The media has paid too high a price in areas of conflict

Members of the Johannesburg Press Club were deeply saddened to learn of the recent death of the South African photographer, Anton Hammerl who was shot and killed by Libyan government forces near Brega in eastern Libya earlier this year. Furthermore, the club’s members are most concerned about the well-being of other journalists and photographers working in similar areas of conflict around the world.

“Since the very first day that people engaged in combat, messengers have been used to bring home news from the battle fields,” says Clare van Zwieten, chairperson of the Johannesburg Press Club. “However, since the invention of the telegraph and later the camera, war reporting has become much more immediate and, in recent conflicts, journalists have taken the public into the cockpits of fighter jets and the turrets of tanks.”

Technological advances have seen the vocation of the war reporter evolve into that of a high-risk profession which documents – through words and images – the truth, tragedy and terror from the very frontlines of conflict. Technology allows journalists greater immediacy in their reporting, as well as closer proximity to the actual fighting. An increase in targeted attacks on those covering combat zones also has been witnessed in recent times. This deliberate pattern of violence against journalists should be condemned by all who support press freedom.

Internationally, the media has been paying too high a price in areas of conflict. Reporters without Borders has confirmed that the current civil war in Libya has been particularly deadly for photographers and has called for this and other incidents against journalists to end. It is critical that combat leaders give their troops clear directives on how to deal with the media and to explain to them why it is critical to respect journalists’ duty to society.

The trend towards embedded journalism, where reporters are attached to military units involved in armed conflicts, has led to the “embedded” reporters having to rely on their “hosts” who ultimately direct what gets covered. As a result, the authorities set the scene for the stories that get told. Obviously this is not an environment conducive to objective journalism.

Similarly, the current conflict in Libya has seen Gaddafi’s government severely restricting journalists’ movements, access to people and the situations they cover. In addition, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has described foreign TV stations as “stray dogs” and their foreign minister is on record as stating that journalists who enter Libya “illegally” would be treated by the pro-Gaddafi forces as “agents working for Al-Qaeda”.

Being in these situations prevents journalists from accessing all the facts they require to report as objectively as possible. Over the past decades, there have been numerous well-documented instances of involved parties attempting to take control of that which is featured in the news. Adding to these pressures which hinder objective reporting, journalists are also being warned by authorities not to operate independently.

On the other hand, objective reporting has its risks.  The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented more than 80 attacks on the press since political unrest erupted in Libya. These include five fatalities, at least three serious injuries, 50 detentions, 11 assaults, two attacks on news facilities, the jamming of news agency transmissions, many instances of obstruction and the expulsion of international journalists, as well as the interruption of internet and mobile communications.

Van Zwieten says: “Anton Hammerl is one of the many brave reporters who put their lives at risk in the service of truth and objectivity. In his devotion to capture imagery from all sides of the conflict in Libya, he paid the highest price for adhering to journalistic codes of conduct and for carrying out his professional duties.

News organisations and institutions such as the Johannesburg Press Club have a responsibility to highlight, without caution, all incidents and consequences of violence against journalists acting in the public interest. The Johannesburg Press Club strongly condemns the killing of South African photographer Anton Hammerl in Libya and joins in worldwide demands for the repatriation of his remains to his family.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) points out that under international humanitarian law all parties to a conflict have obligations regarding the missing and the dead. Libya is therefore obliged to take all feasible measures to account for persons reported as missing as a result of fighting and to provide their family members with all information it has regarding their fate.

Under international humanitarian law, deliberately withholding or providing false information about the fate of an individual in state custody, including someone who has died, may amount to an enforced disappearance. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has held that it is prohibited for states to deliberately withhold from families information on missing relatives.

“Journalism has evolved from merely giving an account of the progress of strife to documenting the processes of combat,” says Mixael de Kock, deputy-chairperson of the Johannesburg Press Club. “As a direct result of this development, we now have the , a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.  This could never have come about without the war reporter’s determination and courage to access the full truth about atrocities and crimes against humanity.”

De Kock concluded: “All of humankind should be responsible for protecting and acknowledging those who expose the excesses of our manmade discord.”