You described September 11 as a turning point in media coverage of Middle East. Can you elaborate?
Well, because suicide bombing has become something people question more; people are wondering why innocent people have to die no matter how just the cause is. Palestinians deserve a state, the whole world agrees, but does that mean that a bunch of women and children and men that have nothing to do with this have to lose their lives? On the other hand, you’ve got the violence against the Palestinians which has never stopped; has been a constant in all of this.

What do you make of journalism in the Arab World?
When I’m here in Lebanon I feel like I’m working with some of my best colleagues in the world. I feel that there are people who make every effort to tell the true story and who have the courage to stand up for it. All around the Arab World, I see a lot of editorializing or slant-taking where a commentary is more or less mixed with the facts. Now this happens in Western media as well in plenty of places. I think that the media in the Arab World is getting better, is getting stronger and I think news channels have had a big effect on that. They are going through the maturation process.

Have the Arab news stations brought influence to bear on your coverage?
I get up at 4am, I read 8-10 papers online a day, and I do that to get the background on the news. I don’t believe anyone should watch one news source and think they are getting the whole story. You need to get multiple sources and I think multiple sources are out there. I love internet newspapers.

Is embedding journalism?
Yeah, it’s journalism. In Iraq it’s probably the only way CNN and a lot of other people can get out there and see things. At the same time it’s important to say that is a far cry from the full story. The problem is that if I am in the other side in Fallujah, I won’t be filing any story at all. My last video taped appearance will be the butter knife slowly being drawn across my throat, and I don’t particularly want that one.  We’ve had a rough time in Iraq. We had two producers and a driver killed by gunmen who just suspected they were working with somebody that they really didn’t know. Anybody who criticizes any of the media in Iraq really needs to get on a plane and try it themselves. It’s perhaps the most difficult environment for journalists that I ever seen in my lifetime—it’s aimed to prevent you from telling both sides.

Have you been frustrated ever at CNN—by any limitations you have felt in covering certain stories?
Listen, there is always frustrations in any news organization and, as you get older, you learn to live with a lot of them, but if you can be a big enough pain in the ass they give in, alright? So you don’t stop demanding, you don’t stop pushing, you don’t stop trying to get them to understand what you believe needs to be covered.

What are you most proud of?
I had this idea that Africa wasn’t getting its fair share in coverage, and so I started a little accordion program on the weekends where I would write all the stories. (I actually wanted to call it Africa Journal or Africa Diary, but they had already done a pilot for the show and all these animations already existed so I said Inside Africa is fine.) Management saw it, agreed that Africa was not getting enough coverage and the right kind of coverage, in other words if 10,000 Africans died in violence or 50,000 starved to death, it got coverage. You never saw a good story about Africa, you would think that the whole place had nothing to contribute to the world. That’s not true.

Was there ever a story that you wish you would have covered?
I covered Arafat’s funeral from Atlanta; I would like to have been there. The list goes on and on. There are just days when I sit on the anchor desk and I see a great story unfolding and I would give anything to be there, and that’s normal, but I have to accept that I agreed with CNN to be an anchorman. I don’t have to go to Washington and stand in hallways for hours on end, and have some guy come out and lie to me through his teeth. That’s the positive side of it.

What advice can you pass on to journalists in the Middle East?
To have passion; the truth is much more interesting than anything you can manufacture. If you begin a story with an idea of the story you want to tell, and you investigate and you talk to people and you come out with exactly that original idea and you have a perfect story, tear it up. You haven’t done a terrible job. You should say: ‘hey, wait a minute that’s something I didn’t know,’ because if you didn’t learn anything doing it nobody else is either, all they’re going to learn is that you have a viewpoint. It doesn’t hurt to ask around. It doesn’t hurt to get two sources. And stop using anon sources. When you demand to use someone’s name, I bet you find you get a lot more
accurate information.

What motivates you to keep doing this everyday?
I have a passion for it. I have always loved it. I do think that we contribute something. I know that television is not going to change the world, but if I can contribute to a little bit of understanding for individuals, people who can change the world, make it a better place in their own small way every day, then I’ve accomplished something, I’m satisfied with that, and I’m willing to stick my neck out. But it’s this passion for human events, witnessing history; I’ve seen things I never dreamed I would see in my lifetime. I feel like, CNN, I would pay them to do this job.  I love this.