Is Geraldo Endangering Other Journalists?

By C. Young

12/12/2001 at 06:10 PM EST

Fox News Channel correspondent Geraldo Rivera is finding himself under the gun (so to speak) for carrying weapons while he reports from Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press. "I haven't had a shower in two weeks and I have to defend whether I'm carrying a six-shooter?" the former talk show host said to the AP. "It's ridiculous." Though Rivera says he and his two guards are traveling with five guns because he fears for his life -- especially since at least eight journalists have been killed in the war zone since U.S. began bombing in October -- his policy violates Geneva Convention rules stating that journalists should go unarmed in war zones to distinguish them clearly from combatants. In addition, some fellow journalists are criticizing Rivera. "If word gets out that a journalist is carrying a gun, it makes it difficult for everyone. (It could make soldiers) look at reporters, particularly American reporters, as some kind of opponent. The whole point of being a journalist is to be detached," says Peter Arnett, a former war correspondent for the AP and CNN. Arnett adds that he hopes Rivera has weapons training: "I wouldn't want to be near him if he opened up." But Rivera remains unrepentant: "It's been blown way out of proportion. It makes me sound like a tabloid talk show host goes to war. It's so unfair."