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Women: International
the ordeal is put to rest.
War stories captivate TV audiences
with scenes of destruction, but stories
of rebuilding are more fascinating because
they are about a community remaking
itself and human beings surviving.
Today, modern technology reports
news faster and more vividly through
television, but this means the entire
story is rarely told. So many facets of
this Hutu family’s life and their community
don’t have a chance to be told,
given the tools now used to convey
most news. Speed has usurped depth
in reporting. But in this story, this
man’s killing was part of the ethnic
violence in Burundi and Rwanda in
1995, so the story is much larger than
his death. And for women living in war
and zones of conflict, not many journalists
consider their stories dramatic
enough to qualify as “real” war stories.
Often, their stories—if covered at all—
are referred to only as “soft” news.
Print journalism tries to go deeper
into these stories, but also comes up
against the problem of space and the
fact that they are competing with the
vividness and speed of television for
the attention of an audience. The routines
of everyday life are really hard to
write about, even if an editor can be
made interested in such coverage. And
this story is rarely a visual one.
Given the potentially long-term war
against terrorism that is now being
waged and personal concern for security,
perhaps the dizzying pace of life
will be slowed. Perhaps this means that
we will find more reporters willing to
spend time interviewing women—such
as an Afghan woman in a refugee camp
to learn what her family and community
life has been like and learn what
visions she has for rebuilding her community
in the future.
Being a woman journalist covering
war, it has been a most humbling experience.
It has made me conscious of
women’s crucial role as keepers of oral
history who are critical in preserving a
community identity. I always return
home admiring the strength, the resilience,
and the resourcefulness these
women have. ■
Ratih Hardjono, a 1994 Nieman
Fellow, reported on war, conflict
and military governments for 10
years for the Indonesian daily
Kompas.
ratihh@cbn.net.id
Storming the Citadel of Hard News Coverage
Women report alongside men but their impact can be difficult to discern.
By Ammu Joseph
Indian journalists of both sexes are
covering assorted aspects of the
terrorist attacks in the United States,
the retaliatory military attacks on Afghanistan,
the implications of both for
India, South Asia and the world, and
the subsequent worldwide panic about
the apparent spread of anthrax. Women
have been conspicuous by their presence
in the Indian media during this
period as correspondents and commentators,
editors and anchors, interviewers
and hosts of current affairs
programs, especially on some highprofile
television news channels and in
the indigenous English-language press.
However, it is difficult, if not dangerous,
to deduce from this discernible
reality that gender is no longer an
issue in the Indian media. The story
about six blind persons and their descriptions
of an elephant—based on
the part of the animal they were able to
touch and feel—is appropriate to recall
in this context. Sub-continental
India is arguably the mother of all elephants,
and the Indian media is one
of her sizeable pachydermatous progeny.
Both defy definitive description.
Nevertheless, some clarity about the
current situation of women in the Indian
media, particularly the press, has
emerged from discussions among
women journalists within the country
over the past couple of years.
There is little doubt that the number
of Indian women in journalism had
reached an unprecedented high by the
turn of the millennium, although there
is still no quantitative data to corroborate
this observable fact. In the print
media, female bylines have become
commonplace during the past decade,
not only in magazines and features
sections but also on the news and editorial
pages of dailies, including the
front page. Apart from a large number
of female staff reporters and sub-editors
(or copyeditors), the Indian press
currently boasts many women who are
senior editors (including political and
financial editors), chief reporters, chiefs
of bureaus, special and foreign correspondents,
business journalists, sports
reporters and columnists, not to mention
magazine editors and feature writers.
It also harbors a few female sports
reporters and photojournalists, as well
as a couple of female cartoonists.
Women journalists now write on a
wide range of current events and issues
spanning a broad spectrum of
subjects, including high-profile topics
such as politics, business and economics,
international relations and what is
euphemistically known as defense. A
number of women have managed to
storm the citadel of hard news coverage.
Many are recognized for their reportage
from various areas of conflict
in and around the country, having broken
exclusive stories and secured rare
interviews with leaders of militant organizations
operating in these hot
spots. Several women journalists have
Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 85