This would be terrifying. It’s a news report from Tripoli, written by a BBC reporter holed up in a hotel as the rebels come storming in. While he wrote this piece, and indeed while I write this post, it was not assured that he would make it home safe.

I embedded with the U.S. Army in Iraq. While there was some danger, it was not extreme. Reporting in this situation, however, is far more tenuous but also crucial. “Boots on the ground” isn’t just about the military. How are the rest of us supposed to know what is happening? How do we get passed the propaganda? It’s these reporters, the ones willing to plop themselves down in Tripoli when rebels are looking to overrun the cities, that tell those stories. And bless them, because not everyone wants to be hanging around at ground zero.

The Libya story, after months of slow burn, has erupted tonight. We’ll see where it is by the morning, and beyond.

I love This American Life. The first time I walked into a radio studio, it was because I wanted to learn how to do what they do. Today I was looking around for something connected to the presidential primary and I stumbled on this critique of this story (listen to the full story below).

Granted, it takes an hour, but you should to listen to it. It is just the type of abuse journalists should be looking for and bringing to the public’s attention. And reporters can’t be timid just because someone threatens to sue. Luckily there are laws protecting reporters who have the courage to criticize people in power. Rock on, Ira, and keep keeping them honest.

I just finished watching The Paper, Shattered Glass (Vanity Fair article about the true story) and The Killing Fields (New York Times article about Dith Pran, one of the central figures in the film) all in a row for a show I’m doing with a friend on the local public access channel. It was essentially an afternoon packed with reporting.

Between the three there were a litany of pitfalls alongside poignent examples of why reporting is so crucial. Two are based on true stories. They would be striking enough if they were fiction.

I love reporting. When I go back to work after a weekend it never feels like work. It is about trying to catch myself up on what happened over the last few days to try to fill everyone else in. I love it.

But the impact of reporting—whether the story is about about a candidate for selectman with a criminal record or genocide in Cambodia—is central to our democracy. Through all of three movies, even the one filed under fiction, that central tenant of journalism holds true. It holds true for me as well, and that’s why I love it.

Click here to see photos of and by Dith Pran, or here to see a video. They are all worth it. Pran died of cancer in 2008.