Wingers targeting another journalist for criticizing US military

[BurtWorm]

This is what she said:


"Journalists are not just being targeted verbally or politically. They are also being targeted for real in places like Iraq. And what outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there's not more outrage about the number and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq. I think it's just a scandal."

"It's not just U.S. journalists either, by the way. They target and kill journalists from other countries, particularly Arab countries, at news services like Al Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios, with impunity. This is all part of the culture that it is OK to blame the individual journalists, and it just takes the heat off of these media conglomerates that are part of the problem."


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000928927

Guild Chief Under Fire for Comments About Attacks on Journalists in Iraq

By Joe Strupp

Published: May 19, 2005 4:40 PM ET

NEW YORK Linda Foley, national president of The Newspaper Guild, drew criticism Thursday from some conservatives for comments she made last Friday about the killing of journalists in Iraq. Foley said, among other things, that she was outraged by "the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq. I think it's just a scandal."

Last month, Foley sent a letter to President Bush criticizing the U.S. investigation into the deaths of journalists in Iraq.

The backlash became so severe Thursday that staffers at Guild headquarters in Washington, D.C., stopped answering the phone because of abusive phone calls and "people screaming at us," Foley said. Instead, callers were required to leave messages on voice mail and await a return call....

[Village Idiot]

1. Many people have reported this...

Including Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Eason Jordan...

Al-Jazeera offices get targeted 3 frickin' times and no one is allowed to say anything???

Welcome to Democracy?

[BurtWorm]

2. It's not setting a good example for the Arabs

when American journalists mouth off about the government.

[gratuitous]

3. This subject really gets the ninnies in an uproar

You have to wonder why. Eason Jordan had to resign when his off the record remarks on this very subject were reported and the "how dare you report the facts" crowd went ballistic.

[BurtWorm]

4. CPJ calls on U.S., Iraqi authorities to explain journalist detentions

http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Iraq12may05na.html



New York, May 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed deep concern about the detentions of at least eight Iraqi journalists by U.S. and Iraqi military forces. CPJ called on U.S. and Iraqi officials to publicly explain the basis for the journalists' continued detention.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan told CPJ that U.S. and Iraqi forces are holding eight Iraqi journalists who pose a "security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces." He declined to provide details about the detentions or the names of the journalists, all of whom work for Western news organizations. None of the journalists have been formally charged, and Boylan gave no indication that they would be.

Agence France-Presse reported last week that the detainees included the news agency's reporter, Ammar Daham Naef Khalaf, who was detained by U.S. troops on April 11 in Ramadi, and AFP photographer, Fares Nawaf al-Issaywi, who was taken by Iraqi forces on May 1 while photographing in Fallujah and then transferred to the custody of U.S. troops. AFP said no details were provided regarding the basis for the detentions.

A freelance cameraman working with the U.S. broadcaster CBS News remains in custody after being detained by U.S. forces in early April on suspicion of insurgent activity. The cameraman, whose name CBS has withheld for safety reasons, was taken into custody after being wounded by U.S. forces' fire while he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq. CBS News reported last month that the U.S. military said footage in the journalists' camera led them to suspect he had prior knowledge of attacks against coalition forces. AFP also cited U.S. officials as saying the journalist "tested positive for explosive residue."