Many times reporters will risk their lives going into hotbed areas where wars are currently being fought in order to show the world the atrocities that take place when most news reporters flee the area in fear for their lives. This is important journalism that needs to be done by those brave people. However, there is a sentiment among some people that reporters in such areas are foolish and if they get injured or die, well, what did they expect?
The argument made by the people criticizing those reporters who risk their lives is not always without merit. In some areas of the world, the violence is well known and no amount of reporting will change what is happening, nor expose anything that isn’t already known. In these cases, the reporters are risking their lives for work that they think is important, but which in reality might not be. It’s a tough call, but at the end of the day it’s up to the reporters whether the believe the work they are doing is worth risking their lives.