The Sausage Factory #3: Near death in the desert, the best reporting on Syria and @schwartzstein.bsky.social shares his secrets (of freelancing). mailchi.mp/59b403df6ec7...

Jim and his brother Garry were the sons of a US Marine who was stationed in New Zealand during WWII. The Lott boys both joined the Marines and served in Vietnam. Jim was killed in a rocket attack on Chu Lai in May 1968

On my first trip to DC this weekend I left a poppy at the Vietnam War memorial for Jim Lott, the only New Zealander on the wall.

This week I spoke with Isaac Blacksin, whose book "Conflicted: Making News From Global War" challenges many of the assumptions of conflict reporting. mailchi.mp/7d35532ce69b...

Greetings Bluesky. I've been less active on social media this past year but I did start a semi-regular newsletter where I talk to friends and colleagues about how the sausage gets made in journalism. I'd love to hear from anyone who was interested. www.campbellmacdiarmid.com/newsletter