VITAMEDIAS
Repórteres Sem Fronteiras contra recurso da CNN a guardas armados
Reporters sans frontières s'inquiète d'un comportement qui peut s'avérer dangereux pour tous les journalistes
Shots fired at CNN crew in Tikrit: Brent Sadler:
We're OK, we're OK. Under fire. That confirms our worst fears.
If you're with us, we've just gone through a checkpoint, we've come under automatic machine gun fire, and we've blown through the checkpoint. Our armed guard pulled his automatic machine gun and opened fire to get us through there.
I think that's as far as we're going to push it today.
Two in CNN Crew Hurt in Iraqi Gunfight: Most journalists adhere to Geneva Conventions rules that reporters not openly carry weapons in war zones, although several news organizations have hired armed guards for protection in dangerous areas. [...]
The guard was grazed by a bullet, said Matthew Furman, CNN spokesman. A CNN producer was hit by shattered glass.
CNN noted that Sadler was in a convoy clearly marked as containing journalists and that the Iraqis fired first. In a dangerous place for reporters, CNN supports what its guard did, Furman said.
While not passing judgment on what happened, media ethics expert Bob Steele said news organizations must consider the danger that such an incident can heighten the risk for all journalists that they will be considered a hostile force in a time of war. [...]
Joel Campagna, Mideast program director for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, couldn't recall another incident where a reporter's guard had to fire his weapon.
"Journalists pose the question of whether they should sacrifice their security for the perception of neutrality. I don't know the answer to that," he said.
It was the second harrowing experience for a CNN correspondent near Tikrit in three days. On Friday, correspondent Kevin Sites and his crew were held captive for several hours by Iraqi Fedayeen at a checkpoint.
[act.:] CNN defiant after Tikrit firefight: a CNN spokeswoman said that Sadler's team had not set a precedent and that journalists have been accompanied by armed guards in previous conflicts including Somalia and Afghanistan.
"Any decision taken in regards of our staff, and how they may or may not be accompanied, is always based on safety," the spokeswoman said.
[act.:] CNN's Access of Evil: As Baghdad fell last week, CNN announced that it too had been liberated. On the New York Times' op-ed page on Friday, Eason Jordan, the network's news chief, admitted that his organization had learned some "awful things" about the Baathist regime - murders, tortures, assassination plots - that it simply could not broadcast earlier. Reporting these stories, Mr. Jordan wrote, "would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff."
[Em guerras futuras, será que os jornalistas se têm de constituir num exército para aceder a locais em conflito? Raio de precedente, não de agora mas só agora sabemos que de guerras anteriores! Como é que os iraquianos (ou outros) não hão-de querer disparar contra jornalistas se eles têm "tropas" prontas a disparar?}
Mas há mais: I'm Not a Real Journalist, But I Play One on T.V.: Indeed, it was not the content of Rivera's reporting but his questionable journalistic methods that gained the most attention with regards to his coverage in Afghanistan. Yes folks, he carried a gun for the duration of his stay in the occupied country. As well as being an extraordinarily unwise decision for a war reporter ("No, Mr. al Qaeda extremist that has captured me, I am not a CIA agent, I am a reporter. Um, yes, that is my gun"), this is also a violation of the Geneva Convention rules for journalists.
Geraldo's response to criticism of his carrying a firearm? He told Fox News in an interview: "It's been blown way out of proportion. It makes me sound like a tabloid talk show host goes to war."
Yes, that sure sounds like a misrepresentation of the facts.
E até as British troops may be in breach of Geneva Convention for failing to prevent lawlessness after overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein, an expert warned.
Mas o que diz a Convenção de Genebra sobre os jornalistas? "In 1977, journalists were re-classified as civilians. As a result, reporters who wear civilian clothing and otherwise differentiate themselves from members of the armed forces are entitled to the broader protections offered to civilians." (Protocol I, Art. 79: Measures or protection for journalists
1. Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians within the meaning of Article 50, paragraph 1.
2. They shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians, and without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces to the status provided for in Article 4 (A) (4) of the Third Convention.)