Fox’s Hemmer Back From Haiti: “Never Been So Proud To Be An American”

Mediaite: While you were in Haiti, there were some writers, some people say unfairly, that took TV doctors and reporters to task for getting too close to the story, for becoming part of the story. What do you think of that charge?

Hemmer: You do your best to separate emotions from the facts, and if you feel that you need to aid and assist that’s a personal choice you make. I think the difference on this story, frankly, is the need is so great you could stop every hour of every day to help somebody. If you make the decision to help them or if a medical doctor feels it’s necessary to get involved, I’m not going to argue. Especially if you’re a doctor. I can understand. If you’re their last chance, that’s a powerful decision you make to turn your back.

“At the end of the day you close your eyes and all the images come flooding through your head. I found myself opening my eyes deliberately – I didn’t want to go back to what I considered very dark places.”

Mediaite: What is the thing you hope viewers take away most about the situation there?

Hemmer: I have never been so proud to be an American. I’ve spoken to some colleagues about, why that can be, in a circumstance like that. When the military arrived, these guys have been in war for nine years, training for a decade, when they stepped off the runway they are in charge and they make everyone else look like minor leagues. When you pull out that American passport it is like an all-access pass. So many would trade their position with you immediately. As a reporter go to these places, report the facts we see and find, sometimes report on the emotions and how it effects so many we know. When we fly in we have the option to fly out. Perhaps that’s what makes all the suffering bearable at the end of another long day.

Mediaite: You’ve been to war zones, covered Katrina. What differentiates this story from other dangerous or tragic ones?

Hemmer: Just the interaction you have with human beings whose need is so great. And knowing how raw this story played out, it cannot help but affect you. When you know amputations are taking place in a field below you, without anesthesia or proper medical tools, not only do you feel for those suffering through it but you feel for their family members.

Mediaite: Is there an image, or a moment that you will take away personally?

Hemmer: Too many. At the end of the day you close your eyes and all the images come flooding through your head. I found myself opening my eyes deliberately – I didn’t want to go back to what I considered very dark places.

(This has been edited for length and clarity.)

• Tomorrow’s “Back From Haiti” Q&A is with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien.

Here’s a look at one of Hemmer’s reports from earlier this week:

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