She is one of the BBC’s most famous faces and voices: Lyse Doucet, 67, has accepted the Prix Bayeux’s invitation to chair the jury’s proceedings this coming October. A “great responsibility” that the journalist, herself a winner of the 2014 Prix Bayeux, fully appreciates.
© Lee Durant
Originally from Bathurst in New Brunswick, the Canadian Lyse Doucet proudly celebrates her Acadian roots through her mastery of the French language. However, it is in London that the journalist has been based since 1999, when she joined the BBC’s team of presenters. Her career at the British broadcaster began in 1983: aged 25, having just graduated in international relations, the young Lyse took advantage of the Canadian Crossroads International scheme to undertake a voluntary assignment that took her to West Africa. At the same time, the BBC was opening its first bureau there; she became a freelancer. “I had no experience except a few articles, no money, no contacts, my accent was terrible… Nothing was going right! But I took a risk and it worked! I was in the right place at the right time. ” For Lyse, there was no key moment, no “lightbulb moment” that made her decide to become a journalist. However, a book borrowed from the local library—for which she still has the receipt—reveals an ambition that emerged very early on. The title of the book? “How to Become a Journalist?”…
A thirst to tell stories
From freelance work, Lyse became a correspondent for the BBC. Her job – “the best in the world!” – took her to Islamabad, then to Amman and Jerusalem. Years of travel and discovery during which she learnt that “to tell a society’s story better, you have to understand it and therefore immerse yourself in it”. Telling a society’s story, reporting the news – Lyse has made this her guiding principle. More than an ambition, it is a true way of life that she has embraced. “Being a journalist is a way of approaching life and living life.” By settling in the Middle East, she builds relationships, weaves the network of contacts she lacked upon her arrival, and ultimately forges very strong bonds. “Through covering these regions, they are no longer simply news stories: they are part of our lives. Going to these countries, meeting their people, is like going to places which, in some ways, are our second homes. When we have lived in places that we keep going back to, it gives us a kind of history and hinterland on the story. »
Understanding, not ignoring
So deeply attached to war-torn regions, Lyse naturally focuses on the plight of civilians. Her report “Yarmouk”, produced in 2013 in the besieged Syrian city, earned her a Prix Bayeux. It shows a young boy collapsing amidst the ruins, starving and without hope. “I wanted to show listeners and viewers how war affects the people living through it. I wanted them to understand that, despite the distance, these wars were and are also ours. That a world gone wrong is not the world we all aspire to.” At the heart of these conflicts, Lyse has thus witnessed the worst, but has also sought out and revealed the best in human beings. “I always try to find glimmers of light and hope because I think that all of us need that in order to survive. In times of war, we must show humanity to get through inhumanity.”
A debut novel
To show everyday life in times of war and because “headlines and news reports provide a very small snapshot about people’s lives”, Lyse Doucet has recently explored a new way of storytelling; the seasoned journalist has published her very first book, A Finest Hotel in Kabul, in which she paints a portrait of the Afghan people through the personal stories of four employees at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. “In this book, I talk about Afghans, but it could have been the people of Gaza, Sudan, Iran or Israel. In times of war, people have to find what makes them get up everyday and face the day. In times of war, not only does life go on, but it must go on, because people hold on to whatever is left of their lives, if they can.” From this new experience as an author, which she describes as “positive and gratifying”, Lyse emerges “all the more convinced that the work of journalism, of storytelling writ large, is ever so important in our time: not just the stories we tell, but how we tell them”.
Madam President
And how do we tell the story of what is happening in the world in the age of artificial intelligence and social media? She intends to put this question on the agenda of the next Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award fo War Correspondents, where she will chair the jury. Eager to reunite with her colleagues and friends, to honour the memory of those whose names are engraved on the Reporters’ Memorial, and to engage with the younger generation, Lyse Doucet is preparing very seriously for her role as President. “Winning an award from your own tribe is very special. I know this because I’ve experienced it myself. So I am fully aware of this great responsibility. ” The discussions promise to be rich this autumn in the small French town that foreigners awkwardly pronounce as “Bayou”. Lyse Doucet finds this very amusing! “Bayou, it’s like a bijou, isn’t it?! Bayou, our little bijou! ” Following Ed Vuliamy’s “Oscars of Journalism”, “Bayou, the little bijou of war correspondents” is preparing to welcome one of journalism’s finest gem. A shared honour.
Lyse Doucet is one of the founding members of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network, a network of Arab women journalists. She is also involved with numerous other charities, such as Friends of Aschiana UK, which supports street children in Afghanistan. She has served on the board of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and is currently a member of the International Council for Human Rights (ICHR), based in Geneva.
SOME DATES
1983–1988 – Freelance journalist in West Africa for Canadian media and the BBC
1989–1993 – BBC correspondent in Islamabad, Pakistan
1994 – Opened the BBC bureau in Amman, Jordan
1999 – Joined the BBC’s presenting team
2002 – She was the only journalist to accompany Afghan President Hamid Karzai to his brother’s wedding, during which an assassination attempt took place. She and her team were nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for their exclusive coverage of the assassination attempt
2007 – Named International Television Personality of the Year by the Association for International Broadcasting
2014
– Directed the documentary Children of Syria with filmmaker Robin Barnwell, nominated in the Best Single Documentary category at the 2015 BAFTA Awards
– Prix Bayeux, television category, for her report from Syria, ‘Yarmouk’
– Emmy Award and Peabody Award for her team’s work in Syria
– Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Honours List for her contribution to journalism
2015 – Directed the documentary Children of the Gaza War with filmmaker James Jones
2016 – Receives a Columbia Journalism Award for her body of work
2017 – Receives the Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting award at the International Media Awards. This award is given to journalists whose body of work has fostered a better understanding and, consequently, improved prospects for peace
2018
– Presents the documentary Syria: The World’s War for BBC Two and BBC World
– First episode of Her Story Made History, a five-part series on BBC Radio 4 profiling five remarkable women. The theme is the relationship between women and democracy
– Appointed a Member of the Order of Canada
2021 – Reports extensively from Kabul airport following the Taliban offensive in the country
2022 – Alongside Clive Myrie, she contributes to the BBC’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reporting from Kyiv