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Television news organisations are gearing up to
deploy extra staff in Iraq to cover the January 30
elections, despite warnings that the danger to
journalists in the war-torn country will increase
around polling day.
The French government has already told its reporters
to stay out of Iraq because of security fears and
the Danish government has said there is an increased
likelihood of journalists becoming the target of
attacks and kidnappings during the election.
Since the war in Iraq began in March 2003, 46
journalists and media assistants have been killed in
the country, 31 of them in 2004, and four are still
missing.
But the BBC, ITV, Sky News and other UK-based media
organisations are sending big-name reporters and
extra media teams to Iraq ahead of the poll. Many
reporters will be embedded with the British army.
For the BBC, veteran conflict correspondent John
Simpson will be broadcasting from Baghdad with
Caroline Hawley and Paul Wood, with Ed Stourton
reporting for BBC radio.
In Basra, the BBC will remain part of UK military
embedded arrangements but will emphasise reporting
the lives of ordinary Iraqis as polling day
approaches.
Ben Brown will be in Basra reporting for BBC TV,
with Christian Fraser and Peter Grant reporting for
BBC radio. And Jim Muir will report from Kurdistan
with Quil Lawrence of WGBH radio.
A spokesman for the BBC said: "We'll endeavour to
talk to as many of the general public as we can, but
clearly this is dictated by the safety risks which
are paramount."
It will be the first big foreign news story faced by
the BBC since its coverage of the Asian tsunami came
under widespread criticism for being too slow off
the mark, a criticism rejected by the new director
of BBC news, Helen Boaden.
ITV News is finalising its plans but will send extra
staff to Iraq as part of a "number of teams". Some
reporters will be embedded with the British
military, while others will work from Baghdad and
elsewhere within the country.
ITV is planning to stage a poll of viewers on
January 28 about the impact of the war in Britain,
asking "was it worth it?" And ITV regional networks
will assess the effect of the conflict in their own
areas.
The rolling ITV News Channel is planning a themed
week of coverage for the election and on Thursday
Janury 27 will broadcast a Iraq special at 7pm with
Alastair Stewart anchoring the show from London.
Sky News said it had two teams led by high-profile
correspondents heading for Iraq, but stressed that
safety was a "huge issue" it was going to great
lengths to address.
Adrian Wells, the foreign editor of Sky News, said
it was considering flying its teams by helicopter to
and from Baghdad airport into the city to avoid
travelling on the notoriously dangerous road into
the capital's Green Zone, where the media stays.
"In Baghdad safety is a very serious issue. The road
to the airport is often the target of roadside bombs
and other concerns. We are employing safety advisers
and considering using armoured cars and possibly
helicopters to get in and out."
Sky does not keep a permanent team in Iraq, but uses
locally employed staff. But for the election it is
sending two teams, one to Baghdad headed by Tim
Marshall, the foreign affairs correspondent, and one
to Basra headed by the US correspondent, Ian Woods,
as part of Britain's broadcasting pool.
Mr Wells said safety fears were lessened in southern
Iraq as broadcasters are offered the protection of
the British army but he said that "slightly impacts
on your freedom of movement". According to Mr Wells,
the British military has assured all broadcasters
embedded with them in the south that they will be
given maximum exposure to Iraqi civilians.
News information service Reuters has a permanent
presence of 40 journalists in Iraq - covering its
text, TV and picture services - and it is increasing
the number by 15 for the elections - eight of those
for the text service, three for TV and four for
photos.
And Reuters is going to work with Associated Press
Television News in a pooling arrangement borne out
of safety fears. "We're working with APTN at polling
stations in remote areas to avoid everybody pooling
at places where it's dangerous," said a Reuters
spokeswoman.
More than 100 parties are contesting the elections
but major political groups and politicians are
boycotting them, including the popular Shia leader
Moqtada al-Sadr, claiming they are illegitimate
while the country is under foreign occupation.
And security is so bad in four of the country's
provinces - which account for more than half the
population - that both the US ground forces
commander and the US-installed prime minister, Ayad
Allawi, said it would be too dangerous for many
people to vote.
Many of the political parties standing at the
elections are so little known they are desperate to
win publicity.
Mr Allawi has admitted that officials from his
political alliance had paid Iraqi and Arab
journalists journalists $100 (£53) for turning up at
press conferences.
Some Iraqi journalists said other political parties
were paying reporters for attending similar events
and admitted taking the money.
As well as the 46 media dead, four media workers are
still missing, including ITV News' Frederic Nerac
and Isam Hadi Muhsin al-Shumary of German broadcast
service Suedostmedia, as well as the French
newspaper correspondent Florence Aubenas and her
translater Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, who went missing
on January 5.
Following Aubenas' disappearance, the French
president, Jacques Chirac, issued an unprecedented
plea to French journalists not to go to Iraq,
saying: "If there were fewer journalists there,
there would be fewer risks."
And the Danish government issued a specific warning
to reporters planning to cover the elections, saying
they could be targets for kidnapping or violence.
The Danish foreign ministry said last week: "It is
feared that terror attacks will increase around the
election date."
The ministry said it was aware of several Danish
news media planning to send reporters to Iraq for
the parliamentary elections, the first free vote in
its recent history.
"Reporters and others that can be connected to the
election run a great risk of being targets for
attacks or kidnapping," the ministry said. · To
contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk
or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication,
please mark clearly "for publication".
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