No longer safe

Daniel Lak from CBC News talks about the changing status of journalists in conflict zones. No longer just bystanders, as Michael Holmes refelected in the previous post, but targets,

“In the ’60s and ’70s, reporters were somehow regarded by all sides as tellers of the story, people who got out their version, and were allowed to operate safely in war zones,” [Rodney Pinder of the International News Safety Institute] told CBC news. “Now, with the Internet and easy video making, everyone with a grudge or a grievance thinks they don’t need journalists, that telling a balanced tale is an aggressive act… I often ask myself, why would any Iraqi want to be a journalist or cameraman, but they do and they die or get wounded and targeted every day — 100 since the invasion. It’s appalling.” link

And it’s not just hacks. As seen in Afghanistan earlier this week aid workers are just as much at risk as reporters.