The Fear of Living Dangerously: Journalists who Report on Conflict

Abstract

Overwhelmingly the images and narratives of war and confl ict in various parts of the world are constructed in the imagination of policy makers and the general public by journalists in the fi eld. But how do journalists operate ‘in the fi eld’? This article is based on an analysis of journalists' autobiographies. It examines how war reporters refl ect on their life and motives, their experiences and their work. How do the dangers and fears that they face impact upon the ‘truths’ that they construct? How are Western journalistic notions of truth and objectivity understood and kept at the core of the war correspondent? How do gender dynamics impact upon the lives of journalists and, as a consequence, on their work and therefore on popular understandings of particular confl icts, and of confl ict in general? Finally, the article focuses on ‘witnessing’ in the changed circumstances of war, and how that affects journalists and journalism.