Out of the Shadows

All during the week I clip stories I think may work for a post, save them into a folder, and then try to find a "theme" or common denominator running through them. Often there is none, and the post is just a hodge-podge of randomly firing synapses.

But today when I looked at my list, the commonality was immediately evident. Five clips from people who started (and one case still is) behind the scenes.

Arwa Damon started with CNN as a producer. Currently assigned to Baghdad, she has been spending a lot of time recently in Indonesia, and on Thursday reported from Jakarta about a major terrorist arrest there:

Peter Bergen, as hopefully everyone knows by now, was the producer for the team that interviewed Osama bin Laden in 1997. He appeared on Election Center Thursday to discuss OBL's current importance:

Cal Perry started with CNN as an assignment editor in Atlanta, then went to Baghdad as a producer, eventually stepping into the Bureau Chief position. He is now based in Beirut but reported Friday from Damascus after he snagged an exclusive by convincing the Syrian army to let him travel with them to the Syrian/Iraqi border. Flying on an old Soviet-era helicopter, using paper maps and rulers to plot the course -- it is a look at kicking it old school:

Nic Robertson began his career as an engineer, famously as the only one CNN had in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. He reported this morning from London regarding the weekend bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul:

Finally, the one that was least expected: Thomas Evans is Michael Ware's Baghdad producer (and formerly a producer on AC360) but last week, with Michael out of the country on break, Tommy finally stepped in front of the camera to file a report. It was only carried on International, but I did manage to nab a copy:

(Oh, and July 5th was Tommy's birthday. Hope he was able to do a little celebrating!)

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