By Carolina Vásquez Araya on February 27, 2022
Ryszard Kapuściński, photo: Marek Billewicz/East News
Nothing is as disturbing as the fact of ignoring everything. “To learn about reality by immersing oneself in it” was the motto of Ryszard Kapuscinski, the great Polish reporter whose time on this planet left deep traces in journalism and in the way of understanding the world. His career, impeccable and full of human values, reminds us once again of the existence of an essential vocation: a journalism in which commitment, truth and sensitivity to the tragedy of peoples subjected to the incomprehensible violence of war must be paramount.
For Kapuscinski, the secret lies in paying attention to the little things, because in them lies the very secret of life. Likewise, to assume without restrictions a vow of honesty to avoid falling into the over dimension of the ego and thus keep our feet firmly on the ground, because we are nothing more than transmitters of the word of the most needy, the most vulnerable and those who experience, first hand, the cruelty of the powerful.
That is why it is important to remember it now, when the world observes another confrontation between powers in front of the international media, like a rabbit hallucinated by the headlights of a car, forgetting other even more bloody aggressions, where there are also human beings crushed by the violence of other wars and other geopolitical or territorial conflicts as unjust as they are prolonged.
Kapuscinski spoke to us of ethics and values, but journalism has taken the route of convenience and the economic well-being of its owners. Today we have networks under the control of business conglomerates that pull the strings of politics and the pressures of the great powers and interest groups. The peoples have been left alone and their tragedies are reflected on the screens as part of an inevitable reality from which we can detach ourselves by simply changing the channel.
The model of journalistic reportage that is close to the facts and, above all, immersed to the core in the reality of those who have no voice, should be the norm and not the exception, as is the case nowadays. It is a profession on which such fundamental values as respect for human rights, democracy, justice and the exhaustive search for the truth are based. It is therefore not surprising to note the fear of those in power of courageous communicators, against whom they resort to threats, extortion and, as is happening around the world, kidnapping and death.
Faced with the current conflict in Ukraine, shown to the world as if it were a television series, we must understand to what extent a threat of war is capable of transforming the lives of millions of people into an anteroom to hell, disrupting their living habits, compromising their ability to survive, destroying their environment and depriving them of their rights. For those of us who see it from a distance, it is an incomprehensible phenomenon and, therefore, reporters aware of their role and capable of exercising it independently are essential to grasp this reality in its full dimension.
The world is smaller than we would like to believe and the repercussions derived from any armed aggression -which represent a prosperous business for the great powers- can easily reach our doorstep. What would Kapuscinski say?
Ethics in journalism is an obligation, not a nice gesture.
Source: El Quinto Patio, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English