Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A news cameraman who alerted the world to the 1984 Ethiopian famine and, after losing his left arm in an explosion, returned to work with an electronic prosthet
On the island
Eight records
The next record that I've chosen is really a tribute to a number of people that have encouraged me, that have worked with me, that have been in dangerous places with me, and many of them are never mentioned or recognized. And I feel that this piece of music, which is a beautiful piece of music by Bette Midler, wind beneath my wings typifies the team that's actually helped me through the last thirty years of my profession.
My WayFavourite
My record number three is a record that I have chosen really as a message to my friends to remind them that I'm not about to change. I've ov often been accused of being pig-headed, stubborn, belligerent, awkward person to work with because I have always, in the end, done the things my way.
My next piece of music is a very popular and very famous Swahili song. This particular one was sung by Miriam Makeba, but it's become a symbol of African liberation movement, a symbol of African culture, because the song was put together in late fifties and early sixties, and Miriam Makeba, who is a South African singer, was very much involved with the liberation movement. And the song is Malaika.
The next record that I have chosen is to remind myself in times of difficulties, in times of trouble, in times when I'm going through a crisis, that I'm still a lot better off than I could be. And I think this particular piece of music by Nat King Cole, Smile, brings that message across to me.
My next choice is a tribute to the one person who, after seeing the famine pictures in October 1984, got the world to rally around and raise literally billions of dollars worth of help for the famine victims in Ethiopia at the time. And this tribute is to Bob Geldof who got banded together and the song is Do They Know It's Christmas?
My next record is an unusual choice. It's a beautiful Indian song. It reminds me of my roots where my parents originally came from and it's just a beautiful story of this young dancing girl who was in love with one of the great Mughal emperors who later became an emperor and the song is Aja Abetu Aja by Anar Khali.
My last record is quite a powerful piece of music that I used in one of my documentaries called Give Me Shelter. I made this film about five years ago, having traveled to thirty or so countries around the world to look at the condition that homeless people were living... When I was looking for a music to go with these pictures, I chose this piece of music by Genesis, which is Land of Confusion.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:05What is the right artificial limb, and why was it so difficult to find?
Well, the arm that I have is electronically operated and it works with my muscles and my mind. I didn't really know where to go look for an arm because it's not something that one ever worries about until something like this happens. And so after my accident, the immediate reaction was that I've got to get back to work and I need an arm to be able to operate the cameras... While I was shopping for an arm, I still felt that perhaps these doctors are right, that there is no arm that would be of much value to me, that I should start getting used to looking at alternatives... And now all the other cameramen want one. In fact, every cameraman who's seen this camera since, they've all said, How do we get this camera modified? And my answer has been you have to blow your left arm first.
Presenter asks
5:07Do you still feel the same level of fear when you go into a dangerous situation, or have you developed a kind of professional immunity?
No, I don't think there is such a thing as professional immunity. I do feel the fear when you're going into dangerous areas. What I try to do, and the fact that I'm still alive, although slightly less complete than when I was born, is take the risks but very calculated risks. I would go into a situation if I felt that I had fifty percent chances of coming back. If I felt my odds were worse than that, then I wouldn't go in at all.
The keepsakes
The book
I think my choice would be the life of John F. Kennedy. He was always my favorite person, my favorite leader in my early years, and I have immense admiration for him and I'm just very fond of reading books about him and I've just about read every book that I can lay my hands on.
The luxury
a satellite dish with a television set
I think you should allow me two luxuries. Should allow me my arm, which everybody else has got. And that comes attached virtually, so you can take that. And then I would like a satellite dish with a T V set to receive the pictures while I'm planning my escape from the island.
Presenter asks
6:59What do you feel when you are looking through the lens of your camera at appalling things like executions or assassinations? Do you feel fear, or that it's not part of your world because you are looking through the camera?
I have my own personal feelings, but I try very hard and have succeeded not to get involved with what is going on. I would just keep my distance Film what is going on in front of me.
Presenter asks
18:37How did you come to know Idi Amin?
It was actually quite by accident. The day he overthrew the then President of Bote. There were a number of us journalists trying to get into Uganda and we were sitting at this charter company's office who would not fly unless we had permission. And the phone rang and I just happened to be next to the phone, so I picked it up and the guy there on the other end said this is the command post. So I said, Can I talk to General Amin? And he said, Who is calling? and I said, My name is Mohammed Ameen. And a couple of clicks, and I was through to generally mean... I was talking to General Amin and explained to him that we were a group of journalists wanted to come to Uganda. And he sort of bust out laughing... He said, Yes, you're welcomed. Everything is great. People love me. You can come over. So... he took the registration number of our plane and said, I will send transport for you to the airport.
Presenter asks
22:24Tell me about Ethiopia 1984 and the terrible starvation there. Was it the scale that was such a shock?
The famine had actually been there for quite a long time, and I had covered famine dozens of times before. But we were aware that the situation was much worse in Northern Ethiopia. And for ten years before, nobody for during those ten years had been allowed to go into those areas. No foreign journalist at all. Nobody, no foreigners at all, not even relief agency people, because there was a war going on there... It took a long time, five or six months, to persuade the various officials that we were only interested in famine... It was the worst sight that I think anybody could ever see. We were in one camp. There were over eighty thousand people there. And there was a little bit of food there, possibly enough for thirty or forty people... it was so shattering to see a scene like that... After a couple of hours there, you know, we just walked back in silence. It was certainly the worst experience in my life.
Presenter asks
27:41You could dedicate yourself to wildlife documentaries or become a consultant. Why don't you do that?
I'm afraid I if I gave up filming, particularly filming the big stories, and the big stories are disasters and wars and coups and horrors, I would find it very difficult to live. I get a kick out of going out on big stories and I really enjoy when I'm I'm I think I'm at my best. I'm I'm usually a very difficult person to work around, especially in my office, but I'm at my best when I'm in the field on a big story, because there's there's always a challenge to get the pictures and then and get them to the broadcasters that I'm working with. So I don't think I could ever sit back and retire and uh and just be a consultant. I think that was just what killed me.
“I would go into a situation if I felt that I had fifty percent chances of coming back. If I felt my odds were worse than that, then I wouldn't go in at all.”
“I have my own personal feelings, but I try very hard and have succeeded not to get involved with what is going on. I would just keep my distance Film what is going on in front of me.”
“The only thing we can do as newsmen is to report what is going on and let the the the viewers in the world make a judgment for themselves what they want to do about it.”
“It was the worst sight that I think anybody could ever see... everywhere I turned my camera there were people dying.”
“I'm at my best when I'm in the field on a big story, because there's there's always a challenge to get the pictures and then and get them to the broadcasters that I'm working with. So I don't think I could ever sit back and retire.”
“My favourite one would be my way.”