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Journalists are neither moving targets, nor side losses of wars

27 April 2011 / 23:04:21  GRReporter
5604 reads

Anastasia Balezdrova 

The documentary "Shooting vs shooting" has been released on the Greek screens already for a month. Its authors present the tragic fate of journalists, cameramen and photographers who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003 until today.

The film presents how important the presence of journalists on the battlefield is, so that the consequences become known worldwide and alarms that not punishing the responsible for the assassination is the rule rather than an exception. Presented are the views of more than 60 journalists, media activists, writers, intellectuals and family members of the people who were turned into targets. The film was shot in Iraq, UK, USA, Spain, Ukraine, Qatar, Italy, Belgium and Greece.

A few days ago the film was rated in the top three of the international festival organised by the Arab network Al Jazeera, which involved 284 films from 92 countries.

GRReporter met with the author of "Shooting vs shooting" and a member of the executive committee of the International Federation of Journalists Nikos Megrelis.

What made you make this film?

I decided to make the film for two reasons. The first is the silence that comes after the murder of a colleague of ours when trying to transmit the news and picture to us. And here lies a paradox. While this man is alive and transmits the news, all people comment on his opinion, criticize it or agree with it, he forms the public opinion about what is happening on the battlefield. So, he is a part of everyone's life.

But a hush falls when he dies at work. We would think about him for a day at best. Then his name just adds to the sinister list of those killed on the battlefield at the end of each year.

And there is something wrong in this silence. In most cases of journalists who lost their lives the people who participated in their murder never sit in the dock. A criminal investigation has never been conducted. This is wrong and shameful for our culture, but also for the human rights.

The second reason was that as a board member of the International Federation of Journalists I took part in the negotiations and the adoption of the first ever UN resolution on protection of journalists in places of hostilities. It was voted in December 2006 by unanimous decision of the Security Council. But until the public opinion is not involved these decisions would smoothly and certainly get close to the trash.

So, I decided that a film on this subject could unite the public opinion, because this problem affects not only a group of people, but our right to information.

If there are no people to inform us we would not know the things. If we do not know, we can not respond. And then there would be silence again. To break it we would have to protect those people who are there, and transmit news and pictures from a war. Not what the tools of propaganda want to show us. They aim to show us what good weapons they use, what are the available forces of each country, how many airplanes fly and how many missiles are fired. This is the one and possibly the more spectacular side of the war. The true side, however, is its effects on the lives of ordinary people. The pain, the destroyed homes, the shattered everyday life and all of its twist. And the journalists should be at the place of the events in order this information to get to us, who are not affected by the war thankfully.

How much are the journalists prepared for what is happening on the battlefield?

The International News Safety Institute in London, which collaborates with military veterans who organize a training camp for media activists, undertakes various initiatives in this direction. A person could go there for training if sent by the media in which the person works. Unfortunately, in most cases, the journalists who go to the hot spots go there without any training.

I believe that such training is essential. And journalists should especially remember that their lives are worth much more than a frame or a story. Therefore, the aim of the film is to make the public opinion aware and force the rulers not to perceive journalists as moving targets or collateral losses. The film is trying to alter the mentality and attitude towards journalists.
 
We had examples in Libya recently. Two photographers and an operator of Al Jazeera were killed, four journalists from the USA were kidnapped for a week and nobody knew where they were until we learned that they had been captured by the forces of Moamar Gaddafi.

My goal was the film to show that journalists should not be taken as a part of the war, which everyone uses as they like. There were a lot of examples of exploitation of journalists in Iraq. The Americans, through their propaganda tool, killed a large number of journalists and none of the participants in the killings were punished. But the members Al Qaeda or other Islamic organisations also captured journalists and executed some of them. One of the stories in the film is that of the Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who was beheaded by an affiliate of Al Qaeda.

The story of Giuliana Sgrena  is an example of a journalist in a "cross" fire. The correspondent of the Italian newspaper Manifesto was kidnapped by one such organisation. She remained in captivity for a month and did not know whether she would not lose her live at any time. She was freed by the Italian military intelligence and the car in which she traveled reached a checkpoint of the U.S. Army on the road to Baghdad and the soldiers fired at it. The secret agent, who saved her from captivity, saved her life a second time, covering her with his body. So, she was only wounded, but he died. This story is indicative of the fact that when a journalist is moving alone he or she comes under fire from both sides.

Many of the journalists opt to be embedded to any of the participants in the military operations that protect them. But how much impartial is the information of a journalist who works in this way?

This is a serious discussion. When someone is embedded a contract is signed which describes exactly what could be and could not be transmitted. The things not allowed to be transmitted include the area of ​​movement of the military detachment, which is logical. The journalist is not allowed to write anything about the weapons available to the detachment, which could also be defined as logical. But the contract also includes a number of other bans, which seriously hamper the journalistic work. It forbids the journalist to broadcast what really happens during a battle or in a march to the desert if the events are not in favour of the force that protects the journalist. It is forbidden, for example, to provide information that the soldiers were seized with panic attack or one of them was wounded or killed. The prohibition list is quite long.

However, to be embedded is a small part of the whole puzzle of war. Because there is no other way to track military operations, this is a valuable way to be present on the battlefield. Moreover, the journalist has witnessed what has happened when the battle or the war ends. Then, he or she could tell about it or write about it. There is one such example in the film. This is the story of Kevin Sites who was embedded to the U.S. Army. One day the soldiers of the squad entered a mosque where they found wounded mudzhahedini without weapons, because another squad had taken them a little earlier. However, a soldier started shooting at them and executed them one by one. Kevin Sites filmed the shooting with his camera. When he transmitted the information for the first time he censored himself. But then he regretted it and later showed the events as they happened. So, it matters to be embedded. On the other hand, if you take information only from embedded journalists, then you have the wrong picture of the war. 

  
To what extent is the risk to which journalists are subjected when they go to such places justified?  

There is no logical explanation of journalism. It is a passion, and no passion is justified. And what is more important, no passion could justify the loss of life. However, when you are there and present what is really happening you feel a great desire to present it as better as possible. In this sense, I respect very much the people who follow their passions and are romantic, rather than doing everything for money. Ultimately, the world is more beautiful and better because of the romantics, not the cynics.

The film contains interviews with the families of killed journalists. How did you convince them to tell their stories?

I met many relatives of those who perished and I would divide them into three groups. Some were those who wanted to completely "close the book". They could not live through again the events associated with the loss of their close that overturned their whole life.  

The second group includes very distant people because they did not want to experience again what have caused them so much pain. On the other hand, they wanted to know who is the man they would talk to, because not a few are those who want to benefit from these tragedies. I had to travel a lot to convince the people to know me, to talk with them without a camera, to share our views on many topics, not just the specific one, to make them understand that I would present their story in a dignified manner and with respect to the memory of the fallen. Later, when they saw the outcome, the relatives were satisfied that they had decided to talk.

There is a third group of relatives who continue to fight for justice and do not give up in any way. This is the case with the operator Jose Couso, who died on April 8, 2003 during the shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. His mother and two brothers are fighting, although they often make one step forward and then two steps back. The struggle for justice is very difficult, because one is faced with a whole mechanism and the small print letters in international conventions and treaties which are provided to protect those who take lives, not to protect the right to life.

Tags: MediaDocumentaryMilitary operationsKilled journalists
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