The number of embedded reporters in Iraq has hit an all-time low, CNSNews.com has found.

'There were just 39 embedded reporters covering Iraq in September 2008 compared to 219 in September 2007, a decline of 82 percent,' the organisation says. 'The drop in the number of reporters appears to coincide with the success of the U.S. strategy in the country.'

Has the Iraq story fallen off the radar of news organisations? Christoph Bangert, who spent more than nine months in Iraq freelancing for The New York Times and working on his latest book Iraq: The Space Between, told BJP in a previous interview that a lot of things still happen in Iraq, but 'there are too few photographers there to capture it. There are no freelancers, because they cannot afford the security. Only the New York Times, Time or photo agencies send in photographers. Newspapers all want great pictures, but they don't want to spend the money to send somebody there to supply them.'

Some photographers continue to go back. Russian Yuri Kozyrev is back in Iraq for the US elections. 'Iraq is still at the top of news,' he told BJP. 'It's still the main story.'

But is it? The economy, and to a lesser extent, the war in Afghanistan seem to have taken over the news agenda. Does that mean that the Iraq war is over? It appears unlikely, especially since the current Iraqi government seems reticent to approve a security deal with the US. And, the upcoming Iraqi elections might even bring back sectarian sentiments that have been at the centre of the violence in the years preceding the US surge. Surely, if the security takes a turn for the worse, reporters and photographers will flock back to Iraq.