Journalists to remain in Misrata despite Tim Hetherington`s death
Baku, April 21 (AZERTAC). Journalists from the BBC, Channel 4 News and other news organisations are to remain in Libya`s rebel-held city of Misrata, despite an assault by pro-Gaddafi forces that led to deaths of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros on Wednesday.
The Mediterranean port city has seen some of the fiercest fighting since the Arab spring uprising began in December, with rebel fighters holding out against troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for seven weeks.
Hetherington and Hondros died and two other photographers were wounded when they came under fire while covering the fighting on Wednesday, among at least 15 civilians killed and more than 100 injured in Misrata in the last 24 hours.
Guy Martin, the British photographer who was critically injured in the same incident, was in a stable condition on Thursday. Martin, 28, was conscious and talking after undergoing eight hours of emergency surgery to repair shrapnel wounds to his abdomen overnight, his photo agency Panos told MediaGuardian.co.uk.
Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to Hetherington and Hondros. Jon Williams, the BBC`s world news editor, grew up in the same coastal town as Hetherington, the Merseyside resort of Southport. He described him as a photographer "in the finest tradition of war reporting".
"What this shows is the importance of being there to document all of this - and, so far, the media has focused on Misrata in a way that has forced the international community to respond. That`s what Tim and others were doing in Misrata," Williams said.
The port city is bordered in the north by the Mediterranean sea and has been besieged by government forces on all other sides. Like most other journalists in Misrata, Hetherington and Hondros had reached the city by sea from Benghazi.
"The ferocity of the assault and the fact that it`s a city under siege inject even more complexity into what`s been the most trying part of events in the Middle East so far," Williams said.
"The issue about Misrata is that there`s limited ways out. We had a tough time in Alexandria and in Suez [during the Egyptian revolution], and in Syria where people have been arrested. But [Misrata] is a siege where you`re surrounded on three sides by Gaddafi`s forces and then by the sea. There`s only a limited opportunity to achieve [getting out of Misrata] and that`s added to the complications."
Jim Gray, the long-serving Channel 4 News editor, sent Hetherington on his first assignment as a cameraman in 2003. Hetherington was a "towering icon" of his industry, a man "right at the top of his game" who had a compassionate "humanitarian concern", Gray said.
"In Misrata, for weeks part of the story has been that we don`t know what the story is - we`ve got dark suspicions, but we don`t really know. It`s only in the last week, with the arrival of Tim and other journalists, that there`s a shape to the story emerging. You only find that out when people go and find out," he added.
"Misrata does bare some similarities to previous conflicts, but there`s not many where you get such vicious, venomous fighting in an urban area, a location where there isn`t a third-party like the UN or a western presence - that`s non-existent here. It`s forces loyal to the government and forces loyal to the rebels fighting in a built-up area - that`s really really dangerous."
James Hider, the Times`s experienced war correspondent, was in Misrata when Hetherington and Hondros were killed and filed an eyewitness account that was the paper`s splash on Thursday. Richard Beeston, the Times`s foreign editor, said on Thursday that Hider`s own judgment is paramount to his safety.
"We stay in regular contact with James before, during and after he goes out reporting," he added. "He always works with other reporters and uses the services of a local fixer to guide him around Misrata. Ultimately, we have to rely on his judgment about risk assessment.
"Obviously he is free to pull out whenever he feels the situation has become too dangerous or he is exhausted. I have a long queue of reporters volunteering to take his place."
Four journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Libya since March. The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented at least 49 detentions, three serious injuries, and 11 assaults on the media since the Libyan uprising began in January. About 10 journalists are thought to have died covering the Arab spring uprising this year.
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