Excerpt
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now to covering a horrific conflict in the world’s most dangerous country for journalists and the limitations that’s placing on what the world finds out about.
Hari Sreenivasan reports.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): Joining me now to discuss the dangers of covering Syria and how it impacts our understanding of the conflict is veteran international correspondent Deborah Amos. She has been reporting on the Syrian civil war since its beginning in 2001 for NPR. And John Daniszewski, the senior managing editor for international news at the Associated Press.
The PBS NewsHour is a subscriber to the AP.
Deborah, I want to start with you. You have covered this conflict and you have covered the region for quite some time. How difficult is it to cover Syria vs. anywhere else in the region?
DEBORAH AMOS, NPR: Oh, it’s very, very tough. And it has gotten tougher over time.
You are up against two problems. One is the so-called Islamic State. They will kill you if you cross the border and they catch you. And then you have the Assad government that restricts visas. Right now, there are no visas for U.S.-based correspondents, people who hold U.S. passports.
And they have an army that makes sure that you cannot come into the country. So the problem is, you have two main groups who do not want you to be there and have it in their power to keep you out. It is dangerous not only inside Syria now, but also on the border.
My last reporting trip, for the first time ever in my career, I wasn’t allowed to say where I was, because I was there for three-and-a-half weeks, and it was considered by my company that it was dangerous to say. And that has now become a policy. It is very unusual to do that.
A shroud to hide truth.
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