Page 234 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

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Journalists in Peril

Journalism can be a dangerous job. Each year dozens of journalists are killed in
incidents all over the world. Some of the reporters die accidentally in the course
of their work. Many others are murdered for reasons relating to their reporting.
Why has journalism become one of the most dangerous professions on earth?
The amount of risk in the work of a journalist depends on the kind of report-
ing a particular journalist undertakes. Investigative reporters and correspon-
dents who cover armed conflicts face the greatest dangers, but many journalists
make enemies in the course of doing their work. Others find themselves in dan-
gerous places while covering breaking news. As a result, journalism can be con-
sidered one of the world’s most dangerous occupations.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent upsurge in terrorist activity—
and the response to it—have proven to be deadly stories to cover. “Journalists
hoping for a career overseas face perils that did not exist when I began my
foreign coverage in Southeast Asia in the 1950s,” says Peter Arnett, an award-
winning reporter who covered the war in Vietnam as well as the 1991 war in
Iraq. “We . . . rarely faced an issue more dangerous than expulsion,” he explains.
Journalists have traditionally been considered objective observers instead of
participants in a conflict or story, which kept them for the most part from being
targeted for violent actions. But over the past three decades and especially since
the September 11 attacks in 2001, the profession has seen the continual erosion
of its independent status. “Being a journalist used to be a badge of neutrality,
which hopefully would get you safe passage from both sides. Now it’s just the
opposite,” says Susan Bennett of the Freedom Forum, a free press foundation.
Many people now see reporters, like soldiers, as fair game for attack.

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