people

Author: Denis
Forum: News of the World
Date: 2007-10-27

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbeKYd4Ar_U

We like visitors!

Author: aestewart
Forum: Anything Goes
Date: 2007-10-18

Hello guests! Post and introduce yourself! We like visitors!

I'm sorry...

Author: aestewart
Forum: The Cub Reporter
Date: 2007-10-15

its Glenlevet unmalted... Yours though - on the shelf and there it will sit until you pick it up!

Author: MrPhillipBeaufoy
Forum: The Cub Reporter
Date: 2007-10-10

Is it Josh Wolf?

I claim the prize bottle of fifteen year old Laphroaig.

When Cub Reporters Turn Pro!

Author: aestewart
Forum: The Cub Reporter
Date: 2007-08-24

So here our first assignment:

1) Which reporter has spent the longest time in jail in the United States for refusing to turn over his sources under Court order?

2) How does this particular case inform the difference between 'independent news media' and 'corporate media?'

3) After spending some time researching and thinking about the above matter, please write a short paragraph reflecting your ideas about what journalistic ethics should reflect in a truly global community as opposed to within a national framework of your choosing.

Happy Bastille Day!

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-07-14

So, what other international holidays would world journos enjoy?

The Declaration of Press Freedom
Freedom of the press was declared through the convergence of mounting public demand for free exchange of political ideas in the 1780s and the Crown's decision to permit discretionary tolerance in the months preceding the meeting of the Estates General in 1789. Historians usually date the beginning of the period of "unlimited freedom of the press" from the royal arrêt of July 5, 1788, which called on "educated persons" to express their views on the procedures for convening the Estates General, or from the arrêt of the Parlement of Paris of December 5, 1788, which gave the first legal sanction to the abstract principle.[35] Whatever the exact moment of official sanction, there can be no doubt that 1788 marked the beginning of a period of de facto freedom on the streets. The prevailing mood of tolerance, reform, anticipation, and uncertainty surrounding the convocation of the Estates General gave rise to a storm of public debate, which expressed itself in a flurry of pamphlet literature and ephemeral journals.[

http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId ... and=eschol

Nous somme le pouvoir!

Author: newsbee
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2007-07-13

Reuters photographer and driver killed in Iraq
Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:34AM EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - An Iraqi photographer and driver working for Reuters in Iraq were killed in Baghdad on Thursday in what witnesses said was a U.S. helicopter attack but which the military described as a firefight with insurgents.

Iraqi police blamed American military action for the deaths.

Photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in eastern Baghdad, the international news and information company said.

The U.S. military said the pair died after a clash between its troops and insurgents. The incident was under investigation, it said in a statement.

U.S. and Iraqi forces engaged "a hostile force" after coming under fire and attack aircraft were called in.

Nine insurgents and two civilians were killed, the military said. The "two civilians were reported as employees for the Reuters news service," it added.

A preliminary police report obtained by Reuters said Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh had been killed by a "random American bombardment" that had killed nine other people.

The report was issued by the al-Rashad police station, the closest station to the scene. Reuters obtained a photocopy of the report. It was based upon witness accounts of the incident and signed by a lieutenant-colonel, the head of the station.

The deaths take to six the number of Reuters employees killed in Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

"Once again we are left mourning colleagues who have met an untimely death while doing their job in Iraq," said Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer.

"Our sympathies and thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues today," added Glocer.

"Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh's outstanding contribution to reporting on the unfolding events in Iraq has been vital. They stand alongside other colleagues in Reuters who have died doing a job that they believe in."

COMBAT OPERATIONS

The U.S. military statement said American and Iraqi forces had been carrying out a raid when they were attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

"There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force," Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, said in the statement.

Noor-Eldeen had earlier called a Reuters colleague to say he was taking photographs of a damaged building.

Witnesses interviewed by Reuters in the al-Amin al-Thaniyah neighborhood said Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh, who also worked as a cameraman's assistant, were near the building around the time a U.S. helicopter fired on a minivan.

"The aircraft began striking randomly and people were wounded. A Kia (minivan) arrived to take them away. They hit the Kia and killed ... the two journalists," said one witness, Karim Shindakh.

Shindakh and three other witnesses said U.S. soldiers came and took Noor-Eldeen's camera equipment.

TV footage showed the front of the minivan had been badly mangled. There was a large hole in the roof. A pool of blood lay near the curb, while shrapnel marks pocked the wall of a house.

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said the deaths were a tragic reminder of the risks journalists face in covering the war in Iraq.

"The job our reporters do is a critical one - telling the world what is happening on the streets of Iraq on a daily basis," said Schlesinger.

"Reuters will continue to do all it can to protect journalists who must work in dangerous and difficult conditions but still have a right to do their jobs."

Noor-Eldeen was single. Chmagh was married with four children.

An Evening With Mario Testino

Author: ShirazVelvet
Forum: Photography Forum
Date: 2007-05-13

The Sunday Times, in association with London College of Fashion, presents An Evening with Mario Testino at 1830 Wednesday 30 May 2007, London College of Fashion, 20 Princes Street, W1

Tickets £20 (£2.50 booking fee) from 0870 842 2242

Incipient corrupted peasants!

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-05-04

Yes, the the never-ending search for PMDs! As everyone knows funnel-cloud tornadoes in L.A. are nothing but 'freak windstorms...'

Author: Denis
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-05-04

...finally had a chance to sit down with somed old chums who nowadays get their 30 pieces of silver minted in Qatar...good crowd downthere - only one problem - they don't seem to know what they want and and even less how to get there...

//should learn from Al Gore and his Current TV - cool camerafon pix of car collisions sell better this days. MUCH better if done on FPS basis with occasional cut-aways at camerawoman's tattoed upper thigh and Swarovski decorated navel...Knut the bear ( whatta a scoop) comes as extra

Author: Denis
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-05-04

they all came to have Kasparov to sign books for them...what they did not figure out is that chess is a competitive sport and you have to do some qualifiying rounds - with riots police who are all fans & stuff

... and then some German reporter who missed the whole point said there were some politically motivated disturbances - and "politically motivated disturbances" sound much sexier than chess and there's sunday news slot to fill and Knut the bear is not news anymore so the others had to follow...as my NYC editor once said : " what you are seeing or not seeing on the ground is immaterial and pretty much irrelevant - it's on the wires, buddy, and therefore it happened"

With one good press conference...

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-04-16

Why so many supporters? Seems one or two could have handled it!

Author: newsbee
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-04-16

In Moscow, the opposition mustered 250 supporters, 500 reporters and 50,000 riot police.

Author: MrPhillipBeaufoy
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-04-16

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Russian police arrested opposition leader and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov today along with more than 100 supporters and several journalists at an unsanctioned protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Thousands of riot police swarmed around central Moscow's Pushkin Square, the historical focus of democracy protests, after the city's authorities pledged the same display of police force that greeted the last protest in the capital, in December.

Due to an unusual juxtaposition of the socio-economic and pseudo-historical currents which swirl at the height of human capability, I came to exercise the full, shattering force of my immense powers of profound concentration upon a question which may be of interest to those readers of sufficiently discerning intellect to grasp the complete dimensions of the intellectual depth of my conclusions. 100 supporters vs thousands of riot police seems a bit ...unsporting. Is President Putin a gentleman?

List of 'terrorist' websites?

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-04-09

I for one would like to review any list of so-called terrorist websites.

Has comrade Kasparov violently targetted innocent civilian populations for extremist, ideological purposes?

Certainly, I would need to visit his website - please post a url so I can begin my independent, dispassionate inquiry.

lev

Russia to start fighting against terrorist Web sites

Author: newsbee
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-04-09

Just a few days ago the Web site http://www.kasparov.ru run the world chess champion Garry Kasparov was attacked by hackers. Kasparov is an activist of the opposition movement called Other Russia. Now I know why...

MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax-AVN) - There are a total of about 5,000 websites related to terrorists, National Counterterrorist Committee spokesman Nikolai Sintsov said at a Monday roundtable in Moscow.
The roundtable is focused on the anti-terrorist cooperation between law enforcers and the media.
"Experts believe terrorist organizations actively use about 5,000 websites," he said. The number was only 12 in 1998.
The committee is drafting proposals to stiffen penalties for terrorist use of the Internet. "We think that firm measures must be taken to stop the spread of terrorist and extremist ideas on the Internet," he said.
Committee experts are also drafting a terrorist threat scale, Sintsov said. "People will be informed about terrorist hazards on the basis of this scale. The notifications will be also issued in the media," he added.

INSI - Deadly Statistics

Author: newsbee
Forum: journalists@risk™
Date: 2007-03-06

“Two journalists killed every week over last 10 years”, says first comprehensive journalist safety survey

One thousand news media personnel around the world have been killed trying to report the news over the past 10 years - that’s almost two deaths every week, according to a new report released today (Tuesday, March 6 2007).

The statistic is one of the main findings of the world’s most comprehensive inquiry into the deaths of journalists and other news media professionals.

The survey was conducted between January 1996 and June 2006 by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) - a coalition of media organisations, press freedom groups, unions and humanitarian campaigners dedicated to the safety of journalists and media staff. The full report is available to download from the INSI website http://www.newssafety.com from 1230 GMT on Tuesday 6 March, 2006.

The survey found:

· One thousand news media personnel have died trying to cover the news around the world in the past 10 years*.

· Only one in four journalists died in war and other armed conflicts.

· At least 657 men and women were murdered in peacetime - reporting the news in their own countries.

· In two-thirds of cases the killers were not even identified, and probably never will be.

“In many countries, murder has become the easiest, cheapest and most effective way of silencing troublesome reporting, and the more the killers get away with it the more the spiral of death is forced upwards,” says Rodney Pinder, Director of INSI.

“Most of those killed were murdered because of their jobs; eliminated by hostile authorities or criminals as they tried to shine light into the darkest corners of their societies,” he says.

The Chair of the special INSI inquiry – BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook – says: “The figures show that killing a journalist is virtually risk free. Nine out of 10 murderers in the past decade have never been prosecuted. This encourages more of the same. This is the most shocking fact at the heart of the inquiry.
“Ongoing impunity for the killers of journalists, who put themselves in harm’s way to keep world society informed, shames not only the governments who are responsible for their own lack of action but also the democracies that stand aside in silence. Following this inquiry, the most comprehensive ever in its field, they can no longer plead ignorance of the scale and nature of the problem,” he continues.

The report’s recommendations challenge the United Nations, international development institutions (such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) national governments, military and security forces, news organisations and journalists to support measures that will improve the safety of security of journalists.

The recommendations include:

· Governments to pledge to live up to their responsibilities under UN Security Council Resolution 1738 which condemns attacks on journalists and other news professionals by putting an end to such practices.

· Governments to pledge to respect the letter and spirit of the Resolution and ensure an end to impunity for those who harm journalists by prosecuting those responsible for serious violations.

· International development institutions, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, should include a country’s record on the murder of journalists when assessing the granting of aid.

· Individual governments must ensure crimes against journalists are investigated thoroughly and all perpetrators prosecuted.

· All militaries should recognise the right of news media personnel to be present in the battle space.

· Every military and national security entity should hold full and open inquiries whenever a member of the news media is killed in an incident involving its personnel.

· All news organisations should provide proper safety training (including those covering hostile environments) and equipment for staff.

Highlights of the findings

· One thousand news media personnel have died trying to cover the news around the world in the past 10 years*.

· Only one in four died in war and other armed conflicts.

· The great majority died in peacetime, covering the news in their own countries.

· Most of those killed were murdered because of their jobs; eliminated by hostile authorities or criminals.
· Nine out of 10 murderers in the past decade have never been prosecuted.

· The news media death toll has increased steadily since 2000. The last full year covered by the report, 2005, was a record with 147 dead. It has since emerged that 2006 was even worse, with 167 fatalities, according to INSI’s annual tally.

· The Top 21 bloodiest countries over the past 10 years have been Iraq (106), Russia (91), Colombia (72), Iran ** (55), Philippines (54), India (45), Algeria (33), USA (33), Mexico (30), the former republics of Yugoslavia (27), and Brazil & Pakistan (25), Bangladesh & Ukraine (19), Nigeria (17), Sri Lanka (16), Peru (15), UK (14), Indonesia , Israel/Occupied Territories & Thailand (13).

· Shooting was by far the greatest cause of death, accounting for almost half the total. Bombing, stabbing, beating, torture, strangulation and decapitation were also used to silence reporting. Some men and women disappeared, their fate unknown.

· In war, it was much safer to be embedded with an army than not – independent news reporters, so-called unilaterals, accounted for 92 per cent of the dead.

· Overall, armed forces – regular or irregular – police and officials accounted for 22 per cent of killings.

· The death toll was evenly split between press and broadcast. But news agencies, which are fewer in number, were relatively badly hit with six per cent of the total.

· Most of those who died were on staff -- 91 per cent against 9 per cent freelance -- and one-third fell near their home, office or hotel.

It will be noted from the report that many details of fatal incidents over the decade are unclear or unknown. Records are often inconsistent and lacking in precision, sometimes because of the absence of proper investigation, other times because the circumstances were not fully recorded and still others because death so often is cloaked in the fog of war.

No one central authority records the deaths of news media staff on a regular basis. The main journalist support groups that regularly monitor casualties include the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, the World Association of Newspapers, Reporters Without Borders and INSI. Their recording methods differ.

*INSI’s researchers counted all news media personnel -- journalists as well as support workers such as drivers, translators and office personnel, whether staff or freelance -- provided they died because of their work gathering or distributing the news. All causes of death were included, from murder through accidents to health-related.

** Iran’s figures were swollen by one air accident in December, 2005. A military aircraft carrying news teams to cover exercises in the Gulf crashed in Tehran, killing 48 journalists and media technicians aboard.

Issued by International News Safety Institute
For further information: BBC World Service Press Office
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 557 2941 6 March 2007

Editor’s notes

International News Safety Institute (INSI)

INSI a non-governmental organisation completely dedicated to the safety of journalists and media staff. It is a network of media organisations, press freedom groups, unions and humanitarian campaigners working to create a culture of safety in media in all corners of the world.

The working programme of the Institute provides an information service covering all aspects of news safety and includes an extensive programme of risk-awareness training for media staff in poorer regions where news gatherers are routinely under pressure, but where economic and social conditions deny them access to basic safety services.

The Institute is led and managed by media professionals. It supports and contributes to a global network of press freedom groups and promotes safety standards that will make journalism safer and more professional.

INSI is non-profit, supported entirely by membership contributions from organisations and individuals. It seeks to raise money from international donors to provide safety training free of charge to news media staff in danger and lacking the resources or knowledge to secure their own. It is the only organisation doing this in a focused and sustained way.

Background to survey

INSI was invited to undertake this inquiry by press freedom and media support groups at a meeting in Geneva in 2004 called to discuss the rising news media death toll around the world.

It formed an international Committee of Inquiry, led by Richard Sambrook and comprising news organisations, individual journalists, journalist support groups and international legal experts.

The Inquiry team conducted a series of interviews with affected journalist and support staff in critical areas and compiled a database containing details of the deaths of journalists and media workers in violent circumstances which goes back 10 years to 1996. The database includes details for 1,000 individuals of 101 nationalities, who died in 96 countries.

Recommendations

International

“Law can only function as the guiding principle of society when there is sufficient transparency to hold government and business accountable for their actions. That transparency disappears when … the news media cease to be able to carry out their most important functions,” Robin Shepherd, senior trans-Atlantic fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, writing in the International Herald Tribune, October 21 2006.

n We call on governments to live up to their responsibilities under UN Security Council Resolution 1738 condemning attacks on journalists and other news professionals by putting an end to such practices.
n We call on governments to respect the letter and spirit of the Resolution and ensure an end to impunity for those who harm journalists by prosecuting those responsible for serious violations.
n We call on international development institutions, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to reinforce the Resolution by including a country’s record on the murder of journalists when assessing the granting of aid and other assistance.

National

“Whenever one journalist is exposed to violence, intimidation or arbitrary detention because of his or her commitment to conveying the truth, all citizens are deprived of the right to express themselves and act according to their conscience… We must declare war on impunity,” UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, on World Press Freedom Day, 2003

n Impunity for the killers of journalists must end. We call on all governments to respect their laws against murder and other forms of violence and ensure that crimes against journalists do not go unpunished. All violations must be investigated thoroughly and all perpetrators prosecuted. By failing to act, governments allow criminals to dictate what citizens read and see.
n We urge individual governments routinely to include an assessment of a country’s record in this respect when considering whether to grant aid and other development assistance. Free and independent media must be recognised as a key dimension of efforts to eradicate poverty.
n We urge governments and international organisations sponsoring media training in developing countries to include an element of safety training.

Military and Security Forces

n We call on all militaries to recognise the right of news media personnel to be present in the battle space, whether accredited to or embedded with the forces involved, attached to adversary forces or operating unilaterally. They should understand that “embeds” would have no legitimacy without independent reporting from the “unilaterals”.
n its 2006 “Green Book” of media-military operations in wartime where it recognised for the first time the issue of journalist safety and the right of correspondents to move freely in the battle space. It pledged that UK forces will never deliberately target either individual correspondents or civil media facilities.
n We call on every military and national security entity to hold a full and open inquiry as soon as practicable whenever a member of the news media is killed in an incident involving its personnel in order to establish accountability. Any fatal incident involving a journalist should be investigated as a police criminal case from the start. The death of a media worker on foreign soil should be investigated with no less rigour than a death in the home country of the military involved.
n We call on militaries at war to provide the news media with regular and timely briefings on danger zones, to respect media markings on vehicles and personnel and ensure the presence of the media in the battle space is communicated swiftly to military units in the same area.
n We urge militaries, police and other security forces to include media understanding in basic training. Soldiers and Police have to understand that reporting an opposing point of view does not make an individual journalist or news organisation an enemy.

News organisations

n We call on all news organisations to observe the INSI Safety Code and other professional ethics guides and recognise they have a duty of care for all people in the newsgathering team, whether staff or freelance. There is a responsibility to provide proper safety training and equipment in peacetime and in conflict.
n We call on them to develop and sustain safety provisions that work all the time, whether their staffs are covering domestic stories such as crime and corruption, disasters and demonstrations or health issues or international armed conflict.
n We urge Editors and managers to seek greater awareness of the dangers surrounding their staff when covering hazardous stories and to familiarise themselves with the provisions of hostile environment and other risk-awareness training.
n We urge news executives routinely to provide confidential professional counselling to journalists who have experienced trauma and other forms of extreme stress in the course of their duties.

n We urge international publications and broadcasters to publicise more widely the murder of a journalists in his or her home country as well as the deaths of those on foreign assignment. Journalists working in daily danger say their political and business leaders pay attention to adverse publicity by global news organisations: “One Editorial in the New York Times is worth a thousand words in a national paper.” (INSI Inquiry).

Journalists

“Journalists have to make clear they matter by raising the level of their work. We must build up what we do so it is unassailable, so that journalism is seen at its highest,” Ethan Bronner, deputy Foreign Editor, New York Times, at a panel discussion on “Finding Solutions for Journalist Safety”.

“I firmly believe that the best personal security measure a journalist can take is to be honest, objective, ethically responsible and really independent,” Latin American journalist to INSI Inquiry.

n We urge fellow journalists to recognise they have a duty of care to themselves. The job is not risk free and the risk is not confined solely to conflict. Journalists must understand they too have responsibilities for their own safety, alongside those borne by militaries and governments. There is a danger of some journalists, especially international war reporters, assuming a right to invincibility – special pleading that journalists have a right not to get hurt.
n We urge colleagues to help themselves by being true to quality, independent reporting. The support of our societies is essential in our campaign against those who kill and physically attack our colleagues.
n We call on journalists to support one another in hostile environments and to put competitive issues aside when lives are in danger.
n We urge all news media staff to seek our professional hostile environment training before venturing into conflict or disaster zones, and to observe that training when they get there. No journalist should go to war without proper training and preparation, including knowledge of first aid and munitions.
n We strongly recommend all journalists to video and photograph incidents of physical attack on their colleagues both to publicise and provide evidence to any inquiry.
n We urge conflict reporters to understand that media-military dialogue and understanding is a two-way street. Lives have been lost through journalists assuming a competence on behalf of the military that is not always there – as well as assuming the safety of the media is a prime concern of soldiers under fire.

2006: Best Headlines

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-02-07

Colleague David has forwarded 2006 candidates for actual best headlines appearing in English speaking press.

Haven’t got the one’s from Moscow yet…

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter
(Imagine that!)
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
(No, really?)
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
(Now that's taking things a bit far!)
Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
(Whaaat??)
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
(What a guy!)
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
(No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-sos!)
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
(See if that works any better than a fair trial! )
War Dims Hope for Peace
(I can see where it might have that effect!)
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
(You think?! )
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
(Who would have thought! )
(Enfield, UK): Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
(They may be on to something! )
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
(You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?!)
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
(He probably IS the battery charge)
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
(Weren't they fat enough?!)
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
(That's what he gets for eating those beans!)
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
(Taste like chicken?)
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
(Chainsaw Massacre all over again!)
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
(Boy, are they tall!)

And the winner is....

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
(Did I read that sign right?)

Publisher and editors names withheld to protect the miscreants!

I'll take one!

Author: aestewart
Forum: Journo Links
Date: 2007-01-25

Absolutely - this is the one I want:

New Toshiba Laptop P4M 1.8GHz 512MB 60GB CDRW/DVD GF4 WiFi ... $400. That should do the job. Ore the G4 - as long as it is a laptop (I work off the grid).

I can't pay for it right now - but I really need it. Contact newsbee to make shipping arrangements. I will be able to send payment through paypal when possible.

I should be able to pay for it by the end of the year - I have a couple small jobs lined up. In the meantime, vgadim loaned me his old compaq - but the battery is shot and I still need to post.

Thanks! You are a life saver!

m aes tro.

BRAND NEW MOBILE PHONES FOR SALE AND AT CHEAPER RATE

Author: Anonymous
Forum: Journo Links
Date: 2007-01-25

DELETED

Author: newsbee
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-01-07

Sunni

No raise, you are already 8 miles high!

Arabic propaganda?

Author: aestewart
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-01-07

Sunni, Shia or Twelver?

Does this make me an American propagandist?

If so, I want a raise.

aes

Author: newsbee
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2007-01-06

Its sheer Arabic (Islamic) propaganda.

what, nobody had a chance to see it yet?

Author: Denis
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2006-12-31

..and i thought Al Jazeera English was invented to fill the gaps for the people like ourselves here on this board. Or your reaction is of a varietY that cannot be printed : **** what the **** is that?

Author: MrPhillipBeaufoy
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2006-12-16

A question: why do you stress the professor's gender? might it be because "her" real name is Gary Morson?

I emphasized Professor Chudo's gender as a rebuke to those misguided souls who say all female academics are humourless mediocrities. And now you tell me that my one example is a trannie! Ah well...the search continues.

Let us console ourselves with more definitions from our gender-confused Professorette.

Aral Sea Now the Aral Puddle.

Auschwitz After it, literature is impossible (but not literary criticism).

Belarus An independent marsh.

bourgeois epoch One of the five stages of history through which every society must progress. In England, it extended from the Renaissance to the present; in Russia, from 1905 to 1917.

chef What the people who say "You can't make an omlette without breaking eggs" imagine themselves as.

Castro Promoter of travel in small ocean vessels. Refer to him as "Fidel".

communal apartment An institution to promote Socialism and misanthropy.

counterevidence In psychoanalysis, a sign of resistance.

ennui As good as it gets. The only unalloyed emotion.

good teacher At Yale, what you call someone whose research you want to disparage.

humanity What sadists love and the merciful despise.

ideology The beliefs of others.

Idiot, The Novel about a man who believes in the future of Russia.

jargon The word used by reactionaries to describe the extremely dense and obscure writing styles needed to express our new and complicated ideas so they don't sound stupid.

life A social construct.

"Misery loves company" Said at weddings.

Nietzsche Emerson with ulcers.

plagiarism Disgraceful appropriation of your paper claiming that there is no originality, that impersonal social forces write through authors, or that property is an outmoded bourgeois concept.

Rand, Ayn The key to her works is that she's a Russian. Founder of Capitalist Realism.

volunteering Compulsory, unpaid overtime.

Author: Denis
Forum: General Issues
Date: 2006-12-13

Funny & at times to the point. A question: why do you stress the professor's gender? might it be because "her" real name is Gary Morson? fascinating lot those with mixed-up gender identities coupled with a penchant for Chekhov