Warship

I was co-ordinating post-production on a BBC job in one of those situations that can really mess with your head.

The entire world was watching “Shock & Awe” - courtesy of CNN and others. History was happening out there - people making decisions about other people living or dying. And here in the post-production studio we were working with footage shot on the aircraft carriers in the Gulf - American youngsters loading bombs on the combat aircraft before they leave for Baghdad, young pilots talking about their families at home just before they take off, risking their lives among Iraqi anti-aircraft missiles.

We knew we were seeing just one side of the story. On both sides, there were thousands of people like these ones, caught up in world events of terrifying impact & moral complexity. And for us - sitting so many thousands of kilometres away from the action - the tense young faces on the screen brought the whole tragedy unfolding on the world’s news channels uncomfortably close.

Journalistic distance - for most of us, I expect - is a process rather than a state. Something happens in front of the camera, an interviewee says something which slips past your defences & hooks your humanity. One wrestles with these things - and perhaps that is not such a bad thing.