LAT: To Get the Story... (reporters in Iraq "on a short leash")

[DeepModem Mom]

To Get the Story, You Have to Get to the Story
Journalists are already hampered by security concerns, but delays and bad weather can steal the chance for a story, a correspondent finds.

By Alissa J. Rubin, Times Staff Writer


AMARAH, Iraq — With Iraqis poised to elect a new government — at a time when it is particularly compelling for the world to hear their thoughts — most Western journalists are forced to operate on a short leash, unable to casually approach many Iraqis or leave Baghdad without the help of the U.S. military.

A year ago, reporters generally were able to interview Iraqis on the capital's streets and travel across the nation. Now, because of the deteriorating security situation, they can hardly go out in Baghdad, much less the rest of the country....

***

Traveling by road outside the capital has become unsafe since abductions became commonplace during the summer; an Italian and two French journalists were among those taken hostage. And most Western reporters have determined that their only option is to turn to the U.S. and British embassies for transportation help....

***

But with the mobility come some hindrances. Western government officials exert control over the journalists' itineraries, set up interviews, and decide who and what will be seen. The arrangements can make the trips efficient but preclude the type of free-ranging reporting that journalists usually do on their own....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-reporting23jan23,0,1483526.story?coll=la-home-world

[LynnTheDem]

1. Welcome back, boys....back to the USSA.

United Soviet State of America.

Exactly what the rightwingnuttery wants.

[KDLarsen]

2. Danish TV2's reporter mentioned this yesterday

Apparently, very few news agencies are in Baghdad to cover the elections & some aren't even sure if they're going to leave the hotel on election day.

Apparently, upon arriving at Baghdad airport, you have to hire a security company to take you to Hotel Palestine which is inside the Green Zone & guarded by US troops. The price for the 30 minute ride in an armoured car while wearing an bulletproof vest: 5-6000$.

[0007]

4. Five to six thousand U.S. dollars from the Baghdad airport

to the Green Zone? Holy Moley!

The price for the 30 minute ride in an armoured car while wearing an bulletproof vest: 5-6000$.

[KDLarsen]

6. That's what he said...

.. 20-30.000 Danish kroner (1$ = ~5 DKK these days)

[MSgt213]

3. Just like under Saddam. Of course none of the reporters want to let this

out when they appear on CNN, Fox and MSNBC.

[dannynyc]

5. This morning on CNN a general in Iraq . . .

was predicting how well the election will go next week. Much to my surprise, Bill Hemmer did challenge what he was saying. The general was repeating the talking points "Iraqis want to vote" . . . . "There will be a high turnout" . . . <and the best> "After our victory in Falujah" . . .

Of course, some details about the situation in Iraq didn't get mentioned - lack of clean water - lack of security forces in Iraq, etc.

Sunday in Iraq will be interesting.

[w4rma]

7. Coming soon to a theater near you: "When Reality and Fantasy Collide" (nt)

[MADem]

9. Victory in Fallujah?

The guy must be on crack. Shades of 'destroying the village in order to save it.'

Anyone who was anyone got the hell out of Fallujah after they had inflicted the most damage that they could. They left kids behind to snipe at our forces and distract them.

Yeah, I agree that it will be interesting come Sunday....sort of like that Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times."

Such a mess....

[Roland99]

8. PBS Frontline World: Reporting the War

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iraq401/thestory.html

The days of a plane's gentle descent into the Baghdad airport are long gone. Ever since arriving planes became targets for Iraqi insurgents armed with rockets, planes bound for Baghdad do a corkscrew dive to the tarmac as passengers like FRONTLINE/World correspondent Nick Hughes white-knuckle their armrests.

"These days, the flight from Amman to Baghdad is pretty empty," Hughes says. "A few Iraqi businessmen, one or two security contractors, and a couple of fellow reporters."

Hughes, a veteran cameraman for the BBC, made his way to Baghdad to report on the enormous dangers that journalists face there every day.

At the Hamra, a hotel once bustling with journalists and now nearly deserted, Hughes runs into Scott Peterson, a photographer with Getty Images and a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor. Peterson has just returned to the Hamra after spending 30 days embedded with U.S. troops in Fallujah. Peterson shows off his flak jacket and the "kill number" written on his wrist that would be used to identify him if he were injured....

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. "short leash" my ass they have been held up in the Palistine Hotel .......

and other hotels in Bagdad since the US Marines pulled down the statue of Sadam....they NEVER even leave the hotel because that's Rummy's ORDERS!>>>>>>total media blackout of his insedious war crimes!