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CWA Journalists Putting Lives on the Line in Iraq
Along with the thousands of union members fighting the war in Iraq, scores of journalists and media employees represented by CWA's media sectors are risking their lives to show and tell the stories of the reality of combat.
The risk was magnified April 4 when American journalist Michael Kelly was killed along with a soldier in a Humvee accident while trying to escape enemy fire. Kelly, a Washington Post columnist and at-large editor for Atlantic magazine, was a member of The Newspaper Guild when he earlier worked at the Baltimore Sun and New York Times.
"The tragic death of Michael Kelly illustrates the dangers inherent in real-time news coverage of war. Embedded reporters run that risk to an even greater degree," said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley. "While the jury is still out on whether embedding journalists with combat troops leads to more accurate or more censored coverage, there certainly is no debate that it creates a potentially more hazardous environment for the journalists themselves."
Reporters and photographers represented by TNG-CWA are among embedded reporters - those traveling with the military. They include members at the New York Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Time and Newsweek. Many members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, working for ABC and NBC, are also in Iraq.
"We're extraordinarily proud of these people," said Barry Lipton, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York, which has 35 members in Iraq. "They're in essence our eyes and ears, and we're ever mindful of the risks they're taking."
Another journalist, David Bloom of NBC News, died two days after Kelly of a pulmonary embolism. Although his death is not combat-related, the stress and long hours he spent cramped in a tank with soldiers may have contributed to the fatal blood clot that began in his leg, according to media reports.
All embedded journalists were required to go through military-led training, and many news organizations sent others through survival courses. Foley said attention to training is paramount as the military presence continues and reporters and photographers are cycled in and out.
"All news organizations, large and small, that send reporters to the front lines should make every effort to provide adequate training for these reporters," she said. "Sending reporters into combat situations without proper training is like sending construction workers to a building site without hard hats."
The risk was magnified April 4 when American journalist Michael Kelly was killed along with a soldier in a Humvee accident while trying to escape enemy fire. Kelly, a Washington Post columnist and at-large editor for Atlantic magazine, was a member of The Newspaper Guild when he earlier worked at the Baltimore Sun and New York Times.
"The tragic death of Michael Kelly illustrates the dangers inherent in real-time news coverage of war. Embedded reporters run that risk to an even greater degree," said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley. "While the jury is still out on whether embedding journalists with combat troops leads to more accurate or more censored coverage, there certainly is no debate that it creates a potentially more hazardous environment for the journalists themselves."
Reporters and photographers represented by TNG-CWA are among embedded reporters - those traveling with the military. They include members at the New York Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Time and Newsweek. Many members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, working for ABC and NBC, are also in Iraq.
"We're extraordinarily proud of these people," said Barry Lipton, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York, which has 35 members in Iraq. "They're in essence our eyes and ears, and we're ever mindful of the risks they're taking."
Another journalist, David Bloom of NBC News, died two days after Kelly of a pulmonary embolism. Although his death is not combat-related, the stress and long hours he spent cramped in a tank with soldiers may have contributed to the fatal blood clot that began in his leg, according to media reports.
All embedded journalists were required to go through military-led training, and many news organizations sent others through survival courses. Foley said attention to training is paramount as the military presence continues and reporters and photographers are cycled in and out.
"All news organizations, large and small, that send reporters to the front lines should make every effort to provide adequate training for these reporters," she said. "Sending reporters into combat situations without proper training is like sending construction workers to a building site without hard hats."