In the Zone Trivia Quiz

Answer: Crimean War

Russell reported on the conditions faced by the Allied forces in the Crimea and the public in Britain was horrified. His reporting on the care of the wounded reached Florence Nightingale who took 38 women volunteer nurses to the region to care for them. Her work revolutionized nursing and the treatment of battlefield casualties.

His article "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was the basis for Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem of the same name. The charge took place on Oct. 25 as part of the Battle of Balaclava. The article was published on Nov. 14 and Tennyson's poem was published on Dec. 9.

Answer: US Civil War

Mathew Brady spent over $100,000 of his own money to photograph the battles of the Civil War. His use of a mobile studio and darkroom revolutionized battlefield photography. Most of the photos credited to him were however taken by men who worked for him such as Alexander Gardner, George Barnard, and Timothy O'Sullivan, among others. Brady expected that the US government would buy his photos after the war but they declined and he died deeply in debt. Even more importantly, many of the originals were lost in the years after the war. Still thousands of photos remain in the National Archives and the Library of Congress because of the extent of the work he and his men did.

Brady and his men also photographed many of the leaders and generals of the Civil War, both North and South. He photographed all US presidents from John Quincy Adams to William McKinley except for William Henry Harrison who died several years before Brady began his photography career. This means he photographed 18 presidents in all.

The impact of his work on the American public cannot be underestimated as it was the first time civilians could see for themselves the horrors of war. In October 1862 he had an exhibition called "The Dead of Antietam." The "New York Times" reviewed the exhibition and its impact.

Answer: He not only covered the war but fought alongside the soldiers.

During the Invasion of Iraq in 2003, embedded journalists were all the rage as the US military allowed journalists to travel with specific units as they raced for Baghdad. These observers, however, were not the first embedded journalists. The first was Robert Edmund Strahorn who not only reported the battles but also fought alongside the men he covered. Contrary to the modern concept of objective journalism, Strahorn felt the best way to report the truth was to be a part of the action.

He was a war correspondent for the "New York Times", the "Chicago Tribune", and the "Rocky Mountain News".

He joined Gen. Crook's Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77 and Crook said of him, "Strahorn worked as well with his rifle as with his pen." (Wikipedia)

Answer: Spanish-American War

It has been speculated that William Randolph Hearst helped start the Spanish-American War to sell newspapers and this speculation has spread to journalists who covered the war. But Richard Harding Davis had already severed all ties with Hearst over the fictionalization of some of his previous work by the time the war started.

Davis was aboard a US warship during the shelling of Matanzas, Cuba and his coverage of the event gained widespread circulation. This caused the Navy to ban all journalists from their ships so Davis headed ashore. As a good friend of Teddy Roosevelt, he covered the Rough Riders extensively and his coverage helped create the legend of their derring-do.

After the war, he went on the cover the Second Boer War in South Africa. As an American, he was given access to both sides, the British and the Boer. He also covered the Russo-Japanese War from the Japanese perspective.

He worked as a reporter for the "New York Herald", "The Times", and "Scribner's Magazine". He became a managing editor of "Harper's Weekly", where he helped direct the growth of the American magazine culture as it grew from infancy to a force in journalism.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Churchill's work as a war correspondent came more out of necessity than any journalistic desire. His salary in the military did not pay for the lifestyle he wished to maintain so he became a war correspondent, reporting on the various campaigns he was involved with. Because of his family's influence, he was able to get postings to active campaigns and used these postings to further his reporting career. He was a war correspondent for several London newspapers and wrote books on the campaigns in which he was involved.

Some of his work as a war correspondent is listed here. He wrote for the "Daily Graphic" while in Cuba, "The Pioneer" and "The Daily Telegraph" while in India, and "The Morning Post" in Sudan. He covered the Second Boer War for "The Morning Post" as a civilian. He wrote the books "The Story of the Malakand Field Force" about his time in India, "The River War" about his time in Sudan, and "London to Ladysmith" and "Ian Hamilton's March" about his coverage of the Second Boer War.

Answer: Kit Coleman

A kit is a baby fox, hence the clue. Kit Coleman's real name was Kathleen Blake Coleman but she was born Catherine Ferguson in Ireland and later immigrated to Canada. She began working for the "Toronto Daily Mail" in 1889 as Kathleen (Kit) Blake Watkins.

Her weekly column became known as "Woman's Kingdom". She wrote "hard" journalism and by the time the Spanish-American War came around she had a well-earned reputation for her work. As such, she was the first woman to be accredited as a war correspondent by the US government and eventually allowed to travel to Cuba right before the war ended.

Her coverage of the aftermath of the war cemented her reputation for "hard" journalism. After her time in Cuba, she remarried and became Kit Coleman. She also became the first president of the Canadian Women's Press Club and continued to pursue journalism until her death in 1915.

Answer: During the invasion of Okinawa with the army.

Ernie Pyle was an already well-known journalist when World War II broke out and became the best-known war correspondent of the time in the European theater. He reported first from Africa and cemented his reputation there. One of his most famous pieces, "The Death of Captain Waskow," came from the beaches of Anzio and the failed Allied invasion of the Italian mainland there. He visited the beaches of Normandy one day after D-Day at the request of Gen. Bradley. He followed the troops across Europe in 1944. In early 1945 he headed to the Pacific where he was killed by machine gun fire on a small island off of Okinawa.

Pyle did not report as most war correspondents did and was allowed great leeway by his editors. He would find stories from the front and tell them in his own way, a way that captured the reader and drew them in. He won the Pulitzer on June 6, 1944 but could not be present for the ceremony as he was waiting to go ashore in Normandy.

Answer: The Vietnam War

Vietnam was the first war in which the action was broadcast almost as it happened into America's living rooms on the evening news. Rather reported from Vietnam in 1966 at an early stage in the conflict. His early reporting of battles directly from the field became an iconic moment in TV journalism and helped propel him up the ranks of CBS News. By 1981, Rather had become host the "CBS Evening News", a post he held until 2005. Still, the images of him in Vietnam in 1966 are some of the most memorable of his career.

Answer: Peter Arnett

Peter Arnett began his career as a war correspondent in Vietnam for the Associated Press. His unvarnished coverage of the war drew the ire of the US government.

On January 17, 1981, Arnett, Shaw, and Holliman were in Baghdad when the US led coalition airstrikes began during the first night of the Gulf War and they broadcast the action live for the next 16 hours. Other journalists were present in their hotel but only they had the capability of broadcasting live. Soon all foreign journalists left Baghdad except Arnett who continued his coverage for the rest of the war. During this time he was able to interview Hussein, the only interview granted. Again Arnett's coverage of the war drew the ire of the US government.

Answer: Iraq

David Bloom was killed and Bob Woodruff critically wounded in Iraq. Bloom had been embedded with the US Third Infantry Division during the initial stages of the Invasion of Iraq in 2003. He had a specially built truck that allowed him to broadcast live as he travelled with the division on its drive deep into Iraq. During this time he died of a pulmonary embolism that had nothing to do with combat or his involvement in the war.

Woodruff was in Iraq in January 2006 and was wounded by an improvised explosive device (aka roadside bomb) on a road near Taji. At the time Woodruff was the co-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight" and was embedded with the US 4th Infantry Division. Woodruff sustained a severe brain injury but was able to make a miraculous recovery due to the care he received. On March 30, 2006 Woodruff won the first David Bloom Award. The award was created in Bloom's honor after his death to reward excellence in journalism.