Ebtekar wrote an account of the embassy takeover with Fred A. Reed titled "Takeover in Tehran: The Inside Story of the 1979 U.S. Embassy Capture". Western media have systematically depicted Ebtekar's involvement in a negative manner, as Reed describes: "For twenty years the prevailing "globalized" version of the embassy capture has cast the students at best as well-intentioned but naive young people manipulated ...and at worst as irresponsible extremists." Elaine Sciolino wrote about Ebtekar's own viewpoint: "Asked by an "ABC News" correspondent one day whether she could see herself picking up a gun and killing the hostages, she replied: 'yes. When I've seen an American gun being lifted up and killing my brothers and sisters in the streets, of course.'"