Do you ever watch television news and wonder whether the places the correspondents are reporting from are really that dangerous?Well, a scene I witnessed on my way to the office this morning might provide you with a partial answer.
A reporter -- I don't which country or network she was from -- was preparing to go live from a satellite dish set up in the car park opposite the bureau.
As the satellite engineers scurried around like ants, firing up the dish, the reporter adjusted her flak jacket and teased her hair into shape.
There are many dangerous places in Lebanon at the moment -- Sidon, Tyre and the border with Israel for example.
A car park in Beirut next to the UN building isn't one of them.
posted by Stuart at 14:28
3 Comments:
Stuart,
Even the beeb do it. In March 2003 I watched Johnny Diamond report from southern Turky saying "here on the border with Iraq....." when in fact he was reporting from a hotel rooftop in the same town as myself and dozens of other photographers, reporters, TV etc, Diyakabir actually about 150km from the Turkish / Iraq border.
It still makes me angry!
Terry
gosh, terry listen to what u r saying. u want the reporter to be actually in the line of fire, reporting from dangerous places, just so he can be authentic when he said 'i am reporting from the front line?'
come, come, be compasionate. there is no need for them to risk their lives just so u can get the thrill of seeing them under attack. haha.
stuart's blog about this should be taken as an observation and information to disinburse our naive misconception that all reports from the front line is really at the front line, in hitting range of snipers.
tx stuart for this info. I must admit i thought the front line is in site of the fighting too. When i read ur post, i realise of course it was foolish to expect that. I would not want the reporters to be killed talking about the news for us to hear. No bringing of news is that important to risk lives of reporters over it.
Antony
Sorry I should have been a bit clearer about the situation I described. We were in Diyakabir because it was the closest city with an airport to the Northern Iraq border and the report came on the evening I arrived in town. The following day I along with most of the other media left town to try, unsuccessfully cross the border.
I don't want anyone to get themselves injured or killed bringing us the news but that report that BBC World carried was a blatent lie and very, very poor journalism.
Cheers,
Terry
Post a Comment
<< Home