大象传媒

It seems eyebrows were raised about 大象传媒 world affairs editor John Simpson鈥檚 appearance on rival broadcaster, Sky News, from Baghdad yesterday. In the wake of the tragic deaths of the CBS news team, he was asked to take part in a discussion of the safety issues for journalists covering Iraq.

Sky asked us if they could interview him in the morning and we agreed. (There was a bit of a communication breakdown in that those of us involved in the decision failed to tell others, so it came as more of a surprise to some in the 大象传媒 than it should have.)

But more interesting is the question of whether or not John should have appeared on a rival broadcaster. And I am intrigued over how this was reported on the :

鈥淥ne in the eye for Sky," it reported. "In a curious move, Simpson appeared on the roof of a Baghdad building to talk about the dangers of working in Iraq while his opposite number, Sky's foreign editor Tim Marshall was sat cosily in the studio. ...maybe the 大象传媒 was trying to get one over its news rivals.鈥�

I can assure the diarist that the 大象传媒 was not trying to put 鈥渙ne over" a news rival. He or she seems unaware that safety is a strictly non-competitive issue between media organisations. The London-based broadcast media - the 大象传媒, Sky News, ITN and CNN - all meet up regularly to share information and advice about reporting from dangerous places.

Yesterday Sky News illuminated for its audience how news organisations go about operating under such dangerous security conditions. All credit to them for interviewing someone with huge credibility and first hand experience - even if he does work for the opposition.