User:Crtew/Richard Wild (journalist)

Richard Wild (ca. 1979 – July 5, 2003), was a a Scottish journalist who worked for ITN and was later a freelancer who lived in London, United Kingdom. He was shot and killed in Baghdad, Iraq while leaving the National Museum of Iraq. Richard Wild was working on a freelance assignment for ITN that was being produced by Michael Burke. Wild was a former soldier and picture researcher who aspired to become a war correspondent.

Personal
Richard Wild was born in 1979 in St. Boswells, Scotland where he attended St.Mary's preparatory school in Melrose. He then moved to Sedburg boarding school in Cumbria. There he was a member of the rugby team and editor of the school newspaper. During his gap year, Richard went to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , where he spent six months as platoon commander and officer. After his time as an officer, he graduated from Jesus College , Cambridge where he studied History. Before setting off to Iraq, Richard had bought £10,000 of camera kit and had managed to secure some commission from various news networks. Following his death in July ,2003, Mr Wild's body was flown back to the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force and landed at Brie Norton in Oxfordshire. Around 500 people attended the funeral for Mr. Wild at Melrose Parish Church. The service was carried out by Reverend Bruce Neill.

Career
A year after his postgraduate study at Cambridge, Richard Wild took his first job with Channel Five News where he did freelance research. His first assignment was researching Palestinians living in Baghdad. During the Iraq War conflict, Richard distributed war footage to Channel Four, Channel Five, and ITV from ITN's studio in London. It was there at ITN where Richard met producer, Richard Burke, that Wild's ambition to be a a war correspondent began to take shape. He worked at ITN for six months until he decided to join the array of freelancers who wanted to breakout in war reporting by filming the aftermath of attacks on Americans in Iraq. Wild's family had pleaded with him not to go and said it was too dangerous to travel to Iraq as an independent freelance journalist. After arriving in Baghdad, he took a freelance assignment working on a feature on looting at the Iraqi Natural History Museum. The story was being produced by Michael Burke for ITN. Richard had intended on working in Iraq for 6 months doing freelance work for multiple news agencies in London, and was set to arrive home in time for Christmas.

Death
On July 5th, 2003, Richard Wild was shot and killed after only being in Iraq for less than two weeks. He was leaving the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, where he went to speak to a group of United States military policeman. Shortly after, Wild was preparing to cross the street, when he was shot in close range from behind. The single, small calibre bullet bullet was fired into the base of his skull. He was taken to the hospital by Iraqi bystanders, but it was determined that he had died almost instantly at the scene. Michael Burke was contacted by the US Military Police after a piece of paper was found in Wild's wallet with his name written on it. Press reports stated that Wild was not carrying a camera or wearing anything that would have identified him as a journalist. It is still unknown who the gunman is and what the motive of the killing was. There is still speculation on if this killing was random or if it was carried out by a contracted assailant. It is possible that he had been mistaken for and targeted as an American soldier due to his cropped hairstyle and height. At the time of Wild's death, the US military wasn't investigating civilian deaths and there was little evidence of his murder. The FCO told Richard Wild's parents that he had been mistaken for an American soldier and shot by an unknown assailant who was part of an angry mob. Robin and Daphne Wild were later contacted by journalist Michael Burke, who said he had spoken to multiple eyewitnesses who described a smartly dressed Iraqi man had been waiting for Richard outside the museum in a car. When Richard emerged, the assailant shot him in the head and hurriedly went back to his car.

Context
Iraq has been known to be a dangerous place for war correspondents. The US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the ouster of the SADDAM Husayn regime caused more tension and violence against Americans. American soldiers were being targeted and killed in broad daylight. Hours after the killing of Richard Wild, an American soldier was critically injured when he was shot in the head at close range while talking to students at Baghdad University Prior to Richard Wild's death, a soldier had been killed the same modus operandi as Wild , while he was looking at DVD's in a store. The U.S. led war in Iraq claimed the lives of at least 150 journalists and 45 media workers in the period between the start of the U.S. led invasion in March 2003 to the declared end of the war in December 2011.

Impact
Richard Wild was the 15th journalist to be killed in Iraq since the conflict of the Iraq War had began on March 20th, 2003. He was also the first journalist to die since U.S. forces had entered Baghdad in April.

Reactions
Stewart Purvis, ITN Chief Executive, said " "In the six months that Richard worked at ITN, he was regarded as a dedicated and popular member of the newsroom team, particularly as he tracked all the material coming into ITN during the Iraq war."

Father Robin Wild said in regards to his sons murder, "Because there is a certain antipathy to the Americans in Baghdad, we can only think that he probably took his share of that antipathy and became a target."

Toby Fisher, one of Richard Wild's roommates, said, ""He was certain that he wanted to report on foreign conflicts. His aims were clear - he wanted to report from the Iraqi perspective. He was in touch with Iraqi exiles in London, and writers and reconstruction groups in Iraq. He passionately wanted to tell the story that the mainstream news companies were ignoring."

Journalist Jason Burke said ,"He wasn't a specialist by any means, but he was approaching it in as professional a manner as someone could with that level of experience. It's not half as dangerous as it sounds, and that day we met we were talking about how little we felt threatened as journalists. I had no sense that he was taking risks. There was nothing in his behaviour or demeanour that he was irresponsible."

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 * telegraph
 * independent
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 * scotsman1
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 * pressgazette
 * theboltonnews
 * bbc4
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 * cpj
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