This has now happened - Terry Lloyd one, of Britain's better-known reporters, seems to have been killed by US marines. According to the cameraman he was picked up by Iraqi ambulance, so its a fair bet they weren't embedded in the COW (thanks for the acronym, Tim)
http://www.itv.com/news/236548.html Ken Brown wrote: > > "Major Variola (ret)" wrote: > > > I'd think that the troops would explain this to the reporters tagging > > along as they confiscate all their transmitters before an op. I simply > > wouldn't trust the reporters, even though they're toast too if someone mis-IFFs. > > > Its a lot more serious than not shutting off your cell phone on a > > plane. Besides, I doubt the reporters have Iraq's FCC's clearance to > > use those frequencies there, until we extend > > the Little Powell's authority to that domain. :-) > > Kate Adie's broadcast (which I heard on the BBC) was in the context of a > discussion of "non-embedded" reporters. She claimed that all the best > news from Gulf War 2 had been from people who weren't bedding with the > military. The ones who are being threatened are the ones with the > temerity to travel independently rather than under military orders. > > There was also a comment by Robert Fisk to the effect that (I can't > remember the exact words): "There will be a war on. There is no law in a > war, you can do whatever you can get away with." > > In an article I found online Fisk gives his rules of thumb for spotring > compromised reporters: > > - Reporters who wear items of American or British military costume > helmets, camouflage jackets, weapons, etc. > > - Reporters who say "we" when they are referring to the US or British > military unit in which they are "embedded". > > - Those who use the words "collateral damage" instead of "dead > civilians". > > - Those who commence answering questions with the words: "Well, of > course, because of military security I can't divulge..." > > - Those who, reporting from the Iraqi side, insist on referring to the > Iraqi population as "his" (ie Saddam's) people. > > - Journalists in Baghdad who refer to "what the Americans describe as > Saddam Hussein's human rights abuses" rather than the plain and simple > torture we all know Saddam practices. > > - Journalists reporting from either side who use the god-awful and > creepy phrase "officials say" without naming, quite specifically, who > these often lying "officials" are.
