A Whole New World

By Zach Ruchman

It used to be that being a journalist in a hostile region wasn't like having a bulls-eye on your back. But things are different in today's world and journalists are sought and treated like military captives. When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was abducted and later brutally murdered in Pakistan, it marked the first time a journalist was killed in such a cold-blooded crime. "Obviously had he known he would not have gone to this meeting," said his widow Mariane Pearl. "But you have to understand when you are working in a situation, seeing it from afar is more scary than actually being there."

"People who don't travel might say, 'Why did he go? It was stupid of him,'" she said. "But everybody in the field says the same thing, 'I would have gone.'" Mariane, who was with her husband in Pakistan when he was kidnapped, is also a journalist and she understood why her husband was so intent on unearthing the full story of Reid despite the apparent risks. "For a lot of people the reward [is] that their work has exposed corruption, injustice, or situations that need to be exposed, and I think that comes from a deep sense of justice and a deep sense of personal responsibility," she says.

Nevertheless, working in unstable parts of the world comes with many dangers that can lead to fatal encounters. "You have to trust people that you don't know because you are going to hire 'fixers' and heavily rely on those people and translators that give you access to the people you want to interview," says Mariane, "but you also don't know who you are trusting."

When working in such difficult environments, reporters have to take numerous precautions. Daniel Pearl had written a document in which he described important precautions in potentially perilous circumstances. His tips included meeting people who may not be trustworthy in public places, contacting parent news organizations and informing people there of one's plans, and keeping cash on hand in case of a ransom situation. Today it is not uncommon for journalists to undergo hostile region training, which includes the type of advice Pearl offered in his safety memo, as well as emergency medical instruction.

Also key to reporting in volatile areas of the world is education. "We really need to educate ourselves and maybe not feel we are educated already," she said. "If you don't have knowledge, it's impossible to confront the world. Ignorance is a luxury item. You can be ignorant as long as your life is not touched. When it becomes more serious, which it will and it is, you will know you have to be responsible."

With knowledge comes understanding, with understanding comes dialogue, and with dialogue comes peace. Mariane affirms, "My impression is that people see peace as a static position you get to, [but] for me it's a constant creative process," she says. "The most important tool for peace is dialogue, and that dialogue has to constantly keep moving. I think there's a misconception about dialogue because people think it's a lame answer, but I think that dialogue is extremely powerful and it's extremely difficult. [It] requires a lot of self control and it's very difficult to keep it going, but the only real answer to terrorism is working towards peace - and peace and dialogue are very courageous and difficult actions."