If you have seen the 2003 Irish film, Veronica Guerin, you are aware of the dangers journalists face operating within conflict zones.
Two years ago I read what was to be Marie Colvin’s final tweet. She was one of very few western journalists in Homs, Syria during the February 2012 siege. She tweeted that night that she had seen a baby die that day. The next morning she, herself, was dead. She had lost an eye covering a conflict in Sri Lanka in 2001. This time she lost her life.
Only weeks ago, in Afghanistan, Associated Press reporters Kathy Gannon and Anja Niedringhaus, a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer were attacked. Gannon was wounded, Niedringhaus was killed.
Today comes the sad news that yet another courageous young woman journalist has been murdered in the field. This time it is French photojournalist Camille Lepage who has been cut down while covering fighting in the Central African Republic.
These women were passionate about what they did and worked without widespread renown, but their courage and dedication were boundless. We regret these losses, offer condolences to their loved ones, and celebrate them and all of their cohorts for their steadfast reporting in difficult and deadly locations and situations.
Camille Lepage was only 26 years old. May she rest in peace. May they all. That includes David Bloom, who was not murdered but died valiantly covering war thoroughly and with great gusto while embedded in Iraq. Bless them all!.
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