Journalism- a profession of men, is it?

Should the media pull women journalists out of war zones? This has been an important debate among media world. Seeing the problems faced by women while covering conflict zones have scared the news agencies to send out female journalists. But is it a right decision to make? Don't women have a role to play while covering such places.

Female journalist have always been facing problems while covering war zones, then why this question now? Just because journalist Lara Logan spoke about the sexual assault she went through? Susan Milligan, a political reporter who has covered war in Iraq and the Balkans and is now a contributing editor at US News & World Report says, "it is insulting specifically to Lara Logan, who is a terrific reporter. If you're pulling all of the women out, you're essentially saying that what happened to her is her fault." There are several female journalists that have under gone such instances but never spoke about them thinking it would bring an end to their career. They could not let this happen as they know the importance of women.

Fadel, who has reported from Baghdad recalls an incident in Kosovo in 1999. "I was with two male reporters and a female translator. We saw a village being burned down, and stupidly drove to it. Then we were surrounded by super paramilitary with guns, who dragged us out and held guns to our skulls and threatened to kill us." Having both men and women in the group changed the dynamic, she says. "They were more willing to believe that we weren't soldiers or part of a movement. It was good to have a mixed group. I think that's why we got out of there alive." This implies sending a mix batch of journalists to such zones could be helpful. Fadel herself has under gone an incident of harassment but she too thinks that pulling out women from these situations is not the answer.

Adding more women to the mix is breaking down a number of stereotypes many reporters and editors had. Some men acknowledge, for example, that women hold up as well as men under fire. Rather than being a disadvantage, women in Bosnia say being female has sometimes proved to be a plus in gaining access and information, or providing cover. Others believe that more women in the newsroom, where the news agenda is set, also contribute to a more humanistic approach to the way war is covered.

Surveys and research has shown that  women report and write about war differently than men. Don Fry, a former associate with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies who has researched the effect of gender on reporting and writing, believes it's best to say that men and women write differently. "It's easy to equate men's writing with hard news and women's with features," he explains. Male journalist could feel compelled to suppress feelings and emotions in a war zone. Such situations have to be covered by women. Female journalist may react with her natural inclination to be more by feelings and select a more emotional type of story because she has been permitted and encouraged.

Many great male journalists have proven that men can report on these issues with empathy equal to any of their female colleagues. The gender of individual reporters is not the determining factor. But critics say that only when more women are in positions of influence in reporting conflict will those human stories be consistently told, not only because women might report them more but also because she will drive the debate on what aspects of war and conflict should be reported beyond the guns, bombs and soldiers. Male reporters will come to see them as more important too.

All of these examples and arguments clearly show the importance of female journalists in  this field. Problems are faced by women, agreed, but this is not the solution for it. They have a greater importance.