In this thesis I analyse the reporting and the reception of news about distant suffering in the light of John Howard Yoder‘s work on witness. Studies of news reporting about foreign wars, genocide and disasters commonly conclude that the practice of bearing witness to distant suffering contributes to a context where both journalists and spectators appear to have limited moral agency. I argue that the practice of bearing witness has ethical significance for those actively engaged in bearing witnessing. In his work on Christian witness, Yoder demonstrates how witness can be understood as a method for moral reasoning. I assert that Yoder‘s argument presents a fruitful approach for interdisciplinary consideration of the ethical significance found in the practice of bearing witness to distant human suffering. In chapter one, I lay the foundation of my investigation into the ethical agency involved in bearing witness. John Howard Yoder‘s theological approach to social ethics provides that foundation. Central to Yoder‘s claim that witness is a form of ethics, is the premise that presence testifies. Yoder calls this the 'phenomenology of social witness‘. Yoder‘s work opens new ways in which to ask questions about the practice of bearing witness as a form of social ethics. It is from this foundation that I begin to ask questions about the news media practice of bearing witness to distant suffering, the subject of chapter two. Media practices are social practices that involve a dense interaction of many layers of society. In the media practice of witnessing distant suffering, governments, charities, news media organisations, and audiences are all involved in what I call the social formation of the Global Samaritan. The foundational work on Yoder in chapter one allows me to ask the question: How is the Global Samaritan a presence, and to what does this presence testify? In chapters three and four, I focus on two of the prominent groups which contribute to the formation of the Global Samaritan: audiences and foreign correspondents. News audiences as moral agents already seem a problem for Yoder‘s claim that presence testifies. Do audiences who bear witness to distant suffering have moral agency? How can the amorphous and fleeting presence of television, internet, or twitter audiences testify? In the chapter on audiences, the initial claim regarding presence makes for an important investigation into how audiences can potentially move beyond mere spectatorship and towards participation in care for the suffering. Foreign correspondents bearing witness to distant suffering do not face the same obstacles to testifying as audiences do. After all, foreign correspondents are often live, on-the-scene of extraordinary circumstances of suffering. The danger and risks foreign correspondents face in order to report live from scenes of devastation and disaster testify to the fact that the situation is indeed dangerous and causing suffering. Yoder‘s claim that presence testifies is a claim strongly paralleled within the tradition of investigative journalism. In chapter four, I investigate the ethical function of foreign correspondent presence. I consider the foreign correspondent‘s dual role as the proxy 'eyes and ears‘ of the public and the proxy voice for those without a voice. Through these two roles, I explore major concepts involved in the practice of investigative journalism. One prominent issue I explore is the tension between the principles of a liberal democratic press and the practice of frontline reporters live, on-the-scene of extraordinary and extreme situations. In the final chapter, chapter five, I focus on the experience of three frontline reporters bearing witness to human suffering. BBC [British Broadcasting Company] reporter John Simpson‘s reflections on his coverage of the beginning of the Iraq War illustrate the importance of bearing witness as involving real presence on location. Norwegian freelance reporter Ǻsne Seierstad‘s reflections on covering the Iraq War from Baghdad further contributes to the concept of 'being there‘ as central to bearing witness. Focus on Seierstad also furthers discussion on women reporters bearing witness to war. The third reporter I highlight is BBC reporter Fergal Keane. I focus on his reflections covering the Rwandan genocide to illustrate how the claim to bearing witness involves more than spectatorship, but often involves participation. I conclude with an analysis of the media practice of bearing witness, involving the range of reporter presence to the quasi-presence of the audience, in the light of John Howard Yoder‘s claim that bearing witness is a form of social ethics.

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This thesis deals with the position of journalists in the situation of armed conflict, It is a category of persons, whose protection within the international humanitarian law has been discussed for many years. Mediation of information from the area of armed conflict is a growing phenomen and because of the technical equipment, it relates more and more to laymen, not just professionals. The question whether journalist should enjoy special protection in the situation of armed conflict was raised already in the process of adopting the Additional Protocols, the so far latest source of the "Geneva law". Since then, it has been subject to many iniciatives, whose aim is to emphasize the role and value of journalists on the battlefield and ensure them more safety. On the other hand, it is obvious that journalists are not an a priori object, which should be protected by the humanitarian law - victims of the armed conflict, either among combatants or civilists. The thesis therefore tries to map the current legislation (embodied mostly in the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols) and its historical and factual context. In the second part, it introduces and evaluates different initiatives that address the legislation - both those which try to change it and strenghten the protection of journalist in...

Through historical and content analyses of war coverage, this study qualitatively addresses emotional quality, use of sources, and implied use of technology to better understand the tension between Vietnam and Afghanistan war correspondents and their military counterparts. Early American democracy aspired to give total freedom to its people. But the American military, in its quest to uphold the ideas of democracy, has often challenged the freedom of press clause set forth by the United States Constitution. Since the Vietnam era, the relationship between the military and the media has been plagued by questions of censorship, assertions of falsehood, and threats to national security. But it is the technological advancements in both reporting and combat techniques that have caused a disappearance of the nostalgic war coverage that American correspondents once prospered from. The possibility of returning to journalists' vision of unrestricted press access is all but lost due to such advancements.

The foreign correspondent, in situ witness of world events, has enjoyed a privileged position within the profession. This Ph.D thesis contrasts the myth of the correspondent built up over the years thanks to cinema and the autobiographical literature of reporters with the harsh reality of their profession in the 21st century. The thesis carries out an exhaustive typology of this figure and similar agents -war correspondent, special envoy, freelance, etc- before revealing the modus operandi of this peculiar institution. Later on, the thesis analyses the role of the correspondent within the strategies of international news coverage, their news sources and the external and logistical obstacles which complicate their task. The thesis closes with an analysis of the oncorporation of new technologies within the day-to-day routine of the foreign correspondent. / El corresponsal en el extranjero, testido in situ de la actualidad mundial ha disfrutado de una trayectoria privilegiada dentro de los confines de la profesión periodística. Esta tesis doctoral contrasta el mito del corresponsal construido desde el cine pasando por la literatura autobiográfica de los propios reporteros con la realidad de su oficio en el siglo XXI. El trabajo lleva a cabo una tipologia exhaustiva de esta figura y agentes afines -corresponsal de guerra, enviado especial, freelance, etc- antes de revelar el modus operandi de esta singular institución. A posteriori, la tesis pasa a analizar el papel del corresponsal dentro de las estrategias de cobertura internacional de la prensa, sus fuentes informativas y aquellos obstáculos externos y logísticos que complican su labor. El trabajo cierra con un analisis de la incorporación de las nuevas teconologias en el trabajo cotidiano del corresponsal.

Médecins Sans Frontières is one of the most respected humanitarian organisations in the world, they focus mainly on providing medical care in places of emergency and war. These places are also interesting for journalists who can take advantage of the protection on the missions while also acquiring unique stories. Working in conflicted areas under a protection of an organisation is called embedded journalism. This concept has been until now studied in connection with army when journalists travel with soldiers. Therefore, their view of war can be distorted. However, a journalist who travels with Médecins Sans Frontières may also have a distorted view of world. Twelve journalists from around the world, who visited the missions and documented the work of doctors, gave interviews for this diploma thesis. In the interviews, they described their experiences, the advantages and disadvantages of being embedded, and how the organisation may have influenced their work. Several Médecins Sans Frontières workers have also shared their experience. The interviews were put in context by a content analysis that focused on the articles and photographs made on missions by these journalists.