The Ugandan connection

Today, one of my reporters heads to Uganda for a project we've been working toward for a year now. She'll be living among a group of Pygmies who've been kicked out of their ancestral home and now face extinction through disease, poverty and violence.

A local couple's been working to help them by opening a medical clinic, and Brittany, our reporter, will be staying with them for the better part of three weeks. About 11 other folks from our county will be along, too.

I'll keep you folks posted on the progress as we start getting her dispatches online. It should be pretty incredible. Check out this diary of another girl who stayed at the clinic. It's intense. Here's Britt's preview of her trip.

As excited as I am about this project, it also has me thinking about how international reporting has always been such a mark of distinction for a journalist. It seems those are about the only folks who still have a positive image in the public's eye. As the Internet makes the world smaller, the public has a stronger appetite for news around the world.

But is it something I'd really want to do? Not really.

Don't get me wrong. I'd jump at the chance to do an international assignment. The more international journalists I meet, the more I realize how detached they are -- not just from their own countries, but from all countries. They're people without nations, and that's not always as romantic as Hemmingway made it seem.

We recently got a visit from the LA Times' Moscow bureau chief, who's friends with one of our editors. Each of her stories, though dramatic, centered around the heavy logistics involved in doing anything overseas. Translators, guides, sat phones, transportation, border restrictions, lodging, finding a place to write...it doesn't always leave a lot of time for reporting on increasingly tight deadlines.

Then there's my old friend Aamer, who was an embedded journalist during the war and has spent a lot of time in Iraq since. I'd have to scrape to find any remaining jealousy. I'm sitting in a warm house on a beautiful California day, drinking coffee and playing with my dog. Getting shot or taken hostage would sure put a damper on that lifestyle.

In the end, there are people who can do it and people who can't. The ones who pull it off...are they better journalists? Maybe, but if the cost is losing your connection to the home you're serving as a correspondent, I just can't say I'm as excited as I once was.

Oh, and in case you care, that LA Times bureau chief went on to win the Pulitzer a few months back. So check out her stuff. Pretty great.