Chapter 37 33 Press Check

"Prudence and boldness may alternate, but not at the same time." a churchill In 1988, the Photography Department of Xinhua News Agency sent me to study at Thomson International Journalism Training Center.The written test is followed by an oral test, personally administered by the center's director, Bob Hitchcock.Old Bob asked me why I came here to study, and I replied that I never thought of coming here, and my boss forced me to come here.Perplexed, old Bob asked me where I wanted to go, and I said "Beirut" through my teeth.Unexpectedly, old Bob jumped up when he heard it, and pointed at me with his fingerless right hand: "Hey! Boy! I'm going to train you so that you can go to Beirut."

I learned later that Bob Sr. had fought in World War II and had been a prominent war correspondent in his youth.A few months later, when I graduated from Thomson, Bob Sr. took the initiative to write a hard letter of recommendation for me, claiming to recommend the best news photographer in China to study in Fleet Street in the UK.But I gave up because I wanted to go to Qinling to photograph wild pandas. Old Bob taught me many tricks honed from flesh and blood, such as drilling into crowded places in the face of military police shooting, and warned me alarmistly that a good reporter should not only be able to reach the scene quickly, but also be good at Against censorship.Sure enough, within two years, from Beijing to Baghdad, I met all of Bob's predictions.

On December 23, 1990, when I flew to Baghdad, due to the imminent war, the telex machine of the Baghdad branch of Xinhua News Agency had been cut off, and the text machine was also discontinued because it did not conform to the model specified by Iraq. Chief reporter Lao Zhu I was so anxious that I went around in circles, and the written manuscript just couldn't be sent out.As for my pictures, it is even more difficult to publish. First of all, I have to upload the enlarged 10-inch standard fax photos with English captions and send them to the Iraqi Government Information Department. The image transmission office of the agency asked the Iraqi Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for international long-distance calls, and then transmitted it to the Paris branch of Xinhua News Agency, and then sent it back to Beijing through the Paris branch of Xinhua News Agency.

Due to the special situation in Baghdad, I tried to brush aside all sensitive subjects that would cause trouble.The tense atmosphere of a looming war forces every journalist to exercise extreme caution.For the daily anti-American demonstrations organized and photographed by the Iraqi Ministry of Information, as a "Yahee" (brother), I must go every time to gain goodwill.In the face of censorship, it is far from enough to be brave and honest. It is essential to be alert and understand the political situation of your country, and to respect the power of the country from the bottom of your heart.

After the war broke out, Iraq stipulated that journalists were only allowed to publish articles in English and Arabic, because news censors only knew these two languages.Any manuscript that has not been vetted by the Iraqi Ministry of Information will not be broadcast.All the photos I submitted for review were based on the stance of sympathizing with the suffering of the Iraqi people, condemning the crimes of war, seeking help from the international community to help the Iraqi people persecuted by the war, and absolutely adhering to the various policies of the Iraqi government, so I did not cause any trouble.I became a Mohist school on the ground, selling "Fei Gong" everywhere.

In Tel Aviv, hostile to Baghdad, wartime censorship was even more robust.In the lobby on the first floor of the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel, there are three separate offices for the Israeli Government Information Department, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson and the press censor.Here, journalists can publish articles in any language, but they must briefly report their contents in Hebrew or English to censors in military uniforms.After being reviewed by a press censor in military uniform, a rectangular purple stamp and signature can be issued. Israel is a country that flaunts a free press, and its censorship is more focused on military significance.All manuscripts collected and written by reporters are not allowed to involve military-related place names, numbers, etc. For example, all the targets hit by the "Scud" missiles are only allowed to say "hit a place in central Israel" to prevent Iraq from correcting the information based on the information provided by the news reports. The launch trajectory of the Scud ballistic missile.According to my Israeli friend Ms. Olite, the famous American Broadcasting Corporation was ordered to stop the interview because it reported that the "Scud" missile hit a certain place in Tel Aviv. It was not allowed until it "publicly apologized to all the Israeli people" resume normal work.

After the war broke out, the US-made "Patriot" anti-ballistic missiles stole the limelight.I have always wanted to photograph the US Patriot missile site outside Tel Aviv, but I dare not do it rashly.I approached the spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces on the first floor of the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv and asked to take pictures of the "Patriot", but the spokesperson claimed that it is strictly forbidden to take pictures of such military targets. no effect.Finally I said: "My friend, Zhu Zengyou from Taiwan TV station, has filmed 'Patriot'. Is it because I am from Beijing that I can't film?" After hearing this, the officer waved his hands again and again as if he had been stung by a scorpion: "I definitely don't mean that. The Taiwanese may have taken the photos secretly." The spokesperson actually suggested that I also take the photos secretly, but don't take photos of the surrounding environment. If the location of the "Patriot" missile deployment is revealed, it will be trouble It's big.

I drove out of the city with Charles Laprevoto from the Lest Republic of France, but before we got close to the barbed wire fence outside the "Patriot" position, we were discovered by patrol soldiers, and the secret filming plan was aborted.In the afternoon of the same day, Japanese journalist Shinichi Murata and I went there again.Groups of "Patriot" missiles were assembled four by one on a giant launch vehicle, standing tall, and every dozen launch vehicles were arranged in a square array the size of a football field.This time we learned how to behave. Murata used the new Canon F-1 body + FN motor + 300F4, and I used Nikon FM2 body + MD12 motor + 80-200F4 to shoot through the glass of the taxi. Anyway, the old Bob taught We "news value determines photo quality".

In a hurry, I ran back to my residence. I knocked open the door with my shoulder, threw off my shoes, and trembled nervously while developing the film.Hastily fixed and washed, but the image of the "Patriot" missile on the film is too small, let me lift the head of the enlarger to the top, and the huge "Patriot" launcher is not big enough for a fingernail in the photo.I had no choice but to move the head-mounted enlarger to the washbasin, put a chair on top of it, turn around and lie flat on the floor to spread the photo paper, and finally put a 10-inch fax with only "Patriot" missiles and no environment. photo.

When I rushed to the press inspection office on the first floor of the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel with this 10-inch fax photo in my hands, I saw Murata Shinichi standing there in a daze.It turned out that Murin's roll of reversal film shot with a 300mm lens failed the news inspection because it "exposed the environment of the missile position".Murata said that the one I took with a 200mm lens is even more so.But when he saw the photos I released with the zoom camera, he burst into tears. I smiled badly and persuaded Murata that there are advantages to shooting negative films.My photo successfully passed the inspection and was sent to Beijing on the same day. The "Liberation Army Daily" immediately published this photo. This is the first "patriot" photo taken by a Chinese.

Under the attack of Scud missiles in Tel Aviv, I got to know many brave and funny Western journalists.Most of them are intelligent, ambitious, and experienced. They not only love money but also honor, and have a strong sense of professional pride.For them, a Pulitzer Prize of only a thousand dollars is far more important than a six-figure annual salary.These people have extensive experience in dealing with censorship.CBS's John Haygood said: "When danger strikes, calm throughout is absolutely necessary, and that calm is built on the foundation of many near-deaths. Some people say that I am brave, it is nonsense .Fearing danger is not a matter of guts, but a matter of experience. Every time a good reporter overcomes a danger, he increases his confidence in his ability. This stimulates him to invest in the next danger.” On the night of February 11, I took a second photo of the "Patriot" missile cutting through the night sky to meet the "Scud". The previous time I used a Leica M-4 + 35mm lens F1. "The ballistic trajectory of the missile piercing the sky was too short, and was shot dead by Lao Ou in the duty room of the photography department of Xinhua News Agency.On the phone, Lao Ou said that it would be better to use door B, but he told me not to stand on the roof of the building to shoot missiles.But I was determined, and this time I used a Leica M-4 + 35mm lens F1.4, door B, and finally captured this terrifying night scene. By the time the alarm was lifted and the writer Zhu Jiefei came out of the shelter to see if my body was intact, I had already finished developing the film and put away a faxed photo.When posting the photo, I intentionally let the film of the film face up, so that the released photo becomes a photo with the opposite image, which makes it impossible to deduce the position of the Patriot missile based on the flight trajectory of the "Patriot" missile, so as not to give the Israeli people bring disaster.It was too late to turn off the magnifying machine, and the writer Zhu Jiefei and I ran to the lobby on the first floor. He went to check how foreign news agencies reported on the air strike just now, while I rushed into the press inspection office with the AP fax machine.Regrettably, the office was empty, and it is estimated that the inspector who escaped the air raid had not yet returned from the bomb shelter.I rushed to the phone with the dripping photos, installed my Midland picture fax machine, and dialed 008613073426 (this was the Xinhua News Agency's fax photo interface) Beijing Xinhua News Agency. I yelled at Yuan Man on the receiver: "Yuan Man, close it!" The Associated Press fax machine spun rapidly, water droplets splashed on my glasses, and I breathed a sigh of relief.Because this kind of old-fashioned Midland picture fax machine is not monitored, no one can see what is sent on the drum once the drum is turned.I made another round, putting aside a few photos that had been stamped and signed after passing the inspection the day before, as if the fax machine uploaded one of them, and then guarded my precious photo with fear.But just as the photo of the "Patriot" intercepting the "Scud" was about to be sent and the drum was about to stop, a press censor suddenly bumped in. He walked up to me and flipped through the photos I threw on the table. In the photos, I smiled and asked me why I took so many photos of male and female soldiers kissing and hugging. I said that because I didn’t have a girlfriend yet, I was quite envious of them.My heart was in my throat when I spoke.At this critical moment, Zhu Jiefei, a literary reporter who has always been calm and anxious, walked in with square steps, and I was like an old shepherd meeting Chairman Mao.With a smile on my face, I quickly said in Beijing slang: "Fuck him, let him go, I'm going to 'Wan' County in Hebei Province."My video transmitter also stopped abruptly at this time.By the time the inspector turned around to look at me, I had already put on another photo. Just when I got carried away and ran back to my residence, the cruel reality made me cry.I was busy putting up photos just now, and I stuck the wet negative film under the light collector box of the enlarger with the film facing up, and it was already blistered.But I persevered and did not get down.I remember that happened to Robert Capa during the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.