David Bloom ~A Tribute To A Reporter~
Apr 06 '03
The Bottom Line Remembering David
WAR IS HELL! We all know that and have been bombarded with the sights and sounds of war since the day this war in Iraq started a few weeks ago. One of the main reasons we have been able to see so up close and personal, with our own eyes, the horrors of war is due to the fact that this war has a new facet, "embedded reporters"… Men and woman who put their own lives in danger to travel with the troops, suffering the same hardships, eating, sleeping and doing everything they do, except the actual fighting.
One of these reporters died today and I have been shocked, stunned and so saddened by this sudden horrific and unnecessary death since the first moment I heard the news this morning when I awoke. I have hardly been able to think of anything else so I thought I write down my thoughts and try to go on with my everyday existence
David Bloom was his name, he worked for NBC and his reports from the fields were as real to us all as if he were around the corner. He took us into the sand storms, the thick red sand that permeated everything around him. He took us on the road and into Baghdad with the 3rd infantry division, (the division my husband belonged to many years ago). His reports were as genuine as he was and I feel as if I have lost a friend.
Just the other night, Friday I think it was, my husband and I were watching his latest broadcast and we commented on how ragged he looked, how the dust was in his hair, on his hands and face and that the looked very tired.. I even kidded and said he looked like he was one of the group on Survivor. He looked that tired to me, that exhausted..
There was a connection between David and my family.. He originally started working for NBC in Miami and was a reporter at the station during the time my daughter worked there producing a news show for them. I had the pleasure of meeting him when she brought me to the studio to see where and how she worked. And, he was an occasional customer of ours in our restaurant when the NBC studio was just a few blocks away... During the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, David was right on the job reporting all the tragedies and events of the storm. Going after looters to ask them how they could steal from neighbors, reporting the need for water and food, interviewing the National Guard as they came to protect the innocents from the vandals… He took the tough stories and sorted them out so we could get a good idea of just what was going on in our community.
When he left to work for the big honchos in New York I always liked to watch him do the stories they gave him to report on, his manner, his clear explanations, his descriptions brought the stories clearer into focus.. He reported some of the biggest stories of our time, from O.J Simpson to the worst story of our time, probably the hardest story, September 11th.... Eventually he hosted the Today weekend show that kept him close to his family, his wife and 3 daughters. Why people like him go into harms way when they don’t have to I’ll never understand but I guess that is not my business...The need to report, to show us the horrors of war or disasters or whatever befalls us humans here on earth takes a special kind of person and one of the best was David Bloom.
I just saw a report by Tom Brokaw, who is in the Middle East now, who said the coronary embolism, or blood clot, that killed David was caused by the close quarters and cramped position he has been in all this time traveling in that Hummer he had been in with the rest of the soldiers..No special vehicle for him, he accepted the risks, the risks that he felt were worth taking to keep us informed as we watch from the safety of our living rooms the horrors of war. He reported with such compassion and empathy it was hard not to feel what he felt, see what he saw and what he experienced..
My heart is heavy for the his loss, the loss of the other reporters that have perished in these last weeks and, of course for the men and woman in our armed forces who have given their lives...My prayers are with the families and friends...My condolences, my prayers, that this will be over soon…before many more lives are lost in the thick red sand.
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