Syria and why it’s hard to report the ongoing war
As the war in Syria persists, journalists seem to take less interest in the country, but I believe it is essential to continue to send foreign journalists to know the whole truth about this never-ending war. But mostly to make sure it doesn’t fall into the forgotten wars basket. Reporting in war zones is essential for public interest and shouldn’t be done by biased actors in the conflict. War zones must always have journalists on the field to be our eyes and ears.
In fact, the conflict in Syria is a great example of a very difficult conflict to cover and where objectivity is hard to achieve. Journalists have had a hard time entering the country. They have tried to sneak in from different places to be able to report the crisis. Foreign journalists risk their lives everyday and even Syrian and Citizen journalists risk their lives in trying to tell the whole world what is happening in the country.
The struggle for journalists to cover a war zone such as the Syrian civil war makes it very difficult to get an objective point of view of the crisis and therefore understand its complexity. Citizen journalists are in my opinion essential to promulgate what is happening on their territory, but their sensitivity and proximity to the conflict doesn’t make them independent journalists. It is therefore essential to find out if there is a hidden message in the information they are giving away. That is why traditional journalists must be critical when receiving this crucial information or else false information will spread like wildfire. When receiving a video of an explosion for example, it is important to know who is behind the camera, where are we and what does this person has to gain by showing this video.
Overall, reporting a conflict zone requires objectivity so the more journalists (traditional and citizen) reporting from a war zone, the better the conflict will be covered. Even if they become targets, it is essential to go there. Like the French photographer, Marie Colvin, who was killed in Homs last February once said about war reporting: “You can’t get that information without going to places where people are being shot at, and others are shooting at you.”
I didn’t have the chance to go to Syria, but I went to visit the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan where thousands of Syrian have been living there for may months. You can read my post in the next few days in French and in English.