Female Reporters in Combat
After watching the film “Bearing
Witness, Barbra Kopples documentary on female journalists working in combat
zones” I began to have a completely new outlook and perspective for journalists
around the world. The documentary followed the lives of five fearless
journalists whom were primarily traveling to the Middle East in hopes to gather
valuable information about post 9/11 wars.
These five courageous journalists put there lives in danger each and
everyday in promise to search out information that would create news stories.
These ladies interviewed, took photographs, and encountered many dangerous
people throughout their journey.
The lives of these journalists were
put in severe danger everyday they were on the job. These journalists purposely
searched for information that would put them in harms way so that the public
would have information about what was going on during the war in Iraq and other
places. Many people would ask the
question, are we willing to risk the lives of these journalists for new stories?
Aren’t there lives worth more than the information they receive? Should they
really risk it all in order to get stories to the audience? These are the types
of questions that arise when talking about reporters working over seas in
dangerous situations. On the other hand, without these reporters working over
seas and gathering hands on information, how would the rest of the world be
educated on what is happening? The reporters in this documentary had a passion
for writing and travelling. With there passion came danger and they were
willing to accept that. There satisfaction came from knowing they were helping
educate the rest of the world on what was happening over seas. Further, you can
also look at this problem/question from another perspective. Likewise, aren’t
there many other jobs in this world that also put humans lives in danger? Cops,
firefighters, soldiers, and even undercover agents have their lives put in
jeopardy during their career as well. The similarity between these jobs is that
they both put humans in danger in hopes to make the world a safer place. Cops
help stop violence, while journalists help educate people to become more aware.
Personally, I do believe that if the reporters are willing to do there job,
then they should. There jobs do help educate the public and without them we
would not be as aware. Obviously they should not be forced into dangerous places
just to seek out information, but if they are willing to take some risks then I
believe it greatly helps people around the globe become much more alert.
Moving forward, while
watching this film my emotions were absolutely everywhere. I really did not
have a clue how hard working these reporters were and how much passion they had
for what they did. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems as if they live an
extremely exhausting, intense, dangerous, strenuous, and mentally draining
life. Many people would probably not sign up for the type of job that these
reporters do. The next question I am tacking here is; are these reporters
really happy doing what they do? Do they make the right decisions? Are they
scared? First off, of course they are scared! The type of situations these
reporters put themselves in is absolutely terrifying. There is no question in
my mind that the journalists don’t feel somewhat frightened when in certain
conditions. Nonetheless, I do strongly believe that the reporters have a
passion for what they do and they are happy doing it. As we could see in the
film, Marie Colvin kept returning to war even after she had been badly hurt and
lost an eye. This proves that these journalists will stop for nothing when it
comes to gathering important information that the world needs to know. In
addition, reporter Janine Giovanni even went back to combat after having a
child and becoming a mother. I strongly believe it takes certain types of
people to have the ability to do this type of work. Clearly, these five
strong-headed journalists had a desire to keep working and creating stories. If
they were not happy doing their job, then they probably wouldn’t put themselves
in this much danger!
Although I do have deep respect and
admiration towards these journalists who risk there lives educating people, I
am not sure it would be the right job for me. Personally, it would be very hard
for myself to risk my life and so much more just for a job. In addition, I
would be too scared of not being able to return home to my family and loved
ones. Further, reporters spend a lot of time away from home, which means they
are away from their family for extended periods of time. This is another factor
that would be very difficult for myself to cope with. As I mentioned above, it
takes a certain type of person to be able to do this type of work. Reporter’s
jobs are very demanding, dangerous and time consuming. It is definitely not a
nine to five type of career.
This leads me into my next question,
is it possible to be a mother and a war correspondent? Well this is a tough one
to answer and everyone perhaps has a different opinion towards the question.
For myself, I do not think I could go into combat while I have a child back
home. I would live in fear of not returning home and being able to mother my
child. The thought of my child growing up without a mother would be enough for
me not to go into war. I don’t think I would give up my job completely, but I
definitely would not put myself in dangerous enough situations where I might not
be able to return home. If possible, I would try to keep up my reporting from
home and attempt to not travel as much.
In conclusion, I highly recommend
watching this documentary and opening your eyes to the world of journalism.
This film was unquestionably an eye-opener for myself, as I had no idea what it
really took to be a journalist over seas. The amount of respect I now have for
reporters is quite unbelievable; they really do live a crazy life. Even though
I may not want to participate in there type of work does not mean I do not
support what they do. The amount of courage it must take to do this type of job
is probably outrageous. We can now thank these journalists for helping educate
people and ourselves about what happens around the world. Without them we would
not know nearly as much about what goes on as we fortunately do.
-Reagan Buckley
