| Collective Corner |
|
| Written by Elizabeth Landau | |||||
| Friday, 13 February 2004 | |||||
|
At Home with Hezbollah: On Being A Jewish Reporter in a Muslim World Sipping warm beer from teacups at a Chinese restaurant with fellow reporters in Islamabad, Pakistan, Jeffrey Goldberg was struck by the high proportion of Jews at his table. It was there in Islamabad’s only speakeasy that Goldberg, then a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, first recognized a growing trend of Jewish journalists stationed in Muslim nations, eager to cover Islamic culture and regional strife. Why are Jews vying for the chance to investigate and interview people traditionally labeled "the enemy"? Because, says Goldberg, journalism satisfies a profound desire among Jews to learn about the "Other." Jews have traditionally been outsiders. And "journalism is a way of investigating the inside," Goldberg told a gathering of young Jewish journalists in New York on January 20th. "It’s instant access to worlds people here can’t even imagine, much less penetrate." Now a staff writer for The New Yorker, Goldberg, along with Jewish Telegraphic Agency managing editor Michael Arnold, was speaking to members of the New Voices Collective – a new program developed by the Jewish Student Press Service and funded by the UJA-Federation of New York, which brings together young Jewish journalists to discuss issues of crucial importance to the Jewish community. Both Arnold and Goldberg have worked as journalists in Israel and have both done extensive reporting on Middle East terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. When it comes to talking with terrorists, neither reporter holds back. In fact, as Goldberg noted, no question is considered too "tough." "Terrorists don’t think of themselves as psychopaths," he explained. "There are few things that offend them." Arnold confirmed that many terrorists happily speak to the press as a way to gain publicity. "They see journalists as people they can use," he said. Except for his interactions with Hezbollah, Arnold has been generally open about his Jewish heritage while reporting in the Middle East. As a correspondent for the The Jerusalem Post in Lebanon, he let the locals whom he relied on to show him around know he was Jewish. "Once you established a human connection, they were hospitable on a personal level," he said. But the assassination of Daniel Pearl has made both Goldberg and Arnold reconsider their attitudes to reporting in the Middle East. For Goldberg, Pearl’s death marks a breaking point in foreign correspondence. "Terrorists used to use journalists as spokespeople to explain the righteousness of their cause. Now they just kill reporters," he said. As a reporter, one should take into account all signs of danger, including how easily terrorists share information. In Lebanon, Goldberg would announce plans to visit terrorist groups on certain days, but make the actual visits on different days. "Think what is constraining them from killing you," Goldberg advised. "In the developing world, if people make things too easy for you, something’s up." Though the idea of reporting from the Middle East—or from any major area of conflict—may be intriguing, Arnold and Goldberg caution that snagging the perfect job is no simple matter. Editors can hire applicants at random, the writers said, and connections to a certain publication or person are crucial. One route Goldberg recommends is picking a world region of interest, going there, learning the native language, and waiting for "the right moment" to pounce on a good story. "Just go there and sit there and make things happen to you," he said. "Language acquisition is the only thing to do to give yourself a leg up." But Arnold places more importance on forming personal connections with editors, and points out that many correspondents end up in Israel or other countries completely by chance. "Some people don’t have a concrete goal, but are open to going from Buenos Aires to Europe to Asia," he said. "Many correspondents I met in Israel didn’t have a burning desire to go there, but by chance ended up with the position." Should the position a young journalist ends up with land him or her in hostile territory, Goldberg counsels the novice to follow two simple rules. First—"Their hatred of you is sometimes overwhelmed by curiosity." (But only sometimes.) And second—"They’ll never kill you at a meal." Even terrorists are taught to be polite to houseguests, said Goldberg. So if invited to dinner, he told the Collective’s members, it’s best to eat slowly.
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.12 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved. |
|||||