I’ve worked out of Rome for FOX since 9/11.

Not because of 9/11; I just happened to have changed jobs that September. I was actually on vacation in Sicily when the Twin Towers got hit. Having come to FOX from Time Magazine, I was new to television — but got a lot of help from Rome producer Mario Biasetti, who’s been working in TV longer than I’ve been alive. I also got sent quite often to our Jerusalem bureau, to give a hand covering the intifada — so that meant a lot of live television experience in a very short period of time.

I survived “Papal April”: the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Benedict 16th in 2005, although it was actually a three-month ordeal, as John Paul first went into the hospital in February. I spent a lot of time in a wet and cold parking lot outside the Gemelli Hospital, and if it had lasted much longer I would have also ended up in the hospital.

I’ve been lucky to cover a few other big stories as well: Madrid train bombings, Paris riots and the war in Lebanon. I actually arrived in Lebanon the same day the war started, which was pretty good timing. I was planning on staying for five days — I think I had a pair of khakis, a pair of shorts and a swimsuit — and we ended up there for five weeks. But no complaints; it was a great story and I’d love to go back.

When I worked for Time it was normally just myself and my notebook as I reported a story. Occasionally, for a very big interview, a photographer would come along. Television is all about teamwork. I thought about that the other day when we did a story at Ferrari headquarters, about test-driving one of their hot new cars on the company’s race track. Mario Biasetti shot the piece with a small camera, and I managed to give him a bit of a scare when I took the Scuderia 430 into a tight turn at about 100 m.p.h. Since I was leaving for Jerusalem the next day, I brought the tapes with me. Editor Ronen Shpizman and producer Yonat Friling did a great job putting it together.