UPDATED - ColdType

NEW YORK, APRIL 3, 2003
DEATH TOLL MOUNTS AS WAR
TRAGEDY INVADES NEWSROOMS
Horror of war comes home as journalists become part of story
t has been a week when the horror of war came home to the media – home to stay. Suddenly the
war was not just another big assignment, or an adventure, or a chance to score points. Suddenly
it was not a game of action and reaction, or mission and maneuver. It became a real world horror
show as journalists who traditionally seek distance from the news they report became part
of the story.
In just three weeks, the war in Iraq (or on Iraq, if you serve many outlets in the Arab world) has
already claimed more than the number of journalists killed during Gulf War I in l991. Only four jour-
nalists are known to have died then.
Death lurks everywhere on today’s battlefield,
It can take the form of auto accident like the one
that took the life of editor-columnist Michael
Kelly who was overconfident that he would survive
a conflict that he boosted in print. It could
take the form of a friendly fire incident like the
bombing of a military convoy that pulverized
BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed
and wounded the BBC’s star correspondent John
Simpson. Terry Lloyd of Britain’s ITN died in
similar circumstances after being shot by “Coalition”
gunfire near Basra on March 22.
NBC’s David Bloom was struck down by a pulmonary
embolism that could have been linked to
the vehicle he created that allowed him to broadcast
while barreling across the desert. The
action shots of him were captivating, but he may
not have paid attention to his immobilized legs,
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which were attacked by a blood clot.
Australian freelance cameraman Paul Moran,
was on the scene of suicide bombing by people
who make little distinction between embedded
journalists and the armies they travel with.
Kaveh Golestan, another freelance cameraman,
an Iranian, was on assignment for the BBC. He
stepped on a landmine.
A German and a Spanish journalist were at a
US base when it was rocketed by Iraqi forces.
Others suffered accidents, like Gaby Rado of
Britain’s Channel 4 News, while two more colleagues
are missing: Fred Nerac, and translator
Hussein Othman, both part of Terry Lloyd’s
crew, disappeared. And there are others. A German
and Spanish journalist died April 7 during
an Iraqi missile attack on a US base. Gone also
are Wael Awad, a Syrian reporter working for