Security and Safety of Media Professionals

With each conflict, the price paid by local journalists and foreign correspondents is becoming heavier. After respect has been paid to the victims for their courage, people are asking increasingly urgent questions. Have the countries, the international organizations, and media institutions put in place all possible means to limit the risks incurred by war correspondents?

Can reporters be efficiently prepared, and by whom, to face the dangers? In the past 10 years, nearly 350 journalists have been killed in conflict zones, with the majority of journalists dying not in crossfire, but rather by being hunted down and murdered, often in direct reprisal for their reporting.

Particular attention should be given to safety of local journalists. A specific goals of any security strategy should be to provide safety training for local journalists, as international journalists are often heavily equipped and protected. It is the local journalist who is the most vulnerable. Promotion of international standards for safety training and equipment, and the expansion of access to risk-awareness training for journalists and media staff is another way to address this issue.