Should news organizations be able to insist on journalists accepting assignment to a war zone? Obviously not. A recent ruling protects their right to refuse:
Richard Gizbert is not a household name in Britain but he is now a famous face in British newsrooms, becoming the first journalist to use health and safety law to dispute his dismissal after he refused assignments to a war zone.Read the rest (free registration).The London-based journalist had worked for the US network ABC for 11 years and previously covered conflicts including Bosnia and Rwanda. But having become a British citizen, and with two teenage children, he refused to go to Iraq, citing ABC News' voluntary policy on correspondents covering wars. ABC later declined to renew his contract. Now he has won a year-long battle for unfair dismissal.