In Pursuit of Blood

The last click of an account of the day's perils on the other side of the earth and the final telephone call which sealed a harrowing end to the world which they knew, but don't anymore. This was the fate of Sunday Times journalist, Marie Colvin, and the accompanying French photographer, Remi Ochilik in war-torn Syria. With three journalists still trapped and now two broadcasting reporters from the English speaking Iranian news channel, Press TV, there seems to be no end to a fading line of ardent reporters who journey down into the most grisly states of genocide, absolute poverty and, of course, complete isolation from the outside world. Written in a heartfelt account by current editor of the Sunday Times, John Whiterow, who said she was "generous and compassionate" and others saying how, as a journalist, it "wasn't a job" but "the life that she lived". Even this tragic death though seems to be unaffected by the greater proportion of foolhardy writers that have potentially put this very institution under the distinct possibility of state influence, at its worse. A quotation strikes me as the most appropriate here, and it is that of old Churchill himself as he said "Never in the field of conflict was so much owed by so few." How true, if out of context, must this statement be for those people who I regard as 'proper' journalists and not those, like me, who sit and type away with no effect to the modern world whatsoever. It's not just Colvin's death I would consider here though, but also that of a number of journalists in my life so far who have suffered or paid the ultimate price in the name of freedom and unrivalled expression in their situation. There is one common theme which run through these stories and that is injustice in its consequences. It would seem, with Colvin's death now, that she will be another case where another life lost will not be repaid in the long term conclusion that they wished for; especially Anna Politkovskya. As Colvin wrote in her account of the Sri Lankan war from 2001, where she had lost sight in one of her eyes, "I did not care because it seemed that I would die anyway, so I just kept shouting." The shouting, from she and many others who have covered their last reports, has been silenced for good.

Firstly, and a tragic story which I remembered acutely, despite my young age, was that of the War Correspondent for ITN, Terry Lloyd. Lloyd, who worked for the organisation since 1983, was one of the first so-called 'friendly fire' casualties in the early days of the Iraq war in 2003. A seasoned journalist, known for his experiences in the Cambodian conflict, Kosovo during the Balkan Wars and, rather ironically, the Gulf War from the early 1990s where Saddam Hussein had first attacked Kuwait and the Kurds. His death alone was a great loss, and even more still when he, and his crew where his interpreter, Hussein Osman, also died, was a victim of bloodthirsty and aggressive allied troops from the US from his death in Basra. Indeed, it may perhaps seem all the more strange considering these people were unlikely to be armed and a passive crew to be suddenly propelled with bullets and, even to this day, one of the bodies remains uncounted for. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, after an inquiry into his killing in 2008, said "we have decided there is insufficient evidence for prosecution" (after both US and UK evidence was compiled together. Understandably, the NUJ and the ITV News editor were not pleased with the decision, even after Lloyd's death had been declared unlawful back in 2006. Interestingly, a journalist's death is not legally declared a War Crime and with 16 marines from the US who were officially linked to this incident, it seems the US Justice Department has escaped yet another embarrassing case where more rogue solders take shortcuts through justice. As if Guantanamo and Vietnam weren't enough...

Perhaps the most mysterious and enigmatic of all deaths was that of Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskya. Politkovskya worked for one of the last independent Russian newspapers that had no source of influence under either Putin, then and soon again to be President of Russia, or the Kremlin, Novaya Gazeta. Her most defining period as a journalist was when she ventured into the war-bitten region of Chechnya, which over the years since 1992-2009 (officially) had seen a tussle between the natives and Russian forces trying to reclaim and subdue the troublesome region. Crimes on both sides of Russians and the Chechen rebels prevailed and one of the worst crimes in this affair was the slaughter in that of a primary school in Belsan, of North Ossetia, and where 333 children, teachers and parents were killed, which due to a blundering operation by the FSB - Russian 'security service' - to save the group had ended in this mass murder. Politkovskya was trying to draw back a former leader of the country for more stable negotiations, but was badly poisoned by a drink possibly given by following FSB members and was never able to put into action her more diplomatic methods. The officer who led the operations for Russia was later awarded the role of general for his actions. Politkovskya was a firm critic of Putin's regime in Russia and one of her many published books was titled Putin's Russia, she observed "I dislike him for a matter-of-factness worse than felony, for his cynicism, for his racism, for his lies..." Though the Kremlin have claimed her journalism did in no way destabilise the government, much of her work was published in the outside world and became a real thorn in the side of this government. She paid the price. In September 2006, Politvoskya was shot by a man who was hidden in a baseball cap as she returned to her flat. Coincidentally it was Putin's birthday, 7th October 2006 and to date, no criminal convictions or resolution has yet been found. Today, Putin remains secure in his power (though now shaken) and Chechnya guided under the 'iron fist' of the son of a former dictator of the region, Ramzan Kydrov. On her job, Politkovskya accepted before her death "Risk is a usual part of my job."

The final, and perhaps slightly more uplifting case of these reporters, is that of the current Rome Correspondent for the BBC, Alan Johnston. His 16-week ordeal in the Gaza region of the Middle East in 2007 had been one of the most publicised and vocal campaigns by the BBC in what was a very sensitive operation, that at one point he appeared on a video showing him strapped to a suicide vest. In the final weeks of his three-year station in the city, being the only foreign journalist who was permanently based out there, he was forced to pull over his car that he was driving along the streets in broad daylight, and, in his words "I had reported many times on the kidnapping of foreigners in Gaza. Now, as I always feared it might, my turn had come." With the conflict between Israel and Palestine still on-going and many militant groups still persisting, Johnston knew he was in great danger of his kidnap. Whilst Johnston was under the constant lock and guard of various figures in his captivity and prison cells, all groups in the region had called for his release and the kidnapping was condemned as a "criminal act". Over the period, 200,000 signatures were signed on a petition for his release and a continuing negotiation to secure that release was progressing. Supporters from BBC staff to Iran became more frequent and lobbies by the UN and Human Rights Groups were present also. Finally, on 4th July that year (Independence for the Americans), Johnston was released unharmed, to which he added "Only then did I know that my kidnap was over, and that I was free." Taking a backseat for the next four years, Johnston worked in the newsroom for the BBC and was finally posted to the much safer, if politically damaged, Rome last November.

And there it is. If there can be any running these largely unfortunate stories, it is that punishment is few and far between and the only justice comes through that is what people really know rather than what groups, or even states, would like people to know. Although journalists themselves have the blood instinct to even enter countries in such a state and even those most cruel could say that they alone are to blame. But would we be better off in a world of ignorance and bliss? As Colvin, in her last ever report in Syria days before her death, she concluded with a feeling which many of the citizens must have, but in respect of these journalists also now "Why have we been abandoned by the world?"