|
Mary Beth Sheridan ’83 braves danger zones
around the globe to get her story.
 During
the war in Iraq several new words entered the lexicon. Most prominent among
the new vocabulary is the notion of “embedded” journalists. The
Pentagon deployed more than 600 media correspondents to live among the
troops, “embedded” in military units.
Mary Beth Sheridan ’83, a reporter with the Washington Post,
was embedded with a military unit during the war. She was assigned to live
and travel with the Army’s 11th Aviation Regiment, the group that
flies the Apache helicopters. With the Post since 2001, her usual beat
is following immigration issues for the Metro Desk at the prominent, internationally
known newspaper.
One of 10 Washington Post reporters embedded with U.S. military
units, Sheridan’s “In the Field” reports were a regular
feature of the paper’s coverage of the front lines, providing portraits
of life with the troops. Her first article appeared on March 11 from Camp
Udairi in Kuwait, where she provided readers with a look at the preparations
for war. Moving to central Iraq with her unit, she wrote dispatches about
the work of a U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit. Her report
on an Apache helicopter shot down outside of Karbala grabbed the attention
of National Public Radio, resulting in an interview about the incident
on “Morning Edition” in late March. She and another Post reporter
co-authored a breaking news, front-page story about the release of seven
American prisoners of war. Following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s
regime, she filed stories from Baghdad—providing a poignant slice
of life about Iraqis beseeching U.S. Marines to restore electricity, help
them find missing relatives and re-establish order.
That Sheridan was tapped by the Washington Post for this important
and dangerous assignment will come as no surprise to her classmates and
friends. Associate Professor of English Helen Whall recalls Sheridan visiting
her office in 1983 during her last year at Holy Cross, confessing that
she did not want to go to law school. “Forget all the probabilities,” Whall
told her. “Tell me exactly what you’d like to be in five years.”
Whall recounts Sheridan’s response. “She said, ‘You’ll
laugh, I want to become an international reporter.’”
The truth is she had been working all along at becoming a journalist.
An English major, Sheridan started her journalism career as a student reporter
and editor with The Crusader. From there her resume reads like a
modern day Nellie Bly, although she has devoted a lot more than 72 days
to her journey around the world.
Her career is a kaleidoscope of international datelines: Spain, Italy,
Colombia, Mexico. In brief, Sheridan began her career volunteering as a “go-fer” with
the now-defunct United Press International (UPI) in Madrid. She earned
her stripes at the Rome desk for UPI and went on to write for the Los
Angeles Times in Mexico. Later she served as editor of the foreign
desk for the Associated Press in New York City. Sheridan spent seven years
as the Miami Herald’s bureau chief in Bogota, Colombia. She
was honored in 1998 with a prestigious Overseas Press Club Award.
“Mary Beth Sheridan is no Brenda Starr,” observes Whall. “She’s
a very real woman of her words. In five years time, she became an international
journalist. Kind of makes you proud.”
|
