27 maio 2004

VITAMEDIAS

CNN: journalists are no longer safe: Drawing attention to the growing death toll among journalists working in Iraq, Chris Cramer, the managing director of CNN International, said media organisations - including many newspapers - were guilty of failing their own staff on assignments in dangerous countries. [...]
"How much longer can we turn a blind eye to the fact that journalists are no longer considered neutral and never will be again?" he asked.
"We all have to accept and realise that the stakes for our profession have changed. Here in Europe - and around the world - attacks are no longer unusual, no longer considered one-in-a-million chances of happening," he said
"We need to understand what the present and the future holds in a politically and religiously charged and very fragmented world. Own up to the fact that the media, particularly those in hostile zones, are no longer the victims of so-called collateral damage, but more often are the intended targets.
"It's hunting season against the media - and for some people it's a round-the-year sport," he said [...]
"I am sorry, but there is no precedent for what is happening to our profession at the moment."
Mr Cramer suggested that the media's failure to take positive action to protect journalists in war zones meant the industry was at a "dangerous crossroads".
"I predict that many organisations will decide the stakes are too high to report from a war zone like Iraq. They will decide that the attrition rate against journalists and those that work with us is fast becoming so great that we should pull out.