News Wrap for 8/12/08

The Russian-Georgian conflict continues to be the focus of many news outlets this morning. The Associated Press outlines vital statistics from the conflict, which includes our reporting on journalist casualties. McClatchy News Service also cites CPJ in its reporting on the situation. The International News Safety Institute, meanwhile, has an important posting that explains the continued danger for the news media in the region.

At the Olympics censorship concerns in China are again the topic of discussion in various news reports today. The Associated Press quotes CPJ's Bob Dietz in an article about China's restrictive approach toward journalists who attempt to cover stories that are not sports-related. Also, MediaChannel has reprinted our alert from yesterday about the Chinese blocking our Web site.

This morning, Reuters is covering news that the Israeli military has cleared soldiers involved in the death of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, who was killed by tank fire four months ago. The piece quotes CPJ's Joel Campagna as saying that the "findings mean that a journalist with a camera is at risk of coming under fire and there's not that much that can be done. That's unacceptable." Campagna had led CPJ deleation that met previously with Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor to call for a full investigation into Shana's death.