Chip Minemyer: Sometimes the journalists who cover wars don't come home

Mar. 17—Nathan Payne learned on Sunday that his friend, journalist Brent Renaud, had given his life covering the war in Ukraine.

Renaud, a filmmaker who had documented conflicts and hardships around the world, was shot to death by Russian soldiers while reporting on the plight of Ukrainian refugees, according to the New York Times.

Photographer Juan Arredondo, an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, was with Renaud at the time and was wounded by gunfire.

Payne, Renaud and Arredondo were all part of the 2019 fellowship class of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Payne, is the executive editor at the Record-Eagle newspaper in Traverse City, Michigan.

The publication is owned by CNHI, also parent company of The Tribune-Democrat.

"Brent knew the risks," Payne said Tuesday. "He had been covering war zones and really hard places for 20 years, and he was good at it."

The Times said Renaud, 50, was the first American journalist killed covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine — and likely the first international reporter to die on assignment there.

According to the Nieman Fellowship website, Renaud was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, who began his career covering the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the wars to follow in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Over the years, his work took him to Haiti, Central America, Egypt and other points, where he tackled topics such as climate change, poverty, famine and war.

"Brent was really interested in the people he reported on, whether it was state-side or not," Payne said. "That really showed in his work. People really trusted him."

He added that Renaud was fearless. "I've seen some video of him in Iraq where people are ducking for cover, and Brent's standing up rolling," Payne said.

In paying tribute to Renaud, Nieman said he was documenting the surge of refugees fleeing their homes as the Russian army advanced and bombs fell.

Renaud provided Ukrainians with iPhones so that they "could record their journey wherever it took them," Nieman said on its website.

"Brent was one of the rare breed who wants to be there, because he knew if he didn't go, no one else would," Payne said. "That put him in some really difficult places."

He said: "A lot of people knew Brent's work, that he was an excellent documentary filmmaker. But a lot of people didn't know about the intrinsic drive that put him in those places. ... He wanted to be where something was happening that he thought the world needed to see."

The Nieman class mem- bers were networking in an effort to get Arredondo out of Ukraine — and to bring Renaud's body back to his family, Payne said.

"We're really concerned about getting Juan home safely," Payne said. "He's still in Ukraine. He's been through a few surgeries."

Payne said the Nieman group last got together for New Year's in 2020 — right before the pandemic hit.

"We all put off those things we wanted to say," he said. "I think a lot of us are regretting that."

Renaud's colleagues shared memories with the Nieman website, calling Renaud a talented and dedicated professional who was also compassionate and empathetic about the stories he shared.

"He was one of the most thoughtful people I've ever met, and I know a lot of people I know feel the same way," Payne said.

And: "On Sunday, we spent a lot of time being reporters, trying to find out as much as we could. Then (Monday) was the day it really just settled in."

Sometimes journalism is a dangerous profession.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that eight journalists have been slain this year in Mexico, covering conflicts involving cartels and the drug trade and logging's impact on the monarch butterfly's breeding grounds.

Fox News confirmed on Tuesday that videographer Pierre Zakrzewski, 55 — a veteran of conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, according to the Associated Press — had been shot and killed in Ukraine on Monday.

In 2006, the New York Times reported that 71 journalists had been killed in Iraq since 2003, along with two dozen members of news media support staff, citing data from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Freedom Forum reported that 63 journalists died covering the conflict in Vietnam, 17 in Korea and 69 during World War II, the Times said.

There will be more as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues — and as reporters rush in to tell the story.

"Brent probably spent more time in war zones than a lot of soldiers," Payne said. "But there are no flag-draped caskets for journalists."

Chip Minemyer is the editor and general manager of The Tribune-Democrat and TribDem.com, GM of The Times-News of Cumberland, Md., and CNHI regional editor for Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina. He can be reached at 814-532-5091. Follow him on Twitter @MinemyerChip.