John Pomfret
John Pomfret
John Pomfretwas an English poet and clergyman...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
bicycles form main move though time
My main form of transportation at that time was a bicycle, because bicycles could move though the crowd.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
job
When you do a job like this you have to like having cold sweat on your back.
believe best equation somebody stop tear
When I see somebody being mistreated, my eyes tear up and I want to stop it. And I believe that the best thing I can do is to write about it, because if I insert myself into the equation it doesn't really do much good, but if I write about it I think it could do more good.
lives midst normal people though willing
But on the other hand, in the midst of the chaos, you find normal people. You find people who are willing to risk their lives to tell you what they saw, even though they have no dog in the fight.
american-scientist baggage cultural fact follows
One of the problems that we have as American journalists is that we bring the American cultural baggage with us and we plop it down and it follows us around and that's just a fact of life.
fourteen seized trip
I was fourteen when Kissinger made his secret trip to China, and then there was subsequently Nixon's trip to China, and I was very much seized with an interest in China.
assignment difference emphasis facts greater overseas
But the difference is that in an overseas assignment there is an emphasis on the facts but there's also a much greater emphasis on interpretation.
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.
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.