Reporting Iraq

Nigel Baker

Iraq has this year redefined the traditional role of the freelance TV cameraman as the country outside Baghdad hotels became a “no go” area for international war correspondents.

Before “Shock and Awe”, life was perilous enough for the handful of Iraqi journalists who helped report the country for the international media. Under Saddam, a discreet group of Iraqis, who were allowed to work in Baghdad for the western media, gradually pushed the boundaries of what we could report, while being ever fearful of the lethal consequences if they overstepped the mark with the former regime.

But it became clear in early 2003, before the allied bombing began, that the biggest challenge would be covering the entirety of Iraq if the country descended into lawlessness.

Nature, it seems, however, abhors a news coverage vacuum. And a new breed of dedicated cameramen has taken up the challenge. They are driven by the courage, enterprise and loyalty which marks out local journalists working for agencies in any conflict zone.

They succeed because they blend into a society which has become off limits for foreign media. But they are daily squeezed in a vice of suspicion. Their presence is unwelcome with allied troops. Their own people are wary of western media.

But many of the key images of 2004 are theirs. We should remember their dedication as we celebrate the work of TV freelances across the world.

Nigel Baker is Managing Director of APTN

The Rory Peck Awards Brochure 2004

• Programme
• Why Freelancers Matter
• A Year of Growth...
• ...and Freelance Achievement
• From Sony
• The Overseas Project
• Reporting Iraq
• The Freelance World
  An Iraqi in Iraq
  An American in Iraq
  In Pakistan
  In Haiti
  In Zimbabwe
• Report on Safety Training Course
• Trauma can get stuck in the system
• For Roddy - and Helping Others

The Rory Peck Awards

• Winners
• Finalists

  
  

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