By Jessy Morner-Ritt
On Tuesday The School of Media and Public Affairs partnered with the Pulitzer Center to present "Covering the Drug Wars: Getting the Story and Staying Alive" in the Jack Morton auditorium. Executive director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Jon Sawyer introduced the organization and panelists. The center primarily focuses on extending the reach of international journalism by partnering with universities and engaging audiences through its lecture topics.
The panelists for the event were award-winning documentary photographer Louie Palu, whose photos of the border between the United States and Mexico have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Atlantic; The Commercial Appeal reporter Daniel Connolly who wrote a series connecting Memphis to the Mexican drug violence and Washington Post correspondent Nick Miroff who covers Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. SMPA professor and New York Times journalist Steve Roberts moderated a panel discussion and then fielded audience questions after each journalist individually spoke about their work.
Palu began his presentation with five of his photos that he shot within 10 feet of his subjects, as he does not utilize long lenses when he is out on the ground. These photos acted as his testament to a drug war's inability to be "killed" out, such as other wars. In order to solve the drug war, Palu said governments must begin with the social infrastructure of society. He also discussed the forgotten victims of drug wars, such as the people who are still alive after their family is brutally killed off in gang and drug related violence. When discussing physical safety, Palu stressed the danger and importance that accompanies his "fixer," the person who acts as his tour guide, translator and confidante during his trips. Relationships to these fixers become both a source of great information and anxiety for the journalist.
"The most important thing when I go out to work is not my safety, my fixer is the first person I worry about," Palu said.
Both Palu and Connolly commented on the mental health effects journalists face upon returning home. Journalists who cover these drug wars oftentimes face syndromes associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Connolly himself has stopped reporting on drug and gang related events after turning into a violent sleepwalker who tore a hole in his bedroom wall while asleep. Connolly mentioned that he had not told the newspaper he worked for of these mental consequences. Roberts asked the panel directly about the mental side of covering such stories and whether newspaper editors were being supportive enough of the journalists. Palu made clear that one of the greatest dangers of this line of work is that one will never know how he or she will react in these situations. While editors do understand the type of brutality journalists are witnessing, journalists who cover situations such as drug wars should be required to check-in with a therapist when they arrive home. Miroff also commented that while this line of work is not for everyone, journalists who do decide to take on this work have the responsibility to deal with the fear and emotions that accompany drug war coverage.
One critical issue that Connolly took away from his learnings is that there is no way for people in America to buy illegal drugs on the black market without funding the killers behind the current drug war. Palu cited the "fishbowl mentality in America" as reasons that Americans do not actively seek out information on the prevalence and danger of drug wars, as well as why people continue to unknowingly support this drug war. Students concluded the lecture with a discussion regarding the line of when journalists should, "put down the camera and/or notebook" to actively aide the situation they are in.
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