Lecture by French journalist Vincent Wartner
On Thursday, October 16, the Department of Foreign Press hosted a lecture by Vansen Wartner, a French journalist, cameraman, and photographer for LCI. Vansen has worked extensively in hot spots, creating documentaries, including on the Russian-Ukrainian war in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian war in Israel, and the role of the Islamic State in Iraq. He has also published photo reports from Syria/Kurdistan, Côte d’Ivoire, French Guiana, Kenya, Senegal, Egypt, Transjordan, Kosovo, and other countries, covering social, political, and environmental issues.
During the full-scale war, Vansen came to work in Ukraine 14 times (each time for three weeks), spending about ten months in Ukraine in total.
A few (not verbatim) quotes from the lecture:
“Working conditions in Ukraine are constantly changing. Places where it was possible to work a few months ago are now difficult to access or very dangerous. Previously, we tried to wear bulletproof vests and helmets with the words “press” written on them so that we would not be confused with the military. Today, we no longer do this, because we have repeatedly seen that the Russians purposefully attack us as journalists. Therefore, today, on the contrary, we dress in camouflage so as not to be distinguished from the military. In general, today there is such a global trend that having “press” insignia on our clothes entails more risks than benefits. Twenty years ago, when I began my journey in journalism, the situation was radically different. “
“Why are the Russians trying to attack journalists? I think their goal is to discourage us from covering what is happening. The Russians do not want us to work because they consider our TV channel to be pro-Ukrainian. The Ukrainian side doesn’t like it very much, but we have a team of journalists on the other side of the front, in the territory controlled by Russia. But it is also true that for every story from Russia, there are 20-30 of our stories from Ukraine, so Russia sees us as a pro-Ukrainian media outlet.”
“In 2015, I covered the civil war in Syria, paying a lot of attention to the Kurds. Under the Assad regime, the Kurds were oppressed and persecuted, their culture was banned. After Assad lost control of part of Syrian territory, a national revival began among the Kurds: more and more representatives of this people returned to their native language and culture, and more and more attention began to be paid to books in their native language. Here I see a parallel with Ukraine, because in your country, too, the war led to a national revival, to the popularization of the Ukrainian language and culture.”
“Working in Ukraine and working in the Middle East is significantly different. The main danger of working in Ukraine is drones and missiles. In Syria or Iraq, military operations are less intense. There you can also run into a mine, but the main problem there is the threat of being kidnapped. Small armed groups often resort to kidnapping journalists as a way to replenish their budget. It happened that they kidnapped French journalists and then demanded a ransom from the French government, for example, a million dollars, which is a significant amount for a paramilitary group, which can use this money to buy weapons and continue its activities.
The journalist’s personal website:
https://www.vincent-wartner.com/
One of the LCI reports from Ukraine (Vovchansk):
