Iraq was such a big and important story that it was important for the media to be there to hold to account the British and US involvements there, Rory Carroll said at the press conference.
Recounting his kidnap ordeal, Carroll still maintained it was vital for the media to remain.
He said there would be a series of meetings in the Guardian next week about the situation.
"It has obviously raised the bar for us in terms of the way we'll approach Iraq as a story," he said.
Certainly they were going to have to continue reporting from the country because Iraq was such a big story.
"That's why it is so important to be there, especially given the British and American involvements there. They need to be held to account for what is happening on a daily basis, the good as well as the bad things. It is vital that there is still strong media presence in Iraq," he said.
He added a proviso: "Having said that, no story is worth a life really, so it's a matter of trying to get the balance right between security precautions and actually getting information."
Some of his colleagues left behind were curtailing their own movements at the moment. One part of the city in which they had been able to operate was out of bounds as they expected there could be other kidnap attempts against western journalists.
"I would like to go back at some point to Iraq but I think in the short to medium term it's not going to happen. I think it would be irresponsible for me to go back," he said.
Asked if it was more dangerous there now for journalist, he said it was a difficult question to answer because the situation was so fluid and information was incomplete.
"It's not one consistent downward slide of insecurity, things do get better. Oddly enough, at times of big events like the referendum, security can get a lot better for a period so that you can get out and about a bit. So at the moment it is a lot worse now than it was a couple of months ago, but it's probably more or less the same as it was a year ago," he said.
On his home-coming Carroll said: "It's fantastic to be home, it has been a real roller-coaster."
He could not believe it was only four or five days ago. "Since I've been released actually, the pace seems to have intensified. I've been bundled like a package from one country to another, one embassy to another and it's gone from being quite dramatic to, from this point of view, I'm verging on enjoying the attention.
"Everywhere you go there's cameras and your picture in the paper, cameras. I'm hoping it will be over by tomorrow."
Asked if he felt fortunate to be here, he replied: "Fantastically fortunate, there's no question, To be kidnapped in Baghdad as a westerner is not good news. So not only is it a relief to be alive but to be released so swiftly, it's extraordinary."
He expressed his gratitude to the Irish, British and Iraqi governments and to the Guardian for securing his release.
"They all did wonders, they responded extremely swiftly, they launched a very effective campaign to get me out," he said. "They understood that the first 48 hours were crucial and they did, as far as I can see, everything right."
His family also had been through the mill.
He never stopped stressing his Irishness to his captors as he was guessing the kidnap was connected to the tension between British forces and Shia military men in the south of Iraq in Basra.
When he heard he was on Al-Jazeera (the Arab satellite television station) and the BBC when he was in his dark dungeon, he said: "I was kind of mortified then . . . because I never wanted to be a news story."