US Journalists Arrested, Kidnapped Abroad (ROUNDUP)

The trial and sentencing of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in a North Korean work camp prompts the question: what other American journalists have been detained or kidnapped abroad? According to Freedom House, 2008 [PDF], the last year to be analyzed, saw a decline in press freedom worldwide, with the absolute worst countries being Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, Turkmenistan and, of course, North Korea. The profound danger journalists face around the world cannot be stressed enough, be it in war or at the hands of despotic regimes. Hundreds of men and women have given their lives and their freedom in the pursuit of information, sometimes with little or no thanks.

Here is a look back at other Americans who have been captured while trying to report on war, conflict or closed societies.

Daniel Pearl

Wall Street Journal South Asia bureau chief kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan in 2002 while investigating links between "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, al Qaeda, and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) A foundation now exists in his name.




Jill Carroll

Christian Science Monitor reporter kidnapped and eventually freed in Iraq between January 7 and March 30, 2006. Afterwards she wrote a series of stories on the experience.




Barry Bearak

New York Times correspondent detained in Zimbabwe for five days during April 2008 for alleged inadequate press credentials during Mugabe's crackdown.




Roxana Saberi

Reporter arrested in Iran in February 2009, charged with espionage, sentenced to eight years in prison, and then later freed on appeal on May 11, 2009 amid international media attention.




Euna Lee





Laura Ling

Al Gore's Current TV reporters, based out of San Francisco, who were detained in March 2009 for "hostile acts" while they were in China to interview North Korean defectors living on the Chinese side of the border. The were sentenced Monday to 12 years in a work camp.

We know there are plenty of other American journalists who we've missed. Please help us fill in the gaps in the comments section below...

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Comments

[Garioch]

Is there not an Iranian journalist who has been detained in Iraq for a couple of years by the U.S. authorities?
I'm not sure what his situation is at present as it's never reported in the U.S. I assume this is another of those things that only works in one direction right?

[gbcree]

I feel very sorry for these women. No one deserves to spend time in a North Korean prison. They were engaged in very dangerous work and I hope they were fully aware of the potential consequences of their choices. Let's hope they are released soon. There are obvious lessons here for all who elect to walk through the 'Valley of the Shadow'. Being right will not keep you safe. Being an American does not guarantee your rights in another country. You might not be rescued.

[TaiwanTim]

All those who feel that these two journalists were illegally detained and imprisoned should immediately pack their bags, fly to China, walk towards N. Korea, cross their border, start snapping pictures, and then wait for my further instructions...

[breakfast]

So if these two journalists had not crossed the border, shouldn't we refer to their abduction as "extraordinary rendition?"

[Theo]

What about the journalists detained in Iraq and Afghanistan without trial by the US military? Why is there no concern about them in the American media? If American journalists don't care about anyone but other American journalists, then why should anyone else care about them? Frankly, and keep in mind I'm speaking as an American, I find it difficult to summon up any empathy for members of the American media.

[Yank in France]

To all those incredibly dumb people condemning the journalists, just remember that it is far from certain that North Korea arrested them on their own territory. And if they did cross over to North Korea, we do not know under what conditions. In the meantime, it is obvious that North Korea, probably the most tyrannical regime in modern times, is/was looking for a way to provoke the new American administration. They are using their nascent nuclear weapons program to extort more and more money (aid) from us. Instead, what we are likely to see is a nuclear armed Japan, leading to a nuclear arms race with China and other regional powers. In short, a total disaster!

[JerryLevy]

Only on the HP would you find people who blame the kidnapped journalists and not the despotic North Korean regime for their kidnapping. No sympathy for the journalists but very concerned about KSM who was waterboarded. Does anyone know the difference between good and bad anymore?

[TheBlackCat]

I disagree that you can only find this on HuffPo...

But I think the sad fact is that so many people have become such self loathing Americans (understandable after the last 8 years) that whenever they see ANY situation in which Americans interact with foreigners, the American must ALWAYS be evil and the foreigner must ALWAYS be good. So when a foreigner is held it Gitmo for years and years on charges which are dubious at best, that is horrible. Anything the American government says about their guilt is a lie. But when Americans are jailed for years and years on dubious charges, then they MUST be evil, and anything NK says about them MUST be true.

I personally have enough compassion in my heart to see BOTH situations as wrong, both Gitmo detention AND detention of journalists in NK. But many other HuffPoers obviously do not.

[Oscuramento]

and the journalist targeted by the US in Iraq, will you bring also their photo's.

[LMPE]

Maybe the world would be a better place if everyone just sat around and stared. "Idiocracy" taken one step further.

[andonavar]

I bet they did cross the border. I'm sure Laura is trying to one up her sister by taking more risk. Well , you got busted. Now our leaders have expend energy on their dumb asses, instead of the important stuff.
Laura " we make it out alive, this is gonna be a great movie of the week, and we'll get millions for our story."
I'm sick of these journalist!

[mizutofu]

lots of journalists think they are above the law and should be able to do whatever they want like photograph other country's secret military facilities.

[andonavar]

I'm getting pretty tired of these stupid journalist. They act like they have some invisible cloaking device that keeps them safe in these "seriously crazy ass" countries. They are in these countries because they know it's dangerous. It gives them "cred" in the news business The fast track to a high paying anchor career. I don't feel sorry for them, and wouldn't lift a finger to help them. They found exactly what they were looking for...danger, excitement, a really good story. Daniel Pearl , should have had his ass home with his wife and child. If he were single and no children, I could at least understand him taking "some" risk. He wanted the glory, and got his head chopped off.

[Trueheart]

Pretty cold.
You can't paint them all with the same brush.
Sometimes journalists are driven by a need to experience a situation firsthand and report injustices to the world, and they put their lives on the line for it. Print and radio are good sources,but "a picture is worth a thousand words."

[TheBlackCat]

I'm getting pretty tired of hateful people like you who can't appreciate and even vilify people risking their lives to try and save others, to try and give a voice to the voiceless. So where does that leave us?

[TaiwanTim]

I missed the part where these two ladies were doctors... I thought they were (were as in the past as today they are criminals) hack journalists.

[NYCMami]

Yet the useless American MSM chooses to focus on bs GOP talking points.

The great American news men and women whose shoulders real journalist stand on are turning in their graves.

[111]

Please include these Americans who have been arrested in America while trying to report on war, conflict or our closing society -

the Kentucky Kernel - three journalists arrested in America for documenting the protests at the RNC in 2008. I will look for more info - to provide names.

Josh Wolf arrested in America for refusing to turn over previously unpublished video of a protest which the laws on the books said he had the right to do.

The following is a list of American journalists covering the 2008 DNC. All had valid press credentials. Most were arrested for "unlawful assembly", some were held without charge, etc.

Amy Goodman Democracy Now!
Sharif Abdel Kouddous Democracy Now!
Nicole Salazar Democracy Now!
Asa Eslocker ABC News
Amy Forliti Associated Press
Matt Rourke AP
Lambert Rochfort
Joe LaSac
Stephen Maturen innesota Daily - pepper sprayed & ziptied then released without charge
Jonathan Malat KARE 11
Tom Aviles WCCO
Jon Krawczynski AP
Dean Treftz U-Wire (national college wire service)
Jeff Schorfheide Badger-Herald
Matt Snyders Daily Iowan
Christopher Patton Daily Iowan
Rick Rowley Big Noise
Jon Wise MyFox
Alice Kathloff MyFox
Art Hughes Public News Service
Jerry Snook Westwood One
Ben Garvin St. Paul Pioneer Press
Jason Nicholas New York Post
Geraldine Cahill The Real News
Ania Smolenskaia The Real News
Suzanne Hughes The Uptake
Ted Johnson Variety
Eileen Clancy I-Witness Video
Anita Braithwaite Glass Bead Video Collective
Olivia Katz Glass Bead Video Collective
Nick Brooks Downtown Express
Sam Stoker ASSC of Alt. Newsweeklies

[RitaLouise]

While I feel deeply for the family, I cannot be sympathetic. To put this country in this kind of controversy over the political firestorm that exists is unconscionable. They had no business being there in the first place, and it just adds to the heavy burden our president has on his plate with all the other issues at forefront. I cannot see why we should even consider this as negotiable. This may sound could hearted, and it is not meant as as such. But there has got to be some accountability when these journalists put themselves in this line of political crossfire, and put the country in the position of having to beg these people for clemency. We do not need this right now, and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have to say 'enough' to when we will bail these adventurers. As I say, I am sorry for the family, but this is bigger than family, it is international politics, and they should have know better.

[wadingo]

Should have known better?

They are journalists. They were doing what journalists do. Risking their livelihoods so that they can uncover a story that NEEDS to be told. Without journalists like these two women, the public will never have known about Watergate, or Abu Ghraib, or Guantanamo, or any other scandal that was uncovered recently, and in the past.

These women were brave, and I applaud that. It was unfortunate that they were caught, but they probably knew the risks.

[RitaLouise]

While I deeply appreciate the role of jounalists in bringing these issue to the forefront, there are times when international issues and politics take precedence. This is one of them. Our President, like him or not has a tremendous load to be balancing, and this is one time we did not need this diversion. Discrimination in journalism would not be such a bad idea given the firestorm these events provoke. There is a time and a place for this kind of journalism and this was just not the right timing. Sorry, but I stand by my comments.

[TheBlackCat]

thank you! Finally some sanity on this blog!

[FairTalk]

This blog is dedicated to Terry Anderson...

http://shoe08.blogspot.com/2009/01/change-is-on-way.html

I have a few thought on this issue. Here is one of them. Not all journalists are the same.

Some are doing their job, others have an agenda, still others are spies.

I believe that governments should stop using journalists as spies, because it hurts

those journalists that are doing their job. And I think that journalists who have an

agenda are also betraying their profession.