From Reuters, in the
Toronto Globe & Mail:
BAGHDAD -- More journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March, 2003, than during the 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, media rights group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.
Around here we all know Iraq is at least as catastrophic a blunder as Vietnam. But not so with the media, so far. Could this journalist death toll, surpassing Vietnam, be just the ticket to drag the media kicking and screaming into our "Iraq is even worse than Vietnam" frame?
The latest casualty was a Reuters Television soundman who was shot dead in Baghdad yesterday while a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers. That brings to 66 the number of journalists and their assistants who have been killed since the United States and its allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003.
The death toll in Iraq compares with a total of 63 journalists killed in Vietnam, which was over a period of 20 years from 1955 to 1975, the Paris-based organization that campaigns to protect journalists said on its website.
ACTION: forward this globe article to all media outlets you know. If there's one thing we can be sure of, its that the media will selfishly report on their own, spreading our "Iraq is worse than Vietnam" frame for free, like a parasite.