links for 2009-08-20

Almost 20 years later, I’m amazed at how much has changed. We can now take and transmit images from everywhere. Satellite phones are tiny compared to the huge satellite dish that A.F.P. had on its balcony in Cizre. People transmit images and video from their cell phones as news happens. And when they are not sending images, they are Twittering. Thankfully, I don’t have to teach a fellow photographer how to wash film in a toilet. Writers don’t have to stay up all night, waiting for a telephone line, so they can file their story.

But some things never change. Sometimes, the most dangerous part of covering a story is getting there, especially if it’s by car in a foreign country. I still hear frightening stories