Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Senior journalist Desi Fitiriani outlined a number of ways to prevent attacks while reporting in conflict areas such as the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
“We don’t go into conflict areas without learning, without knowing, what is really going on. What conflicts are happening in the region,” Desi said in the Webinar Preventing Threats of Journalists in Palestine News Coverage organized by the Palestine International Forum for Media & Communication, Tuesday. .
Desi said that journalists need to study and understand the actual situation when they are going to cover conflict areas, so that they have a complete picture of events that occurred in that area.
“We first learn how the history is. How many times have there been wars there? Then what are their groups fighting, between what groups and what groups. How is the atmosphere in Palestine, in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip. Then what about Israeli attacks? How many times and since when did it happen?” said Desi further.
Apart from understanding the situation, journalists who will cover conflict areas such as in Palestine also need to prepare themselves, especially mental preparation.
“When they enter a conflict area, their mentality is different. Some are even assigned to a conflict area, then 2 or 3 days later they ask to go home,” she said.
Self-preparation, especially mental preparation, needs to be done because with a strong mentality, journalists can quickly adjust to situations that occur when entering conflict areas.
The next way to prevent a possible attack is to believe that every journalist is protecting himself or herself. “We are our protectors,” said Desi, excluding the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who died being the target of an Israeli military strike.
With the awareness to protect themselves when reporting in conflict areas, journalists should equip themselves with protective equipment such as helmets or bulletproof vests.
In addition, journalists also need to ensure that they always use their identity as journalists during reporting, and bring safety equipment, food and drinks.
Furthermore, journalists who cover conflict areas must also find ways not to be used by one side of the conflict, so that they can produce balanced news.
Lastly, journalists are also advised to know how to save themselves when in the middle of a conflict zone.
“We need to find neutral areas or areas that can be used as shelters,” she said. (mhn/bbs)
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