Bowling Green State University

From Vietnam to 9/11: The Associated Press and Its Coverage of War and Terrorism

Join AP veterans George Esper and Richard Pyle for a discussion about the unique role of the AP and wire services in covering conflicts around the globe. When other Western news organizations parachute in and out of covering war, the AP is often there long before the conflict starts and long after the conflict ends. Esper, former AP special correspondent, has covered wars and conflicts ranging from Vietnam to the Gulf War, to Bosnia and Somalia; he now teaches at West Virginia University. He was named Saigon bureau chief in 1973 and directed and reported the demise of the South Vietnamese government during those chaotic last days. Pyle was named Saigon bureau chief in 1970, and later covered the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the Lebanon civil war in 1976 and Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Named AP Roving Correspondent for the Middle East, based in Cairo, in 1987, he soon moved again to Bahrain to cover the Iraq-Iran war in the Persian Gulf. He also covered the 1990-91 Gulf War. On 9/11/2001 he saw the World Trade Center attacks from his Brooklyn roof deck, and reported from the scene and New York streets.

	George Esper, Veteran AP foreign correspondent who has covered wars and conflicts ranging from Vietnam to the Gulf War, to Bosnia and Somalia; he now teaches at West Virginia University.
	Richard Harvey Pyle joined AP in Detroit in 1960 after earning a BA from Wayne State University and three years on a daily newspaper.