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Media Unions Join Worldwide Call of Journalists for Investigation into Media Staff Deaths in Iraq
Washington, D.C.--In letters today to President Bush, The Newspaper Guild-CWA and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists 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."
President Linda Foley of TNG-CWA and Thomas R Carpenter, AFTRA National Director of News and Broadcast, sent the letters as part of the International Federation of Journalists' global campaign to keep a public focus on the dangerous conditions facing journalists and media staff covering the war in Iraq. Today is the second anniversary of the attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by U.S. forces, in which two journalists covering the war were killed.
"We recognize, of course, that most journalists who die each year are killed by cruel extremists…and we unequivocally condemn those attacks and the people behind them," Foley wrote.
But the United States also must defend its "traditions of liberty and justice by addressing the concerns of journalists around the world," she added. The Pentagon's report about the Palestine Hotel tragedy, to date, has been inadequate and unconvincing, raising more questions than it resolved, her letter continued.
"Respect for a free and independent press is a critical component of the liberty that members of a democratic society enjoy," Carpenter wrote. "More than ever, it is critical to protect the values of freedom, liberty and justice" by responding to the request of journalists and the worldwide organizations representing them for a thorough and independent investigation, he added.
In events and a letter-writing campaign around the world, IFJ and affiliated organizations are calling for a full and independent investigation by the United States into some 14 incidents in which media staff were killed while working in Iraq, including the bomb attack on the Palestine Hotel which killed Jose Couso, a reporter with Telecinco in Spain, and Taras Protsiuk, a Ukrainian camera man working for Reuters.
TNG-CWA represents 35,000 journalists and media workers in the United States and Canada. AFTRA represents nearly 80,000 members working in the news, information and entertainment industries. Both are affiliates of the International Federation of Journalists which represents more than half a million journalists in some 110 countries.
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President Linda Foley of TNG-CWA and Thomas R Carpenter, AFTRA National Director of News and Broadcast, sent the letters as part of the International Federation of Journalists' global campaign to keep a public focus on the dangerous conditions facing journalists and media staff covering the war in Iraq. Today is the second anniversary of the attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by U.S. forces, in which two journalists covering the war were killed.
"We recognize, of course, that most journalists who die each year are killed by cruel extremists…and we unequivocally condemn those attacks and the people behind them," Foley wrote.
But the United States also must defend its "traditions of liberty and justice by addressing the concerns of journalists around the world," she added. The Pentagon's report about the Palestine Hotel tragedy, to date, has been inadequate and unconvincing, raising more questions than it resolved, her letter continued.
"Respect for a free and independent press is a critical component of the liberty that members of a democratic society enjoy," Carpenter wrote. "More than ever, it is critical to protect the values of freedom, liberty and justice" by responding to the request of journalists and the worldwide organizations representing them for a thorough and independent investigation, he added.
In events and a letter-writing campaign around the world, IFJ and affiliated organizations are calling for a full and independent investigation by the United States into some 14 incidents in which media staff were killed while working in Iraq, including the bomb attack on the Palestine Hotel which killed Jose Couso, a reporter with Telecinco in Spain, and Taras Protsiuk, a Ukrainian camera man working for Reuters.
TNG-CWA represents 35,000 journalists and media workers in the United States and Canada. AFTRA represents nearly 80,000 members working in the news, information and entertainment industries. Both are affiliates of the International Federation of Journalists which represents more than half a million journalists in some 110 countries.
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