Will Journalists' Equipment Survive Iraq?

By: Dave Astor Updated at 10:50 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, March 31

Soldiers aren't the only ones worried about running out of supplies in Iraq. A Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter embedded with U.S. forces is wondering if the tools journalists use to do their jobs will last.

"This is a big worry for us because the sandstorms have been rough on our equipment," Sharon Schmickle told E&P Online in an e-mail interview on Friday. "We came with several layers of redundancy in case of breakdowns, and most of that is gone. Efforts to resupply simply haven't worked, so when the last of the equipment gives out, we're finished."

The affected equipment includes laptops, satellite phones, cameras, and more.

Schmickle, 60, added that living conditions have been awful. "We haven't showered for two weeks, we sleep in dirt because it's impossible to keep it out of our tents," she said. "We've made several quick dives into bunkers because of missile attacks, and we've spent long hours in gas masks, flak jackets, and kevlar helmets when security at our camp was breached."

On top of that, Schmickle realizes that the war will probably "be longer than I expected, and that's disappointing. But I'm prepared to stay as long as our equipment holds out."

Despite the difficulties, Iraq is the place the reporter wants to be. "That's where the story is, and it's a big story," she said.

Schmickle added that being an embedded reporter has benefits over being a non-embedded one. "The greatest advantage is that living with the story you see the nuances and thus are in position to deliver a better informed report. ... What keeps me going is the access to stories. It couldn't be much better than this," said the 22-year Star Tribune veteran, who has been filing one or two articles a day from Iraq.

She did note that the U.S. military has placed some restrictions on embeds. "We aren't allowed into operations tents where we might see maps or strategy planning," said Schmickle. "We aren't supposed to photograph certain things because of security concerns. We aren't supposed to give our exact locations."
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