Title: The international protection of journalists in armed conflict and other violent situations
Abstract: Media reporting of armed conflict and other situations of heightened violence has become increasingly perilous, with large numbers of journalists and other media personnel killed or deliberately targeted because of their professional work, including by government forces and non-government actors. The serious risks to the safety of media personnel raise questions about the adequacy and enforcement of the international legal frameworks available to protect them. This article examines the range of complicated, interlocking normative and institutional frameworks which govern media personnel and media objects in international and non-international armed conflict, and in violent emergency situations beneath the threshold of conflict, with a focus on international humanitarian law and human rights law. The legal characterisation of a violent situation has important implications for the status and treatment of media personnel, whether they are ‘war correspondents’, ‘embedded’ reporters, or independent journalists. This article reviews and clarifies the circumstances in which journalists and their equipment are protected from hostilities and when they may lose protection from attack; the measures of security, detention or restriction to which they may be subject; issues of professional privilege and confidentiality; and the perennial discussion about whether journalists should receive a special status and emblem in conflict situations.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 11
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