Joe Raedle, a 45-year-old South Florida-based photographer for Getty Images has been missing since Saturday in Libya, along with two Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists, Dave Clark, 38, and Roberto Schmidt, 45. They were last heard from on Friday night, when they emailed AFP with their plans to head into the eastern Tobruk region to meet with refugees and rebels opposing the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.
Raedle is a former staff photographer for the Sun-Sentinel with years of experience covering war zones. His wife, Nancy San Martin, is the interactive editor of The Miami Herald.
"[H]e's been in these situations before," she told the Sun-Sentinel. "He knows how to deal with it."
Schmidt also has ties to South Florida. Both he and Raedle are graduates of the University of Miami. They join the growing number of journalists who have been reported missing of detained in Libya.
Four New York Times journalists have been arrested and held in Tripoli. On Friday, Qaddafi's son said they would be released but that's the last we've heard regarding their situation. Al Jazeera also said that four of its reporters were detained by authorities in the capital, just days after one of their cameramen was killed. It's looking pretty dangerous for journalists in Lybia, but a free press is essential to achieve the democratic changes that its people seek.
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