On Saturday, January 7, 2006, Christian Science Monitor Managing Editor Marshall Ingwerson was woken by a 4:30 a.m. phone call—and it was not good news. A Monitor stringer in Baghdad, Jill Carroll, had been kidnapped. No one knew who had taken her, nor whether the kidnappers were motivated by money or ideology. Kidnappings had become only too common in Iraq; journalists in particular were favorite targets. The Monitor itself had even experienced another freelancer kidnapped and killed. Ingwerson knew the paper would have to make decisions quickly.

Trying to manage a kidnapping in any context was a challenge, and involved a staggering array of players. That Carroll was in Iraq only multiplied the numbers. There were the many editors at the Monitor , Carroll’s family members, news media, US government agencies, and non-governmental organizations. There were also the bureau in Baghdad, the US military authorities in Iraq, Iraqi government officials, and purported go-betweens to terrorist organizations. Monitor editors had to decide not only whom to work with, but when to call on which group or individual.

As a start, Ingwerson and a few key editors each took specific responsibilities. One represented the Monitor in public; another worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its counterparts abroad; another dealt with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and still another stayed in constant communication with Carroll’s family members. The reporters in the Baghdad bureau were also eager to assist in any way possible. The question was: Who could really be helpful?

As the first shock of the kidnapping wore off, the Monitor team found it confronted a host of terrible dilemmas. Should the paper make a public statement of support for Carroll, or play down the incident in hopes of resolving it quietly? Should it welcome the intervention of Arab media organizations or liaisons to the kidnappers? Were a ransom demanded, should the urgency of the situation trump US laws against paying off terrorists? Should the paper promote Carroll from stringer to full-fledged correspondent or would that only increase her value to the kidnappers?

Within a week, the kidnappers had publicized their demand: Free all Iraqi female prisoners or they would kill Carroll. This was not under the Monitor’s control. One deadline passed, and Carroll was apparently still alive. But as a second deadline approached, Monitor editors were receiving conflicting advice. On the one hand, CIA sources were adamant: Speak up, make a lot of noise, and the stringer would be freed. On the other, the FBI and a private security agency urged Ingwerson and his colleagues to keep quiet, use back channels, and resolve the matter privately. The kidnappers had set a second deadline of February 26. The editors knew that their next steps could spell life or death for the young woman they had engaged to report on Iraq.