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Honoring martyrs who died for a free press
1.5.2006
By Pam Platt
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Hussam Sarsam's name
probably does not ring a bell.
But it should.
"Sarsam, a cameraman working with Kurdistan TV, a
station affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, was kidnapped and shot by suspected
insurgents.
"Sarsam was abducted on March 13 (2005) in front of
Mosul University. The following day his captors
returned him to the same location, where they killed
him in front of a number of pedestrians, several
Iraqi sources told CPJ.
"Colleagues and a family member said burn marks were
found on Sarsam's upper body, an indication of
possible torture. The family member told CPJ that
the cameraman's Kurdistan TV identification cards
and a media card issued by U.S.-backed coalition
forces were placed on his corpse by his killers.
"Sarsam had worked with Kurdistan TV since January
2004. CPJ sources said Sarsam had videotaped
confessions of insurgents held by Iraqi police in
Mosul that were aired on a program on Kurdistan TV
called 'Al-Irhab ala Haqiateh' ('Terrorism
Exposed'). His colleagues and a family member
suspected his murderers were motivated by his
filming of the detainee confessions."
Why do I tell you of Hussam Sarsam today?
Because he is one of the fallen in the ageless and
forever battle to shine a bit of light where it is
dark, to bring a bit of openness where there is
secrecy, to bring a bit of news and information to
people who live under the thumb of brutes and
bullies who wish them to have neither.
He was a journalist whose job cost him his life.
And I tell you about him this morning because May 3
is World Press Freedom Day, and if we're ever going
to give a thought to Hussam Sarsam and the usually
nameless and faceless fallen just like him, it's
now.
This Wednesday, the Freedom Forum will add 59 names
of journalists, who died doing their jobs around the
world last year, to its Journalists Memorial in
Arlington, Va. The memorial already lists the names
of 1,606 journalists who died in the line of duty
from 1812 to 2004. (If you're interested, you can
find names and bios of those 1,606 at
www.freedomforum.org.)
Of the 59 names to be added to the memorial this
week, 23 died while reporting the news in Iraq.
By the Freedom Forum's count, 74 journalists have
died while covering the war in Iraq since 2003,
surpassing the numbers of journalists who gave their
lives covering World War II -- 69 journalists -- and
the war in Vietnam and Cambodia -- 63.
The Freedom Forum notes that journalists are
increasingly targeted for kidnapping, torture and
murder in Iraq.
I'd like to introduce you to a few others who died
in Iraq while trying to report the news. Again, from
the CPJ
Web site:
Raeda Wazzan, Feb. 25, Mosul. "Wazzan, a news anchor
with the Iraqi state TV channel Al-Iraqiya, who was
kidnapped on Feb. 20, was found dead five days later
on a roadside in Mosul, where the journalist had
lived and worked, according to press reports citing
her husband. She had been shot in the head
repeatedly. Gunmen had also kidnapped Wazzan's
10-year-old son, but he was released days later.…
The AP reported that al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq
claimed responsibility for the attacks in Internet
postings, but those claims could not be
independently verified."
Khaled al-Attar, July 1, Mosul. "Al-Attar, an Iraqi
television producer for the state news channel Al-Iraqiya,
was killed in Mosul after being kidnapped earlier in
the day. Ghazi al-Faisal, a supervisor at the Al-Iraqiya
station in Mosul, said al-Attar helped produce a
number of programs, including a satirical look at
Iraqi government. Al-Attar also appeared on camera .
. . "
Steven Vincent, Aug. 3, Basra. "Vincent, who had
written for a number of U.S. publications and was
working on a book, was abducted along with his
interpreter, Noor al-Khal, on Aug. 2. They were
taken by armed men driving what initial reports
described variously as a government pickup truck or
police car. Vincent's body was riddled with bullets,
his hands were tied with plastic wire, and his neck
was wrapped in red cloth, The New York Times
reported. Al-Khal was seriously wounded and was
hospitalized. … Vincent was the first U.S.
journalist to be murdered in Iraq."
In addition to the rich and timely information found
on the Web sites of CPJ and Freedom Forum, I want to
tell you about an excellent piece that deals with
media reporting from Iraq.
It is written by Robert J. Callahan, who served as a
press attache in the American Embassy in Baghdad,
and appears in the April/May edition of AJR
(American Journalism Review). It can be found in
full at the magazine's Web site,
www.ajr.org .
Callahan's piece addresses criticisms that the news
media don't tell the "good" stories in Iraq, but
illuminates the great difficulties that greet source
and reporter while trying to cover what is happening
in that country. It also touches on the trust that
built and sustained relationships between sources
and reporters in that dangerous landscape.
"It took resourcefulness and much else -- courage,
persistence, discretion, skepticism, energy -- to
find anything resembling the full truth amidst the
dangers, confusion and chaos of Iraq. But most
journalists, despite the obstacles, tried to find
the truth. All things considered, they did a pretty
good job of it," Callahan wrote.
In an age when "media bashing" is an armchair
pastime, or a blogosphere career, World Press
Freedom Day is a poignant reminder of the real and
lethal bashing of journalists who brave dangers,
confusion and chaos to try to find the truth, and
share it.
No, Hussam Sarsam's name probably does not ring a
bell.
But it should.
Pam Platt is the public editor of The
Courier-Journal.
courier-journal com
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