This blog seems to have become rather political all of a sudden. Perhaps the reason for that is that I am making the assumption that you will not be interested in the minute calculations I am having to make in order to satisfy myself that it will be possible, in my forthcoming exhibition, to fit all the pieces I want to show on the walls of the gallery. I assure you that it is very, very boring. Nevertheless ….
I was wondering today what has happened to the great tradition of the “war correspondent”. In the past we have become used to seeing and reading about intrepid news reporters who have brought us news of conflicts in various parts of the world, taking enormous risks to do so, but providing us with the invaluable service of being able to form some impression of the realities of the situation on the ground. These days we are only provided with one story from Ukraine, and that is the developing refugee crisis. Reporters stand in the capital and speak in generalities about the war, clad in flak jackets and helmets, but somehow holding the war at arm’s length. Anything more direct and immediate appears to originate with the mobile ‘phones of local observers. Our appreciation of the developing military situation is reduced to a rather large-scale map. This all seems different from the reports we had (for example) from Martin Bell during the Yugoslav war.
I am reluctant to suggest that reporters are not doing their job unless they are putting their lives in danger. I do wonder, however, what might be the reasons for this apparent change of culture. Are reporters excluded by the Ukrainian government from going anywhere near the fighting? Are our news organisations more aware than they used to be of “health and safety” issues, and consequently chary of allowing their staff anywhere near a dangerous situation?
I wonder whether our visual appreciation of the current Ukrainian war will be dependent ultimately upon a latter-day version of the work of Lady Elizabeth Butler. She assembled her dramatic images of the Crimean and other nineteenth century wars, albeit by meticulous research, in the safety of the UK, after the fighting was over.