4 New York Times journalists missing in Libya
NEW YORK (AP) -- Four New York Times journalists covering the fighting in Libya were reported missing Wednesday, and the newspaper held out hope that they were alive and in the custody of the Libyan government.

Editors last heard from the journalists on Tuesday as they were covering the retreat of rebels from the town of Ajdabiya, and Libyan officials told the newspaper they were trying to locate the four, executive editor Bill Keller said in a statement. The Times said there were unconfirmed reports that forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had detained the foursome.

"We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that if our journalists were captured they would be released promptly and unharmed," Keller said.

The missing journalists are Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony Shadid, the newspaper's Beirut bureau chief; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer; and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario. In 2009, Farrell was kidnapped by the Taliban and later rescued by British commandos.

"Their families and their colleagues at The Times are anxiously seeking information about their situation, and praying that they are safe," Keller said.

The White House on Wednesday urged the Libyan government to refrain from harassing or using violence against journalists. Obama spokesman Jay Carney said the United States is firm in its belief that journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it was asking its correspondents in Libya to help track down the journalists' whereabouts.

"It's a very dangerous climate for reporters right now," said Clothilde Le Coz, Washington director for Reporters Without Borders. "It's a reminder that these are real people, and they are putting themselves at real risk to bring information out of these places."

Pro-Gadhafi forces have largely gained control of Ajdabiya after two days of relentless shelling but still face pockets of resistance in the city of 140,000 people.

The breakdown in rebel defenses in Ajdabiya threatened to open the gateway to the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of the opposition, including Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and the de facto capital of the opposition.

Shadid's father, Buddy Shadid, said he last spoke to his son on Monday. The reporter was tired and living on cans of tuna, but had planned to spend another week covering Libya.

"I told him it's so crazy there, no one knows who's friend, who's foe. But he said he knew what he's doing, not to worry," Buddy Shadid said. "We're all just praying for his safety."

All four Times journalists are experienced war correspondents.

Shadid previously worked for the Washington Post, The Associated Press and the Boston Globe. He won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2004 and 2010 for his coverage of Iraq.

Hicks, a former photographer for the Troy Daily News in Ohio and The Wilmington Star-News in North Carolina, had worked in hotspots from Haiti to Chechnya. He was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 2007 by Pictures of the Year International and won an Infinity award from the International Center of Photography in 2001.

Addario was part of the New York Times team that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and also has worked for National Geographic and Time magazine. She won a MacArthur Fellowship, or "Genius Grant," in 2009.

In September 2009, Farrell and Sultan Munadi, an Afghan journalist and interpreter who worked regularly with the Times and other news organizations, were taken hostage when they went to cover the aftermath of a NATO airstrike that killed scores of civilians in northern Afghanistan.

Munadi and a British commando died in the raid that rescued Farrell, a Briton.

Farrell also was kidnapped in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. He previously worked for the Times of London.

In 2008, New York Times reporter David Rohde was kidnapped while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander in Afghanistan. Rohde and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has documented five assaults, 25 detentions and dozens of attempts to obstruct or intimidate journalists as they try to cover Libya's unrest.

Covering Libya has quickly become more dangerous for reporters than the earlier uprising in Egypt, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had tried to preserve his international reputation by reining in government attacks on journalists.

"There's no such calculation going on in Libya," Simon said. "It's a very difficult, precarious situation for the press right now."

On Saturday Al-Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber was killed and correspondent Baybah Wald Amhadi was wounded when their car was ambushed near Benghazi.

Last week three British Broadcasting Corp. employees were detained, beaten and subjected to mock executions by Libyan soldiers while attempting to reach the western city of Zawiya

On March 2, Libyan authorities detained reporter Andrei Netto of Brazil's Estado de S. Paulo newspaper and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad of Britain's Guardian newspaper. Netto was released on March 11, and Abdul-Ahad was released on Wednesday.

In all, there have been more than 300 attempts to intimidate or obstruct reporters since a wave of Middle East uprisings began in December in Tunisia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

CBS said its reporter Lara Logan was attacked and sexually assaulted in Egypt while covering reaction to Mubarak's resignation. A CNN crew including reporter Anderson Cooper was also attacked by pro-Mubarak protesters.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-New-York-Times-journalists-apf-3245316908.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

Yep Yep. Golf and RIO are more important. After all the cisis isn't in the US.

You mean he didn't play golf when the oil spill was covering the gulf?

I am very impressed... Maybe that is why he is making up for it now.

The trip couldn't come at a better time.

The middle east is on fire. Japan is under water. Oil, gas and food prices are skyrocketing. The housing market is getting worse.

I know its been a tough couple of weeks, but atleast we know that Obama has been working on his March Madness brackets..

A couple days touring the sites in Brazil is a great escape for this incredibly over-worked President..





President Barack Obama will take his first official trip to Brazil this weekend where he will speak in the popular Cinelandia Square in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Access, of course, will be tightly restricted and security measures so secretive that not even the Embassy or US Consulate in Rio know exactly who it’s all going to go down. Obama’s speech will be free and open to the public and take place around 15:00 local time (14:00 EST). Access to the square will begin at 11:30, and is sure to draw a crowd. Obama is popular in Brazil. One politician seeking office in Rio actually changed his name to Barack Obama in 2008 to solicit votes. He didn’t win.

The Obama family will also take in the sights in Rio. A trip to Corcovado mountain, where the Christ the Redeemer statue stands (France gave us Lady Liberty, gave Brazil Jesus) is supposedly on the itinerary. What trip to Rio would be complete without it? If they do make it to the top of the mountain, they will do so with an entourage of secret service and Brazil’s Elite Squad, known as BOPE.

http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/03/14/obama-heads-to-rio-sunday-maximum-security-awaits/

and? how does golfing for an afternoon impact what can be done for a disaster,, most of which can be handled with EXPERIENCED people, by a phone call ..

Ever heard of the term "leadership"?

You know that thing people in high office are supposed to exert from time to time..

Obama deferred to OTHERS just like he has in every crisis.

He is a suit that reads other peoples words off a teleprompter and that is about all he is..

Maybe he has money riding on a certain team?

Obama is a very busy man! Just because he's the president you can't think he's going to solve all these problems!

Cut the guy a break! He also has a golf game to work on! Parties to attend! Democrat friends and union buddies to give handouts to! He also has trillions of dollars to spend! Its not going to spend itself you know!

That leaves little time to help the world!

yeah, all of my bosses have been LEADERS of their companies but yet, I was the one they DIRECTED to do the work I WAS GOOD AT, while they did the negotiating and managing that THEY were bood at

Well, the dumbdowned Progressives will make sure he will have another 6 years to improve his golf game.

why not it's all about breaking down racial barriers, isn't it. It's a historical moment for americans...

wow, how did RACE get into THIS discussion,,

all this talk of smaller government, I find it odd that people are still expecting a president to be personally present for EVERYONES disasters,,,,there are many things to be handled that are important during an emergency that dont require one to actually BE AT THE SCENE


as of august of 2010, the president had taken 48 days off, thats 1 1/2 years into his presidency( about 30 days per year, give or take, )

compare that to Bushs 977 days in 8 years(or about 120 days per year), and I still think thats far too big a difference to truly receive the SAME scrutiny

yet, those who wish to compare as a blight to OBAMA will swear that Bush was capable of 'leading' from camp david and his ranch, yet OBAMA is not leading if he is not on SITE someplace where tragedy has struck

Who said he should fly to Japan and take radiation readings?

Your theory that deferring decision making to some minion is NOT the way its supposed to work when your title is President of the United States. There isn't just one or two examples of his haphazard approach to dealing with a crisis. I don't think people voted for him so he could play golf and delegate his authority to some schmuck that he doesn't even talk to..

If you find that reasonable then so be it.

I expect more out of President and all the excuses in the world isn't going to change that.