Obstacles to media reporting include a lack of roads or transport infrastructure (for access), a lack of services such as electricity (to power communication devices such as computers and telephones) and the deliberate exclusion of journalists from a conflict area, usually by a party to the conflict with control of territory.
Where these barriers are present, the press and media may not make a significant contribution to the casualty record. Conflict in remote rural areas with few roads or services are those that are generally not adequately reported by press and media. Recorders often report geographical biases in media reporting -urban areas or those that were an editorial priority were reported on more. There are few conflict regions, however, that are reported to be completely inaccessible to journalists. It is difficult to prevent all information leaving a territory, but in some cases recorders reported government conflict parties establish a monopoly on information about casualties in certain areas, where the government was the only source of statements on deaths.
THE RANGE OF SOURCES IN CASUALTY RECORDING, p. 12
