Performer Journalists: The Latest Phase in the Profession

Abstract

In the Introduction, we described the adventurous trip of Sky news Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay to the mountains of the Kunar Province in Afghanistan in 2010. Ramsay took on an exceptional, highly risky mission. Instead of joining the British troops as an embedded journalist (a risky mission in its own right) he had, in the dead of night, joined a Taliban unit on its way to lay a deadly trap for Western troops. This case, we argued, exemplifies the ever-changing role of journalists at times of war and terror. Instead of acting as observers from a distance, at present they may step into the scene of action, sometimes positioning themselves as actors, by accompanying the armed forces of the nation they represent; in other cases, however exceptional, as in that of Ramsay’s journey, they may join the armed forces of their nation’s enemy.