Article

The price of news from the front line: rethinking the protection of media personnel under international humanitarian law

Freya Foster

• Journal of conflict and security law, Vol. 20, no. 3, Winter 2015, p. 451-480

English

The dangers faced by members of the media in conflict zones are widely acknowledged. This article examines the protections offered to media personnel (journalists and other media workers) under international humanitarian law and suggests that, in light of the valuable role that they play in wartime, the current protections offered to them under international humanitarian law are inadequate. It then examines the feasibility of granting media personnel similar protections to those guaranteed to religious and medical personnel under the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, finding that in light of certain similarities between the work of these personnel and that of journalists in war-zones, many of the protections offered to medical and religious personnel could be extended to media personnel. Although there are certain unique challenges to improving protections under international humanitarian law in the context of journalists, such as the issue of propaganda and defining who should be considered to be a member of the media, this article concludes that it is both possible and justified to increase the level of legal protection offered to media personnel.

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• Journal of conflict and security law
• Journal of conflict and security law [Vol. 20, no. 3, Winter 2015]