What if Jeremy Bowen were in Gaza? |
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s veteran Middle East editor, once offered a deceptively simple formula for surviving the moral challenges of conflict reporting. A journalist, he said, can be both neutral and candid. In a region where truth is often held hostage by governments, militias and armies of citizen journalists, Bowen’s formula reads less like professional advice and more like a code of honour.
Bowen is no passing correspondent. Audiences across the Arab world have watched him cover the Lebanese wars, the Israeli invasion of Beirut, the Gulf conflict, the war in Bosnia, and the conflict in Gaza. He has been banned by Israel and denied entry to Iran — an unintended endorsement of his insistence on seeing things for himself. When he says that neutrality and candour are not luxuries, but costly commitments, he speaks from decades of experience.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Bowen reflected on the constraints he faced in the former Yugoslavia. Compared with Gaza, he said, those restrictions ‘felt like paradise’. Then came the line that distils his entire career: ‘If you’re not trying to tell the truth, what’s the point?’
Bowen reflected on the constraints he faced in the former Yugoslavia. Compared with Gaza, he said, those restrictions ‘felt like paradise’. Then came the line that distils his entire career: ‘If you’re not trying to tell the truth, what’s the point?’
Bowen reflected on the constraints he faced in the former Yugoslavia.........