Sky's Alex Crawford: 'sexist' to ask if motherhood compatible with frontline

correspondent who reported live as a convoy of rebels entered Tripoli shows how the risks and dangers of the faces of their work

His four children are wondering why she can not work at their school, but Alex Crawford, award-winning journalist for Sky News, said Saturday it was offensive and sexist to even ask whether the Women war correspondents can juggle motherhood and the first line of journalism.

Crawford, whose coverage of the capture of Tripoli, made headlines last week of his own, told an audience of television executives in Edinburgh that she considered herself against the pressures do are not different from those faced by all working mothers.

speak live via satellite from Libya, Crawford said the International Television Festival of MediaGuardian Edinburgh who was "very insulting and very, very macho" to be questioned on how she raised her children - while his colleague Stuart Ramsay of Sky News, the father of three children, are not facing the same problems. "No one will say - what are you doing?" said.

Crawford, 49, worked at Sky News since its inception in 1989, but became a foreign correspondent, six years ago after her husband Richard Edmondson, a career journalist, quit his job at The Independent to help look for their children, Nat son and three daughters, Frankie, Maddie and Florence.

"Many times my children want me to go. My husband is trying to protect what I do. This is a dilemma for many single working mothers. I hope I am a model for my daughters, although my kids say, "Why can not you be a dinner lady at school?" He said.

The public nature of their work, however, means that it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. In March Crawford was captured in Zawiyah, where he was filming a demonstration against Gaddafi. Against an attack by the forces of Gaddafi are caught in a mosque surrounded by enemy troops.

"We thought we would die," she said, telling the audience of Edinburgh had mentally prepared to say goodbye to his family. Meanwhile, after seeing to TV under fire, her husband also realized he was in danger. "I still get the text, because the mobile network was still, and I tried to reassure my husband." Do not worry , I said, 'I'll leave that, but I did not believe them. " his live recording of rebel forces into Tripoli on Sunday evening took place because Crawford, cameramen and Foster Garwen McLuckie, Jim, and his producer Andy Marsh chose to return to the first line at a time when Rival stations had stopped working during the day. You'll be surprised how easy it was to move to the city, with cheering crowds lining the road.

Crawford began with the description of events by phone, but she said "it became clear that nobody believes what we say." So, to show what was happening, his film crew improvised a dish the size of a laptop, powered by the cigarette lighter in his van. Due to the size of crowds, progress was slow enough for your computer constantly reposition the satellite feeder to keep the live broadcast.

• She said it was impossible to remain impartial in a dispute over such as Libya, a conflict that has regularly seen people with "half his head blown off." He said "you can not pass through these experiences without being checked," adding that after escaping the long Zawiyah after three days she was "a good time very tearful, very upset." The only way to deal with her and her crew went to "talk a lot, mourning a lot, cry a lot and end up feeling better."
• The journalist also said that "people who say they can be impartial, not telling the truth" because it is impossible for journalists to the war, when they are witnesses " defenseless people are killed horribly. "But he said it became important to start covering some of reprisals, as the rebel forces to extract revenge from loyal to Gaddafi.
• "I think as a woman wearing a different look at the whole thing ... a woman who went through the same experiences, even if the delivery, which gives you empathy. I 'm Gung-ho about the reporting of all, most of the time I feel very scared, "said Crawford, adding:" I feel like I just started, I have been doing this for six years "

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