Papers Prep Replacement Reporters for Iraq

By: Joe Strupp and Dave Astor As the U.S. invasion of Iraq nears the two-week mark, newspaper editors and their reporters at the front -- no less than military planners and the public -- are wondering how long it will last, and at what price. Pondering war coverage that could go on for months, journalists are trying to "recalibrate" (to use a suddenly popular word) and plan far ahead. In some cases, editors are preparing fresh correspondents to relieve those in the field if the fighting continues much longer.

The reporters, meanwhile, have their own problems, to say the least. "We've had reporters in the thick of it," says Ed Foster-Simeon, deputy managing editor of USA Today, based in McLean, Va. "They've been in harm's way. There have been no significant injuries, but one of our reporters suffered an eye injury in a sandstorm."

Reinforcements may be on the way. "We have a second round of people lined up to go next," says James Smith, foreign editor at The Boston Globe, which has 12 reporters in the war region, including four embedded with troops. "We would probably enact that change after four to six weeks. We don't want it to drag on, but we are planning for different scenarios."

Alex S. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, says, "I doubt that anybody is really ready for the long haul -- a big, constantly breaking story." But the Globe's Smith is one of several editors who say they have replacement plans in place, although they remain unsure when exactly they would move people around.

"We had planned for a long haul, not a two-day war," says John Walcott, Washington bureau chief for Knight Ridder, which has 32 embedded reporters from 14 of its papers, along with 12 nonembedded staffers. Colin McMahon, foreign editor of the Chicago Tribune, has eight replacement staffers set to relieve some of his 16 war correspondents.

David Gaddis Smith, foreign editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune, isn't shocked the war might last a while. "For me personally, it's not that big a surprise," he says. "History is full of people who think we're going to have short wars. That has been very rare." Smith says the length of time his three Union-Tribune staffers will remain in the war zone is "open-ended," and that it's too soon to say whether other U-T people would eventually be rotated in.

For every editor, knowing when to move people around is going to be a difficult decision, especially since embedded reporters who leave cannot automatically return. "Everyone is still running on adrenaline," says Chuck Holmes, foreign editor for Cox Newspapers Inc. "We don't want people so fried that they can't write a good story." There will come a time "when fatigue sets in," agrees Mark Silverman, publisher and editor of The Detroit News.

In deciding, Walcott says he would listen to the correspondents: "If they ask to move out, that would likely trigger something." But he admits that many reporters may want to stay so badly they would ignore fatigue, health concerns, or other reasons to take a break, comparing the situation to a football coach making sure a player is physically able to stay in the game. "No one can handle this kind of thing indefinitely," he says. "They are not always the best judge of what is best for them."

For other editors, though, long-range plans have not been a priority just yet. "We have got to plan that out as we go along," says Andrew Ross, foreign editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, which has five staffers in the war region. "If weeks go into months, we would assess the cost/benefit."

When asked about costs, most editors expressed little concern over the price tag for a longer conflict, although many admit it would be more than they might have expected. "It's pretty high, but covering war costs a lot of money," says McMahon in Chicago. Knight Ridder's Walcott says his directive from Chairman and CEO Tony Ridder has been to "spare no expense." Roger Buoen, deputy managing editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, would like to reimburse the military for some of the costs of maintaining their embedded reporters, "but we haven't figured out a practical way to pay the Pentagon."

In the war zone, those embedded with troops report few crippling restrictions so far, say editors, although many are experiencing news blackouts ordered by commanders supposedly for security reasons. For those working outside the military confines, the experience ranges from bombing in Baghdad to near-boredom in outlying areas such as Kuwait. Communication via satellite phones and cell phones is difficult in all areas.

On Thursday, Philip Smucker, a nonembedded reporter for The Christian Science Monitor who had hooked up with a military unit, was ushered out of Iraq by the military for allegedly breaking a rule against revealing a unit's precise location.

"We have had no interference from the military whatsoever," Walcott says of his embedded reporters. "We had one report of Marines shooting at civilians and got no interference from it." Ross of the Chronicle agrees, although he cited blackouts and weather as a delaying element. "That is a bitch," he opines. McMahon of the Chicago Tribune says his embedded scribes also have had some blackouts, including one reporter who could not be reached for three days. He's also had to make sure reporters keep an unbiased eye open. "I've had to remind them that they work for the newspaper, not the military," McMahon says. "Some of the language is not civilian enough."

For the nonembeds, access to news and levels of danger depend on where they are located. "One of them had a missile float by his window, but that is part of the situation," Ross says of Chronicle reporter Robert Collier, who has been in Baghdad for several weeks. "They know if they need to hide in the basement, they are free to do it."

Craig Nelson, who normally works out of Jerusalem for Cox Newspapers, has reported from Baghdad's Palestine Hotel for weeks. He says his location near the Tigris River gave him a good view of the severe bombings, a few nearby. "There have been some huge, loud explosions shake under your feet," he says during an interview via satellite phone. "I have been able to sleep through a lot of 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. bombings. I am getting used to it, but it changes every day." Still, Nelson hopes to stay in Baghdad for the duration of the war and into any "regime change."

At the other extreme, however, is Pauline Lubens, a Knight Ridder photographer working out of Kuwait who wants to get closer to the action in Iraq, but can't. "I don't think there is a lot here to shoot," she says about life near her Kuwait City hotel. Lubens was among a group of 20 journalists who drove over the border into Iraq at the start of the war, but returned within days due to safety concerns. "I was surprised at how hostile it was," she tells E&P. "They seemed angry at Americans -- it was pretty tense."

Bill Spindle, Middle East editor for The Wall Street Journal, says one of the newspaper's nonembedded reporters in Iraq left the southern part of the country for Kuwait early last week. "The ability to move around became so restricted, it made no sense to stay," says Spindle, explaining that the reporter found it hard to find and file stories under those conditions. Safety factors were also involved in the decision to pull out.

The Journal has two other nonembedded reporters, in northern Iraq, where things were quieter last week. "They seem to be safe, and they have the freedom to move around and do what they want," he reports.

USA Today has 10 reporters and two photographers (and an editor) covering the war -- with six embeds in Iraq and the rest unilaterals in Kuwait, Qatar, and Turkey. USA Today has received plenty of content from its journalists in both categories. "All of our people have been able to contribute, which we're pleased with," Foster-Simeon says, noting that there have been no significant restraints on what the embeds can send the paper.

Minneapolis' Star Tribune has five people in the Gulf region, embedded and free-roaming. "The embedded journalists, of course, see a much narrower part of the war," says Buoen. "Yet we've had very compelling stories from them," including pieces focusing on the medical treatment of casualties. Have any Strib people been hurt? "No one, thank God," Buoen replies, adding that the paper constantly talks with its Iraq-based staffers about where they're going and how safe their destination might be. They are free to leave Iraq at any time, he says, if they feel things are getting too dangerous.
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