The death of NPR photojournalist David Gilkey and Afghan journalist and translator Zabihullah Tamanna is a "huge loss for the tribe of journalists around the world," said Charles Sennott, veteran reporter and executive director of The GroundTruth Project.
"This is about two courageous journalists out on the front lines, doing their job, getting caught in the conflict," he said.
"[Gilkey] was one of those extremely serious-looking guys, but as soon as you were in the field with him and you were joking around, he's one of those guys that really opened up and was funny and was fun to be around," Sennott said.
Sennott pointed out that Tamanna—while also an interpreter for NPR—was a gifted journalist in his own right, and one of the rising numbers of local journalists killed while covering conflicts in their own countries.
"There have been more than 1,200 journalists killed since they began keeping figures on this in the 1990s, and more than 90% are local journalists," Sennott said.
"[We] don't often hear enough about the local and very heroic journalists trying to tell the stories of their country, where they live, and that's the case with Zabi," he continued.
To hear more, tune in to Boston Public Radio above.
