UPDATED - ColdType

APRIL 9: AMNESIA STALKS
THE AIRWAVES
THIS week 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, or get ratings. 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 outlets in the Arab world) has
already claimed more journalists than the number
killed during Gulf War l in l991. Only four
journalists are known to have died then.
Death for media people lurks everywhere on
today’s battlefield – even when you are not on it.
Al Jazeera’s offices and the Arab Media Center
in Baghdad were bombed yesterday, clearly not a
move that will endear the US war to the Arab
world, which relies on the reporting from there.
One Al Jazeera correspondent was killed. US soldiers
reportedly rocketed the Palestine Hotel,
home to most correspondents in Baghdad. As I
write, the toll of dead and injured is not known.
It seems like it’s open season on journalists.
The way death comes
EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
DEATH can take the form of an 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
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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,
which were attacked by a blood clot.
Australian freelance cameraman Paul Moran
was on the scene of a 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.
Missing and captured
AND there are still others. A German and Spanish
journalist died April 7 during an Iraqi missile
attack on a US base. Missing are Wael Awad, a
Syrian reporter working for the Dubai Arabic
TV station al-Arabiya; his partner Talal Fawzi al-
Masri, a Lebanese cameraman; and Ali Hassan
Safa, technician.
Add the captured to the list, which includes