Q&A: Sebastian Junger Worries War Journalism Is Less Safe and Viable Than Ever

In April of 2011, the photojournalist Tim Hetherington was on assignment in the Libyan city of Misrata when he was struck in the groin by shrapnel. Hetherington and another photojournalist, Chris Hondros, who was also badly wounded in the attack, were quickly transported to a nearby hospital, as colleagues and rebel fighters desperately worked to save their lives. They both died. (Two other colleagues who were wounded in the attack survived.)

A few weeks later, friends and colleagues of Hetherington’s gathered in London for his memorial service. Among them was Sebastian Junger, a journalist and filmmaker whose documentary Restrepo, about a US Army outpost in Afghanistan’s deadliest valley, was codirected with Hetherington. Junger had assumed that Hetherington’s main injury, a femoral-artery bleed, would have been unsurvivable under any circumstances, but while at the service, he spoke with a retired British field medic who told him that with the right training and certain tools, it might have been possible for someone to save Hetherington’s life. “That was very painful to hear,” Junger said.