REPORT: Notes from Chris Allbritton, J’97, talk - SPJ
NOTES FROM… SPJ Evening with Christopher Allbritton
Monday, Sept. 26, 2005
By Audrey Dutton
E-mail: ard2113@columbia.edu
An Evening with Christopher Allbritton
Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University Chapter
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Room 607a
September 26, 2005, 5-6:30 p.m.
Christopher Allbritton, who writes for TIME, described his
experience covering Iraq and his “circuitous” career path, in a
chat session with j-school students on Monday evening.
Allbritton (J’97) began his career reporting on technology for the
AP and New York Daily News. Then in 2002, he anticipated a war in
Iraq and traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan. He reported and wrote during
his two-month stay, but none of his stories sold when he returned
to the United States because he “didn’t do the legwork” beforehand
to secure relationships with editors. A year later, he returned to
Iraq, after raising $11,000 in donations through his blog. By his
third trip to Iraq in 2004, he was working for TIME as a Middle
East correspondent.
Reporting in Iraq leads to “compassion fatigue,” Allbritton said. He
called Iraq the “single most dangerous place to be for a
journalist,” and said one major pitfall of the reporting is finding
reliable sources, with “everyone lying to you on a continual basis.”
Another frustration he cited is his limited ability to write stories
with creative approaches, saying that CNN and New York Times “lead
the agenda” for coverage.
Allbritton touched on embedding with the military; working with
Iraqi translators and stringers; the need for women reporters in
Iraq; and his concern that Kurds are “constantly under-covered” in
the press.
Allbritton’s blog on the Middle East and war reporting is at
http://www.back-to-iraq.com
