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thedrifter
02-05-06, 07:07 AM
Posted on Sun, Feb. 05, 2006
Q&A
Journalists in the war zone
Kansas City Star - Feb 05

The Star asked some of its staff members to share their thoughts on working in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are some of the questions and answers. For more, go to KansasCity.com.

Jim Barcus

Barcus, a photojournalist, was embedded with the 82nd Airborne Division during the invasion of Iraq. He went back in 2004.

Q: Why not pull out the media when the danger is too great?

It’s up to the journalist to decide how much they’re willing to risk. There’s no journalist being forced to go over there. We were all very well informed about what could possibly happen, and it was our own decision to be there. I think the public wants us over there.

Q: Talk a little about your preparations.

The real preparation was talking to yourself in your mind on why you’re going over there, so you won’t hate yourself for going over there and putting yourself in that position. You also need to make sure your editors know that you’re only going over there for a certain amount of time. The editors will ask a lot of things out of you because they have no idea what you’re facing. They’ll take it even further than that, so you have to know your own limits and speak up. You have to know you can handle it.

Q: Do you want to go back?

No, I don’t want to go back. There are too many things you can’t control. I was unaware that there were 200 IEDs (improvised explosive devices) going off a week. You’re over there doing your job but all of a sudden you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it becomes way too real. And I’m not saying that in the romantic way.

Scott Canon

Canon, a national correspondent for The Star, has reported from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was embedded with Marines briefly in Afghanistan in 2001 and with a U.S. Army military police unit during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Q: Why is it necessary for the media to go into a war zone?

The brave journalists I’ve met who regularly travel to dangerous places do so for a number of reasons. They want to see things for themselves. They hope that the sunshine of reportage might expose evil and spare someone from misery. They also go for — our own Ernest Hemingway is a case in point — for adventure and glory. And some might even go because to pass on such assignments would appear to betray their cowardice.

I’ve gone to places with the potential for danger — danger, it turns out, that never visited me — for reasons I may not fully understand. Maybe I just wanted to be part of something truly exciting and important — and to see the world in a raw form that is rare in a place as comfortable as Kansas City.

One of the things that struck me upon hearing about the anchor and cameraman was how ordinary Iraqis and U.S. troops might think of our stateside reaction. Had it been Lt. Woodruff and Sgt. Vogt who survived a roadside bomb, we wouldn’t be talking about them other than in the most abstract terms.

People who spend their careers on long, open-ended journeys to rough countries — full-time foreign correspondents, soldiers, aid workers, my neighbor with the Army Corps of Engineers — make sacrifices I suspect the rest of us can’t appreciate.

Malcolm Garcia

Garcia, who writes The Star’s Heartland Journal, has reported from Afghanistan (five stints) and Sierra Leone, and has freelanced in Haiti and Honduras. “I don’t consider myself a foreign correspondent or a reporter with much overseas experience. I’m a local reporter who has had a few opportunities to work overseas.”

Q: Talk a little about how you prepared.

I traveled light with just one change of clothes. I didn’t make a will. Thought that would be bad luck.

Q: Did the experience change you in any way?

It increased my knowledge of the countries I visited, my awareness of international affairs on our lives. When I got back, I was surprised at how few people were interested. Most people just said, “You must be so glad to be back.” And that was it for the most part.

Q: Did you experience anger?

I was angry at how quickly Afghanistan became the forgotten war. I was disgusted how little people cared about the conflicts in Honduras and Haiti right in our own back yard. Sometimes I felt stuck with these experiences with no place to take them because so few people were interested.

Allison Long

Long, a photojournalist, worked in Iraq for three months in 2004 for Knight Ridder, The Star’s parent company.

Q: Talk a little about your preparations.

The preparations were helpful, and I’m glad I participated in the weeklong survival course before going. It taught me to be aware of land mines, what to do in weapons fire and basic combat first aid. I would recommend such a course for anyone going to cover any dangerous situation.

Now I’m normally a blonde, but I realized that my blond hair would stick out in the Middle East. So I dyed my hair to dark brown. That brought tears to the eyes of my hair stylist and me. But after a few days, I adapted — of course, the minute I came back to the States, I dyed my hair back to blond. Many thought that it was unnecessary since in most cases I wore a hijab, or head covering. But there were the rare occasions when I did not have to cover my hair, and even when I did have my hair covered, a strand or two would usually slip out.

It took me a while to grow accustomed to a hijab. I did not like having something pressed against my chin. The abaya (overgarment worn by some Muslim women) was horribly hot, but it was also a blessing. I hid my camera under all that covering, so no one knew I had cameras until I decided to make a picture. I also had at least one fixer, or translator, with me at all times. He would also help carry some of my camera gear.

Q: Afterward, did you think the experience was worth the risk?

Absolutely. I got the chance to see how average Iraqis live and work in a place with constant chaos. I met many, many wonderful people, and some not so wonderful people, and got to tell their stories through photographs.

Lee Hill Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh, The Star’s military life reporter, has been to Iraq twice, embedded with Fort Riley’s 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division.

Q: Why is it necessary for the media to go into a war zone?

I wanted to go to Iraq because the stories I was reading made soldiers and their lives seem anonymous, even when they were killed. I couldn’t imagine what Iraq looked like, tasted like, smelled like. I knew there were — and are — so many touching, moving moments of life that don’t get reported. If you’re not passionate about writing these stories, why bother?

Q: What did you tell your family?

It’s important to follow your inner voice, and mine was telling me to go. It’s not journalism experience that can save an embedded journalist, it’s common sense and a lot of pure darn luck. The loneliest I felt was that first airplane trip to Kuwait. I remember I cried in that plane when they turned the lights off somewhere over Dubai, especially when every movie the plane offered was in Arabic. I felt so alone. There is nothing romantic about going to a hostile environment. You’re gonna stink and be thirsty and feel guilty and cry and be scared.

Q: Afterward, did you think the experience was worth it?

Readers seemed so surprised to find that a reporter really cared for the people she was writing about. I received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from readers, a few politicians and one four-star general in Baghdad!

Matt Schofield

Schofield, The Star’s foreign correspondent, is based in Berlin. He was embedded with U.S. Marines during the invasion of Iraq and has returned to Iraq twice since, most recently leaving Baghdad in mid-November.

Q: Why is it necessary for the media to go into a war zone?

It’s very simple: We go because that’s where the story is. If we don’t go, there’s no reasonable way to know what’s happening. War is far too important, and consequences are far too grave, to be left unreported.

Q: What did you tell your family?

I’ve told my wife, Lorelei, that getting the news is the job, and that I believe in that. She agrees with me, so it’s not a problem. I explain I’ll be as careful as possible — which I am; I’m a chicken.

Q: Talk a little about your own preparations.

I borrowed a collection of reports by Ernie Pyle, the great American war correspondent. The stories are great on a couple levels. One, they’re great pieces of journalism. Two, he was killed doing his job, so they’re a great reminder.
Bob Woodruff update


Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were both being treated Friday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. “World News Tonight” co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas said both were improving.