The danger many reporters face in war zones overseas has been made clear with the recent beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
To get a clear understanding of the decision-making involved in sending reporters to hot zones around the world CNN interviewed... themselves.
"It's one thing to be sending your troops into natural disasters and accidents, it's another thing to be sending them into war," CNN's Ashleigh Banfield told CNN International's Executive Vice President Tony Maddox during her CNN show Legal View. "How is it you make these decisions?"
"I always think that people expect CNN to be the voice of truth on these difficult and challenging stories," Maddox replied to his colleague. "It's a volunteer army at CNN and people are very keen to do this kind of work."
After Maddox said CNN's "people are very well trained, we have extensive backup in the field with security consultants with the very best possible kit in terms of technology and safety gear, and we do monitor these operations around the clock."
Banfield questioned the wisdom of broadcasting terrorist attacks on reporters.
"The rest of the world needs to know what is happening," Maddox said.
"As distasteful as it is, one cannot get away from the fact that these videos will drive the debate, they will impact government policy and it's not for us to say to CNN views 'you're not allowed to see them' if they're having that kind of an impact."