Libya Releases NYT Journalists

Libya has released the four New York Times journalists being held, including stud photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/world/africa/22times.html?_r=1

The four had been covering fighting near Ajdabiya when they decided that the battle had grown too dangerous for them to continue covering it safely. Their driver, however, inadvertently drove into a checkpoint manned by forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi. By the time they knew they were in trouble, it was too late.

“I was yelling to the driver, ‘Keep driving! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!’ ” Mr. Hicks recalled in a telephone interview from the hotel where he and the three others were recuperating. “I knew that the consequences of being stopped would be very bad.”

The driver, Mohamed Shaglouf, is still missing. If he had tried to drive straight through, Mr. Hicks said, the vehicle certainly would have been fired on. In any event, the soldiers flung the doors to their gold four-door sedan wide open so quickly that they had little chance to get away.

Fantastic they made it out. Let's hope their driver is OK as well.

NYT Photographer Tyler Hicks Missing in Libya

Remember the photographer whose amazing photos from Libya we shared a few days ago?

Tyler Hicks is now missing in Libya with three other New York Times journalists.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/four-new-york-times-journalists-are-missing-in-libya/

The missing journalists are Anthony Shadid, the Beirut bureau chief and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 and rescued by British commandos; and two photographers, Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, who have worked extensively in the Middle East and Africa. 

Mr. Keller said there was some speculation that they had been detained at a government checkpoint between Ajdabiya and Benghazi, a rebel stronghold in eastern Libya. If that is the case, he said, they would eventually be taken to Tripoli. “Beyond that, we’re still pretty much in the dark,” he added. 

The uprisings in the Arab world have made the region a perilous place for journalists. During the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, journalists were assaulted, accosted, detained and killed. Two Times reporters were detained there and eventually released unharmed. Lara Logan of CBS News was sexually assaulted by a group of men. An Egyptian reporter was shot and died.

There are photographers who actually do put their lives on the line to bring the world photos that need to be seen. Please send out your strongest vibes that all four will return home safe.

Real Photojournalism from a Real War Zone

Actual photographer Sam Morris left another great comment that needs to be its own post. Everyone needs to see these stunning images taken by photojournalist Tyler Hicks of the fighting in Libya. The New York Times also conducted an interview with him.

Because I think some of the posters on this site are not photographers, I would like to point you to a posting from yesterday on the New York Times photo blog, Lens. In it, photographer Tyler Hicks describes what conditions were like in Libya Wednesday. This post, and his photos, will give you a good idea why so many good photographers working today, Hicks, David Guttenfelder, Jack Gruber, Justin Sullivan, Julie Jacobson, anyone from VII, et. al. deserve recognition and respect. This is what galls a lot of photographers - bullshitters are common, but to say you are a part of a small group of people who put their lives on the line to bring back photos to the public about the horrible nature of war, conflict, famine, strife, etc. when you are not, really pisses some people off. I am guessing most of them don't even know of Fish, and if they do, they don't give a fuck (ooops, I dropped the F-Bomb again - please don't report it to my company again Steven).

True, Steven did go to Iraq. And he sat on a boat with the Coast Guard. Him claiming he was in a war zone is like me claiming I won the Pulitzer Prize, when it was my paper that won it for public service in 2009. Sure, I had photos in the package that won, but it was the reporting and the work of a lot of people at the paper that won the award.

Anyway, here is the link (please, take a moment to read it and look at the photos - it will give you an understanding of what I am talking about):

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/in-the-thick-of-libyas-brutal-fighting/

Be sure to read the comments from all the people thanking Tyler for his spectactular photos.