Reporters on the Job

• YOU CAN REST LATER: Reporter Jillian Lloyd has a passion for travel. "I'm game to go anywhere, anytime," she says. Her journey to Mongolia for Wednesday's story was a good test of that conviction.

"Getting to Renchinlhumbe, in the northernmost province of Mongolia, from my home in Boulder, Colorado, meant crossing nine time zones, and took me four plane flights, 22 hours of flying, 17 hours of layovers, and five days of trekking on horseback. By the time I arrived in Renchinlhumbe, more than a week after I'd left the States, I felt very ready for a day of rest. But this was the one day I had for interviewing herdsmen in the Darhat Valley. Rest had to wait," says Jillian.

How's that passion for travel holding up?

She slept for days upon returning, but says, "I wouldn't hesitate to take that same trip back to Renchinlhumbe. Although next time I'd like to add in a few extra days and make my way up into Siberia on horseback."

• SECURITY TIGHTENS IN BAGHDAD: As concern about security in Iraq increases, so does the time it takes to produce a story. The Monitor's Ilene Prusher drove across Baghdad to attend a press conference held by the US administrator, Paul Bremer. She arrived an hour early, but was still too late. New security measures require journalists to arrive an hour and half before a press conference to be searched and vetted. "I was locked out. Going to a press briefing now requires a serious commitment of time," says Ilene.

David Clark Scott
World editor