Four New York Times journalists are now missing in Libya, the
newspaper confirmed Wednesday.
"We have talked with officials of the Libyan government in Tripoli, and they tell us they are attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of our journalists," said executive editor Bill Keller said in a statement. "We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that if our journalists were captured they would be released promptly and unharmed."
The Times said the missing reporting team—including two reporters (Anthony Shadid, Stephen Farrell) and two photographers (Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario)—were last in contact with the paper on Tuesday morning. The reporting team, according to a second-hand report, may have been detained by Libyan forces near Ajdabiya.
The Gadhafi regime has been engaged in a
two-pronged media strategy in recent weeks. One the hand, government officials are closely monitoring and feeding misinformation to journalists invited to Tripoli; and on the other hand, they are detaining and attacking others who stray from the government-approved spots.
Three BBC reporters were recently beaten trying to cover the Libyan government's siege of Zawiya, while Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was captured by Gadhafi's forces on the outskirts of the western city 30 miles from Tripoli. Guardian editor-in-chief
Alan Rusbridger tweeted Wednesday that Abdul-Ahad has now been freed and is out of Libya.
Journalists covering recent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa have faced harsh attacks at the hands of authoritarian governments and their supporters—whether
Egypt,
Yemen, or
Bahrain. Just today, Bahrain's government warned journalists about covering
its brutal crackdown on protesters and put at least one reporter under detention.
Michael Calderone @
'Yahoo'
These graphics are affectionate pastiches of the Virgin Records logo (circa the mid seventies) designed by Roger Dean and of Nick Drake's classic 1970 album 'Bryter Layter' for the cover of 'Akuma no Uta'.
