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http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/06/8547467/women-correspondents-lead-way-iraq-and-syria-cbs

 

WOMEN FOREIGN NEWS CORRESPONDENTS LEAD THE WAY IN IRAQ & SYRIA FOR CBS

In the world of television news, foreign correspondents are part of an elite club, one that comes with a healthy air of mystique and bravado. The job description can include the ability to sneak into war zones before battles begin, the wherewithal to explain the dicey causes behind any conflict anywhere at anytime and the ability to carry hundreds of pounds of equipment.

With the future of Iraq seemingly up in the air, and the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine still fluid, network foreign correspondents are currently very, very busy. And while the clichéd image of such a reporter was for many years a grizzled, middle-aged man with a scruffy 5 o’clock shadow, a number of women are leading the field at present.

“I think women get a bit of a pass, which of course we can use to our advantage,” CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer told Capital New York from her current assignment in Syria. “In one instance my colleague and I wanted to go to an area that was under fire and we just got on a public bus with our headscarves on and correctly assumed that the soldiers wouldn't take a second look at us because we were just women.”

Palmer, along with Clarissa Ward and Holly Williams, is one of three CBS correspondents in either Iraq or Syria right now. Palmer and Williams are also teamed with women producers.

“I think it is kind of chance that Clarissa, Liz and I happen to be in the region at the same time, but it is fantastic,” said Williams, currently reporting from northern Iraq for the network. “I think the one benefit in this part of the world being a woman is that sometimes it can be quite disarming for people to see women, to see a foreign women, and they are perhaps less likely to be suspicious of a foreign woman than a foreign man, less of a threat.”

It is not just the Middle East. Williams said that she felt she was able to move more freely while reporting in Ukraine too, even as many reporters, such as Vice’s Simon Ostrovsky, were held by pro-Russian militias.

“I think in Ukraine that was definitely helpful when we were going through checkpoints and we were talking to pro-Russian types who were often armed,” Williams said. “It was definitely disarming for them to be seeing women, and they were less suspicious because of that.”

CBS is not the only network to have female foreign correspondents, of course. ABC has Martha Raddatz in Baghdad, while CNN has Arwa Damon in northern Iraq, but the all-female team in the region for CBS is somewhat unusual. Female correspondents are not a recent phenomenon either. CNN's Christiane Amanpour has reported from the front lines for more than 25 years.

“I think depending on how you carry yourself in these situations, absolutely being a woman can afford you a little bit more space and a little bit more privacy,” Ward told Capital from her hotel in Baghdad. “There is a flipside to that too, of course, being a woman can be a nightmare in these parts of the world.”

“People will try to tell you that you can’t go places because you have no business being there,” Ward added. “You have to know when to stand strong and when to stand down and just pick your battles.”

Despite the numerous challenges and dangers, all three reporters cited the ability to get interviews that others probably wouldn’t be able to as a benefit.

“In conservative Muslim areas, male journalists have no access to the female population. So that's one clear advantage,” Palmer said. “Also Arab men—politicians and military men—are often more inclined to indulge women reporters. Call it chivalry, or sexism....it often works to our advantage to get us interviews our male colleagues can't get.”

Of course, the simple act of reporting from hotspots like Iraq and Syria carries challenges that affect every reporter.

“The Iraqi government is actively trying to block international journalists from doing our job,” Ward said. “There is a sort of conviction among the Powers That Be here that the media has distorted the events in Iraq, that we have made it much more serious than it actually is.”

Ward said that upon arrival in country, she had much of her gear, including body armor, confiscated. They’ve since sourced more, but have had to contend with other roadblocks.

“You have to have a permit to go anywhere and you can’t get permits, it is a sort of a bureaucratic nightmare juggernaut that they have set up to block people from doing what we are here to do, which is report,” she said.

Things are no better in Syria, where reporters often sneak across the border to avoid having to deal with the government, putting themselves at great risk in doing so.

“It is a very dangerous story to report,” Palmer said. “There are physical constraints, it is slow to move around if you are going to do so safely, and it is very complicated to understand the web of loyalties and treachery that underlie this whole situation.”

For reporters covering the story in Iraq and Syria, it is a dangerous wire to walk, with shifting allegiances and governments that are not necessarily on one’s side. With the stakes so high, news organizations have to juggle keeping their people safe with reporting on what is a very significant story.

“You have to arm yourself with information, you have to understand the geography, you have to know who is fighting whom and for what reason, and then we have to be very sure that we have a safe exit strategy,” Palmer added.