[Leica] access and viewpoint (was charlotte observer)

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

It's strange how major news is the death of a war reporter. If they
are REALLY doing their job then you'd think their casualty rate would
be about the same as those in the war zone - maybe a little better.

Last night I was watching one of the special features about Formula 1
in the '60s and there was a story about Jackie Stewart talking to Jim
Clark about how he had almost lost it coming into a curve but then got
things reigned back in again. "You recovered?" said Clark
incredulously. "Yes," said Stewart, "why?" And Clark said "Because if
you can recover you're not close enough to the edge."

It seems to me that reporters these days aren't close enough to the
edge. In the case of Wolf Blitzer he was somewhere in the middle of
the table. And no, I don't think they need to be out there on the
point during recon. But they do need to be more deeply imbedded in the
cultures they are covering. How else can they sort through the mosaic
and make sense of what they're seeing? As it is now it seems like
everything is filtered twice removed.

Adam

On 7/31/06, Kyle Cassidy <kcassidy@asc.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >I am far more concerned with straight photography lying than changing the
> >color of the sky.  We all know that access and viewpoint can make a lot of
> >difference in the story you tell if the editors will let you tell the 
> >story
> >you want.  Reference the NYTimes stories coming out of the Soviet Union in
> >the 20's and 30's saying all was well in the Ukraine when hundreds of
> >thousands were starving to death.
>
> i noticed wolf blitzer on CNN yesterday in jerusalem, reporting on the 
> war. looking very much like a tourist in his unbuttoned yellow checked 
> short sleeve shirt, he was standing in a bomb shelter with some isralie 
> solders asking pointed questions like "was that a rocket we just heard? 
> how many times have you heard rockets? do you feel safe?"
>
> i may be watching the wrong news channels, but i haven't seen anybody 
> huddled under a desk in beruit reporting on the war.
>
> just by picking the place in which to stand mr. blitzer has made an 
> editorial decision -- either about the degree of risk he's willing to 
> accept, or the POV from which the war will be framed by his reportage. 
> sadly, i think this is much more detrimental to journalism than changing 
> the color of the sky.
>
>
>
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