What does a war reporter look like? The public perception of female war reporters (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: Female war reporters are still underrepresented in western media, it is commonly assumed that the prototypical war reporter is a male correspondent. Thus, Korte assumed that the profession of embedded reporters is a world determined by men and in public's perception war correspondents are still considered to be rather male than female. This paper points out how female war reporters are perceived by western society and interrogates whether Korte's assumption represents reality or not.

This essay also examines in how far these representations correspond to existing public perceptions regarding female war reporters but also have repercussions for our conception of war correspondents. Since the late 19th century a particular public interest in war correspondents has grown. Today, attention has reached new heights due to public fascination with people who present and organize images of destruction and misery. Public interest in the profession of war correspondents derives from the fact that correspondents deal with socially relevant questions and help to shape people's perception of war: they may thus be thought of as "essential contributors to the public understanding" of military conflicts.