Reporters on the job

Cultural Snapshot

NOW BARK: Rafi Kishon, a Tel Aviv veterinarian, shows off a gas mask he invented for dogs and cats. In Israel, human citizens of all ages are being fitted for gas masks at some 30 Home Front Command centers around the country. HAVAKUK LEVISON/REUTERS

• STUCK IN THE SOUTH: The Monitor's Robert Marquand is in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on the nuclear crisis created by North Korea's enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Il ( see story). But he finds it frustrating to be "30 miles from a country you can't visit, and where you can't verify what's going on," he says. Even finding and getting permission to interview North Korean defectors can be difficult.

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"The South Korean government is not eager for journalists to speak with high-ranking North Korean defectors with a negative view of the North, because such interviews can anger the North, and undermine the South's Sunshine Policy."

• DEFINING LEADERSHIP: The Monitor's Nicole Gaouette interviewed several Israeli citizens - political analysts, a taxi driver, a civil engineer, and others - across social strata for today's story about the coming elections ( see story). "Even if they didn't like Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, they were unanimous in saying that whatever he does or says, he meets an emotional need now," says Nicole.

"Israelis tend to mythologize their military leaders, and even if there were a viable alternative, no one can approach Sharon's personal biography. Rarely have I done a story where people echoed each other so precisely," she says. "Reporting this story gave me an insight into that quality of military heroism, and toughness, and strength, that Israelis seem to want in their leaders now."

David Clark Scott
World editor

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