Memorial Honors 53 Journalists Who Died on the Job

Journalism has become one of the most dangerous occupations. ---BBB

Memorial Honors 53 Journalists Who Died on the Job
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Associated Press Writer

Published: May 03, 2004

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) The names of 20 journalists who lost their lives during the war in Iraq last year were among 53 added to a memorial Monday to reporters, photographers, editors and broadcasters who died covering the news.

Under a chilly drizzle, 1,475 other names were being read in a ceremony at the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial, a spiral glass tribute to journalists who have lost their lives since 1812. The memorial rises above the Potomac River next to the Freedom Forum's former Newseum, a journalism museum that closed in 2002 and is being rebuilt in downtown Washington.

"Covering a war from the battlefield is the single most challenging, dangerous and important assignment any journalist can undertake," NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said in prepared remarks.

The ceremony was attended by relatives, friends and colleagues of those who died.

The memorial is rededicated each year to mark World Press Freedom Day in early May. Since it opened in 1996, 249 names of journalists who died from 1996 to 2002 have been added. Fifty-three journalists died on assignment last year around the world, 20 of them involved in covering Iraq.

That group includes Atlantic Monthly editor-at-large and Washington Post columnist Michael Kelly. He died last April in a Humvee accident while traveling with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.

It also includes Brokaw's colleague, NBC News correspondent David Bloom, who died from a pulmonary embolism apparently caused by the hours he spent in a tank-recovery vehicle that had become known as the "Bloom mobile."

Associated Press Television News cameraman Nazeh Darwazeh was fatally shot last April 19 by Israeli troops in the West Bank.

This year's list also includes more than a dozen journalists who were believed to have been targeted for their coverage of government politics or crime in Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Russia.

Last year was the deadliest year for journalists covering conflicts since World War II.

The museum and the memorial are financed by the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to a free press.

These are the names added Monday to the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial. They are grouped by the countries where they died, with the location of their news organizations in parentheses, followed by the dates they died or were found dead.

BRAZIL

Luiz Antonio da Costa: Epoca (Brazil), July 23.

Raphael Lima Pereira: La Raca (Brazil), Sept. 7.

Nicanor Linhares Batista: Radio Vale do Jaguaribe (Brazil), June 30.

CAMBODIA

Chou Chetharith: Ta Prum (Cambodia), Oct. 18.

COLOMBIA

Luis Eduardo Alfonso Parada: Radio Meridiano-70 (Colombia), March 18.

Juan Carlos Benavides Arevalo: Manantial Estereo (Colombia), Aug. 22.

Guillermo Bravo Vega: Alpevision (Colombia), April 28.

Carlos Linares: Freelance, May 12.

Jaime Rengifo: Radio Olimpica (Colombia), April 29.

Oscar Salazar Jaramillo: Radio Sevilla (Colombia), March 10.

GERMANY

Jeremy Little: Freelance, died of wounds suffered in grenade attack in Iraq; July 6.

GUATEMALA

Hector Fernando Ramirez: Noti-7 (Guatemala), July 24.

INDIA

Vikram Singh Bisht: Asian News International (India), Jan. 9.

Parvaz Mohammad Sultan: News and Feature Alliance (India), Jan. 31.

INDONESIA

Ersa Siregar: Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (Indonesia), Dec. 29.

IRAN

Zahra Kazemi: Freelance, July 11.

IRAQ

Julio Anguita Parrado: El Mundo (Spain), April 7.

Tareq Ayyoub: Aljazeera (Qatar), April 8.

David Bloom: NBC News (United States), April 6.

Mariana Veronica Cabrera: America TV (Argentina); no date given.

Jose Couso: Telecinco (Spain); no date given.

Mazen Dana: Reuters Television (Great Britain), Aug. 17.

Mark Fineman: Los Angeles Times (United States), Sept. 23.

Kaveh Golestan: BBC (Great Britain), April 2.

Ahmed Karim: Kurdistan Television (Iraq), July 2.

Michael Kelly: The Atlantic Monthly (United States), April 3.

Christian Liebig: Focus (Germany), April 7.

Terry Lloyd: ITN (Great Britain), March 22.

Paul Moran: Australian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia), March 22.

Elizabeth Neuffer: The Boston Globe (United States), May 9.

Mario Podesta: America TV (Argentina), April 14.

Taras Protsyuk: Reuters (Great Britain), April 8.

Gaby Rado: ITN (Great Britain), found dead March 30.

Ahmed Shawkat: Bilah Ittijah (Iraq), Oct. 28.

Richard Wild: Freelance; no date given.

ISRAEL

Nazeh Darwazeh: Associated Press Television News (United States), April 19.

James Henry Miller: Freelance, May 2.

IVORY COAST

Jean Helene: Radio France Internationale (France), Oct. 21.

NEPAL Gyanendra Khadka: Rastriya Samachar Samiti (Nepal), Sept. 7.

PHILIPPINES

Bonifacio Gregorio: Dyaryo Banat (Philippines), July 8.

Apolinario Pobeda: DWTI-AM (Philippines), May 17.

Juan Porras Pala Jr.: DXGO Radio (Philippines), Sept. 6.

Rico Ramirez: DXSF Radio (Philippines), found dead Aug. 20.

Noel Villarante: DZJV Radio and Laguna Score (Philippines), Aug. 19.

RUSSIA

Galina Kovalskaya: Yezhenedelny Zhurnal (Russia), May 3.

Konstantin Kozar: RTR Television (Russia), May 3.

Yuliana Nakhodkina: RTR Television (Russia), May 3.

Aleksei Sidorov: Togliattinskoye Obozreniye (Russia), Oct. 9.

Ruslan Yamalov: Yezhenedelny Zhurnal (Russia), May 3.

SOMALIA

Abdullahi Madkeer: DMC Radio (Somalia), Jan. 24.

UNITED STATES

California

William Paul Skiba: KEYT-TV (United States), Nov. 20.

Mississippi

James V. Walker: The Clarion-Ledger (Miss.), April 9.

Virginia

Edward Murphy: The News Journal (Del.), March 14.