“I was a certified coward while reporting from War Zones", says Sir Trevor McDonald at Advertising Week Europe
Sir Trevor McDonald has admitted that he was a “certified coward” during his time reporting from war zones and that he “hated the thought” of being shot in a foreign country.
Speaking to ITN political editor Tom Brady at Advertising Week Europe about the risks that journalists are often exposed to, McDonald said that during his time reporting in dangerous situations in Beirut and Belfast he was often terrified of being harmed.
“I hated guns and bombs and bullets. I remember once in Beirut I could see a lot of these armed fighters and they were festooned with all the paraphernalia, and I said to one guy ‘ I hear that you were shooting all night, what’s that like?’ And he said, ‘I’ll show you,’ and about half a dozen of them started shooting and I ran a mile.”
McDonald added, however, that he was “addicted” to reporting from difficult situations because he wanted to be seen and for viewers to see "what he could do".
He also spoke about interviewing prisoners on death row which he described as “very difficult” and explained how he was “fascinated in a curious way” about them. McDonald added that he found it difficult to forget about them at the end of the day.
“I lived with them for too long. If you spend every day in prison it warps your head a little bit, I found the whole business of incarcerating people for so long very hard, I couldn’t get my mind around it.”
Speaking about meeting iconic political figures such as Nelson Mandela and Saddam Hussein, McDonald said that there was a “real theatre” around his Saddam Hussein interview and described the former Iraqi dictator's regime as “a pernicious isolation that would do the county no good”. He added that Nelson Mandela was “by far the most extraordinary person” he had ever met and described him as “almost perfect”.