【Nanfang Daily】War Correspondents: Are They Trading Lives for News?

"If your picture isn’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” This famous saying comes from the well known war photojournalist Robert Capa. However, this year, on February 22, another two war correspondents lost their lives precisely because they were too close.

The death of these war correspondents earns many people’s respect and sympathy. But a larger number of people cannot understand it. They wonder if it is worthwhile to sacrifice their own lives for news in the war. In order to get the battlefield news, is disregarding their lives the only way to find justice? Zhang Zhian, the associate professor from the School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University, opposed them to take risks. He says, the criteria for a good war reporter is that, the better the war reporter is, the better he can try to protect himself in the battlefield. Protecting himself during the exploration of news is protecting both his life and the life of this career. It is the premise of this occupation to sustain and develop. Extraordinary war correspondents need to avoid risks, especially those endanger their lives.

News is precious, life is even more valuable

Many war journalists disregard their safety and lives to go as close as they can to get the news. Zhang Zhian, the associate professor from the School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University, believes that journalists who lost their lives in the battlefield in order to expose truth, like Colvin, are very estimable. But the concept of trading life for news is not appropriate. In journalism, there is never a concept like that. No news is as precious as a human’s life. Therefore, this idea should not exist in the first place, let alone be advocated.

He also says, the value and significance of war journalists lie in the fact that they risk their lives to report at the battlefront. They expose the real situation in the war, the mutilation to the innocent people, and the reasons behind the war. They not only give a country the right to be informed, but let people around the world know the war scene vividly and instantly. War journalists are the most honorable group among all kinds of journalists for they face danger all the time. To a journalist, scene is the biggest attraction and a scene with danger is always the closest place to truth, which is exactly the charm of this profession. It is just like mountaineering, dangers are everywhere but many people still choose to climb. If you ask them, they may answer the mountain is always there whether you climb it or not. “For a war correspondent, the news is always there, too.”