How Do You Cover Stories in Conflict Zones? ‘Prepare, Prepare, Prepare’

At the front of the classroom, Columbia Journalism School Professor Judith Matloff clicked through a somber slideshow of 15 journalists killed, assaulted or seriously injured while doing their jobs. First came James Foley, the freelance reporter recently beheaded by Islamic State militants in Syria, followed by Steven Sotloff, who met the same fate. Then there was Chris Hondros, a Getty photographer killed on assignment in Libya in 2011, and Marie Colvin, the reporter for the British Sunday Times who died covering the Syrian conflict in 2012. Last was Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded in Pakistan by al-Qaida terrorists in 2002. "I'm going to frighten you," Matloff, an adjunct professor of journalism, had warned students as she began the three-day workshop called Reporting Safely in Conflict Zones. "It's about keeping journalists alive." The workshop, one of several continuing education programs offered by Columbia's Journalism School, is designed to show reporters, producers and photographers how to operate with caution in volatile situations. Students learn to assess risk, prevent rape and physical assault, and deal with trauma.