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Interview with Massoud Hossaini Photojournalist
Massoud Hossaini was featured in the film Frame by Frame, directed by Alexandia Bombach, which follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate an emerging and dangerous media landscape. After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, they face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world. Born in Afghanistan and raised in Iran, Massoud Hossaini became a photographer to record the events he was witnessing as a political activist. In 2012 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his heart-breaking image of a girl crying in fear after a suicide bomber’s attack at a crowded shrine in Kabul.
phones and internet are everywhere for all citizens, and even citizens can do this photojournalism. They can be eye witnesses if something happens in front of them and capture the moment and share it on the internet so a lot of people can see and know about the exact time of the happening.
What does it mean to reframe a nation through photojournalism, and why is that important? Well, photojournalism actually is the best and easiest way to transfer the message to the audience. Just imagine that when you take a picture for an event and then reflect or transfer it to the audience, there are not a lot of things needed. It’s not like a video that you have to bring a player for, you just kind of show the picture to the audience through newspapers and a lot of other means. Also, photojournalism is the best way to record the truth. If you all are in one place and something happens, and you take the picture from that event and there is no interruption of the truth, nothing will be changed and you just got that moment and you reflect a hundred persons’ truth by that photo. So that’s why photojournalism is really important in the media. If you see right now, smart
You spoke after a screening of the film about ethics and challenges of reporting. What is the biggest challenge photojournalists face in Afghanistan? The challenge that Afghan photojournalist are facing is first of all security. There are a lot of places which are not easy to go to take pictures and record the truth, and that is certainly because of the unending conflict. Also, here photojournalists don’t have security means like flak jackets and good vehicles to go and record the truth. Government forces sometimes are also a problem for us as they don’t let us go to some areas to report the truth and they try to control certain kinds of information. It sometimes becomes very difficult to report what is happening.
What drives you to continue documenting conflict and human rights violations? Well, it’s not that I always love to do this but I feel responsible to do it because I have a lot of experience. When I reflect and record the war it’s my responsibility to show the two faces of war and violent
people. I am always hoping that when I am showing the two faces of war and violence to all people, probably there will be a day and time when everybody will try to change the situation and try to stop the violence. So, this is my wish and I am doing it because I have to do it, and I have to record it, and I have to show the truth to the people. What words of encouragement would you offer to young and aspiring photojournalists in Pakistan? When I was recently invited to Pakistan by the UN Information Centre during the Human Rights Film Festival for the screening of the documentary “Frame by Frame”, I said there that we all are on the same path and we are in a very bad situation. We have to record the truth as much as we can. We see it with our eye so we record it with our ability. We have to learn from the moment we capture and show to the people and thus try to eliminate the violence through showing such pictures. We have to transfer this message to our society that whatever is going on is wrong, and we have to show the pictures where people are dying. We have to let society know that we have to stop this situation. We can’t let others come and judge us, we have to do it ourselves.
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