Pregnant on the Frontline

Journalist Elizabeth Rubin (pictured above) went to the Afghanistan's frontline to cover war - 4 months pregnant. She recently wrote about her experience -

"I never thought I'd write a personal story about being a war correspondent. It seemed so beside the point, so much less important than the story I was reporting. Some of my closest friends are photographers and writers who've worked in war zones, and whenever we'd get questions like "What's it like to be a woman and work in Afghanistan or Iraq?" we'd roll our eyes. It was an attitude, for sure, but one we were proud of...

How could a woman, particularly in the military, not understand why I would have kept my pregnancy to myself? Is it true that the toughest adversary for women is still other women? I may be extracting too much out of a simple anecdote, but it was enough to make me want to tell the story. One reason was visceral: I wanted to get even with her. The other is more complicated."

Read the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/11/afghanistan-pregnant-war-female-embedded

Any thoughts about this? Please leave your comments here!

Found Dead: Another Female Human Rights Activist

Image courtesy of REUTERS

Natalia Estemirova, a close friend of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, worked for the human rights organization Memorial in the Chechen capital Grozny and documented abuses by law enforcement agencies, colleagues said (Via Yahoo News). She had spent years collecting evidence of human rights abuses against the government in Chechnya. Estemirova was kidnapped by 4 men on Wednesday morning. Today, her body was found.

The Manipulator

Photographer Jill Greenberg has a signature retouched style, particularly with her portraits.

When The Atlantic hired her to give John McCain a heroic look for its cover, Greenberg, an ardent Democrat, happily accepted. With only 15 minutes for the shoot, Greenberg certainly got a heroic shot of the Presidential nominee for the cover (see below).

She also captured a more diabolical side while manipulating his image and adding text such as "I called my wife a cunt in front of reporters" which were posted on her website. Seems The Atlantic along with John McCain's campaign didn't appreciate the artistic expression and Greenberg has found herself hit with legal issues as well as surrounded by controversy. Some of the controversial images are below.

See and read more about the issue here.