[James Langham2]

Originally Posted by unkated

There were issues with journalists in combat zones in Nicaragua and in southern Africa (Angola/Namibia), but as i recall, it wasn't until the later 90s (after Yugoslavia became messy) that I can recall journalists needing to include security in their field teams.

I know that (Western) journalists were almost always considered as potential spies in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, so I suspect that captured journalists would be considered as intelligence assets, but not shot out of hand if captured on the battlefield - but probably not released as non-combatants. And probably not comfortably interned.

Journalists for print media or radio, of course, have a smaller foot print (and accordingly may be easier to field). They take notes, bear witness, take pictures; radio journalists may record sound, and may or may not have a sound engineer (by the late 90s software was available to record and edit sound on a laptop).

Journo Teams will probably include a translator if no one is near fluent in the local language - Polish in Poland.

Other potential journalists could be from neutral powers -

• A team from the Krakow Bulletin (or radio station) wandering up to report on the Battle of Kalisz (they'd have heard rumors of the 5th Inf's plunge into Poland)
  
• A team of French or Swedish journalists; their attitude can vary between sympathetic and hostile. They may or may not have a minder (public affairs officer) and may or may not be an embedded contingent. By 2000, I doubt you'd find journalists from further away.

Actually I'm not sure about distant journalists, after all when things go bad they might not be able to get home.