Reporters Without Borders Seeks Protection for Journalists in Syria

Reporters Without Borders is calling on the Syrian government and everyone else for that matter to help protect journalists, including citizen journalists and "media contributors" in Aleppo, whose fate it calls "uncertain."

Reporters Without Borders and 18 other NGOs that defend press freedom and support the media issued a joint appeal on Dec. 13 to all parties of the conflict to ensure that they safeguard the lives of journalists (both professional and non-professional) along with other civilians, whether they decide to leave east Aleppo or stay.

It says there are several dozen journalists in east Aleppo.

“We are undergoing a tragic situation and I call on human rights organizations to intervene as quickly as possible to protect those who remain in the besieged areas of East Aleppo,” said Salah Al-Ashkar, a freelancer in Aleppo quoted by Reporters Without Borders.

Syria is near the bottom of the the group's World Press Freedom list, ranked 177 out of 180.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.