Face-to-Face With Conflict

In ‘Bulletproof: A Journalist’s Notebook on Reporting Conflict’, award winning journalist and author Teresa Rehman shares her experience of reporting from a conflict-ridden region

- Meeta Borah

Northeast is no stranger to conflict, and although the scenario has changed in the last few years, the scars can be still seen and felt among the people of the region. Not only that, but it has also impacted the brave souls who ventured out to the deep end, in order to tell stories that needed to be told. Teresa Rehman is an experienced journalist who has seen her fair share of violence and horror while reporting, and in her book titled ‘Bulletproof: A Journalist’s Notebook on Reporting Conflict’, she gives the reader a peek into her life in the field.

Going to Battle Without a Shield

The seeds for the book were sown in 2019 when Rehman was attending the first regional conference of the South Asia Women in Media (SAWM). ‘I was at a session on women reporting from conflict zones. The moderator asked me, “Do you wear a bulletproof jacket when you go reporting?” This simple question unsettled me. The question reverberated within me for a long time to come. I pondered over my two-decade-long journey as a journalist reporting from difficult and hostile areas in one of the most underreported regions of the world i.e. Northeast India. I realized that I had gone for hardcore conflict reporting with two rudimentary pieces of equipment – a pen and a notepad. I went without any training in combat journalism or safety gear like a bulletproof jacket.’