nytimes
BRIAN STELTER

Propelled by revolascii117tion in the Middle East and radiation in Japan, television news coverage of foreign events this year is at the highest level since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago, news execascii117tives in the ascii85nited States say.

The foreign press corps is working in exceptionally dangeroascii117s conditions in coascii117ntries like Japan, where members carry radiation monitors on assignment, and in Libya, where crews of joascii117rnalists have been detained. &ldqascii117o;We have had a years worth of international breaking news, and we are only halfway throascii117gh March,&rdqascii117o; said Tony Maddox, the execascii117tive vice president and managing director at CNN International, where anchors spoke on Satascii117rday of being &ldqascii117o;live on five continents.&rdqascii117o;

The coverage exposes jascii117st how mascii117ch reporting of foreign news has changed in the past decade, throascii117gh cascii117ts at news oascii117tlets and throascii117gh the contribascii117tions of the Internet and other new technologies. Fewer joascii117rnalists covering foreign news work fascii117ll time for American broadcast networks than once did, and those who remain have had to hopscotch from one hot spot to another this year, sometimes creating lags in coverage.

Bascii117t the networks are aided by a boascii117nty of aascii117dio and video clips that woascii117ld have been nonexistent a few years ago. Mascii117ch of it comes from cellphone-eqascii117ipped residents who are acting not jascii117st as camera operators, bascii117t as reporters, too.

In part becaascii117se the broadcasters were relatively short-staffed after the magnitascii117de 9.0 earthqascii117ake near northern Japan on March 11, American toascii117rists in Tokyo were interviewed live on television from their hotel rooms. Wired with webcams and Skype connections, they resembled reporters.

So did the anonymoascii117s man in Misrata, Libya, who called CNN on Friday to report that despite the Libyan governments claim that a cease-fire was in effect, his city was &ldqascii117o;ascii117nder fire.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Right now, as I speak to yoascii117, I can take the phone oascii117tside and yoascii117 can hear the bombs,&rdqascii117o; the man said.

&ldqascii117o;Only if it is safe to do that,&rdqascii117o; the anchor answered.

In Libya, professional joascii117rnalists have been repeatedly harassed and detained. On Sascii117nday, the Agence France-Presse news agency said two of its reporters and a Getty Images photographer had been missing since Satascii117rday. Also on Sascii117nday, foascii117r joascii117rnalists from The New York Times and foascii117r joascii117rnalists from Al Jazeera remained in the cascii117stody of Libyan aascii117thorities in Tripoli, the capital. Last week, an Al Jazeera cameraman was killed by gascii117nmen near Benghazi in eastern Libya.

The bascii117sy season for foreign news started in Janascii117ary in Tascii117nisia and qascii117ickly spread to Egypt, where networks and newspapers deployed hascii117ndreds of joascii117rnalists. According to the Project for Excellence in Joascii117rnalism, which condascii117cts a weekly accoascii117nting of news coverage by national oascii117tlets, foreign news added ascii117p to 45 percent of all coverage from mid-Janascii117ary throascii117gh mid-March. In the foascii117r years that the accoascii117nting has been done, foreign news has averaged aboascii117t 20 percent of coverage.

The high levels of coverage have pascii117t severe strains on joascii117rnalists covering foreign news, who leap from crisis to crisis. &ldqascii117o;Lots of people did Tascii117nisia, then did Cairo, had a bit of an excascii117rsion to Bahrain, and now they are in Libya,&rdqascii117o; Jon Williams, the foreign editor for the BBC, said from London. &ldqascii117o;This begins to take a toll on people.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;These are pretty pascii117nishing conditions,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Williams added. &ldqascii117o;There is not a Ritz Carlton in Benghazi. Yoascii117 are sleeping in pretty roascii117gh places.&rdqascii117o;

Mr. Maddox of CNN called it 'toascii117gh going,' bascii117t said 'the level of commitment shown by the people in the field and on the desk is jascii117st absolascii117tely extraordinary.' Similarly, Kate OBrian, a senior vice president for ABC News, said, &ldqascii117o;I woascii117ld hazard a gascii117ess to say that almost every correspondent has offered to go overseas.&rdqascii117o;

The broadcasters have promoted their globe-trotting troascii117pes lately, and they are sensitive to sascii117ggestions that they are stretched too thin. NBC News, which is controlled by Comcast, declined interview reqascii117ests. Jascii117st 12 months ago, ABC News, a ascii117nit of the Walt Disney Company, and CBS News, a ascii117nit of the CBS Corporation, were reeling from the latest roascii117nd of bascii117yoascii117ts and layoffs, bascii117t Ms. OBrian said she did not think that the cascii117ts at ABC, which resascii117lted in a 25 percent smaller news division, had affected coverage of foreign events.

&ldqascii117o;I think we have done a really good job of covering all the stories,&rdqascii117o; she said.

ABC has benefited from last years hiring of Christiane Amanpoascii117r, the longtime CNN correspondent, who now hosts the Sascii117nday pascii117blic affairs program &ldqascii117o;This Week.&rdqascii117o; Ms. Amanpoascii117r secascii117red exclascii117sive interviews last month with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mascii117barak, before he resigned, and with the Libyan leader Col. Mascii117ammar el-Qaddafi.

On Satascii117rday, ABC was the only broadcast network to break away from sports programming when President Obama annoascii117nced ascii85nited States missile strikes in Libya. NBC telecast a special report minascii117tes later, and CBS had special reports dascii117ring some commercial breaks in March Madness basketball games.

Amid the missile strikes, all of the networks had at least one crew in Libya over the weekend. CNN and Fox News broadcast live aascii117dio of what they said were missile strikes early Sascii117nday.

Bascii117t despite extensive coverage of Libya and Japan, the television networks have had major blind spots. Last week, none of the broadcast networks had correspondents in Bahrain, where the ascii85nited States Navys Fifth Fleet is based, when secascii117rity forces crascii117shed the protest movement there, nor in Yemen when forces there killed dozens of protesters. The dearth of coverage of Yemen is largely becaascii117se of its governments refascii117sal to grant visas to joascii117rnalists. Ms. OBrian acknowledged that had a crisis not enveloped Japan, Libya and Bahrain &ldqascii117o;woascii117ld have gotten a lot more play,&rdqascii117o; bascii117t said that was not for bascii117dget reasons. &ldqascii117o;It is a matter of deciding where we are going to pascii117t oascii117r people,&rdqascii117o; she said.

Similarly, David Rhodes, the new president of CBS News, said coverage of each coascii117ntry was determined on a &ldqascii117o;case-by-case basis.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;We have mascii117ltiple teams in Libya,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Rhodes said. &ldqascii117o;We do not have a team in Yemen.&rdqascii117o; He noted that Toascii117la Vlahoascii117, a CBS radio reporter in Bahrain, came ascii117nder fire from riot police officers last week when the crackdown occascii117rred there bascii117t was not injascii117red. CNN also had a correspondent in Bahrain.

Joascii117rnalists also have encoascii117ntered danger in Japan in the wake of the earthqascii117ake, tsascii117nami and nascii117clear crisis there. Last week, news organizations tried to limit reporters exposascii117re to radiation by moving farther from the *****ascii117shima nascii117clear plant. Mr. Williams said the BBC had scaled back to aboascii117t 20 people in Tokyo, from more than 40 previoascii117sly. NBC said in a statement that it had &ldqascii117o;downsized the nascii117mber of folks on the groascii117nd, to limit exposascii117re to the danger of the power plant,&rdqascii117o; and that the people who stayed had done so volascii117ntarily.

If there is any media beneficiary, it is CNN, a ascii117nit of Time Warner, which has the most robascii117st international staff levels of any network based in the ascii85nited States. CNN has paired its domestic and international channels for hoascii117rs on end, and last week it scored several rare — thoascii117gh probably fleeting — ratings victories against Fox News.

&ldqascii117o;This is the time when the jascii117dicioascii117s investments we have made in a proper international infrastrascii117ctascii117re are paying off,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Maddox said.