It’s one of the iron laws of journalism: if everyone else is trying to get out of somewhere, you can bet there’s a journalist trying to get in.
BBC NEWS | The Editors | Working in a war zone
Considering the journalism path I guess involves thinking along those lines. I recall watching a documentary on female journalists in Iraq, which was quite graphic and definitely brought up the safety issues that come with the job, depending where you are and what it is you’re reporting on.
I’m not sure what will happen if I do decide to go for journalism, particularly what sort of stories and job placements I might go for, but I could see myself in a place like the middle east because the happenings there are worth making sure the average person is informed about.
I’m not even through college1 yet, so this is pretty early to start thinking about these issues I suppose, but given the nature of journalism and the beauty (amongst other things :D) of the Internet I am already playing around with the idea of writing about issues and events sitting here in my room.
Either way, if I end up going down the that path, whether I am sitting at home, in an office or in war environment, I think I will be smart enough to consider whether it will be worth it. I really like the way Jon Williams from the BBC beautifully finishes his blog entry:
In Lebanon, in Israel - as in Iraq and Afghanistan - the teams that report the story all volunteer to do so. They travel to these dangerous places because they believe the story needs telling. I’m grateful they do so.
1 College in Australia is for grades 11-12 (ages ~16/17 to 18) and one of the next options is university.