John Pomfret was kicked out of China, dodged bullets and narrowly escaped death on multiple occasions, all in the name of journalism. The former foreign correspondent shared his experiences reporting from war zones with graduate students from American University’s School of Communication.
John Pomfret, editor of the Washington Post's Outlook section, describes his experiences as a foreign correspondent in war zones. American University journalism students document his visit.
Pomfret, now the editor of the Outlook section in the Washington Post, was in China with the Associated Press during the Tiananmen Square protests and government crackdown. (He was “one of two resident correspondents who was kicked out of China after 1989” due to his coverage.) He went on to cover wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Iraq.
Pomfret’s description of a shell exploding outside his hotel room, or watching a colleague die after being struck by shrapnel, disturbed my picture of journalism as a career practiced in the safety of a busy newsroom.
I now know that foreign correspondence is not the job for me, but after hearing stories from someone who has experienced life-threatening situations in order to relay information back to viewers, I came away with newfound respect and gratitude to reporters like John Pomfret.
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