User:Crtew/The role of female journalists

Assigned the role of female journalists in covering the 2006 Lebanon War as a section for that article.

Overview of Topic
The 2006 Lebanon War, which was between Israel and the military group Hizbullah. During this war the role for the female journalists changed. Many women, such as Katia Nasser, would step up and volunteer to go out on the front line to find any news they could on what was happening. Many lives were risked and a handful were taken when trying to gather more news. The reason this was important was because in the Middle Eastern countries they are mainly men-dominated countries and for the first time women stepped up to be on top.


 * The Telegraph (UK)
 * Arab Media & Society
 * INSI
 * The Daily Star
 * Al Jazeera
 * CPJ
 * Fox News
 * CPJ Layal Najib (also spelled Nejib)

Why Was This Important
The war in Lebanon that took place in 2006, had for the first time Arab female journalist on the front line of the conflicts. This was extremely important for the Middle East because those countries are mainly male-dominate, but for audio-visual media women are starting to take charge during this time. Arab women have started working as war reporters a long time ago, but their presence was most noticeable during the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. In July 2006, the women proved to be daring and professionally competitive compared to their male colleagues at the time. Two of the main media publications during the war were Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Those two and others all have several women reporting from the most dangerous zones during he four week conflict.

Along with the conflicts of the war. the publication companies had many problems as well. One of the main and obvious conflict journalist had was that they were reporting in war zones. None of the female reporters were trained prior to going out in the field. Many women were seen reporting wearing cash helmets and only two wore bullet proof jackets. Also during this time, Hizbullah was in control of media coverage and journalist could only report on Hizbullah's angle of the news. The women were not allowed to report on people complaining about Hizbullah's control of the media or the country's south. Reporters could not visit refugee shelters, take pictures, or even talk to people unless they were accompanied by a Hizbullah personnel. Another problem that arised was that supplies were very low during the last 15 days of the war. Journalist had to share what few items they had with the starving people they would encounter. Plus, many of them would limit their supplies in the first place since they would have to carry heavy equipment and at times had to move quickly. Many women would be without food, water, clean clothes, baths, a place to sleep, or even just a safe shelter to stay. Many reporters would become exhausted from moving to from place to place for safety and caused them to sometimes fumble over their words. Women would adopt feelings of guilt when covering battles and knowing that they had left behind others. The only 'perk' was that being female they were given an easier access to shelters where mainly women and children would escape Israel's wrath on Lebanon.

During the war, many of these women reporters became role models for other girls around the country. Al-Jazeera noticed the trend for front-line journalist being women but said it was only a coincidence rather than intentional. Al-Jazeera reporter, Katia Nasser said that she volunteered to go out on the field. Nasser said, "I am Lebanese and I prefer not to be in Doha in the newsroom. I prefer to be here. I am a journalist and this is my job." Al-Arabiya journalist, Rima Maktabi said that she saw the exposure to war as an enriching experience and that getting the story was worth the risk. Maktabi said, "Journalism isn't just a cause or a calling; it's a personal challenge." Sadly, one journalist did not make it. 23-year old photographer for a Lebanese magazine, Laya Nejib, died after an Israeli rocket landed by her taxi. But this did not scare away the brave women that continued to go out on the front line.