NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT

VOL.55 NO.4 WINTER 2001 Five Dollars

Coverage of Terrorism

‘This is one of my favorite pictures, taken a block away from Ground Zero on the second day. This is a cook who works in a restaurant. What is interesting to me about this picture, aside from what it depicts, is how the human experience leaves a trace on body language that one could never invent theatrically. It never lies.’ —Peter Turnley, photographer.

Women and Journalism: International Perspectives “…to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”

—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.

Vol. 55 No. 4 NIEMAN REPORTS Winter 2001 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Paul Wirth Design Editor Deborah Smiley Business Manager Cheryl Scantlebury

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Please address all subscription correspondence to in March, June, September and December One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, and change of address information to One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. ISSN Number 0028-9817 Telephone: (617) 495-2237 Internet Address (Business): Second-class postage paid [email protected] at , Massachusetts, and additional entries. Internet Address (Editorial): [email protected] POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WWW address: Nieman Reports, http://www.Nieman.Harvard.edu P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. Copyright 2001 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Subcription $20 a year, $35 for two years; add $10 per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $5. Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Vol. 55 No. 4 NIEMAN REPORTS Winter 2001 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

4 Coverage of Terrorism 6 September 11, 2001: Telling Stories Visually BY PETER TURNLEY

10 Language Matters as We Try to Describe What Happened BY BEVERLY WALL

11 Secrecy and the Press in a Time of War BY TED GUP

13 and the Press BY STANLEY W. CLOUD

16 The Dangers of Disinformation in the War on Terrorism BY MAUD S. BEELMAN

18 President Harry Truman Enlisted Journalists in the BY NANCY BERNHARD

19 Is the Press Up to the Task of Reporting These Stories? BY JAMES BAMFORD

22 The Unreported Threat in Coverage of Anthrax BY PHILIP CAPER

24 Reporting International News in a Serious Way BY WILLIAM F. WOO

25 Training Journalists to Report Safely in Hostile Environments BY JOHN OWEN

28 Freelancers’ Vital Role in International Reporting BY NATE THAYER

31 Press Access to Satellite Images is a Casualty in This War BY CHRISTOPHER SIMPSON

35 Using Graphics to Tell Stories BY JOANNE MILLER

37 Watchdog Journalism: An Instrument of Democracy COMMENTS BY BOB GILES AND MURREY MARDER

39 Asking Probing Questions in a Time of National Crisis JOURNALISTS’ PANEL MODERATED BY CHARLES NESSON

44 Images of a Shattered City BY STAN GROSSFELD

47 Reporting to a Western Audience About the Islamic World BY GENEIVE ABDO

49 Images From Another War in BY DAVID B. EDWARDS

52 Revealing Beauty in the Harshness of War BY REZA

53 Independent Media Try to be Balanced and Fair in Their Coverage BY FAZAL QURESHI

55 Stories the Media Decide Not to Tell BY ABDELMAGID MAZEN

57 Understanding the ‘Why’ of September 11 BY DANNY SCHECHTER

59 America: A Bully Wreaking Havoc on the Poor BY DALE FUCHS

Cover photo by Peter Turnley.© 61 Women and Journalism 63 Reporting on Gender in Journalism BY MARGARET GALLAGHER

65 Worldwoman Stretches Its Reach to Several Continents BY LESLEY RIDDOCH

68 In Nigerian Newspapers, Women Are Seen, Not Heard BY CHRISTINE ANYANWU

72 An Absence of Women BY PIPPA GREEN 75 Community Radio Provides Women a Way to Have Their Voices Heard

BY L. MUTHONI WANYEKI

76 Changing the Way Women’s Lives Are Portrayed BY LETTIE LONGWE

78 ‘Who Makes the News?’ BY TERESITA HERMANO AND ANNA TURLEY

80 In Poland, Women Run the Largest News Organization BY PEGGY SIMPSON

82 Reporting on War, Listening to Women BY RATIH HARDJONO

85 Storming the Citadel of Hard News Coverage BY AMMU JOSEPH

88 Media Don’t Portray the Realities of Women’s Lives BY SAKUNTALA NARASIMHAN

90 Bringing Women’s Stories to a Reluctant Mainstream Press BY ANGANA PAREKH

92 In Pakistan, Journalists Maintain Women’s Lesser Status BY MASSOUD ANSARI 94 ‘Visual Voices’: Photos From

97 The Varied Pace of Women’s Progress BY BETTINA PETERS

100 Women Bring a Certain Look and Feeling to News BY VERONICA LOPEZ

103 Between the Rhetoric of Equality and the Harsh Reality BY BLANCA ROSALES

105 Machismo Is Only One Obstacle Women Journalists Face BY MARÍA CRISTINA CABALLERO

108 Breaking Down Barriers in the Arab Media BY NAOMI SAKR

110 Moving Coverage Beyond a Woman’s Veil BY NAGHMEH SOHRABI

3 Curator’s Corner Reporting Clashes With Government Policies BY BOB GILES 113 Nieman Notes

113 Interactivity Creates a Different Kind of Journalism BY TOM ASHBROOK

114 Class Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

118 End Note: Living Treasures BY STEVE NORTHUP

2 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Curator’s Corner Reporting Clashes With Government Policies ‘The watchdog role of the press is never more vital than during a national crisis.’

By Bob Giles

hen the is on a war footing, there is Defense Secretary says, “Open and a tendency to set aside many of our traditional independent reporting will be the principal means of cover- Wchecks and balances by a well-intentioned instinct age of U.S. military operations.” Yet the government contin- for national unity. ues to seek ways to deny Americans information. It is Congress gives the President what he says he needs, with blocking news media access to satellite images of Afghani- fewer questions asked. At the Pentagon and in media rela- stan and neighboring countries, including images that would tions offices around the capital, secrecy emerges as a prac- enable journalists to evaluate reports of bomb damage that tice, if not a policy. Voices of dissent fall silent. Public debate killed civilians. Pentagon staffers who discuss military opera- is avoided. Americans are told to watch what they say. tions with news media have been told that they are breaking Essential among many forms of patriotism that emerge in federal criminal law. a time of national crisis is the duty of the press to be watchful The administration views this as a public relations war as over the exercise of power. With Congress on the sidelines, well as a military war. It has chosen to deny Americans access there is no forum for a national debate on our military and to what it interprets as Taliban or Al Qaeda propaganda, foreign policy. The press remains the single institution free rather than favoring openness in the belief that American to independently probe for facts the government wants to ideas and ideals will prevail. At the start of the war, Voice of shield from American citizens. America was bullied into canceling a scheduled broadcast of During the cold war, this nation paid a heavy price for an exclusive interview with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the secrecy and deception used to justify military actions and for leader of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and a defender of a pliant press willing to censor itself or unwilling to chal- . And the administration persuaded televi- lenge the official version of events. sion news organizations to engage in self-censorship that Nieman Reports is devoting much of this issue to an deprived the public of a newsworthy statement by Osama examination of reporting on terrorism, not only to demon- bin Laden. Major daily newspapers and wire services wrote strate that it is an enormously difficult journalistic assign- stories about the statement, but failed to print a text giving ment but also to explore and explain how certain practices readers a fuller context of his message. of the U.S. government are denying citizens important President Bush’s regrettable decision to try accused ter- information. rorists in secret before military tribunals would deprive the The administration’s impulse for controlling information world of the evidence presented against bin Laden and his is complicated by the nature of combat in Afghanistan. As aides and risks undermining the legitimacy of any verdict. cities and major regions of that country come under control When the war against terrorism goes well, the public is of the anti-Taliban forces, the western press (though assum- more likely to accept official explanations that national ing great risk) can move more freely and provide eyewitness security interests justify exceptions to transparency and accounts and images of how the war is being fought. accountability. Opinion surveys show that the public is This mobility of journalists—aided by advances in tech- content to allow the Pentagon to decide what is news. Thus, nology, such as videophones—has undercut one of the the mood of the country seems resigned to the possibility Pentagon’s major strategies for managing how the press that the search for truth once again is an acceptable casualty report the war: the Department of Defense National Media in this time of war. Pool. Institutionalized pool coverage was used in the Gulf The watchdog role of the press is never more vital than War, effectively limiting independent movement by U.S. during a national crisis. It is an unpopular role when the journalists. After the war, frustrated representatives of U.S. approval ratings of the President are so high or when the news organizations tried to negotiate a better arrangement Pentagon asserts that the national interest requires secrecy. but reluctantly agreed to continue the pool practice in future Monitoring our government at war goes beyond asking wars. The early combat in Afghanistan , absent U.S. ground technical military questions or probing instances of bad forces, allowed journalists to move with great freedom and judgment or miscalculation. Yet with the majority and mi- greater risk reporting a picture of the war unlike any since nority in Congress and silent for the most part, the . The pool was activated in December, igniting press is obliged to examine the larger issues and build the controversy in the selection of CNN over the networks to foundation for debate on fundamental policies that politi- accompany commandos to Tora Bora. cians are now so willing to shy away from. ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 3 Coverage of Terrorism

Through the night of September 11, 2001, photographer Peter Turnley took refuge in a second-floor office in a clothing store, its windows blown out by the force of the attack on the World Trade Center. As he tried to absorb what he was seeing, he documented the devastation. At dawn, he moved close to the site and fastened his journalistic eye on faces whose expressions evoke our feelings of loss. From covering war, Turnley knew that “the most important pictures…are after the battle, when one sees the human impact.” This photographic glimpse at the human impact of that tragic morning opens Nieman Reports’s exploration of the challenges journalists confront as they tell the stories of that day and report on its still-unwinding reverberations. “Language always matters,” writes Trinity College professor Beverly Wall, as she examines difficulties journalists have in finding words adequate to describe what happened on that September morning. “When journalists’ impulse is to describe a news event as ‘indescribable,’ perhaps they should pause and remind themselves that language does matter and the exacting search for words should not be abandoned.” Ted Gup, author of “The Book of Honor: Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives,” takes us inside the tension between government and the press when secrecy is employed as part of a wartime strategy. “It is precisely in times of such crises that reporters should be wariest of government invocations of secrecy,” he writes. Stanley W. Cloud, former Washington bureau chief for Time and one of five journalists who, after the , negotiated an improved way of handling pool coverage of U.S. military combat, writes about the interaction of the Pentagon and the press. Maud S. Beelman, who directs the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and covered the wars in the Balkans for The , contends that “For reporters covering this war, the challenge is not just in getting unfettered and uncensored access to U.S. troops and the battlefield—a long and mostly losing struggle in the past—but in discerning between information and disinformation.” Nancy Bernhard, author of “U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-60,” reminds us of a time during the cold war when Harry Truman asked journalists for “ideological support for the national security state” and, as she writes, “none of the assembled newsmen blanched at this enlistment to propagandize.” As James Bamford, author of “Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency,” examines the Bush administration’s crackdown on civil liberties and the limitations on press freedoms—some of them self-imposed—he finds “potential for good, penetrating, investigative reporting.” But, he writes, “The question is, is the media up to these investigative tasks? Judging from past performance, the answer is not likely.” Bamford uses media coverage of anthrax as one example of how the press is failing the American public. Philip Caper, a physician who lectures at the Harvard School of Public Health, explains how reporting on anthrax and related public health issues could be handled more responsibly by journalists. And Stanford journalism professor and former St. Louis Post- Dispatch editor William Woo explains what foreign news would be like if it were covered in “a serious way.”

4 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 John Owen, who directed The Freedom Forum European Center until its closure this fall, tells the story of a British journalist, untrained in the coverage of war, who nearly loses her life in Afghanistan as a reminder of why training—that is now available—is so critical for reporters whose job takes them into hostile environments. Nate Thayer, an investigative journalist, uses his experiences from years of reporting in on leader to explain why today so many staff journalists rely on the legwork of freelancers to bring context to their foreign news coverage. American University professor Christopher Simpson offers us his expertise about satellite images, explaining what information these photographs can give journalists and why the U.S. government is blocking reporters’ access to them. Joanne Miller, art director at The Charlotte Observer, describes how her newspaper uses graphics to help readers better understand the coverage of the terrorism story. During the Nieman Foundation’s Watchdog Conference in September, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson moderated a discussion about how journalists ask probing questions, focusing on coverage of terrorism and whether journalists are asking “the right question.” Boston Globe photographer Stan Grossfeld went to after September 11 and returned with images that probe the human spirit in the midst of destruction. Geneive Abdo, a longtime Tehran correspondent for The Guardian, illuminates the difficulties Western journalists confront in reporting about the Islamic world. She observes that many American reporters “reveal an intellectual laziness and a general unwillingness to cover the Muslim world in a way that allows readers to view it on its own terms without moral judgment, which is, after all, the way in which understanding is deepened.” Williams College professor David B. Edwards, who is working to preserve a vast archive of reporting about Afghanistan during the 1980’s, shares photographs taken during an earlier war as part of a controversial journalism project. Reza, a photographer who has traveled often to Afganistan, offers his look at the country’s fighters and her people. Fazal Qureshi, chief editor of Pakistan Press International, writes about the forces of intimidation that play upon his country’s independent press. Suffolk University professor Abdelmagid Mazen, an Eygptian by birth, explains what it is like to experience dual coverage of the war on terrorism as he switches between Al-Jazeera’s satellite feed and American news coverage. Danny Schechter, executive editor of Globalvision’s mediachannel.org, describes how his Web-based global news service helps readers dig deeper and broader for answers to questions such as why the events of September 11 happened. And Dale Fuchs, an American who works for the national Spanish daily, El Mundo, shows us how her native country is portrayed to people living in Spain—“as a high-tech bully wreaking havoc on the poor with its array of terrible toys”—then explains why. ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 5 Coverage of Terrorism September 11, 2001: Telling Stories Visually ‘What moved me was a sense of a life being transformed by an experience in a way that there was no going back.’

Photographer Peter Turnley was in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the morning of September 11. Having used his camera during the past two decades to tell stories about conflict and refugees, about natural disas- ters and human revolutions, Turnley, a 2001 Nieman Fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournal- ist, knew he had to get to the site of the World Trade Center attack. He shared with current Nieman Fellows his story of how he came to be one of the only photographers to capture images of the catastrophic devasta- tion through the night of September 11 and into the dawn of the next morning. He also spoke about the role visual representation plays in helping us try to comprehend the toll of this experience on people who Looking out at this unbelievable sight, I was struck by the way that the night lights have been touched most directly by delineated this incredible scene. I imagined that the same scene in daylight might have it. Excerpts from his remarks accom- been much more diffuse, with the foreground blending into the background. pany a gallery of photographs Turnley took during 10 days he spent near Ground Zero. is no time frame. When I left for New hattan, and it’s getting dark. Manhat- York, I told myself, “You’re definitely tan was like a ghost town; there were not early here, not with a city full of no cars on the road. I drive toward the ’m very passionate about visual photographers.” But this story was go- World Trade Center, and I get to a storytelling. Always have been, and ing to be around for a long time. Par- point where I can’t go any further and II don’t miss any occasion to pro- ticularly in war situations, the most start to see television satellite trucks mote the power of visual storytelling important pictures are not in the midst and lights about 15 blocks from Ground because in journalism, particularly of the bang-bang; they are after the Zero. And nobody can go beyond this when it comes to photography, it’s a battle when one sees the human im- point. So I put my cameras under my bit of a service industry, often used to pact. dark coat and try to walk past some illustrate words. I feel very strongly As I am driving, I’m imagining what policeman. I get about 10 yards past that when photography is well done, it this is going to be like, what it is going and somebody says, “Hey, stop. What can be a very full-bodied compliment to look like. I’d covered four earth- are you doing?” He brings me back to to words as a form of storytelling and quakes, so I had a sense of that, but the barrier. I start to think about how I communication. To those who work in each time I heard the news on the radio am going to get to where I need to be. newspapers and magazines and who (“Today, planes have hit the World I don’t feel like because I’m in New are not photographers, try to think of Trade Center, another has hit the Pen- York City, with American laws, that my visual storytelling in a different way. tagon, and another plane has crashed sense of purpose in needing to docu- I knew this was going to be a tough in Pennsylvania.”), it would hit me and ment what has happened is going to logistical story to cover. I figured Man- I’d think, this is just unbelievable. That change any more than if I was in hattan would be closed off, and I was was really an important part of that Ceaucescu’s Romania trying to show going to be late. Journalists know what drive down for me, that notion of in- what oppression looks like there. It it feels like to be late on a story, but comprehensibility. looks dark to my left, so I started kind that’s often a misnomer because there It’s now about five p.m., I’m in Man- of going around streets, heading east.

6 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

This picture was taken the next morning at about seven o’clock. Many of you have probably seen that look that is called the thousand-mile stare. So many people had that look. This guy really moved me. What moved me was a sense of a life being transformed by an experience in a way that there was no going back. You could never be the same person after that night. And this man will certainly never be the same person.

This picture was taken of three young women who were doing an all-night vigil on Canal Street, I think on the second night. The scene was starting to change a bit, for me as well, as I started to get less interested in the Ground Zero situation. I always loved photographs that depict humanity, that depict people and people’s lives and how their lives are touched by an event or by a situation and, at that point, I started to wander around the city a lot.

All photos and captions by Peter Turnley.©

I get to a place where ambulances and asked them whether there were any register drawers were left open, and fire trucks and rescue workers and photographers at the site. “Not a soul two inches of dust encased the clothes. police cars are going. I start to walk that at this point. Everyone’s been thrown “I had a view right on Ground Zero,” way, and I don’t want to blow it be- out. There’s not a single photographer he said. cause, as I say to myself, “I’m getting there.” I covered the Armenian earthquake real close. This is not the time to get Turnley managed to get to Ground in 1988, then one in Iran and in Tur- thrown out of here.” At one corner Zero by about 6:30 and was surprised key. In Armenia, there were 35,000 where there were a lot of policemen, I to see very few other journalists or people killed. I was totally unprepared hid underneath an awning and just photographers there. After looking for what I saw; I had never seen death watched what was going on for about a around for a while, he found his way on that level. There were bodies every- half an hour. I didn’t see a single cam- to an office on the second floor of where, coffins everywhere. The first eraman or photographer or journalist. Brooks Brothers, just across from the thing I expected in looking out over But I did see two people wearing fire site. He described his surroundings as this site was to see a lot of human and police jackets with cameras so I “surreal:” Computers flashed, cash suffering, a lot of human destruction. I

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 7 Coverage of Terrorism

Funerals began about a week after the attacks. I went to two funerals on Staten Island on consecutive days. There were a large number of firemen that were killed from Staten Island. What struck me was the first day when I saw this woman. I just think that people’s strength and courage and some of the code of behavior is so fascinating. If you notice, she’s actually being held up by someone. She was literally falling down with emotion, but she had it within her to make that salute, which was a gesture of honor and such a dignified tribute to her husband. And I remember, when I saw her, feeling this overwhelming sense of sadness for this young woman.

I think often the richest moments are second and third degrees from the main action. When they took the casket out of this church, I turned around and I saw these two men, and I was really struck by this guy. Afterwards, I went up to him and said, “Excuse me, are you a fireman?” and he said, “I am a fireman, but today I’m just a citizen and I just want to pay tribute to a friend.” And he walked away. There was just such a sense of humility and humbleness.

wasn’t seeing that anywhere. I was ting there at midnight, was looking at your nose. The smoke burned your standing where they’d set up a triage these rescuers. It’s cold, really windy, eyes and there was dust everywhere. center and makeshift morgue, right smoky. And I say to myself, “Look how That next morning I stayed until about where Brooks Brothers store is. I still many human beings, decent people, 11 o’clock and then I did get thrown had my cameras underneath my coat working-class people, have gotten out out by police. I had a whole night of and was just hanging out. At that point to do the right thing with their lives, to film in my pocket, and I was ready to I see a photographer arrive, take a use their skills to help.” Welders were leave. Every day after that, for the next picture, and immediately get thrown busting their butts to cut through four days, I made my way back in and out by the police in a very forceful way. beams. It was dangerous and dirty. spent several hours at Ground Zero And I said to myself, “Just lay low. Beams were flying through the air. I each day. You’re late getting here but this is a was so impressed by how quickly they When a Nieman Fellow asked really important scene to shoot tonight. were organizing themselves and using Turnley if, in taking these and other And if you’re here all night, you’ll be their skills to put wire around the beams intimate shots of people, he was ever here at first light tomorrow morning and lift them up. I actually asked myself accused of preying on their grief, he and no one is going to be able to get the question whether I had that kind of responded by talking about how he back in this area. And that’s going to be strength and courage. And I wasn’t works to relate to the people he wants a really important scene to see and sure, but I hope I do. to photograph. document.” There was this humming silence. It There’s no principle, no rule. It has I spent the whole night by myself in was very quiet and that really added to to do so much with one’s self, with the this office looking out at this scene, at this sense of profound destruction, of person who is behind the camera. one of the biggest disasters of my life- the world coming to an end. Just quiet, There’s nothing objective about that time, sitting by myself. It was an incred- but the quiet was punctuated by the dynamic. You can most definitely show ible experience of solitude, a chance to humming of these welding generators. someone in your eyes and in your face think. What struck me absolutely, sit- The smell was very acrid. It burned and in the way you look at them that

8 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

I like this picture very much. This was taken outside of Yankee Stadium the day of the big memorial for the families of the victims.

The first Sunday after the attacks I got in my car and drove to Harlem. I was driving on about 128th street at about 9:30 in the morning and suddenly I heard this beautiful rendition of “God Bless America.” I stopped the car and saw this all-black procession following a preacher with an American flag, walk- ing out of this small brick church. I followed them as they sang the song at least 10 times as they walked until they got to an outdoor basketball court where they made a circle and for an hour said prayers and speeches and sang for the victims of the World Trade Center. I was the only journalist there, but I wish national television had been there that morning to show these people feeling the way they did about this incident and their city.

tion about whether there are moments If I have the option of whether I knew when he is taking photographs that he I could help someone or make a pic- feels he could be doing something to ture, I can’t imagine that I would not help people, rather than taking their choose to help them. pictures, talks about the value of the At the World Trade Center, there work he does. were other people who were much you want to honor them, that you’re I’m fascinated by the human experi- better prepared than I was to rescue not taking something away. If you avoid ence, and I don’t feel a sense of guilt these victims. I felt that what I could their glance, of course they will be about that. I hope that the reason I do best do with my energy was, in fact, pay angry. I think it’s a wonderful dynamic what I do is not so I can go home and tribute to the men and women who got because that lack of objectivity means look at these pictures in a closet and out in those difficult conditions and that it’s all about that sort of sense of get some sort of kick out of it. It’s to made those gestures of help. The rea- interrelationship with people. So a lot communicate with you, so that we can son I would justify that cameramen of people are surprised that people all think of this as a collective experience, and photographers and journalists be over the world, in situations of suffer- that this doesn’t just stay there. That present in these situations is not be- ing, want other people to know and to events in your country or something cause they’re making money or be- feel and to think about their suffering. that might have happened to someone cause they’re parasites—it’s because They want people to take heed of it. in your family, if it had a dimension 50 years from now, it’s important that They want them to consider it. And, beyond only the private matters of your people contemplate the decency that very often, they’re in fact honored by family that other people could contem- so many people demonstrated in try- the presence of a camera, if it’s wielded plate and maybe it could help them ing to do the right thing in a situation in the right way. In New York, I didn’t take their lives further. I’ve very fre- that was difficult. I don’t know how encounter any hostility. quently picked up victims and gotten that can be communicated without Turnley, in responding to a ques- them to a hospital in difficult war zones. images, without words, without film. ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 9 Coverage of Terrorism Language Matters as We Try to Describe What Happened ‘By accepting language’s failure, we surrender our understanding and the complex meaning of events to silence….’

By Beverly Wall

irtually everyone agrees that on This theme exposes a very natural missile. This term doesn’t accurately September 11 something signifi- reaction in the short term. But, in the convey what happened, although it Vcant happened, and its rever- long term, it can become a dangerous might reflect our horrified sense of the berations are felt by citizens and jour- assumption. By accepting language’s devastating results—a degree of de- nalists alike. Yet for those whose job it failure, we surrender our understand- struction and mass dissolution to match is to report news of this event it has ing and the complex meaning of events our worst 20th century nightmares of been difficult to name this “something” to silence or, perhaps worse, to the nuclear war. At other times, this site is and figure out how to talk about the ready-made, sometimes muddled, also referred to as “The Zone” and events of that day and their aftermath. sometimes manipulative words of oth- “The Ruins.” Zones suggest war zones, This dilemma of language persists de- ers. James Baldwin writes, “People of course, and ruins are associated with spite the immense visibility, dramatic evolve a language in order to describe the disconcerting notion of societies in scale, and far-reaching dimensions of and thus control their circumstances, decay or cultures in decline. Do these the events and despite the flood of or in order not to be submerged by a words tell us the story that we believe words generated in print, online and reality that they cannot articulate. (And we are experiencing? on the air. if they cannot articulate it, they are Other examples can be found in the The notion that what happened is submerged.)” confused clusters of words related to “beyond words” has become, in fact, We must find ways to articulate this “war,” “crime” and “terrorism.” Are the the dominant theme in the news and experience, both as individuals and as events of September 11 described best public commentary. Words like “inde- a society. Not to do this is to miss the as acts of war? Or are they crimes, as scribable,” “inexpressible,” “unspeak- full meaning of what happened and is Hendrik Hertzberg has argued in The able,” “inexplicable” and “unimagin- happening now. Or, if we fail to name New Yorker? Perhaps they are crimes able” are employed when more precise, what we have experienced, we might against humanity, as others suggest. descriptive words seem inadequate to be overwhelmed by the sheer terror Whether acts of war or crimes, are the the task. A headline on a column by and horror of the wordless visual im- people who committed these acts best Ellen Goodman reads: “At Times Like ages of towers collapsing and people called “terrorists?” Or do we agree with This, Words Fail.” At “The Days After,” holding hands as they jump from win- —which cautioned its corre- a Web site created by the University of dows. It is hard work to get the words spondents against indiscriminate use Chicago Press, the homepage begins, right, but we should not be willing to of this loaded word—that “one man’s “At the moment of catastrophe we fall settle for the language of cheap senti- terrorist is another man’s freedom silent. Language fails.” On television, a ment or agenda-laden ideologies. fighter?” young San Francisco artist, who is try- Language always matters. Words sig- In his address to a joint session of ing to create a work of art to capture nal more than their simple dictionary Congress on September 20, President the emotion of the experience, says denotations; key terms and metaphors George W. Bush variously referred to that September 11 lies “out of the help us to construct a framework of these men as “terrorists,” “our en- reaches of grammar.” Even Nobel lau- connotations, historical associations, emies,” “enemies of freedom,” and reate Toni Morrison expresses this and cultural implications, as well as “murderers.” In a key opening sen- theme in a eulogy appearing in a spe- offer us guidance in connecting con- tence, Bush cast the dilemma this way: cial edition of Vanity Fair: “To speak to cepts and generating actions. Take, for “Whether we bring our enemies to you, the dead of September…I must be example, “Ground Zero,” the phrase justice, or bring justice to our enemies, steady and I must be clear, knowing all used to designate the site of the de- justice will be done.” This demonstrates the time that I have nothing to say—no stroyed World Trade Center. This term the neatly turned phrase that words stronger than the steel that is rooted in the first uses of atomic speechwriters love; a classical rhetori- pressed you into itself; no scripture weapons in the mid-1940’s and refers cian would call it “antimetabole,” or an older or more elegant than the ancient to the point of detonation of a nuclear artful repetition of words in reverse atoms you have become.” explosion or the point of impact of a grammatical order.

10 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

To “bring justice to our enemies” reflects perhaps a confused situation, the broader perspective of society, they invokes the language of war. Even the perhaps confused thinking. need to take seriously the implications words “a new kind of war” suggest In a 1946 essay, “Politics and the of their rhetorical choices. When jour- military action, with an associated English Language,” George Orwell calls nalists’ impulse is to describe a news framework of words and deeds—en- on everyone—not just professional event as “indescribable,” perhaps they emies, ground troops, battlefields, writers—to care about how language is should pause and remind themselves frontlines, attacks and counterattacks, used in public life. It’s an argument for that language does matter and the ex- bombing strikes, collateral damage, civic engagement that is easy to agree acting search for words should not be retreats, cease-fires, victories and de- with but hard to realize in practical abandoned. ■ feats. In contrast, when we think of terms. Journalists have a unique chal- bringing criminals (not “enemies”) to lenge, and perhaps bear a special re- Beverly C. Wall is an associate pro- justice, we invoke the notion of a po- sponsibility, to help people—through fessor and director of the Allan K. lice action, and this carries with it a the careful, logically consistent use of Smith Center for Writing & Rhetoric very different framework of terms and language—find ways to articulate what at Trinity College in Hartford, Con- actions—perpetrators, victims, detec- our shared experience has been. necticut. She is founder of the Inter- tives, crime scenes, investigations, in- Journalists don’t necessarily know collegiate E-Democracy Project and terrogations, witnesses, arrests, evi- all the ways to do this but they are, by has been a commentator on political dence and testimony, trials and vocation and avocation, people who rhetoric and the media for C-SPAN’s sentences or acquittals. should have a special care for words “Washington Journal,” Reuters, BBC By using this overlapping language and know how to generate them and Radio London, and National Public as he did, President Bush implied that analyze them. Most of all, because jour- Radio’s “The Connection.” words don’t matter. But, of course, nalists often provide our first link in they do matter. To confuse language connecting individual experience to [email protected] Secrecy and the Press in a Time of War ‘If we guard our toothbrushes and diamonds with equal zeal, we will probably lose fewer toothbrushes and more diamonds.’ By Ted Gup

once asked the late Scotty Reston, munications and by a government that what is fit to print would itself be a the legendary New York Timesman, habitually abuses the stamp of secrecy. grave abrogation of responsibilities, as Iif there was any story he regretted Government would have us believe damaging to national security as any printing. Without hesitating he spoke that secrecy and national security are violation of wartime censorship. Time of a time during World War II when he Siamese twins that share a common and again government has demon- violated the censorship code and re- heart. In truth, secrecy, taken to ex- strated its willingness to invoke se- ported that a Nazi submarine had seri- cess, poses its own dire threat to na- crecy to mask failure and impotence, ously damaged a British cruiser. “I think tional security. It creates fear and dis- to minimize losses, and to exaggerate that was unethical,” Reston reflected. trust, allows rumor to fill the void of gains. Its lofty appeals to patriotism “That was a case where my fastball was information, disenfranchises the pub- often conceal baser motives—not the better than my control. I’d like to take lic from the sacrifices asked of it, and safety of troops or ships or the home- that one back.” ultimately plays squarely into the hands land, but the management of news. Reston’s remorse confirms the con- of those who wish us ill. It is precisely Left to its own devices, the Pentagon ventional wisdom that reporters in in times of such crises that reporters and CIA would be only too happy to times of war often find themselves torn should be wariest of government invo- choreograph and script the coverage between the instincts of a journalist cations of secrecy. of the current conflict. But as every and the duties of a citizen. Silence and Today that secrecy is epidemic, by reporter knows, nothing resists such forbearance do not come naturally to one count (that of the federal Informa- efforts like a “good war.” most reporters. Neither does giving tion Security Oversight Office) grow- It was William Tecumseh Sherman, government carte blanche in determin- ing at a rate of more than eight million commanding general of the Army in ing what can and cannot be reported. new secrets a year. Deferring to the 1876, who advised an ambitious gen- The problem today is even more com- Pentagon, the White House or Central eral setting out in a punitive campaign plicated both by advances in telecom- Intelligence Agency (CIA) to decide against the Sioux, “to be prudent, not

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 11 Coverage of Terrorism

to take along any newspapermen, who of psychological warfare and decep- to stay away from. The list was whittled always make mischief.” The headstrong tion. Here we were on familiar ground. down to a scant 18 and printed on a six- general ignored Sherman’s advice. His The only leaks that offend the generals by-12-inch card that was handed out to name was George Armstrong Custer. are those that contradict them. every editor and city desk in the nation. The battle was the Little Big Horn. The Today, it is not only distance and Compliance was voluntary. Then as lone civilian casualty of that slaughter technology that conspire to put jour- now, secrets seeped out on their own. was the newspaperman who accompa- nalists at a disadvantage. It is also the Shipping news was a no-no, though nied him. smothering use of secrecy that obstructs arrivals and departures were posted in The current war against terrorism the gathering of news. Just how far the every hotel lobby. Construction of new brings old conflicts into high relief. In government is willing to go to keep defense factories was to be ignored, an age of advanced technology, when unsettling truths from the public was though they occasioned banquets by Predator drones prowl remote land- illustrated at the outset of the current the local Chamber of Commerce. scapes, when satellites gather recon- campaign. Not long after CIA briefers “Was there any other answer than naissance, and cruise missiles and smart met with a select audience of Congres- secrecy at the source?” asked George bombs lead the attack, the journalist sional members, news leaked that they Creel, the journalist who served in often finds himself or herself pro- had been told there was a 100 percent World War I as a kind of national cen- foundly marginalized, remote from the chance terrorists would again strike sor as chairman of the Committee on action—and ever more at the mercy of the United States. Now if this is not Public Information. “If such informa- Pentagon briefers. Emboldened by its information to which the American tion came to the ears of a reporter, successes in the Gulf War, the Penta- public is entitled, what is? most certainly it could be learned by gon now holds an even tighter leash on But the response to that leak was any spy worth his pay.” Reflecting years the news. Much video footage comes President Bush’s threat to limit the later, Creel noted “In 1917, fortunately not from independent camera crews, members of Congress given access to for us, the radio was not a problem.” In but from the eyes of weapons hand- classified information. Such obsessive the age of the Internet, there is no picked for theatricality. In such a war restrictions on information may help delay upon which the reporter can there are few if any Ernie Pyles sending explain why Americans were blindsided draw comfort or defense for reporting back dispatches from the front. Indeed, by the September 11 events. Threat genuinely security-sensitive materials. there is scarcely a front at all. Not only assessments of the intelligence com- All reporting today is real time. are our enemies’ whereabouts un- munity have long been deemed too But many of the most sensitive se- known, but also sometimes even their unsettling to share with the public. crets are themselves rarely newswor- identities. There are no flags to be The issue is often not one of secrecy thy. It is the outcomes of troop deploy- raised over Suribachi—just one Pork but of control. It is no coincidence that ments and the fruits of that Chop Hill after another. Neither in World War I the same office that intelligence-gathering that interest the nor Osama bin Laden are the prize in oversaw press censorship also oversaw public. The wider threat to national any final sense. propaganda efforts. The British jour- security comes not from reporters ig- The more amorphous and murky nalist Phillip Knightly records that in noring appeals to discretion or breach- the military goals, the more govern- World War II, a government censor ing formal censorship codes like those ment can control information and pro- was asked what he would tell the Ameri- faced by Scotty Reston. Rather it comes paganda to define victory. In the ab- can people. His response: “I’d tell them from the government’s wholesale and sence of clear objectives, it is easy, nothing till it was over and then I’d tell wanton overclassification of informa- operating behind the curtain of se- them who won.” tion. Ironically, it is that which under- crecy, to conceal setbacks and pro- In World War II, censorship often mines the government’s capacity to nounce progress. In the early going, took ludicrous twists. Announcers cov- conceal those bone fide secrets whose the government discretely let it be ering baseball games were not even to disclosure might actually damage na- known that numbers of Taliban war- report that the game was halted be- tional security. riors were defecting to the Northern cause of rain. There are of course legiti- Today, no one has lower regard for Alliance or deserting from lack of spirit. mate occasions for secrecy. In times secrecy than those in government who The reality is otherwise. There were no like these of heightened vulnerability, actually wield the stamp of classifica- material defections at the times of those real-time troop deployments, pending tion. They know from experience that reports. Later there were government operations, and “sources and meth- it is used more often than not to lend a leaks suggesting that Pashtun leaders ods” of intelligence gathering are all certain cachet to documents and that, in the south of Afghanistan were fo- widely accepted by reporters as legiti- without that stamp, memos and corre- menting counterinsurgencies against mately sensitive areas. The generals spondence would be lost or ignored in the Taliban. These too appear to be always argue for more secrets, the re- the tsunami of paperwork that engulfs just wistful notes sounded in an other- porters for fewer. In World War I, the all bureaucracies, particularly that of wise bleak landscape, hopes floated military came up with a list of more the defense and intelligence commu- out there by those practiced in the art than 100 kinds of secrets the press was nities. It is why former CIA Director

12 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

John Deutch felt comfortable putting have been some correspondents who that information to good use. such sensitive operational materials on were easily discouraged in their fights “Loose lips sink ships,” it is said. But his unsecured home computer. Such with the censor and the gold braid and sealed lips may suffocate entire de- disregard is the natural byproduct of contented themselves with writing mocracies. Reporters have no taste for obsessive secrecy. Abuse of secrecy pretty stories about generals and admi- putting their fellow citizens at risk or breeds contempt for the system. It is rals and movie heroes who happened compromising national security. Where like inflation. The more of it there is, to be wearing uniforms. Or they were a story may put Americans in peril, the the less it is valued. content to sit around the rear bases rule remains: “When in doubt, leave it This is a lesson lawmakers refuse to and write only what the public rela- out.” But, among the millions and mil- learn. Instead, their knee-jerk reaction tions officer brought around to them.” lions of secrets in this war against ter- is to respond to each leak with the Today, it is less a matter of content- rorism, there may be but one ultimate threat of tighter strictures. While the ment than containment. But then as secret that our government would least CIA frets about press leaks or bemoans now we journalists have less to fear like the American public or its enemies the aggressiveness of this or that re- from the censor than from our own to know. That secret, I fear, is that they porter, the next Kim Philby or Aldrich natural inclination to identify with and are in possession of no secret so valu- Ames may already be plotting to milk further the interests of our fellow citi- able or insightful that it holds the prom- the system. The keepers of secrets have zens. It is not our role to help maintain ise of an end to our vulnerability. ■ always had trouble distinguishing be- the fighting spirit, to cushion the blows, tween contretemps and treachery. In or airbrush reality. We serve our coun- Ted Gup is author of “The Book of the end, they worry more about safe- try best when we report objectively Honor: Secret Lives and Deaths of guarding secrets than security itself. “If and dispassionately, not as citizens of CIA Operatives” and is professor of we guard our toothbrushes and dia- but one nation, but as stateless chroni- journalism at Case Western Reserve monds with equal zeal, we will prob- clers promoting no agenda and serving University in Cleveland. He has ably lose fewer toothbrushes and more no purpose but to inform. “In a free received the George Polk Award, The diamonds,” observed former national country,” wrote the late E.B. White, “it , The Gerald security advisor McGeorge Bundy. is the duty of writers to pay no atten- Loeb Award, and the 2000 Investiga- Much of the tension we see today tion to duty.” That is a particularly tive Reporters and Editors Book between disclosure and secrecy is fa- stern commandment, one that requires Prize. miliar. Foster Hailey covered the war in a near-absolute faith in the sanctity of the Pacific in World War II for The New information and the maturity of our [email protected] York Times. In 1945 he wrote, “There nation’s leaders and citizenry to put The Pentagon and the Press Several ‘principles’ of coverage became victims of the war against terrorism.

By Stanley W. Cloud

ince the end of the , beyond journalists’ eyes and ears. Once reasonable ground rules that protect whenever the U.S. military has again, reporters from the freest coun- secrets and lives. Those are the argu- Sswung into action, American war try on earth were begging the Defense ments of spin-doctors and right-wing correspondents, with few exceptions, Department for permission to cover a commentators. The military’s objec- have found themselves hog-tied and war firsthand. Again, to a large extent tions have been more basic: Reporters blindfolded, utterly unable to provide they had to rely on “pools” and brief- and photographers can get in the way, their readers, viewers and listeners with ings for details, such as they were. and when things don’t go well, they adequate coverage of actual combat. Military commanders, of course, have a tendency to tell the whole world. As the “war on terrorism” unfolded have never been very enthusiastic about In Vietnam, the first and only mod- following the attacks of September 11, having journalists around during com- ern U.S. war that was completely free the pattern seemed to be repeating. bat. (It’s a different matter afterward, of press censorship, the problem be- Vast journalistic resources were com- when heroics and medals are under tween journalists and the military had mitted to covering the war from a dis- discussion.) The main objections little or nothing to do with the accuracy tance, often with impressive results. haven’t really been that journalists are of the reporting, let alone the military’s But in the early stages, at least, much of anti-military, or ignorant of military desire to maintain operational secu- the fighting took place in secret, far matters, or can’t be trusted to abide by rity. Mostly, it had to do with reporting

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 13 Coverage of Terrorism

that cast doubt on all the “light at the held them incommunicado until the idea of institutionalized pool cover- end of the tunnel” rhetoric emanating fighting, such as it was, ended.) The age. Indeed, at regular quarterly meet- from the Pentagon and the White post-Grenada outcry from journalists ings in the Pentagon, the journalists House. (On the question of who was led to an internal Defense Department and the brass would amiably discuss right, by the way, most historians seem “study” and to negotiations between the kinds of restrictions to be imposed to be siding with the press.) Neverthe- an ad hoc group of Washington bureau on the pool members. less, in certain military and civilian chiefs and the Pentagon—negotiations As it turned out, the Pentagon Pool circles today, the myth prevails that an that ended with the creation of what was a disaster not just for journalists irresponsible press somehow “caused” was officially dubbed “The Department but for anyone who believes that in a a U.S. “defeat” in Vietnam. As a result, of Defense National Media Pool.” democracy the people should know when fighting has broken out since As originally envisioned, this un- what the military is doing in their name then, a firewall has been built between gainly, unnatural creature was intended and with the lives of their sons and the military and the journalists trying to facilitate coverage of the initial stage daughters. Several early tests of the to cover it. of a military action. A representative system clearly indicated that the Penta- The wall first went up when the pool of reporters and photographers gon saw the pool not as a way of en- United States invaded Grenada in 1983. would be permitted to accompany U.S. abling more and better combat cover- Before that, I doubt that anyone in the troops into battle in return for their age but, on the contrary, as a way of Pentagon or the press ever contem- agreement to play by whatever rules controlling, limiting and, if necessary, plated that the United States might the Pentagon chose to set. At the time, preventing such coverage. When the invade another country and permit no there was a great deal of self-congratu- United States invaded Panama, for in- press coverage of any kind. But that is latory enthusiasm among many Wash- stance, the pool members were kept in exactly what happened in the bizarre ington journalists that the so-called a guarded military building and sub- Grenada episode. (A small group of Pentagon Pool would go a long way jected to lectures on Panamanian his- enterprising journalists hired a boat to toward preventing a repetition of the tory while U.S. troops tried to locate go to Grenada on their own, but the Grenada unpleasantness. Few voices and arrest the country’s dictator, military promptly arrested them and were raised in opposition to the whole Manuel Noriega.

The Principles of War Coverage In 1992, journalists and the Pentagon agreed on nine principles to govern coverage.

After the Persian Gulf War, five jour- will be the principal means of cover- rules can result in suspensions of nalists, appointed by the ad hoc Wash- age of U.S. military operations. the credentials and expulsion from ington bureau chiefs organization, met • Pools are not to serve as the stan- the combat zone of the journalists with representatives of the military to dard of covering U.S. military opera- involved. News organizations will negotiate an improved way of han- tions. But pools may sometimes pro- make their best efforts to assign ex- dling pool coverage of U.S. military vide the only feasible means of early perienced journalists to combat combat. As Stan Cloud, one of those access to a military operation. Pools operations and to make them famil- journalists, writes, “Our task was to should be as large as possible and iar with U.S. military operations. try to undo as much as possible of the disbanded at the earliest opportu- •Journalists will be provided access damage done by the creation of the nity (within 24 to 36 hours when to all major military units. Special Pentagon Pool and its application possible). The arrival of early-access Operations restrictions may limit ac- during the Gulf War.” What emerged pools will not cancel the principle cess in some cases. were the following nine principles and of independent coverage for jour- •Military public affairs officers should two statements, one from the news nalists already in the area. act as liaisons but should not inter- media, one from the Department of •Even under conditions of open cov- fere with the reporting process. Defense. As the war on terrorism be- erage, pools may be appropriate for •Under conditions of open coverage, gan, it was these principles of engage- specific events, such as those at ex- field commanders will permit jour- ment that were in place. tremely remote locations or where nalists to ride on military vehicles space is limited. and aircraft whenever feasible. The Principles that should govern fu- •Journalists in a combat zone will be military will be responsible for the ture arrangements for news cover- credentialed by the U.S. military and transportation of pools. age from the battlefield of the United will be required to abide by a clear •Consistent with its capabilities, the States Military in combat: set of military security ground rules military will supply PAO’s with fa- that protect U.S. forces and their cilities to enable timely, secure, com- • Open and independent reporting operations. Violations of the ground patible transmission of pool mate-

14 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

But the Panama experience was In the midst of all this, the Pentagon’s as much as possible of the damage nothing compared to the Gulf War. In chief spokesman, Pete Williams (now done by the creation of the Pentagon that one, the military succeeded in an NBC correspondent), wrote in The Pool and its application during the creating the most rigid control of com- Washington Post that the Gulf War was Gulf War. bat coverage in American history. Us- the best-covered war in U.S. history. In The negotiations with Pentagon of- ing the Pentagon Pool concept as its fact, by any objective standard, it was ficials dragged on for eight months. In starting point, the Defense Department the worst, and had the war gone badly that time, it became clear on our side of decreed that the entire war—not just for the United States, the American the table that our interests were not its initial stage—would be covered by a people would have been among the always identical. Wire services and tele- complex system of rotating pools. Par- last to know. vision news, for example, with their ticipation required that journalists ac- In the aftermath, another series of fierce competition and short deadlines, quiesce to an onerous set of rules gov- negotiations between the press and tended to be much more dependent erning, among other things, their the Pentagon brass was conducted. I on pools for early stories and pictures freedom of movement, their freedom was one of five journalists appointed than, say, newsmagazines. They were to photograph, and their freedom to by the ad hoc Washington bureau chiefs’ thus much less inclined to disband the conduct interviews. Worse, they had to organization to represent them in the Pentagon Pool altogether and simply submit their copy for “security review.” negotiations. With me on the commit- tell the brass, as Getler put it at one Ostensibly this was to be a benign tee were Michael Getler, foreign editor point, “that we’ll see you at the next search for classified or sensitive infor- of ; Clark Hoyt, war.” Bridging the differences among mation, but it became a fairly rigid Washington bureau chief of the Knight ourselves and still accomplishing our system of censorship that resulted in Ridder newspaper chain; Jonathan goal was a major challenge. the deletion of merely embarrassing Wolman, Washington bureau chief of In the end, we and the Pentagon facts or in the delay of their transmis- The Associated Press, and George representatives managed to agree on sion until a report had lost virtually all Watson, Washington bureau chief of nine general principles “to be followed news value. ABC News. Our task was to try to undo in any future combat situation involv-

rial and will make these facilities and unnecessary. We believe that the to delay timely transmission of news available whenever possible for fil- record in Operation Desert Storm, Viet- material. Security review would be ing independent coverage. In cases nam and other wars supports the con- performed by the military in the field, when government facilities are un- clusion that journalists in the battle- giving the commander representative available, journalists will, as always, field can be trusted to act responsibly. the opportunity to address potential file by any other means available. We will challenge prior security review ground rule violations. The reporter The military will not ban communi- in the event that the Pentagon attempts would either change the story to meet cations systems operated by news to impose it in some future military ground rule concerns and file it, or file organizations, but electromagnetic operation. it and flag for the editor whatever pas- operational security in battlefield sages were in dispute. The editor would situations may require limited re- Department of Defense Statement: then call the Pentagon to give the mili- strictions on the use of such sys- The military believes that it must retain tary one last chance to talk about po- tems. the option to review news material, to tential ground rule violations. • These principles will apply as well to avoid the inadvertent inclusion in news The Defense Department believes the operations of the standing DOD reports of information that could en- that the advantage of this system is that National Media Pool System. danger troop safety or the success of a the news organization would retain mission. Any review system would be control of the material throughout the Accompanying Statement on imposed only when operational secu- review and filing process. The Penta- Security Review rity is a consideration (for example, the gon would have two chances to ad- very early stages of a contingency op- dress potential operational security vio- News Media Statement: The news eration or sensitive periods in com- lations, but the news organization organizations are convinced that jour- bat.) If security review were imposed, would make the final decision about nalists covering U.S. forces in combat it would be used for one very limited whether to publish the disputed infor- must be mindful at all times of opera- purpose: to prevent disclosure of in- mation. Under Principle Four, viola- tional security and the safety of Ameri- formation that, if published, would tion of ground rules could result in can lives. News organizations strongly jeopardize troop safety or the success expulsion of the journalist involved believe that journalists will abide by of a military operation. Such a review from the combat zone. clear operational security ground rules. system would not be used to seek alter- Prior security review is unwarranted ations in any other aspect of content or Adopted March 11, 1992 ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 15 Coverage of Terrorism

ing American troops.” The first of at extremely remote locations or where and understanding on both sides. More- these—“open and independent report- space is limited.” Number five reads: over, it needs to be said that coverage ing will be the principal means of cov- “Journalists will be provided access to of actual combat, important as it can erage of U.S. military operations”— all military units. Special Operations be, is a supplement to, not a substitute was by far the most important. It restrictions may limit access in some for, serious analytical reporting that reestablished the idea that the Penta- cases.” After the “war on terrorism” military correspondents can do—and gon Pool was to be used primarily, if at was declared by President Bush, the are doing—far from the battlefield. all, in the early stages of combat. assistant secretary of defense for pub- Still, the broad constitutional issues We failed, however, to resolve the lic affairs, Victoria Clarke, said the Pen- remain. No government can be de- question pertaining to “security re- tagon would abide by the nine prin- pended upon to tell the truth, the view.” After long negotiations, we sim- ciples, but there was precious little whole truth, and nothing but the ply agreed to disagree and attached to “open and independent” coverage or truth—especially not when that gov- the list of principles two statements. “access to all military units.” Moreover, ernment makes mistakes or misjudg- Ours said: “…[We] strongly believe like their predecessors in the Gulf War, ments in wartime. The natural inclina- that journalists will abide by clear op- pool reporters on certain of the Navy tion then is to cover up, to hide, and erational security ground rules. Prior ships involved in the initial cruise mis- the press’s role, in war even more than security review is unwarranted and un- sile attacks complained of being iso- in peace, is to act as watchdog and necessary…. We will challenge prior lated and unable to file timely reports. truth-seeker. To do that effectively, it security review in the event that the Doubtless the military, which had must rely as little as possible on the Pentagon attempts to impose it in some the public—and, for that matter, a too good wishes, good graces, and good future military operation.” The often flag-waving press—on its side in offices of the government. ■ Pentagon’s statement said: “The mili- this war, has good geopolitical and tary believes it must retain the option military reasons for imposing the limi- Stanley W. Cloud is a former Wash- to review news material, to avoid inad- tations. Certainly the type of combat ington and Saigon bureau chief for vertent inclusion…of information that seen in the early phase of the war did Time. He is co-author of “The could endanger troop safety or the not appear to lend itself to open cover- Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front success of a mission….” age. And the instant communication Lines of Broadcast Journalism” Two of the nine agreed-upon prin- technologies that journalists can carry (Houghton Mifflin, 1996), about ciples—numbers three and five—are into battle today—digital cameras, Edward R. Murrow and the corre- especially important now. Number videophones, e-mail, Internet connec- spondents he hired during World three reads: “Even under conditions of tions—create entirely new challenges. War II to help create CBS News. open coverage, pools may be appro- Coming up with guidelines to deal priate for specific events, such as those with them will require perseverance [email protected] The Dangers of Disinformation in the War on Terrorism ‘We actually put out a false message to mislead people.’

By Maud S. Beelman

In wartime,” Winston Churchill essary, this is indeed a “different kind calls “Information Operations.” IO, as once said, “truth is so precious of war,” and the always-present risk of it is known, groups together informa- “that she should always be attended disinformation is heightened precisely tion functions ranging from public af- by a bodyguard of lies.” Two weeks because of that. fairs (PA, the military spokespersons after the September 11 terrorist at- For reporters covering this war, the corps) to military deception and psy- tacks, Defense Secretary Donald challenge is not just in getting unfet- chological operations, or PSYOP. What Rumsfeld evoked Churchill’s words tered and uncensored access to U.S. this means is that people whose job when asked for assurances that neither troops and the battlefield—a long and traditionally has been to talk to the he nor his lieutenants would lie to the mostly losing struggle in the past—but media and divulge truthfully what they media as the United States pursued the in discerning between information and are able to tell now work hand-in-glove war on terrorism and the bombing of disinformation. That is made all the with those whose job it is to support Afghanistan. Though Rumsfeld quickly more difficult by a 24-hour news cycle, battlefield operations with information, added that he could not envision a advanced technology, and the military’s not all of which may be truthful. situation in which lying would be nec- growing fondness for a discipline it At the core of a civilian-controlled

16 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism military and a free press, these blurred confuse people.” In a letter to the edi- getting good access to the troops. The roles are fueling an intense debate tor four days later, Coupe sought to mood was upbeat, and it appeared, for within the uniformed ranks. “It’s one clarify that “no public affairs personnel a while, that historic tensions might of the biggest issues now that has to be were involved in the message’s prepa- have eased. That is until talk turned to resolved,” said one military spokes- ration or release. It was a strictly inter- psychological operations, disinfor- man. “The reason public affairs has nal message put out within military mation and public affairs. been so successful is because reporters operational circles with the expecta- One of the guest speakers at the trust us. You destroy our credibility tion that it might be leaked. And that is conference showed how video images and you take away our usefulness.” exactly what happened.” In his experi- could be created and/or altered elec- “The idea was the battlefield can be ence, military public affairs officials tronically, and without detection, un- shaped by information, so it’s neces- “never lied to journalists,” Coupe less the creator inserted an electronic sary to conduct robust information wrote. “That distinction is important, watermark to indicate it was a fabrica- operations in support of the battle- and I am confident it will remain the tion. But if the creator’s intent was to field,” said another military official fa- military’s policy.” misinform, the presenter said, then miliar with the IO doctrine. The prob- The shift in U.S. military policy on there would be no watermark, and the lem, he added, is that “everyone has a information can be traced to the “infor- doctored image would be indistinguish- different idea of what it means.… We mation-control techniques” employed able from reality. have created a sort of a monster.” by the British military during the 1982 With the Pentagon’s fleet of EC-130 In August 1996, the U.S. Army is- Falklands War, according to a 1991 “Commando Solo” aircraft—capable of sued field manual 100-6, outlining its study of U.S. military media restric- inserting radio and TV programming vision of Information Operations. “In- tions from Grenada to the Persian Gulf into national broadcast systems—the formation and the knowledge that flows by Jacqueline Sharkey and the Center implications of such electronic wiz- from it empower soldiers and their for Public Integrity. The British model— ardry were obvious. First, journalists leaders. When transformed into capa- influenced by the Pentagon’s experi- monitoring local media in a war zone bilities, information is the currency of ence with media coverage of Vietnam— would need to question constantly victory,” the manual said. It noted that was based on the premise of whether what they were receiving was “the Army has shown considerable “pre-censorship,” whereby media ac- U.S. military disinformation. Assuming strength in applying both PSYOP and cess to military operations and infor- they asked, would the military take the deception to military operations,” add- mation was restricted, the study said. reporters into its confidence to spare ing that “PSYOP elements must work Ten years later, during the wars in them from spreading the closely with other [command and con- former Yugoslavia—where a previously disinformation? The officers at the re- trol warfare] elements and PA strate- entrenched international press corps treat responded that they would not. gists to maximize the advantage of IO.” made access restrictions nearly impos- If Information Operations is a battle- The manual stated that IO “does not sible—the British military sought to field strategy, then information is the sanction in any way actions intended manage the message, truthful or other- weapon. Rumsfeld has publicly warned to mislead or manipulate media cover- wise, in support of the United Nations Pentagon staffers against discussing age of military operations.” But that and NATO mission. Put simply, they military operations with the media, risk is precisely what worries those routinely lied to reporters and did so saying those who did so would be familiar with this doctrine. with vigor and the conviction that the breaking federal criminal law “and In peacetime, public affairs and importance of an accurate and inde- should be in jail.” His deputy, Paul PSYOP both deal in the truth, military pendent press was subordinate to mili- Wolfowitz, issued a memo urging staff- spokesmen insist. “There is no black tary strategy and success. ers to “exercise great caution in dis- information,” the military official said, That the United States and Britain cussing information related to DOD referring to deception. “But in a war are now the two major executors of the (Department of Defense) work, regard- situation, it’s different.” In 1988, dur- war on terrorism further raises the risk less of their duties,” making no distinc- ing the Iran- war, Pentagon offi- that reporters will be subjected to tion between classified and unclassi- cials leaked word that a U.S. aircraft disinformation. This is worrisome fied information. And Victoria Clarke, a carrier would be delayed in departing enough, but it becomes even more so former public relations executive who for the Persian Gulf. In reality, it headed with advanced technology and the vo- is Rumsfeld’s spokeswoman, is focus- to the region immediately. racious 24-hour news cycle. ing on “message development” in deal- “We actually put out a false message In the summer of 1997, a group of ing with the press. to mislead people,” Jay Coupe, former senior Pentagon officers and military Controlling the message in a 24- spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reporters gathered for a retreat aimed hour news cycle is a key element of explained to The Washington Post in a at improving their often rocky relation- Information Operations. While not September 24 article. “The idea was ship. The Pentagon was 18 months necessarily disinformation, nonethe- not to give information about the move- into a successful Bosnian peacekeep- less it is a media management tech- ment of our carrier. We were trying to ing deployment, and reporters were nique employed by the military that

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 17 Coverage of Terrorism

results in limiting critical reporting, the College of Aerospace Doctrine, ard Holbrooke, a message meister when especially in crises, when news depart- Research and Education at Maxwell Air he was special envoy to Bosnia, wrote ments that have cut defense beats rush Force Base, has noted the “cultural gap in the October 28 issue of The Wash- inexperienced reporters to the front. between the public affairs officer and ington Post. Arguing that the United This technique was used to great the ‘information warrior.’” But, in an States had to better define the war on effect in NATO’s air campaign over article in Aerospace Power Journal, he terrorism for the Muslim world, Kosovo in 1999, an operation in which concluded that “despite reservations Holbrooke called for, among other “spin doctors” from Washington and about lost credibility, PA must play a things, the creation of a special White London agreed on “the message” and central role in future IO efforts—the House office to “direct” public affairs then through a series of sequential public information battle space is sim- activities at state, defense, justice, the briefings at Alliance headquarters in ply too important to ignore.” Pounder CIA, and Agency for International De- Brussels and in London and Washing- went on to observe that “IO velopment. “The battle of ideas…is as ton fed the 24-hour news machine. practitioners…must recognize that important as any other aspect of the “They would gorge the media with much of the information war will be struggle we are now engaged in. It information,” said one spokesman. waged in the public media, necessitat- must be won.” “When you make the media happy, the ing the need for PA participation. PA One can only hope that the truth media will not look for the rest of the specialists…need to become full part- will win, too. ■ story.” ners in the IO planning and execution In the war on terrorism, Washing- process, developing the skills and ex- Maud S. Beelman is director of the ton and London have established 24- pertise required to win the media war.” International Consortium of Investi- hour information centers at the White So the war on terrorism is also an gative Journalists, a project of the House and 10 Downing Street, with a information war, and the implications Center for Public Integrity in Wash- third center in Pakistan, in a similar of that for the media are daunting. ington, D.C. As an Associated Press model of across-time-zone briefings to “Call it public diplomacy, or public correspondent, she spent five years keep the message on point. affairs, or psychological warfare, or—if covering the wars in the Balkans. Major Gary Pounder, the chief of you really want to be blunt—propa- intelligence plans and presentations at ganda,” former U.N. Ambassador Rich- [email protected]

President Harry Truman Enlisted Journalists in the Cold War Are there parallels between then and now?

By Nancy Bernhard

In 1950, President Harry Truman ad- but assured them that their coopera- assistant secretary of state for public dressed the American Society of News- tion would help prevent that outcome. affairs, created a public information paper Editors, seeking to enlist the He’d directed his secretary of state, plan as a way of overcoming resistance assembled journalists in a “Campaign Dean Acheson, to wage this campaign to large foreign expenditures. Barrett of Truth” to win the cold war. He began of truth and to enlist “our great public was confident he could “whip up” pub- by noting that democracy hinged on information channels” to this cause. lic sentiment, and once he’d stirred the the quality of information people re- Truman explicitly asked for ideo- public’s fears, he’d follow soon with ceived through the news media. The logical support for the national secu- information about the government’s nation’s defense against Soviet propa- rity state, and none of the assembled program to meet the threat. At times he ganda, he told them, was “truth—plain, newsmen blanched at this enlistment referred to this operation as a “psycho- simple, unvarnished truth—presented to propagandize. logical scare campaign.” Success, for by the newspapers, radio, newsreels, The President’s request that day was him, would be measured by how much and other sources that the people trust.” part of deliberate strategy to sustain demand for government action came False conceptions about the United what was then believed to be a long- from frightened citizens. States were held overseas, Truman time struggle against the forces of com- Since the events of September 11, a warned, because of the success of com- munism. For a people just emerging similar strategy and rhetoric can be munist messages. from the military engagements of World heard in the words and reactions of The President alerted his audience War II, there was little will to remilitarize Victoria Clarke, assistant secretary of to the possibility that the Kremlin for a worldwide fight against commu- defense for public affairs, when she wanted to take over the United States, nism. Sensing this, Edward Barrett, speaks about cooperation between the

18 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Is the Press Up to the Task of Reporting These Stories? An investigative journalist examines the evidence and shares his concerns.

By James Bamford

t was the perfect storm. A massive, More than any other conflict in his- obeying Cheney’s press coverage re- Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack tory, this is a war for—and against— strictions. Ifrom abroad; a spreading, information. “This is the most informa- Cheney’s harsh rules led to protests bioterrorism plague at home; a coun- tion-intensive war you can imagine,” from numerous news organizations. In try caught in the numbing grip of fear; one military officer involved in the plan- a letter to the defense chief, senior an endless war against a vague enemy; ning told The Washington Post’s executives from Time and CNN argued and an administration determined to Howard Kurtz. “We’re going to lie about that the restrictions gave Pentagon recast the news to its own liking. In a things.” personnel “virtual total control…over whirlwind of government-mandated se- Leading the charge from his secret the American press.” They bitterly com- crecy, censorship and press intimida- bunker is Vice President Dick Cheney, plained that Cheney’s policies tion, many of journalism’s most hard- a man who dislikes the press “big time.” “blocked, impeded or diminished” the won principals and tools are being A decade earlier, as secretary of de- “flow of information to the public” lost. At the same time, precious civil fense, he took aim at journalists who during the Gulf War. In an earlier let- liberties are being trashed and failed to follow in lock step behind the ter, Time’s managing editor charged Orwellian internal surveillance mea- administration’s Panama and Persian that the restrictions were “unaccept- sures are being instituted, all in the Gulf War policies. Time magazine’s able” and marked “the formal re-impo- name of security. Where are the hard- photographer, Wesley Bocxe, was even sition of censorship for the first time hitting investigative journalists now that blindfolded and detained for 30 hours since Korea in an actual wartime situa- they are most needed? by U.S. National Guard troops for dis- tion.” Newsday’s Patrick J. Sloyan,

government and journalists. “We have whether massive militarization was an tion “Enduring Freedom” experiences the same end-goal,” she said on Na- appropriate response. Instead, the failures. tional Public Radio’s “The Connection.” press directed its energies toward po- Those people whose job it is to Likewise, senior White House advisor licing the sufficiency of the maintain public support will surely Karl Rove has conducted a series of government’s response which, in ef- follow Barrett’s example by reminding meetings with television and film in- fect, testily egged the government on us of the dangers lurking in our midst dustry executives. to ever-greater heights of vigilance and and then try to reassure us that the Of course, journalists chafe at such aggression against the enemy. government will do everything pos- talk because it belies their professional Today, most journalists do not dare sible and necessary to triumph over identity as skeptics and cynics who question the appropriateness of a mas- this evil. Journalists will keep after of- cannot be fooled by government pro- sive military response to the Septem- ficials to make good on their promises paganda. Yet very few journalists find ber 11 attacks. Instead, like their coun- and vanquish the threat, and we will or develop alternate patterns of sourc- terparts of decades past, they are feisty have overwhelmingly unified coverage, ing in times of military crisis. When in defense of the war’s unrealized goals as well as the illusion of a responsible they have done end-runs around offi- and the insufficiency of the press in pursuit of its watchdog role.■ cial information by, for example, cov- government’s efforts to fulfill the ering the war from an opponent’s capi- policy—the destruction of Al Qaeda Nancy Bernhard is author of “U.S. tal, they have been widely reviled. When and the Taliban while minimizing civil- Television News and Cold War Pro- went to in ian casualties, sustaining a coalition, paganda, 1947-60” (Cambridge 1966, or when remained and preventing more terrorism at University Press, 1999). She teaches in in 1991, national security home. Similarly, the Bush administra- “Reporting From the Front” in the hard-liners accused them of treason. tion faces its own concerns about how Expository Writing Program at Back in 1950, it would have been to sustain public support for an expen- Harvard University. professional suicide for a journalist to sive, long-term and largely covert war. question whether communism posed Public support began remarkably high [email protected] a genuine threat to the United States or but can be expected to wane as Opera-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 19 Coverage of Terrorism

whose reporting during the Gulf War Department’s decision is a totally •In a brazen effort to bury the ghosts won him a Pulitzer Prize, said the re- unacceptable assault on our edito- of the past, particularly those of a strictions reflected Cheney’s “utter con- rial independence, a frontal attack number of his senior advisors who tempt” for the First Amendment and on our credibility,” he told his staff. worked in the Reagan administra- “deep hostility” toward the press. “This certainly was a dark, dark day tion as well as his father’s vice presi- Another old face is that of Secretary for those of us who have—for years— dency, Bush drafted an executive of State . A decade ago, fought to uphold journalistic ethics, order to keep old presidential while chairman of the Joint Chiefs of balance, accuracy and fairness.” records secret for eternity. Histori- Staff during the Gulf War, he was one of •Next, the administration tried to cen- ans say the unprecedented order the principal architects of military cen- sor Al-Jazeera, the highly reputable would usher in a new era in secrecy sorship. The Bush administration’s in- and independent television and would turn the 1978 Presiden- formation war resembles a battle for network based in Qatar. Secretary of tial Records Act on its head by allow- territory. First disarm the enemy by State Powell told the emir of Qatar ing such documents to be kept hid- taking away or degrading its weapons, that he was concerned about the den “in perpetuity.” such as the Freedom of Information “inflammatory rhetoric” used by the •Chillingly, the White House warned Act, publicly available information, and broadcaster, even as the United Americans to think twice about criti- dissenting views. Then, once the op- States was dropping monstrous fuel- cizing the government. “People have position has been neutralized, capture air bombs on mule-riding Taliban to watch what they say and watch the hearts and minds of the target audi- forces. On November 13, U.S. air- what they do,” said press secretary ences with an artillery barrage of one- craft dropped 500-pound bombs on Ari Fleischer. sided propaganda. Finally, impose dic- the network’s empty Kabul offices, •Finally, the administration success- tatorial powers. Here are the measures destroying them. Although a spokes- fully blinded the media to events in thus far: man for the U.S. Central Command Afghanistan by purchasing exclusive in Tampa, Florida denied that the rights to commercial satellite imag- • To silence the opposition, the ad- attack was deliberate, Al-Jazeera’s ery of the area—an unprecedented ministration called on television managing editor, Mohammed Jassim action—costing $1.91 million a networks to refuse to air live and al-Ali, had a different view. “They month. [See Christopher Simpson’s unedited videotaped messages is- know where we are located, and article on page 31.] sued by Osama bin Laden. While they know what we have in our offering not a shred of evidence, office, and we also did not get any As if all the new press restrictions officials claimed that the videos warning,” he said. imposed by government fiat were not might contain secret coded mes- • The Bush administration’s extraor- enough, many news organizations in a sages. No doubt to the dinary attempts to muzzle the voices misguided view of patriotism began administration’s pleasure, the weak- of opponents led Bob Giles, curator self-censorship. Among the worse ex- kneed networks voluntarily took the of the Nieman Foundation, to warn amples was CNN’s shameful decision request one step further and de- in a New York Times op-ed column, to order anchors, each time they men- clined to air virtually any video of “Openness should not be a casualty tion Afghan civilians killed by U.S. bin Laden. Then it turned out that of war.” A former editor and pub- bombs, to also mention the people the administration, along with Brit- lisher of The Detroit News, Giles killed in the September 11 attack. There ain, offered media outlets a number added, “Over generations of actual was no corresponding requirement, of bin Laden tapes and encouraged and ideological combat, the press however, to mention the innocent ci- them to air them since these tapes has enabled American citizens to be vilians killed by U.S. bombers every help boost their case against him. familiar with the images and mes- time the attack on the World Trade Apparently worries about “secret sages of our enemies. Why is Osama Center is mentioned. codes” gave way to the value of pro- bin Laden so different that televi- Every day, as a new policy—limiting paganda, thus demonstrating that sion news can be pressured into press freedom or trampling on civil the original claim was merely a sham. blacking him out?” liberties—is announced or leaked, the •Even the government’s own Voice of •In a little-noticed action, Attorney United States seems to be moving closer America—a supposed shining ex- General John Ashcroft sent out word and closer to George Orwell’s Oceania, ample of press freedom to the rest to federal agencies encouraging his dreary, imaginary country locked in of the world—was ordered by the them to resist responding to Free- a perpetual state war. Although the State Department to spike an inter- dom of Information Act requests enemy would change periodically, ei- view with Taliban head Mullah whenever they can find any legal ther Eurasia or Eastasia, the war was Mohammed Omar out of fear of what ground to do so. This reversed a eternal. This was because its true pur- he might say. This provoked a sting- 1993 memorandum by Attorney pose was not the capture of territory ing response by the VOA’s news di- General Janet Reno that promoted but the control of dissent by keeping rector, Andre DeNesnera. “The State disclosure. people in a constant state of fear and

20 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism hatred. Such is the vague, undefined letters, it was the networks that gener- and safety: four people have died of the “war on terrorism,” a battle unbound ated enormous, disproportionate fear 17 known to have been infected. So far, by time or space. As Bush announced throughout the country—which is ex- it’s the functional equivalent of a mad in September, the enemy is some shad- actly what the terrorist was counting gunman on the loose or a biological owy “evil” that lurks in more than 60 on. Yes, it was a big story, but it was not Unabomber. By contrast, there were countries around the world, and its Armageddon. In a country of nearly 42,000 deaths from car accidents and elimination may take years. 300 million, five people died and sev- 17,000 from homicides in 1998…. The In Oceania, the war contaminates eral others suffered debilitating effects. coverage has so far been all out of every aspect of society, excusing perva- Yet as a result of each network tripping proportion to the actual threat.” sive surveillance, censorship and over itself to outshock the other—end- Another reason that much of the authoritarianism—Big Brother—all in less dire reports on how millions would media is not up to probing what is the name of protecting the homeland. die not just from anthrax but smallpox, probably the most important story in a “Any sound that Winston made, above hemologic fever, and nearly every other generation is that they spent the last the level of a very low whisper, would disease known to man—large segments decade in an endless search of the be picked up by it,” wrote Orwell. of the public became understandably trivial. With a few exceptions—The New “There was of course no way of know- paranoid. There are nearly 50,000 York Times, The Washington Post, CBS ing whether you were being watched at deaths from colon cancer each year, “60 Minutes,” and ABC “”— any given moment…. You had to live— yet how many minutes of airtime and the closest most reporters and televi- did live, from habit that became in- breaking new coverage does that sub- sion producers came to investigative stinct—in the assumption that every ject get? journalism was taking a handout from sound you made was overheard and, Also during that same period it was a staffer on the hill. “Before September except in darkness, every movement discovered that the Food and Drug 11,” wrote Samuelson, “the press was scrutinized.” Of course, Orwell wrote Administration was investigating the caught in a prolonged process of self- his book long before the development deaths of 53 patients who used defec- trivialization. We seemed to live in an of night-vision glasses. tive dialysis filters manufactured by era dominated by the personal, the Not since the dark days of Richard Baxter International, one of the small, and the titillating. The summer’s Nixon has there been such potential country’s largest manufacturers of big stories were Gary Condit and shark for good, penetrating, investigative re- medical supplies. Nowhere on televi- attacks. Before that, there was Monica porting. Secret arrests and detentions sion was that ever reported even though Lewinsky. Great national issues with of Middle Eastern men are taking place, more than 10 times as many were killed heavy moral, political or social signifi- and the press is prohibited from track- as by anthrax, and a brief story on the cance were disappearing, consigned to ing what happens. Military tribunals topic might have saved some lives. It back pages or ignored altogether. are proposed for suspected terrorists, just wasn’t as “sexy” or competitive as Among media stars, many were enthu- depriving defendants of American le- anthrax. siastically self-absorbed, gleefully shrill, gal protections. An Office of Homeland Veteran television and radio jour- and blissfully uninformed on matters Security is created beyond the reach of nalist Daniel Shorr said the nonstop of substance. Attitude was king or congressional oversight and thus more coverage was a serious problem. “The queen.” difficult for watchdog journalists to networks have settled into a new famil- Prior to the September 11 attacks, monitor. Surveillance powers of do- iar routine of treating every anthrax for example, the network evening mestic intelligence have been ex- scare—most of them hoaxes—as a newcasts had devoted a grand total of panded, and now the FBI will be gath- major news event, with live reports 58 minutes this year to bin Laden— ering intelligence by dubious means from correspondents, law enforce- with ABC in last place. Yet in the four and without court orders, along with ment, and public health officials,” he months from May to September, the investigating crimes. said. “Thus, a small investment in a same newscasts carried two hours and The question is, is the media up to powdery substance can bring a big 59 minutes on the Chandra Levy story— these investigative tasks? Judging from reward in media attention for antiso- with NBC way out in front. Said Robert past performance, the answer is not cial elements who get their kicks that Lichter of the Center for Media and likely. In fact, the self-indulgent televi- way.” Public Affairs, “The Chandra/Condit sion networks have been much more Robert J. Samuelson, writing in The story showed us how low TV news can of a problem than a solution during the Washington Post in early November, sink.” anthrax coverage. agreed. “Our new obsession with ter- Another problem is the growing Terrorism consists of two compo- rorism will make us its unwitting ac- xenophobia within the television news nents—an act of violence and the gen- complices,” he said. “We will become business. According to the Tyndall Re- eration of great fear in a large segment (and have already partly become) mer- port [a TV news monitor], foreign bu- of the public. Although some deranged chants of fear. Case in point: the an- reaus provided only a third as many terrorist was responsible for the initial thrax fright. Until now, anthrax has minutes of coverage for the evening act of sending a few deadly anthrax been a trivial threat to public health newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC in

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 21 Coverage of Terrorism

2000 (1,382) than they did in 1989 nalism” in “the failure to make the James Bamford, author of “Body of (4,032), which was a high point. At the important interesting.” Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret same time, foreign news bureaus are “Freedom itself is under attack,” said National Security Agency,” closing down at an alarming rate. ABC Bush. Unfortunately, it is his adminis- (Doubleday, 2001), is the former went from seventeen 15 years ago to tration that is leading the charge. As the Washington investigative producer seven in 2001. Chris Cramer, the presi- U.S. government returns to the days of for ABC’s “World News Tonight.” He dent of CNN International Networks, Nixonian secrecy and unprecedented is working on a book dealing with recently wrote that many networks have attacks on civil liberties, it is the job of the events of September 11 and will given up international coverage for the press to climb over, or dig under, be a visiting professor at the Univer- higher ratings, with “most of CNN’s the titanium walls and return with the sity of California, Berkeley’s gradu- competitors focusing on U.S. news truth. The question is, after a fat and ate school of public policy in 2002. only.” Those networks, he said, had lazy decade of triviality, do they still “committed the worse crime in jour- have what it takes? ■ [email protected]

The Unreported Threat in Coverage of Anthrax Journalists fail to focus on the longer-term dangers of antibiotic resistance.

By Philip Caper

uring the impressive print and which we have no immunity or our agents are extremely valuable in re- electronic media coverage of immune systems are compromised, as storing the delicate equilibrium we Drecent events concerning the in the case of HIV. When normally maintain with other biological crea- threat of bioterrorism through anthrax harmless microorganisms—those a tures with which we (usually) peace- dissemination, one major threat has normal immune system can keep in fully coexist when they have gained the been almost completely ignored by the check—gain the upper press. It is that posed by the wide- hand and are able to mul- spread and indiscriminate use of anti- tiply within our bodies biotics to “treat” perceived but per- to an abnormal extent, haps not real exposure to anthrax we are said to be infected spores. This is a major omission and by them. has potentially disastrous conse- During the past 75 quences. years or so, we have de- Humans, together with almost ev- veloped various chemi- ery other biological creature, live side cal and biologic agents by side with or actually act as hosts to that are more toxic to other organisms, including large num- microorganisms than bers of bacteria. Under normal condi- they are to humans and tions, bacteria live on our skin, in our are therefore useful in nasal passages, and in our intestines. supplementing our natu- Examples of such organisms include ral defenses against mi- strains of E. coli (intestines), staphylo- croorganisms. Examples coccus and streptococcus (skin, respi- of these include so-called ratory and oral passages), and various chemotherapeutic fungi (skin and respiratory passages). agents (such as sulfona- All animals, including humans, have mides) and antibiotics, developed pretty effective ways of main- such as penicillin and tet- taining defenses against uncontrolled racyclines. Ciprofloxin proliferation of these bacteria. Occa- (Cipro) now considered sionally, we are infected by organisms to be the “treatment of that we encounter routinely in our choice” (but not the only A hazardous-materials response team during a decontami- daily environments—meaning that we treatment) of anthrax is nation process. Photo by Tom Mihalek, courtesy of Agence have encountered an unusual strain to an antibiotic. These France-Presse.

22 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism upper hand for one of the reasons very bacteria we are trying to control. indiscriminate use of antibiotics and mentioned earlier. In doing so, we have created a situation other drugs, it is quite likely that hun- But their use is not without risks. that is worse than if we had not at- dreds of thousands or millions of And their indiscriminate and inappro- tempted antibiotic treatment at all, people will have begun inappropriate priate use is positively dangerous, yet since the competition for food and or ineffective courses of treatment, lead- this very real danger has not adequately other resources provided by the antibi- ing to the widespread development of been brought to the public’s attention otic sensitive bacteria that had held the drug-resistant strains of not only an- as part of the reporting on anthrax. growth of the resistant strains in check thrax, but other bacteria as well. This Our bodies are normally inhabited has been removed. When the antibiot- poses a threat not only to those indi- by hundreds of millions of individual ics are discontinued, the resistant viduals directly involved in such treat- bacteria of dozens of strains. Like hu- strains of bacteria are able to grow ment, but also to anyone else to whom mans, these individual bacteria differ without restraint, and the infection the drug-resistant strains can be passed. from one another in a variety of ways. returns—but this time in a pure antibi- This very real possibility is at least as One of the differences most important otic resistant form. great if not a greater threat to the to us is in their degree of sensitivity to The use of antibiotics without spe- public health than that of direct attack antibiotics. Some individual bacteria cific indications, in inadequate dosage by anthrax or any other biological agent. are rather easily killed by these drugs, or for an insufficient period of time, is Where is the leadership likely to and others are more resistant to them. much worse than not using them at all. come from in giving this important When antibiotics are taken, the most The recent emergence of drug-resis- message the prominence it deserves? It susceptible bacteria are killed first and tant strains of tuberculosis and staphy- is unlikely that the pharmaceutical in- the least susceptible last. Sometimes lococcus are examples of the result of dustry—which is after all like other the bacteria most resistant to antibiot- inappropriate and indiscriminate anti- industries a revenue, profit and share- ics are not killed at all, leaving them biotic use—in humans and animals. holder value-driven entity—will be at free to multiply after the course of If the hysteria—much of it fanned by the forefront of cautioning the public drugs is discontinued. media coverage regarding real or per- against the inappropriate and exces- When this happen, we have used ceived threats from anthrax or other sive use of their products. They are our own bodies as a medium for breed- biological agents—continues without currently in the midst of a multimillion ing an antibiotic-resistant strain of the counterbalancing caution against the (if not billion) dollar campaign of mar-

Highlighting Antibiotic Resistance

Though coverage of the potential Lucy Shapiro, a microbiologist who that widespread, unnecessary use of health hazards of antibiotic abuse heads the Arnold and Mabel Beckman the antibiotic is likely to threaten the and overuse did not receive nearly Center for Molecular and Genetic Medi- health of far more people than the the prominence of illnesses and cine at Stanford University. ‘It’s our anthrax attacks that have sparked deaths caused by anthrax, some response that’s going to lead to a big alarm…. [I]ndiscriminate use is likely news organizations did report this jump in antibiotic resistance. That’s to contribute to the emergence of information. Among them were The the terror.’ … ‘They don’t have to kill strains of germs resistant to Cipro and New York Times and The Washing- us with anthrax,’ Dr. Shapiro said, re- its chemical cousins. Those drugs, ton Post. Excerpts from those stories ferring to the prospect that diseases which constitute the fluoroquinolone follow: might develop a resistance to antibiot- class of antibiotics, are already one of ics. ‘They can just change the whole the last effective treatments for some ‘Cure’ for Bioterror May Be flora and fauna of our pathogen world. serious infections that have become Worse Than the Disease This is about the worst thing that can resistant to most other treatment…. , October 22, 2001 happen in our war on bugs.’” ‘You’re going to see a huge change in By Gina Kolata the microbiology of the world in which Emphasis on Cipro we live, to the detriment of a drug “A number of health officials and ex- Worries Officials that’s critically important to many of perts are warning that steps being taken The Washington Post, October 19, 2001 our patients,’ said [Stuart] Levy [head by the government and members of By Justin Gillis and Ceci Connolly of the Center for Adaptation Genetics the public in response to threats of and Drug Resistance at the Tufts Uni- bioterrorism carry health risks that may “Doctors and public health experts are versity School of Medicine in Boston]. far exceed their benefits…. ‘Our big growing increasingly worried about the ‘It’s an experiment in evolution that problem is not bioterrorism,’ said Dr. public’s obsession with Cipro, saying we’re witnessing.’” ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 23 Coverage of Terrorism

keting prescription drugs to the gen- politician to take. And this message popular media, particularly television. eral public. Most of these drugs have may not be seen by the pharmaceutical We seem to have a great deal of trouble very proscribed and limited indications. industry, perennially one of the nation’s paying much attention to serious—but Many of them have less expensive and leading contributors to political cam- not dramatic—problems, especially if equally or more effective generic coun- paigns, to be friendly to them. they involve the sacrifice of short-term terparts. Therefore, the track record of That leaves the public relying upon personal gratification for long-term so- the pharmaceutical industry in acting journalists, using their traditional role cietal goals. Where is the coverage of in the broad public interest as opposed of digging up the facts and publishing the long-term implications of the Bush to the narrow interests of their share- them, as the best hope for getting this tax cuts (“the people know better how holders is not comforting. message out. The trend in recent years to spend their money than the govern- These ad campaigns put pressure has been for ratings to drive coverage ment does”) for programs such as our on physicians to prescribe drugs when as evidenced by how reporting on the public health infrastructure? There are they might otherwise not do so. But incidence of anthrax has far outpaced a many more examples. they are likely to be highly effective story such as this one, even though the Increasingly, news coverage has even without the complicity of physi- level of harm it can alert people to come to be driven by the bottom line cians due to the increasing availability might potentially be much higher. more than the news value or public of antibiotics and other drugs over the The anthrax scare has also uncov- importance of a story. Let’s hope this Internet without prescriptions. ered serious deficiencies in our system important story is an exception. Let’s It is equally unlikely that our politi- of public health surveillance and ser- hope journalism is up to the task.■ cal leaders will provide the necessary vices. But these deficiencies were hardly leadership on this issue. With few ex- a secret even before anthrax. Just last Philip Caper, M.D. is an adjunct ceptions, they lack the expertise to do year Laurie Garrett, a highly respected lecturer at the Harvard School of so. In addition, it seems to go against journalist, published a book called “Be- Public Health and an internation- the popular American response to pop trayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global ally recognized expert on patterns of a pill as an answer to almost every Public Health,” that received a flurry of medical practice. problem and may therefore be seen by attention in the “elite” media at the many as an unpopular position for a time but was never picked up in the [email protected] Reporting International News in a Serious Way Coverage needs to reflect ‘the same values that are given to reporting news at home.’

By William F. Woo

s journalists reflect on the les- porting foreign news will discover their kids shooting up their classrooms, and sons of September 11, they are audience is disappearing. Given these reporting on deep-seated concerns Alikely to conclude that foreign assumptions, what kind of foreign cov- about abortion isn’t limited to cover- news coverage must be improved. erage can news organizations afford if age of the Army of God. Walter Isaacson, chairman of CNN, has they believe there is value in providing Journalists take a much broader told David Shaw of the Los Angeles audiences with a better understanding view. And that is what I’m arguing for Times that the terrorist attacks helped of the world? in foreign news coverage. The way to his network rediscover “the vital If the emerging model of interna- give Americans understanding about importance…to cover international tional coverage means only more news how the rest of the world lives and why news in a serious way.” about terrorism here, there and every- it does so and how these things came to But what does it mean to cover in- where, it won’t be the right one. If it be is to provide international cover- ternational news in a serious way? For- only means more about war, social age, over the long haul, that reflects the eign news is expensive, but that’s only unrest, and ferries sinking, news orga- same values that are given to reporting part of the reason for its well-docu- nizations ought to save their money. news at home. mented decline. News executives also At home, when journalists want to Begin by throwing away the notion assume that people aren’t interested in tell readers and viewers about Chris- that every foreign story that isn’t about news unless it affects them personally. tianity in America, they don’t confine a war has to have a local peg. We miss And if people aren’t interested, the their coverage to the Branch Davidian a lot of important stories because of thinking goes, news organizations that and other extremist sects. Stories about this assumption. Take the Asian money invest dollars, time and space in re- education don’t begin and end with crisis of 1997 that went largely unre-

24 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism ported until it reached pandemic pro- there was of religion. I didn’t write a is dull, we can forget about an audi- portions. It was simply beyond the single story about what was going ence for it. press to report on the early fluctua- on in politics. Yet from all that I did tions of the Thai baht in ways that write, you could easily see the vast Our foreign news coverage has de- connected to Main Street. reach of the Communist state into teriorated shamefully. As Shaw reports, I tell my students to heed the mes- the lives of its people. “newspaper editors and television news sage of John Donne, who observed •News organizations could also ex- executives have reduced the space and that no man is an island. That is, sooner periment with consortiums. A half time devoted to foreign news covered or later what happens to anybody else— dozen independent regional papers by 70 percent to 80 percent during the down the street or thousands of miles could send a few reporters abroad past 15 to 20 years.” The events of away, in a country whose name we can to provide good stories throughout September 11 and thereafter instruct barely pronounce—affects us. I tell the year. Chains could do this more us that this is not acceptable. them good journalists are involved in easily. Those that cannot even af- With regards to international news, humankind. If they aren’t, they will ford this could borrow the concept the media today find themselves in the never be able to write about the world of the old “rail column.” This was a situation of the drunk who breaks into in ways that touch readers nor be able column that ran along the right- a cold sweat as he sobers up. He re- to learn anything about themselves. hand margin of The Washington members that he just sped dead blotto At this point, you may be wondering Post’s editorial page before the pa- through a crowded school zone. He how American journalism can accom- per had a proper op-ed page. The swears, never again. He determines to modate this enlarged mission. Here idea was simply to print there every live his life in a “serious way.” are a few suggestions. day the most interesting 800 words But now it’s tomorrow. Does he its editor could find. Almost any head back to the saloon? Or does he •Most news organizations cannot af- paper, I should think, could afford begin a new and more responsible life? ford to keep correspondents abroad. the space to print once or twice a Like him, journalists, too, have a But some can do what my old paper, week the 800 most interesting words choice. ■ the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, did years its editors could find about people ago, which was to send reporters and events elsewhere in the world. William F. Woo, a 1967 Nieman abroad to write about events that •Making foreign news interesting is Fellow, has taught journalism at were not daily front page news. In the key. As Barney Kilgore, the old Stanford University since 1996. He 1967, I went to the Soviet Union for editor of , formerly was editor of the St. Louis 60 days. I wrote about agriculture, liked to say, “The easiest thing for Post-Dispatch. industry, education, culture, what the reader to do is to quit reading.” people did for amusement, and what If the new international journalism [email protected] Training Journalists to Report Safely in Hostile Environments ‘…fire services personnel don’t go fighting fires without proper training….’

By John Owen

wo and a half months into the No journalist, however experienced But could the lives of other journal- war on terrorism, eight journal- or well trained to work in a conflict ists have been spared had they made Tists had been murdered, many zone, can feel secure working in law- other judgments? The experience of a had been injured, and several had been less parts of Afghanistan where armed British journalist who undertook a dan- held hostage. At this writing, a few gangs or defectors from the Taliban gerous assignment is worth examining American soldiers had been killed. This will rob and murder them. It is how more closely. comparison led the British journalist Swedish cameraman Ulf Stroemberg When Yvonne Ridley, a British re- Phillip Knightley to observe: “It is now lost his life, when gunmen burst into porter working for the Sunday Express safer to be a member of the fighting the home where he and other Swedish tabloid newspaper, was arrested by the forces than a representative of the journalists were staying in a Northern Taliban for illegally entering Afghani- media. What’s going on?” Afghanistan town. stan, she assumed that the greater jour-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 25 Coverage of Terrorism

nalistic community would rally around Simpson also had decades of experi- like the others swarming around jour- her. After all, Ridley would say later, ence reporting on Afghanistan and nalists in Islamabad, knew that in or- she was trying to “put a human face on knows the country and its people ex- der to get paid hundreds of American the demonized Afghans.” ceptionally well. dollars they could be risking their lives. Ridley, disguised as an Afghan Ridley, on the other hand, was That explanation is not good enough woman, had nearly pulled off her jour- rushed off to Pakistan without any of for British safety trainer Andrew Kain. nalistic coup. She had succeeded in the standard equipment that newspa- Kain is the founding director of AKE, making the journey from Pakistan pers and broadcasters were equipping one of the leading firms that conduct across the border and was by her reck- their correspondents with—no laptop, “hostile environment” training courses oning a 20-minute donkey ride away no satellite phone, and none of the for journalists in Britain, the United from returning with her scoop when protective gear that she would need if States, and on the ground in Northern her donkey bolted and startled her. she ventured out of Islamabad. Nor Afghanistan. Kain argues that interna- Ridley momentarily lost control, could she have had time to get the tional journalists must be “account- shouted in English, and was promptly needed anti-hepatitis shots and water able”; that they have a special respon- spotted by the Taliban police. purification pills and kit that would sibility toward the local journalists or For her struggling newspaper with protect her against malaria and other fixers upon whom they depend in con- plunging circulation, the Ridley esca- potentially life-threatening diseases. flict zones. Kain dismisses Ridley’s ex- pade did grab headlines and put her on When her editors encouraged her un- planation that these fixers know what the BBC newscasts. But it also tied up dercover assignment across the bor- they are getting into when they accept British diplomats who, allied with the der, they advised her to leave behind these assignments. “They live in abject United States, were about to begin her passport and any other identifica- poverty so of course they are willing to bombing Afghanistan. It was a distrac- tion. Other editors were particularly take these risks,” Kain observes. He tion that Blair’s Labor government did appalled by that absence of judgment. thinks that it is shameful that Ridley’s not appreciate. The Ridley experience points out newspaper hasn’t “lobbied at the high- Remarkably enough, Ridley did sur- the high risks that irresponsible news est levels” to secure the release of the vive and was eventually released un- organizations are prepared to take to fixers who could now be dead. harmed by the Taliban. But instead of get an exclusive story, especially in The Ridley caper will make a perfect accolades, Ridley received brickbats Britain, one of the most cutthroat and case study in Kain’s courses and those from other British editors who had competitive news markets in the world. taught by the other leading safety train- refused to allow their correspondents But it also points out that many editors ing firms including the U.K.-based Cen- to do a “John Simpson”—the veteran and news executives are now unwill- turion whose director, Paul Rees, an BBC who, along ing to have their reporters—especially ex-Royal Marine, estimates has trained with his cameraman, had donned those camped out with the Northern over 7,500 journalists since it intro- burkas and snuck into Afghanistan for Alliance—push themselves beyond duced its courses outside of London in their exclusive reports. what is already a gruelling battle daily 1995. When Rees and Kain began their At the BBC, probably the world’s to survive the elements. The Daily courses, the idea that journalists should most safety conscious news organiza- Telegraph’s foreign editor, Alec Russell, be taught how to behave in war zones tion, the Simpson assignment had been was scathing in his criticism of the was anathema to many of them who Sunday Ex- accepted the conventional wisdom that press. In a the only way to become an experi- The Ridley experience points out the damning enced war correspondent was to be high risks that irresponsible news piece about thrown into a conflict zone and learn the Ridley the hard way. [More information on organizations are prepared to take “folly” in The these training programs can be found to get an exclusive story…. Guardian at www.akegroup.com/services and newspaper, www.centurion-riskservices.co.uk.] Russell was This is a view still held by the foreign quoted de- editor of National Public Radio, Loren discussed and debated before he’d been scribing it as “unbelievably foolish…a Jenkins, who was a superb foreign cor- given a green light. Although one se- crazy thing to do.” respondent who received a Pulitzer nior BBC news executive later told me While Ridley escaped the Taliban Prize for reporting in the Middle East. he did have grave reservations about and wrote about her experience, her Jenkins and NPR don’t require their the assignment, he did in the end ac- local “fixers” will be lucky to escape budding correspondents to go through quiesce, as Simpson, who had covered with their lives. In a radio interview, these safety training and first-aid countless wars and had come under Ridley was asked about whether she courses. In an e-mailed response to a attack in Baghdad during the Gulf War, felt guilty about their arrest. She said request for a statement I could use to was adamant that he could pull it off. that she was concerned but that they, explain his attitude, Jenkins said: “Do I

26 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism think such courses are invaluable? I or emergency services.” Cramer be- publish or broadcast stories that ex- personally am not convinced. Coming comes enraged when he thinks about posed corrupt politicians or organized from a generation of war correspon- broadcast or print executives who fail crime bosses. These efforts to bring the dents that cut our teeth in the Mekong to make this training available to their killers of journalists to justice are aimed Delta, the Golan Heights, and places war correspondents. at ending any feelings of impunity. like and El Salvador, I have al- Most importantly, the training has They are also aimed at helping the ways believed that common sense— now spread to local journalists who, families of dead journalists achieve not military training—is the best guide far more than traveling international some closure—to help them feel that to war correspondence.” journalists, are in constant threat in their loved ones did not die in vain. Jenkins and NPR are clearly out of their countries. An estimated 90 per- In Croatia this past September— step with the overwhelming consensus cent of the journalists killed—or more days before the horror of September among international broadcasters and accurately, murdered—each year, ac- 11—the widow and father of BBC cor- many leading newspapers about the cording to the Committee to Protect respondent John Schofield, six years value of the training courses. Chris Journalists, are targeted for what they after he was shot by Croatian troops Cramer, the president of CNN Interna- have reported or published. As one of while covering events in the Krajina, tional who is credited with making its first acts, the new Kurt Schork Me- were handed a final report document- safety training courses mandatory at morial Foundation, backed by Reuters, ing how he was killed. The report nei- BBC News when he headed its brought more than a dozen local jour- ther satisfied the BBC nor the family as newsgathering, singled out NPR for nalists from around the world to the it accused the BBC crew of being in an refusing to sign a code of practice that United Kingdom to enroll them in the unauthorized area and failing to heed was agreed to by other major news weeklong safety training course. a warning from jumpy Croat soldiers organizations including Reuters, The Centurion’s Paul Rees points to the who stuck to their claim that they Associated Press, CNN, BBC, ITN, CBC training of more than 250 Latin Ameri- thought the BBC group could be Serbs. and the big three American networks. can journalists. There is heavy empha- But then the Croatian government This code was finalized in London at sis on how to conduct themselves if did something that, if not unprec- the European Center of The Freedom kidnapped, as so many journalists in edented, is certainly highly unusual: It Forum after the shocking deaths in Colombia have been during the past joined the BBC and Schofield’s widow, Sierra Leone in May 1999 of two of the few decades. Earlier this year, working Susan, and father, Patrick, in unveiling best and most experienced agency jour- with IREX, the U.S.-financed training a plaque on the spot on a remote, nalists—Kurt Schork of Reuters and group, AKE’s Kain trained more than picturesque country road where the Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of APTV 100 Macedonian journalists about the exhaustive investigation had deter- (Associated Press Television News). time that country was teetering toward mined that the 29-year-old correspon- The code of practice commits the civil war. African and Asian journalists dent had been killed. broadcasters and agencies (so far no are also getting access to the training, In the end the report, however newspapers have signed up) to putting but on a far more limited scale. flawed, and the ceremony honoring staff, freelancers and local hires through Beyond preparing journalists for war John Schofield helped his family come the hostile environments training zones and caring for them after they to terms with his death. It may be little course; to providing adequate insur- return, the journalistic community is consolation for a family that has lost a ance; to equipping everyone with pro- also waking up to its responsibility to son, a sister, a parent or partner, but tective flak jackets and other gear; and act collectively in a far more aggressive what happened that terrible day in to offering counseling for any post- fashion to pursue any government, re- August 1995 did cause the BBC and conflict trauma difficulties. In the first gime, or military group that harms a eventually much of the broadcast news in-depth study of psychological effects journalist. The International Press In- industry to do everything it could to of war on journalists, Anthony Feinstein stitute and its aggressive vice chair- spare other families the heartbreak of of the University of Toronto found that man, ITN Editor in Chief Richard Tait, loved ones dying to tell the story. ■ nearly 30 percent of frontline journal- has spearheaded missions to countries ists experienced some levels of trauma where journalists have been killed and John Owen was the director of The or post-traumatic stress disorder assaulted. And the Paris-based journal- Freedom Forum European Center (PTSD). (The Freedom Forum Euro- ist rights’ group, Reporters sans from 1996 until its closure this year. pean Center underwrote the study.) Frontières, has created what it is call- He had worked for the Canadian Cramer acknowledges that covering ing the “Damocles Network” that will Broadcasting Corporation for 20 wars and conflicts will always be “in- deploy prominent journalists, interna- years, serving as the chief news herently risky” but points out that “fire tional criminal law experts, and hu- editor for CBC-TV News, London services personnel don’t go fighting man rights activists to investigate the bureau chief, and chief of foreign fires without proper training and equip- unsolved murders of journalists, the bureaus. ment; the armed services don’t do that overwhelming number of whom are and neither do members of the police local reporters and editors who dared [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 27 Coverage of Terrorism Freelancers’ Vital Role in International Reporting With the rise of media conglomerates, foreign news has been shoved aside.

By Nate Thayer

t an annual gathering of the In- that these otherwise forgotten places rocketed to the forefront of interna- ternational Consortium of Inves- are properly covered in the absence of tional attention. When a story forces Atigative Journalists in July, I sat a major media presence. media executives to react to events, with Ahmed Rashid, a renowned Paki- Further, the key role played by “for- their reporters must turn to those who stani journalist, and discussed the de- eign” freelance journalists in provid- are informed and on the ground. In- creasing appetite for international ing the backbone of international cov- variably, those they turn to are freelance news. Rashid has spent a lifetime writ- erage highlights the importance of the local journalists such as Ahmed Rashid. ing about Afghanistan. He spoke then principle of a press free from the influ- At the same time, the events of Sep- of diminishing interest from editors ence of any government. Many, if not tember 11 should have sent a caution- for his stories. “No one is interested in most, of those who gather information ary signal to major media conglomer- Afghanistan anymore,” he concluded. for the American-owned press are not ates, which increasingly are controlled His brilliant book, “Taliban: Militant American. And many of those who read by people who have demonstrated an Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Cen- or view the American-owned press are insufficient commitment to the role of tral Asia,” was newly published and not American. And for those who are, a free press and well informed public was meeting with a good response from so what? The concept that reporters in world affairs. These news outlets are those who maintained an interest in should have some allegiance to their increasingly driven by their marketing this “irrelevant” corner of the world. government is not only fundamentally departments, public relations people Typical for an accomplished and contrary to the role of a credible and and lawyers, whose values too often respected freelance journalist, Rashid independent press, it presupposes a infiltrate the newsrooms and effectively writes for a number of publications, false premise: that news organizations seize control. Non-journalists are in- relying on a core handful of news orga- are homogeneously comprised of na- creasingly determining what is news nizations to make a living. But, he said tionals of the country of which they and treating it as a commodity, selling in July, even these were rejecting sto- have their primary audience. it like shampoo or cars. ries they once would have published. It is freelancers and local journalists The world press has indeed been The Islamabad-based Rashid said it was who are now playing a crucial role in absent from Central Asia since the So- a struggle to get anything published on Central Asia in ensuring that the world viets and the CIA pulled out a decade Central Asia in the British- and Ameri- understands these events as they have ago. Before September 11, how many can-owned publications he relied on. Only weeks later, after the events of September 11, I smile as I pass my small-town bookstore and see Ahmed Rashid’s “Taliban” prominently placed on a rack next to the cash register— number one on The New York Times bestseller list. I see Rashid regularly on television and quoted copiously by jour- nalists now descending on the region— 22 years after he began reporting full time from and about Afghanistan. The pleasure is mixed with melan- choly for the state of international re- porting. Hundreds of freshly arriving foreign correspondents obscure the fact that they are often dispatched by major news organizations to cover in- ternational events only after they are overtaken by them. And their presence obscures the crucial role that local and freelance journalists play in ensuring Thayer in a Khmer Rouge controlled area of Cambodia. Photo by Roland Eng.

28 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism news organizations had staff reporters rain. And similar to Rashid’s predica- penses reimbursed. Given the substan- in Islamabad, much less in Kabul, or in ment this past summer when I was a tial costs of reporting, many stories go the countries just north of Afghani- freelancer covering Cambodia, editors unreported for the simple reason that stan? Precious few. Not The New York at my primary news outlets constantly there aren’t journalists to do them. Times, The Washington Post, CNN, nor discouraged me from pursuing stories It is true that properly covering many any other American news organization and often rejected ones I wrote. These obscure and complicated conflicts of- except The Associated Press (often stories were dismissed as too obscure, ten bears little immediate fruit. I staffed by “local hires,” usually nation- costly, dangerous, or merely “uninter- emerged from most forays with pre- als). Nor did the three American broad- esting to our readers.” cious little, often after weeks of work, cast networks—which eviscerated their Such reactions explain why there an empty wallet, and thousands of kilo- foreign news operations during the has developed such a dearth of in- meters of travel. But even though a past decade—have staff correspondents depth international journalism. This meeting or trip would often not bear in the region. essential yet expensive genre of report- fruit worthy of an article, it all added up ing has few institutional supporters. to a body of unique knowledge and Lessons From Cambodia and Fortunately, as a freelancer I had the access. My persistence, like the work of Afghanistan latitude (if not the expense account) to many freelancers, left me in good posi- ignore those who urged me to stop my tion to write knowledgeably when There are useful comparisons to be investigations. Had I been a staff re- newsworthy events happened. Like made between what is happening now porter covering Cambodia—and there- most “local” journalists and freelancers, in Afghanistan (and with Rashid’s re- fore required to abide by instructions I had what visiting journalists did not— porting) and the decade I spent as a of those who had the right to dictate the essential context for any story, per- freelance reporter in Cambodia. Both what stories I could pursue—I would tinent background and, after years of Rashid and I had chosen areas of focus not have kept reporting many stories cultivation, well developed sources in that often held marginal interest in the that were deemed “important” as time place. At such moments, I could usu- ebb and flow of international atten- went on. ally offer plausible and well informed tion. Neither of us was a staff corre- The absence of coverage of these analysis of what a news story meant. spondent, though each was listed as a regions is usually a reflection of the Like many other reporters, I prefer “senior writer” on the masthead of the skeletal resources that major media to work as a freelancer, even though Far Eastern Economic Review, the lead- organizations devote to foreign cover- it’s a job that is often like being a ing Asian weekly newsmagazine, owned age. And that is a decision often dic- mistress. The editors’ attitude: “Why by Dow Jones. Our compensation came tated by the business side. The Afghans buy the cow, if you can get the milk for primarily from our published words. and Cambodians, after all, aren’t likely free?” They compliment me profusely Like Afghanistan, Cambodia was, to be promising advertising targets or after each encounter and give me little after a spurt of international focus, subscribers. Therefore, the argument stipends to keep me feeling wanted relegated to the dustbin of obscure goes, there is little “reader interest.” and coming back. They speak wistfully civil wars. Interest in both countries And, in the absence of staff journalists of how much they wish they could hire always had little to do with the country based in such places, it can often ap- me and that someday we might have a itself, but rather the proxy role each pear that there is little of newsworthy permanent relationship. Like two il- played to larger global players. Once significance. But, as the events of Sep- licit lovers who can’t look each other in epicenters of cold war conflicts that tember 11 made clear, this is not neces- the eye, we both generally leave our served as a hot theater for foreign power sarily true. There are important stories encounters satisfied. We each accept interests, by the mid 1990’s neither to tell and it is crucial for news organi- the arrangement as good under the Afghanistan nor Cambodia had much zations to be prepared to cover news circumstances. And I am fully aware economic, political or strategic value properly when events demand. that the focus of my reporting makes to the world—or to its media. me rather unemployable by nature— Like the Taliban and bin Laden in The Role and Life of a not marriage material. Afghanistan, the Khmer Rouge and Pol Freelance Journalist In June 1997, I was still a freelance Pot continued to play a major role in journalist when Cambodia, again, im- Cambodia’s politics after outside inter- While publications naturally like to ploded in civil war. Hundreds of jour- est diminished. And, despite the ab- take credit for work they publish, any nalists descended on the country. There sence of international attention, the modicum of journalistic accomplish- were reports from the jungle suggest- domestic dynamics of these conflicts ments I might have had were not wholly ing Pol Pot was on the run, and fighting continued largely unchanged, ready to supported—financially or otherwise— raged on several fronts throughout the erupt. Like bin Laden, Pol Pot was by any publication. Freelancers usually country. I’d already spent years report- seemingly an inaccessible enigma, di- must pay the expense of research, travel ing in inhospitable jungles (though I’d recting a monstrous political move- and phone upfront with no guarantees been based in and ment and hiding in impenetrable ter- of having their work published or ex- ), attempting to find Pol Pot,

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 29 Coverage of Terrorism

When I watch the Afghan coverage and think about the U.S. military and American news reporters now looking vigorously for bin Laden, I remember that he has been interviewed and pho- tographed seven times by local and freelance journalists. And when I see the American networks play “stolen” footage—obtained by Al-Jazerra and lifted off satellite transmitters—I think of the Al-Jazerra correspondents in Kabul, risking their lives and develop- ing sources to obtain information and develop access. I am outraged that a U.S. smart bomb targeted their offices and there was scant protest. And when I see the Ken and Barbie news celebri- ties in their color-coordinated flak jack- ets reporting from the “front lines” The author standing next to the body of Pol Pot. (microphone in one hand, aerosol hair spray nearby), I picture them pouring the leader of the Khmer Rouge. gal and public relations department, at night over the life work of Ahmed I called editors seeking plane fare to ABC News made still photographs from Rashid to try to get an understanding go back to Cambodia. “I believe I might the video, slapped the “ABC News Ex- of what the hell is going on. be able to get to Pol Pot,” I said. I was clusive” logo on them, and hand deliv- With the war in Afghanistan, it is flatly turned down. I borrowed money ered them to newspapers, wire ser- important to remember the invaluable and got on a plane that day. Six weeks vices, and television. It also released role played by freelancers and local later, I emerged from Khmer Rouge- the transcripts of my interviews to The correspondents whose commitment to controlled jungles having gotten to New York Times and placed pictures reporting gives substance to the cur- Khmer Rouge headquarters and been and video on its Web site with instruc- rent coverage. They play a pivotal role the only reporter to attend the “trial” of tions on how to download them. All of in maintaining a free press by deliver- Pol Pot, one of the century’s most these pictures demanded that photo ing knowledgeable, firsthand, well- sought-after mass murderers. In 18 credit be given to ABC News. sourced information from the field. It years he hadn’t been seen or photo- Even though ABC News does not is their dedication to this vital enter- graphed. For a couple of days, it be- have a correspondent in Southeast Asia, prise that creates the foundation for came the biggest story in the world. it looked as though ABC News had what we read and view, not the efforts And as a freelancer, I had the only gone and found Pol Pot. The Far East- of slick corporate hucksters and their firsthand reporting, still pictures, and ern Economic Review ran my story in willing agents who would substitute video of the story. its weekly edition a couple of days an agenda that betrays what should be I received thousands of calls from later. But already thousands of news- our singular allegiance. That allegiance media wanting my pictures and story. papers, magazines and television sta- should not be to Pennsylvania Avenue, As I sat in my office in Bangkok, jour- tions had published or broadcast the or to Wall Street, or to Madison Av- nalists from the world’s major media story, thanks to ABC News. The story enue. It should be to Main Street. ■ descended like vultures. And before won a British Press Award for “Scoop of I’d even finished writing my story, these the Year” for a British paper I didn’t Nate Thayer was the Cambodia, then events were front-page news around even know had published it. The Wall Southeast Asia, correspondent for the world. of ABC News Street Journal (also owned by Dow the Far Eastern Economic Review. flew to Bangkok from Washington, and Jones), for which I’d never written He has written for more than 40 he returned home with a copy of my about this story, also won several other publications and news services videotape. I gave it to him in exchange awards for its coverage. I even won a and has won numerous awards, for his strict promise that its only use Peabody Award as a “correspondent including the 1999 SAIS-Novartis would be on “Nightline.” However, for ‘Nightline.’” But I turned it down— prize for Excellence in International once he had the copy of the tape, ABC the first time anyone had rejected a Journalism and the first award News released video, still pictures, and Peabody in its 57-year history. No one given by the International Consor- even transcripts of my interviews to noticed, since ABC News banned me tium of Investigative Journalists. news organizations throughout the from attending the ceremony after I world. Protected by its formidable le- told Koppel I would reject the award. [email protected]

30 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Press Access to Satellite Images is a Casualty in This War The Department of Defense owns and controls these pictures.

By Christopher Simpson

ot too many years ago, I invited nothing whatever to do with ill con- information in wartime, most recently the chief intelligence and na- ceived attempts to use purported in Afghanistan. Since mid-September, Ntional security correspondent psychics for intelligence collection. federal intelligence and security agen- from one of America’s most prominent Instead, unclassified imagery gath- cies have organized a sweeping newspapers to a conference on news ered from space has emerged as a pow- clampdown on almost every type of media use of remote sensing tools to erful tool for capturing unique photo- geographic information available on cover wars and similar crises. He gruffly graphs and information. Properly the Internet, including civilian remote replied that it was all baloney (though analyzed, these images present to broad sensing information. Satellite imagery he used a different word for it) and audiences some of the complex ideas of Afghanistan, surrounding countries, declined to attend. I was curious and that for decades have been the exclu- and sensitive installations in the United asked him why. sive preserve of presidents, intelligence States were among the first to go. The “Remote sensing,” he said, “like us- agencies, and a handful of scientific National Imagery and Mapping ing mind waves to read Kremlin mail,” specialists. During the past three years Agency—the Defense Department’s is complete crud. (He used a different alone, almost every major news organi- lead agency for satellite image collec- term there, as well.) zation in the world has used these tion and analysis—went so far as to Today that correspondent tells quite tools to report on natural disasters, attempt to end public distribution of a different story. He encourages his war, closed societies, environmental decades-old, widely available Landsat paper to use remote sensing tools such destruction, some types of human 5 imagery and of topographic maps of as images gathered by civilian spy satel- rights abuses, refugee flight and relief, the United States that have been com- lites, especially for coverage of the scientific discoveries, agriculture and mercially available in one form or an- World Trade Center disaster and the even real estate development. other for more than 100 years. They subsequent war in Afghanistan. Remote The increasing popularity and effec- did not succeed. Nevertheless, NIMA sensing from satellites, sometimes tiveness of these journalistic tools has and other defense agencies have an- known as “earth observation” or as raised concerns in some quarters that nounced a “review” of publicly avail- imagery gathered by spy satellites, has public images might reveal sensitive able U.S. maps in order to eliminate

Imagery for news and analysis: At left, a Spot Image satellite photo of Ground Zero captured on September 11, less than three hours after the towers’ collapse. The thermal infrared band identifies fierce fires (in white in this picture) at the base of the smoke plumes. Ground spatial resolution of the image—that is, the size of an object represented by a single pixel—is about 15 meters. At center, a one-meter resolution Ikonos satellite image of the same area taken on September 15. Debris and emergency vehicles are clearly visible. This image was collected by an observation satellite some 423 miles in space traveling at about 17,500 mph. At right, this LIDAR image extrusion prepared by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) permits precise three-dimensional location of elevator shafts, stairwells and broken support structures at the destroyed World Trade Center. When merged with other satellite data, the final color 3-D image provides approximately 30 meter resolution. Image credits: (left) Spot Image/CNES, (center) Space Imaging, (right) NOAA.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 31 Coverage of Terrorism

what they assert to be potentially dan- gerous information. Procedures for suppressing what is regarded as “sensitive” imagery and geographic information have been a feature of presidential national secu- rity directives since the Reagan admin- istration. But never before have these restrictions been implemented so rap- idly or on such a wide scale. The Na- tional Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oper- ates low-resolution weather satellites, posted an image on the Internet on the afternoon of September 11 that showed a long smoke plume drifting from New York City down the east coast of the Imagery and Public Relations: At left, a gun camera video image of what appears to be a United States. Moments later, they took highly effective air strike on military jets at Kabul airport. The image received heavy it off the net and issued a press state- television coverage when it was released by the Department of Defense shortly after the ment stating that no weather imagery beginning of the air war in Afghanistan. At right, an Ikonos satellite image showing that report at all was available for Septem- the same planes were in precisely the same position 18 months earlier, demonstrating ber 11. When satellite imagery watch- that the targets were actually "three derelict cargo airplanes," writes analyst Tim Brown ers called NOAA on this contradiction, of GlobalSecurity.org, who discovered the archive image. U.S. air strikes on these targets the agency eventually returned the sat- during the first 72 hours of the air war had little military value, he contends, except for ellite photograph of the smoke plume. the "strong media and visual impact" produced by network news coverage of the vivid NOAA has yet to acknowledge that they imagery. Image credits: (left) Department of Defense, (right) Space Imaging / suppressed the image in the first place. GlobalSecurity.org. Unfortunately, since mid-September NOAA’s highly regarded Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI) cov- erage of territories outside the United States has been cut to a small, anemic fraction of its former output, also with- out acknowledging that there has been any change.

Recommended Sites

www.spaceimaging.com India’s mid-resolution IRS-C and IRS-1D www.imagesatintl.com Space Imaging’s Ikonos one-meter resolution satellites. ImageSat International, formerly known as West satellite is the premier source for civilian high- Indian Space Inc., features a 1.5- to three-meter resolution imagery, but at this writing its data www.spot.com resolution Eros A1 satellite that has captured collected over Afghanistan and environs has Spot Image features considerably more satel- images of the Afghan war that are unavailable been effectively blockaded by the U.S. Depart- lites presently in orbit and a stronger image elsewhere. However, ImageSat also boasts that ment of Defense. Space Imaging Middle East in archive than its competitors, but most data are it has won Department of Defense contracts Dubai, UAE (www.spaceimagingme.com), at about 10- to 15-meter resolution. This similar to those that tied up Space Imaging’s Space Imaging Eurasia in Ankara, Turkey resolution is appropriate for most commercial satellite data during the conflict. (www.sieurasia.com) and Space Imaging applications and in some instances can be Europe in Athens, Greece (www.si-eu.com), are adapted to meet the needs of the news media. www.earthsat.com/environ/region each franchises, in effect, of the U.S. company. Spot Image’s new generation of higher resolu- Earth Sat are image processing and analysis Each also has its own downlink capability to tion satellites is scheduled to be online during specialists. They provide infrared satellite gather imagery from Afghanistan and environs the spring or summer of 2002. imaging, GIS and agricultural and socioeco- collected by Ikonos, U.S. Landsat satellites, and nomic data on Pakistan and Southwest Asia,

32 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

Private satellite companies in the sweeping restrictions on news media would challenge its constitutionality in United States have thus far closely co- use of satellite imaging. Beginning at court. Similar objections came from a operated with the government’s effort least as early as October, the Depart- number of news and publishing orga- to block media access to the large ma- ment of Defense (DOD) has moved nizations and some representatives of jority of current imagery. Lockheed aggressively to shut down media ac- the civilian satellite companies them- Martin subsidiary Space Imaging Corp., cess to overhead images of the heavy selves. But until October 2001, no clear- located in Thorton, Colorado bombing of Afghanistan, except for cut test cases had arisen. Then, as the (www.spaceimaging.com) operates the photos that the DOD presents at its United States began its bombing cam- Ikonos satellite. It captures images of own news conferences. In the process, paign in Afghanistan, the DOD signed the earth at about one-meter ground the DOD appears to have sidestepped contracts with Space Imaging to pur- spatial resolution, and that is precise its own regulations, some legal experts chase exclusive rights to all of the enough to permit experts and even say, and might have broken the law. company’s imagery collected anywhere ordinary readers to identify many types The present controversy about pub- near Afghanistan. of military and civilian operations. lic access to satellite imagery began a These tactics, known as “preclusive During the first week after Septem- bit less than a decade ago when the buying,” have been a feature of U.S. ber 11, Space Imaging released to the U.S. government drafted elaborate economic warfare since at least World media high-resolution photos of regulations claiming it had the author- War I. Earlier preclusive buying efforts Ground Zero at the collapsed trade ity to exercise “shutter control” over sought to choke off shipments of tung- towers in Manhattan and at the Penta- U.S.-licensed satellites. Executive agen- sten and other strategic minerals to gon. The New York Times, The Wall cies authorized a procedure they would Nazi Germany, for example. This time, Street Journal, scores of major publica- use to shut down collection of other- though, the object has been to shut tions, and every major television news wise available imagery when key mem- down U.S. news media access to infor- organization in the world employed bers of the President’s cabinet agreed mation about the war in Afghanistan, these dramatic photographs to ana- that national security, foreign policy, the flight of refugees, and the widening lyze, document and explain what had or similar matters might be endan- crisis in West Asia. taken place during the attacks. Mean- gered. Critics contended that the “shut- Today, the Defense Department and while, SPOT Image, a French satellite ter control” procedures amounted to Space Imaging contend that this pre- company with a significant share of the governmental prior restraint on pub- clusive buying is a simple contract U.S. market (www.spot.com), provided lishing, a type of censorship that the matter. “This was a solid business trans- somewhat similar 15-meter resolution Supreme Court has long held to be action that brought great value to the “images of infamy” it had gathered from unconstitutional in almost every cir- [U.S.] government,” said the company’s more than 400 miles in space. cumstance. Washington representative, Mark As dramatic as those photos are, The Radio-Television News Direc- Brender. “Nothing more; nothing less.” they have since become something of a tors Association said that the first time But critics contend that the Depart- fig leaf that has obscured more recent, the procedure was actually used they ment of Defense has used the contracts

usually under contract to the United Nations, www.dfd.dlr.de gathered during the FAS project and a consider- national governments, U.S. government agen- DFD-DLR, Germany’s state remote sensing able amount of new data. The site is particularly cies, the World Bank, or corporations. organization, installed an advanced, mobile useful for satellite imagery and high quality four-meter ground receiving station near Kitab, maps of the Afghan war zone, as well as an www.digitalglobe.com Uzbekistan, some months prior to the outbreak archive of publicly released DOD imagery. DigitalGlobe, formerly known as EarthWatch, of war. successfully launched its QuickBird high- www.orbimage.com resolution satellite in autumn 2001. It plans to www.globalsecurity.org Orbimage currently specializes in high quality, offer full image-gathering capability during the GlobalSecurity.org is a space and international weather satellite-type imagery that covers an first quarter 2002. DigitalGlobe, like several of security-oriented think tank, most of whose entire region of the globe in one image. its competitors, also markets imagery from analysts were formerly associated with the well Canada’s RADARSAT International, Russia’s known Federation of American Scientists —Christopher Simpson space program, India’s satellite program, and satellite imagery Web site. The latter site has other sources. Availability and currency of these been significantly cut back, while data vary by region. GlobalSecurity.org’s site includes key materials

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 33 Coverage of Terrorism

as a device to avoid their own regula- Neither Space Imaging nor Spot sion in which society’s best approxi- tions and thus sidestep the legal chal- have been willing to say much to the mation of truth emerges through a lenge that would almost certainly fol- news media. There have been some clash of ideas. The Institute for Science low. “This contract is a way of disguised interesting exceptions, however. At and International Security’s recent censorship aimed at preventing the SpaceImaging, the company thus far book, “Solving the North Korean media from doing their monitoring has made public only one before-and- Nuclear Puzzle,” provides an example. job,” contended Reporters sans after image collected over Afghanistan. Imagery and information concerning Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) It illustrates a precision airstrike that ’s missile and nuclear executive director Robert Menard. The effectively destroyed an Afghan airfield weapons programs is quite sensitive by Guardian (U.K.) characterized the deal near Kandahar without damaging any measure. Nevertheless, the in- as “spending millions of dollars to pre- nearby homes. The images and the formed public analysis and debate vent Western media from seeing pic- analysis that accompanied them were about Korea that has been spurred by tures of the effects of bombing in Af- presented to news organizations as the imagery from civilian remote sensing ghanistan.” Ernest Miller, writing in product of an independent informa- satellites has led to more effective Yale University’s LawMeme electronic tion company. In reality, the released monitoring of arms limitation agree- newsletter, concluded that preclusive image was calculated to be a “big wet ments and—at least so far—more ef- buying should be understood as “shut- kiss,” as a satellite industry insider put fective means to cope with the arms ter control by means other than those it, for the U.S. war effort. (It was also race in Asia. enumerated in the current regulations,” cleared by the DOD prior to release.) Today’s battle over access to cur- that has added new regulatory and For the moment, the only source of rent, accurate satellite imagery from constitutional law issues to the exist- current, civilian, high-resolution imag- Afghanistan is new in many ways, of ing controversy over the regulations ery from Afghanistan appears to be a course. Yet in a certain sense it remains themselves. remarkable corporate hybrid whose similar to public debates over earlier Perhaps most disturbingly, Guard- lineage exemplifies the world of post- newsgathering technologies in wartime ian correspondent Duncan Campbell cold war intelligence. ImageSat Inter- such as television, radio and—not re- reported that the decision to buy rights national—formerly known as West In- ally so long ago—the telegraph. Media to all satellite imagery appears to have dian Space Inc.—is a partnership of the organizations have long preferred to been made on October 10, then back- state-owned Israeli Aircraft Industries attribute positive effects of open infor- dated by a week or more. The date is (IAI), a U.S. software company, and a mation to their responsible handling significant, he contended, because the second major Israeli defense contrac- of news. The armed forces, on the agreement took place soon after news tor. The company operates out of other hand, have often traced that re- organizations attempted to purchase Cyprus and from tax havens in the sult at least in part to military efforts to high-resolution images of Daruta, Af- Caribbean and launches its birds from shut down unwanted news reports ghanistan, to follow up on reports that Siberia aboard leased Russian rockets. before they begin. bombing raids had killed a large num- The 2.5-meter to three-meter resolu- It seems clear that spy satellite ber of civilians at that settlement. (The tion Eros 1-A satellite is officially a tools—regarded by some as neutral DOD has stated that the raids at Daruta civilian “earth resources observation” news sources—have already adapted hit nearby Taliban training camps. The tool. A closer look reveals this remote quite easily to modern public relations. dispute over the civilian deaths has yet sensing satellite is designed to specs And, like it or not, the fact that today’s to be resolved.) closely modeled on Israel’s highly se- debate about war coverage focuses on Meanwhile, Spot Image has also de- cret Ofeq-3 spy satellites, which are information collected by satellites is a clined to make the most of its current also built by IAI. The new company sure sign that this new information take of imagery available to news orga- sells imagery worldwide about two tool has come of age. ■ nizations. Industry insiders contend weeks after it is gathered at that all Spot imagery of Western Asia www.westindianspace.com or Christopher Simpson specializes in gathered since September 11 has gone www.imagesatintl.com. national security and media literacy to the French government, where it is Controversy still erupts from time issues at the School of Communica- said to facilitate French horse-trading to time over interpretation of some tion at American University in of intelligence concerning terrorism imagery, or over these satellites’ po- Washington, D.C. He directs the with U.S. intelligence agencies. For the tential threat to national security or school’s project on Satellite Imagery moment, at least, the ostensibly civil- personal privacy. But so far, at least, no and the News Media. Simpson spent ian Spot satellites are operating in tan- serious abuses of these tools by media more than 15 years as a journalist dem with France’s military Helios spy organizations have come to light. When and is author or editor of six books satellites, which have a very similar high-quality imagery has been publicly on communication, national secu- design to Spot’s birds and use much of available, disagreements over its inter- rity, and human rights. the same command and control infra- pretation have proven to be high-tech structure. versions of healthy, democratic discus- [email protected]

34 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Using Graphics to Tell Stories ‘[O]nline graphics add other dimensions to the stories we report….’

By Joanne Miller

s the horrific events of Septem- is, where he operates from, ber 11 unfolded, the scope of and who supports him. We Athe tragedy I witnessed began to drew a full-page color map of sink in. The terrorist attacks in New the volatile region around Af- York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsyl- ghanistan and Pakistan, with vania became the biggest breaking news an enlarged detail map show- event of my lifetime, charged with more ing the topography, cities, emotion and disbelief than could ever roads, military installations, have been imagined. As art director of and suspected Al Qaeda train- The Charlotte Observer, it became my ing camps. Symbols on the job to figure out how the newspaper map also illustrated the Al could cover the story graphically. Qaeda connections to other Few graphics are as valuable to read- countries in the region. The ers as step-by-step diagrams that we map was published in a - use to show, in detail, what happened day Perspective section that and when. Immediately that day, work- focused on Afghanistan his- ing with our national desk, we began to tory and politics. The reader create a graphic time-line of events, response was tremendous— with diagrams and explanations of the so great, in fact, that we repro- attacks on the World Trade Center and duced it on heavier stock pa- Pentagon and the Pennsylvania plane per that was then wrapped crash. To obtain and convey accurate around newspaper ad inserts. information, we studied video feeds By doing this, readers and from network television again and teachers could have a more again. We also used photographs and durable copy of this map. other reference materials to draw three- Once again, television re- dimensional views of what would be- ports and Web sources played come Ground Zero and of the Penta- key roles in providing infor- gon. We added locator maps of mation that appeared in our Manhattan and the crash site in Penn- graphics. Progressively, news sylvania. The result of our work—a of these events and their after- Graphics help readers visualize the story in The full-page graphic portrayal of these trag- math became more complex Charlotte Observer. edies—appeared in a special section of and graphically challenging. the next day’s Observer. While we continued to re- As news continued to break that spond to breaking news, we also started the Gulf War. It then became a race week, we created a map and chronol- to devise new ways of providing broader against the clock. Would we be able to ogy of the trail of suspected hijackers context and understanding. get this series of primers into the news- and converted our World Trade Center We did this by producing several paper before military strikes began? diagram into a smaller scaled graphic “primers” on terrorism, Afghanistan, At the same time, in anticipation of and added color to illustrate the still the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Islam. Be- a military response, we wanted to pre- emerging details of the attack and af- cause of the wealth of resources and pare—for possible future use—sce- termath. And we devised graphic strat- reporting now available online, our narios of how the military strikes might egies to illustrate other aspects of the job of finding accurate information to proceed and how the forces might be emerging story. build these primer graphics was made utilized, along with other pertinent When we learned Osama bin Laden simpler than a decade ago when we information to supplement wire ser- and his terrorist group, Al Qaeda, were constructed graphics as the 1991 Per- vice graphics. We dug through our ar- prime suspects in the September 11 sian Gulf War was escalating. We also chives and once again cannibalized our attacks, we wanted to give readers a drew from the experience of our staff Gulf War graphics, pulling out pieces better understanding of who bin Laden artists who produced graphics during that might be relevant to military ac-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 35 Coverage of Terrorism

tion in Afghanistan. We also re- and targets associated with the searched and drew many graphics Taliban. The attack began rather that might be useful, such as maps conventionally, with air-to-ground of the region and aircraft carrier and sea-to-ground attacks on battle groups, then readied these Taliban positions, and as Secre- elements, again for possible use. tary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld To do this, we relied on our award- said, the success of military ac- winning graphics staff, many of tions will be heavily dependent whom have had a lot of experience upon surprise. With concern about in military affairs. Our news graph- security and secrecy, we do not ics editor, William Pitzer, served as expect to receive much in the way a major command illustrator for of detailed military information the U.S. Air Force during the Viet- from the Pentagon briefings. nam War and worked at another One of the ways we have de- newspaper handling military vised to cover this new war is to graphics during the Gulf War, as provide information in a format did David Puckett, our informa- that readers can’t get anywhere tional graphics specialist. else. Along with more “primer” In researching material to go graphics to help readers take in into these graphic displays, we information about different as- consulted local university profes- pects of this war at home and sors who specialize in Middle East abroad, we are continuing with studies or other pertinent topics. “The Observer’s Guide to” format. We also looked to Web sites that We are creating different informa- we can rely on in terms of accu- tive graphics, including a “bunker racy, which we’ve determined by busters” graphic. These detail how doing in-house fact checking of the terrorists’ caves—where they the information provided. These The Observer created a unique design and title are presumably in hiding—might include www.bbc.co.uk/ (BBC format for its “Guide to” graphics. be destroyed with special deep Online homepage), www.fas.org penetrating missiles. And we are (Federation of American Scientists) and is a key element of our paper’s exten- also helping readers to examine the www.af.mil (American Air Force Link sive daily coverage. plight of Afghan women under Taliban Online). The BBC site is especially use- On October 7, when U.S. and British rule, along with other newsworthy sub- ful and provides highly detailed maps missiles struck numerous targets in jects, through similar use of graphic that we use to produce our daily attack Afghanistan, we were ready. Immedi- displays. graphics. Non-American governmen- ately, we converted reference maps Our daily coverage is definitely en- tal Web sites are often more forthcom- we’d made into templates for daily hanced by sharing our graphic displays ing with information than U.S. sites, so attack updates. We utilized our format with our Web audience. Observer staff each day we scan foreign sites. The and began producing The Observer’s artist Jacob Piercy converts newspaper Federation of American Scientists site Guide to Allied Attacks. On days when graphics into animated “flash” and and the Air Force Link site provide these graphics do not make it into the other still graphics that we post online highly detailed information about mili- newspaper because of space con- as they are created. He has received tary equipment, how it is used, and straints, they appear on our paper’s numerous e-mails and phone calls other key military information. Web site (www.charlotte.com). Many praising his online graphics and re- To ensure the consistency of our other Knight Ridder newspapers have questing more. They are archived at: war graphics, we created a unique de- direct links to our newspaper’s online www.charlotte.com/observergraphics/ sign and title format: The Observer’s war graphics, and the positive feed- archive.html. In creating graphics for Guide to Aircraft Carriers; The back we’ve received convinces us there the Web, we work hard to make sure Observer’s Guide to Afghan Rebels; is a need for this daily map, even if it is that we don’t add gratuitous animation The Observer’s Guide to Attack Forces, only seen online. or sound, which can trivialize the is- etc. Using this format, we produce ex- As we’d anticipated, the allied forces sues of life and death involved. We planatory graphics that are instantly are using much of the same equipment don’t want these displays to have the recognizable as being related to the in Afghanistan that was used in the Gulf look or feel of video games or car- ongoing story of the war against terror- War, including fighter jets, B-1, B-2 and toons. We know that online graphics ism, even though they appear in vari- B-52 bombers, aircraft carriers, and add other dimensions to stories we ous sizes and locations throughout the submarines. Tomahawk missiles were report, so the newspaper allocates the paper. This visual display of reporting launched at terrorist training camps necessary resources to do them even in

36 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism these budget-tightening times. the issues that interest and affect them. Joanne Miller is art director at The Changing technology constantly in- Increasing understanding is always an Charlotte Observer where she super- fluences the crafting of newspaper important part of what newspapers do. vises a staff of five artists. Before graphics, whether it’s new computer At a time like this, when Americans are going to the Observer, she was software, the Internet, or other tech- waging war in a distant land and much deputy visuals editor/graphics for nological advances. By taking advan- is happening to evoke fear at home, we the St. Paul Pioneer Press and tage of technologies that presently ex- have a greater obligation to provide worked at the Los Angeles Times, The ist, we can quickly create accurate, accurate information and make it as Washington Post, Army Times, and detailed and visually compelling graph- easy as possible for our readers to Honolulu -Bulletin. ics that provide relevant, contextual absorb it. ■ information to help readers understand [email protected]

Watchdog Journalism: An Instrument of Democracy

In his introduction to the Nieman of mind; accepting responsibility as a ity for all that impacts the public inter- Foundation Watchdog Conference held surrogate for the public. Asking pen- est. And his exchange with Gene Rob- at Harvard University in September, etrating questions at every level, from erts set the stage for a discussion about the town council, to the state house, to reaching journalism students broadly Curator Bob Giles described how and the White House, in corporate offices, by offering instruction about question why the Watchdog project was created. in union halls, in professional offices, asking through videotape of first-class He invited Murrey Marder, its guiding and all points in between.” quality. So part of our purpose here is force and benefactor, to speak about The American press is at the begin- to think about and to assess how infor- the purpose and promise of watchdog ning of a time for which it has no mation from this conference could be journalism, with particular emphasis adequate experience or preparation. A packaged and produced in such video- war on terrorism is unlike any war this tape. We have invited a number of on its need and use during times of nation has ever fought and unlike any journalism educators and people from national crisis. Marder’s revised that journalists have had to cover. In the documentary field here as partici- remarks follow Giles’s introduction. these times, our nation needs an activ- pants and observers and, after the con- ist, searching, challenging press and ference concludes, we’ll be talking with Bob Giles: We’re deeply indebted to essential to fulfilling this responsibility them about their reactions and ideas Murrey Marder, the retired chief diplo- is asking probing questions. for how to broaden our outreach. matic correspondent of The Washing- Last spring, when we were putting Murrey Marder has not only pro- ton Post and a Nieman Fellow in 1950, together some ideas for this watchdog vided the gift that makes these confer- whose generous gift to the Nieman conference, Murrey sent me a memo- ences possible, but he is a continuing Foundation has enabled us to hold randum discussing how we might inspiration for them. During his career these conferences to examine and re- achieve the widest impact with the at The Washington Post he practiced invigorate the press in its fundamental information that is going to be devel- watchdog journalism, building a repu- role of serving the public interest. oped from these discussions. He told tation for diligence, dedication and In his original proposal in 1997 for me of a meeting with Gene Roberts at integrity. These qualities served him a watchdog project, Murrey wrote that the University of Maryland, in which especially well in his assignment in the press as a whole is by no means they discussed how to broadly change 1957 as the Post’s first foreign corre- penetrating enough, vigorous enough, the existing journalistic mindset about spondent. Dean Rusk, the secretary of public-spirited enough, or courageous watchdog journalism. Murrey asked state for Lyndon Johnson, in his auto- enough about reporting and analyzing Gene Roberts whether journalism stu- biography once likened Murrey to the most vital needs in performance of dents at Maryland were taught to ask Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famed the nation across a full range of local, questions. “Not in any comprehensive detective: “He’s got a little piece of a regional, national and international forum,” Roberts replied. “There are story here, and a little piece of a story news. A year later, as the first confer- numerous references to question ask- there, and gradually he pieced the ence began, Murrey described watch- ing, but no substantive focus on it, or puzzle together.” dog journalism as an instrument of guidance on how to ask questions.” Murrey, we’re very thankful to you democracy: “It is by no means just The core of the problem, Murrey and pleased to have you here with us. occasional selective, hard-hitting inves- suggested, is a lack of penetrating, prob- Would you come and talk to us a little tigative reporting. It starts with a state ing questions to produce accountabil- bit about watchdog journalism?

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 37 Coverage of Terrorism

Murrey Marder: When we began ances.” Grievance news, however, was ent kind of competition for the eyes this particular project no one, espe- little sought and rarely headlined by and ears of the American public, and cially me, could have anticipated where most American news outlets and least we’re going to have to listen to that it would be right now after September of all by commercial television. very carefully. 11. Many news people, including me, Grievances, in the absence of a ma- At some point, our business is going initially leaped to the metaphor of the jor, imminent threat to the United to have to invest far more resources Pearl Harbor attack. But the more I States, were rated as dull, tedious and than it is committed to doing now, if it thought about the shocking effect, for intolerably space consuming. At the is going to be in a position to keep the me it had more of a combination of same time, the end of the cold war American public even modestly in- Pearl Harbor and Sputnik. I don’t know supplied a convenient excuse for re- formed about the outside world. I am if many of you can remember Sput- ducing the total space given to foreign personally appalled by the fact that the nik—the Soviet satellite launched in news. Consequently, the number of administration’s initial quest for legis- October 1957—but this had profound American reporters based abroad lation to give it authority in this crisis impact on the American psyche. For shrunk steadily in the last dozen to 15 went virtually unchallenged. It got blan- the first time the threat was directly years, drastically diminishing overseas ket authority. In my time, we used to overhead, and a foreign power had news coverage. kick ourselves over the blank check invaded American air space, in a de- So as the grievances intensified, the that the Johnson administration got in gree unlike Pearl Harbor, which struck watchdogs decreased, because the the Vietnam War in the Gulf of Tonkin. the fringes of American power. Sput- American corporate focus shifted to The blank check the executive nik was right above us, beeping taunt- the bottom line. The bottom line was branch holds now is the greatest blank ingly, mocking American boasts of sci- profit and loss. I would suggest that the check any of us have ever seen because entific primacy. American conglomerates are looking it has absolutely no limitations on it. If The impact was profound. It over- at the wrong bottom line. The bottom any part of the press was courageous whelmed so many concepts of Ameri- line, now we realize, is not profit and about questioning the authority, it has can education, especially the scientific loss, the bottom line now is survival, escaped the attention of most of us. concepts, because at that time the So- and that is why the threat is so stark. There are things that others can do, viet Union was vastly underrated as a The question now is what do we do too. Harvard can raise the level of edu- quite backward power. Instead, it had about it journalistically, and here we cation of its students and the rest of us penetrated the shield of American in- face a formidable challenge. Those of about what is happening in the world vincibility in a way much like the at- us who live in Washington, work in around us. We clearly do not know tacks in September penetrated the Washington or New York, might have a enough about other religions, other shield of our homeland invincibility. more acute sensitivity of what we’re cultures, other histories. We’re going But there the comparisons end. going to be up against in trying to to have to awaken ourselves, to a tre- There was nothing mysterious about penetrate a situation which threatens mendous degree, about the fact that Sputnik’s origin or purpose. It was a the nation in many ways, in which the our fate can be determined consider- calculated psychological and techno- administration has declared that it is ably by others, as we have seen. At the logical shock in an escalating cold war going to rely heavily on secrecy. And time of Pearl Harbor it was determined between two superpowers armed with we really haven’t faced that kind of a in Japan. At the time of Sputnik it was obliterating weapons. Yet Sputnik cost direct challenge at the outset of a crisis being determined in the Soviet Union. no casualties, destroyed no facilities, in the lifetime of any of us. Here it is being determined in Central and left no nuclear, biological or chemi- This administration, unfortunately Asia. It is just impossible to survive in cal aftershocks. for us, has a great deal of practice in the the modern world very long in an is- By contrast, Americans on Septem- use of secrecy. Many of its officials land of privilege surrounded by a sea of ber 11 were not only aghast over the conducted the Persian Gulf War in ex- have-nots. We’re going to have to learn nature and magnitude of the terrorist ceptional secrecy and tied the press much more about the embittered have- attacks, but they were confounded by into knots as a result. nots of the world and how their fate the enmity of an adversary they did not We are going to have to learn a great can impinge on ours. know. American bewilderment was many things to cope with the new se- With that over-long dissertation, I exemplified by the outcry, “Why do crecy. I would think that we’re going to then invite you to help us all learn they hate us?” have to go back to basic principles, and collectively how we can better inform Where were the watchdogs who when we are foreclosed, as we often ourselves and our readers and viewers could have sounded that alarm? Any are likely to be, from the American about our responsibilities in meeting attentive reporter working in the version of what is happening around what is certainly not going to be a Middle East during the last decade the world, we now have greater access short-term problem, but very likely the could not have missed hearing what than we ever had before to the outside largest one we may see in our lifetime. one U.S. diplomat recently described world’s interpretation of what is hap- Thank you. ■ as “a sorcerer’s brew of anti-U.S. griev- pening. So there is going to be a differ-

38 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Asking Probing Questions in a Time of National Crisis Are journalists asking ‘the right question?’

Charles R. Nesson, the Weld television because of the 20 Professor of Law at Harvard minute lapse between the de- Law School, moderated a panel struction of the first trade center of journalists who spoke about and the second, so we knew how the job of asking critical methodical it all was. Obviously, these people really hate us. questions in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11. Charles Nesson: That was the Nesson directs the Berkman evidence that they did this, that Center for Internet and Society they hate us. But why do they at the law school and for many hate us? You don’t consider that years worked with the late CBS a loaded question? You don’t consider that, in lawyer’s terms, News producer Fred Friendly in a question that assumes the an- the PBS series “Media and swer to facts not yet in evidence? Society.” What follows are You think this has been proved? edited remarks of the journalists and moderator. Ellen Hume: I think it’s a very narcissistic, American-cen- tric question, and I think it’s the wrong question. For many ’m Charles Nesson. The Americans who have never question is how do you ask thought about this before it’s Ithe right question? The way the right question, but for those we teach at Harvard Law School, who have lived abroad it’s pretty the answer to the question is the obvious that this is something process of answering. But that other people think about a lot. leaves you with the question: If For me, the correct question, the answer to the question is the which I’m very eager to hear process of answering it, what’s more about from people who the question? That has been puz- know about this, is what were zling me for years. After Septem- they trying to accomplish? Be- ber 11, I wondered what’s the cause that encompasses why do question. Then, five days after they hate us, but it also carries the attack, in out, so what do they think will their Focus section asked, “Why The Boston Globe, September 16, 2001. happen next, and how do we Do They Hate Us?” That sort of play or not play into their hands question hit me when I saw it. with our own behavior? Because So what went on at The Boston Alex Jones: A lot of stories have that to me is the crucial question: “What Globe to come up with this question? addressed this question, and it was the were they trying to accomplish?” What was the resistance to this ques- obvious question given the magnitude tion being asked earlier? We obviously of what happened and also what was Michel Marriott: I don’t think that don’t know. But my guess is that’s one clear from day one was that it was a very question [“Why do they hate us?”] is of many questions that came up in well thought out, very calculated op- one that germinated within news- asking what is the question. Someone eration that took place over a long rooms. I think it was one of the times had the wisdom to say let’s get to the period of time. So given the facts we when the newsroom tries to serve the heart of it. So here we are. We’re jour- knew, it was the only question because readership, and they think that is a nalists, sitting around, and we’re try- of the devastation. We knew that they question that is germinating among ing to figure out, what is the question? wanted to kill a lot of people. We knew the readers. It speaks to a certain What’s the right question for us to ask? that they wanted us to watch it on naiveté. For people who have not been

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 39 Coverage of Terrorism

following foreign policy, for people Charles Nesson: When we read this, hate us, and they were trying to accom- who have not been keeping track of when you say to yourself why do they plish pain. Or it could also encompass global events, that’s almost an emo- hate us, do you not have a sense who what is the strategy? What do they think tional response, almost like a spurned we are who are asking this question? this is going to trigger? Are they hoping lover. Why does he hate me? It was also Who are we asking this question? we will bomb Afghanistan? What is it a very humanistic sort of question that they’re looking for? So I would have I think very intelligent people in news- Alex Jones: I don’t think it really asked a question that would have elic- rooms are thinking is what our readers matters, frankly. The reason for put- ited, I think, a more complex range of really need to know. Or this is their ting it that way was to narrow the focus answers, but would also have covered point of entry, so we will then try to to a point. And the point was actually to why do they hate us. bring the story through that portal, and try to get the perspective of the people that’s where that question comes from who did this thing into the newspaper Melissa Ludtke: This is also a ques- and not really from the journalists who so that people were not just sort of tion with different levels to it. If we’re cover these events. shaking their fists but were trying to sitting here as a group of journalists understand some motivation that talking about this, then it seems this Rami Khouri: I have a problem would help explain it. Obviously it’s headline is also inner-directed at jour- with that question, with its last three imprecise—they, us—who are we talk- nalists. Where did we fail in terms of words “they hate us.” It’s very impre- ing about? It was a journalistic device, educating the public prior to this hap- cise and loaded. It’s a very political and a headline that was intended to get pening so that they come to these events sort of culturally distorted kind of ques- people to read what was on that page with a basis of knowledge that maybe tion. Who is “they”? The bombers or and those were representations of the we don’t have to ask that question at the wider societies? Or the Islamic or perspective of people who are far into this stage? It is important that we look the Arab world? “They” is not clear. the experience and knowledge of most inward and ask ourselves some of the And hate is not the right word. For the of the people in this country. questions that we’re asking to a public people who did the bombing, their audience. Where did we fail? What emotions are stronger than hate. The Charles Nesson: So Ellen, what was about our coverage, prior to this event, societies that allowed these terrorists your question, the right question? did not give people an understanding to rise have an emotion that I think is they need at this point to make an not hate; it’s a very complex, mixed Ellen Hume: I’m not sure it’s the interpretation of what’s going on? emotion of positive and negative. And right question. I think it’s a right ques- “us” is not a very precise word. Are you tion—“What were they trying to ac- Charles Nesson: So yours is the talking about American society as a complish?” Because if they were trying journalism business? You educate whole, the Western free world democ- to accomplish an expression of hatred, America. If America is completely igno- racies, the United States government, then that could be one or two of the rant on some major aspect of the world, the United States people? essays about why do they hate us. They so that they are utterly amazed that there is a large segment of the world that hates us, that’s your fault. Journalists on the Watchdog Panel Melissa Ludtke: We are one piece of an educating process. We aren’t the Geneive Abdo—Tehran correspon- Charles Lewis—founder and chair- only educators, but certainly that is dent for The Guardian, Nieman Fellow man of the Center for Public Integrity. one of the roles journalists play in our 2002. Melissa Ludtke—editor of Nieman society today. Ellen Hume—media consultant, Reports, Nieman Fellow 1992. former White House correspondent for Murrey Marder—former chief dip- : What journalists rec- The Wall Street Journal. lomatic correspondent for The Wash- ognized when that happened is that all Alex Jones—author, director of the ington Post, benefactor of the Watch- of a sudden they’re going to get to be Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Poli- dog Project, Nieman Fellow 1950. journalists again, they’re going to get tics and Public Policy, former reporter Michel Marriott—technology re- to cover news again. All of a sudden, for The New York Times, Nieman Fel- porter for The New York Times, Nieman Gary Condit doesn’t matter. And, even low 1982. Fellow 2002. for that couple of weeks, we’re not Rick Kaplan—fellow at the Susan Reed—freelance journalist, going to see some of the CEO’s come Shorenstein Center, former president former CBS News reporter, Nieman down and take a look at the balance of CNN. Fellow 1999. sheet and see how much money is Rami Khouri—columnist and ra- James Trengrove—senior producer being spent. I’ve never seen so many dio commentator in Jordan, Nieman for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” happy, depressed, sad but invigorated Fellow 2002. Nieman Fellow 2002. journalists as I see now. I think what

40 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism happened is they sat there and said, Audience member: There is a vast professions. Yet you don’t think of “Gee, it’s been a long time since we’ve gulf of perception between the self- yourselves as lawyers, and you don’t run an international story,” and what image of the people of America and the think like lawyers. What would you say this event allows people to do is to sit image that people outside have of is the difference? What is it that makes there and say, “Okay, we’re back in Americans. Maybe one of the reasons you a journalist, as opposed to me, a business. We can be journalists again.” why this gulf will always remain is be- lawyer, in terms of the way we use the Now we’ve got fewer resources, cause no attempt is being made to weapon of the question? whether you’re in print or television, bridge that gulf. Asking a question like but we can go do our thing. this, if I was sitting in my newsroom in Alex Jones: I’m told that lawyers “Why do they hate us?” is a great the newspaper that I was working for, never ask a question, at least in court, question, but the point is it’s just the I think this is a great device. It is a that they don’t already know the an- headline, and it allows us to begin the device to raise debate; for people to swer to, or at least that’s a technique— process of educating people about what think about both sides of the question. that you don’t risk an answer that might Islam is, what Afghanistan is all about. If this generates the kind of debate I be damaging to you. I think journalists There is a lot that people need to know think it was intended to generate, then go about it in a very different way. They because all that news has been missing it’s a great question to ask, because it are trying to illicit information that from the newspapers and from televi- goes to the very root of who we are, they have no stake in one way or the sion. And the things this country has and who they think we are, and why other. Their only interest is in getting done in Kyoto and in other places that don’t we think alike on that question? truth. have just irritated the hell out of the Lawyers have an advocacy role jour- rest of the world, and has gone fairly Ellen Hume: I think one of the nalists don’t or shouldn’t. So when uncovered by television and, for the things that we’re getting back to now is they’re asking questions, they’re ask- most part, by a lot of print, all of a that this is a very important moment ing it with a very different purpose. I sudden it scomes back into play. for journalism. We are discovering that don’t think it is wrong to think of the it’s a moment when news is important sort of strategies of questioning as be- Audience member: I’d like to com- again, and the questions we ask are ing similar to those that might be used ment on the question that you raised important again. They don’t just have in a cross-examination, but I think that when we started, “Why do they hate to be sexual titillation, and they don’t the purpose is somewhat different. us?” It’s a brilliant question to ask, just have to be entertainment. They because that question, apart from deal- can be real questions. What’s been Michel Marriott: Also, the people ing with who are the “they” that hate missing is the international coverage— we talk to are not compelled to answer. us, who are the “us” and, as Rami said, because, frankly, it hasn’t been allowed, I can’t subpoena a source like a lawyer the hated self, that question is rooted and there hasn’t been space for it even can. Because I know that, I know the in the assumption we are the good if smart reporters have struggled to get relationship between me and the per- guys, so why do they hate us? If you this coverage into American media, and son I’m trying to get information from take it a little further, it is a question of I know they have. The question is, why is so radically different, I have to bring perception; the perception of America, does it matter? If we blow off Kyoto, a whole new set of techniques to try to uniformly, virtually across the country, why does it matter? If a president or get at the truth. Even though I know is that we are the good guys, and what- another candidate doesn’t know the the truth is sort of philosophically dif- ever we do, however faulty our foreign names of his counterparts around the ficult sometimes; it can be relative, policy may be, the actions of that for- world, why does it matter? What’s hap- circumstantial. But I do kind of go into eign policy are taken as the actions of pened is we have been forced to under- this with a very idealistic thought, that the good guys, and how dare you dis- stand suddenly that it does matter. If there really is a truth out there that I agree with us. we can add that idea as we go forward can find. If I mine it carefully enough then there is a real role for journalists. and persistently enough, it will sur- Charles Nesson: Can I add to that? We’re not just America’s hosts. We’re face, and I will recognize it, and I can To me one of the most interesting, the ones who are supposed to help capture it, and I can put it in print, and challenging features of this was the figure out why it matters, without tak- other people can enjoy it, or respond idea that these people who did such ing a point of view. That’s the American to it, whatever. damage had lived with us for extended style. We’re not supposed to take a periods of time. They saw us up close. partisan point of view. That’s an inter- Murrey Marder: I think the basic We, who love ourselves, and somehow esting challenge for all of us. difference is that we see ourselves in assume that we must be loved by any- our better moments as seeking the one who truly knows us, it must be Charles Nesson: I’m a lawyer. Law- accountability for the use of power; misunderstanding. That’s the basis of yers have their art of asking questions. whether it’s the city council or a town this. So you’re saying, if I hear you Journalists would seem also to live by sheriff, a state senator or a president, right, there is no misunderstanding? the question. It’s our weapon in both he or she has public power. We see

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 41 Coverage of Terrorism

ourselves as holding power to account- Charles Nesson: What’s emerging James Trengrove: I might just say ability. is a picture of journalism serving an that we’re lashing out at each other audience in much the same way that here as journalists for not paying atten- Charles Nesson: You speak for the network entertainment serves an audi- tion to the stories. After Saddam oppressed. ence. And serving that audience sets Hussein invaded Kuwait, you could up a kind of loop of shared hallucina- walk down the street and ask people, Murrey Marder: We speak suppos- tion between the folks out there who “Why did he do that?” How many are edly for all of those who are subject to want stories and the folks here, who going to be able to say why he invaded the use of power. Some of them are are generating it for them. This loop Kuwait in the first place? Nobody oppressed, some of them are very rich can take on a life of its own. knows? And that war was on television and unoppressed. and in the newspaper. Everybody saw Susan Reed: Yes, unfortunately in it. What were the reasons for it? If you Charles Nesson: But don’t you think America it really can. I’ve worked over- ask people now, even at the time that it that that’s a bit idealistic? seas for several years, and I know that happened, people didn’t know. People you’re on the other end of a long tele- don’t care. Now that it has hit home, Murrey Marder: Gee, I hope it is. phone cord trying to get an executive people may care. But we can’t be re- producer of your evening news show sponsible for writing stories, or put- Geneive Abdo: That’s why this ques- to listen to you and to put a story on the ting stories on television, or having tion, “Why do they hate us?” should air. I also know that it’s very hard to get debates. We can’t be responsible if have been asked 30 years ago, and not Saudi Arabia to let you in to cover the people don’t watch. asked today for the first time. It took bombing of Khobar firsthand, and I this crisis for us to ask the most obvious know New York Times reporters who Charles Nesson: Did journalists question. I mean, the resentment didn’t are standing at the embassy in Egypt ever look at that controversy from happen, didn’t begin yesterday. But as yelling for a visa right now because ’s point of view? journalists we have become so removed they can’t get it. So it is more compli- from the topics that we cover. I mean, cated. But I do think that journalists James Trengrove: Some did, yes, I think a good argument could be made weren’t asking the right questions be- but who paid attention to it? Who cared that we used to represent the op- fore this happened. at that point? All we knew was that pressed, now we don’t know who we American troops were going over there. represent. Certainly this business has Charles Lewis: We didn’t do these That’s the story that mattered. So if we changed in terms of its whole class [international] stories either at the asked this question before September structure during the last century. Now Center [for Public Integrity]. I want to 11, “Why do they hate us?” and we even we are sort of white-collar workers, be frank. Look, we all know that inter- put it on the front page of the section whereas before we used to be blue national coverage by the U.S. media as The Boston Globe did, how many collar. That, to some extent, has has radically decreased. Is it ABC that would have paid attention to it? How changed who we represent. Are we now has seven or eight people over- many would have read it? We can’t be really speaking for the oppressed? seas? A lot of bureaus have closed. responsible. If you look at the top five From an investigative reporting stand- selling American movies any week, they Susan Reed: I think you’re right, point, if you said “I’d like to go investi- are action adventures. Look at what and I think the better question for gate the CIA’s relationship with bin people are watching on television. So if journalists is why didn’t we know that Laden over the last 10 or 15 years. I’m you’re producing news at CBS, ABC or these terrorist networks were alive and going to need about two months on NBC, and if you’re going to go wall-to- operating and living among us? I think the ground in Afghanistan,” an editor wall with international coverage, you’re that one of the striking things about would say “Good luck to you, pal. If not going to last very long because you what has happened, I saw this in a you find something, send it in, but have to sell commercial time, and if cartoon where there is this older couple we’re not paying for it.” Nor is there people aren’t going to watch, you aren’t sitting on the couch reading People much in the way of investigative re- going to be on the air. magazine: “Why didn’t they tell us about porting about a number of the govern- these people?” they say. One of the ment institutions involved in this pro- Murrey Marder: Our focus tonight things I think Geneive is saying is that cess now and the failures across the is on asking probing questions that journalists have become members of board. There has not been a great man- arise out of events we cover and asking the white-collar working class, and in date [for it]. There is no sex scandal ourselves what the press can best do this robust period of economic growth involved. There is no ready, easy video. under these circumstances to explain, they have ridden the tide as well, so You actually have to leave New York to to edify, to educate all of us. For ex- that we were all caught surprised on do the story. It just doesn’t get done ample, we have had overwhelming sup- September 11. and didn’t get done. port of the President in Congress, one

42 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism vote against, which is so reminiscent of lawyer is crafting a case for the client, We can’t punish them if they lie to us. the votes endorsing the Tonkin Gulf the client wants to win. “There are This is a huge difference between what resolution, which were two votes things that are ugly in my case, and I’ll we have as a right and what lawyers against. That happened to have been make sure that I surely don’t bring often have in the courtroom. So this is the trigger for me of what touched off them up,” the lawyer would say. “I’ll a time for us to really think broadly in subsequent years this Watchdog find ways to obscure this from the jury about to whom we pose the question, Project. Because the press of the United or the judges so that they don’t focus as well as what the question is. States failed to pursue that issue, which on it too much.” But a journalist doesn’t touched off the enlarged war in Viet- do that if they’re doing their job prop- Rami Khouri: I see a persistent ten- nam. What we have now done, and I do erly. A journalist tries to get the news dency in the United States to find the not see it raised in any newspaper that out. And I think what’s happening right easy answer to tough questions. People I have read, what is it we have autho- now is we’re trying to make up for lost are asking questions that are correct, rized the President of the United States time. When I started in the news busi- but they’re not complete. The reason I to do in his own name, and what re- ness, we used to use our judgments say that is because I see American jour- strictions are there on him, if any? As far about what news needed to be told. nalism doing exactly what they should as I know, there are no restrictions. We, in a sense, were trying to serve the be doing for domestic issues. When Now, others are more familiar with the needs of citizens, and most of us used Timothy McVeigh blew up that build- legislative verbiage, which I believe has our news judgments in doing that. ing in Oklahoma, the press did ask the not been published in any of the pa- But what you hear from too many right questions and started understand- pers that I have read. This is what we people when you talk about the news ing these people. When abortion clin- have to focus on. What is the way in today, is you talk about what people ics were bombed, when the race riots which you can help lead us into better want to see. So all of a sudden now happened in the 60’s, there was tre- questioning technique for pursuing news is governed by what people will mendous questioning about why this these issues as this completely murky watch, not by what citizens need to happened. How could this happen? So situation unfolds? What can you tell us, know, and that’s a disaster. That all of the press has the capacity and the in- from a legal standpoint, what would a sudden makes you something just stinct and the skills to do this. The you as a lawyer do to question the short of being an entertainment pro- problem is it doesn’t do it beyond the administration as it proceeds here? grammer. borders of the United States. That’s What are we missing journalistically? why I think you have two problems Melissa Ludtke: And as journalists, here in the situation of September 11. Charles Nesson: Let me try and we’re supposed to become experts in- You have the problem with the terror- take your question. There are two kinds, stantly. I’d argue that behind all of this ists, and there is another problem with there are two places where the ques- discussion about the right question is America’s place in the world. And I tion comes in. The question comes in really a discussion about the right in- think when Americans start asking the when you’re examining the witness, formation. The fact that journalists need complete questions about these two sure. But the much more important to have some time built into their lives and how they interact with each other, question comes in when you’re craft- to be able to educate themselves, be- then people will start getting to the ing your case. What is your claim? What fore they go out and presuppose that bottom of this thing. The press can do is your defense? That’s where the real they know the question to ask. Unless it. It does do it in the United States. lawyer’s art comes to play. That is where they have that information, they don’t Why doesn’t it do it with things over- our professions differ, of course. [How- know the next question to ask because seas? That’s a very tough question that ever,] when you pick a question to they have no basis on which to gauge the press and the political culture of pursue, a focus, an issue, you’re doing the veracity of the information they’re this country need to answer. ■ much of what a lawyer does in plotting being told, or the way to get to the next a line of attack, as opposed to just the level of questioning. Nieman Reports will publish more actual cross-examination where you try excerpts from the “How to Ask Prob- and elicit, or trap, or do whatever. Ellen Hume: One of the key things ing Questions” Watchdog conference that journalists do and need to do to in our Summer 2002 issue. Murrey Marder: The difference is, address the current setting and situa- I’m not trying to win something for my tion is to diversify their sources. Not to client. Our mission is to serve the needs just talk to the officials about what our of citizens. That doesn’t necessarily plans are as a nation, but to talk to mean taking any sides at all, that neces- everyone we can possibly get our hands sarily means getting information that on, and this isn’t always so easy be- people need to be citizens and getting cause we don’t have subpoena power. it to them. I would assume when a We can’t force them to tell us the truth.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 43 Coverage of Terrorism Images of a Shattered City ‘…you can feel the energy and the horror and a sense of history washing over you at once.’

Stan Grossfeld, a photographer with The Boston Globe and a 1992 Nieman Fellow, returned to his childhood city, New York, to take pictures of and write about the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. His images and personal reflections follow.

Jennifer Stewart of Brooklyn says she has raised more than $13,000 for the Red Cross and her local Engine Company 205 in Brooklyn since September 11 by posing with tourists near Wall Street.

When I first saw Ground Zero, I literally felt as though I had been punched in the stomach. And the despair continues. Now New York has a 1950’s skyline again, and people are nicer to each other just like they were when I was growing up in that city.

All photos by Stan Grossfeld, The Boston Globe.© Marie Donofrio, 80, weeps in Uncle Sam’s Army Navy Outfitters on West 8th Street in New York City as she looks at gas masks. Comforting her is assistant manager Aboubscar Tours.

44 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

A firefighter throws up his hands in despair at Ground Zero in New York.

The first thing I noticed about Ground Zero was the reverence people had for each other. This is sacred ground, where innocent people lost their lives, and you can feel that. The massive movie klieg lights and lack of unnecesary chitchat give this place a surreal feeling. It is devoid of laughter and one of the few places in the world where you can feel the energy and the horror and a sense of history washing over you at once. The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is like this, as is Gettysburg and Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 45 Coverage of Terrorism

The rescue workers, firefighters, police and EMT’s left every ounce of energy at the site. They worked basically until they dropped, and then they slept. Not even heavy machinery could rouse them.

A New York City firefighter naps at first light after a night of searching in vain for bodies at Ground Zero.

A parking lot several blocks away from Ground Zero becomes a graveyard of melted and mashed cars.

Burnt cars from the World Trade Center explosion in Lower Manhattan.

46 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Reporting to a Western Audience About the Islamic World American journalists often lack training, knowledge and sensitivity needed to tell these stories.

By Geneive Abdo

hrough eight years as a corre- spondent in the Islamic world Tfor The Guardian and other pub- lications, my aim was to tap into the untouched universe of Muslim sources. I conducted interviews with militants in Algeria determined to kill foreign- ers; a progressive Iranian cleric under house arrest who is considered one of the greatest threats to the Islamic re- public; his hard-line nemesis, believed to be responsible for the murders of Iranian intellectuals; and hundreds of Islamic moderates in Egypt under round-the-clock surveillance by the in- telligence apparatus propping up Presi- dent Hosni Mubarak’s government. The militants were men who loathed the Western world, were unlikely to meet a foreigner, and even less likely to be interviewed by a female foreign cor- “This young female art student was sitting in the central park of the Iranian city of respondent. Some agreed to one inter- Isfahan. She was working intensely. Nobody could interrupt her. Women in Iran live in view and others to many more after I two worlds: In public, due to the strict Islamic rules, they have to wear the shador, a convinced them I wanted to hear their headscarf or a long coat. At home, they look like many other young women throughout opinions and give them a voice in a the world—with modern clothes, makeup, no scarf—no different than Europe or the world otherwise closed to them. When United States.”—Katharina Eglau. Photo by Katharina Eglau.© I wrote stories based on the interviews, I reported their views in much the same way I would have if they were made by the Al Qeada network? Should because their views stem from a differ- coming from the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. government pressure Qatar to ent philosophy, not only about politics not from advocates of creating an Is- place restrictions on reporting on Al- and religion, but life itself. As a result, lamic state based on principles the Jazeera, the Arab world’s CNN, which the American media, particularly tele- Western world finds abhorrent. In other has served as Osama bin Laden’s mi- vision, often relied on the usual sus- words, I sought to reflect their views crophone from his cave to the outside pects—the 20 or so sources in coun- and comments with accuracy, provid- world? Should CNN submit questions tries such as Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, ing the reader with the context needed through an intermediary to Osama bin Algeria and Iran who were Western- to understand the world through an Laden, then air his views? ized—and often English speaking—and Islamic perspective. In more ordinary times, campaign- who were found to be much more Since September 11, much discus- ers for free expression would have acceptable than the average Islamic sion has focused upon appropriate launched protests over such overt sug- activist. These sources are, in fact, of- methods for reporting on the views gestions of censorship. But even be- ten local journalists with ties to their and statements of Islamists who are fore September 11, conventional rules respective governments. Reporters either involved in the war or in the of journalism were often suspended overlooked the fact that they generally reporting of it. Should U.S. television when covering Islamic societies. Islamic have a political agenda and are rarely networks refuse to report statements sources were considered less credible objective analysts.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 47 Coverage of Terrorism

A foreign correspondent in Tehran most newsrooms. Only The New York cause. A week later, this same corre- who worked for an international news Times and a handful of other publica- spondent asked my husband at a gov- agency boasted that in eight years on tions offer systematic language instruc- ernment press conference to shake her the job he had never traveled 100 miles tion to foreign correspondents. In large hand, a violation of Iranian custom, from the Iranian capital to interview measure, there is an ingrained sense which frowns on such a public greeting clerics in Qom, Iran’s religious center. among U.S. editors and publishers that between a man and woman. “Let’s show Many theologians in Qom are directly domestic and foreign reporting are in- them how we do things in America,” involved in policymaking, but rarely terchangeable enterprises. she said. He wisely demurred. come to the Iranian capital. Even in Occasionally, this view risks slip- At first glance, such anecdotes might cases when journalists tried to inter- ping into the absurd. In one well-known seem trivial. Yet they reveal a profound view major players in the Islamic world, case, a star tennis writer was sent to lack of respect for social, religious and their lack of knowledge and prepara- cover the collapse of the Soviet Union. personal mores on the part of Ameri- tion produced less than enlightening When I worked in American newsrooms can correspondents, slights that would reports. This lack of understanding of in the 1980’s, editors often bragged be unthinkable while covering West- the material, in turn, discouraged other that it was the versatility of American ern societies that are seen as more Islamists from cooperating and con- journalists that made them great. “If a acceptable and familiar. They also re- tributed to the Western press’s pariah reporter can’t produce a topnotch story veal an intellectual laziness and a gen- status in countries such as Iran, Egypt, on the city’s worst fire, how is he going eral unwillingness to cover the Muslim Pakistan, Algeria and Syria. to cover the Middle East peace pro- world in a way that allows readers to The progressive cleric in Iran under cess?” they argued. “The same reporter view it on its own terms without moral house arrest, Ayatollah Hossein Ali who is brilliant in Moscow should be judgment, which is, after all, the way in Montazeri, had denied interview re- just as brilliant three years later in which understanding is deepened. quests to nearly every major American Beijing and then six years later in Jerusa- Since September 11, U.S. officials newspaper for two decades, including lem,” they said. have repeatedly told Americans that The New York Times. After I submitted The most frequent result is superfi- Islam is a religion of tolerance, and my questions to him by fax in Decem- cial coverage and a tendency to focus they have gone to great lengths to dis- ber 1999, he responded one month on the familiar, or on certain hot but- tinguish the militant fringe from the later in an 8,000-word treatise. ton issues that play well with editors millions of peaceful Muslims. Mean- The story I wrote in The Guardian, and readers back home but do little to while, American journalists now roam- based on his response, was read aloud capture realities on the ground. In the ing the streets of Pakistan, Egypt and on the BBC, and its contents were Islamic world, this latter phenomenon Saudi Arabia are trying to answer the reported widely across Europe. The is best represented by the coverage of simple question baffling their readers story was also broadcast on the BBC women and women’s rights. Thus, the and listeners: “Why do they hate us?” Farsi Service, allowing thousands of shifting length of the veils on the streets The painful reality is that America’s Iranian listeners to hear his views. Al- of Tehran, or a sighting of forbidden newly realized “understanding” of Is- though the scoop drew harsh attacks lipstick in the city’s more affluent north- lam has come about 30 years too late.■ against me within the regime, it al- ern suburbs, are taken as emblematic lowed Ayatollah Montazeri to speak of a universal struggle against Muslim Geneive Abdo, a 2002 Nieman Fel- out for the first time in many years. prescriptions of “modest dress.” Yet low, was Tehran correspondent for Later, I asked his son why he had spend time talking with the majority of The Guardian. She is also the author chosen me to be his messenger. “Be- Muslim women and the picture that of “No God But God: Egypt and the cause you posed questions he was in- emerges is very different; few are de- Triumph of Islam” (Oxford Univer- terested in answering. You asked ques- manding a Western-style feminism that sity Press, 2000). tions about his theories, not whether they see as failed and incompatible he was plotting to overthrow the re- with their religious and personal val- [email protected] gime or what he ate for breakfast.” ues or a change in their attire. American journalists, unlike their When I attended a diplomatic tea European counterparts, are discour- one afternoon in Tehran in 1998, an aged from becoming “experts” on poli- American correspondent known for her tics in areas of the globe they might end long-time reporting in Iran since the up covering. To know too much is Islamic revolution in 1979 criticized considered a liability. If experts are me for wearing a chador, a black shroud hired, the theory goes, their stories will considered the most conservative form be too sophisticated for average read- of veiling, which is preferred by the ers. In addition, learning foreign lan- Iranian regime. She later charged that guages has never been a priority in I was a traitor to the Western feminist

48 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Images From Another War in Afghanistan A controversial program for Afghan ‘journalists’ produced a treasured collection of video, audio and photography.

By David B. Edwards

ast January, an old Afghan friend called to tell me that Haji Daud, Lthe director of the Afghan Media Resource Center (AMRC) in Peshawar, Pakistan, was trying to find an educa- tional institution in Europe or the United States that would help the cen- ter preserve its news archive. Having conducted research on the war in Af- ghanistan since the early 1980’s, I knew that the AMRC had sent teams of video cameramen, photographers and print journalists inside Afghanistan to cover the war during the last years of the Soviet occupation and the first years of the civil war that followed in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal. I also knew that the plan for setting up the center had generated consider- able controversy back in 1986. The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) at that Engineer Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-i Islami Afghanistan, addressing a rally. time had provided a grant to the Col- Peshawar, Pakistan. November 1987. Photo by Mohammad Karim. lege of Communication at Boston Uni- versity to train Afghans in the rudi- for managing the archive. The digital courageous in their pursuit of news, ments of journalism and many, copies we produced will stay at Will- but few of whom had much grasp of including the dean of the college, had iams, which will serve as the perma- what was going on around them. protested what they viewed as an un- nent repository for the material. The During the late 1980’s, journalists healthy co-mingling of government pro- originals will remain in Pakistan in the risked the dangers and hardships of an paganda efforts and newsgathering. hope that eventually they can go to extended trip inside Afghanistan be- Whatever concerns I had about Kabul when the political situation al- cause of the possibility of returning reawakening this controversy quickly lows. Plans are also being formulated with images of Soviets fighting in a faded when I heard from Haji Daud his so the archive can be made available to guerrilla war with the Afghan estimate that the archive contained the public through museum exhibi- mujahedeen. “Bang-bang” footage was 3,000 hours of videotape, 100,000 nega- tions, online photographic and video the prize and, in truth, Western jour- tives and slides, and 8,000 hours of databases, and one or more books and nalists were ill-equipped to capture audiotape. documentaries. much else, since they didn’t speak the When I traveled to Peshawar to talk As an anthropologist, what I find local languages or know much about about possibly collaborating to pre- most intriguing is the view the archive the society. Afghan cameramen could serve this archive, Daud made it clear provides of Afghan society as it adapted converse with people and understood that he wanted the original materials to to war, particularly the role of Islamic the dynamics of the culture, so when a stay in Peshawar. So we brought a por- political parties in remolding Afghan ritual took place, or a religious leader tion of the collection to Williams Col- culture according to their moral pre- spoke to his people, or a dispute broke lege, along with AMRC staff who would cepts. The AMRC collection is far more out, AMRC cameramen were able to be trained in photo scanning, video revealing than comparable material follow the action and interview the digitization and editing, database man- produced by Western cameramen, most principals. This archive of their work agement, and other techniques needed of whom were skilled technicians and consequently resembles something like

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 49 Coverage of Terrorism

an anthropologist’s field notes that collectively provides a three-dimen- sional picture of life in a time of war and of war as a way of life. The AMRC archive is valuable as well for what it tells us of the politicization of journalism and the role of news in a time of partisan struggle. It was created by the U.S. government to ensure that the story of the Soviet Union’s difficul- ties in Afghanistan would be seen by the world. But that was only one part of the political equation. In the highly charged environment of Peshawar, the AMRC was able to operate only if it recruited its trainees directly from the Afghan resistance parties. As a result, while the professors from Boston Uni- versity were intent upon teaching their students the principles and practices Old man on a donkey, Kandahar Province. June 1987. Photo by Mohammad Karim. of “objective” news gathering, the “jour- nalists” at AMRC were deeply impli- cated in the political struggles and agen- das of their political leaders and parties. At the same time, there was also pres- sure brought to bear by the media outlets themselves for the AMRC cam- eramen to come up with combat foot- age that they could broadcast to the world, and this also produced a some- times corrosive effect on the truth. Though many journalists associated with the center took their obligation to objective journalism seriously and en- deavored at great risk to report on the conflict in Afghanistan as honestly as they could, some in the West came to Mujahed with unexploded Soviet bomb, Logar Province. November view the news coming out of the center 1987. Photo by Hafiz Ashna. as compromised. However, what made for problematic journalism makes for great history. Aside from the record it provides of the two decades-long struggle in Afghanistan, the AMRC is itself one piece of the story of the war, and the events of this fall have made understanding that story more impor- tant than ever. ■

David B. Edwards is a professor of anthropology at Williams College and the author of “Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad” (University of California Press, Spring 2002).

[email protected] Commander Aliadin being interviewed by AMRC cameraman, Mazar-i- Sharif Province. January 1988. Photo by Baz Mohammad.

50 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism

Little girl on a hillside, Kunduz Province. December 1990. Photo by Fazil Haq.

Ahmed Shah Massoud in Takhar Prov- ince. 1990. Photo by Ahmad Shah.

Mulla teaching students, Kandahar Province. November 1990. Photo by Mohammad Muqim.

An old refugee selling sugar cane with a child in his lap. Peshawar, Pakistan. October 1990. Photo by Mohammad Hashim.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 51 Coverage of Terrorism Revealing Beauty in the Harshness of War

On his journeys to Afghanistan, Iranian photographer Reza used his camera to document the life and times of General Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance leader who was assassinated on September 9, 2001. In 1985, Reza encountered Soviet army attacks in the snowy mountainous pass that first led him into Afghanistan. Five years later, he rode on a tank with Massoud as his forces entered Kabul. And earlier this year, Reza returned to Afghanistan with author Sebastian Junger, who wrote about Massoud. Reza’s images convey a sense of beauty otherwise hidden by the harshness of war. In a career that has spanned 20 years, Reza has worked as a con- tract photographer with Time, Life and National Geo- graphic, and as an Iranian correspondent for Sipa Press during the 1979 hostage-taking at the American Embassy and during the Iranian-Iraqi war.

A woman in a burka walks near a mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif. Massoud (third from left) is surrounded by close advisors. May 1990. Photo by Reza/Webistan.© 1985. Photo by Reza/Webistan.©

Exodus from Afghanistan. January 1990. Photo by Reza/Webistan.©

52 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Independent Media Try to be Balanced and Fair in Their Coverage Yet all parties play their ‘well-known game of intimidating the media.’

By Fazal Qureshi

or the journalists in Pakistan, the civilians did not translate into support ties in the conflict. In Pakistan, too, a September 11 attack was a bolt or sympathy for the Taliban. The ma- substantial number of publications are Fout of the blue. And this bolt was jority public opinion in Pakistan fa- brought out by political and religious followed quickly by President George vors a moderate, progressive Islamic parties and, in those, views adhere W. Bush’s call to President General society. Even before September 11, more to the publisher’s purpose. Their Pervez Musharraf asking him to choose many in Pakistan were thoroughly dis- circulation is limited to those who tend sides—the Americans’ or the terror- mayed with the distortion of Islam by to already share those opinions. ists’. With the decision to back America, the Taliban. Enlightened public opin- Pakistani journalists have had to walk Pakistan suddenly emerged into the ion has always been very apprehensive a tightrope in trying to keep all parties world’s spotlight and became a highly of the rising threat to Pakistani society satisfied with their “balanced” cover- strategic news location for the interna- from indigenous religious fanatics age. Despite their best efforts, no one tional media. For the people and jour- hopeful of imposing a Taliban-type, seems fully satisfied with their perfor- nalists of Pakistan, this marked a giant rigid Islamic system in Pakistan. mance, and some journalists and pub- change from years of being an interna- Increasing concern was also re- lications have faced complaints, even tional recluse that was known prima- flected in stories about the escalating overt or hidden threats from different rily for its many sanctions following its number of civilian casualties and the sides. Government functionaries call nuclear testing and after General Pervez arrival of hordes of hungry and sick editors and news editors with “advices” Musharraf seized power by overthrow- Afghan men, women and children on to be a little more careful in their dis- ing an elected government. Pakistan’s borders. Columnists wrote play of news and headlines hostile to On September 11, and again on that the American offensive was inflict- the government. Journalists in this October 7 when the bombing cam- ing very harsh punishment on the citi- country are quite familiar with the paign in Afghanistan began, Pakistani zens of Afghanistan (not the Taliban) threats concealed in these “friendly newspapers employed advices.” This is a ver- large-size, hard-hitting sion of the well-known headlines to report the Pakistani journalists have had to walk a game of intimidating news. During much of tightrope in trying to keep all parties the media and a re- this crisis, entire front minder that the govern- pages of the nation’s satisfied with their ‘balanced’ coverage. ment in power in Paki- several dozen newspa- stan is a military pers, along with edito- dictatorship. If driven rial columns, were devoted to news, and that the United States should have to the wall, it might clamp harsh re- opinions and images of its dramatic found a better way to deal with the strictions on the press. events. Following the attack on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. With this in mind, news managers World Trade Center and the Pentagon, In Pakistan, almost all the largely always take these “press advices” seri- the overriding view expressed in circulated English and Urdu language ously and, drawing on their experi- Pakistan’s media was of wholehearted newspapers are independent in their ence with the two previous military condemnation of the terrorist attack editorial policy, thus allowing a diver- dictatorships of General Ayub Khan on the United States. However, as sity of viewpoints to be put forth in and General Zia ul-Haq, exercised care American bombardment of targets in news and opinion columns. Among not to provoke the generals. The ap- Kabul, Kandahar and other Afghan cit- these independent print media, con- proach that seems to work best is to ies dragged on and caused the killing demnation of the terrorist attacks was avoid printing abusive or offensive of civilians, media sentiment gradually virtually universal, as was support for words and expressions of the opposi- came to reflect heightened concern General Musharraf’s decision to side tion leaders, while at the same time and sympathy for the suffering of the with the international community, finding ways to project their criticism. Afghan people. though there was certainly fair and But even with this approach there is a The upsurge in sympathy for Afghan balanced coverage given to all the par- limit. When one religious cleric issued

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 53 Coverage of Terrorism

an edict, declaring General Pervez this viewpoint limited the protesters’ Kashmir and other festering sores in Musharraf a “renegade from Islam” and power and enabled the government to other parts of the world, and you would calling for volunteers to “behead” him, control them. have effectively rooted out terrorism.” no major newspaper carried the story. However, those in the West urging There was an in-depth and pro- However, more frightening threats that the threat of these fanatics not be longed discussion in the media about have come from the religious elements. underestimated were right, too, given how to define what terrorism is. An In a typical scenario, a group of bearded the moderate Islamic social and politi- editorial in a Lahore English newspa- toughs visit the newspaper office and cal structure in Pakistan, which is expe- per, The Nation, said: “One person’s very “courteously” inform the editor of riencing economic stagnation and mili- terrorist is another person’s freedom the growing anger and frustration tary frailty primarily because of the fighter. Even the Western world has among their followers because of the sanctions. “The lifting of sanctions and historically recognized genuine wars unfair coverage of their activities in the visible high-speed arrival of economic of liberation and supported and eulo- newspaper. “We are restraining them, and financial succor to Pakistan defi- gized them. It is important that ulti- but please be fair to our news,” they nitely helped raise the morale of the mately the world leaders should get will say. For editors, who have in the government and of the moderate ma- together in a saner environment to past seen violent attacks on newspaper jority to stand up to the frenzied as- ponder on how really to eradicate offices and newsmen, it would be fool- sault of the fanatics,” a columnist wrote causes that force people to resort to ish not to take their message seriously. in the Urdu-language daily, Jang, in violence.” An editorial comment in a But, generally, newspapers refused to Karachi. Karachi Urdu-language daily summed be cowed, so the only way to cope was In early November, Pakistani media up the issue in these words: “It is of to enhance gate security. We are grate- commentators were still skeptical of fundamental importance that the fine ful that as I write this article at the the successful outcome of the Ameri- division between terrorism and free- beginning of November neither the can offensive on Afghanistan, with suc- dom fighter be correctly understood to government nor the extremists have cess defined as getting rid of the Taliban achieve lasting solutions to the men- translated threats into action. and/or bringing Osama bin Laden to ace of terrorism.” Despite lack of popular support and justice. Many analysts who were quoted That editorial went on to observe: with the help of “There is talk of their limited but threats from fanat- dedicated cadre Government functionaries call editors and news ics unleashing of followers, Is- editors with ‘advices’ to be a little more careful nuclear or chemical lamic extremists weapons against ci- were able to or- in their display of news and headlines hostile to vilian populations, ganize dramatic the government. Journalists in this country are but such an attack protest rallies quite familiar with the threats concealed in could be expected and marches in only from maniacs various cities of these ‘friendly advices.’ This is a version of the undertaking ‘terror- Pakistan. In well-known game of intimidating the media and ism for the sake of these demon- a reminder that the government in power in terrorism’ and not strations— from dedicated free- broadcast to a Pakistan is a military dictatorship. dom fighters com- worldwide audi- mitted to a ‘cause.’” ence—the pro- As more firsthand testers openly abused Musharraf for in news articles thought the military reporting emerges out of Afghanistan, siding with “infidel” America, asked action would achieve nothing more it becomes more evident that despite people to rise against his government, than pacification of the revenge-thirsty civilian casualties the U.S. bombing is and called upon armed forces to re- American public and that what hap- directed against Taliban military tar- move him from power. These demon- pened on September 11 could happen gets. The overwhelming majority of strators were not apologetic about the again if the basic causes underlying moderate public opinion in Pakistan, September 11 terrorist attack: “Thou- such terrorism are not dealt with. “Even therefore, remains supportive of Gen- sands of Muslim and Arab civilians have if Osama bin Laden is caught and killed, eral Musharraf’s policy of supporting been killed by the Israeli and American 100 other Osamas will take his place,” the fight against terrorism. ■ military forces in Palestine, Iraq, Libya said Saeed Hassan, a University of and other countries,” said Maulana Karachi professor. A senior media ana- Fazal Qureshi is chief editor of the Abdul Hameed, a fiery orator, as he lyst, Karachi’s Agha Masood, recently Pakistan Press International (PPI) addressed a protest rally in Karachi. said: “The issue finally boils down to news agency in Karachi, Pakistan. That a vast majority of Pakistanis nei- this: investigate and root out the causes ther supported nor sympathized with of terrorism, solve issues of Palestine, [email protected]

54 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Stories the Media Decide Not to Tell An Arab American assesses coverage from his dual perspective.

By Abdelmagid Mazen

am a man of falafel and apple pie; This applies to media I hear and see know, I am doing my best work.” five prayers a day and a Mozart; coming from all the lands to which my Whenever I interact with media, I Ireading from right and left of a roots, trunk and branches extend. find myself searching for the angles page, and political spectra—a Muslim, On my New England rooftop sit two and degree of thickness with which a Middle Eastern, an Egyptian and an adjacent satellite dishes, one feeding stories are told. Often, I search for that Arab. The four descriptors overlap but my television from Western media, the pinch of exquisiteness with which a are never identical, and they melt into other from Arab satellites, including Al- story is spiced; naturally, the yield a dynamic deep within me that nour- Jazeera (The Peninsula). Currently, ranges from the delicious to the bland. ishes the very meaning of my being an many in the media attribute Al-Jazeera’s For me, and for people rooted simi- American. I am not a journalist nor do success to a competitive advantage. larly, Al-Jazeera transmits news and I play one on TV. But my fantasy about The network had early access to Taliban translates its meaning across cultures. a healthy interaction with the media is sources and to the tapes of bin Laden. Are the reporters of Al-Jazeera’s and ongoing. This thinking, while correct, is also other Arab media heavy-handed in di- The talk is that we, in the United truncated and could harm the media recting their microphones and cam- States, could do better in our propa- and efforts to reposition our image in eras at times? Indeed. Do I find myself ganda war on terrorism. Three facts are the Middle East and related worlds. disagreeing with several views ex- clear to me: Propaganda and persua- I attribute my increasing attention pressed on the Arab channel, from the sive efforts require different postures; to Al-Jazeera, the Egyptian Satellite political to the religious? Yes, and Al- media are at the frontline of these Channel, and others to the thick de- Jazeera did air explicit criticism of its efforts, and the overwhelming major- scription reporters use to portray and biased reporting for the Taliban by ity of the 1.3 billion Muslims, who are interpret events as well as to their abil- Sayyaf, a prominent leader of the North- at the center of both these efforts, op- ity to disrobe the comforts of their ern Alliance that now controls Kabul. pose terrorism. Yet, we are not doing normal angle on issues and bring forth But Al-Jazeera does something else so well in getting our message through. those of others. For me, the questions that suits how my human antennae How come? Al-Jazeera raises in reporting news work. When I watch, my eyes move in That is when my fantasy kicks in. It reach beyond the predictable, and an- brain speed; first, deep from the cen- usually starts with an innocent “what swers are often embedded in the com- tral figure of the story to people sitting if” or two. What if televisions were like plexities of our times. The best in West- in the café in the background; then side mirrors of cars? If they were, we’d ern news reporting does the same, but wider to span kids in the streets, their see a cautioning strip: “Objects and too much of it is less thickly layered, its clothes and quality of shoes, if any; up issues on this screen are actually much content lessened. Time constraints are to the second floor of the short build- different than they appear.” And what partly to blame but, frankly, when it ing behind, to the teenage girl in the if from time to time viewers were al- comes to reporting about the Middle window and the undeliberate glance lowed to reach into the teleprompter East or the third world, the U.S. media of the boy mechanic below; then into to change the anchor’s script or press are often caught in the seductive prac- the family room to the scant table, if the cursor and insert a missing view- tice of seeking excellent answers to any, and the small kitchen behind; to point or two into the story? What if TV very truncated questions. the worn shoes under beds, near a few viewers could be seen applauding in In crafting questions and seeking watermelons and copper pots, where admiration for a piece well done, or answers, grades of excellence and ex- homemade bread can be kept fresh; to heard whispering gently: “Snap out of quisiteness apply. Once I heard a mas- what this family had or didn’t have for it, please.” ter violinmaker in Stradivarius’s home- dinner the night before and when they Someone once defined moral di- town say something that applies to last saw, much less tasted, meat; to the lemma as not paying equal attention to how I think of news and analysis: “The issues in their family disputes, besides the humanity and equal worth of people challenge for me,” this violinmaker said, money; then back to words of the cen- who are at a distance. I believe that our “is to have my hands do what my eyes tral figure extracted with aching sim- efforts to inform during this crisis are want to see. [Because] this doesn’t plicity into an extended microphone. more likely to succeed when we are always happen…. I have to be honest These thick images take me deep into willing to look wider and deeper into with myself. I have to recognize my lives and help me develop context for the current reporting on the crisis. mistakes. And when I do this, I feel, I understanding.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 55 Coverage of Terrorism

Within the context of a thick and my whispering fantasy kicks in. Rea- sentative Henry Hyde to comment on layered reality, I see that many people sonable people who live in the Middle why the United States is not doing as —particularly in the Middle East, Mus- East, Arab and Muslim worlds would, well on the propaganda front. By then, lim and Arab worlds—find themselves very normally, want to insert here some Al-Jazeera had aired bin Laden’s sec- caught in an inner and simultaneous of the exquisite reporting on ond tape and followed with U.S. Am- bind: deeply grieving with the United “Nightline,” when novelist Arundhati bassador Christopher Ross respond- States and also wishing that the power- Roy, of Indian origin like Zakaria, ex- ing in fluent Arabic. Levin was optimistic ful America does not interpret their plained to Ted Koppel how many that the situation will change soon, ongoing disgruntlement with U.S. poli- people of the world “can grieve with saying that we will spend more money cies in their region of the world in ways Americans and still feel discomforted and added that bin Laden is losing the that could deepen their suspicion and by America’s power and arrogance.” war because he is attacking the United feelings of helplessness, sometimes Roy wondered if Americans truly ap- Nations, which won this year’s Nobel despair. It is here where journalists preciate that such discomfort exists Peace Prize. Blitzer turned to Hyde, have an ethical role to shuttle con- and argued that mainstream media in who said: “This is the country that stantly between feelings on the street the West—by its reluctance and/or in- invented Madison Avenue and Holly- and decisions of policymakers in all ability to tackle such sensitive topics— wood. So, if we cannot market our own involved nations. shields Americans from taking in such image, then we are very poor.” Many who live in this part of the a world view. Images from “Wag the Dog” and world also believe that U.S. media in- To improve effective communica- these comments drift away, inter- sist on not delving into what could tion and to persuade, U.S. media needs twined. help Americans to truly understand to better portray how people on the “Nightline’s” Koppel delved deeper the root causes of many of these social other side experience their reality. It is by virtue of the questions he posed, the and political issues. People in the streets not a coincidence that the first item on way he reasoned, and the guests he aren’t diplomats, so many are able to Al-Jazeera these days has been from invited. Former U.N. ambassador Rich- discern the U.S. media’s explicit bias Afghanistan, followed closely by re- ard Holbrooke insisted that the United toward Israel, as well as its negligence ports from the Middle East. Their coun- States needs to beef up Voice of America of their daily feelings about these is- terpoint to Newsweek’s speeding up at and other methods of communication. sues. This circumstance is pivotal to the Arab-Israeli intersection is to show Koppel’s other guests, Jordanian jour- the gap of misunderstanding that ex- images of the bodies of Palestinians nalist Rami Khouri and Ghida Fakhry, ists among Americans, Muslims and killed and wounded daily since the New York bureau chief for Al-Jazeera, Arabs, a gap that exists in the media beginning of the last intifada in Sep- put forth a different angle, suggesting and on the streets. tember 2000—more than 800 killed, strongly that the most effective Ameri- Take the eloquent Newsweek cover 7,000 wounded—by the occupying can message in the Middle East is its story of October 15, 2001 in which force of Israel. Cut, and Al-Jazeera shows policy on the ground. Craftily, Koppel tried to answer one of the Palestinian operations inside Is- asked Holbrooke to comment on this the few “why” questions that gained rael, resulting in the killing of more view. The ambassador laughingly re- prominence in U.S. media after Sep- than 150 Israelis during this same pe- plied that this was not the topic of the tember 11: “Why do they hate us?” riod. Cut, and look inside living rooms day and, with that, the program ended. After more than 15 pages of mostly well at the remains of those killed by rock- I whispered to Holbrooke, hoping documented reporting, Zakaria arrived ets launched from helicopters made in Koppel would hear me. “Policy and at the Arab-Israeli intersection. Sud- the United States and given to Israel. media persuasion will carry the new denly, “vroooom,” he sped up, as if Then, it’s on to coverage of the Secu- day, not propaganda. Even if we are caught in the middle of a yellow traffic rity Council with countless American able to table the question now, wag signal. “Why is the focus of Arab anger vetos preventing anything that sounds Hollywood or Madison Avenue, the on Israel not on [their] regimes?”, he like criticism of Israel from being two P’s—policy and persuasion—are asks, blaming instead of interpreting. passed, no matter what the Israelis do. the main dish on dinner tables in places He adds: “The disproportionate feel- Blend in footage of these occur- far away.” And media’s role in serving ings of grievance directed at America rences happening continuously dur- both is crucial. ■ have to be placed in the overall context ing the last 30 years and, drop by drop, of the sense of humiliation, decline it settles deep into the national con- Abdelmagid Mazen is a professor of and despair that sweeps the Arab science. Fade away. Try to understand. management at Suffolk University in world.” He wonders why many who Remember that to persuade, one must Boston and consults on issues per- live in Africa and China, who have rea- be open to persuasion and willing to taining to defensiveness in negotia- son to feel the same sense of disap- dispute answers that touch only the tion, organizational learning, and pointment and unfairness, don’t work top rung of layered reality. quality management. themselves into rage against America. On November 4, CNN’s “Stop it right there,” I want to say, as invited Senator Carl Levin and Repre- [email protected]

56 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism Understanding the ‘Why’ of September 11 Using the Web, Globalvision’s world news site helps readers dig deeper and broader for answers. By Danny Schechter

isual coverage of the events of of the conventional “outside-in” inter- the dumbing down of news, we are September 11 was as riveting as national approach. On a given day, our trying in a practical and credible way to Vthe unbelievable images it con- lengthy collection of stories—linked counter the pervasive withdrawal of veyed. Answers also came fast and furi- for reader convenience—can include international coverage by networks and ous to questions of who, what, where reports from Interfax Russia, The Kash- newspapers. Yet it still surprises me to and when. It was the “how” and, even mir Times, Middle East Newsline, Is- learn how many in the media business more difficult, the “why” part of jour- lam Online, Iran News, The Moscow don’t appear to recognize the scale of nalistic inquiries that, perhaps under- Times, The Times of India, Mandiri this problem or the scope of its conse- standably, was not as well explored, as News, Israel Insider, and Radio Free quences. Pulitzer Prize-winning media television reached for its cast of famil- Europe. We call ourselves “context pro- writer David Shaw reported recently in iar pundits who often turned out to be viders” and are turning a collection of the Los Angles Times, “Coverage of as confused and predictable as they stories into a news product that we international news by the U.S. media were jingoistic. hope news companies and Web sites has declined significantly in recent years What became hard to find after Sep- will acquire to compliment existing in response to corporate demands for tember 11 were places to go for news wire service reporting as a way of offer- larger profits and an increasingly frag- in which the broader dimensions of ing more and deeper sources to their mented audience. Having decided that the story about the terrorists’ attack on readers. readers and viewers in post-cold war America were unfolding. There were, Our initiative emerged as a response America cared more about celebrities, of course, in mainstream media ques- to media trends that over the years scandals and local news, newspaper tions asked—and answered— editors and television news execu- about who was responsible, how tives have reduced the space and the acts of terror came to be, and time devoted to foreign coverage how the nation’s defense and in- by 70 to 80 percent during the telligence agencies missed signals past 15 to 20 years.” about this attack. Often, though, Long before September 11, my the level of indignation coming colleagues and I had become out in these interviews exceeded alarmed by the consequences of the depth of good information and America’s media-led isolationism analysis provided. as it fueled citizens’ ignorance As a way to respond to what we about the rest of the world. We perceived to be a vacuum, could understand why headlines Globalvision launched its own in other nations’ newspapers soon online News Network read “Americans Just Don’t Get (www.gvnewsnet.com) prototype It.” And we could read about how for a more diverse global syndica- this absence of engagement tion effort. By using this vehicle, through public communication led we were able to offer stories from the Indian writer to news outlets throughout the suggest that Washington’s foreign world. It became our way of bring- policy was the consequence of the ing information and views of local power of the U.S. media to keep sources—and often unheard the public uninformed. “I think voices—to audiences more accus- people are the product of the in- tomed to a narrower range of The homepage of mediachannel.org. formation they receive,” Roy Anglo-American news. Our news writes. “I think even more power- network provides a panoply of “in- ful than America’s military arsenal side-out” coverage (for example, cov- have shortchanged the public and, in has been its hold over the media in erage about Pakistan is written by Paki- turn, eroded our democracy. While some way. I find that very frighten- stani journalists, not Americans) instead Globalvision is not alone in rejecting ing…. [J]ust as much as America be-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 57 Coverage of Terrorism

lieves in freedom at home, or the free News Network by posting stories from counter our largest media failure—the speech, or the freedom of religion, 125 affiliates in 85 countries, including lack of context that allows news con- outside it believes in the freedom to a daily column on news about the news sumers to gain clearer understanding humiliate, the freedom to export ter- with criticism and reports about how of the background issues and clash of ror. And the freedom to humiliate is a the story is being covered in different interpretations. And because our read- very important thing because that’s countries, with a focus on what is being ers are able to look at so much cover- what really leads to the rage.” left out. To assemble this, I rely on the age by news outlets in other coun- Agree or not with Roy, it is hard to help of new WebLog technology and tries—many of whom report on the deny that most Americans are confused also draw content from our same story on a given day—they are about why “they” would afflict such mediachannel.org network of more able to see for themselves the cultural terror on the freedom-loving “us.” “I than 800 affiliated news sites as well as biases and parochialism that deforms think most Americans are clueless when from links provided by the millions of news coverage worldwide. Hopefully, it comes to the politics and ideology readers/users who come to our Web it helps them put reporting in this and religion in [the Muslim] world site. Positive responses we’ve received, country in a larger perspective. and, in that sense, I think we do bear and the spurt in traffic we’ve observed, Because of the reach of the Internet, some responsibility,” Boston Globe confirm that there is a market and an many diverse sources of information Editor Martin Baron told the Los Ange- audience for this blend of international are now available. But despite all the les Times’s Shaw. “In consequence, we coverage and media criticism. Our site choices, well advertised, major media are not only less informed about what’s might also be filling some voids left brands remain the primary source of happening in the world but about how with the shrinkage of the Gannett- news and explanation for most citi- others see us.” funded Freedom Forum worldwide, as zens. This presents a problem, since This situation prompted well as the collapse of Brill’s Content/ the crux of these debates—the impact Globalvision to create its News Net- Inside.com. of past U.S. covert operations and oil work of international reporting. Our Our interest is not in criticizing cov- interests, for example—fly below the motives for acting arose from both our erage for its own sake. We are neither radar of most mainstream media out- personal interest in trying lets. And in mainstream me- to draw more attention to dia there is a lack of dissent- the plight of the world’s dis- Long before September 11, my ing perspectives offered. possessed and in our Media have a major role to company’s interest in tap- colleagues and I had become play in reminding us of the ping into a forgotten niche alarmed by the consequences of ways in which lives are en- that might serve as a lucra- America’s media-led isolationism twined and futures are inter- tive business opportunity. connected worldwide. The For 15 years, we had mostly as it fueled citizens’ ignorance shocking events of Septem- focused on producing “in- about the rest of the world. ber 11 and the response to side-out” TV programming them calls our attention to about a changing world. the deeply institutionalized Now, thanks to the Internet, failures in foreign policy, de- there is a distribution channel to add media makers nor bashers. We present fense strategies, the work of intelli- international content to an all too lim- the information we do as a way of gence agencies and, yes, the U.S. me- ited global news mix. offering constructive approaches to dia. We can call on others to fix the In 1999, Globalvision created improving coverage. For example, former, but only journalists, ourselves, mediachannel.org—the largest online mediachannel.org carries work by a can improve the media institutions we media issues network in the world—to new British-based group called Report- work for and rely on to strengthen our respond to the key role media plays in ing the World, whose work shows how democracy. For too long, news organi- this age of globalization. I serve as coverage of the same news can be told zations have failed to do this. They can executive editor of this site and write a from a perspective of conflict resolu- fail no longer. ■ weekly column called “The News Dis- tion (the “peace journalism” approach) sector” in which we watch the media as just as easily as it can be conveyed Danny Schechter, a 1978 Nieman it watches the world, offering media through the prism of “war journalism,” Fellow, is the executive editor of news, analysis, criticism, research and with its usual emphasis on bombs and Globalvision’s mediachannel.org. discussion from monitors, observers, bodybags. In another section of the His latest book is “News Dissector: journalists, commentators and critics. site, we offer extensive information Passions, Pieces and Polemics, 1960- After September 11, and as the war about media policy issues and media 2000,” from Akashic Books and in Afghanistan made clear, there was a literacy education. Electronpress.com. hunger for more perspectives. Also, we try to offer strategies and Globalvision launched a test of its new information that will help journalists [email protected]

58 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Coverage of Terrorism America: A Bully Wreaking Havoc on the Poor Why the Spanish press highlights the ugly side of the ‘war against terror.’

By Dale Fuchs

he bloodied Afghan teen with left-leaning tabloid usually critical of determined to show the ugly side of the amputated leg made a living anything America does abroad, look this war on terror? Why are they so Tselling ice cream before an like USA Today. quick to portray America as a high-tech American missile hit him. That’s what If Spaniards didn’t know any better, bully wreaking havoc on the poor with the caption tells readers who look at they might not guess that their presi- its array of terrible toys? Why is cover- the color photo on the front page of dent, José María Aznar, pledged un- age so critical when Spanish journal- Spain’s largest conservative daily, El conditional support to Bush’s anti-ter- ists might be expected to welcome any Mundo, on October 9, two days after ror coalition. Or that Spain is an effort to “hunt down” terrorists (to use bombing of Afghanistan began. “The important NATO ally with strategic Bush-speak) since they are favorite tar- first collateral damage,” the caption military bases on alert and lending lo- gets of the Basque terrorist group ETA, begins sarcastically. gistical aid since the September 11 which has claimed almost 1,000 lives in Day two of the “war against terror” attacks. In fact, judging from the re- the past 30 years as they’ve tried to gain and already a quote from the German peated barbs at American brutishness— independence for the Spanish Basque philosopher Kant appears discretely a political cartoon in El Mundo shows region? above the paper’s masthead: “Our readers tend to be anti- “War is evil because it makes war so any news that spotlights more bad men than it kills.” human tragedy, the poor and Cut to the next day’s front oppressed, sells papers,” ven- page of Diario 16, one of Spain’s tures El Mundo’s foreign editor oldest national dailies, soon to Fernando Múgica, who began close despite its recent revamp- his journalism career in 1966. ing to capture younger readers. Flashback to the day of the “The U.S. accidentally kills four World Trade Center attacks. El U.N. employees in Kabul,” the País, the same newspaper that lead headline screams in thick, would later trumpet news of the sans serif type. A picture of “the 200 Afghan deaths, splashes search for survivors among the these words across its front page: ruins” nearly consumes the “The world on edge in wait for whole page. Bush retaliation.” In much Air strikes continue for a fifth smaller type, beneath a picture day. Editors at El País, the of the famous, smoking twin tow- country’s largest socialist news- ers, comes this addition: “thou- paper, slap this headline on their sands are dead beneath the de- cover: “Taliban say attacks have bris.” already caused more than 200 How does one explain the deaths.” failure to capitalize on this par- At a time when American lead- The little boy in the photo in the October 14 edition of El ticular human tragedy? “Well, ers are chirping about ending Mundo appears below the headline: “A ‘smart’ bomb falls there is a certain sense that the war before Ramadan, the on a Kabul neighborhood.” America is this conceited em- front pages of Spanish newspa- pire that acts rashly—cowboy- pers are filled with photos of fashion is the term in vogue since Afghan corpses, bloody children, and two Afghan refugees trekking through Bush—to protect its pride,” Múgica battered homes. Headlines point to the desert beneath a missile—newspa- admits. “When you hear the U.S. was American misfires. Deluxe graphics pay per readers here would probably be attacked, you think, now who’s going tribute to practically every jet and mis- surprised to learn that Spanish edito- to pay?” sile in the U.S. arsenal. Turn the page: rial writers generally consider America’s But Spanish coverage is shaped by Afghan refugees are fleeing with attack “justified, though of question- more than knee-jerk anti-Americanism. bundles on their backs. Coverage like able effectiveness.” For starters, Spanish journalists simply this makes France’s La Libération, a So why are newspapers in Spain so do not consider violence, even U.N.-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 59 Coverage of Terrorism

sanctioned violence, an appropriate journalism, the arts. Foreign correspon- affecting public opinion. Before the way to fight terrorism. Consider: In the dents regularly quote The New York start of the bombing, a survey con- late 1980’s, press reports alleged that Times and The Washington Post, espe- ducted by Spain’s national statistics government ministers had ordered the cially if Bob Woodward has a byline. center found that as many as 63 per- kidnapping and assassination of sev- It’s difficult to find a reporter who cent of the people considered Ameri- eral ETA members accused of orches- doesn’t speak English well enough to can military response appropriate. A trating high-profile killings. The ensu- translate American wire copy. month later, an Internet poll by El ing scandal that came out of these Even before the tragedy, American Mundo showed support had slipped accusations not only brought about news permeated the press. On Sep- below 50 percent. Meanwhile, 5,000 one conviction—of a government offi- tember 11, every major Spanish daily people—members of women’s groups, cial, not a terrorist—but it also height- put out a special, late edition, five hours unions, left-wing parties, and immi- ened the reputation of a major news- after the attacks. Since then, each one grant rights associations—took to the paper (El Mundo) and led to the has devoted at least 10 pages daily to streets in Barcelona to protest the war electoral defeat of the socialist admin- the crisis. But while the rest of Western in Afghanistan. This was twice the num- istration. Europe (begrudgingly or not) has his- ber that turned out earlier in solidarity “Violence only gives more excuses torically associated America with the for victims of the September attacks. to the terrorists” is the way reporter defeat of fascism and economic recov- As an American writing for a Spanish Luís Angel Sanz sees it. “You have to go ery through the Marshall Plan, Spain newspaper, I’m accustomed to ritual to the root of the problem, with legal sneers: “What did you do for us?” Any- Bush-bashing and basic skepticism of means. You can’t go bombing the whole one will remind you of President American foreign policy. I often agree world.” Eisenhower’s pact with their dictator, with much of the criticism, but I am Displays of patriotism also make the Franco, in exchange for his cold war finding this coverage, in particular, dis- press corps shudder. The concept of support and the installation of Ameri- turbing and disheartening. From per- allegiance to one’s country was so bru- can military bases on Spanish soil. sonal experience, I am finding there is tally distorted during Franco’s time The history books say many actually indeed a sense among journalists that, that, to this day, a waving Spanish flag believed the United States would save as horrible as the tragedy was on Sep- still symbolizes fascism. It’s no wonder Spain from fascism and poverty. The tember 11, America is finally getting a that those bouts of American flag wav- movie “Welcome Mr. Marshall,” re- taste of the world’s suffering. When I ing after the tragedy make reporters quired viewing here the way “Citizen mentioned to my editor how scared my here nervous, fueling snide references Kane” is in America, satirizes those mother—living in the United States— to Big Brother. ingenuous hopes and disappointment is about anthrax, he laughed as if I were Then, there is Spain’s reading on when the Marshall Plan passed them joking and shot back, “You’re just not America’s foreign policy. In a word, it by. Spain learned the lesson even be- used to having terrorism at home.” “stinks.” One hundred thousand Span- fore Americans did in Vietnam: America I’ve heard that phrase a lot lately. iards turned out to protest the Gulf isn’t always the good guy. And such Several days after the attacks in America, War, and protests against this one in mistrust does not fade. As recently as a friend who is a photographer shook Afghanistan are mounting as well. In 1982, for instance, former president his head as he greeted me. It was the press coverage, too, there appears to Felipe González got elected on prom- first time we’d seen each other since be a pattern. When the United States ises that he would “keep Spain out of the attacks happened. “America cre- bombed Serbia, civilian victims sur- NATO.” (He broke his word.) Even ates its own monsters,” he said, in a faced on the front pages of Spanish though only two U.S. military bases knowing tone. He was referring to dailies along with the usual U.S. gaffes. remain here, thousands of residents Osama bin Laden. He knows I am from As Múgica observes, “People think, oh still protest them now and then. New York City, but he hadn’t even no, those Yankees are screwing up As setbacks mount in the “war on bothered to ask me if my loved ones again.” When the Middle East heats up, terrorism” and even U.S. leaders worry were okay. ■ Israel is portrayed as a U.S. “puppet,” about civilian casualties, the Spanish lumped with other monster govern- press digs in. “U.S. admits it may never Dale Fuchs is a feature writer for the ments “Made in the U.S.A.” And when capture bin Laden,” reads a recent front national Spanish daily, El Mundo, readers come across the phrase “the page headline on the ultraconservative where she has worked for the past death of Iraqi children,” chances are paper, ABC. But El Mundo editor two and a half years. She came to good they are reading a story about Múgica thinks the press hasn’t been Spain in 1998 on a Fulbright Fellow- U.S. policy, not about Saddam Hussein. critical enough. “Hundreds of people ship for journalists to study coverage Finally, Spain has long nurtured a have been detained arbitrarily and re- of the single European currency and love-hate relationship with the United main in custody and we don’t know newsroom trends. States. On the one hand, the media anything about what happens to them!” depict America as the fountain of all he says, outraged. [email protected] things modern, a model for business, This media coverage appears to be

60 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women and Journalism

To writers in countries throughout the world, Nieman Reports posed a few questions: In your country or region, what is the situation for women journalists? If women journalists are progressing into decision-making positions, what impact, if any, exists in how news is being covered? What these journalists tell, in their articles that follow, surprise, infuriate, inspire, anger, delight and sadden us. Best of all, they inform us by reminding us of realities we’d suspected and telling us of circumstances we hadn’t imagined. In reading this collection of women’s experiences, a shared sense of future challenges is revealed. Our opening writer, Margaret Gallagher, whose research focuses on gender and the media, reminds us, “Wherever one looks in the world, women still have little decision-making power either inside the media organizations themselves, or in the political and economic institutions with which these organizations must interface. This is one of the reasons why female journalists—even when they are a majority within the profession—remain highly vulnerable….” Some journalists, like Worldwoman editor Lesley Riddoch, leave publications where stories about women do not receive adequate coverage. Riddoch writes about her online news service, written for and about women, and about the virtual newsroom pilot project she uses to train women journalists in Africa. From Africa, Christine Anyanwu, chief executive of Spectrum Broadcasting Company of Nigeria, describes the situation in Nigeria and sheds light on why efforts like Riddoch’s are necessary. “The definition of news, what makes news, real marketable news in Nigeria inevitably excludes a sizeable chunk of the population, especially women.” In , Pippa Green is one of three women editors in the country in her job as associate deputy editor of the Financial Mail in Johannesburg. Green’s story illuminates a debate about why (and whether) the absence of women in leadership positions matters. Two African women, L. Muthoni Wanyeki and Lettie Longwe, who oversee programs that train rural women to tell stories at community radio stations, explain radio’s vital role in communicating news about women’s lives and its potential as a force for societal change. Teresita Hermano and Anna Turley share results from the Global Media Monitoring Project 2000, a worldwide survey of women’s presence and portrayal in the news, done by the World Association for Christian Communication, with which they work. Peggy Simpson, a freelance writer living in Poland, writes about Agora, one of Europe’s newest media empires that is owned and run by women. Ratih Hardjono recalls her decade-long experience while reporting on war and conflict for Kompas, an Indonesian daily. “In the coverage of war, it is stories about women’s lives that often go untold,” she writes, and then describes her efforts to change that situation. These women’s stories, she contends, “are so very different than men’s, and necessary to hear if we are to understand the consequences of war.” From India, Ammu Joseph, author of “Women in Journalism: Making News,” observes how women report alongside men but their impact (on coverage of news) can be difficult to discern. Indian author and journalist Sakuntala Narasimhan finds her nation’s culture

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 61 combining with business decisions to leave many women’s stories untold. Visibility of women in the media, she writes, “does not necessarily translate into gender equity in terms of the content of what goes on the pages.” After working for 18 years at two of India’s largest newspapers, Angana Parekh directs the Women’s Feature Service, which provides access to stories about women’s lives. Her goal: “to create ‘space’ for women’s voices and experiences in mainstream media, where such topics don’t usually receive this same kind of attention.” From Pakistan, Massoud Ansari, a senior reporter for Newsline in Karachi and contributor to Women’s Feature Service, demonstrates how journalists, through their coverage of news, maintain women’s lesser cultural status. By turning the camera’s eye on their own lives, women in rural China created a collection of photographs called Visual Voices which were, in turn, used to generate discussion about aspects of their daily lives. Similarly, women’s photographs taken in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of a project called Through Her Eyes, accompany our coverage of Africa. Surveys of women journalists done by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) show the varied pace of progress in different regions of the world, according to Bettina Peters, a director at IFJ. From Chile, Veronica Lopez argues women bring “a certain look, a certain feeling” to news coverage, and what they bring is what the public now wants. Blanca Rosales, a Peruvian media consultant, describes what she learns from listening to women journalists discuss their situations. Sadly, she reports that women who’ve reached top positions “don’t feel the obligation to be trailblazers for other women.” Colombian journalist María Cristina Caballero, who demonstrated great courage in reporting on her nation’s war and reached top positions at her newspaper, recently turned her attention to helping other women journalists as she became interested in “exploring the causes of the gender inequalities in the media workplace and in seeking ways to possibly overcome these situations.” For more than 25 years, as a journalist, editor and analyst, Naomi Sakr has covered the Arab world. Using findings from her 2000 report, “Women’s Rights and the Arab Media,” Sakr describes the tough roads women there must travel to break down barriers to their progress. Photographs by German newspaper photographer Katharina Eglau accompany Sakr’s story and that of Iranian-American Naghmeh Sohrabi, who explains how important stories about women’s lives are submerged by inaccurate assumptions, particularly regarding the wearing of a veil. It is, she writes, “rare to read a news report about the social and cultural situation in Iran without a mention of veiled women.” And, in these stories, “a veil is used to either demonstrate a person’s conservative viewpoint or to show the opposite—that despite the veil, a woman holds views close to our own more liberal, democratic ones.” She offers four timely suggestions to journalists that can be applied to improving coverage of women throughout the Muslim world. In our next issue of Nieman Reports, women journalists who work in the United States will address issues related to these same questions. ■

62 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International Reporting on Gender in Journalism ‘Why do so few women reach the top?’

In a chapter written for inclusion in journalism, the notion that feminiza- the Gulf War in 1991 worked for televi- an upcoming book, “Gender and tion could be imminent is risible. Even sion: “They know that what the major Journalism in Industrialized Na- in the United States, figures produced networks want is a frontline account tions,” edited by Romy Froelich and by the National Federation of Press from a (preferably pretty) woman in a Sue A. Lafky for The Edwin Mellen Women (1993) show that women have flak jacket.” Press, Margaret Gallagher examines been increasing their share of manage- Yet it is debatable whether this actu- gender trends in journalism as she ment posts by only one percent per ally constitutes a “feminization” of jour- explores the progress women jour- year since 1977. If that rate continues, nalism, in the sense of a take-over of nalists are making, the impact they it will be another 30 years before there the profession by women. Indeed are having, and the reasons why so is gender balance in top newspaper women’s increased presence on the few manage to rise to the top. What jobs in the United States. screen almost certainly contributes to follows is an edited excerpt from her Of course, it cannot be assumed that a gulf between perceptions and reality. chapter. women’s existing rates of entry to any In most European countries, women hierarchical level will continue…. But are a clear minority of working journal- what of the women who entered the ists in radio and television. The excep- By Margaret Gallagher profession in the 1970’s and 1980’s? tions are confined to countries for- How have they fared in the decades merly within the orbit of the Soviet herever one looks in the since? The studies analyzed by profes- Union, where the profession had an world, women still have rela- sor David Weaver lead him to the over- altogether different status from that in W tively little decision-making all conclusion that those women who Western Europe. It is quite conceiv- power either inside the media organi- are in American journalism have made able that, as the media systems of these zations themselves, or in the political “significant gains in managerial countries move from a state-financed and economic institutions with which responsibility…and in amount of edi- to a commercially financed basis, the these organizations must interface. This torial control” over the past two de- proportion of women employed as is one of the reasons why female jour- cades. Nevertheless, given that since journalists will fall—as has already been nalists—even when they are a majority 1977 women have outnumbered men documented in the case of the former within the profession—remain highly in college and university journalism German Democratic Republic. vulnerable…. It can be argued that courses in the United States, why are Moreover, when it comes to senior survival and success in journalism—at women still a minority presence in editorial and management jobs, women least in the market economies of West- American newsrooms—especially in are consistently under-represented. In ern Europe and North America—are senior editorial and decision-making general, this pattern seems to hold dictated by the logic of commerce, to positions? even in the new commercial broadcast- which male journalists are equally sub- The same question is relevant ing companies—a finding that con- ject. Of course, there is an element of throughout the industrialized world. founds the view that market-driven sys- truth in this. But particularly when it UNESCO data show that in most of tems and audience goals will result in comes to the most senior editorial jobs these countries the predominance of an increase of women’s power at the another—perhaps parallel, perhaps female students in mass communica- top…. Why do so few women reach the predominant—logic seems to operate. tion courses stretches back to at least top? As Canadian journalist Huguette 1980. It is true that in many cases the By far the most common obstacle to Roberge put it a decade ago: “One percentage of practicing female jour- career development reported by woman at a time…. One at a time. We nalists has risen substantially over the women journalists is the problem of barely manage to fill the shoes left by past 20 years…. It is also undeniable male attitudes. One of the most impor- one another.” In the years since then, that, in many parts of the world, women tant implications of the male domi- the situation has barely changed. It is are now a significant on-screen and on- nance within media organizations is as if one woman at the top is as much air presence in the broadcast media— that women are judged by male stan- as the system can absorb without being as presenters, reporters and newscast- dards and performance criteria. Often thrown into a paroxysm of professional ers…. In her analysis of the rise of the this means a constant effort to be taken anguish about the potential effects— woman reporter over the past century, seriously—a point made in a recent on status, salaries, self-esteem—of journalist Anne Sebba argues that it is study of French journalists: “It’s really “feminization.” no coincidence that a high proportion not easy to be taken seriously…. To In relation to the upper echelons of of the women journalists who covered begin with they treat you as a bit of a

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 63 Women: International

joke…. To show that you’re serious, on promotion prospects. thought to be more convergent, more you have to try twice as hard if you’re a There is overwhelming evidence of dispassionate, more analytical than woman.” The hazards of not being taken a significant salary gap between female women are. And women have been seriously include the risk of sexual ha- and male journalists…. It seems likely assumed to be better at writing the rassment—a problem mentioned by that the earnings gap is related to the empathetic, people-orientated stories,” women surveyed in countries as differ- kinds of assignment given to women according to Christmas. This general ent as Finland and Spain. Thus while and men—the specific tasks they do stereotype feeds into gender-based their male colleagues use time after and the valuation attached to these editorial appraisals, as Christmas writes: work to develop the “old boys’ net- through additional payments and merit “There are some editors who instinc- work,” some women may limit their awards. tively, without questioning it, give less after-work contacts because they pre- The gendered division of work as- weight to women’s views. Also, some fer to avoid “risky” situations. signments reduces more than women’s editors may think that women are more Perceptions of editorial management income. It also reduces their chances muddled thinkers and therefore it is as a tough and virile domain, where of promotion…. A journalist writing not just that they think their views are decisions are made by men in smoke- about “hard politics” is supported and unimportant, but that their views won’t filled rooms, are enough to stop some regarded as good promotion material. be expressed quite so coherently as women from trying to become part of Someone writing about “human” and men’s views.” The notion that coher- a world they regard as alien. More “everyday” issues is seen as unambi- ence equates with the bold affirmation importantly, they affect the promotion tious (because of apparent disinterest of a particular viewpoint is, again, some- prospects of many women who do in the top priorities of the organiza- thing with which many women feel aspire to senior positions. In the words tion), and tends to remain a rank-and- uncomfortable. According to another of a Danish journalist disappointed in file reporter. The subtlety and circular- senior woman interviewed by Christ- her attempt to obtain a management ity of this process, which both reflects mas: “My dream is to be able to write post in the early 1990’s: “All my col- and constructs power relations be- ‘on the one hand’ and ‘on the other leagues recommended me, but the tween women and men in the profes- hand,’ and ‘having thought about it management said… I wasn’t ‘robust’ sion, is aptly described by Professor carefully, this is the conclusion I come enough. The management don’t like Eric Neveu with respect to French jour- to.’ But I know you can’t write columns women in managerial jobs. Only one nalism: “the female condition is a con- like that. Or leaders. You need to have has succeeded so far, but it took her straint on access to responsibilities in very, very firm opinions and a belief in more than 25 years.” The “one at a journalism…this distance from respon- your own opinions.” time” mentality vis-à-vis women in se- sibilities and important columns in- The male-defined rules of the game nior editorial management precludes creases the probability of meeting less which determine journalistic culture— the possibility of women building up famous people, thus having to settle the customs and practices which pre- the kind of power base necessary for for more anonymous, soft news vail within the profession—must there- real change—either in terms of jour- reporting…which in a nutshell pro- fore be understood not simply in terms nalistic output or in the way the institu- duces a journalism typified as ‘femi- of working conditions, definitions of tions of journalism are organized. nine’…. If women write what they write, newsworthiness, values and priorities. One of the major ways in which it is not always the expression of a In a more fundamental sense these stereotyped attitudes impinge on feminine sensibility…but also the fact rules permeate the very essence of what women journalists is in the assignment that in many situations they cannot journalism “is,” or is believed to be, by of work. In a 1992 survey covering 10 write anything else, according to the the majority of its practitioners. Of countries in Europe, North America, structures of power within the profes- course, they are not completely static. Asia and Africa, writer Kate Holman sional hierarchy.” It can be argued that the audience goal found that 56 percent of responding In her study of women’s impact on of journalism implies that the rules journalists (male and female) believed the British press (1997) journalism lec- must—in some respects—be subject that women are still directed towards turer Linda Christmas concludes that to redefinition if markets are to be fully topics which traditionally have had less political writing is one of two “stub- exploited. But given the framework of status (human interest, social affairs, bornly male enclaves.” The other is power relations in journalism, it can- and culture), rather than being steered leader writing (editorials). Again, the not be assumed that such redefinitions towards the “high-status” topics such rules of the game mean that women are will work to women’s long-term ad- as business, economics or foreign news. not seen as—and usually do not see vantage. If audience behavior causes a Although this rigid division of labor has themselves as—suited to this form of shift in the hierarchy of genres, or in started to break down in certain coun- journalism. One of the few female professional beliefs about what consti- tries, the general tendency to stream- leader writers in Britain (for The Times) tutes “good” journalism, it is incon- line women and men into different ascribes the small number of women ceivable that male journalists will ig- departments and subject areas un- to “a stereotyped notion of how nore the new ground opened up by doubtedly has an impact on salary and women’s brains work…. Men are such a change.

64 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

The belief that the gender balance in the commercially financed sector. In ‘Don’t give me any more of that rub- journalism—particularly in its higher that sense, market trends do not present bish about women not being able to echelons—will shift “in time” as more a promising scenario for women…. handle cameras.’” Or, he might have women graduates enter the profession The pursuit of equal opportunities does said, that rubbish about women not is remarkably persistent. UNESCO’s first not easily coincide with the pursuit of being “robust” enough to handle the World Communication Report (1989), maximum financial gain. job of chief executive. ■ noting that the proportion of female But even when they work, equal journalism students is very much higher opportunities policies seem to drag Margaret Gallagher is a freelance then the percentage of female working change along behind them—at what researcher and writer specializing in journalists in almost every country, often seems an excruciatingly slow gender and media. Her work in- concludes that “other things being place—rather than pushing media in- cludes assignments for the United equal, women’s share of jobs in jour- stitutions forcefully towards transfor- Nations Statistics Division, UNIFEM, nalism will gradually increase in the mation. In the sphere of gender rela- UNESCO, the International Labour coming years.” But, of course, other tions, the most recalcitant obstacle to Office, the Council of Europe, The things are not equal—even at the start- transformation is that of attitudes. Andy European Commission, and the ing post. Studies from various coun- Allan, the chief executive of Carlton UK European Audiovisual Observatory. tries show that male journalism gradu- Television, has expressed this suc- She has many publications in the ates are more successful than females cinctly: “From the cradle, we have field of gender portrayal and em- in finding jobs in the profession. After people brought up with certain ex- ployment in the media, including recruitment men advance more quickly pectancies of what they are likely to “An Unfinished Story: Gender Pat- than women…. achieve and what they can achieve. If terns in Media Employment” (Paris, To bring about shifts in the organi- we don’t see this as a human problem, UNESCO Publishing, 1995) and zational culture and in the attitudes of rather than a female problem, we won’t “Gender Setting: New Agendas for key staff, some media companies have crack it. No single initiative within a Media Monitoring and Advocacy adopted policies and action programs. media organization will take this very (London, Zed Books 2001). These are more often found in the far…. The major problem is nothing broadcast media than in the press, and but simple prejudice, and we should [email protected] more often in publicly funded than in reply to any technician who complains: Worldwoman Stretches Its Reach to Several Continents By training rural women how to tell their stories, the coverage of news changes.

By Lesley Riddoch

ewspapers are male shaped. save the news reading planet from mary kids painting with colors for the They are testosterone fueled, chronic boredom by developing an al- first time. Opinions were easy to chant Nknee jerk, confrontational, ternative news agenda fast. about but harder to develop, adapt, short term, pompous and status con- I set up my first feminist magazine at refresh, relate and, yes, write about. scious. They are also punchy, strong, Oxford University in 1978. It was called Even at lofty Oxford University, girls uncompromising and incisive. And they Lilith after Adam’s mythical first wife regurgitated facts but tended not to reflect the direction in which the edi- who refused to lie beneath him and develop personal agendas, never mind tor wants to move. Usually, that editor was banished from Eden for her cheek. worldviews. We acquired knowledge is a man. Much of the content was desperately but were not encouraged to develop From where I sit, as editor of worthy—I remember trying to make a insight. We got our brains working to Worldwoman—an online news service story out of the Boilermakers Union analyze massive problems but weren’t written for and about women—main- donating 40 pounds to the local expected to persevere and suggest so- stream news could use a lot less blind Women’s Aid hostel. And I remember lutions. Clever girls. Boring newspa- obedience, hierarchy and conformity having to argue strenuously that Lilith per. But we were young. and a lot more vigorous challenge. And would not be avoided by women em- In 1991, feminist magazine number the voices of those that are often ex- barrassed that its name reminded them two was born and named Harpies and cluded could substitute a lot more ac- of—hush it—tampons. Quines. At its birth, the magazine was tion and focus for their resentment We thought that we were sued by the mighty Harpers and Queen, and passivity. In short, women need to groundbreaking, but we were like pri- owned by National Magazines, due to

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 65 Women: International

the likeness of our names. Apparently I realized there was only one way to women just don’t make the “news” as they thought our scurrilous rag could demonstrate how a set of values can news is conventionally defined. be mistaken for a glossy debs and underpin each word, picture, opinion Women’s opinions don’t usually shake homes, frocks and gardens kind of and promotion. I suggested that one stock markets. Nor do their actions magazine. We kept calm, used the press, edition of the paper should be written, normally provoke wars or strikes or got Britain-wide publicity, and forced produced and edited by the women on disputes. Their casual purchases don’t Harpers to climb down. Three years the paper and published as the destroy or create thousands of jobs. later, the nightmare of distribution costs Scotswoman on International Women’s Their work doesn’t usually attract Nobel did what H&Q could not and closed us Day, 1994. I was amazed when I discov- Prizes or vast research awards, and down. ered I didn’t have to argue the case at their hopes rarely shape new political That was enough fringe activity and the next board meeting. Some men parties or movements. enough time worrying only about reacted so strongly, so immediately, We wanted to produce a real news- women and the dinosaurs of print. For and so angrily against the very idea of paper, not a fantasy one, so we had to the next decade, I was in broadcast- change that they converted the more find ways to make women’s views news- ing—radio and television—and discov- moderate men into my instant allies. worthy. I employed a prominent trans- ered that a good live broadcaster can portation expert to look at a new pro- set a distinctive news agenda without Creating Scotswoman posed motorway round Glasgow. too much fuss. However, the print chal- Professor Carmen Hass-Klau analyzed lenge remained. This left us 10 weeks to achieve a the evidence and concluded that the By 1995, I’d become deputy editor world first—the first Scotswoman pa- council was indirectly discriminating of The Scotsman, Scotland’s primary per. Some women argued the idea was against women by spending millions quality daily newspaper. At 182 years patronizing, that there wasn’t one on new motorways, not on new public of age, the newspaper needed to be “women’s view” of any issue and that transport. Her views made news, even modernized and made more attractive the whole project was a token waste of by existing standards. Then, we found to younger people and women. As I time. I let the staff argue out these the most inaccessible train platform in looked across newspapers, radio and important questions and come to a Scotland and challenged the male boss TV stations I could find plenty of fe- majority decision. Thankfully, the de- of the Scottish Trade Union Movement male reporters but hardly any female cision was to proceed. to cross it with one baby stroller, two correspondents, lead writers, political A month before this paper would be children and four bags of shopping. columnists, news editors, program published, 30 female journalists sat in The resulting pictures later persuaded editors, newspaper editors, or owners. a room for two hours and discussed Railtrack to install lifts. Jobs that required comment, judgment news coverage. At first, it was hard. We had a men’s page, too, with a and well-cultivated contacts, jobs that When no one has asked your opinion self-examination graphic for testicular shaped public opinion and set agen- on the big stories, it’s tempting to re- cancer. Strangely, this was one male das, these jobs were filled mostly by vert to passive silence or criticism. But disease that the male-led news team men. soon the opinions were flowing. What had never thought to cover. There was I wondered why. And I wondered if is foreign news? Pictures of men in also a fashion spread on how men can it mattered. uniforms with guns, and men in suits match their shoes with their briefcases. It did. Women readers were drifting with power. Much war and conflict We decided to make a statement about away from almost all broadsheet pa- reporting is about how people die and the cynical use of naked women in pers. The Scotsman, in 1995, was no fight, cheat and wrangle, but has little fashion shoots by using an undressed exception. Was the content to do with how people live in different male model—with the briefcase cover- unreflectively male oriented? Discus- cultures. No one suggested we ignore ing his modesty! This went down sur- sions about this were frustrating. A coverage of war, but we also wanted to prisingly well—with both sexes. Hu- well-run paper is rarely a deeply reflec- make more space for stories about top- mor was important among all the tive one. The men who ran The Scots- ics like paternity leave in Norway. Ap- “earnest” stuff that the male staff feared man did not—perhaps they could not— parently lots of men there use their and readers might have expected. challenge their own decision-making state-funded leave to go fishing. The The presses went into action and on a daily basis. The relentless pres- female politicians who introduced the vans and trains shot off around Britain sure of paper production required leave were apparently checking up on to deliver this very special edition. The unselfconscious decision-making about the men’s whereabouts. Everyone Scotswoman sold out in about three who should cover which stories and agreed that was the sort of story they hours. There was publicity about it in how those stories should be written. wanted to see in foreign news. 22 countries and letters and faxes came The suggestion that their decision-mak- Additionally, we wanted women pouring in for weeks afterwards. The ing habits might be a source of trouble being actors in the news we published, vast majority were supportive; a few provoked a very frosty, hostile reac- and not simply seen as passive objects. were appalled. tion. But the truth was then, and is now, that By the next morning, it was business

66 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International as usual at The Scotsman with no real as working to end the cycle of corrup- journalists a bit more freedom at the analysis about what was learned and tion, war and exploitation in their con- start. When they are satisfied that they what was achieved. By the next year, tinent. These African women I met are ready to “go live,” Africawoman will our project was downgraded to a tab- with wanted to develop a voice. Their be launched. It will be a Web paper loid supplement; the following year, it voice. To do that requires patience, written by African women journalists was scrapped. When I left the paper, it practice, work, support and fun. to be read by African women and the seemed the idea had died. But in 1998 The idea of encouraging and train- news will also be delivered via commu- the British Council in Scotland invited ing a pilot group of women journalists nity radio to be heard by millions of me to talk to a bunch of women politi- by producing a paper like Worldwoman women across Africa. cians and activists from 41 developing on the Internet started to form before Worldwoman has linked up with countries about women and the me- I went to the SWAA (Society for Women Development Through Radio (DTR)— dia. I showed them the Scotswoman and AIDS in Africa) conference of HIV- a Zimbabwe-based charity—to use the papers, and their response was emo- positive women in Uganda this past Internet to send the netpaper to their tional and intense. They also longed to March. Four hundred women from all growing network of women-led com- produce something different and not over Africa were present, representing munity radio stations. [See stories on just talk about it. probably the largest group of HIV-posi- African community radio on pages 75- tive women on the planet. But there 77.] Together, our goal is to have every Worldwoman and the African was more media coverage of Kofi country in Africa broadcasting a Experience Annan’s one-day visit to Kenya. women’s news service by 2003. These women delegates knew noth- Worldwoman will use the Internet, A while later, I figured that the ing of impending AIDS-related confer- recording studios, and rural radio lis- Internet would have to be part of the ences of the G7 in Genoa or U.N. in tening groups to send news bulletins answer. That’s when I set up New York. Their views were not being and news features across Africa and Worldwoman as a women’s Web paper canvassed by international journalists. pick up local stories to feed back to the to be a source of women’s stories, Delegates knew little about the details journalists. In 2003, we hope to ex- available to interested editors in many of the anti-retroviral court case in South pand facilities to help African women countries. I devoted the best part of Africa and what it might mean for im- producing plays, soaps and documen- two years looking for funding. Too ports of generic drugs in their own taries to make programs for the net- worthy to be commercial, yet not safe countries. The women were well-orga- work of DTR women’s stations. enough to get U.N.-type funding, we nized, articulate and passionate but Within three years, Worldwoman were fortunate to get some financial disconnected from the mainstream would like to transfer control of edito- backing from Scottish Enterprise and a news and decision-making agenda. rial, finances and production of this lot of voluntary help with the Web site These brave and focused women were ambitious media project to the African from Jim Byrne at Glasgow Caledonian outside of the food chain called news. women whom we are currently train- University. A quick solution was for me to write ing. The DTR Project—popularly Meanwhile, in 1999, the secretary a few stories about them and their known as the Radio Listeners’ Clubs— general of UNESCO decided to en- concerns. And I did. But these activists was launched in 1988 by Jennifer courage women in newsrooms to have need skilled African journalists to tell Sibanda to give rural women access to a “Takeover Day” on International their stories. The role for well-meaning national radio. Through training, the Women’s Day. With their backing, 600 outsiders like me is to provide sup- project develops leadership qualities, news outlets did this; more joined in port, mentors, encouragement and encourages women to share experi- 2000. However, what I wanted to do cash. And that’s what the virtual news- ences, and links rural people with was develop an alternative news agenda room (VNR) pilot project at policymakers. Now there are women’s and not just a series of one-shot publi- Worldwoman is all about. community-run radio stations and cations. The VNR is an Internet tool to con- women-run programs on existing na- With British Council backing, I vis- nect women journalists in four African tional broadcasting stations in Angola, ited four of the African countries that countries (Ghana, Zimbabwe, Uganda Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, were interested in developing a world- and Kenya). They’ve been trained to- Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tan- wide women’s news agenda. I realized gether face-to-face to understand more zania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. DTR is during my visit that their need for per- about news values and journalism, and expanding its work to Nigeria, Ghana sonal development and my desire to they are using an intranet to set their and Sierra Leones. DTR has a massive create a stable of sassy women writers own collective agenda, swap stories of listenership, but needs news material. throughout the world were walking best practice, news and information, Africawoman has news material, but hand in hand. And at least one of those and create a new net paper. At the needs a virtual audience, and women hands was also holding onto the women moment, their netpaper is private, pri- activists in Africa need a voice. It’s time activists in Africa who were confront- marily to protect Zimbabwean writers, they all worked together. ing the massive burden of AIDS, as well in particular, and basically to allow the Worldwoman envisions a different

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 67 Women: International

way to use the Internet in rural Africa. stations in Malawi and Mozambique. ment on March 12, 2002 (Common- We don’t think there will be a vast So a computer and modem and printer wealth Day). This would expand the network of marginalized African could supply Africawoman news and whole project to Asia while keeping women reading Africawoman on com- allow activists to join the editorial control in Africa, and there puters. Internet links are too expen- virtualnewsroom intranet. Once would then be a repetition of the vir- sive and computers too rare for most trained—in the cascade training event tual training we’ve begun in Africa. Africans. But the net is already being we are fundraising to realize in March Worldwoman’s aim is to train groups used as a virtual whiteboard by our 2002—a key activist in each group will of women journalists throughout the remote news teams when they create be trained to be sufficiently skilled to world to work together to create their their Web paper together. It can be keep in touch and to start additional own virtual or actual publications, to used as a virtual post box when we local training. encourage women’s community radio send copy to local radio stations. And We also think that editions of networks, and to have top quality jour- the computer can serve as a portable Africawoman can be published to coin- nalists writing for a weekly printing press so information need only cide with important meetings or sum- Worldwoman that will be essential read- be downloaded and printed out once mits that affect grassroots women. One ing to half the world’s population, and to then be communicated to tens of special edition is already being planned pretty damn interesting for men, too. thousands of women listening to com- for the Rio plus 10 summit in 2002. In countries around the world, women munity radio. Using the net and the Few grassroots activists ever get to at- are confronting similar challenges and “written word” this way, rural women tend decision-makers’ conferences; fighting similar battles, and even though who might wait a generation to be- Africawoman will bring the mountain they are separated by continents, come literate can hear what they need to Mohammed. Not only do we plan to oceans, languages, customs and reli- to know next year, and hear it from send Africawoman to DTR’s entire ra- gions, by mixing technology with clev- sisters across Africa. dio network, but we’re also working erness, enthusiasm and skill building, This media project is not a one-way on the idea of a weekly news service connections through news can and street. Direct communication between that would become daily when those should be made. ■ the rural women and journalists will stations have more demand for that happen on a monthly basis. But we amount of news. We are also planning Lesley Riddoch is editor of hope e-mail will become a regular “di- Commonwoman—a Commonwealth Worldwoman. rect” channel, too. There is a phone version of Africawoman to be inserted line to the women’s community radio into existing newspapers as a supple- [email protected] In Nigerian Newspapers, Women Are Seen, Not Heard Even influential women journalists stay away from coverage of women’s issues.

By Christine Anyanwu

he Punch, the widest circulating A content analysis of mainstream that it is not quite so. The definition of daily in Nigeria, did something media in Nigeria reveals one dominant news, what makes news, real market- Tsavvy October 20. On the cover, orientation: Women are largely seen able news in Nigeria inevitably excludes Stella, the gorgeous wife of President and not heard. Their faces adorn news- a sizeable chunk of the population, Obasanjo, was stepping out for an oc- papers. However, on important na- especially women. By the 1991 popu- casion with two equally gorgeously tional and international issues, they lation count, women make up 49.92 dressed women. There was no detail fade out. Even when the news is about percent of the population; that is .8 on where they went; no words heard them, the story only gains real promi- percent less than the men. But from from them. No stories. Just big color nence if there is a male authority figure politics to economy, technology, com- pictures. In this edition, women made or newsmaker on the scene. merce and industry to crime, very few the cover, back page, and seven other Ask any editor in Lagos, the media women’s voices are heard in the main- pages, a total of nine out of its 55 center of Nigeria, and he will argue his stream media. pages. Who can resist the face of a paper is issue-oriented, keen on seri- At the heart of this practice is tradi- beautiful woman? The paper’s vendors ous news, and gender-blind. That tion. Historically, the local media has had a field day. That morning, other would tend to suggest that whatever been dominated by men, a situation papers lost out in the fierce competi- makes news gets covered, whoever is that persists. A recent survey conducted tion for a narrowing market. involved gets heard. But the reality is by the Independent Journalism Center

68 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

(IJC) in Lagos in conjunction with the Panos Institute of Washington and the Center for War, Peace and the News Media of New York established that 80 percent of practicing journalists in Ni- geria are male. This circumstance im- pacts coverage of news. The Lagos- based Media Rights Monitor reports in its January 2001 issue that “domina- tion of the news media by men and the preponderance of male perspective in the reporting of news have also brought about a situation where there is little focus on the participation of women in the political and economic spheres of the country. Women’s issues are also not given adequate coverage in the media. Where they are covered, they are treated from the male perspective.” The women of the rice pyramids, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State. Photo by Christine Anyanwu. Newsmaking itself also has been 2001, Startcraft Intl.© gender-biased. That a woman made news in the early years of media devel- tive national dailies. ing struggles in a harsh economic and opment in the country was in itself But those days are gone; that genre social environment. Their struggles and news. “Man bites dog.” “Woman strips of woman has all but disappeared. In triumphs are part of the social land- in protest against taxes.” It had to be her place has come a new brand of scape, which ought to be reflected in that unusual to attract news coverage. woman, doused, softened by educa- the national media. And so, in the early 1960’s, women tion and modernity. She no longer Mainstream media is dominated by resorted to doing shocking things in employs the shocking tools of her fore- politics. Very little attention is given to order to grab the attention of society. bears to get noticed, but she has not real life issues that shape the quality of In Aba in southeastern Nigeria, it took succeeded any better with her modern living, things that dominate the minds bands of angry women rioting and chas- methods. A woman is still largely and hearts of the people. Professional ing the colonial government officials eclipsed in the news by the looming indoctrination and market realities rule there into hiding before society could image of her male counterpart. the treatment of information. Women’s listen to their issues. Then they made The dominant attitude among Nige- issues belong to a genre of information banner headline news in the conserva- rian journalists is that women’s issues considered lightweight news. Frivo- rarely make marketable news. Contro- lous. No serious editor wants his news- versy is what sells. As most women shy paper trivialized. Therefore, such sto- away from controversial issues, they ries are considered to properly belong remain out of the orbit of hot news. It to the tabloids dealing in trivia and sex is that simple. and scandal. In the serious media, they But there are occasional sparks. In are buried or relegated to the society, its October 13 edition, This Day news- art, home and entertainment pages. paper devoted two-thirds of the back Only in sports, however, do women page to a flattering column on Justice speak loudly because of their over- Rose Ukeje, the first female chief judge whelming presence and performance. of the Federal High Court and the high- Branding by advertisers also is a est judicial appointment for a female in consideration in the treatment of this Nigeria’s history. Some journalists point genre of news. Publications that fea- to the column as indicative of the qual- ture women in large numbers are eas- ity coverage mainstream papers prefer ily branded women’s publications. That to give women, but it can also be ar- has severe limitations on the kind of gued that it is reflective of the elitism advertisements they attract. No publi- that rules news judgment in our news- cation wants to suffer such limitations rooms. How many Justice Ukejes are in revenue generation. Therefore, they A Fulani woman in Keffi, Nasarawa State. there in Nigeria? For every triumphal steer clear of such affairs. It is a major Photo by Tony Raymond. 2001, Startcraft story of an Ukeje, there are thousands nightmare for publications edited or Intl.© of her compatriots engaged in unend- published by women.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 69 Women: International

Since the voices of politicians drown ate had passed it with controversial helped in no small measure in shaping out the people, it is those few women provisions, sparking a noisy debate in the attitude of government and by ex- linked to the noisy world of politics the media. In that week, the voices of tension that of the media whose huge that are occasionally heard. Wives of women in the federal legislature were publicity has made the issue one of the barely heard. Where were they? Did few success stories of media handling they not contribute to the debates on of women’s issues in recent times. It the floors of the Senate and House of could also be argued that their interest Representatives? What were their views in the matter was all the more fired by on the points of contention? It was a the tremendous coverage of the global mystery. problem of woman slavery and prosti- The silence of women on important tution in the world press. Still, it is a national and international issues gives story of triumph. Through sustained the mistaken impression that they do publicity and pressure, the federal gov- not care about the things happening ernment has set up its own committee around them. However, some female to draft a law that would empower it to politicians complain that even when seek the repatriation of citizens engag- they grant interviews, they are either ing in such disgraceful practices as pros- not reported or severely misquoted. As titution and fraud abroad. a result, they do not go out of their way Overall, the coverage of women in to engage with members of the media. Nigerian media is comparatively less Maryam Abubakar, a businesswoman impressive than many other nations in in Abuja, offers another explanation: the region. But if, as the study by the “Maybe we have not mastered the art of IJC concludes, this state of affairs can public relations operating here.” An- be explained by the overwhelming gela Agowike, editorial board member dominance of males in the profession, at the Daily Times of Nigeria, however, are the few women, especially those in explains that many women, including decision-making positions, making a Sifting rice from the chaff, Abakiliki Rice those in public office, still do not have difference? Mill, Ebonyi State. Photo by Christine sufficient confidence to speak out pub- Currently, there is only one Satur- Anyanwu. 2001, Startcraft Intl.© licly on issues. “They require a little day editor and one business editor. push; a media friendly environment.” There is no female editor or deputy Agowike belongs to a small group of editor in any major daily newspaper in public officers enjoy the best press in journalists who through some funding Nigeria. In the magazines, females have Nigeria. The public profiles of their provided by the United States Agency made greater inroads with several pub- husbands rub off and the goodwill plays for International Development (USAID) lishers, editors in chief, executive edi- in their favor. Generally, they are per- tried to give women interested in poli- tors, and associate editors. ceived as playing supportive roles to tics a voice in the media during the pre- Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, business edi- their husbands. Women in government election politics of 1999. But that ini- tor of This Day newspaper, explains also make news but this is because they tiative petered off with the end of the the low numbers of women at the top. speak on the portfolios they control, elections and return of democracy. “Many women,” she says, “are hired and those usually include women and Before they were properly weaned, but they soon marry and drop out of children’s affairs, health and aviation. they were literally left “on their own” the profession because they can’t com- Unlike their male colleagues, rarely do and they slipped back into silence. bine the rigor with raising a family. they venture out to comment on issues Perhaps the most reported issue Besides, a lot of men are very uncom- of national importance unrelated to concerning women in recent months fortable when they know their wives their portfolios. is the traffic of women to Europe for are going out in the street meeting all The visibility of women in elected prostitution. Two local NGO’s took it sorts of people. They complain of over- offices remains surprisingly low de- as a cause, focusing on discouraging exposure.” Like many other women spite the significant increase in their the practice through tougher legisla- who have made it to the top, numbers in this republic. Like women tion and rehabilitating the girls de- Nwogwugwu does not believe in gen- in other spheres, they are seen more in ported from Europe. The activities of der discrimination in the newsroom, pictures, and their voices continue to the NGO’s have enjoyed considerable perhaps because she has had a good be muffled. In the week of October 15 media coverage not the least because experience with her peers at her news- to 19, for instance, the most conten- their flag bearers are the wives of the paper. Yet many see that as one of the tious political issue in the country was vice president and the governor of one obstacles to the rise in the ratio of the electoral bill, the law to guide the of the states. That their husbands lent women in the profession. One point conduct of the next election. The Sen- their political weight to this cause on which there appears to be consen-

70 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International sus, however, is that the their issues through dra- majority of male journalists matic public protests. That have difficulty accepting the Rose Ukeje is today the editorship of women. This, chief judge of the federal they say, impacts on the num- High Court; that Ndi bers of female leaders emerg- Okereke is today the di- ing in the newsrooms. rector general of the Nige- Still, globally, women are rian stock exchange; that moving up the ladder in young Prisca Soares has higher numbers today. Sur- been making waves as the prisingly, however, it has not managing director of the translated into more quality country’s foremost insur- coverage for women’s issues, ance agency, NICON, and the reason being that profes- that numerous women are sional indoctrination and today chairpersons of out- market realities dictate prac- standing banks, have not tice. By their training and quite changed the domi- socialization, women have A woman at work in the salt pit of Keana, Nasarawa State. Photo by nant attitude toward news been taught that reporting Tony Raymond. 2001, Startcraft Intl.© about women. women’s affairs diminishes The old notion that the stature and impact of a journalist. A The Punch, explains that it is the fear of their pretty faces are more marketable professional who wants to be taken professional labeling that feeds that than their voices still prevails. Agowike seriously goes to mainstream journal- position: “A lot of us don’t want to be is fully aware of where the problem lies ism—oil, finance, politics, industry, branded as feminists or ‘women’s and how it can be addressed. “We found technology, crime—issues that attract libbers.’ Their attitude is I’m a journal- that when there’s need for opinions the interest and respect of the domi- ist. Period.” automatically they [journalists] go to nantly male readership. In Nigerian Angela Agowike knows the impact men. What we’re saying is that for the journalism, this indoctrination is deep, this fear has on the quality and fre- proper integration of women, make sometimes, driving a strong defensive quency of coverage of women’s issues. women’s issues part of what you’re attitude in the women. She was weekend editor of the Post talking about. If it is politics, there are Discussing this issue with four top Express before joining the editorial male; there are female. Don’t just talk female journalists, what emerged was board of Daily Times. “Once you’re to only the male. Talk to both.” that successful women tend to want to writing a story on women in your pa- It will take a total reorientation of remain mainstream and to avoid in- per, colleagues tend to conclude im- the journalist to hear the clear voice of volvement in spheres that would cause mediately that you’re a feminist. A lot woman in the Nigerian media. “There them to be branded. So, they shun of women do not want this. I can un- are many women with great potential,” women’s affairs and organizations. derstand this. But I tell them this: Some- Agowike says. “But they need a little “Anything family, any organization body has to do it even if it is a way of push to get there.” that tilts toward women, I’d never be in encouraging others,” she says. That push, that media friendly envi- it,” states Nwogwugwu. “I don’t be- Clearly, the apparent discomfort ronment that will give society the ben- lieve women should segregate them- with gender matters affects the han- efit of women’s ideas in the public selves. We are competing in an envi- dling of news related to women. “For sphere, is undoubtedly a new chal- ronment. We are all human. We get the me it has. Definitely,” admits lenge for journalism. But is society same education. We get the same op- Nwogwugwu. “I refuse to cover any- itself ready? ■ portunity. Let’s utilize whatever we have thing related to women. There are all and make the best of it.” For this rea- sorts of businesswomen’s forums. Once Christine Anyanwu is a television son, she does not belong to the Nige- I get invitations, I throw them in the programs producer and chief execu- rian Association of Women Journalists garbage. I’d never attend them.” tive of Spectrum Broadcasting Com- (NAWOJ). Janet Mba-Afolabi, ace crime And so, with the attitude set, the pany of Nigeria. Before her detention beat reporter and now executive direc- rising numbers and profiles of women in 1995 by the country’s military tor of Insider Magazine, does not be- in the media continue not to yield the dictator, she was the publisher of long to NAWOJ either. “NAWOJ is expected fruit. Looking at the coverage TSM, a weekly newsmagazine. Her trivial,” she says. “My position is that of news in Nigeria’s mainstream me- book on that experience, “The Days women journalists should belong to dia, the globe has only shifted slightly of Terror,” was published in Decem- mainstream associations such as NUJ since those early years when the ama- ber 2001. (Nigerian Union of Journalists).” zons of Aba and Fumilayo Kutis of Ronke Odusanya, assistant editor of Lagos forced society’s attention upon [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 71 Women: International An Absence of Women At newspapers in South Africa, few women are at the top. Some wonder why and ask why it matters.

By Pippa Green

bout a decade ago in South Af- cation, poor social and rica, when apartheid was already living conditions for Aon its deathbed, Mamphela black people, as well as Ramphele, then a university professor, racist job hiring practices spearheaded a study on employment built into the law, could equity at the University of Cape Town. explain the racial dis- The results were mainly unsurprising crepancy. What could ex- in a country coming out of 40 years of plain the absence of institutionalized racism. More than 90 white women from top- percent of top-level academic and ad- level positions—women ministrative positions were held by who’d presumably had white men. the same privileges of What was surprising was the almost education and opportu- complete absence of white women from nity as their male coun- the structures of power at what was terparts? The prejudices considered a fairly liberal university. that excluded women One of Ramphele’s aides, who’d con- must be so deep, she ducted the research, remarked at the reasoned, that they were time that the legacy of apartheid edu- especially hard to un- ravel, let alone combat. The same question might be asked of the Through Her Eyes media in South Africa. Seven years after the end Taking pictures and telling stories, of apartheid, and three women in two poor communities a years into a new employ- continent and an ocean away share ment equity law in- their lives and hardships with each tended to promote other and with the world at large by blacks and women, there participating in Through Her Eyes, a are only three women project based in Oakland, Califor- newspaper editors in the Mother and child, Guguletu township, Cape Town. nia. Co-directed by documentary country. One is black, Photo by Mimi Chakarova. (Chakarova is co-director of film producer Cassandra Herrman two are white. One is the Through Her Eyes project.) and documentary photographer editor of a weekly, one Mimi Chakarova, Through Her Eyes an editor of a business supplement dia. A senior newspaper company ex- began in Cape Town, South Africa by that gets inserted into the dailies of the ecutive said that when his (foreign) giving cameras to women to docu- biggest English-language group, and company had bought out the largest ment their lives. A similar project is the third is editor of a business weekly. English-speaking news group in 1994, taking place in East Oakland. The None is editor of a daily. There was one they could find no blacks or women in hope is that through this work these black woman editor of a small circula- the entire company worthy of women find commonality in their tion daily in Port Elizabeth, but her editorship. experiences, first by exchanging management closed down the news- It was, in retrospect and at the time, images and stories and eventually paper, and she now works for the gov- an astonishing statement. Women by meeting one another. More infor- ernment. “manned” the engine rooms of news- mation about this project, as well as The depth of the prejudice was rooms then, as now—they were copy- additional images, can be found at shown a few years ago at the special editors, chief copyeditors, news edi- ■ www.throughhereyes.org. hearings of the Truth and Reconcilia- tors, and assistant editors. They were tion Commission (TRC) about the me- reporters on the frontlines covering

72 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International the apartheid regime and the uprisings against it. They were senior politi- cal reporters and foreign editors. And it was two young black woman re- porters who first broke the story of Winnie Mandela’s involvement in the murder of a child- activist in 1988 and of the murderous gang of “football players” she ran from her home. One re- porter is no longer in the media. The other was Nomavenda Mathiane. Nomavenda Mathiane, a senior black woman journalist with a Johannesburg daily, was, 10 years later, one of only two women who testi- fied before the TRC hear- ings about the media under apartheid. She A portrait of a room in Guguletu township, Cape Town. Photo by Alice Kotelo. recalled that many of the black women entered the profession former mayor of New York; Ben critical criterion for accession to politi- with the same qualifications as their Bradlee, former editor of The Wash- cal leadership,” said Mbeki in his open- male counterparts. “However for years ington Post, and Anthony Sampson, ing address. “The Commonwealth con- editors and news editors relegated ’s official biographer. tains a significant proportion of the black female journalists to fill up There is not one woman on the board. women of the world. It cannot be that women’s pages. In spite of the network One board member, who prefers we pride ourselves as a Commonwealth of contacts that a woman might have not to be named, recalls how his wife, when that special collective distin- had, and her high standard of educa- in order to highlight this anomaly, sug- guishes itself by defining women as tion, she would be hired to report on gested at one board banquet to be alien beings.” domestic affairs, such as cookery pages, addressed by South African president For the media, though, the real ques- fashion, horoscopes, Dear Dolly col- Thabo Mbeki that the board members tion is why it matters. It’s easy to see in umns, and church business,” she said sit separately from their spouses. When a country such as South Africa why in her testimony. Her black male coun- Mbeki walked in, he saw one table rapid black advancement matters. With terparts, who entered the profession at comprising only men (the board mem- a black majority and blacks controlling the same time as her, are now publish- bers), and one table comprising only government, there is huge potential ers or senior editors, in spite of the women. He couldn’t help but remark instability in the fact that whites still oppressive burden they bore under on it. control most businesses and profes- apartheid, she said. Mbeki made a similar observation at sions. It is also easy to see why recruit- Mathiane’s cry to the TRC about the a meeting of Commonwealth Heads of ment and promotion of African-Ameri- double dose of discrimination she suf- Government in late 1999, when the can journalists mattered in the United fered went largely unreported, except only woman on a stage full of premiers, States at a certain period. in the alternative press. apart from the Queen of England, was Jerelyn Eddings, who has run the Only occasionally are the prejudices the prime minister of Bangladesh. The Freedom Forum offices in noticed. Independent Newspapers, only two other female heads of govern- Johannesburg for the past four years which runs the largest group of news- ment were absent. “Our continuing and is a 1985 Nieman Fellow, was re- papers in the country (and now has failure genuinely to respond to the cruited into the media at the time when two women editors out of its 14 titles), challenge to attain human equality, is the civil rights movement and black has an international advisory board. demonstrated by the very composition urban protests in the United States Appointment to this is a sinecure: Board of our meeting, according to which, were at their height. White journalists members include David Dinkins, clearly, maleness continues to be a simply couldn’t get the story. “In those

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 73 Women: International

days, African-American journalists were through the country. As recently as two decided that the way to increase circu- practically grabbed off the streets,” she years ago, several male editors dis- lation is to attract more women read- says. In the United States (and prob- missed stories about AIDS or rape as ers. It is a lesson that seems to have ably in South Africa), says Eddings, being too gloomy. When I ran the op- been taken to heart at The Star. There racial and ethnic diversity is more im- ed pages of one paper, I suggested is hardly a day when its readership is portant in allowing the media a broader publishing a story by a journalist who not confronted with news that a few worldview, but gender is increasingly was also a rape victim. The story was a years ago would have been relegated important. “South Africa missed the critique of the criminal justice system to the women’s pages. women’s movement,” she says. “So a and the way it dealt with rape. My then- Nearly half a century ago, a group of lot of the battles that were fought ear- editor responded: “But we’ve done women drew up a “Women’s Charter” lier in America and Europe, they’re rape; we did it last week.” In a country in which they said: “The level of civili- only having here now.” that has one of the highest rates of rape zation which any society has reached But is there “women’s news” in the in the world, it seemed odd to have can be measured by the degree of free- same way as there is “black news”? considered rape “done.” dom that its members enjoy. The status South Africa’s three female editors are Even today, many attempts by male of women is a test of civilization. Mea- not convinced there is, but still believe editors to “take women seriously” are sured by that standard, South Africa their presence makes a difference. “It clumsy. At a recent editors’ conference must be considered low in the scale of would be wrong to assume that we a senior editor said: “We must realize civilized nations.” have a different world view simply be- that women are an increasingly impor- The women were members of the cause of our gender,” says Paula Fray, tant part of our society.” African National Congress (ANC). The editor of the Saturday Star and a 2001 “It’s as if he were talking about an- Charter preceded one of the biggest Nieman Fellow. “Just as we have been other species,” said one of the two protests ever against apartheid when trained to write news with an inverted women present. “Imagine if a woman thousands of women marched on pyramid model, our concept of what were to say: ‘We must realize that men Pretoria in 1956 to protest the exten- now defines news has been molded by are an increasingly important part of sion to women of the oppressive “pass an essential white male model. I think our society.’” laws” (whereby all African men had to that is part of our challenge—to recog- In South Africa, the voices of women have a permit to be in the cities under nize that we, too, hold stereotypes are critical because the rapid spread of pain of instant arrest). Famous were molded by the environment we have AIDS is closely related to their status. It the remarks of men who supported grown up and have been socialized in. is not only rape that spreads the dis- women in their quest but for quite I think the greatest challenge I face as ease. Many poorer women, particu- different reasons. “The government an editor is to recognize that and cre- larly those in rural areas where AIDS is cannot give your women a pass if you ate a space in which reporters and most devastating, have no power to do not want to, because the women production staff can debate and rede- insist that men use a condom and little she is under the control of a man,” one fine how we cover stories, whose sto- power to stop certain rough sexual man was quoted as saying at an anti- ries we cover, and whose voices we use practices that increase their vulnerabil- pass meeting. to give life to those stories.” ity. There is also a widespread myth We are a long way on from 1956. Alide Dasnois, editor of Business that sex with a virgin cures AIDS, and as The ANC now rules South Africa and Report, a business supplement inserted a result there has been a frightening the Constitution enshrines equality into most of the Independent newspa- rise in incidents of child rape. The across race and gender. Yet it is hard to per titles, says it means writing about most recent and horrific example is the imagine how the media today, which issues in a slightly different way. She case of a nine-month-old baby gang- relies on democracy for its own free- says her presence as editor means that raped by six men. It is encouraging to dom, can sustain that freedom without there is a conscious attempt to get see that one of the biggest dailies, The including in its most senior ranks a black and women economists or Star, has taken up the issue with un- diversity representing our whole soci- businesspeople into the paper. “Some precedented energy (the editor, by the ety. Perhaps, too, media managements of the top economists in the country way, is male). The incident hogged might also find that equity pays off—in are women,” Dasnois says. “They don’t Page One for more than a week, and readership, in credibility, and eventu- have to prove anything, but it’s rare the paper has even started a public ally, yes, in the bottom line. ■ they get quoted.” fund to support the damaged baby. I would argue there’s another rea- There may be a bottom-line reason, Pippa Green, a 1999 Nieman Fellow, son that “women’s news” is critical in a too, about why women in the media is associate deputy editor of the country such as South Africa. Since the matter. South African newspapers have Financial Mail in Johannesburg, demise of apartheid, our greatest so- experienced falling circulations in the South Africa. cial challenges are arguably violence last few years, despite the increase in against women and children and the literacy and the rise of a black middle [email protected] terrifying AIDS epidemic spreading class. One newspaper in Britain has

74 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International Community Radio Provides Women a Way to Have Their Voices Heard Rural African women are trained in the use of reporters’ technological tools.

By L. Muthoni Wanyeki

he 1990’s witnessed dramatic primarily been on how to improve the ing, when advocacy efforts are success- changes in the print and elec- representation of African women within ful African women will find themselves Ttronic media in Africa. These the mainstream (public and private) not ready to assume their rightful places changes both contributed towards and media. Research papers that examine within the media. resulted from the movements towards conditions in some of these countries These efforts have had some posi- political pluralism experienced across attest to the underrepresentation of tive results. In many African countries, the region. Accompanying trends to- women at all staffing levels within the advocacy work regarding laws and poli- wards economic liberalization and African media and increasingly so at cies governing the media by coalitions privatization did not leave the media decision-making and managerial lev- of media stakeholders (unions, free- untouched. Today, most African coun- els. The absence of in-house policies to dom of expression organizations, pro- tries have several independent print address gender stereotypes and the fessional associations) has involved key outlets, including some publications male-oriented working conditions and demands about gender representation in local languages. And, with the ex- associated informal decision-making and content. A few media organiza- ception of only a few African nations, processes means that African women tions have adopted new in-house gen- broadcasting is no longer the preserve miss out on internal opportunities (if der and sexual harassment policies. of the ruling political parties. they are not willing to put up with And the efforts women have made Debates in Africa about freedom of endemic sexual harassment). Women within their respective media have led expression and information are now journalists also are assigned “soft” cov- to interesting and useful partnerships less about how much exists and more erage—relegated to the features and with women’s organizations to improve about content, which has yet to fully opinion sections—and this compounds coverage of gender-related issues. The break away from reliance on traditional their lack of exposure and access to annual global campaign against vio- sources and formats. The voices of many training opportunities likely to bring lence against women, for example, now who live and work outside of urban professional advancement. has mainstream media support in sev- areas are rarely seen and heard. Inter- A secondary focus of these associa- eral African countries. Throughout the national, even regional, news contin- tions has been to improve the capaci- duration of the campaign, advertising ues to be largely received through the ties of their members. Training ses- and editorial copy for the print and filters of global news agencies. At broad- sions on a range of relevant issues have electronic media will dedicate time to casting outlets, the spoken word to been held nationally, sub-regionally coverage and analysis of these issues music ratio is usually grossly unbal- and regionally. Some sessions stress and the campaign’s events. anced. Since very few African countries areas of technical competence, such as In some African countries, repeated have media regulations that seek to the use of new information and com- coverage of the violence against women promote local content, much of the munications technologies to improve campaign during a period of two to music is also externally produced. reporting and editing. Other are con- three years has enabled women jour- In nearly every country, there are tent-oriented, for example, focused on nalists to successfully lobby for more now women’s media associations: The specialized reporting on economic or coverage of this topic apart from the Association of Media Women in Kenya, environmental issues, or on reporting campaign. Sections of newspapers the Ethiopian Media Women’s Associa- about gender issues, human rights, and where these stories are now featured tion, the Tanzanian Media Women’s the legal system. are—finally and thankfully—very dif- Association, and the Uganda Media These two areas of focus need to be ferent in content than traditional Women’s Association are a few ex- intertwined. Without advocating fair women’s sections and shows which amples. There are also a couple of gender policies and establishing a con- focused on cooking and housekeeping regional women’s media umbrellas, ducive regulatory environment, even and child raising. These new “gender” such as the African Women’s Media the most well-trained African women sections and shows are dedicated to Centre and the Federation of African journalists are unable to utilize the discussions of key contemporary dis- Media Women. skills they learned once they are back at cussions and debates, some of which The focus of these associations has work. And without the technical train- focus on harmful traditional practices,

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 75 Women: International

on African women’s constitutional and literacy rates, most new electronic munity-based and -managed broadcast legal demands, and on African women media do not extend their reach be- media with a developmental agenda. and their decision-making. Including yond capitals and large urban areas. Development Through Radio in Zim- African men in such sections and shows, This means that African women of lower babwe, for example, links a series of when it is relevant professionally, income levels, in both urban and rural rural women’s listening and produc- clearly marks an important shift: Gen- areas, suffer from lack of access to tion groups with one another through der is now portrayed as being a key information. They also do not have the a public broadcaster. In Mali, open variable to all critical public policy de- means to express their own realities, media regulation has allowed for the bates, and this enables public support debate their interpretations of those formation of six women’s community to increase for these various causes. realities, and engage in discussions radio stations, similarly linked to ex- Outside of the mainstream (public about potential solutions with deci- change programs and ideas. There are and private) broadcast media signifi- sion- and policymakers at the national now women’s community radio sta- cant changes have occurred as well, level. tions in Malawi, Senegal and South but concerns remain, including issues In an attempt to remedy this situa- Africa. Most of the community radio of access to media production. In Af- tion, community broadcast media have stations are not specifically managed rica, with its disproportionately low emerged. These are participatory, com- by women, but women’s representa-

Changing the Way Women’s Lives Are Portrayed ‘Ordinary women only are considered news when something they’ve done is “bad”….’

By Lettie Longwe

While there are a good number of women who work in the media in Af- rica, their impact is still not yet signifi- cant. To some extent, the reasons emerge out of the cultures in which these women work. But other chal- lenges seem more a by-product of the ways in which these occupations oper- ate and the skills that are required and rewarded. For example, some attributes are admired and encouraged in men, yet seen as unacceptable in women. And when the media focus on these qualities, it is women who are nor- mally punished for having them. Per- haps this is most visible in coverage of politics: Women who “play” the media are seen as being manipulative, while men are merely regarded as politicians. Within the African media, many Khayelitsha township, Cape Town. Photo by Monica Bekwapai. women who have achieved influential positions do not want to assist other women below them. Now that they are nancial gain in focusing on women, so rare, and when it does appear, its pre- in high positions, they believe they coverage of women does not become a sentation is stereotypic. Earlier this year, should associate only with people who priority. Programs targeted at women when a public message about rape was will further enhance their positions. are dominated by stereotypical notions screened on South African TV, it raised They do very little to encourage, help of women’s interests—such as taking such an uproar from men that it was and associate with other women. They care of the house. And women’s sports finally removed from broadcast. literally turn a blind eye and deaf ear to receive little attention, often none at For those of us who work in commu- discrimination going on around them. all, yet women are very active in netball, nity radio in Africa, the audiences we And those people—men and basketball, tennis, even football. Nor is serve often have high rates of illiteracy. women—who make decisions about there much coverage of violence against Therefore, radio is the primary source media programming do not see a fi- women. As news, a story about rape is of information, and members of the

76 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International tion and gender are key components of improves advocacy on gender. The cation and be able to immediately con- their mandate. training on technologies teaches them trast that with the experience of similar To cater to the needs of African to use radio as a bridge to the Internet, women in the Horn—or when we can women in community radio, the again by supplying tools to feed their listen to the voices of women involved Women’s International Network (WIN) productions into a community radio in conflict resolution from Sierra Leone of the Africa section of the World Asso- exchange that reaches across Africa. to Rwanda to Somalia—then we’ll know ciation of Community Radio Broad- The potential of such a community- we’re getting somewhere. ■ casters (AMARC) has developed a train- to-community exchange to articulate, ing program aimed at improving the legitimize and catalyze African women’s L. Muthoni Wanyeki is the executive technical and editorial capacities of mobilization for change is enormous. director of the African Women’s women. This editorial training intro- The impact of changes and initiatives Development and Communication duces them to gender analysis and to on the gender agenda is slowly but Network (FEMNET) and president of the tools they’ll need to link them- cumulatively building and being felt. the World Association of Community selves with various women’s organiza- When we can turn on our radio sta- Broadcasters (AMARC Africa). tions. This creates a bottom-up, local- tions and hear about what rural women to-national flow of information and in the Sahel are doing about desertifi- [email protected]

media work hard to find ways for com- to an individual woman’s social status. munity members to participate in pro- Are there ways to make things bet- duction of the news. Because of this, ter, both for women who work in me- news coverage is mainly based on in- dia as well as for coverage of issues of formation deemed relevant by news importance in women’s lives? AMARC broadcasters and the communities that is working with other stakeholders to they serve. Even though women form urge those in positions of power within the majority of radio listeners, men still the media in Africa to operate gender- dictate what is listened to. Knowing balanced management systems, pro- this, the attitude in newsrooms remains gramming and employment practices very traditional and male dominated. that oppose discrimination and that AMARC Africa—through its Women’s are open and accountable to all. Women Program—works with women in com- in the media are also advised to advo- munity radio to help empower them cate for gender and communication through training and other develop- policies in their countries and to use mental programs. [See accompanying lobbying, networking, training and re- story by L. Muthoni Wanyeki about search to fight for their equal represen- these training programs.] tation and coverage of women’s lives. When women are the subjects of Women journalists are being encour- news coverage, they are usually con- aged to become more active in their sidered to be among the influential efforts to report stories with more real- and powerful people in the society, istic and positive portrayals of women. such as cabinet ministers, members of For instance, instead of covering vio- Khayelitsha township, Cape Town. Photo Parliament (if they are vocal, otherwise lence against women in such a way that by Monica Bekwapi. they are not much noticed), high office portrays women only as victims, cover- officials, women married to important age can focus on ways to alleviate this men, and beauty queens. Ordinary violence and also report on the perpe- Lettie Longwe is women’s program women only are considered news when trator. And the few successful women officer for AMARC Africa, a regional something they’ve done is “bad” or in the media should work towards en- office for AMARC, an international when they do something more than couraging and supporting others. non-governmental organization that “extraordinary.” There is little connec- These women could start by joining serves the community radio move- tion between women being in high and actively participating in women’s ment on five continents. places in the media and the coverage media associations whose main objec- women, in general, receive. News cov- tive is to empower and raise the stan- [email protected] erage of women is more closely linked dards of women in the media. ■

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 77 Women: International ‘Who Makes the News?’ The Global Media Monitoring Project 2000 finds great disparities in news coverage of men and women.

By Teresita Hermano and Anna Turley

hen we look at news coverage 430 media and gender activists in 1994. women’s participation as reporters—a through the prism of gender, One of the main recommendations of large majority (69 percent) of report- Wwhat we discover ought to the Bangkok Declaration was the un- ers are still male. startle those who think women’s per- dertaking of a global media monitor- The increasing presence of women spectives and issues are being well rep- ing study. The 1995 effort, coordinated in television news media is undoubt- resented. Even though the number of by MediaWatch Canada, and the 2000 edly an important advance, yet even a women journalists is increasing, when effort, organized by WACC, are consid- cursory look at employment practices it comes to coverage by news organiza- ered the most extensive analysis of in the news media reveals a less rosy tions women’s visibility is much more women’s presence and participation picture. At WACC’s regional confer- limited. in the world’s media. ences on Gender and Communication In two separate investigations— WACC was determined that the Policy—held in Asia, Africa, the Middle separated by five years—the Global broad aims of the GMMP 2000 would East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) pro- be to strengthen solidarity among the Pacific between 1997-2000, many vided just this kind of information. women in the media, media literacy, women journalists revealed that their “Women’s Participation in the News,” and advocacy on media and gender appearance rather than their intellec- an examination of the day’s news on issues. The work in 1995 had already tual abilities or experience is frequently January 18, 1995 in 71 countries, re- helped to demystify this kind of re- used as part of the criteria for their vealed that women were the subject of search by providing a worldwide net- selection. This evidence is supported news reports on radio, television and work of monitors with the opportunity by GMMP 2000, which showed that newspapers just 17 percent of the time. and tools to assess gender representa- although there are more women news [That left men’s visibility at 83 per- tion in the media. By 2000, we were presenters on television, they tend to cent.] Five years later, after a period able to see not only what changes had disappear from the screen at an earlier spanning a myriad of women’s cam- taken place after five years and re- age than their male colleagues do. From paigns, including the massive World search new questions but to extend the Asia to Africa and the Middle East, par- Conference on Women in Beijing and use of our findings. We could offer ticipants at the WACC conferences also the post-Beijing activities, a more in- various monitoring groups contextual confirmed that while women are more depth Global Media Monitoring Project analysis, including results from their present in the newsroom, they con- took place on February 1, 2000 in 70 own country and region, which they tinue to be victims of harassment and countries. The main findings, published could use in their education and advo- discrimination. in “Who Makes the News?” had hardly cacy work. changed. Women in the world’s media News Reporting and the that day were found to be just 18 per- Employment Practices and Gender Division of Labor cent of the news subjects. These find- the Presence of Women ings emerged at a time when women Journalists in the News What news do men and women re- made up 41 percent of announcers Media port? Research has shown that there is and reporters of the news. a clear gender division of labor in news GMMP 2000 was the work of the During the last 40 years there have reporting, and this finding was con- World Association for Christian Com- been immense changes in women’s firmed by GMMP 2000. Women jour- munication (WACC) Women and Me- participation in the news media. In the nalists are often confined to reporting dia Programme. For more than a de- 1960’s and 1970’s, it was a rare event to local news rather than national or for- cade, the WACC Women’s Programme see women anchoring television news- eign news and “soft” topics such as has been organizing and supporting casts, yet today women make up a entertainment or health more often workshops and conferences, includ- slight majority of television news an- than politics or crime. This gender seg- ing the international conference on nouncers (56 percent), according to regation of labor, in addition to the “Women Empowering Communica- data from GMMP 2000. There have relative values attached to “hard” and tion,” held in Bangkok and attended by been less dramatic increases in “soft” news, mean that while women

78 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International now comprise a greater proportion of more female news subjects than do counts miss the opportunity to broaden news reporters than before, they are those by male reporters, yet the por- the scope of their stories by including not enjoying equality with their male trayal of women in the media has not women’s perspectives, even in cases counterparts. improved dramatically. Perhaps, then, where those views seemed essential to the crucial question is, as Gallagher the story. One of the most striking Women Journalists and states, “not who is telling the story but examples in GMMP 2000 came from a Gender Sensitivity how the story is told.” Sudanese newspaper story about the problems faced by young women when Whether an increase in the number The Presence and Portrayal they move away from home to study in of women journalists will lead to im- of Women in the News Media another town. The article interviewed proved coverage of women and a male teacher and a male student, but women’s issues in the media is highly One of the most startling results of did not include any words or views contested. Recent research has done GMMP 2000 was the discovery that from a female. As Gallagher shows, this little to throw light on the matter. Al- women are a central focus in only 10 tendency to talk about rather than to though some argue that a critical mass percent of stories. But even these sto- women illustrates not only the very of women working in the media can ries are rarely inspired by a concern real absence of women’s voices, but and will make an imprint on media with women’s relationships to or views the profound lack of attention paid by content, others have highlighted the about political, economic or social the news media to the telling of need to consider the more dominant matters. Instead, many of these stories women’s stories generally. impact of media ownership and the focus on women in stereotypical roles. Our monitoring efforts allow us to prevailing culture within the media Quite common was the portrayal of scrutinize what and how the news industry. women as victims, particularly of crime. media are doing in regard to news The difficulties associated with While victims are, in general, common coverage of women. But they also cre- women’s representation in the media currency in news programs, women ate a tool for action. Networks of cannot simply be reduced by notching were found nearly three times more women are energized by the organiza- up a few percentage points in the share likely to appear as victims than men. tion and work of monitoring and once of women’s time on air or in print. As Other stories from GMMP 2000 showed the findings emerge, they are empow- Margaret Gallagher observed in “Gen- women’s success in beauty contests or ered to promote change by the knowl- der Setting: New Agendas for Media in weight reducing competitions. A few edge they have acquired. While we Monitoring and Advocacy” (London, highlighted the more serious achieve- often hear that news is simply a reflec- Zed Books 2001), “What is at stake is ments of women, and a sprinkling ac- tion of what is happening, this close- not just the number of women who tually addressed questions of women’s up look, across borders and time zones, appear in the media, but the weight of rights or status in the political or social reminds women that reflections of their their voices.” [See Gallagher’s article world. lives and their issues are still absent, on page 63.] As Gallagher shows in her analysis of despite their increasing presence in Evidence has, to date, been mixed. the findings of GMMP 2000, while these newsrooms. GMMP 2000 has provided In “Who Makes the News?” the follow- sorts of stories do give time and space the means for us to answer some of our ing information was gathered: to women in the news, the content questions, but what it does is raise so rarely advances the featured women’s many more to which answers must be •In stories by female reporters, 24 concerns or the interests of women found. ■ percent of news subjects are women, overall. An extreme example comes whereas in stories by male report- from Turkey where only three percent Teresita Hermano is the director for ers, only 18 percent of news sub- of stories in the media focused on services and the Women’s jects are women. women. One of those was a television Programme at the World Association •In female reporters’ coverage of item about research into the link be- for Christian Communication. Anna “hard” news, 15 percent of news tween heart attacks and snoring in Turley is the Women and Media subjects are women, compared to women—a serious issue—yet the video Programme officer. Additional 12 percent in coverage by male re- footage used to illustrate the report information from these reports can porters. showed women in bikinis posing on a be found at www.wacc.org.uk. •In “soft” news coverage by female beach. reporters, 32 percent of news sub- Also missing from news stories that [email protected] jects are women, yet by male report- focus on women are the voices of the ers, 27 percent are women. women concerned. Though not totally silent, their voices are heard only in the Both “hard” and “soft” news stories margins of the news agenda, rather by female reporters clearly do have than at its core. Frequently news ac-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 79 Women: International In Poland, Women Run the Largest News Organization But critics contend that coverage of women’s news is ‘unpredictable and ignores many key issues.’

By Peggy Simpson

elena Luczywo and Wanda On her first trip back to Poland in Rapaczynski are powerhouses January 1990, she was scouting virgin H behind one of Europe’s new- territory for Citibank as head of their est media empires, Agora. It owns a new-products research team. flagship newspaper in Poland, Gazeta Gazeta Wyborcza had been created Wyborcza, 17 radio stations, an Internet in April 1989 as a limited liability com- portal—and more. It also made mil- pany. Solidarity negotiators at the lionaires of many of its workers with Round Table Talks with the Commu- the largest employee stock offering in nist government argued for a private Central-Eastern Europe and now con- newspaper to be started to report on trols more than half of Poland’s adver- the first partly free elections June 4. tising revenue. Lech Walesa asked Michnik to start the When Luczywo attended a media paper; he enlisted Luczywo, and she conference in Prague in July 1990, there brought along her staff from the Weekly. were dozens of wannabe media mo- The May 8 first issue of 150,000 copies guls then surfacing from the ruins of sold out quickly. Three weeks later state socialism. Few made it. Some sold Solidarity candidates won every con- out to foreign media companies; oth- tested seat. Within weeks, the Commu- ers proved to be inept managers with a nists had handed government over to tin ear for what readers wanted. The them—the first step in the collapse of success of Agora was by no means cer- Communism itself. tain, either. Yet today it is seen as one Despite the paper’s instant success, of the best-managed companies in Eu- Wanda Rapaczynski, president of Agora, Luczywo knew she needed help. She rope, with a commanding editorial and created a media empire in Poland. pleaded with Rapaczynski to find her financial clout. This spring, Rapaczynski pro bono experts to help shape a busi- made Business Week’s list of top 50 ness side to the newspaper. Rapaczynski executives in Europe. against the regime. Luczywo’s family also was asked to find investors—and The Agora inner circle also includes stayed put. Rapaczynski’s left. From to develop an internal decision-mak- Adam Michnik, a philosopher-writer that time on, both women honed their ing process to replace the chaotic so- who is the eloquent public voice of the management skills—but on incredibly cialist “egalitarianism.” paper, and publisher Piotr Niemczycki, different turf. Luczywo edited under- Luczywo and Michnik were training Rapaczynski’s alter ego on the busi- ground publications, keeping one step their own reporters and, even in 1989, ness side. Without the linkup between ahead of the communist cops. After the sent foreign correspondents to Wash- Luczywo and Rapaczynski in 1990, Solidarity free trade union was banned ington, then to Moscow. Today they however, there is scant chance that in late 1981, she edited its underground have eight correspondents, none of Gazeta Wyborcza would have pros- newspaper, Tygodnik Mazowsze whom are women. (At the corporate pered as the first independent newspa- (Mazovia Weekly), which sustained the parent, Agora, men direct all seven per established from the former Soviet movement even after most leaders were departments; on the newspaper, one bloc—let alone that Agora would be an jailed. She put out 80,000 copies a woman is among four deputy editors.) $800 million media empire now poised week on 20 printing presses on a Reporters learned on the job how to to expand beyond Poland. monthly budget of $1,000 from over- cover “shock therapy” economic re- Luczywo and Rapaczynski had seas donations—“quite a lot in those forms and to tell readers who was buy- known each other as children, but their days.” ing up what from the ranks of ex- lives took dramatically different turns Rapaczynski went to Italy, then Swe- Communists. They reported on in 1968. Polish Communists launched den, before settling in New York. She payback demands by the Catholic an anti-Semitic campaign blaming Pol- married, had a daughter, earned a doc- Church, which had provided safe ha- ish Jews for the worker-student revolts torate in psychology and then an MBA. ven to Solidarity dissidents. And they

80 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International supported the 1990 reforms, even when Magazyn and High Heels (Wysocki i However, in time, Gazeta Wyborcza it meant a showdown with Walesa, Obcasy) targeted to the interests of learned to connect with readers on who was running against Solidarity women. Rapaczynski has a $340 mil- issues far afield of Luczywo’s passion economic reformers in the November lion acquisition pot. Luczywo left edit- for politics—on such mundane issues 1990 presidential campaign on a plank ing two years ago to prepare the Agora as finding jobs, cars, homes and the to give every Pole an ownership stake Internet portal, which was launched in accoutrements that the “acquisitional” in socialist enterprises. (A similar early 2001. Poles insisted on having. They also voucher privatization program was sub- Agora’s 1999 public offering raised learned to listen better to core con- sequently tried in the Czech Republic $93 million with part of the money cerns of readers about this transition. with disastrous results.) Gazeta going for stock options to 1,500 of the The turning point was a Wyborcza backed the reformers, not 3,000 workers, based on seniority, who groundbreaking series on maternity Walesa, and he later demanded that could buy shares for one zloty (about hospitals. A male editor (and new fa- the editors remove the Solidarity logo. 25 cents). When they could sell two ther) suggested that readers tell them In retrospect, that was the start of years later, the shares had gone up to zl their “birthing” experiences. An out- the paper’s real independence—even 104 (about 25 dollars). pouring of horror stories resulted about if they were not out of the woods But the Agora saga is not just about poor facilities and demeaning attitudes. financially. Luczywo and Rapaczynski money. Many promising startups from There had been reports of this be- agreed they needed a foreign investor 1990 fell apart because of the “culture” fore—feminists had had a seminar on to help finance rapid growth. “Our inherited from state socialism. “It was “totalitarian practices in maternity hos- goal was to get ‘clean’ money that really difficult for many of us to switch pitals”—but the Gazeta Wyborcza se- wouldn’t be a political obligation,” said from working in informal groups, as ries made this a national issue the policy Rapaczynski. This was easier said than members of the underground, to learn chiefs had to address. done. Poland’s reforms today get much to work in big organizations and then Has this media empire run by two praise, but back then the country was a big corporation,” said Luczywo. The women made a difference for women seen as a black hole and investors didn’t challenge was “getting out of the fog, in Poland? Opinions differ. Poles prob- want to be around for factory-floor so to speak,” says Rapaczynski. “This ably underestimate the impact of a showdowns over layoffs. organization doesn’t lack in intelli- commitment of resources needed to Agora had been created as a parent gence, but if that translates into every- produce a high-caliber women’s maga- for the paper. Owners of The New York body talking, that’s a lot of wasted air.” zine. Few Western papers have done Review of Books loaned them $300,000 Her mantra was “focus, focus.” She this. Rapaczynski wanted to snare more in 1990 for printing supplies. But most also imported Western solutions and women readers but, even more, to give banks and venture capitalists turned scoffed at arguments that Poland was advertisers a vehicle to reach women, them down. Rapaczynski’s daughter “different” and had to shape a home- “specifically for beauty and fashion.” wrote 400 letters to U.S. foundations grown remedy. And, she says, “we see a very nice fit.” but got back mostly questions—includ- Rapaczynski was struck by the differ- High Heels, the magazine supplement, ing “how long will this freedom last?” ent “levels of self-confidence. One thing boosted Saturday newspaper sales by Foreign media magnates wanted you will never hear from an American eight percent its first year. control with their investment. One re- team and was heard here all the time High Heels is far more than a fash- buffed investor was Italy’s current presi- [in 1990] was ‘this can’t be done’—‘nie ion magazine, however. Cover stories dent (and media baron) Silvio mosliwa.’ I finally said I wouldn’t stand feature women with wrinkles, not just Berlusconi’s Fininvest media. The for that phrase. And let’s think about under-30 beauties. Feminists write col- breakthrough came in 1993, when the how it can be done.” This approach umns. Cutting-edge issues get explored Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises Inc. took paid off when tabloids and fancy maga- at length, along with health and fitness a 12.3 percent stake in Agora, paving zines began to siphon off customers. At pieces that advertisers prefer. But the way for eight million dollars in debt Gazeta, they’d established a framework Rapaczynski says “we finally are begin- financing from the European Bank for for correcting mistakes. And there were ning to show our feminist face—which Reconstruction and Development plenty of them, from too-high news- is long overdue.” (EBRD). They paid back the 1990 loan, stand prices to passive “order-takers” Maybe. Women’s rights groups say built a $21 million printing plant, and on the advertising staff. Then there was the newspaper is unpredictable and computerized the newspaper. By 1995, the two million-dollar “image advertis- ignores many key issues, for instance they started buying radio stations and ing” campaign that Rapaczynski con- the reasons why far more women are proved the skeptics wrong by success- cluded “was a total waste of money.” unemployed than men (including fully adapting a “golden oldies” format Circulation didn’t go up. “We learned women who held 80 percent of jobs in used by Cox. the hard way,” she said. the decrepit textile garment industries Today, the newspaper has 19 local The editors also got wakeup calls. As that have disappeared with the loss of editions and 11 special sections in- Poles put together “normal” lives, their the Russian market and influx of Chi- cluding two quality magazines: overriding passion for politics waned. nese imports) and the formidable work

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 81 Women: International

and family issues. Rapaczynski contends saying, in essence, that the activists three years if she takes a full maternity that Polish feminists are “much more were so ugly they needed “a better sex leave. Western-type pay disparities also focused on politics versus bedrock is- life.” A Polish-American woman, who exist since women held many top pro- sues…. They are Warsaw University had donated to underground Solidar- fessional jobs at hospitals and universi- feminists who are class oriented—who ity, wrote Luczywo to congratulate her ties, which today are among the lower- have an outflowing of rage on behalf of on the success of the paper—and to paid jobs in Poland—much lower, for cleaning women who want an earlier express dismay at the slurs in that story. example, than the pay for jobs in male- retirement age. It is extremely irritat- Subsequent news stories did a better dominated professions such as finan- ing.” job of tracking “women’s place” inci- cial services. The paper’s editorial stance on the dents. Some examples: These are complex issues related to key hot-button issue of reproductive the nation’s transition and are, in many rights stops short of being pro-choice, • An Exxon billboard used a “dumb ways, more difficult stories to cover and there is not a lot of attention paid broad” message to sell motor oil, than those from earlier times when to the ramifications of illegal abortion complete with a smirking husband women might have been barred from in a country where underground abor- next to his distraught wife at the universities or top jobs or from receiv- tions flourish. Luczywo says she is “very, wheel. Fledgling feminists took ing credit. Gazeta Wyborcza covers very uncomfortable” with a “completely umbrage and substituted their own these issues, but women’s rights lead- pro-choice position,” partly because of message, an incident that was writ- ers often complain that they don’t do it abuses under Communism when con- ten about in Gazeta Wyborcza. Few well enough. traception was not available; the state advertisers made that mistake again. Wanda Nowicka, director of the Pol- promoted abortions—and woman had •When a high school principal lim- ish Federation for Women and Family an average of 20. ited a new computer class to boys, Planning, is a critic of the paper, but In many ways, “women’s place” in parents of girls sought out a Gazeta she is glad that High Heels has proven society was up for grabs in the new reporter to complain. Girls were ad- a success despite “writing serious sto- Poland. The Catholic Church urged mitted. ries.” That, she concedes, will help women to go home, as full-time wives legitimize those issues across society. and mothers. Women who took de- Under Communism, many special One can hardly ask for more praise manding jobs in the new economy privileges were given to mothers and than that. ■ faced irate husbands who still wanted not to women in general. With capital- meals on the table—at four in the after- ism, it’s become more expensive to Peggy Simpson, a 1979 Nieman noon. And early reporting in Gazeta hire these women; taking away the Fellow, has been working in Poland Wyborcza was spotty. A story about a benefits is politically risky. Maternity as a freelance journalist. 1991 march by the Polish Feminist As- leaves are paid for 24 weeks and em- sociation quoted an unnamed man as ployers must retain a woman’s job for [email protected]

Reporting on War, Listening to Women An Indonesian journalist argues that women have a ‘psychological map’ of war.

By Ratih Hardjono

omen living in conflict zones left to cope with the results once the woman approached me, pointed to my have strong views about con- war has ended. camera and pulled my hand gently. Wflicts that overtake their lives In the coverage of war, it is stories She then sat by the fragile coffin and and community. They have political about women’s lives that often go un- looked straight into my camera. After views about their situation but, for told. In 1995, I attended a funeral of a taking her photo, she wrote her ad- most of them, politics isn’t the most young Hutu man killed in Bujumbura, dress on a tiny piece of torn paper and important thing. What they care most Burundi. Foreign journalists waited in gave it to me. I assumed it was natural about is assuring the survival of their the front yard while a coffin was hastily that she would want a picture for her families and communities. And, since being built out of leftover fruit boxes. and her children, for memory’s sake. men dominate the political arena, it is When we got to the graveyard, we There was no exchange of words usually they who decide whether a war waited again while his family dug the between us. We didn’t share a com- will be fought, then fight it. Women are grave. During this time, a wild-eyed mon language but even if we had, she

82 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International also gave the impression that she didn’t and Nagorno-Karabakh. emerge as clearly as this, and often to want to talk and that she needed to stay Among women living amid conflict, hear women speak of this can be con- silent and be strong to face her there is a ruthless practicality. They are fusing to listen to. But there is a strange husband’s burial. This was a critical very conscious of the fact that they human filing system there among their time for her, a time when she had to don’t have mobility and that at any jumbled emotions. A journalist needs start making decisions regarding this time they could become refugees. to go back several times and speak with new and poorer life she had entered. Young mothers are burdened both by other women in this community. Out She was grieved by the loss of her the care they give to their children but of these conversations will emerge simi- husband, but she was also terrified of also to their elders. Yet their constant lar themes and reoccurring threads, all entering even deeper poverty, some- state of readiness is different from the of which will create a story that should thing I learned when I came back later men’s, who think primarily about fight- be told. with an interpreter. She spoke little ing back even if it means losing their This psychological map consists of but kept saying how different life was lives. For the women, its about crisis emotional and psychological happen- now. She explained to me that she management and different calculations, ings of the family and community, would only send her son to school and such as thinking about things to be things that become the cornerstones only to primary school. Her daughter packed and what is possible to carry if of family history and, when brought was going to stay at home, and by not they have to suddenly leave their homes together, create a community’s collec- attending school would, like her, enter for good. It is also their responsibility tive memory. In many countries that the cycle of poverty. to think about how to allocate tasks to experience war, records are rarely kept Burundi is one of the poorest coun- members of the family if the time does of what actually happened: women’s tries in the world. In any underdevel- come to leave their home. collective memories become crucial to oped country with a large peasant I have watched refugees at the bor- the perception of that country’s his- farmer population, the death of a young der of Burundi and Rwanda and in tory. able-bodied man means a great loss of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. Perhaps Women are also, in many instances, income to his family. Expenditures must because of the ways in which they’ve the instigators of peace. On be reduced; the widow either reduces had to think about all of this and pre- of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, the amount of food she buys or the pare for it, women cope better with conflict broke out between local land- quality she has been trying to maintain. being a refugee than do men. A Serbian owners and the mining company and Sometimes, she decides she will eat woman left the Krajina, which is sand- the government on the other side. Af- only once a day. wiched between Bosnia and Croatia. ter some years of conflict the women I find the silence of women like this Along with 250,000 refugees, she started to initiate dialogue with the aim one expressive of a point of view. Talk- walked into Serbia carrying her family’s of establishing peace. Finally a peace ing about the tragedy unfolding uses clothes in a hand-embroidered table- agreement, initiated by these women, up much-needed reserves of energy. cloth. I admired the light yellow table- was reached. So, too, in Sarajevo when The combination of observing, taking cloth with the exquisite blue and white by the end of 1995 the women had had in, and emotionally processing the new flowers strewn around the cloth and enough of the miseries of war. In my realities of one’s life requires extra told her so. She smiled sadly and while interviews with them, there was al- strength and resiliency. These women stroking it explained that she did it ready talk of pushing the men towards will need to dig deep into their internal herself when she first got married. Her accepting peace. Although what hap- reservoir of strength to survive. children who were with her were now pened politically was more compli- For journalists to penetrate this pro- teenagers. This tablecloth will become cated, the women’s role as movers of tective wall of silence requires time an important part of her family history. the peace process cannot be underes- and effort. Yet when these women tell Her smile said so much; no words were timated. Peace is not a political or ideo- their stories, they are so very different necessary to know that she and her logical stand for these women, rather it than men’s and necessary to hear if we family were never going back to the is seen as a necessity. As one woman are to understand the consequences of Krajina. The tablecloth symbolized the put it to me in Sarajevo, “Peace is a war. To speak with men in areas of loss of her home and land but con- strategy, so my children can live a nor- conflict is to hear them offer precise nected her to her past identity in the mal live.” descriptions of what happened—how Krajina. One problem with telling these im- many people died, where the war was What I find most fascinating is how portant stories is that they are difficult fought, a bravado about their men col- women have a “psychological map” of to tell. They take time and sensitivity to leagues, and a strong perception of the the war that is critical for the survival of report and cannot be told in quick enemy, which is not necessarily accu- their families in the longer term. This soundbites or written as typical news rate. Although the social and historical map offers them a way of seeing the stories with a tidy beginning, middle backgrounds are different, I found this world in its entirety—in its past and and end. For example, when a war to be a common thread as I reported present and future simultaneously. In ends, and the United Nations and for- on conflict in Bosnia, Burundi, Rwanda interviews, this idea doesn’t always eign journalists go home, it is left to

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 83 Women: International

those who are scarred by war to re- tection. I interviewed a Bosnian minis- might return to their communities. build. And this process can be as pain- ter about one woman, and he told me Many survived psychologically and at- ful as the war itself. How do you start everything had been taken care of. He tempted to start living again. A com- rebuilding Rwanda as a nation, both said the woman was taken back into mon thread among most of them was physically and emotionally? Can you her community and, if a child was born, that they did not yet want their stories really forgive your neighbor who killed the child would be given her father’s to be told. After listening to them, I felt your husband and made your life surname. But when I finally tracked as if bringing attention to their rapes poorer? down a building where several of these might only delay their ability to rebuild Rape stories are the hardest to re- women were staying, a female director their lives. For the women themselves, port. I never know whether or not to asked me to “preserve our dignity as the rationale of not attaching priority write them. By reporting them, I high- women.” Contrary to what the minis- to their conditions was also part of the light the atrocities and, perhaps, lead ter had said, she told me that the best ruthless practicality some of them used to stopping the perpetrators, but at the thing for these women was for them to to survive. I learned that when each of same time I know the shame that the leave Bosnia and begin a new life in the women was ready, she would speak women and members of their commu- another country. She explained that frankly about it. For the Dutch women nity feel when their story is told to an these women had been ostracized by who were forced to become “comfort international audience. I also cannot their own communities; they were seen women” for the Japanese during World be certain if my reporting would help as “soiled” by the enemy. War II, it is only recently—more than or worsen the woman’s life. All of these women were wounded 50 years after it happened—that they In Bosnia, many women who had in some way. Some required intensive have started to tell their story, as part of been raped came to Sarajevo for pro- psychological counseling and then the last stage of their recovery, when

Women, War and the Media In October, Indian author and nario in Afghanistan: There were hardly light the ways in which “culture” and journalist Ammu Joseph presented a any women in any of the reports (apart “tradition” are often used during times lecture on covering gender to stu- from female journalists, who have been of political tension and strife to curtail dents at the Asian College of Journal- quite conspicuous by their presence). women’s human rights. It needs to ism in Chennai, India. An essay, It seemed to me quite extraordinary take note of the additional social and based in part on her lecture, was that anyone could look at that over- economic burdens placed on women’s published on The Hoot flowing hall in Peshawar and not no- shoulders at such times, when they (www.thehoot.org), the Web site of tice that there was not a single woman often find themselves solely respon- the Media Foundation in Delhi, there…. I was amazed that journalists sible for their families (including the India. Excerpts from Joseph’s essay covering the event did not find it re- very old, the very young, and the sick) follow: markable that the future of a nation under circumstances where even food was being discussed without even one and shelter are not always available. Recent critiques of media coverage of representative of one half of its citi- And it certainly needs to focus atten- the aftermath of September 11 have zenry…. Especially when everyone tion on women’s political rights, in- dealt with a number of ethical issues knows that the women of Afghanistan cluding their right to participate in that confront the media during times and their children have paid the high- decision-making and governance. of conflict: patriotism vs. accuracy and est price for the wars that have been If women hold up half the sky dur- fairness, official vs. self-censorship, raging in their country for two de- ing peacetime, they hold up even more national vs. public interest, majority cades—wars that they have had no role of it during wartime. This is surely a vs. minority opinion, and so on. How- in waging…. fact that the media have a responsibil- ever, little attention seems to have been The gender angle to war coverage ity to recognize and report. One way to paid to the media and gender in the cannot be seen exclusively in terms of begin is to acknowledge women as context of terrorism and war…. reports on violations of women’s right legitimate and vital sources of informa- Ever since the so-called U.S.-led/Brit- to physical security, including rape, tion, as well as insight, even in the ish-backed attack on Afghanistan be- sexual harassment, and sexual exploi- context of war, the ultimate manifesta- gan on October 7, I have been vaguely tation—widespread and serious as tion of machismo. ■ conscious of a particular anomaly in these tend to be. It needs to also take the media’s coverage of the war. I rec- into account women’s heightened ex- Ammu Joseph’s article about women ognized what it was while watching an perience of violence and trauma dur- and journalism in India is on page October 24 television report on the ing periods of conflict—both physical 85. gathering of Afghan leaders in Peshawar and psychological, both within the for a discussion on the post-war sce- home and outside it. It needs to spot-

84 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International the ordeal is put to rest. enough to qualify as “real” war stories. to learn what her family and commu- War stories captivate TV audiences Often, their stories—if covered at all— nity life has been like and learn what with scenes of destruction, but stories are referred to only as “soft” news. visions she has for rebuilding her com- of rebuilding are more fascinating be- Print journalism tries to go deeper munity in the future. cause they are about a community re- into these stories, but also comes up Being a woman journalist covering making itself and human beings surviv- against the problem of space and the war, it has been a most humbling expe- ing. Today, modern technology reports fact that they are competing with the rience. It has made me conscious of news faster and more vividly through vividness and speed of television for women’s crucial role as keepers of oral television, but this means the entire the attention of an audience. The rou- history who are critical in preserving a story is rarely told. So many facets of tines of everyday life are really hard to community identity. I always return this Hutu family’s life and their com- write about, even if an editor can be home admiring the strength, the resil- munity don’t have a chance to be told, made interested in such coverage. And ience, and the resourcefulness these given the tools now used to convey this story is rarely a visual one. women have. ■ most news. Speed has usurped depth Given the potentially long-term war in reporting. But in this story, this against terrorism that is now being Ratih Hardjono, a 1994 Nieman man’s killing was part of the ethnic waged and personal concern for secu- Fellow, reported on war, conflict violence in Burundi and Rwanda in rity, perhaps the dizzying pace of life and military governments for 10 1995, so the story is much larger than will be slowed. Perhaps this means that years for the Indonesian daily his death. And for women living in war we will find more reporters willing to Kompas. and zones of conflict, not many jour- spend time interviewing women—such nalists consider their stories dramatic as an Afghan woman in a refugee camp [email protected]

Storming the Citadel of Hard News Coverage Women report alongside men but their impact can be difficult to discern.

By Ammu Joseph

ndian journalists of both sexes are India is arguably the mother of all el- senior editors (including political and covering assorted aspects of the ephants, and the Indian media is one financial editors), chief reporters, chiefs Iterrorist attacks in the United States, of her sizeable pachydermatous prog- of bureaus, special and foreign corre- the retaliatory military attacks on Af- eny. Both defy definitive description. spondents, business journalists, sports ghanistan, the implications of both for Nevertheless, some clarity about the reporters and columnists, not to men- India, South Asia and the world, and current situation of women in the In- tion magazine editors and feature writ- the subsequent worldwide panic about dian media, particularly the press, has ers. It also harbors a few female sports the apparent spread of anthrax. Women emerged from discussions among reporters and photojournalists, as well have been conspicuous by their pres- women journalists within the country as a couple of female cartoonists. ence in the Indian media during this over the past couple of years. Women journalists now write on a period as correspondents and com- There is little doubt that the number wide range of current events and is- mentators, editors and anchors, inter- of Indian women in journalism had sues spanning a broad spectrum of viewers and hosts of current affairs reached an unprecedented high by the subjects, including high-profile topics programs, especially on some high- turn of the millennium, although there such as politics, business and econom- profile television news channels and in is still no quantitative data to corrobo- ics, international relations and what is the indigenous English-language press. rate this observable fact. In the print euphemistically known as defense. A However, it is difficult, if not dan- media, female bylines have become number of women have managed to gerous, to deduce from this discern- commonplace during the past decade, storm the citadel of hard news cover- ible reality that gender is no longer an not only in magazines and features age. Many are recognized for their re- issue in the Indian media. The story sections but also on the news and edi- portage from various areas of conflict about six blind persons and their de- torial pages of dailies, including the in and around the country, having bro- scriptions of an elephant—based on front page. Apart from a large number ken exclusive stories and secured rare the part of the animal they were able to of female staff reporters and sub-edi- interviews with leaders of militant or- touch and feel—is appropriate to re- tors (or copyeditors), the Indian press ganizations operating in these hot call in this context. Sub-continental currently boasts many women who are spots. Several women journalists have

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 85 Women: International

impediments in women’s There is little doubt that women path to the top of the edito- have contributed significantly to broad- rial pyramid. But many fe- ening the scope of press coverage to male journalists still expe- include more and better reporting on rience slow and limited and analysis of social issues in general progress, if not total stag- and women’s issues in particular. nation, in their careers. And Women journalists have definitely the existence of a glass ceil- played an important role in highlight- ing, which currently keeps ing a wide range of issues related to women from occupying the human development and rights, social very top spots in the edito- and economic justice, culture and other rial hierarchy (of newspa- vital aspects of life and society that pers, in particular) is widely were earlier neglected by a press tradi- acknowledged, even by tionally preoccupied with politics (in women who have reached the narrow sense) and government. relatively high positions Women have been noted for their cov- within their news organiza- erage of social trends. They are also tions. credited with having introduced more The spectacular success human interest in the media, even while of a number of women in a covering hard news. wide range of high profile Back in the 1980’s, the reports of areas of journalism hitherto many women journalists reporting on assumed to be male terrain caste, communal or ethnic conflicts implies that there is noth- stood out from the rest because they ing to stop competent and included the experiences and perspec- determined women from tives of ordinary people caught in the fulfilling their professional crossfire, especially women and chil- dreams. However, the ten- dren. Now more journalists of both dency to relegate women sexes seem to focus on the human The author’s book examines gender and the media in to particular functions and dimension of such stories. India. beats within the press has At the same time, it is difficult to not completely disap- state categorically that the presence peared. And many women and rise of women in the Indian media been associated with some of the most allege that they are not given a chance have had a perceptible, positive impact sensational scoops of recent years. to demonstrate their capabilities, espe- on mainstream journalism and media Quite a few have also made names for cially in what is commonly, if errone- coverage as a whole. Women’s capacity themselves in the prestigious field of ously, viewed as hard core, mainstream to influence the agenda, practice and political reporting or analysis or both. journalism. output of the media is currently lim- However, this apparently encourag- Gender-based problems are particu- ited by several factors. They include: ing state of affairs is far from universal. larly acute in the Indian language press, There are significant differences in the which thrives in at least 100 languages • The number of women in key deci- situation of women journalists across and dialects, and reaches a much larger sion-making positions is still rela- the country and the press. For instance, proportion of the country’s reading tively small. the growing number of women in the public than the more conspicuous En- •Many successful women journalists metropolitan media workforce has cre- glish press. Another factor that bears tend to adopt, or at least adapt to, ated the impression that the barriers consideration in this context is the the prevailing values and norms of that once restricted women’s entry into reality of minorities within minorities. the profession, like the majority of the press have been overcome. But If race piggybacks on gender, and vice their counterparts elsewhere, in the resistance to the recruitment of women versa, in some parts of the world, in media as well as in other profes- still persists in many places and in India class, caste, creed and ethnicity sions. At present, such conformity certain sections of the press. often play a critical role in determining appears to be an effective strategy Similarly, the increasing visibility of who, even among women, gains entry for career advancement; those who women in the indigenous English-lan- into the media and has the opportunity retain an alternative worldview seem guage print media—generally known to rise in the profession, although, at to come up against the glass ceiling as the mainstream, national press be- present, no data exists about the socio- sooner rather than later. cause of its unique reach and influ- economic and cultural composition of •A third inhibiting factor is the appar- ence—suggests that there are no more the Indian press corps. ent shift in the Indian media’s pri-

86 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

The media’s tendency to focus on events rather than processes often re- sults in the neglect of many important issues concerning women—for ex- ample, the combination of chronic mal- nutrition and overwork that threatens the health of millions of women and the initiation into public life of thou- sands of rural women elected to insti- tutions of local governance from the mid-1990’s onwards. When such is- sues do get covered, it is because of the efforts of women—inside and outside the media—more often than not. How- ever, there are signs of hope in what can appear a bleak scenario. Certain kinds of gender-related issues now seem to be accepted by both men and women in the media as legitimate sub- jects for mainstream media coverage. Deshabhimani, Malayalam newspaper office. Photo courtesy of The Hindu, India. At least one journalism school offers an elective course on gender amid re- ports that others might soon do so. orities and preoccupations during media attention are those that fit into Meanwhile, awareness and concern the past decade due to a number of dominant perceptions of what consti- about gender-related issues are very developments, especially within the tutes news. Among these are violent much alive and kicking among a cross economy, that have affected many atrocities such as rape and dowry-re- section of media women today, includ- aspects of society, including the lated murder and political hot pota- ing young professionals. According to media. Influential sections of the toes, like the recent threat by a militant one young female journalist, this is not media today seem obsessed with organization in Kashmir to disfigure or just because they are women but be- the lives of the bold and the beauti- kill girls and women who ignore its cause such issues are inherently im- ful, the rich and the famous, the edict on the wearing of the burka (an portant and involve a section of the pampered and the powerful, and alien garment for Kashmiri women, citizenry that does not easily find a consequently less receptive to the including Muslims). Even here, the no- voice in the media. “Our generation interests and concerns of those who toriously brief attention span of the has little idealism left,” says another. do not belong to this charmed circle. media—a familiar global problem— “But the little that remains seems to be In this altered media environment, militates against sustained, consistent with the women.” ■ there is less time and space for in- coverage. For instance, a spurt in promi- depth coverage of serious issues, nent reporting about “dowry deaths”— Ammu Joseph is a freelance journal- including many relating to gender. often spurred by a particularly sensa- ist and author based in Bangalore, tional case, a public demonstration, a India. She has written two books, Like the media everywhere, the In- court judgment, and/or release of new “Whose News? The Media and dian press, too, has a predilection for research findings—is usually followed Women’s Issues,” co-authored/edited events, especially dramatic ones that by a fallow period when the same kind with Kalpana Sharma (Sage Publica- involve or threaten violence or con- of news reverts to being treated as a tions, Delhi, 1994), and “Women in flict. As a result, the gender-related routine event and is relegated to its Journalism: Making News” (The issues that routinely receive the most usual obscure place within the paper. Media Foundation/Konark Publish- ers, Delhi, 2000). She is on the visit- ing faculty of the Asian College of …it is difficult to state categorically that the Journalism, Chennai, where she presence and rise of women in the Indian teaches a course on covering gender. media have had a perceptible, positive impact She writes mainly on issues relating to women, children, human develop- on mainstream journalism and media coverage ment, and the media. as a whole. [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 87 Women: International Media Don’t Portray the Realities of Women’s Lives Business decisions and societal ambivalence in India leave many women’s stories untold.

By Sakuntala Narasimhan

ake one billion people, add a cious marriage symbol and walks out documentary on women in Indian so- mind-boggling diversity of of a sham marriage. And millions of ciety, a woman reporter I interviewed Tlifestyles, and what you have is a viewers applaud her spunk. commented on her fight for inclusion nation of paradoxes. There were, at In another set of snapshots, 20 years in riot coverage assignments. “Well, last count, 49,145 newspapers and ago, I was asked to contribute a short don’t come crying to me later, when periodicals in over 100 languages and story to Savvy, a leading women’s maga- you get hurt,” her male editor quipped. dialects in India, but the country also zine. I wrote about a young, recently “Male reporters can be just as scared by has the largest number of illiterates in widowed woman who refuses to dress bullets—they too can get hurt, right?” the world. Indira Gandhi, a woman, in drab white or remove her bangles she argued. was prime minister for 16 long years, (as decreed by custom) and decides to Today, Barkha Dutt has won kudos yet more than 250 million Indian fe- continue to dress and live the way she for her courageous reporting from a males remain unlettered. used to, for the sake of her young son. bunker in war-torn Kashmir, with mis- To portray the changing role of Brickbats flew. Some readers accused siles whizzing past her ear. women in journalism and the chang- me of “destroying our glorious culture A Sunday morning in October 2001: ing ways in which women are por- of fidelity and purity in women.” (How Every paper carries, in its supplement, trayed in the media, it a “women’s section” is to images I turn, like ranging from serious/ someone pulling feminist to frothy/ snapshots from al- frivolous. But even in bums to describe an the ones that carry evolving place and strongly feminist col- people. umns, the matrimo- In the first set of nial ad section is an snapshots, a popular eye opener. “Wanted, Tamil-language fair, tall, slim bride,” weekly serialized a says an advertisement story some 50 years from the parents of a ago in which the pro- software engineer tagonist, a battered based in the United wife, decides finally to States. (There are no break away and takes such specifications in off her “thaali” chain the “grooms wanted” (the sacred marriage columns.) symbol that a bride- I asked an editor if groom ties round the he had considered re- bride’s neck, never to fusing such ads for be removed as long as A comparison between coverage of beauty and dowry deaths. “fair” brides. “You he is alive). Though must be joking,” he fictitious, the gesture brought angry wearing a green, rather than a white, retorted. The ads go out on the Internet waves of protests from outraged read- sari constitutes infidelity I haven’t yet and mean revenue. Market forces (not ers. She could leave her husband, but understood.) Some praised it for its social ethics—much less gender eq- to remove the thaali? Sacrilege! “boldness.” uity) dictate contents, with profits the Today, a young bride in “Kora Today, this story wouldn’t raise half main criterion, especially when most Kaagaz,” a popular family serial, enjoy- an eyebrow. publications are owned by businesses. ing a high viewership on nationwide And so the comparisons go on: Dur- A strong, high-profile woman edits the television, yanks off the same auspi- ing 1984, when I produced a radio popular weekly section of the paper. I

88 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

“Liberation and empowerment have become equated—even in a women’s magazine professing to be substantive—with sauciness or ‘becoming more like the west’ rather than addressing some of the harsh realities that affect the lives of millions of disadvantaged women.” ponder this paradox and conclude that Tirumalamba, a pioneering woman more than 3,000 lives. Many more even if today most editorial supple- journalist of 100 years ago, was mar- women die every year in what are called ments are edited by women, the con- ried at 10 and widowed at 14. Forced to “dowry deaths” in India. When they tents of the main paper are overseen sit at home thereafter as an “inauspi- bring dowries considered insufficient and decided by male editors, therefore cious outcast,” this woman taught her- by their in-laws, they are doused in changes in gender-linked perceptions self to write, went on to start a journal kerosene and burned. The news of of “news” are merely superficial. in 1917 and, through her work, be- each such incident appears as a tiny, There have been exceptions, such came a role model for younger women. two-column-inch item tucked in an as when women in the media made a She died in 1982 at the age of 93, and inside page. There is little media out- significant contribution to gender eq- a prestigious prize—competed for by cry, except for an occasional article uity in regard to the law involving rape. women writers and journalists—is now written by a woman activist, and little In 1979, the Supreme Court exoner- given in her honor. public outrage. More women work as ated a policeman of rape on the grounds Eighty years ago, male journalists journalists today than ever before, yet that the victim, a teenage tribal girl, ridiculed Tirumalamba’s writings dowry deaths continue not only to had had sexual relations with her boy- through scathing criticism. Today, occur but to increase in number. In friend and was therefore of lax morals women journalists complain that many contrast, a four-minute visit by a movie and could have consented to the male editors still regard them as suit- actress on a soap brand promotion policeman’s advances. Women activ- able only for covering “soft” stories— tour gets reported prominently (10 ists, supported vigorously by women fashion and flower shows, for example. column inches), with a large color pho- in the media, succeeded in raising a “I wanted to do a story on the problems tograph and gushing descriptions of national outcry and in reopening the of women commuters on buses—seats what she wore. case. The rape law was subsequently reserved for women are often taken by I pull out Femina magazines from amended to put the onus of proving men who abuse us about wanting equal- the 1970’s and compare them with innocence on the accused rather than ity,” a female reporter explained. “My current issues. Even before looking the victim, especially in custodial rape story was reduced to a small item of inside, the covers make a statement: In cases. 300 words with women’s strong com- the old issues, the covers seem soft, There is today, compared with a ments edited out and men’s frivolous demure, feminine and “goody.” They generation ago, an overwhelming vis- ones left in, raising a laugh. It was also show smiling women, hair tied back ibility of women in the media. But that relegated to an inside page, though neatly, holding up flowers or a heart- does not necessarily translate into gen- working women make up 50 percent shaped card saying, “Happy 1979.” A der equity in terms of the content of of bus commuters.” Another trainee contest for children, hairstyles and star what goes on the pages. What we tend journalist said, “I submitted a piece forecasts are the highlights. to forget in this confusing scenario is about men being taught to share Today the cover girls appear in that “engineer” or “doctor” does not kitchen and child-care duties. The edi- skimpy, barely there western clothes, necessarily equate with “liberal-mod- tor said, ‘Why don’t you turn it into a hair blown loose, mouth open, ern,” and “unlettered” does not mean humor piece?’” bellybutton exposed (message: “be lacking in spunk. Nanjangud The recent attacks on Americans took daring!”). Designer clothes, a quiz on

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“Is he the love of your life?” and “You innovative programs. But again, prof- points and perspectives. And this is can ask him out” are the highlighted its are determined by sponsorship, and happening, in part, because the status features. Liberation and empowerment sponsors (mostly multinationals, of women in Indian society is itself in a have become equated—even in a thanks to the new economic policy of state of flux, and the business priorities women’s magazine professing to be globalization) don’t want grim tales of override the efforts and sensibilities of substantive—with sauciness or “becom- oppression or gender inequities be- those who argue that the realities of ing more like the west” rather than cause these will not sell their lipsticks women’s lives—both their achieve- addressing some of the harsh realities or cola drinks. (“Why else would we ments and their huge challenges— that affect the lives of millions of disad- sponsor, except for boosting sales?” ought to be honestly portrayed. ■ vantaged women. says one marketing executive candidly.) The concerns and needs of the 240 “I can’t glamorize feminist issues. If Sakuntala Narasimhan is a colum- million rural women of the country I don’t glamorize, I don’t sell. If I don’t nist specializing in gender issues become largely irrelevant, because they sell, I lose my job,” an editor concedes and author of 10 books. Her most don’t buy magazines. Once in a while, frankly, while another adds, “It is like recent, “Empowering Women: An a gutsy rural woman does get profiled carrying cigarette ads: Everyone knows Alternative Strategy From Rural in the mainstream papers, but the norm cigarettes kill and yet you find full page India,” published by Sage in 1999, is is still to stick to fashions, fancy cui- ads because they bring attractive rev- a bestseller in India. She received the sine, and fitness regimens (to fight enues. So also with sexism.” Media Foundation (Delhi) award obesity) rather than focus attention on Women journalists break stock ex- for Outstanding Woman Journalist hunger and destitution among the change scam stories and, at the same of the Year in 1984, the Journalist of teeming millions. A class/income di- time, sexist depictions of the female the Year Award in 1998, and the vide operates, within gender. continue to appear alongside their National Award for Human Rights Television has a wider reach. More work. What we are experiencing in Journalism in 2000. than 87 percent of Indians have access mainstream media as well as in to it, so TV could contribute effectively women’s magazines is an amorphous [email protected] to women’s empowerment through mix of traditional and “modern” view-

Bringing Women’s Stories to a Reluctant Mainstream Press At Women’s Feature Service, journalists write about women’s lives.

By Angana Parekh

n New Delhi, India, is the head- nize stories about women’s concerns, an equal stake in so-called “male con- quarters of Women’s Feature Ser- to use gender-correct language, and to cerns” such as the budget, economy, Ivice, an international news organi- ask the right questions of appropriate globalization, agriculture and conflict zation directed and staffed by women sources. resolution. who produce articles reported from 40 WFS exists because of the felt need Our experience shows us that news- countries for newspapers, magazines for a gender balance in news coverage paper and magazine space for articles and Web sites. By gathering and pro- and because of dissatisfaction about on gender-focused subjects is shrink- viding access to these stories about the ways in which news organizations— ing as commercial pressures increase women’s lives, Women’s Feature Ser- in India and elsewhere—treat news and owners focus on the balance sheet. vice (WFS) seeks to create “space” for coverage about women. Often, the We’ve analyzed which of our stories women’s voices and experiences in media either ignore important stories sold well between January and Sep- mainstream media, where such topics altogether, relegate reporting to ob- tember 2001; those that did include don’t usually receive this same kind of scure places in the newspaper, or sen- articles on women’s health, women in attention. WFS produces and markets sationalize incidents without examin- conflict (including stories about fun- women-centric articles. It also lobbies ing the underlying context or causes. damentalism, domestic violence, and decision-makers in newspapers and The media tend to focus on women human rights), education, religion, magazines about such coverage and only when it comes to “women’s is- political empowerment and travel. trains journalists to be able to recog- sues,” forgetting that women also have WFS’s efforts to speak with senior jour-

90 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

police being the sole source of infor- mation. Deadline pressure is one rea- son, but the other is that editors rarely insist that reporters get more informa- tion from other sources. Nor is there often any follow-up to an incident. When it comes to issues that impact most directly on women, news that should cause concern and lead to ana- lytical articles that examine a particular issue in depth is often dismissed in a couple of paragraphs on an inside page. The responsibility of the media to educate, inform and stimulate debate seems often to be forgotten. Moreover, coverage of women’s issues tends to be event-based, not sustained. For in- stance, little serious writing has been done on proposed laws on domestic Women engaged in processing coir fiber (fiber obtained from the husk of a coconut). violence and sexual harassment in the Photo courtesy of The Hindu, India. workplace even though non-govern- mental organizations (NGO’s) and nalists (both men and women) in news- rape, dowry deaths, laws on inherit- India’s National Commission for papers have resulted in serious articles ance, divorce and maintenance, sexual Women have been working on them. being published by national dailies, harassment, sexual abuse, lack of ac- The interface between NGO’s and me- state-level newspapers, magazines and cess to education and health services, dia needs improvement. These are the some leading Indian-language publi- police cruelty, and reproductive rights, kinds of stories that we can and do cations. We’ve also learned that the it is only sensational “bad news” stories pursue through the Women’s Feature ways in which we package our stories, that generate interest. Despite the pres- Service. and their relevance to current news, ence of women journalists on the crime The other drawback is that there are matter. But constant effort with mar- beat, incidents of rape and dowry only a few women writers—and fewer keting these stories is required. deaths (shockingly regular occurrences men—who can give a fresh perspective Certain news stories rarely do well. in the Indian subcontinent) are usually or insights into issues that concern When the subject is domestic violence, reported in a routine manner with the women. Many women journalists have been conditioned (both socially and through the competitiveness of this profession) to adopt masculine atti- tudes and values. For instance, for a month after the United States declared its “war on terror” and began bombing Afghanistan, none of the leading news- papers in India wrote on its editorial page about the women in this conflict. At the same time, a leading women’s activist wrote for WFS a thought-pro- voking piece that argued that the terms of both war and peace were masculine and coercive and that these terms had an impact on women. The article was published on the editorial page of India’s largest newspaper, The Times of India, and subsequently by other publications. [More information about the activities and history of WFS can be found at www.wfsnews.org.] Villagers in West Bengal line up before panchayat (village council) polls. Photo courtesy In India, there is a glass ceiling that of The Hindu, India. women journalists have yet to break:

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 91 Women: International

Not a single mainline newspaper in At The Hindustan Times and The politicians, bureaucrats and academ- India has a woman chief editor. One Hindu, the presence of a woman editor ics. While many of these aims are being reason, of course, is that women joined has not made much difference in terms realized, problems like sexual harass- the profession late—the first batch of of news coverage and treatment. Nor is ment or discriminatory treatment have women entered the profession in the there any special concern for women not been adequately addressed. One 1960’s—and took to covering politics journalists (flextime, provision of child reason is that most members are also even later. But it must be pointed out care). In fact, when The Hindustan employed by publishing houses and that there are male chief editors who Times had a case of sexual harassment wish to avoid unpleasantness—or are much younger than many senior some time ago, the young woman sub- worse, coercion—from employers. women journalists are. Though women editor was asked by the female manag- Women journalists in India have journalists have proved as competent, ing editor to drop the case she had filed made a lot of progress but still have a if not more, than men, they still lag in the court. (The sub-editor went to long road ahead to gain equality with behind in the power game. Two women court after she received no response to their male colleagues and influence who are at the top—Shobhana Bhartia her complaint from the management.) the manner in which news and issues (managing editor of The Hindustan The senior male colleague against are handled. ■ Times) and Malini Parthasarathy (ex- whom she had filed the case was re- ecutive editor of The Hindu)—both moved from his position—and pro- Angana Parekh is a senior journalist belong to the families that own the moted! Finally, working conditions in who has worked for 18 years with newspapers. They’ve had to work hard the paper became so hostile that the two of India’s leading newspapers, to prove themselves and overcome sub-editor left. She now works as a the Indian Express and The Hindu. some amount of intra-office opposi- freelancer. She is now director of Women’s tion, but the fact remains they would In 1994, women journalists based in Feature Service, treasurer of the not have risen this far but for their Delhi formed a body called Indian Indian Women’s Press Corps, and family connections. Interestingly, both Women’s Press Corps (IWPC). The serves on the executive committee of do not have brothers, giving rise to the IWPC seeks to encourage women jour- WomenAction, an international question: Would they have been given nalists, promote debate about women’s network of women’s organizations. these opportunities had there been issues, and provide a forum for net- male siblings? working with fellow professionals, [email protected]

In Pakistan, Journalists Maintain Women’s Lesser Status [Journalists] ‘have a somewhat conformist approach towards women’s issues.’

By Massoud Ansari

man slaughtered his wife and developed illicit relations with an un- tions, and they perpetuate male domi- mother-in-law in Hyderabad in known local and that was why she had nation in the society. Religious convic- Athe wee hours of a Sunday morn- separated from him a year and a half tions also play a major part in portray- ing. After six months of marriage to before. “He slaughtered his mother-in- ing a woman (or wife) as this story did. Khan Mohammed, Surahia had moved law because he believed that she was Traditional media in Pakistan tend in with her mother after developing also a part of the crime,” one source to praise women who are submissive differences with her husband. said in a newspaper report that ap- and conform their actions and words Mohammed sneaked into the house peared in a major paper in Pakistan. As to reflect more docile virtues. When a and attacked his mother-in-law, often happens in coverage of such sto- woman demonstrates her indepen- Jameela, 45, with a sharp-edged ries, the media—by their use of a quote dence, whether financial or intellec- weapon while she was asleep. He cut like this—provide justification for such tual, resentment rises against her, and her throat and other parts of her body, murders. this is reflected in the way such women then murdered his wife when she woke Women activists in Pakistan believe are portrayed by the press. Says Rehana up and cried for help. that by reporting such incidents this Hakeem, editor of Newsline, a leading Sources claimed that Mohammed way, journalists reflect—and do not newsmagazine in Pakistan, “Other than suspected that his estranged wife had challenge—the nation’s cultural tradi- the religious or cultural obligations,

92 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International one more reason that the plight of the land and deprive them of their share of ‘Khar aur raqaasa’ (‘Khar and the danc- women is underreported in Pakistani their parents’ property. “But the local ing girl’).” Clearly, the sordid details media is also because of the fact that— media have never discussed this most interest newspaper writers more than except for the English press—if you macabre tradition and have instead the plight of the woman. “It all is a male visit Urdu and regional newspaper of- tried to hush it up. We only came to centric, which stems more from tradi- fices which captures more than 80 per- know about this barbaric tradition when tional values rather than the religious cent of the newspaper market, you BBC discovered it in a documentary,” convictions,” Ali contends. would hardly find women workers. It Moloo laments. Not only do traditional media in all is a male domain and they have a The plight of women has a long Pakistan tend to highlight negative somewhat conformist approach to- history in the religious society of Paki- images of women but also they rarely wards women’s issues.” Hakeem says stan, where a majority of people be- draw attention to the lives of successful that many women are denied jobs in lieve that a woman is weaker and less career women. Zulfikar Rajpar, the the Urdu newspapers. Those who are than a man because Eve was made from author of “Adhu Sach” (Half-Truth) says, hired are hounded by the male staff, Adam’s rib for the latter’s pleasure. “Even Akram Khatoom, who retired often to the extent that they decide to The problems of women in Pakistan recently as one of the most successful quit their jobs. have multiplied, especially during the bankers and set up First Women Bank Women in Pakistan have long been 11-year rule of Pakistan’s model dicta- in Pakistan, is hardly known because treated as property. All important deci- tor, General Zia-ul-Haq. He managed she has never been projected prop- sion-making that pertains to a family— to get various laws enacted, such as to erly.” Even though many of the com- and even to a woman’s own rights—is define women’s testimony as being mercialized banks in Pakistan are bor- done by the man. “She has no right to worth half that of the man. Under an- rowing her idea of small loans (mainly marry, and if she ever tries to defy it, other law, passed during the same pe- to women who want to start small she is killed. But once married, she is riod, the compensation for a murdered businesses), very few people know she taken as a kind of a machine who only woman or a non-Muslim was set at half originated this idea in Pakistan. Nor do produces children and supposes to that of a murdered Muslim man. Yet many readers learn of the accomplish- raise them. If she chooses to seek di- another Zia-era statute mandated that ments of women who do borrow money vorce, she is denied her right to keep four Muslims must witness a rape for it to start these businesses, since such her children, and the media in Pakistan to be proved in the court. Women were stories are rarely reported. are generally a reflection of this,” la- also made to wear veils at their work- Women’s rights activists in Pakistan ments a women’s rights activist at the places. believe it’s time that centuries-old tra- Aurat Foundation of Pakistan. Another Women’s rights activists contend that ditions can be broken and must be observer at the Human Rights Com- because these draconian statutes still broken if the country wants to achieve mission in Pakistan says that “it is un- exist—including the Zina and Hudood economic prosperity. “The idea of con- thinkable in media to sell the idea to Ordinance in which a rape victim must fining 50 percent of the population make husband stay at home and take produce four Muslim witnesses to seek back home would further put the coun- care of the children and the wife may justice—many women never complain try in economic limbo,” says one activ- go to work if she is more qualified than to authorities or seek justice for ac- ist. But if journalists, bound by cultural her spouse. In every advertisement, tions done to them. What happens to tradition, continue to portray women’s you would see women taking care of women only catches the attention of lives as they do—ignoring their accom- the kids, while the husband is always the Pakistani media when they think plishments and leaving unchallenged projected as professional.” that it might help sell their products, so their social and legal circumstances— Women’s rights campaigners believe “sensational” stories about women are then the road to reach this goal will be that the media in Pakistan are hypo- the only ones likely to be told. longer and far bumpier. ■ critical in their portrayal of women. Naziha Syed Ali, an assistant editor Sakar Moloo, a women’s rights activist, of Newsline, noted that the vernacular Massoud Ansari works as a senior explains that “when it comes to the press in Pakistan devoted a lot of atten- reporter for Newsline in Karachi, projection of their objects or products, tion to a recent incident involving Khar, Pakistan and also does freelance they would cross all the cultural or a powerful businessman, and a call girl writing for several foreign publica- religious bindings and would not hesi- named Fakhra. By throwing acid in tions, including the Women’s Fea- tate to highlight her nudity, but when Fakhra’s face, Khar mutilated her. “Most ture Service, an international news it comes to her genuine problems, she of the regional newspapers highlighted organization based in India. is not helped.” Moloo cites as an ex- the call girl aspect—though it is irrel- ample the exploitation of women who evant,” says Ali. “Some of the headlines [email protected] are denied a male partner by being in these newspapers goes like, ‘Raqaasa “married off” to the Islamic holy book, sai shadi ki aur usai jala diya’ (‘Married the Koran, to prevent the division of to a dancing girl and set her ablaze’) or

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 93 Women: International ‘Visual Voices’: Photos From China ‘Women turn the camera’s eye on their own lives.’

The challenge was how to learn about the lives of women in see them as they see themselves. The photographs created a rural China. The solution: provide them with cameras, common ground of understanding from which discussions teach them to use them, and let village women in Yunnan emerged; such conversations—about health and work and province create a collective self-portrait. Women between change—might not have taken place without this visual the ages of 18 and 57 took more than 40,000 photographs: record to prompt them. 200 were selected for a traveling exhibition and 100 for a As Mary Ann Burris of the Ford Foundation wrote in the book, “Visual Voices: 100 Photographs of Village China by forward to “Visual Voices,” the use of these photographs to the Women of Yunnan Province.” The photographs and generate conversation about aspects of rural life and the captions on these pages are from this book. needs of women was “unique in contributing a positive This photographic journey was part of a U.S. and China and affirming map for change.” Not only did the initiative, funded by the Ford Foundation, to assess the photographs depict the difficulties these women confront, reproductive health needs of women in rural areas of but within these images is an awareness of the hope, pride China. By taking pictures of life in their villages, the and humor of their lives, as well as their visions of the women provided public health officials with the ability to future. ■

The grandmother and her grandchildren are standing on a side road outside the village. The old woman’s face glows with a kindly smile. Already more than 70 years old, her spirit and health are quite good. On an average day, her main job is From a farmer’s indoor decorations and displays in the home, one can see that people’s to take care of the grandson and grand- ideas are changing. On the middle of the wall is a picture of the bodhisattva goddess that daughter and to carry out tasks that she was put up by an elderly family member. Its significance is to bless the entire household can manage. She finds life pleasing in with peace and health. On either side are movie star photographs put up by the girl. She these later years. Photo by Zhao Ju Xian, hopes that her life will become more rich and colorful. Photo by Pang Mei Zhi, age 57. age 34.

94 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

Tobacco planting in this local area yields a good income. With no one to help with day care, this woman’s only recourse is to bring her child to the field. Photo by Jie Xiu Mei, age 20.

In our mountain area, all the children are cared for by the mother. When there is no elderly person to help, this young mother always keeps the child right by her side whether she has gone to till the field or has gone to do work at home. Photo by Tao Li Li, age 18.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 95 Women: International

When women drive horse carts, it is no longer sensational news. In the past, women usually did not drive carts. Today, men and women are equal. Anything men can do, women can do, too. Photo by Zhao Ju Xian, age 34.

In Yi nationality mountain villages, rural women are known for their diligence and capability. They take up the farm work and production, do housework, raise the children, provide care for the old people, and at the same time raise livestock and poultry to subsidize the family ex- penses. Photo by Li Pu Zhao, age 49.

96 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International The Varied Pace of Women’s Progress Surveys by the International Federation of Journalists find similar challenges but contrasting results for women in different countries.

By Bettina Peters

Women journalists are cracking the land is close to 50 percent, but in Sri • Stereotypes: cultural attitudes ex- glass ceiling, but we must remem- Lanka and Togo, it is six percent. pecting women to be subordinate “ber that when you break glass you A study published this year by the IFJ and subservient and negative atti- may get scratches from the splinters. found that even though more than a tudes towards women journalists; Women must be ready to take power in third of today’s journalists are women, • Employment conditions: lack of the newsroom; don’t wait for the men overall they comprise less than three equal pay, lack of access to further to give it to you.” percent of media decision-makers. training, lack of fair promotion pro- Dupe Ayayi-Gbadebo, editor in chief Their percentage is higher in North cedures, lack of access to decision- and managing director of Sketch News- America and Latin America. In Mexico, making positions, sexual harass- papers in Ibadan, Nigeria earned loud for instance, 19 percent of media own- ment, age discrimination, and job and prolonged applause for those com- ers or editors are women. In Asia, the segregation; ments at a women journalists’ work- percentage of female media executives • Social and personal obstacles: con- shop in Lagos at the beginning of No- is the lowest and barely perceptible. flicting family and career demands, vember. Dupe Gbadebo knows what Female journalists still have to over- lack of support facilities, and lack of she is talking about. At 45 years of age, come many barriers if they want to self-esteem. she is one of three female editors in reach their full potential in the profes- chief in Nigerian media (none at a sion. The list of obstacles is long and it The stories of women journalists major daily newspaper). It took her 20 is the same whether drawn up by who make it to the top are often ones years to get to the top, and she lost women journalists in Asia, the Pacific, of personal struggle and sacrifice. But many female colleagues along the way Latin America, Africa or Europe: these pioneers do inspire younger who left journalism for advertising or public relations because they felt they’d Women in Journalism never make it beyond sub-editor. Women leaving journalism is not 45% only a problem in Nigeria. Female re- 40 41 porters from countries as different as 40% Brazil and Belarus report that lack of career perspectives, long hours, and 35% bad pay have driven them to look for work outside journalism. In 1996 a 30% study by the Media, Entertainment and 25 Arts Alliance in Australia found that 23 25% percent of women journalists had left their jobs because of promotional dis- 20% crimination. Women in top media positions re- 15% 12 main a rare breed even though the number of women in journalism has 10% been growing steadily. In 1991, a study 5 by the International Federation of Jour- 5% 3 1.4 nalists [IFJ] found that 27 percent of 0.1 journalists were women; today they 0% represent 38 percent of the profession, Asia-Pacific Europe Americas Africa but there are large discrepancies among various countries. For example, the % of women journalists % of women journalists in decision-making positions percentage of women journalists in countries such as Finland and Thai- A comparative graph of women’s roles in journalism. Chart by IFJ.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 97 Women: International

But it takes more than a few pio- equality councils, to give women’s con- neers to make a real difference in dis- cerns a voice in the union. “It is thanks mantling the barriers that women jour- to the equality council that parental nalists confront. The role of journalists’ leave or day care have become key unions is crucial in defending the pro- demands in collective bargaining,” says fessional and material interests of their Karin Bernhardt of the German Jour- female members as well as helping to nalists’ Association (DJV). “These is- create structures in which women can sues used to be bargaining chips to be reach their full potential in the profes- dropped off the list of demands in sion. As the number of women in jour- favor of higher salaries. The work of nalism grows, so does their member- women inside the union has helped to ship in journalists’ unions. In several make employers and male colleagues countries in North America and Latin see that extended parental leave can be America there are more female than much more important than a few dol- male union members (around 55 per- lars more in the purse.” cent). And the percentage of women in But so far less than half of the unions union governing bodies (17 percent) surveyed by the IFJ have established is higher than of women in decision- women’s committees or councils. The making in the media in general. highest number is in Africa, where But for journalists’ organizations to women’s media associations have been take up these issues, they often have to created in most countries. These asso- A publication of IFJ. reform their structures to ensure fe- ciations operate independently of the male representation in the unions’ journalists’ unions but are normally policymaking and governing bodies. affiliated with them. “The women me- women to follow in their footsteps. One way to increase the involvement dia association has become an effective “Without Najma Babar I would not of women is to create specific struc- network for women journalists,” says have stuck with journalism,” says Beena tures, such as women’s committees or Khady Cisse, who is also a member of Sarwar, editor of The News on Sunday in Pakistan. “She was my role model when I started at The Star in 1982. She Percentage of Unions With Specific Structures for Women Journalists was not only a real professional but she also put women’s issues on the news 45% 42 agenda. Without her, the story of traf- ficking of women from Burma and 40% 37.5 Bengal would never have been cov- 35 ered.” 35% 33 Angela Castellanos, a freelance jour- nalist from Colombia, observes that 30% “courageous women reporters have made real inroads into a profession 25% characterized by machismo. But we have paid a high price for recognition. 20% Last year, two female journalists were killed, 11 were threatened with mur- 15% der, three had to seek exile abroad, and one was kidnapped and tortured.” 10% That journalist was Jineth Bedoya, a 27-year-old journalist working for El 5% Espectador who was kidnapped, tor- tured and raped by paramilitary groups. 0% In spite of her ordeal, Bedoya stills Asia-Pacific Europe Americas Africa works in journalism. She says she was lucky to have the support of her editor: % of specific structures for women in the unions “Normally in Colombia there is no sup- port for rank-and-file journalists, only IFJ has explored the role of journalists’ unions in defending the professional and material for the famous ones.” interests of their female members.

98 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

discuss it gave different reasons for the lack of debate in the union. One union in India said that since a free press exists in the country, the issue of por- trayal is not a pressing one. Several unions (in Benin, Austria, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria and Paraguay) stated that other concerns are more important, such as basic vio- lations of labor and human rights or that other groups exist that take up the issue. The Japanese unions said given the low number of women members, the issue had not yet made it on the union’s agenda of priorities. One-third of the unions surveyed said stereotypes or the presentation of women according to prejudices that do not correspond to reality are the main reason for an inaccurate por- trayal of women in the media. About one-quarter of the unions said the lack of female sources, experts or spokes- persons in media coverage accounts for a distorted image of women in the media. Another 20 percent believed that the media do not sufficiently cover issues of concern to women or report reliably on their perspectives on devel- A page from the International Federation of Journalists’ Web site. opment in society. Journalists and media organizations the board of the journalists’ union in als to develop and adopt codes or guide- might disavow responsibility for the Senegal. “It is through the association lines to promote a fair and accurate non- and misrepresentation of women. that we have been able to discuss is- portrayal of women in the media. An This issue is but one aspect of the sues like portrayal of women and sexual IFJ report prepared for the UNESCO general debate about quality of con- harassment.” conference on “Women in the Media: tent in media. There is little doubt, Outside of Africa, the model of Access to Expression and Decision- however, that media professionals, women media associations or commit- Making” (Toronto 1995) found that: whether they own the newspapers and tees has started to take root. Women “…after more than a decade of re- broadcast media or are employed to journalists from Asia, where the level search indicating that women are dis- gather, edit and disseminate informa- of representation is lowest both in the satisfied with their media portrayal, tion, have an urgent need to articulate profession and in the unions, agreed at the industry has done little to change principles of better performance and a conference in Japan last year to create its practices. Women are grossly make themselves ethically accountable women’s networks to promote their underrepresented and, where they do in a transparent and public manner. cause. As far as Ezki Suyanto, producer feature, they are still portrayed in a Such resolve should apply to challeng- of the “Voice of Human Rights” radio narrow range of stereotyped roles.” ing media stereotypes of women, as program in is concerned, The IFJ survey aimed to get the much as it applies to efforts put for- this step is long overdue: “Women must unions’ point of view on this issue and ward to challenge intolerance and hate get together and claim their rights. asked whether IFJ unions felt that the speech. ■ Why do they remain silent if they want portrayal of women in the media was more responsibility?” an issue for them and what actions Bettina Peters is director of the The issue of portrayal of women in could be undertaken to promote an International Federation of Journal- the media remains a much-debated one. accurate and fair media portrayal of ists’ Project Division. The U.N. Beijing declaration, adopted women. Close to half said portrayal more than five years ago, called on was an issue and one being discussed [email protected] media owners and media profession- within the union. Those who do not

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 99 Women: International Women Bring a Certain Look and Feeling to News A South American journalist believes stories women cover best are what the public now wants.

By Veronica Lopez

he forgotten town of Alto rubbish dump outside of town. This There were even sources who dared to Hospicio (Shelter in the ninth victim of a psychotic serial killer say the families had probably sold their T Heights), which lies amid the had survived. She had been kidnapped daughters for sexual trade. torrid, windy sand of a relentless Chil- and raped by a 35-year-old taxi driver Prejudice overruled attempts to ex- ean northern desert, tragically came to who had left her naked, covered with amine other possibilities. After a while, life last year. From mid-2000 through stones, and had told her he would editors would move away from cover- 2001, every other month, 13- to 16- come back the next day to throw her age of this story and bring their report- year-old girls disappeared from the into an old well, where he had buried ers back. On the burial day of the eight streets. They’d leave home on their eight other girls before her. Public opin- corpses, in the midst of the tears of way to school one morning and never ion was overwhelmed. their mothers, everyone kept silent. be seen again. Chilean news media, mostly led by The dignity of the families had been In frantic despair and begging for men, had followed exactly what the swept away. What news coverage help, each of their families, who were police said about this case. Conversely, showed was the coffins, but we read or low-class, mostly unemployed work- feature stories in magazines and TV heard no apologies. ers who survived on the leftovers of the and newspaper supplements, mostly nearby port of Iquique, summoned the directed by women, would bring up The Role Women Journalists police and the authorities. But there the story of the town, the way of life of Play wasn’t a clue. Combined with the com- its people, and the issue of unemploy- plete failure of police investigations, ment. But, in either case, there was no A certain look, a certain feeling about the message sent by varying authorities additional research done on these social issues is the value women jour- was an inconceivable “you better for- cases, even though a year before this nalists bring to news coverage in Latin get about them.” Those girls had prob- final kidnapping sociologist Doris Coo- America. Our challenge is in trying our ably left by themselves, best to report on is- they’d say, looking for sues of poverty, dis- better opportunities Even when we feel we are almost there, crimination and the elsewhere, or had been most of the time our issues are still left tragedies like the one convinced by third par- that befell these fami- ties to do so. In both out. And what women face when we get lies in Alto Hospicio cases, they had surely hit to high positions is the challenge of and, by doing so, per- the big cities and had either fighting for a change in the haps move the public become what everybody agenda towards them. expected from them: priorities of the news agenda or gradually Historically, women prostitutes. Case closed. yielding to our bosses…. have shown interest in Further, the police these topics, but edi- would tell families that tors and media own- their daughters had left, ers—mostly men— not wanting to stay anymore with them per mentioned the possibility of a se- have maintained traditional priorities for one of these reasons: alcoholic fa- rial killer. She had urged authorities to in news: a reliance on daily headlines, ther beats mother; stepfather rapes look at the pattern—all girls, the same little reporting and research, and a stepdaughter; both parents jobless, vio- ages, same schools, same town, every constant focus on politics, economics, lent and or depressed; no future in other month. But nobody, not even the sports and entertainment. One prob- town. police, followed her theory. “If I hadn’t lem is that they’ve not realized that The families organized themselves been a woman,” she’d say later, “maybe public opinion, deep within, has and kept demanding answers. But noth- somebody would have listened.” In- changed its focus. Today, people are ing happened until last October, when stead, during these 18 months, most not moved by bare facts but are inter- a 13-year-old girl was found bleeding, agreed that the girls had run away from ested in knowing and understanding almost unconscious, walking out of a dysfunctional parents and left town. people’s feelings and reasoning. To

100 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International put it simply, public opinion is not stuck on the same page as the male editors. In our countries, the main issue that tradi- tionally has moved pub- lic opinion—politics— is fading away and, frankly, it might be for good. Most leaders, when invested with au- thority, have abused power and/or economic interests. While people die of hunger and ne- glect in many places throughout the world, money accumulates in the hands of authority. Corruption sets in. People lose hope. To- day, the more that sources of information come from formal au- thority, the farther away the people withdraw. Media, as a whole, have been slow in un- derstanding this. Women journalists, who have wanted to move the agenda else- where but who have had little or no space to do so, have been the exception. We have longed to cover issues that public opinion now seems focused on—hu- man relationships, the workplace, gender is- A massive funeral for eight teenagers raped and killed by a serial killer in Alto Hospicio in northern Chile. sues, discrimination, Photo courtesy of Paula magazine. AIDS, poverty, home violence, raising chil- dren, and quality of life. But these the country to speak out. She told her look at the social phenomena hidden issues have had to wait too long, beaten male boss that she wanted the piece to behind the facts. And they usually know back by stories that lack a sensible be published in her paper, Brecha (The how to get at stories that other report- point of view, and have resulted in Gap). He agreed. Good for María and ers have missed. In fact, recently Latin media standardization. good for Brecha. This unlikely out- American women reporters have been In mid-1999, Uruguayan journalist come gave the newspaper the high bringing many stories to the fore about María Urruzola, a victim of constant credibility it has held ever since. discrimination, gender, poverty, hun- sexual harassment from one of her Women’s impact in reporting and ger in Sudan, nine-year-old girls being colleagues at work, wrote an article on writing is often evident in the “femi- circumcised in 29 African countries, what was going on at her bureau. She nine” point of view they bring to ana- and what life is like for a Taliban woman described her treatment in its utmost lyzing news. Women know about feel- under her burka, a story reported long detail and summoned other women in ings and emotions, and they want to before September 11.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 101 Women: International

Durán asked the media to contribute Women in independent media, how- to this campaign. Of course, it became ever, usually do succeed in their efforts a 10th priority issue except for women to favor pluralism and diversity and reporters, who did their best to publi- place social issues on the front page. cize the issue when given extra space Chilean Internet newspaper El or asked to “fill.” Only one broadcast Mostrador, run by a woman editor, has story showed images of the first women become a hit in breaking news. Its who underwent the treatment, talking headlines and very good reporting have about the complete change that had been considered the standard of sev- taken place in their lives. eral Chilean news media for more than Recently, I was in a southern fishing two years now. Yet, the lack of adver- town doing a story on a craftsman who tisement on the net hurts the paper so builds marvelous violins from a native it is not clear how long it will survive. Chilean wood called “alerce” (the larch What worries me—and ought to tree). While I talked with his toothless worry others—is that independent wife, I said to myself: “I won’t write the media are disappearing everywhere. story until I get her teeth back. I’ll drive We either fight for their survival, or we everybody nuts, but his violins and her will need to work out a new agenda smile are the same thing to me.” from inside the core of big media com- By assuming top positions, women panies. We won’t be alone in this be- journalists can create the possibility cause public opinion badly needs more for positive steps forward for others. In information on these hidden issues. Chile, we are getting there. Feature Following September 11, nothing will story magazines are edited by women, be the same. People need and want to and many radio broadcasts are run by know more, to dig in and understand women. The main TV broadcast news the reasons behind the facts. hour has a woman editor. But the other Thus, women journalists have a four TV broadcasts do not, and there chance now. Editors will turn to us. As are no women running newspapers or women, we know and have experi- A Mapuche woman from the south of newsmagazines. Only three women sit enced discrimination. We understand Chile. Media often overlook this minority on boards of the two big media compa- minorities. We wake up every day in- population’s way of life and thinking, nies. Even when we feel we are almost tertwining emotions and human rela- even while Mapuches fight for their there, most of the time our issues are tionships, trying to understand others rights. El Sábado/El Mercurio. still left out. And what women face and to work things out from the point when we get to high positions is the of view of those who are affected. And challenge of either fighting for a change we go to sleep at night thinking about At times, however, they’ve put such in the priorities of the news agenda or steps we have walked either towards or issues on the news agenda but the gradually yielding to our bosses, who away from our mission. We have been newsroom—with its male editors—has in turn yield to political and economic waiting too long to speak up, for our- failed to listen. If these issues are not pressures that won’t easily accept any- selves and for others. We have to take considered part of the “big news” go- body changing the order of things. the chance that is now presented to us ing on, then social issues, per se, seem Women with independent points of and go for it. ■ to be of no interest. Furthermore, they view who work inside big media com- do not sell. But what these editors and panies and who want to work with Veronica Lopez, a 1997 Nieman media owners miss is that credibility their colleagues and bosses to prepare Fellow, founded and was the editor sells by itself. the way for new topics, pluralism and of several magazines in Chile (Cosas, Last year, Chilean First Lady Luisa diversity, usually fail. We are either Caras, El Sábado de El Mercurio, Durán de Lagos launched a campaign moved to another position or a new among others) and in Colombia called “Give a woman her smile back.” boss is placed above us, and our power (Semana). She has taught journal- She raised funds to pay for dental treat- is diminished. Chile, for example, is ism at several universities. She ment that would make poor women the only country that does not have a serves on the board of the Interna- who had lost teeth not only smile again divorce law. Our media—conservative tional Women’s Media Foundation but feel capable of asking for a job and reactionary—allows discussion of and of Chile 21 Foundation. At without being ashamed of themselves, this in some sections focused on women present, she is studying the launch- act with personality before her hus- or family (usually written by women), ing of new independent magazines. band and children, eat normally, and but the lead “news” article, usually stand up with dignity. But most of all, written by men, will always be against. [email protected]

102 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International Between the Rhetoric of Equality and the Harsh Reality In Latin America, women journalists share experiences to find a way forward.

By Blanca Rosales

Brazilian woman journalist tells us that her worst boss had been Aa woman. Another, a Chilean col- league, remarks that competition in newsrooms was very stiff, and that be- ing a wife and mother is forbidden for women aspiring to leadership posi- tions. The editor of one of the largest dailies in Argentina says that even to- day editors—most of whom are men older than 50—address women report- ers not by their names but by a caramel- ized, “Hey, sweetheart.” During three different workshops— sponsored by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) in Latin America and held in Managua, Nicaragua, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Quito, Ecuador during the first half of 2001—stories like these were told again and again. More than 70 women re- In September 2001, after the establishment of Alejandro Toledo’s government, protest- porters from 16 Latin American coun- ers in southern Peru demanded that the government follow through on its promise to tries attended these workshops, and build a highway to link Peru to Brazil. Photo courtesy of Archivo Diario La República. the issues they raised and the stories they told seemed to follow predictable patterns as they reflected on work en- tion of the journalistic field. The situa- working mothers are commonplace in vironments, the possibilities of leader- tion can be imagined as a triangle whose Latin American media. Another argu- ship in Latin American media outlets, apex is filled mostly with older men ment used when determining promo- and hopes for the creation of organiza- who have difficulty welcoming the few tions is whether women are ready to tions that foster training and network- women who manage to break the bar- take on risky and demanding assign- ing and that provide professional and riers to the top. Women journalists ments that require more responsibil- personal support. mentioned the tricks used by male col- ity. Even today it is normal for women I was the facilitator during the lead- leagues to make them feel out of place, editors to work on supplements geared ership workshops at each of these gath- as though they are invaders. Some men towards women or families, or depart- erings, so I can identify some shared use off-color jokes; others relate to ments related to health or children. It’s characteristics despite the particular women based on a father-daughter unlikely that a woman would be at the circumstances of the individual coun- dynamic; others attempt sexual ad- helm of departments dedicated to sci- tries from which participants hailed. vances, which reinforce the exclusion ence and technology, the economy or There are logical differences based on of women from a sphere reserved for computers. the level of development of the media men. And women who have managed to outlets, which is closely tied to the Those women who do assume lead- reach decision-making roles in the economic development of the respec- ership positions must sacrifice their media don’t feel the obligation to be tive country. personal and family lives to reach their trailblazers for other women. To the As I listened, it became apparent professional goals, and in some cases contrary, the pioneering generation that women journalists’ leadership in they must relinquish their aspirations does not recognize mentoring as a duty, the work environment is a collective for starting a family if they want to and poor relationships between aspiration that is still far off in the continue ascending the ranks. Sexist women supervisors and women sub- distance despite the huge contribution commentaries about pregnancies and ordinates are quite common. of women and the infamous feminiza- the special benefits often requested by The Brazilian journalist who shared

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 103 Women: International

conflictive relationship between women colleagues and the lack of con- flict resolution training. To improve the woman-to-woman relationship at the workplace, gender solidarity needs to be promoted with- out defaulting to permissiveness based on gender. Solidarity should be re- garded as a tool for collective success, as a way to generate equal or better- abled female leadership that will lead the way for other women. After all, an intrinsic characteristic of leadership is the training of new and better leaders. Passing experience down and guiding the next generation towards personal and professional success demonstrates the leader’s worth. The IWMF workshop participants also discussed conflict resolution train- ing and the fear of addressing conflicts. In a rural community outside the capital, children learn under precarious conditions, in It is an area that is lacking and that must plastic classrooms with dirt floors. Photo courtesy of Archivo Diario La República. be addressed in this difficult process of strengthening women journalists’ lead- the story of her awful relationship with • The personal: Women’s self-esteem ership in Latin America. Female stereo- her female boss explained that she must be bolstered with tangible ac- types depict women as being afraid of could not communicate effectively with tion, such as having them contrib- confrontation and of asserting their her boss. Sometimes the reason was as ute to determining what is consid- personal points of view. The reality is absurd as her being more elegantly ered news. Some characteristics that that as women we have grown up avoid- dressed than her superior was. Some are considered feminine are essen- ing conflict; that behavior has defined comments that surfaced during the tial for improving the quality of the our filial and social environments, es- workshop dealt with the fact that some news media and for satisfying the pecially in Latin America. But it is im- women, when commenting on other public’s new demands. It’s also nec- possible for women in the media to women’s work, are incapable of sepa- essary to mention women’s ability survive, and even harder for them to rating personal attributes from profes- to organize, participate and lead become leaders, if they lack the skills sional qualifications. Some pointed out professional entities, which allows necessary to deal with conflict. that it’s common for a man, when speak- for more democratically led organi- Women managers and editors gave ing about another man, to comment, zations, thereby changing the tradi- concrete examples of how they gained “he’s a terrible person, but an excel- tional personality-based and tyran- such skills through formal training but lent worker.” It’s almost impossible for nical leadership methods that have also through assuming leadership po- a woman to state the same. characterized the media through- sitions in mixed gender situations out history. where colleagues challenged their or- What happens next? • The collective: It’s important to ders and decisions. Journalistic ability reinforce the networks and groups does not lead to leadership ability. It is Participants in the leadership work- established by women journalists, necessary to be a good listener and to shops stressed that it is essential to allowing them to connect with col- give orders when necessary. For that, work in several areas to try to bring leagues who share common inter- women will no doubt need training. about constructive changes. ests. Lastly, I’d like to share my enor- mous pride in the incomparable expe- • The professional: There’s a need There was, however, an awareness rience of those days of collective reflec- for continuous training that would that any of these efforts to promote tion and learning with Latin American enable them to compete for profes- women’s leadership will not yield the colleagues. Our long hours of work, sional opportunities on an equal desired effects if some problems, which our debates, our laughter, and our footing. They considered business the workshop participants considered shared dreams were characterized by training fundamental in breaking the substantial, are not addressed first. Two solidarity, understanding and a sisterly stereotype that women lack busi- of these appear to stand out in the bond with which we faced the obstacles ness sense and leadership. minds of these women journalists: the we have in common.

104 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International

There were women who, based on who confronted a dictatorship and tinue working towards a true leader- personal merit, held directorial posi- immorality with the resolve of their ship in this part of the hemisphere. ■ tions in their companies, and they denouncements, and those from Ar- shared their experience with young gentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Para- Blanca Rosales, a media consultant, professionals who dream of a success- guay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, is currently a media education ful career. Also, journalists who work Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Nica- advisor to the government of Peru. in the alternative press shared their ragua, Mexico and Costa Rica, each of This article was translated from the point of view with those who were them shared a part of her personal and original Spanish by Juleyka hesitant about embracing the feminist professional history, as well as her Lantigua. cause. The extraordinary Colombian doubts and convictions and her hope journalists, who confront political vio- and faith in a better future. [email protected] lence daily, the Peruvian journalists, I urge women journalists to con- Machismo Is Only One Obstacle Women Face A Colombian war reporter becomes involved with women’s issues.

By María Cristina Caballero

n Colombia, the role of the journal- to the risks and have interviewed not pageant] is like a horse fair….” And ist has always been open to debate. only the leader of the right-wing para- attitudes that accompany such events IDo we just report the daily atroci- military forces, but also the military serve to undermine advancement of ties or try to find ways to stop them? leader of the leftist FARC, the largest Colombian women in other fields; for Just reporting what goes on in my revolutionary force in Colombia. example, only 30 of the 263-member country is perilous enough—34 jour- Congress are women, despite the fact nalists, men and women—have been The Macho World of News that urban Colombian women now at- killed trying to do their jobs during the Reporting tend universities in great numbers. past decade; three were killed this year In this macho media environment, [numbers based on research from the There are many issues that all jour- it is perhaps not surprising that when I Committee to Protect Journalists ]. Mil- nalists in Colombia confront, but there began working in journalism I did not lions of Colombians have demonstrated are also ones that are particular to receive important reporting assign- in the streets, asking for peace. And women who work in an environment ments. Those were tacitly reserved for Media for Peace, a network of more often described as the macho world of men. So I looked for key issues to write than 100 journalists led by Gloria de Latin American male-dominated me- about and, progressively, I became a Castro, tries to influence reporters to dia. New York Times correspondent very happy workaholic as I pursued my write more balanced accounts. Juan Forero recently wrote that media own investigations. When I finished, I Of course, trying to point to solu- in Colombia don’t treat women very presented my material to top editors. tions can be a dangerous role for jour- seriously: “Beauty is a national obses- At first, they were astonished, but they nalists, too. Many reporters and edi- sion in Colombia, readily apparent on grew accustomed to what I would pro- tors have been forced to leave Colombia the nightly newscasts, which often end duce and published my reports that because of what they have published. with shots of bikini-clad young women.” probed deep into the Colombian drug Still, despite the risks, I strongly be- A week later, at Colombia’s national cartels, into institutional corruption lieve that journalists must not only beauty pageant, 400 journalists were and the infiltration of drug money at expose injustices but also try to im- accredited to cover it. In his article, the highest levels of government (more prove the situation of countries as Forero went on to observe that “it is than a dozen politicians went to jail), troubled as mine. When I graduated clear when talking to contestants that and into Colombia’s violence and hu- from Bogotá’s Javeriana University in while winning is paramount, losing is man rights abuses. 1984, I wrote “The Social Responsibil- not bad either…. After all, newscasts “Are you crazy? Why do you write ity of the Journalist” as my thesis; carry- are stocked with former contestants.” about such dangerous issues?” rela- ing out that mission remains my goal. Florence Thomas, a leading profes- tives and friends would ask me. Some As a journalist, I try to find out from all sor at National University in Bogotá, wanted me to forget my idealism about of the factions what their perspectives regards such overwhelming media at- using my journalistic skills to try to are, no matter what the personal dan- tention for such an event as “humiliat- help my country. Others strongly rec- ger might be. I’ve become accustomed ing.” “For me,” she says, “[the beauty ommended that I lead a “normal”

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 105 Women: International

woman’s life and forget traveling to spective to the news: 92 percent re- threat of torture and sexual assault due war zones. Their advice sounded like sponded that their presence in the to the internal conflict.” Unfortunately, this: “What kind of life is that of con- profession makes a difference in how violence inside their homes is rising as stantly receiving death threats?” “Why the news is covered. well. Experts believe that 95 percent of waste your youth trying to understand While coverage of our nation’s con- all abuse against women is never re- the unsolvable problems of Colom- flict has been my primary goal, I also ported to authorities. Nor are such bia?” “Get married and have lots of reported a 10-article series in El Tiempo crimes generally covered by the Co- kids.” “One of these days, they will kill about the shortage of books. Two mil- lombian press. Many reporters are sim- you.” I listened, but it just didn’t sound lion Colombian children didn’t have ply overwhelmed by the increasing in- right to me to surrender. I repeated to the money to buy them. Ironically, in tensification of the nation’s conflict in myself that I had to try. And the criti- many rural regions, children have more which 35,000 people have been killed cisms diminished as I began to win access to guns than to books. What during the past decade. Recently, the prestigious awards for my reporting. followed was a two-year campaign that situation has been getting worse as Yet, so many times I found myself in I led in which 30 public and private extra-judicial executions and forced troubling situations that today I think it institutions provided more than two disappearances are becoming more is a miracle that I am alive. Ambassador million books to poor students common. One Colombian is murdered Swanee Hunt, the director of the throughout the country. every 20 minutes. Women and Public Policy Program at In this environment, Jineth Bedoya’s Harvard’s Kennedy School of Govern- Ongoing Struggles of Women treatment received media attention ment, thinks that perhaps the reason I Journalists because it was the first known case of a was not killed on some of my danger- journalist being tortured and raped by ous assignments is that I am a woman. I had to leave Colombia in 1999 alleged sources. As an expression of In an article she wrote in Foreign Policy because of death threats and a gunman my support, I nominated her for the about her work with Women Waging trying to kill me. Occasionally, I return International Women’s Media Peace, she noted that when I traveled to war regions to try to show the com- Foundation’s annual award, which she alone for eight hours into the jungle to plexity of the situation of my country to received. At the ceremony in October, interview the paramilitary leader an international audience, publishing she said that “this award not only ac- Castaño, I went “where a man could articles and op-ed pieces in The Bos- knowledges the conditions for jour- not go.” She suggests that I looked like ton Globe, The Miami Herald, and nalists in Colombia, but hundreds of a “harmless woman” and therefore was CNN.com, among others. women who have suffered rape and allowed to cross some boundaries. And In the meantime, some women col- humiliation like I have, but who con- my former boss at Semana magazine leagues, such as 27-year-old Jineth tinue to live their lives.” said of me in Brill’s Content, “She looks Bedoya, confront very difficult situa- According to the Committee to Pro- harmless and she has that sweet little tions in trying to do their jobs. On May tect Journalists (CPJ), last year was dev- voice, but when she is interviewing, 25, 2000, when she went to a Bogotá- astating for Colombian journalists. she is like a rottweiler. She bites and area prison where she expected to in- Seven were murdered for reasons pos- she doesn’t let go.” terview a paramilitary leader, Bedoya sibly related to their work, including Though I always try to look for the was kidnapped and raped. She was two women. María Elena Salinas (a human side of stories, I don’t think this found in a garbage dump. In time, she freelance journalist) was found dead perspective can be exclusively catego- returned to her job, and she continues on February 20, 2000, in Antioquia, along with two members of a guerrilla group. According to the CPJ, Salinas was investigating armed conflicts in Others strongly recommended that I lead a the Antioquia region at the time of her ‘normal’ woman’s life and forget traveling to death. On July 4, Marisol Revelo Barón war zones. was killed in Tumaco, a town in the southwestern part of Colombia. She had worked as a news director for Radio Mira, an affiliate of the Caracol rized as being a woman’s one. But, to report atrocities. Radio network in Tumaco, and as a interestingly enough, last year, 122 in- Earlier this year, a U.S. State Depart- local reporter for Teletumaco and ternational women leaders in journal- ment report on human rights dedi- Impacto television channels. Others ism, surveyed by the International cated a section to the situation of Co- have received credible threats. Jour- Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), lombian women in which it states that nalist Mireya Álvarez Ramírez says that overwhelmingly agreed that women “rape and other acts of violence are 10 FARC members have threatened her. bring a different, more “human,” per- pervasive. Women face an increased She is the owner of a bimonthly news-

106 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International paper La Palma en Facetas, operating the mid-1990’s, Media Watch did a sur- IWMF was launched in 1990 with in a town outside Bogotá. The FARC vey that revealed that most news sto- the goal of strengthening the role of ordered her to leave the country in 30 ries showed women as victims, failed women in the news media worldwide, days, otherwise she would be killed. In to provide women’s last names, and based on the belief that no press is her newspaper, she often reported on neglected to mention most women’s truly free unless women share an equal guerrilla tactics such as the forced re- professions. In a 1996 IWMF survey of voice. Perhaps male-dominated media cruitment of peasants. women in 44 countries, 64 percent of executives should take into account respondents said they believed that the interesting results of the Glass Ceil- Reflecting on the Status of women are not portrayed accurately in ing Research Center’s project, pub- Women Journalists the media. Some 67 percent said the lished in November’s Harvard Busi- media ignore women leaders. ness Review. The center tracked the Last year, I was invited by the Inter- Such findings indicate the impor- number of women in high-ranking national Women’s Media Foundation tance of providing more coverage about positions at 215 Fortune companies to participate in a closed-door meeting women in positions of power and of between 1980 and 1998 and compared in Washington and to become an active taking the lead in changing the read- their financial performance to industry member of the organization. Since then, ers’ perception of women. According medians. It determined there is a strong I’ve become more aware of and inter- to a UNESCO study in South America, correlation between a company’s prof- ested in exploring the causes of the women are 25 percent of the regional its and the number of female senior gender inequalities in the media work- media workforce, but are more likely executives in its ranks. The author con- place and in seeking ways to possibly to hold part-time jobs and to work in cludes that those companies that are overcome these situations. In a de- administrative positions rather than slow to move women into top execu- tailed survey presented last July to the editorial. When asked in a recent IWMF tive positions might pay a high price. International Federation of Journalists survey about what would most benefit Two-thirds of women journalism (IFJ) 24th Congress in Seoul, South women journalists, respondents in leaders who responded to a recent Korea, it was revealed that despite Central and South America said, “more IWMF survey consider that women’s women comprising about 38 percent women in leadership and management presence in the newsroom has far- of the worldwide work force in jour- positions in the media” (68 percent) reaching implications for news con- nalism, fewer than three percent of and “meeting and networking with text, work environments, and even the media executive posts are held by women journalists in other Latin Ameri- whole society. As Bogotá Professor Flo- women. The IFJ survey is the most can countries” (57 percent). rence Thomas has observed, “The ad- comprehensive of its kind, with an- After learning this information, I vances of a country should be mea- swers from unions in 40 countries rep- accepted an invitation to become part sured by the advances of its women.” resenting 300,000 journalists. of the advisory committee of the IWMF In Colombia, and in Latin and South As a journalist who has had the op- Latin American Initiative. This will ad- America, how women advance in jour- portunity to be in management posi- dress the needs of women journalists nalism will be a measuring tool well tions (as editor, adviser to the director, by providing them opportunities to worth watching. ■ and director of investigations of three gain skills they need (through training of the most important Colombian news programs) to be regarded and treated María Cristina Caballero, a 1997 organizations), these findings were very as competent professionals. And it will Nieman Fellow, began working in compelling. It is important to take into enhance women’s access to decision- journalism when she was 16. Her account that not more than 50 years making levels in critical numbers. In reporting in Colombia has received ago, journalism used to be an almost May, we had a meeting in Ecuador to numerous awards, including several exclusively male profession. Accord- discuss proposals. We also had three Simón Bolívar Prizes (the most ing to the IFJ, even in 1972 a brochure leadership training programs that in- important journalism award in issued by the German Federal Employ- volved 75 Latin American journalists Colombia), the Inter American Press ment Agency stated that women lack who remain in active contact through Association Human Rights Award, the “sang-froid” and the analytical ca- e-mail. In addition to a strong interest and the 1999 Committee to Protect pacity needed to become a journalist. in management training, participants Journalists World Press Freedom Today female journalists still have said they wanted training in journalism Award. After multiple threats to her to overcome similar barriers if they skills, specifically in investigative re- life, she left her native country and want to reach their potential. Accord- porting and new technologies. is studying for a master’s degree in ing to IFJ and IWMF, some of these Maureen Bunyan, who heads this advi- the Mason Program at Harvard obstacles include stereotypic assump- sory committee, believes that “the news University’s John F. Kennedy School tions and attitudes toward women, dif- media will not change in Latin America of Government. ficult work environments, and social until there is a critical mass of women and personal obstacles. Also, during working at all levels of the profession.” [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 107 Women: International Breaking Down Barriers in the Arab Media Women activists have shown that obstacles to progress take many forms.

By Naomi Sakr

hat is the point of drawing up with commercials featuring women in policies to make women’s large numbers mainly as impression- Wrights central to national de- able consumers, decorative objects or velopment when, at the same time, cleaners and cooks. Indeed, in terms of negative stereotyping of women goes both numbers and images, it seems on daily in the national press and on that women’s growing presence on television? Arab television, far from ending their Women’s rights campaigners in sev- subordination in the media, might be eral Arab countries are organizing to- reinforcing it. day to end this anomaly. They are ex- Evidence collected by Lebanese re- posing the negative aspects of media porter May Elian and others supports messages and working to overcome this concern. It suggests that women the hurdles facing women journalists are used by the appearance-conscious and to empower them to counter the visual media to attract viewers. Worse negativity. A multiplicity of deterrents still, they are used in a way that associ- means the campaign has to take place ates women with a superficial role, in on several fronts. the sense of reading from other Paradoxically, as I realized while people’s scripts or delivering “just one researching a report on women in the question” reports. Arab media for a media freedom center Print journalism, in contrast, is still in London, the challenge facing women seen as a male domain because it in- has become more daunting as the num- media, above all as glamorous news volves “hard work” and needs to be ber of Arabic-language media outlets presenters on satellite television chan- “taken seriously.” Elian presented com- has increased. A popular perception nels. The proliferation of Arab-owned parative data to a seminar on Gender has arisen in recent years that women satellite channels has also generated and Communication Policy held in are everywhere in the Arabic-language an increase in airtime for advertising, Beirut in the run-up to the U.N. Assembly’s Special Session on Women in 2000. She found that, whereas the dominant Lebanese television stations Arab Women Media Center have many more women than men on their news desks, the gender ratio on In December 1999, the Arab Women Women’s Media Conference was held newspapers is quite the reverse. Media Center (AWMC) was launched last spring, the need for a network of Women media professionals surveyed in Jordan. Its mission is to assist women support for Arab women in media be- by the Beirut-based Institute for who work in various media, including came apparent; providing such a net- Women’s Studies in the Arab World print, audio and video. The center’s work became another goal of the cen- concurred that important editorial de- focus is on improving coverage of ter. Also in 2001, AWMC began cisions in all media were still invariably women, children and family, and hu- publishing AYAMM, a magazine that made by men. man rights violations. Its vision is that highlights the written work of youth in Hurdles confronting women in the more Jordanian women will become Jordan. The founding director of the media workplace are universal, as the engaged in the work of their nation’s center, Mahasen Al Emam, was the first International Women’s Media Founda- development. To accomplish these woman editor in chief of a weekly Jor- tion has shown. The main ones are objectives, staff at the center gather danian newspaper and the first female juggling family obligations with erratic research about these topics, write and elected to the 10-member Jordanian work schedules dictated by breaking disseminate reports to inform journal- Press Council. More information about news, together with a lack of successful ists and governmental policymakers, the center can be found at http:// role models. Nagwa Kamel, a Cairo and educate and train women in new odag.org/awmc. ■ University professor, told the opening media technologies. After a pan-Arab conference of the Arab Women Media Center in Amman in June 2001 that

108 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International media women in the Arab world face bine media and advocacy work. The approve of women traveling the coun- several other hurdles as well. coalition gained a foothold across the try unaccompanied or questioning au- In Arab countries, where heavy me- Palestinian media, guaranteeing thority. At the same time, news stories dia censorship puts publishable news women a voice on the full range of about honor killings brought private stories at a premium, the best route to issues through regular radio and tele- family taboos into the public sphere obtaining information is through the vision programs and a newspaper and punctured national complacency shilla, or friendship clique. Given the supplement of interest to both women about women’s well being. They also dearth of female ministers, lawyers or and men. involved coverage of court cases at a other highly placed female sources, Another kind of initiative has come time when Jordan’s 1998 press law had the clique, whose members include from Jordan. Because credible investi- made such coverage technically illegal. representatives of the ruling establish- gative journalism is rare in the Arab As these barriers suggest, women in ment, is bound under current circum- world, the work of Jordanian crime the Arab media not only face obstacles stances to be almost exclusively male. reporter Rana Husseini in exposing based on gender but are also subject to Thus a vicious circle is created, in which “honor” crimes against women was government-prescribed limitations on young women entering journalism are newsworthy in itself. Honor crimes freedom of expression. Tunisia is a assigned to slow-moving coverage of the three “f’s”—food, family and fash- ion. Since recognition in this field is hard to come by, training and promo- tion go to other staff and discourage- ment sets in. Mundane explanations such as these for women failing to reach the upper ranks of media firms do not make head- lines. Yet they do describe cycles that can be broken and challenges that can be overcome. The risk is that they will be overlooked when more violent (and, under current news values, more news- worthy) reasons are also valid. Ex- amples of the latter include the brutal killings of women journalists during the civil conflict in Algeria and the assassination in March 2001 of Kuwait’s prominent woman publisher and women’s rights activist, Hidaya Sultan “In Iran, people have the habit of visiting their deceased relatives on Thursday nights. al-Salem. Then they sit on the graves, eat together, read the Koran, talk about their dead relatives, Given obstacles such as these, one show pictures or share their food and sweets with other visitors. It is like a big family potentially positive outcome of report- gathering of the living and the dead.”—Katharina Eglau. Photo by Katharina Eglau.© ing on women’s status in the Arab media can be to highlight successful local initiatives that lend themselves to involve the murder or attempted mur- country which has a long tradition of replication elsewhere. Palestinian der of women alleged to have be- recognizing women’s legal rights. That women in particular have been proac- smirched the family’s reputation; they did not stop the Tunisian authorities tive on this front. Having long played a are treated leniently under the laws of from jailing Sihem Bensedrine, editor central role in resisting occupation of Jordan and most other Arab states. of an Internet magazine called Kalima, their land, Palestinian women started Husseini’s perseverance took her to after she criticized Tunisia’s human worrying a decade ago that limited self- distant police stations and hospitals rights record during a satellite televi- rule in the West Bank and Gaza would and furnished the information on which sion program broadcast from London mean reoccupation of public space by efforts to amend the discriminatory in June 2001. patriarchal traditions. article of the Jordanian Penal Code Amal Abbas, editor in chief of the In 1992 they formed a coalition of could be based. While Husseini’s high Sudanese newspaper Al-Rai al-Akher, ideologically disparate groups with a profile as a woman in the Jordanian withstood fines and jail terms in order small secretariat and a shared agenda media was not unusual, the nature of to expose corruption among officials of equal rights for women. Prepara- her reporting broke through several in Sudan. Al-Rai al-Akher has been sub- tions for legislative elections provided barriers. ject to seizure and suspension by the a fertile environment in which to com- Traditional attitudes in Jordan dis- Sudanese authorities for several years,

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 109 Women: International

demonstrating that female journalists fundamentalist misogyny and govern- ages of women. In doing so they would who seek to practice their profession ment apathy, Shafik formed a group respond to society’s wider develop- honorably risk losing the platform from called HODA (after the 1920’s feminist ment needs. But attempts to translate which to speak out. Being a woman Hoda Shaarawi), dedicated to helping this recognition into action have too reporter is one challenge. Producing a local women overcome the cultural often foundered because they require newspaper in the face of harsh censor- and bureaucratic hurdles that deter more freedom of expression than gov- ship is another. them from registering to vote. ernments will allow. ■ Another challenge is promoting the Unfortunately, civil society groups kind of environment in which women working for democracy are highly vul- Naomi Sakr has covered the Arab not only write and broadcast, and do nerable in Egypt, as demonstrated when world—as a journalist, editor and so freely, but also vote and stand for the independent Ibn Khaldun Centre country analyst—for more than 25 public office. In Egypt, for instance, in Cairo, which provided logistical sup- years. She now specializes in media women make up an estimated 40 per- port to HODA and other women’s pro- development as a researcher and cent of journalists. Yet their number in grams, was closed by the government lecturer at the University of parliament is under two percent, while in the summer of 2000. A year later the Westminster and consultant to less than 10 percent of Egyptian women Ibn Khaldun Centre’s director, sociol- several non-governmental organiza- are registered to vote. ogy professor and democracy cam- tions. The report mentioned in this Veteran journalist Amina Shafik of paigner Saad Eddin Ibrahim, received article, “Women’s Rights and the Egypt’s leading government-owned a seven-year prison sentence in a trial Arab Media,” was compiled for the daily, Al-Ahram, once headed her that international human rights moni- Centre for Media Freedom: Middle country’s journalists’ union. She and tors unanimously denounced as being East and North Africa and published her colleagues say women’s status in- unfair. in November 2000. It is available side and outside the media has re- Initiatives like those mentioned in through the Centre for Media Free- gressed severely in the last 20 years. this article confirm that proactive dom, based in London. Concerned at the way women were women executives in the Arab media being squeezed out of public life by could help to disseminate positive im- [email protected] Moving Coverage Beyond a Woman’s Veil In Iran, important stories about women are submerged by inaccurate assumptions.

By Naghmeh Sohrabi

hen I tell strangers and ac- Iran, it seems important to ask what in its relation to the outside world. quaintances I am an Iranian- the media might do differently in its Iranian cinema presented international WAmerican who travels fre- coverage of Iranian women. viewers with images other than bearded quently between the two countries, I It’s been 22 years since the image of men and veiled women. More foreign am often asked whether it is difficult angry women, covered from head to journalists (including some Americans) for me, as a woman, to be in Iran. Many toe in black cloth and shouting anti- were allowed into the country. And of us have spent hours describing the American slogans, entered the con- most importantly in 1997, with Presi- degree of freedom that exists in Iran sciousness of Western media. Since the dent Mohammad Khatami’s election, and explaining how Iranian women’s 1979 Iranian Revolution, women in the Islamic Republic of Iran emerged situation is different from that of Saudi this country have been a focus of West- in the West as no longer an angry or Afghan women. In Iran, women are ern fascination. In this time, the changes country but one struggling to release not always in the house, nor do they that occurred in the status of women— itself from the grips of its founding spend all their time thinking about the particularly compulsory veiling and moment—that of the Islamic Revolu- veil on their head, nor does every man stricter marriage and family laws—have tion. have many wives. And, yes, even a single become the main line of differentia- Through this time, the veiled Mus- woman can buy a bus ticket in Iran. tion between Iran and more “modern” lim woman has remained the image of The primary source of information countries. They are regarded as the Iranian women in the international about Iran is the media, given that few ultimate sign of a country moving back- media. At first glance (both literally from North America and Europe travel wards. and symbolically) this makes perfect there these days. Considering the preva- During the 1990’s, another type of sense. Anyone who travels to Iran is lence of misperceptions about life in change took place both within Iran and inevitably confronted with this most

110 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Women: International obvious difference. common window Women are seen on the through which the streets wearing veils, West reports on Iran. some happily, some not, Yet other issues are many indifferently. And of concern to Iranian for many journalists who women, and these travel to Iran, who visit concerns are ones with middle- and upper- that journalists could class families, the issue report on and other of compulsory veiling media could do a bet- and other limitations on ter job of portraying. women’s rights are often But to do so means the first things that are moving beyond the discussed. customary model for It is thus rare to read a reporting on Iranian news report about the so- women. cial and cultural situation Considering the in Iran without a men- constraints placed on tion of veiled women. In “This young woman is totally veiled and studies at the niversity of Irbid, journalists traveling these reports, a veil is Jordan. It always surprised me to see women in such clothes, because in Jordan to and reporting on used to either demon- there is no law that forces women to be veiled like in Iran. But some of them Iran, how can the cov- strate a person’s conser- do it because they are convinced that it is the right way of life for them- erage of Iranian vative viewpoint or to selves.”—Katharina Eglau. Photo by Katharina Eglau.© women in the inter- show the opposite—that national media be im- despite the veil, a woman proved? holds views close to our own more Since 1997, there has been a shift Here are four interconnected sug- liberal, democratic ones. A recent ar- toward articles that focus on the nu- gestions: ticle in The New York Times’s “Week in merous women journalists, activists, Review” clearly demonstrates this parliamentarians and other public fig- 1. Don’t start reporting with pre- point: While in one section the article ures in Iran. There is also an increasing conceived assumptions. The frame- states that Iranian women’s wearing of number of articles about Iranian youth, work within which stories about the veil has led to their loss of freedom with special emphasis on younger women are sought and written about and rights, in another the writer notes women as the strongest force for re- needs to change. If we start with the the important role women have played form in contemporary Iran. This shift is assumption that Iranian women are in Iran’s recent politics, “their covered an important and welcomed one, re- some of the most repressed women in heads and bodies notwithstanding.” flecting the changing situation in Iran the world, then anything that counters The problem, of course, is that because and the increased access of Western that image will be seen as heroic, sub- veiling is compulsory in Iran it is hard journalists to it. versive and unusual. The rise of Islamic to use it as an indicator of any Despite this positive change, a good movements in different parts of the individual’s political views. number of articles still operate within Middle East in the 1990’s and the There are many women—some a conventional framework and utilize Taliban in Afghanistan have for now more vocal proponents of women’s stereotypes. The success of female pub- fixed in the international mind the idea rights in Iran—who would still wear a lic figures in Iran and the presence of of Muslim women (marked by their veil regardless of the law and who are Iranian women in the streets are often veil) as oppressed by a Muslim patriar- against it being compulsory. Some of presented against the backdrop of the chy. It is against this image that much the country’s more politically and so- readers’ (and sometimes the journal- of the coverage of Iranian women oc- cially active women are practicing Mus- ists’) expectation that because the curs and many articles are read. The lims; their objection to compulsory women are veiled and living in a Mus- prevalent assumption that treats all veiling stems not from their belief that lim country, they lack certain rights, women living in Muslim countries the the veil itself is oppressive, but rather behave in certain (traditional/conser- same (regardless of country, social, from knowing that a law deprives vative) ways, and hold certain views. economic and cultural factors)—an women of their freedom to choose This juxtaposition of look, beliefs and assumption that does not correspond their clothing. These women, there- actions provides such reports with a to reality—is the cause of some of the fore, are not a moderating or reformist sensationalist, shocking, or “newswor- problematic reporting we see. force “despite their veil.” The veil, it- thy” quality: See the traditional woman 2. Don’t think in terms of “Ira- self, has very little to do with their act in modern ways. nian women.” Ask how relevant the political stance. Gender inequality is now the most broad category “Iranian woman” is to

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 111 Women: International

the story being reported. cisely the kind of contex- For example, rarely do we tual information necessary see articles speaking about for better coverage of Iran “French” or “Italian” or “Eu- and Iranian women. The ropean” women. To speak most important of these is about those women as www.badjens.com and though they are a collec- www.tehranavenue.com. tive with the same prob- The former, in particular, lems, reactions and pre- was created to specifically dicaments would not be address the problems out- considered good journal- lined in this article and to ism. Yet when Iranian allow those outside of Iran women are written about— to see women in Iran not even when reporting on a as Muslim/Iranian women particular artist, attorney, but as they see themselves. writer, or politician—the focus shifts from the This critique of media “In Iran, the motorbike is very popular. Whole families travel on one individual’s work to her life coverage of Iranian motorbike because they cannot afford a car.”—Katharina Eglau. Photo as an Iranian or Muslim women is a tricky one to by Katharina Eglau.© woman. Many Iranian articulate. I am aware that women who become the at times it implies that focus of the international media’s at- tions; don’t box her into speaking for unless journalists are part of a culture, tention and fascination are aware of “Iranian women.” The image of the they cannot accurately cover it. Or that the kind of boxes they are put into and veiled (thus Muslim) woman has be- at times such criticism veers into a kind often express frustration over this, come so all-consuming and stands in of cultural relativism that seems to make noting how most of the questions asked for so many things (political beliefs, any type of general statement prob- of them by foreign journalists focus economic status, demography) that, in lematic. Neither of these conclusions is more on being an “Iranian woman” using it, we lose sight of important my intent. The job of journalists cover- and less on their work. differences when reporting on women ing a culture and society so different 3. Ask different questions. The who live in Iran. from their own is a difficult one, and in most important way to change our 4. Learn about Iran before asking Iran this difficulty is compounded by framework is to begin asking different questions. The two most important restrictions on the flow of information questions. Familiar questions sound constraints on those writing about Iran and, at times, by the contradictory na- like this: “What do Iranian women are language and unfamiliarity with ture of changes taking place inside of want?” “What are the problems of Ira- the subtle shifts and changes in Iranian it. But it is precisely for these reasons nian women today?” “How can a woman society. Other than a handful of jour- that the job of journalists reporting on be veiled and a feminist?” “How does it nalists who reside there, most travel to Iran, and particularly about women in feel to be a woman in the Islamic Re- Iran for limited periods of time and Iran, requires a higher degree of self- public of Iran?” But these questions operate under the pressures of navi- criticism and awareness of the assump- have limited utility. Instead, ask ques- gating a difficult and different society. tions brought into the reporting. tions that will provide a broader con- Fortunately, various resources are avail- The complexities of these women’s text for deeper understanding. Instead able to journalists both in and outside lives might be difficult to report, chal- of asking, “What do Iranian women of Iran. An increasing number of Ira- lenging to write, and slow to be em- want?” ask questions that add to gen- nian-Americans (or Iranian-Europeans) braced by readers. But they are also the der issues other factors such as eco- travel to and live in Iran and can serve stories worth telling. ■ nomics, religious beliefs, and demo- as sources of information. Because their graphic information. When relation to both societies is not just Naghmeh Sohrabi is a Ph.D. candi- interviewing various women, deter- based on formal information (books, date in Middle Eastern history at mine their background (Are they from newspapers, interviews), they are in a Harvard University. She has worked Tehran or the provinces? Are they up- position to understand the subtleties as an interpreter for various jour- per, middle, or working class? How of Iranian society while at the same nalists in Iran and the United States relevant are their views/positions to time appreciate some of the difficulties and is a regular contributor to the their demographics, and how much journalists face in trying to explain online magazine Iranian.com. relevance does this have to their being these subtleties to their readers. There women?) Ask questions that allow indi- are also Web sites, journals and online [email protected] vidual women to hold myriad posi- magazines that attempt to create pre-

112 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Nieman Notes Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore

Interactivity Creates a Different Kind of Journalism A former newspaper editor turned radio host discovers ‘a forum, simultaneously public and intimate, for digesting news and debating its meaning.’

By Tom Ashbrook

ust before nine o’clock on the morn- chronicling my experience in the On Sunday afternoon, the station’s ing of September 11, I was turning decade’s boom and was enjoying a top brass, producers and technical staff Jinto the parking lot of a venture year off—writing, swimming with the gathered around a white board with capital firm in Westport, Connecticut kids, and dabbling very lightly in a the scribbled outline of the program- when the cell phone beeped. “Turn on completely new medium to me: radio. ming. A staff of a dozen was put on the your radio,” my wife said. “A plane has Boston’s national powerhouse of a rush project. Public radio stations hit the World Trade Center.” public radio station, WBUR, had KQED in San Francisco and WNYC in That morning, we did not set out launched a great interview and call-in New York mercifully picked up three plans for a new media company, or for show called “The Connection,” hosted of the five hours. On Monday, Septem- an old one, or for anything else. In- by the inimitable Christopher Lydon. ber 17, WBUR’s “Special Coverage” stead, a knot of investors, entrepre- When Chris left the station, a stream of went live for two hours at 7 p.m., neurs, secretaries, the UPS man, and a well-known broadcasting folk stepped flowing over hundreds of local stations plumber sat transfixed around a televi- in to take the microphone while sta- in NPR’s network. It’s never stopped. sion set pulled onto a long boardroom tion manager Jane Christo looked for a The show’s format is simple and table and watched with the rest of the new host. NPR’s Nina Totenberg, Neal draws its energy from the diversity of world as history exploded in our faces. Conan, and Robert Siegel took turns. response to stunning events: An eight- So many lives were changed in those John Donvan from ABC’s “Nightline” minute debrief at the top of the hour, few hours. My changes were utterly sat in. Dick Gordon from the Canadian digging in to the latest news from Wash- inconsequential in any greater scheme Broadcasting System was there. Judy ington, New York, Islamabad or Kabul, of things. But that morning did re- Swallow from the BBC. And from the with radio or print reporters on the shape, yet again, my experience as a ink-stained world of newspapering, the scene or informed analysts looking on. journalist. Globe’s Alex Beam and, once-removed, A longer interview, live, in the 40- In the late 1990’s, after my Nieman me. Gordon, a veteran CBC correspon- minute belly of each hour, going deep year, I left my editor’s job at The Bos- dent, was tapped for the job. But for with a newsmaker, scholar, artist or ton Globe to join the “new media” land me, just a week at the microphone had commentator, and opening the phones rush with a team of wonderful dream- been a revelation. This was the original to listener comments and questions. ers. We launched an Internet company, interactive mass medium, interacting And a “radio diary” in the last five struggled up a steep learning curve, with a great national audience and minutes of the show, in which citizens, raised $70 million, made something thriving on change, both social and filmmakers, Afghan exiles and others cool happen, learned the new media technological. have poured out their personal frontier inside and out—then watched Four days after the attacks, WBUR thoughts and emotions in taped seg- as bust followed boom. There was executive producer Ian Docherty called ments. As host, I’m joined most nights plenty of hubris, a little madness—and on a Saturday afternoon. Demand for throughout by the show’s excellent the beginnings of a profound change coverage of the week’s astounding news analyst Jack Beatty, a senior edi- in the flow of information that will play events were pressing NPR’s resources tor at The Atlantic Monthly. out for years to come. to the brink, he said. Would I come in So, crisis brings a newspaperman to The company survives, but by Sep- Sunday afternoon, ready to help plan the radio mike. And here’s what I’ve tember of this year I had long stepped and host crisis programming that would learned. Radio’s strength is its imme- out of the management of go on-air nationally, five hours a night, diacy in moving information, its tactile HomePortfolio, Inc. I’d written a book starting Monday? power to evoke scenes and elicit re-

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 113 Nieman Notes

sponse, its ability to share conversa- multi-dimensional. Listeners are brave happens in “real time,” as I would have tions in their full human richness, and in their questions. This instant said last year, in new-media its power as a forum, simultaneously interactivity can be intense. Listeners’ entrepreneuring mode. In a focused public and intimate, for digesting news challenges and our guests’ responses news context, this is thrilling. In a time and debating its meaning. Most news- allow the entire audience to quickly of crisis, it feels invaluable. ■ paper interviews are, of necessity, triangulate for a personal view. Listen- highly filtered and structured for nug- ers can soon gauge a guest’s aware- Tom Ashbrook, a 1996 Nieman gets. Live radio interviews are full in- ness, sagacity and humanity. The role Fellow, is author of “The Leap: A the-moment conversations, with all the of the interlocutor—in this case, the Memoir of Love and Madness in the nuance, emotion and palpability that host—is more transparent than in print. Internet Gold Rush.” He was deputy implies. They can, on a good night, be The audience sees the sausage being managing editor of The Boston more nimble and less predictable that made, can poke at facts and their inter- Globe and founding publisher of many interviews converted to print. pretation, and suggest entirely differ- HomePortfolio Inc. Open the phones on air and the ent perspectives on news and analy- conversation becomes immediately sis—in the midst of an interview! It all [email protected]

—1955— opposition to Thomas were unbiased,” joining The Sun in 1983. according to his obituary in The Wash- Parsons is survived by his wife, Archibald J. Parsons, a long-time ington Post. Sandra Roberts, daughter Elizabeth newspaperman and a founding editor Parsons trained in aeronautical en- Ross Parsons, and stepson, Adam R. of National Journal, died on January gineering at New York University, then Petrillo, of Rockville, Maryland. 14, 2001 of complications related to studied journalism as a graduate at the cardiovascular disease and kidney fail- . He began his —1957— ure. He was 75. newspaper career at the New York Parsons worked for The (Baltimore) Herald-Tribune in 1949, eventually Anthony Lewis, a fixture on The Sun beginning in 1983. In 1987, he working for The Washington Post, the New York Times’s op-ed page for 32 became The Sun’s minority affairs cor- Washington Star, and The Sun. years, retired in December. He spent respondent in Washington. There he At times during the 60’s and 70’s almost his entire newspaper career— was criticized for being politically in- Parsons worked in public affairs, first since the late 1940’s—with the Times. volved in support of the controversial for the Ford Foundation in West Africa, In 1969, Lewis, already a two-time Supreme Court nomination of Clarence and later for the Democratic National Pulitzer Prize-winner, began writing Thomas. Parsons admitted that his Committee and the U.S. Information his column, then entitled “At Home political actions were contrary to his Agency. In the early 1970’s he was a Abroad,” from the Times’s London “ethical responsibilities,” but at the founding editor and executive editor bureau. His last column was published same time “maintained that his stories of National Journal. He taught journal- on December 15 of this year. about the nomination and the NAACP’s ism at Michigan State University before Though not a trained lawyer, he is an authority and frequent lecturer on U.S. constitutional law, particularly on The Murrey and Frances Marder Fund issues of free speech and free press. Lewis is noted for having spent most of The Murrey and Frances Marder Fund, the conferences and articles on watch- his Nieman year at the Harvard Law established in November 1996, has dog journalism in Nieman Reports and School. provided the Nieman Foundation with on the Nieman Web site. An account- Lewis said he had decided to retire support for four Watchdog Journalism ing as of 10/15/00 appeared in the about six months ago. “My health is Conferences. It also has paid for the Winter 2000 issue of Nieman Reports. good, but I’ve been at it for 32 years. costs related to publishing excerpts of An accounting as of 11/30/01 follows: I’m 74—it was time to slow down,” he said. He does not expect to continue Income: $235,221.67 writing for the Times as some retired $138,197.13 — Balance at 10/15/00 columnists have (“a cutting of the sil- 8,191.90 — Interest on balance at end of FY’00-01 (6/30/01) ver cord,” as he put it). Instead, in 88,832.64 — Income from endowment for FY’01-’02 (7/1/01-6/30/02) January, he’ll be focusing on a course Expense: $22,241.37 he will teach on constitutional law and $ 22,241.37 — Fourth Watchdog Conference (9/28/01 & 9/29/01) the press at Harvard University’s Balance: $212,980.30 Kennedy School of Government. Lewis is the author of “Gideon’s

114 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Nieman Notes

Trumpet” (1964), “Portrait of a De- capacity, he is responsible for the —1984— cade: The Second American Revolu- Globe’s community relations, public tion” (1964), and “Make No Law: The relations, and The Boston Globe Foun- Nina Bernstein was one of five fi- Sullivan Case and the First Amend- dation. Last January, Larkin was named nalists this year for the National Book ment” (1991). senior vice president of human re- Award nonfiction category for “The Lost sources; in his new post, he will con- Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle —1973— tinue to oversee human resources and to Change Foster Care” (Pantheon other administrative duties. Books). In her book she follows sev- Wayne Greenhaw writes, “My 14th eral generations of a family whose 1973 book, ‘My Heart Is in the Earth: True —1979— lawsuit challenged New York City’s Stories of Alabama and Mexico,’ was foster care system. The case was finally published this fall by River City Pub- Donald Woods was posthumously settled in 1999 and, in writing about it, lishing. A collection of pieces from my awarded an Al Neuharth Free Spirit she reveals much about the lives of many years of reporting, it also con- Award by The Freedom Forum in No- New York’s abandoned children. The tains never before published articles vember. Woods, born in South Africa, other four finalists were Marie Arana, and accounts which bring together the worked to expose the realities of apart- David James Duncan, Jan T. Gross, and two places I love: Alabama, where I heid in his country. Receiving repeated Andrew Solomon, who won the award. have lived most of my life, and Mexico, threats to his family, he fled the coun- where I went to school and where my try to England and continued to cam- —1988— wife, Sally, and I travel frequently. paign against apartheid with books, The Alabama stories include tales of essays, articles and lectures. Woods Lindsay Miller has a new job at the late Governor George C. Wallace died of cancer on August 19, 2001. WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio and of the man who wrote his inaugu- Three others received the award this news station and perhaps, she says, ral address (‘Segregation now! Segre- year: Alice Randall, author of “The Wind “most notorious as the home of the gation forever!’) and who later wrote Done Gone;” Erik Weihenmayer, the ‘Car Talk’ guys.” She continues, “Hav- ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ and ‘The first blind person to ascend Mt. Everest, ing spent three years as senior editor of Education of Little Tree;’ tales of my and Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, WBUR’s ‘Morning Edition,’ I’m now a grandfather and grandmother, of the test pilot and the first human to fly producer for ‘The Connection,’ a talk Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, and faster than the speed of sound. The show about news and ideas that airs on legendary Alabama football coach Paul award is presented to individuals for NPR stations throughout the country. ‘Bear’ Bryant. The Mexico stories in- their ability to inspire others. A lot of people listen to us online clude the tale of my first journey by (www.theconnection.org). In normal train from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to San —1981— times (which these are not), we do an Miguel de Allende to attend school in hour a day of hard news and an hour on the summer of 1958 and 1959 when I David Lamb, in the wake of the something soft but fascinating. met the Beat writers Jack Kerouac and September terrorist attacks, updated “It’s a lot like being a Nieman. For Allen Ginsberg; the story of the Ala- and revised his 1987 book, “The Arabs: one thing, I’m surrounded by really bama-raised William Spratling, who Journeys Beyond the Mirage,” for re- bright, cool people who are much revitalized the silver industry in Taxco, publication. Then, in December, he younger than I. And I can pick and and profiles of artists Diego Rivera and headed off to Pakistan and Afghanistan choose from a whole universe of top- Frida Kahlo. for the Los Angeles Times to report the ics, only this time I’ve got to write the I am now rewriting my history of war against terrorism. papers. I’ve had Geneva Overholser Montgomery, published by the Mont- (NF ’86), Stan Grossfeld (NF ’92), and gomery Advertiser 11 years ago. With —1982— a lot of other Niemans on the program. more information about the last de- And I’m always looking for more.” cade of the 20th century and new de- Ramindar Singh is a fellow at The tails I have uncovered from further Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, —1990— research, the book ‘Montgomery: The Politics and Public Policy at Harvard River City’ will be published by River University’s Kennedy School of Gov- Goenawan Mohamad spent the fall City Publishing in the spring of 2002.” ernment. Singh has been a journalist as a Regents’ Professor at the Univer- for three decades. From 1995 until sity of California, Los Angeles. His ap- —1977— March 2000 he was editor of New pointment ended in December 2001. Dehli’s The Times of India and, most He wrote, “Living in an apartment here Al Larkin was named senior vice recently, editor of The Sunday Times in L.A. as a Regents’ Professor reminds president of general administration and of India. During his fellowship he is me so much of my Nieman year more external affairs, a new post, at The pursuing his interests in press freedom than a decade ago. It remains a memo- Boston Globe last September. In that and freedom of information. rable sojourn.”

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 115 Nieman Notes Gaining New Appreciation for a Free Press—From Afar

Karl Idsvoog, a 1983 Nieman, spent continues its slump, as stations con- stability? Anyone working on those seven weeks in Tbilisi, Georgia this fall tinue to cut costs, there’s one question shows as well as the American viewing on a U.S. State Department-funded mis- every corporate executive and every public knows the answer. American sion through Internews, a nonprofit American should ask: ‘What price has broadcast corporations have failed mis- organization supporting independent our nation paid for the profit margins erably. Before September 11, with only media in emerging democracies. He of America’s news corporations?’ a few exceptions, our so-called news- went to train investigative reporters at “At Rustavi 2 Television, all the jour- magazines paid more attention to Hol- Rustavi 2 Television, an independent nalists as well as their owners talk about lywood than to Washington. That’s not television station in Georgia. the importance of a free press to de- surprising. Unlike the owners of news He writes: “It was a great time to be mocracy. And it’s not just talk. Despite companies here in Tbilisi who are con- in Georgia. The interior minister threat- death threats (a popular anchor was cerned about democracy, the owners ened the station’s CEO. The following recently murdered), journalists and of America’s news corporations are week, the security minister sent agents their owners are committed to focus- concerned mainly about money. to the station, who demanded various ing on issues of critical importance to “Examining issues of significance to financial records of the station. The the developing democracy here. Yet in a community takes time and time is station CEO ordered every camera in America, news corporations continue money. It’s cheaper to do live-shot the place turned on—they went live. to cut newsroom budgets. What price, journalism. It’s cheaper to replace ex- Within minutes, citizens of Tbilisi were as a nation, will we pay? perienced (more expensive) reporters gathering outside of Rustavi 2. The “And despite some excellent news- with inexperienced (cheaper) ones. So, following day, thousands marched on paper reporting, for the American pub- for the moment, the profit continues, Parliament. And, subsequently, several lic to be informed the news needs to be but the public loses, and so does de- ministers resigned. on television. Prior to September 11, mocracy. Terrorists will never destroy “Rustavi 2 has lots of production how much would the American public American democracy. But greed might.” and equipment problems, but the main know from watching “20/20,” In the United States, Idsvoog runs thing it has is commitment. Those who “Primetime Live,” “Dateline,” the morn- First Amendment Investigations, pro- work there believe in the importance ing shows, and the entire Fox network viding investigative data and video ser- of a free press to a democracy—some- about the threat of terrorism, Ameri- vices to law firms representing media thing owners of America’s broadcast can foreign policy, the attitudes of the organizations. In the spring, he ex- corporations seem to have forgotten. Arab states toward America, world pov- pects to be doing more work for As the ad market in the United States erty and its implications on political Internews. ■

—1992— —1994— —1996—

Raymundo Riva Palacio is in a new Larry Tye writes, “After 20 years at Dave Marcus took a leave of ab- editing position: “After several months newspapers—the last 15 at The Boston sence from US News & World Report, of pressure from the Mexican Presi- Globe covering issues from medicine to “write a book about teenagers who dency, I was finally fired (the story of and environment to sports—I left this have problems at home and school. my life) from Milenio, a newspaper I summer to try book writing full time. After covering terrorism for years, it founded (a 10-year project), which is My book on the renewal underway was tough not to write about Septem- part of a very important media group in across the Jewish Diaspora, ‘Home ber 11, but I’m finally relishing life in Mexico. I am now working as executive Lands: Portraits of the New Jewish Northampton, Massachusetts. The four editor of Detrás de la Noticia, a small Diaspora,’ came out in September. I of us can be reached at (413) 586-3732, multimedia group that produces TV just signed a contract with Henry Holt or [email protected]. For more and radio news programs, is an Internet for another book, on the Pullman por- on my project: www.DaveMarcus.com.” provider, and a wire news service (that ters and how they helped spawn the is quality, not quantity oriented), and Civil Rights movement and today’s black —2001— publishes a weekly political magazine middle class. I also am setting up and in several newspapers in Mexico, in- will run a fellowship program—spon- Sulaiman al-Kahtani is doing a post- cluding El Universal, of Mexico City sored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of doctoral fellowship at the Center for (total circulation, est: 250,000). I am Massachusetts Foundation—to train Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard Uni- also writing a twice-a-week column in young medical reporters from print, versity. The fellowship began in the fall El Universal.” radio and TV.” of 2001 and will continue through the

116 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Nieman Notes end of July 2002. Al-Kahtani’s research D.C. I took the job in early August. As is a comparative analysis of the rules of chief, I decide the editorial direction U.S. Postal Service poets in the old Arabic tribes and the and the generation of news materials Statement of Ownership current process of journalism in the for broadcast to our service areas. This Management and Circulation Arab world. The major question in his also includes providing news informa- research is “Have the Arab journalists tion about the United States and seek- Title of publication: Nieman Reports. replaced the poets of the old Arabic ing local content and resonance for Publication no. USPS 430-650. Date tribes?” Africa in major U.S. policies. The Hausa of filing 9/26/00. Frequency of issue: language is a major trade language in Quarterly. No. of issues published Sunday Dare has a new position: “I most parts of West Africa spoken by annually: 4. Annual subscription am currently the service chief of the millions of people. Target areas are price: $20. Complete mailing address Hausa service under the Africa division Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Cameroon and of known office of publication: One at the Voice of America in Washington, Chad.” ■ Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2009 Middlesex County. Com- plete mailing address of the head- quarters or general business office of Letter to the Editor the publishers: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2009. Full November 2001 names and complete mailing address of publisher and editor: Bob Giles, In Nieman Reports/Fall 2001, Jim lacks. And I’m full of admiration for One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA Naughton writes that The Philadel- the reporters, editors and photog- 02138-2009; Melissa Ludtke, One phia Inquirer, formerly “one of raphers who fill the Inquirer’s pages Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA journalism’s top destinations, has every day, people whom Naughton 02138-2009. Owner: Nieman Foun- become a departure lounge.” dismisses. dation at Harvard University, One That’s a cute, clever turn of phrase, I’d like to name some of the out- Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA but it’s also cruel and cynical, com- standing performers, but there are 02138-2009. Known bondholders, ing from an editor who abandoned too many of them. Suffice to say that mortgagees, and other security hold- ship with a generous buyout six years I’d stack the Inquirer’s current staff ers: none. The purpose, function and ago. against that of just about any news- nonprofit status of this organization Moreover, in my opinion, paper of comparable size in this and the exempt status for Federal Naughton tells just one side of the country. income tax purposes has not changed story, the downside. It’s certainly Never was I prouder of this staff during preceding 12 months. Extent true that Knight Ridder’s belt-tight- than in its superlative coverage of and nature of circulation (first num- ening has cast a pall over the the World Trade Center catastro- ber is average number of copies of Inquirer’s newsroom. Many talented phe. The paper’s comprehensive each issue during preceding 12 journalists have left the paper, and work on this big story was truly months, and second is actual num- these losses are tough to take. stunning, and I say that as one who ber of copies of single issue pub- But Naughton ignores what I see was totally out of the loop. lished nearest to filing date): Total as the upside. For, despite the griev- As the Inquirer’s executive editor number copies: 5,400; 6,500. Paid ous blows it has sustained, I believe in its glory years, Gene Roberts at- circulation, sales through dealers and the Inquirer remains one of the tracted brilliant editors and report- carriers, street vendors and counter nation’s finest newspapers. ers from all over the country, many sales: none; none. Mail subscription: I’ve spent nearly 55 years in this of whom have followed him out the 384; 389. Total paid circulation: 384; lunatic business, including more than door. 389. Free distribution by mail, carrier three decades competing fiercely They were totally committed to or other means, samples, complimen- against the Inky as a reporter and Roberts, my highly esteemed tary and other free copies: 4,890; editor for the Philadelphia Bulletin. Nieman classmate, but not to the 6,101. Total distribution: 5,274; 6,490. After we lost the newspaper war in Inquirer, and certainly not to the Copies not distributed, office use, left 1982, I joined the Inquirer staff and quirky city where it is published. over, unaccounted, spoiled after print- have toiled here as a reporter, busi- More’s the pity. ing: 100; 100. Return from news ness columnist, and freelance con- agents: none; none. Total: 5,374; tributor ever since. Peter Binzen 6,590. I certify that the statements That background gives me per- Nieman ’62 made by me above are correct and spective that I think Jim Naughton complete: Bob Giles.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 117 Nieman Notes Living Treasures

By Steve Northup

here is a small committee in Santa but it is sometimes waved when there years: black and white, big negative Fe that twice each year names is worry about a recipient making 80. (four by five-inch), wide-angle envi- Tthree people as “Living Trea- Seven years ago, the committee came ronmental portraits, done by available sures.” The name, and to some extent to me and asked that I take over the light. These living treasures seem to the content, is based on a model cre- photography part of the program, do- bring their own light to the process. ated by the Japanese to honor citizens ing a portrait of each treasure. I felt For me, the best part is being able to for their artistic contributions. But Santa honored, and the Treasures Project spend hours with each of them in quiet Fe honors a wider spectrum of service. was a precise fit into a portrait project conversation before the camera comes There is an age requirement—over 80— I’ve been plugging away at for about 10 out of the bag. ■

Text and all photos © Steve Northup, a 1974 Nieman Fellow who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pedro Ribera-Ortega, majordomo of La Conquistadora. The statue came to New Mexico with the reconquest of 1693.

118 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 Nieman Notes

Abad Aloy Lucero at 92, Lucero continues to make furniture and carve saints.

Estafanita Martinez at a San Juan pueblo. A storyteller and linguist, she is compiling the first dictionary of her language.

Nieman Reports / Winter 2001 119 Fred McCaffrey, a long-time New Mexico newsman, went blind a few months before this picture was made.

120 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001