Author Luke Harding, who was working as the Russian correspondent for The Guardian in the mid-2000s remembers his life there as "a spy thriller unfolding on the icy streets of Moscow". He spoke about the hostile environment for American journalists.
The first day at Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 saw two sessions where journalists, foreign correspondents and Indian veterans, spoke about the privileges and the hurdles of reporting from conflict areas. Former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's biographer Vaasanthi spoke to journalist Sudha Sadhanand about the legendary politician and fear the notoriously media-wary Amma elicited from journalists covering the beat.
Vaasanthi, too, was fearful of crossing Amma. "I was commissioned by Penguin to write a book on her. I worked hard for two years, digging into some of her oldest sources to write the book, which was then cleared by the publishing house's legal team. Outlook did a cover story on it, inevitably bringing it to Amma's notice. She went to court to get a stay order on it," revealed Vasaanthi. She said that for years she was scared of even travelling to Chennai for fear of being heckled.
Author Luke Harding, who was working as the Russian correspondent for The Guardian in the mid-2000s remembers his life there as "a spy thriller unfolding on the icy streets of Moscow". He spoke about the hostile environment for American journalists.
Privacy was not even a luxury, and Harding said that he was aware that even his bedroom was under audio and video surveillance for the four years he was there.
"The guys at the Kremlin have a wry sense of humour. One day, I came home to find that the secret police had left me a sex manual, bookmarking page no 181 which detailed how to get a good orgasm, leaving me wondering whether I really needed the help," he said to a crowd howling with laughter.
Privacy concerns, said panelist Malaysian-Chinese-American author-journalist Mei Fong, who wrote for The Wall Street Journal from China, would put sources also on the line.
Moderator Suhasini Haider, who has been a foreign journalist remembers being in the throes of a bomb blast in Kashmir in the 1990s that killed 23 civilians. "The militant organisation then issued an apology to journalists, realising that they had gone too far," she said, adding that today the scenario is vastly different. Today, she said, the journalist is the target. "That is why it is impossible to cover the Syrian conflict," she said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "JLF")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}