San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, U.S.A. 11/99-present Bureau Manager / Correspondent

Here is a link to a story by Juliette Terzieff for the San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service:

FORBIDDEN FRONTIER 
Alliances, loyalties rule in Pakistan border area
Jaish-e-Mohammed: Journalist gets rare glimpse of feared, elusive militant group

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Interview with Juliette Terzieff

What attracted you to journalism?

I never set out to be a journalist, but my instinctive need to know and make others understand eventually made the transition inevitable.

In the early 1990s as I was finishing up University in the States and working at a local 7-11 convenience store to pay the bills, I used to spend the graveyard shift (ie. Midnight to 8a.m. ) reading horror stories of the carnage unfolding in the Yugoslav republic Bosnia-Hercegovina and yelling at my friends that President Clinton had to do something to stop it. Every story I read, every picture I saw, took me back to May 1980 when my American-born mother and I dismissed my Bulgarian-born father’s prediction that Yugoslavia would disintegrate following Marshall Tito’s death. He was right; I was wrong. So I set out on a quest to try and understand.

After a stint with the Peace Corps in the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan , I moved back to my father’s Balkan homeland, Bulgaria , - a country I’d grown up with, but knew little about - with no idea of how I would earn a living. Rapidly I saw evolving around me an economic crisis so crippled by rising inflation that pensioners could scarcely afford a loaf of bread, and chose to express my dismay not only in letters to friends back home but in a small English monthly based in Sofia (that paid me a whopping $100 a month as a full time employee). Months later as enraged Bulgarians stormed the National Parliament and set the building on fire, CNN called me for help and kept me “on air” (at some of the most ungodly hours you can come up with) for nearly two months.

To my horror, 1998 saw the dawn of another Yugoslav conflict in a little place called Kosovo. Driving a beat up second-hand Renault purchased for the occasion, I crossed the border for a month stay in Kosovo. A year and a half later I emerged from that war torn nightmare a full fledged journalist, more convinced than ever of the need for my fellow countrymen to understand what was happening in the world around them.

 

How have you developed as a journalist over the years while covering international events?

My mother used to say “book learning is valuable, but learning through experience counts the most” and she was right. With exception of a few countries where I’ve spent less time than I would’ve liked, I have tried to really live in the places I’ve worked. Usually, I rent rooms with local families, eat at local restaurants, travel in local transport, stay for months or years – really try to understand the people and places I am writing about. In the beginning, honestly, I thought it was just “cool” to try and live in another culture – but now I think it’s a must if one wants to truly try and understand the world.

Through all of these experiences I’ve gained a much greater tolerance for other cultures, ideas, and philosophies – which I may not necessarily agree with but have learned to respect, and I think that makes me a better person and a better journalist than I was, say, ten years ago. This understanding, while incomplete, has given my writing increased depth and helps to put things in perspective.

Sometimes I see other journalists jetting in and out of country in two weeks – doing their work and getting out without ever really learning much about the country other than what a few “talking heads” have to say. Of course, in the high-pressure fast paced world of global media such “in and out” trips are a necessary evil, I’ve done it on several occasions myself, but I always feel a bit sorry because such trips don’t really allow an outsider to soak up the local scenery.

 

Has there been any experience that has made an impression on you and shaped your view of the world?

Every day, every story, every interview …. I have yet to undertake a project that failed to help me explore the world from a new or different angle. From rape victims, to simple village boys-turned-Taliban, to a fruit seller on the street – all make a contribution.

One major example that pops into my mind is that after three years in Pakistan I now understand much better why my “American values” don’t always translate to people here. I find that I hardly agree with their perceptions – though sometimes I do – but I at least now understand better the why’s and how’s of how people think.

The other major example comes from my time in the Balkans. Racing back to the provincial capital Pristina one night my translator and I drove right into the middle of a fire fight between Serb and Albanian forces during which one of the tires of the Renault blew. Frantically we jumped out the car and started screaming out to darkened houses for some help and after several minutes one man opened a basement window to enquire as to our problem. That man came out of his house and took a tire off his car to put on mine – finishing just as Serbian army reinforcements could be heard coming in our direction. Leaving my destroyed tire in the middle of the road, the man fled back inside.

I never learned his name, but I’ll never forget his extraordinary human kindness.

 

Have you taken risks when trying to report certain stories and what have been some of the consequences of your actions?

Over the years, I’d say there have been dozens of occasions where I’ve taken risks a smarter person probably would have avoided. Some of it was ignorance; some of it foolish bravado; some occasions just following my heart. And in all cases I’ve been extremely lucky to avoid any serious or permanent physical harm.

I think probably the most valuable consequence was a lesson I learned was during the Kosovo war. After being deported by the Serbs as NATO began its aerial campaign, two colleagues and I opted to walk back in with Albanian rebels. We spent three weeks inside, walking up to 10 hours a day (we covered 110 kilometers by the end) and often being too tired and too hungry to write but doing it anyway.

When Milosevic capitulated and NATO troops entered the province I found myself with two missing toenails, an infected gash on my left thigh, and a crippling case of dysentery. Part of me raged that there were no staff job positions offered to me, no awards, no accolades for the risks and sacrifices I’d made to get where few others managed. But, when I got home to Buffalo , my father called me silly and asked me if I had done it for an award or for me or for the people of Kosovo? The honest answer was: a little of all three. As a consequence of Kosovo and my father’s guidance, I realised something I should have known already – that the staff job or the award wasn’t worth risking my life for. And if I was going to take such big risks – which I subsequently did in other parts of the world – then I should be doing so for the right reasons.  

 

When you cover a story what are the key elements that you feel you need to address to meet with your personal journalistic standards?

Honesty, accuracy, and fairness top the list. This has been a dilemma for many journalists especially after September 11 with the pressure to produce “where in the world is bin Laden” and “inside the mind of Al Qaeda” type stories, it has become immensely difficult to balance these elements with editor’s demands and the incredibly high risk of bodily harm if one pushes too hard. No matter how one slices it, pieces on such subject matters rely heavily on intelligence sources (often unwilling to be named), analysts/researchers, and military sources – most of whom have their own agendas in mind when giving interviews. As a result, the pieces – even by the world’s best journalists - are often murky and dissatisfying both for writers and readers alike.

 

What do you consider to be good ethics in journalism?

Honesty is the single most important ethical concern for a journalist. Everyone carries with them prejudices, biases, and personal opinions that shape the way they write a story or report an event, it’s unavoidable. For examples, non-Muslim Westerners, like myself, have a tendency to lump all Muslims together and use general terms like “Islamic terrorist,” or do a disservice by repeating only negative connotations of words like “jihad” and “hijab”. Also, try as one might, it is incredibly hard to truly understand the mindset of people living in third world countries.

But whatever slant a writer give to his/her story it must be done in an open honest manner, including views from “the other side” (unless it’s a column piece). If a writer is unsure or unable to verify the truthfulness of elements of a story it is incumbent upon them to either say so or find a quotable source to whom they can attribute the item and then qualify the remark.

 

Do you think that journalists continue to have absolute freedom to cover stories the way they see it or has this been compromised by political and corporate agendas?

No doubt coverage has been compromised and not just by agendas but by ignorance as well. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an expert, I am haunted by a news broadcast I saw on FOX News shortly before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in which the female anchorperson mused that military operations would probably commence before Ramadan, which she referred to as “the holy day of Islam.” Anybody who has even an elementary knowledge of Islam would realise how idiotic that statement is. (For those who don’t know, Ramadan is a month-long fasting period required by the Koran.)

In the US , at least, for a solid year and a half anyone who tried to speak out against heavy handed policies of the Bush administration was labelled “unpatriotic”. The Bush administration proved itself very adept and co-opting the kneejerk panic response of the public to the September 11 attacks into questionable politics – and took the media right along with the rest of the country. Even working for liberal media outfits, trying to get into print stories telling the difference between poorly educated village boys conned into believing the Taliban movement was the ideal and educated hardened fundamentalists like the bin Laden’s of the world was beating one’s head against the wall. Also, media tended to gloss over America ’s contribution to the Taliban movement and Al Qaeda – both products, one way or the other, of American foreign policy in South Asia and the Middle East .

A more recent example is the admission by the New York Times that it might have gotten taken in on the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction claim thanks to their heavy reliance on the intel of Ahmed Chalabi – the Bush administration’s now-disgraced Iraqi poster boy for reform.

 

What is life like for women in Pakistan ? What barriers do they face in trying to secure equality and parity in Pakistan ?

To fairly answer this question, I’d need to write a novel …… for brevity’s sake I’m going to generalize and go for “honest perception”, which goes directly back to what I said before about the top of my standards list.

A woman’s quality of life in Pakistan rests solely on the men around her. In modern or liberal-minded families (and not necessarily educated families) some Pakistani women live life on their own terms – holding down jobs or not, participating in family decisions or not, as they see fit, and enjoying a level of freedom on par with most Western women.

But they are the minority.

In most families – especially in Pakistan ’s rural areas (which constitute about 70 percent of the country) – women’s lives are difficult at best. Many are prevented from leaving their families’ compounds or villages for fear of what dishonour or misfortune they might bring on their family. Almost all Pakistani women are wed in arranged marriages, and while this is slowly changing in the urban areas, women who marry of their own choice are often hunted down and killed by outraged family members. Few rural women are allowed to work outside the home – unless it is in family fields or a family factory. Few ever see the inside of a classroom.

If you go and speak to such women, you’ll find that many of them believe they are happy this way. That this is how it’s always been and what could a modern city-style life hold for them but trouble?

While Pakistani law provides women all the protection they should ideally need, there is little justice to be found at the hands of largely insensitive police, medical personnel, politicians, and judiciary officials. Many of the laws – like the controversial Hudood Ordinance and the Blasphemy Law – have become weapons against women who dare to speak out and challenge the system.

Pakistani society as a whole reacts very strongly to publicized stories of wronged or violated women when such stories get large scale press coverage. Whereas ten years ago one could hardly find references in the media to rape cases or acid attacks, almost all Pakistani journalists now report on such cases with a vengeance raising hopes for a better future for the women of this beautiful but deeply troubled nation.  

 

What do you see as being the main objectives of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to reform Pakistan and how successful has he been so far?

That’s a bit of a trick question. A year and a half ago I would have given you a list a kilometre long of the ways in which Musharraf is seeking to improve Pakistan . Somehow I still cling to the hope that in his heart he strives to do what he says, but in many cases his appeals and directives appear to be lip service.

Musharraf is a modern sort of guy and that is the future he’d like to see for Pakistan .

One of his main focuses has been the economy, with which he’s had some marked success. Stocks market is up, foreign currency reserves are up, and inflation is down. Musharraf drafted a team of qualified financial professionals to make a leaner meaner Pakistan economy and it is beginning to produce some dividends. Should he chose to continue along these lines the benefits should start to trickle down to average Pakistanis in the years to come.

On women’s rights, corruption, militancy, and intolerance – all issues Musharraf repeatedly speaks about – he has had far less success. While he introduced a quota to introduce female legislators into Pakistani federal and provincial legislative bodies the women now in these seats complain they are merely window dressing – expected to keep their mouths shut and vote along party lines. A few brave souls have stood up and tried to introduce legislation that would benefit women, such as Humaira Awais Shahid in the Punjab provincial assembly who fought to get a resolution passed criminalizing the tribal custom of vinni (marrying off women of ones’ family to repay a debt, settle territorial disputes, or escape a murder charge). If women are able to assert themselves more and more as the years pass then Musharraf will have achieved something special. But it will be years before anyone can tell with any certainty whether this is working or not.

 

In your opinion what significant changes have you noticed in the middle-east since September 11 and the war in Iraq ?

Another trick question. Violence goes on largely unabated, fear grows, as does the average person’s sense of powerlessness – but those qualify as only degrees of change. I guess if I had to pick one thing that’s changed, the thing that hurts most, would be the conviction that the US and “the West” (which includes countries like Australia despite their geographical position) do not care about Arab or Muslim lives and are out to dominate, colonize, co-opt the region. Before September 11, many people harboured doubts about the US and its allies, but – by and large – were willing to allow for benefit of the doubt. But now, when you look around the Middle East the “doubters” are shrinking in number while those convinced is growing – and one can hardly blame them. The last two years have been a bloody torturous show of warmongering and deceit.

But this shift poses probably the greatest threat to peace loving individuals around the world in that it creates a climate of mistrust, hatred, and desperation that is ripe for the harvesting of young minds into acts of terrorism.

(Being an eternal optimist, I still hope somehow the new Iraqi government will find a way to turn it all around and make Iraq the single most successful country in the Middle East – failure to do that will change nothing; only increase the danger – but I wouldn’t bet any money on it happening.)  

 

How is the role of the United Nations viewed upon by the populace?

In most parts of the world the UN is largely viewed as a benign, if somewhat ineffective, organization that – especially after September 11 (but even before that to a lesser extent) – has been overrun by American foreign policy agendas and turned into a bit of a lame duck. Even so, when nations find themselves in trouble the UN is usually their first stop for help/advice. Most people I’ve spoken with over the years support the idea of an international body for airing grievances, forging common policies, and lending a helping hand in times of trouble – the problem lies, mostly, in failing to meet peoples’ expectations.  

 

What do you see yourself doing five years from now?

Being a mom, God willing. After having spent the last decade concentrating on other peoples’ lives, I would like to be a bit selfish for awhile and have a child (or two ….?). My husband and I have just celebrated our first wedding anniversary (or will have by the time you run this – our anniversary in July18) and as I’m no longer a “young chick” I would like to devote some time to family. Perhaps naively I am hoping to do all things at once, as it were, and continuing writing – perhaps focusing more on feature pieces and columns rather than “hard news” for a few years.