The Globe and Mail recently published a story about how Reuters’ visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, died on October 13 2023, alleging his death was from Israeli tank fire in Southern Lebanon, according to the findings of a lengthy investigation.Agence France-Presse photographer Christina Assi, 28, was also severely wounded. They were hit at a location just over a kilometre from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab.Journalists are not to be targetted in conflict zones according to international law.To prevent casualties, one thing that news bureaus can do is to notify the parties in conflict in the region that they will have journalists in the specific region on a certain day, place, and at a certain time.As the Globe and Mail tells the story, Reuters apparently did not do that: “The Reuters team did not alert the armed actors in that part of Lebanon — the Lebanese army, Hezbollah and UN peacekeeping troops — or the Israeli military of its presence, nor had any of the parties requested such notification.”Not requested? Is it because any of the parties would have told them it was a dangerous conflict zone? AKA “Don’t be stupid. Don’t go there. Don’t send any of your people there.”Reuters itself had reported on October 10 2023, that Hezbollah was engaged in attacking Israel along the northern border with Lebanon.Within Israel, government accredited foreign journalists are provided with access to some parts of conflict zones in Gaza or the West Bank by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF,) which shepherd the accredited journos in and out of conflict areas, typically in an armoured personnel carrier. Every journo has to sign a waiver that… despite best efforts, sometimes people die in war zones, caught in unexpected crossfire.If a global news agency such as Reuters is not going to coordinate their journalists’ movements in an active conflict zone with UNIFIL, the Lebanese military, Hezbollah and the IDF, then a journo flak jacket with “PRESS” emblazoned across it won’t help you much, especially if you and your colleagues start live-streaming military outposts that are actively firing in a conflict zone that is heating up. The Globe and Mail story states: “After filming for 45 minutes, amid the incessant buzz of drones overhead and an Israeli helicopter patrolling high in the sky, the Reuters team turned the camera to focus on an Israeli military outpost just over two kilometres away at Hanita and filmed a tank firing a shell from there into southern Lebanon.”If you google “military facility photography prohibited” under “images” you will get pages of signs showing that in peace time and in peaceful places it is prohibited for any citizen, let alone a news team, to photograph or sketch military outposts and facilities.The claim is made in the Globe and Mail article that because the journos were dressed in marked flak jackets as “Press” that no one should have targeted them. But one of the great tools of war is deception. Who is to know from far away if people in “Press” jackets are journos or camouflaged combatants?Indeed, the Globe and Mail photograph of the visual journalist who was killed, Issam Abdullah, shows him behind a camera fitted with a massive telephoto lens, which, from a distance, can look exactly like a shoulder mounted Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG.)Imagine the call Reuters might have made in advance to the parties in conflict.“Hey, we’re planning to send a group of journalists into the conflict region in South Lebanon, where they will be live streaming your military outposts and activity using telephoto lenses that look like shoulder mounted Rocket Propelled Grenades. But they’ll have “Press” flak jackets on, and helmets. Okay? So don’t harm them cause they’re just covering the story.”In the Reuter’s journalist’s handbook of 2015 these points are offered.“Most reporters are not required to cover a war. Weigh up the risks and decide if it is worth it.”“If working on both sides of the line, never give military information to one side about military operations on the other.”“Insurance — if you are working in a danger zone, check to see that your employer has you adequately insured.”According to the story, journos from Agence France Press (AFP), Al-Jazeera and Reuters all decided spontaneously to club together and wander out into the open fields near the village of Alma al-Chaab, apparently hoping their journo flack vests, emblazoned with ‘PRESS’ would keep them safe. That same day, Reuters reported Israel was ordering the evacuation of more northern communities, signaling expected intensification along the border.Reuters has gone to great lengths and great expense to investigate this tragedy. A tragedy that likely could have been prevented with a couple of phone calls.Based on a recent report about the fact most journos working in south Lebanon do not have proper insurance, one wonders if Reuters’ aggressive efforts to pin the blame on Israel has other motives. They don’t seem to be taking responsibility for not contacting the relevant combatants for guidance in advance to ascertain if the foray should have been a ‘go’ or ‘no-go’ mission.Journos face tragic and deadly consequences for playing 'Reuters roulette' on the front line. As other journos reflected, following the tragedy, no story is worth your life.Michelle Stirling is a former member of the Canadian Association of Journalists who years ago, worked many video editing night shifts in northern Israel in Kiryat Shmona, one of the most bombed cities in the world, under fire from the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
