Chris Jansing on ‘Risk’ and Reward of Traveling to West Africa Covering Ebola Outbreak

By Chris Ariens 

JansingAfricaNBC’s senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing has landed in the epicenter of the Ebola crisis: Guinea, in West Africa. Jansing is the only TV journalist traveling with U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, the highest ranking U.S. official to travel to Africa since the crisis began.

“I am on the Ambassador’s plane and we will have a health expert with us at every stop,” Jansing tells TVNewser. “I feel completely comfortable that every possible precaution has been taken to assure our health and safety.”

While in Africa, Jansing will travel to remote parts of Liberia where she’ll interview members of the U.S. military as well as doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from NGOs who are fighting the pandemic on the front lines.

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Jansing’s NBC News colleagues, including Dr. Nancy Snyderman, finished a 21-day quarantine Thursday following their reporting trip to Liberia earlier this month. Ashoka Mukpo, an NBC News freelancer working with Snyderman was diagnosed with the disease on Oct. 2. He was declared Ebola-free last Tuesday.

Jansing’s previously planned reporting trip covering President Obama’s upcoming meetings in Asia and Australia is off. China, for one, wouldn’t allow her entry within 21 days of traveling to West Africa.

“I’ll have a front row seat, witnessing why Ebola is still winning in West Africa,” Jansing says. “Yes, there is always some risk. But there’s an incredible and important story to be told.”

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