Documenting War

Both of the articles about Louie Palu presented interesting perspectives about the role of journalists in war coverage. In the Q&A style article from the Globe and Mail, Palu describes war as being personal. He states, "I cover wars that are in some way personally connected to me." While most people would assume that war correspondents choose that path for the edgy and exciting stories they cover, the danger is very real, thus the motivation to put themselves in harms way stems from somewhere else for these men and women. It's a desire to unveil the truth. 

For the average civilian, war is relatively distant from our lives, and we take in news about it with a sort of desensitized disconnect. Most of us know of the atrocities of war, but we don't really understand them completely. War correspondents strive to convey that understanding to us. They've been there, they've lived it, and they want to make the public aware. Palu says, "All the issues that surround war aren’t going to go away. Until we deal with that collective memory, it’s going to sit there. It’s going to be a problem, and it’s going to rear its head again." 

It's important to remember that these journalists are in just as much danger as many of the men and women serving in war zones. The risk of injury and even death is very real. Take Bob Woodruff for example. On January 29th, 2006, the tank he was traveling in was bombed, and Woodruff suffered extensive brain injuries. Luckily, he survived and went on to start the Bob Woodruff Foundation to help veterans who also have suffered injuries across seas. Since he was "embedded" into the military in order to obtain coverage, his life was constantly on the line. In an interview, Woodruff explains that this integration of war and journalism, though not new, is becoming more of the standard for war journalism. "I think, like most reporters," says Woodruff, "Embedding is something that became much more prevalent in Iraq and Afghanistan than it ever had before."

While journalists can cover the war extensively, it's nearly impossible for them to stay there for the entire duration and capture every moment. It eventually takes its toll on them. Palu describes his thought process in the article from VQR: "I couldn’t see an end to what I’d been covering, and the risks no longer made sense. Afghanistan is like a balloon. If you squeeze one end, it just swells on the other."