Typically, journalists are interested in covering the news, not becoming the news. But when veteran CBC reporter Sasa Petricic was detained in Turkey along with his colleague Derek Stoffel, their arrest became their network’s lead story.
Currently a reporter for the CBC-TV’s The National, Petricic has won a number of awards for his coverage, including a 2005 Canadian Radio and Television News Directors’ Association Award for his work in Rwanda. Post City Magazines spoke with him from Jerusalem.
Why were you and Derek Stoffel arrested?
I started just taking some pictures in Taksim Square of city workers taking a barricade down. (They weren’t very exciting pictures.) Then a man on the street in plainclothes accosted us, and the police got involved. Apparently we were interfering with the city’s work crew and resisting arrest, which was kind of news to us.
How come you tweeted the word “arrested” instead of making a good, old-fashioned phone call?
It was quite difficult to understand exactly what was going on. We were in custody, and it looked like we were headed for the main police station, but beyond that, who knew? I figured somebody needed to know what was happening, and the easiest thing was to send out a tweet.
In the end, you were only held for about 12 hours. Why did they let you go so quickly?
I suspect that, at the end of the day, the diplomatic hassle just wasn’t worth it for them. A number of things that happened that day in Ottawa showed that Canada’s political system was paying attention to this, wasn’t happy about it and wanted the Turkish government to be very clear if they wanted to pursue this.
And in your career, you’ve covered the Rwandan genocide, the Southeast Asian tsunami, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan before becoming a Middle East correspondent?
War zones are tough. I think, overall, the period I’ve had in the Middle East has been the most challenging. These are areas of unrest and instability. There are lots of weapons in the Middle East. There’s lots of suspicion of foreigners and lots of attention paid to foreign journalists.
Do you think you’ll remain in the Middle East for good?
I will likely end up moving back to Toronto once my global adventures are over … whenever that might be. I still consider it the most livable big city in the world. (And I’ve seen most of the others!)
What’s your take on the situation in Egypt right now?
Egypt is at a crossroads. It has clearly put its experiment with the Islamists aside, but it’s not yet clear if it will continue with the military calling the shots or if it will transition to a truly civilian government anytime soon. For most Egyptians, stability has become the number one priority, so directions which might have been unthinkable a year ago now seem possible, maybe even preferable.