Why bother?

Molly Kaplan talks to three war reporters about why they do it. Of the three, regular readers and Frontline Club members will know John D. McHugh and Vaughan Smith. Less familiar may be Hiwa Osman from the IWPR. Molly asked the three to talk to students at the London College of Journalism about their thoughts and experiences reporting war,

McHugh had the chance to photograph a market place in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, but he had to pass it up. He knew that even in the right clothes with the right people, he’d be a Westerner and a target. He winced every time he saw the traditional Afghan garb he would have worn for the occasion. A week later, bombs exploded in the very market place he would have been photographing. It was the rare case McHugh could see he had made the right decision. The challenge is all the times he can’t know. To risk or not to risk? link via Adrian Monck