War correspondent 1042601 222499890 2008-06-29T17:50:12Z UnicornTapestry 3021981 /* Notable war correspondents */ added famous WW-II radio correspondent Larry LeSueur {{Original research|date=September 2007}} {{Unreferenced|date=February 2007}} A '''war correspondent''' is a [[journalist]] who covers stories firsthand from a [[war|war zone]]. In the 19th century they were also called ''Special Correspondents''. [[Winston Churchill]] started writing as a war correspondent. ==Methods== Their jobs require war correspondents to deliberately go to the most conflict-ridden parts of the world. Once there they attempt to get close enough to the action to provide written accounts, photos, or film footage. Thus, being a war correspondent is often considered the most dangerous form of journalism. On the other hand, war coverage is also one of the most successful branches of journalism. Newspaper sales increase greatly in wartime and television news ratings go up. News organizations have sometimes been accused of [[Militarism|warmongering]] because of the advantages they gather from conflict. [[William Randolph Hearst]] is often said to have encouraged the [[Spanish-American War]] for this reason. (See [[Yellow journalism]]) Only some conflicts receive extensive worldwide coverage, however. Among recent wars, the [[Kosovo War]] received a great deal of coverage, as did the [[Gulf War]]. Many [[third-world]] wars, however, tend to received less substantial coverage because global audiences are often less interested and the conflicts are also far more dangerous for war correspondents. ==History== Written war correspondents have existed as long as journalism. Before modern journalism it was more common for longer histories to be written at the end of a conflict. The first known of these is [[Herodotus]]'s account of the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Persian Wars]], however he did not himself participate in the events. [[Thucydides]], who some years later wrote a history of the [[Peloponnesian War]]s was an observer to the events he described. The first modern war correspondent is said to be [[Netherlands|Dutch]] painter [[Willem van de Velde the Elder|Willem van de Velde]], who in 1653 took to sea in a small boat to observe a naval battle between the Dutch and the English, of which he made many sketches on the spot, which he later developed into one big drawing that he added to a report he wrote to the [[States-General of the Netherlands|States General]]. A further modernization came with the development of [[newspaper]]s and [[magazine]]s . One of the earliest war correspondents was [[Henry Crabb Robinson]], who covered [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]]'s campaigns in Spain and Germany for ''[[The Times]]'' of London. [[William Howard Russell]] who covered the [[Crimean War]], also for ''The Times'', is often described as the first modern war correspondent. The stories from this era, which were almost as lengthy and analytical as early books on war, took many weeks from being written to being published. It was not until the [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] was developed that reports could be sent on a daily basis and events could be reported as they occurred that the short mainly descriptive stories of today became common. The continued progress of technology has allowed live coverage of events via [[satellite]] up-links. The rise of twenty-four hour news channels has led to a heightened demand for coverage. Early film and television news rarely had war correspondents. Rather they would simply collect footage provided by other sources, often the government, and the [[News presenter|news anchor]] would then add [[Narrator|narration]]. This footage was often staged as cameras were large and bulky. This changed dramatically with the [[Vietnam War]] when networks from around the world sent cameramen with portable cameras and correspondents. This proved damaging to the United States as the full brutality of war became a daily feature on the nightly news. == Notable war correspondents == Some of them became authors of fiction drawing on their war experiences, including Davis, Crane and Hemingway. {{col-start}} {{col-2}} *[[Kate Adie]] (born 1945); covered the [[Gulf War]], [[Yugoslav Wars]], [[Rwandan Genocide]] and the [[Sierra Leone Civil War]]. *[[Christiane Amanpour]] (born 1958); covered the Gulf War and the [[Bosnian War]]. *[[Peter Arnett]] (born 1934); covered the [[Vietnam War]], 1991 [[Gulf War]], the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|2001 Invasion of Afghanistan]] and the 2003 [[Iraq War]]. He is known for covering news from the "other side" of the battlefield. *[[Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett]] (1881-1931); covered the [[Russo-Japanese War]] and [[World War I]]. *[[Robert King Beach]]; covered the [[Spanish-American War]]. *[[Martin Bell]] (born 1938); covered the Vietnam War, [[Biafra War]], [[The Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]], the [[Angolan Civil War]] and the Bosnian War. *[[Mary Marvin Breckinridge]] (1905-2002); covered [[World War II]]. *[[Wilfred Burchett]] (1911-1983); covered the [[Pacific War]], [[Korean War]] and Vietnam War. He was known for covering news from the "other side" of the battlefield, and was often criticised of being a communist sympathiser. *[[Robert Capa]] (1913-1954); covered the [[Spanish Civil War]], [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the [[European Theatre of World War II]] and the [[First Indochina War]] (where he was killed by a [[landmine]]). *[[Dickey Chapelle]] (1918-1965); covered the Pacific War, the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]] and the Vietnam War (where she was killed by a landmine). She was the first female US war correspondent to be killed in action. *[[Peter Cave]] (born 1952); covered the [[Gulf War]], [[Yugoslav Wars]],The Coconut War in the [[New Hebrides]] , [[Iraq War]], [[Tiananmen Square]] *[[Winston Churchill]] (1874-1965); covered the [[Siege of Malakand]], the [[Mahdist War]] and the [[Second Boer War]]. *[[Basil Clarke]] (1879-1947); covered the fighting on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front during WWI]]. *[[Stephen Crane]] (1871-1900); covered the [[1897 Greco-Turkish War]], where he contracted [[tuberculosis]]. *[[Neil Davis (cameraman)|Neil Davis]] - Australian combat cameraman covered the [[Vietnam War]], Cambodia and Laos and subsequently conflicts in Africa. *[[Richard Harding Davis]] (1864-1916); covered the Spanish-American War, Second Boer War and the fighting on the [[Macedonian front]] during WWI. *[[Richard Dimbleby]] (1913-1965); covered World War II *[[Lady Florence Dixie]] (1855-1905); covered the [[First Boer War]]<ref>''DIXIE, Lady Florence'' in ''Who Was Who'' online at [http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=7345683 7345683] at xreferplus.com (subscription required), accessed 11 March 2008</ref> *[[Gloria Emerson]] (1929-2004); covered the Vietnam War. *[[Richard Engel]]; covered the [[Iraq War]] and the [[2006 Lebanon War]]. *[[Bernard B. Fall]] (1926-1967); covered the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War (where he was killed by a [[landmine]]). *[[Robert Fisk]] (born 1946); covered the [[Lebanese Civil War]], the [[Iranian Revolution]], [[Iran-Iraq War]], the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the [[Algerian Civil War]], [[Kosovo War]] and the 2003 Iraq War. *[[J.C. Furnas]]; covered World War II. *[[Martha Gellhorn]] (1908-1998); covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Vietnam War, the [[Six-Day War]] and even the [[U.S. invasion of Panama]]. *[[Georgie Anne Geyer]] (born 1935); covered the [[Guatemalan Civil War]] and the Algerian Civil War. *[[Al Gore]] (born 1948); covered the Vietnam War. *[[Cork Graham]] (born 1964); covered the [[Salvadoran Civil War]] from 1985 to 1989; imprisoned for 11 months in Vietnam 1983 to 1984 while on assignment for the Associated Press. *[[Louis Grondijs]] (1878-1961); covered World War I, the [[Russian Civil War]], the [[Invasion of Manchuria]] and the Spanish Civil War. {{col-2}} * [[David Halberstam]] * [[Macdonald Hastings]] * [[Max Hastings]] * [[Ernest Hemingway]] * [[Michael Herr]]; * [[Marguerite Higgins]]; paved the way for female war correspondents. * [[Peggy Hull]] * [[Ryszard Kapuściński]] * [[Helen Kirkpatrick]] * [[Larry LeSueur]], CBS radio correspondent, reported from rooftops during [[World War II]] London [[blitz]]es, went ashore in the first waves of the [[D-Day]] invasion, and broadcast to America the Allied [[liberation of Paris]]. * [[Terry Lloyd]] * [[Lara Logan]] * [[Anthony Loyd]] * [[Anne O'Hare McCormick]] * [[Karen Maron]] * [[Alan Moorehead]] * [[Edward R. Murrow]] * [[Kenji Nagai]] * [[Arturo Pérez-Reverte]], worked for [[Pueblo (newspaper)|Pueblo]] and Spanish [[TVE]]. Covered the [[Bosnian War]] among others. * [[John Pilger]] * [[Anna Politkovskaya]] * [[Ernie Pyle]] * [[Dan Rather]] * [[Joe Rosenthal]], received the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for his iconic [[World War II]] photograph [[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]] * [[William Howard Russell]] * [[John Sack]] * [[Joe Sacco]] (comic war correspondence) * [[Morley Safer]] * [[Sydney Schanberg]], his experiences in Cambodia during the Vietnam War are dramatized in ''[[The Killing Fields (film)|The Killing Fields]]'' * [[Kurt Schork]] * [[Sigrid Schultz]] * [[Sylvester "Harry" Scovell]] * [[Giuliana Sgrena]] * [[John Simpson]] * [[Kevin Sites]] * [[Daniel Wakefield Smith|Daniel Smith]] * [[Richard Tregaskis]], author of ''Guadalcanal Diary'', dramatized in movie of same name. * [[Benjamin C. Truman]] *[[Michael Ware]] (born 1969); ongoing coverage of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion]] and [[Iraq War|occupation of Iraq]]. Reporting from the perspectives of all combatant groups. * [[Kate Webb]] * [[Eric Lloyd Williams]] * [[Kit Coleman]] first female war correspondent * [[Chester Wilmot]] * [[Waldemar Milewicz]] {{col-end}} == See also == {{portalpar|Journalism|Portal.svg}} * [[Embedded journalist]] * [[War correspondents 1942-43]] * [[Press pool]] * [[:Category:War correspondents]] * [[Breathing (memorial sculpture)]] ==Notes== {{reflist}} == External links == * [http://war-reporting.blogspot.com An investigation into war reporting] * [http://www.warreporter.info War Reporter.info] * [http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=27695 War Correspondents: A Book Bibliography] * [http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/Iraq/Iraq_danger.html A statistical analysis of journalists killed in Iraq since hostilities began in March 2003] * [http://www.correspondent.tv/Awards/?aokeywords=&aoca=10&aocr=13&campaignRef=1 The finalists of the 2007 Rory Peck Awards online on correspondent.tv] [[Category:Reporting specialties]] [[Category:People associated with war]] [[Category:War correspondents|*]] [[ar:مراسل حربي]] [[de:Kriegsberichterstattung]] [[fr:Correspondant de guerre]] [[nl:Oorlogsverslaggever]] [[no:Krigsreportasje]] [[pl:Korespondent wojenny]] [[pt:Correspondente de guerra]] [[ru:Военный корреспондент]] [[sl:Vojni dopisnik]] [[fi:Sotakirjeenvaihtaja]]