NPR hosts share their experiences covering the war in Ukraine

Since February, NPR has had a rotating team of hosts, producers, reporters and editors in Ukraine and surrounding countries, covering the war and the stories of people who are affected by it. Social Media Associate Sommer Hill sat down with a few hosts to talk about their experiences: Mary Louise Kelly in Ukraine and Georgia, Michel Martin in Moldova and Romania, A Martínez in Ukraine and Ari Shapiro in Poland.

Planning for a reporting trip

When it comes to strategizing their reporting approaches, all four hosts agreed that flexibility is key when reporting from the ground in rapidly-changing situations. "You don't fly into a war zone with the notion that you're going to do beautifully crafted, polished stories, or investigative enterprise pieces," said Mary Louise. "But you have an idea of the kind of people you want to talk to and places you want to go. I'm just trying to let people taste it, smell it, wander the streets and hear from people. And sometimes you walk into an interview and you think it's going to be about one thing, and then they tell you something as a total random aside, and you realize that's the story. That's what people are going to remember."

Michel emphasized the importance of keeping your mind open to the stories you find. "We did reporting before we left because the trip came up very quickly and we did seek guidance from people about some of those issues. But some of the guidance we received was just inaccurate. There were stories about people being kept segregated, and certain conditions. And it turns out that a lot of the things that we had been told were just not true. So I think you can go with a set of questions, but I think you're setting yourself up for trouble if you go with a set of answers, because then