INSI Tells Journalists Not to Carry Guns in Iraq
Charles Johnson
Fri Feb 24, 2006 at 5:12 pm PST • Views: 261
The International News Safety Institute is urging journalists in Iraq not to carry guns, because it might involve the appearance of “taking sides” against the sort of people who kill journalists: Journalists ‘must resist call to carry arms’. (Hat tip: Allah.)
“Journalists increasingly are being targeted in conflict largely because they have lost, in the eyes of certain elements, their status as neutral observers. If they bear arms they reinforce this misguided belief by placing themselves on one side or another,” said the INSI director, Rodney Pinder.
“A journalist with a gun says ‘some people in the situation I’m covering are my enemies and I am prepared to kill them if necessary’. That is not the position of a neutral civilian.”
Frank says: