"Presence" Non-Fiction Writing Season 1 Press Conference | Wars and Refugees in the Far Away - Why Do We Still Need Field Coverage?

Speaker:

Chen Yingyu: "Presence" Scholarship Third Prize, Author of "After the Smoke Clears: From Beirut to Damascus"

Luqiu Luwei: Famous journalist, assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University

Chen Yingyu

• Part 1 Beirut

I entered Lebanon at the end of March this year and traveled east from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, to the Beqaa Valley on the border. In the eleven years from the Syrian civil uprising in 2011 to the Syrian civil war, and now, this route has been the most frequent route for Syrians to leave and return home. The route from Beirut to Damascus is about a three-hour drive in total.

During the 11-year civil war, many Syrians fled from Syria to Lebanon. When I went, I met many returnees. In 2019, I had been to Lebanon. At that time, Lebanon had a trend of returning home, but it was not so obvious. In the second half of 2019, according to statistics, the number of people who went back was compared with the past few years. It has reached a peak, which is also related to the situation in Syria, because the government army has controlled about 70% of the land in 2018, especially in early 2018, the government army used chemical weapons to besiege the city in the suburbs of Damascus. The Eastern Ghouta (الغوطة الشرقية‎) district recaptured the last rebel stronghold in Damascus. So after the stronghold was taken up to now, Damascus is less like what everyone imagined might be a hail of bullets. Some young people or families gradually choose to go back. My theme is related to this: why they choose to go home and how to go home and the problems encountered after returning home.

At the beginning, the topic I set focused on their going back, but when I arrived at the scene, I realized that everyone was not just going in one direction. In fact, there were people going back and forth on this road. When I arrived in Beirut, I met my first Syrian family. I also met people who came from Damascus, went to school for a few days and then went back. If I met, I might go back for a few days and then come back. Or go back for a few months, and then I found that the situation there Very good, so come again. This is actually very dynamic and fluid, that is to say, it is not at any point in time that there is a wave of returning home, but everyone has been trying to see if they can go back and discover what it is like to go back in the process.

This is also related to the situation in Lebanon. In 2019, especially in the second half of the year, in Lebanon, from civil protests to economic crisis, and then to the explosion of Beirut port in 2020, the whole situation and living conditions actually have a great decline. , so for many Syrians who originally lived in Lebanon, they will also think about which side of the current situation is more favorable to them, and there is a better way to survive. Among the Syrians I met in Lebanon in 2019, at least 5 are now in Damascus, so I hope to be able to record this part of the path and record the reasons behind these people’s actions of fleeing, staying and returning home. What, and then how does it project the strategy over the eleven years.

Let me tell you first, I did not go to Damascus this time. I made a lot of attempts, but safety is a big consideration, so this time I stopped and interviewed in Masnaa on the Lebanese-Syrian border. The total length of time was one month. One of the big reasons why I chose not to go to Damascus in the end was that my friend who was going to bring me in was in a bit of a situation. He also told me that now in Syria, like Damascus, it is actually relatively safe. If it is a general sightseeing Visitors want to go in, there are even some companies on tour groups, they want foreigners to see what Damascus or some big cities in Syria look like now, that is, how people return to their lives and how to rebuild their country. But if someone does an interview on the spot as a reporter, the risk is still relatively high, not only for my own risk, but also for the safety of the people I work with. So in the end, I chose to contact some Syrian youths in Damascus by telephone interviews after I arrived at the border. Here I will tell you that during this month, that is, from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley, and in Some records from the border crossing at Massana.

The topic of Damascus is something I hope I can work on for a longer time, so I want to visit this city and this country next time I have the opportunity, I think it involves why we need to go to the scene, why we need field coverage and why It is necessary to go to discussions on the spot in such a highly sensitive area. Like last week, when I was in Ukraine, in addition to doing intensive reporting for a week, I also spent a week living with the locals. If it is used for foreign power and transoceanic interviews, of course, you can still get great stories. Especially now that technology is very advanced, many journalists of the same generation, or media practitioners, still have a way to interview a lot of first-hand news. But I think that when you really enter the local area, the feeling is very different from the people and stories you can meet. For example, the sense of smell, hearing, and feeling in the five senses, this part cannot be achieved by transoceanic or telephone interviews. , so for me, there is still a certain value in going to the scene, so I still hope to have the opportunity to actually go to Damascus.

The editor I wrote this time is also a well-known war correspondent, Mr. Liu Yi. He went to Syria three times in 2017 and 2019. He always told me that the most important thing when you enter the local area is that you will meet a group of different people. people. When I'm outside, I may meet a group of people who want to go home, flee, or continue to walk away. After I go in, I may meet people who never left, people who support the government , so I can recognize the scope and stories that I touch, and their levels will be different. That's why I think we still need to be there.

I don’t know if you have seen the recent article published by the Washington Post to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this photo. [1] An Associated Press reporter Nick Ut took this photo during the Vietnam War, when South Vietnamese soldiers dropped petrol bombs at this place near Saigon City (now Ho Chi Minh City), causing the children in the village to flee, This photo is called 'Napalm Girl'. After the photo was published, it caused a lot of attention, and some reports said that this photo may have contributed to the end of the Vietnam War to some extent. There was also a lot of discussion at the time, is there any way we can understand this through a photo? There are also many reporters going to the scene in Ukraine to record, to a certain extent, it is like a first draft of history, especially during the war, it is a first draft of evidence, a kind of testimony. Maybe the teacher can share it after a while. These live records have any value other than the story itself.

Here I will share with you some records I mainly made in three towns this time. We have also built a website, through this website, everyone can follow the text and images more clearly, from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley, to the pass of Massana, and then to Damascus.

I have roughly written here why I want to record a war that spanned eleven years this time. The host also mentioned just now that it seems that the war is suddenly very close to us, but in fact, it has been happening all the time. I remember when I was chatting with a young Syrian in Beirut, I said that now the third world war seems to be about to break out, and the young Syrian said to me, "Really? For me in 2011, it was It has already broken out.” From the civil uprising to the present, Syria has become a proxy battlefield for many countries. The war here is actually a huge industry. It is not only a battlefield for the geopolitical interests of various countries, but also many chemical weapons or some new A testing ground for experimental weapons, so there is a whole war industry behind it. So I think this eleven-year war is worth reviewing, especially when a new war breaks out, how can we view this eleven-year war, it involves us to understand why there is a war , how war has changed people's lives, and why we can't stop a war.

You can see some text, images, and even sounds on the webpage.

I lived here for a while with a group of Syrian youths, we ate together, chatted in the living room, and watched their performances. As I mentioned earlier, I found this to be a very fluid state: I met someone who was always here; I also met someone who was always in Syria from 2011 to 2020, and left Syria because of marriage, and went to Lebanon with her He lived with his husband; he also met someone who was going to return home, he fled for a while, and then decided to go back to Damascus to meet his family; and under the economic crisis in Lebanon, he had been unemployed for a year, so he chose to return home . In addition to using more standard interviews, I prefer to use a more life-like way to enter their daily life, such as what they usually eat and how they express their thoughts about their hometown. I want to know them. What are you thinking.

This report records the life I spent with them these days. I think I can really get closer to this group of people at the scene. If I just interviewed by phone, I would have no way of knowing what they ate at the dining table, or how they were in the living room after eating. play. Because the male owner of the family I live in is a musician himself, and his instrument is Wu Deqin from the Middle East, so when we chat live, we will also be accompanied by a lot of music. These contents actually allow everyone to experience the scene and the appearance of these people. I can also target these young people more delicately - what kind of young people they are, and what kind of group portrait it can reflect.

This is the first part.

• Part II Beqaa Valley shanty towns

The second part was that I got to the Beqaa Valley. I have already visited the Bekaa Valley once in 2019. Lebanon is actually very small. The Bekaa Valley is a valley between two mountains. Agricultural development is mainly in this area. At the same time, this valley is also the largest stronghold of Hezbollah. . Before the war broke out, or even now, the Bekaa Valley is actually the sphere of influence of many drug lords or Hezbollah, and even terrorists have a stronghold in the northern Bekaa Valley, so for many locals or Lebanese, here It is very dangerous, but after the outbreak of the war, this place has become the largest shelter.

The Bekaa Valley has become a major base for Syrians to flee. The main reason is that it is close, and when they ran here, there were still a lot of open spaces, so they could rent land here and form their own 's settlement. For many Syrians I met locally, they even lived with their families. You may know more about the refugee camp, but it is mainly a shanty town. Because Lebanon does not allow the opening of formal refugee camps for Syrians, they will rent an open space directly and set up a tent here so that people can live in it. .

Going back to the theme of this time, "Why do we need front-line reports?" Actually, I tried to do a lot of preparations, hoping to go to the scene to interview some specific stories, but when I arrived at the scene, I found that many I did not The things that come to mind will happen, and there are many stories that I hadn't thought of to record. Just like this photo, when I was doing an interview in a shantytown, a little girl suddenly pulled me and took me to meet her friends in the shantytown, to meet her friends, her relatives, her friends one by one family. There I saw that people are not only living a very hard life, but they are also having weddings, in fact, they are also welcoming the birth of their children and preparing iftar together in the tent. The little girl showed me her life, the people she met every day and what they were doing, so I included this in the Bekaa Valley part of the second part, except that she was very poor and in need In addition to support, they also have their own community and the birth of new life. So when I was on the scene, I was more able to make new discoveries, which was a surprise. I didn't expect to see these things when I was on the scene.

I stayed in the Bekaa Valley for about two weeks. There are many non-governmental organizations here. They provide some urgent rescue or education work, and many of them do training programs for young people and children. This was another surprise from my interview in Bekaa Goodie, I entered a classroom of a non-government group and they invited girls from nearby refugee families to come here and heal through dancing, yoga, music , to express yourself and know yourself. Generally speaking, it is difficult for us to see Syrian refugees dancing and expressing themselves through dancing.

This is a Lebanese mother I know in the Bekaa Valley. She lives with Syrians, and at the same time, she is relatively vulnerable here, because many NGOs want their funds to be used to help here. Syrian family. The mother married from Lebanon to Syria, and fled from Syria in 2011. Because her parents died, she could not return to her own so-called home, so she rented a house with the Syrians in the Bekaa Valley. A tent and then live together. I went to interview her at the time because I thought it was important to see the complexity in the valley, that is, in addition to the Syrians, there were also Lebanese people living with them here, and the Lebanese people mixed with Syrians Between people, what are the tensions between them, what conflicts do they have, or how do they help each other.

Another interesting thing I found during the interview is that the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war has also had a very big impact here, not only because of the rise in the prices of edible oil and sugar, but also because about 80% of their wheat comes from Imports from Ukraine and Russia have affected the prices of these imported grains. So at home they would discuss the Russian-Ukrainian war, including how they themselves were affected, and some of the images they saw, such as the Ukrainians fleeing. This Lebanese mother told me that she can empathize very much with how the Ukrainian mothers took their children to flee from their own country, because she was also holding her children on the way to escape, from Syria. Cross the mountains to Lebanon. She held my hand and said, because there were so many people when escaping, so she tied her youngest daughter with a cloth around her chest, the one next to her in the photo, who was still a very small baby at the time, and followed with her left hand. Holding her two eldest daughters in her right hand, she dared not let go at all, because if she let go, her children might get lost in the crowd. At that point in time, I felt the empathy and empathy in parallel time. In the Syrian refugee camp, we can see that they are discussing the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is why I think it is meaningful and valuable to discuss an eleven-year war at this point in time, because it can allow more people to re-open Consider how war affects ordinary people.

In addition, I also wrote an article about the impact of the economic crisis that Lebanon faced on the people, from the civil protests to the Beirut explosion, and how the people continued to disobey.

When I was in Lebanon, I lived with a girl for a few days, and what I wanted to know was what the so-called "medical deprivation" really meant, what was the meaning of "economic deprivation", and how people's lives were affected of. This girl lives with her boyfriend, he is a bartender, he could make 500-600 dollars a month, even 1000 dollars, but after the economic crisis broke out, his salary is less than 100 dollars, about 50- 60. He couldn't live on such a job, so he resigned.

In the refrigerator at their house, I saw that they had some cancer medicines on ice, and the girl would help deliver the medicines to friends of her friends, or relatives of relatives. Due to the lack of medical resources, they have no way to obtain some basic medicines locally. They must bring medicines in from overseas in an economical way. I went with this Lebanese girl to deliver medicine to other people.

So why I think it is very important to go to the scene, part of the reason is that I can understand what these literal things will look like in people's lives in the future. Like our life at that time, there was electricity and no electricity, and there was water and no water. If I'm outside, it's hard to understand how this feels to the residents. For example, today there is no electricity between 7:00 and 8:00, so I have to think about what I might do first. The whole thinking in life will be affected and need to be adjusted.

• Part III Nonfiction Writing and Chinese Perspectives

For me, the big difficulty in writing this time is how to convey to readers what I saw, smelled, tasted, and felt at the scene. When I was writing, my editor would say to me, "But Yingyu, I didn't feel it, I didn't smell it", so aside from writing, which is a test for me, how do I organize these pairings? For me, it was something deeply touching and a test. I spent a lot of time thinking about whether to build a website so that people can use a more comfortable way and better understand what is going on along the way.

I just mentioned that I also tracked the Syrian youth returning home, so I also interviewed the youth in Damascus. A young man I interviewed is now organizing a city bicycle tour in Damascus. They ride bicycles together in the city every week, and then go to the ancient city to the suburban mountains, so that everyone can re-experience some of the power the city brings to them. He also It is mentioned that he can feel freedom in the process of cycling and feel that he can be himself, because he is doing what he wants to do in his own country, living a life in a familiar community and with a familiar family ( relatively) a decent life, at least not having to be a refugee anymore. Having lived in other countries as a refugee in the past, he would still feel like a second-class citizen, even though he might have been able to live in a better environment or continue to work. But when he goes back, he is the master of his own country, he can do what he wants to do, even if he makes sacrifices, that is, he cannot discuss things that cannot be said. I think people in China will feel more about this now. When you go back to your own country, you know that some things cannot be touched and will cause trouble for yourself, so he is saying "some Don't say anything, I can live a decent and dignified life here." At the same time, he can also use this kind of work to help some families in Syria who are still very poor.

I will take you back in the form of a web page, hoping to let readers know how this path went and what happened on this path.

There is also a discussion that, as there are so many reporters going to the scene now, what difference can we bring from the perspective of the Chinese, and what can the perspectives of Taiwan, Hong Kong and China be? When I went to Ukraine, there was a lot of similar discussions. That is to say, there is an international news scene there. Many reporters and media are stationed there. What is the meaning of going in and what can it bring us? ?

When I was working on the topic of Lebanon and Syria this time, I thought it was very interesting. Another article I wrote about Lebanon was about the civil protest in Lebanon. When I interviewed the advocates who were very active at the scene of the protest, they Tell me that they are very disappointed with this civil protest, because they think it is a very failed protest. At that time, everyone was very enthusiastic, but in fact they did not meet the demands of the civil protest. So for them, it's actually a collective memory with a lot of disappointment and emotion. He also told me that it is useless to go to the streets because it will not bring you any good results. However, because of the situation in Taiwan, there are still opportunities to make some changes in the streets. At that time, when I participated in the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, the final appeal was heard by the government, considered and implemented. It's an important memory point for me. So when we were sharing, I realized that we can actually discuss Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Other (foreign) media may not discuss with them in this way.

I also met a Lebanese scholar who did a lot of research on Hong Kong, because he found that there is a certain connection between Lebanon and Hong Kong. emotions, and their ties to their hometowns, there was a lot of discussion at the time.

What can the Chinese perspective bring? Maybe you can chat with the teacher during the conversation. I will skip this part here. What I just said was that at that time we were discussing civil protests on the spot. My teacher Liu Yi also went to Lebanon to report in 2019. He said that when he talked to these advocates on the spot, he was actually envious For these people, because the situation in China is that it is difficult to call hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to express a demand, even if the direct result of the (Lebanese civil protest) is disappointing, but at least the people can express it in this way their anger. So in this part, I think it is the spark that can be created by everyone going to the scene with their own identity and background.

In addition, what I think is very important is a word that an editor told me - my own state is fluid. That is, as I walk on this road, from Beirut to the Beqaa Valley and all the way to Massana, I am a dynamic state from the unknown to the known, what I see and hear is to reveal with the reader On, maybe this will connect me with readers. So compared to the experienced reporters who are stationed there, this may be a relatively different place that I can do.

"Present" discussion:

(1) Media writing, non-fiction writing and Chinese perspective

Chen Yingyu: I want to talk to the teacher about the topic of safety and reporting, and what I mentioned just now, what kind of readers can we bring to the scene with a Chinese perspective, and what different story perspectives and ideas will there be.

Moderator: We talked about the issue of "connection", especially the connection between Lebanon and Hong Kong, that is, there is a connection between people separated after the civil protest, like the loss of "going to the streets is useless", I think many friends Maybe they have felt it before; and what Yingyu mentioned just now about the connection between the refugees and the war and our real life, and what it can bring to the Chinese perspective; and the identity and feeling of being a reporter are fluid, This state can bring her closer to the reader. I would also like to ask Mr. Luqiu, what do you think this "connection" refers to?

Luqiu Luwei: I think I quite understand what the editor said to Yingyu, because compared to a reporter who sees everything new and doesn't understand everything, this way may be the only way to connect with readers. And it's also a place where it has its own advantages. It's like when I think back to when I went to Afghanistan for the first time more than 20 years ago, I actually saw everything was new, so it will have a lot of details, but it is also very repetitive. I could write the story of everyone in Afghanistan, and everyone's story is very interesting and reflects some of the reality of this society, but it lacks logic, or lacks a framework behind it. Realizing this question was when I was doing Libya in 2011, I think my preparations were very different then, because you were aware of these deficiencies in your past, plus your accumulation of experience, especially When reporting international news, I think a very important point is the theory of international relations, including the "economic war" you just said. What is "economic war"? If we just look at these four words, a reporter needs to explain to the reader why this is important, but we are talking about non-fiction writing today, so why it seems that explaining this issue is less important than news reporting high.

Just now Yingyu also mentioned that from the perspective of the Chinese, what unique entry points can we have? I myself think that if we take Taiwan and Ukraine as an example, a big entry point is the common state that Ukraine and Taiwan are in in the international environment, that is, they are both facing a power, which may bring and have been affected by it. certain impact. If you watched Tsai Ing-wen's speech yesterday, or Zelensky's speech at the Shangri-La conference yesterday, it is obvious that if you want to do a report on Ukraine for your Taiwanese readers, your news point where will it be placed. I think the reason why Lebanon and Hong Kong were connected at that time was because Hong Kong was still a relatively open society at that time, so in social mobilization and many social movements, you will find many similarities, so the actions of both sides When they look at each other, they will have a lot of sympathy or resonance, but if we compare Hong Kong and Lebanon now, I believe that many Hong Kong people feel the same as Mr. Liu, that is, is it possible to carry out such a big event again? large-scale social mobilization. So if you write about Lebanon from the perspective of Hong Kong now, it may be very different from what it was in 2019. If you talk about the perspective cut, I think this is a feeling I just heard.

Moderator: In a strange land with rich stories, how do you distinguish the authenticity of the stories, how do you select stories, and how do you build your own awareness of problems? Yingyu, how do you feel about this?

Chen Yingyu: Indeed, the first time he talked to the editor teacher, he mentioned this point. He said that you don't have to worry about not having a story. As Mr. Luqiu said just now, everyone has a story. So how to do it? I will not do a screening of stories here, the focus will be on how to establish problem awareness, and then under this problem awareness, which stories can meaningfully project some aspects of this problem awareness that I hope to present . Some stories like the ones I shared with you just now are not included in my reports, because these contents cannot respond to my awareness of the problems here, even if they are very touching to me. So the choice is really quite important, not to say that some stories are not important, but for example, when I want to convey to the readers what it is like to go back and forth with Syrians on this road, I will It is relatively difficult to include stories that may not be able to respond to this part, so it is indeed difficult to master this part. The report in Lebanon is relatively easy, because it is a more traditional interview method for reporting. I knew very well that I was going to do a post-bombing and post-civil protest tracking, so I went directly to find these people, and then went directly to interview, I was very clear that these people had already done these things at that time, he It's the person I'm looking for, so these contents are very suitable for this topic.

The Syria part, because I feel there is some flexibility in nonfiction writing. As the teacher said just now, there are many theoretical contexts in news reports that need to be explained, but in non-fiction writing, under the context of the entire story, I know that for readers, a very important thing is to be able to Read and see this path and what happened on this path fluently, so even if it is some historical context or concepts that I think are important, I may not use a huge amount of space to explain it.

Luqiu Luwei: My interviews are largely media interviews, that is, I do interviews as a professional reporter, so I don’t have that much space for writing. Of course, when I write a book, I will have some in my writing. space, but there may be a difference between being a journalist and being a writer in non-fiction writing. I still think nonfiction writing and journalism writing are two different things.

Taking the Lebanon article as an example, for a reporter, we will spend a lot of time on contacting and interviewing, because in addition to NGOs, civilians and scholars, which are relatively easy to interview, there are actually many voices coming from some more critical They may be official figures or political leaders of some political parties, etc. Every time we do an interview, we spend a lot of time on it.

Of course, there are also some remedies and ways to save time. If the media has a certain amount of financial resources, they can hire a local fixer, that is, a local assistant. But for an independent reporter, because of financial constraints, or the other party may ask which media you represent, it may not be possible. This is very important. Knowing which media you are, will determine whether some key people are willing to accept your interviews, and these interviews are an indispensable part of your entire story. If they are missing, the report may be biased. So I guess it's a paradox, as an independent journalist or working for a media that is not too well known may come across these situations, especially Chinese-language media.

At that time, I told everyone that I was Luqiu Luwei. When I worked for which Chinese media, no one had heard of this media, so they would give all the interview opportunities to CNN or the BBC. Of course, that was 20 years ago. Or the situation more than 10 years ago, now you may say that you are from Xinhua News Agency or CCTV, and it will be easier to get some interview opportunities.

The value of non-fiction writing as I understand it is that although it may not be able to achieve the multi-level of news writing, it can be cut in from many details, which actually provides more supplements for us to understand the whole state of affairs. I have always told my students and my former colleagues that everyone should not expect to see the truth of the incident through a single report. The more reporters or people who are willing to record the situation, the more words can be written, which is definitely helpful for everyone to understand the situation.

In mainland China, there may be several examples of non-fiction writing, such as He Wei, although I don't think he is part of news writing. I think Yingyu may have some feelings, that is, when you write reports for some news media, there will be editors' requirements for you. Compared with doing a more personal non-fiction writing by yourself, the space and writing you have The method is definitely different.

Chen Yingyu: It is different, yes. I also discussed with Matters this time that I would cooperate with the media after the article was written. The comparison in Lebanon was done in the form of reports, so we cooperated with Taiwan's independent media "Reporter", but at that time Matters asked me if there was any cooperation with other media in Syria, and I said I don't know which media would have a way to publish my stuff. At that time, I actually found a media. They were willing at first, but they said that it was still very difficult for me to set up a website and create an interactive independent page within a limited time. Therefore, due to the urgency of resources and time, I did not cooperate. Decided to do it myself. I'd love to use this kind of website, because I'm a writer this time, and that's pretty exciting for me, so I want to try something a little different.

I just saw someone asking, how do I find these interviewees, and then how to go to the scene and start exploring later, in fact, this is quite comprehensive for me. When discussing with Mr. Liu Yi, of course we thought that we could find a freelancer, and then we could write their stories like interviews with A, B, C, and D. Each interaction lasted an hour or two. But because I have been there before and have some trusted people, we have had intermittent connections since 2019, so that trust will be strengthened again, so this time I can enter the family and live with them, from a microscopic perspective. I can see their every day from the angle of view, and then I tell them that I will make a non-fictional record when I come here, and I may write about what happened in my life in the article. Of course, making it clear at the beginning may cause them to want to show a better side, and every time I enter the game, it may also change their state of presence, but because there is enough time, I can still To see some of their real facets. I'm also very happy that this "Present" grant can help me have a little more flexibility.

Next, echo what the teacher just said about the media. This time we went to Ukraine with three reporters. I think it is very interesting that because we are both independent reporters, we cooperated with Duan Media and two English-language media at the time, and we also won awards from the Pritzker Crisis Reporting Center. gold. At that time, we discussed which institution would be easier to accept, and then we thought that it might be faster to use the Pritzker, so we interviewed the mayor and some members of the council to discuss the war from the perspective of the government.

(2) War correspondents and security training

Moderator: A friend mentioned "what is a war correspondent" in the dialog box. What is the value of a war correspondent?

Luqiu Luwei: In terms of occupation, first of all, I would like to say that I am not a war correspondent, because I do all kinds of reports, and the war reporting is only a very small part of it, that is, something happened that year, I am like a parachute journalist , that is, the "airborne reporters" go there, which is relatively unacceptable in the media, because when we go there, we just stop for a while to have a look, and then leave, and we can't compare with the resident reporters. In fact, there are a group of real war correspondents. They have sufficient field experience. They hardly do any other interviews. They only go to those places when there is conflict or war. I think these people may be called in the standard sense. war correspondent.

But now the media is changing very fast, and I don’t think any media can afford such huge expenses to support these war correspondents, so there may be almost no such people, and there may be more and more freelance journalists like Yingyu. The more, the more paratroopers like me, the more you jump over there if something happens, or if a war happens to happen where you live, you’re more likely to conduct interviews there.

I don't think you should be too obsessed with these identities. For example, Yingyu used to be an independent journalist, but she can also be called a citizen journalist, because you don't really have a name for which media you work for, right, I just want it for my own interests where to. So I don't think it's necessary to discuss this issue, and a lot of times we want to see your work, that is, what kind of content you reported. There are many people who say they have been there after going to the station, and call themselves war correspondents; , these people also refer to themselves as war correspondents. So in the end, I think smart readers should look at what they saw in the reports of these reporters, such as how he did the reports, whether he was on the scene, whether he traveled a lot... these efforts It will be seen in the report, this is the most important.

Moderator: Now there are some war reporters, including this time in Ukraine, many of them are independent reporters. They have no direct labor relationship with media organizations, because organizations have to pay a lot of money for their war reporters, and they also have to pay very high amounts for them. 's insurance. Like journalist Brent Renaud, who died in the Russo-Ukrainian war, the New York Times issued a statement saying he was not working for them, which drew a lot of criticism. Excuse me, the current state of journalism is very different from the situation dominated by TV news 20 years ago, and the financial expenditures of war reporters and war reports have also changed a lot, so who do you think should be responsible for the war now? Is it the government or the market when it comes to reporting funding and being the dominant player?

Luqiu Luwei: Let me briefly talk about my point of view. Many independent journalists will have the opportunity this way, which I think is a good thing. Then, if the funds come from, I think one way is to find a media agency that is willing to pay, because the cost for a media agency to hire an independent reporter will be much lower than that of hiring one person for a long time, so he can actually give a short-term relatively high pay. Another way is that everyone can crowdfund, but in the final analysis, it is the issue of avoiding conflicts of interest. For journalists, ethics may be the most important. Yingyu, you should be the most experienced, what do you think?

Chen Yingyu: Yes, every time I go out, I may work with a different media, to see the story and see the places I go, like when I was in Ukraine, I had this part especially. The first time I went, I worked with The Reporter, and I was grateful that they provided me with a lot of resources, so that our team could focus on our work, but the second time I planned to go in, They said, "Yingyu, we can't do it again." I totally understand it, and then of course there were some discussions, for example, because of the drop in attention, as well as the safety issue of entering by myself, etc. .

Next, when we entered Ukraine, we had to apply for a media license from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Originally, I could go in directly with the "Reporter" license. There was no problem, but because of the things just mentioned, everything was done. To reapply. For freelance journalists, this is a huge burden, because there is no way to deal with these things in a timely manner, and there are ethical issues at the same time. Fortunately, I cooperated with Duan Media later, and the processing speed of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was quite fast, so I quickly got another license. So I will be very clear which media I am interviewing for this time.

Here is a question about some of the additional challenges that female journalists have encountered in the battlefield. I will make some responses here, and Mr. Luqiu can also share some. I'm not actually a war correspondent myself, so I told my teacher that there might be some conflicts here, so I'll go there, but I haven't been to some places where there are direct war conflicts.

Regarding the safety preparation part, I can also share with you. When I was chatting with "Presence" this time, they asked me: "Yingyu, if you really go to Syria, how can you ensure your safety and how can you reduce some of your risks on the scene?" I I feel that safety is a very important thing for journalists, and it is a very important thing to be responsible to myself, the media and the industry, so before I set off, I went to the UK to do Hostile Environment and Emergency First Aid Training (HEFAT) , which is training for journalists or humanitarian aid workers working in high-conflict, high-sensitivity areas.

Before I went to the training, I was wondering if it was really necessary. After I went, I found this course to be very useful, because it went from pre-trip preparation, to what can be done on site to reduce my risk, and then to the later stage. How to do some retrospectives and reviews, have provided some very detailed information. A very important part of the preliminary preparation is "how to do a risk assessment". Then, when I was in Ukraine this time, I encountered the media asking us to fill in information such as how to reduce our own risks on the scene, how we What is the safety protocol, what resources do we have to prepare for, what kind of situation we need to evacuate, the evacuation plan and how to establish our immediate contact information, how to communicate with the logistics media, etc. This information, and this content is actually included in this course. The course will also cover things like identifying weapons, how to prepare for an emergency if you are injured, and what might be helpful to carry around in certain situations, like I will carry tourniquets and bandages, of course. Some people will say that your city is fine, but when a major traumatic event occurs, these things can basically save a life directly in two to five minutes, and without these things, there may be no way Save your comrade.

There are also things you can do to reduce your risk of being kidnapped when you're on the spot, at a hotel, at a restaurant, and in a ride. When I was going to Syria and Lebanon, I assessed my biggest risk as being kidnapped because of the economic crisis there. I look like a foreigner, and I look like a person with dollars, so compared to the possibility of a big conflict or something, for me, the risk is higher than kidnapping, that is, the risk of financial kidnapping. I also have some parts about training in my notes. If you want to be able to do this kind of reporting in the future, I highly recommend doing this kind of training, because it tells us how to protect ourselves, evaluate and degrade us from the perspectives of reporters and local workers. Risks that may be encountered on site. Yes, it also has one point that after the evaluation, you may feel that you are not suitable to enter, or that you should not enter at this time. This time I stopped when faced with the situation in Syria. training is also relevant.

(3) Problem awareness

Moderator: There is a question in the chat room. Ask Mr. Luqiu. We just mentioned that we need a thinking framework behind the details. I would like to ask Mr. Luqiu to share how reporters train themselves to generate such a framework, and how to think about the problem. . I don’t think this question will be clear in the short-term discussion, but you can think about it, for example, when you are reporting an emergency, what kind of goal and clear awareness of the problem you need to have.

Luqiu Luwei: First of all, let’s talk about what kind of problems female journalists will encounter. I think people were asking this question 20 years ago, and it's kind of sad to be talking about it 20 years later. Then in the end, it is professional, so you need to receive training, assess risks, etc. These are the most basic requirements, whether it is male or female, because these risks will not be different because of your gender. the difference. Of course, men will have some problems that men encounter, and women will have some problems that women will encounter.

When it comes to frameworks, this is what I have slowly accumulated over the past 20 years. I have also shared with many college students before, why I studied international relations after doing journalism for more than ten years, because you found that you want to do international news reporting, but if you don't have any training in international relations, you don't actually have a lot of questions about it. Approaches to have an awareness of the problem, which is very important.

It also depends on your issues, such as Middle Eastern dialects, and religious issues. All these levels of culture and religion are related to the generation of social movements, or the generation of wars you encounter, so you need to accumulate knowledge systematically, so this is indispensable, otherwise you Always just write around what you see, hear and smell. This kind of writing is very good at the beginning, but I think if you are interested in writing in this area, you must look back at what you wrote before a year or two later, and find that there is progress, and These advances, or in other words, where the problem awareness and framework come from, the theory is quite important. I know everyone hates theory classes, but I tell my classmates in the School of Journalism that in fact, theory classes are the most important to you, because whether you can run faster than others in the future depends on your theoretical accumulation. and whether you are willing to invest the time.

For example, an example suddenly pops into my mind right now. During the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, many reports revolved around the families of the dead and wounded or sad stories. We started working on why so many school buildings collapsed the next day. When I had a chance to catch up with Wen Jiabao, I asked him directly, "How will you be blamed for the collapse of the school building?" Another point we have seen is that NGOs rushed to the scene for the first time. Will the government adopt and support these NGOs, or will they prevent them? Such a problem consciousness jumped out. Of course, we have many other colleagues who make very personal stories about the dead and wounded, which is also very important, but for everyone's understanding, as to whether the changes just mentioned can be changed, I think changes do not occur in individuals.

In the story, even if it will have emotional echoes, you are more to investigate the essence of this matter and why it happened, so I can only say that you need to spend time to learn, and then observe and keep on Introspect. I remember reading the first book I wrote before, "Oh this is a diary", there are many details and stories in it, but every day is like a running account, and after 10 years, I will read a few books I wrote later, "There are It is through personal stories, so that after reading this book, everyone will know why this country has come to this day, why there is an uprising or these things happened.

(4) Declining public attention

Moderator: How do you view the decline in public attention to reporting? It may be that the war itself has passed for a period of time, or it may be a war that is still ongoing, such as the Ukraine war actually faced this situation. The two have mentioned this just now, and I think I can leave the last question to this.

Luqiu Luwei: I'll tell you first and then hand it over to Yingyu, because you have a better sense of it. My own feeling is that for media organizations, attention is of course very important, because it affects the viewership or reading rate, click-through rate. But in fact, the entry point is very important. For editors or reporters, you must first clearly know who your readers are, and then you must know their preferences, what they care about, or what you think is very important to this group of readers. These important points, and then see if we can connect with these wars that are taking place now. In this way, I will feel that Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, if I compare the three places in Greater China, there are actually good entry points. It doesn't mean that some things are happening now, some things have passed for a long time, and everyone feels that they are very far away. As long as you can see your readers in these three places, I think it is completely possible. You can cut in from the perspective of social movements, then connect to Hong Kong, you can cut in from the perspective of totalitarian rule, you can also see from the mainland how people find space, or from Ukraine, you can see how small countries fight against big countries and power, Then look at the current situation in Taiwan... All of these, I think there will be such a very good entry point, depending on how you grasp it.

Chen Yingyu: Good. I can also respond to this part, because I quite like to do follow-up reports, that is, go in silently when the attention is declining. Because for me, when I go in at this time, I can see how people in this country or here digest this incident after the peak of the incident, and what happened to these people. influences. But how to get attention is really not easy. For example, when I went to Lebanon this time, it was a very classic follow-up report, because it was almost two years after the big explosion and the situation after the civil protest.

There's also a relatively easy way to grab attention, which is a good tracking point when there's a new event happening in the field. Like I went before their congressional election, so I thought it was a good time to go in the pre-set, it was the first congressional election after the civil protest and the big bang, so it has A sense of tracking the time points above.

There are also some media that may do follow-up reports at time points such as months or 100 days. This is also more intuitive for readers, and they will know why they see this report at this time. Then, as Mr. Luqiu said, there will still be some perspectives related to our readers. For example, I think Mr. Liu Yi is very good at this point. He knows who his readers are, so he The content report he does will be very concentrated, and he is also very clear about the message behind the article and his awareness of the problem. You may say why he did this topic at this time, but for his readers, the story itself It has meaning, so no matter when he does it, he can convey to the reader that he is valuable at this time, at the scene of the event.

[1] Opinion | It's Been 50 Years. I Am Not 'Napalm Girl' Anymore. The New York Times 2022/6/6.