Danger, kidnap threats driving most Western journalists out of Iraq

PARIS, Sept 29 (AFP) - Dangerous working conditions and mounting threats of kidnappings are driving Western journalists to either leave Iraq or at least sharply scale back their operations, with coverage of the conflict now increasingly dominated by the Middle Eastern media.
"Before, like in Bosnia, we were always well received by the weakest side. It was clear that for them Western journalists were their best weapon. Here, we are not welcome," said Ramon Lobo, the Baghdad correspondent of the Spanish mass-circulation daily El Pais who returned home Tuesday.
"The Iraq conflict is the most difficult to cover in recent history," said the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, pointing to the frequent extremist attacks.
A survey by AFP bureaux around the world showed that most media organizations in the United States, Europe and Asia have decided to scale back their presence in Iraq because of the increased risks.
US correspondents are the most exposed because of their country's lead role in the war.
US journalists serving or recently returned from Iraq speak of being confined to their safe houses, and of relying increasingly on their Iraqi aides.
"I used to jump in a car and drive out to places like Fallujah and Baqubah to write about attacks, to get a sense of what was really happening on the ground," said Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post newspaper.
"No longer. The roads are too dangerous, the threat of kidnapping too great. We spend a lot of time sitting in our hotels and relying on the reporting of our very brave Iraqi local staff," he wrote in a web posting Tuesday.
Ivan Watson, a seasoned war correspondent with influential public radio programmer, National Public Radio, found himself equally hamstrung by the deteriorating security situation.
The 28-year-old dyed his blonde hair brown and grew a long "Taliban-style" beard in hopes of making himself less conspicuous, but rarely strayed out, and then only to pre-arranged interviews.
"I would only travel around Baghdad when absolutely necessary, and I would lie down in the back of the car so that no one could see me," said Watson, who completed a five-week tour of duty earlier this month.
On this last trip, Watson and his colleagues were forced to trade their cars in for different models after they got wind of a rumour that they were being followed in preparation for an ambush of some sort.
"I've never had to work under these kinds of conditions," said Watson, who has reported from such hot spots as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Chechnya.
"It's treacherous. There are just so many layers of violence and so many players ... the insurgents, the militias, the criminal element ..."
European reporters are equally at risk, whether they are sent by a country providing troops to the US-led coalition propping up the Baghdad interim government such as Britain and Italy, or by ones that opposed the war like France and Germany.
Discussing his news organization's presence in Baghdad, Adrian van Klaveren, the head of news-gathering at the BBC, said: "It is under review at the moment, in light of the worsening of the situation, and we are looking at reducing numbers, to some extent."
"Sky News is acutely aware of the extreme danger to television journalists who, with a crew, are very conspicuous, and to British nationals, so we have taken the decision at the moment not to risk the personal safety of our staff," said Stella Tooth, a senior publicist at Sky News.
In Italy, television networks and major newspapers have no plan to withdraw their correspondents, even though reporter Enzo Baldoni, a correspondent for the Milan weekly Diario, was murdered by his Iraqi captors in August after Rome rejected an ultimatum to withdraw its 3,000 troops from the US-led force in Iraq.
But Guido Santevecchi, the official in charge of the foreign department of the daily Corriere della Serra, conceded that his correspondents were reporting an "ever more difficult" situation.
France is meanwhile still awaiting the release of two of its journalists kidnapped last August 20. The private French television channel TF1 decided not to send reporters to Iraq as long as the two hostages, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, are not freed.
In Germany, the two public television channels, ARD and ZDF, have decided to leave Iraq.
In Japan, the daily Asahi Shimbun also cut back its staff in Baghdad and the Japanese government advised its nationals, including journalists, to leave.
The result is that Arabic-language media such as the Dubai-based television news channel Al-Arabiya or its Qatar-based rival Al-Jazeera Al-Arabiya are playing an increasingly dominant role and are often becoming one of the main sources of news on the conflict for media from other parts of the world.