Safety in Reportage

Incredible count of the killed reporters in Iraq:

More journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003 than during the 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Sunday.

Since U.S. forces and its allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003, 66 journalists and their assistants have been killed, RSF said.

The latest casualty was a Reuters Television soundman who was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday, while a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers.

The death toll in Iraq compares with a total of 63 journalists in Vietnam, but which was over a period of 20 years from 1955 to 1975, the Paris-based organization that campaigns to protect journalists said on its Web site.

It's hard to say exactly what this means. Early in the invasion there were a string of saddening attacks by US tanks on hotels and office buildings of reporters; and coupled with the official policy of "embedded" reporters, this suggests that when it comes to the Invasion in Iraq, the information that we're allowed to have reported to us had best fit a certain interest, otherwise the protection does not exist.