All the news that's dangerous to gather

Despite the high number of reporter casualties, some reporters and editors say it could have been much worse. To prepare for the conflict, many members of the international press took part in hazardous environment courses or US military training to prepare for the possibility of biological or chemical attack, kidnapping and torture, and use as human shields. Many believed that reporters on the ground in Iraq would be targeted as they had been in Afghanistan.

But although two Polish journalists were reportedly abducted by armed Iraqis Monday - only to escape later - many of "those fears have not been realized," says Susan Bennett of the nonpartisan Freedom Forum's Newseum in Arlington, Va., which keeps a memorial to journalists lost on assignment. "The journalists killed thus far were killed because of where they were, not who they were."

Not all members of the press who have died in Iraq have been casualties of war. David Bloom, one of NBC's embedded journalists, died of natural causes. Another reporter for Britain's Channel 4 News fell off a hotel roof in northern Iraq.

The other nine deaths have been casualties of conflict. On Monday, Christian Liebig of the German news weekly Focus and Julio Anguita Parrado of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo - both embedded journalists - were killed when an Iraqi rocket hit a US communications center on Baghdad's southern fringe.

BusinessWeek magazine reporter Frederik Balfour, embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, was deeply troubled by the incident. He had known the reporters killed: He and the Monitor's Ann Scott Tyson had shared a tent with them before they were assigned to separate brigades within the 3rd Infantry, and the four had talked about how they felt the war should be covered.

"They wanted to be safe. These weren't the kind of guys on the first tank into Baghdad," Ms. Tyson remembers. "Of course it was to be expected that some journalists would be killed - I just didn't expect it would be those guys."

When Christopher Power, one of Mr. Balfour's editors at BusinessWeek, heard news that two journalists had been killed south of Baghdad, he went cold. It was half an hour before he could reach Balfour by phone.

The magazine says it will support Balfour's decision to leave any time. In fact, the day may well be approaching when the dangers Balfour faces cease to feel worth the risk. "Tomorrow," Power says, we'll revisit the theme again: Where are you and how are you and do you want to get out?"

In newsrooms across the globe, today, editors and producers are asking those same questions. Bill Spindle, who edits Middle East coverage for the Wall Street Journal, says his paper has done all it can to keep its four unilateral reporters and five embeds away from the front lines.

"Seeing so many colleagues dying is disturbing on a daily basis," he says. Even so, Mr. Spindle says he believes there's a way to cover this war well while minimizing the dangers.

"There's a huge side to this war, that hasn't been reported," he says. "So no, we are not leaving. We're hoping to get there."

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