Three to one. Shortly before being kidnapped in January 2005, Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena reported that when she visited any neighbourhood in Baghdad she had to be very careful not to spend there more than 10 minutes. Otherwise she could be seen and be victim of a kidnapping or murder organized on the spot. In the last two years, the level of safety for international reporters in Iraq has collapsed, making it almost impossible for journalists to do their job of informing about the war and its effects. For foreign correspondents, who are easily recognizable among Iraqi people, moving in the streets of Baghdad outside of the Green Zone is by now a suicide mission. Therefore, almost all major international newspapers have started to make use of local reporters, the so called stringers. Without their hidden work we could not have first-hand news on what is going on in the country. However, since the war has also become a massacre between factions, local journalists too are exposed to increasing risks; they could be involved in attacks, or they could be kidnapped under the accusation of collaborating with the West. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, about three times as many local reporters have been killed as the foreign reporters they assist.

Stringers. A collaborator for Reuters told the U.S. magazine Mother Jones that every morning, before leaving his house in western Baghdad, he climbs onto his roof and checks if there are any suspect cars parked on his street. Then he starts driving and checks obsessively his rearview mirror, while his wife keeps on calling him seeking reassurance. “My wife has begged me to quit my job and to leave Iraq," he said "but I told her that every day tens of Iraqis are being killed for no reason, and without journalists they will be forgotten.” Precautions, however, are never enough, since stringers in Iraq – we do not know their exact number – can’t avoid moving around the city looking for stories, interviews or photos. While foreign correspondents stay in the Green Zone, Iraqi collaborators risk their lives on every corner. Moreover, the need for international newspapers to have several local journalists has resulted in an excessive increase in the budget for correspondents: at least € 1 million a year. Newspapers such as the Washington Post or the New York Times have cut back their staff to the bone, while others simply left the country. Greg Veis, the author of Mother Jones’ report on Iraqi stringers, reveals that nine of U.S. biggest news organizations refused to let him talk with their local reporters. One of them, an Iraqi who formerly worked for an American newspaper, revealed that his superiors had forbidden him to release interviews. “They hide behind the bravery of the Iraqi staff who go out and do the reporting while they (foreign correspondents) hide behind their compound's blast walls and get the credit."

Suspects. Greg Veis says that Iraqi stringers don’t only have to face risks linked to the war, but they also have to deal with the suspiciousness if not the hostility of the military. Barry Johnson, the head of the U.S. military's Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad, admits that he's suspicious of the work carried out by stringers: “There's no way these guys could operate out there in this environment without the tacit agreement of the insurgents and terrorist groups they're covering. They cover the violence because that's what the enemy wants.”

According to Reporter Sans Frontières, Rsf, 197 people working in the media have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003. Other two people have disappeared and 13 have been kidnapped. Last June Rsf asked Iraqi authorities to set up a military unit in charge of protecting journalists, but their request fell on deaf ears and over the last months murders have continued. Thirty-nine people working in the media have already been killed in 2007, most of them were young, like Khaled W. Hassan, 23 years old, stringer for the New York Times, killed on July 13^th; Namir Noor Eldeene, aged 22, photographer for Reuters, killed on July 12^th; Saif Laith Yousuf, 26 years old, soundman for the ABC, killed on May 17^th. International media only reveal the names of those who worked for Western news outlets. For the other victims there is neither memory nor gratitude.