Broadcasters have begun the process of withdrawing news teams from Iraq as the conflict draws to a close.

ITV News
ITV began with a 58-strong team which has now been reduced to just 16. Trevor McDonald, Bill Neely, Romilly Weeks, James Mates and Mark Austin have all left the region. "We can’t go on covering the story at this level otherwise we would be broke at the end of the year," ITV News editor David Mannion told Broadcast. "Sadly safety has also been an issue... we want to bring as many people out of danger as we can."

BBC News
The BBC said it was to "significantly reduce" the size of its 200-plus team working in the region, mainly taking personnel out of surrounding countries such as Qatar and Kuwait. Rageh Omaar left Baghdad at the weekend and was replaced by Ben Brown and David Wills. "It will go from our biggest ever deployment to something that is still very big," deputy news director Mark damezer told the magazine. "As the story changes we will bring people back [to the UK] but it has got to be flexible."

Sky News
Sky now has only seven correspondents in the region, compared to a total of 20 when the war began. David Chater, Simon McCoy and Jeremy Thompson have been replaced by new correspondents, including Michelle Clifford and foreign affirs editor Tim Marshall.

Channel Four / five
Most correspondents have now been withdrawn. C4's diplomatic correspondent Lindsey Hilsum and her team are returning this weekend.

CNN
The only news network not to have cut back, CNN has said it is keeping its 200-strong team in the Gulf "for the time being."