BBC College of Journalism Blog - A vigorous and robust discussion about journalism from every perspective.
- Charles Miller |
- Monday 6 September 2010, 11:42
Jill McGivering interrupted her reporting of the Pakistan floods to find a doctor and ask him to help a new-born baby in distress.
The next day, as she recounted on BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent, she returned to the same place and found the baby had been seen by a doctor. She felt "boosted by the thought I had helped someone, perhaps even played a part in saving a life".
So when should a journalist stop work in order to do what any decent human being would do?
It's an everyday dilemma for director/cameraman Jezza Neumann.
His Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children, on BBC2 last week (first shown on BBC4 in April), is an extraordinary 90-minute exploration of the lives of several African children living on the very edge - in danger of starvation, in need of shelter, and under the threat of AIDS infection and being beaten up by the police.
Heartbreaking scenes in the film include an interview with nine-year-old Esther who finds herself responsible for her baby sister and her mother who is dying of AIDS. Esther says she has told her mother that "if she dies, I will get into the grave with her".
Then there is Gogo, who has to plead for her grandson, Obert, 13, to be allowed to stay at school, and is in despair after being told that she needs 50 cents for the term's fees. "Where can I get it from?" she asks, "There is nowhere. Hope is lost."
Watching the film, one can't help wondering how the production team decided between maintaining a professional distance to capture the story and helping their subjects - at the risk of altering the very events they were trying to record.
I called Jezza Neumann (below) to ask how he dealt with these questions, and how he now handles the responsibility for distributing the money viewers sent in, unsolicited, to help the children in the film:
Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children was produced and reported by Xoliswa Sithole, through True Vision, a London-based production company which has won a crowded shelf of awards for its eye-opening films, and has, as company policy, a commitment to "shining light into the darkness and unleashing forces for change at government, charitable and private level".
The website for the programme, run by the charitable arm of True Vision, is updated with news of the contributors to the film - including, a few days ago, word that Obert has passed his exam to a boarding school, changing his prospects entirely from those of the desperate, hungry boy seen in the film.
Incidentally, Jill McGivering revealed the limits of her willingness to intervene at the end of her report about baby Samina:
"As I walked away from Samina's family, someone tugged at my sleeve.
She led me to a tent nearby where another young woman had just given birth, a day or two earlier.
Her relatives lifted a cover to show a tiny, wrinkled newborn.
The women turned to me, eager and expectant, as if they were thinking now this foreigner will help our child too.
They looked disappointed when all I could do was to say thank you, congratulate them and then turn to leave."
- Post categories:
- Ethics and Values
About Discussion on CoJo
A vigorous and robust discussion about journalism from every perspective.
Subscribe to Discussion on CoJo
CoJo Blog Feed (RSS)
CoJo Blog Feed (ATOM)
Recent Posts
- The courage of Marie Colvin
- Google's new privacy policy: where's the real debate?
- Be paranoid - protecting sources in the digital age
- Pinterest: test driving the latest self-expression engine
- Tea with the Free Syria Army, and our government minder
- My tabloid work wasn't journalism - just entertainment within pre-defined narratives
- Print and broadcast media converge on mobile
- The New York Times' evolving social media strategy
- BBC Radio York
- Journalists need a workable definition of 'the public interest'
- Social media training is getting results for the BBC
- The BBC must apply usual journalistic standards to race stories
- We need more nuanced reporting of race from the BBC
- Google Hangouts - a new tool for journalism?
- Aggers not out after tech breakdown, thanks to Skype
- A triumph of investigative theatre
- News priorities: Why is the US not for us?
- Happy birthday to us
- Should journalists want Google to get personal?
- Why I left Facebook
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.