The most televised war in history has also seen the rise in the number of deaths among wartime journalists. Three reporters were killed during an American air raid and an artillery barrage in Baghdad on April 8. The targets include the Baghdad office of the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television and a hotel that is known to be the base of most international journalists.
Building debris surrounded by columns of smoke and shattered glass scattering on the ground. These are all too familiar scenes during a war. Yet this time, the victims of the blast are those very people who have been sending the pictures of wartime truth to the international audience.
Three journalists were killed and four injured during American bomb attacks on Tuesday, the worst one-day death toll of the press since the beginning of the war.
Tariq Ayoub, the killed reporter of al-Jazeera television, was said to be doing a live broadcast on the roof of the station's office when two US air-to-surface missiles hit the building. He died on the way to hospital.
Earlier in the day, on the other side of the Tigris River, a US tank fired on a Baghdad hotel that is known to be the base of most international journalists. It claimed the lives of two cameramen, Taras Protsyuk of Reuters and Jose Couso of Telecino Spanish television station.
The incidents shocked and saddened the world and particularly those who have been fighting alongside them. This was how Shui Junyi, CCTV's war correspondent, felt when he first learned the news.
Shui Junyi: I was very much shocked when the news reached me. Among the dead are familiar faces, as many of us have been together for the past two months. What struck me most was that this could pose a dangerous precedent for international journalists covering the war. It is unprecedented that the troops will target directly at a well-known target, the Palestinian hotel.
The American military officials said their forces had been fired on first from the Palestine hotel. But some reporters said they had not heard any shots coming from within or around the hotel.
A US State Department spokesman in Qatar also said the strike on al-Jazeera’s office was a grave mistake. However, the spokesman for al-Jazeera maintained that they had informed the Pentagon of the location of its Baghdad office.
Shui Junyi: As a journalist, all I can say is that it's after all not an army that is attacking you on scene, maybe snipers. For American tanks they could well back off, or caution the journalists to evacuate. But without prior warning, they simply opened fire. This is a bad beginning. It could well be that in future battles: the army won't care and shoot whatever target they choose. Then an easy way for the journalists to respond is to stay away from conflict. In that case the audience will have limited access to what's going on.
The journalists associations over the world have responded strongly to April 8 events.
While the blast raises the grave question as to who is to protect the journalists' lives during war, news is arriving that the Reuters has dispatched a new team of journalists to continue reporting in Baghdad.
In Mr. Shui's words, despite the high risks, covering a war is still the dream for most journalists because of the experiences it offers. But such devotion could only be made secure, and worthwhile, when the warring parties also value their lives and work.
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