Journalist death toll exceeds Vietnam

From Reuters, in the Toronto Globe & Mail:

BAGHDAD -- 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 said yesterday.

Around here we all know Iraq is at least as catastrophic a blunder as Vietnam.  But not so with the media, so far.  Could this journalist death toll, surpassing Vietnam, be just the ticket to drag the media kicking and screaming into our "Iraq is even worse than Vietnam" frame?

The latest casualty was a Reuters Television soundman who was shot dead in Baghdad yesterday while a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers. That brings to 66 the number of journalists and their assistants who have been killed since the United States and its allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003.

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

ACTION: forward this globe article to all media outlets you know.  If there's one thing we can be sure of, its that the media will selfishly report on their own, spreading our "Iraq is worse than Vietnam" frame for free, like a parasite.

•  I have a theory...

  During Vietnam, journalists were working joes, telling a story.  It served the interests of the North Vietnamese to not target reporters because of their reputation for telling the truth regarding casualty numbers, etc.  Now "journalists" are international celebrities with "access" to the White House, bent on telling the Bush misinformation.  It better serves this enemy to target celebrities for the news value of killing them, and preventing them from spreading Bush propaganda.

  by blockbuster on Mon Aug 29, 2005 at 12:06:27 PM PDT

  •  I think the more likely theory

    is that there are more journalists in dangerous places in Iraq than there were in Vietnam.  Back then there were only three television networks.  Travel to Asia was expensive.

    Also, Vietnam had some semblence of front lines.  Iraq has a few blocks of one city called a green zone and the rest is basically a low intensity battlefield.  Getting to Iraq has been much easier.  And there are a lot more journalistic enterprises in the market now.  

    by ohwilleke on Mon Aug 29, 2005 at 12:17:03 PM PDT