The price paid in lives by journalists to report from dangerous war zones and oppressive regimes keeps going up, as new figures being gathered by international news safety organisations keep showing. POLIS has a special afternoon of discussion about journalism safety in conflict zones this Friday – get in touch if you want to come along. But there is another price paid by conflict correspondents in the way that war reporting ruins your home life. “Bearing Witness”, a fantastic film about five female journalists covering Iraq shown at the Frontline Club, paid telling testimony to the way that being a war correspondent can be bad for your health and happiness. It was fascinating to see how top foreign reporters like Marie Colvin and Janine Di Giovanni related the personal to the professional in what was a candid portrayal of life at war. I’m sure the film won’t put off aspiring war reporters of either gender but it reminds us of the pressures put upon journalists, who are, allegedly, only human.
And don’t forget we’re holding a public debate on the state of War Reporting with Sir Malcom Rifkind, the BBC’s David Loyn and SKY News’ Adrian Wells at the LSE at 6.30pm on Friday September 29th.
Both those events are kindly sponsored by the BBC’s College of Journalism.
