Happy Birthday, as you deploy back to Ukraine
By: Ken Robinson
Happy Birthday, Jason.
For nearly a quarter century, we’ve had the privilege of sharing a front-row seat to history together. Since the dark days following the attacks of September 11, 2001, we’ve crossed paths in some of the world’s most dangerous places—from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to the Horn of Africa, and most recently, as we have continued to tell the stories of Ukraine. Through it all, one thing has never changed: your unwavering commitment to bearing witness.
Combat reporting is unlike any other form of journalism. It demands far more than the ability to write or speak well. It requires courage under fire, tactical awareness, sound judgment, technical excellence, and, above all, the trust of the men and women whose lives you are documenting.
Few possess those qualities. Even fewer possess them in abundance. You do.
Your remarkable reporting from Ukraine, particularly your years embedded with Ukrainian drone units fighting on the front lines, has set a new standard for war correspondence.
You have helped audiences around the world understand not just the strategy and geopolitics of this war, but its human dimension—the courage, sacrifice, heartbreak, resilience, and determination of a people defending their homeland. You have never chased sensationalism. Instead, you have consistently found the human story inside the conflict, telling it with honesty, humility, compassion, and extraordinary professionalism.
The awards that continue to find you—National Emmy nominations, National Headliner Awards, the David Bloom Award, New York Press Club honors, and so many others—are richly deserved. They recognize excellence in journalism, but those of us who have worked beside you know they reflect something even more important: character.
In an era when trust in journalism is too often questioned, you continue to represent the very best of our profession. You remind us that great journalism is not about the correspondent; it is about the people whose stories must be told.
You have spent your career giving voice to those caught in war, disaster, and history’s turning points, often at considerable personal risk, so the rest of us might better understand the world.
I am proud to call you not only a colleague, but a friend.
May this birthday bring you safe travels as you return to the front lines of Ukraine, we all wish you safety and security, good health, continued purpose, and many more opportunities to do what you have always done so exceptionally well: shine a light into the world’s darkest corners and remind us of our common humanity.
Happy Birthday, my friend. Here’s to the next assignment—and to many more years of telling the stories that matter most.
—Ken Robinson
In The Shadows:
Inside Special Forces: outube.com/watch?v=DmicnDKqS1o&list=PLaOuj3fUifywizmhyPO9lvMK3KilSFsuV&index=2
Ukraine, Darwin’s War: Drones of Ukraine: