John Pomfret
John Pomfret
John Pomfretwas an English poet and clergyman...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
witness
I think you're a witness and a recorder.
bosnian changed help map question
For me the much more significant question is what did the Americans do, if anything, to help the Croatian army, because they are the ones that changed fundamentally the map of Bosnia, not the Bosnian army.
overseas people
Working overseas is more difficult in that it's much more complicated to get people to open their hearts to you and to tell you information.
broader disconnect whereas
Whereas with foreign coverage there's a much broader disconnect between you and your audience.
blows face good happen life organize represents
Good journalism, I think, represents life and if you try to organize something too neatly it usually blows up in your face and doesn't really happen the way you want it to.
china sent
And the AP sent me to China very quickly.
life numerous
I had my life threatened by Bosnian Serbs on numerous occasions.
china front grew page regular relations time york
I grew up in New York City in the late '70s, at a time when U.S. - China relations were something that was on the front page of The New York Times on a regular basis.
domestic reporting
In some ways the domestic reporting is a lot easier because Americans will talk to you about anything.
opportunity quite
And then I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to China in 1980, which was quite early.
affect beacon broader direct interest interests itself national spin
And when they do spin out of control there are important ramifications that affect America, not just its direct national interest but its broader interests as a nation which has thought of itself as a beacon to other nations, of freedom, liberty, democracy, whatever.
demands type work
The work is a calling. It demands that type of obsession.
bosnian chinese experience korean lives overseas prism tend within work
A lot of times when we work overseas we tend to put the experience of someone who lives overseas, a Chinese person or a Korean person or a Bosnian person, within the prism of an American life.
factions hard indication job periods time
The one indication that I got that I was doing the right job in Bosnia was that at different periods of time all the factions came down very hard on me.