Why are journalists becoming the targets in conflict zones? More and more, “they relate us back to citizens of the countries with which they are at war,” CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier said as she accepted the 2007 Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award tonight.
Dozier, who was wounded in Iraq last year, said: “Some blame the military embed program. I place more blame probably on the Internet. Simply put, we are not as indispensible as we once were, to reach an international audience. Whoever ‘they’ happen to be who want to get the story out, they don’t come to us anymore, they go to the web.”
But, Dozier added, “we have to keep trying to keep presenting that objective story. We have to try to find the truth for our audience back home and for our leaders back home. So we can tell them what’s going wrong and what’s going right. So they can make the kind of choices they need to make to fix things.”
Watch her full speech, or click continued to read the text…
“Since 9/11 our job has changed. We used to be able to cross enemy lines at will and tell both sides of the story. And that made us a bit fearless, and we learned some hard lessons about how it’s changed since then. I carry that with me every day now.
Now many of those who once welcomed the chance to talk to the international press corps, instead seem to see us as symbols to be targeted. They relate us back to citizens of the countries with which they are at war.
Some blame the military embed program. I place more blame probably on the Internet. Simply put, we are not as indispensible as we once were, to reach an international audience. Whoever “they” happen to be who want to get the story out, they don’t come to us anymore, they go to the web.
So I’ve had a few executives ask me, ‘is it worth the risk, to keep doing this?’
Well, I think we don’t have a choice. We still have to go out there on the ground, despite the security limitations, despite the fact it seems like our view is getting smaller and smaller every time I went back to Iraq, it’s getting harder and harder to go out. But we have to keep trying to keep presenting that objective story. We have to try to find the truth for our audience back home and for our leaders back home. So we can tell them what’s going wrong and what’s going right. So they can make the kind of choices they need to make to fix things.
Right now I want to salute all of you out there still doing the job, to all of you in Iraq, the Iraqis and the international corps, I hope to join you — not right away — but sometime soon. Thank you.”