| Reported Deaths | 2007 | 2003-Now | |
 | |||
| Cmte to Protect Journalists | 13 | 143 | 104 journalists, 39 media workers |
| Intl News Safety Institute | 37 | 209 | |
| Iraqi Journalists Assoc. | N/A | 214 | |
| Reporters Without Borders | 26 | 181 | |
| Intl Fed. of Journalists | 33 | 206 | |
| Brussels Tribunal | 46 | 276 | |
Four more journalists were killed in Iraq this week.
Indisputably, the war in Iraq is the deadliest war for journalists in recorded history.
But when it comes to the question of exactly how deadly, the agreement ends and the disputes begin.
Read on to learn why the tallies for this conflict differ and why it's unfair to compare all but one of those tallies to the toll of journalists killed in previous wars.
This conflict is unprecedented in at least two ways when it comes to news organization worker deaths and the tracking of those deaths.
Not only is this deadliest war ever in recorded history for journalists and media workers, but those deaths are being tracked by more organizations than during any previous war.
Their tallies differ largely because their count criteria differ, and some are better than others at tracking deaths and adding them to their tally in a timely manner.
For the past three decades, the running tally maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been the gold standard in reliable tracking of journalist killings.
The CPJ tally is by far the most widely quoted and respected tally among news organizations.
In recent years, other groups began tracking journalist deaths independently in part because they felt the CPJ count was incomplete.
For years, the CPJ counted only "journalists killed on duty."
That excluded journalists who died due to accident, ailment, and suicide, and it excluded altogether non-journalist news media workers, including drivers, translators/interpreters, and security guards -- key contributors to the news gathering and reporting process in Iraq.
Those excluded categories did not sit well with some news organizations and journalists, prompting the launch of several other death toll tallies.
Perhaps in part due to those concerns, starting with this Iraq war, the CPJ for the first time began tracking the killing of non-journalist media workers, and the CPJ maintains those tallies separately -- now 104 journalists killed and 39 media workers killed in Iraq.
Still, the CPJ criteria for inclusion in either tally remains the narrowest of all of the now at least six tallies kept of journalist and media worker deaths in Iraq.
The other tallies combine journalists and non-journalist news media employee deaths, although not all those tallies include deaths due to non-hostile means.
While I have great admiration and respect for the CPJ and its consistent, clearly defined criteria for tracking, I expressed concern in an International Herald Tribune op-ed last year about the CPJ tallies because they don't fully reflect the journalist and media worker death toll in Iraq.
I believe death tolls should use consistent criteria.
The most widely reported death toll in Iraq -- that of U.S. military personnel -- is today 3,475.
But, to be clear, that's "death toll," not a tally of "killed."
Today and most every day, you are likely to see many news organizations report the U.S. military toll by using the words "death" and "killed" interchangeably.
To be precise, the tally of those killed is 2,855, with 620 dying by ways other than hostile means.
Yet it's the 3,475 number that gets all the attention, and that number includes the deaths of all U.S. military personnel (drivers, back office personnel, etc) for all reasons (although excluding military contractors).
| Other Wars/Reported Killings | |
| |
| Algeria (1993-96) | 58 |
| Colombia (1986-Present) | 54 |
| Balkans (1991-95) | 36 |
| Philippines (1983-87) | 36 |
| Turkey (1984-99) | 22 |
| Tajikistan (1992-96) | 16 |
| Sierra Leone (1997-2000) | 15 |
| Afghanistan (2001-04) | 9 |
| Somalia (1993-95) | 9 |
| Kosovo (1999-2001) | 7 |
| First Iraq War (2001) | 4 |
| Central America (1979-89) | 89 |
| Argentina (1976-83) | 98 |
| Vietnam (1955-75) | 66 |
| Korea | 17 |
| World War Two | 68 |
| World War One | 2 |
| |
| Tallies from CPJ and Freedom Forum (bottom six) | |
I do not fault the CPJ, which has been consistent and precise in its criteria and tracking, and the CPJ tallies are needed, as well, for the sake of comparison to the tally of journalist deaths in previous conflicts.
The non-CPJ tallies serve an important, useful purpose for this Iraq conflict, but those broadly-defined overall tallies cannot be compared to the narrower criteria tallies of journalists killed in previous wars.
In fairness to news consumers who should not be expected to parse the tallies and especially to all the journalists and media workers who've lost their life in this conflict, news organizations should be consistent in reporting death tolls in Iraq -- routinely all-inclusive counts, or routinely narrowly-defined counts.
But the opposite occurs today -- military deaths are reported as an all-inclusive tally, while news organization employee deaths are usually reported using narrower criteria, shortchanging news consumers and those news organization employees who have paid the ultimate price.
Now, can we come up with a consensus all-inclusive journalist/media worker death tally rather than these disparate counts?
