Sickening, cannot understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now

This is the final report by Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin who was killed in Homs today. The title of the post is apparently the last message she sent to a friend.

She died alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik when the house they were staying in was struck by Syrian artillery. American journalist Paul Conroy was injured.


The international press is currently posting tributes to a woman who was by all accounts one of the modern greats of her profession.

Remi Ochlik

Two years ago when speaking at a memorial dinner for journalists killed in the line of duty she said:

Craters. Burned houses. Mutilated bodies. Women weeping for children and husbands. Men for their wives, mothers, children. Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice.

We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado? Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices.

Sometimes they pay the ultimate price

 Sadly she and Remi paid that price. According to the Journalists Memorial website, They were the fourth and fifth journalists to die  the course of duty this year. They join Mukarram Khan Atif (Pakistan), Hassan Osman Abdi (Somalia) and Enenche Godwin Akogwu (Nigeria) in death. In time all of them will be added to the reporter's memorial in Bayeux