War correspondent Javier Espinosa opens the series ‘Conflicts on the ground’, organized by Fundación Mediterráneo and in which LA VERDAD participates
Journalism is the art of copying and telling reality. And when a war is underway, the role of journalists has an added responsibility and risk, with protocols to be followed so that saving lives and broadcasting the last minute of battle are compatible. War correspondents have the ability to experience history in the first person. That was exactly what motivated Javier Espinosa to devote himself to journalism, along with the bug he had to travel, and that made his first war scene in 1990 in the Gulf War. Since then, he has covered armed conflicts in South Africa, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
His professional experience reached all those present at Fundación Mediterráneo yesterday on the first day of the conference series ‘Conflicts on the ground’, in which LA VERDAD participates. The lecture, moderated by the journalist of this medium Rubén García Bastida, recalled his early years as a correspondent, when he grouped his holidays in the magazine ‘Época’ in order to go freelance and later sell the reports. His reporting continued until he considered himself one of the foremost war reporters of his generation worldwide. So far he is still passionate about “seeing the story in the first person without having to read it in the books”.
It started with typewriters reporting the Gulf War from Israel, with the first cell phones capable of relaying information about the conflict. Already in Rwanda he saw the first satellites, and in the war in Iraq, he confirmed, he learned to cover conflicts with coverage systems and new devices. It was there that new figures appeared in the teams sent to the conflict, such as the security adviser, “a former member of the armed forces who advised journalists where to go”, sent by the imposition of corporations and insurance from the major media of countries like the United States and which had “the ability to veto coverage of the conflict.” In order not to be hit by bombs during their stay, they lived in protected buildings, with armed people watching and large walls.
From the beginning to the present, Javier Espinosa sees differences, such as the fact that freedom of movement is “restricted”, which covers the conflict on both sides. «You used to be much safer, because now the rebellious countries and movements want to have like-minded people. Try to limit journalists from the other side of the conflict, because that way they give more coverage and information through their own people,” he explained. This is more noticeable among extremist groups, who “don’t accept the presence of the press.” .
“The journalist must reflect what he sees, without discerning whether he is a friend or an enemy, and which, for an extremist group, contradicts all the principles they have,” he said, pointing to the expansion of Islamist Islam. state. as the tip of the iceberg of that limitation, and that led them to use sweepers that made their first trip to where they wanted to defeat the conflict to see if there were armed people and to get around, on a second trip, the journalists.
“In a warlike conflict, journalism is there to explain how things got here.” With this statement, the war correspondent pointed out that more than 50% of his work is documentation, to tell beyond what happens on the front lines. “I find that previous phase the most fascinating, in which a country deteriorates and at the same time remains a viable country.” He defends the need to read to avoid creating “superficial reporting that informs the reader very little about where he is,” and points out the importance of the training given in many countries to prepare. on the conflict and avoid errors.
“In a conflict you have to do things quickly and if you know where to look for the news, the less time you spend on the streets the better,” he added. He also alluded to the limits of journalism and the need for this kind of information to be covered by trained people, bearing in mind that “social networks are not journalism, but communication.”
Javier Espinosa was kidnapped in Syria for six months. If he already applied ‘going undetected’ in wars to prevent attacks, he applied to this kidnapping what he had learned in the training: not to look the kidnapper in the eye and not to make any contact. “It’s counterproductive because they’re crazy, and when they came in to hit, they went straight to those they knew. I didn’t say a word to them,” he recalls.
His conclusion from these years about conflict is that “people are very bad”, he argued from the misconception that one is capable of killing another. “It overwhelms and angers me that someone decides whether the other person is alive or not,” he added. At first, he thought this kind of journalism could “change the world.” Now he continues to defend it and is fascinated by it, as “a passion and a way of life”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
