Public domain image

War photography goes back quite a way - indeed many aspects of The American Civil War and World War 1 are extensively recorded in image archives. However, coverage of the conflicts of the twentieth century reveals how things have changed. Now, despite ever-present problems such as military censorship, it is almost impossible to prevent images of conflicts reaching the world's media. The iconic and courageous war photographers of the past, such as Robert Capa, Don McCullin, Eddie Adams and Nick Ut have been replaced by a greater number of fearless photographers, and reporters accompanied by TV news crews, who bring daily action from close to front lines to the attention of the world at large - despite the obvious hazards..

Major media outlets, such as Sky News, the BBC, CNN and others, send photographers and reporters to conflict areas on a regular basis. These people risk their lives on a daily basis. However the business of war reporting and photography is inevitably changing with the technology. New digital media such as Twitter and Facebook have made absolute censorship by governments virtually impossible. These "new media" provide the means to upload comments, images, and video clips etc on a moment by moment basis. "Citizen journalists" can consequently report in an instant and very revealing manner on conflicts in which they find themselves caught up.