Chris Cramer: Journalists in wars are now considered targets

From a speech delivered at Newsworld Asia in Singapore by the managing director of CNN International

If you were a member of the American armed forces serving in Iraq during March and April of last year, the chances of being killed were approximately one in a 1,000. If you were a member of the media during the same time they were one in 125.

We all need to know that the stakes have changed around the world for those of us in the media. These attacks are no longer unusual. We must accept the fact that the media, particularly those in hostile zones, are no longer the victims of so-called collateral damage, but are more often than not the intended targets. We need to wake up. And then we need to do something about it.

CNN will never allow its journalists to carry firearms, but I see a huge distinction between that and ensuring they are properly protected from those factions who would see us dead rather than do our jobs. Those critics who see it as a precious line crossed in the sand are burying their head in the same sand, I would argue.

There is no precedent for what is happening to our profession at the moment. I predict that many organisations will decide the stakes are too high to report from a war zone like Iraq. They will decide that the attrition rate against journalists and those who we work with is fast becoming so great that we should pull out. Stop reporting - fly back to our cosy head offices and let the agencies do our dirty work for us.

In other words, give in to the very same people who are trying to muzzle us. If this happens, journalism as we know it will have died.