Journalists covering Syria's civil war now prime targets for kidnappers

Masked female rebel fighters run past a journalist in the war-wracked Salaheddin district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on October 4, 2013. The Syrian regime and its armed opponents have both been accused of carrying out numerous atrocities in the 30-month conflict, which began as a popular uprising and has since snowballed into a full-blown war that has killed 115,000.

According to the Associated Press, at least 30 journalists have been kidnapped or have gone missing during the Syrian civil war. That's an unprecedented number, and it's almost eliminated news coverage in the country.

According to the Associated Press, at least 30 journalists have been kidnapped or have gone missing during the Syrian civil war. That's an unprecedented number, and it's almost eliminated news coverage in the country.

It also marks the escalation of a trend that has been growing over the past decade or so. Journalists, once given a certain immunity in war zones, are now considered prime targets.

For more on this, we turn to someone who has first-hand experience. In 2008, while reporting from Afghanistan for the New York Times, David Rohde was kidnapped and held for seven months before escaping his Taliban captors.

Now a columnist for Reuters, Rohde joins the show to talk about his experience.