Catching flak: NBC correspondent knows war up close

On the dust jacket of his book "Breaking News," Martin Fletcher stands atop an armored tank, its menacing gun pointed outward.

It must have been strange for Fletcher not to be in its line of fire. Over a 35-year career, the NBC News correspondent has dodged bombs and bullets everywhere from Somalia to Cyprus, from the Sinai to Afghanistan.

Fletcher is best known for his reporting from the Middle East. Based in Tel Aviv, he has witnessed the bloody chaos following a suicide bombing and sipped tea in the West Bank homes of the terrorists that built the bombs. Along the way, he developed a reputation for courage, fairness and explaining complex issues in terms viewers can understand.

Many of those viewers may not know Fletcher is Jewish.

"I feel great sympathy for the last person I talked to," Fletcher says. "I feel great sympathy for the Palestinians and the Israelis. People pour their hearts out to me, and I made a career out of talking to people at the worst times of their lives."

Fletcher will appear at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center on Tuesday, Nov. 18, in conversation with KQED radio host Michael Krasny.

Born in London to refugees from Nazi-occupied Austria, Fletcher grew up a model British lad, yet was also a bar mitzvah boy who faced anti-Semitism in school. He says because of his athletic skills, the bullies backed off considerably.

Fletcher stresses he did not set out to become a dashing "Scud Stud" war correspondent. He just had a healthy dose of curiosity — and a gift for being in the right place at the right time.

Those places include Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur War (he rode with former Israeli general Ariel Sharon on his campaign across the Sinai Desert), a coup on Cyprus, tribal clashes in sub-Saharan Africa and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. He saw colleagues die in front of him, not to mention countless casualties of war. All that destruction had an impact on him.

"The book has the macho picture on the cover, but I wanted to write about the ethical and moral dilemmas of being a foreign correspondent," Fletcher says. "I tried to use this incredible opportunity [as a reporter] to tell stories of people who need help."

That includes Israelis.

Fletcher is married to an Israeli woman, with whom he made a home in Israel, where he serves as NBC News' Tel Aviv bureau chief and correspondent. The couple's three sons were raised as Israelis, and the oldest has nearly completed his service in the Israel Defense Forces.

Despite his many close encounters with Palestinian terrorists, Fletcher says he was always up front with them about his being a Jew.

"I never pretended," he says. "They all know I'm Jewish. That was the first question they asked, but I never found it an impediment. I've been with these guys when a suicide bombing was announced. They jumped up with their guns and hugged each other, while I sat on the bed."

War correspondents like Fletcher routinely go into battle with the military, and though they don't pull the triggers, they face all the same dangers, experience all the horror. So why isn't there a Walter Reed Hospital to treat journalists with post-traumatic stress disorder?

"Soldiers go crazy afterwards and journalists are crazy before," Fletcher says with a laugh. "There is a huge amount of denial among journalists. I never met a journalist who talks about understanding himself."

After so many decades in the trenches -- literally -- Fletcher says he somehow remains an optimist, even as he awaits his next dangerous assignment. Not so easy when your job involves covering the worst of humanity.

"I could either be horrified by the things people do, or be encouraged by the strength and the resistance of people who suffer," he says. "It's amazing how people bounce back and get on with their lives. I suppose I have chosen to be impressed by the victim."




Martin Fletcher will speak 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18 at the Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. Tickets: $10-$12. Information: (415) 444-8000 or online at marinjcc.org.

"Breaking News" by Martin Fletcher ($24.95, St. Martin's Press, 254 pages)