John Pomfret
John Pomfret
John Pomfretwas an English poet and clergyman...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
covering newspaper states
I went back to the States and started at a small newspaper in Riverside County, California, covering the police; I was making $280 a week covering the police.
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.
among bosnia certain extent gone rwanda society swept took
I think to a certain extent in Bosnia and among the Hutus in Rwanda and also among the Tutsis in Rwanda who then took revenge on the Hutus, there is a sense of being swept up and a sense that the society in which they live has gone mad.
affect bosnia directly engage main national rwanda threat unless
I think that's the main threat in Bosnia and Rwanda and Zaire. There doesn't seem to be much willingness to engage these problems unless they directly affect national security interests.
addition best connect fact illustrate reporters shared time trying
I think some of the best reporters are the ones who can really illustrate the differences between societies, at the same time trying to connect the fact that there are a lot of shared values in addition to those differences.
crime horrendous war
Srebrenica was a horrendous war crime and it had to be uncovered.
stanford
Stanford had no journalism program so I just learned by doing, effectively.
american-scientist china greatest posted summer time
I was posted to China in the summer of 1988, which was the greatest time ever, I think, to have been in China.
broader disconnect whereas
Whereas with foreign coverage there's a much broader disconnect between you and your audience.
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.
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.
china sent
And the AP sent me to China very quickly.
opportunity quite
And then I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to China in 1980, which was quite early.
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.