Journalists killed in Libya

April 21, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

MISRATA, Libya

Barely two months ago, combat photographer Tim Hetherington sent out a Tweet from the Academy Awards ceremony, where his Afghanistan war film “Restrepo” was up for the best documentary trophy.

“At the Oscars w/ Josh Fox of (at) gaslandmovie and director of Wasteland,” he messaged, referring to two of his fellow nominees in the category. The Tweet was accompanied by a photo of Hetherington, beaming, in a tuxedo.

Last Tuesday, Hetherington sent out a very different report from the shattered and besieged Libyan city of Misrata: “Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO.”

Those starkly dissimilar dispatches reflected two disparate but complementary sides of Hetherington, 41, who was killed Wednesday in an explosion believed to have been caused by a mortar round in Misrata. The rebel-held city in western Libya has been under siege for several weeks by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The same mortar blast fatally wounded Chris Hondros of Getty Images, a veteran combat photographer whose work appeared on the front page of Wednesday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times, as well as Thursday’s edition.

Hondros, 41, suffered a severe head injury in the blast and was taken to a hospital, where he died several hours later.

Hondros had received multiple awards, including war photography’s highest honor, the 2005 Robert Capa gold medal. His work in Liberia had earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination.