Reporters flood war-torn countries to do the job that few others are brave enough to do. They cross borders, aware of the risk to their lives, in a selfless attempt to get the story so that the international community may read about the conflict over morning coffee.
On Wednesday, the crack of sniper fire and the hum of battle absorbed the sound of a rocket-propelled grenade fired on a Tripoli Street in Misrata, Libya. When it struck the ground, two photojournalists died.
Oscar-nominated war photographer Tim Hetherington and New York-based photographer Chris Hondros were the first Western journalists to sacrifice their lives pursuing a story in Libya.
Reporters in unstable areas around the world take on the role of medium between chaos and civilization; they are often the only source of unbiased information from the region when oppressive leaders shut down social media and news organizations.
I do not question the importance of journalistic work. The story needs to be recorded. Voices need to be heard. Violence needs to be seen.
However, the price of information should never be paid with a life.
Readers and viewers are used to seeing news about the deaths of journalists light up the headlines. However, rather than becoming enraged, the public becomes apathetic as the death tally creeps upward. Many believe that it is simply a fact of war that journalists must die, but it is simply an avoidable outrage.
Recently, four New York Times journalists were taken hostage and held in Libya. They were beaten and groped. After their release, they authored an article about their capture and noted that no article was worth dying for.
"We were too blind to admit that," they wrote.
Journalists, who work in these countries independently of their nation's governments, must be afforded protection. It is irrational that reporters are subjected to airstrikes and gunfire, and face arrest, beatings, and detention by pro-Qaddafi forces, yet are not provided with simple protective equipment.
Currently, they are armed only with questions and cameras. They need to be provided the flak jackets, helmets, and bulletproof vests that Libyan border customs restricts.
Neither of the journalists killed were wearing protective items.
In Misrata, the struggling Libyan medical system failed the injured journalists. They were rushed to a triage tent where doctors, equipped only with running water, powdered soap, and a generator, were unable to help them.
Hetherington died of trauma and blood loss. Hondros died after a piece of shrapnel passed through his brain from front to back.
But they got the photos.
Email: madeleine.burns@ubspectrum.com
