Death of a journalist - Essay Example

During the actual fighting phase of the 1991 Gulf War for the liberation of Kuwait no journalists were killed, but in the ensuing days four freelance journalists were killed. In 2002 during the action in Afghanistan eight journalists were killed within a short span of two-weeks, and at one point in this war the media related casualties were higher than the actual military casualties. This trend of high journalist causalities was carried into the war in Iraq, where in the four weeks of fighting fifteen journalists lost their lives.

Some may have died through accidents, but the vast majority of them were killed during combat action. (1)1 Commenting on these deaths of journalists, the Chief Executive of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), is reported to have said in October this year, “Journalism today is more dangerous than ever. More than 500 journalists have been killed in the past decade, often for simply doing their jobs”. The recent years have seen the up trend in journalists being killed while doing their jobs continuing.

In 2004 seventy-two journalists lost their lives, while in the field. Till the first week of October 2006, seventy-five journalists have been killed, making it the worst year in this regard for journalists, and confirming the rising trend of journalists killed in their line of duty. (2) The Iraq War, and the subsequent situation there has proved to be the killing fields of many a journalist. The situation of the journalists in Iraq is reflective of the nature of the grave risks that they face in their line of duty.

Working in a war zone has always been fraught with dangers that emanate from the battles that occur there. In addition to that journalists in Iraq also face the danger of being hunted down and killed, just because they may be suspected of cooperating with one of the combatant forces, or because of their religious, or political affiliations. This