19 January 2003 - A Change of Place

Don't count on anything. It's always a good rule in television. This evening find me in the Hasemite Kingdom of Jordan, and its capital Amman. Our biggest prime-time anchor, Shep Smith, is on his way here to anchor his shows for a week. And he wants a teleprompter, that little device that places scripts in front of the camera lens that makes it appear that our talent has memorised everything. For whatever reason, the powers that be decided that I was the prompter expert, and it would be a good idea to fly me over here to Jordan to make sure all goes well.

I didn't think it was really all that necessary, but they insisted. Well, twist my arm! So here I am. Another stamp in the passport. Unfortunately, it's going to be a very brief trip. One of my lifelong dreams has been to see the "Rose Red City" of Petra. You might remember it best as the city carved into a cliff face that was the home of the Holy Grail in the last "Indiana Jones" movie. That wasn't a movie set, it's a real place. And it's here in Jordan. Just my luck, though, that it's a 6 hour round trip that I won't have time to make. Ditto for Jerusalem. With some luck, I might make it to the Dead Sea and Mt. Nebo, where Moses surveyed the Promised Land before he died.

This is a very ancient place. And not just in the antiquities and biblical history. Maybe it's because I'm contrasting Amman with Qatar, but this place is a big, old, gritty city. Coming from quiet Doha, it's a bit overwealming! The city seems to stretch forever, tucked all along the rolling hills that make up Amman. Despite the size and grit, it's flush with moments of western comforts. Alcohol is readily available, and not just in the hotels. There is a decent night life, but one I won't have a chance to sample here.

The weather is more typical of Washington in winter than Washington is having this year. Low 50s in the days, 30s and 40s at nights. Today is cloudy and dirzzling.

Amman is also the jumping off point for Baghdad. There is a millieu of journalists waiting impatiently, pleading with the Iraqi mission for a visa. It is almost a modern day Casablanca. At the airport several Iraqi Airlines planes sit idle. This has become our largest bureau in the region. There is not much news that comes out of Amman itself, but it's proximity to Iraq makes it the next best location to cover the UN arms inspections. The bureau also spends a good effort on supporting our people in Baghdad. Conversations with journos inevitable turn to who is going in, who is coming out, who would be willing to go in, and at what point would you say enough and do a Taco Bell (ie make a run for the border).

For my part this is as close to Baghdad as I desire to be for the time being. It's not that Baghdad seems all that dangerous... for now. The journos there are tightly controlled and corralled by the Iraqis. They all stay in the same hotel, they all do their liveshots from the same location, there is always a minder escorting the crews from story to story. But with all of this control comes a certain degree of safety. The same minders who prevent any candid reporting also prevent any bad coming upon us. But when the bombs start falling, all bets are off. Pray for the safety of all of the brave men and women who are their by choice and by their dedication to bringing the world to the rest of us.

That's all for now. I'm off to try, yet again, to get this website updated. Best wishes to all and safe landings, Ben.

22 January 2003 - A man in Amman

Well, my tour in Amman is going a bit longer than I thought. With things running well in Qatar, the powers that be decided to have me stay on to do prompter and tech manage "Studio B" and "The Fox Report" for the duration of their tour. Which is OK. Unfortunately the hours haven't worked out well to see or do much. Our shows finish up around 3:30 in the morning, and we start putting things together around 3:00 in the afternoon. Basically, we are still living on east coast time, while the city around us in running 7 hours ahead of us.

Went and saw the "Roman Amplitheater" this evening while shooting some standups with Shepard. I have no idea what it is, or what it means, but it sure looked ancient. Of course, this was the one time that I left my camera in the workspace!

One thing I have noticed here is there seems to be just one Iman for the entire city. I was on the roof of our office last night having a smoke at sunset, and the call to prayer went out. It was a bit eerie, listening to the same Imam echoing off all the walls and buildings, the holy chant moving through the city like an anthem at a stadium.

Some things aren't all that different. We have been getting some of our meals at the office through a take out service, quite similar to Takeout Taxi or Waiters on the Run. They have a book with a bunch of restaurants, you call them up and make an order, and they collect the food and bring it to you. Well, just like back home, they take forever to deliver and always seem to mess up the orders. Somehow my lasagne last night magically turned into a veal marsalla. Go figure. Whatever happend to those White Castle airdrops?

Ben in Amman, Jordan	Uplink antennas at the Amman bureau	Coordinating Producer Paul Tyson	The Amman skyline	Engineer Andy Roberts
Engineer Garry Driscoll	Anchor Shepard Smith hosts "Studio B"	Shep's producer Jay Wallace and Katie Sargent	Ben at the teleprompter controls	UPM Frank Giglio
the view from the racks of the first overseas "Fox Report"	Shooter Pierre on a cold, rainy Amman evening	Correspondent Steve Harrigan, just back from a break in the USA	Anchor/correspondant Laurie Dhue toast the end of her tour in Amman	Andy Roberts and Joel Fagin
	Laurie Dhue		Jay Wallace and Shepard Smith