Center for Investigative Reporting

theatlantic:

Detained Journalists Released by Libyan Government

The Libyan government has released four journalists to a Tripoli hotel frequented by Western reporters. Clare Morgana Gillis, a freelance reporter writing for The Atlantic and USA Today, was among the freed journalists. She told the Associated Press that all four had been charged with illegally entering the country but that their sentence had been suspended. Gillis said they were all fine.

Also released were American GlobalPost reporter James Foley, Spanish photographer Manuel Brabo, and British freelance reporter Nigel Chandler. Gillis, Foley, and Brabo had been detained by Libyan government forces on April 5 while reporting from the front lines near Brega.

We’re overjoyed to hear that Clare has been released safely. Read more at The Atlantic

[AP/Darko Bandic]

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi survived a NATO airstrike in Tripoli late Saturday night that killed his youngest son and three of the colonel’s grandchildren, a Libyan government spokesman announced early Sunday. via The New York Times

Learn more about the Qaddafi family in a PBS NewsHour guide.

(via Guide to the Gadhafis | PBS NewsHour | March 3, 2011 | PBS)

abcworldnews:

War Photographer Tim Hetherington Killed in Libya Attack
*Above is a photo taken by Tim Hetherington, the picture won him the World Press Photo of the Year. 

Award-winning war photographer Tim Hetherington and Getty photographer Chris Hondros were killed in Misrata, Libya, today in a mortar attack, colleagues told ABC News.

Hetherington, one of the best knownphotojournalists, produced powerful pieces for ABC News’ “Nightline” from the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, and for the documentary “Restrepo,” which won an award at the Sundance film festival last year.

Three other journalists were wounded in the same attack, including Andre Leon and Michael Brown. The identity of the fifth reporter has not yet been confirmed.

“Tim was one of the bravest photographers and filmmakers I have ever met,” said ABC News’ James Goldston, who worked closely with Hetherington as executive producer of “Nightline.”

“During his shooting for the Nightline specials he very seriously broke his leg on a night march out of a very isolated forward operating base that was under attack. He had the strength and character to walk for four hours through the night on his shattered ankle without complaint and under fire, enabling that whole team to reach safety.”

Hetherington was embedded with the Army unit in Afghanistan when Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta put his life on the line to save his comrades. Giunta later became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam.

“Thing about the wars in Afghanistan, they’ve been known as the ghost wars, you know, because not often does one really see the enemy,” Hetherington said of the battle in an interview with ABC News last year.