bw284116@ohio.edu
Courtesy: http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/articles/2015/2/2/war-reporting-comes-at-a-price/_jcr_content/mainpar/adaptiveimage/src.adapt.480.low.gorantomasevic_1.jpg
The coverage of war can be quite compelling. You will face multiple ethical decisions as a journalist on what to report and it can be hard in these times. There are many stakeholders that go into each decision. You have to take into account the soldiers, the citizens of the country the war is in, families of the soldiers and the right you hold to provide truth to the citizens you are reporting for.
In many cases, it is the images and the videos that provide the most insight into what is happening in the war. People may pay attention to the articles and the voice-overs for a video, but for the most part it is what you show visually that will grab people's attention. Photographers and Videographers alike are in similar situations.
What should they post?
The images they do show to the public can not be unseen. As a viewer or reader of the coverage, you will get some sense of what the military is going through. You can also view it from the perspective of a civilian. What's their every day like? What are they seeing? Both questions can be responded to by journalists' coverage of the war while being in a war zone.
A factor that journalists have to deal with while covering the war is their own personal safety. According to Newssafety.org, a journalist must come fully prepared from a mental and physical standpoint. Some ways you would be able to do that are by knowing common phrases in the country you speak in. Also, wear civilian clothing, so you can fit in with the locals.
When in the war zone, you have the ability to share the news that no one else can see.
Sure people can report about the politics happening around the war and what each side is fighting for, but if you are on fighting grounds you are able to uncover happenings that no one has seen before. No better example of this than the stories done by Seymour Hesh. This showed some really dark times in the war that no one would have known about if there had not been a journalist willing to go into combat.
A more recent report shows that the UK is covering up war crimes. According to the Guardian, there has been abuse by the British Army. This would be the story that could have first-hand accounts if there was a journalist there to cover it. They would be able to provide first-hand accounts of the situation happening in the Middle East with the British Army.
All in all, there should be a lot of credit given to journalists that are willing to enter into a war zone. You hear a lot of news about the war from people sitting in studios or reporting in front of government buildings, but it is the ones who can provide material from those first-hand experiences that give you a glimpse of what truly is happening in times of war.
In many cases, it is the images and the videos that provide the most insight into what is happening in the war. People may pay attention to the articles and the voice-overs for a video, but for the most part it is what you show visually that will grab people's attention. Photographers and Videographers alike are in similar situations.
What should they post?
The images they do show to the public can not be unseen. As a viewer or reader of the coverage, you will get some sense of what the military is going through. You can also view it from the perspective of a civilian. What's their every day like? What are they seeing? Both questions can be responded to by journalists' coverage of the war while being in a war zone.
A factor that journalists have to deal with while covering the war is their own personal safety. According to Newssafety.org, a journalist must come fully prepared from a mental and physical standpoint. Some ways you would be able to do that are by knowing common phrases in the country you speak in. Also, wear civilian clothing, so you can fit in with the locals.
When in the war zone, you have the ability to share the news that no one else can see.
Sure people can report about the politics happening around the war and what each side is fighting for, but if you are on fighting grounds you are able to uncover happenings that no one has seen before. No better example of this than the stories done by Seymour Hesh. This showed some really dark times in the war that no one would have known about if there had not been a journalist willing to go into combat.
A more recent report shows that the UK is covering up war crimes. According to the Guardian, there has been abuse by the British Army. This would be the story that could have first-hand accounts if there was a journalist there to cover it. They would be able to provide first-hand accounts of the situation happening in the Middle East with the British Army.
All in all, there should be a lot of credit given to journalists that are willing to enter into a war zone. You hear a lot of news about the war from people sitting in studios or reporting in front of government buildings, but it is the ones who can provide material from those first-hand experiences that give you a glimpse of what truly is happening in times of war.
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