All the News That’s Worth the Risk: Improving Protection for Freelance Journalists in War Zones
All the News Th at's Worth the Risk: Improving Protection for Freelance Journalists in War Zones
All the News Th at's Worth the Risk: Improving Protection for Freelance Journalists in War Zones
Part of the Criminal Law Commons 0 1
International Law Commons 0 1
Military 0 1
Peace Commons 0 1
National Security Law Commons 0 1
the Transnational Law Commons 0 1
0 Lindsay R. Grossman Boston College Law School
1 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College International and Comparative Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information , please contact
-
Abstract: Although war journalism has existed for centuries, changes in the
nature of armed conflict and its coverage have put the danger for modern journalists
at an all time high. The traditional war correspondent has been replaced in recent
years by the independent freelance journalist. While the former receives the full
protection and financial backing of his respective news organization and the
American military, the latter works on his own, often living in dangerous war
zones with little or no training, insurance, or equipment. This new mode of jou
rnalism has proved especially dangerous in the current conflict in Syria, where
terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State intentionally capture journalists
for use as propaganda pieces and bargaining chips. TheU.S. government and
news organizations worldwide h ave issued policies and entered into agreements
aimed at offering better protection to journalists reporting from dangerous co
nflict zones. Recently, many voices have advocated for legislative amendments to
the Geneva Convention that would establish new protections such as a press
emblem or a special status. This will not solve the problem, however, as the major
players in current conflicts systematically ignore codified law. The most feasible
action to mitigate danger and reduce targeted attacks against jo urnalists is to put
an end to the impunity that has allowed the Islamic State and other violent
military groups to carry out these acts unprosecuted.
INTRODUCTION
Outfitted in a now infamous orange jumpsuit,American freelance journalist
James Wright Foley looked directly into the camera lens onAugust 19, 2014 and
delivered his final words.1 Instructed to kneel in an unknown, desert expanse
* Lindsay R. Grossman is the Editor in Chief for the Boston CollegeInternational &Comparative
Law Review.
1 Rukmini Callimachi, Before Killing James Foley, ISIS Demanded Ransom from U.S. , N.Y. TIMES
(Aug. 20, 2014),
www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/i-spisressed-for-ransom-beforekilling-james-foley.html?_r=0 [https://perma.cc/6QJ5-9HUY] [hereinafter Callimachi, Killing James
Foley]; Rukmini Callimachi, The Horror Before the Beheadings: ISIS Hostages Endured Torture and
Dashed Hopes, Freed Cellmates Say,N.Y. TIMES (Oct. 25, 2014), http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
10/26/world/middleeast/horror-before-the-beheadings-what-isis-hostages-endured-in-syria.html [https://
perma.cc/67QF-52TD] [hereinafter Callimachi, Horror Before the Beheadings]; IS Beheads Captured
American James Wright Foley, Threatens to Execute Steven Joel Sotloff, SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP
(Sept. 3,
2014),https://news.siteintelgroup.com/Jihadist-News/is-beheads-captured-american-jamessomewhere in northern Syria, Foley was brutally beheaded at the hands of ISIS.
Almost two years earlier, in November 2012, Foley had just finished uploading
footage from an Internet café in Binesh, Syria when he stepped outside to hail a
cab.3 He and fellow journalist John Cantlie intended to return to Turkey—a
twenty-five-mile drive from the café—but they would never reach the Turkish
border.4 The men were captured miles into the journey, forced out of the car and
onto the ground at gunpoint by masked militants.5 Foley remained in captivity
for almost two years before his highly publicized death, living in a cell with as
many as twenty -two other Western prisoners and enduring torture that included
frequent beatings, waterboarding, and mock exec utions.6 The video of his death
shocked the world as it circulated the Internet, intended as propaganda for the
Islamic State and retaliation against President Obama and the United States for
targeted airstrikes in Iraq.7
In 2015, at least fifty journalists were murdered in direct retaliation for their
work reporting in war zones. 8 In Syria alone, at least eighty-five journalists have
foley-threatens-to-execute-another.html [https://perma.cc/5VRX-N3D7]. The last sentence spoken by
Foley in a short, presumptively scripted speech captured in the video was, “I guess all in all, I wish I
wasn’t an American.” Chelsea J. Carter, Video Shows ISIS Beheading U.S.JournalistJamesFoley , CNN
(Aug. 20, 2014, 11:17 AM),http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/world/meast/isis-james-foley/ [https://
perma.cc (...truncated)