The brutal slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is a grim reminder of the perils faced daily by journalists covering the war on terrorism, says a West Virginia University journalism professor who was a Vietnam War correspondent.
The risks are no less under U.S. governmental regulations restricting access to the war's fronts in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said George Esper, the Ogden Newspapers Visiting Professor in the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism.
"Covering wars is extremely dangerous, no matter where or how small the war is," Esper said. "There are so many ways reporters can die: in an ambush; by snipers; stepping on a land mine; by bandits; and the sad way Danny Pearl died, being kidnapped and executed by sources he trusted to take him to another source for an interview."
Pearl was kidnapped and killed in January in Pakistan while working on a story about links between Islamic extremists and Richard Reid, who allegedly tried to ignite explosives hidden in his shoe during an international flight. In another high-profile case, four journalists covering the war on terrorism were slain last November when gunmen ambushed their convoy in a narrow mountain pass in Afghanistan. To date, nine correspondents have died covering the war on terrorism, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
Esper was an Associated Press correspondent for more than 40 years and covered the Vietnam War from 1965-75. He has written "The Eyewitness History of the Vietnam War," a book that tells the human side of the war. He joined the School of Journalism faculty in January 2000 as the first person to hold the Shott Chair in Journalism.
More than 60 journalists died covering the Vietnam War, and some were executed, Esper said. The situation in Afghanistan, however, may be more dangerous for correspondents because there are fewer U.S. troops to accompany them, he added.
"It seems to me the bigger the war, the less risk because reporters are surrounded by more troops," he said.
On the coverage of the war, Esper said he is concerned with the limited access U.S. officials are granting reporters.
"We're still not getting a good flow of information on this war on terrorism," he said. "We're not getting enough access in Afghanistan, and the U.S. government is trying to control the flow through news briefings."
Esper said war correspondents today do not have the latitude they had during the Vietnam War, conceding there are fewer troops in Afghanistan.
"In Vietnam, if you had the courage and stamina, you could go almost anywhere you wanted and cover any battle you wanted," he said. "After that, we went in the opposite direction. In the Gulf War, we were restricted. Coverage was done by the pool system, with the military selecting the reporters and directing where the pools could go. It appears to be going the same way in Afghanistan.
"At some point, we have to resist this and continue to try to move out on our own," Esper added. "We have to try to resolve this diplomatically by putting pressure on the government to give us more access -- and not just through the pool system."
RSS