After The Fire: Journalists, Conflict and Its Impact On Impartiality, Professionalism and Production'

Alan Fisher
After the Fire MA Dissertation
Abstract
Journalists play an important role in shaping perceptions of different conflicts. In an increasingly interconnected world they act as the self appointed eyes and ears of their respective audiences. This interviewbased study seeks to examine what impact exposure to conflict in turn has on journalists and their notions of professionalism, objectivity and impartiality. It looks at how the experience of conflict impacts on journalistic production, practice and reflexivity. And it concludes that emotion is an important factor in what is being reported, adding weight to the argument that journalism is undergoing a paradigmatic shift towards a journalism of attachment.
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Acknowledgements
Id like to thank my tutor Dr Julian Matthews. I would also like to thank the Distance Learning staff in the University of Leicester Communications Department for the help, advice and encouragement over the past two years. I want to acknowledge the support and understanding of my employer, Al Jazeera English and in particular the planning and news desks in London and Doha. I could not possibly have made it this far without the soon-to-be Dr. Nina Bigalke, who began this process as an acquaintance and ended it as a friend. Without her steady judgement in difficult moments, this would have been a tortuous rather than enlightening experience. My fellow student, Camillus OBrien has been an unending source of encouragement on the end of the phone as has my friend, Stephen Jardine. Im grateful to all my interviewees who found time in busy schedules to fit me in, and responded to emails when required. They are good and decent people and I hope this thesis shines some new light on the important work they do.
I must thank my children, Rachel and Scott, for their patience and understanding when trips to the park or swimming pools were set aside so that I could spend more time with my books. And finally but most significantly, there is my wife and best friend Terri. Without her belief, encouragement, and support I would never have come this far. She has been wise and strong and wonderful.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION______________________________________________________________ 5 1.1 THE OBJECT OF STUDY____________________________________________________ 5 1.2 THESIS OUTLINE _________________________________________________________ 6
CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF THE EXISTING LITERATURE _______________________________________ 9 2.1 THE LITERATURE ON OBJECTIVITY _______________________________________ 11 2.1.1 OBJECTIVITY AND THE JOURNALISM OF ATTACHMENT _________________ 15 2.2. DEFINING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE _____________________________________ 17 2.3 THE FINISHED PRODUCT _________________________________________________ 20 2.3.1. EARLY CONFLICTS AND THE ROLE OF THE JOURNALIST __________________ 21 2.3.2. VIETNAM AND THE FALKLANDS ________________________________________ 23 2.3.3. THE GULF, THE BALKANS AND BEYOND _________________________________ 24 2.4 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS JOURNALISTIC HABITUS ________________ 26
CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY _________________________________________________ 30 3.1 DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH QUESTION: MOTIVATIONS FOR STUDYING THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT ON JOURNALISTS ______________________________________ 30 3.2 DESIGNING THE STUDY __________________________________________________ 32 3.2.1 CHOOSING INTERVIEWING AS METHOD__________________________________ 32 3.3 THE RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS ___________________________________________ 34 3.3.1 CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEWS _________________________________________ 34 3.4 ANALYSING THE DATA __________________________________________________ 35 3.5 GENERALISABILITY OF THE RESULTS _____________________________________ 37
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ____________________________________________________ 38 4.1 PERCEPTIONS OF THE PROFESSIONAL _____________________________________ 39 4.1.1 THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT ON PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE _________________ 40 4.1.2 SUMMARY _____________________________________________________________ 43 4.2 THE OBJECTIVITY IDEAL _________________________________________________ 43 4.2.1 IMPARTIALITY, BALANCE AND THE JOURNALISM OF ATTACHMENT _______ 45 4.2.2. THE ARGUMENT AGAINST ATTACHMENT _______________________________ 48 4.2.3. SUMMARY ____________________________________________________________ 50
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4.3. CONFLICT AND THE IMPACT ON PRODUCTION ____________________________ 51 4.3.1 THE EMOTIONAL WITNESS_______________________________________________52 4.3.2 HABITUS AND ITS IMPACT ON PRODUCTION _____________________________ 54 4.3.3 THE SHELTERED AUDIENCE ____________________________________________ 57 4.3.4 SUMMARY _____________________________________________________________ 59
CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH __________________ 61 5.1 THESIS FINDINGS ________________________________________________________ 61 5.1.2 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ________________________________________ 63 5.1.3 SUMMARY _____________________________________________________________ 64
BIBLIOGRAPHY_____________________________________________________________ 65
APPENDIX ONE PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES _________________________________________________ 73 APPENDIX TWO SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE____________________________________________________ 78
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Chapter One Introduction

Our collective idiocy knew no bounds. Our common senselessness was epic. Our unpreparedness was awesome. Truly we were a bunch of nutters, optimists, amateurs and even romantics embarking on these adventures on a wing and a prayer. Martin Bell, The Death of News (2008)
Journalism has a place of great democratic importance. It provides information to the public, and as such, becomes a critical forum of debate. With such a significant role in modern, participatory democratic societies, it is only right that journalism itself is closely scrutinised, analysed and understood. If, as McNair (2008) maintains journalism is a selective account of reality, it is important to understand what factors play a part in the selection, what influences are brought to bear.
1.1 The Object of Study

This thesis will examine the role conflict has when it comes to journalistic practice and its impact on journalists who cover it. Specifically it will view the impact exposure to conflict has on concepts of professionalism, objectivity and impartiality and how, allied to other factors, that may alter the production of the news text placed before the audience. As a journalist who has covered conflict from Northern Ireland, through the Middle East and Afghanistan to the most recent war in Georgia and the Israeli offensive in Gaza, this is an area which interests me deeply. The importance of the role of journalists at these times and
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in those places should not be underestimated. Tumber (2006) identifies frontline correspondents as essential to the public understanding of war. Journalism has within its power, the ability to move public opinion which in turn can shape and alter public policy. While some academics have looked at the individual strands which form this thesis, here I attempt to bring together impartiality, professionalism and production to address a gap in the existing empirical literature and create a better overall understanding of the practices and motivations of journalists working in conflict zones.
1.2 Thesis Outline

The main argument of this thesis is that conflict has an impact on professionalism and impartiality and therefore on production. In order to develop this argument I have structured the ensuing chapters as follows: Chapter two examines the existing literature on the main topics under discussion. The debate on the concept of objectivity will consider the idea advanced by Schudson (2001), Tuchman (1972) and Hampton (2008) among others that objectivity is a historic, at times ideologically infused concept, which essentially remains unachievable. This concept has become a normative standard in journalistic practice however, and as such, continues to have a significant impact on journalistic practice. It is central to discourses of professionalism outside of as well as within the journalistic community. The institutionally accepted standards which make journalism operationally effective are also discussed and how these may be challenged under the difficult conditions of covering conflict. And through a brief historical review of war reporting there is the acknowledgement
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that emotional responses by journalists impact not only on their lives but on their work, which in turn, shape the final product placed before the public.
Chapter three explains how the research question was formulated. It also introduces the reader to the methodology used to obtain the results. This chapter will explain why a qualitative interview-based approach was considered best in this instance, why other possible data-collection methods were rejected and how the data was coded and analysed. Chapter Four presents the empirical evidence and attempts to answer the key question posed in this thesis, namely if exposure to conflict does have an impact on professionalism, impartiality and production. What has become clear is that while journalists believe that professional practice should remain exactly the same in a conflict zone, the restrictive nature of operating in such a place has an impact on how reporters do their job. Further it is established that while impartiality is desired, the human element of covering conflict, the emotional response to what is being witnessed, does impact on notions of detachment. And through the connections between professionalism and impartiality, it becomes clear the final news text is altered by personal experience. In conclusion I will discuss the overall impression of the findings and suggest areas for further study.
The potential benefits of this thesis are a clearer insight into the role of journalists in conflict and the influences on their reportage. While academic attention has been paid separately to the three areas of professionalism, objectivity and production, little has been committed to a holistic analysis in a conflict situation. The data here will illuminate through perceptions of journalists covering conflict
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what informs the final text given to the public who deserve to understand the influences on something which may shape their future action and decisions. The results have relevance for academic study, students and for journalists themselves and will be an important contribution to the further understanding of how war is reported.
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Chapter Two Review of the existing Literature

Journalisms role in providing information to the public and as a forum for debate is brought into even sharper focus during times of conflict and war. For most of the general public it is the journalist who becomes their self-selected eyes and ears, the major definers of reality for the huge audiences back home (Tumber, 2006:p449). They are, therefore, crucial intermediaries into civil societys understanding of social violence. In this role, journalists can frame and prime the political and cultural debate surrounding the conflict. This, in turn can impact on political, social and cultural realties.
The academic study of journalism covers an enormous field, with various disciplines and specialities. Research has covered areas such as the political economy of journalism, news organisations and audience research and encompasses different traditions of textual analysis including sociological and ethnographic approaches and influences from cultural studies to name just a few. Journalism can encompass everything from a non-fiction book to a radio report, from a web-based log, or blog, to a live insert on the main evening news bulletin. In the following chapter I will outline some of the work that has been done in the study of journalism, particularly how it has investigated notions of objectivity, discussed the professional ideology of practitioners and what impact, if any, personal experience has had on the production of the final product placed before the public.
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An important historical study of war journalism has been conducted by former journalist, Philip Knightly (2001). His book, The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo is often sourced in academic work demonstrating that it is considered credible and trustworthy. Yet more detailed research into war journalism has, according to Hallin (1997) concentrated on the study of war and public opinion, the sociology of war journalism and war as culture. There are many investigations encompassing limitations placed on journalists through media-military relations (Taylor, 1997; Hammond &Herman 2000; Hallin, 1989) and discussions on the pressures journalists face from propaganda pushing state institutions (Morrison & Tumber, 1988; Zelizer & Allan, 2002).
There is also a large number of autobiographies by journalists who have covered conflict (Gall, 1994; Steele, 2002; Nicholson 1991). While Tumber argues analysing these insider testimonies may provide rich reflections on work and practice (2006:p441), this study rejects such an approach because they do not consider in any great detail the subjects under discussion nor are the journalists as self-reflective as they could be. Tumber himself accepts that many of these books mythologise the profession, idealising the practice (Ibid: p441) while Pedalty (1995) believes such work should be read with scepticism.
This thesis instead looks at the tradition of studies of journalism as a profession. There is a large body of research which considers the realities of professional ideology of journalism, and the role and function of journalism in society. Given the scope and breadth of this work, this thesis will concentrate on material which
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discusses objectivity, professionalism and the impact of conflict on journalists. It will investigate if exposure to conflict plays any part in influencing those who report it, and if that, in turn, influences the shape, style and content of the final output placed before the public.
2.1 The Literature on Objectivity

While the concept of objectivity is an ideological construct with complex sociohistoric roots (McNair, 2008) academics acknowledge that it only began to truly inform journalistic practice as newspapers attempted to grow circulation in the early days of urbanisation and industrialisation (McGoldrick, 2006; Knight, 1982; McLaughlin 2002). By setting aside blatantly partisan coverage of key issues in straight news reporting, newspaper proprietors wanted to present an image of even-handed coverage to appeal to a greater number of potential customers. The subject has attracted significant academic debate and research. Many believe objectivity remains the standard by which journalists are judged (Pedalty 1995: p173), the central guiding principle of journalism. Soloski (1989) suggests this places responsibility on the journalist to discover the facts from all legitimate sides of an issue and to report these in a detached and balanced manner. Yet there are those who believe this occupational tenet has been damaged by journalists themselves and by attacks from critics who regard objectivity as deceitful, erroneous, misleading, incoherent, downright irrational or all of the above (Parker, 1999; p1).
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The idea that objectivity should only be defined as a balanced reporting of facts places journalists in the position of impartial observers of events (Soloski, 1989) and therefore neatly sidesteps (Ibid: p214) the question of whether journalistic objectivity - which the Collins English dictionary defines as something not distorted by personal feelings of bias- is possible in the theoretical sense. In this essay I will discuss the concept of objectivity as an ideal that as an ideal has an ongoing impact on journalism practice rather than an absolute concept that can be attained in any context or profession. While objectivity dictates a position of detachment rather than neutrality, Merrill (1984) argues that deciding what stories to cover, how to cover them, the order in which items in the report are placed and who is interviewed are all elements of subjectivity processed by the journalist. This means that journalists are no longer presenting an objective picture of reality but simply because of their own upbringing, personal and professional experiences, the condition described by Bourdieu (1995, cited in Benson and Neveu, 2005) as habitus (which we will revisit later in this chapter) creates not a perspective free spectatorship (Boudana, 2010:p297) but rather a selective view of events for the audience.
Journalists too, are sceptical that objectivity exists. The former head of Russian state-run TV, Oleg Poptsov dismisses the concept saying Objectivity is a sum total of subjectivities (cited in McNair; 2000: p90) while James Cameron, a legendary foreign correspondent, often cited as an inspiration by many journalists describes the idea of objectivity as meaningless and impossible (1978: p72). Seib suggests journalists claims to have no interest in outcomes is disingenuous
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(2002:p8) arguing that there is no point in journalistic endeavours if there is no intent to provide information which may alter peoples perceptions and thoughts on important issues. The continuing probing by the academy on the question of objectivity leads Gauthier to conclude that if it is indeed regarded as myth and has been demonstrated as such, then scholars should move on rather than continuing to cry out against a notion as if it still presented some danger despite its nonexistence (1993:p1).
Two of the most significant works discussing objectivity are The Objectivity Norm in American Journalism by Schudson (2001) and Tuchmans Objectivity as a Strategic Ritual (1972). These conceptualise objectivity in two distinct ways: the former assumes a normative perspective looking at objectivity as a standard, theoretical goal for those involved in the practice of journalism; the latter as an intrinsic part of practice, a defensive mechanism against external disapproval, and a strategic ritual (Ibid: p660) to deflect criticism and complaints. News sociology as an area of research has, over the last forty years or so, highlighted and discussed the contested nature of this concept (Schlesinger, 1978; Schiller, 1979; Golding & Elliott, 1979).
Schudson (2001) views objectivity as a way of writing and editing which encourages, even demands, that journalists report news without commentary or bias. This portrays good journalism as the disinterested search for, and weighing of evidence in the interests of the public (Aldridge & Evetts, 2003: p558) creating a position which is essentially neutral. McQuail (2005) maintains
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that this legitimates the media text, creating an image of the reliable and credible source, which also matches the overarching commercial logic of the media business, since partisanship tends to narrow the audience appeal (Ibid: p285). Ward (1998) argues that to achieve such journalistic objectivity, practitioners must remove personal feelings and interests that may distort reports. Objectivity has been, in turn, conceptualized as the dominant professional ideology (Tumber & Prentoulis, 2003), a guarantee of quality control (McNair, 2008) a hegemonic signifier of good journalism and the minimum expectation from news audiences.
Tuchmans (1972) position is arguably more pragmatic. With two years of ethnographic study, she posits objectivity is used by journalists as a shield to be used in defence from potential criticism from superiors, peers and outsiders and deflect potential libel suits or allegations of bias. This is achieved through journalists presenting conflicting opinions in the same story, using quotations to distance themselves from the text , gathering and structuring facts in a detached, unbiased and impersonal manner (Ibid: p664) avoiding the role of producer of ideas or opinions (Boudana, 2010: p299). Responsibility for factual accuracy is then shifted onto the sources providing the information rather than the journalist who fills the role of passive mirror to events.
What links both these concepts in the first instance is that they refer to journalists reliance on official sources. While Tuchman (1978) found most news organisations used contrasting quotes from centralized and recognised sources without adjudicating on their relative merits, Schudsons position is that the
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process of newsgathering itself constructs an image of reality that reinforces official viewpoints (1978: p185). This approach by journalists has lead to criticism from a number of academics (Bennett, 1990; Hampton, 2008) who believe that it reduces objectivity to a bureaucratic balancing of alternatives (Knight 1982: p24) and simply reaffirms existing society power structures by removing minority but potentially valid perspectives from the market place of ideas. And that this, in turn, diminishes journalism, transforming it in to a technical exercise rather an intellectual one (Glasser, 1992) reducing story telling to simple report writing.
2.1.1 Objectivity and the Journalism of Attachment

Both Tumber (2008) and Bell (2008) have argued that as the nature of war has changed, therefore the nature of journalism must also. Bell (1996), a former BBC TV news correspondent coined the phrase, the journalism of attachment suggesting that journalists have become participants in, rather than observers of, conflict. Bell defines his idea as a journalism that is aware of its responsibilities, that will not stand neutrally between good and evil, right and wrong, the victim and the oppressor (1998: p16). Formed during his experiences over more than thirty years as a journalist, but defined by his time covering the Bosnian War, he firmly rejects the concept of objectivity as an illusion and a shibboleth (Ibid: p16). Tumber describes Bells position as a moral stance (2008:p262). Writing with Prentoulis (2003) he sees this journalist-witness role as helping alert the public to the brutal nature of conflict.
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Yet Bell has been criticised by those inside and outside his occupation. Fellow BBC correspondent David Loyn (2003) suggests Bells viewpoint was born out of frustration, at seeing his reports from Bosnia have little political impact, of watching death and destruction continue, and so wanted to be freed from the ideological standard of objectivity to condemn those he felt were responsible for the immediate violence he was witnessing. Loyn describes this as an elitist demand (Ibid: p3) insisting journalists should resist the temptation to be participants rather than witnesses.
The most sustained criticism of Bells position has come from Hume, a former editor of Living Marxism magazine who, in short, thought the abandonment of objectivity and the adoption of the journalism of attachment would be a terrible idea. In his pamphlet Whose War Is It Anyway (1997) he describes this personalised reporting as a menace to good journalism reducing complex conflicts to simple fairy tale confrontations between the innocent and the forces of darkness (p4). Hanitzsch (2004) simply rejects the implication that objectivity and neutrality somehow reduces war correspondents to unfeeling and emotionally disengaged observers.
It can be said that Bells introduction of the debate and the subsequent positions taken in support and opposition has at least forced journalists to question their roles in conflict, if they are prepared to adopt the journalism of attachment and abandon professional standards of objectivity. Yet Ward (1998) fears that, in the hands of journalists with less integrity than Bell, such a practice would devolve into unsubstantiated journalism where biases parade as moral principles (p123).
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This thesis will attempt to demonstrate that despite the criticism and scepticism, the promotion of the idea of a journalism of attachment, objectivity remains firmly entrenched as the dominant ethic in journalism, even during exposure to conflict. Dueze (2005:p445) describes it as part of the collection of values, strategies and formal codes characterizing professional journalism. And while journalists may find it increasingly difficult to declare they are wholly objective, the underlying principles of objectivity: accuracy; balance and fairness remain the same (Reese, 1990). It may not be possible to be wholly objective, but that does not necessarily mean that journalists should not strive to meet such a standard.
2.2. Defining professional practice

The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability Nicholas Tomalin, The Sunday Times Magazine, October, 26, 1969.
A great deal has been written by academics on the question of whether or not journalism qualifies as a profession in the sociological sense. Certainly Tumber (2006a:p63) argues that given the abstract knowledge required, with emphasis on practical skills, journalism is perhaps closer to a craft than a profession, while in his seminal work, Tunstall describes the highest level journalism could ever hope to attain would be that of semi-profession(1971:p69). Journalism shares, in many regards, the professional ideal of serving and improving society not least as it provides information the public can use to form important political decisions
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(Singer 2003). It is outwith the scope of this thesis, however, to examine the claims and counter-claims on journalism as a profession. Instead, the intention is to focus on journalistic professional practice, the occupational ideology and shared identity (Dickinson 2007:p197) which makes professionalism the term journalists often use to describe the excellence to which they aspire (Weaver & Wilhoit 1996: p125).
While journalism may not be a homogenous aggregation of professionals, all sharing the same cultural values (Tumber & Pretoulis, 2003:p217) and Ainley (2008) argues there is no central core skill shared by all, there is a sense journalists approach and execute their professional responsibilities with similar techniques and values. A study involving journalists in 21 countries conducted by Weaver (1998) discovered many common approaches and characteristics. Dueze (2005) and Zelizer (2005) support the idea of a consensual occupation ideology which encompasses collected and accepted universal standards and values, which in turn creates an overall internal recognition of who really are journalists, members of the group (Ibid: p200). This connects with a general Marxist interpretation of ideology in the way the beliefs and actions of certain groups facilitate the inclusion of some and the exclusion of others. There are, of course, other ways to use the term ideology, such as to present beliefs in a way to legitimate dominant political and economic powers. However, in this instance, the definition is used in a descriptive sense to capture the ideas and manner of thinking of the group of war correspondents.
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So ideology is to be seen here as a collection of values which defines journalism and the journalist. Golding and Elliott (1979), Merritt (1995) and Dueze (2005) variously outline these as: Public service: A calling to serve the public for societys betterment rather than personal enrichment through the provision of the necessary information to make important socio-political decisions. Objectivity: Journalists should be impartial, fair and credible; Autonomy: Journalists able to work independently and free of political and economic pressures; Immediacy: The very essence of news; a sense of temporal urgency; Ethics: normative standards designed to guide journalistic conduct.
These basic, institutionally accepted standards of operationally effective journalism give context and meaning to journalistic routines. It is suggested by Soloski (1989: p215) that from this construction of professionalism, the selection of news events and news sources flows naturally. This would be a common conception of what is newsworthy and of interest to the audience; the ability of the journalist to look at and analyse the numerous events occurring in the real world and place them in some sort of order. Schudson defines this as the cultural knowledge that constitutes news judgement (1996:p1996). Hall (1978) has described this news value or news sense as one of the most opaque structures of meaning in modern society which few journalists themselves can explain or define yet it is something which all true journalists (Ibid: p181) are said to possess. And while education plays a part in trying to learn this news sense,
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McNair (2008) believes it is also passed on and developed through peer pressure and newsroom discipline.
What this consensual approach may ignore is how ideas of professionalism can be altered and changed by alterations and changes in the industry and even in society; for example, the introduction of new technology and the expansion of multimedia journalists (Singer, 2003) or multiculturalism (Glasser et al, 2009). Structural factors are also an issue: the journalist does not, after all, write for himself, but for an organisation (Morrison & Tumber, 1988: pviii). Socioeconomic issues such as corporate pressure or media concentration and political issues including censorship and regulation may shape the working practices of journalists and operational considerations. These are areas worthy of further research and critical inquiry but remain outwith the scope of this thesis. So I acknowledge the subjectivity of the approach taken here. This investigation aims to fill in a gap in the literature to establish if common professional practice among journalists occupational ideology is altered when they are exposed to conflict, how perceptions of professionalism in an ideological sense may be changed and challenged by such exposure and if that, in turn, impacts on the product set before the audience.
2.3 The Finished Product

Reporting war is difficult and dangerous. Journalists get killed trying to bring the latest news to audiences, trying to witness and define the circumstances of any given situation in a conflict zone. War correspondents are often considered the most serious, most experienced and arguably the most talented in the journalistic
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field; the big beasts (Rees, 2007:p67) or as one former editor put it an unacknowledged aristocracy of journalism (Marr 2004: p327). The sociological and political impact of their work is acknowledged by a number of academics (Reese, 2001; Ekstrom, 2002; Boudana, 2010) but summed up by Seib when he says News coverage can influence public opinion, which in turn can nudge the policy, making process (2002:p8). Many correspondents who cover conflict acknowledge the crucial social values of their work (Tumber & Webster, 2006) including truth seeking and a sense of being where history is made. It may be a clich to say that journalists write the first draft of history however as Bromley (2004: p236) states, The collective memory of war [] is mediated through journalists. It has been argued that journalistic norms are challenged in conflict zones, not least because of the tensions between the normative standard of objectivity and detachment and the patriotic norms of citizenship (Allan & Zelizer, 2004: p3). It is therefore, important to understand how this coverage is produced, the influences upon the journalists and how they may be changed or affected by exposure to conflict. It is this area this thesis seeks to address.
2.3.1. Early conflicts and the role of the journalist.

A brief historical review here will provide an idea of how war reporting has developed and how relations change over time according to circumstances within and externally to the journalistic profession. Political and journalistic actions and reactions to the reporting of war over time have led us to the present position and the current debates.
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It is argued by Knightly (2001) and McLaughlin (2002) that the Crimean War was where the job of war correspondent was established, as William Howard Russell followed the British Army and sent back dispatches that were published in The Times. His accurate portrayal of difficult conditions and fraught events on the front line had wide-reaching political impact (ibid; Williams, 1992). As the parent of a luckless tribe (McLaughlin, 2002: p49) Russell encountered then many of the issues his offspring face today: a hostile military; dangerous locations; questions of self-censorship and if patriotism and sympathy for the cause should direct production rather than the journalistic ideal of objectivity. In the American civil war it was accepted that journalists would side with the army they were following as loyalty came before any professional requirements of truth and objectivity (Knightly, 2001:p25). A similar pattern followed in the First World War where the British Government imposed severe censorship and reporters became part of the national propaganda operation (Carruthers, 2000; McLaughlin, 2002).
The Spanish Civil War from 1936-39 was where many correspondents ideals of objectivity were firmly challenged. Faced with the growth of fascism, Knightly argues that many reporters wrestled with the dilemma of reporting events neutrally and unemotionally or to exercise self-censorship and allow personal feelings to influence the framing of the coverage against Francos nationalist forces (Knightly, 2001; Williams, 1992).
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2.3.2. Vietnam and the Falklands

There is a common perception that the media lost the war for the USA in Vietnam (Hallin: 1989). This idea has been rejected by among others Hallin (1997) and Tumber and Prentoulis (2003) and the wider discussion on this point is outwith the boundaries of this thesis. It is however interesting to note the role that journalists adopted during the conflict. Correspondent David Halberstam observes many of the new, younger generation of war reporters arrived carrying no excess psychological or political baggage. What obsessed them was the story (cited in Hallin, 1989, p6). This led to many journalists setting aside the patriotic feelings of the audiences in the US and attempting to report the conflict with a greater measure of objectivity than existed in previous wars (Carruthers, 2000; Evans; 2003), attempting to witness the conflict as dispassionate observers.
The effect of what was reported from Vietnam and its presumed impact is often linked to the increase in militarys control over the media in the Falklands conflict. Aided by the geographic difficulties for news organisations to travel to the South Atlantic on their own, the British military established a pool system 1 which restricted access to the operation to re-take the islands from Argentinean forces (Allan, 1999, Morrison & Tumber, 1988). All those involved in the restricted pool were British. No foreign media were allowed. In their excellent study on the coverage of the conflict, and one of the few studies which considers how exposure to conflict may impact on production, Morrison and Tumber (1988) found the reporters who travelled to the conflict zone developed an affinity with
A media pool arrangement is where a number of organisations are given supervised access to a place, person or event on the understanding the material must be made available, without cost, to the larger journalistic community
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the soldiers and came to accept their future was structurally entwined with that of the troops and began to identify with them (Tumber 2004, 191). In just one example, Morrison and Tumber (1988) cite the case of a journalist, upset by death of a solider he was close to, and aware his bitter mood was reflected in the reports he sent back to his newspaper. Thus the reporting of the Falklands gives us an indication that an exposure to conflict, a closeness to those in danger of being killed and experiencing similar threats to safety may influence journalists to willingly abandon or alter their journalistic ideology. That idea is worthy of updating through further investigation here.
2.3.3. The Gulf, the Balkans and Beyond.

The Americans followed the template of restricted media involvement during minor military incursions in Grenada and Panama. And the system continued to guide the military in its management of journalists through the Gulf War in 1991. The system of embedding was operated along similar lines to the UK pool arrangement in the Falklands conflict, where access to frontline, fighting units was given and in return journalists submitted their work to military censorship (Bell, 2003; Evans, 2003). Such actions, while guaranteeing access to difficult to reach and dangerous places, make it hard for the reporter to truthfully and fully inform the public of the events of war and, given their safety is dependent on the soldiers around them, once again there is the issue of futures being structurally entwined. A similar system was introduced for the war in Iraq in 2003. And although it is argued the introduction of new technology including the widespread use of satellite phones made it more difficult for the military to manage the
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framing of the news stories (Reese, 2004), embedding was regarded as a brilliant strategy from the standpoint of the military(Ibid: p260).
As stated previously, it is from the wars in the Balkans and specifically the conflict in Bosnia that idea of a journalism of attachment emerged, although it is arguably not much different from the emotions experienced by those on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Many journalists who were based in Sarajevo personally witnessed many horrors and great suffering among the people. Angered by what they saw as the reluctance of the international community to get involved (Bell, 1996; Loyn, 2003) many appeared to abandon the normative stance of objectivity and demand military intervention by outside agencies (Carruthers, 2000; Seib, 2002). Gowing states he sees no shame in reporters who experiences such traumata vividly writing about them but maintains the audience must be made aware of the level of partiality as distorted reporting gives the wrong impression (1997: p24).
As the academic and journalistic debate about the Journalism of Attachment continues to develop, it has found a further touchstone in the coverage in the US in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Reporters crying on camera at the scene of the attack at the World Trade Centres (Tumber, 2002) known as Ground Zeroclearly demonstrate the ideals of balance and objectivity, for some at least, have been forgotten or consciously abandoned. Hutcheson et al. (2004:p46) found in their study that in the aftermath of the attacks, the language used by journalists was very close to that of US government and military officials, surmising that many news organisations decided that pro-American coverage was both
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appropriate and necessary. Tumber and Prentoulis (2003) argue war journalism may no longer be confined to those dispatched to war zones and this may in turn lead to a change in the profession and the approach of those involved to a more human face in war reporting and the creation of a new type of journalist grouping, the urban war correspondent (Ibid;226). This, they believe, could signal a paradigmatic shift in journalist: from detachment to involvement, from verification to assertion, from objectivity to subjectivity (Ibid:p228). The challenges now are similar to those experienced by William Howard Russell; feelings of patriotism fuelled by government propaganda. And perhaps also an acknowledgement that emotional experiences do impact on the life of reporters and therefore may substantially change the final news product.
2.4 Theoretical considerations Journalistic Habitus

Journalism is a social operation. It is, in its many forms among the most influential knowledge producing institutions of our time (Ekstrom, 2002: p259) and therefore is always relevant for study. It would however be misguided to assume journalists, and in particular those who cover conflict, are somehow a single homogenous group. They are (Gowing,1997;p17) a diverse, highly competitive, unpredictable lot. Yet, there is a commonality of behaviour, a universality of standards, routines and practices that are shared in what Bourdieu (1998: p2) described as the journalistic field.
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This field is historically placed within a universal social, cultural, political and economic environment, all consisting of semi autonomous specialized spheres of action, covering all dimensions of human life such as science, politics and journalism. Bourdieu (2005) believes all human action is structured by the power relations both between and within these fields. Each field has its own understanding of the world or Doxa (Leander, 2009) - which are implicit and sometime explicit rules of behaviour. The degree of autonomy each field enjoys is directly related to its power to create its own rules and conventions. According to Bourdieu (1998), the journalistic field is not as strong relative to the economic and political fields which can influence its operation, but it does have a near monopoly on the production and distribution of information. Examining the impact that the political and economic fields have on journalistic production is certainly worth further investigation.
The main concept to be applied in attempting to understand journalistic practice and professional ideology in the journalistic field is what Benson and Neveu (2005: p3) described as socialized subjectivity, more colloquially, a second nature. This socialised subjectivity has been conceptualised by Bourdieu as habitus. Bourdieu (1998: p81) likened habitus to having a feel for the game, an understanding of the way journalists do things and a shared understanding amongst journalists of the way they should do things. These normative, almost natural, professional practices beliefs have been characterised by Shultz (2007) as journalistic gut feelings (p190) the taken for granted, self-explaining, undisputed (Ibid: p195). This may include the way journalists deal with notions
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of objectivity in everyday operations, or the understanding of what is newsworthy (both discussed earlier in this chapter). These routines are inextricably linked to the limits and freedoms of these fields, which develop and are employed without constant reflection in many professions, including journalism.
However, no matter how much journalists may think and act in a similar fashion with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and judgements they will never all act identically because of their personal habitus. It is like an inner voice, guiding people through major and minor decisions based on attitudes, experiences and personal tastes which have developed since childhood. The concept of a journalistic habitus can take more specific forms such as newsdesk habitus, a producer habitus, even a war correspondent habitus (Shultz, 2007). It is an evolving concept, and as the environment changes, from a normal newsroom setting to a conflict zone, it has a potential impact on the habitus and practice of the front line correspondent. While habitus is more often about the reproduction rather than the modification of practices, this thesis will, in Bourdieusian terms, explain how changes in the subordinate journalistic field and the sub-field of war correspondents can be influenced through changes in the surrounding political field (through heightened patriotic claims) and the social field (through traumatic experience), or even as a clash between the individuals habitus and the field in which he or she operates.
I had considered focusing on the idea of professional identity as the significant influence on journalistic practice. This connects members of an occupation or
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profession through specialist knowledge, common approaches and ideologies, acknowledging the professional is part of a larger community (De Bruin, 2004). I rejected such an approach as too narrow, accepting that professional identity is simply one part of the journalists total habitus, which is a more important concept and more likely to influence every area of professional conduct and action. Habitus will direct different journalists in different ways; as it is dependent on the position the journalist (and the medium he works for) assumes within the journalistic field. It is this idea that drives to the heart of this thesis; that real world events, all experiences can, and do, impact on journalistic codes, behaviours and practices. This thesis will consider the habitus of war correspondents and how any changes to that, impacts on the news texts presented to the public.
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Chapter Three Research Methodology

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of exposure to conflict on journalists, and if that, in turn, alters concepts of professionalism or impacts on the journalistic ideal of objectivity. It further seeks to establish if the potential trauma of witnessing impacts on the final production, the news text placed before the audience. In this chapter I will seek to detail the method employed in data gathering, how that data was analysed and the strength and weaknesses of this particular research design. I will also reflect on the selection of interviewees
3.1 Developing the Research Question: Motivations for Studying the Impact of Conflict on Journalists
As a practising journalist who has covered war and conflict I have become increasingly interested in what factors shape coverage. My initial work in conflict reporting was, by and large, formed by what Id read and seen in the past. It was as if I adapted what I was experiencing to fit an existing template while still employing the journalistic standards of objectivity and professionalism, of doing a good job and reporting as fairly as possible. I felt this was what was wanted, and expected. Yet, as my exposure to conflict grew, there was a growing fascination that reporters dispatched to cover the same aspect of a story would return with different views, perspectives and angles. It was also intriguing to see who this small subset of reporters would accept as one of the tribe, who would be regarded as a good pro; someone who did their job well, to the accepted normative standard and who would largely be ignored, dismissed as a
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cowboy; a journalist who took unnecessary risks and was happy to twist the facts to fit a story or a narrative.
I was aware during the build up to the invasion of Iraq, a number of reporters gave a great deal of coverage to the Iraqi denial (truthful as it turned out) that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Based in Baghdad myself, one experienced journalist admitted to me he slanted his reports because he wanted them to create a stir and perhaps lead to the imminent invasion to be cancelled. Despite perhaps overestimating his global political influence, he said he didnt want to get caught up covering another war and didnt have the courage to tell his bosses he was scared for his safety and wanted to leave Iraq. This was clearly not objective reporting. His previous exposure to conflict compromised his professionalism and objectivity and had a direct impact on the final product placed before the public.
And so when presented with the opportunity to study one aspect of mass communication in greater detail, I wondered if this was an isolated instance or if other reports and the actions of journalists had been altered or changed by exposure to conflict and if so, in what way. Marshall and Rossman (1999) maintain that in qualitative research, much of the drive often comes from the real world observations of the researcher, a curiosity provoked by direct experience. In this thesis, my own experience and a gap in the respective literature led me to embark on an empirical investigation on how conflict plays upon journalistic norms and the construction of reality.
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3.2 Designing the study

In qualitative research, the aim is not to measure but to understand, not to produce a standard set of results that another researcher studying the same area would reproduce. Instead it is to produce a coherent and illuminating description of and perspective on a situation (Ward-Schofield, 1993: p 202). It is about discovery rather than verification.
3.2.1 Choosing Interviewing as Method

Choosing in-depth interviewing as a method means that I had to rely on the participant verbalising their thoughts and emotions. This reliance presents researchers with an epistemological challenge, because the perspectives provided in an interview are always mediated through the interview situation, which has to be considered during the interview and when analysing the data. However, the use of the in-depth interview brings a number of advantages. It is grounded in the participants own experiences, and allows them free expression on the issue under discussion (Whittaker, 1996), illuminating how they make sense of their world (Negrine & Newbold, 1998). Other advantages have been highlighted by Wimmer and Dominick (2006) including the wealth of detail acquired; more accurate responses on sensitive issues; and, for war correspondents, that this is the only practical technique for information gathering.
Certainly the more anthropological approach adopted by the likes of Hannerz (1998) in his study of journalists working in Jerusalem, or Pedaltys 1995 ethnographic study of foreign correspondents operating in the then conflict zone of El Salvador are highly contextual multi-method approaches which could add
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further insights, but they are not feasible for this particular project. The character of the work of war correspondents makes ethnographic studies difficult logistically and methodologically, not to mention the inherent danger in trying to complete such a study in a conflict area.
While survey forms could have been sent out to all participants, this was rejected as such a format does not usually allow for an on-going, in-depth investigation of attitudes and opinions (Negrine & Newbold, 1998; p232). A content analysis of the journalistic output of those to be questioned was ruled out on similar grounds. While it may give an overall picture of the finished product, it would not provide insight into the feelings, attitudes and perceptions that shape it (Hansen, 1998). It could be argued that a content analysis may complement the interviews but given the longevity of the careers of some of those interviewed access to significant moments discussed would be difficult in the time available for this study. Further, any content analysis would perhaps only produce the symptoms of the problem; an indication that production had been affected. To try to establish why that had happened would, at best, be second guessing or speculation on my part. This would not answer the basic research question.
To best answer the research question within the limits of this study, I therefore decided to conduct a series of eight semi-structured in-depth interviews. All participants were asked a number of questions on the main theoretical perspectives. The open-ended nature of the interviews allowed for further examination in areas of interest and further discussion of important elements of the areas under discussion.
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3.3 The Research Participants

Early in the dissertation process, I made a list of the people I would like to interview. Each one had covered conflict to varying degrees. They were a mixture of ages, gender and nationality and worked for a variety of media organisations. Everyone I approached agreed to be interviewed which meant the sample I proposed was not skewed through issues of access. Although the participants could be regarded as among the journalistic elite, I did have an advantage in securing their co-operation. Each one I had met at some point in my career. Each one knew I too was a correspondent who covered conflict.
The small non-random sample selected is drawn mainly from television. While this, on the face of it, appears biased towards the industry where I have spent most of my career, it is deliberately chosen. Television news exists in a different regulatory environment from newspapers (McQuail, 2005). Therefore, I was keen to discover if exposure to conflict trauma would impact on the output of those who are legislatively required to be fair, balanced and impartial. The sample was also chosen to reflect some of the diversity within the journalistic subfield of war correspondent.
3.3.1 Conducting the Interviews

I met most of my interviewees at locations in London and Paris throughout the summer of 2010. All were given a letter explaining the purpose of the study and what was required of them. They all signed the necessary consent forms. All interviews were taped on digital recorder, an old fashioned tape-recorder provided
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back up (and was called into use after a microphone failure during one meeting) and I made notes during our discussions. A number of points were followed up by email. The interviews were transcribed, normally within days of the meetings. There has been much debate in social sciences on the advantages of being an insider or outsider when conducting such research. Fonow and Cook (1991 cited in Harvey, 2010) argue that not belonging to a group makes it easier to be objective. Yet, I would concur with Hill-Collins (1990 cited in Harvey, 2010) who believes that the insider shares a shared sense of belonging and is therefore provided with an advantage. As the participants were friends or acquaintances, I was assuming the dual role of colleague and researcher. Throughout the process, it was incumbent on me to remain detached while carrying out the interviews; neither disagreeing nor sympathising with positions taken or views held. I believe the transcripts will show I acted in a detached manner throughout. I also exercised continuous reflexivity and self-scrutiny. I do believe however that familiarity not just with the subject matter, but with the interviewee made it easier to discuss topics which may have been off-limits to other researchers.
3.4 Analysing the Data

The transcripts of the eight interviews run to 135 pages and more than 79,000 words. To crystallize the essential issues from the transcripts, I looked for common themes, shared perceptions and general insights to the impact of conflict on journalists. I sectioned these into three theoretically grounded themes:
Alan Fisher Theme Impartiality
After the Fire MA Dissertation Transcription Answers
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A discussion of the concept of impartiality and objectivity and the degree to which these concept impacts on actual practice.
The particular challenge conflict poses in the context of questions about
objectivity/impartiality
Professionalism
If the interviewee regards journalism as a profession
What is perceived to constitute good professional practice and is that altered in situations of war and conflict? (i.e. are the same rules of the game / habitus applied during conflict?)
Emotional Trauma and its impact on production
Does exposure to trauma impact on either objectivity or the concept of professionalism
Is the final product presented to the public altered by such exposure?
Does audience expectation impact on the production of the final news texts?
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The coding for these themes was developed both deductively through the existing literatures and inductively from an interpretative reading of the manuscripts. From this I arrived at a set of overarching and common themes. They were highlighted and put together under the relevant headings which when pieced together gives a comprehensive picture of the collective experience. Where there are discrepancies or diverging views, this may exemplify how discourses around concepts such as objectivity and journalism of attachment are debated within the industry.
3.5 Generalisability of the Results

A methodological reflection suggests that with such a small, stratified sample, it may be difficult to extrapolate the findings and present in any general sense of being representative to the majority of war correspondents. Further, the geographical spread, concentrating on journalists who are either British, American or Canadian, makes it difficult to assume the cultural norms which exist in these western-oriented participants, would be replicated should the same study be increased to include European, Asian or Arabic journalists. While this may provide the basis for future, more extensive and more holistic research in this area, this small sample provides rich detail which can be used by future researchers.
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Chapter Four Results and Analysis

As noted throughout this thesis, the role of the journalist covering war and conflict is important in a modern, democratic society. Journalists are the bridge between conflict and normality. Informing the public, the power of journalism to hold people to account (Gizbert in interview with author 29/9/10) is cited by many of the interview participants as a primary motivation in the desire to become a journalist. The purpose of this study is to examine what impact, if any, exposure to conflict then has on the final news text presented to the public. In particular, it examines the impact reporting war and conflict may have on journalistic behaviour and occupational practice, notions of journalistic objectivity and if that, in turn, alters in any way the final framing of the production set before the audience.
It is my contention, supported by the data collected here, that conflict has a significant impact on what journalists do. It informs many of the decisions taken in the field. The argument that there may be a consequence on the ideal of objectivity is challenged by the response from all eight interviewees who insist that while the concept may theoretically exist, in reality it is something that is simply impossible to achieve. What is established here is that exposure to conflict does place a burden on corresponding notions of balance, fairness and impartiality. And so through these pressures there is an impact on the determination of news making which has consequences for the production of news text placed before the public as an important cultural commodity.
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So in this empirical chapter, I will report the findings of the study and provide an analysis based on these three key areas. After detailed analysis of the transcriptions central to the project, it is clear while there are areas of dispute which reflect the debates within the academy and the journalistic field itself, certain common themes and ideas emerge. I will use these to provide a better understanding of the role of journalists in war and conflict, the impact of conflict on journalistic practice and why this is important to public knowledge and understanding.
4.1 Perceptions of the Professional

While a comprehensive sociological discussion about what defines the professional is beyond the scope of this thesis, it is important to acknowledge the views of those interviewed for this project on this issue. Four of the eight rejected the idea of journalism as a profession. Bowen (interview with author, 13/8/10) described it as a trade, a calling, an affliction. Snow (interview with author22/7/2010) regards it more as an activity. Four qualified their definition accepting journalism is not like the universally recognised professions such as medicine and law, but argued that, in essence it was a profession, with Di Giovanni (interview with author, 8/9/10), insisting it is a noble profession.
The definitions of what constitutes a professional have proven to be elastic, inexact and multiple. Dickinson (2008) argues that as journalism has no uniform educational requirement and no form of compulsory licensing then it fails to meet the required sociological standards. However, while journalism may not match those required standards many journalists would consider themselves to be
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professional in the way they operate and conduct their business. They engage and adopt the common journalistic ideology. And while there may an even split on the views of whether journalism is a profession, there is unanimity among the respondents that such common occupational professional practice exists even if they provide no definitive, collective definition of what that entails.
4.1.1 The Impact of Conflict on Professional Practice

There is through the interviews, a perception that professional practice is not altered in conflict; the basic journalistic standards and principles remain unchanged. However, the interviews also reveal an acceptance that the danger inherent in such situations restricts normal operating procedure. This inevitably changes the nature of news-gathering and so, in turn, diminishes the picture painted by the journalist for public consumption.
Defining the basic standards required of journalists in a few words is difficult. Professional practice varies depending on organisational and operational requirements. Gizbert says there are a million things in there while Tadros (interview with author, 3/8/10) defines it broadly as knowing your field and knowing what you need to know to do your job effectively. There are however fundamental touchstones which allow journalism not just to be practiced but to be noticed and given legitimacy by the audience. Bell (interview with author, 20/7/2010) echoes others suggesting these fundamentals are accuracy, literacy, the ability to meet deadlines and a basic knowledge of the law. This fits closely with the accurate if dismissive view articulated by Elliott (1977) who argued professionalism for journalists was no more than a series of easily achievable
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routine competencies. Yet what becomes evident from the data is that these basic practices are deeply embedded in the journalist psyche, a common ideology shared across generations, organisations and even borders. This supports the theory put forward by Tuchman (1978) in her groundbreaking study of editorial routines which suggested that news workers were largely socialised into social and professional norms, and then made decisions within these frameworks.
The question then arises how such occupational practices are tested under the extreme pressure of conflict; if some of the broad tenants of professionalism are set aside or ignored. There is a shared belief that the approach to stories in and out of conflict is unchanging: I really believe strongly [] that in a conflict the rules of journalism are exactly (his emphasis) the same (Bowen 13/8/10) while Di Giovanni believes the approach of the war correspondent and for example, the health writer, does not differ in attempts to get to the basic facts and the heart of the story.
However, conflict makes the gathering of news dangerous and therefore limiting. Bell acknowledges the mission of news gathering is speeded up to minimise the time to which you are exposed and out of shelter, a process Gizbert describes as cover your rear-end and not get killed. Safety becomes a compromising factor. Snow accepts that risks dictate the way that he works professionally. If news reports are a mere snapshot of a greater conflict, a micro-moment of a macro event, the view becomes even more selective. The ability to get to certain people and certain places may be impeded because of restricted access. Voices which may add to the coverage, to the overall understanding of what is happening may
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be lost. Bell complains journalists were slow to report the Srebrenica massacre 2 during the war in Bosnia because it became a difficult and dangerous place to access. Bowen says the number of places journalists cannot go is increasing in a process he describes as the friction of the war zone. Bell identifies an increased targeting of journalists operating in zones of conflict as a further factor in forcing them and their companies to retreat to green zones 3 where they become prisoners of the hotel (Bowen 13/8/10).
Iraq would be a prime example of this practice. Few foreign journalists regularly operate outside the secure area in central Baghdad. Their contact with ordinary Iraqis is exceptionally limited. When they do venture beyond the barricades into the streets, it is for short periods, often accompanied by security teams who will dictate access and exposure. Journalists have become targets for killing or kidnap. Snow sums this up by saying that previously both sides wanted to use us to get their message out [] now both sides want to kill you because they dont want any message out. During our interview, Bell re-emphasised a point made previously (Bell; 2008) namely that because of the change of the nature of warfare, there has been a change in the nature of war reporting. It remains a valid and important argument. The danger and threats posed to journalists is driving them from the conflict zones. This means less first-hand information, gathered by the journalists themselves, is being placed before the public, and coverage of war risks becoming anecdotal. In Bells view this has a significant
2
The Srebrenica massacre was the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. More than 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serb forces in July 1995in an area which had been designated as a safe haven by the United Nations.
The Green Zone is a heavily fortified area in the centre of Baghdad where many international news organisations operate under the protection of US led coalition forces who maintain security in the area.
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impact as he concludes: I think the readers of The Times were better informed about the war in Crimea in 1854 than the viewers of any television network or readers of any newspaper on Afghanistan today.
4.1.2 Summary
So my conclusion, based on the data presented through the interviews, is that conflict does have an impact on professional practice because of its restrictive nature. In many cases it limits the ability of the journalist, through no real fault on their part, to see what is happening, to do the job they want to do, to find the facts and the voices they need to the present the most complete picture possible to the media audience.
4.2 The Objectivity Ideal

All the interviewees agree objectivity remains the cornerstone of journalistic practice, an ideal to be approached on every story, yet they accept it remains something unattainable. Gizbert compares it to the perfect tennis match six nil, six nil, six nil, forty love every game; something you strive for but youre never going to achieve. Golding and Elliotts (1979) study Making the News led them to conclude that there is passivity and routine among journalists, an unconscious habitual acceptance of the ideal of objectivity. Yet this Gramscian perspective of hegemonic practice is at odds with the data in this thesis. Everyone I have spoken with is deeply reflexive, they posses an awareness that the aspiration for objectivity is, in the words of Snow: a permanent battle. You are thrusting forward trying to get more and more engaged in order to find out what is
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going on [] At the same time (you) want to stand back. So its a permanent tension.
In many news organisations objectivity is the starting point in any journalistic assignment. It is an institutional totem, something to be promoted internally to news workers and externally to the audience to seduce it into believing what it is seeing or reading is undistorted by bias of any kind. While Galtung and Ruges (1965) paradigmatic work lists twelve factors likely to determine the structure of foreign news, what is missing is the personal judgement and input from the journalist. Bowen describes objectivity as a false god because of the decisions taken in compiling any news report. Gizbert maintains these editorial judgements are often infused with moral judgements and they lead us to decisions as to who were are going to speak to, who were going to include, who we are going to omit.
This indicates there is an awareness that there can be no value-neutral reports, that the public is instead receiving a subjective picture of reality. The reporters habitus cannot be set aside in the decision making and as such plays an important part in the primary definition of news. Bowen acknowledges this saying: I think everyone has a prism through which they view the world and that makes it very hard for them to be objective. It is these characteristics - age, location, upbringing, education and ethnicity among others - which Rowland (interview with author, 10/7/10) suggests test the aspirations of objectivity. So aware their habitus has an impact, they make an extra effort in their reporting because of this. They move to employ the more defensible underlying principles of objectivity,
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such as accuracy, impartiality, fairness and truth. Tadros defines this as more concentrated on being right than being perceived as objective while Di Giovanni maintains that the truth isnt always objective. I just dont believe that.
4.2.1 Impartiality, Balance and the Journalism of Attachment

If objectivity is an unattainable journalistic demand, impartiality is not. Golding and Elliott (1979b: p640) conclude that in day-to-day news reporting objectivity may not exist beyond the theoretical while impartiality remains both desirable and possible. Yet replacing objectivity with the term impartiality creates a tension among the interviewees. The Collins English Dictionary defines impartiality as not favouring one side or the other. This would suggest that reporters become mere spectators to events, and must employ some mechanism to remain morally disconnected, capable of neither feeling nor emotion in their journalistic work. In situations of conflict, for Bell such a concept leads to poor journalism: It is, on the one hand this, on the other hand that didnt Hitler build marvellous autobahns and there were some unfortunate incidents with the Jews. The point is supported by Bowen. As a BBC journalist for 26 years, he believes that impartiality is something that all his colleagues strive for, something intrinsic in the organisational structure and something his bosses and the audiences demand. Yet he himself asserts that impartiality has its limits. He quotes an example from his father, also a BBC journalist, who told him the Corporation was not impartial about South Africas Apartheid regime instead it decided we should show it is something that is evil.
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From his own experiences Bowen recalls the 1996 massacre in Qana 4 in Southern Lebanon where more than one hundred refugees were killed in the Israeli shelling of a UN base: You have to put over the full horror of whats happening and that may seem to some people to be not very impartial because you should be saying well on the other hand they think its ok. Its not ok. Richard Gizbert covered the same event and admits that on the day, his impartiality disappeared. There was no emotional detachment, no theoretical distance from events: I was outraged by what I saw. [] Was I judgemental? Yeah. Do I have a problem with that? No? Snow, too questions if impartiality is achievable: It is a clinical word which is extremely difficult to deploy in conflict when people are bleeding to death. I dont think youve ever impartial to peoples suffering. This connects closely to the work carried out by Morrison and Tumber (1988) in the wake of the Falkands War. 5 British journalists were attached to UK units throughout the conflict. Through in-depth qualitative interviews after the event, the authors discovered that the death of soldiers to whom the journalists had become attached provoked a bitter mood which in turn found its way into their reports. However, the contrast with the data in this thesis is that the connection between the journalist and the victim of violence does not have to be so intrinsically linked to have an impact on journalistic impartiality; instead there is a
The Qana massacre took place on April 18, 1996 in southern Lebanon. Israeli Forces shelled a United Nations Compound where 800 Lebanese civilians has taken refuge to avoid the fighting between Lebanese Forces and the Israeli Defences Forces. 106 people were killed. A UN Military investigation concluded it was unlikely to shelling was the result of technical or procedural errors.
5
The Falklands War or Guerra de las Malvinas in Spanish was fought in 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the disputed Falklands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic. The UK dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands. The conflict ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. The war lasted 74 days and resulted in the deaths of 257 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen and three Falkland Islanders.
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visceral concern on a basic human level for those facing the consequences of conflict and war. A study by Starck and Soloski (1977) found that emotional connections do have an impact on journalistic output. This thesis reinforces that conclusion.
This tendency to incorporate emotion in journalistic reports reflects the discourse taking place within the journalistic community. Bell famously encapsulated this idea under the title the journalism of attachment. This, he says, is achieved through fairness - that his reports are accurate - but there is a clear distinction made between the aggressor and the victim. It is, he maintains, a journalism that cares as well as knows. It does, however, raise the implication of emotion, of empathy or sympathy impacting in the coverage of the reporters placed on the front line of conflict. Ignatieff (1984, cited in Plaisance, 2002) has articulated this idea as the journalist as a moral witness. Gizbert suggests that far from being a dangerous concept in journalism as some critics have suggested this is simply recognising an emotional reality: It does not mean that you do not report the facts. It does not mean you tactically omit information. It is merely recognition of who we are. The concept finds support from others. Di Giovanni insists how could you not take the side of the right, or the good? She highlights a story from Sierra Leone which was basically horrific militia, the RUF 6 against civilians. [] How could you go into an interview with an RUF commander who chops off six months old babies arms and have any kind of empathy for the cause?
The Revolutionary United Front, lead by Foday Sankoh began the civil war in Sierra Leone in 1991. Tens of thousands of died and more than 2 million people were displaced during the 11 year conflict. It was officially declared over on 18 January 2002.
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The case of the Sierra Leone commander is perhaps an extreme example. Generally deciding who is right and wrong in conflict becomes a huge moral question particularly, as established in the previous section, journalists are not exposed to the full picture of the macro-event. Schicha (1999, cited in Hanitzsch, 2004) has warned of the mono-causality of journalistic descriptions of the origins and causes of conflict. So there is the danger that complex socio-political events which develop into a conflict or war are reduced to simple right and wrong. In the hands of less talented, less able and less experienced journalists than Bell, it may be used to push inherent subjective biases at the expense of the understanding of the media audience.
4.2.2. The Argument against Attachment

The idea of journalists forming attachments though does not get the full support of others interviewed. Rowland believes it comes from a tendency to sympathise with a victim, coupled to the side of the conflict from which the journalist is reporting: It is simple, we have a goodie and baddie [] and doesnt do justice to the situation. Herman and Chomsky (1988) warn it creates the distinction between worthy and unworthy victims where only the worthy have their plight recognised and society commits itself to act. Bowen argues that in the context of the Bosnia war, where Bell developed his idea of journalism of attachment, there was clear distinctions between good and bad, between right and wrong and draws parallels with the Spanish civil war and the fight against fascism: So sometimes maybe it is our job to take sides. However, he feels adopting such an approach on a regular basis undermines journalistic credibility with the audience.
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Further, opponents of Bells position argue it moves the journalist from observer of events to participant. Snow insists journalists are in place on behalf of the audience and that becoming a participant pollutes the relationship between the two. Gizbert believes that while journalists play a part, they are not a participant. Yet given that a number of the respondents have already admitted that emotion plays a part in the decision of what forms the news report, they have moved perhaps partially reflexively, partially unconsciously - from the role of mere observer to that of participant, who is less likely to meet the expected professional standard of emotional distance and detachment. This ties-in with the conclusions presented in Morrison and Tumbers post-Falkands work (1988) that suggested emotion influences conflict reporting.
Tadros, who was based in Gaza throughout the Israel offensive in 2008/2009 7 makes the valid point that during the conflict she was both observer, in her role as a correspondent with Al Jazeera English and a participant because we were as unsafe as everyone else there. There was no guarantee that journalists would not, or could not be bombed. It is a point acknowledged by Gaisford (interview with author 13/8/2010) who believes impartiality is difficult if you are sat on one side of the line and someone on the other side is firing at you. It is then perhaps not too difficult to understand an empathy with those under threat or under attack which then manifests itself in the news texts. Bell is steadfast in his defence of the idea. He believes that what is reported has an impact and as such journalists are not simple bystanders: The idea that television news (and other forms of
The Gaza offensive was a three-week armed conflict that took place in the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel during December and January of 2008-2009. Israel began military operations to stop rocket fire from and arms import into the territory. More than one thousand people were killed in military bombardments of the Gaza area.
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journalism) lives in a cosy little compartment merely spectating [] is nonsense. Bells position is a fairer acknowledgement of the power of journalists. If, as most of the interviewees insist, they entered the industry to expose wrong-doing, to hold people to account, then it is perhaps disingenuous for them to claim they are mere observers or as Bell describes them candle holders looking on. Their reports can influence events, they have the power and the tools, which while acting in concert with other elements can provoke a reaction, which is more than many true bystanders can claim.
Gizbert and Di Giovanni acknowledge that an admission emotion inevitably compromises impartiality and therefore plays a part in journalistic output would not be widely welcomed by many in the industry. Such an idea clearly impinges on the ideal of objectivity or impartiality and the concepts of neutrality and emotional detachment. Their view comes with the certainty of their current positions and a distance from previous conflicts. Gizbert insists that were he seeking an entry level job today he would be striving for some robotic, android like state that somebody in a suit would like to hear from an aspiring young journalist. But I know better now.
4.2.3. Summary
A common theme emerges from the data on the ideal of objectivity. No-one believes it is obtainable, yet it does not stop each respondent striving for it every time they report. As such, the concept itself continues to have an impact on practice. It can be argued on an epistemological level there is no way of telling if something was totally objective and fully balanced because to view such a report,
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the observer would have to know all there is to know which, while theoretically possible, is a practical impossibility. Objectivity is a much broader demand and so journalists attempt, in the main, to be impartial and truthful and fair. Yet they all accept emotion can become part of the process in reporting conflict, a natural human reaction to what is being witnessed which then inevitably affects the job they do. And so again I contend that notions of impartiality and balance are compromised in fields of conflict.
4.3. Conflict and the Impact on Production

This thesis contends that if, as has been shown, there is an impact on objectivity or impartiality and professional practice, then there will be a subsequent impact on the final news texts. News has a social importance. It can, as Seib (2002) maintains, be a significant influence on public opinion, which in turn gives it a political dimension in the setting of public policy. The understanding of what then impacts on the final news texts is a significant qualifier in our comprehension of journalistic production. While Boyd-Barrett (2004; p26/26) believes journalists may unthinkingly subscribe to or knowingly comply with the objectives, ideologies and perspectives of one or another side to a conflict this thesis demonstrates there is little unthinking about the process, that there exists a reflexivity among the journalists about what influences are brought to bear on a personal level in the shaping of news.
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4.3.1. The Emotional Witness

All eight journalists interviewed for this thesis accept emotions can and do alter the final text produced from each news event in a war or conflict zone. It would be hard to accept that it would not, given the extreme experience being witnessed. That however does not necessarily diminish the news report but can in fact make it more powerful, memorable and impactful. It can give the audience a clearer understanding of what is going on through use of language and in television and radio, its delivery. This may be part of the paradigmatic shift in conflict reporting identified by Tumber and Prentoulis which sees the journalists role as an active interpreter (2003: p228) where attachment and emotion become part of the journalistic process a trend they believe has accelerated since the 2001 September 11 attacks on the US.
Rowland acknowledges emotional connection or engagement can enrich or enhance reporting - if channelled in the appropriate manner. She was one of the first journalists on the scene of the Racak massacre 8 during the war in Kosovo. Working for BBC Radio, she began to file a live report back to London: I had tears running down my face. I think it was shock as much as anything else. While Rowland filed subsequent reports from the scene throughout the day, in the main news programme that evening the editors decided to run that first report. Rowlands perception is that there was nothing unusual in the job she did, that she
Forty five Kosovo Albanians were killed in the Central Kosovan village of Racak on15 January 1999. The Yugoslav army claimed all the dead were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. A number of official reports have characterized the killings as a deliberate massacre of civilians by Serbian police forces
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appeared composed on-air, however she accepts the emotion of the moment perhaps provided a raw clarity which was regarded by those who heard it as very strong, very powerful. Tadros admits that during the Gaza conflict there was an element of anger in her reporting because of what she was witnessing: I think I cried every day of the Gaza War she says. In both cases, it would be remarkable to think the witness of such extreme events, watching human beings killing one another or coming across the aftermath of such an event, would not and could not have an impact on a human level which would then leak into the reporting. It is also unrealistic to believe that somehow it should not. Tadros supports this idea People watch films about this kind of thing and are changed. We are not going to change from seeing it day-in and day-out?
Di Giovanni reveals her need to have emotion as an essential tool in her storytelling. Recalling being dispatched to Rwanda 9 during the internecine fighting there, she admits the scale of the tragedy began to lose perspective: I ceased feeling anything because it was just so many bodies piled up for miles and miles and [] after weeks of doing it you dont feel anything. Youre just like oh, theres another five hundred bodies. And if you feel like that you cant write properly. Bowen maintains that if youre a witness to things as well it has an impact in that you get a much more powerful piece. Journalists are human. And as such we should expect human responses rather than an uncaring detachment when confronted with the brutalities of war. Hanitzch (2004; p491) highlights the
The Rwandan genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 over the course of approximately 100 days. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic tensions between the minority Tutsi who had controlled power for centuries and the majority Hutu people who came to power in the 1959-62 rebellion.
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same issue when he points out that Journalists are the offsprings of their (his emphasis) societies and their cultures, so why should one expect journalists to be better humans than their readers, viewers and listeners. The call of public service in journalism is great and while the coverage of conflict presents significant challenges, the job of the journalist is to enlighten. And when the journalist is placed in the situation of being the audiences eyes and ears, it is also perhaps incumbent on them to be their conscience too.
4.3.2 Habitus and its Impact on Production

Bourdieus concept of habitus gives this thesis a basis for understanding the interplay between organisational demands and procedures and human action informed by changing life experiences. Habitus is, in Bourdieus own words a feel for the game (1998; p81), a social history which also shapes current practices and structures. Personal habitus impacts on the individual approach and practices of every journalist and so through this interplay with the war reporter or professional habitus, it has a direct connection with the final production of news texts. Bowen recalls someone recently asked how schools had operated during the Bosnian War. He admits he had no idea: as a guy in my early thirties without kids it wasnt on my mental radar. [] Ive got kids now, Im sure that if I was in that sort of situation again Id be interested to know [] how their lives were affected. Professional conventions also play a part of the mental radar of journalists in the field. They will help them decide to follow certain stories and how to approach them. Shultz (2007; p190) defines this sense of news worthiness as journalistic gut feeling or professional habitus. This dictates the stories
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should be fresh, dramatic and possibly exclusive with audience appeal. Such choices are part of everyday journalistic routines.
Di Giovanni admits that parenthood has also affected her approach to stories, making her much more sensitive to the suffering of children in conflict zones And often [] I prefer not to write that story. Temporal considerations and the zeitgeist are also significant factors as acknowledged by Snow who covered many guerrilla insurgencies in Central America during the 1970s. He hasnt studied his reporting from that time, but as a young journalist he accepts: I probably did romanticise the guerrilla struggle. []. It was a big time of flux, the ending of the Vietnam War, hostility towards America. [] In El Salvador one did develop a bias towards the peasantry. This is perhaps the clearest example of cultural and social changes impacting on individual journalists and so in turn, being reflected in their reporting. The audience, of course, may be aware of the cultural temperature but does not know or understand how that impacts on each individual, and on the people bringing them the news of the day into their homes.
Although journalists in war zones are faced with death and destruction on a daily basis, it is the death of friends and colleagues that remind them of their mortality. Bell was shot and wounded an incident caught on camera while working for the BBC in Bosnia in August 1992. He admits that the incident changed his approach on his return: I had to psych myself up to get back into it, which I did. [] I was even more careful than before. And there comes a point when the journalist feels they can take no more risks, an acceptance that the number of stories where they put themselves in danger has a limit. Both Bowen and Gizbert
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have been through that. Bowen pulled out of an assignment to Baghdad just before the 2003 invasion because he was scared of being killed. I had little kids. I thought I cannot do this. This is irresponsible. Yet he admits of the inner turmoil of his decision: I knew there was glory to be had which is why I said yes initially. After a period out of the front line, he returned conflict coverage during the 2006 Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon. Despite feeling trepidacious, he compares his return to conflict as a drug, and he was hooked again. However, the death of a colleague in a shooting incident also in Lebanon in 2008 in which Bowen himself was targeted has left him with mental scars which he believes have changed his basic personality. He hasnt ruled out returning to the front line but his previous experiences will dictate much of his future actions, which has consequences for the way he operates in conflicts zones and the reports he presents to the public.
Gizbert argues continued exposure to conflict zones make it difficult for some reporters to move into other areas of journalism, so they remain war correspondents: These (are) people who have been told that theyre so wonderful by opportunistic managers [] when they try to cash in on their alleged wonderfulness by getting a job in a place where theres no danger [] theyre told their work isnt up to scratch. [] They cant write without the drama in front of them. [] Those are the people who are trapped in the conflict zones and theyre amongst the saddest cases. Many of the journalists who cover war, cover the same stories, creating an international tribe of maybe around twenty to thirty journalists who all know each other and pitch up in the worlds trouble spots together. Access to the group is won through repeated attendance, a shared
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ideology and the ability to tell tales of wartime exploits which are educational, enlightening or amusing. And there is an acceptance of the ever-changing nature of the group as younger reporters replace their more experienced colleagues who have accepted there is a time, a moment in their career when they must leave the war zone and pass the torch to the next generation.
Di Giovanni talks about a recent assignment to Baghdad and felt like noticing policemen get younger as you get older- that the other journalists there were different: They were, I dont know, twenty-eight, twenty nine. And they were like frat-boys, you know they were really macho. And its their time. Gizbert defines it thus: You do a certain number of missions and then the young kids move in because they have not got less to lose, but less people to disappoint by losing it. What the next generation will adopt is the general professional ideology, the standard and habitus of the journalist field, the organisational procedures. However, they will bring their own personal experiences to bear on the framing of the coverage and the production of news, which will over time, evolve further through exposure to conflict.
4.3.3 The Sheltered Audience

The reaction of audiences to the reality of war has also had an impact on the production of news by those reporting from inside the conflict zone. There is evidence from the data gathered here that the real effects of conflict are being sanitised, that upsetting pictures will not make it onto the screen or into the newspapers. This element of censorship in turn, impacts on what journalists believe they can or cannot show. Snow points the finger of blame at TV
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companies and government regulators. He recently attended a screening of some of his reports from El Salvador 10in the 1970s: Everybody gasped. There were bodies of people in the streets and we all suddenly noticed that we were looking at something we just do not see today. In one two-and-a-half minute package (report) there were over twenty bodies. Bell has also recently reviewed some reports from the Troubles Northern Ireland 11 in 1972: Television then showed body parts being scooped up and taken away. An attempt to include the footage in a future documentary on the BBC was ruled out on grounds of taste and decency. Bell insists: The bosses in London are hiding behind audience surveys which told them that their audience didnt want to be upset because they dont want to be upset.
For many of the respondents this undermines a basic journalistic premise, namely to inform the public. Rowland accepts images may be distressing but it is important the audience is aware of the impact of conflict: War is not a video game. At the other end of those cockpit targeting shots there are warm-bodied people who will be reduced to charred flesh when the missile reaches its target. She accepts that this creates a dilemma for journalists, but one that has to be addressed: It's a case of getting the right balance between faithful portrayal of the horror of war - and gratuitous voyeurism; a tough balance to get - and one that requires experience, courage and sensitivity on the part of journalists. Audience
10
El Salvadors Civil War ran from 1979-1992. It was a conflict between the military lead government and Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a coalition of five left-wing militias.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland was a period of ethno-political conflict which ran from around 1969 until 1998. The principal issue at stake was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and the relations between the mainly Protestant Unionist and mainly Catholic nationalist communities. The Troubles had both political and military (or paramilitary) dimensions.
11
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expectations then impose restrictions on journalism at source, the reporter. Gaisford explains the limitations in this way: Blood and guts doesn't necessarily go down well [] That has a major impact on what I show and write. In terms of conflict we would rarely show the bloody aftermath of a rocket attack, or the bodies of dead soldiers. Bell points out that despite UK forces having spent nine years fighting in Afghanistan, no pictures of dead British soldiers from the scene have been shown on UK news bulletins. This, he believes, is done to protect the audiences and the politicians who then create the idea for themselves that going to war is a policy option; relatively cheap, cost free and glorious. The refusal to air such pictures is a denial of reality, a reductionist view of the true violence of conflict, or what Chouliaraki describes as the aestheticizing of the horror of war (2006 p278). Williams identifies it further as a culture of distance (1982; p14) where the audience is distanced from the horrors of war. Such censorship impinges on the publics basic right to know what is being done in their name.
4.3.4 Summary
This thesis states that the emotional response of journalists in conflict zones has an impact on the final production of texts placed before an audience. In the hands of experienced and capable professionals, provides the viewer or reader, with a clearer view, a better understanding of the news moment. Further, while professional habitus may be the matrix of operations of journalists in war zones, those operations are further influenced by the subjective experiences and inclinations of each individual. Journalism is committed by journalists, and as such, the individual is a significant element in the shaping of the final report. The demands of the audience are also an important factor in this. Despite the growth
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of reality television, the reality of war has been diminished on TV screens and newspapers. Journalists are forced into the position where they self-censor, worried about offending the viewer or their bosses. And so they provide a text which assumes what the audiences want within safe boundaries rather than challenge what they need to make informed democratic decisions on war and conflict.
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Chapter Five Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Research

This thesis has considered if exposure to conflict changes the notions of subjectively and collectively constructed concepts of professionalism. I looked at the questions of whether and if so how conflict may impact on the journalistic ideals of objectivity and impartiality. These questions are at the core of the discussions on the role conflict may play on coverage.
5.1 Thesis Findings

What has become clear from the evidence gathered here it is the increasing level of subjectivity in war reporting. War correspondents are now more likely to incorporate morality and humanitarianism in their reports from conflict zones, more likely to articulate the views of those they see as victims of conflict. Emotion has become part of the process of reporting war and cannot be ignored. While Tumber and Prentoulis (2003) believe that this has been a developing trend in journalism after the 2001 September 11th attacks in the United States, the evidence gathered here indicates that the paradigmatic shift they indentified has been around for a lot longer than they suggest. This may indicate that journalism is going through a cultural change, which Ward (1999) has described as a move towards more interpretative reporting, where the expression of emotion and trauma challenge existing ideological frameworks as total detachment in conflict zones, where fellow human beings are being killed and injured, is realised as an unrealistic demand.
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The correspondents interviewed here are not prepared to consciously eschew the normative collective notions of objectivity and impartiality. While there is an acceptance that objectivity may be not achievable, paradoxically it remains the primary goal for journalists setting out on assignment. Impartiality is regarded as a poor but more practical substitute for objectivity. There is a belief and concern that it leads to journalism where the need for balance produces troubling moral equivalences. Yet, with an acceptance that emotion plays a part in their reporting, that objectivity is an impossibility, that their own personal habitus mixed with existing professional ideology produces a subjective approach, there is a danger that the final product is significantly altered. Journalists have to be certain in the calls the make, the decisions they take that shape the final production. They have to clearly understand the socio-political aspects of conflict. The journalists in this survey are mainly driven by a public service idea, a belief that their reporting will benefit and enlighten society. There is a strong sense that it would be wrong if the public perception of any conflict was distorted through attachment and personal involvement.
Public expectations have also become a factor in conditioning journalists approaches in war zones. The desire to avoid the harsh and brutal realities of conflict being brought into their living-rooms, a desire to be distanced from the blood, pain and loss has motivated the public to demand fewer distressing images, less detailed coverage. Journalists are aware of what conflict does to people and places. They believe, in a view clearly articulated by Bell, that if the realities of such moments were broadcast or published, the appetite for conflict would be
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seriously reduced. Yet, these public demands cannot be ignored at a corporate or individual level. Media companies will not air graphic footage or print harrowing testimony as it risks alienating or desensitising the audience so journalists find themselves self-censoring. They edit out the most gruesome of footage or tone down the nature of the reports to meet public demand. This is a further clear example of the impact conflict has on journalists and journalism.
5.1.2 Areas for Further Research

The impact of subjectivity in conflict reporting is one area which is worth further study by researchers in the future. Given the small selection of interviewees for this thesis, it is hard to extrapolate the findings to war correspondents as a whole. However, it would be interesting to note if the growth of subjectivity is merely a western phenomenon. Certainly there was the suggestion from Tadros and Snow that Arab channels are less balanced, impartial and objective in certain areas and in certain topics and do not adopt the normative approach of their western counterparts.
There are also further grounds for the examination of audience reaction to the violence images and reports of conflict. Anecdotal evidence from some of the respondents suggests that audiences are now more protective of what they allow into their home, more aware of what may upset them. As suggested in the thesis itself, a content analysis comparing coverage of conflict in the periods mentioned in interviews with Bell and Snow namely the 1970s and today may be revealing on the changes of audience attitudes and the growing self-censorship of frontline correspondents. It would also be interesting to investigate how the
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audience approach to on-screen real life violence impacts on perceptions of conflict.
5.1.3 Summary
This thesis has considered the impact of conflict on the three main areas under discussion: professionalism, impartiality and production. It addresses a gap in the literature as no study appears to have taken the holistic approach and considered where all three areas overlap and how each impact on the other. What has been established is that exposure to conflict does indeed have an impact on professionalism and impartiality, two of the touchstones which guide the practice of journalism. Emotion is the biggest factor. It changes the role of reporter from impartial, disinterested observer to someone who is subjectively engaged in the outcome of developments. This will have an impact on the final news texts. This is not unsurprising when we remember the human nature of journalism, that it is people reporting on people.
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Schudson, M. (1996) The Power of News. Harvard University Press; London. Schudson, M. (2001) The Objectivity Norm in American Journalism. Journalism Vol2. No. 2. (pp149-170) Seib, P. (2002) The Global Journalist: News and Conscience in a World of Conflict. Rowman & Littlefield; Lanham, USA. Shultz, I. (2007) The Journalistic Gut Feeling Journalism Practice Vol. 1 No.2 (pp190-207) Singer, J.B (2003) Who are these guys?: The Online Challenge to the Notion of Journalistic Professionalism. Journalism. Vol. 4 No.2 (pp139-163) Soloski, J. (1989) News Reporting and Professionalism: Some Constraints on the Reporting of News. Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 11 (pp207-228) Starck, K & Soloski, J. (1977) Effect of Reporter Predisposition in Covering Controversial Stories Journalism Quarterly Spring 1977 (pp120-125) Steele, J. (2002) War Junkie. Corgi; London. Taylor, P.M. (1997) War and the Media. Propaganda and Persuasion in the Gulf War (2nd Edition). Manchester University Press; Manchester. Tomalin, N. (1969) Stop the Press, I want to get on. Sunday Times Magazine. Tuchman, G. (1972) Objectivity as Strategic Ritual; An Examination of Newsmens Notions of Objectivity. The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 77 No.4 (pp660-679) Tuchman, G. (1978) Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. Free Press; New York. Tumber, H. (2002) Reporting Under Fire: The Physical Safety and Emotional Welfare of Journalists in B.Zelizer & S. Allan (Eds.) Journalism after September 11. Routledge; London. Tumber, H. (2004) Prisoners of News Values? Journalists, Professionalism and Identification in times of war in S. Allan & B. Zelizer (Eds.) Reporting War, Journalism in Wartime (pp190-205) Routledge;Oxford. Tumber, H. (2006) The Fear of Living Dangerously: Journalists who Report on Conflict. International Relations Vol. 20 No. 4 pp439-451 Tumber, H. (2006a) Journalists at Work Revisited. Javnost The Public. Vol.13 No. 3 (pp57-68)
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Tumber, H. (2008) Journalists, War Crimes and International Justice Media, War and Conflict Vol.1 No. 3 (pp261-269) Tumber, H. & Prentoulis, M (2003) Journalists Under Fire: Subcultures, Objectivity and Emotional Literacy in War and the Media in D.K Thussu & D. Freedman (Eds.) Reporting Conflict 24/7 Sage: London. Tumber, H. & Webster, F. (2006) Journalists Under Fire: Information, War and Journalistic Practices. Sage; London. Tunstall, J. (1971) Journalists at Work: Specialist Correspondents: their news organisations, news sources and competitor colleagues London; Constable. Ward, S.J. (1998) An Answer to Martin Bell: Objectivity and Attachment in Journalism. The Harvard Journal of Press/Politics Vol. 3 (pp121-125) Ward, S.J. (1999) Pragmatic News Objectivity: Objectivity with a Human Face. The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, May, D-7. Available at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/publications/papers/discussion_papers/d37_ ward.pdf Accessed 1/10/10 at 4.55pm Ward-Schofield, J. (1993) Increasing the generalisability of qualitative research. In M. Hammersley (Ed.) Social research: Philosophy, politics and practice (pp200-225) London:Sage. Weaver, D.H. (1998) (Ed.) The global journalist: News people around the World. Hampton; New Jersey. Weaver, D.H. & Wilhoit, G.C. (1991) The American Journalist: A Portrait of US News People and Their Work. Indiana University Press. Weaver, D.H. & Wilhoit G.C. (1996) The American Journalist in the 1990s: US News People at the End of an Era. Erinbaum Associates Williams, K. (1992) Something More Important than Truth: Ethical Issues in War Reporting in A. Belsay and R. Chadwick (Eds.) Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media. Routledge;London. Williams, R. (1982) Distance in A. OConnor (Ed.) Raymond Williams on Television (1989) Routledge; London. Wimmer, R.D., & Dominick, J.R. (2006) Mass Media Research, Wadsworth, Cenage Learning; Boston Whittaker, A (1996) Qualitative methods in general practice research: experience from the Oceanpoint Study. Family Practice. Vol.13 No. 3 (pp 310-316) Zelizer, B. (2005) The Culture of Journalism in J. Curran & M. Gurevitch (Eds.) Mass Media & Society. Hodder Arnold; London.
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Zelizer, B. & Allan, S. (2002) (Eds.) Journalism after September 11. Routledge; London.
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Appendix One Participant Biographies

Martin Bell
Martin Bell joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1965. In the next thirty years, he reported from 80 countries and covered 11 conflicts. His first exposure to war came in Vietnam in the 1960s. He has also covered wars in the Middle East, Africa, and civil wars in Central America, as well as completing numerous assignments in Northern Ireland. He won the prestigious Royal
Television Societys Reporter of the Year award in 1977 and again in 1993. He was awarded an OBE in 1992, the same year he was seriously wounded while filming a report in Sarajevo, during the war in Bosnia. From his long experience, Bell came to believe the tradition of neutral reporting of armed conflict was misguided and journalists should take sides when confronted with horror and atrocity. He called this the Journalism of Attachment and has been a source of a great deal of academic debate and discussion. In 1997, Bell resigned from the BBC and was elected as an Independent MP to the British House of Commons. He served one five year term. He now acts as an ambassador for UNICEF and is an outspoken critic of the standard of contemporary journalism. interviewed at his London home for this thesis on July 20 , 2010.
th
He was
Jeremy Bowen
Jeremy Bowen is currently the BBCs Middle East Editor. He was appointed to the position in August 2005. He joined the BBC in 1984 as a news trainee. He then spent spells in the radio and television newsrooms, including some time in Northern Ireland before being appointed Geneva Correspondent in 1987. He has reported from more than 70 countries and has covered conflicts in the Gulf, El Salvador, Lebanon, Gaza, Afghanistan, Croatia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq and Algeria. During the Kosovo conflict in 1999, he was robbed at
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gunpoint by bandits close to the Albanian border. In 1995 he won Best News Correspondent at the New York Television Festival and the following year won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Breaking News for his coverage of President Rabins assassination. As Middle East Editor for the Corporation, he led its coverage of the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, for which the BBC won an international Emmy. And he won first prize at the Bayeux War
Correspondent Awards for a film on the 2008/2009 Gaza War. Jeremy was interviewed for this thesis at the Frontline Club in London on August 13th, 2010.
Janine Di Giovanni
Janine di Giovanni is one of Europe's most respected and experienced reporters, with vast experience covering war and conflict. Her reporting has been called "established, accomplished brilliance" and she has been cited as "the finest foreign correspondent of our generation". Born in the USA, she began reporting by covering the first Palestinian intifada in the late 1980s and went on to report nearly every violent conflict since then. During the war in Kosovo, di Giovanni travelled with the Kosovo Liberation Army into occupied Kosovo and sustained a bombing raid on her unit which left many soldiers dead. In 2000, she was one of the few foreign reporters to witness the fall of Grozny, Chechnya. Her dispatches won her several major awards. She has also collected the National Magazine Award, one of America's most prestigious prizes in journalism, and two Amnesty International Awards for Sierra Leone and Bosnia as well as Britain's Granada Television's Foreign Correspondent of the Year for Chechnya. Janine is a writer for The Times of London and Vanity Fair, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Spectator, National Geographic and many others. She also writes columns and Op-Ed pieces for the Wall Street Journal, and the International Herald Tribune. Janine was interviewed at her home in Paris on September 8th, 2010.
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Richard Gaisford
Richard Gaisfords career in journalism began during the first Gulf War, when he worked at ITN on both radio and television newsdesks. He went on to work as a desk journalist at Sky News, and a reporter for Westcountry Television and London Tonight where he was the first television reporter on the scene of the Docklands bomb. He joined GMTV (Good Morning Television) in 2000. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was embedded with a British Army tank regiment and was the first journalist to report live from inside Basra. His frontline reports were seen daily on GMTV, BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Sky, CNN, Fox, ABC and NBC amongst others. In 2006, he was promoted to the post of Chief Correspondent. During the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, his car was surrounded by armed men who tried to grab him and his crew. He was eventually freed after intervention by Hezbollah. Richard has also covered the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 , the devastating earthquakes in Pakistan, and the death of Pope John Paul II. He has also spent time on the ground in Iraq with British forces. In September 2010, he became Chief Correspondent of Daybreak, the replacement for GMTV. Richard was interviewed for this thesis at GMTVs London studios on August 13th, 2010.
Richard Gizbert
Richard Gizbert has a long and accomplished career as a foreign correspondent covering many parts of the globe. Over the past 25 years, he has covered stories in more than 50 countries on five continents. Richard spent 11 years with the American network ABC, as one of the network's London-based foreign correspondents. During this time he covered conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Somalia and Rwanda. He has extensive experience in the Middle East, having covered Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian occupied territories and Israel. After being fired by ABC News in 2004, Gizbert fought and won a wrongful dismissal case against the network, in which an employment tribunal awarded him $100,000 in compensation. Gizbert argued
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that his refusal to accept assignments in Iraq led to his firing. The tribunal agreed, ruling his stand on assignments in Iraq was a "primary" reason for his dismissal. Prior to being based in London, Richard worked as a correspondent-producer for CJOH-TV in Canada, where he was the parliamentary correspondent, responsible for national political coverage. He is now the host of the critically acclaimed The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English. Richard was interviewed in London on August 8th, 2010.
Jacky Rowland
Jacky Rowland began her career as a trainee at the BBC in 1989. She went on to hold a number of high-profile foreign postings. She is probably best known for her coverage of the former Yugoslavia. In October 2000, she defied an expulsion order by the Serbian authorities, went into hiding, and emerged in time to cover the overthrow of the former president, Slobodan Milosevic. .She also covered the Racak Massacre, seen as a defining moment in the Kosovo conflict. In the subsequent 16 years, her career as a foreign correspondent took her to North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Russia, Afghanistan and the United States. In 2001, her reporting earned her a Royal Television Society Award in 2001. In 2005 she moved to the global news channel, Al Jazeera English. Based in Jerusalem, she has covered the ongoing violence in the region and was a significant part of the channels coverage of the 2008/2009 war in Gaza. She has recently (September 2010) taken up a posting as a correspondent for AJE based in Paris. Jackie was interviewed for this thesis in London on July 10th, 2010.
Jon Snow
Best known as the anchor of Channel 4 news in the UK, Jon Snow began his career with the London based radio station, LBC. After covering the Balcombe Street siege in London, he was offered a job at Independent Television News (ITN). He worked as a general news reporter covering numerous conflicts including the Iran/Iraq war from both sides and fighting in several African
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countries. He was appointed ITNs Washington Correspondent in 1983, where he served for three years and spent time covering the ongoing civil wars in central and South America. On his return to the UK he became Diplomatic Editor. He has won several Royal Television Society awards, two for his coverage from the civil war in El Salvador and two as Presenter of the Year. Jon was interviewed for this thesis in London on July 22nd, 2010.
Sherine Tadros
Sherine Tadros is an Arab British journalist who works for the international news channel, Al Jazeera English and is based in the Middle East. After obtaining two degrees in Middle East politics, Sherine worked for the Al Arabiya network as an executive producer in their London bureau. She joined Al Jazeera English in 2005 initially as a junior producer based in London. After moving to the channels headquarters in Doha, she was given a series of assignments before being sent to Jerusalem and Gaza to help with coverage in the bureau. Sent to Gaza, she suddenly found herself one of only two journalists working for English language media reporting from Gaza during the 2008/2009 Israeli offensive there. Her coverage has been nominated for a number of international awards. Sherine is now a correspondent based in the Middle East and spends most of her time split between Jerusalem and Gaza. She was interviewed for this thesis in London on August 3rd, 2010.
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Appendix Two Sample Questionnaire

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Please give me an outline of your career, including conflicts covered. Do you regard journalism as a profession? What attributes makes someone a good professional? Does this definition youve provided change in a conflict situation? How would you define objectivity? Objectivity is often described as a journalistic ideal would you agree? Is objectivity the same as impartiality? Would you describe yourself as a war correspondent? Can you indicate how you may operate differently in a conflict situation? Is there any particular reason for you acting in this way? What then is the primary goal for journalists covering conflict? Does what you witness have an impact on you as a person at the time? Does that then impact on what you report or how you report? Can you think of any particular instance where this may have happened? Do you approach each story or each angle with a set view? Does conflict have an impact on you personally? How does your employer react to you when you are in a conflict zone? Does that have an impact on how you cover the story? Does exposure to conflict have any impact on you when you return? Do you feel it may have an impact on future assignments?
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After The Fire: Journalists, Conflict and Its Impact On Impartiality, Professionalism and Production'

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Alan Fisher

After the Fire MA Dissertation

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After the Fire MA Dissertation

After the Fire MA Dissertation

After the Fire MA Dissertation

APPENDIX ONE PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES _________________________________________________ 73 APPENDIX TWO SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE____________________________________________________ 78

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Chapter One Introduction

1.1 The Object of Study

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1.2 Thesis Outline

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Chapter Two Review of the existing Literature

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2.1 The Literature on Objectivity

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2.1.1 Objectivity and the Journalism of Attachment

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2.2. Defining professional practice

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2.3 The Finished Product

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2.3.1. Early conflicts and the role of the journalist.

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2.3.2. Vietnam and the Falklands

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2.3.3. The Gulf, the Balkans and Beyond.

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2.4 Theoretical considerations Journalistic Habitus

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Chapter Three Research Methodology

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3.2 Designing the study

3.2.1 Choosing Interviewing as Method

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3.3 The Research Participants

3.3.1 Conducting the Interviews

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3.4 Analysing the Data

Alan Fisher Theme Impartiality

After the Fire MA Dissertation Transcription Answers

The particular challenge conflict poses in the context of questions about

If the interviewee regards journalism as a profession

Emotional Trauma and its impact on production

Does exposure to trauma impact on either objectivity or the concept of professionalism

Is the final product presented to the public altered by such exposure?

APPENDIX ONE PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES _ 73 APPENDIX TWO SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE____ 78