Media and War Course Gets Real Battle Stories From Renowned International Journalist

War seems worlds away until the bodies of Saddam Hussein's victims are piled up in a picture in front of you, impossible to ignore. JEM's Media and War students learned the realities of being an international journalist in war times during a visit Wednesday from renowned international journalist Gary Thatcher.

Thatcher is a veteran journalist and editor and has been the associate director of program support for the International Broadcasting Bureau since 2000, where he overseas marketing, public affairs, international media training, program placement and program quality review.

"The first war I covered was in Zimbabwe," Thatcher said to a small group of graduate students, half of which had seen the destruction of war in their home countries or through being journalists in war zones. He painted a vivid image of his time in the African country with excerpts on starving people, shrapnel catapults, out of control inflation, unfair land distribution, mass killings, tortured political opponents and ruined lives.

"These are war stories," he said. "Improbable things that really happened."

But even when it looks impossible to offer aid in such a destructive time, Thatcher and other international journalists risk their lives to get stories out to the public, in hopes that their words and images can make a positive difference in the outcome of these atrocities.

In many parts of Africa and around the world, outside journalists are blacklisted, not permitted into the country. That doesn't halt their efforts. They broadcast from outside some countries' borders, utilizing stringers from inside the war-torn countries and working with exiled journalists. They establish satellite links and broadcast in various languages so listeners inside the area can here what is happening in the outside world and next door.

"Were it not for international broadcasting...it would essentially be a closed society," Thatcher said of their efforts. "We spend 600 million a year broadcasting to places in the world people would, frankly, like to forget."

Thatcher explained to the class that the outside world doesn't like to intervene in these matters. But at least we, as journalists, can inform the public so they will know someone cares enough to give them information on what is really going on.

View Jan. 16, 2008, Online NewsHour transcript with Gary Thatcher

Gary Thatcher speaks at UT regarding denial of broadcasting in areas of the world: View article at TNJN.com.