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From what I've read, there are a few details omitted from this story. One of them is that uniformed Iraqis were present and visible on the hotel itself, supposedly providing some security to the journalists.

Whether there was shooting coming from the hotel is irrelevant. The troops thought that the hotel was being used by Iraqis as a forward observation post to call for and adjust supporting arms. That is a legitimate target regardless of whether or not direct fire is emanating from the building itself. The soldiers on the scene see guys with binoculars and members of the Iraqi military. Probably some antennae as well. That would certainly look like an OP to the nervous troops who are on the receiving end of those supporting arms. So they request permission to shoot, its given, and they fire.

The actions of the LCol. who was trying to ensure that this did not happen, bear out that this was just a mistake, not a conscious effort to kill journalists. Sadly, troops have mistakenly killed some of their own out of a mistaken belief that they were firing at the enemy. That's the kind of stuff that happens in the fog of war, and when you're scared. The only explanation for the presumption of malice in this case is anti-American bias.

You nailed it.

Those journalists were too stupid for words. They were out on balconies watching the show when the Iraqi lines were behind them and the US lines in front of the them? I suppose they would have stayed in their hotel rooms during the Battle of Berlin expecting to come through without a scratch. Sheesh.

...this was just a mistake, not a conscious effort to kill journalists.

Let me see . . . a 15 story building, and they shot it one time. Oh, and there were definitely observers there, and there was definitely aimed, corrected fire coming in on them that demonstrated there was an observer around somewhere - an observer high enough up to maintain fire correction even when the U.S. forces moved.

Frankly, I think it's just fine to leave people with the impression they should avoid even an impression of doing something that might be a threat to U.S. forces in a war zone.

There's an analogous situation in "Oath of Fealty" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. When the 'fake' perps - who are merely doing something that looks like a threat - are killed, one of the characters had the perfect epitaph line.

Think of it as evolution in action!