Maintenance
Part of An international conflict reporting guide for readers
Conflict reporting checklist: what to check in a war story
Conflict reporting checklist for readers: test a war story's sources, place and time, casualty counts, legal labels, displacement figures and UN documents.
What to take away
- Ask who makes each contested claim, and on what basis.
- Look for separate event, capture, upload and statement times.
- Do not add up casualty figures that were counted by different methods.
- Check that an official document is cited by symbol, vote and operative text.
- Expect a careful story to leave out details that could put people in danger.
This conflict reporting checklist is for the reader arriving cold at a war story. Each line is a question you can put to the article in front of you: who says so, where and when it happened, how a number was counted, which law is being invoked, and whether a vote or resolution really happened the way it is described. A story that answers them can be trusted further than one that does not.
Claim and source
- Is the narrow claim stated on its own, apart from the commentary around it?
- Does the story distinguish the person making the claim from anyone who saw the event directly?
- Are reposted images and statements traced to where they first appeared?
- Were translations and spellings of names and places checked?
- Are each source's party affiliation and relevant interests stated?
Our international conflict reporting guide explains how these questions fit together when you read a single claim through to its source.
Claim and source checks
- Narrow claim written separately
- Claimant and direct observer distinguished
- Reposts traced to origin
- Translation and transliteration checked
- Party affiliation and interests stated
Place and time
- Do the country, region, locality and any coordinates agree with each other?
- Are the times the event happened, the footage was captured, it was uploaded and the story was published kept apart?
- Do maps of boundaries and territorial control carry a date?
- Are tactical positions and shelter locations left out where naming them could cause harm?
When the same story carries an official alert, the public safety alert reporting checklist adds the sender and the scope to check.
Place and time checks
- Country, region, locality, coordinates consistent
- Capture, event, upload, publication times separated
- Map boundaries and control claims dated
- Tactical or shelter locations withheld when harmful
Civilian harm and law
- Does each count give its source, method, cutoff date, area and category?
- Are missing, injured, killed, detained and displaced people kept as separate figures?
- Is civilian status shown by evidence rather than inferred from appearance alone?
- Are allegation, investigation, legal assessment and judgment kept distinct?
The ICRC's overview of conduct-of-hostilities rules explains the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions and stresses assessment based on information reasonably available at the time. A careful report describes the evidence and quotes qualified analysis rather than pronouncing a final legal conclusion from one image.
Look for the rule by name when the story invokes one. The treaty text is Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions: its Articles 51 and 54 outlaw indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations and the destruction of food, water and other materials needed for survival, and Article 79 states that journalists are to be considered civilians. When a story turns to criminal responsibility, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the instrument; it lists war crimes in Article 8, and the court acts only where states are unable or unwilling to prosecute. Until a court rules, a war crime in a news story is an allegation and should be attributed as one.
The same restraint applies to patterns: a run of verified incidents can support reporting that a pattern exists, but the step from pattern to legal finding still needs the analyst, the rule, and the facts on the record. A good story says plainly which of those steps it takes.
You can accept an unfinished conclusion, but a wrong one presented as final is hard to unlearn. The underlying claims should also pass the breaking news verification checklist.
- Does the article state which facts support its legal discussion?
- Are the analyst's jurisdictional assumptions visible?
- Are contested labels such as civilian or military object attributed to whoever applies them?
- Is a party's internal review kept from being called an independent judgment?
Displacement and humanitarian access
- Are people, households, movements, registrations and estimates kept apart?
- Are refugees and internally displaced people distinguished?
- Is aid described as planned, attempted, delayed or delivered, rather than all at once?
- Does each figure name its publisherUNHCR for refugee numbers, OCHA situation reports for humanitarian access, and OHCHR for verified civilian casualty counts, each with its own cutoff date?
Category definitions for these rows are compared in conflict displacement and protection terms.
- Does the story avoid publishing a route or site in a way that could increase danger?
- Are population figures aggregated enough to protect individuals?
Diplomacy and documents
- Does the story distinguish a draft, an adopted resolution, a statement, a meeting record and a vote?
- Is the document symbol and date given?
- Does the story quote the operative paragraphs, not just the preamble?
- Do vote totals and individual votes come from the official record?
The Security Council's voting-record dataset lists draft resolutions, votes, outcomes, agenda items, and meeting records from 1992 onward. You can use it to check the exact draft and meeting record yourself instead of relying on a delegate's social media summary.
Harm and update review
- Were consent and dignity respected for people who can be identified in images?
- Do names, metadata and routes stay out of the story where they could expose vulnerable people?
- Does graphic content have a clear purpose and a warning?
- Does the story show who is following it up, or when it was last updated?
- Have the headline and summary changed where the facts changed?
Common questions
Does attribution excuse a false claim?
No. Attribution tells you who the source is; the newsroom must still assess the evidence and the public value before repeating a claim.
Can a map show current territorial control?
Only with a clear date, method, uncertainty and source. Control can vary within an area and change quickly, so an undated map is a weak guide.
Is a draft resolution a Council decision?
No. Check the official vote and the adopted text.
What blocks publication?
Unresolved identity or location that could cause harm, materially unsupported claims, or a false public-safety instruction. If a story you are reading contains any of these, treat it with caution.
