Journalism in the Age of the Quick Take

In 1990, a chance encounter in the office elevator changed the trajectory of Razia Iqbal’s career. She was then a subeditor at the BBC on a six-month contract. Days later, she was on a flight to Pakistan as the BBC’s foreign correspondent, after the position had been vacated at short notice. It was supposed to be a quiet stint. But shortly after she arrived, Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s prime minister, was dismissed from office, prompting a political crisis, and Iqbal, who had no experience as ...