How the siege of Sarajevo changed journalism

The siege of Sarajevo, which began 29 years ago this month, led to the creation of a journalistic infrastructure – from the use of armoured cars and flak jackets to digital technology and live satellite broadcasts – that allowed the story to reach a worldwide audience.

This month marks 29 years since the beginning of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the siege of Sarajevo, during which the city was militarily encircled and subjected to daily sniping, mortaring and shelling, first by the the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and subsequently by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The siege lasted 1,425 days, making it the longest siege in modern history, and killed more than 11,000 people. Many of the city’s most important cultural institutions, historical monuments, sporting venues and the wider social and economic infrastructure were destroyed or seriously damaged. Ordinary citizens, already suffering the privations caused by the cutting-off of gas, electricity and water supplies, were not only caught in the crossfire but deliberately targeted by shell and sniper fire. The siege of Sarajevo thus became worldwide news. The international media portrayed it as a compelling struggle between David and Goliath; the lightly-armed defenders of a city encircled by the might of the remnants of the VRS. Compounding this was the visceral imagery of a place the wider public knew primarily as the host city of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. And for those foreign correspondents who reported from Sarajevo during the siege, it became the most important story of their careers and a significant number remained committed to the story until the lifting of the siege in February 1996.