Journalists in Conflict areas : Syria

Syria is currently the deadliest country for journalists. According to a report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 69 journalists have been killed as a direct result of covering the Syrian conflict since it began in 2011.

It was only after the murder of an American journalist James Foley who was kidnapped in 2012 by Islamist militants that the plight of journalists, both local and international came under attention.

The deaths have far outnumbered those in the rest of the world in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Whether it is the Islamic state, the regime, public or the media itself, the journalists there are not being respected and their roles are being undermined.

The conditions in Syria bring forward the grave picture of both the dangers that the media person face in conflict zones and the importance of their role in bringing out the ground report to the world. They continue to play a major role in informing the public and the policymakers about the nature of the conflict.

As dramatic changes continue to take place in the media landscape, more and more information is emerging from the Syrian conflict than any other. An increasing number of freelancers are coming forward to share the harrowing videos of massacres, bombs and daily lives in a war zone.

However, freelancers are the one who are being hit the worst. According to CPJ statistics, 88% of writers and broadcasters who were killed in recent years were nationals of the immediate region.
Ruqia Hassan, a 30 year old woman citizen journalist who wrote about the daily life in Raqqa, a Syrian city, was recently executed by the ISIS.

Writers and activists of the website “Raqqa is being slaughtered silently” are often attacked and targeted for secretly filming and reporting about ISIS.

Louay Abdul-Jood, a Syrian activist and journalist who was held by the ISIS for six months before being released told Radio Free Iraq correspondent that the prisoners were subjected to extreme mental and physical torture. While Inmates who were journalist were threatened with a knife close to their necks, non-journalists were cut with razors and then rubbed with alcohol.

Local or international, journalists in Syria continue to face all the threats that a Syrian in general is facing. Whether it is the bombings, lack of shelter, protection, food or electricity, the condition of the journalists in the conflict zone is hapless and on top of that they are the ones who are specifically targeted. They are more likely to be on the front lines and are more likely to be injured. Not just the ISIS, but they are also being targeted by the regime which has arrested many journalists in the past, few of whom have died in the jails after being subjected to torture.

Though article 38 of the Syrian constitution provides for freedoms of speech and of the press, there exists no virtual protection in government held areas. Despite having a media law that prohibits a “monopoly on the media,” and guarantees the “right to access information about public affairs,” and bans “the arrest, questioning, or searching of journalists”, in practice , the government bars outlets from publishing content that affects “national unity and national security”. Besides, the areas under ISIS control boasts of enforcing their own legal regime that include provisions pertaining to the media. The media has been subjected to a list of 11 restrictions by the ISIS that requires journalists to swear loyalty to the group’s caliphate. Failing to do so can lead to execution. Such actions are being defined as the “news black holes” that are slowing sucking freedom of press.

By Gaura Naithani

The author is a Mass Communication student from St.Francis College. She has written this article as part of her International relations assignment