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WASHINGTON, March 16: Four journalists from The New York Times, including a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, have gone missing in eastern Libya, where rebels are battling Muammar Qadhafi's forces, the newspaper said on Wednesday.
The White House warned Middle Eastern governments, meanwhile, that American reporters should not be harassed or detained, and Britain's Guardian reported that a reporter for the newspaper had been freed from detention in Libya.The New York Times said editors at the newspaper were last in contact with the four experienced war correspondents on Tuesday morning New York time.
The Times said it had received “second-hand reports” that members of its reporting team in the port city of Ajdabiya had been “swept up by Libyan government forces” but this could not be confirmed.
“We have talked with officials of the Libyan government in Tripoli, and they tell us they are attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of our journalists,” the newspaper quoted Times executive editor Bill Keller as saying.
“We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that, if our journalists were captured, they would be released promptly and unharmed,” Keller said.
“Their families and their colleagues at The Times are anxiously seeking information about their situation, and praying that they are safe,” he added.
The Times said the missing journalists included Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, a two-time winner for foreign reporting of the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious US journalism award.—AFP
