Reporting from Iraq is a Deadly Job

 

By Zlatica Hoke
Reporting from Iraq has proven to be a deadly job: more than 40 reporters have been killed in the 19 months since the start of the war. The security situation has grown so perilous¹ in recent months that several areas of the country are virtually inaccessible² to western reporters.
Wall Street Journal Reporter Farnaz Fassihi sparked a debate in the United States when her private e-mail leaked to the press last month. She wrote what only her friends were supposed to read: "I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in anything but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling."
Dexter Filkins published a similar report in the New York Times, describing Iraq as a "shrinking country" for journalists: "Village by village, block by block, the vast and challenging land that we entered in March 2003 has shriveled into a medieval city-state, a grim and edgy³ place where the only question is how much more territory we will lose tomorrow," writes Mr. Filkins.
Joel Campagna of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international press-freedom organization based in New York City, says car bombings, mines, stray bullets and increasingly frequent kidnapping have limited the freedom of movement in Iraq.
"It is simply too dangerous for reporters to go out and cover news events the way they did, for example, last year. When there was an explosion or a bombing, instinctively⁴ journalists would go and try to head to the scene of a news event. Nowadays that's not happening," says Mr. Campagna. "When journalists do go out it is with considerable calculation about their security, about how safe it is." Mr. Campagna says many free-lance reporters have left the country, fearing for their safety and news media have scaled back the number of correspondents they send to Iraq.
Marjorie Miller⁵, foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times, says her paper currently has four reporters in Iraq, three in Baghdad and one embedded⁶ with the US army. She says the kidnapping of two Italian aid workers and American and British contractors⁷ -- from their homes -- prompted the paper to move its journalists from a private house to a guarded hotel in central Baghdad. She adds the lack of security has also affected⁸ how reporters do their work.
"They are definitely more confined than they were many months ago. For example, we used to be able to routinely drive to Najaf, which gave you a view on the ground as well as the view in Najaf," says Ms Miller. "Recently, we have to fly in by helicopter, and so you can't get as clear a sense of what's going on between Baghdad and Najaf and then you pretty much have to go in and stay a short time and get out."
The foreign editor of The Los Angeles Times says it takes more time and more people to get in-depth stories. Iraqi stringers are employed more often to contribute reports from the field. "There are areas where they can go that we don't feel comfortable going. They go in armed with a lot of questions and the context of the story that we are writing and they do some of the on-the-ground reporting for us. And then we wait for the right opportunity to go somewhere," adds Ms Miler.
However, Iraqi reporters are not much safer, notes Joel Campagna of the Committee to Protect Journalists: "Statistically⁹, what we are seeing is increasing risk for Iraqi employees of media organizations, and if we look at the number of journalists killed in 2003, we saw 13 journalists were killed in action in 2003. The majority of those were western journalists, foreign correspondents working for international news organizations. In 2004, 20 journalists have been killed, and of that 16 have been Iraqis." Mr. Campagna says news coverage¹⁰ from Iraq has become so expensive that only major media organizations can afford to send reporters there. When they venture out of Baghdad, it is usually under the protection of the US army. Some observers say this makes coverage of Iraq incomplete.
Independent reporter Lorna Tychostup, who spent about 12 weeks in Iraq over the past year says: "If you don't live out with the people, if you are not eating their food, if you are not traveling in their neighborhoods, if you are not breathing the same air, how are you going to know what the truth is of the Iraqi experience?"
In November last year, Time Magazine and ABC News joined forces to survey people all over Iraq on how their lives had changed since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Observers say that scope of reporting is almost impossible now.
For focus, I'm Zlatica Hoke

注释：
perilous 危险的
inaccessible 达不到的，难以接近的
Wall Street Journal 华尔街日报
leak 泄漏
grocery 杂货店
armored 装甲的
linger 逗留
checkpoint 检查站
medieval 中世纪的
grim 严酷的
edgy 紧张的
stray 偶遇的
instinctively 本能地
free-lance 自由投稿的
embed 深入
routinely 例行公事地
Najaf 纳贾夫（伊拉克中南部城市）
helicopter 直升飞机
in-depth 深入的

1 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

2 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。

3 edgy   

adj.不安的；易怒的

参考例句：

• She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果，所以最近有些焦躁不安。
• He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安，还在一根接一根地抽着烟。

4 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

6 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

7 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。