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A Eulogy for Journalists
Dying to Tell the Story The Iraq War and the Media: A Tribute
International News Safety Institute
226 pages; $22
A Times of London story called the high number of journalists killed during the war in Iraq "the worst catalogue of deaths in so short a time in media history." That stark reality is underscored in the opening paragraphs of a book dedicated to them and their colleagues in the press corps who served as eyewitnesses to the conflict.
"One of the most damning indictments of the media profession is that reporters provide the ink and others provide the blood," wrote Chris Cramer in the foreword of "Dying to Tell the Story," published by the International News Safety Institute, a coalition of leading media organizations headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Cramer, managing director of CNN International, reminds readers that at least 16 members of the profession "provided both the ink and their blood" in Iraq during March, April and May 2003.
This is a book for insiders, written with passion and intimacy to eulogize fallen comrades and probe deeply into the media's role in covering global conflicts. There is a heavy emphasis on safety issues, part of a new movement within the industry to...