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Journalists in America have it pretty good. We're relatively safe, can cover the stories we want and are protected by the 1st Amendment.
But in certain places around the world, journalists have few, if any of those luxuries. We met one such journalist, who spent the last two weeks with us at Eyewitness News to learn how we produce news. This is his story.
Bombings, protests and government oppression are common sights. And it seems there is always a silent hero caught in the fray: the foreign journalist.
For more than a decade, Salim Swidan has operated Nablus TV in the West Bank, which sits between Israel and the Dead Sea. And during that time, he's seen it all. "Covered killed people, killed bodies sometimes, destroyed bodies sometimes by bombs. It is very difficult to see these scenes every time," he said.
Swidan and his staff of 22 work without the luxuries American journalists are used to, including freedom of speech and safety. In 2003, for example, masked men stormed his studio and held him and his staff at the point of machine guns.
"They don't like the story we did two days before. They asked us to raise our hands on the wall and started destroying everything in the TV. We stopped broadcasting for 10 or 11 days," he explained.
Despite the dangers and limitations, Swidan says he has no intentions of quitting. "Nobody will give you your freedom in work. You have to ask for it time after time. We are still asking for our freedom and working as journalists," he said. "I cannot stop working in this way, in that way. I feel this profession is in my blood. I can't stop it now."
Swidan left Salt Lake today.
