The world of journalism is mourning the loss of a talented and brave foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Anthony Shadid died yesterday in Syria at the age of 43. He is survived by a wife and two children. Bob discusses Shadid’s death this morning during his regular Friday segment with the Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Doyle McManus.
Shadid repeatedly put his life on the line. He was the Times bureau chief based in Lebanon and last spring he was arrested and beaten by pro-government forces in Libya. He won two Pulitzer’s in his life: one in 2004 and one in 2010, both for his reporting in Iraq. This week, he was in Syria, without permission from the Syrian authorities. And yet, it appears it was an asthma attack that took his life. Tyler Hicks is a photographer for the Times and was with Shadid at the time. He carried the reporter’s body back across the border into Turkey.
Bob talked to Anthony Shadid last spring here on this program to discuss his coverage of Libya and Syria. In his final article for the New York Times, Shadid reports on the struggles that still remain in Libya.
“As the militiamen saw it, they had the best of intentions. They assaulted another militia at a seaside base here this week to rescue a woman who had been abducted. When the guns fell silent, briefly, the scene that unfolded felt as chaotic as Libya’s revolution these days — a government whose authority extends no further than its offices, militias whose swagger comes from guns far too plentiful and residents whose patience fades with every volley of gunfire that cracks at night.” (FULL ARTICLE)
Shadid’s third book is due out this spring and he was scheduled to talk about it on this program. The title is “House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family and a Lost Middle East.”
Our condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues.
-Ariana