Arab Women Reporters on
Frontlines of Lebanon War
Young female
reporters beat their male colleagues to forefront of both sides of
Lebanon-Israel war zone.
By Ali Khalil - DUBAI
A male news anchor appeared
on screen from the safety of Arabic station Al-Jazeera's studio in Doha as two
female correspondents in full war gear reported live from both sides of the
Lebanon-Israel frontline.
This is the new face of war reporting to Arab audiences............
Arab women correspondents, including Iraqis, have increasingly been reporting
for Arab television outlets from violence-wrecked Iraq, and a number were killed
doing their job.
But the Hezbollah-Israel showdown brought Arab female reporters out in force
from day one, and it was not long before a Lebanese freelance photographer paid
with her life.
Layal Nagib, 23, was killed on the spot when an Israeli missile struck next
to the taxi in which she was travelling in south Lebanon.
"I volunteered to go to south Lebanon, although I usually work in the
newsroom in Doha," said Katia Nasser, whose name and face became familiar among
Arab audiences in a matter of days.
"The management did not discourage me from going for being a woman. On the
contrary, I felt they appreciated my decision," Katia said from Al-Jazeera's
Beirut office.
Women in general take a back seat in most of the male-dominated conservative
Middle Eastern societies, but in audiovisual media, Arab women are increasingly
occupying the turf.
Katia's West Bank-based colleagues Shereen Abu Aqleh and Jivarah al-Budairi
had long been used to getting caught in crossfire. This time they stood on the
Israeli side of the border reporting on the Hezbollah missiles pounding northern
Israel.
Bushra Abdel Samad, who until July 11 reported for Al-Jazeera on the endless
bickering between Lebanese politicians, was the first to appear in a blue
body-armour and helmet from southern Lebanon.
Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television also sent out female reporters to cover the
fierce bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs. In awe, Rima Maktabi and Najwa
Qassem watched from a hill overlooking the densely-populated Shiite area being
bombarded from air and sea.
Lebanon's private televisions also dispatched members of the female press
corps to the hot spots, outnumbering their male counterparts.
LBC's Mona Saliba fed reports from the flashpoint border town of Bint Jbeil,
shortly before it became famous as the scene of fierce fighting between
advancing Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants.
NTV's Nancy Sabea clutched her flak jacket as she roamed devastated
neighbourhoods in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Katia, for one, admitted it can be scary.
"It's normal to be scared. Courage boils down to controlling this fear and
not letting it show on camera," she said.
Fear becomes more tangible after listening to Katia's narration of the
targeting of a press convoy she travelled with to flee the border zone.
"I felt that life had suddenly turned into slow motion as I saw dust and
smoke billowing around me," she said describing the aftermath of the shelling
which hit in front and behind the five-vehicle convoy.
Herself a Lebanese from the south, Katia appeared to be struggling on screen
to hide her sympathy for southerners who were being killed or fleeing their
villages.
"Humans were more important for me than anything else happening on the
ground. This was my people being hit. On air, I separated between personal
feelings and pure reporting, but -- off air -- I cried twice," she said.
Female reporters appear more professional than male counterparts in adhering
to safety precautions. Male correspondents have been seen roaming dangerous
zones without bullet-proof vests. When some took the trouble of wearing a flak
jacket they did not bother to don a helmet.
But taking risks seems to pay back for female reporters in quick fame.
"You are a hero," said Katia, recalling messages she received from viewers in
many Arab countries.
"I feel I got more (praise) than I deserve... too much," she said, insisting
that she was "only one among those people" who were stuck in their bombed
villages.
One male Gulf columnist went even further in praising one female reporter
stationed in Beirut to claim that she has "outdone (veteran Western reporters)
Kate Adie and Christiane Amanpour."
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