Why journalists must ask equally tough questions of their own leaders as they do of Putin

It is easy to demand answers from a foreign government, especially one that’s been accused of war crimes. It is much harder to apply that rigour closer to home, writes Andrew Buncombe

Jack Straw and Colin Powell address the United Nations shortly after 9/11 (Getty)

Nobody likes to fall out with the people they work with.

And if the people you work with are government officials whom you write about as a journalist, it’s not any different.

If you cover a specific department, such as defence or foreign affairs, your beat might carry on for years, and you might be to some extent reliant on those officials for your stories, or at need to have established a professional relationship so that you can go to them with queries or questions.