Adrian Callan Q&A: Images and reflections from Thailand’s ‘Red Shirt’ protests (Part 2)

Do you prefer to work alone or with other journalists?

AC: In violent situations, it is always good to be with someone – but someone who knows what they are doing and can look after themselves.

To go into a potentially dangerous situation with someone you need to keep an eye on is only making the situation more dangerous for yourself.

Click images to enlarge All photographs copyright Adrian Callan 2010

In terms of TV news, you are nearly always with a journalist, who will want to film pieces to camera as events unfold. Working together to determine the where, when and how is essential. This should be discussed in advance to avoid having to exchange ideas once the bricks and bottles start flying about.

On your blog you say it’s hard not to pick sides. How did your personal views affect your coverage?

AC: It has been hard not to pick sides. So many issues have been raised by the current protest that staying out of the arguments becomes very difficult.

For any journalist, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are paramount. They mean everything to me. Without them, you have no hope of democracy. It is that simple.

If people are not permitted to speak their minds, and the press is not allowed to report freely without intimidation, there is little hope of society progressing or developing in the modern world.

Of course, different media outlets will always lean in a certain direction and favour one side or another in a political conflict. But governments that block websites and ban TV and radio channels are more akin to a North Korean-style regime than a modern democracy. In Thailand, I feel the Lese Majeste » law is the biggest barrier to moving forward and developing as a society.

Both sides have been guilty of misinformation and propaganda. I have seen intelligent, well-educated Thai people being taken in by some of the most ridiculous ideas and lies. Once someone chooses a side, it becomes harder for them to see the big picture. So they become entrenched and blinkered to what is really going on.

I was told by my friend’s wife that the Red Shirts all had guns and weapons. The government told her, she said. I tried to explain to her that it was not actually the protesters who had the weapons, but factions of the army who supported them. She simply refused to listen, because the government had said that the army was united.

I have also seen bias among western journalists and in the pieces they write. Some clearly believe what they are told by state media outlets and don’t question it, while others choose simply to criticise those in power.

I believe a journalist should always at least try to be neutral, if only for the reason that remaining neutral allows you a broader perspective.

The photographs I took around the protest sites were meant to show that these are real people and not just ‘demonstrators’. At times it was easy to feel anger toward others who wished harm upon these people. But that’s something you have to deal with.

I would take their photograph and they would smile at me and offer me water or food. And I would think to myself: ‘If the Army were to crack down tonight, some of the people in my pictures could be dead in the morning’. That thought, together with government censorship, makes it very difficult to remain neutral.

What would your advice be to a young person determined to follow a career as a VJ or photojournalist?

AC: To embark on a career in TV news or photojournalism, I think the key thing these days is the need to be very technically minded.

The internet is where the future is. Not only do you need to be up to speed on all the latest software and equipment, but you need to keep an eye on how it is constantly changing.

Blink and you could get left behind.

• See more pictures spotlighting life in Thailand on Adrian Callan’s blog »

« Images and reflections from Thailand’s ‘Red Shirt’ protests (Part 1)