Journalists: Surge or No Surge Baghdad Still too Dangerous

WA****NGTON - Nearly 90 percent of U.S. journalists in Iraq say much of
Baghdad is still too dangerous to visit, despite a recent drop in
violence attributed to the build-up of U.S. forces, a poll released on
Wednesday said.

The survey by the Wa****ngton-based Pew Research Center showed that many
U.S. journalists believe coverage has painted too rosy a picture of the
conflict.

A separate Pew poll released on Tuesday showed that 48 percent of
Americans believe the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going very or
fairly well, up from 34 percent in June, amid signs of declining Iraqi
civilian casualties and progress against Islamist militants such as al
Qaeda in Iraq.

But most journalists said they believe violence and the threat of
violence have increased during their tenures.

Much of the danger for journalists is faced by local Iraqis, who often
do most of the re****ting outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green
Zone, the data showed.

Fifty-eight percent of U.S. news organizations have had local Iraqi
staff killed or kidnapped within the past year, the survey said. About
two-thirds of news outlets said local staff face physical or verbal
threats at least several times a month.

"Above all, the journalists - most of them veteran war correspondents -
describe conditions in Iraq as the most perilous they have ever
encountered, and this above everything else is influencing the
re****ting," the authors said in a re****t that accompanied the data.

At least 122 journalists and 41 media sup****t staff have been killed in
Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the New-York based Committee
to Protect Journalists says. About 85 percent of those killed were
Iraqis.

Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism surveyed 111 journalists who
have worked in Iraq for 29 news organizations, all but one of them
U.S.-based. The poll was conducted Sept. 28 through Nov. 7, Pew said.

HIGH MARKS FOR RE****TING EFFORT

Pew had tried to reach a total of 181 journalists, which it believes are
nearly all those who have covered Iraq for American news organizations.

The journalists gave high marks to the overall re****ting effort, with 74
percent rating news-gathering as good or excellent. The highest marks
went to coverage of U.S. troops and the war against insurgents.

Despite claims by U.S. officials that re****ting from Iraq is negatively
biased, 70 percent of those surveyed believe overall coverage is
accurate, while 15 percent say the coverage makes the situation look
better than it is.

Forty-four percent of journalists believe re****ting has treated the Bush
administration fairly, while 43 percent said coverage has been too easy
on U.S. officials.

But the data also showed that 67 percent are at least somewhat concerned
that the accuracy and completeness of their re****ts have suffered
because of ongoing security problems that limit their access to the
country.

President George W. Bush's so-called surge strategy to stabilize
Baghdad and its environs has been credited with a fall-off in attacks
on Iraqi civilians and U.S. coalition forces over the past two months.

But 87 percent of respondents said at least half of Baghdad remains too
dangerous for a Western journalist to visit, with the capital's 
****'ite-dominated
Sadr City enclave rated the most dangerous spot in Iraq. Eighteen
percent said the entire city of Baghdad is too dangerous for travel.

Most U.S. journalists have traveled to danger spots such as Sadr City,
either under the protection of private security guards or the U.S.
military.

"Eight in 10 journalists believe conditions have deteriorated for
re****ters since their own first posting in the country," the survey's
authors said.

Under-re****ted subjects of the war include the plight of Iraqi
civilians, ****'ite-on-****'ite violence in southern Iraq and general
events occurring outside Baghdad, journalists said.

(Editing by Alister Bull and David Alexander)

(c) Reuters 2007

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