Four New York Times staffers go missing in Libya

A Libyan rebel, member of the Warfala tribe parades on a horse in Benghazi on March 11, 2011. Reporting amid the recent chaos in the Middle East has proved incredibly hazardous for journalists.

/ PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images

Covering the various uprisings in the Middle East has proven incredibly hazardous for the journalism profession, no more so than in Libya.

Just last week, an Al Jazeera cameraman was shot and killed covering the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.

On Wednesday, an award-rich team of reporters and photographers from the New York Times went missing, the paper announced.

Complete coverage: Anger in the Arab World
Seif Qaddafi: Conflict over in 48 hours

In a report on the newspaper's Media Decoder blog, it states:

"Editors at the paper said they were last in contact with the journalists on Tuesday morning New York time. The paper said it had received second-hand reports that members of its reporting team on the ground in the port city of Ajdabiya had been swept up by Libyan government forces."

The Times' executive editor Bill Keller said the Libyan government has assured the paper that they will find and return the journalists as soon as possible, if they were indeed captured by government forces.

The missing journalists are all combat-reporting veterans. They are: reporter Anthony Shadid, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 and 2010 for his Iraq war coverage; reporter and videographer Stephen Farrell, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 and later freed by British commandos; photographer Tyler Hicks, who has worked extensively in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bosnia, to name a few; and photographer Lynsey Addario, who has also covered most of the world's large conflicts in the last decade.

Even with their extensive experience, it should come as little shock that even they were caught up in the tied of difficulty and violence against journalists in the Middle East recently. The Committee to Protect Journalists says that it has documented "more than 300 attacks on journalists covering political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa."

Four journalists have been killed in the region recently, dozens detained and assaulted, and widespread censorship has imposed.

In response to news of the missing Times reporters, the White House urged the governments in the Middle East to protect journalists from harassment or violence. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday: "We strongly urge the governments in the entire region, in this case those in Libya to protect journalists, allow them to do their work. Do not harass or in any way detain or use violence against journalists."

[GTR5]

And the problem is?

[pragmatist1]

They knew or should have known what the risks were going into such a hot zone. Sorry, but if it doesn't involve family or country, putting one's life in jeopardy is foolish. The employer should have pulled them, but was more concerned about selling copy than the safety and lives of their staff.

[Rynedrop]

Nice to see their are still people in the world who are willing to give their life and everything for others! God Bless the reports!

[freeamerica31]

What did they give except a news report. Tell me how they have changed a thing. If you want to thank anyone, thank an American Military Member both active and past. Because of the Military Members those reporters can go to places they shouldn't be and report on anything they want and then if the military is ordered they end up risking their lives to get them out of there. Next time pls stay home. Last time I looked it's a small world and you can write stories/opinions from your desk based on the new electronic age.

[bobnjersey]

[The real heroes are our military. I'm sorry they are missing but, they are hardly heroes.]
---------------------------------------
where was the mention of heroes ... and since when is our military involved in libya?

how about the many foreign service officers ... state dept staff ... and the embedded news staff that put themselves into harms way regularly ... all without any armor or weapons to defend themselves?

what do you suppose your issue is w/ the military ... is it all about guns and bullets ... tanks, planes, and ships?

[freeamerica31]

These "Reporters" are idiots. They continue to go places where they are not assured of protection and continue to question sides of who's at fault and their bosses wonder why they go missing or assaulted. When will Americans learn to fix the problems at home, before going overseas to look at other problems knowing little to nothing about the history of the country beforehand. I hope they find them safe but I feel their fate is at their own hands.

[nor-one]

They should be like the Fox reporters !! Just stay in your hotel room and report back to beck and company, they'll do the rest...

[mary-miami]

If it weren't for journalists, none of us would know what is happening in our world. They are brave people who, very often do a thankless job. The real "idiots" are people like you who criticize our reporters instead of condemning the tyranny in these foreign places where no freedom exists.