If anyone ever accused the media of behaving like pack animals, they would be right. Big news events like the Amman summit are like our watering hole. Every major news network seems represented here, and even though Amman is a big, bustling Arab city, nearly all of us are broadcasting from exactly the same hotel ... on the same floor ... with the same backdrop.
Watch all the newscasts tonight and you'll notice the newly annointed "most popular mosque in the world" over everyone's shoulder. To the right of Anderson's anchor position, there's Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson broadcasting from room balconies right next to each other. I doubt they have adjoining rooms.
New York City is seven hours behind Amman, and that time difference keeps everyone's schedules running nearly 24 hours a day over here. When Anderson goes off the air at midnight ET, the sun here is rising. That means people, and their stories, are waking up.
We usually have a lot of adrenaline built up just after the show, so we'll immediately go out and start working on the next night's story, but morning quickly turns to afternoon and that means our colleagues in New York are waking up ... and we have yet to sleep. The lack of rest catches up with everyone, but ultimately we all feel lucky to be here, to see and report on how this important story unfolds.
We'll all talk about the stories on the plane ride home. Everyone's probably booked on the same flight.