Most journalists, even those covering national security, file their stories from a safe location and the biggest threat they face comes from a grouchy editor. But for those who venture abroad as foreign correspondents, there are no guarantees they will return home safely.
For war reporters covering the military, the threats these journalists face are often the same as the ones facing the troops they cover. To cover these types of beats safely, journalists need more than a strong portfolio– they need hostile-environment and security training.
Most training courses are taught by current or retired military personnel. Journalists learn how to protect themselves in hazardous areas by learning in a classroom as well as in the field.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an organization that aims to protect journalists around the world, and in protecting them, promotes freedom of the press.
While hostile-environment and emergency-first-aid courses aren’t cheap– five-day courses can cost $3,000 or more– they become invaluable when the skills a journalist learns there save his life.
According to the CPJ’s annual “Journalist Security Guide,” the first step reporters must take, no matter if they are in a war zone or covering riots like those during the Arab Spring, should be to get the right gear.
In the same way that a good reporter always his notebook, a working pen and a camera, foreign correspondents should always have what they need to protect themselves as best as they can.
Eric Eckstrom, a Medill graduate student, received first-hand training from Centurion, a risk assessment training program for journalists.
“There’s only so much classroom exposure can offer. It was something there was no way you could substitute it with talking about it. You have to go through it to understand what it is,” Eckstrom said.
The committee recommends all reporters covering war zones wear full-suit body armor, including a vest that could stop high-velocity bullets shot from military rifles. But all body armor is not created equal, and even the best products can’t give their owners 100 percent peace of mind that they can’t be injured or killed.
Reporters need to take very good care of their armor overseas and pay attention to how its cared for. Human sweat, for example, can deteriorate Kevlar, a material commonly found in body armor.
After gearing up, the next important decision for a foreign correspondent to make is where they will be reporting from. Journalists have two options when covering wars: they can “embed” with a military unit and report straight from the front lines, or they can do their reporting independent of military forces.
While embedding with a unit has typically been safer than reporters who are working on their own without the extra protection, CPJ statistics show 15 journalists who were embedded with military units died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Security training courses should also verse journalists with the rules of war.”No civilian, even a journalist, may be legally targeted by any forces,” the CPJ’s security guide reads. But in spite of it, 947 journalists have been killed since 1992.
Not all of them were killed in combat zones, to be sure, but journalists embedded with units can be fired upon or taken as prisoners of war.
For some journalists fresh out of school, the appeal of reporting overseas can outweigh the risks involved. Frank Smyth, senior adviser for journalist security at CPJ said young reporters should take advantage of opportunities to report overseas, so long as they are very aware of their motivations.
Some journalists may put themselves in risky situations for the sake of the glory that will come with it.
“Every high-risk decision brings the potential of lasting, positive impact, and the possibility of permanent, tragic loss,” Smyth wrote in his blog titled “Should J-School grads just get up and go overseas?” “Experience can better help you discern between duty, ego, and adrenaline.”
Female journalists often face the additional risk of sexual assault. CBS correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and assaulted in Cairo after she was separated from her crew in 2011.
Judith Matloff, a Columbia University journalism professor and former foreign correspondent said there are some steps women can take to try and avoid situations where they could become victims of sexual assault, and knowing the local language and customs is key.
“A colleague told me that if you went out with your hair wet in Iraq it had a sexual connotation,” Matloff said.
