A TCU alumna returns from covering the war in Ukraine: What's next
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Update: April 8, 2022
Back from Lviv, what's next
TCU alum Lena Blietz spent three nights in Lviv, Ukraine covering the war. Blietz and the freelance journalist group she was traveling with crossed the border with a group of people who were providing supplies for the military. They couldn’t cross the border on their own because they couldn’t take their rental car across.
“Even as a journalist, like, I've covered crime and death and horrible things before, and sometimes that can be surreal," Blietz said. "But actually being in a country that is at war and especially being in a city that is not under siege, but it's still in that country that's at war is kind of impossible to describe."
Blietz said air raid sirens go off if anything is detected in the entire region of Lviv, so the sirens warn of possible attacks sometimes over 50 miles away.
In the center of Lviv, people were eating at cafes and walking their dogs down the street, Blietz said.
“Everyone I talked to in Lviv, even if they were from Lviv and they were safe, it was like, every single person in the country is being affected,” Blietz said. She talked to people who were helping refugees find safe places to go, people who knew someone who was fighting in the war or could be called to at any time and people who lost multiple people to the war.
@lenablietz the alert is for the entire Lviv region and we’ve only received one per day #airalert #airraidsiren #airraidalert #airraidshelter #airraidukraine #ukraine #lviv #lvivcity #ukrainewar #russianinvasion #AFairShotWithBlock #GameTok ♬ original sound - Lena Blietz
Blietz said one of the hardest things was watching families say goodbye to one another at the border of Poland and Ukraine. A mother and son said goodbye to their husband and father who stayed back to fight. A woman evacuated from Kyiv with her baby, leaving her husband, a police officer.
This is Nicole.
— Lena Blietz (@LenaBlietz) April 3, 2022
She’s crossing the Polish border with her mom after they fled Kyiv.
Nicole’s dad is a police officer and must stay. pic.twitter.com/kKAHU0rCK6
“I think I mentally let my guard down for like a moment,” Blietz said. “And it's like, ‘no, just because you're at the border that doesn't mean that things are going to be different or safe.’”
Instead of publishing content while she was in Lviv, Blietz spent her time interviewing as many people as she could. She talked to people while browsing through stores and while waiting in line for coffee.
“A lot of the kind of interviewing and information gathering I did was using Google Translate to talk to people and just gather information,” Blietz said.
Blietz said is going to focus on telling the stories of Ukrainians who have stayed in Ukraine. She said one of the most important things when interviewing people was being conscious of the fact that these people have been inundated with reporters in their city for over five weeks, and they are extremely fatigued.
“I talked to one man who had gone to Lviv from eastern Ukraine, and he was showing me videos of actual explosions that he saw,” Blietz said. Adding, “I talked to a woman who was 19, who's from Lviv, and she's already lost two friends to the war, and, I mean, she's only 19-years-old.”
Blietz is going to tell the stories of what it was like to be in Lviv with all the refugees going through the city, focusing on how people tried to help them and how it impacted their lives, she wants to talk about the level of pride that Ukraininas have for their country and she wants to tell stories about people living in Lviv with friends that have died or friends that are off fighting and what that experience has been like for them.
@lenablietz Russia has not bombed #lviv, but life is not normal. #ukrainewar #ukraine #glorytoukraine #lvivcity #EasyWithAdobeExpress #BigComfy #ukraineupdate #reporter ♬ original sound - Lena Blietz
“One of the first people that I asked using Google Translate what it was like having refugees come through Lviv just burst into tears,” Blietz said. “I didn't realize how personal that question was going to be for some people. After that I did a lot more to when I would ask questions to preface like, ‘Hey can I ask you some questions about the refugees?,’ or 'Can I ask you some questions about what's going on?'”
Blietz met a 15-year-old TikToker whose dad is fighting in the war. He has been making videos to teach other people about what’s going on in Ukraine.
“We are very friendly people unless we are disturbed.”
— Lena Blietz (@LenaBlietz) April 3, 2022
This 15-year-old from Lviv explains how he’s using TikTok to tell the world about the war and his people — all while his father is fighting in Eastern Ukraine.
Story to follow. pic.twitter.com/7lfKzPCSTF
She met a man who is an only child who evacuated from his home in Eastern Ukraine. His parents refused to leave.
She is going to share their stories too.
@lenablietz p.s. lviv is beautiful #ukraine #ukrainewar #lvivcity #lviv #glorytoukraine #ukraineupdate #ukraineliveupdate ♬ original sound - Lena Blietz
Ukrainians do not hold back with their patriotism pic.twitter.com/D4HPxAIHSb
— Lena Blietz (@LenaBlietz) April 2, 2022
1:31 p.m. March 31, 2022:
Entering Ukraine, headed for Lviv
Blietz and the freelance group are sitting at a checkpoint waiting to enter Ukraine. They plan to drive to Lviv by Thursday night, which is 90 minutes from the checkpoint.
Lviv is in Western Ukraine, 50 miles from the border of Poland. An estimated 200,000 people have fled their hometowns to find safety in Lviv since Russia invaded Ukraine. But on Saturday Russian rockets struck the city.
On Friday, they plan to meet up with a group of doctors and nurses with an organization called Condos for Kids, Blietz said.
Prior to Russia invading Ukraine, the organization helped Ukrainian children with medical issues get adopted. Now they are helping children who have lost both parents get to safe houses in Ukraine.
Blietz will also be looking for other stories. They plan to report from Lviv until April 3.
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The border of Poland and Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Lena Blietz
The border of Poland and Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Lena Blietz
@lenablietz follow me for my reporting on the war in Ukraine! #ukrainewar #ukraine #ukrainiansinpoland #ukraineborder #GameTok #polandtiktok #polandbest ♬ Miami, My Amy - Keith Whitley
@lenablietz you can also follow my twitter and IG accounts to check for posts (@lenablietz for both). #ukrainewar #ukraine #ukraine #livereportingukraine #warcoverage #lviv #lvivukraine #lvivtiktok ♬ Tom's Diner - AnnenMayKantereit & Giant Rooks
March 29, 2022:
En route to cover the war in Ukraine: Her prep, her goals and her fears
She packed a sleeping bag, granola bars, water purification tablets, fleece leggings for the freezing temperatures and a bulletproof vest. By Wednesday morning, she will be in Krakow, Poland.
Blietz is headed for Krakow to cover the war in Ukraine.
“There are definitely a lot of stories that haven’t been told simply because a lot of people that are over there are also trying to inform the world with what’s going on more of a macro level and how this is going to inform world politics, and we need a balance of both,” Blietz said. “So I am excited to be able to contribute in ways that are maybe right now underserved. But I am nervous.”
She is traveling with a group of freelance journalists through Accord Media, but she is producing and publishing all of her work independently and self-funding her trip.
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Refugees wait in a queue, after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Refugees wait in a queue, after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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The daily number of people fleeing Ukraine has fallen in recent days but border guards, aid agencies and refugees say Russia's unpredictable war offers few signs whether it's just a temporary lull or a permanent drop-off. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
The daily number of people fleeing Ukraine has fallen in recent days but border guards, aid agencies and refugees say Russia's unpredictable war offers few signs whether it's just a temporary lull or a permanent drop-off. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
@lenablietz send me your story ideas! Support: accordmedia.org #ukrainewar #ukraine #warcorrespondent #fundraising #SmellLikeIrishSpring #UnsealTheMeal ♬ original sound - ❦
Blietz said her focus will be human-interest stories. She plans to visit the subway system where many Ukrainians are sheltering from the warfare.
“So, I'm bringing a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad and everything. And I would love to spend the night down there,” Blietz said.
She also wants to cover the hardships that Polish, Romanian and Slovakian residents are facing as refugees flood their cities. She is interested in visiting small towns in these countries to find out how residents are trying to help even when faced with language barriers and lack of resources.
“I haven't really seen a lot of reporting on how hard is this hitting the Polish people or the Romanian people that were obviously not prepared for this,” Blietz said.
Covering the war on TikTok
In addition to producing text and video stories, Blietz will post coverage to TikTok in hopes of reaching a different audience who may not be following the war via traditional news outlets.
Blietz said one of the biggest challenges is going to be creating more casual content to fit TikTok’s platform without sounding like she is “making light” of the war.
“We're trying to reach the people that aren't being reached,” Blietz said.
Blietz is also taking a film camera to document what she sees.
“We've all seen photos of war and stuff on film from so long ago, and I think it could be interesting to see some of these situations shot the same way,” Blietz said.
@lenablietz first time trying on any #bulletproofvest! please help support my independent freelance reporting in Ukraine through accordmedia.org. #UnsealTheMeal #InstaxChallenge #ukrainewar #ukraine #fundraising #bulletproof #reporter #warcorrespondent ♬ Mission Impossible Theme (Movie Trailer Mix) - Dominik Hauser
Backup plan
Blietz said she is most nervous that she will somehow do more harm than good by being in the way or even just by eating food. She is bringing non-perishable food like granola bars.
“I think the last thing that anyone wants to do as a reporter is take away resources of any kind from the people that need them by going in to do good things but then end up being the people that also need help,” Blietz said.
The group has a backup plan. If it becomes unsafe to travel to Poland, they will stay in Amsterdam, where they have a layover, and find refugees there or in other parts of Europe.
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The prep
Blietz brainstormed story ideas. She bought a bulletproof vest. She packed light. And, she left her parents with a list of her personal information in case she goes missing.
There is only so much she can do to prepare.
A translator is traveling with the freelance group, but language barriers and culture shock are challenges Blietz knows she will face. Blietz bought a Russian pocket dictionary with images to help explain how to say some words.
And while she has experience covering crime, breaking news and local government, she has never covered a war.
“It really takes a lot of gumption to do something like that,” said Judy Slate, who worked with Blietz at a station in Bozeman, Montana, as a senior reporter. “I couldn't imagine myself boarding an airplane and going to cover a war. But she's a confident person, she's confident in her reporting skills and I think she is looking forward to the challenge.”
News junkie
Blietz has always been a news junkie. As a kid, she remembers her dad reading CNN in the morning. Blietz followed suit.
“I started doing that just because I guess I thought that's what people did in the morning,” Blietz said.
But Blietz always wanted to be a sports reporter.
At TCU, Blietz majored in broadcast journalism and minored in political science before graduating in 2015. In 2016, she got her master's degree from the Medill School at Northwestern University with video concentration in the Sports Immersion Program.
She has spent most of her career as a sports reporter, covering hard news in sports. But often, when she has been hired to cover sports, she has also ended up covering news too.
“In a small market, people end up wearing lots of different hats,” Slate said.
Bozeman was Blietz’s first job out of graduate school, and it is where she was first assigned to cover crime.
She has covered national news stories including the Sutherland Springs mass shooting, multiple unsolved murders, police corruption and the Black Lives Matter Protests.
“I think her background in sports and in covering crime both help her equally really in this next endeavor because as a journalist you really have to know how to tell a story,” Slate said.
She also has experience interviewing refugees in San Antonio.
“So I have worked with refugees before, but it's different when you're kind of on your home turf.”
But Blietz said she wants to use the skill set that she has to be able to help people and help spread the truth.
“I’m definitely looking forward to and feeling very passionate about getting to tell the stories of more people,” Blietz said. “And I know that there are a lot of people saying there is enough media there, but there are 2.5 million refugees – not everyone has the same story.”