All Blog Posts from Public Eye

In Sept. 2005, Randall Joyce, then-CBS News acting Baghdad bureau chief, told me that one of the hurdles in covering "good news" stories from Iraq was that the presence of Western news organizations can draw the unwanted attention of insurgents.

"We run into situations where we're willing to go someplace but the people beg us not to come, because we're putting them at risk by our presence," he said. "They can be seen as collaborators by the insurgents. We pack up our cameras, and then five hours, five days, five weeks later, who knows what happens."

The Western media effect is still something Iraqis need to watch out for, as a story in today's USA Today illustrates. The 14th of Ramadan Mosque, which has become one of the defining monuments in Baghdad, has served as the backdrop for many a TV report. And that has made it a target.

"The maximum number of people you would see is about 15 at the noon and afternoon praying," Sheik Omar al-Saedi, the imam of the Sunni mosque, told USA Today. "Nobody comes at the dawn prayer." al-Saedi's predecessor was killed last year.

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