The Powerful, Lyrical Writing of Journalist Anthony Shadid (1968-2012)

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It was shocking to read about New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid’s death last Thursday. I have been routinely reading his writing about events in the Middle East and, in the past year, the Arab Spring protests. Shadid had won two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting and was the author of three books, with a fourth due out soon.

The New York Times notes that “grace and authority” characterized Shadid’s writing, even when he was filing stories from the roof of a hotel in Najaf, Iraq and in the midst of political unrest.

News coverage about Syria routinely points out that reports of events and the numbers of those killed are impossible to verify as the authoritarian regime of President Bashar al-Assad does not allow foreign journalists to report from within the country. Shadid died after spending a week in Syria, from a severe asthma attack that seems to have been set off by proximity to the horses of the guides, says the New York Times.

The assignment in Syria, which Mr. Shadid arranged through a network of smugglers, was fraught with dangers, not the least of which was discovery by the pro-government authorities in Syria. The journey into the country required both Mr. Shadid and Mr. [Tyler] Hicks [a photographer for the NYT] to travel at night to a mountainous border area in Turkey adjoining Syria’s Idlib Province, where the demarcation line is a barbed-wire fence. Mr. Hicks said they squeezed through the fence’s lower portion by pulling the wires apart, and guides on horseback met them on the other side. It was on that first night, Mr. Hicks said, that Mr. Shadid suffered an initial bout of asthma, apparently set off by an allergy to the horses, but he recovered after resting.

Shadid suffered a “more severe attack” of asthma as he and Hicks were walking out of Syria towards Turkey after a week. He collapsed and was no longer breathing after a few minutes according to Hicks, who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 30 minutes but was not able to revive Shadid. Hicks was able to get Shadid’s body out of Syria to Turkey.

At least five journalists have died while covering the uprising that began in Syria almost a year ago, in March of 2011. As the New York Times’ Executive Editor, Jill Abramson, said in an email to newspaper staff on Thursday:

“Anthony died as he lived — determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces.”

Shadid won his first Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2004, for his reporting in The Washington Post about the American invasion of Iraq and the occupation afterwards.

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Photo by Terissa Schor

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KS G.

5:03AM PST on Feb 21, 2012

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

june t.

6:48PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

may he rest in peace

Marilyn L.

4:06PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

He will be missed. Men of integrity always are.

Tim C.

3:38PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

Ian F.

1:47PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

Too young to die. Shame.

Patrick F.

1:46PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

RIP

Debbie B.

1:36PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

The tradition of a war corespondent who risks his life to tell the world about the plight of the people caught up in the conflict is a dying breed. We cannot afford to lose people like Mr Shadid.

He will be missed.

Vivianne M.

1:14PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

I did not know anything about him. But to do the brave acts he did, he must have been a good person.

1:13PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

Robert O.

12:42PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

He truly was a gifted, dedicated and passionate journalist and person that will be missed very much. May he rest in peace.