The shortcomings of war reporting | Bette Dam | TEDxAmsterdam

Bette Dam is an investigative journalist working on and in Afghanistan. She kicks-off by stating that she wants to act as a whistleblower: she feels that western war reporters promote war. She always thought journalism was very difficult, but actually the stories were often very one-sided. Often it was never discussed why countries were in a war with each other, only the casualties, the camps, the prisoners and ravages were depicted. She decided to really go to Afghanistan and meet with people there, from all walks of life. There are so many aspects of what life is like, especially during wartime when things are so different yet similar, which are not covered by mainstream media. In her talk she wants to make sure that all the big press agencies get rid of the western bias. There is room for a massive rectification, it’s time for the international press agencies to own up for colouring war reporting with this Western bias. Why are there so many journalists based in the US or Europe instead of in Teheran or Iran? Her call to all the reporters in war reporting is to embrace the complexity of war, take your time to understand and digest and don’t go for the quick mass consumption media. Don’t be afraid of using #idontknowyet. Bette Dam, Dutch journalist & author, wrote a book about one of the most mysterious people in the world of terrorism, Mullah Omar. By cross checking sightings and talking to different people on multiple occasions, she was able to identify the leader of the Taliban’s hideout. Something even the secret services were unable to dig deep enough to reveal. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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