Bob Woodruff and Why They Go
Found in Washington Post on Monday January 30 in a column written by Howard KurtzWashington Post Staff Writer:
"Along these lines, I was really struck by this piece by the LAT's Alissa Rubin:"The truth is that we are working in a war zone where no rules apply. No one is safe: not Iraqis, not Westerners, not men, not women. For most journalists in Iraq, it's hard to be honest about danger, even though we talk about it all the time. We follow daily reports about the number of roadside bombings, suicide attacks and abductions. We chart violence the way other people watch the weather. But talking about the danger in Iraq for what it is -- my life, my death -- is too scary. So we make it ordinary. 'Oh, did you see any gunmen on your way over, there were some at the intersection yesterday, and would you like a cup of coffee?'"To family and friends not in Iraq, it is incomprehensible why you came here, and certainly why you returned twice, three times -- in my case, over and over for nearly three years. I could say something like 'The cycle of risk and survival makes life more valuable,' but that wouldn't be true, although some journalists do become addicted to the danger, to the high of sidestepping death."For me, at least, what is true is that once in a while as a journalist you get the chance to witness history, a moment when tectonic plates shift, when more is at stake than you ever imagined you would touch or see. It's the adrenaline surge of being in a place where people's lives are in the balance, where every decision counts and where what you're writing might, might just matter. And you feel more alive than you've ever felt -- but you're also often closer to being killed. You notice I wrote 'often.' I needed a qualifier."
The Washington Post
"Along these lines, I was really struck by this piece by the LAT's Alissa Rubin:"The truth is that we are working in a war zone where no rules apply. No one is safe: not Iraqis, not Westerners, not men, not women. For most journalists in Iraq, it's hard to be honest about danger, even though we talk about it all the time. We follow daily reports about the number of roadside bombings, suicide attacks and abductions. We chart violence the way other people watch the weather. But talking about the danger in Iraq for what it is -- my life, my death -- is too scary. So we make it ordinary. 'Oh, did you see any gunmen on your way over, there were some at the intersection yesterday, and would you like a cup of coffee?'"To family and friends not in Iraq, it is incomprehensible why you came here, and certainly why you returned twice, three times -- in my case, over and over for nearly three years. I could say something like 'The cycle of risk and survival makes life more valuable,' but that wouldn't be true, although some journalists do become addicted to the danger, to the high of sidestepping death."For me, at least, what is true is that once in a while as a journalist you get the chance to witness history, a moment when tectonic plates shift, when more is at stake than you ever imagined you would touch or see. It's the adrenaline surge of being in a place where people's lives are in the balance, where every decision counts and where what you're writing might, might just matter. And you feel more alive than you've ever felt -- but you're also often closer to being killed. You notice I wrote 'often.' I needed a qualifier."
The Washington Post
posted by Kevin | 12:00 PM
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