Annoyances

I was looking at CNN.com today and came across the article “Report: More journalists killed in Iraq than Vietnam“. I thought it interesting that CNN wasn’t even willing to stand behind a finding of fact, hence they put the “Report:’ in the headline.

Then I read the article, relevant quote

Since U.S. forces and its allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003, 66 journalists and their assistants have been killed, RSF said.

The latest casualty was a Reuters Television soundman who was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday, while a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers.

The death toll in Iraq compares with a total of 63 journalists in Vietnam, but which was over a period of 20 years from 1955 to 1975, the Paris-based organization that campaigns to protect journalists said on its Web site.

During the fighting in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995, 49 journalists were killed doing their job, while 57 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed during a civil war in Algeria from 1993 to 1996.

Note the separate but sometimes equal “assistants” in the math. They seem to have the figures available (journalists killed during the Iraq War so far) to do an apples to apples comparison but choose not to do so. Also they artificially limit the “fighting in the former Yugoslavia” to a four year period which strikes me as quite fishy as well.

On the whole shabby work from CNN.