“Nobody owns the moral high ground: My role in life is to see and report, and maybe learn a little.”
Fletcher is a rather rare war correspondent who has placed himself amid risky situations to cover hostilities, revolutions, and wars for decades. As a journalist going out of his way to cover human devastation in hostile nations his vocation seems implausible for a regular person. Therefore Fletcher’s efforts to contribute to journalism have been met with praise and accolades from the media community. In the statement, he refutes the notion of having a higher moral compass than the next person because his work is driven by journalistic integrity. His conviction emanates from a place of passion for his work and hence refuses to be seen as a hero.
“Nobody with a story to sell or a policy to spin interests me. What I care about are the people who pay the price, as my family did.”
In the book, he connects the stories of violent conflicts he has covered with his own family’s Holocaust history. His Jewish family suffered the devastating events of the Holocaust thus inspires his passion for conveying the truth for the sake of those plagued by war. Fletcher’s approach in reporting is more humanistic rather than political hence focuses more on stories of human suffering and death. In the book, he detests the agendas of political leaders, warlords, and royal families due to their lack of remorse for the common citizen.
“In Cyprus, I was filming people in a deep ditch digging out a mass grave. Parts of stiff bodies stuck out of the packed mud in grotesque poses, like one of those artworks where a head and chest emerge from a wall.”
Fletcher’s signature style of reporting is one that is utilized by a few since he focuses on death and human suffering in the world. In the book, he offers descriptions similar to his documentaries that entail filming of the dying and the dead. The aim to offer disturbing and grotesque imagery on the horrors of war is to show the extent of human trauma and the value of life. Thus, he accounts the reporting expeditions in the book with graphic content in making his work as human and truthful as possible. Consequently, raising the question of are the descriptions sensationalized or is it that reality on the ground is too distressing to fathom.
