海角大神

Clarissa Ward interrupted her live TV report on Ukrainian refugees to help a distraught older man, then a woman, down a steep and explosion-mangled path, gently urging them on in their language.

A day later, Lynsey Addario, a photographer for The New York Times, captured a grim image of a Russian mortar attack鈥檚 immediate outcome: the bodies of a mother and her two children crumpled on a road, amid their suitcase, backpacks, and a pet carrier.

The memorable reports illustrate both the skill and gutsiness of female journalists serving as eyewitnesses to Russia鈥檚 brutal invasion of Ukraine and the way their presence 鈥� hard-won after overcoming ingrained notions of why women shouldn鈥檛 cover combat 鈥� has changed the nature of war reporting.

They cover the tactics of war, but give equal measure to its toll.

鈥淧eople are so exhausted, they can barely walk,鈥� Ms. Ward told viewers in her report. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just an awful, awful scene. And they鈥檙e the lucky ones.鈥�

The author of 鈥淵ou Don鈥檛 Belong Here,鈥� a 2021 book that profiles three pioneering women who covered the Vietnam War, said there鈥檚 鈥渁bsolutely no doubt that the reporting is what I would call more humane, looking at the human side of war.鈥�

Elizabeth Becker argues that Frances FitzGerald of the U.S., Kate Webb of Australia, and Catherine Leroy of France were foundational to modern war reporting. Arriving in Southeast Asia on their own dime, without a staff job and little or no journalism experience, they broke the male grip on war reporting with daring and innovation.

Traditionally, 鈥渢he coverage was the battlefield, which is important,鈥� said award-winning journalist Ms. Becker, a 1970s Cambodian war correspondent. She said it took newcomer Ms. FitzGerald to ask, 鈥溾�橭K, what does this mean in terms of the Vietnamese and the villages?鈥欌��

Ms. FitzGerald earned a 1973 Pulitzer and other honors for 鈥淔ire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam,鈥� and her 2017 work, 鈥淭he Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America,鈥� was short-listed for the National Book Award.

In major 20th-century conflicts before Vietnam, including World War II and the Korean War, women faced military obstacles and professional bias. Reporter-novelist Martha Gellhorn famously stowed away on a hospital ship to cover the WWII D-Day landing in France after she and other female journalists were denied frontline access.

Newspaper reporter Marguerite Higgins, who had covered WWII, was ordered out of Korea by an American officer when war broke out in 1950, a decision she successfully appealed to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Ms. Higgins earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for her acclaimed reporting, with the jury noting she was 鈥渆ntitled to special consideration by reason of being a woman, since she had to work under unusual dangers.鈥�

Edith M. Lederer, the first woman assigned full-time to the Vietnam staff of The Associated Press, recalls arriving in 1972 and meeting predecessors including Denby Fawcett, who began covering the war in 1966 for the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper.

Ms. Fawcett and 鈥渟everal other women succeeded in breaking the barrier and getting women onto the battlefield on an equal basis with men. That was a huge breakthrough,鈥� said Ms. Lederer, who is AP鈥檚 chief United Nations correspondent.

Did women have any effect on war reporting itself?

鈥淎bsolutely,鈥� Ms. Lederer said. 鈥淚 wrote some stories in Vietnam that I don鈥檛 necessarily think that my male colleagues would have done. ... They were more interested in the way the war was playing out, which of course was the main reason they were, and I was there.鈥�

But she also had taken time to cover a hospital for reconstructive surgery where children, including victims of bombings and shootings, were being treated. When she arrived with balloons in hand, 鈥測oungsters of all ages shouting with delight almost bowled me over,鈥�

Ms. Lederer said, reading from 鈥淲ar Torn,鈥� the 2004 book in which she and other women who covered Vietnam recount their experiences.

A new generation is covering Ukraine, with female reporters well-represented among TV, radio, newspapers, and online media.
War reporting is 鈥渁 sense of mission, it鈥檚 a sense of purpose, it鈥檚 a sense of being able to tell a story,鈥� said 海角大神e Amanpour, the聽London-born chief international anchor for CNN. 鈥淎nd women are really very good at it, it seems.鈥�

It鈥檚 also a matter of logic, said Holly Williams, the Istanbul-based correspondent for CBS News on assignment in Ukraine.

鈥淚鈥檓 acutely aware of the fact that if you don鈥檛 tell women鈥檚 stories, you鈥檙e missing at least half of the picture,鈥� said the Australian-born Ms. Williams, who has reported on conflicts in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and worked for BBC News.

Ms. Ward, who also has hopscotched across those regions, worked for CBS News prior to joining CNN and, before that, was based in Moscow and Beijing for ABC News.

鈥淥ften women do have a different perspective on war, and for a long time that was not really at the forefront of a lot of coverage,鈥� Ms. Ward said. She strives to include 鈥渢he humanity behind the story, the experience of ordinary people who are living in war zones. To me, that is equally as important as the military component.鈥�

The prominence of TV correspondents and the reach of their outlets adds to their impact.

Many of their male colleagues also contribute nuanced reporting, as ABC News veteran Martha Raddatz and others noted. But Ms.聽Raddatz recalls a not-so-distant time when men tended to 鈥渓ove the equipment, love the airplanes.鈥�

Ms. Ward and other female journalists tip their cap to their predecessors, including Ms. FitzGerald and Ms. Gellhorn, whose reporting stretched from WWII to the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989-90. They also praise recent trailblazers, including Ms. Amanpour.

Her decades of conflict reporting include the 1991 Gulf War, subsequent clashes in the Middle East region, and, in southeastern Europe, the deadly 1992-96 siege of Sarajevo during the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina.

鈥淚 think my generation and myself, we were perhaps the last line of the rare woman foreign correspondent,鈥� Ms. Amanpour said. In every form of media it鈥檚 鈥渆xploded into a very female friendly profession.鈥�

But parity has yet to be achieved in pay, Ms. Amanpour said. Or in all journalism jobs, according to Ms. Ward.

The growing number of female TV correspondents belies 鈥渁 fairly male-dominated profession in general,鈥� Ms. Ward said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 forget, the person in front of the camera is one person. Then you have, for TV, four people holding the camera, behind the camera, and most of them are still men.鈥�

In journalism overall, men retain a numerical advantage over women even in a changing media industry. according to 鈥淭he Missing聽Perspectives of Women in News,鈥� a 2020 report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Despite progress, 鈥渢he majority of journalists in newsrooms globally are men,鈥� the report said, citing several multi-country studies.

Female reporters face additional challenges in non-democratic countries and some regions, Ms. Amanpour said.

鈥淭hey come under a huge amount of societal pressure in many parts of the developing world, and certainly in the Islamic world and other areas of what I call the patriarchy,鈥� she said.

The presence of women reporting in Ukraine is set against a backdrop of traditional roles and expectations, with women and children allowed to flee war鈥檚 violence while men are required to stay behind and defend their country.

Yonat Friling, a Jerusalem-based senior producer for Fox News Channel who worked in Ukraine with correspondent Trey Yingst, is aware of how attitudes can vary. In 2004, she was on the international desk for an Israeli TV channel when she asked her boss to switch her to field producer.

鈥淗e told me, 鈥楾his is a job for men. Only men can do that,鈥欌�� recalled the Israeli native. 鈥淭hen I left, I joined Fox [in 2005]. And on several occasions, including this time, I keep texting him, 鈥楢 job for men? Yeah, right.鈥欌��

The Ukraine assignment proved deeply emotional for Ms. Friling. When she recently joined the stream of refugees leaving Kyiv, it was a reminder of grandparents who fled Nazism and Soviet occupiers in Europe in the 1940s.

鈥淚 saw children and women, and I [saw] my grandparents in their faces. ... I know how much this is going to influence their whole life and the next generations,鈥� she said.

Ms. Raddatz, who covered early refugee evacuations and returned to Ukraine on Friday, realizes how much has changed for her and her female colleagues over the years. The chief global affairs correspondent for ABC News covered the Bosnian crisis in the late 1990s and has focused on Iraq and Afghanistan.

鈥淚 remember in Iraq, I always thought that if something happened to me, it [the reaction] would be, 鈥楬ow could she do that, go over there when she has two children?鈥� whereas they would never say that with a guy,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow, I don鈥檛 think they would do that.鈥�

Family needs and concerns add to the burden of war reporting.

NBC News correspondent Erin McLaughlin said that before Russia struck at Ukraine, the threat of what might happen made her parents worry more than they had over her previous assignments, including in Iraq.

鈥淢y brother went to stay with them for the weekend because they were so nervous,鈥� Ms. McLaughlin said. 鈥淚t was really tough, but at the same time they understand that this is my calling. It鈥檚 an important job, and someone needs to do it.鈥�

Ms. Ward, married and with two children, said her work takes an inevitable toll.

鈥淚t鈥檚 my son鈥檚 4th birthday today, which has been really hard to miss,鈥� Ms. Ward said at the end of another draining day in Ukraine, her voice emotional. 鈥淭here鈥檚 the entire juggling act 鈥� you鈥檙e FaceTiming with your kids and there鈥檚 air raid sirens and bombs going off in the distance.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to pretend this isn鈥檛 hard. But I also wouldn鈥檛 be anywhere else right now,鈥� she said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.

Editor鈥檚 note: Check out the Monitor鈥檚 comprehensive Ukraine coverage from correspondents in Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and beyond on our Ukraine page.