Keeping that risk in mind, Ingwerson decided to try to split the difference by raising the temperature of the coverage, but in a limited market. He would reach out to sympathetic Arab media. Those who had relationships with the Monitor, directly or indirectly, presumably understood the nuances of the situation. Thanks to its focus on global news, the Monitor had its own extensive network of Middle East contacts, including members of the media and government officials. CJR’s Campagna also supplied a list of Middle East contacts. Finally, there were Carroll’s Arab friends and colleagues. One by one, Ingwerson got in touch with them all.

To each, Ingwerson painted a portrait of Carroll they could include in statements, columns, and editorials. He emphasized the same characteristics highlighted in the Monitor’s public statement on Monday: her sincere interest in the Arab world, her love for the Iraqi people and respect for Muslim and Arab traditions, and her stories—written for Arab as well as Western publications. One of his goals was to minimize any sympathy for the kidnappers. A friend and fellow colleague of Carroll’s in Iraq provided a photograph of Carroll in the customary hijab , which the Monitor offered to the news wires. “We consciously put that one up to curry favor with the Iraqi public,” Scott says. “We also removed photos from the [ Monitor Web] site of her with the US marines, where she’d been embedded the month before.” ^[17]

Jordan Times. One of the people on Ingwerson’s list to call was the then-editor of the Jordan Times , Ayman al-Safadi. ^[18] Carroll had done some work for that paper as well. After talking to Ingwerson, the Jordan Times on January 15 published an editorial titled “Our Jill.” It said: “The kidnappers who abducted her could not have chosen a more wrong target.” The editorial noted that her reporting about the human tragedies and hardships of the Iraq war had made her “one of the best ambassadors Arabs could hope for.” ^[19]

Blog. The Monitor also started a “Jill Carroll Update Blog” on its website. On January 14, a week after Carroll’s kidnapping, Bergenheim posted a statement to the blog that reiterated the Monitor 's commitment to “pursue every possible avenue... to secure her release” and highlighted the public testimony of Iraqi friends and reporters on her behalf. “This has been a difficult week for Jill’s family and for us,” he stated.

Watch the Baghdad Boys discuss their Iraq media strategy

But the publicity campaign brought no communications from the kidnapper. By then, Ingwerson had given up trying to carry out his regular duties. The efforts to free Carroll had become a full-time job for him and the rest of Team Jill. The newspaper’s coverage of the Iraq War dropped considerably. Deputy editors filled in for Ingwerson and ran the daily Page One meeting, which Ingwerson could no longer attend. Instead, he and Team Jill held the last phone call of the day with the Baghdad Boys at about 5:30 p.m. Boston time, 12:30 a.m. Baghdad time. Often, they left to go home only at 10 or 11 p.m.