Writing from the front line April 8, 2008
Posted by cathrynsymons in : Miscellany , trackbackLondon’s Prospect-reading classes gathered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last night to listen to two of our most prominent foreign correspondents give their views on Iraq and reporting from the front line.
Robert Fisk of the Independent, recently most famous for his passionate reporting of the plight of Beirut during last summer’s war in Lebanon, and Christina Lamb of the Sunday Times, who reported the lives of women under the Taliban and the Russian invasion, were chaired by Ronan Bennett.
The evening began with Bennett’s short film ‘Why this Rush’, one of the BBC’s recent ‘10 days to War’ series, all of which are available on their website, and yet another reason for paying the license fee.
Fisk started the conversation with a denouncement of journalist’s role in the Iraq war, particularly their failure to show the brutal realities of mangled corpses and the consequences of our actions there. He is harsh on his own profession, who are controlled by editors and station managers who make the decisions on suitable tea-time viewing.
Lamb talked about the difference between reporting when she first went to Afghanistan in the 1980s, traveling alongside the mujahideen with neither laptop nor satellite phone. She would go into the field for 3-4 weeks, out of touch of the rest of the world. On her return, the reports she filed could include a synthesis of all she’d seen in that time. Now, the report is of what happens in a particular time and place, on the day the report is filed. There is less time for analysis, and events in a place on a day are seen by audiences to represent a whole country.
Fisk is angry and passionate about Western involvement in the Middle East. He believes that “there is a visceral need for superpowers to go to war” and clearly includes the UK in this. We, or at least our governments, do not care about ordinary Iraqi’s. At the fall of Baghdad, the military were not interested in evidence he collected of Iraqi torturers. But he does not believe we will stay for long - “We will leave, and will say they were unworthy” of our sacrifice.
Lamb seemed more measured, more objective, and a lot less angry than Fisk. She has agreed to be an embedded reporter, despite the difficulties that presents in reporting objectively about people she depends on for her safety. Reporting in a war zone is far more dangerous now, with no-go areas and journalists seen as legitimate targets.
Measured objectivity is a trait rightly praised in journalists, but that angry passion arouses the reader. The Middle East and the state of Iraq are issues which need our passions aroused. It was good to see them both.
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