Jeremy Scahill on being a journalist

The well-known and respected journalist author, Jeremy Scahill, has had a film just released - Dirty Wars - at the same time as his book of the same name. The LA Times has a piece about the film, here.

"If the logistics could be harrowing, so could the emotions and thoughts that such reporting stirs up.

"You come across people and they've lost something incredible, like their family has been killed, or someone's been maimed. They don't understand why a raid happened. And no one from the military has said, 'This is what happened, here's compensation.' So essentially you are an ambassador of your country, whether you agree with the policy or not, that's how you are viewed," Scahill said. "I did start saying to people, I'm sorry for what happened … and some people have criticized me for that, saying it's not journalistic."

"I often feel like I'm in a position where I'm the only American these people are ever going to meet, and I want them to know that we actually care about this," he added. "Whether it's true or not in the government I don't know, but … where is the rule that journalists aren't allowed to be human beings?"

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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