The Fixer: Behind the Scenes As A War Reporter

SmartHERNews

Jenna Lee

Education, News

4.9 • 660 Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2022

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A special conversation that takes you behind the scenes as a war reporter.

Who is a "fixer," what do they do, and why do they matter? In the world of journalism, a fixer is an important person who the audience rarely sees but who is essential to news gathering in nearly every way — a lifeline for both the reporter and the story — as you'll hear in this special conversation between veteran war reporter Hollie McKay and her fixer, Ahmad Naweed, who lives in Kabul.

Listen as the two share insights into a world few of us know, explaining what it's like to work under Taliban rule in a country transitioning power virtually overnight.

You will hear them reflect on the extraordinary situations they navigated: close calls averted, adventures shared, and what life is like in Afghanistan one year after the Taliban takeover of the country and the withdrawal of the United States.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello from the Heartland. My name is Jenna and this is Smarter News, news when it matters and why it matters.
0:10.4	Our Smarter series features unique people who help us think and live smarter.
0:15.9	Hi everybody. Welcome to Smarter News. I'm Jenna and I'm so glad that you're here today for a first on Smarter News.
0:22.4	We have a guest host today, and I want to give her a proper introduction. I first met Holly McKay, a veteran war reporter, writer, journalist over Zoom at this time last year.
0:35.7	Zoom is where all good relationships bloom during a pandemic.
0:39.3	And that was true for us, but Holly was actually in a strategic city in Afghanistan at a very
0:45.2	critical time. We were hearing that the Taliban was gaining ground and it was feared that they would
0:49.9	take over the country and Holly was on the ground there reporting. So I reached out to her,
0:54.9	and we did our first interview. And little did I know what would happen after that interview.
0:59.9	In the days that followed, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, and Holly found herself effectively
1:06.1	trapped, wondering what her next steps would be. As we know, she was able to navigate that period
1:12.4	and spent the next several months reporting in Afghanistan when so many other people had left.
1:19.2	She had spent time in the country before, but her reporting at this critical period for the
1:23.9	months after the fall and the United States withdrawal were really important.
1:28.4	She did a lot of really important work and she contributed to us here at Smarter News, which I am so
1:33.3	grateful for. And during that time period, not only did we develop this working relationship,
1:38.6	but very quickly developed a friendship. I was worried about Holly. I really respect and admire
1:44.0	her work and really connect with
1:46.5	her when it comes to journalism. So it's a really special friendship that I'm very, very grateful for.
1:51.5	And that friendship has continued for the last year. So over the last few weeks, we were speaking
1:56.7	about marking this year, the year since we first met the year since the Taliban
2:01.5	took over Afghanistan and the United States withdrawal and I was expressing
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jenna Lee, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jenna Lee and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.