This weekend marks the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here, four female broadcasters reflect on their experiences covering conflict
LYSE DOUCET
65, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE BBC
At home in London. There are so many different flashpoints. I’ve been looking at the Pakistan elections and thinking: “Should I be there?” But you can’t go everywhere, so I’m getting ready to go back to Ukraine for the second anniversary. I was last there briefly in November to interview Olena Zelenska, the First Lady. I stay in touch with a family in Kyiv who lived mattress-to-mattress with us in an underground car park. It’s important that these things are not just stories to a journalist, but become part of your life.
In February 2022 I was at the Munich Security Conference, where all the defence chiefs meet. The buzz was: “Putin invade Ukraine? No, impossible!” Then I flew to Kyiv and late on the 23rd we all went out for dinner as normal. Next day, we woke to that heart-inmouth shock of “Oh, my God, he did it”. These moments, smack in the middle of history, are times of great responsibility in journalism.
This is how journalism goes in the ebb and flow of history; one story always breaks through. Afghanistan has, repeatedly, since 1988. Now it’s Gaza, but Ukraine matters too much to leave it lying for a long time. There’s a profound sense that Putin’s plans go much further.
We want a prism to make sense of the tumult of our time. In Ukraine there is trench warfare, which we thought long gone. As we know, the past is never dead; it’s not even past.
They are the enemy of democracy and freedom.
You’d need a heart of stone not to be affected, but I will never experience the depth of my Gazan and Israeli colleagues’ suffering. I go to these places as a Canadian national and a resident of London, who can leave again.
It is all-consuming. Every hour, on the hour, there’s something to do. On the Gaza war we have taken breaks, going to the Mediterranean, walking in the gardens of Jerusalem. One night in October I did something I can’t ever remember doing [before]: going to the hotel and starting to watch The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. No sooner had I begun than my phone exploded because the Israel land invasion began.
So many that we should stop thinking about it. It’s not just men and women, there are other genders now, too. We need people of all kinds to create more valuable journalism. Bombs and bullets don’t discriminate between genders. Some of the best coverage of war crimes, including sexual violence, has been done by men; and some of the best reporting on the bombs and ballistics of war by women.
