War correspondent - jugunkisha

A journalist is a person who is sent to the battlefield during a war or other incident to report on the situation on the battlefield. War correspondents began to attract attention around the time of the Crimean War (1853-56), when Sir William Howard Russell (1821-1907), a journalist for the British newspaper The Times, vividly exposed the horrific conditions faced by British troops on the battlefield and held the government accountable. This reporting led to Nightingale's movement to reform field hospitals.

The first Japanese war correspondent is said to be Kishida Ginkou of the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, who accompanied the Taiwan expedition in May 1874 (Meiji 7). However, at that time, it was said that "secret battle plans are important," so journalists were not allowed to serve openly in wars, and he served in the capacity of a military official, Okura Kumateyasu. During the Seinan War in 1877, Fukuchi Ochi, president of the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, went to the front lines in Kyushu and reported on the war reports alongside Yamagata Aritomo's military records room. This gained him a reputation, so the Yubin Hochi Shimbun dispatched Inukai Tsuyoshi to the area, and this correspondence made Inukai a famous writer.

It was during the Sino-Japanese War that journalists sent to the frontline were officially recognized as war correspondents, but the treatment of journalists was so horrible that while journalists from other countries were given the same treatment as officers, Japanese journalists were said to be treated worse than war horses. However, reports from the battlefields were welcomed by readers, and while the number of journalist dispatches during the Sino-Japanese War was 66, this number increased to 116 during the Russo-Japanese War. At the same time, casualties also increased, with the number of journalists killed in battle increasing from three during the Sino-Japanese War to 298 during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. After the war, there were no more wars in which Japan was a party, but there were more and more cases of journalists being caught up in battles around the world. In particular, in the late 1960s, during the Indochina wars, many journalists from various countries, including Japan, were killed or went missing. Therefore, on December 9, 1970, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution at a plenary session to "protect journalists engaged in dangerous reporting during armed conflicts," but the dangers faced by journalists during battles remain an unresolved issue.

[Akihiko Sunohara]

"Japan War History: War Correspondents" (1965), edited and published by the All Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association and Newspaper Jidaisha

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

戦争または事変の際、戦地に派遣され、戦場のようすを報道する記者。従軍記者が注目され始めたのはクリミア戦争（1853～56）のころからで、このとき、イギリスの『タイムズ』の記者W・H・ラッセルSir William Howard Russell（1821―1907）は、現地のイギリス軍の惨状を生々しく暴露、政府の責任を追及した。この報道がナイチンゲールの野戦病院改革運動の起因となった。

　日本で最初の従軍記者といわれるのは、1874年（明治7）5月、台湾出兵に同行した『東京日日新聞』の岸田吟香(ぎんこう)だが、このころは「戦闘の計画は密なるがだいじ」というので、公然たる記者の従軍は認められず、軍御用の大倉組手代の資格で従軍している。77年の西南戦争のときは、『東京日日新聞』の社長福地桜痴(おうち)が九州の前線へ赴き、山県有朋(やまがたありとも)の参軍記室（軍事記録方）のかたわら戦報を報道し、評判になったので、『郵便報知新聞』は犬養毅(いぬかいつよし)を現地に派遣、この通信で犬養の文名があがった。

　前線に特派された記者が正式に従軍記者として認められたのは、日清(にっしん)戦争のときからだが、記者の扱いはひどいもので、列国の記者は士官待遇を与えられたのに、わが国の記者は軍馬以下の扱いといわれていた。しかし、戦地の通信は読者に歓迎されたので、日清戦争の記者派遣社は66社だったが、日露戦争では116社に増加している。同時に犠牲者も増え、戦没記者は日清戦争の3人から、日中戦争・太平洋戦争では298人に達している。戦後、日本が当事者となる戦争はなくなったが、世界各地で起きている戦闘に記者が巻き込まれるケースが増えている。とくに1960年代後半、インドシナの戦乱で、日本人を含む各国の記者に犠牲者、行方不明者が続出した。そこで、70年12月9日、国連総会は本会議で「武力紛争下で危険な取材に携わる記者の保護」を決議したが、戦闘下の記者の危険は依然として解決しない問題である。

［春原昭彦］

『全日本新聞連盟・新聞時代社編・刊『日本戦争外史　従軍記者』（1965）』

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