19 August 2006

STILL no word on our captured colleagues. I tried to ask my hosts what they've heard from some of the "higher ups" in the network and there really is no news. Still no word even from the kidnappers, which even mideast observers say is very strange. We're just going on faith that they haven't been harmed. It's truly surreal to just keep doing your job knowing this is going on. I think everyone appreciates the daily updates on the crisis from management--even if it's just to say we don't know anything, but here's what we're doing.

On a related--and MUCH less important note: Our WH correspondent said we need to give back my Associate Producer's (formerly kidnapped) bunny because he felt it was in poor taste, in light of what's going. (See previous posts for more information on this caper, if you're not familiar with our 3rd grade hijinks.)

I had to agree--especially since it's been several days now that our co-workers have been taken and no word on their whereabouts. (Before we just assumed they'd be returned unharmed in a few hours--as other kidnap victims have in this current conflict.)

Didn't have the heart to tell him my AP already took the bunny back in a daring "commando" raid. (OR...she just walked into his office and took it from a desk drawer while he was in Crawford.) She just came back from Paris where she says she took LOTS of snapshots of the bunny in front of several Paris landmarks (including, of course, the Eiffel Tower.)

16 August 2006

The Christian Science Monitor is running Jill Carroll's first person description of her abduction in Iraq. A colleague of mine just handed me the first 3 parts of the series to read. Pretty gripping stuff. And all the more poignant knowing that one of our colleagues is being held somewhere in Gaza. Read the Jill Carroll account of her kidnapping HERE.

16 August 2006

No word yet on our correspondent and freelance cameraman, abducted in Gaza yesterday.
Everyone's doing their job here and soldiering on, but it there's definitely a pall in the bureau. We've been getting occasional updates from NY and the network is definitely pulling out the stops to get them released, but nothing concrete yet. A good place for updates is HERE.

14 August 2006

Just checked my blackberry (I'm off today) and discovered one of our DC-based correspondents and a freelance camera man have been kidnapped in Gaza. This reporter just left for the mideast a couple of weeks ago--we had a conversation about it in the kitchen at work. It's really upsetting. I wasn't particularly close to this guy, but I know him well enough to say hello and chat for a bit in the office. People often malign TV news for its superficiality or call it "info-tainment." Make no mistake: covering the news--especially this day and age--can be very dangerous. On air correspondents, producers, photographers, sound and light guys--all put their lives on the line everyday. Say a prayer for Steve--and everyone else in harm's way covering the various war zones in the mideast.