The Old Trouts, living up to Marie Colvin’s legacy
There’s a lot of fuss at the moment about female war correspondents as if we were some kind of recently discovered species. Yet we’ve been around a while.
Lyse Doucet of the BBC and I call those of our vintage the “Old Trouts Club”. Most of us are in our 40s and 50s, although Dame Ann Leslie is certainly a member and she’s more than 70.
Twenty or so years ago we had to fight to get (male) editors to send us on assignment, but these days we’re pretty well established.
One of the joys of being on the road is running into each other. I remember bumping into Lyse outside Benazir Bhutto’s house in Islamabad and collapsing in laughter – we were wearing identical scarlet bum-covering loose shirts and looked like twins.
Marie Colvin (above) was the bravest and best of us, and also one of the most collegial and sisterly. (She was also the most glamorous). I remember an event organised by Amnesty where she was speaking and I was chairing, and an earnest young woman in the audience asked how we coped with the trauma. We looked at each other and paused. “We go to bars and drink,” said Marie.
Of course, we know it’s not good to drink too much. Of course, we’re aware of post-traumatic stress disorder (Marie suffered from it after losing an eye in Sri Lanka). But you know what? Having a drink and swapping stories is the journalists’ time-honoured way of winding down – and it works.
I am horrified about the sexual harassment and rape of female reporters, and we have seen terrifying examples recently in Egypt. Yet I worry that too much emphasis on this will set us apart, and make (male) editors once more hesitate before sending us to dangerous places.
Most of the risks we run are exactly the same as those experienced by our male colleagues – the rocket which killed Marie also killed the French photographer Remi Ochlik; it didn’t discriminate by gender.
At the end of this awful week, which has seen the death of the great New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid as well as Marie and Remi, and the injury of our colleagues Edith Bouvier and Paul Conroy, we are all feeling bruised and miserable.
The best comfort is the compassion and shared experience of the Old Trouts, as we try to put ourselves back together again and live up to Marie’s legacy.
Follow Lindsey Hilsum on Twitter: @lindseyhilsum
There are 10 comments on this post
I really, really hope you know that there are viewers (I hope, all, I would imagine at least, most) who think you all do a fantastic job.
Your gender has nothing to do with the brilliant work you do, though sometimes an ignorant viewer such as myself does ponder how a woman gets to go everywhere in some countries that seem to have much more sexism and misogyny than the UK (but that may be my lack of knowledge of those countries).
But, your reporting and that of your colleagues, really, really matters. Not to be too disdainful to the journalists who cover celebrity stories, as I appreciate they bring viewers which may mean your stories get watched more, but the journalists who go to war zones, and tell us what is happening as best they can, and at such personal risk, your work really matters and it is the media and journalism at its best.
Keep doing it for as long as you feel you want to, and we will keep watching. You can’t stay safe all the time in such places, but I am sure the viewers always hope for the best.
Thank you!
Excellent, cheers to the Trout club.
Keep swimming and don`t get caught!
What James said. Thank you for your work, and thank you in particular for showing the everyday, mundane lives of women and children in warzones. Take it easy.
Here’s to Old Trouts everywhere – we raise a glass to you and carry the flame!
It is odd that people forget who is actually out there getting the news. You and the others in the OT club should know that you are read, followed and respected by people who pay attention and who notice – you all make a massive difference and that’s a truly honourable way to have spent time on earth.
Personally I’m fed up hearing about reporters, especially when it’s the same one sided crap we get from the British and US MSM.
We’re being led into yet another war, why is no one in the British media reporting that Assad has huge support in Syria? It’s like foreign journalists reporting on the IRA as if they spoke for all of Ireland.
Oh and I’m even sicker that the media are now demanding our troops be put at risk going in and getting these halfwit hacks out of Syria.
You lot made your beds, now you lie in them and stop the propaganda.
You don’t have to live up to Marie’s legacy, Lindsey. You’ve got your own style, its great.
Most importantly of all, don’t let the loss of your friend Marie drive you to take risks that you wouldn’t ordinarily take. You are not under any pressure to fill the gap that she has left.
here I want to express my condolence to “The Old Trouts”.I am very thank you for your effort in making update war news for the global people. believe me , your painstaking converage always make our world different everyday.
Now, an Old Trouts political party to include home-based members like Polly Toynbee, would get my vote.
The men have made such a hash of the world with their power-mad cravings and ravings, it’s time for a complete change.
To all those who bring to us the stories and reality of the tortured and humiliated, my kindest regards.
And to those who even give up their sacred lives—even when they would rather not, but accept it for a higher and nobler calling, like Marie Colvin, Anthony Shadid, Remi Ochlik, may your birth into eternity bring about freedom of the oppressed and forgotten of this world. And once the freedom finally comes, may it be guarded for centuries. Then your sacrifice will be a sacrifice indeed. There is no greater sense of humanity than giving one’s life to humanity.
Peace and justice to a troubled world.
A. Beebwa,
Tunisia