Dangerous out there

From NPPA.org, the website of the National Press Photographers Association:

The environment journalists are working in has shifted from one of a post-storm rescue and recovery to one that’s more akin to urban warfare. Tonight’s news reports a desperate situation in New Orleans that is spiraling out of control, with fighting breaking out among the hurricane survivors, more looting and gunfire, reports of anarchy in many areas, and more bodies floating in the waterways and in the debris. Today there were reports of rapes taking place in and around the Superdome while outside the Convention Center bodies litter the sidewalks. More dead have been dragged to the corners of the building, the Associated Press reports, as there are no resources to deal with picking up the dead. Amidst this chaos and growing tension, photojournalists find themselves working in a growingly hostile environment where they are less welcome today than yesterday.

According to the article, written by Donald R. Winslow and posted yesterday, journalists’ worries are not limited to what could happen to them at the hands of roving mobs. One photographer reportedly was knocked to the ground by police after he took pictures of them shooting at and beating suspected looters.