I.1.4. Journalists

Apart from accredited war correspondents, one seldom sees journalists carrying out dangerous professional missions in conflict zones. They must in every respect be treated as civilians. They must be protected and must not be attacked. In order to guarantee their immunity, they must, however, behave in a way that makes them recognizable as civilians, i.e. not take a direct part in the hostilities. They can also obtain from their own government an identity card attesting to their status as journalist (an example can be found in Annex II to Additional Protocol I). They must accept the dangers and risks inherent to a conflict. In case of capture, they must be treated humanely, protected and handed over to the superior unit, which will treat them in conformity with the special provisions of the law applying to foreign civilians. In contrast to war correspondents, they are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status.