Bringing the Stories of War Home

Champlain College’s Professional Writing program and the Vermont Council on World Affairs hosted a panel discussion with six journalists and photographers who shared their experiences and insights from recent reporting trips to the front lines of the war in Afghanistan and Iran. The panel for “Reporting Live from War Zones: Journalists Tell Their Stories from the Front Lines” included (shown from left) Vermont Public Radio reporter Steve Zind, Burlington Free Press photographer Ryan Mercer, moderator Mark Johnson of WDEV, Champlain Assistant Professor Warren Baker, Burlington Free Press reporter Sam Hemingway, WCAX videographer Lance MacKenzie, WCAX news anchor Darren Perron, and (not shown) award-winning reporter and author Louis Salome. The group discussed reporting from Afghanistan and their experiences reporting from war zones.

“It is the first time all of these journalists came together to talk about their experiences,” explained Baker, who teaches journalism and writing in Champlain’s Professional Writing program. “It was an extraordinary opportunity for students and the community to hear from and ask questions of journalists who have reported from the war zones we have been hearing and reading about for years.

“We wanted to go to places off the beaten path, to the fringe areas, and write about conditions nobody had really reported,” Mercer explained. “People don’t really know much about Afghanistan,” Hemingway added. “Our reporting gave Vermonters an inside view. It helped to humanize Afghanistan and make it more than just car bombs and violence.”
All five Vermont journalists were embedded with the Vermont National Guard last summer.