As she continues to be a hostage at this writing, it is an eerie feeling to read Jill Carroll's own words about being a journalist in Iraq, written before her kidnapping.
In her "Letter from Baghdad," Carroll described the daily insanity of terror and why she remained in Iraq despite the ever present risk of death. SPIEGEL ONLINE has reprinted the essay with the permission of AJR.
Equal parts reporter, salesman and entrepreneur, the freelancer is a different breed of journalist than a staffer at a major media outlet. Freelancers pay for their own accommodations, translators, food and health insurance, and most do it for under $100 a day. There are more lucrative ways to work and faster ways to advance a career. But just as athletes do it for love of the game, freelancers in Iraq seem to do it for love of the story.
[...]
Only a story of this enormity, with nothing less than America's global credibility, the stability of the Middle East and countless lives at stake, could be worth risking personal safety and financial solvency to cover it as a freelancer.
God, we pray for her safe release.
Normblog has a link to Der Speigel on line.
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