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Jury Selection Begins in Kobe Bryant Trial; Journalist Death Toll in Iraq War Hits 50

Aired August 27, 2004 - 14:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what all new this half hour: Judging Kobe Bryant. Right now, the search is on for 12 men and women to do just that. We're going to take you live to a Colorado courthouse.

O'BRIEN: Kidnapped and killed in Iraq, how have terror tactics there changed the way journalists gather the facts? We'll talk about that.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

Bombing Fallujah -- U.S. warplanes bombed the city in the heart of the Sunni triangle again today. They're trying to root out insurgents and Islamic extremists believed to be holed up in the city. An Iraqi force took over security there in April, but the city has remained a hotspot.

Shifting more power to the CIA chief, President Bush signed executive orders doing just that. The White House calls them an interim step on the road to the creation of an national intelligent intelligence director post.

Getting ready for the Republican National Convention. It starts Monday, as you know, at New York's Madison Square Garden, and as many as 10,000 New York City cops are expected to provide security around that arena. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the security tab could hit $65 million, most of that picked up by the federal government.

Battling over the gold -- the head of the International Gymnastics Federation is asking U.S. athlete Paul Hamm to give his gold medal to South Korea's Young Tae Young. Young won the bronze in the all-around gymnastics competition, but officials have acknowledged the judges should have scored him higher. The U.S. Olympic Committee says the case is closed. It's refusing to pass on the request to Hamm.

O'BRIEN: It's been 14 months of headlines, charges, claims and counterclaims and lots of hearings. Now it's time to pick a jury. About 500 residents of Eagle County, Colorado are filling out questionnaires in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial.

Here with us live from Eagle is Chris Lawrence with details -- Chris. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, right now the court is taking a short break after the first two groups of potential jurors filled out their questionnaires and went home for the day. We still have got two groups to go, and within the next hour or so, about a couple hundred more people will be checking in here at the courthouse. And by the end of the day, everyone will have answered the 82 questions on that questionnaire.

Now, next week, that group that group will be whittled down to about 50 people, as people continue to arrive here at the courthouse, and we will also see Kobe Bryant return to court, and we may well see his accuser as well. That's ironic, because a lot of people said at one point, there was a lot of speculation that perhaps she would drop her case or that the prosecution would try to pull out of this trial, but now everything points to opening arguments beginning just after Labor Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG SILVERMAN, FMR. PROSECUTOR: Beyond that, they may be looking for women as well, because women have a tendency to sometimes judge other women more harshly. Men are brought up to be protective of women, and it's an interesting gender dynamic is this case as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Yes, that was obviously -- that Craig Silverman, a legal analyst who was speaking to what prosecutors and defense attorneys will be looking for. He was talking about that.

The defense may also be looking for women on the jury. He says that prosecutors may be looking for people who tend to believe women over men, possibly feminists. He said it's never easy to predict a makeup of a jury, but these are guidelines as to what the prosecutors and defense attorneys will be looking for next week as they begin individually questioning the jurors that are left -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, I have a hunch it's going to be hard to find people in that part of the world who haven't formed an opinion on this matter.

LAWRENCE: Especially in such a small community, Miles. I mean, you're talking about an area with roughly 42,000 people. They sent out 1,000 jury summons, so you're talking about 1 in every 42 people here has probably received that summons. And just walking around, even people at our hotel will tell you they know someone who got one of the summons, so it's a very, very small community.

O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Eagle, Colorado, thank you very much.

In other news across America, denial from both parties in the latest Kennedy family scandal. A woman suing William Kennedy Smith for alleged sexual assault says her case is not about the money. Audra Soulias says her $50,000 lawsuit is to stop his alleged behavior. Smith denies the woman's claims, and says she demanded $3 million to keep the matter out of court. In Fresno, California, a young boy riding his bike to school never makes it. The 10-year-old was killed when a construction truck ran over him. Police say the boy and his bike were crushed under the wheels of the truck as it was backing up. A tragic start to the school year for the University of Mississippi fraternity. Three students inside the Alpha Tau Omega house died in a fire that broke out this morning. Investigators in Oxford are trying to determine the cause.

PHILLIPS: It's been two weeks is this Hurricane Charley crashed ashore on Florida's southwest coast, and residents are still getting their lives back on track. The temperatures have dropped to the high 80s with occasional rain showers. Less than 18,000 people are still without power in that region, and President Bush is expected to announce in Miami that he's urging Congress to approved $2 billion for disaster relief aid.

Recovering from that storm has not been easy. There are families for instance, with damaged homes that are now just unlivable. Most of them have been living in shelters, but some of the shelters are shutting their doors.

Julie Kim from Central Florida News 13 has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, in this storm I was afraid I was going to die.

JULIE KIM, CENTRAL FLORIDA NEWS 13 REPORTER (voice-over): And now Arthur Warren (ph) and others who have been staying at the shelter wonder how they are going to live.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what is hurting more than the storm.

KIM: Evelyn Santiago (ph), her 9-month-old Christian and her three other children have been staying at shelters for a week-and-a- half. They were told to leave this one by noon Thursday. She wonders what she'll do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only option that they gave me is to take those trailers up by like two hours from here.

KIM: FEMA's disaster housing assistance includes these travel trailers set up in various locations like Pope, Lee and Hardy counties, none in Oceola County.

Evelyn says they're just too far away. Most or all of the other families agree it's not a reasonable option.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really want to be located back in Kissimmee where our families are and where our kids go to school.

KIM: Some say they don't have the transportation to go back and forth from trailer to job, or drop their kids off at school. Evelyn says she doesn't know what to do. Everything looks bleak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. I have no idea. I guess I'll pack and stay in my van until I get something.

KIM: She says she feels like the eye of the storm still hasn't passed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was Julie Kim of Central Florida News 13 reporting.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, political protesters can drive police up a wall, especially when the president is coming to town. And Jeanne Moos steps out and takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the dangling protesters were looking down, things were looking up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not your father's protest.

MOOS: The goal? Hang an anti-Bush banner off the world-famous Plaza Hotel. A handful of individuals spent three months planning this.

(on camera): Are they experienced rappellers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MOOS: You mean, they just learned to rappel just to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They learned how to do this for this action.

All of them were scared to death to be up there.

MOOS (voice-over): They got the room the night before, somehow made their way up to the roof. Then, two of the four rappelled down. He's the owner of a small holistic business, and she's an attorney. A minister, and an architect stayed up on the roof.

This wasn't the only pre-convention protest police had to deal with. If this is the truth, then this must be the naked truth. A totally unrelated demonstration.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Bush, stop AIDS! Drop the debt now!

MOOS: AIDS activists from ACT UP dropped their clothes in the middle of Eighth Avenue outside Madison Square Garden. They soon found themselves in handcuffs. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are now enjoying a naked ride in that NYPD paddy wagon.

MOOS: As for the banner atop the Plaza, the rappellers didn't get hurt, but a policeman's leg needed 38 stitches after he fell through a skylight. The protesters say they warned the officer not to step on it.

Police arrested the four on charges ranging from assault to trespassing. Eventually, they arrested this spokesman, as well.

(on camera): They trained three months for a banner that stayed up how long before the police got it down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 45 minutes.

MOOS: Forty-five minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And now we're on CNN.

MOOS (voice-over): They even supplied much of this video. It was a banner day for them, though their banner ended up as evidence.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a grim toll that keeps on rising. An Italian journalist is the latest to die in Iraq. Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped and killed by his captors. CNN's Lisa Morando (ph) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA MORANDO (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Italy, the headlines blare: "Enzo Baldoni is dead." The 56-year-old freelance journalist was apparently executed by his captors in Iraq, just days after disappearing from his base in Najaf.

Many Italians followed Baldoni's saga closely, holding onto a glimmer of hope that the man many knew or had read was both optimistic and adventurous would soon come back home.

Then earlier this week, a group claiming to be part of the Islamic Army of Iraq, said on a videotape that they have captured him and could guarantee his safety, but only if Italian troops withdrew from Iraq within 48 hours.

Late Thursday, the worst fears came true after the Arabic- language television station Al-Jazeera said it had received a tape showing Baldoni's execution. For many Italians who vehemently opposed their country's participation in the war, Baldoni's death is just one more grim reminder, they say, that Italians have no business being in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): This is just barbaric. There is no other description possible. But there are many considerations to take. For example, this free flow of individuals going to these high-risk countries, they need to take responsibility for their actions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (though translator): I don't think we should have ever gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): We are here to underline the urgency that is in the interest of Italy and peace, that is to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq.

MORANDO: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cut short his holiday and retuned to Rome, saying his troops will stay in Iraq for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): War kills the truth, and first they killed the journalist. And that is probably what is happening above all in Iraq.

MORANDO: Lisa Morando, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So far, 50 journalists have died in the line of duty covering the war in Iraq. Joining us now to talk about the risky business of reporting from a war zone is Rodney Pinder. He is a seasoned foreign correspondent and director of the International News Safety Institute.

Mr. Pinder, good to have you with us.

RODNEY PINDER, DIR. INTL. NEWS SAFETY INST.: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: First of all, tell us a little bit about what your organization attempts to do.

PINDER: Well, we try to help journalists operate more safely in conflict zones. Combat reporting, as we've seen, obviously, can never be completely safe, but journalists have a duty to be there. They have to be there to keep the rest of the world informed.

And what we try to do, through a network of information and safety and consultation, is to try and help journalists be a little bit safer. Too often, journalists are the only professionals on the battlefield these days without professional training. And we also help journalists find that training, who are unable to afford their own.

O'BRIEN: There was a time when the press, the media, could go into a war zone, clearly identify themselves as such, and nobody would take aim at them.

It's just the opposite now. We have an image here which is very stark. It's a car which has a clearly -- clear label on there, "Press." Some Polish journalists were inside. They were killed.

Now, have things changed? Has the media become a target?

PINDER: I think it has. I think this is one of the things that has changed hugely in recent years. The media no longer is seen as the impartial stand-aloof observer. They're seen as part of the problem by so many elements now -- and particularly, in a anarchic swirling conflict like we have in Iraq, where nobody seems to answer to anybody.

I mean, we -- for example, Muqtada al-Sadr -- the religious leader -- has asked -- has ordered his followers not to take journalists hostages, to leave them alone. And yet, this happens.

So, who answers to whom? It's an anarchic situation, and journalists who have to be there -- who have to be out there to bring us the news are particularly vulnerable. And they are being targeted. There is no doubt about it.

O'BRIEN: And the fact that 50 have died in this conflict, that's a big number, isn't it?

PINDER: It's a huge number, and it's a frightening number. When you think that throughout the 20-odd years of the Vietnam War, there were barely 70 journalists killed. In the five years of the Algerian civil conflict, there were 60-odd journalists killed.

We're looking at -- it's a bloody time for news gatherers of all kinds, and we have to do what we can to protect ourselves. But in circumstances like Iraq, it's very, very difficult, and we would ask journalists of any kind -- particularly freelancers, particularly independent journalists -- think twice, four times, 10 times before going to Iraq.

Some journalists have to be there; the coverage has to come out. But if you cannot afford the proper training, the proper education, the proper experience, the proper wherewithal, the proper resources, really think twice about going.

O'BRIEN: This case of Enzo Baldoni does hearken back to the case of Daniel Pearl, the "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was kidnapped in Pakistan and ultimately executed.

One of the lessons that came out of that one, as I recall, was that, you know, as a reporter is doing his job well and getting closer and closer to the story, his peril rises commensurately, doesn't it?

PINDER: That's absolutely true. And the frightening thing, particularly about the Danny Pearl case, is you've got to go out and meet sources. You've got to go out and meet informants. And Danny did that, and this is what happened. He was sucked into a trap.

We don't know enough about this recent case. Was he picked up as a reporter? We think probably not in this case. He was probably targeted as a foreigner, and it emerged later that he was a reporter. However, we mustn't forget that once they knew he was a reporter, they then proceeded to kill him anyhow. It didn't make any difference.

But there might be a slight difference over-targeting here. Not much of a reassurance, but perhaps something.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here -- we don't have a lot of time -- it's a big question, though. But aren't we all less well served by the media in this environment? Are we not getting as good a story as we should?

PINDER: I think it's undoubtedly true that the work of the media has been constricted. We're undoubtedly not getting the picture as full as it should be.

But when you have circumstances in which the messenger is the person being targeted, the messenger is a person being killed, it's inevitable. And it's punishing us all. Everybody who believes in the free flow of information suffers with horrible acts like this. And we really are struggling to know what to do about it.

O'BRIEN: Rodney Pinder, thank you very much for your time, and we wish you well in your endeavors to make all journalists safe as they do this very dangerous work. Thank you for your time.

PINDER: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler, live from the New York Stock Exchange, where stocks are making some modest moves in overall quiet trading.

Investors looking over some mixed economic reports today. Dow up 37 points; Nasdaq is adding two-thirds percent.

That's the very latest from Wall Street. More LIVE FROM coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired August 27, 2004 - 14:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what all new this half hour: Judging Kobe Bryant. Right now, the search is on for 12 men and women to do just that. We're going to take you live to a Colorado courthouse.

O'BRIEN: Kidnapped and killed in Iraq, how have terror tactics there changed the way journalists gather the facts? We'll talk about that.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

Bombing Fallujah -- U.S. warplanes bombed the city in the heart of the Sunni triangle again today. They're trying to root out insurgents and Islamic extremists believed to be holed up in the city. An Iraqi force took over security there in April, but the city has remained a hotspot.

Shifting more power to the CIA chief, President Bush signed executive orders doing just that. The White House calls them an interim step on the road to the creation of an national intelligent intelligence director post.

Getting ready for the Republican National Convention. It starts Monday, as you know, at New York's Madison Square Garden, and as many as 10,000 New York City cops are expected to provide security around that arena. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the security tab could hit $65 million, most of that picked up by the federal government.

Battling over the gold -- the head of the International Gymnastics Federation is asking U.S. athlete Paul Hamm to give his gold medal to South Korea's Young Tae Young. Young won the bronze in the all-around gymnastics competition, but officials have acknowledged the judges should have scored him higher. The U.S. Olympic Committee says the case is closed. It's refusing to pass on the request to Hamm.

O'BRIEN: It's been 14 months of headlines, charges, claims and counterclaims and lots of hearings. Now it's time to pick a jury. About 500 residents of Eagle County, Colorado are filling out questionnaires in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial.

Here with us live from Eagle is Chris Lawrence with details -- Chris. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, right now the court is taking a short break after the first two groups of potential jurors filled out their questionnaires and went home for the day. We still have got two groups to go, and within the next hour or so, about a couple hundred more people will be checking in here at the courthouse. And by the end of the day, everyone will have answered the 82 questions on that questionnaire.

Now, next week, that group that group will be whittled down to about 50 people, as people continue to arrive here at the courthouse, and we will also see Kobe Bryant return to court, and we may well see his accuser as well. That's ironic, because a lot of people said at one point, there was a lot of speculation that perhaps she would drop her case or that the prosecution would try to pull out of this trial, but now everything points to opening arguments beginning just after Labor Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG SILVERMAN, FMR. PROSECUTOR: Beyond that, they may be looking for women as well, because women have a tendency to sometimes judge other women more harshly. Men are brought up to be protective of women, and it's an interesting gender dynamic is this case as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Yes, that was obviously -- that Craig Silverman, a legal analyst who was speaking to what prosecutors and defense attorneys will be looking for. He was talking about that.

The defense may also be looking for women on the jury. He says that prosecutors may be looking for people who tend to believe women over men, possibly feminists. He said it's never easy to predict a makeup of a jury, but these are guidelines as to what the prosecutors and defense attorneys will be looking for next week as they begin individually questioning the jurors that are left -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, I have a hunch it's going to be hard to find people in that part of the world who haven't formed an opinion on this matter.

LAWRENCE: Especially in such a small community, Miles. I mean, you're talking about an area with roughly 42,000 people. They sent out 1,000 jury summons, so you're talking about 1 in every 42 people here has probably received that summons. And just walking around, even people at our hotel will tell you they know someone who got one of the summons, so it's a very, very small community.

O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Eagle, Colorado, thank you very much.

In other news across America, denial from both parties in the latest Kennedy family scandal. A woman suing William Kennedy Smith for alleged sexual assault says her case is not about the money. Audra Soulias says her $50,000 lawsuit is to stop his alleged behavior. Smith denies the woman's claims, and says she demanded $3 million to keep the matter out of court. In Fresno, California, a young boy riding his bike to school never makes it. The 10-year-old was killed when a construction truck ran over him. Police say the boy and his bike were crushed under the wheels of the truck as it was backing up. A tragic start to the school year for the University of Mississippi fraternity. Three students inside the Alpha Tau Omega house died in a fire that broke out this morning. Investigators in Oxford are trying to determine the cause.

PHILLIPS: It's been two weeks is this Hurricane Charley crashed ashore on Florida's southwest coast, and residents are still getting their lives back on track. The temperatures have dropped to the high 80s with occasional rain showers. Less than 18,000 people are still without power in that region, and President Bush is expected to announce in Miami that he's urging Congress to approved $2 billion for disaster relief aid.

Recovering from that storm has not been easy. There are families for instance, with damaged homes that are now just unlivable. Most of them have been living in shelters, but some of the shelters are shutting their doors.

Julie Kim from Central Florida News 13 has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, in this storm I was afraid I was going to die.

JULIE KIM, CENTRAL FLORIDA NEWS 13 REPORTER (voice-over): And now Arthur Warren (ph) and others who have been staying at the shelter wonder how they are going to live.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what is hurting more than the storm.

KIM: Evelyn Santiago (ph), her 9-month-old Christian and her three other children have been staying at shelters for a week-and-a- half. They were told to leave this one by noon Thursday. She wonders what she'll do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only option that they gave me is to take those trailers up by like two hours from here.

KIM: FEMA's disaster housing assistance includes these travel trailers set up in various locations like Pope, Lee and Hardy counties, none in Oceola County.

Evelyn says they're just too far away. Most or all of the other families agree it's not a reasonable option.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really want to be located back in Kissimmee where our families are and where our kids go to school.

KIM: Some say they don't have the transportation to go back and forth from trailer to job, or drop their kids off at school. Evelyn says she doesn't know what to do. Everything looks bleak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. I have no idea. I guess I'll pack and stay in my van until I get something.

KIM: She says she feels like the eye of the storm still hasn't passed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was Julie Kim of Central Florida News 13 reporting.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, political protesters can drive police up a wall, especially when the president is coming to town. And Jeanne Moos steps out and takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the dangling protesters were looking down, things were looking up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not your father's protest.

MOOS: The goal? Hang an anti-Bush banner off the world-famous Plaza Hotel. A handful of individuals spent three months planning this.

(on camera): Are they experienced rappellers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MOOS: You mean, they just learned to rappel just to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They learned how to do this for this action.

All of them were scared to death to be up there.

MOOS (voice-over): They got the room the night before, somehow made their way up to the roof. Then, two of the four rappelled down. He's the owner of a small holistic business, and she's an attorney. A minister, and an architect stayed up on the roof.

This wasn't the only pre-convention protest police had to deal with. If this is the truth, then this must be the naked truth. A totally unrelated demonstration.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Bush, stop AIDS! Drop the debt now!

MOOS: AIDS activists from ACT UP dropped their clothes in the middle of Eighth Avenue outside Madison Square Garden. They soon found themselves in handcuffs. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are now enjoying a naked ride in that NYPD paddy wagon.

MOOS: As for the banner atop the Plaza, the rappellers didn't get hurt, but a policeman's leg needed 38 stitches after he fell through a skylight. The protesters say they warned the officer not to step on it.

Police arrested the four on charges ranging from assault to trespassing. Eventually, they arrested this spokesman, as well.

(on camera): They trained three months for a banner that stayed up how long before the police got it down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 45 minutes.

MOOS: Forty-five minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And now we're on CNN.

MOOS (voice-over): They even supplied much of this video. It was a banner day for them, though their banner ended up as evidence.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a grim toll that keeps on rising. An Italian journalist is the latest to die in Iraq. Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped and killed by his captors. CNN's Lisa Morando (ph) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA MORANDO (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Italy, the headlines blare: "Enzo Baldoni is dead." The 56-year-old freelance journalist was apparently executed by his captors in Iraq, just days after disappearing from his base in Najaf.

Many Italians followed Baldoni's saga closely, holding onto a glimmer of hope that the man many knew or had read was both optimistic and adventurous would soon come back home.

Then earlier this week, a group claiming to be part of the Islamic Army of Iraq, said on a videotape that they have captured him and could guarantee his safety, but only if Italian troops withdrew from Iraq within 48 hours.

Late Thursday, the worst fears came true after the Arabic- language television station Al-Jazeera said it had received a tape showing Baldoni's execution. For many Italians who vehemently opposed their country's participation in the war, Baldoni's death is just one more grim reminder, they say, that Italians have no business being in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): This is just barbaric. There is no other description possible. But there are many considerations to take. For example, this free flow of individuals going to these high-risk countries, they need to take responsibility for their actions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (though translator): I don't think we should have ever gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): We are here to underline the urgency that is in the interest of Italy and peace, that is to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq.

MORANDO: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cut short his holiday and retuned to Rome, saying his troops will stay in Iraq for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): War kills the truth, and first they killed the journalist. And that is probably what is happening above all in Iraq.

MORANDO: Lisa Morando, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So far, 50 journalists have died in the line of duty covering the war in Iraq. Joining us now to talk about the risky business of reporting from a war zone is Rodney Pinder. He is a seasoned foreign correspondent and director of the International News Safety Institute.

Mr. Pinder, good to have you with us.

RODNEY PINDER, DIR. INTL. NEWS SAFETY INST.: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: First of all, tell us a little bit about what your organization attempts to do.

PINDER: Well, we try to help journalists operate more safely in conflict zones. Combat reporting, as we've seen, obviously, can never be completely safe, but journalists have a duty to be there. They have to be there to keep the rest of the world informed.

And what we try to do, through a network of information and safety and consultation, is to try and help journalists be a little bit safer. Too often, journalists are the only professionals on the battlefield these days without professional training. And we also help journalists find that training, who are unable to afford their own.

O'BRIEN: There was a time when the press, the media, could go into a war zone, clearly identify themselves as such, and nobody would take aim at them.

It's just the opposite now. We have an image here which is very stark. It's a car which has a clearly -- clear label on there, "Press." Some Polish journalists were inside. They were killed.

Now, have things changed? Has the media become a target?

PINDER: I think it has. I think this is one of the things that has changed hugely in recent years. The media no longer is seen as the impartial stand-aloof observer. They're seen as part of the problem by so many elements now -- and particularly, in a anarchic swirling conflict like we have in Iraq, where nobody seems to answer to anybody.

I mean, we -- for example, Muqtada al-Sadr -- the religious leader -- has asked -- has ordered his followers not to take journalists hostages, to leave them alone. And yet, this happens.

So, who answers to whom? It's an anarchic situation, and journalists who have to be there -- who have to be out there to bring us the news are particularly vulnerable. And they are being targeted. There is no doubt about it.

O'BRIEN: And the fact that 50 have died in this conflict, that's a big number, isn't it?

PINDER: It's a huge number, and it's a frightening number. When you think that throughout the 20-odd years of the Vietnam War, there were barely 70 journalists killed. In the five years of the Algerian civil conflict, there were 60-odd journalists killed.

We're looking at -- it's a bloody time for news gatherers of all kinds, and we have to do what we can to protect ourselves. But in circumstances like Iraq, it's very, very difficult, and we would ask journalists of any kind -- particularly freelancers, particularly independent journalists -- think twice, four times, 10 times before going to Iraq.

Some journalists have to be there; the coverage has to come out. But if you cannot afford the proper training, the proper education, the proper experience, the proper wherewithal, the proper resources, really think twice about going.

O'BRIEN: This case of Enzo Baldoni does hearken back to the case of Daniel Pearl, the "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was kidnapped in Pakistan and ultimately executed.

One of the lessons that came out of that one, as I recall, was that, you know, as a reporter is doing his job well and getting closer and closer to the story, his peril rises commensurately, doesn't it?

PINDER: That's absolutely true. And the frightening thing, particularly about the Danny Pearl case, is you've got to go out and meet sources. You've got to go out and meet informants. And Danny did that, and this is what happened. He was sucked into a trap.

We don't know enough about this recent case. Was he picked up as a reporter? We think probably not in this case. He was probably targeted as a foreigner, and it emerged later that he was a reporter. However, we mustn't forget that once they knew he was a reporter, they then proceeded to kill him anyhow. It didn't make any difference.

But there might be a slight difference over-targeting here. Not much of a reassurance, but perhaps something.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here -- we don't have a lot of time -- it's a big question, though. But aren't we all less well served by the media in this environment? Are we not getting as good a story as we should?

PINDER: I think it's undoubtedly true that the work of the media has been constricted. We're undoubtedly not getting the picture as full as it should be.

But when you have circumstances in which the messenger is the person being targeted, the messenger is a person being killed, it's inevitable. And it's punishing us all. Everybody who believes in the free flow of information suffers with horrible acts like this. And we really are struggling to know what to do about it.

O'BRIEN: Rodney Pinder, thank you very much for your time, and we wish you well in your endeavors to make all journalists safe as they do this very dangerous work. Thank you for your time.

PINDER: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

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