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Nora Fernandez Fernandez
Last February, journalist Laura de Chiclana received the APM Award for Young Journalist of the Year 2022. In addition, Forbes magazine included her in its Forbes 30 Under 30 Spain list for the same reason: the great work she has done as a war correspondent. It has been developing for several months from Ukraine.
According to the young journalist (28 years old), “since I was a child I have wanted to dedicate myself to this type of journalism, it has always been my dream. I have been doing conflict journalism for 7 years, covering other confrontations in other areas, but this is the first time I have experienced a war at this level”.
Graduated in journalism in her hometown, Seville, she chose the Master's Degree in Television Reporting from the URJC to continue training, although, for her, "a real journalist is trained on the street." “Although it is necessary to learn some basic tools, you need to go out and shoot, because the basics that are learned in the classroom change in practice. I, for example, learned a lot of things in the master's degree that I missed in my degree and from here, from Ukraine, I remember a lot of advice from teachers that I try to apply”, says the young woman.
After nine months on the front, specifically in the Donbas area, De Chiclana acknowledges that there are moments that are really hard: “Many people tell me that I will be having a terrible time seeing the dead and wounded, and of course that shocks you and shocks you. , but what hurts me the most is the people I leave behind when I move to another place, because I can leave, but to see how the soldiers and civilians have to stay there, suffering, that is really hard”.
However, and this is one of the reasons why he has always “adored” this type of journalism, “it is exciting to see with my own eyes what happens, to be part of history. In addition, it is gratifying to be able to help in my own way, which is to give a voice to those who do not have a voice and tell the stories that are truly being lived here, tell the story of the population, the people, and that what these people experience is known. here".
As a freelance, Laura de Chiclana took her equipment and decided to go to Ukraine, “knowing how complicated it was going to be, where I was getting into and aware of everything I was leaving behind”. There are many days that “are very complicated, you have mixed feelings and you have to be cold-blooded and afraid at the same time, because fear is basically the survival instinct alerting you, what makes you survive”.
Despite the hard and sad moments, from Chiclana “I would take the same steps that have led me here. In these situations you learn a lot, you become even more human, you grow as a person, you see life in a different way… I do not regret having worked and continuing to work at the front, because it is my thing, it is my passion”.
Now awarded as Young Journalist of the Year by the APM, the Sevillian received the news with great surprise, since “there are many journalists who have also been to Ukraine and I would never have expected to be the one to win it. I have always followed my path, my line, for me this is work and I am very grateful that they have noticed it and that it has an impact, that is that I have done something well ”.
Lastly, the young journalist points out that, like everything else, war reporting has something positive and something negative: “we can all imagine the negative, but the positive far outweighs it. This type of journalism is a pure and hard vocation, regardless of all the bad things, this work implies a feeling of drive that drags you to want to do it, that tells you that it is worth it”. For this reason, from Ukraine, Laura de Chiclana assures that her intention is to stay there for a few more months, at least until summer.
