Reporting on the War in Ukraine

From the Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press to the front lines of the war in Ukraine, journalist Jen Stout has carved out a remarkable career as a journalist. Here she speaks about her views on the need for quality journalism and the overwhelming need to defeat Russian aggression.

Tell us a little about your route into journalism and your time in Galloway

I believe journalism is a trade, a vocation, rather than a university degree subject, so I took the more traditional route of NCTJ training, a 6-month intensive course at Liverpool College. In between shorthand and law exams, I had an interview on Skype with Alan Hall, then-editor of the Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press. I got the job, to my surprise, and moved to Stranraer a few weeks later, in at the deep end from day one, reporting on Sheriff court proceedings, council meetings, and, of course, agricultural shows. I loved working on the paper, digging into things like the waterfront development and illegal electro-fishing. I learnt so much about the job, but also about Wigtownshire, driving around in a clapped-out old Golf named Gibby. I did the job for a year before going to Glasgow to work for the BBC.

What will you be discussing during your festival event?

War. But also beauty, hope, joy. When I sat down to write about covering the war in Ukraine, I decided to put everything in it - my own experiences, as well as the reporting and interviews from the cities and frontlines of Ukraine between March 2022 and June 2023. That was daunting because journalists never usually put themselves into their work. We never use “I”. But I loved writing like this, it turned out. I wrote the book not just as a way to document the war, as a record of Russian terrorism and aggression and war crimes, and a record of Ukrainian resistance - but also as a kind of love letter to this extraordinary country. I wanted to make readers feel they were there with me, crossing the Danube on a barge just before dawn, in a basement party with poets and soldiers in Kharkiv, or driving through the battered and beautiful landscape of the northern Donetsk region. I wanted to describe my friends in Ukraine, and the people I met, how they helped me and showed me such kindness. So, the book is full of kids, music, singing, dancing and food, as well as drones and missiles and terrible tragedies.

With circulations falling and the rise of social media, what's the role and value of newspaper reporting today?

Bluntly, if people want to get their news from untrained, un-edited amateurs, from bloggers and YouTube “personalities”, they should expect the actual quality of that news to be very low. They’ll be misinformed and misled. You get what you pay for, and most people now can’t be bothered to pay for news, so you’ll get click-bait machine- generated crap. I’m not saying “the media” is perfect, but I and all the reporters I know work absurdly hard to produce the most accurate and fair version of events. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned; I think it’s important to know media law before asking people to trust you with their story; it’s important to study the ethics and standards and learn how to report responsibly. Otherwise you get what happened in Ukraine but in many other places too: bloggers calling themselves journalists, “reporting” from a missile strike and showing dead bodies behind them on the video - before the families have been informed. Just standing in front of atrocities, making yourself the centre of online attention is not journalism, it’s war tourism.

I’m happiest writing for Sunday papers or working on long features. All that lovely time to dig in and learn and soak it up, to really get a grasp on what’s happening, and write it as clearly, vividly, beautifully as you can, so your readers are right there with you – that’s the power of my favourite kind of reporting. I’ll always love newspapers. When the decent newspapers, which pay decent rates and have decent editors, disappear, we’ll all suffer the consequences.

Have you found it frustrating that other events have been eclipsing Ukraine in the news over the last year?

Of course, but it’s like shaking a fist at the weather - pointless. Of course international attention moved on. Tens of thousands of civilians are dead in Gaza and we should be paying attention to that, too. We should, indeed, be reporting on it in person, but the international press aren’t allowed in. And then, what about Sudan? There are so many situations which deserve attention and coverage.

My focus remains on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, not just because it’s my specialism but because a war in Europe is pretty important, especially one that has such huge consequences for Europe and the international rule of law. Russian fascism and those resisting it are topics worth paying attention to. Perhaps because I do more long-reads and in-depth pieces, I don’t find it’s become more difficult to pitch articles, but if I was doing daily news from Ukraine I’m sure it would be different. The bombing of a city centre like Kharkiv with terrifying 1.5-ton glide bombs no longer makes the headlines. It’s become “normal”. That’s chilling. And of course very frustrating, not just for me, but for Ukrainians who feel abandoned by their ‘allies’.

What are your hopes - or fears - for the outcome of the war?

The outcome of the war must be the military defeat of Russia. I have great hopes for the future if this happens. A stronger, more cohesive, pragmatic Europe, which pays attention to the eastern countries instead of ignoring them (if only we’d listened to Poland, Finland, the Baltic states and Ukraine on the dangers posed by an expansionist, revisionist Russia…).

For Russia itself, only a military defeat will offer the chance of some kind of reckoning with what they’ve done; some faint possibilities of a happier and more democratic society in the future. To allow the conflict to “freeze” or force Ukraine to accept an unjust peace would be awful. If anyone reading this likes to say “oh it’s been so long, can’t they just negotiate” - please be aware what you’re really advocating: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians being handed over to Russian occupation. I’ve seen what that looks like: mass graves, torture, execution of writers and activists and of people with the wrong flag hidden in their garage. Ukraine has a bright future - they’ve been fighting for it far longer than two and a half years and know exactly the price of democracy and peace - alternatively, they’ll be wiped out, occupied, brutalised. It’s a fight for existence.

Interview by Matthew Shelley