Western reporters long ago lost their "white flag" of neutrality, and it's not coming back. My own concern, however, is as much for local reporters in crisis countries, whose fates rarely get written up.
We speak of Alan Johnston as if not long ago Western reporters were still protected by their neutrality. Yet in Lebanon alone during the 1980s, journalists Terry Anderson and Jeremy Levin, as well as several French reporters (not forgetting all the other Western hostages), were detained sometimes for years by Iranian-controlled Shiite groups. The journalists became pawns in a much more sinister game of power between the United States, Iran, and Syria.
Nor did this cost the hostage takers and their acolytes very much. The Syrian regime played good cop to Iran's bad cop, helping in the release of hostages but cashing in on this, for example when the first Bush administration signed off on a Pax Syriana in Lebanon in 1991. Western journalists will never be respected as neutral when they are so useful a bargaining chip in larger political maneuverings.
That raises the question of local journalists. They are rarely seen as valuable political chips in any political game. If a regime or party doesn't like them, at least in the Middle East, they can be easily imprisoned or killed. This happens on a daily basis in Iraq. In Egypt or Tunisia, young bloggers critical of the regime are outrageously treated like major criminals and sent to prison for years. In Syria, the best of the journalists -- and they are few -- make compromises on a daily basis with the intelligence services -- when they don’t actually speak in the regime’s name. In Lebanon, the publicity surrounding the killings of Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni in 2005 was the exception confirming the rule when it comes to disregarding the sanctity of Arab media figures.
In societies where the sanctity of so few people is respected, this is hardly surprising.
I don't expect Western journalists will ever enjoy absolute protection in conflicts. However, they are usually more valuable politically than their local counterparts. That means their chances of remaining independent, free, and alive, are greater. I hope Alan Johnston confirms that statement by being released at the very soonest.
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