If you check out this Podcast, you will hear me - me! - giving a greeting on "Over to You," a weekly program on the BBC World Service. You will also hear clips of a phone interview of me commenting on the reporting of Tulip Mazumdar, the author of a story about a young girl who escaped from Boko Haram.
What you will not hear is the question that I asked repeatedly, "Is Miriam safe?"
I saw this article, The girl who escaped from Boko Haram, on the BBC website. Only 17, Miriam was kidnapped by members of Boko Haram and forced, on pain of death, to marry one of her captors. She was able to escape, and her story was told by reporter Tulip Mazumdar.
As I read the article, I found myself increasingly nervous about Miriam.
How many pregnant kidnapped wives manage to steal their husband's SIM card and escape back home? How far could home be if a pregnant girl could run there? It would be easy to recognize Miriam from the partial photos on the website. Was her husband coming after her? Boko Haram have already killed the men in Miriam's family, so it seems that she is extremely vulnerable.
Did the producers simply assume that Miriam's captors would lack the internet savvy to use the story to help track her down?
Along with these worries, I had the positive thought that Miriam could likely qualify for asylum from the US government, particularly if there was a support system already in place for her. Between my contacts in several different communities - churches, refugee support, and other philanthropically- minded individuals - I could offer support if I could get more details about Miriam.
I left several messages on various places on the BBC website, asking if Miriam was safe and if it would be possible to communicate with Tulip Mazumdar about getting help to Miriam or even getting her out of the country and into America.
To my surprise, I received a very nice email from the BBC World Service. I received a follow-up email a few days later.
Would I agree to post questions to be read on the show, "Over to You?" I listened to a podcast of the show but had trouble connecting with it as the callers and hosts were discussing previous shows I hadn't heard. But I went ahead and listed some questions, all centered around the focal point, "Can I find out if Miriam is safe?"
I received another nice email from a producer of the show, asking me if she could call and record my answers. Being quite an Anglophile, I was excited about having input on the show and hearing my voice go around the world with the BBC World Service! Within minutes of sending her my phone number, she called.
I talked with two different people and expressed concern to both that the story may have made Miriam's life even more dangerous that it was already. I answered questions about my involvement with refugees in this country and the possibility of getting Miriam out of the area where Boko Haram can reach her. At least four times the interviewer focused on the reporter, Tulip Mazumdar. It became apparent that I was being pressed to state how important this type of reporting was - on location, really getting involved with the story. Several times I answered that I thought it could possibly be too dangerous, not for the reporter, but for people like Miriam. In the interest of being polite, I did make some appreciative comments about the method of gathering the story. If you listen to the podcast you will get none of my concerns about Miriam. You will only hear the comments that praise the reporter and the interview process.
News reporting is distorted when the interviewers become the topic. If reporters gain rock star status, how can we listen to them critically? After tasting fame and popularity, how can they remain objective? I hung up after the phone interview with the vaguely uncomfortable feeling that I had been used.
The fall of the Soviet Union was a fascinating time - I know because Diane Sawyer was there to document it. I have a clearer mental picture of her than I do of Boris Yeltsin. Diane, leading a camera crew through the offices of the Kremlin to record history! The cameras spent a good deal of time on her.
Tulip, like Diane Sawyer, is easy on the eyes as well as an aggressive reporter. She must be doing a wonderful job; she got so many positive comments about her reporting that one of her stories was included on "Over to You!"
