The readings for this week reminded me of the difficulties I face when conducting sensitive interviews. Even though I approach interviewing victims and families of victims with empathy and consideration, I still struggle to ask questions because I often feel a moral quandary about stirring up emotions in people who have been affected by a harmful event. However, with war reporting, and also more generally migration reporting, these questions are crucial to writing a fully representative report about all aspects of the war. The NPR piece on the silence of rape survivors, and the rareness of prosecutions, illustrates just how important it is to highlight victims’ voices. Of course, only on the victim’s consent should their story be told. But when, and if, they do consent to sharing their stories then it is the job of a journalist to sensitively navigate sharing their perspective.
The first article on the Ukraine war was particularly interesting to me because I wasn’t aware at all of the history behind the war before it began, beyond the fact that Putin had justified his invasion as an attempt at “reunifying” Ukraine with Russia. The author draws a comparison between the complacency of both the West with regard to Russia, and Russia to the West. The author calls back to a similar war between Serbia and Bosnia in 1992 where, just as Russia doesn’t recognize Ukraine’s autonomy, Serbs disregarded Bosnian identity. While reading about the Ukrainian war, I have often thought about the strong allegiance to their nation that is required of Ukrainanians right now. Since the war began without violent provocation by Ukraine, it must have been especially fearsome for a smaller nation to go up against a larger firepower, with greater manpower and financial resources as well. Yet, the strengthening of nationalism is evident, especially when one looks at how previously non-militant Ukrainians continue to sign up to fight the war. I remember reading in the WaPo about a young and recently married Ukrainian couple who signed up for the army at the beginning of the war, even against the pleas from their families. They ended up passing away in war, but they were regarded by their families as an example of the strong affinity that Ukrainians felt for their nation and its independence, particularly in the wake of Putin’s invasion.
“Letters from Ukraine” shocked me in its details about the terror of the war in Ukraine. I was particularly horrified by the anecdote of how the Russian occupants allowed evacuations in one of the cities, only to shoot those who tried to leave. I was equally as horrified by the lack of prosecution of war mass rape by the Russianss at the end of World War II. As a SPIA major, I’m very interested in international affairs and the efficacy of international organizations such as the International Criminal Court and International War Tribunals. I’m extremely surprised by the limitations of the ICC, and especially by the fact that the US is a member. I hope that continued reporting on the devastation brought by the Russian invasion and personal journalistic accounts like those in “This American Life” will have the power to move international leaders, and citizens to pressure those leaders, to take the steps necessary to see that justice is found. Namely, that the top figures in Russia are arrested and prosecuted.
