War Correspondent Kate Webb Subject in New Book

Vietnam was less quagmire and more a crucible for more than 468 women accredited reporters during a war where lives and deaths could never be measured by lines on a map. Journalist Elizabeth Becker’s new book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War, offers insightful portraits of courageous women war correspondents – including Christchurch-born Kate Webb – who helped break down stereotypes, James Borton reports for The Washington Times.

The author’s selection of Webb, France-born Catherine Leroy and American Frances Fitzgerald offers a personal and historical examination of women who challenged the rules imposed on them by the military, male peers, cultural and sexist barriers, Borton writes.

Becker’s reportage invokes at times her own reveries when describing her close friend, Webb, who in 1967 became the first United Press International (UPI) woman resident correspondent in Vietnam. Webb distinguished herself for fearless battlefield reporting and at one point was held prisoner for weeks by North Vietnamese troops. Sydney-trained, she spent more than six years covering the war, including crossing into Cambodia.

Webb died in Australia in 2007.

Original article by James Borton, The Washington Times, February 16, 2021.