Seamus Murphy: commitment

Transcript context

…What do you think is the future of Syria? You’ve done work there, right? A lot has changed in the last year. Is there hope? Can you go there now? I think you can. I went there when I really shouldn’t have gone there in 2012. It really looked like it was all over for Assad, and then Russia came in and helped them. I did a small little multimedia piece, and I wrote the script saying that 5,000 people had been killed in 2012. What was the figure at the end of that war? They’re wonderful people. I remember being in Syria in 2007, I think it was. I did a story for a magazine, which was in Lebanon and Syria. We went from Beirut — you could drive just across into Damascus, and it was like going from one planet to another in many ways. People were so honest and friendly. I’m not saying the Lebanese are dishonest, but there was just a very different atmosphere. They were so friendly and just a lovely, lovely, lovely place. Even in 2012, when things were really tough, people were fantastic. The future — I don’t know. I really haven’t been following it. The problem with me is that when I stop doing work in a place, something else is taking my attention, and I’m not very good at keeping up with it. If I was supposed to go to Syria in two days, I would read all I could and get myself informed. I haven’t really been very diligent in keeping up with Syria, I’m afraid. Is that the most danger you’ve been in? Or would you say Nigeria or somewhere else?…

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