Reporters on the Job

• Go South, Young Man: While most reporters in Israel were heading north to the border with Lebanon, correspondent Joshua Mitnick went in the opposite direction for a unique view of the battle.

He visited the Palmachin Air Base, south of Tel Aviv, and watched as three-man crews flew remote-controlled drones over the ravines and villages of southern Lebanon. "They sit inside small windowless metal sheds. Each drone can stay aloft for 15 hours," he notes.

But despite the base's seaside setting, Josh found the duty rather claustrophobic.

• Looking for Osama: Correspondent David Montero journeyed to a small Pakistani village near the Afghan border to check out reports that said Osama bin Laden and his entourage had been in the area. Cognizant of the risks, David checked in with local police, dressed in local garb, and assembled a knowledgeable posse before setting off from the nearest city, Kumrat.

"The police were a little jittery about having an American in their district. But we didn't run into any problems," says David.

He was accompanied by a Pakistani reporter who covered the region, the reporter's boss, and a local pharmacist from the area. "The bureau chief wanted a local to go along as an added safety measure."

The team traveled undercover – that is with David dressed in salwar kameez – and made the 160-kilometer journey into the Dir Valley by four-wheel drive in about three hours. "The pharmacist packed us all lunch. At one point, we stopped at a market and had a Pepsi. As the other members of my team chatted, they locals never asked me where I was from," he says.

David Clark Scott
World editor