In recent days I have been writing a series I dubbed the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Media World. Having written about the bad - Larry King - and the ugly - Judith Miller and Ben Domenech, that guy who worked, briefly, for The Washington Post, it is time now to focus on the good journalists. On Monday I wrote about Art Buchwald.
Today let's focus on Jill Carroll.
Carroll, in case you have been living under a rock, is the freelance reporter who was kidnapped in Iraq. She was released Thursday after about three months of captivity. While she worked most recently for the Christian Science Monitor she has also worked for American Journalism Review, U.S. News & World Report, the Italian news agency ANSA, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other U.S. dailies. She had previously worked as a reporter for The Jordan Times in Amman.
Carroll is one of those courageous reporters who put their life at risk to tell the world what is happening in a war zone and just one of nearly 40 journalists who have been kidnapped in Iraq since April 2004.
She is a journalist whose work I have yet to read a negative word about, which speaks volumes in a profession full of sniping and backbiting. And yet already there has been critical and fawning coverage of her actions based on the little information available at this point about her release and her comments since then. There is a good article by CJR Daily on this very topic.
This statement was released Thursday:
"Neither The Christian Science Monitor nor Jill Carroll’s family negotiated Jill's release today – nor did they pay a ransom. Furthermore, we have no information that would lead us to believe that any other party negotiated Jill’s release or paid a ransom."
Article comments
1 - Scott Butki
Thanks for the editing help, Mark. I see what you mean.
2 - Earl
I'm always critical of the media. What does this person have to do with the media? She's in a war zone, on the front line (which is everywhere) and gets "taken prisoner."
She does what she has to do to be released.
Some call is Stockholm Syndrome (which is probably is) and is now hailed a hero.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!
Quit trying to read more into it than it really is!
It's a survival story.
A survival story set inside a society that is bent on destroying western civilization.
A society that is $(*&^@ING crazy.
It is a SURVIVAL story. Nothing more.
Thank you Lord for bringing her out of harms way.
But her capturers are NUTZ!!! CRAZY!!! INSANE!!! 3rd World..... God I don't even have a word for what they are.....
whew!!!!
3 - Scott Butki
The Christian Science Monitor has a good article explaining why she made the statements she made
4 - Dorie
Thanks for sharing your views on Jill Carroll.
Journalists who risk their lives to keep us informed should be respected.
I'm keeping a running list of journalists in Iraq and the Middle East. A number of folks listed have seen the list have written from Iraq to tell me they are grateful that someone appreciates their work.
Please keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to risk their own safety to keep us informed.