Heroes who carry
notebooks and cameras

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Self-serving backpats rub a writer's fur the wrong way, but here goes: Since 9-1-1, we've seen a deluge of admiration for the splendid work of our people in uniform, the police, fire-rescue and military.

But another profession has acquitted itself honorably and with extraordinary professionalism; the craft of journalism.

Everything we know about what's going on comes from people in the news business, and the September assault has spurred exemplary work. The pictures, the reporting, the analysis, the sheer informational avalanche has been of extremely high quality, and often acquired under dangerous conditions. Uniformed units not only rushed to stand in harm's way at the World Trade Center, so did the press, whose mission it is to let the world know. Press units were in Afghanistan prior even to military engagement. As of this writing, more unarmed journalists have been killed or maimed in Afghanistan than U.S. troops. They are there as our eyes and ears.

And all this is occurring while American journalists are being laid off in record numbers.

--Burl Burlingame

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