MARIE COLVIN: COURAGEOUS JOURNO...

CONSTANTLY WEIGHED “BRAVERY AGAINST BRAVADO”

“Marie Colvin herself reported from Kosovo, and freely admitted that she constantly weighed “bravery against bravado.” Around the turn of the century that balancing act took her closer to the edge than ever. First, in 1999, she scored her dramatic triumph in East Timor. Then, while the world was celebrating the new millennium, she appeared to have pushed things too far in Chechnya. Based with Chechen rebels as Russian troops cut off all escape, she found that the only route out was a 12,000ft mountain pass to Georgia. During an eight-day midwinter journey she waded through chest-high snow and braved altitude sickness, hunger and exposure. Bishop set off from Paris to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, where, together with her Sunday Times colleague Jon Swain, he helped organise a helicopter from the US embassy to pluck her off the mountainside to safety. As Marie Colvin wrote: “I was never happier to have an American passport.”

“She did not often require such assistance. And her time in Chechnya did not make her change her ways. Instead she was soon in Sri Lanka, as ever heading into rebel – this time Tamil Tiger – territory. As she tried to cross the front line back into government-held ground, she was hit by shrapnel in four places.

Despite specialist surgery, she lost the use of her left eye and afterwards wore a patch. She promised that she would take things easier. But that was always unlikely. And as the Us-led invasion of Iraq triggered the most dramatic events in the Middle East for decades, remaining on the sidelines became impossible.”

“Soon she was back in the thick of things in Baghdad. There, as ever, she frayed editors’ nerves not only with her derring-do, but by filing her stories up to and far beyond deadline. Her copy was well worth waiting for, but the price to pay could be high. On one occasion in Iraq, her satellite phone link was not properly shut down and remained open overnight. It was never quite clear who was to blame, but to the amusement of other journalists, if not her paper, the bill ran to more than $ 20,000.”

WELCOMED THE OPTIMISM OF ARAB SPRING

“Like many journalists who covered the Middle East, Marie Colvin welcomed the optimism of the Arab Spring. Though she knew that it would not effect an overnight transformation, she was compelled to see it through; where cynicism had blunted the determination of so many of her contemporaries, she remained unwearied. Agonizingly, for those who knew and loved her, however, that meant the nature of her death had a certain inevitability about it. Marie Colvin, of course, did not see it that way. She loved life, and brought an American exuberance to the countless parties she graced over many years. From the Gandamak Lodge in Kabul to Harry’s Bar in Paris, she could be found at the heart of the conversation, cigarette and brimming vodka martini in hand. Sitting under the date palm in the garden of the American Colony in East Jerusalem, she would preside over the chatter and laughter as the balmy nights stretched on.”

“Apart from reporting, she loved sailing. As a young woman, she had worked at the local yacht club to save enough to buy her first boat and in recent years had revived her passion for the sport, buying a new craft and gaining a skipper’s licence between assignments. Those assignments no doubt contributed to her eventual separation from Bishop, and from Juan Carlos Gumucio, her second husband, who predeceased her. But all who knew her remained devoted to her. She is survived by Patrick Bishop and by her partner of recent years, Richard Flaye, whom she met while sailing.”

The “Telegraph” obituary excerpts sum up the essence of Marie Colvin’s life and times. Marie Colvin made her mark as a journalist in Britain but was by birth an American. She was a frontline warrior for truth in journalism. Infused with a sense of daring and a zest for adventure, Marie ventured into the troubled hotspots of the globe. She defied authoritarian regimes by circumventing controls and barriers and infiltrating war zones. Some compare Marie Colvin with Martha Gellhorn, the legendary woman war correspondent who covered many wars and battles for several decades always keeping the plight of the affected civilians as her focus. Martha and Marie were friends. Martha incidentally was married for a few years to Ernest Hemingway.

“GET IN, GET IT AND GET OUT”

It is said of war correspondents that they have to “Get in, Get it and Get out.” Marie did just that in many conflict zones from Chechnya to Bosnia, from Sri Lanka to Syria. In Sri Lanka, she lost an eye, but in Syria, she lost her life. She got in, got it but couldn’t get out. To her credit, it must be said that she had the option of leaving like many other scribes, but opted to stay on and report the travails of ordinary civilians in war situations. One of her final reports was a first person account of seeing a baby die.

I don’t know whether it is in my blood or in my stars, but I have been fascinated by writers, poets and journalists since childhood. One of my earliest heroes or heroines was Dickey Chappelle born as Georgette Louise Meyer. I first became aware of her when I read the condensed version of her book ‘What’s a woman doing here?’ in the Readers Digest. Later on, I read the whole book.

Dickey covered the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War II. Later, she was jailed in Budapest when she covered the Hungarian uprising of 1956. She gained fame by covering the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro which overthrew Batista. She died in 1965 in Vietnam while trekking with a military patrol when shrapnel from an exploding booby trap struck her neck inflicting fatal injury.

I think Dickey Chappelle and Marie Colvin were of the same ilk and met their deaths while engaged in the pursuit of news. They died with their boots on.

Unlike Dickey Chappelle, Marie Colvin however played a role in Sri Lankan affairs. Her life and work is an inspiration to journalists in particular and humanity in general.

I would like to conclude on a sentimental note by posing some questions – “Why do journalists risk danger and even lives by doing what they do.” Why do war correspondents undergo such hazards to get the “story” or picture?

WHY DO SOME JOURNALISTS SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER?

There are wider questions also pertaining to those members of the fourth estate who regard their profession as a sacred vocation and willingly risk danger in pursuance of it. These questions are applicable to those dedicated and courageous journalists in all spheres who report the truth and by doing so “speak truth to power.” Why do some journalists dare to offend powerful entities and personalities thereby risking and facing danger, death, assault, intimidation, imprisonment, disappearance, vilification, character assassination, threats and insults? Why do they “do what they do” in the line of duty?

These are questions to which there are many answers depending upon the mindsets of each person. There is no single, definitive, uniform answer. They vary and are many. Together they comprise an answer that is discernible to the discerning. In the immortal lines of Bob Dylan, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”