Media Workers Face Growing Risks in War Zones

It was supposed to be a humanitarian mission, not a war, but Associated Press reporter and president of TNG-CWA Local 31222 Tony Winton remembers his time in Somalia in the early 1990s as the most dangerous of his assignments in the world's hot zones.

"Theoretically, you were there to cover a relief mission, but there were gangs run by warlords and you could be surrounded by hundreds of people in no time flat with no escape route," Winton recalls.

Tragically, his roommate at the half-constructed hotel that reporters called home was gunned down in the marketplace a few days after he began assisting Winton. The young man was like so many courageously helping American reporters today in Iraq — a "fixer," someone who spoke the language, knew the people and could guide him through the chaos. He yearned to be a journalist himself.

As risky as Somalia was, Winton — who heads the national unit of The Newspaper Guild-CWA that represents Associated Press staff — said it can't compare to the threats facing journalists in Iraq.

"It's always been a dangerous business, but Iraq is a whole new ball game," he said. "It's far worse than the places I've been because journalists themselves are being targeted."

As of early November, 235 members of the media and their support staffs had been killed in Iraq since 2003, according to the International Federation of Journalists. An IFJ graphic charting journalists' deaths for the first nine months of 2007 shows 58 deaths in Iraq.

TNG-CWA President Linda Foley, an IFJ vice president, says both the Guild and the Federation are deeply concerned about the growing dangers to journalists in Iraq and around the world.

In 2003, IFJ founded the International News Safety Institute which works with media organizations worldwide to train and protect journalists. Last December, it succeeded in getting the United Nations to pass an historic resolution condemning attacks on journalists. This month, the Brussels-based institute is setting up an office in New York City.

"Journalists around the world face unprecedented dangers these days, not just in Iraq but in places like Afghanistan, the Philippines, Latin America, China and most recently Pakistan," Foley said. "The IFJ and the Safety Institute are bringing together a strong coalition of employers and trade unions, press freedom groups, NGOs, public officials, to make sure that everything possible is being done to protect the news media and the people who support them throughout the world."

Winton, who also covered Desert Storm and conflicts in Haiti, said AP has gotten much better over the years about placing a top priority on safety. Even reporters in U.S. cities prone to riots have bullet-proof vests available and Winton's office in Miami has protective gear in the event of a bird flu outbreak.

A few years back, he went through several days of intense training paid for by AP and run "by a bunch of former British commandos." At a farm in Virginia, he and other journalists were "kidnapped," practiced negotiating at checkpoints, learned to detect landmines and decipher the sounds of gunfire and explosives, and picked up many other skills, including advanced first aid.

"They tried to make it as realistic as possible," he said. "The kidnapping — even though you knew it was a drill, it was still very scary."

He hopes that newspaper readers and TV viewers will understand that those risks are all too real for journalists in Iraq today, as well as other hot spots. "People love to criticize the media — it's a spectator sport," he said. "But every time you read or see a story from any conflict zone, know that it's being brought to you by people taking extreme risks to their personal safety."