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Media body to shadow army
26/03/2003 11:47 - (SA)
Tokyo - Reporters San Frontieres (RSF), the organisation that defends press freedom globally, has obtained Pentagon permission for one of its members to be "embedded" with an American unit in Iraq to observe the conditions under which journalists are working.
"It's the first time that an army at war has allowed a non-governmental organisation to monitor its treatment (of journalists) during military operations," RSF secretary general, Robert Menard, said in announcing the decision at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
"It's a bold and courageous thing for the American administration to do and shows that it wants to be transparent, since it knows very well that RSF is an organisation which does not hesitate to criticise when it's necessary."
Menard said that his organisation was "somewhat astonished" that the US authorities had agreed and given RSF a choice of two battalions to accompany; one based in Texas or another based in Germany.
He said that there are more than 600 journalists "embedded" in American or British units involved in the conflict who had been obliged to sign a 50-point declaration of terms as a condition of acceptance. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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