A professional journalist assigned to cover events in a war zone or other areas of conflict is known as a war correspondent. Because the reporter is expected to provide comprehensive coverage while avoiding enemy fire, improvised explosive devices, and other battlefield hazards, this is typically not an entry-level position. Only a small percentage of the thousands of professional journalists working today actively volunteer to be war correspondents.
Some war correspondents work in newspaper or television station field offices, only venturing into the conflict zone when it is relatively safe for the press to do so. They spend a lot of their time interviewing military commanders or attending official military press conferences. A war correspondent’s job is to provide a summary of the most recent activities or speculations, rather than to report from the front lines.
Other types of war correspondents are embedded in an active military unit and are allowed to report live from the front lines. Although an embedded war correspondent can wear special insignia indicating that he or she is a non-combatant, this does not always protect them from harm. Bodyguards may be assigned to an embedded journalist and his crew, but there are no guarantees of complete personal safety. When it is safe to file a report, an embedded war correspondent must know when to duck and cover.
Over the years, many well-known journalists and political figures have served as special war correspondents. Winston Churchill, the legendary British prime minister, began his political career as a war correspondent. During World War II, broadcast journalism pioneer Edward R. Murrow worked as a war correspondent in London, filing nightly radio reports. Former CBS anchor Dan Rather, as well as future senator and vice president Al Gore, Jr., spent many months reporting directly from Vietnam in the late 1960s.
A number of contemporary war correspondents have also become household names. Christiane Amanpour, a female war correspondent who has worked for CNN and other news organizations, is well-known for her live reports from conflict zones all over the world. Lara Logan, a South African journalist who currently works for CBS News, has spent several years covering events in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other embedded journalists may not be as well-known, but they have all been in charge of providing images and accounts of the country’s military operations to citizens at home.