Journalism Memories: Two Sleepless Nights and a Precious Interview!

The phone interview with Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary Nguyen Thi Bich Thao about citizen protection work at the Ukrainian refugee reception point is an unforgettable memory for VNA reporters in Germany.

For more than 20 years of working as a journalist, pursuing the “career of writing”, having “set foot” in many countries around the world , going through countless cities, even “mastering” the cabinet, leaders of each country and international organization, but all are just news lines, words on paper, only when doing field work, going to new lands, meeting living witnesses… seeing with my own eyes, hearing with my own ears every event, I truly understand, sympathize and feel the hardships of a resident reporter.

Having received the decision to work in the Federal Republic of Germany, the world's leading industrialized country, the largest economy in Europe, many people think that I am really lucky. Yes, lucky because I get to work in a large, beautiful country, with a historical record that not every country has, a different political system, a society with so many special things but also many principles that I have never known.

Moreover, Germany has a fairly large Vietnamese community, with more than 200,000 people, scattered across 16 states.

That was an advantage, but for me, it was a big pressure. As the only female reporter, only half of the family, a mother and a child, went on a business trip. Germany was then in the midst of struggling with measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting used to a new environment, from travel, living to work, applying for school for children and countless other procedures was a difficulty.

Germany entered the parliamentary election with extremely dramatic rounds of competition, a difficult process of forming a government, and a more complicated epidemic situation as it experienced the fourth wave of the pandemic, becoming a big challenge.

Even though I had studied and discussed with professional journalism departments before leaving, for someone who has worked in editing for more than 20 years, anxiety and work pressure are inevitable.

During the first 6 months, work took me away, homesickness and the winter sadness were not as scary as I thought.

The support of the then Resident Office Chief, Mr. Tran Manh Hung, and reporter Vu Thanh Tung made me more confident. Learning and understanding how multimedia reporters work on the field, and then at big conferences, made me gradually independent.

Proficient, proactive, even quite confident when undertaking work in places that can be called “the forefront of the storm”. With a little eagerness, a spirit of learning, a little curiosity, and a desire to learn and explore of a resident reporter, I am not afraid of difficulties.

The near and far business trips with the most successful results made me gradually feel relieved, not as stressed as when I first received the assignment.

But as the old saying goes, "Seeing is believing", theory is always far from reality and books are not necessarily like real life.

The business trip to Frankfurt to report that Bamboo Airways was opening a direct flight between Vietnam and Germany was a big challenge for me.

At that time, the Russia-Ukraine conflict had just broken out. The German government, which was just starting to function and was overwhelmed with work, was facing a new situation.

The direction from the agency's leadership must closely follow the locality, "every move" of any conflict that affects the economy and politics of the host country must be firmly grasped.

The war, which was supposed to end in a few weeks, has not stopped. Two male reporters had to go to Poland to report on the evacuation of Vietnamese people from war zones in Ukraine, especially after the European Union (EU) opened its borders to refugees from Ukraine.

Alone, with the task of both going on business trips and covering local news. Arriving in the European financial center on March 6, 2022, I received a phone call from the headquarters. The agency's leaders requested to interview the Ambassadors of countries where Vietnamese people from Ukraine had taken refuge to update the situation of citizen protection at the Ukrainian refugee reception points.

The information about opening a direct flight route between Vietnam and Germany was no longer a top priority. The impossible task at that time was to immediately connect with the representative agencies involved in receiving Vietnamese citizens.

From some of the leads provided, I quickly contacted and set up a small "studio", complete with microphones, cameras and zooms, just like the theory I learned for online interviews.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary and Croatia Nguyen Thi Bich Thao. (Photo: VNA)

The first phone call to the Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary, Nguyen Thi Bich Thao, requesting to arrange an interview about citizen support and protection activities was flatly refused.

The worry grew when the Ambassador said that the brothers were very busy, the support force was thin, some were on call 24/7, some were organizing food and accommodation, and some were directly coordinating with the community to go to the train station to welcome the refugees who were pouring in more and more. Not only during the day but also at night, the precious time was only enough to sleep, not enough to sit and talk to anyone.

Speaking and breathing heavily, the Ambassador apologized for the inconvenience and promised to answer the interview on a more peaceful day when the support work was complete.

“The darkest place is the brightest,” from the extreme anxiety, immediately, a new solution flashed in my mind. In just a split second, I thought that this was a precious interview, I asked the Ambassador for a few more minutes right on this phone call.

Sitting down on the ground, I took out a pen from my pocket, spoke with my mouth, listened with my ears, and took notes with my hands. I was like a robot, taking notes and asking questions to get as much information as possible.

To be more careful, I quickly turned on the speakerphone to hear clearly, signaling the girl next to me to use her personal phone to record the Ambassador's words. Luckily, before the call, I had time to jot down a few questions to ask, and even though the Ambassador was out on the street and I hadn't returned home yet, the conversation was enough information for me to be able to work.

I ran as fast as I could back to the hotel, removing the tape and writing the article, and finished the news that night to send to the headquarters.

Although I missed the pre-appointment meeting with the team preparing for the opening of the direct flight route Vietnam-Germany, with the support from the organizing committee, I was still on time for the opening ceremony the next day.

At this time, the schedule of a resident reporter, following the correct steps, actually takes place, filming, taking photos, recording, leading the scene, interviewing... are carried out in sequence.

After the event, I packed my luggage and boarded the train back to Berlin. The dark and cold platform already made me feel uneasy, and the announcement of a train delay made the already tired reporter feel even more depressed.

Unable to stand still without worrying, I went down to the station, found a warm corner with enough light to read, I busily turned on the computer, took advantage of the time to remove the tape, and took notes.

After 2 hours, we got on the train. The 7-hour journey to the capital, with 5 hours spent on text editing, image editing and photo cropping.

After nearly two sleepless nights, I completed the task, and my two articles met the requirements of the family. Although I was tired and sometimes felt weak and exhausted, that feeling quickly passed, and I realized that I was still a lucky person.

Compared to war reporters, those who devoted their youth, walked under falling bombs and stray bullets, directly faced danger, and committed themselves to the front lines to convey information, or those who fell on the battlefields, more specifically those “red-blooded, yellow-skinned” compatriots who were fleeing, I am a happy person.

And that precious interview made me appreciate life even more, appreciate and understand more deeply the immeasurable value of peace./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/ky-niem-nghe-bao-hai-dem-khong-ngu-va-cuoc-phong-van-quy-gia-post1061818.vnp