The relentless digging and interviewing that are the foundation of cover stories rarely intersect with the front lines of battle. This week’s cover story, “Bulldog,” written by our versatile wordsmith of a reporter, Kirsten Scharnberg, is a little different.
For Kirsten, the connection between the obsession of Patrick Fitzgerald–fighting terrorism–and the war in Iraq was direct and personal: She juggled working on this profile of the controversial U.S. attorney with being dispatched to Baghdad for a second stint as a correspondent in the war zone.
Since joining the Tribune in 1999, Kirsten distinguished herself in Chicago before moving on to the New York bureau, where she is a national correspondent. Even as she covered the presidential elections, she worked on this story of the famously reclusive Fitzgerald, finally interviewing him in New York over breakfast–when he insisted on splitting the bill exactly down the middle because he refused to accept a meal from a reporter–especially at a time when he was subpoenaing other reporters.
For all their differences, Kirsten was able to figure out what animates Fitzgerald. “Those of us who have careers that consume us are only able to continue at that pace if we believe in our core that we are doing so to make a difference in the world. That doesn’t mean we are always right, or what consumes us doesn’t drive us in the wrong direction, but it is what sustains us,” reflects Kirsten. “A workaholic myself, I found that I could relate to that part of Fitzgerald’s persona.”
For now, Kirsten is at a desk stateside but, as with the subject of this week’s cover story, comfort will chafe before long.