S5 Ep. 17: ‘We’re There to Bear Witness’: Putsata Reang on Reporting in War Zones

fiction/non/fiction

Author and journalist Putsata Reang joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the dangers faced by foreign correspondents and local journalists during times of violent crisis. Reang talks about the dangers reporters are facing in Ukraine, recalls training journalists in Afghanistan, and reads from her forthcoming book Ma and Me: A Memoir. She also reflects on how her experiences in journalism connect to her history as a Cambodian refugee and her identity as a gay woman.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected readings for the episode:

Putsata Reang

• Ma and Me: A Memoir
• Opinion | My Family Fled Cambodia as the Americans Evacuated. Here's What I Hope for Afghan Refugees.- POLITICO
• At Sea, and Seeking a Safe Harbor - The New York Times
• Full Circle: Two journalists return to their native countries to help other journalists express dissent — Oregon Humanities (with Kim Oanh Nguyen)

Others

• When the War is Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution by Elizabeth Becker
• “Iraq War and News Media: A Look Inside the Death Toll” by Frank Smyth, Committee to Protect Journalists, March 18, 2013
• "The Iraq War: The Heaviest Death Toll for the Media" Since World War II, March 2003 – August 2010 by Reporters Without Borders’ Middle East Desk, September 7, 2010 - Updated on January 20, 2016
• “Ukrainian Family’s Dash for Safety Ends in Death” by Lynsey Addario and Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, March 7, 2022
• “American veterans train Ukrainian volunteers in combat” CNN
• Excerpt of interview with NYT's Lynsey Addario by Norah O'Donnell of CBS Evening News (via Twitter)

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