What Makes a War Correspondent Tick?

By: Seth Porges Book Review
War Stories: Reporting in the Time of Conflict From Crimea to Iraq
by Harold Evans
Bunker Hill Publishing, 96 pages

The war correspondent is forever locked in the battle between objectivism and patriotism, participation and observation, protecting national security and reporting the facts, and the gung-ho bravado of John Wayne versus the stark reality that war is hell.

In War Stories: Reporting in the Time of Conflict From Crimea to Iraq, Harold Evans seeks not just to eulogize those who have fallen on the battlefield with a pen or camera in hand, but to document a living history of the war correspondent. Evans, former editor of The Times of London and former president and publisher of Random House, explores what makes battlefield journalism a most unique profession and what could possibly inspire someone to risk their life for a scoop.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough," photographer Robert Capa says in the book. Perhaps this is the key -- the same undying drive for the big story that characterizes successful journalists can be particularly potent when applied to the explosive fervor of the battlefield. And due to the nature of the game --potentially fatal.

At least a dozen journalists died covering this year's Iraq war. "Considering the ratio of deaths to participants, being a correspondent in Iraq was far more dangerous than being there as part of the military," Evans writes.

When Geraldo Riviera insisted on carrying a gun while embedded with American troops in Afghanistan, was it because he actually thought it might save his life? Perhaps, but it's also likely a symptom of this romantic fervor that drives embedded journalists.

"It is impossible to realize how much Ernest Hemmingway still lives in the hearts of men until you spend time with the professional war correspondents," Nora Ephron says in War Stories.

The romantic zeal of these journalists is perhaps the most interesting issue Evans attempts to tackle, but it is not the only one. Each chapter analyzes the dualism that characterizes the war reporter. This paints a portrait of a conflicted person who has inevitably sacrificed security for excitement.

The first book published by the Newseum and inspired by an exhibit of the same name, War Stories is interspersed with profiles and quotes from noteworthy correspondents. From Winston Churchill to Ted Koppel, Evans uses the reader's familiarity with these figures to add a level of instant recognition to the archetype. These are men and women who risked, and in some situations gave, their lives so that we might get a first-hand glimpse into war's heart of darkness. Evans does more than appreciate the sacrifice they made -- he makes us feel the same way.