Half of the journalists reporting from Syria are freelancers, possibly because they are more willing to take risks others would not, or would not be allowed to. Sotloff who was Jewish had developed an abiding interest in the Middle East and spent time in Yemen to study Arabic. He had covered the conflicts in Egypt, Libya and Syria from where he was abducted in August 2013 near the city of Aleppo and held in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. Foley was taken by ISIS militants in November 2012. “Journalists know that covering war is inherently dangerous and that they could get killed in crossfire. But being butchered in front of a camera simply for being a reporter is pure barbarism,” Joel Simon, executive director Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. Thirty-six journalists have been killed so far this year, 14 of them in combat crossfire. Reporters Without Borders said 71 were killed in 2013. Syria has been the most dangerous country in the world for journalists for more than two years, CPJ said. At least 70 other journalists have been killed covering the conflict there. More than 80 journalists have been kidnapped in Syria, and CPJ estimates that approximately 20 journalists are currently missing in Syria— most of them believed to be held by ISIS—the majority of whom are Syrian. No doubt the US has vowed to avenge the killing of the two American journalists. President Barak Obama warned that America’s “reach is long and that justice will be served”. US Vice President Joe Biden said ISIS would be pursued “to the gates of hell”. The US has carried out more than 150 air strikes against ISIS in Iraq so far. ISIS which also calls itself Islamic State and ISIL has attracted young recruits in the hundreds, worryingly, some from India as well. CIA intelligence reports released Friday said that ISIS currently had 31,000
fighters in Syria and Iraq. The radical jihadist group is thought to have recruited thousands of foreign nationals from 81 countries. Stretches of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq are now under ISIS control, with the Islamist group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi bent upon
setting up a caliphate. Journalism vs promotionalism Journalism has seen some major transformations in recent years. Buried in the all-nclusive term “media”, news journalism has taken the worst beating. When the digital age was just setting in, rendering the word “press” virtually redundant, the first signs of change wafted into the news rooms with Page3. ‘Lifestyle journalism’, much of it puerile fluff, is now de rigeur. The internet and mass media explosion would soon ensure anyone could become a desktop journalist. Have connectivity, have your say, post your story. The immediacy of the 24×7 news channels posed an even bigger challenge to the print media. How would the newspapers stay relevant when the story had already played itself out over so many hours of shrill shouting? But in India, the news print media has not only survived, but thrived. Noise parading as news can only go thus far, apparently… Till a few years ago, most national papers made it a point to depute correspondents to the remotest corners of the country to cover a general election. Some of the more serious ones still do. Others have abdicated that responsibility to the TV channels, most of them now in the hands of the country’s biggest corporate houses and in South India, the warring political factions. It isn’t difficult to figure out the extent of journalistic independence and professionalism that will be allowed in corporate controlled news entities. Among journalists, we often debated the merit of “air-dropping” reporters to cover an election or a major disaster miles away in another part of the country. Wouldn’t the parachuting reporter be at a serious disadvantage vis-a-vis a local reporter who was knowledgeable about the political nuances? Over the years I’ve seen the best media stories have come out not from those posturing from the comforts of their studios or those spewing views in the guise of news, but from reporters who’ve been willing to hit the ground, cover ground, and quite simply to go out there to get the real facts first hand, rather than pick up the dressed up details second hand. And the more objectivity and neutrality the better.
Which is why in the twitterage of instant
gratification, it is so important to remember
reporters driven by the pure passion for
journalism like James Foley and Steven
Sotloff.
