A Veteran and a Neophyte Compare Notes
From Stephanie Reitz, a Transportation Writer Whose World Travels Have Just Begun
Between gigs in Buenos Aires—
comparing notes in the back of the van.
Until coming to Ann Arbor, I never had a passport. The blank pages in my new one last fall defined me well: an American whose knowledge of the world came from books, documentaries and maps.
My lack of international experience had always been a source of regret. Now, as my Knight-Wallace Fellowship races to conclusion, I can look back at the past several months and say without exaggeration that the program literally gave me the world.
Discovering a country can only truly occur when you’ve strolled among its people along a thoroughfare like Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires.
Reading about Turkish raki can never compare with the moment when its fire burns your throat and brings tears to your eyes while a proud restaurateur waits for your reaction. Likewise, reading about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s life pales in comparison to standing silently at his tomb, as big as U-M’s Central Campus. Single-handedly he invented a new society.
The international trips gave us the gift of face-to-face discussions with some of the world’s most intriguing political leaders, created lifelong memories of galloping on horses across the Argentine pampas and lounging in the Turkish baths. The trips also strengthened our already powerful friendships.
Those of us who’d never traveled internationally gained the courage to explore new places and a commitment to getting them reported in the news.
It is because of this Fellowship that I even dream of such things.
— Stephanie Reitz ‘05 is a reporter for The Hartford Courant.
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From Maria Fleet, a CNN Producer Who has Covered Wars on Three ContinentsOur trip to Argentina was the type of weeklong briefing a journalist always needs before beginning work in a new place, but rarely gets. Argentina does not offer itself easily to understanding, beginning with the inscrutable ideology of Peronism, which permeates the political fabric of the country. Our hosts from Clarin patiently unraveled Argentina’s peculiar mix of politics and uncertain economics for us.
I was most moved by our meeting with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. I covered a similar cadre of unlikely activists in El Salvador in the early ’80s, and the impression those mothers made on me was one of the most enduring of my career. Argentina still grapples with the after-effects of the so-called Dirty War of the ’70s—its own war on terrorism—and provides a cautionary prism through which to view the United States’ global fight against terrorism.
Many of my colleagues had not worked outside the United States, and some had never traveled overseas. Watching those colleagues process things foreign showed me something of what my audience needs, too. No matter how deep one’s experience, seeing things with a fresh eye is the key to successful foreign correspondence.
I was introduced to Turkey after the first Gulf War, when the Iraqi Kurds fled into southeastern Turkey to escape a slaughter by Saddam Hussein. Thus, I explored the Kurdish part of the country first, so even when I became enchanted by Istanbul, I was always aware of the country’s shortcomings in the area of human rights and press freedom. The last time I worked in Turkey was in 1997. At that time, Turkish journalists risked being put in jail for covering certain subjects—Kurdish separatism, Atatürk’s legacy, and the enshrinement of secularity in the constitution. Most of those once-taboo topics are broadcast and written about with much more freedom now.
The Fellows had a lively session with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül in Ankara. In 1997, Gül had been the spokesman for the ousted Islamist Welfare Party, which exhibited some rather radical politics. Now he represents an administration which aims to bring Turkey, a Muslim country, into the European Union. Turkey, which initially lured me with its apparent contradictions, continues to surprise me. The lesson on this trip was: don’t stop paying attention!
— Maria Fleet ‘05 is a senior producer for CNN (Atlanta).
