From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Usually, the more time foreign correspondents spend in the country they're reporting on, the deeper their coverage.

But for news about Iraq, they have to rely on Iraqi stringers as it's become increasingly

risky for foreigners to step outside the

barricaded walls of their hotels. This past Monday, what little sense of refuge remained inside

the hotel walls was shattered as three suicide bombers drove into the Baghdad compound housing

the Palestine and Sheraton hotels home to many foreign correspondents.

Guards stopped them before they could hit the actual buildings, but the vehicles did explode,

killing at least 17 people.

Abu Masab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility in a website posting.

Reporter Mark Danner was at the hotel compound just last week, and he says the attacks showed tremendous audacity.

It is probably, with the exception of the green zone itself, the most highly guarded site in Baghdad.

And there's no way you can attack the Palestine and the

Sheraton without knowing that you're attacking a key point of the foreign press. So it seems to me

that one of the things they were probably trying to do was get maximum amount of attention

by bombing this particular target. And of course, it did get enormous coverage.

In other words, since journalists in Iraq can't physically get to the attacks, the by bombing this particular target. And of course, it did get enormous coverage.

In other words, since journalists in Iraq can't physically get to the attacks, the insurgents were bringing those attacks to the journalists' front door?

Well, that's a good way to put it. You know, you actually had film footage of these attacks

shot from the hotel, some of the most dramatic footage that we've had out of Iraq in quite some

...