Google Saves Australian Reporter in Iraq

Posted on October 21, 2004

John Martinkus, an Australian reporter working in Iraq, was captured by insurgents. Being kidnapped in Iraq is either a death sentence or a long wait until a ransom is paid; it just depends on whether you are kidnapped by criminals or by terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Fortunately for Martinkus, his kidnappers logged on to one of the Internets and searched his name.

After finding information that proved Martinkus was who said he was (a journalist) they let him go. Martinkus' executive producer told the Associated Press that they "Googled him and then went onto a Website - either his own or his book publisher's Website, I don't know which one - and saw that he was who he was, and that was instrumental in letting him go, I think, or swinging their decision."

This was a lucky break for Martinkus who said his kidnappers had promised to kill him before they found out who he was and set him free. Although Martinkus was lucky, reporting from Iraq remains a dangerous business. Over fifty journalists have been killed in the country so far.