Sam Fragoso

You know, there's a passage about this moment in your book, It's What I Do, at the end of Chapter 5.

And it has stayed with me since I first read it.

And I thought, if you're open to it, would you mind reading it for us?

Okay.

Okay.

Three weeks into the Libyan uprising in March of 2011, you and three other New York Times journalists are kidnapped and held hostage for six days by the Gaddafi army.

And in the book, you write about this moment a month later when you're back in New York.

Despite all that you had witnessed and endured yourself, it was actually the passing of your colleagues, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were both killed in Libya.

That kind of opened the floodgates, so to speak.

Like, was it the loss of them that tore down what you described in the book as your ever-present guard?

Is that what did it?

I'm curious about the risks journalists face at this moment.

Because since you began 25 years ago, there's been a rise in kidnapping.

There's a rise in targeted killing of journalists with few being held accountable for those killings.

According to the CPJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists.

And this year, 121 journalists and media workers have already been killed.

And those are just the ones we know about.

Do you think the lack of culpability is the result of people believing less and less in the value of our largest media institutions?

We've spoken extensively about the risks involved with the job.

But I'm thinking about the consequences of continuing to do this work, as I know you will.