由伊朗回來後，這個多兩個星期都忙着寫關於黎巴嫩的文章、或者搞示威。自己是做國際新聞出身的，也不是不知道凡是與以色列和巴勒斯坦有關的新聞，根本很難連續關注下去。當你第一天拿來做頭條、第二天也拿來做頭條，第三天你老細就會問，你除了死多咗人之外仲有咩新point。他這樣說的意思並不是真的叫你想新角度，而是請你換一比較「吸引」的頭條。譬如，美國會唔會發生咗一單很轟動的槍擊案呢？之類。
記得在電台工作的日子，有次一位新同事不知道如何寫一條以軍突襲加沙還是西岸的短稿，老細就說，學寫國際新聞，第一樣要學的就是寫以巴故仔，然後佢就好快咁「車」﹝對，寫稿跟車衫係一樣，新聞界都是這樣說﹞咗一條出黎。「車」衫的說法其實暗示了一點，所有這些稿子都是大同小異。「以軍今晨再次突然加沙北部一個難民營，打死了十名巴勒斯坦武裝分子，另外有五名平民受傷。以軍表示，襲擊是要報復早前有武裝分子由加沙北部向以色列城鎮發動火箭炮攻擊，造成兩名平民喪生。」以上的消息是我諗都唔使諗就老作出來，可見我的「車」衫技巧有番咁上下。
但如果你問我老細，喂你「車」咗十幾年以巴衝突，咁你到底知唔知發生緊乜野樹？佢係答唔到你的。但電台和電視台的新聞時段夠多，所以見到以巴新聞或者伊拉克爆炸都會當寶，馬上寫馬上出，因為易「車」，在電台報兩節，夠了，稿子就扔進垃圾筒。
你問用這種心態去報以巴或者伊拉克新聞，對大眾認識件事有冇用？冇用的，但想深一層，又會有意想不到的作用﹝詳情見下﹞。有一個在大學教書的人講了一個笑話。有個同事面試學生，問佢畢業後想做乜，同學答：記者。咁老師就追問，咁你可唔可以講下對近排時事的睇法？同學答：近排冇留意新聞。老師不放棄，再追問，咁你對最近中東的局勢有乜睇法。同學說出了終極的答案：「亂囉。」我想，這位日後想當記者的同學，就是在搭小巴或者搭火車的時候，無意中聽到新聞廣播，然後耳濡目染，呀，巴勒斯坦、以色列、黎巴亂，「亂囉」。可能有一日，佢不幸地做咗譯國際新聞翻譯，咁......
我覺得如果大家學會從一個打工仔的心態去了解做新聞的人，就會比較明白新聞為何是這樣報道。如前所述，一個做電視台或做電台的人，之所以很喜歡報以巴或者伊拉克的新聞，不是因為他個人很關心這件事，或者他認為這單新聞很重要，而只不過是這樣的新聞最易「車」，又最易明。大家都不會花心思去研究一d難明的故仔，譬如世貿貿易糾紛、或者涉及很複雜的法律問題，或者要查很多字典的。電子傳媒是這樣，報紙是另一個樣。電台新聞是一個允許重複再重複的地方，因為電台新聞很多時都被當作是聊備一格的背景聲音，你講乜，冇乜所謂。相反報紙雜誌是講求新鮮的地方，講求gimmick的地方，所以他們對以巴、印巴、阿富汗、伊拉克這些長期的衝突通通避之則吉。他們會說，嘩，今日唔係靜成咁呀，要搵以巴做頭條？而他們大部分人和做電子傳媒的都一樣，不會深究那些長期衝突的歷史背景，不會有自己的史觀。如果真的被逼要做，具體的策略是迴避歷史問題﹝不過通訊社好體貼的，佢地會經常寫一些很簡短的歷史稿俾人抄﹞，報最簡單的事實，再搭一兩條現場稿、加個timeline，收工。
想起來，以色列和美國這些長期的逼害者，與上述的新聞工作秩序可謂相輔相成，或者說他們逼害的手法正正孕育出這樣的報道手法。當他們需要你報的時候，就劇烈地搞一輪，像油炸新鮮薯條，沙沙聲，咁全世界的傳媒就會一窩蜂去報一兩日，或者一兩個星期。譬如以色列這次在黎巴嫩大開殺戒，我好懷疑，目的是為了逼國際社會派兵到黎巴嫩，解決真主黨﹝因為以色列的惡霸形象已經深入民心，佢殺幾百個黎巴嫩人都唔使負責任，仲可以賴係真主黨呢個恐怖組織害死佢地﹞。他們不想你報的時候，就像慢火煎，每日在加沙殺幾個、每日破壞一d民房、每日破壞一d基礎設施，令除了受苦的巴勒斯坦人之外，所有人都將暴行習慣化，變成全世界小巴的背景聲音。香港人就是很成功的例子了，你問他們以巴衝突，他們只能說出一個「亂」字。
然而，灰的是，就算你是有心有力的記者，跑到加沙或者黎巴嫩去採訪，又或者反戰反到唔要條命去做人盾﹝譬如之前的伊拉克﹞，長期的壓逼和長期的暴力會令所有人很累很累，變得好像和香港那些國際新聞從業員無分別﹝但真的無分別嗎？﹞。從東南西北看到這段post，講當所有記者都湧到黎巴嫩後一個剩在加沙工作的攝影師的感想：
All and all, I have it pretty easy here. My hotel has a generator that runs 24-7, while most Gazans have electricity only a few hours a day, if that. The IDF bombed the main power station a few weeks ago, and it looks like it might take years to fix. My hotel even has wireless Internet and hasn't yet run out of food, which is served on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. (Gaza has the sweetest strawberries in the world.) More important, I can leave whenever I want to, something most Palestinians can't do. If I decide that I want to see the opening night of my boyfriend's play, or catch a Red Sox game or attend my mother's 60th birthday party at a Connecticut casino, I can.
But most of the time, I'm happy to stay. The nights are not as much fun as they were before the foreign press corps picked up and left en masse for Lebanon and Haifa, but I enjoy my days more now that the streets are not clogged with other reporters. Although international attention has shifted to Lebanon, the violence here continues unabated, so there's plenty to do. And the Gazans generally treat me with warmth and courtesy. They see the foreign press as a lifeline—a chance to tell the world their story. Almost everybody believes that the world will listen.
I have my doubts. Polaris, my agency, sends me plenty of e-mails reassuring me that my pictures are not being sent out into a void, but the outside world doesn't seem all that interested in making the shelling stop. My politics are pretty simple. Killing people is bad. Killing civilians is worse. Killing children is an obscenity—whether it's the Katyusha rockets that killed two kids playing in their yard in Nazareth or the 6-year-old girl killed in her house in Shajiya. But no one in charge of this conflict has much to gain by stopping it. With each new atrocity, the extremists on both sides gain greater strength. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has never been more popular in Israel, and Palestinians are hunkering down behind Hamas.
I asked one of my best friends, a local AP photographer, how he was doing and he said, "Work is good. The situation is kharra (shit)." That pretty much sums up life here. It's the essential contradiction of what I do. If my kid were killed, I wouldn't want some grimy little snapper sticking her lens in my face, but I do that to people every day. I don't beat myself up for it, either. I'm here to work, not to watch or to hold their hand and experience their pain. And it's my job to show that the shelling leaves real people, crying real tears, over their really dead sons and daughters. ﹝http://www.slate.com/id/2146770/﹞
睇下巴勒斯坦，就算由一九六七年計起也四十年了，而情況居然是愈來愈差。由以色列和巴勒斯坦共同立國的聯合國決議到二千年的和談，西方和以色列的策略都是，「嗱，你依家唔應承這個方案，第陣時只會更壞，不會更好。」而他們是講得出做得到。第一次中東戰爭，以色列已經將大片原來屬於巴勒斯坦的土地搶去，六七年連加沙和西岸都食埋，到依家話俾巴勒斯坦人立國，但又在西岸先挖一大舊殖民區，將耶路撒冷也搶去。幾百萬巴勒斯坦難民更唔使旨意返屋企。
●●●
我成日都係咁，本來這是一篇講昨日反戰示威的民間報道，結果又飛到無雷公咁遠。不過我和阿藹的想法都是一樣。對於上星期一和昨日的示威，重點在於這件事進不了主流傳媒的視角裏。昨晚睇有線新聞，嘩，報的是解放軍少年營學員畢業，除了很多人戴眼鏡這點特徵外，真的看不出這是香港，而那些都是香港的精英中學男生。很有暗示的報道啊。
昨日的示威，有百多人來到，是上星期一野貓行動的好幾倍。有不同膚色的朋友，亦有來自黎巴嫩的朋友，有工人，有詩人。我們有很搶眼的banner、黎巴嫩的旗幟「第一次」在香港飄揚、有情理兼備的詩歌和聲明。有菲律賓朋友發言，說到在黎巴嫩有三萬名菲律賓勞工，他們不像西方人那樣有錢有面，可以隨時撤走。他們現在的遭遇如何？我不由得想起由聯合國通訊社發的報道：
LEBANON-LIBERIA: LEBANON-LIBERIA: Lebanon Diary, Part VI
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
BEIRUT, 30 July (IRIN) - Saide Chaar and 22 other Liberians and
Lebanese-Liberians have been seeking a way out of Beirut for more than two
weeks. They are among about 50 Liberians trapped in the besieged city.
Liberia has no embassy in Lebanon to evacuate them.
Chaar, 25, and his family were evicted from the one-bedroom apartment
they were staying in because the landlord said there were too many
people staying there. They have found another one-bedroom flat but the
landlord there is also urging them to move on.
IRIN has been documenting the plight of Chaar and his family through
daily phone conversations that are published in narrative form. IRIN
spoke with Chaar's fiancˍ, Marcelle Bedran, 19, on Sunday and compiled Part
6 of an ongoing diary of life in besieged Beirut.
30 July 2006 - We're just stressed out today. The situation, we don't
know what to think anymore. Things are getting worse by the hour.
Today we got news that protesters in Beirut broke into the UN office.
And the air strike in Qana this morning where the civilians died - it
was disgusting. The most surprising thing is even the ones in the
basement underground got killed and most of them were women and children. It
was so heartbreaking to see them taking the babies out, the little
children. It was sickening.
Right now everybody is so tense in the house. Everybody is arguing.
Some people want to go back home but the city is not safe.
The roads are risky. You just see the war tanks. It's just strange when
you live in a city and all of a sudden you see war tanks going by,
soldiers passing by. And the guns in their hands look so scary, even if
they're not talking to you.
Israel is so full of surprises; you never know what is going to happen
next. It's like we're just sitting on eggs waiting for them to crack or
waiting for them to hatch.
The city is dead. The only area you can see civilians is where we are
now in the eastern side of the city. Everybody left their houses in a
rush and we didn't get our clothes and things. We tried to get back to
the houses but we couldn't make it. We just turned around and came back.
The road was terrifying. Because we are foreigners they will just see
you and pick on you. If you appear Lebanese they won't do anything to
you. But if they see a little bit of colour they try to take advantage of
you.
First of all they'll ask you for your documents. They'll just try to
find any little mistake. They'll just waste your time and ask you one and
a million questions - stupid questions that don't have stupid answers
even. Sometimes they'll ask you to come down to the station to verify
your documents. Then you have to wait for hours and you'll see 30 to 40
people just waiting and then they'll just tell you, you can leave.
The landlord came last night. He asked when we are leaving, why we had
not left yet. We told him that it was because we had not found anywhere
to go yet and that he should please be patient with us. He's being
very impatient and being very aggressive, especially because we are not
Lebanese.
What he's doing then this week is he's cutting the water. (Then) we
cannot wash dishes, we cannot take a shower, we have to take buckets
through other people's houses to take water.
I am in university. I paid around 1,800 dollars, a whole down-payment,
for the whole summer. That's all gone in vain. That is my biggest loss
right now. I feel very bad about it because we had been attending for
three weeks only and then this war broke out. The universities are going
to take a very long time to open. Everybody is leaving the country.
They won't have enough students to start. I was doing social work,
psychology and sociology.
(Tomorrow) as soon as we get up, like 6, we have to go look for help
somewhere. We have to get up and be on our feet to see what we can do. We
don't know what to do. Because they closed the border between Lebanon
and Syria our only chance is by ship. We're going to try and keep
praying that God opens our way.
慶幸這世上還有這樣的媒體。
另一件慶幸的事性質有點不同。之前和香港某傳媒集團的行政總裁吃午飯。佢話，依家個社會係咁運作架啦：乜都透過吸引傳媒報道黎煲大﹝真係明白點解咁多有錢佬要搞傳媒﹞。然後佢教我點樣點樣可以向傳媒sell到乜野故仔，點樣可以一雞幾味。我聽到後，忽然間覺得很有希望，因為我清楚地看到那是一種怎樣的利益聯盟，清楚看到我們身處在怎麼樣的社會。他們志得意滿的圖象中沒有包括我，和很多像昨天出來反戰的朋友，於是，他們也不會知道，終有一天這股力量會突然爆發出來，一發不可收拾。
於是，雖然沒有主流傳媒來報道昨天的示威，但我沒有阿藹的憤怒，反而有點自以為是的高興了。
其他行動照片可見：http://www.flickr.com/photos/23553050@N00/sets/72157594217211354/with/201889178/
阿藹的評論可見：http://www.inmediahk.net/public/article?item_id=137450&group_id=53