La Voz

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Nitzan Beck John Glionna (right), L.A. Times journalist and longtime friend of De Anza College instructor Brad Kava (left), recently returned from an assignment in Pakistan.

After traveling to Pakistan, growing a beard and receiving threatening phone calls, John Glionna, a reporter for the L.A. Times, came to De Anza as a guest speaker to talk about his career as a journalist. Glionna has also traveled to China for the L.A. Times, where he has worked for 19 years.

Traveling to countries like Pakistan isn't as safe as it once was for reporters. "When I was in Pakistan in 2005, it was less dangerous. [Danger] really had not spilled into Pakistan."

In 2005, Glionna was sent to Pakistan to cover the earthquake in Kashmir. In 2008 he was sent for a second time for a month to cover for one of the journalists. He said there were a couple of times where he woke up in the middle of the night to answer his cell phone only to hear a voice yelling at him in Urdu. "I told somebody about it and they had somewhat of a concern that it could be a dangerous thing." He said some people get death threats over the phone.

Glionna grew a beard each time he was in Pakistan because "most men in Pakistan have a beard." He also didn't make any eye contact with people. "I certainly didn't make any eye contact with women."

Glionna's visa limited him to three cities: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. He had an opportunity to travel to Peshawar, but decided not to because if caught, it would make the career of the journalist he was substituting for much harder.

Glionna is a firm believer in not taking risks. When he was in Karachi, the city associated with the death of journalist Daniel Pearl and a large number of Islamic extremists, he hired a driver instead of walking two blocks from his hotel to a restaurant. "I felt that unsafe … walking on the streets," said Glionna. "I thought the ice was too thin to walk because you never know when a bad thing is going to happen."

Although he doesn't believe in taking risks, he doesn't believe one should dwell on the fear of being killed. "I don't dwell on stepping on a land mine or getting killed by an IED. I don't think about it. If it happens, it happens," he said. "It's like stage fright. My stage fright is going some place and not being able to do the story."

Continued...

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