For all these individuals, therefore, the possession of a pass issued by the military authorities concerned, in accordance with the forms required by international intercourse, is an indispensable necessity, in order that in the case of a brush with the enemy, or of their being taken captive they may be recognized as occupying a passive position and may not be treated as spies.[75]
In the grant of these authorizations the utmost circumspection should be shown by the military authorities; this privilege should only be extended to those whose position, character, and intentions are fully known, or for whom trustworthy persons will act as sureties.
The War Correspondent: his importance. His presence is desirable.
This circumspection must be observed most scrupulously in the case of newspaper correspondents whether native or foreign. Since the component parts of a modern army are drawn from all grades of the population, the intervention of the Press for the purpose of intellectual intercourse between the army and the population at home can no longer be dispensed with. The army also derives great advantages from this intellectual intercourse; it has had to thank the stimulus of the Press in recent campaigns for an unbroken chain of benefits, quite apart from the fact that news of the war in the newspapers is a necessity for every soldier. The importance of this intervention, and on the other hand the dangers and disadvantages which may arise from its misuse, make it obviously necessary that the military authorities should control the whole of the Press when in the field. In what follows we shall briefly indicate the chief rules which are customary, in the modern usages of war, as regards giving permission to newspaper correspondents.
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The ideal War Correspondent.
The first thing necessary in a war correspondent is a sense of honor; in other words, he must be trustworthy. Only a man who is known to be absolutely trustworthy, or who can produce a most precise official certificate or references from unimpeachable persons, can be granted permission to attach himself to headquarters.
An honorable correspondent will be anxious to adhere closely to the duties he owes to his paper on the one hand, and the demands of the army whose hospitality he enjoys on the other. To do both is not always easy, and in many cases tact and refinement on the part of the correspondent can alone indicate the right course; a censorship is proved by experience to be of little use; the certificates and recommendations required must therefore be explicit as to the possession of these qualities by the applicant; and according as he possesses them or not his personal position at headquarters and the degree of support extended to him in the discharge of his duties will be decided.
It is therefore undoubtedly in the interest of the army as of the Press, that the latter shall only despatch such representatives as really are equal to the high demands which the profession of correspondent requires.
The Etiquette of the War Correspondent.