The challenges of covering Syria
Italian freelance journalist Andrea Glioti has covered Syria since the uprising began three years ago, dodging danger and border controls to get the story out.
BEIRUT — Reporting from Syria has become an ordeal of illegal border crossings, where journalists face all sorts of restrictions from both the Syrian government and neighboring countries.
I started covering Syria from Damascus at the very beginning of the uprising in March 2011. I didn't apply for a press visa, as it would have just meant further restrictions on my movements by security forces. During my five-month stay, I reported on demonstrations, circumventing the regime's checkpoints, driven around by an aging taxi driver sympathetic to the opposition.
