- Jon Williams
- 30 May 06, 04:31 PM
Tonight - after a gap of 15 years - the 大象传媒 is reopening its bureau in Beirut. Two decades ago, the Lebanese capital was the scene of car bombs and kidnappings - all too frequently, journalists were seen as targets. Throughout the civil war, the 大象传媒 maintained its presence in Beirut, to bring the story to audiences in the UK and around the world.
Twenty years on, the 大象传媒 is now alone among British broadcasters in staying on in Baghdad - despite the kidnappings and car bombs in the Iraqi capital.
Once again, journalists are targets. brings to 20 the number of journalists killed in Iraq in the first five months of 2006.
Thirty years ago, Jim Muir was one of those brave hacks venturing into Beirut. Today he's one of our regulars in Baghdad. The reason is the same; a belief that the story is too important for us to turn our back on, and that we have a responsibility to our audiences to explain the context - a context we can only reflect by being there.
I'll admit to a sense of frustation sometimes, that people like Andrew North and the other colleagues who work in Baghdad, don't always get the credit they deserve for working in the most difficult conditions imaginable.
Contrary to what some in the TV industry might have you believe, they don't "cower" inside the , chained to the roof of the bureau merely repeating copy churned out by news agencies. Every day our team in Baghdad ventures out of our fortified street on the opposite side of the river from the Green Zone - and we spend as much time talking through the logistics of doing so, as we do the editorial focus of the story.
For someone like me, the safety of our team in Baghdad (and the world's other troublespots) is the biggest single responsbility of the job. At any one time, the 大象传媒 has three security staff based in Baghdad. Their job is to enable us to get out and get the story. They do it remarkably successfully - whether it's reporting the daily toll of casualties, or the polticians' attempts to restore order in Baghdad and beyond. We keep the situation under constant review - balancing the risk of the security situation, with our ability to tell the story.
The deaths of the CBS crew, Paul Douglas and James Brolan, are a reminder of the dangers our colleagues face every day. The injury to correspondent Kimberley Dozier comes just a few months after our friend Bob Woodruff from ABC News was also badly wounded alongside his camerman, Doug Vog, both of whom are now recovering. Everyone from the 大象传媒 who goes to Baghdad is a volunteer - no-one is forced to work in Iraq. They go because they believe the story is important and needs telling to our audiences in Britain and beyond. And I'm enormously proud of them.
Jon Williams is the 大象传媒's world news editor
- Richard Clark
- 30 May 06, 04:08 PM
It was fun - if daunting - to be involved in starting something new on a network whose audience is so passionate about even the smallest change in the schedule. And it was fun to do it with a team which relished the chance of thinking about news in a different way.
Richard Clark is editor of the radio newsroom
John Simpson, the 大象传媒's world affairs editor, looked into the state of journalism in Iraq on Tuesday's Today programme.
"The deaths of a CBS camera crew in Baghdad were a terrible reminder of how dangerous reporting here can be... but it still isn't too dangerous to operate here, if you're sensible, careful and lucky... It's still perfectly possible to get out into the streets and film most days. And please don't take any notice of that ignorant stuff about western journalists huddling in the safety of the Green Zone"
Listen to the piece in full here.
- Steve Herrmann
- 30 May 06, 11:13 AM
It鈥檚 been a busy weekend for the online news desk as they responded to the news early on Saturday of a major earthquake striking Java in Indonesia.
In the first stages of a story like this there鈥檚 a tried and tested list of things to do: send out a breaking news alert and publish a few paragraphs which can be built up as more quotes and details come in from the 大象传媒鈥檚 correspondents. We鈥檒l look for the best pictures, commission maps from our graphics team and stream the 大象传媒鈥檚 rolling TV news coverage on the website.
But there鈥檚 another staple element in covering any breaking story on the site, which is to ask our readers for their eyewitness accounts. On Saturday we put an email feedback form on the main story straight away and within an hour or so of checking responses, ringing them back and interviewing people, we had a series of first-hand accounts on the site from readers in the area. The contacts we make via these emails are shared with radio and TV news who follow up with their own interviews.
It鈥檚 become almost routine for us to expect such reports but sometimes it鈥檚 these accounts, above all, which bring home the reality of the situation for those caught up in it.
鈥淲e'll be too afraid to sleep tonight,鈥 who contacted us from Yogyakarta, 鈥淚t's going to be a real mess. We're just happy to be alive.鈥
Steve Herrmann is editor of the
- Vicky Taylor
- 30 May 06, 10:46 AM
Users sent in their pictures of the Airbus A380 when it made its first flight to the UK, and many of those pictures were featured on the 大象传媒 News website and on 大象传媒 News 24. One of them recorded the appearance of the photo on the TV, and has now posted that recording to YouTube. So to complete the circle, it's only proper that we should in turn link to that posting.
Vicky Taylor is editor of Interactivity
The Guardian: John Simpson defends the reporting in Iraq: "We do not cower in the Green Zone" ()
The Independent: "I wonder how worthwhile Newsnight's '' competition was" ()
The Observer: "The 大象传媒's chairman has put the brakes on a plan to move flagship divisions of the corporation to Manchester" ()
Manchester Evening News: "A 大象传媒 spokesman denied there was any truth in a report that the chairman of the 大象传媒 has put the brakes on the move" ()
The Scotsman: "The 大象传媒 director-general has definitively ruled out any prospect of a "Scottish Six" news bulletin" ()
