In an interview with Forbes, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer gives a firsthand account of what she has seen on her reporting trips to Syria. Palmer says conditions for journalists have “changed as the war has worsened” and offers details on what a typical day of reporting is like:
Some of each day goes to negotiating with Syria’s Ministry of Information, trying to get authorization to go to see certain areas or people. It can be very frustrating. We must rely heavily on Syrian colleagues whom we know and trust. These days it’s necessary to travel everywhere with a letter from the Ministry to get through the military checkpoints every few blocks. Sometimes we venture off the grid, out from under Ministry surveillance – and that is dangerous and exhausting. Especially now that this war is full of shifting allegiances, and moving fronts. The risk is not only sniper fire or shells, but kidnap too.