'Covering Conflict' series continues at Norfolk Library

On Nov. 16 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. the Norfolk Library is hosting the second part of a series called “Covering Conflict – Journalists on the Ground” with the documentary film “No Ordinary Life: The Camerawomen Who Brought the Frontlines to the Headlines.”

Directed by Heather O’Neill, “No Ordinary Life” tells the remarkable story of five camerawomen: Mary Rogers, Cynde Strand, Jane Evans, Maria Fleet and Margaret Moth, who made their mark by capturing some of the most iconic images from Tiananmen Square, conflicts in Sarajevo, Iraq, Somalia and the Arab Spring uprising.

The film will be introduced by Cynde Strand, one of the featured journalists, who will answer questions following the screening. Mark Erder will be moderating the Q&A with Strand.

“We met in 1989 in Beijing while covering Tiananmen Square. She worked for CNN, and I worked for British TV. Our friendship continued over the years while she was based in Beijing, and I was based in Hong Kong. We would cross paths covering various news stories across Asia,” Erder said.

The preview of "No Ordinary Life," viewable on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, begins with a tense scene fraught with danger.

“The opening is in Cairo Egypt some years after the Arab Spring. My colleague, camerawoman Mary Rogers, is talking about how she was inspired as a young person by the National Geographic magazines her parents subscribed to. In the next scene she is caught in a firefight in Iraq,” Strand said.

Beginning her career in journalism in 1981 as an entry level video journalist at CNN in Atlanta, today Strand is an award-winning journalist with 40 years of experience in international news gathering, including investigative and documentary work.

For more than 20 years, Strand traveled the world as a CNN cameraperson assigned to bureaus in Beirut, Beijing, Nicosia, London and Johannesburg. Strand covered major stories including the Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown, the first Gulf War based in Baghdad, the first free and democratic election in South Africa, the siege of Sarajevo, the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, and famine in Somalia. In 2004 Strand returned to Atlanta to join the team running international news coverage for CNN.

Strand retired from CNN in 2019 but returned temporarily as part of the team directing CNN’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and later the Israel-Hamas war. Strand has won many industry awards including seven Emmys.

Regarding the title of the documentary “No Ordinary Life” and the pursuit of her profession versus an “ordinary life,” Strand commented, “All five of us cared deeply about journalism and our craft. Can we make images that will get people to pay attention, document an injustice, expose a possible war crime, show a need after a natural disaster, get people to care about the environment, or make people curious about this big beautiful but often troubled world?”

Today, Strand teaches journalism at the university level and has developed a course on the history of women in journalism. This semester she is teaching at St. Michael’s College in Vermont.

Though initially, some men were not quite sure how to interact with female journalists, ultimately their work won them respect, though it was not without challenges of equal pay.

“CNN was such a renegade operation in the beginning, I didn’t feel sexism day to day and early on when a woman did a traditionally male job, the men didn’t quite know how to deal with us: protect us, hit on us, or just let us get on with our jobs. There was however the issue of equal pay, and we got tough about that. That battle continues for many women today. There were so many accomplished, incredible female photojournalists before us, and when we came along as camerawomen, most of our male counterparts, after some testing and teasing, welcomed us to the family,” Strand said.

Strand believes there are new challenges in today’s media landscape, including the quest for veracity.

“We have incredible news gathering tools today, to do research and to reach people. Nothing replaces going to a place, but today we can access eyewitness accounts and video, and we have ways to carefully vet and verify this content,” Strand said.

“I think what is harder today is getting people to pay attention to the truth. Newsmakers have gotten better at masking the truth and distracting by inventing false narratives. If a lie is repeated over and over again and amplified by social media, it takes on a life of its own and plays into an emotional experience. It is harder to keep people’s attention on good solid reporting,” she added.

Lastly, Strand’s experience “covering conflict” has given her insights on human nature.

“I think there is a Pandora’s box in all of us and given the right set circumstances it can open. We are all capable of doing horrible things, but I have also seen incredible moments of kindness and generosity. It is a big responsibility to tell other people’s stories through pictures,” Strand says.