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| Foreign Correspondent Marie Colvin and Photographer Remi Ochlik |
By Debbie Mitchell
As we take time out to remember and honor the men and women who have lost their lives while serving in the military, we should remember that every time we see a face on camera, there is probably a dutiful producer, cameraman and audio person working to help the reporter bring his or her story to life.
Today, I want to remember the producers, photographers and journalists like Marie Colvin, who died and was brave enough to put her job before all else in the pursuit of story. Marie, along with 28 year old French photographer Remi Ochlik, both working for the Sunday Times of London, died in February, in what has been described as a “devastating bombardment by the Syrian army.”
When it comes to war, eveyone is at risk, whether you are a soldier, journalist or producer on the ground.
In an interview on CBS This Morning, CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Lara Logan reminds viewers of the dangers of being a war -zone correspondent.
I've always admired and been in awe of anyone who makes the conscious decision todo their or job with full understanding that they could die. I could not do it (my aunt called me coward), I do not want to be on the front line covering a war story.
Since the Civil War, reporters have been putting their lives on the front line to cover stories, and many lost their lives in the name of getting the facts and a "good" story for the American people. Long before video, sketches and photographs were the only way to create a picture alongside the reporter's words of what was happening on the battle field. Today, reporters, producers and crew members spend long hours working side by side in very uncomfortable and dangerous situations. In 2003, I realized that I could not do it.
The media was gearing up to cover the start of the Iraq War and producers on CBS News The Early Show were asked by management, if anyone was interested in volunteering to go and cover the war?. I felt like it was a trick question. Who in their right mind would volunteer for such an assignment? I am a pretty good field producer (thanks to my first boss, Geraldo), which was needed for the job, but I was afraid to go since I didn't want to put my life on the line. I secretly wondered what my lack of interest in this assignment would mean to my career.
When I fell in love with television, I was interning at ABC-TV on a local show Live With Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, it was fun, entertaining and light morning television. Now, almost 2 decades later, with great skills from producing a talk show, under my belt, I am working in news and being asked if I want to go to war and produce segments for a competitive morning show. How the hell did this happen?
When I fell in love with television, I was interning at ABC-TV on a local show Live With Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, it was fun, entertaining and light morning television. Now, almost 2 decades later, with great skills from producing a talk show, under my belt, I am working in news and being asked if I want to go to war and produce segments for a competitive morning show. How the hell did this happen?
For a long time I worried that my boss would choose random people to go, because in my mind,there were not enough volunteers. Overtime I eventually relaxed.
Producing news is not for wimps. News never stops, it's a machine. The adrenaline rush is indescribable as you work to cover a story, whether it's in the field or in the studio. One minute you can be sitting at your desk and then you look up at the television monitor and there is a school shooting or plane crash. Either way, you start working to get the key elements and guests for the story. Our Executive Producer at the time, Lyne Pitts, told the staff,to always have our passports handy and a bag packed under our desks, in case we had to travel at a moment's notice. In news your life is not your own. Now, I am being asked to volunteer to go to war. All I could think about, was bullets flying and my bosses yelling at me to make sure I got the story.
Just so you know, there are some producers and cameramen who live for that kind of assignment. It does not phase them at all. I'm a huge fan of Christiane Amanpour, who recently returned to CNN in April with the show Amanpour. I've watched Christiane Amanpour's personal status go from single, to married, to being a mother who continued to pursue international stories in the most dangerous situations over the years.
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| Kimberly Dozier, CBS News |
There is a sense of excitement when you think about traveling the world as a foreign correspondent or producer. As a matter of fact, before I fell in love with television, I wanted to be a photo journalist just so I could travel the world. But ask any foreign correspondent and they will tell you there is very little glamour. Kimberly Dozier was chief reporter in Iraq for CBS News and stationed in Baghdad for nearly three years. Dozier was seriously injured in Iraq on May 29, 2006, Memorial Day, in a car bomb attack that killed CBS crewmembers Paul Douglas (Cameraman) , James Brolan (Sound Technician) an American soldier, the 4th ID's Captain James "Alex" Funkhouser, and an Iraqi translator.
Dozier recovered after a series of surgeries and much support from family, friends and CBS News. I never worked with her or even met Kimberly or her crew, but remember thinking about her, Paul, James and the families they left behind. Kimberly Dozier eventually wrote about the attack and her recovery in a book, "Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report—And Survive—The War in Iraq," In a post for The Daily Beast, Dozier recalls the journey from injury to recovery.
I asked my long time friend and fellow producer Carol Story, why she thought certain producers are able to cover such dangerous assignments. Carol, now retired, said "you have to think that nothing bad is going to happen to you. You are there to report about the bad things happening to others and you will be fine. It's a sophisticated form of denial." Carol , who use to volunteer for every assignment, did not volunteer to go and cover the war in 2003. Today, she tells me she felt guilty about not volunteering "I never wanted to not be a team player. I really didn't have it in me to go." Carol got it right again when she said "If you screw up a segment in the studio that's one thing, but if you screw up at war that is another story." Paralyzed by fear, I believe that I probably would have gotten killed, injured and have been very ineffective at my job if I had gone to war. Instead, Carol and I worked very long nights for weeks, arriving at 2:00am, editing, booking and working until the job was done. It wasn't a war zone but we worked our butts off.
Carol and I both agree, that in life, it is really important to know what you can and cannot do. On this day, Memorial Day, I remember Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlik , CBS crew members cameraman Paul Douglas and sound technician James Brolan who were not only good at their jobs but brave enough to do their work and pay the ultimate price . I thank them and all who are and have been on the front line for believing they can do it, because in the end, all stories, including the war story must be told.
TV/Social Media Producer Debbie Mitchell is an Emmy nominated producer who is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and is currently a member of the James Beard Broadcast and New Media Awards Committee. If you are a brand interested in blogger outreach campaigns, a blogger or personality interested in television placement follow Debbie Mitchell @TVProducerDeb or contact TheBloggerConnection.com.
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