Journalists tell war stories
Afghanistan conflict is a dangerously tempting opportunity
By Felix Doligosa

It was something I felt like I could not refuse,” said Denver Post reporter Steve Lipsher (’89) about being asked to report from Afghanistan. “It was a scary opportunity, and I had a lot of second thoughts.”

Lipsher said he had an idea how dangerous the task could be.

“Before I left for Afghanistan, The Denver Post offered me a bulletproof vest, I was aware they boosted my life insurance,” he said.

Journalists from The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News talked about the challenges and rewards of reporting on military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere during a panel at CU on April 11 before a packed auditorium in the Hale Science Building.

The panel discussion, “The Assignment of a Lifetime: Covering War in Afghanistan,” was hosted by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The journalists in the panel were Michelle Fulcher (‘78), Denver Post national editor; Lipsher, Denver Post mountain bureau reporter, who spent three months in Afghanistan and Pakistan; David Olinger, Denver Post investigative reporter; and Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News reporter, who covered the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“We know this is dangerous, and in several cases deadly, work,” said Associate Dean Meg Moritz. “Yet journalists are often eager to go.

“We wanted our students to explore the realities of work in Afghanistan with our distinguished panelists.”

Besides writing and reporting on stories, journalists also had to consider the resources – or lack of them – in the war-torn countries.

Stuck in Kabul without electricity and a deadline to meet, Lipsher said he bought a car battery to power his computer.

Fulcher talked about how one of her reporters became snowed in while in the Hindu Kush, a mountain range in Afghanistan. The reporter was missing for 36 hours, she said.

“There is not a lot you can do to help one another,” Fulcher said. “It is an extreme challenge for our reporters out there. We weren’t going to send anybody out there who didn’t want to go,” she said.

Imse encouraged journalists to act smarter in their reporting and to learn from the reporters who lost their lives during war.

“You can’t take anything for granted. You have to watch your own safety,” she said.

Imse said she always traveled in the former Soviet Union with other reporters and made alliances with people who knew the area and who could protect her.

“It is important to not only not get killed, but to get the story out,” she said.

Lipsher said, “On its face, it’s dangerous. Don’t take foolish chances.”

The journalists agreed it required a motivated journalist to report in countries such as Afghanistan.

“You can’t report stories from the safety of the news room,” Lipsher said. “Being in the middle of it is part of the game.”