Jim: The James Foley Story Page #2

in conflict areas.

The world has changed so much

in terms of digital publishing

and newspapers started to eliminate

things that they didn't see as essential.

International coverage dwindled

down to very little.

So we saw an opportunity to fill that void

and we needed to work with freelancers.

Freelancers decide to work together

just on the basis of this...

initial quick read chemistry.

I saw this new guy who I hadn't met before.

He looked friendly enough, so I said,

"Hey, what's up?" He said, "Oh, not

much, going to the front line."

And he'd heard a lot about Libya and the

fact that it was very cheap to work.

Rebels and protesters were eager to

show us their side of the story.

You know, they were driving us all over for

free. They were translating for us for free.

Many of us never really experienced the

luxury of journalism in its heyday.

What we do is journalism

on a shoestring budget.

So we've had to be a lot more resourceful

in a way and just more street savvy.

I think in a sense, the way we all got to know

each other was the Africa hotel in Benghazi.

It was the cheapest hotel and the

crappiest and we were all staying there.

I'd seen Jim talking to, you

know, a few other journalists

and he was just really

friendly with everybody.

It was unusual in a place like that. You know,

there's still an edge of competitiveness

in that environment, whereas Jim

was just like, "Yeah, whatever."

He gave off a really good first

impression and, you know,

it helps that he's like a super good-looking

guy, and I was just like, "Who is this guy?

Who are you?"

Just that jaw man, like, just

f***ing cut cheese with that thing.

There wasn't anything mundane

about the man whatsoever.

He never really like, projected himself onto

a situation and he dealt well with people.

[Jim] Who are the Libyan rebels determined

to overthrow 42 years of dictatorship?

[Jim]

Welder? Off-shore welding?

- Platform, yeah.

- Okay, dangerous job.

They're brave as individuals, but many

show a dangerous lack of weapons training.

[Clare] There were so many

freelancers who came in

at that point in time who were so new,

Jim and I among them, and I found out

only later that there were a number

of much more experienced

photo-journalists

who'd made one or two

trips to the front line

and said "F*** it, this is

way too dangerous."

Jim had a high tolerance for danger.

- [Jim] Sh*t!

- I mean, sure, he was drawn to that. All of us are in a way.

He was cool as a cucumber as well.

Hey, like wearing this little like,

tiny vest that he used to wear.

[Clare] The fact that he stayed so calm

made it easy to feel calm in that situation,

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