In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent journalists.
Interpretation
Journalists often face danger in their pursuit of truth, sacrificing their safety for the greater good.
This quote by Robert Fisk highlights the perilous nature of journalism, particularly in conflict zones. It serves as a sobering reminder of the sacrifices made by those who seek to report the truth, as they risk their lives to uncover the realities of war and injustice. The reference to the 'little Somme' evokes the memory of the devastating World War I battle, suggesting that journalists are often caught in a similar battleground where their lives are at stake.
In practice
During a speech about press freedom, one could use this quote to illustrate the risks journalists face.
The [Israelis] believed - they were possessed of an absolute certainty and conviction - that 'terrorists' were in Chatila. How could I explain to them that the terrorists had left, that the terrorists had worn Israeli uniforms, that the terrorists had been sent into Chatila by Israeli officers, that the victims of the terrorists were not Israelis but Palestinians and Lebanese?
War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.
The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.
There is nothing so satisfying as to be shot at without effect.
After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career β in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad β watching the people within those borders burn.
When I was younger, I had these romantic ideas about the Black Panther Party and what it meant to be a part of the civil rights movement. Then we're here, and it's dangerous. And it's dangerous to say, 'Black lives matter.'
Sadie Kane here. If you're listening to this, congratulations, you survived doomsday.
You have to dare to make a choice that may be considered unorthodox in a role, but when you're working as if there are tons of people watching you, that's not necessarily a good thing.
I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done...in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done!
Few men are born brave. Many become so through training and force of discipline.
Preparing oneself for the possibility of confronting racism triggers something that slowly chips away at physical and emotional well-being.
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