Sensitive Press in Yemen and Its Role in Times of Conflict

Yemen is an ancient historical country with diverse cultures, geography and resources, yet more than 80% of its people suffer from economic crises and war operations due to the ongoing political conflict in large parts of the country. That has helped the emergence of many diverse media outlets on the local scene to be an open theater to many journalists to convey the drama of the absurd conflict between the political components and elites in the country. They are doing that without any knowledge of the level of danger that threatens their lives because of their bias towards one political party over another.

Since the beginning of March 2015, the beginning of the military intervention of the Arab Coalition countries led by Saudi Arabia to support the legitimacy of Hadi regime in Yemen, against the Ansar Allah group “Houthis”, and the media scene in Yemen has witnessed great confusion, after some journalists violated exceeding the basic ethics of the journalism profession, and deprofessionalism in reporting events with credibility, in order to fight media battles no less fierce than those armed on the battle fronts, with those who belong to counter-axes. That negatively affected the objectivity of media work, and made the lives of many journalists all over the country are subject to threats, killings, and unlawful pursuits by local conflict parties.

Journalistic Difficulties:

During the war, journalists and their accompanying crews face more difficulties while traveling between governorates and districts to cover events, such as random acts of violence or forced kidnappings by some security personnel or outlaw armed groups to prevent them from accessing the sources and documents necessary to cover and transfer the events. Therefore, media work in Yemen under the current circumstances is a great effort to reach the truth and convey it as it is.

Working in Yemen according to the principle of sensitive journalism was not an easy matter for many reasons. One of them is the difficulty of navigating between the sites in which the conflict takes place, due to the presence of mines or battles. Another reason is classifying some sites as military areas, as well as the multiplicity of projects and agendas adopted by the leaders of the political components that cause the ongoing conflict in the country.

Press Rules:

In light of the political turmoil and armed conflict that the country is witnessing, it is impossible for journalists to adhere to complete impartiality. Though, they have the responsibility to raise awareness among the community and select balanced terms during reporting the facts, and work to advocate and align with humanitarian issues as they are the real guarantee of a decent and free life.

Work based on facts without artificial interference or biased to one party over another, enhances the credibility of the journalist and the media outlet in which he works, and thus may contribute in the future to creating and consolidating real concepts of sensitive journalism in Yemen.

There are also journalistic rules in sensitive journalism, which journalists are supposed to abide by in light of the ongoing conflict, which is considered professional in journalistic work, including: Dealing sensitively with the process of transmitting news, not igniting the fire of strife between the parties to the conflict and other rules that are considered within Journalism profession.

Conclusion:

Everyone who works in the media sector should be aware that working with sensitive journalism rules which is an easy way to consolidate peace. It does not diminish the role of the journalist or deprive him of his right to report and cover events, but rather helps to strengthen his presence as a real contributor to the stabilization of peace and the cessation of armed conflict.