Reuters wil dat de Amerikaanse regering de veiligheidsmaatregelen overneemt die het Amerikaanse Ministerie van Defensie voorstelt in zijn onderzoeksrapport naar aanleiding van de dood van Reuters-verslaggever Mazen Dana. In het rapport wordt onder meer gesteld dat de communicatie tussen mediaorganisaties en het leger in Irak verbeterd moet worden.
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Reuters
Jan-René Dolfing
Telefoon: 020-5045921
E-mail: jan-rene.dolfing@reuters.com
Lammers van Toorenburg Benelux PR
Evelien van Dongen
Telefoon: 030-6565070
E-mail: evelien@lvtpr.nl
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REUTERS URGES SWIFT IMPLEMENTATION OF SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS IN U.S. MILITARY INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEATH OF MAZEN DANA
London and New York - 23 March 2004 - Reuters said the U.S. military's investigation into the shooting in Iraq of its award winning cameraman Mazen Dana by U.S. troops last August has vital safety conclusions that needed to be implemented immediately. Reuters Global Managing Editor, David Schlesinger, welcomed the thoroughness of the report and said its recommendations could make the battlefield safer for journalists doing their jobs.
Reuters does not agree with the findings of the report that Dana's death was "justified based on the information available...at the time", but welcomes the recommendations which include:
- Improved systemic communications between media organizations and the military in the theatre of war
- Weekly security briefings for media organizations by military in theatres of war
- Better communication and co-ordination between troops on the ground regarding the presence of non-embedded journalists in operational areas
- Better accreditation processes
- Review of the U.S. military's rules of engagement
- Investigate better methods of identifying journalists in the theatre of war
Schlesinger said, "We believe that the Reuters staff killed in Iraq, Taras Protsyuk and Mazen Dana, would both still be alive if the recommendation regarding improved communications between U.S. units in the field and the military's high command had been implemented before their deaths." He added, "In recent months the safety of journalists in Iraq has deteriorated significantly. To avoid further needless loss of life it is imperative that these recommendations be implemented immediately throughout all areas of conflict."
"The Pentagon must now accept that independent journalists will always operate in the field outside the embedding process and there need to be sensible and prudent measures to avoid them being killed. As such we endorse the report's recommendation for a review of the rules of engagement under which U.S. troops operate with the aim of reducing the risk of injury or death to non-combatants."
Schlesinger concluded: "The bottom line is that the military and media organizations must work together to improve journalist safety and ensure that it is approached on a programmatic, operational level that is relevant to all conflicts, not just the current one in Iraq."
To improve understanding and communications Reuters has offered to host and sponsor conferences of journalists and US military, in both Baghdad and Washington, to discuss and agree specific, practical ways of making conflict zones safer for journalists, including the use of new technologies. It has stressed the need for these discussions to begin as soon as possible.
Mazen Dana was the second Reuters cameraman to be killed in Iraq. The first, Taras Protsyuk, was killed on 8 April after a U.S. tank shell struck the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, the headquarters of much of the international press covering the war from Baghdad.
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