Zawiya: Reporting from Libya

(This post shares a theme with an earlier post, "Courage on the Front Line of History," February 11, 2011. Since March is Women’s History Month, I take great pleasure in writing here about a woman whose bravery under fire is creating invaluable documents--news in the present that will be historical sources in the future. Also, I want to dedicate this post to the brave women of Libya: mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, aunties. May you all survive to tell your stories. Inshallah.)

Rebels in Libya are now fighting desperately against a formidable foe–fighting for the future of Libya, their own lives and those of their loved ones. That is clear from all of the independent news reports coming from Libya. Muammar el-Qaddafi, however, would have the world believe otherwise.

In Tuesday’s New York Times, reporter Kareem Fahim sums up the assertions made by Musa Kusa, Libya’s foreign minister, at a news conference in Tripoli (1). While Kusa reiterated el-Qaddafi’s delusional point of view–blaming Al Qaeda for the conflict and accusing Britain and the United States of "yearning for the colonial era"–he did admit that government forces in Zawiya had clashed with resisters.

For the real story of Zawiya (though of course only part of it) the New York Times had to
turn to reporting by Alex Crawford, based in Dubai, who works for Britain’s Sky News (http://news.sky.com/skynews) as a Special correspondent for the Gulf and Middle East. When she arrived in Zawiya on March 4^th, a mourning procession was already progress (2). She was on the scene when government forces began targeting the civilians and rebels who were marching in the procession, turning it into a battle for the city. Her video report, disturbing and graphic, documents a massacre perpetrated as government tanks and snipers attacked the town for three hours. She was hitching a ride in an ambulance when it came under fire (3).

For two days Crawford and her crew were trapped in Zawiya. During that time they were the only foreign news organization on the scene. Once again, we must applaud the work of a courageous reporter, whose record of events is being created on the frontline of history.

Read more about Alex Crawford and you will soon discover that she’s no stranger to danger, that risking-taking is part of a job that she was called to do. She is both a journalist and the mother of four children, ages seven to fourteen. In her own words: "Working where you stand a genuine risk of getting kidnapped or killed is not viewed as normal by most people. But then, reporters have different DNA. They are programmed to be curious: to go where no one else will go, to ask questions no one else will ask, to give a voice to those no one else will listen to"(4).

Women correspondents face the additional hazard of sexual harassment and attack but rarely speak out because keeping quiet keeps them on the job (5) On the other hand, as Crawford explains, being an older woman affords some protection, even the privilege in Afghanistan of taking off one’s burqa (6). And female reporters can sometimes get through a crowd more easily than their male counterparts, as Kim Barker did while covering demonstrations in Pakistan in 2007 (7). In this incident, when Barker was grabbed several times by her buttocks, she created such a ruckus–shouting and then punching her assailants–that she asked to ride in the same vehicle as the chief justice. Barker knows that this might have turned out differently, that such incidents need reporting.

After the recent sexual assault on Lara Logan in Cairo, it is quite likely that some news room bosses will think twice before sending women to cover stories that may involve chaotic situations (8). This bothers Kim Barker. In "Why We Need Women in War Zones" she praises Logan for her bravery, for "telling it like it is" and then makes her case. Why do we need women on journalism’s frontline? Women "do a pretty good job of covering what it’s like to live in a war, not just die in one" (9). So, without any reservations, Sky News should be commended for sending Alex Crawford to Zawiya.

To access other reports by Alex Crawford, type her name into the search box but put it inside double quotation marks to filter out unrelated items. These include footage that is partly incorporated into the longer video "Battle for Zawiya." The default list is arranged according to "Relevance" but you can easily change it to "Date" (top of left column). Her first video clip from Libya is dated March 4^th (when the government attacked Zawiya). Keep clicking through the pages to find her reports from last year or even earlier.

ACTIVITIES

TIMELINE: Students use biographical articles to construct a list of events and issues that Alex Crawford has covered during her career as a reporter. The next step is putting these into chronological order–by doing additional online research and/or using the reports available on the Sky News site. An ambitious student might include historical events intersecting with her life history prior to her work as a journalist (such as the guerilla war for independence in Zimbabwe).

MAP WORK: Students plot Crawford’s stories on a world map, labeling the country (Afghanistan) or specific place (New Orleans). EXPAND this activity: For each place, students use a symbol or letter that serves as a key to a list with a sentence or two about each event (perhaps with a specific detail from one of Crawford’s reports).

RESEARCH: Search online to find out more about the journalism awards that have been bestowed on Alex Crawford. Read about other reporters who have won these awards. WRITE a short news article about one of these reporters.

RESOURCES: Alex Crawford: Award-Winning Foreign Correspondent

Learn more about Alex Crawford, who has won many rewards for reporting from difficult and dangerous places, from these sources:

• "Foreign Correspondent: Alex Crawford." Sky News: http://www.skypressoffice.co.uk/SkyNews/AboutUs/biography.asp?id=74
• Alex Crawford. "Lack of Contraception Meant I Had to Wait to Be a War Reporter.’" The Independent (UK) (February 28, 2010): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/lack-of-contraception-meant-i-had-to-wait-to-be-a-war-reporter-1912840.html
• "Alex Crawford: Questions and Answers." TV Newsroom [UK] (2007?): http://tvnewsroom.co.uk/q-and-a/qa-alex-crawford-2631/

Sky News Reporting from Libya

Sky News covers stories from the UK and around the world. Here’s the news from Libya and related features available on March 10, 2011 at 3:18 PM (UK time):

• Report by David Connolly: "Rebel-Held Towns in Eastern Libya Have Come Under Renewed Artillery and Air Strikes ..." (text and video clip).
• This report includes another video "BBC Journalists Attacked by Gaddafi’s Forces" in which the reporters themselves describe their ordeal.
• Also in the report, an interactive map, "Libya’s Hotspots." To see the name a town, move cursor over the dot; click to see caption below map that sums up what’s happening there.
• At the end of the report, another interactive map, "Mideast Unrest." Move the cursor from country to country. "Key Facts" appear to the left of the map (note especially the percentage of the population under age 25). Text below the map answers two questions: Why is the population angry? Why is the country important?
• "Picture Gallery: Libya Fighting." This is a slideshow of 50 photos, arranged from most to least recent. It begins with refugees in Tunisia but includes photos from Sidra and Ras Lanuf in Libya.
• See also "Picture Gallery: On the Frontline with Libya’s Rebels" (8 slides). These photos by Pete Milnes show rebels fighting Gaddafi's forces in Ras Lanuf.

NOTES

1) Kareem Fahim, "Libyan Government presses Assault on Oil Refinery in East and City in West," New York Times (3-8-2011).

2) Alex Crawford, "Libya: On the Frontline During the Bloody Battle for Zawiya," The Telegraph (March 7, 2011): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8364939/Libya-On-the-frontline-during-the-bloody-battle-for-Zawiya.html

3) "Special Report: The Battle for Zawiya" (10:29 mins.). Sky News (March 8, 2011).  Several ways to access this video:

• URL: : http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Special-Report-The-Battle-For-Zawiyah/Video/201103215948420?lid=VIDEO_15948420_SpecialReport:TheBattleForZawiyah&lpos=searchresults
• Search "alex crawford" at Sky News:http://news.sky.com/skynews
• Google search for "alex crawford sky news" will bring up this report on the first page (#2 on 3-10-2011).
• Access from Information Clearinghouse: http://www.infomrationclearinghouse.info/article27636.htm

4) Alex Crawford, "Lack of Contraception" (see Resources).

5) Kim Barker, "Why We Need Women in War Zones," New York Times (February 20, 2011). Sabrina Tavernise, "Reporting While Female," New York Times (February 19, 2011).

6) Alex Crawford (see note 4).

7) Kim Barker, "Why We Need Women in War Zones" (see note 5).

8) Widely reported; see "CBS News’ Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests," CBS News (February 15, 2011): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/15/60minutes/main20032070.shtml

9) Kim Barker (see note 6).