Women War Reporters: Legitimacy Through Practice

Extract

[...] The entire set of these data shows that the reality of women's presence in the war zone is an empirical fact, documented by field practices and stories, and not the result of a regulatory framework. II) A late and partial legal consideration The legal protection of reporters rests on an international protection applied after the fact while their status is framed by an inappropriate labor law International protection implemented after the attacks The international humanitarian law considers journalists on mission as civilians, provided they do not participate in combat (document n°7). [...]

[...] The history of women's reporting shows that these careers have expanded access to the profession through practice (document n°16). This movement is also reflected in recent press: certain reporters from cultural or social sections have gradually gained access to war zones, showing that legitimacy is acquired through practice on the ground rather than through prior recognition, all the more so since this remains difficult for women (document n°15). It has also been highlighted that this professional reconfiguration was not driven by law or by the editorial staff, but by the publication of investigations that made an event and forced the media to integrate these authors among the great reporters (documents n°5, n°3). [...]

[...] In recent conflicts such as the Ukrainian conflict, for example, women reporters intervene in the midst of gunfire, sometimes even with military accreditation but without real protection (document n°2). At the same time, the influx of freelancers in the war zone, who are often without preparation or status, shows an insertion by voluntary exposure rather than a framed recognition (document n°6). The observations that have recently been made on the ground confirm the same continuity of engagement, especially since the 20th century (document n°12). [...]

[...] Women War Reporters and the Law Women have long been relegated to the background of the media landscape, however, they have gradually conquered the terrain of war reporting. This conquest was made in an initially structured universe by rather masculine logics (document n°10), before the experience of the field gave them their own legitimacy, sometimes at the price of an exposure comparable to that of combat soldiers (documents n°4, n°9). The presence of women in conflict zones was first imposed by practice before the law intervened through protection and repair mechanisms, still partial (II). [...]

[...] However, a parliamentary report notes that this regime remains simply 'reactive' and that a prior statutory framework for war correspondents is lacking (documents n°19 and n°20). Although danger and death are omnipresent (document nº13). In parallel, data on the progressive feminization of combat units show that women now occupy positions at the heart of military action, just like female reporters, but without them benefiting from a prior and distinct legal framework due to their sex (document n°21). A labor law framework out of sync The social litigation involving female journalists shows that their legal recognition passes in the first place through individual disputes. [...]