On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist

The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center inspired all kinds of responses among American citizens. Ward (chief international correspondent, CNN) saw a world in which misunderstanding resulted in violence and tragedy, thus commiting to journalism as a path to generating compassion across cultures. With a degree in Russian literature and no journalism experience, she launched her career with an unpaid internship at CNN in Moscow. Ward documents her growth as an award-winning journalist covering conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Egypt. In her 15-year career, she reported for Fox, CBS, and ABC, winning five Emmys and two Murrow Awards. Here she intertwines her investigative and embedded reporting with her personal life—getting married and giving birth to a son—and acknowledges the personal toll of writing about such brutal events.