NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

VOL. 58 NO. 3 FALL 2004 Five Dollars

Africa: Stories to Be Told

Words & Reflections: War, Terror and Secrecy

International Journalism: Foreign Correspondence and Reporting on North Korea “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”

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

Vol. 58 No. 3 NIEMAN REPORTS Fall 2004 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Sarah Hagedorn Design Editor Deborah Smiley

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected]

Subscriptions/Business Internet Address: Telephone: 617-496-2968 www.nieman.harvard.edu E-Mail Address: [email protected] Copyright 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Subscription $20 a year, $35 for two years; add $10 per year for foreign airmail. Single copies Second-class postage paid at Boston, $5. Massachusetts and additional entries. Back copies are available from the Nieman office. POSTMASTER: Please address all subscription correspondence to Send address changes to One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Nieman Reports, and change of address information to P.O. Box 4951, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. Manchester, NH 03108. ISSN Number 0028-9817 Vol. 58 No. 3 NIEMAN REPORTS Fall 2004 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

4 Journalist’s Trade Africa: Stories to Be Told

WATCHDOG 6 Seeking Balance in a Continent Portrayed By Its Extremes BY CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO

8 Trapped in a Time-Warped Narrative BY FERGAL KEANE

10 When Reporting a Story Turns Into Running From a Riot BY JASON BEAUBIEN

12 Weighing the Moral Argument Against the Way Things Work PHOTO ESSAY BY MARCUS BLEASDALE

18 The Numbers Game in African Reporting BY JOHN DONNELLY

20 Revealing Lives Behind the Statistics BY DAVAN MAHARAJ

24 Journalists and Humanitarian NGO’s BY HILAIRE AVRIL

WATCHDOG 26 War Crimes Tribunals in Africa and Sleeping Press Watchdogs BY THIERRY CRUVELLIER

28 Photographing a Nation Under Siege BY CAROLYN COLE

31 Journalism at a Crossroads in Liberia BY GABRIEL I.H. WILLIAMS

33 When Being a Photojournalist Is About Surviving BY GREGORY H. STEMN

35 Africa Through the Eyes of African Reporters BY GEOFFREY NYAROTA

WATCHDOG 37 No Easy Life for Journalists in Africa BY SHYAKA KANUMA

WATCHDOG 39 When African Governments Stifle Press Freedom By LUCKSON A. CHIPARE

41 Transforming Journalism as Democracy Emerges BY PIPPA GREEN

WATCHDOG 43 Managing Media in Times of Crisis SPEECH BY GWEN LISTER

WATCHDOG 49 The Government Silenced Zimbabwe’s Only Independent Newspaper BY YVONNE VAN DER HEIJDEN

51 Using the Internet to Examine Patterns of Foreign Coverage BY ETHAN ZUCKERMAN

55 Emotional Connections to African Reporting BY FRANK GREEN

58 A Mid-Sized Newspaper Connects Its Readers to Africa BY REX SMITH

62 When Tragedy Is No Longer a Good Enough Story to Tell BY WILSON WANENE

Cover photo: Women run for cover as the sound of heavy gunfire bounces off of the buildings and homes in downtown Monrovia, Liberia, while a battle rages. Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times. 64 Words & Reflections War and Terror WATCHDOG 66 When Fighting is Glimpsed From a Different Perspective BY PATRICK GRAHAM

69 Proposing a Variation on Embedded Reporting BY ANNE HULL

72 Documenting the Experiences of Military Families BY BARBARA WALSH

74 ‘Homeland’ BY DALE MAHARIDGE

WATCHDOG 76 CBS Lets the Pentagon Taint Its News Process BY STEPHEN J. BERRY

78 ‘Infoganda’ in Uniform BY CHARLES ZEWE

81 Documentaries Raise Questions Journalists Should Ask Themselves BY ROSE ECONOMOU

83 Protesting Doonesbury’s Dismissal BY BOB DAVIS Secrecy

WATCHDOG 84 The Steady March of Government Secrecy BY PETE WEITZEL

WATCHDOG 89 Using Public Records Laws to Expose Government Misdeeds BY SETH ROSENFELD

WATCHDOG 92 When FOIA Requests Become a Reporting Habit BY ROB WALTERS

97 International Journalism Foreign Correspondence

98 Foreign Correspondence: Evolution, Not Extinction BY JOHN MAXWELL HAMILTON AND ERIC JENNER

100 Caught Between the Cold War and the Internet BY FONS TUINSTRA

Reporting on North Korea 103 Blogging North Korea BY REBECCA MACKINNON

107 Focusing on Human Rights BY THOMAS OMESTAD

109 Taking Photographs in North Korea BY DERMOT TATLOW

113 The Hidden Stories of North Korea BY BARBARA DEMICK

WATCHDOG 3 Curator’s Corner: Transparency Benefits the Practice of Journalism BY BOB GILES

115 Nieman Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

115 Partnering With Young People as Communicators BY JEROME AUMENTE 116 Class Notes

121 End Note: Using a Camera to Shoot the Big Five BY HENNIE VAN DEVENTER

2 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Curator’s Corner

WATCHDOG Transparency Benefits the Practice of Journalism ‘The Nieman Watchdog Project … is grounded in the belief that probing questions are essential to informed reporting.’ By Bob Giles

t always takes a while for the meanings of the past to take is the Lexington Herald Leader’s front-page examination of hold. Looking back can offer fresh perspectives, but too its 1960’s civil rights coverage and an apology to readers that Ioften the lessons of earlier times fail to guide our actions it had “neglected” to cover that story. today. The significance of these two reports about Iraq reporting Recent reexaminations published in The New York Times is not in their publication but in what they reveal about the and The Washington Post that probe into flaws in their cover- practice of journalism and how they reinforce the critical age during the months leading up to the Iraq War bring to need for a skeptical press to ask probing questions. Within mind the journalism of the cold war era and early days of the days of the Times’s article—which acknowledged the news- fighting in Vietnam. As time passed, it became apparent that paper’s failure to be skeptical enough in its reporting on the American government used the press to deceive its people. the Bush administration’s claim that Saddam Hussein had Once the press began to provide a more accurate picture of weapons of mass destruction and on information obtained the fighting in Vietnam, public attitudes began to change. from Iraqi informants and defectors who were in support Disclosures in the Pentagon Papers, first published by The of the administration’s interest in removing Saddam from New York Times, presented an archive of secret government power—the Nieman Foundation launched a new Web site decisions made by several administrations that led the country (www.niemanwatchdog.com). into war in Southeast Asia. Implications drawn from this in- The Nieman Watchdog Project—funded as part of Marder’s formation remind us that those who occupy the White House gift to the foundation—is grounded in the belief that probing are often more interested in building public support for its questions are essential to informed reporting. On this Web site, policies than in giving citizens a fully accurate picture. editors Barry Sussman and Dan Froomkin, both Washington The experience of being misled about the Vietnam War— Post veterans, track the news and post fresh material, suggest- most notably the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution—by government ing questions the press should ask. Many items are contrib- officials has weighed heavily on Murrey Marder, who was uted by scholars and researchers who use their authoritative diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post during knowledge to frame questions for the press to consider. that time. “I am convinced that if the American Congress and The Bush administration has demonstrated strong discipline press had performed their proper constitutional functions of in staying on message and controlling information, and this questioning—and counter-balancing—the executive branch, has resulted in fewer leaks to the press. During the past year, the United States never would have gone to war in Vietnam,” however, government insiders concerned about our nation’s says Marder. struggle to administer Iraq have assisted a more vigilant press Now, a generation later, some members of the press are in revealing critical new information about intelligence failures, experiencing similar regrets about their coverage of another lack of postwar planning, and responsibility at high levels for administration and its deceptive claims that led us into another the cruel treatment of prisoners. war. Michael Massing of the New York Review of Books said Occasionally the President finds himself in a situation on the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” that “if you look at how where a skillful reporter can draw out an answer. During the press performed in the months leading up to the war, we the Unity Conference for journalists of color in August, Ro- have a case of one of the most serious institutional failures land S. Martin of the Chicago Defender asked him whether of the American press since, I think, going back to the early a person’s legacy should be a factor in college admissions. days of Vietnam …. Reporters and editors for the most part At first, Bush was evasive, but Martin pressed tactfully, and went along and … did not challenge the administration and finally the President said he opposed admissions policies that its supporters with sufficient skepticism.” favored children of alumni—an answer that made headlines. Both internal critiques confirm Massing’s criticism. The Sussman posted the Bush-Martin exchange on the Watchdog Times’s report, published in May, and The Washington Post Web site and describes it as an excellent example of how to media critic Howard Kurtz’s examination of his paper’s ask good questions. ■ coverage in August drew praise for their efforts to examine their work and share their findings with readers. Such self-  [email protected] assessments have been rare events in journalism, though they happen now with greater frequency. A recent example

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 3 Journalist’s Trade

Africa: Stories to Be Told

Africa is portrayed in the Western media by its extremes, observes Ugandan journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo, a managing editor with the Nation Media Group in Nairobi, Kenya. Stories about its civil wars, human rights abuses, government corruption, disease and poverty abound, but these have been joined by Western reporting that, in Onyango-Obbo’s opinion, can be too willing to celebrate the promised reforms of emergent leaders for whom greater journalistic scrutiny should be applied. The result: “… the leadership in Africa became not only complacent, but also used the flattering international coverage to muzzle internal critics and vigorous independent reporting ….” As a BBC special correspondent who has reported on Africa for two decades, Fergal Keane says he is “a disenchanted member of the television Africa corps, tired of hearts of darkness coverage that reduces every African problem to questions about tribalism or native corruption and refuses to recognize sprouts of hope where they exist.” He argues for a reporting paradigm in which Africans tell their stories and help viewers, listeners and readers “recognize the energy and vitality of this continent.” Radio correspondent Jason Beaubien, whose African coverage is broadcast on National Public Radio, writes about a reporting trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that began with the hope of telling stories of year-long reconciliation efforts of its power-sharing government and ended as he confronted bribery and fled the country to escape the escalating riots. Photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale has worked in the DRC since 1999, and with words and images he explains why he strives to overcome huge obstacles to report stories of people’s suffering. When an editor responds to a story proposal with the words, “We have covered Africa this year, so we won’t be doing anything for a while,” he bristles. The Boston Globe’s Africa correspondent John Donnelly explains why many statistics about Africa that reporters rely on can be so wrong and what inaccuracies can mean. His advice: “Just use caution when the numbers come out of Africa. Remain skeptical. Ask tough questions, and find ways to let readers understand the dilemma the numbers pose in their telling.” While he was Los Angeles Times bureau chief in Nairobi, Davan Maharaj proposed “a story about how Africans live on less than one dollar a day.” His idea turned into a six-part series called “Living on Pennies,” with photographs by Francine Orr. As Maharaj writes, this “was an attempt to pull away the statistical curtain and reveal a close-up view of how these Africans go about their daily lives.” Hilaire Avril, who writes for IRIN, the U.N.’s humanitarian reporting service, examines aspects of reporting relationships among journalists and aid workers. “Humanitarian workers have a growing skepticism towards journalists, especially those who ‘parachute’ in to do one story and then leave,” he writes. Thierry Cruvellier, editor of International Justice Tribune, explores some consequences of the absence of adequate local coverage and “close independent scrutiny from the mainstream international media” of Africa’s international criminal tribunals and reconciliation commissions. “To fill this information gap, international nongovernmental organizations have assumed the role of independent, private media companies,” he writes. Los Angeles Times photographer Carolyn Cole offered readers a way to see the human toll of Liberia’s civil war, and images from her series, “Monrovia Under Siege,” which won her the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography, open a series of stories about Liberia. As managing editor

4 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 for Liberia’s leading independent newspaper during the war’s early years, Gabriel I.H. Williams went into exile in the United States because of death threats due to his work as a journalist. He writes about a trip he made back to Liberia earlier this year and the difficult circumstances Liberian journalists face despite regaining their freedom. He suggests ways to restore the country’s independent media that was once “regarded to be one of the most vibrant in West Africa.” Liberian photojournalist Gregory H. Stemn recalls grave dangers he faced when he tried to document the government’s brutality. Geoffrey Nyarota, founding editor of The Daily News, Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper (which has ceased publication), describes how much better coverage of Africa would be if more African reporters told the stories to Western audiences. Shyaka Kanuma, cofounder of Rwandan Newsline, a former independent newspaper, tells why “it is an act of extreme courage for African journalists who are inclined to freedom of thought to keep publishing or broadcasting their opinions and views.” Luckson A. Chipare, who directs the Media Institute of Southern Africa, writes about attacks against journalists as he details media repression in several African countries. Pippa Green, head of radio news at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, explains what her country’s transition to democracy means for journalists. “We’ve tried to establish the obvious journalistic standards of accuracy and fairness, but we need to find ways to combine these standards with the ability to spot and tell a good story,” she says. Excerpts from a speech given by Gwen Lister, editor of the independent newspaper, The Namibian, address difficulties of managing—financially and editorially—an independent news organization during times of national crisis and offers lessons learned in the struggle to maintain press freedom. Yvonne van der Heijden, a freelance journalist in the Netherlands, interviewed Wilf Mbanga, founding chief executive of The Daily News in Zimbabwe, about government harassment of the press. Mbanga is now in Tilburg (The Netherlands) as part of the Cities of Asylum network that van der Heijden describes. Ethan Zuckerman, a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, writes about using the Internet to document a pattern in which Western news coverage is strongly connected to a nation’s wealth. Following Zuckerman’s analysis is a sampling of African stories that the United Nations put among its “Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About.” Frank Green, a reporter with the Richmond (Virginia) Times- Dispatch, teamed up with freelance photographer Joseph Rodríguez to report from Africa on AIDS in Zambia. In writing about his reporting trip, he acknowledges that a grant from the Dart Center made this story possible for his midsized newspaper. Rex Smith, editor of the Times Union in Albany, New York, answers two questions, “Why would our newspaper send a team [reporter Paul Grondahl and photographer Steve Jacobs] to one of the poorest nations on earth [Malawi], far away from the community we serve? Why would we publish a full-color, 24-page section featuring these journalists’ reports and devote countless hours to creating an ambitious presentation of this project on our Web site?” And Wilson Wanene, a Kenyan-born freelance journalist based in Boston, reviews “The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands,” written by journalist Aidan Hartley, who was with Reuters’ Nairobi bureau during the 1990’s. ■

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 5 Journalism in Africa

WATCHDOG Seeking Balance in a Continent Portrayed By Its Extremes ‘The patronizing reporting one witnesses today is as bad as the condescending work of the past.’ By Charles Onyango-Obbo

his story begins in the mid-1980’s, living—and that we, Africa, could no ca—stories playing down the failures in some months after President longer continue blaming colonialists the continent— won the argument. Not TYoweri Museveni’s rebels swept for its problems. Rosenblum found all Western media changed, but those to power in Uganda in 1986. A visitor the performance refreshing, a ray of who did seemed, in part, to be driven arrived at the offices of the Weekly hope, and had come to see for himself by guilt. They became very apologetic. Topic, a newspaper in Uganda where if Museveni was just shooting his mouth Thus, in Rwanda, the international press I then worked. The receptionist sent off or if indeed he was doing at home as was reluctant to cover killings in 1996 a note in that told me the name of the he was preaching in Addis Ababa. that local people blamed on the victori- guest who wanted to see me: It was Mr. This happened several years before ous Rwandan Patriotic Front. Reluctance Mort Rosenblum. I was barely a year out apartheid ended in South Africa and to do so was related to memories of the of graduate school, and Rosenblum’s Nelson Mandela became a worldwide world’s failure two years earlier to do “Coups and Earthquakes” had en- symbol of hope, so everyone was grop- enough to halt the genocide that took thralled me immensely. I could hardly ing for an African icon. The emergence place in this central African country. believe the words I was seeing. I asked of Museveni was the new black hope And in Uganda, coverage of AIDS has the receptionist to show him in. that the international media had been been clouded by the Western media’s I asked him whether he was the looking for in Africa. Shortly after Addis general fear of questioning some of the Rosenblum, and he said he was. He had Ababa, Western media began to describe reports about the dramatic fall in the stopped in Kampala on his way from him as a “new breed of African leader.” rate of infection. the Ethiopian capital, These tenden- Addis Ababa. The an- cies surfaced in nual summit of the What many Western correspondents hoped they reporting around continental body, the the same time that Organization of Afri- could do was ‘nanny’ the African story so that old hard-nosed can Unity (OAU), now what they reported could become self-fulfilling Africa hands like the African Union, prophecies. the Los Angeles had just ended in Ad- Times’s David dis Ababa, where it is Lamb were be- headquartered. It was ing replaced by Museveni’s first sum- younger report- mit as president, and he had knocked During the next eight years several ers, who were arriving at their assign- everyone off their feet. supposedly more enlightened guerrilla ments with progressive views about the Museveni had blasted the OAU for leaders came to power: Meles Zenawi Third World. In their coverage, these silence when the government he over- in Ethiopia, Issayas Afeworki in Eritrea, Western correspondents supported threw was murdering thousands of Paul Kagame in Rwanda and, briefly, causes like debt write-offs and wrote in people in Uganda. He also told Africans Laurent Kabila in Democratic Republic angered tones about the West’s failure to stop going around the world with of the Congo (DRC). This new breed to do anything to stop the 1994 geno- bowl in hand begging, but get down of leaders now became a “club,” and cide in Rwanda in which an estimated to work by bringing reforms to their Western media trumpeted the arrival of 800,000 people were butchered. “backward” economies. This was some- a new era in African politics even though A new development then conspired thing new in Africa: a young, educated, there was no wave of African enlighten- to further distort Western media report- confident, victorious guerrilla ready to ment sweeping the continent, as these ing on Africa. In the past, rebellions tick off other presidents openly, to ac- leaders were a tiny minority. used to drag on forever in Africa. A knowledge that Africa was a mess, and Those who held the view of present- foreign correspondent would cover the world didn’t owe the continent a ing a “more balanced” coverage of Afri- it for about five years, then move on

6 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa to Asia or the Middle East to sample At a World Economic Forum summit other conflicts. Now victorious insur- Africa Web Coverage in Durban, South Africa, I heard South gents were walking into capitals much Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, make sooner—between one to five years from Among the strongest Web sites display- similar criticism of The Economist, when they took to the bush to fight the ing the complexities of the continent though in less strong language. Several government. This meant that a foreign and her news are South Africa’s News24. speakers agreed. If The Economist had correspondent could cover the conflict co.za and Africamediaonline.com. There carried that cover in 1989, it wouldn’t from the outbreak of the rebellion to is a relatively new and ambitious site, have caused a storm. By then, the ex- the seizure of power by these dissidents Africaalmanac.com, which is a fact-filled pectation of “positive” coverage hadn’t in one relatively short assignment. The destination for those in a hurry, along become so settled in Africa. result: Correspondents established a with world-class coverage on Africana. Just as The Economist got its tone (as bond with the rebels and then contin- com and Africa IPLC.com. Also available opposed to the basic reporting) wrong, ued to cover them in their first years in are news and commentary about Africa so have the flood of “miracle” stories on government. While some were still able on Western media Web sites including Africa been misleading. Nearly all the to see shortcomings in those who now BBC.com, CNN.com, Alertnet.org, and members of the “new breed” of African governed, most found that the cause of the Washington, D.C.-based AllAfrica. leaders club have blown it. They made these new leaders became partly theirs, com, which has specialized in report- some political steps by holding elec- and many correspondents spoke about ing on the continent for more than a tions, but in neither Ethiopia, Rwanda, the need to cover these countries with decade. ■ —COO Uganda nor Mozambique have there greater “understanding.” been free elections that would meet This approach led to these favored opposition Monitor newspaper.” The internationally accepted standards. African governments becoming sacred. Monitor was then owned by the journal- These countries are still largely one For example, these leaders enjoyed a ists who worked for it and was the most party states. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought level of immunity that British reporters independent newspaper ever published a bitter border war, and the latter has slid would never give their own govern- in Uganda. However, it was clear that back into a Stalinist state without a free ment. I confronted a dramatic example the point of the article’s characteriza- press and where there is no freedom of of this at the height of the enthusiasm tion of me was done to undermine the religious worship. Uganda and Rwanda for the “new Africa” in the mid-1990’s. criticism of the government. It struck me became embroiled in a war in the DRC, An influential British newspaper came that an American or British newspaper which degenerated in plunder and to Uganda to do a long special report almost never referred to a newspaper resulted either directly or indirectly in about the “economic miracle.” The as an “opposition” publication simply the death of about 2.5 million people, country was being called the “star pupil” because it was critical of the Clinton or according to the United Nations. of the World Bank and International Blair governments. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, Monetary Fund—the “African success who in the early 1990’s often was story.” Before this team of reporters Can Balance Be Restored? included among the “new breed” of flew out, perhaps worried their report- leaders, has turned into a brutal dicta- ing glorified the government too much, It was in this environment that in May tor who has bankrupted what was once they decided to get some critical quotes 2000 The Economist published a map one of Africa’s most prosperous nations. to bring a little balance to the copy. The of Africa on its cover with the headline, Pro-government goons are deployed journalists came to interview me and “The Hopeless Continent.” Across now to break up opposition rallies with asked whether I thought Uganda had Africa, a collective sigh of horror was axes. The World Bank and the Economic put its political nightmares behind it. heard, illustrated best by words Ghana- Commission for Africa finally agree that, I said no. Corruption, I told them, ian writer Ama Ata Aidoo wrote for New in spite of all the stories of economic was creeping back. I also thought that Internationalist: “What, one wonders, miracles and the African “economic the political restrictions that made the is the source of such malediction? What cubs” (the name coined for Africa’s country a one-party state were not justi- compels some editor in London or New fast growing economies like Uganda, fied because a nation can only become York to characterize a whole continent Rwanda and Mozambique), the con- a democracy by practicing this form of of nearly 700 million people, and all tinent is poorer today than it was 25 government. I told them there was a of its 300,175,000 square kilometers years ago. The external debt of countries need to find a political solution to the as ‘hopeless’? What have Africans done whose economies were being touted rebellion the Museveni government was to deserve such absolute hexing? … We as a model has grown worse, and debt facing in the northern part of Uganda. suspect that The Economist has got a relief initiatives have not helped. In the 12 full newspaper pages of this really dark and sinister aim. Clearly, as One might ask why, if all was going special report, my comments were the our masters’ voice, one of its agendas is so well, the situation in Africa is what only critical ones. Even so, the paper to make sure that Africans do not regain it is today. In part, some blame must still found it necessary to qualify them any of the self-confidence they may have rest with those who project Africa to by referring to me as “editor of the lost from the ‘Dark Continent’ label.” the world even when they have lost

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 7 Journalism in Africa

the ability to cover it accurately. What In those years, when governments and with failures, and there should be many Western correspondents hoped were still struggling to establish their no special type of journalism reserved they could do was “nanny” the African domestic and international acceptance, for its coverage. The patronizing report- story so that what they reported could opportunities existed when they would ing one witnesses today is as bad as the become self-fulfilling prophecies. As have been more likely to respond to condescending work of the past. What this was happening, the leadership in reporting about their shortcomings and the African continent needs is good Africa became not only complacent, but achievements they needed to build on. journalism, one that tells the stories as also used the flattering international Once established, they are less respon- they are reported and observed. What coverage to muzzle internal critics and sive. If Western reporting of Africa used has happened to coverage of Africa in vigorous independent reporting by to drip with comical and tragic stereo- the Western media today offers the lat- labelling it as the work of “disgruntled types, the bulk of the reporting today est proof that there is no alternative to elements” who were out to make mis- is condescending coverage that tends this proven approach. ■ chief and not willing to acknowledge to treat the citizens of the continent as the good about the government that “all children who can’t take a rebuke and Charles Onyango-Obbo, a 1992 Nie- the world sees.” And so the cycle went. need to be bribed with sweet words. man Fellow, is managing editor for Governments that might have been If Western media coverage of Africa media convergence and syndication motivated to do well, in part, to stem failed in decades past because of be- with the Nation Media Group in Nai- bad press that might cost them donor ing steeped in a cynical and, some robi, Kenya. He was managing editor aid, expected—and received—instead argue, racist tradition, then today’s for the group’s sister newspaper, The a forgiving understanding of Africa’s “improved” version fails because it also Monitor, in Kampala, which was peculiarities from international media. is not a balanced portrayal. Africa, the Uganda’s only independent daily And there was more than enough West- continent, is a collection of nations that until January 2003. ern guilt to ensure that the understand- are pretty much like others elsewhere ing was offered. in the world, struggling with successes  [email protected]

Trapped in a Time-Warped Narrative A BBC foreign correspondent pleads with journalists to move past their relentless focus on Africa’s misery.

By Fergal Keane

uring apartheid’s 1986 declared woman why she risked her own free- produced and the program, “Africa state of emergency, when I was dom to do this. “We have an expression Direct,” which BBC World aired until Da neophyte foreign correspon- here,” she told me. “People are people recently. But usually the Africa of the in- dent sneaking in and out of South Africa because of other people. It means we ternational camera is a continent of just undercover to report for the BBC, I came are connected. We must look out for two stories. In the first, smiling Africans across a beautiful saying. One afternoon each other.” in white jackets serve ice cold drinks to I went to interview a group of children In two decades of reporting from Western tourists at safari lodges. This is who had been tortured by the security Africa, I’ve witnessed living proof of the Africa of spectacular wildlife, won- police. All were badly bruised; some had this proverb often. From the toughest derful sunsets, and genial locals, seen cuts on their backs where they’d been refugee camp in the deserts of Sudan through windows of air-conditioned whipped; one child’s leg was stippled to the bustling streets of the Johannes- minibuses. The Africa in which the with shotgun pellets. burg townships, I’ve been relentlessly majority of Africans live is kept at a safe Across Soweto the police were round- overwhelmed by displays of humanity, distance, or glimpsed, again through ing up anybody they suspected of be- compassion and generosity. bus windows, on one of those newly ing involved in antiapartheid protests. popular “township tours.” A lawyer had been appointed to take The Two Stories of Africa The other predominant vision is statements from the children. Hers the disaster zone or, in the cliché most was a risky job since lawyers weren’t The problem is I don’t see much of this favored by distant headline writers who immune from state terror. After record- on television. There are exceptions, coin phrases about Africa, it is about “the ing the children’s stories, I asked this such as good segments that CNN has Heart of Darkness.” In this continent

8 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa the locals exist in a state of perpetual famine, corruption, disease and warfare. It is this vision of the continent that has been providing stories and journalistic awards for people like me since televi- sion news was invented. I am a disenchanted member of the television Africa corps, tired of hearts of darkness coverage that reduces every African problem to questions about tribalism or native corruption and refuses to recognize sprouts of hope where they exist. Since the end of colonialism, Western correspondents have stood in front of emaciated Africans or piles of African bodies and used the language of the Old Testament to mediate the horrors to their audiences. That practice began four decades ago, and the template hasn’t changed all that much. For ex- Tipper Gore, the former vice president’s wife, with members of a CBS News crew in ample, no piece from an African disaster Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo courtesy of Moncef Bouhafa. zone is complete without the sound bite from a white angel of mercy from one Rwandan Hutu refugees. This was after news tapes—from Congo in the early aid agency or another. In doing this, the U.S. government and the American 1960’s through Biafra, Ethiopia and we convince ourselves this helps folks networks for the most part ignored the into Sudan today—and we see how back home “relate” to the stories we are Rwandan genocide of the previous three little has changed in our reporting of sending them. Rarely do TV journalists months. This complicated story didn’t fit Africa’s stories. pause to contemplate the consequences the traditional template, and when the This is a pity, because during this of this color-coded compassion. View- genocide was first reported, coverage time a lot has been transformed in ers at home are watching (usually) a reduced a complex political situation to Africa. The ground for positive change white reporter and white aid worker, the “typical” story of African tribalism, has never been so fertile as it is today. and beyond them almost as backdrops or as the French President François Mit- This isn’t because of anything we’ve are the wretched African masses. Just as terrand remarked, the kind of thing that done in the West but because of the it’s always been and always will be, they happened in that part of Africa. rise of a new civil society in places like think. Thank goodness for our brave Let me add here two important South Africa, Kenya, Liberia and even reporters and aid workers. caveats. in deeply troubled Nigeria. Africans are As for the Africans themselves, we now holding their leaders to account. hardly think about what it feels like to 1. I don’t seek to set myself apart from Anyone who remembers the messes of them, as generation after generation the problem. I’ve made mistakes in the 1970’s and 1980’s cannot be but sit on barren, parched ground while the way I’ve told African stories. I am inspired by this new scenario. It isn’t an well-fed people from faraway dole waking up late to this problem. African renaissance but an awakening, out charity, take away sound bites and 2. I don’t for a second believe we every bit as powerful as the Pan African- transport your hungry nakedness into shouldn’t report the disasters. And ist movement of the 1960’s. sitting rooms thousands of miles away. yes, most of the time, international In Kenya, for example, calls to clean In this, we are aided and abetted by aid agencies do remarkable and up corruption would have had no ef- aid agencies that need our cameras much-needed work, as do many of fect had it not been for a change in to draw attention to these disasters. It my reporter colleagues. Reporting government brought about by Kenyans suits both parties to play up the omens stories like the conflict in Sierra themselves. They voted the crooks out of apocalypse. We need the headline; Leone and the Rwandan genocide of office. Now the people are dragging they need the funds. demanded enormous bravery. their former leaders before a judicial I have many personal memories of commission of inquiry. Corruption in such scenes. Among my least favorite What profoundly concerns me is the the new government is being exposed, was the sight of the American vice presi- real damage to Africans’ sense of them- too. Very little, if any, of this story is dent’s wife, Tipper Gore, descending on selves and of their nations’ potential found on television in the West. In Goma as an army of press paraded her in the midst of journalists’ relentless some very remote parts of the conti- compassion in front of a backdrop of focus on their misery. Spin back through nent, small human rights groups and

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 9 Journalism in Africa

independent newspapers are building to report a disaster I try to find an • Speak to the ingenuity of survival: the foundations for civil society. I’d like African aid worker to describe what For those of us who report frequently to see such struggles acknowledged in is happening. If I film a food queue, from Africa, let’s make sure we help the Western narrative of Africa. I make sure to state that the people our viewers (and listeners and read- are here because they don’t have a ers) recognize the energy and vital- Changing the African choice. It’s vital I portray them not ity of this continent. So if there is a Paradigm as mendicants but farmers, fisher- story of disaster, let’s not forget the men, people who would be feeding ingenuity needed to survive in such We can—and should—do this by chang- themselves if they could. circumstances. ing our news agenda. Our tendency • Have them tell their own stories: to portray life on this continent as an We can’t continue with a situation in Most of all, as journalists, we need to unrelenting series of disasters, if not which most news out of Africa is told get past the outdated idea of Africa and happening then waiting to happen, is almost exclusively through the lenses its people that many of us bring to this as old as news reporting itself. We thrive and voices of Westerners. Someday assignment—the feeling that somehow on drama, and this habit of ours isn’t I hope an African station will stand Africans are not quite full citizens of going to change overnight. But evolving alongside CNN and BBC World. We our global community because they are into a different kind of coverage chal- can help make this happen by getting not like us. There will be times when it lenges all of us who love Africa and her our governments to make funding will be good to bear in mind the South people and want to see the continent for journalistic training part of their African proverb, “People are people fairly portrayed as a place of hope in bilateral aid programs to African because of other people.” ■ this new millennium. To do this, I have nations. This training should not be a few suggestions. about Westerners lecturing Africans, Fergal Keane, a BBC special corre- but should involve diverse groups of spondent, reports often from Africa. • Find African aid workers to speak: journalistic experts from across the These days when I go with my camera globe sharing their skills.  [email protected]

When Reporting a Story Turns Into Running From a Riot ‘This is the thing about covering places like the Congo—things can be incredibly unpredictable.’

By Jason Beaubien

ertain African airports can be streets by a mob, narrowly escaping a ask where you’re from. They promise terrifying. Or maybe it’s not train wreck, and watching looters burn to “speed” you through immigration. Cthe airports. It’s the descent. down the headquarters of the Red Cross. They can’t understand why you won’t It’s knowing what lies ahead. Once the When even the guard at the front gate give them your passport. There’s plenty plane starts to tip towards Monrovia or of the Catholic church in Kisangani was of jostling as you try to shuffle towards Lagos or some dirt airstrip in Sudan, my spitting in my face, I knew it was time the faded arrivals terminal and fasten stomach tightens. to get out. down the straps on your hand luggage At the end of May I flew to the Demo- But I’m getting ahead of myself. at the same time. cratic Republic of the Congo. After years The abandoned planes littering the I’d been warned about the hazards of civil war, a power-sharing govern- side of the runway in Kinshasa make of the Kinshasa airport, so I’d hired ment in Kinshasa was on the verge of it clear that the rules here are dif- Mukila before I even got there. Mukila celebrating its first anniversary. I went ferent. Hot sticky air and a crowd of is a private “protocol officer.” His job to write about peace and reconciliation. men swarm around our South African is to shepherd businessmen, aid work- Two weeks later I fled to Uganda having Airways 737 as it rolls to a stop on the ers, journalists and anyone else who been stifled by Congo’s unique brand of tarmac. At the bottom of the plane’s can afford him through the corrupt corruption, being chased through the steps hustlers wait for their prey. They bureaucratic maze of Congo’s largest

10 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa airport. Mukila is mad at me because I’d I had a flight to Liberia in an hour, and normalcy all feel a long way away. admitted to an immigration officer that he was demanding the equivalent of two Negotiating the airport in Kinshasa I’m a reporter. “Humanitaire!” he says dollars for his “lunch.” I threatened to is just the first journalistic challenge of forcefully in my ear. “Humanitaire!” call the U.S. Embassy. He threatened to the Congo. My plans to tour an unfin- The immigration desk looks like a have me arrested. It was unclear how ished monument to Patrice Lumumba fortified theater ticket booth. The two long I’d have to wait for the next flight (Congo’s first prime minister who was officials inside the vertical bars are de- to Liberia, but it was at least going to be brutally murdered) were blocked by manding 10 or 20 dollars from everyone a couple of days. Eventually I buckled. police who said I needed a permit to coming off the plane. Sometimes it’s I paid up. As soon as I got out of his visit what’s supposed to be a tourist 10, sometimes it’s 20. Passengers who office, his boss showed up and wanted attraction. My interviews in the main speak absolutely no French or are quite money for his lunch. The first guy had market were disrupted by pickpockets good at playing stupid pass through for disappeared. burrowing repeatedly into my pockets, free. Apparently they’re more trouble And that’s one of the other problems and efforts to report at Kinshasha’s than they’re worth. with paying bribes—when does it end? docks were scuttled by bickering bu- I refuse to pay, and the immigration How much is ever enough? reaucrats. officers seize my passport. Mukila is al- That’s why in Congo it’s useful to The most surprising bit of bribery ternating between screaming at them in have a professional handling the kick- came when I was trying to arrange a Lingala and screaming at me in French. backs. Back at the Kinshasa airport, meeting with the general manager of Finally he announces that we have no Mukila is waving a fistful of Congolese Cobra Tyre, a major rubber producer in time for these fools, and we are going francs at the immigration officer who Kinshasa. His assistant wanted to know to get my bags before they disappear has my passport. It seems to me like how much they were going to have to from the turnstile. I don’t think the the wrong technique. Bribes, I always pay me to run this article about them. bluff of abandoning my passport is thought, should be slipped covertly If National Public Radio’s audience was really helping our cause, but he’s the into the extortionist’s hand. None of really as large as I claimed, he figured professional. this drama. None of this waving cash it would be worth a couple of hundred At the turnstile he curtly reminds me, around and yelling. But this is Congo, dollars to them. “Humanitaire!” where things are different. Bribery is just one of the issues that I’m opposed to bribes. It’s a weird The theatrics worked. Mukila grabbed make reporting in parts of Africa diffi- thing to say. After all, who isn’t? But in my passport, hurled a few insults over parts of Africa it’s an issue reporters his shoulder, and rushed me through face on a regular basis. Some of my customs declaring, “Humanitaire! Hu- African Radio Reporters’ colleagues say, “Oh come on! Throw a manitaire!” He waved his arms furiously few greenbacks around. You’ll get right to clear a path. He was quite proud that Tool Kit through.” But I find bribery offensive. he’d paid the equivalent of just five U.S. Not just because I’m being relieved of dollars to get my passport back. He’d • Lots of cash in hundred dollar bills, my money but also because I see how saved me 15 bucks, he beamed. plus some fives to cover the small it destroys a place. I see how it makes things. There’s no sense carrying almost everything grind to a halt. I see Reporting Difficulties in twenties. Several thousand dollars how people who could be spending Africa in twenties gets bulky. their days doing something productive • A headlamp flashlight for when the instead spend hours shaking victims Congo has never had it easy. There was power goes out. down. And the victims who get hit hard- the brutal Belgian colonial period fol- • A Leatherman or Swiss Army knife to est tend to be from neighboring African lowed by three decades of one of the repair electronic equipment, reattach countries. The Ivorians are particularly most corrupt regimes imaginable under toilet seats, and slice bread. hard on the Liberians. The Liberians Mobutu Sese Seko. When Mobutu fled • A phone-line splitter and an extra put an extra squeeze on anyone from into exile in 1997, Laurent Kabila seized cable to try to connect to the Internet Sierra Leone. Nigerians get hit up by power. Kabila soon faced an insurrec- in hotel rooms. everybody. tion from the east of the country. Eventu- • Biltong, a South African delicacy Once, in the Ivory Coast, a “customs” ally seven different African nations were similar to beef jerky that withstands official seized my $15,000 satellite fighting over parts of the vast Congo. all temperatures and the absence of phone, an ISDN unit that allows me to In 2001 Kabila was assassinated by his refrigeration. feed real-time broadcast-quality audio bodyguards, and his son Joseph took • Malarone, a GlaxoSmithKline pro- from anywhere in the world back to over. Last year, when the 29-year-old phylaxis against malaria. Washington. [See accompanying box for Kabila struck a peace deal with the • Several packs of Marlboros to soften a radio reporter’s tool kit for Africa.] He country’s largest rebel factions, it was up twitchy militiamen at checkpoints. had been refusing to release it for a day, the Congo’s first chance at stability in ■ —J.B. saying that it wasn’t properly “licensed.” years. But on the ground peace, stability,

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 11 Journalism in Africa

cult. There’s the crumbling infrastruc- into mobs. The problem started after a tire country was erupting in riots. The ture, the lack of electricity, the rebel renegade commander in the Congolese Congolese were furious at the United roadblocks and, in some of the poorest Army launched an attack on the city of Nations for not ordering its peacekeep- countries on the continent, incredibly Bukavu on the Rwandan border. I’d just ers to block the renegade troops from high prices. N’Djamena, the capital of arrived in Kisangani, in the heart of the taking Bukavu. All the flights out of Kin- Chad, has only a couple of hotels. The country where the Congo River starts to shasa were cancelled. Most Westerners Novotel offers filthy motel-style rooms curve south towards the Atlantic. had been evacuated from Kisangani as for $175 a night. I walked out of a restaurant not soon as the riots began. I finally left with Plus traveling in Africa can be dan- knowing that Bukavu had fallen and not a planeload of aid workers who were gerous. Flying often involves hopping knowing that the Congolese blamed this flying to neighboring Uganda. abroad an aging twin-propped Antanov turn of events on the United Nations. This is the thing about covering 24 with its Soviet-era interior, depressed A crowd of young men surrounded me places like the Congo—things can be Ukrainian pilots, and backfiring engines. in the street, which isn’t that unusual incredibly unpredictable. As a reporter Automobiles and dilapidated roads in Africa. I was about to ask what was you wander in alone. You may have some make one of the most deadly combina- going on, but then I saw the man with contacts, some cell phone numbers, but tions on the continent. And during my the stick. The crowd began to constrict, in the end you’re on your own. And so most recent trip to the Congo, I was and I knew it was time to run. your best-laid intentions of doing an stuck for two days deep in the jungle Stones started to fly. The security upbeat story on a country rebuilding, after the train I was traveling on crashed. guard at the restaurant where I’d just reconnecting and moving forward, can Fortunately I had gotten off a few min- eaten was waving at me frantically as unravel incredibly quickly. ■ utes earlier to interview people. All of if ushering me across the finish line. It the nine men of the crew of the single- was only 40 or 50 yards to the gate, but Jason Beaubien has reported on Af- engine train were injured. It took two the men were close behind me. As I ran rica for National Public Radio since days to get them airlifted out. I had visions of a rock hitting the back September 2002. When he’s not on Eventually my trip to the Congo of my skull and my body collapsing face the road, he lives with his wife and deteriorated into complete chaos with first into the dusty street. son in Johannesburg, South Africa. riots in the streets, buildings burning I stuck around Kisangani for another down, and U.N. peacekeepers shooting day but things only got worse. The en-  [email protected]

Weighing the Moral Argument Against the Way Things Work ‘We have covered Africa this year, so we won’t be doing anything for a while.’

By Marcus Bleasdale

ore than three million people The fighting goes on relentlessly, flict zones quickly balloon as profiteers have died due to fighting in the yet few who live outside this region and opportunists in power demand MDemocratic Republic of the are being told much about it. There hefty taxes, fees or bribes from foreign- Congo over the past five years. At least are numerous reasons why Congo has ers, whether they are well-paid U.N. staff another three million people have been not been adequately covered over the or journalists. Soldiers are rarely paid forced to flee their homes. This messy years. The former Zaire is an incred- and prey upon journalists as a means conflict at the heart of the continent has ibly difficult and frequently dangerous of extorting money. Expensive press ac- often been referred to as Africa’s first place for journalists to work, though in creditation is nearly always required, but World War. Most of the deaths come from ways the barriers to coverage are very this turns out to be usually irrelevant on hunger and disease among a popula- different than those encountered in the ground. As a photographer, I know tion of 55 million people struggling to Afghanistan or Iraq. that arrests can occur daily, even when scratch out a meager subsistence living Enormous distances and inhospi- we are breaking no law other than ones in this vast nation covered by dense table terrain are only the first obstacles. fabricated on the spot by meddling petty forests and jungle. Costs paid to protect one’s safety in con- officials seeking a fast buck.

12 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

Journalism’s Moral one reply from a leading international responses and questions from curious Obligation magazine saying, “We have covered readers thirsty for more information. Africa this year, so we won’t be doing So where is the apathy? What has driven me for the past five anything for a while.” Yet each time a Some contend that lifestyle chasms years in Congo to overcome obstacles newspaper or magazine does publish between those who live in places such are the images of human suffering that my photo stories from Congo or else- as London, New York, Paris and Milan I know I must document. Scenes from where in Africa, I am inundated with and those who reside in Kinshasa, this war are forever burned inside of me—children crying over the dead body of their mother; the bound and beaten corpses of young boys lying face down in the wet dirt, stripped of their clothes and their dignity, and the facial expression of a woman watching as her arm was hacked off and eaten in front of her. At night these images linger in my mind. I carry them with me as I travel from village to village in Congo, where I hope each time not to stumble onto another horrific scene. Too often, I do. And each time I do, anger rises from inside of me as I am reminded of how often newspapers and magazines refuse to publish photographs from this war. Much ink has been spilled on cov- erage of Iraq, Afghanistan and the September 11th attacks. Statistics on the number of dead, injured and dis- placed abound. But one humanitarian A mother of three lost her arm defending her children in Nizi, Eastern Congo. She re- emergency should not be allowed to counts the story of soldiers eating flesh from the arm after they had amputated it. 2003. crowd out others or to be deemed geographically more important than any other. Reporting on deaths caused by greed, inhumanity or the hungry quest for political power is crucial no matter the location. Huge news stories of the early 1990’s, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Balkan wars, did not eclipse media coverage of brutalities committed under the apartheid regime in South Africa. News coverage of that nation’s struggles played a major role in bringing about black majority rule in that country. Reporters and photographers, photo and word editors, must accept the moral obligation of their profession. Yet, too often, choices of coverage seem based not on the merits of what is happening and its consequences to human life but rather on the perceived appeal to their readers. Many stories I’ve proposed A Lendu soldier, some of whom are responsible for cannibalism, in a makeshift hospital. about the Congo have been rejected Captured and beaten by the local population, he now waits for news of his future. 2003. due to what editors call “reader apathy” and “Africa fatigue.” I even received Photos by © Marcus Bleadsale/IPG.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 13 Journalism in Africa

Kampala, Kigali or Lagos are part of publish stories about what is happen- we fail readers but, more importantly, the problem. Who really wants to read ing there and then many more months we fail the people suffering and dying about destruction, misery, poverty and for aid agencies to raise the necessary in these distant, forsaken parts of the death while trying to enjoy a Saturday funds for relief efforts. When potential world. morning latte and brunch? Weekend donors do not see events unfolding on Africa’s problems are not going away. readers are a fickle bunch not always the pages of magazines and newspapers, People will keep dying in conflicts drawn to hard-hitting reportage. But they are reluctant to commit money. in Congo, Central African Republic, shouldn’t we at least give them the Therefore, when stories like this one Burundi, Sudan, Uganda and Ivory opportunity? are not treated as news, not only do Coast. There’s unrest in Sierra Leone, Instead, even as we have obtained the technological tools enabling us to create a global sense of shared hard- ships and opportunities, death tolls mount in African nations hit by war and famine. Important stories go untold, and readers are left ignorant of what is happening in places far away from them. I’ve always been taught that journalists must comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. With our words and pictures, we can trigger a reaction from the general public and from the leaders they elect. During his Africa tour last year, Presi- dent George W. Bush made a whistle- stop visit to the airport in Entebbe, Uganda. Greeted by dancing children, he spoke glowingly of the economic progress being made in one of Africa’s few bright spots. But Bush made no mention of the Lord’s Resistance Army A soldier demands a vastly deflated price for goods sold along a river. 2002. (LRA), a vicious rebel group that has been terrorizing the northern half of the country for 17 years, abducting thousands of children each year to use as child soldiers or sex slaves. The LRA, which murders, rapes and loots with impunity, is on the U.S. list of ter- rorist organizations. Many Ugandans were shocked at his lack of effort and understanding. Certainly journalists have a respon- sibility to report these issues, bringing attention to them and lessening the likelihood they will be ignored. But when world leaders won’t highlight is- sues such as this, responsibility falls on editors who should not demonstrate a similar lack of interest. With the crisis in Sudan, officials from aid agencies and editors both claimed Bodies of teenage boys outside the village of Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, Sudan after they were preoccupied with Iraq and the bombing by government jets. This and 34 other villages in the area were “eth- did not realize until it was too late the nically cleansed” of “blacks” by the Arab government. Government forces moved extent of the catastrophe in the West- in after the bombing and killed 267 people in this village alone. Bodies of young ern Darfur region of Sudan. When it boys lie unburied to send a message to stem further uprising. was discovered, it still took months to convince many Western publications to Photos by © Marcus Bleadsale/IPG.

14 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

Liberia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia and diseases such as malaria or sleeping since 1999, is the author of “One Somalia. Yet foreign coverage in the sickness should be as newsworthy as Hundred Years of Darkness: A Jour- West focuses almost entirely on Iraq. others, shouldn’t they? ney into the Heart of Congo,” pub- Of course, what happens there and in Steady and strong attention by jour- lished in 2002. His photographs have Afghanistan is of global significance, nalists can foment change. Faulty lead- appeared in British, European and but that doesn’t mean places like Africa ership can be exposed. Suffering and U.S. publications, and his work from should be ignored. As we have seen injustices can be reported. And when Congo was awarded a first prize in with Afghanistan, failed states present they are, slowly change can come at a the USA Picture of the Year awards dangers to people beyond the imaginary political level. But if the circumstances in 2003 and first prize from the lines of national borders. are hidden, the voices of those who are National Press Photographers Asso- Africa has its fair share of failed states suffering are silenced, and explanations ciation. He recently received a grant and totalitarian regimes. And while about the crisis aren’t provided to the from Photography for Photographers they might not hold the same global rest of the world, then how can anyone in France to continue his work in strategic value of Afghanistan or Iraq, be persuaded to act? ■ the DRC. For further information the value of human life can be no dif- about Bleasdale’s work, contact ferent. The fate of Congolese peasants Marcus Bleasdale, a photojournalist [email protected]. being hacked to death by militias or who has been working in the Demo- dying in the bush from preventable cratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)  [email protected]

A child soldier rides back to his base in Ituri Province, Eastern Union Patriotic de Congo militias demonstrate against “the Congo. 2003. French assassins” in Bunia, Eastern Congo. 2003.

A 9-year-old, too afraid to stay in the hospital for fear of being attacked, is taken back to the bush after being treated. She was Refugees from bombed villages in the Darfur region of western attacked by Lendu militias who tried to cut off her leg with a Sudan struggle to raise a collapsed donkey after a 34-day march machette. She survived, but three members of her family were towards safety in Chad. killed. Fourteen people were killed in their beds in the hospital two weeks previously. 2003. Photos by © Marcus Bleasdale/IPG.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 15 Journalism in Africa

Renowned for their skills as trackers and hunters, Democratic Republic of the Congo’s pygmies have been re- cruited as military scouts by both rebel and government forces. To avoid being drafted, many crossed the river to neighboring Republic of the Congo. Long isolated in central Africa’s dense jungles, the pygmies are highly susceptible to disease in new urban environments. 2002.

Refugees collect water in Chad.

Photos by © Marcus Bleadsale/IPG.

16 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

A child’s coffin awaits burial as an uncle negotiates payment with the undertaker. The child’s father was un- able to attend due to “military duties.” Infant mortality in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is 128 deaths per 1000, according to the International Red Cross.

Children wait to be registered at a private orphanage in Kisangani, DRC. Photos by © Marcus Bleasdale/IPG.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 17 Journalism in Africa The Numbers Game in African Reporting Statistics don’t matter when disease and disaster exact such high human tolls in Africa.

By John Donnelly

ome 26.3 million people in Africa especially the outrageously large ones, epidemiological fact sheets.] This is one are infected with HIV. More than to draw attention to a region that re- of the most sophisticated data analyses S11 million children in Africa have ceives so little—whether measured in in Africa. Far more detail is gathered on become AIDS orphans. More than a mil- aid dollars or in column inches—from HIV than for other diseases, including lion children die each year of malaria. the outside world. tuberculosis and malaria. The fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region For a long time, few questioned the But in the last few years, UNAIDS and over the past 18 months has displaced numbers. Take a look at HIV figures. WHO statisticians have discovered that nearly two million people. The U.N. said last year that 40 million their estimates in a number of African These numbers, provided by the people worldwide are infected with countries might have been anywhere United Nations (U.N.) and various gov- HIV; this year they downgraded the from 25 to 400 percent more than the fig- ernments, are horrific and overwhelm- number to 38 million. To arrive at these ures arrived at in door-to-door surveys. ing. And all of them are wrong—some figures, epidemiologists at UNAIDS and Their major mistake in the models was extraordinarily so. the World Health Organization (WHO) the assumption that the percentages of Reporters who cover Africa feed hun- use indicators such as population-based those infected in cities would be some- grily off the wealth of statistics offered surveys, the percentage of HIV-infected what close to the rate in villages. The unflinchingly by various official actors. women at antenatal clinics, a country’s door-to-door surveys found the rural They are usually labeled as estimates population, and the percentage of rural rates to be far less than the urban ones. and almost always delivered as close and urban dwellers. They mix those and Now, quietly, the U.N. is undergoing a to the truth. We treat them almost as other figures together in a statistical dramatic downward revision in their gospel. model and arrive at an estimate. The estimates, though in piecemeal fashion, The problem in Africa, and much HIV prevalence estimate is then used as if to hide the embarrassment of years of the developing world, is that few to arrive at estimates for AIDS deaths, of being wrong. resources are put toward measuring children orphaned by AIDS, the number Jim Chin, a California-based epide- progress, decline, epidemics, refugees, of people needing antiretroviral drug miologist who helped to devise WHO’s or even counting people in their cities or treatment, and life expectancy in a model to estimate HIV prevalence, villages. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous given country. [See www.who.int/emc- spent hours with me on the phone nation, might have 120 million people. hiv/fact_sheets/All_countries.html for and through e-mail to explain why he Or it might have 160 million. No believes today’s HIV esti- one knows, because no nation- mates are 25 to 40 percent wide census has been done for inflated. Instead of 40 mil- more than 50 years. lion infected, he believes the truer number is between Reassessing the 24 million and 30 million. Numbers Two other AIDS specialists working for the U.S. govern- What does it mean for journal- ment told me they believe ists when even the most basic the UNAIDS/WHO estimates figure—how many people live are inflated by more than 50 in a country—could be off by percent. tens of millions of people? In reporting on HIV The problem in handling such prevalence, Chin advises inaccurate figures is not a new journalists to not quote phenomenon. For many years, specific national figures. government officials, those Instead, he urges them to who work for nongovernmen- lump countries into broad tal organizations (NGO), and In a refugee camp in Southern Darfur, a woman weaves straw categories: very high (more reporters have used figures, mat covers. Photo by John Donnelly/The Boston Globe. than 10 percent), high (five-

18 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa to-10 percent), moderate (one-to-five Another consideration is not to hospital in Malawi, Globe photographer percent) and low (under one percent). extrapolate figures, but to use original Dominic Chavez and I were surrounded This is a far from satisfactory compro- data on small groups to follow trends. by needless death. Dozens of people mise, especially for reporters—and their The figures from the antenatal clinics died during the week we were at this editors—who have long been addicted in Africa, for instance, are a good way urban hospital. In fact, we witnessed to hard figures. to follow the infection rates among the so much death that we decided not It now appears there will soon be pregnant women. In contrast, the HIV to profile one person’s death but to added pressure to find accurate num- national infection rates for countries profile death as we found it in this bers in a continent where so few cred- are almost useless as a barometer since hospital ward. ible ones exist. This time the demands they can be highly inaccurate. And the It was a telling moment of the differ- aren’t coming from editors, but rather national averages do not say much about ence and opened my eyes to what makes from the Bush administration. The U.S. high-risk populations or regions, nor reporting on Africa such a remarkable government wants to know if its bil- do they tell us much about areas with assignment. From this story, valuable lions of dollars in aid to fight poverty low rates of infection. lessons emerged. Numbers no longer and AIDS is benefiting the people it’s With population estimates, the best mattered. Africa’s preventable deaths meant to help. It’s a fair question. So information in many countries might dwarfed what we were finding in the government officials are demanding be available through door-to-door polio other regions of the world. In this case, measurable results. That, in turn, puts immunization campaigns that aim to comparative journalism revealed far greater pressure on NGO’s and U.S. inoculate every child under the age of more than any estimate ever could. universities that administer these large five. After one of these intensive efforts, Still, reporters want to use numbers grants to quickly produce “real” num- demographers possess the treasure of a in their stories. Just use caution when bers. Soon reporters will have access real number—those children under five the numbers come out of Africa. Remain to even more figures. who have been vaccinated—and from skeptical. Ask tough questions, and Similar concerns will hang over this number they are able to extrapolate find ways to let readers understand the these new numbers, but this time there the figure for an estimate of the overall dilemma the numbers pose in their tell- will be an added dimension: Do they population. Often they discover that 150 ing. Journalists should find ways to stop indicate success or failure, or a little percent of the population has been vac- this charade of using ever-escalating bit of both? cinated. In other words, their original estimates of disease and disaster that estimate was off by at least 50 percent. seem to be little more than desperate Finding and Using Numbers Alas, Nigeria can’t benefit yet from the attempts for attention. In writing about polio sweeps because the governor in the human suffering that exists on the There are several ways for journalists the northern state of Kano has refused continent of Africa, whether it is 13 to proceed with numbers in Africa, and to allow mass polio vaccinations dur- million or 26.3 million Africans who this advice applies to such work in other ing the past year in his domain, citing are infected with HIV or 100,000 or two developing countries. First, maintain distrust of the safety of the vaccine. million people in Darfur who have run some skepticism about any figure. There is one final suggestion on how from their homes, the toll these disasters This means doing a close examination to bring readers closer to the reality exact is dreadful. And in Africa, these of the source of the number, looking that is Africa. It arises out of a project troubles can be found on a so much for evidence of potential biases from The Boston Globe initiated two years greater scale than anywhere else. the NGO or government providing the ago to report on people in developing What journalists can do is let Africans statistical analysis. countries who were dying from diseases speak for themselves about the difficul- An important question to ask is who that the use of known health practices ties they confront and the lives they want benefits from what the figure tells us. and medical care could have prevented to lead without depending on numbers And by asking this question, important or cured. For more than two weeks, that we know are false to “sell” a story contextual information can emerge. For the newspaper sent reporters to four that simply deserves to be told. ■ instance, Chin told me that Vietnam, countries—Malawi, Cambodia, Russia like many African countries, resisted and Guatemala. As we spent time side- John Donnelly is the Africa corre- a downward revision of its HIV preva- by-side with people close to death, re- spondent for The Boston Globe. He lence numbers—based on the lower porters and photographers from these has been based in Pretoria, South rural figures—because it wanted more four teams stayed in close contact by Africa since September 2003. money from donors and believed a e-mail so we could share our experi- higher rate would attract more funds. ences in reporting these stories.  [email protected] On the other hand, Myanmar, which is In Cambodia, Russia and Guatemala, more concerned with its international journalists had difficulty either in getting reputation than receiving outside funds, access to people who were dying of a has resisted all attempts to raise its HIV preventable disease or had difficulty in prevalence estimates. finding people. At Lilongwe’s central

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 19 Journalism in Africa Revealing Lives Behind the Statistics ‘We would work to capture and convey the human dignity not often found in stories painting statistical portraits.’

By Davan Maharaj

y first experience of life in Africa came moments after Mthe plane landed in Nairobi in an early morning fog. Sitting in a black London-style taxi as it dodged potholes, we passed a Masai herder in his tradi- tional red robe. His face was pressed against a fence near the airport. As we headed downtown, we saw thousands of men and women walking on unpaved paths. This was the morning commute. Many of them were walking 15 miles to their jobs or in search of work, and they’d make the same journey home. Walking instead of taking the minibus saved them 12 cents. For many, that was enough to eat or pay their children’s school fees. My first impression of these trudging Kenyans remained with me after my wife, Abby, and I moved to Nairobi with A child plays around caskets being sold by the roadside in Masaka, Uganda. One casket our two small children. About a year into costs about $20. Casket makers earn more than those living in rural villages, as the high this foreign posting, I proposed a story number of people with HIV/AIDS makes this a profitable business. Photo by Francine about how Africans live on less than one Orr/Los Angeles Times. dollar a day. Los Angeles Times foreign editor, Marjorie Miller, suggested this income, Africa is the only continent detailing how—with less than one dol- story idea be transformed into a series. where the proportion of people living in lar a day—Africans feed, clothe, shelter, And so began my journalistic explora- such extreme poverty is increasing. The educate and acquire health care for tion into poor Africans’ daily struggles. World Bank estimates that 49 percent of themselves and their children. Staff As I worked to tell these stories to read- people in sub-Saharan Africa must make photographer Francine Orr, based in Los ers, my family also became embroiled do with less than one dollar a day. Angeles, was assigned to join me. in a fight for survival, and these paral- The project I proposed was an at- Our first story would be about work. lel tracks I traveled lent me a special tempt to pull away the statistical curtain How did people earn the money they awareness that my reporting, by itself, and reveal a close-up view of how these lived on? To tell this story, I set out for could not. Africans go about their daily lives. We a place I knew from earlier reporting would work to capture and convey the could accurately illustrate the struggle Getting Behind the Statistics human dignity not often found in stories just to find work—Goma, Democratic painting statistical portraits. We certain- Republic of the Congo (DRC). Several Aid agencies—and reporters—often ly did not want to romanticize poverty months earlier, I’d been to Eastern trot out measures of extreme poverty to or portray Africans as one-dimensional DRC to report on the eruption of Mt. describe a country or region’s economy objects of pity. As things turned out, we Nyiragongo, a volcano that looms eerily and account for its underdevelopment. encountered stories of an Africa that is over Goma. Nearly half the town was The number of people living on less sometimes brutal and dramatic, often entombed by the volcano, yet people than one dollar a day is one of the more painful, but also jubilant. went about their daily routine, trudg- common statistics used. While in many After a volley of memos with Miller ing to work. When I stopped people in countries some people have no choice and my editor, Mark Porubcansky, we the street to ask them how the volcano but to find ways to survive on a meager decided to aim for a series of articles was affecting their livelihoods and how

20 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa they were going to live after the disas- ter, more than once the interviewee shrugged and answered: “Je ne sais pas. Se débrouiller.” “Se débrouiller” is French for eking out a living out of nothing, and soon I discovered that Goma was a town of débrouillards. People rose early in the morning to perform menial labor or peddle food and goods in the streets. Government workers routinely re- ported to work even though they were never paid. “Having a job that doesn’t pay is better than having no job at all,” the director of the government’s divi- sion of work told me. After the Congo, Francine and I traveled to Nigeria where we hoped to report on clothes and how global economics is altering centuries-old equations in Africa. It had taken me six A young merchant sits next to piles of used clothing under the hot sun at the Yaba Mar- months to secure a journalist visa but, ket in Lagos, Nigeria. Clothing merchants sell used clothing illegally imported from the thanks to contacts I’d made during that United States. Photo by Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times. quest, Orr’s visa was approved in two days. Here we’d show how used clothes imported from the West are replacing visited the head of the vendors’ associa- able hepatitis and that she’d beat it with Africa’s flamboyant fabrics and closing tion. At noon, we joined the drum circle, the help of the doctors at the well-re- hundreds of factories. We also wanted when the vendors and their customers garded Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. As to capture Nigerian ingenuity that sur- took a break from the ferocious African Francine headed for southern Zambia, mounts the government’s ban on used sun. We were no longer strangers. I headed straight to the hospital. Abby clothing. To do so, we chose Yaba market We also traveled to southern Africa was not in good shape. Her skin and on the outskirts of Lagos, the largest city where a drought, poor public policy, eyeballs had turned topaz yellow. in sub-Saharan Africa. and AIDS were causing hunger. Though Doctors later surmised that drugs After taking a brief break to report we’d planned to go to parts of rural prescribed to fend off mighty African a Page One story about religious riots Zambia to report on people eating amoebas were killing her liver. For the that broke out during the Miss World roots, leaves, even poison berries to next three weeks, as Abby’s condition pageant, we spent a few days navigat- try to survive, we found another com- worsened, we were moved from the Aga ing Yaba market, trying to capture its pelling story in the country’s capital Khan to the best liver transplant hospital vibe. I recorded how the prize item on city, Lusaka, where residents scraped in London. We took only a backpack, a vendor’s rack was the bomber jacket together pennies to buy food. I filled confident that we would return in a worn by Tiffany of Costa Mesa High notebooks with stories from families liv- few days. A friend agreed to stay with School, a school in our circulation area. ing in the shanties in Lusaka’s so-called our children, Armaan, then four, and Donated clothes from California ending Garden District. And despite starvation Maya, two. up in such markets in Africa made me of many of its people, Zambia refused “I’m humbled,” Abby told me after feel that the world of our readers was to accept U.S. produced genetically the mainly African medical staff left her indissolubly chained to these people modified foods. room at King’s College Hospital in Lon- in this Nigerian market. But these acts don. “If I were an African without means, of charity were much more than that: Personal Struggles Intervene I’d be dead.” The doctors in London Each has its ripple effect, creating liveli- then suggested we move Abby to Los hoods for many and killing the jobs of The day before Francine and I were to Angeles because her O+ blood type did others, and it became our job to show make our trip to the countryside outside not make her a promising candidate for how this works and the affect it has on Lusaka, the call came. Back in Nairobi, getting a transplant in Europe. In Los African families. my wife, Abby, was being checked into Angeles, we were met by paramedics To engage readers fully, we had to the hospital. Her liver enzyme numbers waiting for us with a gurney. approach our reporting in the Nigerian were soaring at an alarming rate, and From Abby’s University of California way. Before interviewing vendors, we doctors were worried. Both Abby and at Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital room, followed a local reporter’s advice and I thought this was a simple case of cur- and with help from a stringer, I filed

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 21 Journalism in Africa

a front-page story about Daniel Arap Moi’s ruling Kenya African National Union party being ousted from power after four decades of one-party rule. Our colleagues and friends in Nairobi were ecstatic as Kenya was caught up in a spirit of euphoria and rebirth. But for us, these were tough times. Abby’s numbers continued to worsen. On January 8, 2004, she was wheeled into the operating room, given a new liver and a fresh lease on life. We spent the next four months in a hotel room footsteps from UCLA hospi- tal, joined by our children, who’d been brought there by my sister, who called off her vacation in Italy and traveled to Africa to take them from the care of our friends. I kept in touch with sources and local staff in Africa, and after Abby was well enough, I returned to Africa to A worker in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Francine Orr/Los Angeles finish my reporting on this project. Times.

Returning to Africa South Africa, I met three children who their neighbors for a plate of plain rice. had to drop out of the school located As we approached publication, I kept Correspondents who choose to go to next to their house because their mother in touch with the school’s principal by Africa believe that they can make a dif- couldn’t afford the $10 annual school phone from Los Angeles to see if any- ference by telling the stories from this fee. (Their father had abandoned the thing had changed. It hadn’t. largely forgotten continent. Often, I family years before.) When Francine While the food crises in Zambia and find, they also bear much guilt. While went there several months later, these elsewhere in Southern Africa subsided reporting on poverty and conflict, they children were in the same predica- somewhat after our visits there, a similar stay in the continent’s finest hotels. They ment—penniless and dependent on disaster festered in Ethiopia. Members know their airfare to any destination could feed those who live in a small village or alleviate some of the needs they write about. Expatriate homes have multiple bathrooms, while not far away slum dwellers use plastic bags and hurl them like slingshots away from the scene of the crime. I carried much of this guilt, and when I returned to finish reporting these stories in Africa I brought along with me a deeper sense of compassion for the people whose life stories I was borrowing to bring to readers. As Abby had observed early on in her health crisis and I knew, the tens of thousands of dollars that had gone into keeping her alive could have saved hundreds of lives in Africa. Logistically, too, due to Abby’s illness, Francine’s and my reporting schedules were now different, and we traveled separately: Some of our trips were made months apart. Even so, it was often as if Homemade wooden scooters called chukudus are used for transportation and carrying time had stood still. In a trip I’d made to goods around Goma. Photo by Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times.

22 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

of an Ethiopian family I interviewed four months earlier wore the same clothes—their only set—when Francine showed up six months later. Finding them each time was not easy. Francine made two trips to the remote region in southern Ethiopia before she was able to locate them to take photographs. And Kassim Issa, an AIDS patient whom I had followed for several months, was still alive when Francine visited him. He was among the lucky Africans to receive antiretroviral drugs. Issa survived despite his poverty and dagger-like missives from his mother-in- law who was upset that he had given her late daughter the disease, then saddled Health workers measure a one and a half-year-old boy’s height during a medical evalua- her with their two children. We never tion at the Yirba Therapeutic Feeding Center in southern Ethiopia. He is malnourished met his mother-in-law, but her colorful and, like other children there, is highly susceptible to skin infection, pneumonia and letters were featured prominently in malaria. our story. ‘Living on Pennies’

Our “Living On Pennies” six-part series ran across a total of 20 pages in July. The stories were relatively short, with each one ranging from 2,200 to 2,800 words. Expert comment and background were limited so the story could focus tightly on Africans going about their everyday lives. With deliberate intent, Francine’s pictures were printed in black and white so that the vibrant color did not detract from the essence of the images. We’ve since received more than 600 letters and e-mails. (The readers’ comments became the series’ epilogue and, on the Web site, I responded by video to their comments and reactions.) Francine and I were both struck by the large number of responses we received from people who read our newspaper’s Web edition of this series and saw ac- companying images. Readers in Canada, India, Japan and Germany were among those who thanked the editors for de- voting the space to give them an inside glimpse into the lives of these African Children run barefoot through houses that have holes in the walls in Nairobi, Kenya. people. Like our U.S. readers, many Sounds of children laughing and crying and the smell of human excrement and cooking sent checks to aid groups listed on the fill the air. paper’s Web site. Just as donated used clothing con- nects people across the world, our newspaper is no longer a local form of communication. Readers from across Photos by Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times. the globe said that they were eager

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 23 Journalism in Africa

to read our next installments. Many spirit. Long before the idea of doing this Davan Maharaj is an assistant readers asked Francine and me how project entered my mind, I asked a col- foreign editor with the Los Angeles the series changed us and the way we league how Africans lived on less than Times. He was the Nairobi bureau look at life. Despite all the talk about one dollar a day. “Davan, they don’t,” chief from 2001-2003. The “Living compassion fatigue, I came away from he said bluntly. on Pennies” series of articles can be this reporting experience with a sense At the end of my reporting, I realized found at www.latimes.com/news/spe- that people do care about the plight of that he was right. The people we inter- cials/world/la-fg-work11jul11.story. others when they connect with stories of viewed were winners simply because human beings engaged in the struggle they survived to go on to the next day  [email protected] for survival. and struggle again. Their victories were This assignment also reinforced my small, and every day they had to fight admiration for the indomitable African the same battles. ■

Journalists and Humanitarian NGO’s In our ‘symbiotic’ relationship, aid workers become sources, gatekeepers or eye openers.

By Hilaire Avril

arly on the morning of October humanitarian nongovernmental organi- 15, 1999, the glass-walled Paris zations (NGO’s). Despite this suppos- Eheadquarters of Médecins Sans edly “symbiotic” relationship between Frontières (MSF) was invaded by a aid agencies and the media, a sense of swarm of camera crews. They’d been incomprehension inhabits both sides. sent there in the expectation that the Humanitarians rely on journalists to medical humanitarian organization raise awareness of the causes in which would be awarded the Nobel Peace they are involved. They also depend on Prize. our coverage to attract donor funding. At the time I was a student volunteer- Journalists often rely on aid workers to ing with the media relations department. gain access to tell the story of a disaster A community leader takes Hilaire Avril When the news was announced around or crisis and to decrypt what is going (second from right) around the market 11 o’clock, even the most emergency- on, although they rarely admit to this in a Sudanese refugee camp. A young hardened, leathery-faced humanitarian aspect of their relationship. Both are girl who lives in the camp smiles into the workers were momentarily speechless wary of the other’s agenda, for several camera. June 2004. as journalists bombarded staff mem- reasons. bers with a barrage of questions. Even Aid workers often complain that the receptionist made the 1 o’clock journalists have no understanding of story is in most aid operations. The news, since she’d been unable to hide the intricacies of the humanitarian is- Sphere Project, which outlines stan- behind a desk. Amid all the chaos, an sues they cover. They also resent the dards for aid operations, insists that operations manager elbowed his way “insufficient coverage of their activities.” an aid worker have knowledge of the to our office. He had to duck to avoid Most journalists who cover humanitar- disaster-affected population’s culture cameras. When he finally made it, he told ian crises are generalists; a few are war and customs. The standard should also us with a straight face: “Don’t tell the correspondents. Some are unprepared apply to journalists. press anything before we’ve discussed to grasp the technicalities and exigen- On the other hand, journalists who whether we’ll accept the Nobel or not.” cies of an aid operation, and most do deal with NGO’s often experience an ap- I remember the media relations officer not appreciate the subtleties of the parent contradiction. While those who standing next to me looking like she’d social, cultural and political implica- work at NGO headquarters are typically just swallowed an umbrella. tions of humanitarian intervention, eager to get press coverage for their MSF is one of the most media-savvy although this is where the underlying operations, their field staffs are often

24 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa reluctant to talk with journalists once doing. But when it comes to renting a extremists who had just massacred they arrive on site. While preparing for flat, people turn me down because I’ve hundreds of thousands of civilians in a recent trip to Kakuma camp, the big- got no credit history.” the most savage way—were among the gest settlement in Kenya for Sudanese Humanitarian workers have a grow- civilian refugees. They were actively refugees fleeing the 20-year-long civil ing skepticism towards journalists, recruiting and arming young boys in war in South Sudan, I asked a major especially those who “parachute” in the camp. Should aid agencies have international NGO’s public informa- to do one story and then leave. These walked away to avoid supporting the tion department in New York for field aid workers often perceive journalists mass murderers who were barely hid- contacts. They were more than happy as being obsessed with finding “good ing among the vulnerable civilians, as to provide what I needed, making it angles” rather than reporting in-depth some did? Or should they have stayed possible to bypass the camp’s admin- stories. This is because a few journalists and fed these killers alongside the in- istration and talk directly with refugees who specialize in covering crises can be nocents? about their hopes and plans in light of ruthless in focusing only on the short- If those in the West had had a clearer the current peace talks. However, the comings of some aid operations. understanding of these circumstances— field staff’s approach was very different. But I’ve found that most aid workers one that they might have received from The manager told me that the camp will open up if you take time to display well-reported news coverage—it might staff was not “qualified to speak to the empathy and at least minimal awareness have triggered an armed intervention media,” but that she would be more of what their tasks entail. Aid workers that could have separated murderers than happy to brief me when I returned should also educate journalists about from civilians. Instead, “genocidaire” to the capital. the boundaries they are obliged not to militias were never disarmed and still The truth is that Kakuma camp— cross. For example, if an NGO is por- violently destabilize the entire African which shelters some 90,000 refugees trayed in media coverage as taking sides Great Lakes region. of nine different nationalities—is un- in a conflict, such coverage might put Broader, deeper and more consistent der-funded and rundown. It’s a sad, the field personnel in danger. coverage might also help deflate the destitute and violent place. Despite Recently I heard the manager of a “emergency of the season” effect that the tremendous work several aid agen- feeding operation in Burundi confess drains all attention and aid funding cies perform in this god-forsaken part in a hushed tone that her organization to the most widely reported crisis, as of the Kenyan arid lands, tribal feuds, had been giving food to rebel forces in has been the case during the past year raids from the “hosting” Turkana com- an attempt to keep them from looting with Iraq. While the mainstream media munity, disease and sexual violence local civilians’ meager resources. To extensively cover the plight of the Iraqi have plagued the camp since it was set make such a decision must have been people, the fighting in nearby Somalia up 12 years ago. Those who are here very difficult, but this manager told me that still sends refugees fleeing across as humanitarian workers did not trust the approach seemed to be working. the Kenyan border—along with several that I would cover the “whole” story of However, what journalist covering this other humanitarian crises—has been off the camp and explain the tremendous story would resist the obvious angle that editors’ radar screens since the disas- difference this aid effort makes in the “aid agencies are feeding the conflict”? trous end of Operation Restore Hope refugees’ lives, despite all its shortcom- Which editor would turn down this 10 years ago. ings and lack of resources. angle on the story? For those of us listening to those who What can journalists expect of aid This is why it’s important for relief work for humanitarian NGO’s, and to workers as sources? Most aid workers workers to be willing to explain the the ones who try to help, unfortunately I know find a source of energy in their dilemmas they face every day. Their job, what we hear is the never-ending pos- healthy indignation at the world sur- as I have come to understand it, is often sibility of stories. ■ rounding them. This is often combined to make the “least worst decision.” But with a strong antiestablishment stance. that has to be explained to journalists Hilaire Avril writes for IRIN, the On the evening after MSF won the No- and, in turn, journalists need to find U.N.’s humanitarian reporting bel Prize—and accepted it, since the ways to convey this subtle but critical service. He volunteered for a few option of turning it down for the sake dimension of the story to readers, listen- months with Médecins Sans Fron- of “political neutrality” never stood a ers and viewers. Humanitarian work is a tières’ media relations department chance against the mountain of prime- complex endeavor, and often a political in Paris in 1999. time exposure—I asked an old-timer minefield, but its nuances and chal- who’d worked for years in Afghanistan lenges should be openly exposed.  [email protected] how he reacted to this worldwide rec- In 1994 in Goma, in what was still ognition of 30 years of hard work. His Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire, aid agencies answer was sobering: “When I’m back confronted a similar dilemma. Hutu in Paris, strangers in cafés tell me how refugees were crammed into gigantic much they admire us for what we’re camps. “Genocidaires”—the Hutu

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 25 Journalism in Africa

WATCHDOG War Crimes Tribunals in Africa and Sleeping Press Watchdogs ‘… there is an obvious need for independent press scrutiny to hold these tribunals accountable.’ By Thierry Cruvellier

n the past decade, the rise of what is called “transitional justice” has been Ia significant phenomenon in foreign affairs and human rights. Today there is hardly a conflict situation where the quest for justice and the need to bring those who have committed mass crimes against civilian populations to task for what they did is not being advocated by humanitarian organizations or pushed forward by the United Nations. Setting up international criminal tribunals and stimulating national trials or truth and reconciliation commissions has become a common feature of the international community’s response to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Not surprisingly, Africa has become the main field of experimentation for international justice proponents. Deadly civil wars where civilians have The founder of Radio RTLM, Ferdinand Nahimana, was sentenced to life imprisonment been the main target of murderous by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Photo courtesy of Intermedia. armed groups have multiplied on the continent since the end of the cold war, prompting the international com- munity to set up an unprecedented the one established a year earlier for concerns. The U.N. International Crimi- number of peacekeeping missions or the former Yugoslavia. Currently Sierra nal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which humanitarian interventions. Weak and Leone is experimenting with a “mixed” is based in Arusha, Tanzania, provides highly dependent states might have also court that has been hastily brandished a particularly interesting case study. It provided “interventionists” with easier as the “new model” for international is well known that the pace of justice options than elsewhere in the Middle justice. [A mixed court is comprised is largely ill-adapted to that of the mass East, Asia or Central America. Thus, in of both international staff and nation- media. The ICTR’s serious misman- the past 10 years, there is almost no als.] And one can be reassured that the agement, excruciating slowness, and transitional justice mechanism that has African continent will keep its leading geographical isolation have only height- not been tested in Africa. position in this field as the newly cre- ened this problem. In addition, there Following in the footsteps of post- ated International Criminal Court (ICC) has been a constant (and not so hard to apartheid South Africa, there have been will probably take its first cases from explain) diminution of interest in Africa truth commissions, either national or the Democratic Republic of the Congo among mainstream Western media. As a semi-international, in Ghana and Sierra and Uganda. consequence, the ICTR has never been Leone. Ethiopia’s “Red Terror” and then under close independent scrutiny from Rwanda’s genocide have led to mass Filling the Information Gap the mainstream international media. At national trials. It also resulted in the the same time, local media have lacked creation of a U.N. International Criminal Press coverage of these important ju- the skills, the interest, or the means to Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994, following dicial processes in Africa raise several organize such coverage.

26 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

In such a context, a new phenom- tions or powers that have stakes in these experience of the ICTR and the Special enon occurred: To fill this information international tribunals. Court for Sierra Leone show that these gap, international nongovernmental While it may seem churlish to criticize tribunals, like any bureaucratized and organizations (NGO’s) have assumed these NGO’s for filling the information political institution, can become au- the role of independent, private media vacuum left by mainstream media’s thoritarian, abusive, or corrupt once companies. Three of them, whose head- withdrawal from these issues and they realize that they have limited ac- quarters are located in the United States regions, it is important to remember countability. (Internews), Switzerland (Fondation that their agenda is not the same as Indeed, these courts differ from judi- Hirondelle), and France (Intermedia) traditional media companies. cial systems in democratic societies by have provided coverage of the ICTR Sierra Leone provides a slightly the fact that judges—not a legislative since the beginning of the trials in 1997. different situation. Unlike the ICTR, body—write the rules of procedure Since 2003, only the Swiss one is still which has enjoyed some specialized and can amend them at will. This operating on a daily has led to some rather basis in Arusha while unchecked practices the American one has In the absence of a professional and that would be seriously essentially moved to questioned in demo- Kigali. independent press putting these tribunals cratic legal systems. Such a situation, under constant and consistent scrutiny, With no counterbalanc- in which NGO’s, de- there is a lack of necessary democratic ing legislative body, with pendent on donors’ state donors focused financial support, are control. mainly on budgetary in charge of report- issues, and with human ing on trials with a rights organizations highly political dimension, raises ques- journalistic coverage, the Special Court reluctant to criticize institutions they tions about their independence and the here, whose trials started in June 2004, helped create, there is an obvious role they are playing as a watchdog. is only covered, on a permanent basis, need for independent press scrutiny to After several years of observing this by local media. Surprisingly, no in- hold these tribunals accountable. This coverage, it appears that, for the most formation-focused NGO like the one is perhaps more likely to come in an part, the NGO reporting has proved in Arusha has opened any project in efficient manner from a combination to be seriously lacking in investigative, Freetown relating to the court’s activi- of specialized international media and analytical and critical approaches. Not- ties. In a country where the local press training programs—giving practical withstanding a commendable effort to suffers grave economic and ethical tools to investigate the workings of a turn people’s attention to these trials problems, as well as a lack of journalists court—for local journalists covering and to transmit information back to the trained in court reporting, the Special such institutions that deal with their Rwandan population (living hundreds Court—which is principally funded by own history. ■ of miles away from Arusha), the reigning the United States, The Netherlands, editorial policy has been driven more Great Britain, and Canada—lacks any Thierry Cruvellier, a 2004 Nieman by a “project” mentality, common to independent international watchdog. Fellow, is the editor of International NGO’s, than a journalistic one. Only one international NGO, the Inter- Justice Tribune (www.justicetribune. Yet there doesn’t appear to have been national Center for Transitional Justice, com). He covered the International any pressure on these NGO’s from their has been closely monitoring the Special Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda be- Western donors, which are primarily Court workings from the beginning. tween 1997 and 2002 and the Special governments. Obviously, these organi- But it doesn’t aim at providing a public Court and the Truth and Reconcilia- zations have faced pressure from Rwan- and independent journalistic coverage tion Commission in Sierra Leone in dan authorities and, more disturbingly, of the trials. Thus it cannot replace the 2003. from the tribunal itself. But whenever press as a watchdog. they gave in, it wasn’t due to pressures  [email protected] from those who were funding them. Lack of Democratic Control Thus, to a large extent, these organiza- tions are engaging in what borders on This situation in Sierra Leone highlights self-censorship, deriving either from a more serious problem facing the their principled reluctance to be seen development of international justice as “troublemakers” (neutrality rather on African soil. In the absence of a than impartiality is the key word for professional and independent press most NGO’s) or their possible interest putting these tribunals under constant in developing other projects elsewhere, and consistent scrutiny, there is a lack including in partnership with organiza- of necessary democratic control. The

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 27 Journalism in Africa Photographing a Nation Under Siege In Liberia, a photojournalist finds death, despair and destruction.

In 2003, Los Angeles Times photogra- pher Carolyn Cole went to Liberia to document its ongoing civil war. Her photographs appeared in a series, “Monrovia Under Siege,” which offered readers an intimate look at what this war had done to the people who live there. In her photographs, Cole paid particular attention to the innocent victims who had been pulled into the conflict. With many of her images, readers were able to come away with a sense of what the street fighting in the nation’s capital felt like. For this work she was awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.Cole describes below what Liberians were experienc- ing at the time of her arrival.

Liberians had long been forgotten by the outside world as a bloody More than 9,000 people crowded into what was once the Masonic Temple of Monrovia, “civil war terrorized the civilian Liberia. The majority arrived there after fleeing fighting on the outskirts of the capital. population for much of the past decade. For a brief moment in 2003, the world’s attention took note as government and rebel militias fought for control and a guarantee of profits from the country’s rich resources. The rebels demanded an end to the reign of former President Charles Taylor, while Taylor insisted on staying until peacekeepers arrived. Men, women and children fled the countryside as rebel fighters advanced on the capital, often looting and burning homes in their path. Those displaced by the fighting took refuge in schools, churches and camps, which also came under attack from mortar fire. The final battle was waged in the city center. A forced change of leadership was finally arranged, but not before hundreds had been killed and wounded, leaving a lasting scar on the already tragic history of Liberia.” ■ Tehneh Johnson, one of thousands of displaced Liberians, had been living at a former U.S. radio station when she was told to leave as the fighting drew near.

Photos by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.

28 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

Thousands of Liberians died during a decade of civil conflict, including these men buried in a sandy mass grave along with 64 others on the day international peacekeepers finally arrived in the summer of 2003.

Bullet casings carpet a street in Monrovia where A soldier cries for his comrade who died in his arms fighting was heaviest between government and rebel after a frontline offensive, as government soldiers soldiers. fought to take back territory lost to rebels.

Photos by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 29 Journalism in Africa

A young Liberian fighter defends Monrovia, when a standoff be- tween rebel and government militias holds the city under siege.

A man killed in overnight fighting is left by residents of the area, as they run to avoid being hit by gunfire or shelling.

Unable to find food in government-held areas, thousands of Li- berians took back routes through swampland to look for food in rebel-controlled territory.

Photos by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.

30 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa Journalism at a Crossroads in Liberia War devastated the nation’s independent media, and now the job of restoring the foundation for news reporting begins.

By Gabriel I.H. Williams

ollowing 14 years of devastating civil war and a brutal dictatorship, Fthe media in the West African state of Liberia, like the rest of the country, has begun the tedious process of recovery. Since the dictatorial regime of Charles Taylor fell from power in August 2003, Liberian journalists have been enjoying a level of freedom inconceiv- able under the rule of the rebel leader turned-president of Liberia. There is a multiplicity of independent news outlets. According to an official of the Ministry of Information, the primary agency responsible for media affairs, this spring there were 32 radio stations, 31 newspapers, and three television sta- tions. The list has been expanding since then. A notable aspect of this new era is that the media, like the general public, Philip Wesseh, managing editor of The Inquirer, goes through the remains of the news- have been free to openly criticize public paper’s building after a bombing in 1996. Photo by Gregory H. Stemn. officials, including the interim head of state of the power-sharing transitional government, without retribution. to advocate for press freedom and de- what was lost.” A statement made in June by the mocracy in Liberia. ALJA members are Despite these difficulties, the Press Press Union of Liberia, the national mostly members of the Press Union of Union attributes the large number of journalists’ organization that advocates Liberia forced to flee their country due functioning news organizations to a for press freedom and democratic to the war and suppression of press relaxation of registration requirements governance in Liberia, celebrated this freedom. Both organizations champion by the transitional government. This milestone change: “A new day is dawn- the cause of democratic governance in reflects of the growing sense of secu- ing on the media horizon in Liberia. a country long dominated by misrule rity, freedom and peace within Liberian Since the ushering in of the National and dictators. society—thanks to the presence of the Transitional Government … last year Along with its statement, the Press largest U.N. peacekeeping force in the [2003], the media have breathed a sigh Union provided an assessment of the world. As a result, thousands of Liberian of relief; no journalist has been jailed, media situation after the cessation of refugees in neighboring countries are and we are happy that people whose hostilities in August 2003. This assess- returning home along with a grow- feelings are ruffled by the newspapers ment “showed that media institutions ing number of others from countries and other media outlets are now taking were massively looted by combatants throughout the world. a recourse to the law, instead of brutal- during the fighting. Computers, vehicles izing journalists.” and other equipment were carted away, Journalism in the Aftermath This statement was made at the leaving newspaper houses and radio of War convention of the Association of Libe- stations in a deplorable state. At the mo- rian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA), ment, media institutions have diverted After more than 10 years in exile in the an organization founded by Liberian their attention from developing their United States, I went back to Liberia on journalists living in exile to continue institutions to concentrate on replacing April 21, 2004, less than a week after

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 31 Journalism in Africa

U.N. peacekeepers began the disarma- Most media outlets emerging from Information technology develop- ment and demobilization of the armed the ruinous war are operating in ment must be an integral part of factions. I had been in Liberia during the cramped and poorly ventilated spaces the rebuilding process of the Libe- first four years of the war and served as with few computers and other equip- rian media. There must be training leader of the Press Union and manag- ment to work with. Only a few jour- programs, too, for those working ing editor of The Inquirer, the nation’s nalists are fortunate to receive regular in the administrative, business and leading independent daily. I fled the paychecks. In a country where there is advertising sectors of the media. To country in late 1993 due to death threats no electricity for general public con- improve the working conditions for from some factions because of my work sumption because the hydroelectric journalists and the quality of what as a journalist, and this trip back was dam and other generating facilities journalists publish and broadcast, meant to help me understand the cir- were completely destroyed, businesses there is a very urgent need for the cumstances the media confronted now (including newspapers and other news United Nations and the international that the war was over. outlets) have to purchase electricity community—particularly organiza- As I stepped off the plane at the ru- from private generator owners. This is tions that support press freedom—to ined Roberts International Airport that expensive, and service can be erratic. assist the Liberian media through the hot, sunny afternoon and traveled 35 Most generator owners, like the single provision of financial and material miles to the capital of Monrovia, I felt major printing press operating in Libe- resources dedicated to improving depressed and horrified by the sight ria, demand payment in U.S. dollars for training opportunities. of such widespread destruction. I was their services, even though the news • Education: The Mass Communica- seeing my country broken, but as I organizations’ revenues are in Liberian tions Department at the University settled in I could see signs that Liberia dollars, which is very low in value when of Liberia must receive adequate is getting back on course. Monrovia compared with the U.S. dollar. support in terms of instructional and its environs were peaceful and Compounding the precarious finan- manpower and resources to ensure gun-free, with only the on-duty U.N. cial state of media organizations has that students pursuing a degree are peacekeepers armed. I visited offices been the very limited availability of well trained. The department should of media outlets and held meetings advertisements. Given that few busi- resume its two-year certificate pro- with various national leaders, includ- nesses were able to operate during the gram that existed before the war but ing those in the Press Union and news years of war, they are not there now to was interrupted. organizations. I was also received in help commercially sustain independent • Printing Facilities: More sophisti- audience by Liberia’s transitional head news organizations. The war meant that cated printing facilities are needed of state, Gyude Bryant, and some of Liberia’s economy virtually collapsed, to improve the print quality of the the representatives of the international leaving a massive criminal enterprise newspapers and other publications community in the country. in its place and causing unemployment and reduce the high cost and other From these meetings, it became to climb to an estimated 80 percent. burdens of printing. clear there were widespread concerns Widespread poverty results, too, in a • Civil Society: Mindful that a free, vi- regarding what was seen as a serious serious decline in circulation of newspa- brant media is crucial to the existence decline in professional standards in the pers, since there is a limited number of of a peaceful democratic society, it media. I found this to be true when I people who can afford to purchase the is important that media safeguards saw firsthand some of the conditions publications. Added to these problems and supports be included in Liberia’s under which media offices were then is the high cost of printing at the only two-year reconstruction program operating. From watching how they op- primary commercial printing house under the auspices of the United erated and reading what they published, that remained operational through Nations. And to encourage Liberian it was obvious that most of the news the war. professionals and entrepreneurs organizations were substandard. This who fled the civil crises to return at was attributed to two key factors: Restoring Liberia’s Media a time the literacy rate in the coun- try is estimated to be a shocking 15 1. Like every sector of Liberian society, To restore the Liberian media to its percent, the United Nations should journalism suffered a massive brain prewar level and to ensure progress, seriously consider implementing a drain due to the exodus of people the following recommendations, among resettlement program. Indications during this time of war and repres- others, should be implemented: are that most of the trained journal- sion. ists who fled Liberia would return 2. Most of the current journalists prac- • Training: Intense short and long- and get involved in the process of ticing in the country have had little or term training programs are needed rebuilding when they know they can no training or educational programs to improve the professional skills sustain their families. available to them during the years of reporters and editors. Emphasis • Government Roles: The Ministry of war, leaving them unprepared to must be placed on training in com- of Information, the Press Union of perform effectively. puter and information technology. Liberia, and independent media

32 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

in Liberia need to work together take over could decide to reinforce Gabriel I.H. Williams is the author of in finding solutions to problems the repressive laws and regulations. “Liberia: The Heart of Darkness: Ac- affecting the media. The current Accordingly, the Liberian media and counts of Liberia’s Civil War and its Minister of Information, C. William international media advocacy groups Destabilizing Effects in West Africa.” Allen, who is former editor in chief must work with the current informa- He lives in the United States and is of the independent Footprints Today tion ministry to change the country’s an executive member of the Mano newspaper and president of the Press antipress laws and regulations. River Media Forum (MARIFO), an Union of Liberia, has demonstrated organization seeking to improve the his commitment to press freedom. Before the war, the independent practice of journalism in the Mano Under his leadership, opportunity Liberian media was regarded to be one River subregion, which includes Libe- exists to transform this ministry from of the most vibrant in West Africa. As ria, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. an instrument of state repression Liberia prepares for presidential and that enforced antimedia laws to an general elections in October 2005,  [email protected] agency promoting press freedom. efforts must begin now to enable Its relaxation of media registration journalists to report and publish news regulations is commendable. How- of these changes in Liberia so people ever, after Allen or the transitional will better appreciate the fragile gift of government leaves office, those who democracy. ■ When Being a Photojournalist Is About Surviving ‘Journalists could never be sure they would be alive to cover the next assignment.’

By Gregory H. Stemn

hile I was photographing a could never be sure they would be alive than 5,000 people were huddled at one rally at the University of Libe- to cover the next assignment. checkpoint with nowhere to go. They Wria in support of three jailed During the past 15 years, my skills couldn’t remain in their villages, but journalists, then-President Charles as a photojournalist and commitment the soldiers were not allowing them to Taylor sent armed soldiers and police to journalism have been tested. These pass through, accusing them of having to disperse the students. On film I’d were times in Liberia’s history that de- rebels amongst them. captured the brutality the security forces manded endurance and courage to pur- The soldiers would not allow pho- used against the students, but then sue the truth. Like a few other Liberians tographs to be taken, so I moved away some plainclothes officers demanded who believed that the war for power, from the crowd to document this that I hand over my camera. When I wealth and greed needed to stop, I faced scene. I passed each finished roll to my refused, they knocked my camera to the dangers and continued to work until reporting colleague, who by then had ground and destroyed it. I was beaten I—and others—reached a limit where befriended a villager. By the time the and accused of being an enemy of the we could carry on no more. soldiers confiscated my camera, the ex- government. The pictures of what I’d We went to places where others dared posed film was safe, and our new friend witnessed were gone. not go, such as into territory where led us through trails to the next town. This wasn’t the only incident in rebel forces opposed to President Tay- In time, some of us, including me, which, as a news photographer, I was lor were advancing from the country’s fled our country because of serious physically attacked and my equipment northern border with Guinea. Locals attempts on our lives by state security. confiscated. Sadly, it became a familiar were afraid to speak with me or the Now we hope for change. Threads of ritual on many of my assignments. reporter with whom I traveled, and that hope are found in the work we did Journalists worked like this in Liberia, the government security forces in the and what we envisioned we can do once as each day’s assignment presented a area did not trust us. One evening we we have freedom. ■ fresh challenge of survival. To do our started to hear sporadic gun sounds and job, we braved death threats by state saw villagers leaving, not wanting to get Gregory H. Stemn is a Liberian pho- security officers as we tried to photo- caught in the crossfire. At government tojournalist working as a freelancer graph moments and actions that would checkpoints we’d mingle with the crowd in the United States. make real what was happening for those and listen to internally displaced people who would see our images. Journalists tell their stories to the soldiers. More  [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 33 Journalism in Africa

Working under hazardous, sometimes life-threatening, conditions, Liberian photographer Gregory Stemn devoted years of his life to documenting the destruction of his country under the rule of Charles Taylor. Some of his pho- tographs appear on this page.

Displaced people at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex in A University of Liberia student was beaten by armed sol- Bong County, Liberia, 2003. diers of then-President Charles Taylor at a rally in March 2001 in support of three jailed journalists.

Some of Charles Taylor’s armed forces in Bong County. One of Charles Taylor’s soldiers, 2001.

Photos by Gregory H. Stemn.

34 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa Africa Through the Eyes of African Reporters If local journalists reported more of the news to Western audiences, their sources and the story’s context would be different.

By Geoffrey Nyarota

young American journalist about fore, be advantages in training local the July 12, 2004 issue of Newsweek. An to fly to his first posting abroad as journalists to cover Africa directly for article on Sudan, “The Power of a Word,” Aforeign correspondent contacted Western news organizations, and no highlights a certain concern raised by me early in 2004. He said he had no evidence has been found that African analysts—the appropriateness or value previous experience, needed to talk journalists are impervious to further of some of the news sources Western to somebody who could possibly help training or reorientation. Aside from correspondents covering Africa depend him overcome this handicap, and my eliminating the costs of relocating cor- on. This article discusses the ongoing name had been recommended. In due respondents and finding accommoda- crisis in the Darfur region of western course, he traveled by airplane and tions for them in exclusive suburbs in Sudan, where government-backed Arab we had lunch in Cambridge and, on Africa, there would also possibly be militias have driven thousands of blacks departure, I assumed he felt confident a significant improvement in the re- from their homes and their land. In and prepared to face the new challenges porting because of African journalists’ the article, the controversial question ahead as African correspondent based familiarity with the territory covered. of when a massacre is deemed to have in Johannesburg. When Western correspondents fly in become genocide is raised. While his approach was certainly to cover an event at short notice, they This perennial question has been beyond reproach, our brief encounter can gain only a superficial understand- debated in other parts of Africa. At which left me with a great sense of misgiving. ing of the crisis and, also, they might point did the systematic elimination Was this vast African continent generally have limited or no access to the most of hundreds of thousands of members receiving the best coverage possible knowledgeable and relevant sources. of the Tutsi minority tribe by Hutu in the Western media? Could African And in places where dictators are in extremists in Rwanda in 1994 become journalists not make a greater contribu- power, the locals can be suspicious of genocide? Was the massacre of 20,000 tion towards the coverage of their own Western journalists, while government peasants of the minority Ndebele tribe continent in the Western media? officials are fearful of association with by President Robert Mugabe’s North Ko- Citing certain alleged inadequacies them. Many correspondents are forced rean-trained Fifth Brigade in Zimbabwe, on the part of African journalists, news to take the line of least resistance into which received scant media coverage, organizations in Washington, New York, the assignment in hand. genocide or not? London and Paris routinely assign their In the Newsweek article, John Keffer- own journalists, some with little or no Western Journalists Covering man, an investigator for Physicians for previous experience covering a foreign Africa Human Rights, was quoted as saying, country, to cover vast tracts of or even “This is genocide unfolding,” while the whole of the continent of Africa. In “Diplomats here say …” is a phrase U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s some instances, this tradition effectively sprinkled liberally in accounts sent characterization falls short of such a denies African journalists the opportu- from Africa by Western journalists. This categorical assertion. “What we are see- nity to contribute meaningfully to the is, however, a phrase that occasionally ing is a disaster, a catastrophe,” Powell coverage of countries they understand invokes a sense of bemusement among said after flying to Khartoum to give better than the average Western jour- discerning African readers living in the Sudan government a last chance to nalist. Because of this, they are also, the West, while they wonder how any stop the bloodbath. Paula Claycomb, therefore, denied an opportunity to diplomat could possibly have become a UNICEF official in Khartoum, was improve their professional competence privy to such sensitive information more graphic in her assessment of the through association with the world’s or detail. For information, diplomats situation. “The Sudanese government leading news organizations. often depend on opposition activists created a monster,” she said, referring Yet Western correspondents fre- given to embellishment to push their to the marauding Arab militias known quently file copy based on the input own cause. as the Janjaweed, “and they are having of local stringers or on what they glean A classic example of how journalists trouble putting it back in the cage.” from the output of local journalists in rely on sources from their own world As an afterthought, passing reference local publications. There must, there- to cover African affairs is to be found in is made in the article’s closing paragraph

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 35 Journalism in Africa

to the views of the men at the center of knowing that his comments would not Rwandan journalists during the 100-day the crisis, Sudanese president Omar al- be well received in the West. ethnic purge was, indeed, deplorable. Bashir and his foreign minister, Mustafa This pattern has been followed for Two of them were jailed for life and Ismail, both of whom have denied that many years. I recall in January 1980, a third was sentenced to 35 years for a crisis exists. Even though the situation Mugabe addressed a massive rally on fanning the flames of the genocide that in Darfur was high on the agenda of the his return from exile to Salisbury (then killed an estimated 800,000 people in third summit of the African Union (A.U.) the name of the capital city). More than 1994. This marked the end of a land- held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—and the 100,000 supporters turned up to hear mark three-year trial during which the A.U. has more than 20 observers on the the man who had become a legend, International Criminal Tribunal for ground in Darfur and is engaged in try- an enigma and, at once, a hero and a Rwanda heard in Tanzania how the ing to resolve the crisis—none of these villain, address his first public meeting media played a major role in inciting African sources were in evidence in the as leader of the party that was about extremists from the Hutu majority to magazine’s reporting. to form the first government of an carry out the slaughter of ethnic Tutsis The predilection to rely on Western- independent Zimbabwe. The foreign and politically moderate Hutus. linked sources, as evidenced in this ar- correspondents, many of them recently Politically partisan coverage and ticle, is consistent with general practice arrived to cover what was the most analysis of issues, however, are not the among foreign correspondents covering dramatic story on the African continent, monopoly of the African journalist, as Africa. Foreign journalists, especially were out in full force. Arab and some embedded American those correspondents recently posted Even though Mugabe speaks elo- journalists covering the invasion of Iraq to the continent or those covering quent English, the guerilla leader’s by the American-dominated coalition events in one country while based in electrifying address was delivered in his have shown. a different African country, often rely mother tongue. A bewildered foreign Any suggestion that African jour- exclusively on sources who are the correspondent, new to the capital, fol- nalists cannot, as a rule, cover Africa most easily accessible—the diplomatic lowed Mugabe’s discourse through the adequately or reliably has no merit. Jeff corps, NGO’s and U.N. agencies—some grudging assistance of a local journalist Koinange, CNN’s bureau chief in Lagos, of whom may not be not fully informed who was divided between the needs is a citizen of Kenya. He is responsible themselves. While few sources can be of his own important assignment and for covering events throughout Africa judged to be “fully informed” on an accommodating the demands of the He routinely flies in to cover Africa’s issue such as genocide, it is a serious visiting foreign journalist. many crises—from the inglorious de- oversight that the president of Sudan “What did he say?” the visiting parture last year of Liberian strongman and his foreign minister are the only journalist asked of this interpreter at Charles Taylor from Monrovia to the African sources quoted and no evidence one point as the stadium burst into a 10-year anniversary commemoration in can be found that other African experts deafening roar. Kigali of the Rwandese genocide, from were canvassed for their opinion or “Nothing of importance,” the local Zimbabwe’s controversial presidential analysis. Had African journalists been scribe mumbled, as he wrote furi- elections in 2002 and attendant dis- the ones reporting this story, perhaps ous shorthand in his notebook. Had possession of white farmers of fertile they would have at least referenced the this local journalist been paid for his commercial farmland to the recent ongoing effort by the A.U. or spoken services, he might have been more bloodbath in strife-torn Darfur. to Africans who are the victims in this cooperative. It is, however, with some bit of trepi- horrible crisis. “Journalists are not generally a dation that Koinange approaches every Curiously, during my many years sharing breed,” veteran African cor- new assignment, since as an African he reporting in Harare, Zimbabwe, I respondent Michela Wrong points out surely feels a duty to be more knowl- never met a foreign correspondent sardonically in her book, “In the Foot- edgeable than his Western counterparts based there who took the trouble to steps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink about the many crises happening across learn either Shona or Ndebele, the of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo.” this continent of 53 countries. Just get- country’s two indigenous languages. ting from one story to another—as a TV This includes those who remained in African Journalists Covering correspondent—can be an overwhelm- the Zimbabwean capital for many years. Africa ing task. In an article posted on CNN’s Yet political rallies and other meetings “Behind the Scenes” series Koinange in Zimbabwe are invariably addressed There might be merit in the assertion wrote about being in the Nigerian city, in the vernacular. President Mugabe that the performance of some African Abuja, when he received a call from will throw in the occasional English journalists, especially in areas of profes- CNN headquarters in Atlanta to “Get sentence if he is particularly keen that sional specialization such as the cover- yourselves to Abidjan [Ivory Coast] as foreign correspondents don’t miss a age of economic issues, investigative soon as you can. The story’s about to specific point he wants to make. Simi- reporting, and coverage of the HIV/AIDS blow up!” As Koinange explained, it was larly, he is known to make serious threats pandemic, sometimes falls short of “a tall order, indeed. You just don’t get against the white community in Shona, Western standards. The performance of anywhere quickly in Africa. But off we

36 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa went, stopping by our bureau in Lagos learned that in their country’s ongoing Geoffrey Nyarota, a 2004 Nieman to pick up our gear, all 23 cases of it.” political crisis, the story for the West- Fellow, was founding editor of Zim- Koinange has proven beyond doubt ern media was the plight of the 4,000 babwe’s only independent daily pub- that an African journalist can cover Africa dispossessed white farmers, while the lication, The Daily News, in 1999. He for the West. So did Elizabeth Ohini, now African journalist might have sought to served as its editor until December Ghana’s Minister of Tertiary Education, highlight the plight of the hundreds of 2002. He was arrested on six occa- when she covered Africa for many years thousands of displaced farm workers, as sions. During an escalating cam- as a correspondent for the BBC World well. When a white farmer was killed, a paign by President Robert Mugabe’s Service. Koinange was educated in the foreign correspondent filed the picture government to quiet criticism from United States, and this poses to some of his now homeless dog. Some African independent newspapers, Nyarota the question of whether this could have journalists found this coverage insensi- was fired. The police visited his home influenced his rise at CNN. His Abi- tive and argued that a picture of the now at midnight two days later in his djan coverage certainly contained the homeless workers from this farm might absence. He escaped to South Africa required American angle as some 101 have served as a more graphic depiction soon afterwards. Nyarota has re- Americans were trapped in that country of the crisis. And when three journalists ceived nine international journalism in the midst of a military rebellion. The from Harare’s only independent paper, awards, including the 2002 Golden performance of Koinange and Ohini be- The Daily News, and a Harare-based Pen of Press Freedom Award from the lie the perception in the Western media foreign correspondent were arrested, World Association of Newspapers, the that news organizations must rely on as editor of The Daily News I received 2002 UNESCO Press Freedom Award, Western correspondents to file stories, calls from foreign news organizations and the International Press Freedom given that they want the story reported outside of Africa. They asked me for Award from the Committee to Protect through the lens of Western interests. details of the arrest and welfare only of Journalists in 2001. This perception also presupposes there the foreign correspondent. I had taken must be a Western angle conveyed in food to all four journalists in their cell,  [email protected] reporting events; otherwise, there might and so it was with a lump in my throat be no coverage. that I reminded my overseas callers Zimbabwean journalists filing for that three of my own staff were also in Western news organizations soon custody. ■

WATCHDOG No Easy Life for Journalists in Africa Working for an independent press is an act of extreme courage in many of the continent’s countries.

By Shyaka Kanuma

n many parts of Africa, those who owned press “journalism,” since what motivation to do the work they started set out to become journalists with they do is churn out propaganda that out doing, and they become susceptible Ithe independent press better be serves not the public but the regime to practices like accepting monetary prepared to work with media organi- that owns and controls them. “inducements” to write stories favorable zations whose operations are hobbled With some exceptions, independent to those individuals or organizations in various ways. Problems range from media in Africa fail to receive substan- paying these favors. Soon this lessens a logistical to material, and reporters and tial advertising revenue because they publication’s credibility, which in turn editors at these news organizations op- write or broadcast in markets where means even fewer people will buy the erate in an environment in which active the money needed to support them is product. Many of these independent hostility from government and others not forthcoming and where few people newspapers have closed their offices is the norm. Government-controlled have the disposable incomes to buy after only a few years in operation. media have much better funding, and news publications. In Rwanda, a person However, even problems as difficult the journalists who work there find will never become rich by becoming a as these would be overcome were it not better facilities and an easier life. But journalist. The situation there tends for the antagonism that most African it seems something of an oxymoron to to perpetuate a vicious cycle in which governments have for freethinking jour- call the practices of the government- poorly paid journalists soon lose their nalists and independent media houses.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 37 Journalism in Africa

Many of the continent’s regimes are ism. His paper’s offices in Harare were Things became truly alarming in highly undemocratic; a good number bombed, and he and his journalists were 2000, when a general summoned us of them are led by people who shot constantly harassed by state agents. to military headquarters in Kigali to their way to power after ruinous rebel Finally he had to flee his country. [See reveal our sources for a piece I wrote. wars. Others “inherited” power and, Nyarota’s article on page 35.] In this article, I detailed the misery that occasionally, a leader might legitimately In Uganda the country’s only inde- members of the Rwandan army faced win an election. What almost all of pendent daily, The Monitor, regularly fighting wars in the neighboring Congo, these leaders have in common is that experiences heavy doses of govern- a country Rwanda invaded to flush out once they are in power they entrench ment wrath. Journalists at The Monitor bands of Interahamwe militias, the main themselves at the expense of everything are thrown in jail for writing reports killers during the 1994 genocide. In the else. They rig elections, and they divert deemed “dangerous for national secu- article, I also raised questions about the the constitution or rewrite it to contain rity,” and once or twice the publication legality of the wealth that high-ranking provisions for a lifetime presidency. has been closed down by the state, its military officials obtained to build man- They deal with political opponents computers impounded, and entire is- sions in swanky outskirts of Kigali. or dissidents by locking them up in- sues confiscated. Such is the case in The general was in a rage when an- definitely in degrading conditions. They countries like the Congo, Eritrea, Sudan other colleague and I arrived with much also legislate draconian press laws to and others that also share a reputation trepidation at military headquarters. He muzzle the inquisitive, critical elements for scant respect for human rights. proceeded to give us a tongue-lashing. of the press. Rwanda, too, has shown little inclina- Essentially, he told us that what we’d tion to treat the independent press as written about the military amounted to Journalism Requires Courage an important partner for the develop- treasonous offenses since it could eas- ment of the country and for a better ily encourage the enemy in its battles It is an act of extreme courage for Af- future. When a journalist exposed a against our army. We left there feeling rican journalists who are inclined to scam in which a high-ranking military very scared and even contemplated freedom of thought to keep publish- officer pocketed kickbacks during the fleeing the country but decided against ing or broadcasting their opinions and purchase of defective choppers for the doing so at that point. views. During my time as a journalist military, he found himself speedily put Things became worse for us. We came working in Rwanda, Uganda and South behind bars. It wasn’t until after three under constant attack in the govern- Africa, I’ve had the privilege to interact months in jail that he had an initial ment-owned media and, at meetings with incredibly brave journalists from court hearing. Another journalist, Amiel called by government officials, we all over the continent who are working Nkuriza, who is with the newspaper Le were castigated for being “negative under the most adverse circumstances. Partisan, served an even longer prison elements.” The few advertisers we had Onome )Osifo-Whiskey, an editor with a term—three years—without ever go- suddenly terminated their relationships Nigerian magazine, Tell, recounted the ing to trial. Afterwards, it came to light with us, expressing the sincere regret ordeals he and his small team of journal- that he was jailed for writing opinions that given the situation they could not ists went through during the regime of deemed “dangerous for national unity go on doing business with us. Military Sani Abacha, the notorious late military and reconciliation.” These are just a few men visited our offices regularly, stick- dictator of Nigeria. Osifo-Whiskey’s examples of what happens to dissenting ing around for hours. And threatening publication was the constant target of journalists in Rwanda. phone calls became routine. Neverthe- military raids, arrests and physical abuse less, we resolutely went on with our of its journalists, who lived with constant Rwandan Government work, and somehow no harm befell death threats. During a particularly bad Retribution us, except when someone decided to period, the magazine devised a strategy shoot a gun near me as I was returning to adopt a “mobile” newsroom, operat- I, too, have been in serious trouble with home one evening. ing from unlikely areas such as motor the Rwandan authorities for crossing For me, things came to a head when vehicle service stations and abandoned certain boundaries as a journalist. Not a former president who had turned warehouses. long after a couple of other journalists political dissident invited a couple of The plight of the independent press and I began a small weekly, Rwanda other journalists and me to his house in Zimbabwe under the country’s Newsline, in 1999, we were being regu- to announce he was forming a new president, Robert Mugabe, has been larly hauled to the public prosecutor’s opposition party. Pasteur Bizimungu, well chronicled. Journalists have been offices on charges mainly related to Rwanda’s first president after the geno- tortured, harassed and run out of the “publishing false news.” We intended cide, had, by then, fallen out badly with country, and their offices bombed or the Newsline to be a crusading voice Paul Kagame, the general who had led vandalized. Geoffrey Nyarota, founding against corruption and misuse of power the forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front editor of The Daily News who now lives in high places and public offices; it goes (RPF) to victory after a four-year civil in the United States, became the public without saying that we trod on too many war and the genocide. Bizimungu was face of beleaguered Zimbabwe journal- powerful toes. the country’s president, but General

38 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

Kagame held the real power. In 2000, all of a sudden. Kinyarwanda language, is now in much Bizimungu resigned in very bitter cir- I decided not to take any more trouble. A few months ago, three of its cumstances, and Kagame became the chances, and a few days later I caught journalists were locked up and charged new president. For a time, Bizimungu a flight to Kampala, in neighboring with publishing a false report. They was under de facto house arrest, and Uganda. A number of other colleagues were released, but now they are run- he remained quiet for a year. also decided to leave. Not long after, ning scared. ■ When he called with the invitation, Rwanda Newsline went out of business. we were excited at receiving what we A few months later I flew to South Af- Shyaka Kanuma, a 2003 Nieman thought was a scoop. Instead, when rica and sought asylum, and in a while Fellow, was cofounder and senior we arrived we were placed under ar- I found work as a freelance writer for writer with Rwandan Newsline, a rest by military men who came out of the Johannesburg-based Mail & Guard- former independent newspaper. He side streets near Bizimungu’s house. ian. Back in Rwanda, Bizimungu was has been contributing articles for We were taken to Criminal Investiga- detained in Kigali Central Prison, ac- publications in Eastern Africa and tion Department headquarters for cused of being a divisive and negative South Africa while working full time interrogation, and we spent the night influence in Rwanda. He still languishes as an information and media con- in a dark basement. I thought this was in prison. sultant for UNHCR, the U.N. agency it—that we would spend several years After a year in South Africa, I was in- for refugees in Rwanda. In the fall, in a basement and no one would know vited to become a Nieman Fellow. When he will pursue a master’s degree where we were. Fortunately, news of that fellowship ended, I returned to in journalism at City University in what happened at Bizimungu’s place Rwanda, but I have not engaged in full- London as a recipient of a British filtered out, and major international scale journalism since. Instead, I work government scholarship. radio stations like the BBC broadcast as an information and media consultant the story. The following morning we for the UNHCR, the U.N. agency for  [email protected] were out. The stink would have been refugees. The one independent paper too much even for Kagame’s govern- in Rwanda, Umuseso, a sister paper to ment had three journalists disappeared Newsline that is published in the local

WATCHDOG When African Governments Stifle Press Freedom In many countries in southern Africa, journalists face harsh consequences when they try to hold governments accountable.

By Luckson A. Chipare

or his reporting exposing corrupt the Cardoso case, the businessmen prisonment have characterized the business practices, journalist Car- and their hired guns were convicted of difficult situation faced by journalists Flos Alberto Cardoso was gunned this crime and are now serving lengthy in these countries during the past 10 down by assassins hired by organized prison terms. years as relationships among media business interests in Maputo, Mozam- The Media Institute of Southern and governments have deteriorated. As bique on the evening of November 22, Africa (MISA), based in Windhoek, Na- journalists work to hold government 2000. Their goal: to silence him. mibia, was formed in 1992 with an SADC officials accountable to the people and This was an unusual attack on a regional mandate of promoting the pro- to democratic norms, these govern- journalist in the sense that most of the visions of the Windhoek Declaration of ments have intensified their clampdown actions taken against journalists in coun- May 1991 that declared “independent, on the media through actions meant tries that comprise the Southern African pluralistic and free press” essential for to stifle and silence their voices. The Development Community (SADC)—An- democracy and economic development. space for political debate and dissent gola, Botswana, Democratic Republic Since its founding, MISA has monitored, in the region is being squeezed tightly of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Malawi, investigated and reported on media as governments enact legislation aimed Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sey- freedom violations in 11 of the 14 SADC at suppressing the independence of the chelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanza- countries. (MISA does not operate in media and providing avenues by which nia, Zambia and Zimbabwe—involve DRC, Mauritius and Seychelles.) to punish those who might publish sto- actions taken by the government. In Death, assault, detentions and im- ries of government wrongdoing.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 39 Journalism in Africa

Media Repression vide proof of agreements with those to be considered. When the publishers whom they will be selling stories and applied to register, they were told that The intensification of media violations supply samples of previous journalistic they could not be registered since they takes its greatest toll on journalists who work to be licensed. Only Zimbabwean were already operating illegally. work in countries whose governments nationals who reside in the country are exhibit dictatorial and authoritative allowed to be “foreign correspondents,” Swaziland: Reporting on the king’s tendencies. Among the SADC coun- which has forced most of those who private life as well as his many wives tries, Angola, Zimbabwe, Swaziland were working there as foreign corre- and would-be-wives gets journalists in and Malawi are the more repressive spondents to leave since they are denied trouble, since such reporting is consid- environments in which journalists at- licenses to do their job. Some were ered disrespectful of the monarchy, a tempt to work. forcibly made to leave, as was the case punishable taboo. Five years ago, then- with the Guardian’s Andrew Meldrum Sunday Times editor, Bheki Makumbu, Angola: Reporting on activities of in May 2003. learned this when he was detained for the president and government officials Within a year of passage of these publishing an article detailing the back- whether in caricature, print or broad- laws, more than 80 journalists were ground of one of the king’s fiancées. The cast is one of the most dangerous as- arrested and detained under spurious intolerance of the monarchy does not signments for journalists in Angola. In charges including writing “falsehoods” only limit itself to independent publica- March 2000, Rafael Marques, a freelance or “creating a feeling of despondency tions. In March 2000, the state-owned journalist and Aguiar dos Santos, the against the president.” In April 2004, and controlled Swazi Observer was shut director of the independent weekly the Zimbabwe Minister of Information down ostensibly because of financial newspaper, Agora, were convicted Jonathan Moyo reportedly said that the difficulties, but it later emerged that the of defaming, injuring and slandering country has enough prison space for real reason for its closure was its critical President José Eduardo dos Santos in local journalists who peddle “lies” in reporting about the monarchy, its errant an article Marques wrote and published the foreign media. To date, no journal- governing, and the paper’s refusal to in Agora, “The Lipstick of Dictatorship.” ist has been convicted, though harass- reveal sources of its information. The His crime: describing the president as ment of the independent media by the paper reopened in February 2001, but a dictator “responsible for the destruc- government is rampant. [See interview the editor and senior journalists re- tion of the country and the promotion about the Zimbabwean press on page sponsible for these earlier reports were of corruption.” Marques was convicted 49.] The new regulations have also left not among the rehired employees. The on an additional charge of defaming, in- many journalists without jobs. Guardian of Swaziland was also banned juring and slandering Angolan Attorney Not satisfied with harsh treatment of in May 2001 and remains closed today General Domingos Culolo. Covering the journalists, the government effectively because of the newspaper’s reporting leader of the opposition party has also shut down three independent news- about the illness of the king and by sug- posed serious threats to Angolan jour- papers that have been critical of the gesting that he was poisoned by one of nalists. Doing this has resulted in many government after realizing that bombing his many wives. journalists being banned, imprisoned, their printing presses and offices failed censored and excluded from official to silence them. The few independent Malawi: Some journalists have been press conferences. In August 1999, newspapers remaining are not as- beaten up for reporting about the for- journalists working for the church radio sured of continuing their operations mer president’s attempt to change the station, Radio Ecclesia, were arrested, since their two-year registration is up constitution and rule for another term. their materials confiscated, and the for renewal in December 2004. Moyo His political party organized vigilante radio station was shut down for some has called the Zimbabwe Independent groups of youths that assaulted journal- hours for broadcasting an interview the and The Standard weekly newspapers ists for covering events other than those BBC had done with UNITA rebel leader “running dogs of imperialism,” and in of the ruling party. Those reporters Jonas Savimbi. October 2003 he said “we should shut who dared to write any articles against these papers down because they are the ruling party were severely beaten, Zimbabwe: Working here as a jour- trash; they injured our national inter- even in front of police, who did noth- nalist has become dangerous. As the est.” Moyo made this statement just ing to protect them. Journalists George government becomes more paranoid a month after the independent Daily Ntonya and Chikondi Phikiso were, in about losing power, it has passed re- News and Daily News on Sunday ceased fact, beaten by police for attempting pressive legislation that criminalizes the publication. to take pictures of a scuffle between work of journalists, who are required The justice system has been effec- the police and a motorist at a police to apply for annual licenses from a tively used in silencing the independent roadblock on October 18, 2003. government appointed and controlled media in Zimbabwe. In the now famous media commission, which requires “dirt hands” doctrine saga, the Supreme Similar attacks on the independent that they work for “registered” media Court ruled that The Daily News must press have also been made in Namibia. houses. Freelance journalists must pro- register first before their case could In August 2003, President Sam Nujoma

40 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa called The Namibian newspaper and its media. In 2000, the Promotion of Ac- mittee representing five African regions editor, Gwen Lister, “unprofessional cess to Information Act became law in oversees a range of common and critical and reactionary.” [See excerpts from South Africa, and this remains one of the issues related to the success of inde- a speech given by Lister on page 43.] region’s most important press develop- pendent media. And in May 2001, the Botswana govern- ments. This act enables the media and Many challenges remain for journal- ment imposed an advertising ban on ordinary citizens to learn information ists working in this region as they try to The Guardian and Midweek Sun, which from the state as well as from private or- do their jobs in places where democracy were accused of being too critical of the ganizations and individuals when such is emergent but still weak. Though some country’s leaders. The intent of this ban information is considered necessary in progress has been made, journalists was to demonstrate the government’s the public or individual’s interest. working in independent media in Africa displeasure about “irresponsible report- In 2002, there were positive develop- are now focused on finding approaches ing and exceeding of editorial freedom.” ments in Zambia, including the enact- necessary to changing the oppositional That nation’s High Court ruled later that ment of two pieces of legislation, the climate in which many of them now year, however, that the ban violated the Independent Broadcasting Authority must work while also strengthening papers’ constitutional right to freedom (IBA) and Zambia National Broadcast- their ability to report. ■ of expression. ing Corporation (ZNBC) Amendment. Along with monitoring issues involv- However, the Zambian media and a Luckson A. Chipare is regional direc- ing press freedom, MISA is engaged in coalition of nongovernmental organi- tor of the Media Institute of Southern an intensive campaign for media law zations were not successful in securing Africa based in Windhoek, Namibia. reform in the SADC region to ensure passage of a Freedom of Information that a supportive legal environment bill. And in 2003, an All Africa Editors’  [email protected] is created for free and independent Conference was held, and now a com- Transforming Journalism as Democracy Emerges ‘Ten years into democracy, many journalists are struggling to redefine their relationship to government.’

By Pippa Green

few months before this spring’s her husband and 12 others. Three years coverage on the local government of- South African elections, a young later, their death sentences were com- ficial tasked with handing out the new Aradio reporter with the South muted, and eventually the “Upington house, built as part of the South African African Broadcasting Corporation 14,” as they were known, were freed government’s ambitious public housing (SABC) went to Upington, a remote from jail. program? Even more striking to me was town sandwiched between the Kga- Now de Bruin was getting her first this producer’s failure to recognize the lagadi desert and the Orange River in house. It would be the first place great human story behind the far more the Northern Cape. She went there to she’d ever lived with running water obvious government angle. Here was an interview Evelina de Bruin, an elderly indoors and electricity. Our reporter elderly domestic worker who was nearly woman who’d received a brick house interviewed her about this and about executed by the apartheid government from the government through its hous- the huge changes in her life since her and living in the same township that ing program. lonely, bewildering spell on death row was the scene of the tumult that led to In the 1980’s, de Bruin had been more than a decade ago. When her her trial, being handed the keys to a internationally famous as one of the story was submitted to one of our radio tiny brick house. oldest people sentenced to death in current affairs’ programs, our reporter South Africa, accused in the “common received a sharply worded note from Transforming the SABC purpose” murder of a black police- the show’s producer: “You must wake man at the height of the apartheid era up! Its election time. Everybody’s get- Such editorial decision-making is part violence. Poor and illiterate, she hap- ting houses.” of the challenge of operating South pened to be in the area at the time this The comment struck me as inap- Africa’s biggest news medium, the policeman was murdered, and for that propriately political. Was it the job of public broadcaster’s radio news service. she was sentenced to death, along with radio reporters to focus more extensive It evokes the very similar challenges

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 41 Journalism in Africa

confronting many South African news both television and radio news, was fielded complaints daily about coverage organizations and journalists today: the guaranteed certain legal protections or the lack of it. Our news division took need to search for narratives to portray ensuring editorial independence. over responsibility for the editorial con- and explain the enormity of change tent of a program on our Zulu-language during the first decade of democracy Pressures Journalists station, Ukhozi FM, in which members without being a mouthpiece of the Confront of the provincial legislature were inter- government. viewed. We did this mainly to ensure At Radio News and Current Affairs, a But the nitty-gritty of that transition that editorial standards of fairness were division of SABC that I have headed for has not been easy. The pressures are adhered to in the pre-election period. the past two years, our scope is vast. We threefold: The politicians were annoyed that jour- broadcast news and current affairs in 11 nalists, rather than disc jockeys, were official languages and in two languages 1. How to reconcile the duties of a now overseeing its content. “Does this of the indigenous San communities in public broadcaster with commercial mean we can no longer write our own the Northern Cape. We broadcast some imperatives; questions?” one asked me. 35 hours of current affairs each day on 2. How to distinguish legitimate politi- Perhaps this is progress. In the early 13 public broadcast radio stations and cal pressure on the broadcaster from 1990’s, before the first democratic elec- about 240 bulletins daily for 16 radio abuse of power; tions, some 10,000 people died in politi- stations. We also manage 10 newsrooms 3. How to build a culture of journalism cal violence in the region. The stakes across the country. Our reach is sig- at the public broadcaster to ensure here remain high, and Ukhozi FM has nificant both in terms of our reporters news is credible and interesting. about seven million listeners. Control dotting every corner of the country and and influence of the news on Ukhozi in our vast audience of 15 to 18 million During the past decade, the SABC has thus became a key target in the battle for listeners. The biggest newspaper in been caught in an uncomfortable con- votes between the ANC and then-Chief South Africa, by contrast, has a reader- tradiction. By law, it carries an onerous Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s more conserva- ship of about three million. public broadcast mandate, yet it relies tive Inkatha Freedom Party. Apart from keeping this ship going, almost entirely on advertising revenue our greatest challenge is to construct to cover its costs. The government Telling a Good Story a culture of journalism that can break provides just one percent of the SABC’s decisively with the broadcaster’s past annual budget. Its remaining operating The third pressure we face is perhaps when it was the voice of the state. Efforts funds come from advertising on the the hardest to deal with, but it is key to to establish high journalistic standards more commercial television channels. dealing with the other pressures, com- for the SABC remain at the heart of an The SABC runs three terrestrial chan- mercial and political. It’s pressure we internal political debate. Allister Sparks nels, and those bring in 87 percent of put on ourselves to establish common is an accomplished South African jour- its revenue. Gathering and broadcasting and decent editorial standards across nalist who wrote in his book, “Beyond news in any language is expensive; to the breadth of Radio News. Our scope the Miracle: Inside the New South Af- do so in 13 languages for radio and 11 is so big and so diverse and runs in so rica,” that “transforming the SABC has for TV is particularly costly. many languages that it is impossible to been one of the most challenging and Commercial pressures are a reality control the flow and quality of news by frustrating tasks in the new South Africa. for many of our news and current affairs dictate. We’ve tried to establish the obvi- For 45 years this giant broadcasting shows, and broadcasters are therefore ous journalistic standards of accuracy monopoly dominated the airwaves as often pressured to endorse commer- and fairness, but we need to find ways an explicit and unashamed propaganda cial products on air. So far we’ve been to combine these standards with the machine [of the apartheid state].” able to resist having our broadcasters ability to spot and tell a good story. When South Africa’s political leaders do straight endorsements, but we’ve Why is this so hard? In part, it is negotiated the transition from apart- agreed to having them announce because many journalists who work at heid to democracy in the early 1990’s, “sponsorships,” in which they state that SABC today once worked for the old state the first and most urgent task was to the news bulletin or program is being broadcaster. Loyalty to power, wherever reform the state broadcast media into brought to listeners by “such and such it was located, was the key to survival a public broadcaster. Without taking a bank,” for example. then. So the culture of questioning, of this step, the African National Congress Political pressure is more subtle, curiosity and wonder that should grip (ANC), the party of Nelson Mandela, nothing like it was in time of apartheid. all journalists is often understated, due acknowledged there could be no free More of a nag than coercion, it comes to a similar phenomenon that grips our or fair elections. Amid great political from politicians in the governing party print media. Ten years into democracy, controversy, a new board of directors of as well as in the opposition parties. In many journalists are struggling to rede- the SABC was appointed in 1993, a year KwaZulu-Natal, for instance, a fiercely fine their relationship to government. before the first democratic elections. contested province on the eastern sea- It is not the government of old, easily And the news service, encompassing board during the recent elections, we defined as the enemy. Neither—though

42 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa many in the cast of characters are the inaccurate or shallow or irrelevant, stories. Here are just a few: same—are they comrades of old who and do so with rationale arguments were on the same side of the barricades on their side. • A story of a black entrepreneur in a as journalists who covered their fight It is partly for these reasons that edi- mining town in the North-West prov- against apartheid. tors at Radio News, in coverage of the ince, who has soared to success on To cover a democratic government run-up to the country’s third democratic the wave of the worldwide platinum in a developing country—one that has elections, decided to systematically look boom; made huge strides in what it delivers to at changes in the country during the • A story about how political battles the people but has also been peppered past decade by exploring the country, between elected leaders and tradi- with its own abuses of power—is a province by province, until we had tional chiefs in the far north of the complex task. To appreciate its dynamics compiled a week’s series of each of the country have delayed delivery of involves understanding the enormous nine provinces. Our reporters of various piped water; social transition in the country. In his languages set out to the furthest reaches • A story of the “Karretjie” people— book, Sparks quotes Joseph Lelyveld, of the country, from rural areas to large sheepshearers who live on their the former executive editor of The New cities, to find and tell stories of change donkey carts—from the Northern York Times and once a distinguished in the lives of ordinary people. Then Cape and how they struggle to send correspondent in South Africa, asking their stories were translated into each their children to school in the post- South African journalists: “You are sit- of the other languages, so those once apartheid era of compulsory educa- ting on one of the truly great stories considered regional could be heard in tion. of our time. What are you doing with every corner of the country. it?” This assignment meant our report- And, of course, there was the story This question remains a central one ers had to abandon press conferences about a woman, once on death row, for today’s public broadcaster journal- and turn their microphones away from who is now a homeowner. ■ ists. Not only are we the biggest news politicians and towards ordinary South medium in South Africa, but also we are Africans. They had to grapple with Pippa Green, a 1999 Nieman Fellow, one of the freer in the subcontinent. If statistics and facts so as to be able to is head of Radio News and Current we cannot adhere to high journalistic convey the big contextual picture before Affairs at the South African Broad- standards in doing our jobs, we risk using narrative skills to tell it through casting Corporation. being undermined by those in politi- the stories of ordinary people. Among cal power who can accuse us of being them, these reporters told remarkable  [email protected]

WATCHDOG Managing Media in Times of Crisis

Gwen Lister, editor of The Namibian, an environment where true dialogue Independent and Pluralistic Press. an independent daily newspaper in is possible because people can think Ironically, much of the independent Namibia, spoke to delegates at the for themselves and base their opinions press has come into being largely as a UNESCO conference on “Freedom of on facts.” —United Nations Secretary result of conflict, which by its very nature Expression and Conflict Management General, Kofi Annan, August 2000, in tends to give rise to the development in Crisis Situations and Countries the forward to the commemorative of alternative media. The concept of in Transition,” held in May 2004 in magazine marking the 15th anniversary independent media, as defined in the Belgrade, Serbia. She spoke about her of The Namibian. Windhoek Declaration, is freedom from experiences and lessons learned in governmental, political or economic guiding her newspaper through chal- Few would argue that it is the inde- control. Sadly though, survival of inde- lenging times. Edited excerpts from her pendent media that is most often tar- pendent media is another question al- speech follow. geted in situations of conflict the world together, and the landscape of formerly over. Neither would many disagree that nondemocratic societies the world over In times of conflict, the media’s “the establishment, maintenance and is littered with the skeletons of once- responsibility for independent and fostering of an independent, pluralistic brave media initiatives that were unable “pluralistic reporting is more impor- and free press is essential to the devel- to withstand the might of state power tant than ever. It can help to prevent opment and maintenance of democracy during violent conflict or which failed the worst atrocities. In the aftermath of in a nation, and for economic develop- to win the battle for sustainability once conflict, a free and independent press ment,” as stated on May 3, 1991 in the peaceful transition had begun. offers a way out of mistrust and fear into Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an The Namibian is one of the fortunate

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 43 Journalism in Africa

few to have successfully made the tran- sition from being a donor-dependent Priorities in the Struggle for Press Freedom newspaper started at the height of South African apartheid repression in 1985 to There are areas at The Namibian that the immediate threats against them. The eventual self-sustainability after Namib- we’ve possibly failed to address rigor- legacy of those actions remains largely ian independence had been achieved ously but that should be made priorities intact today. [See Pippa Green’s story in 1990. Ours is not a new story, but it in the struggle for press freedom. These on page 41.] remains relevant today and while many include the following: Media Unity: Media need to put valiant media initiatives in conflict zones their own houses in order, which in turn throughout the world continue the fight Advocacy: Although The Namibian will deny or at least make it difficult for for survival. And it is useful, perhaps, began as an advocacy newspaper—in its post-conflict regimes to silence and/or to draw some lessons from those of us consistent call for a democratic constitu- condemn them. The unity of the media who were fortunate enough to have not tion and Bill of Rights with enforceable industry and its ability to draw up and only survived the political struggle, but freedoms prior to independence—we implement effective codes of ethics and who managed to achieve self-reliance have sometimes become so engaged in self-regulatory mechanisms are as much in the process. the battle for pure day-to-day survival of a priority as advocating for progres- that we failed to look forward. When sive laws, Lush argues. He maintains, Digging The Namibian’s the guarantee of free expression, media correctly, that in Namibia we allowed Roots freedom, access to information, and divisions among the media during our media plurality are not advocated for era of conflict to undermine attempts When The Namibian started in 1985, during transitional peace talks and the at unity and thus aborted attempts to few people believed we would make drafting of constitutions and legislation, build the framework for a responsible it. Namibia, then South West Africa, was then it becomes less likely they will be and professional media in terms of an in the grip of apartheid occupation, the easily accommodated at a later stage. agreed-upon binding code of ethics and former white South African government During such transitions, it is up to self-regulatory mechanisms, such as a intent on controlling the hearts and media and civil society players to make press council or media ombudsman. minds of Namibians, most of whom sup- a concerted effort to engage with the Regional and international solidarity, ported the armed struggle waged by the authorities to achieve these ends. I believe, play major roles, too, in the South West Africa People’s Organization It is the contention of David Lush, chances of survival of newly emergent (SWAPO) for self-determination and in- a Windhoek-based media consultant, media. In our region, the Media Insti- dependence for what was then-Africa’s that there is a tendency to sit back and tute of Southern Africa (MISA) has given last colony. The result was a clampdown breathe a sigh of relief when, having advocacy as well as entrepreneurial on SWAPO, and anyone perceived to be once endured repression, peace and support to struggling initiatives. [See supporting—or sympathetic to—the stability come to a country. He argues story on MISA on page 39.] Without liberation movement, as the then South that in Namibia, for example, everyone the regional efforts to try to stop the African government wielded its military was caught off guard when the govern- harassment against it, The Daily News might, made use of a host of repressive ment pushed through broadcasting leg- in Zimbabwe would not have survived measures, including draconian legisla- islation that did not guarantee freedom as long as it did. tion, and waged a propaganda war on and diversity to the extent we thought The Role of Civil Society: Though any adversaries. it did. Independence of our national our efforts are concentrated on the At the time, most of the media were, broadcaster and communications com- development of independent media, if not under the direct control of the mission were therefore not guaranteed we must also bear in mind that the colonial power, then certainly passive in law. Lush argues this is largely due to development of a strong civil society in the face of South African domination. the failure of the media and the rest of is a vital ingredient in providing an A virtual state of military rule was in civil society to get involved in discus- enabling environment for such media place in the north of Namibia border- sions about the acts governing these to exist in and flourish. In Namibia, ing on Angola, from whence the armed institutions. we have a weak civil society and, to a struggle was waged; a dusk-to-dawn In contrast, in South Africa Lush ar- large extent, the newspaper continues curfew was in place; SWAPO supporters gues there was a concerted campaign to be the nation’s torchbearer for the were subject to arbitrary arrests, deten- by both media and civil society during maintenance of human rights. This tion without trial, and there were daily the transition period to ensure that free makes us vulnerable and sometimes iso- cases of torture. expression, access to information, and lated in our campaigns to secure these It was in this climate that The Namib- the independence of the public broad- ends. Other countries hve been more ian started up. The core group of those caster and regulatory institutions were fortunate. South Africa, for example, who founded it were united in the belief guaranteed. Lush notes that in South has a strong civil society that is active that a newspaper with an independent Africa the campaigning went on even in all areas of human rights advocacy. editorial policy, honest and realistic while the media were still grappling with ■ —G.L.

44 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa reporting, and a strong set of guiding even planned assassination attempts. for us. We had a core of committed and principles would expose what was hap- We were denied passports and travel dedicated staff members who were pre- pening under the heel of apartheid and documents and detained without trial. pared to sacrifice, sometimes even their contribute to a creation of a free and Arbitrary arrests were day-to-day oc- monthly salaries and other benefits, in vigorous media in Namibia. The paper currences. At that time, donor funding order to survive the hard times. We had was committed to working towards the ensured our financial survival since the an independent editorial policy that implementation of a U.N. settlement business community was intimidated by remained true to its principles, a “lean plan for Namibia, incorporated in U.N. the authorities or directly threatened and mean” approach to management, resolution 435, which provided for free about advertising in the newspaper. and a creative approach to problem and fair elections and independence Elections, and finally independence, solving. Add to this the fact that the from South African rule. came to Namibia in 1990 and, with newspaper continued to be run and Like most other independent media it, a democratic Constitution with managed by journalists. in repressive circumstances, we had an enforceable Bill of Rights, which Because The Namibian had, to a large no illusions that it would be an easy guaranteed press freedom. This was a extent, won the “hearts and minds” task. In the founding editorial of the watershed time for us, as it is for many of the people as it endeavored to be newspaper in 1985 we stated that “we other independent media in war-torn a “voice for the voiceless” people of have no doubt that there will be difficult and conflict situations when the fund- Namibia during the apartheid occupa- times ahead, that it will not always be a ing begins to dry up and the race for tion, it continued to enjoy this support smooth path which the newspaper has sustainability begins. Even then, the base even as the former liberators now to tread, but we are optimistic that, in odds were still against our survival. We ensconced in government grew irritated the long run, critics of the newspaper had fought for self-determination and by our watchdog approach to journal- will see that we have the interests of independence for Namibia, along with ism. I am convinced that the support Namibians at heart and that our goal guarantees of human rights, including of our readers undoubtedly helped to is an independent, prosperous country press freedom and, having won the stave off government excesses against that can take its rightful place among political battle, we now had to fight for our newspaper. the nations of the world.” We accepted, economic self-sufficiency. Established as a nonprofit trust, as too, that the success of the newspaper Although the war had ended and our advertising revenues have picked would depend on its acceptance by the peace had come to our country, it up and we have improved on working population as a whole. Looking back was still true to say, as South African conditions and benefits for our staff, we today, we believe that this support base Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote in also have reached out through social counted very much in our favor in the a message on our 15th anniversary, responsibility projects to give back to years that followed. that even “those who come to power, the community. We are able to do this There were obstacles to our exis- especially in young democracies, easily because we do not have owners or tence from the very beginning, and become hypersensitive to dissent. It is shareholders who are trying to maxi- these were to rise to a crescendo by often more convenient,” he added, “to mize profit for profit’s sake and for their the end of the 1980’s. When the in- ride roughshod over opposition, to be own pockets. We need to be driven by terim proxy government appointed by impatient of questions, to seek to avoid the business motive, but only to ensure South Africa learned of our plan to start scrutiny, to seek not to be accountable.” our survival, and after that we need to a newspaper, we faced our first and This circumstance is not unique to Na- put back into the community that has most immediate threat. They levied a mibia. Our subcontinent of southern supported us for so many years. deposit of more than R20,000 (at the Africa has many examples of liberators If we can achieve this in Namibia, time, about $5,000) under the terms of who quickly become impatient with a which has a relatively high rate of illit- the Newspaper Imprint and Registration free and democratic media when they eracy and a population of fewer than Act, claiming the newspaper and I, as themselves ascended to power. two million from which to draw readers its editor, constituted a threat to the In the period shortly after indepen- and an even smaller base from which to security of the state. As we set out to dence, The Namibian went through draw revenue, it can surely be emulated expose the injustices of apartheid rule, very hard times before financial sustain- by other media initiatives. there was some relief for us in the fact ability was finally achieved. There were that there was, even in such repressive several occasions when we teetered Countering Government times, a measure of independence in on the brink of collapse, and we were Tactics to Suppress News the Namibian judiciary. When we took conscious of similar brave media initia- the matter to court on the grounds that tives in neighboring South Africa, in Challenges to our survival remain. Gov- the deposit was unconstitutional, the particular, which experienced sudden ernment is not well disposed towards judge ruled in our favor. deaths, often sparked by the abrupt The Namibian, and much of taxpay- In the following years, we survived withdrawal of funding, including Vrye ers’ money goes into government- harassment, intimidation, direct attacks Weekblad, South and others. controlled media such as radio and on our offices and our staff, including Several things made the difference television and the government’s own

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 45 Journalism in Africa

newspaper, which are used to combat measure of our self-sufficiency—rooted party itself, these fears have not been the independent, and at times critical, in the support of the people—that we’ve realized. reporting by The Namibian. In Decem- not been vulnerable to this attempted Denial of advertising is a relatively ber 2001, this animosity culminated in economic sabotage by government. new weapon in the arsenals of various a Cabinet decision to have government Though we haven’t done so, we governments, both in Africa and else- agencies stop advertising in The Namib- might decide to contest this ban in court. where, in an attempt to silence critics ian because of what were termed our The ban itself affects about six percent in the independent press. After The Na- “antigovernment policies.” This was of our advertising revenue and so has mibian ban, the Botswana government followed by a presidential directive, had a minimal effect on our operations. followed suit with a similar embargo on some months later, instructing that no What we’ve most feared was a “knock- advertising on the Botswana Guardian copies of The Namibian should be pur- on” effect with state-owned enterprises and Midweek Sun newspapers, which chased with government funds. These and private businesses following suit. was successfully challenged in court. bans continue to be in effect, and it is a With few exceptions, such as the ruling Operations of these newspapers were

Lessons in Managing Independent Media

At The Namibian, we’ve experienced the pioneers during the struggle for deeply instilled fears of the former successes and some failures due to journalism in the fight against apart- regime appear to persist in a country a number of factors both within and heid domination of our subcontinent. in which free speech is guaranteed. outside our control. Our success in Regretfully, courageous people seem Namibia is largely one-party dominated ensuring the survival of the newspaper to be in shorter supply in our part of and SWAPO [South West Africa People’s has involved a great deal of manage- the world today. Perhaps this is not Organization] has not yet managed ment during times of crisis. Highlight- surprising since it requires being in to complete the transition from an ing some aspects of this management the forefront of danger with conflict autocratic liberation movement to a might be helpful to others who face so prevalent. Yet courage remains an democratic political party. It retains similar situations. important characteristic for journalists an overwhelming two-thirds majority working in independent media. in the government, so The Namibian Maintain an Independent Editorial continues to speak out when many still Policy: Being a newspaper that is not Become Free From Donor Fund- fear to do so, particularly on issues such tied to any political party or commercial ing: Donor funding was vital to The as the lack of good governance and the interest has stood us in good stead in Namibian as it struggled to get started effects of corruption. cases of conflict with the authorities. Al- prior to independence. Donors should though governments in Africa continue ensure that funding is not summarily Ownership is Key to Survival: to accuse independent media of being, cut, but should reduce it gradually so Newspapers run by journalists are in the Zimbabwe example, “running that independent media can come to becoming even more vital in today’s dogs of the imperialists,” or, in our case, grips with sustainability as soon as pos- world. In the so-called First World, of siding with the political opposition, sible. Those in power in Africa, who are business managers are taking over, these claims are without basis in fact. often the recipients of vast amounts of and this results, too frequently, in the So it is vital that we remain true to our donor funding, tend to accuse media of unfortunate fact that profits dominate, principles of independent reporting. being manipulated by foreign agendas not principles. This same situation is The Namibian consistently adheres to when they receive assistance. perhaps contributing to an erosion a clear set of ideals, and this has helped of newspapers in various parts of the us steer our course, often through very Aim to Be the Peoples’ Paper: The world. In our case, we were largely self- stormy waters. Our founding ethos of Namibian has always managed to stay taught. Having been with the newspaper being a newspaper committed to de- in touch with its readers. During the since its inception, I believe it is possible mocracy and the maintenance of human nation’s years of struggle, we provided to balance principle and profit. For ex- rights remains strongly in place today. an outlet for the voice of opposition ample, The Namibian resists increases against apartheid domination, and in its cover price, aware that informa- Build a Committed Staff: The value through this process we earned what tion must be accessible to the people, of this is not to be underestimated, have been called “our struggle creden- especially in emergent democracies. particularly in crisis situations, for staff tials.” Because our journalists regularly members contribute to the ethos of a traveled into military zones in remote Support Creative Management: In publication, and this, in turn, earns rural areas of the country, our base the face of adversity, there needs to be a the support of a readership or listen- has never been purely urban. Even in creative approach by the management ers or viewers. Brave individuals were our democracy today, unfortunately, of any independent media institution. It

46 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa seriously affected by the ban as govern- success seems to come to those pub- is almost incidental. Since 1985, as a ment advertising accounted for about lications with a relatively small-sized nonqualified journalist who learned the 60 percent of their total revenues. The but dedicated staff who are willing to trade by baptism of fire, I have moved Swazi government also used this tactic, do what needs to be done to get the on to managing the entire publication, and The Guardian newspaper in that paper on the streets or voices on air, workforce, financial well-being, and country remains closed down. despite the worst kind of provocation. everything else that needs to be done. It The key question to consider is why There are instances when the so-called is a daunting task, sometimes, but being some independent media manage to mainstream or commercial media in modest in size also keeps us in touch survive and others do not. It is perhaps many countries can learn lessons from with our roots in the community and important for relevant organizations our experiences. relevant to the needs and aspirations and nongovernmental groups to un- Force of circumstance and scarcity of of our readers, and these factors are dertake a study to learn what lessons financial resources has led us to be mul- undoubtedly linked to our success. to draw from these experiences. Often tiskilled. My title as editor, for example, This doesn’t mean we can afford

is a question of strategy. While not easy state feel obliged to read us. in nature and need to be challenged to prescribe, since situations and threats in courts of law. As we found, even the differ from one country to another, it Recognize the Importance of most draconian systems have loopholes. is important not to simply abandon a Training: If we believe that self-suffi- In Namibia and in South Africa during project when all possible avenues of ciency is essential for political survival apartheid, we were able to achieve a survival have not been explored. Here of media in conflict and post-conflict measure of independence and continue the examples of private radio in Zimba- situations, then the training, in particu- to publish our newspaper because of bwe, such as SW, Radio Dialogue, and lar, of media management is necessary. our use of the courts. Circumstances Voice of the People, are worth noting. There are a number of such initiatives with the court system are not the same When denied licenses to broadcast in several parts of the world, including in all countries and, in the case of Zim- from within the country, they found southern Africa, in which managers of babwe, almost all possible loopholes creative ways to get around repressive emerging media are assisted in the areas have been closed. But media in such legislation by broadcasting from outside of management and training with a view situations should exploit weaknesses the country via short wave. Similar in- to sustainability. In our case we learned in the system to any extent they can in novation could also be applied to the by trial and error, and I was forced to order to survive. struggle for financial survival, and new develop business acumen to ensure media technologies make it possible the financial survival of the newspaper. Remain Lean and Mean: For want of for media battling for self-sufficiency to But, when possible, this should not be a better expression, it is very important offer other services, such as assistance left to chance. Management training that independent media be managed on with layout and design, to put money can bolster a media outlet’s chances modest budgets. This is an essential key into their coffers and find alternative of survival. I am often critical of how to our survival. At The Namibian, we sources of income to survive. certain training initiatives in our country can and do look after the basic needs of are undertaken, and this probably ap- our journalists, but we avoid excessive Maintain High Professional Stan- plies in other parts of the world as well. salaries and lavish spending, especially dards: Even in times when the practice Some, though not all, nongovernmental for the most senior employees. In too of journalism is most difficult, when organizations with money to spend many examples I’ve witnessed, or where avenues of access to information are launch training initiatives with little I’ve assisted community independent often cut off or denied to the publica- consultation with the media people in media start up, commitment is tested tion in question, it is important that the country or region. This often results when resources are meager. And there independent media maintain high in an ad hoc approach. It is vital that usually must be a tough transition pe- professional standards. It is harder for local media organizations are consulted riod prior to sustainability. One should authorities to clamp down on a publi- on their needs before such courses are not forget that many big commercial cation or radio station that has a near embarked upon. media are being forced to cut back on impeccable record. In our situation, staff and content and/or programming even though the government does Use Access to the Courts: During largely because of bureaucracy and not necessarily approve of what the times of crisis, media should make use overexpenditure. ■ —G.L. newspaper writes, The Namibian has of the courts and receive assistance to nevertheless become the newspaper do so. Many impediments to the survival of choice. Even our opponents in the of independent media are legislative

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 47 Journalism in Africa

complacency. Times change, and the forced to read pro-government publi- 39.] But there remain the glaringly obvi- struggle is no longer the same one. So cations, and only a few independent ous exceptions, like Zimbabwe, which we need to be innovative in bringing weeklies exist, but there are shortwave still tops the list as the most repressive about change to give our readers more broadcasts from abroad. Most private country in our region. diversity and a fresher approach to broadcasters cannot obtain licenses in The independent media in various content. One of our major projects is a Zimbabwe today, so it can be said that countries, whether repressive or in weekly Youthpaper to reach out to youth radio is carrying the torch of media states of transition, need to be as trans- in an educational and informative capac- freedom following the demise of The parent as they want the governments ity in a country where large-scale unem- Daily News. they challenge to be. Professional eth- ployment and disillusionment about job Not every independent publication ics are vital, and independent media prospects is a major problem for the should feel entitled to survive. Neither structures must be clear about their next generation. ownership and the We have also de- role of shareholders. veloped our on- Too often interests line edition at The independent media in various countries, of the latter dilute www.namibian. whether repressive or in states of transition, journalist principles, com.na, which need to be as transparent as they want the which is why owner- is a popular site ship is such a vital both at home governments they challenge to be. issue to survival in and abroad. Web the face of conflict. sites can, and Finally, independent have been, use- media, whether print ful to many independent media in times should we encourage continual donor or electronic, is often the backbone of of pressure. reliance, an issue many African publi- emerging democracies. It is therefore In our own region, the most recent cations confront. When professional important that encouragement be given example of closure is of The Daily standards are found wanting or there by other independent media that have News in Zimbabwe in 2003 despite is a lack of commitment and adherence flourished and that can share expertise its favorable court rulings against the to strong editorial principles, when with those just starting out. In many government’s actions. There are still people embark on such projects as only parts of Africa there appears to be a con- questions about what led to the decision commercial money-making ventures certed drive to set up alternative media. to finally close The Daily News and who (and this happens in our part of the This is a positive sign, especially since made the decision to do so. Was it done world where money is in short supply this was virtually unheard of not too out of fear for the lives of the journalists and donors are willing to support such long ago when governments dominated or because commercial interests played projects in countries in transition from the media in many countries. a role and the newspaper’s sharehold- violence), these journalists become Great strides forward have been ers decided to throw in the towel? [See authors of their own demise. made and will continue to be made in interview by Yvonne van der Heijden As journalists, we are all too well countries in transition, such as Angola on page 49.] President Robert Mugabe aware that in many parts of the world and Mozambique, for example. Assis- waged a concerted campaign for many ours has become a dangerous profes- tance in laying the groundwork for years to crack down on independent sion, especially in times of war and democracy is needed in countries in the media, using various forms of harass- political conflict. Annual reports of midst of conflict situations. They need ment, censorship and restrictive legisla- global journalistic organizations bear help and support while they work to tion. The closure of Zimbabwe’s only testimony to the many who have died establish good governance as a foun- independent daily, which was started in and/or suffered in the exercise of their dation from which to promote press 1999, unquestionably leaves an informa- craft. Even in democracies such as our freedom and free speech. ■ tion vacuum in that country. own in Namibia the situation remains Choice of medium is key to survival. a fragile one, and this is probably true Gwen Lister, a 1996 Nieman Fel- There are circumstances in which print of many countries newly emerged or low, will be among three women to might not be the right choice, depend- in transition from repressive circum- receive the International Women’s ing on a variety of factors prevailing in stances. Media, especially independent Media Foundation Courage in Jour- the country in question. Newspapers are media, inevitably become the target nalism Awards for 2004 in October. tangible products, and in Zimbabwe and when things go bad. In southern Africa, in many other places in the African sub- the Media Institute of Southern Africa  [email protected] continent, they provide an easy target (MISA) portrays a slightly improved for the authorities to confiscate. Radio picture of the media landscape in its remains the most important medium 2003 State of Media Freedom Report. in Africa. Most Zimbabweans are now [See article about MISA’s work on page

48 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

WATCHDOG The Government Silenced Zimbabwe’s Only Independent Newspaper ‘Revealing the facts about their corruption and mismanagement really makes bad rulers mad.’ By Yvonne van der Heijden

ilf Mbanga, founding chief gence of the opposition Movement for was read by at least seven Zimbabwe- executive of the now-silenced Democratic Change (MDC) party, in the ans, from all walks of life. They could Windependent newspaper national referendum on constitutional read breaking stories, such as the ones The Daily News in Zimbabwe, now reforms held in early 2000, and in the about the 1,150 percent salary hike for joins Dutch pupils on a field trip and general elections later that year. “The the president and cabinet ministers at discusses environmental issues with Daily News gave the MDC a voice and a time when 80 percent of the popula- local administrators in public. Dressed informed the world of the vicious gov- tion was living below the poverty line; in the national team’s orange color, ernment crackdown on the opposition about the first lady’s multimillion dollar he watched soccer matches during the before, during and after the elections. shopping sprees abroad while industry European Championship in his favor- It exposed the massive electoral fraud back home ground to a halt; about the ite local pub. Mbanga recounts these involved in both the general election allocation of grabbed white farms to events and others in a weekly column of 2000 and the presidential election political cronies and key defense force he writes for Brabants Dagblad, the in 2002,” Mbanga said, though he left officers, and about desperate shortages regional daily newspaper. At times, his the paper in 2001 when he became a of fuel, bread, staple maize meal, and words are humorous, but they always communications consultant. bank notes. convey a serious undertone that keeps “Revealing the facts about their cor- one mindful that his country, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s Government ruption and mismanagement really lacks freedom of expression, and its and The Daily News makes bad rulers mad. They don’t like corrupt government has destroyed the it when you get to the truth. With so economy through greed and misman- The Daily News was set up as an alter- many skeletons in the cupboard they agement and stopped this independent native voice to the government-owned get very irate when you start digging for newspaper from publishing. mass media, which kowtowed to the the facts. Therefore the closure of the Mbanga lives with his wife in the corrupt leadership. “There was a desper- newspaper was really no surprise to us,” city of Tilburg in the southern Dutch ate need for the facts, for fair comment Mbanga said. “What is surprising is that province of Noord-Brabant. Here he has and fearless reporting. The Daily News it did not happen sooner, as President been given a year “in asylum,” as part pledged itself to observe the highest Robert Mugabe’s government became of the International Network of Cities standards of integrity and fairness: to increasingly paranoid after the found- of Asylum (INCA). Mbanga is the first produce a quality newspaper that would ing of the Movement for Democratic journalist Tilburg invited since joining strive to ‘tell it like it is,’” Mbanga said. Change—which was the first viable the worldwide INCA network in 2002. “We knew that these principles would opposition to its 20-year rule.” [See accompanying box on page 50 for put us on a collision course with the “Why then did it take so long before more information about INCA.] government. But we had to do it; we had The Daily News was banned?” I asked. In an interview with him six months to expose this murderous regime.” “Good question. First, to put the after his arrival in November 2003, Soon after the paper hit the streets facts straight, The Daily News is not Mbanga called this opportunity “a fan- in 1999, it surpassed the circulation banned,” Mbanga replied dryly. “It tastic experience.” “Here I can write numbers of the government-owned has merely been refused registration from the heart, honestly. I don’t have national daily, The Herald. The initial to operate as a newspaper because it to look over my shoulder in fear of be- print runs of the independent daily has failed to comply with the require- ing arrested again,” he said. “I’d like to were limited to 60,000 by the capacity ments of the newspaper registration see more cities of asylum [established] of its printing press and unavailability law of Zimbabwe. Mugabe is a very because there are many more writers of newsprint. Later this rose to nearly smart dictator who obtained two law being displaced around the world.” 130,000. People lined up to buy the degrees while he was in prison under Mbanga explained that The Daily limited copies. Independent advertis- Rhodesian rule from 1961 till 1974. He News played a key role in the 1999 emer- ing statistics confirmed that every copy likes legal niceties. Throughout his rule,

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 49 Journalism in Africa

he has taken great pains to ensure that enacted in 2002, but staff at The Daily In time, the harassment became new legislation is passed to facilitate his News already had to endure harass- more brutal. “The government began most illegal activities.” ments before then. “There is no freedom arresting Daily News reporters and of information in my country and no denying them access to government Harassment of the Press protection of privacy,” Mbanga said. information and functions—includ- “The harassment [of Daily News staff] ing official comments from the police In the case of the newspaper’s closure, started on a minor scale. Party faithfuls communications department. Arrests the Access to Information and Protec- of the ruling Zimbabwe African National of the editors, management and local tion of Privacy Act (AIPPA) provided the Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) would investors followed. On one occasion legal framework. Jonathan Moyo, who confiscate copies of the newspaper, tear- when Geoff Nyarota, the paper’s edi- is an avowed enemy of the indepen- ing them up and burning them. Readers tor in chief, was arrested, he called me dent media, drafted the legislation in of the paper were beaten up by party from his mobile phone to tell me that 2000 after he was appointed Minister thugs and vendors were arrested by the the police were on their way to pick of Information and Publicity. AIPPA was police for ‘blocking traffic.’” me up as well, although I had left the paper and was only a shareholder in the company that owned it. [See article by Nyarota on page 35.] I was taken in by four plain-clothes policemen and International Network of Cities of Asylum ended up in a tiny, stinking cell with 13 ordinary criminals. Since the fatwa was issued in 1989 the Cities of Asylum members host for “It was bizarre. We were interviewed against Indian-born author Salman one to two years an author proposed by the international press. We kept our Rushdie, writers from five continents by the IPW with an apartment and a mobile phones and communicated have been convened each year by Car- monthly grant provided to the authors with the outside. The next day we refour des Littératures in Strasbourg, in residence. These conditions enable were taken to court, falsely accused of France to discuss how to respond to writers to resume their activities in safe fraud, and released on bail. We had to increasing outbursts of intolerance. surroundings and work conditions and surrender our passports and to report In July 1993, after the assassination to participate in the cultural life of the to the police once a week. It was obvi- of the writer Tahar Djaout in Algeria, host city. It also gives them time to think ous that the police did not have a case Carrefour des Littératures gathered about a more permanent solution to against us and, during the trial a few petition signatures from more than 300 their situation. weeks later, the magistrate dismissed writers in support of creating a new In 2003, IPW decided to dissolve itself the case as being without substance. structure capable of organizing aid for and be replaced by the International The government appealed to the High persecuted writers. This marked the Network of Cities of Asylum (INCA). To- Court but again the case was dismissed birth of the International Parliament day about 34 cities and regions are part …. [But] the intimidation did not stop. of Writers (IPW). of this worldwide network, including My phone was tapped. I was followed Among IPW’s goals was the creation Amsterdam, Tilburg, Frankfurt, Oslo, by men wearing dark glasses. Unex- of a worldwide network of cities of asy- Coimbra and Barcelona in Europe; plained incidents started to happen,” lum, as well as working against threats Ithaca, New York and Las Vegas in the Mbanga told me. “It exhausted me. to the freedom of intellectual creation United States, and Lagos, Nigeria in Af- I could not concentrate on my work by investigating cases of censure and rica. This program has enabled the IPW as a communications consultant. The researching its new forms. In February to host authors from Afghanistan, Alge- invitation to stay in Tilburg for a year 1994, the organization established an ria, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Nigeria, was heaven sent.” executive board made up of seven writ- Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. After the closure of The Daily News ers, including Rushdie, who was elected After forming the Cities of Asylum only two weeklies remain, with limited its first president. Rushdie drafted a Network, IPW created two new tools for circulation, which are independent of Declaration of Independence to serve spreading its message: an international the ruling party. All other publications as the IPW’s charter. journal published simultaneously in are mouthpieces of the government. The In 1995, the European Charter of eight different languages and a multi- electronic media is wholly government- Cities of Asylum was adopted by the lingual and multimedia Web site (www. owned. It comprises one television Council of Europe and approved by autodafe.org). Its goal is to disseminate station and four radio stations, which the European Parliament. This charter censored literary works that give voice to constantly broadcast hate speeches specifies the legal and institutional people who have been silenced and to by Mugabe and his officials and crude framework for providing asylum to cultures that are fading and to languages political jingles and slogans. “People writers. According to this agreement, in danger of disappearing. ■ —YVH can only listen to blatant propaganda. All day long. The government-owned mass media have lost all credibility,”

50 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

Mbanga said. “They have degenerated in militia camps to torture, and about people depend on people like me to into an unashamed party propaganda women being systematically raped. He speak out on their behalf and reveal machine.” gives an example of the scandal about the truth.” In 2003, more than 50 Zimbabwean food: “Zimbabwe has fertile soil and a Though the issues we spoke about reporters working in the independent good irrigation system in place. But due were often sad and depressing, the media were arrested and charged, but to the chaotic and corrupt land reform room was often filled with the roar of not convicted. “It is just harassment. process, the production of maize—our Mbanga’s laughter. He doesn’t know They want to frighten you, so you obey staple diet—has plummeted. Millions whether he and his wife will be able to the rules set by an unjust government. are starving. The world wants to send return to their country where several of The bombing of our newspaper, twice, maize, but Mugabe has refused permis- their grown children remain. But they took the process a step further, resulting sion. He wants to use food as a campaign are convinced that sometime things in the complete destruction of the print- tool. The price of a bag of maize meal will change. “I am an optimist,” he told ing presses,” Mbanga said. “Nobody was has gone up to more than one month’s me. “One day things will change for the arrested for these crimes.” salary for ordinary Zimbabweans. This better. Maybe not in my lifetime—but is scandalous!” change will come.” ■ Stories Needing to Be Told In his weekly column in the regional Dutch newspaper, Mbanga invariably Yvonne van der Heijden, a 1986 There are plenty of stories from Zimba- touches upon the problems suffered by Nieman Fellow, is working as a bwe that Mbanga believes need to be the people in Zimbabwe. He lectures freelance journalist based in Loon op told—about the corrupt officials who to many groups and institutions, such Zand, the Netherlands. From 1991- enrich themselves and spend public as the African Studies Center in Leiden, 1999, she was a correspondent in money to live lives of luxury; about and writes articles for newspapers such Beijing with the Netherlands Press the economic mismanagement and as Britain’s The Guardian and the Finan- Association and the Financial Eco- plundering of state assets, which has cial Times of London. “I need to bring nomic Times of Belgium. caused massive unemployment and 600 about awareness of what is going on percent inflation; about human rights in Zimbabwe,” he said. “I am a writer,  [email protected] abuses; about children being trained and I have to use this talent. Voiceless Using the Internet to Examine Patterns of Foreign Coverage African events are often not reported because Western news coverage is strongly connected to a nation’s wealth.

By Ethan Zuckerman

he first week of April 2003, sev- region the deadliest war in the world on the front page, as well as a separate eral hundred people were killed since World War II. section, “A Nation at War.” Tin ethnic violence in the Ituri But the events in Ituri went almost While it’s predictable that the U.S. region of the Democratic Republic of unreported. On April 7th, the first day invasion of Iraq would squeeze most the Congo (DRC). Given the magnitude American newspapers reported the kill- other news off the front page of Ameri- of the event—up to a thousand civilians ings, The New York Times ran a brief can newspapers, it’s only one of several killed in a single incident—and the his- Associated Press story on the conflict, reasons the conflict in Ituri received so tory of violence in the region, it made buried on page A6. Google News, a Web little attention. In their seminal 1965 sense to expect media coverage. Shortly site that monitors 4,500 news sources, paper, “The Structure of Foreign News,” before the killings, the International listed only 1,200 stories in the preced- Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge Rescue Committee published a study ing month that mentioned Congo. By proposed 12 factors that influence the suggesting that 3.3 million people had contrast, on the same day Google News publication of international news. While died as a result of conflicts in the DRC, showed 550,000 stories for Iraq, and Galtung and Ruge’s statistical analysis making the ongoing violence in the The New York Times ran five Iraq stories has been questioned, their proposed

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 51 Journalism in Africa

factors are still widely used by media ries to demonstrate graphically where Afghanistan—are nations that Ameri- theorists to explain the inclusion and ex- Western media attention was focused. cans invaded and occupied.) clusion of international news stories. As the project progressed, I began to While it’s tempting to accuse news Galtung and Ruge, writing almost look for correlations to economic and organizations of dereliction in failing to 40 years before the Congo event, political factors to explain the distribu- cover events in the developing world, could have predicted the events in tion of news. blame might fall equally on market Ituri would have been ignored in the My main conclusion: Andy Warhol forces and the preferences of media United States: was wrong—we won’t all get 15 min- consumers. Confronted with the ineq- utes of fame. uity of media attention, many editors • The Democratic Republic of the If this were true, populous nations and news directors will readily own up Congo is a “non-elite” nation. like China, Indonesia and Brazil would to the disparity and go on to explain • No “elite people” were killed in be better represented in the Western that they’re the good guys, encouraging Ituri. media. Media attention, measured by coverage of developing nations: If their • There’s little cultural proximity the number of stories that mention customers had their way, there would be between the United States and the a country by name, is correlated only even less international news and almost DRC. loosely to a nation’s population. It’s no news from poorer nations. Given the • The conflict had little meaning for correlated much more strongly to eco- need for publications to maintain an American readers. nomic factors, especially to a nation’s audience to sell ads to, perhaps we’re • And the decade-long war in the wealth, as measured by gross domestic lucky that there’s any coverage of the region meant that further killings product. For example, while Nigeria and developing world. weren’t unexpected. Japan have roughly equal populations, It’s difficult to test this theory with- Japan’s economy is about 100 times out extremely detailed data about what Their analysis doesn’t consider news- the size of Nigeria’s—and there are news stories readers and viewers view or gathering factors—the difficulty of de- roughly seven times as many mentions skip. But Weblogs give us a way to guess ploying reporters at reader interest: If to northeastern a Weblogger men- Congo, language Media attention, measured by the number of tions a country in barriers, and the her post, she’s likely lack of communi- stories that mention a country by name, is expressing an inter- cations infrastruc- correlated only loosely to a nation’s population. est in that nation. If ture—all of which It’s correlated much more strongly to economic we found a pattern make it more dif- of Weblogger inter- ficult for report- factors, especially to a nation’s wealth, as est in developing ers to cover the measured by gross domestic product. nations—propor- conflict in DRC, tionally more men- especially in con- tions of Africa than trast to the war in in the mainstream Iraq, which featured opportunities for of “Japan” as there are of “Nigeria” in media, for instance—we might con- reporters to be “embedded” within U.S. the average American newspaper on any clude that editors are underestimating military units. given day. All the American news sources their readers. I tracked showed this pattern; the lone Alas, we don’t see this pattern. Global Attention Profiles source to show a different pattern was Looking at data from Weblog search the BBC, which showed a strong bias engine BlogPulse, we see roughly the While Galtung and Ruge used 1,250 towards news in former British colonies, same correlation between wealth and Norwegian newspaper clippings gath- including populous and poor nations mentions as we do in media aggrega- ered over four years to propose their like Nigeria, India and Pakistan. tor sites like Google News or Altavista rules, the advent of Internet publishing Correlation is not causation, and News and a slightly tighter correlation gives us the opportunity to test some it’s unlikely that news directors check to national wealth than in single media of their conclusions with hundreds of a nation’s current account balance be- sources like The New York Times or thousands of data points. Shortly after fore sending a TV crew to cover a story. The Washington Post. Comparing on the incident in Ituri, I started collect- But, consciously or not, the people a country by country basis, Weblogs ing data from the Web sites of U.S. and who decide what becomes news are far are more likely to name travel destina- British newspapers, news services, and more likely to cover a story if it involves tions (Caribbean Islands, some Central television networks for a project I called people from wealthy nations. (Indeed, American and Southeast Asian nations) Global Attention Profiles. My intention the less developed nations best covered and far less likely to mention African, was to create daily maps of news sto- during the year of my study—Iraq and Eastern European, and Central Asian

52 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa nations than mainstream media sources. National Security,” suggests that roughly Janjaweed militias to major newspapers, Disparities aside, the statistics suggest 50 failed and failing states need to be making it possible for them to write that mentions of nations in blogposts both closely watched and aided so that their first stories on the situation. In are strongly correlated to their appear- they don’t find themselves participants effect, they did the first round of inves- ance in the mainstream media. in terrorism and global crime. All but tigative journalism that news organiza- three of the states mentioned in the tions failed to do. After a major report Consequences of News report are systematically undercovered by Human Rights Watch and strong Decision-Making by mainstream media. Like the U.S. statements from the United States and intelligence community, the U.S. news the United Nations, media attention If readers aren’t interested in interna- media are better configured for a world to Sudan increased dramatically—it is tional news and it’s expensive for news where threats come from superpowers now receiving the third-most media at- networks to generate, does it matter than from failed states. tention in sub-Saharan Africa (behind that the media doesn’t cover violence It seems unlikely that commercial South Africa and Nigeria). in Ituri? news organizations will refocus on the The attention paid to Darfur also It matters a great deal to Iturians. developing world without some form points to the importance of caring. A Governments are less likely to send of external pressure. In 1980, Sean global community of evangelical Chris- peacekeepers tians has closely to work to stop monitored the the conflict Khartoum govern- from spread- A recent report by the Center for Global ment for years, ing if they don’t Development, ‘On the Brink: Weak States and accusing it of sys- read about it in U.S. Security,’ suggests that roughly 50 failed and tematic persecu- the news. And tion of a Christian citizens can’t failing states need to be both closely watched minority. This com- pressure their and aided so that they don’t find themselves munity was deeply governments to participants in terrorism and global crime. All interested in seeing intervene with- that stories came out awareness but three of the states mentioned in the report out of Sudan and of the situation. are systematically undercovered by mainstream was able to provide The huge aid media. feedback to editors packages com- letting them know ing to Iraq and that they cared Afghanistan suggest a relationship MacBride led a UNESCO committee about the situation. To encourage news between media attention and foreign that published a report, “Many Voices, organizations to report on forgotten aid. In the wake of these conflicts, in- One World,” which proposed legal and stories, readers and viewers will have to ternational aid workers have expressed structural changes to news organiza- demonstrate that they care about these concern that aid to neglected, “unpopu- tions to improve media coverage of issues. But for viewers to care, they will lar” conflicts will suffer as a result. In the developing world. The report was likely need to know a great deal more more peaceful times, attention makes it opposed so vehemently by media orga- about these nations. Is this a Catch-22? more likely that a country will become nizations in the United States, United Or could it present an opportunity for a trading partner or receive foreign Kingdom, and Singapore that the three new, participatory media like Weblogs investment. nations withdrew from UNESCO to pro- to draw attention to situations and Wealthy nations have a good reason test implementation of the committee’s stories that a small group of individuals to care about news in undercovered proposals. One could be forgiven for care about? nations—their security may depend skepticism that CNN or Fox News will I’ll be counting news stories and let on it. The events of September 11th react any better to suggestions to glo- you know. ■ were carried out by a network that balize their coverage than newspapers bases itself in weak and failed states. did two decades ago. Ethan Zuckerman is a research fel- For a brief interval after the attacks, The recent crisis in Darfur, Sudan low at the Berkman Center for In- Americans were deeply interested in points to one way concerned indi- ternet and Society at Harvard Law the Central Asian states that hosted viduals and organizations can influence School. His Weblog can be found at al-Qaeda operatives—this interest global news coverage. A network of http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethan. waned as global attention shifted from NGO’s—most notably Human Rights Afghanistan to Iraq. A recent report by Watch—which had monitored human  [email protected] the Center for Global Development, rights situations in Sudan for years, “On the Brink: Weak States and U.S. provided extensive information on the

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 53 Journalism in Africa African Stories In Need of Reporters

On the eve of the World Press Freedom volatile.” While elections are envisioned eight years of peaceful arbitration, the Day, May 3, 2004, the United Nations in the wake of General Bozize’s 2003 ICJ ruled that sovereignty lies with Cam- Department of Public Information seizure of the presidency, CAR still eroon. President Paul Biya of Cameroon launched “Ten Stories the World Should ranks 154th among the world’s 174 and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Hear More About.”� Half of these under- poorest countries, and an estimated 15 Nigeria have since requested a Cam- reported stories deal with humanitar- percent of the population is infected eroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission that ian emergencies and conflict or post- with HIV/AIDS. Armed groups linked will ensure both parties representation conflict situations in Africa. A sixth to General Bozize continue to commit as they consider ways to enforce the story relates to the U.N.’s economic human rights violations outside the ruling. The U.N. cites this as an illustra- burdens as it is called upon to set up capital of Bangui. Concern is growing tion of “the crucial role of multilateral peacekeeping forces in several African that neighboring countries might soon measures, such as the potential of dia- nations, including Liberia and Ivory be affected by CAR’s volatile situation, logue and conflict resolution offered Coast. The stories summarized below such as Democratic Republic of the by recourse to the the ICJ” and calls can be found at http://www.un.events/ Congo, Sudan and Chad. the Mixed Commission “an exemplary tenstories/, along with contact informa- model for preventative diplomacy and a tion for journalists. AIDS Orphans in Sub- precious tool for moving from a culture Saharan Africa: A Looming of reaction to a culture of peace.” Uganda: Child Soldiers Threat to Future Generations at Center of Mounting Women as Peacemakers: Humanitarian Crisis The unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS in From Victims to Rebuilders sub-Saharan Africa is creating a genera- of Society Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, has tion of orphans. According to the United seen a revitalization in recent years, Nations, “During the last decade the Ten years after the abuse and violence but a long-standing rebellion of the proportion of children orphaned as a of the Rwandan genocide, women in Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has forced result of AIDS rose from 3.5 percent to Rwanda and other parts of sub-Saharan 1.6 million Ugandans to flee their vil- 32 percent,” a figure expected to climb Africa are rebuilding their countries, lages. The most disturbing part of the even higher without “urgent national establishing democratic governments, crisis—which shows no sign of resolu- strategies” addressing government, and empowering women. These women tion—is that almost 90 percent of the community and family capacities in “through their often unseen and un- LRA is comprised of children as young sub-Saharan countries. In addition to sung work are bringing peace to many as eight years old. Against their will, an affecting the orphan generation with troubled countries,” the U.N. asserts. In estimated 30,000 children are forced to poor health, psychological issues, and the September 2003 parliamentary elec- commit acts of violence—as thousands dramatically high mortality rates, the tions, Rwandan women won 49 percent of children are abducted by the LRA. AIDS crisis is predicted to threaten of the seats in legislature, far surpassing To escape capture, some children and future generations’ growth structures the May 2003 constitutional ruling al- parents leave their homes at night, seek- and economies. “… this problem should lotting 30 percent of decision-making ing safety in neighboring towns until remain at the center of attention of all positions to women. In other areas of dawn. Humanitarians have received concerned—governments, the public, sub-Saharan Africa, governments have less than 10 percent of the $130 million and the media—to stem the spread of begun using quotas, and this has led to requested to help with malnutrition this scourge,” the U.N. contends. an increase in the number of women and health facilities, severely affected serving in the parliaments. In Liberia, by LRA attacks. Bakassi Peninsula: Recourse the women who created the Mano River to the Law to Prevent Women’s Peace Network were given a Central African Republic: A Conflict voice in Liberian peace talks and be- Silent Crisis Crying Out for came a signatory of the Liberian peace Help The question of sovereignty over the agreement. ■ —Compiled by Sarah Bakassi peninsula, a 1,600 kilometer Hagedorn. Despite the rich resources and conse- strip of land rich in natural resources, quent economic potential of the Central has been a source of contention be- African Republic (CAR), the region’s tween bordering countries Cameroon continuing struggle with disease and and Nigeria since 1913. In 1994, Camer- military coups has created a situation oon approached the International Court the United Nations calls “fragile and of Justice (ICJ) for a ruling, and after

54 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa Emotional Connections to African Reporting Zambia’s orphaned children portray many dimensions of the human toll of AIDS.

By Frank Green

ears on the police beat in Rich- and typing them up at night. I found emotional trauma plays in coverage of mond, Virginia means coming the writing therapeutic. I worked hard violent events. Some, like Joe and me, Yface-to-face with fatal shotgun to simply write what I saw with the idea are fortunate to receive a subsidized wounds, beatings, knifings, decapita- of letting readers decide how they felt reporting assignment. This came to tions, amputations, incinerations and about what I observed. me because of my experience covering train wrecks of one sort or another. prisons, and an important part of the It also means interviewing victims, Paying for African Reporting Zambian AIDS project was coverage of witnesses and survivors soon after, or an AIDS education and detection effort during, a tragedy. As any reporter who Joe and I were in Zambia thanks to a in a prison there. has done this can attest, the job can be grant from the University of Washing- Louise Seals, the managing editor of difficult. The suffering is immediate and ton’s Dart Center for Journalism & the Times-Dispatch, observed that our readily apparent but because of this the Trauma and the support of the Rich- newspaper could not have afforded story can be easily conveyed in words mond Times-Dispatch, the newspaper to take on the Zambia project had it and photographs. where I am a reporter. Joe and I are not been for the Dart Center grant. No Despite these experiences, I wasn’t both Ochberg Fellows. The Dart Cen- international travel had been built into prepared for what I encountered at ter and the International Society for the newsroom’s budget. And Executive Chamboli Cemetery, a sprawl of knee- Traumatic Stress Studies established Managing Editor Bill H. Millsaps was high brush, bare earth, and makeshift the Ochberg Fellowship to help journal- confident Joe and I would use our grant- tombstones in northern Zambia. There ists report responsibly and credibly on funded reporting time to bring to read- the sound of picks and shovels mixes violence and traumatic events. Fellows ers an important look at what Africans with wailing. Vehicles carrying mourn- attend a two-day seminar on the role are experiencing with the onslaught ers rise out of the dust and add to the general din as they travel down a dirt road through acres of the wood and scrap metal markers. It was here, a few miles south of the Congolese border, that freelance pho- tographer Joe Rodríguez and I wound up one morning during our travels in Africa to cover the sub-Saharan AIDS epidemic. This is a slow-motion train wreck of epic proportion: It has killed an estimated 600,000 and infected 1.2 million of the 10.6 million Zambians. Zambia is not the hardest hit of African countries, but the extent of its AIDS epidemic is representative. There were times when Joe would tell me about how he was experiencing anger along with sorrow and of how he would try to protect himself emo- tionally by working with his camera to get closer to the people. He’d listen to their stories and share parts of his life Mourners attend the funeral of a Zambian AIDS victim. Each of them has AIDS, and with them. one of the women has lost three adult children to AIDS and now cares for eight or- I kept as busy—and distracted—as phaned grandchildren in the nearby Luangwa Township. Of Luangwa’s 2,000 residents, possible, by reporting, traveling exten- 900 either have the virus or have been widowed or left parentless by it. July 2003. Photo sively, and taking notes during the day by © Joseph Rodríguez.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 55 Journalism in Africa

of AIDS. “Behind payroll, newsprint is by wars, genocide and famine. Joe had particularly difficult to cope with emo- our second biggest expense. Even so, been to Africa before and had more in- tionally. There are an estimated 600,000 we had no hesitancy about opening timate contact with AIDS since he’d had to 700,000 children orphaned by AIDS up the space sufficient to adequately friends and relatives die of the disease in in Zambia, and there could be as many display [the] stories and Joe’s pictures,” Spanish Harlem. He also covered AIDS as one million by 2010, according to said Millsaps. in Mozambique in 1990. “I knew about the United Nations and the U.S. Agency Though stories about Africa are of- AIDS in Zambia,” Joe told me, “but I was for International Development. It just ten ignored in small to midsize dailies quite overwhelmed when I got there. takes one or two to break your heart. (our paper has a daily circulation of As we walked into different villages and Many of these children also have AIDS, 190,000), the Times-Dispatch, which started talking to people, it seemed like tuberculosis and other health problems is published in a city with an African- every other woman was a widow, every and are too young to know the implica- American majority, has traditionally other family had some kids from next tions of their illness. Those old enough run more news about Africa than most door who were orphans.” to remember their parents speak of how newspapers its size. Zambia shattered my preconceptions much they miss them. about Africa and AIDS. Zambia, I soon One weekday morning we were The Zambian Experience discovered, is a place that shifts from surrounded by nearly 90 orphans at magnificence and generosity to wretch- a “feeding” station that was organized Our reporting trip began in the sprawl- edness and cruelty in a short stretch of by a local relief group. There are three ing Zambian capital of Lusaka, then time or distance. The AIDS epidemic such feedings a week for the children moved on to the northern city of Kitwe, is largely hidden, since the disease who live in the township of Kwacha, south to Livingstone, then back to Lu- still carries a heavy stigma. Many who just outside Kitwe. Excited by seeing saka. The groundwork of our journey are infected refuse treatment so as not strangers, many of the children sur- was laid by Ochas Pupwe, a Zambian to reveal they have the virus. Former rounded us. They were delighted by student who helped run an AIDS de- prostitutes refuse to be tested and risk receiving the food and seemed happy to tection and education program in the further spread of HIV. be among so many other children they largest prison in Central Africa. As we It is, of course, the children who are have come to know. “The kids were the quickly discovered, AIDS has hit urban ones who kind of threw me back,” Joe areas in Zambia hard, but the effects said. “The orphans.” Joe told me he was of the disease are also evident in the crying inside. We were silent as we sat countryside. in the back of a van as we drove away Ignorant of the crocodiles, we were from Kwacha, on our way to visit more ferried across the Kafue River by boys widows and orphans. paddling crude wooden boats to the One of Joe’s strongest memories of village of Mufuchani. A short walk up our trip was something an AIDS worker, a path bisecting stone and mud brick Martin Chisulo, who is also HIV positive, huts we found Memory Mwape laying told him when asked why Zambians on a reed mat in the shade of a tree. Her have such large families. It is part of head rested in her hands. A good meal, their culture, he replied, and explained much less a physician and antiretroviral that a Zambian is considered a great drugs, were beyond her means, though man when he has many children. “It is her body was ravaged by AIDS. Pain and the only wealth that we have,” Chisulo hopelessness we read on her face turned said. “We also die a lot, so we must have to an expression of apprehension at our more children.” sudden presence. Her husband, Robson Perhaps because my life has not been Kaingu, whom we learned later is HIV touched personally by this disease, I was positive, hovered nearby. Children and largely able to remain detached from adults began to gather around us as what I was seeing. It was witnessing we talked. Nearby a rowdy group of the depth of poverty and prevalence of women drank a homemade brew called hunger that upset me more than report- chibuku. Mufuchani, with 500 residents, Memory Mwape, 31 years old, is dying of ing on the disease. Seeing this made me buries five AIDS victims each week. AIDS and cannot afford medicine. In Mu- question the idea of universal justice. I’d had little contact with AIDS before fuchani Village, Kitwe, Zambia, where she I found Zambians wonderfully friendly I went to Africa, a continent to which lives with her three children and husband, and generous. One tenet of the Dart I’d never traveled before. It was a place there is no school, clinic, store, running program is to treat victims of disease I always imagined was humid, dark and water, or electricity. There are hundreds of and disaster with dignity, and this was full of wild (but endangered) animals. AIDS orphans. August 2003. Photo by © an easy thing to do in a country where Its people, I believed, were afflicted Joseph Rodríguez. so many of the people maintain their

56 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa

dignity amid a withering host of indigni- ties. What I found hard to understand is why so many of them suffer so much and so patiently. Getting into the Kamfinsa Prison was particularly difficult, but made possible because Pupwe helped run the AIDS project there and knew the warden. Most of the inmates were ra- zor thin, starving on a meager diet of corn porridge served up in large black kettles. Medicine was not available to inmates unless they had friends or fam- ily members who could afford to buy it for them. Though the conditions were in many ways far below those found in U.S. prisons, there seemed to be no ten- sion between inmates and the unarmed guards freely walking among them. Also, unlike in U.S. prisons, female inmates were allowed to keep their children with them until they reached school age. These Kitwe, Zambian street kids, sniffing glue, are AIDS orphans. No country in the Many Zambians are courageously world has a higher proportion of its children who are orphans than Zambia. fighting the epidemic. Yet there is also ignorance, indifference and reckless- ness when it comes to AIDS. A high point of the trip occurred on a rutted, cratered road on our way to Livingstone. The red and gold sky as the sun set over the distant Zambezi River cast a soft glow over the landscape. It was chilly inside the cab of the pickup truck, and its cargo bed was full of young Zambians happy to be riding to the city instead of walking. In the twilight, we passed occasional huts with cook- ing fires burning. The smoky smell of wood and charcoal was carried by the wind. The driver told us of the time he had been delayed on this road for half an hour while a herd of elephants crossed. The ride was magical. Though the words I wrote reflected on the death and devastation I saw, this evening’s ride is how I will remember Africa. ■

Frank Green is a reporter with the Richmond (Vir.) Times-Dispatch. Joseph Rodríguez, a freelance pho- tojournalist, is the author of “Ju- Kamfinsa Prison. In 1999, a Human Rights Watch report complained about crowding in venile,” published by powerHouse Zambian prisons and jails that led to the spread of respiratory illnesses and other dis- Books in January 2004. eases, including AIDS. Kitwe, Zambia, July 2003.  [email protected]

Photos by © Joseph Rodríguez.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 57 Journalism in Africa A Mid-Sized Newspaper Connects Its Readers to Africa Times Union journalists traveled to Malawi to trace the links of local citizens to the people of sub-Saharan Africa.

By Rex Smith

aul Grondahl and Steve Jacobs didn’t expect to be following a Pfuneral march through fields of maize in an impoverished Malawi vil- lage in the spring of 2003. They hadn’t imagined the groans of pain echoing off the bare cement floors of a crowded hospital, where patients waited in dark, filthy hallways for someone to die so a plywood bed would become available in a makeshift cholera ward. Grondahl and Jacobs had each spent almost 20 years working for the (Albany) Times Union, and they knew that foreign reporting wasn’t often a part of the newspaper’s journalistic repertoire. Like most American news- papers, the Times Union recognizes that its franchise depends upon its local reporting. As the dominant daily in New York’s Capital Region, the newspaper also strives for leading coverage of state government and politics. Why would our newspaper send a team to one of the poorest nations on earth, far away from the community The newspaper’s front page for its special The second page of the Africa reporting, we serve? Why would we publish a section on Africa. including a map and key facts. full-color, 24-page section featuring these journalists’ reports and devote countless hours to creating an ambi- tious presentation of this project on ing in the spotlight in tuxedos at a can journalists, if they were looking our Web site? National Press Club banquet, accepting overseas at all, were focusing on Iraq, a national award that recognized their where a U.S. invasion loomed. Think- Deciding to Report in Africa innovative, insightful coverage. Nor ing that the Times Union might embed could they know how many readers a team with American troops, I’d sent The Times Union’s so-called Africa proj- would be awakened to a humanitarian a reporter and photographer through ect, “Fourth World/Our World: Lifelines crisis of epic proportions, in a place a Pentagon training program. at the Edge of Survival,” emerged as one where 20 million people face hunger But good journalists have a way of of the newspaper’s most notable under- and malnutrition, where more than 70 finding stories in places where other takings. When Grondahl, a reporter, and percent of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases people don’t happen to look, and that’s Jacobs, a photographer, were enduring are found, and where disease and hard- what happened when Steve Jacobs went sub-Saharan Africa’s stifling heat, with ship are expected to kill people before out on a daily photo assignment in early red mud caked on their boots and in they reach the age of 40. January. He shot photos of Emelita Wil- their hair, they couldn’t envision stand- At the beginning of 2003, most Ameri- liams, a local woman who was collecting

58 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa supplies for a school that was being built in Malawi, not far from where she had Hope in a Can of Green Beans been born. Williams had helped start construction of the unfinished school The Times Union special section in- some years before, and she wanted to volved a series of short stories written carry the supplies back and finish the by Paul Grondahl. A story follows: project. Jacobs saw a larger story. “Emelita will be going back to her Two thousand hungry villagers have homeland in just four weeks to help been sitting cross-legged in the red dirt distribute the most recent supply ship- for four hours, still as statues, pressed ment to the children at the school she tightly, shoulder to shoulder. Men on helped build,” Jacobs wrote to me in one side, women on the other. a mid-January memo. “I propose to Word has spread that Americans will Transporting free food from a relief dis- photograph this story, offering pictures deliver food today to Madisi, a village on tribution program. Malawi, March 2003. of the Williams family at their jobs, at the brink of starvation and reeling from Photo by Steve Jacobs/Times Union. school, and at home in the Capital a cholera outbreak a few days earlier. Region, as well as to show Emelita’s A flatbed truck drives up with cases Tradition dictates that the neediest experience when she gives hope to the of canned green beans sent by a U.S. are served first. The elders call out each young faces in her native homeland, donor. name. There is a pause as each moves in Africa.” Suzi Stephens of the Malawi Project to the front of the line. I wasn’t convinced. One family’s arrives. Just then, the skies let loose. A hun- humanitarian effort was a good story, “Mama Suzi,” as the Malawians call dred battered umbrellas snap open. A but not so good that I could justify blow- her, receives a rock star’s ovation. Men monsoonal downpour turns the red ing the newsroom’s travel budget for stand and applaud. Women make shrill dirt clearing into a lake the consistency an entire quarter. Jacobs, undeterred, trills with their tongues that sound like and color of butterscotch pudding. The enlisted Grondahl, the newspaper’s a melodic war whoop. The crowd parts lines stay straight and orderly. most honored reporter. The two had and Mama Suzi wades through. Boys dig bugs from the muddy hill- traveled together to Northern Ireland The throng queues up in long, or- side and pop them into wet mouths, a few years ago, tracking links to our derly rows. Mama Suzi begins passing their tattered clothes streaming with community’s sizeable Irish population, out 6-pound, 10-ounce cans of Crest rainwater. “A Malawi shower,” they and had collaborated on groundbreak- Top Blue Lake Green Beans. One can call it. ing projects involving state prisons and per person. There are enough green beans to mental health facilities. Village elders stop her. They huddle, give one can—one meal for a fam- Meanwhile, I had grown uneasy with confer and show her a list of 284 names, ily—to about half the crowd. Hundreds the notion of embedding anybody from the most needy cases, mostly widows of others return to their huts, wet and the Times Union in Iraq. I wondered: and orphans. hungry. ■ What unique reporting could we do? Editors at papers the size of the Times Union (about 100,000 daily and 145,000 Sunday) too often send staffers to far- note. “We could do a two-for-one trip,” a steady march of death and devasta- away places more for their own ego en- he suggested, “in which we’d spend a tion—through the moving story of a hancement than for journalistic merit. couple days with the Williams family at [local] family and its struggle to save How could I justify spending so much the new school and the arrival of food a small group of AIDS orphans in a money just to put a Times Union byline and supplies and then branch out and tiny village in Malawi,” it began. He on a war story that could be produced do an AIDS epidemic story.” After talk- estimated total cost of travel at less just as ably by any of the various sources ing it over with Managing Editor Mary than $4,000. available on our wires? Fran Gleason, I asked Grondahl to do Just three weeks later, as hundreds Five days after Jacobs’ initial memo, some preliminary reporting on a single of other journalists were joining U.S. President Bush surprised listeners when broad project, one that would examine troops massing for the Iraq invasion, in his State of the Union address he the humanitarian crisis in Africa through Grondahl and Jacobs took off for Ma- called for $15 billion in spending over the prism of Emelita’s story. lawi. They stayed for 16 days. five years “to turn the tide against AIDS Grondahl’s subsequent memo the in the most afflicted nations of Africa next week convinced Gleason and me The Web and Newspaper and the Caribbean.” That, I thought, that this was the kind of foreign report- Presentations might focus our readers’ attention on ing worth undertaking. “We propose to Africa, perhaps giving more relevance to tell the epic tragedy of Africa—drought, We knew these two veteran journalists Emelita’s story. Grondahl dropped me a famine, AIDS, political corruption, and would come back with plenty of mate-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 59 Journalism in Africa

rial for whatever kind of project we in the weeks after the team returned ing without letting it yield an unwieldy might want to publish. But Grondahl their reporting focused on other Capital batch of mainbars and sidebars. and Jacobs also had prepared to pres- Region links to sub-Saharan Africa. The The solution was to present the en- ent their work on www.timesunion. story of Emelita Williams became but tire package as a series of short stories, com, our Web site, which for several one element of the overall package. linked under “chapter” headings, with years has enhanced our newspaper’s Malawi is a country roughly the size no single piece dominating the pack- storytelling in visually dynamic ways. of Pennsylvania. Among the 192 nations age. All of it would be published on a So they packed among their reporting of the world, Malawi’s life expectancy single day, in a section that we realized tools equipment for digital audio and ranks 186th and its per capita gross would cover several pages. We wanted to video recording. Experience has taught national product ranks 189th. Grondahl present Jacobs’ powerful photography us that when we plan our Web reporting would later write that it was “so desper- in color, but we knew that wouldn’t be as an integral part of the overall package, ately poor and in such an utter state of possible on the Times Union’s 34-year- both the print and online versions of collapse that it doesn’t even qualify as old press. We enlisted our marketing the story are strengthened. We weren’t a member of the underdeveloped Third department to find sponsors who would wrong: Each of these presentations of- World.” Amazingly, he found, it also was pay for high-quality printing offsite. fered readers different ways to engage too poor to qualify for the aid dollars What emerged on the last Sunday with the information our reporters that Bush had promised to alleviate the of June 2003 is what we view as a pro- brought home. suffering of AIDS in Africa. totype of contemporary reporting, in During their pre-trip reporting, As a journalist, Grondahl has more a form we have roughly mimicked in Grondahl and Jacobs also had come finely tuned senses than most of us. presenting other projects since then. across a few humanitarian efforts in He sees and hears, tastes, smells and In addition to the Africa project’s dra- sub-Saharan Africa that are based in the touches more than most reporters, and matic Web presentation, readers of the Capital Region. Those efforts turned out it all goes into his notebook, from which paper found a 24-page full-color section to be an unexpected but major thrust of he extracts strands of stories that he (including 2 1/2 pages of sponsorship) the project. Not only did those projects, braids together into eloquent prose. A that presented 80 photographs and in turn, lead to others that Grondahl challenge upon his return was to draw dozens of articles, divided under three and Jacobs visited in Africa, but also out this remarkable reporting and writ- chapter headings: “Affliction,” “Affirma-

A Malawian child, sickened by cholera and AIDS, is fed by a villager in a makeshift hospital. March 2003. A Malawian holds a handful of maize, a native corn-like food that people use as their primary food source. March 2003.

Photos by Steve Jacobs/Times Union.

60 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa tion” and “Cooperation.” The voices that augmented the storylines were of- launched in Africa. On the front page of of experts, rather than intruding into fered in nine installations of a reporter’s the newspaper, a more traditional story Grondahl’s descriptive narratives, were journal. A full-page map pinpointed introduced the special section inside, pulled out as Q&A segments along the the humanitarian efforts that Capital exploring the policy issues that stood bottom of the pages. Personal insights Region groups and congregations had in the way of progress toward solving

Elderly Malawian women openly cry, yell and grieve as they walk to the village burial grounds dur- ing a traditional funeral service for a woman who died of AIDS. The women walk separately from the men. Malawi, March 2003. Photo by Steve Jacobs/Times Union.

Malawian men and women, in the background, pass the grave of a villager that is marked with a cross deep in the bush fields. Malawi, March 2003. Photo by Steve Jacobs/Times Union.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 61 Journalism in Africa

the crisis. In all, 16 journalists at the badly scarred by poverty and disease. heard largely in the places where such newspaper worked on delivering this But we were also struck, sadly, by how conversations might be expected to take project to our readers. quickly the story seemed to vanish place anyway: houses of worship and We heard many comments from from our readers’ consciousness. If we a few schools. readers, most of whom had never created a community dialogue, as we We had done our best to present a known of the many links between our had hoped to do, in part through our vital issue to our readers, not imagin- community and a part of the world so interactive Web site, it was a quiet one, ing that we could change the world, of course, but confident that we would make things a bit better. And perhaps we did that, and maybe that’s all a newspaper can hope for when trying to present a serious issue from a distant land to a readership distracted by war and politics and entertainment and the busyness of everyday life. What we did might have helped forge some enduring connections. For those of us who tried to connect our world with theirs, we believe firmly it was worth the effort. ■

Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union in Albany, New York. “Fourth World/Our World” won the 2003 Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Web Reporting. (The Africa project can be found at www.time- sunion.com/fourthworld.)

To combat dehydration, medical workers struggle to start an intravenous drip in the arm  [email protected] of a two-year-old boy stricken by cholera during an outbreak in the village of Madisa, Malawi. March 2003. Photo by Steve Jacobs/Times Union.

When Tragedy Is No Longer a Good Enough Story to Tell An African journalist chronicles his life and revisits some of Africa’s major news stories of the 1990’s.

The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands Aidan Hartley Atlantic Monthly Press. 414 pages. $15 pb. $24 hc. By Wilson Wanene

Reporting on Africa for a Western audi- ground is supposed to know just how famine was in progress, the rules had ence can be strange at times. Even when to pitch the story, what to include, what changed. The conventional wisdom diverse news organizations are forced won’t work, and so on. was that “donor fatigue” had afflicted to suddenly converge on a crisis, cer- During the Ethiopian famine of the West. The foreign correspondent, tain working rules easily take root back 1984, for example, the massive media to make the story compelling, had to at the head office in London or New coverage brought disturbing pictures not simply show the run of the mill York. Amid competition from domestic of starvation that shocked America starvation victim. A TV soundman, for events, news from other world regions and Europe into responding with aid. instance, was shrewd if he managed to and tight budgets, the reporter on the However, by 1992, when the Somali tape the last breaths of a dying Somali

62 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Journalism in Africa man. A British cameraman in the Sudan Kigali, the capital, after the genocide. officer in Tanganyika, presently known could demand that his guide locate a At one point they are forced to stall as Tanzania. The 16 years the elder thinner group of kids after the initial as they consider how to tear through Hartley spent in Arabia are worthy of a one—already with bloated bellies and government troop lines (“‘Okay,’ I said, book in their own right and culminate shrunken arms—was deemed not jolt- ‘we’ll walk.’ ‘You can’t possibly walk,’ in Davey’s murder by a sheikh who fell ing enough for viewers. said Paul Kagame, the RPF’s taciturn out with the British. The writing on The tension between a concern to commander in chief.”). Africa news his father, who returned to Africa and accurately describe horror or tragedy junkies will relish such tidbits. eventually settled in Kenya, is clearly a coupled with the introspective ques- But the account is also a memoir tribute to him as well as an exercise in tion of whether a journalist’s work for Hartley, a Kenyan of British de- self-discovery. can make a difference, and the duty scent. From the aging diary notes At a deeper level, what is significant to simply report and move on, runs about “Zanzibar Chest” is that it’s through Aidan Hartley’s “The Zanzibar essentially a demonstration of how Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death the personal can be put to good use in Foreign Lands.” The book covers his in journalism. Hartley’s personal life reporting on Africa during the 1990’s is closely linked with East Africa. He for Reuters’ Nairobi bureau. This was a clearly knows the area well. He scorns period that included the 1991 toppling at mechanistic or impractical dictates of Mengistu Haile Mariam, the brutal from his faraway Reuters’ bosses; he Ethiopian strongman; the breakdown mixes easily with those being covered, of the Somali state, the rise of warlords, and he has that urge—common to the civil war and famine, which resulted in native explaining to a foreigner—to Operation Restore Hope in 1992, and seek a nuanced explanation to a story the deaths of 18 U.S. servicemen; and and show there’s more to it than at first the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which appearance. about 800,000 lives were extinguished To be sure, there’s a downside to within three months. this. Some readers may be uncom- When recalling the big tragedies fortable with the extent to which he and how he approached them, Hartley reveals himself. Being in his 20’s and states, “there was no way to sell the story 30’s when he reported in Africa, the unless you could expose suffering on a book includes kiss-and-tell passages scale rarely or never witnessed before.” on his sex life. They’re in an account At another point he writes: “Jonathan [a containing harrowing tales such as those Reuters colleague] told me that there on the Rwanda genocide and Somali was only one sure way of selling a story strife that claimed the lives of three of from Africa to an editor. It was what his Reuters’ colleagues at the hands of is called in the trade ‘color’: a quirky he finds—belonging to his deceased an irate mob. opening vignette, a twist of pathos, the father’s colleague, Peter Davey, who was But the book is fascinating and holds exotic or the bizarre.” murdered in Arabia in 1947 where he one’s attention. The memoir and jour- Hartley takes a reader to the center of and the senior Hartley served as colo- nalism mix quite well. A gifted writer, each of the major stories and provides nial officers—he visits Arabia and traces Hartley feels that it is only when he powerful and memorable descriptions. his family’s history there. The papers casts a wide eye, to take in his family’s He’s the only European reporter with were stored by his father in a Zanzibar colonial past, does he find meaning to Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime chest at the house the Hartleys owned his experience in Africa. At book’s end minister, when he’s still a rebel and on Kenya’s coast, which inspires the he observes: “I was the son who grew marching his men at night onto the book’s title. up loving Africa because of his father. I capital to seize power (“Meles now slept “Zanzibar Chest” is therefore a some- loved it and wanted it to love me back. across from me under a thorn tree.”). what complex story in which chapters In witnessing the suffering and beauty He enters the Somali presidential man- alternate between his Africa reporting of Africa’s story, I have finally become sion soon after Mohamed Siad Barre and the reconstruction of a colorful a tiny part of its fabric.” ■ has been chased out of power (“At the family history of service to the British gate, the carcass of the president’s pet Crown, going back 150 years. Hartley’s Wilson Wanene is a Kenyan-born lion lay in its cage.”). And he’s with Paul father, who’s depicted as progressive freelance journalist based in Boston. Kagame, Rwanda’s president, when and hard-working, was sent to work on he too is still a rebel and leading his water and irrigation projects in Arabia in  [email protected] Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) toward 1938, after having served as a colonial

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 63 Words & Reflections

War and Terror

The dangers and challenges to journalists who report on the war in Iraq have been amply demonstrated in threats to their safety, difficulties of establishing and maintaining trust with Iraqi sources, and restraints put on newsgathering by available newsroom resources. In trying to learn more about who the Iraqis are who constitute the resistance forces and why they are fighting, Patrick Graham, a freelance journalist who wrote “Beyond Fallujah: A Year With the Iraqi Resistance” for Harper’s, encountered all of these dangers and difficulties. But he emerged with an article that offered a different perspective on the fighters and the support they have within their regions than the usual characterizations provided by military sources and conveyed in many news stories. In addressing why this matters, he writes, “Had the U.S. media demanded the army show more evidence of the ‘foreign fighters’ in Ramadi and Fallujah and forced them to account for their words … that the ‘terrorists and insurgents’ were unpopular, then the U.S. Army might have had to deal with what was really happening there … and if this had happened, perhaps fewer Iraqis might have joined the resistance as a reaction to the U.S. Army tactics.” Washington Post national correspondent Anne Hull teamed up with Post reporter Tamara Jones to suggest to military officials a homeland version of embedded war reporting. “Our loose idea was ‘St. Elsewhere’ in wartime,” Hull writes. The reporting team asked for—and received—permission from the U.S. Army to place themselves within the daily routines of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where wounded troops returning from Iraq were being treated. In their two-day narrative series, the reporters focused on the experiences of three soldiers on Ward 57. In writing about children whose parents are serving in Iraq, Barbara Walsh, a projects writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, spent many hours talking with the youngsters about how the absence of mommy or daddy is affecting their lives. Many of the newspaper’s readers, she says, “hadn’t considered how the war would tear up families.” Journalism professor Dale Maharidge shares what he learned on his journey across the United States in the wake of 9/11 and published in the book, “Homeland,” along with photographs taken by Michael Williamson, and speaks to the need for journalists to “document the fear and anger that is driving our nationalism.” Former investigative reporter Stephen Berry, who now teaches journalism, describes what happened when Pentagon officials persuaded CBS News’s “60 Minutes II” program to twice delay broadcasting its breaking news story about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Berry contends that “such newsroom practices … influence how other news outlets might respond to similar pressures by demonstrating how they dealt with government efforts to manage the news process.” Charles Zewe, a former correspondent and anchor for CNN, places the Bush administration’s creation of a 24-hour news show as

64 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 “the megaphone for the Pentagon” in the context of past efforts by war-time governments to control the news. Zewe refers to The Pentagon Channel’s content as “infoganda, a fusion of information and propaganda.” Zewe says this is among “the latest twists in the Bush administration’s ongoing efforts to shape public opinion by going around traditional news outlets with positive stories about its policy initiatives.” Rose Economou, former producer for CBS News and a journalism professor, finds that two popular documentary films— ”Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Control Room”—raise questions journalists should ponder. The films illustrate, too, that what separates documentary filmmakers from journalists is their “powerful, purposeful and persuasive use of emotion ….” Bob Davis, editorial page editor of The Anniston (Alabama) Star, writes about his paper’s response when the consortium that provides its prepackaged Sunday color comics eliminated Doonesbury. The Star’s publisher called the decision “censorship by plebiscite,” after consortium members were polled and voted 21-15 in favor of dropping it. As Davis writes, “A newspaper that only gives its readers what they say they want is not serving its highest calling.” Secrecy

The ability to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is essential to the watchdog role that journalists play. According to Pete Weitzel, former managing editor for The Miami Herald who is now freedom of information coordinator for the newly formed Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, in this era of greater government secrecy more barricades—regulatory and procedural—have been erected that stymie or prevent access to government records by journalists. Not only has news reporting on this issue been “limited and tepid,” according to Weitzel, but “there has been no coordinated information gathering or strategic planning about secrecy and reporters’ access to information within the journalism community or among its organizations.” Seth Rosenfeld, an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, describes his two-decade fight, involving three lawsuits filed under the FOIA that were resolved just short of a Supreme Court hearing, to secure FBI files about information the agency had compiled about those who were involved with protest activities at the University of California at Berkeley during the 1950’s and 1960’s. By sharing problems he encountered—and describing the methods he used to push ahead with his requests—Rosenfeld lets us know that his “experience demonstrates that FOIA requests are most likely to succeed when they grow out of and are informed by regular reporting.” York Daily Record/Sunday News reporters are encouraged by editors to make wise and frequent use of FOIA requests to supplement their investigative work. Each one, writes Rob Walters, the paper’s business editor, computer-assisted reporting editor, and investigative projects editor, “is a lesson in how the process works and how to use the act successfully.” In the paper’s coverage of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s delayed notification about the threat of a terrorist attack on nearby Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 (nuclear) reactor and the county’s grand jury investigation of the York’s 1969 racial riots and murders, Walters explains how reporters used FOIA requests to bring previously withheld information and records to readers’ attention. An accompanying box offers a range of tips about how journalists can most effectively make FOIA filings. ■

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 65 Words & Reflections

WATCHDOG When Fighting is Glimpsed From a Different Perspective In setting out to better understand the roots of the Iraqi resistance, a journalist learns how controlling the press can affect the course of events.

By Patrick Graham

n the fall of 2003, I was driving direction, isn’t that right? In Arabic we bombs were on another scale of large. between Ramadi and Fallujah in say ‘shather mather.’” One felt their power. Mohammed was Ian old pick-up with Mohammed, After such an attack, I wasn’t eager to right: This was death. a man in his late 30’s who was part of get too close to the U.S. Army, especially His was also a comment about tac- a small resistance group fighting the riding with someone like Mohammed. tics. In May 2003, he and 15 others had U.S. Army. There’d been an attack on But he stopped the car and stared at the formed a resistance group and began an army convoy earlier that day, and tank. “Wouldn’t it make you angry to laying Improvised Explosive Devices American tanks had blocked the road have a foreign army here, doing this?” he (IED) on the highways and roads of to protect soldiers from further attacks asked me, as he looked my way, smiling. Al Anbar, Iraq’s western province. By and caused a traffic jam on the highway. He seemed to like making me nervous. September, he confided, they had car- Young boys carrying metal bowls went After we’d pulled back a bit and stopped, ried out about 20 “operations,” the up and down the line of hundreds of I asked what he was thinking. term Iraqis use for attacks on American parked cars offering free water to the “I like to get close to the tanks,” he troops. As the fall progressed, Moham- people in them. This was a display of said, his eyes still on its muzzle. “It gives med lost count. traditional Iraqi hospitality, now part of a feeling that we are humans, that we “Do you think you can beat the the nervous carnival atmosphere that are fighting for our rights. And it makes Americans?” I asked Mohammed. prevailed each time U.S. soldiers were us feel free—not dependent on Saddam “That,” he replied, “is a very difficult attacked along this highway. Hussein and his forces.” question.” If someone shot at the soldiers, heavy This seemed a strange answer, formal I met Mohammed, who is now in machine guns would open up with their and cryptic in Mohammed’s way. And Abu Ghraib prison, through relatives hollow jackhammer thuds to drive bul- it reminded me of something he’d told of his. We spent a lot of time together lets the size of a thumb through cars me: “We have a saying—the people of because he wanted to explain why he and people, tearing everything apart. Mecca know the most about Mecca.” In was fighting Americans. Others in his This happened along this road a few Arabic, there is a saying for everything, group were angry with him for talking times a week. Locals now called it the most of them untranslatable. What this to a Westerner. They viewed me as a po- “Highway of Death.” Up ahead we could one meant is that this is his land, and no tential spy. Mohammed spoke English, see a large truck with a crane removing one can come here and expect to know so this meant he didn’t have to worry the wreckage of a charred Humvee from it the way he does, a local farm kid who about whether or not a translator would a bridge where it had been blown up a grew up hunting ducks and hanging out betray him. I was living in Baghdad and few hours earlier. with his cousins by the river. would make trips to his village, where I Mohammed seemed focused on a stayed with a young sheik whom I had swiveling turret and huge barrel point- Reporting on the Resistance met during the war. ing down the road at us from 30 yards From these visits, it became clear to away as we inched slowly toward a road- Beginning during the late summer, I’d me by early August that what was hap- blocking M1 Abrams tank. Mohammed spent hundreds of hours with Moham- pening around Fallujah and Ramadi pondered the symbols and writing on med. We had talked about politics and was very different than the way it was the tank, talking aloud as he did this. “I “friendships” between men and women being reported in the Western press. In guess they draw the skull to make the in the West, but until this day I’d never part, this could be explained by the fact feeling inside of anyone who sees it that gone near the U.S. Army with him. To do that when the attacks began against U.S. this is death, like pirates,” said Moham- so was like we’d crossed some line, gone soldiers that summer there seemed to med, pointing to a skull and crossbones up to the edge of the looking glass and be some reluctance on the part of the stenciled on the tank’s armor. “What is peered in. On the other side, everything Western press to cover it. Nor were ‘helter-skelter’—it means going in every was bigger—the tanks, the guns, and the many journalists spending much time

66 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror reporting on those who were members people there, in general, turned strongly already described the town as one full of the resistance forces. And there were against the occupation-government. of Saddam-loving Baathists, foreign reasons for this, too. fighters, and jihadis who needed to be Reporting about the Iraqi resistance Defining the Resistance shown a lesson or two. These reporters, was not like it was with other rebel uncertain about exactly who comprised armies who are often media-conscious But the complicated roots of this dis- the resistance, had relied too heavily on and go out of their way to court the content weren’t reflected in much of the confusing, simplified portrait given Western press. In part, this was because the Western media. To Western eyes by the U.S. Army, who were themselves, there was no central command or and ears, Fallujah and Ramadi became after all, attempting to demonize the en- goal—these forces began as an assort- “bastions of Baathism” or Baathist en- emy to justify the military response. ment of groups that slowly, over time, claves. How accurate was this portrait, People who live in places like Fallujah hooked up together. As a result, it was I wondered, and did Western audiences and Ramadi had a complex relationship very difficult to get an understanding of understand what these descriptions with Saddam. It was just as easy to find their overall strength and their political meant? In using these labels, were jour- people who hated the dictator as those ends, which varied enormously. nalists relying on some kind of polling? who missed him. People were techno- Lacking self-definition, the U.S.-led (That was doubtful, given how hard that crats and former army personnel, as well Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) would be to do there.) Had they spent as businessmen, who saw no future in and the U.S. Army stepped in and por- more than a day or two in this region of the new Iraq. Of course, as time went trayed them in ways they believed would Iraq? How many people had they talked on and fighting intensified, Saddam best “play” with an American domestic with? Did they mean to imply that the grew more popular. And as attacks on audience. And definitions shifted, given Duleimi and Jumeili tribes had the same U.S. troops increased, descriptive terms the timing and circumstance of each relation to Saddam? What about the like “former regime element” (FRE) and characterization. Resistance fighters recalcitrant Albuweisi that had caused “anti-Iraqi forces” (AIF) came into more were branded “Saddam loyalists,” which trouble for Saddam? general use among spokesmen for the was certainly true in some cases. They Details such as these—important to U.S. Army and CPA. Bizarre press re- could also be described broadly as “for- understanding the dynamics of what leases were handed out in which Iraqis eign fighters,” again true, but only in a was happening here—were rarely, if attacking American soldiers were called relatively small number of cases. As time ever, delved into by Western reporters. AIF—Iraqis called anti-Iraqis because went by, they could be labeled as being Interestingly, once the religious aspect they were fighting non-Iraqis. “Taliban-like,” true for a small group of of the resistance was made visible to This pattern of defining the enemy conservative Islamists but not true of Western eyes, those who lived in Fal- before he defines himself turned out to someone like Mohammed or others in lujah were transformed suddenly into be a remarkably effective way of con- his group to whom he introduced me. jihadis who wanted to set up a Taliban- trolling press coverage. To explain, for Amid such confusing and shifting labels, like state. instance, that this rebellion had tribal it became very easy for the U.S. Army Neither of these extreme charac- and religious aspects to it, a journalist and the CPA to put forward a simpli- terizations—the secular or the reli- would first have had to write around fied “Good Guy/Bad Guy” caricature gious—reflected reality. What they the Good Guy/Bad Guy terminology of the conflict, which, in actuality, had demonstrated, instead, was the confu- (which became formal U.S. Army word- complexities to it that were important sion of journalists and the need felt by ing) and then explain the tribal history for Americans to understand. Yet these many of them to dramatize a complex under Saddam and delve into the com- caricatures went relatively unchallenged situation in simpler language in order plexities within Sunni Arab culture (a by most of the Western media. to make themselves sound knowledge- Sufi/Selafie split). Even finding the word After spending a few months away able and keep their news organizations to use to describe the anti-American from Iraq—having reported from there dramatically engaged. fighters became a source of confusion as the troops moved toward Baghdad—I Reporting in Fallujah reached a nadir and debate. Were they rebels? But that returned in August of last year and came when a major U.S. newspaper reported was too American sounding. Were they to report in this area. What I saw and that a group of Iranians had attacked forming a “resistance”? No, that was heard hadn’t been reported much. The the city’s police station in the spring of too anti-Nazi sounding. Or were they people in the area were involved in a 2004. This was an absurd proposition insurgents and terrorists, the preferred complicated debate, often occurring and, of course, it hadn’t happened. terms of the U.S. administration? among family members, about whether But the overall portrait of the area was During the fall of 2003, some jour- or not to support the U.S. occupation one in which extremists of one kind or nalists in the house in Baghdad where and make money (the default position another were in charge—it really didn’t I was living invited a bright, ambitious of the traders and contractors in this matter which group it was. When the Englishman for dinner who worked area) or to fight. But when the U.S. Army Marines went into Fallujah in April 2004 in the media department of the CPA. (the 82nd Airborne Division) hit back and killed hundreds of its residents (we He stayed impressively on message all hard against those who decided to fight, don’t know how many), reporters had dinner, determined that that it was an

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 67 Words & Reflections

“insurgency” run by “terrorists.” It was journalists. I was in the bureau of an me up. pretty clear that he had no idea who they American newspaper when the paper Another worry I had was the level were, but the nomenclature gave him pulled an unpopular (with the CPA) of surveillance carried out by U.S. a kind of certainty that was impressive. journalist from an embed with a mili- military intelligence. Did they listen to The rest of us, mostly freelance journal- tary unit because the White House had journalists’ satellite phones? Were they ists, were not so certain. supposedly contacted that unit directly. watching our e-mails? I think I had a very The truth is that journalists reporting Now the newspaper was worried for his exaggerated sense of their capabilities on these battles didn’t know who they safety. The bureau chief also decided at first. I was worried, too, that I would were. As a result, many news outlets to “lay off” the CPA that week, which somehow expose the people’s families turned to the U.S. Army that, it turned meant not running any critical stories to the violent and often incompetent out, was no better informed or, if they for a while. force of a U.S. military raid. All of this were, were not about to share what they Another problem about researching made me extremely paranoid. Had the knew honestly. the resistance was checking the facts army, particularly the 82nd Airborne Di- of what you were being told. How was vision that operated in this area, raided Challenges for Journalists it possible to be certain the people their houses, there was a pretty good you were talking with were attacking chance that someone in their family was Reporting in Iraq following the inva- Americans? To deal with this, a very going to get killed, since these kinds of sion/liberation was like walking into a good reporter I met decided to only deaths happened on a regular basis. fog bank after leaving a dark room—it write stories about resistance fighters seemed brighter than before, but when who had been killed. That was better for Underestimating the your eyes adjusted you were still stuck fact-checking but difficult for interviews. Resistance in the gloom. Everybody had a different The easiest way would be to go out view of what happened under Saddam, with the mukawama, and that is what Throughout the fall, it was difficult to what was happening under the Ameri- reporters do in other countries. They gauge how U.S. forces were doing in cans, and what would happen next. hang out with the rebels. But after 30 the growing guerilla war in Ramadi Without an agreed upon history, it was years of Saddam’s dictatorship, Iraqis and Fallujah. Because I lived in Ra- hard to come up with a cogent sense tended to be very paranoid, especially madi for a few weeks in September, I about what is going on now. those in the resistance. quickly realized that there was major, Few American reporters, with the I had other concerns, as well. How underreported insurgency going on. notable exception of The Washington could I prove to an editor that people Yet listening to the press conferences, Post’s Anthony Shadid, spoke Arabic. like Mohammed were actually in the there was a clear sense that the U.S. The rest of us were unlikely to have mukawama, unless, of course, I went on Army was beating the Bad Guys. Out a candid discussion with an Iraqi an operation? I was reluctant to go on there, operations were happening every while an interpreter listened. It took one of these for a number of reasons. day. By October, maybe even earlier, months before people trusted you It was insanely dangerous, because the my sense was that the army had lost enough to tell you what was going on men I met told me they attacked the control of Fallujah as well as the areas and have you trust what they said or, U.S. Army directly by setting off IED’s, around Ramadi. But because journal- at least, understand where they were then firing rocket-propelled grenades. ists in Baghdad depended primarily on coming from. If Mohammed hadn’t I agreed to go on an attack involving body counts (disproportionately low spoken English, I doubt that I would a train. Somehow this seemed less because of body armor), the frequency have had access to what some of the dangerous. But it was delayed, and I of these attacks went unnoticed until people fighting U.S. troops were actu- missed my chance. November when an astonishing 80 U.S. ally thinking—and even this limited However, the offer brought up a soldiers were killed. And, even then, understanding involved hundreds of number of journalistic problems that the full strength of the mukawama was hours of hanging out, driving around, I’ve not seen well examined. In other underestimated. or sitting in people’s houses. wars, going with a rebel group is stan- Had the U.S. media demanded the There were a number of other prob- dard work. But if reporters are arrested army to show more evidence of the lems for journalists who wanted to write in occupied Iraq with a group of men “foreign fighters” in Ramadi and Fal- about the resistance, which people in who have just set off an IED that has lujah and forced them to account for this area of Iraq call the “mukawama.” killed U.S. soldiers, what is their legal their words when they repeatedly said One barrier to move past was the U.S. standing? Are they accessories of some in press conferences that the ‘terror- and CPA propaganda machine with kind? I asked a friend in the Red Cross ists and insurgents’ were unpopular, the enormous time and effort they put this question, but he wasn’t sure. This then the U.S. Army might have had to into micro-managing the media. I’ve seems like new journalistic territory, deal with what was really happening talked to nongovernment organiza- and the lack of clear answers worried there. Perhaps if journalists had been tion workers who were contacted by me, in part, because I was a freelancer more thorough in their questioning the CPA and told not to talk to certain and had no major institution to back and reporting, the army might have

68 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror changed its tactics and stopped shoot- My sense, as a reporter, is that the some remarkable reporting was and is ing as many civilians, rounding them army grew used to acting with impunity being done by journalists working in up in large numbers for no reason (ac- and having its interpretation of the very dangerous situations in a complex cording to the Red Cross 90 percent guerrilla war repeated almost verbatim. cultural environment. Increasingly, a lot of those arrested were innocent), and Essentially, there was little or no genuine of it is being done by the Iraqi staff of humiliating them on a regular basis in check or balance in this part of Iraq. various bureaus, especially translators front of their families. And if this had It wasn’t until June 2004 that senior who go alone into areas where it is too happened, perhaps fewer Iraqis might U.S. officers began to admit publicly dangerous for foreigners to travel. But have joined the resistance as a reaction that they had underestimated the resis- it seems more than coincidence that to the U.S. Army tactics. tance—some nine or 10 months after the area in which American reporting As Mohammed said to me: “The they should have known things were not was often the weakest was also the Americans are our best ally; we should going in their favor. In a way, the army area where the U.S. Army was having give them a medal.” and the CPA were almost too success- its greatest trouble. At times, it seemed as if the occupa- ful at selling their version of events. By As someone who had the rare chance tion army was going out of its way to the end of April, when it became clear to view things from another perspective, anger the local population. And, of how badly things were going in this I would observe that the U.S. media course, when the photos of Abu Ghraib area, it was hard to take what they said portrayed powerfully what it was like surfaced that anger was not possible to seriously any more. to drive around inside American tanks. control, especially in places like Ramadi Another problem was the Western What they failed to do as well was help and Fallujah, where so many people had press itself, whose members were Americans understand more about what been arrested and sent to the prison. caught up in their own pro- or anti-oc- it is like for Iraqis to see the skull and Had the army’s statement received cupation debate. This debate had two crossbones and read “helter skelter” as more scrutiny, they might have looked parts. The European press was, on a turret swivels around and points in for a party to negotiate with instead of the whole, very unsympathetic to the their direction. ■ just “kicking Iraqi ass,” as they claimed U.S.-led occupation, and there was a in press conferences. Iraqis told me they fair amount of anti-American sentiment Patrick Graham, a freelance journal- believed the army made these mistakes that, in turn, made some American ist, wrote “Beyond Fallujah: A Year on purpose so the fighting would con- reporters defensive. Among American With the Iraqi Resistance,” published tinue and U.S. forces could stay in Iraq. journalists there was a debate about the in Harper’s in June 2004. This was one of the many conspiracy war as well as the occupation. These theories Iraqis developed to explain personal debates served to blur the  [email protected] why the United States appeared to be coverage considerably. making so many mistakes. Those Iraqis There were major journalistic fail- I spoke with found it hard to believe ures, too, in the coverage of Ramadi that any group of people could be so and Fallujah. This is not to say that ignorant of their culture. coverage of Iraq was a failure. Obviously, Proposing a Variation on Embedded Reporting Switching from the battlefield to inside a military hospital, we would ‘explore the physical and psychological aftermath of war.’

By Anne Hull

he idea was simple. If the Penta- to the commander at Walter Reed Army the benefit of geography: Almost all gon was embedding journalists Medical Center in Washington, D.C. military casualties funnel through either Twith military units in the invasion The war was seven weeks old when Walter Reed or National Naval Medical of Iraq, why couldn’t it apply the same Tamara and I, both feature writers for Center in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. principle inside the nation’s largest the Post, decided to team up to report Our loose idea was “St. Elsewhere” in military hospital? This was the essence a story about the war wounded being wartime. We’d locate ourselves inside a of the pitch that Tamara Jones, a fellow shipped home from Operation Iraqi military hospital to explore the physical Washington Post reporter, and I made Freedom). Working at the Post, we had and psychological aftermath of war. We

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 69 Words & Reflections

wanted a counterpoint to the ongoing At 5:30 each morning, we began site—a generation of enlisted profes- stories and imagery of tanks rolling making rounds with doctors. Most of sionals grossly inconvenienced by their toward Baghdad and Pentagon officials the soldiers had lost a leg to landmines, injury. The army was their vocation, pointing at maps. It was time for a gut rocket-propelled grenades, or sniper and the American flag was their com- check. The casualties were starting to fire. Some were having additional sur- pany logo. They had been trained and come home. geries for a higher amputation due went willingly, even eagerly, and these In its ambition, the story was a to infection or to prepare the stump were the consequences. Sometimes straightforward feature. But to report for a prosthetic. Bandages had to be we struggled to understand this mind- it required special access. Aside from a changed daily, often with the help of set. Here was Lt. Fernandez, a former few brief interviews, no journalists had a morphine injection. These initial lacrosse captain at West Point, who been given prolonged access to soldiers few days of reporting involved a lot came home from Iraq with bandaged at Walter Reed since the war started. To of quiet observation out of respect for feet but, 12 surgeries later, both legs make matters more difficult, Pfc. Jessica the soldiers’ privacy. While we gave the were amputated. Nurses on Ward 57 Lynch had recently been admitted, and soldiers plenty of space early on, we broke hospital rules by slipping a cot the hospital was in a tighter lockdown hounded the doctors and nurses with into Fernandez’s room so that his new than normal. The final hurdle was numerous questions. wife, Kristi, could sleep next to him. As HIPAA, a new federal patient privacy After meeting a dozen soldiers, we Fernandez got stronger, he moved from law that had just taken effect and would narrowed our focus to three, each dis- a bed to a wheelchair. He expressed seriously limit our ability to even be tinct in personality, rank and resolve. only stoicism. We reminded ourselves near patients. First Lt. John Fernandez was a West that we were witnessing the first phase We met with Major General Kevin Point graduate and newlywed who’d of a long journey. Maybe anger would Kiley at Walter Reed to make our request. lost both legs in a rocket attack. Pfc. come later, maybe it wouldn’t. We brought clips and offered references. Garth Stewart was a ground-pounder During the 15 days we spent at Wal- We promised nothing except fairness who loved combat and philosophy. Pfc. ter Reed, Tamara and I tried to pierce and sensitivity. Driving home from that Danny Roberts was a bookish reservist through the “Band of Brothers” mental- meeting, Tamara and I put our chances who had the most trouble dealing with ity that seemed to inhabit this ward. I at 50-50. Why would the government his injury. now believe many of the soldiers were let us write about the realities of war? As with all reporting—but especially still in some form of shock. The one Working in our favor was the fact that narrative reporting—it was crucial to place you could see them confront- the embedding concept was generally witness firsthand as much as possible. ing their new limitations was physical viewed as successful. After two long We had the good fortune, too, of having therapy. Some cried. Some yelled in weeks, we received the green light, with Post photographer Michael Lutzky work agony. Some just lay on the tables and one disappointing caveat: We would be with us. As time went by, the three of us stared at the ceiling. shadowed at all times by either a public roamed unaccompanied through most We consciously wanted to avoid affairs officer (PAO) or a judge advocate of the hospital, unencumbered by the either extreme of hyper-patriotism or general (JAG) officer. We agreed. The PAO or JAG officer. We had either earned ironic cynicism. But some truths were second blow came on our first day of their trust or outlasted their stamina. hard to ignore. The White House talked reporting. President Bush announced In many ways, Walter Reed was like of a decisive victory in Iraq while the that major combat operations in Iraq any hospital. There were moments planeloads of wounded kept coming. were over. But what seemed like terrible of human suffering, peak drama, and Every day at Walter Reed, we watched timing for this story actually turned out numbing boredom. The main difference members of Congress and other gov- to be a haunting theme. Though major was that these patients were linked to ernment officials make the rounds on combat operations were over, the casu- each other by the same brutal circum- Ward 57, at times waking soldiers up to alties kept coming. stance. They had crossed the sands of shake their hand so that a photograph Iraq as whole men and they had come could be taken. Soldiers combed their Embedded at the Hospital home physically compromised. Now hair for Secretary of Defense Donald they were all lying under the same Rumsfeld’s visit but it was Jim Mayer, Walter Reed is a 147-acre compound. fluorescent lights on the fifth floor at a double-amputee from Vietnam, in To have tried to write about the whole Walter Reed, with CNN flickering live whom they really confided. As young as hospital would have diluted the po- from Baghdad. The parallel worlds were the soldiers were, their radar was acute tential impact of the material. After a always toggling. enough to sniff out frauds and glad- few days of reporting, we decided to handers. They saved their confidences locate our entire story on Ward 57, the Interweaving Layers of the for other soldiers. orthopedic ward where amputees are Story Ward 57 had plenty of humor. One treated. There is probably no other place soldier, newly dosed with morphine, in the hospital that reveals with more We expected the soldiers to have some asked if any Playboy bunnies were in nakedness the after-tremors of war. bitterness. We found mostly the oppo- the house. When Hulk Hogan visited

70 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror

Publishing the Soldiers’ Stories

After our three soldiers were discharged, we did some follow-up reporting and then spent three weeks writing the story. We struggled to find a unified voice be- tween two writers. We disagreed over what emotional trigger points were important or not. Editor Mary Hadar kept the train on the tracks. Our story ran as a two-day series on the front page of the Post, accompanied by wrenching photos. The Post received a lot of mail. Veterans wrote to say thanks for paying respect to our nation’s warriors. Those who opposed the war wrote similar notes of gratitude. Both “sides” felt that their “truths” had been aired. A closing note: When our story was Garth Stewart shows his buddies his new leg after they returned home to Fort Benning published in July 2003, Walter Reed from their tour in Iraq. Photo by Michael Lutzky/Courtesy of The Washington Post. had treated 650 battle casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). As I write this essay, Walter Reed has just released its weekly bulletin, dated Au- the ward, he looked down at a young No soldier was willing to publicly gust 30, 2004, with its number of OIF private who’d lost his foot to a land criticize the United States or the decision casualties treated: 3,403. ■ mine and growled, “They’ll fix that flat to go to war. Our reporting took place tire and get you runnin’ again.” Such before the mission became so messy Anne Hull, a 1995 Nieman Fellow, logic from a man with orange skin was and prolonged and before the various is a national correspondent for The much appreciated. The soldiers’ jubila- reports on the flawed intelligence that Washington Post. tion over the ridiculous was a profound led the United States to invade Iraq. reminder that most of them were just Returning to Ward 57 now might yield 19 or 20-year-olds. a different story.  [email protected]

Documenting the Experiences of Military Families ‘… as I set out to tell this story, I soon discovered that the voices of military children were all but invisible.’

By Barbara Walsh

ne little girl could barely talk. ing to relatives, teachers, parents. My had soldiers deployed in Iraq with the Another boy was too shy to reporting would focus on observing the Maine Army National Guard. I learned Ospeak. A preschooler wanted to children in their homes, seeing their as I reported this story that there were play hide and seek rather than answer artwork, visiting with them in their many kids who were depressed, unable my questions. These were the kids I’d bedrooms, and having them show me to sleep or eat, who cried every time chosen to write about, and reporting their treasured possessions. mom or dad called from Iraq. Young their stories would require a lot more My assignment for the Portland children who demanded: “You come than a reliance on their words. Much (Maine) Press Herald this spring was home right now, Daddy!” Many of these of my narrative would come from talk- to write about military families who children were receiving counseling from

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 71 Words & Reflections

private or National Guard-sponsored them, I learned that during the first few buy you a mocking bird. If that mocking agencies. months of her parent’s absence, two- bird don’t sing, momma’s going to buy “A lot of these kids are having prob- year-old Emily often asked: “Where’s you a diamond ring ….” Emily Wilkin- lems,” a National Guard spokesman Mommy? Where’s Daddy?” At times, son kissed the recorder, “Mommy,” the said. “If they’re four or five, they don’t Olivia told her parents angrily on the two-year-old said affectionately, as if her understand why mommy or daddy phone: “I miss you. You come home mother walked in the room. isn’t coming home. If they’re 8, 10, or right now!” Olivia also had occasional “You are my sunshine, my only sun- 11, they can be mad and have trouble bad dreams about her parents. She said shine,” her mother crooned. “You’ll expressing themselves.” her dreams were too bad for her to want never know how much I love you. Yet as I set out to tell this story, I soon to talk about. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” discovered that the voices of military During my two visits to the girls’ Olivia hummed along with her mother. children were all but invisible. I found home, I brought a video camera to “I love you Olivia,” Alicia Wilkinson’s few articles on how they were coping record them. I knew their words and recorded voice told her daughters. “I with the absence of their parents, who thoughts about their parents would be love you Emily.” were serving in Iraq. Early on, I sensed precious and few. I wanted to be able to The tape ended and the girls kissed that reporting for this series of articles play back scenes, capture their expres- the recorder again. Olivia whispered: would be a challenge, but I believed sions, hear their voices. The girls didn’t “Good night Mommy.” that these children’s stories deserved mind the video camera since their aunt The story about the girls ran on to be heard. The guard spokesman and uncle often videotaped them for Mother’s Day. It prompted a lot of agreed, telling me: “People talk about their parents. readers, including the girls’ mother, our soldiers being heroes, but these Instead of talking about her feelings to cry. But the article also helped read- kids, these families are heroes. They’re during my first visit, Olivia wanted to ers understand how two little sisters making huge sacrifices, too.” play hide and seek with me. I played struggled to get by while their parents I had done plenty of reporting on a quick game and then asked her and were far away. children and teenagers and knew that Emily to show me their bedrooms. I Michael Kelley was older than Olivia interviewing kids is often unpredict- followed them upstairs, videotaping and Emily but he, too, wrestled with his able and called for a lot of creative ap- Emily as she ran down the hallway. She sadness and anger. Michael was 11. To proaches to reporting. This story was pointed to a map and collage hang- his dad, Michael has always been “Bud.” no different. I had to make repeated ing on the wall. A photograph of her In the winter, they ice-fished. In the sum- visits to their homes and search for mother and father, smiling, their heads mer, they camped and played ball. After ways to make them feel comfortable tilted together, was taped to the Iraqi his father left for Iraq, Michael cried for with me and my questions about their map. Above their picture hung a map of two weeks. He cried in the morning, at sadness and fear. Maine. A photo of Emily and her sister night, and at school. He called his mom Olivia was also taped there. Emily pulled daily from the school nurse’s office. “I Children Reveal Their the picture of her parents off the Iraqi have a stomach-ache, I want to come Feelings map and kissed their faces with a loud home,” he’d tell her. For two weeks, smack: “Mommy. Daddy.” Each night he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t eat. He During my work on these articles about she and Olivia take the picture down. didn’t want to leave his home. military families, I met two sisters, Emily “We give them a good-night kiss,” Olivia “He was incredibly sad,” his mother, and Olivia Wilkinson. Their mom and told me. Kim Kelley, remembered. His mother dad, who both serve in the National I also asked to see the children’s told Michael that his father was working Guard, left for Iraq in January. They will drawings and crafts they’d made for hard in Iraq, building orphanages and be overseas for more than a year. Emily their mother and father. It was when I schools. “I’m proud of him,” Michael was two, and her older sister, Olivia, asked about the girls’ daily rituals that said. “But why does he have to be gone was four. I wanted to write about them, I learned about the “Mommy Tape.” so long?” but their grandmother discouraged me: Before going to bed each night, the A grief counselor explained to me “They’re too young,” she said. “Emily girls gathered around a tape recorder that when a young child’s mother or fa- can barely talk.” to listen to their mother sing songs she ther is away for 18 months, this time can I found their story was too power- had recorded before she left for Iraq. seem like forever to a kid. The temporary ful to abandon. Once their mother One of the most compelling scenes in loss may also stir the same emotions approved of it in an e-mail from Iraq, I the story resulted from watching them that a death in the family brings—grief, visited their home. The girls were eating listen to the tapes. Teeth brushed, paja- anger, sadness, confusion and fear. dinner and had little to say to me as I mas on, they were lying on their parents’ These children suffered everyday losses. asked about their parents who were far bed and resting their heads on the small Their dads weren’t there to tuck them away. Instead, I talked with their aunt black recorder as their mother’s voice into bed at night. Their mothers weren’t and uncle, who were caring for them softly sang to them: “Hush little baby there to hug them when they got off the until their mom and dad returned. From don’t say a word. Momma’s going to school bus. Their fathers missed Boy

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Scout ceremonies and father-daughter his father because it hurt too much. your Daddy, talk to your bear and your dances. They missed birthdays, holi- Instead, he read his dad’s messages that Daddy will hear you.” days, graduations. said, “I love you and miss you.” And Victoria took the bear to school, on the one that told him, “I’m proud of car rides, sat him at the dinner table, Missing Their Father you,” congratulating him on becoming and held him as she watched Sponge a Boy Scout. Bob cartoons. Before bed, she hugged When I showed up at Michael’s home Michael looked more serious now, the bear, telling him: “Goodnight Daddy. to speak with him about his dad, his his mother said. Different. At times, I love you.” Still there were difficult mother warned me that he was shy. He he’d ask his mom if he could do his days that even the Daddy Bear could rarely spoke about his father and how dad’s old chores. He took out the trash, not soften. The night Victoria attended much he missed him. I asked Michael washed the dishes, and asked to do the the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance if we could talk in his room. Michael snow blowing. Eventually he began was one of them. Her mother curled sat on his bottom bunk bed, bending writing his dad more e-mails and one Victoria’s hair, pulled it up in a ponytail the legs of plastic action figures. His week used some of his money to buy with ringlets that fell to her shoulders. brown eyes peered at me nervously from his father a box of candy, peanuts and They sprinkled glitter on her cheeks, behind his glasses. I asked him about gum. Michael drew a picture of himself, and she wore a wrist corsage with tiny his two guinea pigs, who scrambled a brown-haired boy with glasses, and pink roses. in their cage on top of his bureau. He wrote: “Hello Daddy. I love you.” She headed out the door smiling, explained that his mom bought him While talking to Kim about her holding her uncle’s hand. But once the pets a few weeks after his dad left, son, she explained that her six-year- she arrived at the gymnasium, the sight and he quietly told me that his new old daughter had her own difficulties of a roomful of fathers and daughters pets gave him something else to think with the temporary loss of her father. dancing overwhelmed her. She began about besides the many months he’ll Michael’s younger sister, Victoria, didn’t to cry hysterically. “It reminds me too be separated from his father. understand that her dad was going much of Daddy,” she told her uncle. “I Michael was silent and staring at his to be gone for a year and a half. She can’t stay here.” Later, she explained to sneakers. I looked around his room thought he’d only be away a short time, her mom, “All the girls were with their and asked him about the army helmet like last year when he went away for daddies and I wasn’t with mine.” and the desert camouflage uniform National Guard training. When three The story about Michael and Victoria that rested on a nearby shelf. Michael months passed, she too began crying Kelley was published this past spring, gingerly picked up the shirt. “It’s my in the morning and at night. For weeks and it also prompted several readers Dad’s. He gave it to me before he left.” before she went to bed, Victoria asked to write the newspaper. Many of them He pulled the shirt over his head. It her mom: “Did you put the house hadn’t considered how the war would hung on his thin frame, the sleeves alarm on?” tear up families. The articles also helped draped over his hands. “I wore it to “She just didn’t feel safe,” her mother Michael and Victoria’s friends and teach- school yesterday,” he explained, sitting said. “I told her that Daddy wouldn’t ers understand a bit more about their up straight to show the right pocket leave us if he didn’t think we were OK.” sadness, the daily losses they faced that read: Kelley. “It’s kinda heavy, but One night as her mother tucked her without their dad. “A lot of people forget it feels good on,” he said. into bed, Victoria asked: “Will Daddy about the kids,” their mother said. “They When asked how he felt when his get shot?” Her mother paused. “Daddy realize there is a war going on and the dad had to leave, Michael eyed his is going to take every precaution,” she soldiers are over in Iraq, but they forget socks and answered softly: “Nothing said. “He’s going to stay safe.” about how all this affects the families. really.” He fell silent, touching the cuff Victoria nodded and said her These stories helped people see that of his dad’s uniform before reluctantly prayers: “God Bless Daddy, Michael, the war affects all of us, especially the admitting: “In the beginning, yeah it and Mommy.” children.” ■ was hard. The first few weeks I didn’t I learned too that each night a get much sleep.” brown stuffed bear sat on the corner Barbara Walsh is projects writer for The interview with Michael lasted of Victoria’s bed. Dressed in a desert the Portland Press Herald/Maine less than 30 minutes, and I knew I was camouflage uniform, it watched over Sunday Telegram. She has worked for going to have to get a lot of background the red-haired girl as she slept. Victoria newspapers in Massachusetts, Flori- from his mother. I sat with her while called it “My Daddy Bear.” Christmas da and Maine and has won several Michael played outside. She explained morning she and her brother had national awards. She was part of The that Michael had buried his emotions found two stuffed bears sitting beside (Lawrence) Eagle-Tribune reporting about his dad. Once he told her: “I just the tree. Santa left them. Tucked inside team that won a Pulitzer Prize in the think about him. I think about the day their desert uniform pocket was a note: General News Reporting category in he is going to come back.” His mother “Dear Victoria and Michael, whenever 1988. said that during the first few weeks after you’re sad, hug your bear and your his dad left, Michael couldn’t e-mail Daddy will feel it. Whenever you miss  [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 73 Words & Reflections ‘Homeland’ A journalist reveals America in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

By Dale Maharidge

t the end of 2001, I drove west mayor of a Chicago suburb who stood Dale Maharidge, a 1988 Nieman over the George Washington up for Muslims and paid a heavy price. Fellow, is currently working on a ABridge, into homeland America. There was a white nationalist who said book about a small town in Iowa. Fifteen weeks had passed since I’d stood he’d work with Farrakhan to fight the “Homeland” was published by Seven on my uptown rooftop and watched the Patriot Act. Stories Press in May 2004. Mahari- second tower fall. That day my gaze was My photographic collaborator, Mi- dge has had four books published, drawn beyond the New Jersey Palisades; chael Williamson, and I had spent more including “Homeland,” with Michael I wondered about the middle of the than a quarter of a century documenting Williamson, a staff photographer at country. I knew that a genie had been America. That work was merely prepara- The Washington Post. One of those uncorked, that we were about to see tion for “Homeland.” I wrote it as if the books, “And Their Children After new evidence of what novelist Philip future of our country depended upon Them,” won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize Roth calls the “indigenous American it, and I don’t mean this in a self-aggran- for General Nonfiction. Maharidge berserk.” dizing way. Our nation’s fate depends will be teaching at Columbia Univer- I drove thousands of miles and talked on what all of us do journalistically in sity’s Gradute School of Journalism with hundreds of people in the next the next few years. There is the obvious in January. few years. There was anarchist Katie watchdog reporting needed in Washing- Sierra, 15, in West Virginia, who wore a ton—but of equal importance, all across  [email protected] protest T-shirt to high school and ended America, journalists must document up with a city hating her. There was the fear and anger that is driving our Dean Koldenhoven, 67, the Republican nationalism. ■

A farmer’s truck, painted after a neighbor’s son was killed in the Iraq War. Winchester, Virginia. Photo by Michael Williamson.

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of the nationalism I was seeing in the angry citizens. The rally with the rawest display of nationalism happened just a week before Christmas 2001, on West 49th Street across from the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was a Saturday, the streets jammed with tourists who’d come to watch the skaters on the ice rink, to drink hot toddies—not to see several hundred ANSWER [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism] people and others penned in by a ring of cops. The mood was ugly. As a hostile bystander argued with a protestor, call- ing him a traitor, another man began screaming from the other side of the barricade. “Get the fuck out of the country! Get out!” Josh bellowed to the gathering Bonneville Salt Flats, Tooele County, Utah. Photo by Michael Williamson. protestors. He was red-faced, sputter- ing. I asked Josh why he was here. “I was down at Ground Zero. I’ve seen a lot of fucking friends die.” These excerpts and photographs are • Don’t Mess With The U.S., with a Josh is a paramedic. He told me and from Dale Maharidge’s book, “Home- fighter jet in the middle my friend, photographer John Trotter, land.” • Peace fingers, the Churchillian V for about how he waited to help survivors victory, in red, white, and blue at a base medical center set up at Liberty lags snapping. From poles. An- • God Bless America Plaza for casualties that never came. In tennas. • These Colors Don’t Run the weeks that followed, he spiraled F USA. • No Nukes, in the center of a circle into a depression. He rolled up his left Freedom. with a slash through it pant leg, showed a tattoo: 9-11-01 in You can choose between any of • Justice Will Prevail blue, two-inch numbers. one newspaper in most cities. You can • America Stands Tall “Take a fucking picture of that,” he choose between any two bookstores. • Let’s Roll said. John did. “Day of infamy. And Any of three office supply outlets. Any • Proud To Be American people out here protesting. The cops Wal-Mart. Home Depot. Or Lowes. A that died. The firefighters. People who Big Mac. Whopper. Fries. The manufacturers hedged bets—a cleaned shit for a living, making $300 Freedom. Just another word for noth- little. The results of the “decal poll”: a week. What happens? They’re dead. ing left to choose. of the 16 decals in the box, three were There’s still more to come. There are Flags were for sale everywhere. In the “liberal,” in the form of two No Nukes sleeper cells here.” weeks after 9/11, they were simple flags and one “peace fingers.” The protest began. Josh resumed in the form of peel-off decals and cloth. USA. Land of the Free. Pee in a bottle if screaming at a series of speakers. A cop Sales were brisk. But by that December, you want the job. Cameras watch. From nudged Josh across 49th Street. Ameri- truck stops across the country uniformly bridges. In rest areas. Malls. At work. can flags waved in the breeze above a reported to me that sales had fallen. “For your protection.” Santa Claus ringing a bell. A speaker Within a year, manufacturers got We must truly be free. If they watch talked about justice, not war. creative. At a Sheetz gas station in over us so carefully. … “Justice, not war!?” Josh sputtered. Breezewood, Pennsylvania, we found “What does that mean? It doesn’t make a box of flag motif window-stick decals any sense!” at $2.99 each. They were the size of an The passersby rooted him on. open hand, with rubber suction cups certainly had no answers. What did “You tell them!” used to affix them to auto and truck anyone really know? In that fall and A speaker now said, “No to scapegoat- glass. These were exactly like the Baby I winter of 2001, all I could do was ing of Arab-Americans.” On Board decals one saw in car windows watch and talk and absorb the anger “What planet is that guy on?” a pass- during the 1980’s: and confusion, and try to make sense erby asked loudly to a companion.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 75 Words & Reflections

Now someone sang a civil rights song “How can you allow them to do the loudest speakers. When Michael about marching on Montgomery and this!?” one woman screamed at a cop. Ratner, an attorney with the Center Selma. Then a few people unfurled a The people in the crowd were ready to for Constitutional Rights took the Mumia Abu-Jamal banner on two poles. abandon the U.S. Constitution. The Bill microphone, he talked quietly about Suddenly, Mumia’s face was grinning of Rights. Give up everything America America’s role in the world. He asked directly at Josh across the street. stands for. And this wasn’t only hap- why we are hated, about how our poli- “There’s a cop killer right there! A pening in New York. cies are affecting impoverished people convicted cop killer!” … The crowd was angrier than it across the globe. Josh positively gyrated. had been an hour earlier. A speaker “We’re creating terrorists,” Ratner “Don’t you have a brain?” talked about the Afghan bombing, ask- calmly said. “We have to look at why.” A woman speaker talked about the ing, “Does it justify killing innocent The crowd across 49th Street went 1960’s. children?” ballistic, all the way back to the tree half “Different time, lady!” Josh hol- “It does justify it!” a woman walking a block distant. The Santa stopped ring- lered. behind Josh barked. ing her bell and waved a fist, shouting. The message was locked in the past. These comments came not from red- It was mean and nasty. There was little about the present. This necks, but geeks and little blue-haired “Boo! Boo! Boo!” went on for a long time. The reaction ladies who suddenly sprouted Freddie A spontaneous cheer went up. of the crowd was not simply dislike. It Krueger voices. “USA! USA! USA!” was seething. But the biggest boos came not from It sounded like a football crowd. ■

WATCHDOG CBS Lets the Pentagon Taint Its News Process In acquiescing to government requests for two broadcast delays, CBS News erred.

By Stephen J. Berry

ana Roberson, the veteran They must be especially protective of set and the story had been completed CBS associate producer who this decision-making process when except for the Pentagon’s response. Dobtained the notorious Abu bad news is about to emerge, for that The Abu Ghraib photos showed Ameri- Ghraib prisoner abuse photos, de- is when government tries to use its can military police forcing nude Iraqi scribes herself as a “spontaneous type” influence to lessen a story’s impact on prisoners into humiliating and sexually of newsperson. “I’m like, okay, let’s go public reaction. By resisting such ef- explicit poses, revealing what Roberson with it,” she said in a recent interview forts, editors and producers protect the calls “the ugly side of war.” This story at her office in New York. public’s right to an independent press raised important questions about the That instinct drives most good and shield the news against government administration’s management of the journalists. It is the force behind what manipulation. war. When broadcast, it proved pivotal Richard Hanley, director of journalism The Bush administration has been to shifts in public opinion about the war and e-media at Quinnipiac University in masterful at managing war news. It has and the handling of its aftermath. Connecticut, calls “the natural tempo leaked false prewar information to bol- Such newsroom practices by CBS and rhythm” of the news process. When ster its argument that Iraq had weapons do have an affect on the media’s cred- it flows as it should, a journalist gets of mass destruction, embedded journal- ibility as an independent purveyor of a story idea, gathers and verifies the ist with frontline units, and prohibited news. They influence how other news facts, and submits the story for edit- shooting photographs of flag-draped outlets might respond to similar pres- ing. The news organization publishes coffins of dead soldiers. sures by demonstrating how they dealt it without delay and lets the chips fall When the Abu Ghraib prison story was with government efforts to manage where they may. about to break, the Pentagon twice— the news process. “Next time it could Editors normally don’t let anyone during a two-week period—persuaded be four weeks,” said Hanley, a critic of mess with the tempo and rhythm of the CBS to delay airing the photographs on the delays. “CBS has a precedent-set- news process absent compelling evi- its weekly “60 Minutes II” program. By ting impact.” dence that a story, such as one revealing granting the delay, CBS let the govern- Journalists have taken major hits for troop movements or battle plans, would ment interfere with a major story at a their war coverage. In late May, The directly result in dire consequences. point when the broadcast date had been New York Times’s editor, Bill Keller,

76 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror acknowledged that many of its stories and tempo of its news process. In re- from Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. supporting the President’s claim that questing a broadcast delay, Pentagon In a postscript, Rather disclosed that the Iraq had weapons of mass destruction officials cited factors CBS News staff had Pentagon requested the delay because were based on inaccurate informa- discussed, including the tense situation of the “danger and tension” in Iraq, tion from anonymous administration in Iraq and the danger to hostages, and that CBS granted the delay while sources and Iraqi exiles who had a according to Roberson. They also said pressing the department to “add its stake in this position being featured in they wanted more time to arrange for perspective.” such articles. a higher-ranking officer to discuss the Roberson was relieved and exhila- story. Fager granted the delay. rated. Despite the frustrating delays, The Abu Ghraib Story at CBS Upon hearing this, Roberson had the story was a major scoop for her News mixed feelings. “I felt there is never a and “60 Minutes II,” and the plaudits good time to run such a story,” she said. poured in. At the start, CBS News’s Abu Ghraib story “We are journalists. We sometimes have Looking back, Fager said the Pen- followed the network’s normal news to tell tough stories, and these photos tagon’s concerns justified further process. Roberson began the chase in provided eyewitness accounts of what consideration, and the two-week delay February after a source tipped her about was going on.” Iraqi civilians were dying provided time to gather more informa- the photos. She and lead producer Mary almost every day, and Roberson didn’t tion about the military investigations. Mapes traveled to Kuwait and talked to believe the broadcast of these photos He also said he was haunted by the dozens of sources. Finally, someone sent would inflame the situation more thought of denying General Myer’s the photos anonymously to Roberson. than it already was. However, she saw request and then learning about an She and Mapes authenticated them, merit in agreeing with the delay. “But American soldier turning up dead the researched past stories, and conducted I wasn’t sure,” she said, “because once next day with an Abu Ghraib photograph more interviews. After weeks of work, we delayed it, it could be the same thing around his neck. Rejecting any sugges- they had enough nailed down to broad- every week. And we didn’t know then tion that he allowed the Pentagon to cast the story and were ready to get the how many other people would get on manage the news, Fager said, “We ran Pentagon’s response. the story.” The story could have been the story.” Roberson, Mapes, Executive Pro- broadcast with the lieutenant colonel’s Running the story was a no-brainer. ducer Jeffrey Fager, a network attorney, response, but Roberson believed a Roberson and Mapes’ work was the senior producer, and others talked general’s comments would add cred- tough part, and Fager dilly-dallied with about how to report about the photos ibility. Mapes, speaking on the Charlie it for two weeks, acceding to govern- as the ground conflict was heating up Rose television show, said, “We believed ment pressure even after he and other in Iraq. Roberson noted that everyone it was the better part of valor to defer journalists at CBS had considered the understood that this story could have the story for a week.” possibility of major ramifications. More- serious consequences, especially with The week passed. On the day before over, the Pentagon’s claims were weak fighting in Fallujah and Najaf intensify- the rescheduled broadcast, General for a variety of reasons. For one, its fears ing. “We knew this was not going to Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint could apply to many war stories, such make the situation any better,” she said. Chiefs of Staff, spoke with Rather and as those about Iraqi civilians, including Nevertheless, the decision was made asked him to hold off. He again cited the children, falling victim to errant U.S. to broadcast the story on Wednesday, tensions on the ground and danger to firepower. For another, predicting a April 14. hostages. After consulting with Rather story’s impact is futile. New stories Four or five days before this date, about General Myers’ request, Fager have consequences—good and bad, “60 Minutes II” sought the Pentagon’s agreed to another delay. He said top CBS short- and long-term—and they usually perspective. By then, several people, executives, including network president play out in ways that journalists cannot including an American soldier and a Andrew Heyward, were involved in this predict. civilian contractor, had been taken decision. captive by insurgents, and this became Meanwhile, Roberson was feeling The Consequences of the a factor CBS News also brought into antsy and disappointed. “I had these Delay its decision-making process, Roberson pictures and they were burning a hole said. The day before the broadcast, the in me,” she told me. “My feeling was Holding the Abu Ghraib story for this Pentagon agreed to provide a lieutenant to get them on the air and get it over long could have jeopardized the signifi- colonel to respond, and cameras were with. But it is easy to vent when you cance of this news. CBS did not know set up in a hotel across the street from are not the one who has to make the whether the Pentagon’s request was the network’s Washington bureau so decision.” a stall to find a better way to manage CBS News’s Dan Rather could conduct As the third scheduled broadcast date the impact or to allow time for another the interview. approached, CBS News learned other issue to arise that would lessen it. It It was on this day that the network reporters had the story. It broadcast appears that CBS News let the gov- let the government interrupt the rhythm its story on April 28, airing a response ernment frame the decision in such

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 77 Words & Reflections

a way that it could justify continuous plenty of time—four or five days—be- The pressure that the Pentagon ap- delays by claiming the Iraq situation is tween the day “60 Minutes II” first plied to Fager typifies the daily challenge still tense and the insurgents still hold sought a response and the initial broad- to press independence. The press can- American hostages. Indeed, Americans cast date to determine who would offer not be cowed by authority. In granting and hostages from allied nations were in its response. General Myers was also the delays, CBS was trying to be “a captivity well into the summer months. much less accommodating when he good citizen,” Fager said. To be a good Tensions and bombings also continue waited until the day before the second citizen, the press just have to do their despite the transition to an interim Iraq broadcast date to appeal for a second job, which is all most people expect of government. delay. Myers’ request also brought noth- us. Our job is to ferret out the news Delaying the broadcast or publica- ing new to the table except the power and report it as soon as possible, not tion of important stories denies the and prestige of his high office, and this hold it back. Although there was no public an opportunity to assess govern- turned out to be an important factor readily apparent harm from delay of ment officials’ unrehearsed reaction to in Fager’s decision-making. “When the the broadcast of the Abu Ghraib story, stories that call them to account. Such chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff we will never know for sure. That’s why reactions are an integral part of a story. makes a personal plea and says he’s the press should not allow anyone to When CBS went to the Pentagon for a doing it for the safety of our troops, mess with the rhythm and tempo of the response, it was not a journalistic am- you have to listen,” Fager said. news process. ■ bush. The military announced its inves- But Myers’ rank was no reason for tigation into prison abuses in January, Fager to snap to. Military higher-ups Stephen Berry, an associate profes- and it knew about the photos at least deserve respect, but not awe. The sor of journalism at the University of as early as February. By granting these content of Myers’ request, of course, Iowa, teaches reporting, writing and long delays, the Pentagon would have should be “a factor in the equation,” investigative journalism. He was a had the time to consult media managers, said Robert Steele, a journalism values newspaper journalist for more than to carefully script a response, to run it professor at Poynter Institute for Media 33 years, having worked most recent- by focus groups to better gauge how it Studies. “That said, we shouldn’t allow ly for the Los Angeles Times. He and would play, and amend it accordingly. journalistic principles to be eroded a colleague won the 1993 Pulitzer Nor was CBS justified in giving the by those wearing epaulets and stars. Prize for Investigative Reporting. Pentagon more time to put a general in It means you do a quick reanalysis of front of its cameras. The Pentagon had your decision.”  [email protected]

‘Infoganda’ in Uniform The Bush administration creates media outlets to tell its story.

By Charles Zewe

ulticolored bars, one for each The seemingly disparate opera- a trough of products for national, local of the nation’s five military tions are the latest twists in the Bush and military media,” said Lt. Col. Will Mservices, sweep across a blu- administration’s ongoing efforts to Beckman, DVIDS director of opera- ish photo of the Pentagon as a buzz-cut shape public opinion by going around tions. Marine corporal announces, “This is a traditional news outlets with positive Media observers worry, however, Pentagon Channel report ….” Except for stories about its policy initiatives. “We’re such efforts further colonize American the anchor in uniform, the news show the house organ, we’re the megaphone news organizations, and by extension looks like any one of a dozen cable for the Pentagon,” said Allison Barber, public opinion, in ways similar to the news programs on the air these days. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense effect televised coverage sent home In a darkened control room in Atlanta, for Internal Communications, who is in by embedded reporters had with its meanwhile, military contractors tweak a charge of the Pentagon Channel (TPC). overwhelmingly upbeat but sometimes live shot being fed to “Fox and Friends” At the U.S. Army’s Digital Video and misleading accounts of the war in Iraq. for an early-morning interview with an Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) And when the Bush administration was Army captain who’s been collecting soc- hub in Atlanta, there is a similar utilitar- caught cranking out covert propaganda cer gear for kids in Mosul, Iraq. ian philosophy. “We provide the pipe, disguised as TV news stories promoting

78 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror its prescription drug plan, Rob Corddry, a mock correspondent for Comedy Cen- tral’s “The Daily Show,” described the bogus government-produced segments as “infoganda,” a fusion of information and propaganda. These new infoganda missions, if successful, could give the Pentagon taxpayer-financed links to every home in America. Both operations follow the scrapping of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) plans for an Of- fice of Strategic Influence to spread pro-U.S. stories in foreign countries. TPC’s May launch came within weeks of the U.S. taxpayer-financed debut of the $95 million Iraqi Media Network’s Al-Iraqiya TV that, coupled with the $65 million, Virginia-based al-Hurra, Arabic for “The Free One,” and new radio services—Radio Sawa and Radio President George W. Bush answers questions during an interview with Air Force Tech. Farda—are blanketing the Arab world Sgt. Sean Lehman of the Pentagon Channel at the Pentagon on May 10, 2004. Photo by with American ideals as an antidote to Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force/Department of Defense. pan-Arab nationalism.

Bypassing the ‘News Filters’ Produced at a military broadcast commonplace. A medical chopper pilot Policy experts have long recognized center in Alexandria, Virginia, TPC, is quoted in one story saying he returned military operations require public sup- for years a closed-circuit feed available to Iraq because “it’s part of being an port because of the high cost of blood inside the Pentagon only, is being paid American.” Not surprisingly, reports and money. American presidents set for by a $6 million supplement to the echo the pro-war sentiments of the up propaganda offices during both approximate $120 million a year budget administration and its official strategy world wars and have frequently “gone the DOD spends on public informa- asserting a right to unleash “preemp- public” to try to shape public opinion. tion operations. TPC’s 24-hour mix of tive” military action, if threatened. Last December, President Bush, who C-SPAN-style public affairs and cable To visually support this narrative, considers national news organizations TV news is also being offered free of high-tech weaponry is showcased. overly negative, told ABC News’s Diane charge to the nation’s domestic cable Triumphant superheroes are shown Sawyer, “I get my news from people who systems. decked out in night-vision goggles, don’t editorialize.” As a result, the White DVIDS utilizes portable KU-band blitzkrieging across the desert. The House regularly looks for ways to bypass military uplinks manned by army public humanism of U.S. troops is also em- national news organizations, perhaps affairs troops stationed in Iraq, Afghani- phasized, as combat surgeons save more than any previous administration. stan, Kuwait and Qatar. Live shots, pack- dying children and military engineers “I’m mindful of the filter through which aged stories, and raw footage shot by patch up shattered schools and rebuild some news travels, and somehow you army videographers are fed to an Atlanta power plants. In keeping with Pentagon just got to go over the heads of the fil- teleport run by Crawford Communica- policy, however, there are no shots ter and speak directly to the people,” tions and then relayed at no charge to of wounded or dead Americans, nor the President told a Baltimore news networks or local stations. bloody pictures of insurgent turmoil, anchor. “The people,” in the case of the Story content for both services ranges such as burning fuel convoys or the two new operations, are America’s 1.4 from the topical to the journalistically grisly car bombings. million active duty troops, 1.2 million dubious. Airtime is as likely to be devot- What is most striking is the absence National Guard members and reserv- ed to a gritty profile of combat medical of any opposing views. Since both media ists, 650,000 civilian employees, and teams as it is to so-called “happy face” services are regarded as in-house public 25.3 million veterans and their families. features, such as a soldier dressed up relations tools, Pentagon officials claim “We’ve got an obligation to inform the as the Easter Bunny, or infantry grunts they are exempt from the 1917 Gillett American people about what their sons rescuing a kitten trapped inside a Amendment and the 1948 Smith-Mundt and daughters are doing,” said Lt. Col. marble column at Saddam’s former Al Act, both of which prohibit govern- Beckman. Faw palace. Slogan-like sound bites are ment propagandizing of U.S. citizens,

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 79 Words & Reflections

along with DOD directives that prohibit of story that needs to be told.” newspaper credited the military pho- “censorship or manipulation” of news In a close presidential election, tell- tographer, most television segments broadcast to American forces. ing the story in the way one wants it to failed to mention that the military was Since it first served Union troops in be told can become potentially critical, the source of its material. the Civil War, the storied The Stars and considering it was absentee military Only a handful of domestic military Stripes newspaper, with its circulation ballots in Florida that delivered the installations have added TPC to base of more than 60,000 and a readership 500-vote margin that sent Bush to Wash- cable systems while few, if any, of the of perhaps twice that, has practiced a ington. Military personnel are thought nation’s 10,000 cable providers have battle-tested tradition of editorial in- to be two-to-one Republican, but a put TPC on their lineups. “I wonder dependence and balance in reporting Battleground Poll this summer showed about the effectiveness of it based on military news despite the fact it falls un- 41 percent of veterans and 42 percent exposure,” said Jones. “Who’s going to der the control of the same DOD office of veteran’s families disapproved of the be seeing this and how are they going that runs TPC. Similarly, the American way the President is handling his job. to see it?” Forces Radio and Television Service Barber, a veteran Republican political These questions remain unan- (AFRTS) rebroadcasts, uncensored, to operative, denies the Pentagon Chan- swered, as does the future of these military audiences overseas the nightly nel is meant to craft a positive image enterprises should the election in No- newscasts of the major networks. TPC, of the U.S. military in an election year. vember bring in a new administration. however, follows an apparent editorial But what ends up on the air undercuts, Both operations have purchased only a policy of telling half the story. For in- at times, her apolitical stance. In a May year’s worth of satellite time to transmit stance, on the day kidnapped U.S. Army 10th interview with Bush, TPC anchor, programming. What is most significant Specialist Keith Maupin appeared in a Air Force Tech Sgt. Sean Lehman, refer- about these Pentagon efforts is not their videotape shown by the Arab satellite ring to the Abu Ghraib photos, asks impact but their intent. At a time when network Al Jazeera, and broadcast by the the President, “How do we set that justification for the war in Iraq is spoken four over-the-air networks along with aside and continue what we need to of in terms of democratic ideals of truth Fox, CNN and MSNBC, TPC newsbreaks do?” Later in this interview, President and free expression, this purposeful ignored the story. Likewise, although Bush claims Iraqis are “sitting there creation of “infoganda” outlets that TPC broadcast news conferences, watching this election process of ours,” obscure reality by reporting sanitized briefings and congressional hearings and implies Iraqis are rooting for him, half-stories to America’s fighting forces that explored the Abu Ghraib cruelty declaring “they want to see if I’ve got and citizens strikes an odd pose with allegations, its news programs ignored what it takes to stand up to the political the administration’s lofty rhetoric about the controversy. pressures and do what I think is right.” freedom. ■ Pentagon officials turn aside charges His assertions go unchallenged. of selective bias. “We’re so not a break- There are also questions about the Charles Zewe is a doctoral candi- ing news channel, that’s not even part intent and reach of these media op- date at the Manship School of Mass of the goal,” said Barber. “Everything erations. A DVIDS memo recommends Communications at Louisiana State we do is command information.” But “engaging the news media and key [non- University in Baton Rouge. He is a one military official, who wanted to re- military] audiences … with aggressive, former correspondent and anchor main anonymous due to his unpopular forward-leaning tactics,” while internal for CNN. In Vietnam, Zewe was a U.S. perspective, described the network as memos and an early feasibility study Army public affairs correspondent a “humorous and pathetic” attempt encouraged TPC planners to pursue before becoming a local TV anchor to inhibit the news flow to military becoming the “default viewing choice in New Orleans where he covered the personnel. for the military community.” One mes- U.S. invasion of Grenada and gueril- Among former civilian journalists sage even discusses a “campaign” to get la fighting in Central America. While who now work for the DOD, there is sup- troops, veterans and military retirees at CNN, he was among the network’s port for the effort. “I see nothing wrong to pressure private cable operators to teams of reporters assigned to cover with the DOD attempting to provide the add TPC. the 1991 Gulf War and the deploy- people that work for it with news and What impact are these efforts having? ment of U.S. troops to Bosnia in information,” said Bob Jones, chief of As of mid-July, DVIDS had produced 1996. electronic news for the Air Force News 92 live shots and fed raw footage to Service and a former regional bureau a variety of clients, including all the  [email protected] chief for CBS News. “You don’t see on major U.S. over-the-air and cable news the Pentagon Channel any of the military networks and a handful of local stations. attacks on Fallujah or Baghdad. By the In addition, DVIDS supplied more than same token, you don’t see a wealth of 2,700 still photos to commercial and stories about soldiers playing soccer military newspapers, including one shot with kids or building schools in Iraq on that ended up on the front page of The the CBS Evening News. That’s the kind Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While the

80 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror Documentaries Raise Questions Journalists Should Ask Themselves ‘Have they delved deeply enough into issues surrounding the nation’s war on terror and its homeland security?’

By Rose Economou

cademy-award winning docu- allowed to leave the United States children and dead, twisted bodies of mentary filmmaker Michael without first being interrogated by American POW’s and the charred tor- AMoore is clever, committed and the FBI. sos of American contractors hung and concerned, and in his film “Fahren- • He discloses that when George W. dragged by an angry, screaming mob heit 9/11” he employs the elements Bush was governor of Texas he hosted through the streets. Unlike American of documentary filmmaking—expert representatives of the Taliban, who television news coverage, the selected interviews, location shooting, archival were known to be harboring Osama Al Jazeera soundbites of angry relatives footage, and witty on-camera antics—to bin Laden. While in Texas, the Taliban and grieving loved ones, which are create an unconventional cinematic ex- connected with U.S. corporate inter- translated for the moviegoer, might give perience. His movie provokes laughter ests who would eventually secure a “proof” to the rest of the Arab world and tears and leaves viewers hungry natural gas pipeline through Afghani- that the Americans in Iraq are more for political satire and genuine civic stan after one of their consultants invaders than liberators. discourse. His film is not at all like was anointed President. Located in Doha, Qatar, about 700 Ken Burns’s seven-part, documentary • He demonstrates why Americans miles from Baghdad but not far from recounting of the Civil War, but rather it have reason to question the effec- the coalition’s Central Command, or is a film created to offer an unapologetic tiveness of homeland security and Centcom, Al Jazeera—which Secretary challenge to the character, qualifications suggests that the government has of Defense Donald Rumsfeld calls and ability of President George W. Bush. manipulated our fear of terror and “Osama bin Laden’s mouthpiece”—has It also turns out to be an indictment of made us more accepting of military been a dominant and controversial me- American journalism for many of the campaigns against Afghanistan and dia voice in the Arab world since 1996. stories the mainstream press failed to Iraq. A senior producer says its mission is to examine. • He reminds us that it is often the inform, educate, stimulate free debate, With his periodic signature-inter- poor with fewer options at home and shakeup the rigid societies of the ludes of comedic relief, Moore methodi- who pay the ultimate price in wars region. For filmmaker Noujaim, whose cally and selectively works to build his abroad and sears into our memory mother is American, father is Egyptian, case: the aching, black hole of a mother’s and has spent her life traveling between grief. both cultures, the news agency opens • He returns to the 2000 election its doors and gives her access to its re- and Florida’s disenfranchisement Grief is also a thread in a lesser- porters, producers and camera crews, of minority voters and the failure to known documentary film—“Control who are willing to admit their pro-Arab convince one U.S. Senator to join a Room”—directed by Jehane Noujaim. bias and skepticism of U.S. motives for formal Congressional Black Caucus Noujaim is a young filmmaker who gives making war and the coalition’s manage- objection to voting irregularities in her audience a rare behind-the-scenes ment and distribution of information that state. look at the Arab satellite news channel, about the war. She consistently shows • He jabs at the politicization of the Al Jazeera, and its coverage in the days the staff as professionals and as real U.S. Supreme Court and questions immediately preceding, during and after people, especially when a colleague of the Bush family’s financial connec- the war in Iraq. She shows the horrifying theirs falls. tions to Saudi oil interests and the TV images of Iraq being pummeled by Relegated to art cinemas, “Control family of Osama bin Laden. coalition bombs and its citizens killed, Room,” is superficial, uncritical and • He revisits the horror of 9/11 and wounded, detained, cuffed and in sheds little light on the news agency, families that were destroyed. Moore search of loved ones buried by rubble. its journalistic standards, or Iraqi news questions whether members of the She also reveals the graphic and pierc- coverage. Here is a sampling of what we bin Laden family should have been ing close-ups of bleeding and disfigured don’t learn from the film:

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 81 Words & Reflections

• We do not learn very much about something that offered clues, proof or do all they could to uncover the “truth” who owns Al Jazeera and what special evidence. “Fahrenheit 9/11” and, to about the 2000 election in Florida? interests they serve, if any. some extent, “Control Room,” do this. Have they delved deeply enough into • We hear no explanation of why it But do these films do what documenta- issues surrounding the nation’s war on televises unedited tapes from Osama ries have traditionally done—enlighten terror and its homeland security? Have bin Laden or gives a video stage to viewers, search for understanding, or they found ways to report and convey the demands of masked terror- information about the complicated ists parading their hostages. and seemingly intractable political • While viewers glimpse dispatch- relationships of the Middle East es and never-before-seen video and Central Asia to readers and broadcast during the war in Iraq, viewers? What about their coverage they are given no sense of the of the interwoven business and impact those reports and images political interests that drive U.S. had on Al Jazeera’s roughly 40 foreign policy? And the fundrais- million Arab viewers. ing that goes on by presidential • We are given no way to know how candidates? this supposedly “independent” What often separates journalist news channel covered Iraq, from documentary filmmaker is Saddam Hussein or his torture the powerful, purposeful and per- of political prisoners before the suasive use of emotion by people war. like Michael Moore. Journalists, by and large, don’t travel in such By the film’s end, no evidence emotion-laden territory, but instead has been shown to enable us to must rely on their presentation of know whether Al Jazeera is ca- the evidence to present a compel- pable of providing its audience ling case for both interest and with responsible news that is response. comprehensive, fair and accurate. These documentaries—by Yet in watching the documentary, touching on aspects of journalism one is troubled by the same-day and provoking questions about “accidental” bombing deaths of the role “facts” should play in such films—have served as a valuable re- three different Arab journalists by A poster from the film’s Web site. American warplanes. These killings minder to journalists of the popular come after a series of critical public interest these topics still hold for comments by President Bush and Rums- challenge myths? Does it matter that Americans. Perhaps Moore’s film—with feld that are heard in the film. One is journalists have criticized “Fahrenheit its ability to attract a broad audience left not knowing whether these deaths 9/11” for manipulating words and im- to its story—will provoke journalists were a coincidence or an example of ages in unfair ways to convey its strong to turn their skills in the direction of premeditated precision bombing. View- point of view? Or that “Control Room” is deeper and more sustained coverage ers see excerpts from a press conference a sympathetic portrayal of a controver- of these issues. ■ to explain “the facts” and offer the “of- sial news organization that raises more ficial” response from Central Command questions than it answers? Rose Economou, a 1981 Nieman Fel- and watch the last video of the slain Al Both films do succeed in awaken- low, is the president of With Heart Jazeera correspondent and listen to a ing interest in these topics. And at a Productions and a full-time faculty prerecorded plea from his widow, but time when so much “noise” arrives member of the department of jour- the film ends without them knowing if over the airwaves, cable and Internet nalism at Columbia College in Chi- Al Jazeera or the filmmaker investigated masquerading as journalism, should it cago. She is a former producer for the tragedies further or pressed the U.S. still bother journalists how evidence is CBS News and a seven-time Emmy military for more answers. gathered, facts are presented, and a story Award winner, a four-time Chicago is reported? More than ever, it should. International Film Festival award Documentary Filmmaking And even though there is sloppiness winner, and a duPont-Columbia evident in some aspects of how the Award winner. In his book, “Doing Documentary films’ facts were collected, assembled Work,” Robert Coles defines “documen- and conveyed, when journalists view  [email protected]. tary” by tracing the noun “document” these documentaries surely they must back to its Latin root, docere, to teach. ask themselves why they failed to con- In its original intent, the word described nect some of these same dots. Did they

82 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 War and Terror Protesting Doonesbury’s Dismissal ‘What is practiced these days is not censorship with a U.S. government stamp.’

By Bob Davis

hat is a comic strip worth? Is started flooding in. Censorship, my Many embedded reporters, all Penta- it worthy of a battle to keep e-mailers informed me, was not pos- gon-trained and -approved, became Wit from being removed by sible at the hands of a private business cheerleaders. They played down the critics offended by its political jabs? concern. Only government can censor, unseemly images of war and number Why make a fuss over something that’s they wrote. of civilian casualties. They actively drawn in pen and ink with at most 50 Checking a series of dictionaries, boosted the mythological exploits of Pfc. or so words? The creator of Doonesbury I could find no explicit reference to Jessica Lynch, and during the lead-up has even suggested it’s best not to lose censorship only coming at the hands of to war were too willing to swallow the one’s cool over something so common. government. A censor is, according to administration’s story. “A comic strip,” Garry Trudeau recently Webster’s New World, “an official with What is practiced these days is not told Rolling Stone, “isn’t one of those the power to examine publications, censorship with a U.S. government things you want to seem too worried movies, television programs, etc. and stamp. There are plenty of others in the about.” to remove or prohibit anything con- media who are ultrasensitive to what will Maybe, though, in this political cli- sidered obscene, libelous, politically set off protests from a vocal segment of mate it’s worth the time of journalists to objectionable, etc.” readers or viewers who are willing to take a stance on this small thing. That’s Can government do that? Yes. Can do the work of the censor, either pur- what the publisher and senior editors others do it? Sure. Is all censorship posely or unknowingly. Many of these at The Anniston (Alabama) Star believe. bad? No. censors do not have a hidden agenda After learning that the consortium that A television program cancelled over when they do away with unpopular provides The Star with its prepackaged poor ratings can fall victim to censors. content. They are answering the call Sunday color comics was removing The tale is told in the circumstances. of the marketplace. That is their right, Doonesbury, against Trudeau’s advice Cancel “The Drew Carey Show” and but it should be done with great care. we decided to not keep our cool. Of few will raise an eyebrow. Cancel the A newspaper that only gives its readers course, we would find a new spot for Smothers Brothers show, with its edgy what they say they want is not serving Doonesbury on Sundays. But it’s not and political content, and we might have its highest calling. fair, we thought, for Continental Fea- something more nefarious. Stop play- Many Southern newspapers are still tures to single out this strip, which is ing the music of the Dixie Chicks after wrestling with the shame of pleasing not popular with conservatives. they say unkind things about President their white readership by staying silent Earlier this year, Continental, which Bush, and we have a problem. during the Civil Rights era of the 1950’s operates as a sort of cooperative, decid- Thus, when Ayers’ letter told Conti- and 1960’s. Most recently, Kentucky’s ed to poll its 38 members on whether or nental that its actions were “offensive Lexington Herald-Leader offered an not to keep Doonesbury. The strip lost, to First Amendment freedoms,” it was apology for its timid coverage of African- 21-15, with two nonvotes. Why subject not to claim an outright violation of free Americans’ struggle against segregation. one strip—and only one strip—to an speech. It was, instead, to suggest some- While not of the same magnitude, this up-or-down vote? “This is a business thing more nuanced. Overt government struggle over the removal of Doones- decision,” Van Wilkerson, Continental censorship is rare these days. The job of bury does have a familiar ring. president, told The Star. “It doesn’t battlefield censor has changed thanks True, most newspapers are operated have anything to do with personalities to advances in wireless technology that as businesses. But when freedom of the or Garry Trudeau or Doonesbury or make transmitting the story and photo press is mentioned so prominently in anything else.” But this whole episode from the scene only a laptop and satel- the Bill of Rights, it must be operated smelled like “censorship by plebiscite,” lite phone away. Government censors with something more than the bottom as Star Publisher and President H. no longer wield a heavy pen to black line in view. An independent press exists Brandt Ayers wrote in his letter to the out offending copy before it is sent back to check government. We must serve as consortium. to the copy desk. Instead, the Pentagon a forum for a wide variety of views. It was the C-word—censorship—that relies on softer ways of trying to get its Better to attempt to explain the value riled many, as news of our protest message across. of Doonesbury as a voice that challenges reached media Web sites. Once Matt During the most recent war in Iraq, the conventional wisdom than to kill it Drudge and conservative Web forums American media outlets themselves outright. Make it an exercise in democ- linked to those stories, the e-mails did the work of government censors. racy that goes beyond a majority-rule

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 83 Words & Reflections

vote. It’s a lesson in citizenship. Our Offer up a vote on the prominence losing our cool over. We wouldn’t want nation’s founders believed strongly of news stories, and that item on to see it become a trend. ■ in protecting the minority viewpoint. Halliburton’s sweetheart government Fostering debate and dissent is deep contracts is shoved to the back of the Bob Davis is the editorial page editor within the nation’s DNA. Read Trudeau’s section by the same critics anxious to of The Anniston (Alabama) Star. work or not, but appreciate it for what it keep Doonesbury out of their daily is—one person standing up and saying paper. “that’s not right.” To us, this ugly scenario seems worth  [email protected]

WATCHDOG The Steady March of Government Secrecy Journalists strategize to gain access to information the public has a right to know.

By Pete Weitzel

overnment secrecy is a big and panel to review similar classification processing. expensive business—and it’s decisions. Lott called the CIA’s censor- The always-slow FOIA process be- Ggetting bigger and more costly. ship “absolutely an insult.” came even more difficult shortly after Last year, the federal government spent There’s no estimate of the number John Ashcroft settled in as attorney more than $6.5 billion classifying and of documents exempted entirely or general. He sent federal agencies a new declassifying federal records. It marked in part from discretionary disclosure directive on FOIA that reversed the pol- 14.2 million documents as “Top Secret,” under the Freedom of Information Act icy of his predecessor Janet Reno, who “Secret” or “Classified,” putting them (FOIA). This act became law in 1967 was the daughter of journalists. In 1993, under lock and key for a minimum of and provided the first statutory right of Reno advised government departments 10 years. The rate of clas- to be proactive on behalf of sification—up 26 percent the public in handling FOIA in 2003 and more than The culture of closure that dug its requests. Treat government 40 percent since 9/11—is information as inherently almost double that during roots in the nation’s capital after 9/11 public, she advised, and do the last several years of the is being imposed across the nation not invoke discretionary Clinton presidency. through federal funding mandates exemptions unless there By one estimate, dur- is evidence of “foreseeable ing the past 25 years the and nondisclosure agreements. harm” as a result of making U.S. government has clas- information public. sified between 7.5 and 8 Conversely, Ashcroft ad- billion pages of informa- vised that the federal govern- tion—enough to replace all 18 million access to federal government records. ment should be at least as committed books in the Library of Congress with In 2003, there were 3.2 million requests to protecting national security, the shelf space to spare. This revelation for federal government records, a 36 effectiveness of law enforcement agen- prompted the Intelligence Security percent increase in one year. About half cies, sensitive business information, and Oversight Office to suggest the secret of these were granted. The information personal privacy. Under Ashcroft’s direc- keeping is excessive and call for re- “grants” frequently come with heavy and tive, these interests are to be given “full straint. It warns the federal government inconsistent redaction and only after and deliberate consideration” when an is classifying so much that it is putting long delay. (Indeed, the government’s FOIA request is made. He told federal the very secrecy it prizes at risk. Even use of the term “grant” might be a warn- agencies to look for a “sound legal some members of Congress said “whoa” ing; it suggests officials regard release of basis” to withhold information and let when the Central Intelligence Agency information to be a gift or favor rather them know they’d find support in this (CIA) censors blacked more than half of than something that citizens have a approach from his department. Perhaps the 500-page Senate report on pre-Iraq right to.) Last year, it took the attorney it’s coincidental, but FOIA requests to war intelligence. Four senators, includ- general’s office an average of 361 days the Justice Department fell by 70 per- ing former Majority Leader Trent Lott, to handle a “complex” request and 80 cent the following year. It may also be filed a bill to create an independent days to handle one given expedited coincidental that the classification of

84 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Secrecy documents by justice—which makes them exempt from FOIA—increased Journalists Act to Combat Government Secrecy by 80 percent in 2003. Today journalists are observing a grow- SPJ [Society of Professional Journal- The Spread of Informal ing culture of secrecy in Washington ists] is developing a “tool kit” on how to Secrecy and the use of “national security” to conduct an FOIA audit—a look at how justify restricted access and sometimes well, or poorly, officials in a community The examination of classification and complete closure throughout all areas or region or state comply with that FOIA records provides only a partial of government. Organizations repre- state’s open records laws. Audits have picture of government secrecy. There is senting their interests have taken initial been successfully conducted in about a nothing to hint at how many records are steps toward pushing back. dozen states and put public officials on now off the books and hidden behind The American Society of Newspaper notice, prompting a variety of remedial new or newly defined designations Editors has begun to organize a national actions and informing the public about that comprise an informal but very Sunshine Sunday for March 13, 2005 the law and their rights. real fourth level of classification. The and will ask newspapers and TV stations The Reporters Committee for culture of closure that dug its roots in across the country to prepare special re- Freecom of the Press has just published the nation’s capital after 9/11 is being im- ports, editorials and other commentary the fifth edition of “Homefront Confi- posed across the nation through federal for that day about open government. It is dential,” its comprehensive analysis of funding mandates and nondisclosure working with the Coalition of Journalists the laws and regulations dealing with na- agreements. By one estimate, as many for Open Government to enlist support tional security and their consequences. as four million local and state officials of all of its member organizations. This The report raises the “threat level” to could be effectively gagged by requir- could be the first step in a national FOIA freedom of information. ■ —P.W. ing them to sign don’t show, don’t tell awareness campaign. agreements. Secrecy is trickling down to many state and local lawmakers as well as with efforts to close records and meetings. And audits conducted lease would be “detrimental to safety records as well as federal documents. by news organizations in several states of airline passengers.” By this summer, Certain agencies are empowered to this past year showed that only half of SSI had morphed into something far execute nondisclosure agreements with state and local officials complied with different—and for open government state and local officials and private con- existing open records laws. advocates and working reporters, some- tractors to make sure they don’t disclose Much of this new federal secrecy was thing far more ominous. the information. These nondisclosure authorized by Congress in an orgy of SSI now includes not just informa- agreements are a relatively new tool “national security” legislation after the tion on passenger screening and po- in the secrecy game, and they work attacks on the World Trade Center and licing but also information related to because any breach carries a stiff fine the Pentagon. Only now are many of infrastructure, which could, of course, and possible prison time. the details of this secrecy legislation apply to records about environmental The TSA regulations did not make being discovered as federal agencies, threats. It might also apply to opera- news in Washington. Nor was much most prominently the Department of tions information. The language seems attention paid to an earlier set of regula- Homeland Security, draft new rules to to also empower TSA and the Depart- tions allowing the Department of Home- implement those laws and in doing so ment of Transportation to extend se- land Security to gather and seal vast reveal some of the regulatory details. curity oversight—and its ability to seal amounts of information on the nation’s Perhaps most troubling to emerge is sensitive information, however loosely infrastructure or a recent directive on a new Transportation Security Admin- defined—to local transit systems and instructing DHS employees to mark istration (TSA) regulation that gives to the transport of hazardous wastes sensitive but unclassified information muscle and reach to a three-decades-old on the nation’s highways, and also to as being for official use only. term: Sensitive Security Information pipelines. Indeed, one reason the shroud of (SSI). The evolution is instructive. It Translated into an “Interim Final secrecy that covers Washington today shows how a shroud of secrecy can be Rule,” legislative changes provide the is so frightening is because it’s become subtly laid over government. new and larger Transportation Secu- so routine. Secrecy is the standard, not SSI dates to 1974 and a wave of rity Administration (TSA) and related the exception. Any presumption of airline hijackings, when Congress gave departments with the authority to des- transparency has been lost. the Federal Aviation Administration ignate as SSI any information—whether (FAA) authority to gather information they create it or collect it—about any Failing to Get Information on people who booked airline passage. form of transportation they regard as Congress said the FAA could withhold being in any way related to security. The Freedom of Information Act was this and other SSI it gathered, if its re- This includes state, regional and local passed by Congress as an amendment

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 85 Words & Reflections

to the 1946 Administrative Procedure mation about its “no fly” list of those formation Security Oversight Office Act (APA). This earlier act had required automatically pulled from airport (ISOO) challenged both the legality federal agencies to keep the public security lines for a more thorough and the wisdom of the Pentagon’s ac- informed about rules and procedures screening. It cited both privacy and tion. ISOO Director William Leonard and said members of the public should SSI as reasons for their withholding noted that information that reveals be able to participate in the rulemaking documents. A federal judge in a violations of the law cannot be classi- process. At the same time, APA suggested suit brought by the American Civil fied. He questioned the “bureaucratic there were exceptions to openness: Liberties Union (ACLU) ruled that impulse” to mark as “secret” one pas- Information might be withheld on “any the names withheld had appeared sage discussing the potential political function … requiring secrecy in the in newspaper articles and other fallout of releasing the report. “It’s public interest.” information was “innocuous” and difficult to see how that information FOIA became law after a 16-year cam- in some instances had been used (could) … damage national security,” paign by journalism organizations and in public slide presentations. The Leonard observed. others to promote the citizen’s “right judge ordered the information to be to know.” It was strengthened in 1974 released. Frequently during the past two years and expanded to include electronic • The TSA refused the request of a Leonard has said that over-classifica- records in 1995. But FOIA was never Minneapolis reporter who thought tion hurts the entire system by making an easy process. Procedural delays are it would be a public service to let secrets less secure because it inevitably built in; for example, an agency doesn’t people know what items com- invites leakage from “the highest levels even have to respond for 20 days. And monly carried by airline passengers of our government.” Within a month there is a cumbersome review process: frequently set off airport screening of Leonard sending this memo to the Information can be withheld if it falls machines. The reason: SSI. Pentagon, U.S. News & World Report within any one of nine broad categories • After White House Chief of Staff reported that it had obtained all 106 of exemption. Andrew Card sent a memo ordering classified annexes to the army’s Abu Under the Bush administration, there a review of Web postings in 2002, Ghraib report. has been progressive closure with the at least 6,000 documents were be- The Patriot Act, which became law spread and speed of secrecy increasing ing pulled from government Web just six weeks after the terrorist attacks, after 9/11 through legislation, presiden- sites. There was no way of knowing expands the FBI’s investigatory powers. tial orders, department directives, and the nature or extent of information Among these powers is the ability to broad administrative legal interpreta- withheld from government Web sites obtain secret court orders to seize per- tions. The Ashcroft memo set the tone, since then, but one recent incident sonal and private business records and rewriting the rules of engagement to hints at the new creativity of closure. to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail give bureaucrats who wish to play hard- The Center for Army Lessons Learned conversations. It permits secret court ball the encouragement to do so. posted a book-length critique of hearings of alleged terrorists. Little is Some examples of how the secrecy Operation Iraqi Freedom with this known—not even the names—of more game is now being played: disclaimer: “This document has se- than 1,200 presumably terrorist-related curity functions enabled to prevent arrests and the deportation of at least • The Justice Department earlier this printing, downloading, cutting and 750 people. Nor does anyone outside year turned down an FOIA request pasting.” the government know how many court for a list of terrorism-related indict- • The Environmental Protection docket entries have been erased or ments, then rejected a follow-up Agency took another approach: simply not entered. Secret federal court request for copies of all of the press eliminate the evidence. Its annual hearings have been held with no public releases issued on those individual Toxics Release Inventory, typically record of when or where or who is be- indictments. The reason: invasion of a 400-page report containing data ing tried. Everyone involved is gagged. privacy. and analysis of the nation’s chemical The Supreme Court even allowed the • Justice also turned down a request plants and potential dangers, was Justice Department to file a sealed brief for information on registered foreign reduced to six summary pages this in one case. Such is the level of paranoia government lobbyists. The reason: year as a result of industry lobby- about secrecy in the government that The database is so old, the depart- ing. That left environmental writers when the ACLU filed a suit challenging ment said, that if we try to run it the who regularly use the inventory in Patriot Act provisions, it was prohibited system will crash. computer-assisted reporting without from going public with the details of the • The Labor Department’s Mine Health a byte to chew on. suit. Its press release announcing the and Safety Administration refused a • The Pentagon classified the army’s re- in-court protest was censored. reporter’s request for biographical port on abuses at Abu Ghraib prison The Reporters Committee for Free- information on a new deputy secre- as “secret” and kept the marking dom of the Press is trying to track down tary. The reason: privacy. even after photos taken by service information on reports of at least 50 • TSA turned down a request for infor- personnel became public. The In- secret federal court cases across the

86 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Secrecy

(AP) when U.S. marshals seized and The Associated Press Responds to Increased destroyed reporters’ tape recordings of a speech given by Justice Antonin Scalia. Government Secrecy The Washington Post did not mention it. The New York Times carried a single In May 2004, Tom Curley, president and video cameras to state and federal paragraph. and chief executive officer of The As- courtrooms in their territories. Where Paradoxically, many of the nation’s sociated Press, delivered the 38th there is no active effort under way to journalism-related foundations and Annual Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture expand access, or the effort has faltered, organizations have taken notice of this in Riverside, California. His address chiefs will be asked to develop a plan to issue. During the past four years, the was entitled “Why Access is Good for move things forward. AP bureau chiefs John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Security.” An excerpt from his lecture will be directed to review procedures and the McCormick Tribune Foundation is printed here. for responding when access to informa- have given grants of more than $7.6 tion proceedings is blocked. We will million for freedom of information proj- “State FOI audits … have been very help them spread the word, speed the ects in the United States. One of those effective tools for testing official com- process and decide when to hire counsel projects is the Coalition of Journalists pliance with state FOI laws and raising and seek allies among other media, and for Open Government, which began public awareness of their rights. … Start- fight back. We will issue fresh instruc- with Knight support this past January. ing now, AP bureaus in any state where tions to AP editors at every level to be Its mission is to coordinate the freedom such audits have not been conducted sure any news story that benefits from of information efforts of its member will be instructed to make phone calls an FOI request or suffers from lack of organizations, now numbering 27. I and start a project immediately. And public information that was refused by a was hired as its coordinator. Members AP will press in every state for regular government source says so clearly. There of the coalition include the American audits at least once every five years. is a lot more we can do, especially if we Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), Bureau chiefs also will be directed to work together.” ■ Radio-Television News Directors Asso- provide a status report on access for still ciation (RTNDA), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Newspaper Asso- ciation of America (NAA), and Reporters country. Does this attempt to get in- politics dominate the news. The war on Committee for Freedom of the Press. formation encourage similar closure in terrorism seems to have put a damper [See box regarding these projects on other courts? In July, public defenders in on aggressive reporting and watchdog page 85.] Washington, D.C. filed a petition listing writing about efforts by government to In April, the president of the AP, 200 superior court cases that had been “safeguard information.” Tom Curley, called for a new assault on closed and records sealed. There have been a few high-pro- government secrecy. It was time, Curley Earlier this year, the Congressional file exceptions. Vice President Dick said, for journalists to “push back” at Research Service observed that one Cheney’s refusal to make public in- all levels against government efforts to consequence of the Homeland Security formation on his energy task force has close records and meetings. The AP, he Act—creating a huge new government been widely reported, as has the ban pledged, would start more aggressively department to oversee the nation’s on photographing of coffins of military reporting on open government issues internal protection from terrorism—is personnel and the stamping of “Top and would support FOI audits in every that vast amounts of data are now being Secret” on the already public photos of state. [See accompanying box for more marked “sensitive” as they are being prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Lawsuits on changes at the AP.] In the months created or gathered, and thus they are challenging secret court proceedings since then, there has been a marked “born protected.” Yet no criteria have have also been widely reported. increase in AP reports on secrecy and been established for this marking, nor A reporter from the (Miami) Daily closure. Curley also said AP would help is there any provision for review of the Business Review, Dan Christensen, had to establish a governmental affairs of- decision to “safeguard” this information begun a year-long reporting assignment fice in Washington, D.C. to monitor from public view. on secret hearings being held in federal and lobby on these issues. No details courts, when he saw an unusual entry of that initiative have been announced, Journalists’ Responses to on a docket sheet, asked a few ques- but AP officials are meeting with repre- Secrecy tions, and got stonewalled. Later, the sentatives of journalism organizations, U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned the FOIA attorneys, and open government News reporting on all of this has been approach of secret dockets and hear- advocates as part of their planning. limited and tepid. Instead, the ground ings, even to the point of allowing the ASNE, SPJ and RTNDA have legal wars in Afghanistan and then Iraq, the Solicitor General to file a sealed brief. counsel in Washington, but their em- broader war on terrorism, and inside- And few newspapers carried the first ployment is part-time and some of the the-beltway obsession with partisan day story from The Associated Press lawyers’ time must be devoted to non-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 87 Words & Reflections

legislative matters. The most consistent and editors across the country were challenged the nation in his 11th State WATCHDOG and concerted lobbying by media orga- increasingly frustrated and unsure how of the Union address to think beyond nizations is done by the National Asso- to respond when local government the war to issues of “economic security, ciation of Broadcasters and the NAA, the officials closed meetings or denied ac- social security, and moral security.” Only respective ownership organizations for cess to records. ASNE hired attorney when we establish each of these, he television and newspapers. However, and legal scholar Harold L. Cross to said, will we have gained true national their focus is on business issues. NAA analyze the laws across the country security. Today the federal government does some lobbying treats security as on FOIA issues and having only one recently was able There has been no coordinated information dimension and to get the House demands that we, to nudge Health gathering or strategic planning about secrecy as a people, sac- and Human Services and reporters’ access to information within rifice other free- for a much-needed the journalism community or among its doms to achieve clarification of its freedom from regulations imple- organizations. fear. If we as jour- menting the Health nalists allow this Insurance Portabili- to happen, we ty and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Those and make recommendations. His book, will not only have forsaken our mission regulations effectively close off reporter “The People’s Right to Know,” set the but our country. The strength of our access to critical information on victims stage for a national campaign by ASNE nation is protection of its many free- of crime, accidents and disasters. and other journalism organizations that doms—the first of which must be the There has been no coordinated infor- would continue into the 1960’s. freedom to have access to information mation gathering or strategic planning The predecessor to the Society of about the decisions our government about secrecy and reporters’ access to Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta leaders make. Without that, all other information within the journalism com- Chi (SDX), developed a model open freedoms are less secure. ■ munity or among its organizations. No meetings law and pushed for its adop- one looks at upcoming federal legisla- tion. At the time, only one state had Pete Weitzel is the freedom of infor- tion or monitors departmental policies such a law. The campaign slowly built mation coordinator for the newly and regulations to identify such access support, and change came, a piece formed Coalition of Journalists for issues. While the individual organiza- at a time. For example, the first open Open Government (CJOG), based tions sometimes send letters of protest meeting bill in Florida was introduced in Washington, D.C. He is a former or submit comments urging changes in in 1953 by a delegation from the St. managing editor of The Miami Her- regulations, no concerted legislative Petersburg area that had been lobbied ald. He helped found the Florida strategy or proactive plan is in place to by their local SDX chapter. The bill won First Amendment Foundation, serv- attempt to reverse the pattern of increas- initial support in the house but never ing as its president from 1985 to ing closure. Media organizations tend budged in the senate. Similar bills were 1995, and the National Freedom of to go their separate ways. When they introduced in every session from 1957 Information Coalition, serving as do come together, it has usually been to 1965 and met the same fate. In 1967, its second president. In recent years, out of common frustration and to fight using a model law clipped from the he taught at the Poynter Institute for a common cause, such as freedom SDX magazine, Quill, a senator from for Media Studies, the University of of information. Gainesville, with the support of a reap- North Carolina journalism school What is starting to happen today has portioned, reform-minded legislature, and Duke Law School, and served as a parallel a half century ago. In the late managed to get Florida’s much-admired executive director of the North Caro- 1940’s, Basil L. Walters, executive editor “Government in the Sunshine” law lina Center on Actual Innocence, an of the Chicago Daily News and chair passed. The political culture and climate organization that investigates cases of ASNE’s World Freedom of Informa- for openness also evolved in many other of possible wrongful conviction. He tion Committee, said that in their own states during those years. By 1967, at became CJOG coordinator in Janu- communities U.S. newspapers were least 35 had adopted some form of ary. “permitting the people’s right to infor- open government legislation, and the mation to go by default.” The first step federal government had approved the he proposed: Drop the word “World” Freedom of Information Act.  [email protected] from the committee name and focus on It’s worth considering another his- problems in their hometowns. toric parallel. When victory in World At this time, there were few if any War II was in sight, if still a long way legal experts on government access, off, President Franklin D. Roosevelt

88 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Secrecy

WATCHDOG Using Public Records Laws to Expose Government Misdeeds For one journalist, it took 20 years, lots of research, and several court decisions to uncover the FBI’s abuses of power and secrecy on a campus during the cold war. By Seth Rosenfeld

was a journalism student at the University of California at Berkeley Iwhen I sent off a Freedom of Infor- mation Act (FOIA) request for Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records concerning the university. I knew that during the 1950’s and 1960’s Berke- ley had been involved in some of the nation’s biggest protests over academic freedom, free speech, and the Vietnam War. I also knew that congressional hearings in the 1970’s had revealed illegal FBI spying on thousands of Americans engaged in lawful dissent elsewhere. I was curious about what the FBI had been up to behind the scenes at Berkeley. I had no idea I was embarking on a two-decade fight to get the FBI files or that I would bring three lawsuits under the FOIA that would reach the U.S. Su- preme Court. Neither did I know that ultimately the FBI—which had denied Police drag demonstrators from the steps inside San Francisco’s City Hall, site of a House snooping on campus—would release Un-American Activities Committee meeting in 1960. Photo by Bob Campbell/San Francisco more than 200,000 pages showing that Chronicle. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI conspired with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to harass students and faculty, waged a covert campaign to get about civil liberties and government the local, state and federal level. University of California (U.C.) President accountability. By describing my struggle to obtain Clark Kerr fired, contributed to the Federal bureaucracies have a long and the FBI records about Berkeley, I hope 1966 defeat of Democratic Governor well-documented history of needlessly to offer useful tips on how journalists Edmund Brown, and provided secret stamping public records “confidential.” can break down (and otherwise get political support to his successor, Ron- No administration has embraced the around) government stonewalling on ald Reagan. FOIA; President Johnson threatened to public records acts’ requests. Although Nor did I envision that 20 years later, veto the new law in 1966, and President my request was made under the FOIA, on June 9, 2002, the San Francisco Ford vetoed the 1974 amendments these suggestions also apply to local Chronicle would publish my article that Congress nonetheless passed to and state public records acts, which disclosing these abuses of power and strengthen it. But journalists in the are often modeled on the federal law. secrecy during the cold war, just as the post-September 11th world face what And though my request was unusually FBI was once again being given vastly a Reporters Committee for Freedom of large and complex, these tactics might expanded power and secrecy in the the Press study, “Homefront Confiden- be adapted to smaller and shorter-term war on terror, raising anew concerns tial,” called “unprecedented” secrecy at requests.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 89 Words & Reflections

Investigating the FBI Files the requested records would provide grounds. (When a person dies, their new insight into historically significant right to privacy is greatly diminished.) I My pursuit of the FBI files began at the events. All of this was submitted to the obtained notarized waivers from other Berkeley post office in 1981, when I federal judge hearing my case. She ruled people giving me permission to request mailed off a request seeking “any and that I had “persuasively demonstrated” their otherwise personal files. all” records concerning U.C. I figured that my research “requires meticulous I had some luck, too. While perus- I’d get the files fairly soon. After all, the examination of record(s) that may not ing a used bookstore, I came across a FOIA is the main federal law requiring on their face indicate much to an un- tell-all tome by a former FBI informer timely public access to executive branch trained eye.” She said the FBI’s denial titled, “I Lived Inside the Campus Revo- records. Agencies must grant or deny of a fee waiver had been “arbitrary and lution.” Dates and events he discussed requests within 20 working days (or 30 capricious.” She ordered the bureau to seemed to match those on some heavily if the request is voluminous or other- waive all fees. deleted informant reports. I also found wise complicated). All executive branch With that roadblock gone, the FBI some FBI records released elsewhere records must be released unless the finally released about 5,000 pages. that the bureau had blacked out in my government specifically shows that the But they were so heavily censored I case. This heightened my doubts about information falls under the bureau’s dire one or more of nine ex- claims that releasing emptions. Even if some Investigative journalism and routine beat the same or similar parts of a record are information in the exempt from release, coverage can not only point reporters to files I had requested all the other reasonably information they should request under public would harm law segregable parts must records laws, but also to obits, waivers, enforcement opera- be released. tions or endanger Months passed with official studies, and other materials that can national security. no reply from the FBI. be used to overcome baseless secrecy claims. My research also I filed an administra- questioned whether tive appeal of the delay some of the FBI’s with the Justice Depart- investigations were ment, a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit. wondered if the bureau had become undertaken for legitimate law enforce- Finally the bureau sent a letter saying the nation’s largest consumer of Magic ment purposes. If not, then the bureau that processing the papers would cost Markers. The FBI asserted that the infor- couldn’t withhold information about about $35,000; it would gladly start as mation had to be withheld under several them under the law enforcement ex- soon as I plunked down a 25 percent exemptions to the FOIA for information emption. The FBI had claimed that deposit. I asked the FBI to waive fees, concerning national security, law en- records on its investigation of the FSM which agencies must do if releasing forcement operations, and the privacy should be withheld because they con- the records would primarily benefit of people named in the records. cerned a legitimate probe of possible the general public. But in the bureau’s By now I had taken a full time re- violations of laws against riots and editorial judgment, there was no public porting job with The San Francisco subversion. My research demonstrated interest. I was stymied. Examiner. But I continued to work on that the FSM was engaged in nonviolent Then in 1984, a pro bono lawyer took the project on my own time. I believed protests against a university rule that my case, and I sued for a fee waiver. the FBI’s secrecy claims were greatly barred political activity on the Berkeley While he handled the legal aspects of exaggerated, and I’d become all the campus. the case, I used my journalistic skills to more curious about what the bureau I contended that the FBI’s investiga- show that releasing the records was in was holding back. tion of the FSM constituted improper the public interest. In researching the I brought a second lawsuit challeng- political surveillance and that as a 1964 Free Speech Movement (FSM), for ing the deletions. The FBI, of course, result the bureau could not withhold example, I found news clips on the Cali- could see what the censored material records about its inquiry under the fornia legislature’s recognition of the said; I could not. But my research about law enforcement exemption. Likewise, FSM as an important civil rights event. events in Berkeley gave me a good the FBI claimed its investigations of I interviewed an expert on FBI records, idea of what lay behind many of the U.C. President Clark Kerr were routine who gave me a written declaration Rorschach-like blotches. For instance, background investigations. My review saying that administrative markings, at the library I found decades-old of some of the released FBI records handwritten notes, and other marginalia Congressional reports that seemed to indicated that bureau officials had used that often appear on FBI records were discuss subjects the FBI contended were the background investigation process not meaningless but were substantive still classified. I gathered obituaries of as a pretext to undermine Kerr because information about bureau operations. A people who likely appeared in docu- they believed he was not tough enough historian gave me a declaration stating ments the bureau had excised on privacy on campus dissenters.

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The Court Decides fired from the presidency of U.C.” Those documents, the All this material was sub- court added, “strongly sup- mitted to the federal mag- port the suspicion that the istrate whom the judge FBI was investigating Kerr to had assigned to review the have him removed from the blacked-out documents. U.C. administration, because This process is called a FBI officials disagreed with “Vaughn” proceeding, his politics or his handling of after the federal court administrative matters.” decision that established The Justice Department it. The requester and the asked the appeals court to re- federal agency each pick a consider. The court said no. number of sample docu- The department next asked ments and submit their the entire Ninth Circuit, evidence as to why the which comprises federal ap- information should be peals judges throughout the withheld or released. The Western states, to review the court then reviews each decision en banc. No judge side’s arguments—and agreed. By now, five federal the uncensored records— judges had ruled that the in chambers. FBI repeatedly violated the A full year passed before FOIA by withholding public the magistrate completed records that were in some her line-by-line analysis. cases 50 years old. Still, in She ruled that most of 1995 the department asked the deleted information the U.S. Supreme Court to should be released. The review the appeals court’s Justice Department chal- decision. lenged the ruling before Before the high court the U.S. District Court decided whether to hear the judge. In an opinion is- matter, the FBI agreed to sued three years later, settle by releasing more than the judge upheld virtu- 200,000 pages. To promote ally all of the magistrate’s government accountability, findings. The judge said Double-decker sit-ins under and on top of tables at Berkeley’s Sproul the FOIA requires federal I had presented “high- Hall in 1964. Photo by Peter Breinig/San Francisco Chronicle. agencies to pay the legal fees ly persuasive” evidence of plaintiffs who prove showing that though the information was wrongly bureau may have initially had legitimate therefore defer to the bureau’s decisions withheld. So as part of the settlement, ground to investigate the FSM, its in- to keep records secret. If upheld, that the FBI paid my lawyer’s fees of more quiry devolved into unlawful political position would have pulled the teeth of than $600,000. surveillance. The judge also said the judicial review right out of the Freedom The court record shows the FBI spent FBI unlawfully targeted Kerr. The judge of Information Act. more than 15 years and $1 million in tax ordered the records released, saying Three more years passed. In a dollars trying to suppress public records they go to “the very essence of what unanimous 1995 opinion written by a documenting its unlawful activities. the government was up to during a Reagan appointee, the court affirmed Kerr, who died last year at 92, was one turbulent, historic period.” virtually all of the District Court’s rul- of the nation’s most respected educa- The U.S. Department of Justice, ing. The appeals panel said FBI memos tors. The FBI never found any evidence which represents federal agencies “strongly” suggested that the bureau of misconduct by him. He was shocked in FOIA lawsuits, asked the judge to sought to “harass political opponents of when I showed him memos detailing reconsider. She declined. The depart- the FBI’s allies among the [university’s the FBI’s campaign against him. ment appealed to the Ninth Circuit U.S. governing] Regents, not to investigate Court of Appeals, arguing that judges subversion and civil disorder.” The ap- Lessons Learned have no authority to question whether peals court also said the records showed FBI records concern legitimate law that “the FBI waged a concerted effort in By now, I had moved to the San Fran- enforcement and that the courts must the late 1950’s and 1960’s to have Kerr cisco Chronicle, and this is where I first

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 91 Words & Reflections

published my account of this multiyear materials can be submitted along with pursue it in between their other work FOIA effort. In response to the Chronicle an explanatory cover letter and might on the beat or the projects team. One story, titled “The Campus Files,” U.S. help to educate the officials handling day, the post office might deliver a box Senator Dianne Feinstein opened a for- the request about why the information of smoking guns. mal inquiry into the FBI’s actions. She should be released. I hope it does not take another 20 told FBI Director Robert Mueller that “as Requests should specify the target years to find out what the government we have seen from this Chronicle article, information but be worded broadly is up to during these turbulent times. FOIA is often the only way the American enough to close loopholes. I discovered But I know it will be up to reporters, people can be assured of government that the FBI initially searched for records editors and news executives to make accountability.” The New York Times on the “University of California,” but sure people find out. Public records observed in an editorial that “These not for “California, University of” and laws can play a critical role in that mis- accounts of the FBI’s malfeasance are other variations. sion—and in protecting the public’s a powerful reminder of how easily Of course, it’s important to keep right to know. ■ intelligence organizations deployed to copies of all correspondence with an protect freedom can become its worst agency and notes of any conversations Seth Rosenfeld is an investigative enemy.” with officials. This administrative record reporter for the San Francisco Chron- My experience demonstrates that will become the basis of any suit chal- icle. His report on the FBI at the FOIA requests are most likely to succeed lenging the agency’s failure to release University of California during the when they grow out of and are informed public information and will be read by cold war, “The Campus Files,” can be by regular reporting. Investigative jour- the judge. For the same reason, it is found at www.sfgate.com/campus, nalism and routine beat coverage can wise to be polite and professional in along with examples of documents not only point reporters to informa- all dealings with the agency. the FBI tried to unlawfully cover up. tion they should request under public Many journalists don’t bother with records laws, but also to obits, waivers, records act requests. In fact, the big-  [email protected] official studies, and other materials that gest users of the FOIA are corporations can be used to overcome baseless se- seeking information on competitors crecy claims. Public records laws do not and regulators. But FOIA requests are require agencies to conduct research for worth pursuing even if they take time requesters, beyond a reasonable search to produce results. Reporters can eas- of their own files. But these additional ily submit a request, then periodically

WATCHDOG When FOIA Requests Become a Reporting Habit At the York Daily Record/Sunday News, reporters don’t hesitate to push agencies for undisclosed information.

By Rob Walters

hortly before 5:30 p.m. on Octo- ist attacks and during the height of the ficials handled the crisis. For example, ber 17, 2001, the Nuclear Regula- anthrax scare. The federal agency took some local government officials had not Story Commission (NRC) received the threat seriously. The government been notified about the potential threat word of an immediate threat against scrambled to get two fighter jets to that evening. The paper quoted a law- Three Mile Island’s (TMI) Unit 1 reactor. south central Pennsylvania to patrol the maker as saying, “They didn’t spell out An American who controlled the “re- skies over TMI. The agency eventually what it was except it was a threat they frigeration” to the reactor was to attack deemed the threat not credible. were taking seriously.” Understandably, the plant’s interior while someone else For York County residents, who live readers wanted to know more, includ- would deliberately crash a plane into the in the shadow of TMI, the threat and the ing reassurance that the government reactor’s containment building. fear associated with it was real. The York and plant operators were prepared if The NRC received this threat five Daily Record/Sunday News reported terrorists had indeed picked TMI, site weeks after the September 11th terror- that some lawmakers criticized how of- of America’s worst nuclear disaster, as

92 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Secrecy a potential target. night and to describe lessons officials similar threat arise. For example, one Shortly after the October threat, the had learned and what steps the plant NRC official noted the difficulty the York Daily Record filed a Freedom of and the government would take to bet- agency had in reaching the plant’s senior Information Act (FOIA) request with ter coordinate their response should a management. the NRC to dislodge documents re- lated to the agency’s response to the threat. More than a year after the paper filed the request, the NRC released a two-paragraph e-mail written by an inspector who complained about the lack of direction when responding to the threat. After the NRC denied the paper’s original request, the Daily Record appealed. The NRC’s execu- tive director for Homeland Protection and Preparedness reviewed the appeal and eventually ruled some documents could be released to the Daily Record because they contained information of legitimate public interest. It turns out that the NRC withheld about 150 pages of information related to the threat, including a chronology of information and actions, handwritten logs, and lesson-learned reports. The records, released on December 3, 2003, provided a minute-by-minute account revealing that officials believed simulta- The interior of the armored car in which York police officer Henry C. Schaad was shot in neous attacks would occur from the air 1969, a case the York County district attorney’s office investigated in 2000. Photo courtesy and from a saboteur inside TMI. They of York County Coroner’s Office and York Daily Record/Sunday News. also showed the following:

• TMI officials did not learn of the threat until about an hour after the NRC received it. • The reactor and its radioactive core were more vulnerable on this day be- cause the vessel was being refueled. To allow for that, a massive hatch had been removed from the vessel and the head was off the reactor pressure valve. Workers needed almost three hours to close that hatch. • Aside from investigating the threat against TMI, federal and state officials contended with other issues, such as airplanes venturing into restricted airspace around the plant and public announcements by outside airports concerning security at the plant.

We published stories based on what we learned from these records. The newspaper used the documents to build stories and graphics to explain Reporters used the FOIA to obtain records about a possible terrorist threat to Three Mile what happened behind the scenes that Island’s nuclear power plant. October 2003. Photo by Paul Kuehnel/York Daily Record.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 93 Words & Reflections

The Newspaper Begins Its Use of FOIA

When this threat to TMI came, the York Daily Record was already well-versed in how to use the FOIA to obtain re- cords that would enable the paper to tell the stories that might otherwise go untold. The Daily Record/Sunday News has a daily circulation of about 48,000 and reaches roughly 93,000 homes on Sunday, and given our wide-ranging experience with FOIA requests, we were in a good position to challenge the government’s blanket denials of information releasable under the FOIA prior to September 11th. In 2000, when the York County dis- Persistence by journalists revealed information through FOIA requests about the 1969 trict attorney’s office convened a grand killing of Lillie Belle Allen. This photo was found in the York County coroner’s report. jury to investigate the 1969 killings of a black woman and white police officer, the paper learned quickly that it needed to pursue a variety of investigative av- enues to report this story. Because we operate in a highly competitive two- Tips About FOIA Filings: newspaper town, getting accurate and complete information that we need to 1. FOIA for the FOIA logs. Not only do proper title of documents you wish report a story is critical. In this case, they contain clues to stories, but also to obtain. Try to make your requests since the city’s mayor was a suspect in reporters will discover fascinating/ as specific as possible. one of the murders, the need to obtain entertaining requests. One CIA log, 5. Be a woodpecker. Check back with all the facts we could was even more for example, showed a requester had the FOIA officer each week, or each essential. asked for “radar and visual sightings day if you have to, until you get what With the grand jury proceedings of UFO’s.” you want. cloaked in secrecy and Pennsylvania 2. The federal government keeps papers 6. Write an FOIA request to the FBI for having weak open-records laws, the on just about everything. If you drive the file on local celebrities when they paper turned to the federal government to work each day on an interstate, die. Look back over the past 40 or and the FOIA to learn more about what think about which government agen- 50 years and write FOIA’s for now- happened in York during the city’s cies oversee federal highways. Do deceased prominent members of 1969 riots. Through FOIA requests, you eat at fast-food restaurants? Who your community. Include a published we discovered that the Pennsylvania inspected the meat you are eating? obituary as proof of death. State Police knew at the time who was Listen to the radio or watch TV? What 7. Seek to obtain information electroni- involved in the murders but failed to agency oversees the public airways? cally. Ask for databases and work- make any arrests. Federal documents The federal government has scores related e-mails—they can be a gold also revealed that the National Guard, of agencies. Each maintains logs, mine. which had been called upon to restore chronologies, audits, lesson-learned 8. Keep requests to a determined range order, had been given inaccurate infor- reports, and handwritten notes used of years and events. mation about what was happening in to make official reports. FOIA for 9. Fax or e-mail FOIA requests rather the city at the time. everything. than rely on postal mail. Because This information did not come easily 3. Encourage readers to become part of concerns about anthrax-related to the York Daily Record. Staffers had to of your FOIA army. Publish sample attacks, correspondence to govern- learn what to ask for and how to ask for FOIA letters as a breakout to your ment agencies might go unopened it through FOIA. Filing the request, we FOIA-based stories. List sample FOIA for extended periods of time. learned, wasn’t enough. Reporters had letters on your Web site, and ask 10. Appeal, appeal, appeal. If your to be persistent, calling FOIA officers at readers to provide you with ideas. original request is denied, write an least once a week to check on the status 4. Learn the language and know the appeal letter. ■ —R.W. of requests and prod gatekeepers to

94 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Secrecy

York Daily Record/Sunday News Stories Based on FOIA Requests

• In February 2002, The York Daily (TMI) and Peach Bottom Atomic had radioactive events classified as Record/Sunday News wrote about a Power Station. Among our findings: A abnormal by the NRC—meaning it convicted killer sitting on death row quarter of the Pennsylvania National was an incident posing a possible for 20 years, longer than anyone else Guard soldiers are not trained in their risk to public health and safety; the in the United States. In its investiga- specific military jobs, and a high-rank- NRC investigated York Hospital three tion, the York City Police Department ing Guard official suspended physical times for events ranging from broken had sent the murder weapon—a fitness training for full-time guards- equipment to the wrong injection of knife—and handkerchief to the FBI men to increase readiness numbers. radioactive medicine, and the NRC for testing. No latent prints of value In putting the fitness program on inspected TMI Unit 1 in 1991 for the were found on either item, according hold, the Guard official violated army overexposure of two workers who to the FBI’s lab reports, which were regulations. We also reported that the handled fuel debris and in 2001 for obtained through an FOIA request. state’s National Guard troops called a worn tower assembly. This information was used in a series to protect its 16 commercial airports • In response to an FOIA request, of stories that raised questions about following the September 11th attacks the Federal Aviation Administration the defendant’s legal representation, were given minimal guidance on provided 61 Investigation of Pilot prosecution and sentence. In June what to look for if someone tried to Deviation Reports from September 2002, a judge changed the sentence breach security. The 160 guardsmen 11, 2001 to January 31, 2002. The to life in prison without parole. who patrolled the airports reacted reports showed pilots, several from • Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rob- to or resolved 78 incidents, includ- York County, violated an expanded ert Maynard started his newspaper ing checkpoint closures, security no-fly zone over Camp David, the career in York in the 1960’s. While breaches, and armed and unruly presidential retreat in Maryland in York, Maynard drew the attention passengers between October 1, 2001 not far from the Pennsylvania state of FBI agents, who secretly sought to to May 31, 2002; guardsmen backing line. discover if he was a member of the up law enforcement at Pittsburgh • From 1990 through April 2002, 128 radical Black Liberation Front. We International Airport experienced pilots nationwide violated FAA drug learned from an FOIA request that turf battles with screeners and the or alcohol regulations, including four when the FBI closed this case, agents Allegheny County Police, and officials from Pennsylvania who lost their had discovered only that he was in- removed five soldiers from duty for licenses, according to information volved in a group called York Action disciplinary reasons. gathered through an FOIA request. for Peace and a program named the • We obtained the NRC’s Nuclear Mate- A York County resident and former Benton-York Twinning Project that rials Event Database. The commission general aviation pilot was among assisted poor blacks in Mississippi. uses this database to track the use of those to be stripped of his license. • We used the Pennsylvania National radioactive matter and equipment ■ —R.W. Guard’s own records to evaluate its used to handle it. Six companies with readiness after the September 11th ties to York County, including TMI, To view more York Daily Record/Sun- terror attacks. Guardsmen were de- are listed in the database. Among the day News’s FOIA-based stories, go to ployed to protect Three Mile Island findings: 15 Pennsylvania companies www.ydr.com/foi.

release the information. We also had to with how to file an FOIA request before various government agencies and asked learn how to file appeals. A significant information is actually needed. Several to look at FOIA request logs. Those logs number of appeals, in that case, resulted Web sites, including the Reporters Com- showed what types of records the agen- finally in the release of information. mittee for Freedom of the Press, post cies kept and what types of information sample letters or have an FOIA-letter the paper could reasonably expect to Making FOIA a Reporting generator. To write a letter, reporters receive. Routine fill in the blanks and click. Reporters also learned to think in Some requests are denied because a different way. If the federal govern- One critical lesson the York Daily people don’t know what or how to ask ment issued a report, staffers looked Record’s staff learned from its recent the government for records. To learn at the footnotes to see if there was a coverage of the 1969 riots and Septem- more about the process, the York Daily survey or a database that was involved ber 11th is that it is best to be familiar Record’s reporters sent FOIA requests to in the publication’s preparation. If so,

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 95 Words & Reflections

we filed an FOIA request for that raw information. We discovered, too, that the govern- ment has a form for everything, so we started to look for the appropriate form names associated with topics we were interested in. Reporters then filed FOIA requests for those forms. In 2002, the York Daily Record set as its goal the filing of 250 FOIA requests. Each FOIA request is a lesson in how the process works and how to use the act successfully. We met our goal and, along the way, staff members wrote several stories based on what we found out from those requests. Or we were able to bolster reporting on other articles with infor- mation the paper received from these State police stand ready with weapons during a security alert at Three Mile Island. Octo- federal documents. ber 2001. Photo by Bil Bowden/York Daily Record/Sunday News. Though we work with daily deadlines and breaking news, staff members are urged to always think long term and same persistence—so that the paper Rob Walters is the business editor, about follow-up stories the paper might could prevail. computer-assisted reporting editor, want to publish. Making an FOIA request York Daily Record reporters now and investigative projects editor for at the York Daily Record is no longer a understand the value in making such the York Daily Record/Sunday News. goal. It is part of our routine. Persistence requests and how the information we Contributing to this article were and patience are traits we’ve developed are able to get serves as a vital report- York Daily Record/Sunday News staff in pursuing information through the ing tool. The paper dedicates a section members Sharon Smith, Sean Adkins, FOIA process. From experience we on its Web site (www.ydr.com) to FOIA and Michelle Starr. The newspaper know that an FOIA request filed today reporting; stories based on information received back-to-back John V.R. Bull most likely means we won’t publish from an FOIA request are labeled. The Freedom of Information Awards in a story using the information we are paper also places information on its 2002 and 2003—Pennsylvania’s top able to get for a month or even a year Web site to let readers know how they Right to Know honor. The paper’s from now. Reporters at the paper are can use FOIA or RTK to obtain their FOIA work also earned the Pennsyl- still receiving information from FOIA own records. vania Newspaper Association’s pub- requests the paper made following the The government’s reaction to the lic service award in 2003, and it was September 11th attacks. events of September 11th altered the an Investigative Reporters and Edi- On July 2, 2002, then-Pennsylvania boundaries of what information can tors’ Freedom of Information Award Governor Mark Schweiker signed the be released under FOIA. However, the finalist in 2003 and 2004. Right-To-Know (RTK) act, the first up- law itself has not changed. York Daily date to the state’s open-records law Record staff members continue to file  [email protected] since 1957. The multiyear fight for better FOIA requests, and we still receive open records in our state’s antiquated information. And when reporters’ re- law is one that former York Daily Record quests are denied, the paper appeals. editor/publisher, Dennis Hetzel, spear- Staffers look at the specific exemption headed as chairman of the Pennsylvania cited and challenge the government’s Newspaper Association’s Government logic for the denial. Often, the paper’s Affairs Committee. After this new law appeals are successful. was signed, reporters at the paper ap- Filing an FOIA request should not be plied the lessons we’d learned from a last-resort reporting tool. Reporters filing FOIA’s. We created a RTK form who routinely file such requests are letter to use when filing state requests, often rewarded with thick envelopes and when state or local officials dragged with information they would not have their feet on the paper’s requests, we otherwise received. ■ employed the same strategies—with the

96 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 International Journalism

Foreign Correspondence

While traditional Western foreign correspondents are decreasing in number at many news organizations, their work is not becoming extinct, but is “evolving into new forms,” argue John Maxwell Hamilton, dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and a former foreign correspondent, and Eric Jenner, former international editor of The New York Times’s Web page. They describe this situation by highlighting the increased use of locally based journalists to gather news and computer technology that influences the quality and delivery of foreign news. They also urge news organizations to embrace change. “Looking only backward at this old model keeps us from making the new correspondence as useful as it could be in elevating American understanding of an increasingly complicated and hostile world,” they write. Fons Tuinstra, a Dutch foreign correspondent based in Shanghai, explores the topic of foreign correspondence through what he observes happening in China. The Internet, he writes, is becoming “the dominant information provider for academics, the international business community, and journalists,” at a time when the rate of postings of new foreign correspondents to this thriving Chinese city is slowing, the resources given them to do their jobs are declining, and “interest in publishing what foreign correspondents have to report is falling, too.” He concludes by suggesting that Weblogs offer a possible new approach to publishing foreign news, even though most lack a sustainable revenue source. Tuinstra also responds to a Nieman Reports’ article about censorship of the Internet in China. Reporting on North Korea

Former CNN Tokyo and Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon describes why she launched her Weblog about North Korea (www.NKzone.org) and how it has developed. During her fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & Public Policy at Harvard University, she used her Weblog work to examine “how online, interactive, participatory forms of media might enhance or improve ways in which international news is consumed and reported.” She explores similarities and differences between Weblogs and journalism. What she does with her Weblog, she writes, is “a raw, unvarnished form [of journalism] that still makes many professional journalists uncomfortable ….” Thomas Omestad, a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, wrote the magazine’s cover story about North Korea’s political prisons, and he explains how the article was reported, including essential interviews with gulag survivors. “We felt that the story of the gulag should be told in human terms—from the viewpoint of the victims,” he says. Freelance photojournalist Dermot Tatlow had a rare opportunity to visually record life in North Korea, and his images and words speak to what he experienced and saw. He writes about many restrictions he encountered. “I knew I’d have to find the delicate balance of getting photographs the news organizations wanted to publish and not getting expelled prematurely.” Barbara Demick, Seoul bureau chief for the Los Angles Times, tells how she reports on North Korea, a country shrouded in extreme secrecy, by “exploring around the edges,” seeking out defectors and North Korean experts in South Korea, and learning from the tiny expatriate community (aid workers, diplomats) who live in North Korea. ■

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 97 International Journalism Foreign Correspondence: Evolution, Not Extinction ‘The new correspondents are reshaping foreign news in ways that have potential for good and, without interventions, for bad.’

By John Maxwell Hamilton and Eric Jenner

he foreign correspondent, tors and producers have traditionally rise. Eighty-six percent of editors in Bernard Cohen observed in his worried about their reporters “going a 2002 study conducted by the Pew T1960’s classic book “The Press native,” a newsroom term to describe International Journalism Program said and Foreign Policy,” is “a cosmopolitan reporters out of touch with the home that companies in their community among cosmopolitans, a man in gray audience. To guard against this, news had overseas investments. Of those flannel who ranks very high in the hi- organizations have made minimal use who noted these foreign connections, erarchy of reporters.” Correspondents of foreign nationals—until recently. 50 percent regularly or fairly regularly talk to heads of state and dine on the A single foreign correspondent costs covered these stories. Similar responses Via Veneto, while colleagues back home a newspaper around $250,000 a year. were given for stories about immigrants, toil under the watchful eye of editors. Broadcast foreign correspondents, university connections abroad, and “Twice as many foreign correspondents who have agents to negotiate their foreign business and investment in the as Main Street journalists have attended salaries and need technical support to community. private colleges and four times as many do their reporting, cost far more. The “We’re in a new era now in which have graduate degrees,” according to obvious solution for bottom-line con- the ambiguity in what is international a 1996 study by Stephen Hess of the scious news executives is to use more and what is not international is very Brookings Institution. foreign journalists. Only 31 percent of great,” veteran Washington Post foreign This image of the foreign correspon- correspondents for American media correspondent Don Oberdorfer said. dent continues to have some relevance. overseas are American, according to a “Say[ing] that if the news isn’t coming The traditional foreign correspondent recent survey led by a colleague, Denis from overseas then it’s not international, remains elite, perhaps even more so Wu. This is a sharp decline from the early we’re misleading ourselves.” than in the past. After all, their numbers 1990’s, when another scholar working Meanwhile, as international travel has are decreasing, a trend often expressed off a similar database found about 65 become cheaper and more convenient, in Darwinian terms. “While there are still percent were American. local television and newspaper organi- correspondents based abroad,” former Growing global interdependence is zations are sending reporters abroad foreign correspondent and media critic another factor changing the nature of on short-term assignments. In the Pew Marvin Kalb noted, “the genre known foreign reporting. The old-fashioned International Journalism Program study as ‘foreign correspondent’ is becoming view is that foreign news is foreign and mentioned above, foreign editors at 39 extinct.” local news is local, and people want of the 81 largest newspapers had used But the image is misleading, too. more of the latter and less of the former. parachute journalists; so had seven of Foreign correspondence is no longer In a world of porous borders, however, the 72 editors representing the smaller the exclusive province of the traditional the lines between foreign and domestic newspapers. To increase such reporting trench coat-wearing journalist, covering blur for news just as they blur for com- even more, the International Center news for a network or major print outlet. merce, health, culture and the environ- for Journalists has launched a program New varieties of foreign correspondents ment. Local farmers and agricultural sending reporters from medium and have emerged, some of whom scarcely extension agents pay close attention to small media markets abroad to look for consider themselves journalists. the ups and downs of foreign markets foreign links to their communities. Foreign correspondence is not be- for crops; local entrepreneurs identify Local foreign correspondence chal- coming extinct. But it is evolving into opportunities abroad; communities lenges assumptions about the much- new forms. declare themselves nuclear free zones, maligned concept of “parachute jour- and state development authorities send nalism.” Critics object that parachute The New Foreign delegations to monitor and lobby inter- journalism is simply a way to avoid the Correspondents national trade negotiators. costs of posting correspondents abroad While local media have a long way permanently. Whatever the merits of The first of these new journalists is the to go before adequately mining such that argument for networks and major foreign foreign correspondent. Edi- stories, reporting of them is on the newspapers, it does not hold for local

98 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Foreign Correspondence news operations, which never had per- time to read the paper when you came is read over the Internet by a resident manent foreign correspondents in the in the morning,” says Richard D. Badler, of Indianapolis. first place. Local parachute journalists senior vice president for corporate com- add to foreign coverage, rather than munications at Unisys. Implications detract from it. Some journalistic purists might want to dismiss such entities as unre- Contrary to all the handwringing, the The Assist From Computers lated to news. But corporations place traditional foreign correspondent is not a premium on exactly what journalists facing extinction. The normal pattern Yet another factor altering the land- value—accurate and timely informa- of foreign correspondence, beginning scape of foreign reporting is new media tion. This is why corporations often with the Spanish-American War, is technologies, which have lowered the hire journalists to do the work. Says marked by bursts of coverage, usually economic barriers of entry to publish- one modern corporate executive re- because of a major conflict, followed ing and broadcasting. The Internet has sponsible for in-house reporting, “It’s by a decline in reportage. True to this made it possible for media companies all about ‘I’ve got news.’” Purists also pattern, news media sent large numbers to create special “wires” they can retail should keep in mind that Reuters and of reporters into the Iraq War. at a premium. Havas started out as services for embas- What is changing is the arrival of An obvious example is Bloomberg. sies, government agencies, banks and many new varieties of foreign reporters. Its news service has about 255 print other businesses. The new correspondents are reshaping and 100 radio and television journalists A third kind of technology-driven foreign news in ways that have potential inside the United States and far more— foreign correspondence is do-it-yourself for good and, without interventions, 1,000 print and 200 broadcast—outside. reporting. With groups and individu- for bad. Given the quality of its financial report- als able to post information on Web Increasing the amount of foreign ing, its audience pays a premium to sites, anybody can be a publisher or, news is potentially good. Understand- receive high-quality, specialized news for that matter, a reporter. Salam Pax ing local connections to the rest of in real time over their Bloomberg ter- is a timely example. In early 2003, this the world has the potential of creating minals: $1,650 for a single terminal per self-described 29-year-old Iraqi archi- more interest in foreign affairs among month or $1,285 a month per terminal tect posted reports on the conditions average Americans. Seeing events if the client has more than one. of Baghdad, his beleaguered home- overseas from the perspective of other Because 50 percent of Bloomberg’s town. His Web site “Where is Raed?” countries, something that might occur subscribers are outside the United provided some of the most vivid and with greater use of foreign foreign cor- States, it is misleading to call its report- personal dispatches in the lead-up to respondents, is equally valuable if we ers foreign correspondents. A Bloom- war. Although there was much specula- are to build constructive international berg reporter writing on soybeans from tion as to whether Pax was a fictitious relationships. China is a foreign correspondent to character dreamed up by Mossad or But we must also worry about the the subscriber in New York but a local CIA propagandists, freelance journal- quality of that news. Local foreign cor- reporter to the subscriber in Beijing. Al- ist Peter Maass verified that the person respondents with no experience abroad though Bloomberg—which is privately who called himself “Salam Pax” was are less likely to appreciate nuances of held—will not provide detailed financial indeed real and had worked for him as foreign affairs. And do-it-yourself for- information the way traditional media a translator in Iraq. eign correspondents are less likely to will, interviews with executives suggest “Today and in the future,” veteran be trained for reporting. Even if many that the extensive use of local reporters network foreign correspondent Garrick do have fidelity to unearthing facts and overseas, plus advantageous economies Utley observed, “anyone sending infor- placing them in a fair context (rather of scale resulting from the large number mation from one country to another is than transmitting more biased report- of correspondents employed, lower a de facto foreign correspondent. The ing), how can the Internet subscriber overall per-correspondent costs. number of correspondents, accredited know which ones don’t? Yet another kind of foreign cor- or not, will rapidly increase. Equipped Nor can we assume that these new respondence is in-house news and with camcorders and computers, they varieties of foreign correspondence information gathering. Virtually every will send out and receive more foreign will reach a broad audience. The result global corporation these days has a dispatches.” may be just the opposite, with a grow- computer-linked network in which “staff Internet users in many countries ing gap between information haves reporters” provide original information can easily gather news right at home and information have-nots. Corpora- as well as news summaries to employees simply by surfing the Web. In so doing tions and individuals who can afford around the world. Federal Express has they create another new kind of foreign expensive newsgathering staffs and what it calls FedEx TV, which delivers correspondent, the foreign local cor- advanced media technology have a big video on demand to employees. “This respondent. That is a reporter in India advantage. is what you would have read if you had writing for an Indian daily, whose work Traditional journalists—and journal-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 99 International Journalism

ism educators—are tempted to dismiss citizens to be intelligent consumers so John Maxwell Hamilton, dean of the these new varieties of foreign corre- they can separate best practices from Manship School of Mass Communica- spondents as insignificant upstarts of bad ones. tion at Louisiana State University little consequence. This is reminiscent The traditional elite correspondent and a former foreign correspondent, of those mid-19th century owners who working for a major network, national worked on this essay as a fellow at dismissed the penny press only to be magazine, or major daily newspaper the Joan Shorenstein Center on the rendered obsolete themselves. The no longer has hegemony over foreign Press, Politics, & Public Policy at better approach is to think seriously news. Looking only backward at this old Harvard University. Eric Jenner, for- about how to train men and women to model keeps us from making the new mer international editor of The New fill these new correspondent roles. No foreign correspondence as useful as it York Times’s Web page, is a doctoral longer can a beginning reporter think could be in elevating American under- student at LSU. A version of this ar- he or she will only be covering local standing of an increasingly complicated ticle is in Journalism (August 2004). news. We need, too, to develop best and hostile world. ■ practice models and to prepare our  [email protected] Caught Between the Cold War and the Internet How foreign news will be covered is a question—with a few possible answers.

By Fons Tuinstra

hat is happening to foreign to deliver news in real time to their tion about missed news. “I’m in it for correspondents—those en- customers. the money.” Wvied reporters who travel to The Internet, he went on to say, now where the news is happening and relay made it possible for others, including A View From Shanghai and it back home? From here in Shanghai, XFN, to do the same kind of newsgath- Beyond China it is clear that what used to be ering at a lesser cost. The worldwide is no longer. operation of the older newswires—de- That summer I also canceled my sub- In the summer of 2003, at the Shang- ploying a high number of journalists—is scription to the Far Eastern Economic hai Foreign Correspondents Club, a too high of a burden, Earnshaw argued. Review. It had been my last subscrip- discussion with Graham Earnshaw, who Revenue streams in many places were tion for a print publication. From that is the editor in chief of Xinhua Finance being reduced to a trickle, and this point on, for a subscription fee of $15 News (XFN), provided a wake-up call meant that much of the overall news per month, Shanghai Telecom would to any of our members who might be operation was having to be subsidized deliver all the information I needed thinking the good old days of foreign by work in the more profitable financial through my broadband connection. correspondence might yet return. markets. But Shanghai Telecom is not paying the For most of his 30 years in Asia, Earn- XFN’s focus is on only those lucrative bills of any reporter I know. If everyone shaw worked for Reuters as an Asian cor- financial markets, and it puts reporters did as I was doing, who would pay my respondent. After retiring from the news in place in markets where it makes com- bills for reporting the news? service in the late 1990’s, Earnshaw mercial sense (not journalistic sense). During the past five years in China signed on with XFN. (Xinhua, which It follows that if this kind of selective the Internet has developed into the is the official newswire of the Chinese placement is happening at places like dominant information provider for aca- government, is a minority shareholder XFN, then this competition erodes the demics, the international business com- in XFN.) Earnshaw predicted, not sur- more profitable sections of the market munity, and journalists. One reason for prisingly, that XFN would succeed as for traditional financial newswires. this is that getting print media sent from a conveyor of financial news. But his “Nobody is interested in the financial outside of China requires its recipient other prediction was a bit more startling market in Indonesia, so why should we to pay a heavy import surcharge to the to hear: He said he believed that both put somebody there?” Earnshaw said, Chinese monopoly in charge of bringing Reuters and Bloomberg would become “There is even hardly any interest in them into the country. Censorship of obsolete in two to three years, because Japan.” Web sites, by the government, has also since the end of the 1990’s both of them Earnshaw expressed little concern been fairly easy to circumvent. In the had been losing their technological for what news might not get reported. larger cities, broadband is treated by the competitive advantage of being able “I do not care,” he replied to a ques- Chinese government as a utility like the

100 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Foreign Correspondence water supply and, by 2004, a quarter they had to do their jobs were declin- In the meantime, colleagues working of the 80 million Chinese Internet us- ing. At first, we blamed the economic in Shanghai and Beijing joined emerging ers were using broadband, double the crisis, and then we looked to the major low-budget local media operations or number in the United States. international events (September 11th, trade publications to survive the crisis. These changes were happening at the the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq), and Others widened their beats to other same time the number of foreign cor- that gave us reason to believe we were parts of Asia, even while budgets were respondents in Shanghai—the largest living in extraordinary times that would curtailed. And China, the hottest story and most thriving city in China—did not return to normal when these crises in Asia, didn’t experience its anticipated go up substantially, and the resources were over. substantial gain in foreign correspon- dents. In Shanghai, the official number of foreign correspondents went up by a dozen during the past three years (to about 70 by the end of 2003), a still mi- China and the Internet: A Reader Responds nuscule number compared with those in other large financial centers. Depressing anecdotes accompanied “Is Internet censorship worth fighting?,” the whole Internet to a standstill. From the new arrivals. The Dutch correspon- Jonathan Zittrain asks in his article, the Chinese perspective, such an occur- dent of de Volkskrant, a major daily, “China and Internet Filters,” in the Sum- rence would be counterproductive. So arrived in January 2004 and was work- mer edition of Nieman Reports. While after about a month and a half of this ing with one third of his predecessor’s the Berkman Center for Internet and attempt at censorship, we no longer budget. His paper closed its operations Society at Harvard Law School, which noticed filters except during short in Africa and India and was sold in Zittrain helped to create, has done times around sessions of the National March 2004 to a London-based invest- important work in documenting how People’s Congress and the anniversary ment bank that wanted to bring the China’s filtering and blocking technol- of Tiananmen Square. daily paper to the stock market, and ogy work to regulate the flow of certain Now, unlike two years ago, I can’t more cost cuts are anticipated. Smaller information, this article gives a mislead- find any banned English words, and in countries tended to eliminate much ing impression of how this situation is Chinese such words are easily circum- of their foreign-based staff, while oth- playing out in China today. vented by using one of that language’s ers maintained a marginal presence. Unlike what Zittrain suggests, daily many homonyms. A valuable lesson I Swedish media recalled their China Internet experiences in China are not find in this is the failure of technology correspondents in 2002. In March 2004, substantially hampered by the tech- to control the Internet. However, the the BBC decided to close its renowned nological features used as censoring Internet remains very much a techno- program “East Asia Today.” And during devices. Older URL-blocks can be easily logically driven industry in which the 2003 and 2004 there were worrisome circumvented. In fact, learning how to fallibility of its engineering is still not signs of similar declines in the number do this is one the first things univer- a much-discussed subject. of foreign correspondents and the re- sity students in China do when they Internet censorship in China is sources given to them in other places go online, and they do this for a very something that must be put in a broader in Asia. practical reason: unless they find ways context of all that is happening in this Interest in publishing what foreign to circumvent the “financial block” they country. Changes in policies, like a re- correspondents have to report is fall- will be forced to pay one renminbi per cent fling into banning service providers ing, too. Il Manifesto’s long-serving hour (the equivalent of 12 cents) to surf that host Weblogs, indicate trends that Southeast Asian correspondent, Pio the Internet. are well worth watching, and that is the d’Emilia, who works out of Tokyo, says When the Chinese government value the Berkman Center brings in its the number of stories he wrote for his instituted a new censorship system of ongoing efforts to document these ac- paper decreased dramatically from 1997 Internet filters in the summer of 2002, it tivities. But how these Internet policies (207 articles)—his record year—to 87 caused so much economic damage that impact the daily life of most Chinese articles in 2002. He is the only remain- it had to be toned down, which meant citizens, just as in the case with so many ing Italian correspondent in Tokyo after that in reality the filters blocked very other regulations in China, is rather more than half a dozen Italian reporters little. The way the system worked was marginal. Asking media companies to left during the 1990’s. “Our paper has to automatically disconnect the user flock to the barricades in a fight against only two pages for foreign news,” says for half an hour whenever it noticed such Internet blocks might therefore d’Emilia. “They prefer to have breaking a banned word. This system also ap- not be that effective. ■ news and not the stories I can write plied to e-mail, so even a minor e-mail about the changes in the Japanese offensive by, for example, the banned Fons Tuinstra middle class.” religious group Falun Gong, could bring Shanghai, China Of course, while places in Asia experi- ence a slackening of growth in numbers

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 101 International Journalism

of foreign correspondents, Brussels, its way out, with no serious syndication countries, of course, where most people for example, welcomes many new ones outside Germany, and it is now losing are not connected to the Internet, and due to the presence of NATO and the customers in Germany, too. The French so this makes its use as a mass com- European Union (E.U.). “Each new Agence France-Presse (AFP) is doing munication tool still problematic there. member state in Europe means about much better in terms of international But already, in places like Iran and 30 new colleagues here in Brussels,” content syndication but will only survive Iraq, some bloggers have shown how says Marc van Impe, chairman of the as long as the French government is the Internet can be a powerful tool in Belgium Press Institute in Brussels. “I prepared to annually pay 30 percent of providing the kind of frontline informa- get at least three calls per week of new its costs. Even French patriotism might tion that traditional news media aren’t colleagues coming here.” But much of have its limits. Reuters is struggling and able to obtain. the news out of Brussels is domestic announced it will outsource part of its Entering the blogosphere can be like European news, which means that dis- journalistic work to India, after already entering a new and different country, patches about the developments in the outsourcing its information technology not too much different from the feel- E.U. replace reports from the respective departments there. ing I had when I visited China for the capitals in Europe, so in some ways first time and dealt with a different these journalists are not really foreign Enter the Internet culture and language. In the summer correspondents. of 2003, as I read about and talked with In Europe, it seems that only the Since the end of the cold war, news people about how Weblogs might be Financial Times has the clout necessary has become more of a commodity, and used in this way, European and Asian to keep its foreign operations thriving. the Internet has made this more visible colleagues wondered if I was speaking The United Kingdom has nine national than ever. With the disappearance of the a new language. When I used words papers and the Netherlands six, which ideological conflict between capitalism like “narrow media” and Weblog, it was are relatively large numbers compared and Communism, news organizations clear that for many of them these were with the United States, and though found it easier to close down expensive new concepts. As I traveled the world, many of them still cover international foreign posts. This decline has been trying to learn more about the Internet news independently, their foreign news particularly evident in broadcast media and the role it might be able to play operations are falling back very fast. in which American networks led the in foreign reporting, I found that new A few of the larger, established news way in markedly reducing their staff journalistic approaches to managing the organizations—especially in the United foreign postings. information and news that get produced States—like The New York Times and The work done by foreign correspon- are lacking, as are ways of packaging it The Associated Press (AP) are moving dents is now also in the forefront of for audiences. And the target audiences against these trends. “In the decade changes triggered by the proliferation may no longer be the mass audiences I’ve worked for The New York Times of the Internet. When XFN’s managing of the past but narrower groupings of the number of foreign correspondents director Graham Earnshaw was asked in news consumers. has actually grown from 30 to 50,” August 2003 what he considered a viable I located some emerging Internet observed Howard French, a long-time alternative for the traditional network initiatives on foreign news. Many of the Times’s foreign correspondent, in a of foreign correspondents, he came ones I found are even less mature than lecture he gave at Temple University up with the concept of “cottage jour- Weblogs themselves, but they might in Tokyo. In part, the Times’s foreign nalism.” In using the word “cottage,” be what will be needed to replace the coverage is supported by its successful he is referring back to how the textile reporting work of the vanishing corps syndication service. industry operated in preindustrial Brit- of foreign correspondents. Former CNN The AP provides a major part of the ain, before the industrial revolution. Beijing and Toyko bureau chief, Rebecca online stories that print media publish Mass industrialization pushed cottage MacKinnon, for example, recently set worldwide. In theory, the Internet al- industry out of the production process. up a Weblog that shares news and lows unprecedented access to online In his view, with the Internet, we might information about North Korea. [See stories throughout the world and to soon witness in the media a return to MacKinnon’s story on page 103.] With the varying perspectives—from radical the cottage industry model. her blog, MacKinnon creates an interac- Islamic voices to the official views of the In the September 2003 issue of For- tive exchange of news and information Chinese government. But increasingly eign Affairs, John Maxwell Hamilton that she and members of her blog’s the AP has become the dominant inter- writes about Weblogs as presenting a community post. On occasion, she will national newswire—the McDonalds of possible alternative for the classic ar- offer analysis to help put information foreign newsgathering—and there is not rangement of foreign correspondence. into context. Her Weblog is an example much room for diversity in its menu. [See Hamilton’s story on page 98.] In of how solid journalism and Weblogs Aside from the AP, the outlook the United States the “blogosphere” is can combine to create another source for newswires is grim. The German developing very fast, as it is in a few of foreign news. Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) is on other countries. There are still many What hampers development in this

102 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea direction is finding ways to commer- On the other hand, an Internet entity mixture of reporting skills to figure out cially finance this kind of reporting, like indymedia.org, which claims to how to better use this new technology to information gathering, and dissemina- have 60,000 “foreign correspondents” inform audiences. They might not reach tion. While MacKinnon’s blog on North who post reports and talk online about the mainstream audiences to which they Korea is exciting—and informative—as anti-globalization events and media, has are accustomed to delivering the news. a journalistic project, the classic rev- its own inherent problems. Opinions But they might reach well-defined niche enue stream from advertisements and expressed on this site—while filled with audiences willing to pay for news and readers are not yet there, though some passion—are closely related to those of information gathering that they can Webloggers have developed a donated the anti-globalization movement, and depend on and trust. ■ funding stream from members of their what gets reported doesn’t come with online community. the reliability of well-reported news. A Fons Tuinstra has been a Dutch for- Another service, like allafrica.com, similar model is used by the Web site eign correspondent in Shanghai for brings together news reporting on livinginchina.com, an English language the past 10 years, as well as an In- Africa that depends on using mostly site that has expanded its news and ternet entrepreneur and new media traditional media, unlike what MacKin- information gathering into India, Latin advisor. He is cofounder and 2002 non does with her Weblog. While such America, and Europe. Although this president of the Shanghai Foreign a site is useful as a packager of news site does not have a tendency toward Correspondents Club, a partner and from an underreported region of the ideological leanings, it also lacks a sus- columnist at www.cbiz.cn, who also world, it lacks the assets that Weblogs tainable revenue model and uses no blogs at www.chinaherald.net. possess—the ability to capture wide di- journalists either as reporters of news versity of opinion that is expressed with or as managers.  [email protected] the emotion, some would say passion, Given the Internet’s potential, this is which bloggers often bring to their work where foreign news journalists might and traditional media avoid. start looking for ways to employ their

Blogging North Korea The Web provides a good opportunity for ‘niche’ audiences to find more international news.

By Rebecca MacKinnon

t’s not every day that one gets between Pyongyang and Washington. North Korea. Unfortunately the line an e-mail from “Special Delega- While it is possible for non-American you decided to take is the same like Ition—DPR of Korea.” Mr. Alejandro journalists, tourists and businesspeople many others that talk and comment so Cao de Benos—a Spanish-born North to visit, American visitors are generally much about our government and sys- Korean citizen and Special Delegate not welcome. tem without real knowledge. NKzone to the Government of the Democratic Hoping for an exception, I had e- is contributing to the jungle of lies People’s Republic of Korea—regretted mailed Cao de Benos to ask if I might sponsored by Washington.” to inform me that I was not welcome apply to join an international group of His main beef: NKzone had recently to visit his adopted country. peace activists and journalists that he featured an interview with the Ger- Mr. Cao de Benos is a gatekeeper planned to take to North Korea in July. man doctor and North Korean human of sorts for people who want to get I introduced myself as a former CNN re- rights activist Norbert Vollertsen, as into North Korea. (Why this Barcelona porter with experience covering North well as other information provided by native decided to become a North Ko- Korea, now a freelance journalist run- him about activities condemning the rean citizen and representative of the ning a Weblog on North Korea at www. North Korean government for its hu- North Korean government is another NKzone.org. His response: “I decided to man rights abuses. In the view of Cao story.) The door into North Korea has allow the possibility of ‘fair journalism’ de Benos, “fair journalism” about the been shut to American journalists since to those individuals and companies with DPRK requires omitting the perspective mid-2002, thanks to tense relations a clean record on information about of such human rights activists.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 103 International Journalism

Creating an ‘Information As a foreign correspondent who has nonjournalists have greater insights to Community’ long been concerned about the main- that secretive country than journalists stream media’s shrinking appetite for do. No single journalist can hope to Despite the fact that a North Korean international news, it is my hope that adequately shine the light into North government official labeled my Weblog new forms of participatory media such Korea’s vast information black hole. a “jungle of lies,” North Korea zone as Weblogs can enable the public not The idea behind NKzone is that the aspires to be a new form of alternative only to have greater access to informa- collective effort—a combination of media. It aims to provide a place in tion and debates about international professional journalists, other experts, cyberspace for the exchange of infor- events, but also to become more directly and informed amateurs—might do a mation, opinion and analysis on North engaged with news from faraway places. better job. My goal was to tap into these Korea—one of the most badly covered By building a worldwide information people’s knowledge and expertise by countries on earth, thanks to officials community of people interested in inviting them to contribute in one of like Cao de Benos. If North Korea did not learning more about a particular place three ways: by e-mailing information possess nuclear weapons, the implica- or issue than is possible through the that I could then post onto NKzone; tions of this lack of coverage might not mainstream media and then engaging by joining an online discussion in the be so dire. But as the United States faces in a conversation with that community, Weblog’s “comments” section following difficult options in its efforts to disarm Weblogs may be an effective new tool each post (type text into a “comments” North Korea, the lack of knowledge—or for making events in distant countries box and hit a button that says “post”), or even basic verifiable information about more relevant and interesting. by becoming a “guest author” with pass that country—could have serious na- codes enabling them to post informa- tional security implications. The NKzone Weblog tion directly onto the main column of NKzone was launched in February Nkzone—a status granted only to those 2004 as part of my project for the Sho- NKzone was created using TypePad, a who I determine are in a position to renstein Center for the Press, Politics, Weblog-software and hosting service. contribute original and clear insights & Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy It is one of many commercial Weblog on North Korea. School of Government, examining how tools available that require no previous Opinions posted in the “comments” online, interactive, participatory forms Web design or HTML coding skills or sections have ranged from extremely of media might enhance or improve programming knowledge. Using this pro-engagement to hard-line pro-re- the ways in which international news service, I was able to quickly and eas- gime change. Occasionally there are is consumed and reported. For com- ily post daily updates to the Weblog. strong online arguments. I’ve had to mercial reasons, American newspapers, These updates included hyperlinks to admonish people who trade personal magazines and TV news outlets have sources of news about North Korea insults in the comments section, but limited space for international news. elsewhere on the Web: primarily Eng- have not censored a single comment The Internet provides an opportunity lish-language articles from non-U.S. or post. (That is, except for “com- for people who want more information specialists, and obscure media sources ment spam,” solicitous and off-topic about what is going on around the with more extensive information and comments aimed at promoting other world to find it—and a cheaper way for analysis about North Korea than one people’s Web sites or products, similar news organizations, interest groups, or would generally find in The New York in nature to e-mail spam.) amateur enthusiasts to deliver it. Times or on CNN. As of this writing, NKzone—which But the Internet does more than Often I added my own analysis of is not advertised or commercially pro- provide a new, more cost-effective and North Korea-related news develop- moted in any way—receives an average convenient vehicle for news and in- ments, based on my experience as a of 500 unique visitors per day, accord- formation. New interactive techniques journalist who has worked in northeast ing to a software program that helps and Weblog software tools are changing Asia for more than a decade. (I covered monitor Web site traffic. Approximately what used to be a one-way “lecture” the North Korea story as part of my beat 200 more people receive daily updates given by the broadcaster or publisher and had the opportunity to visit North of NKzone’s content through an e-mail to the passive reader or viewer into Korea five times.) Most importantly, I subscription list, and an unknown a two-way conversation. In fact, as a invited anybody who has traveled to number receive the updated content Weblog author I have ceased to use the North Korea or who has engaged in through RSS (Really Simple Syndica- word “audience” to describe the people the study of that country to share their tion) aggregator programs—software who read my blog posts, add their own information and analysis. I quickly tools that distill updated content from comments in reaction, send me e-mails began to receive daily e-mails from large numbers of Weblogs and news with information, and link their own people around the world with links and sites onto one Web browser page. Weblogs and Web sites to NKzone. documents they hoped I would include With the help of a software track- Instead, I call them my “information on NKzone. ing program and a voluntary online community.” They are by no means a Because of the lack of Western survey of nearly 200 people, I found passive audience. media access to North Korea, many that about half of NKzone’s community

104 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea is in North America, with about one quarter in East Asia and a substantial number in Western Europe. Roughly 25 percent of those surveyed claimed that some aspect of their job relates to North Korea. Others indicate a range of professional or personal reasons why they feel a need to become better informed about North Korea. How do people find out about NK- zone? According to both the voluntary survey and the Sitemeter tracking program, the majority of NKzone’s community initially came to it in one of three ways. One very common way is through a Google search. In mid-July, “North Korea zone” was item number eight on the first search results page for a Google search on the term “North Korea”—beating North Korea’s official news agency, which was number 10. The second most common way that people come to NKzone is through the growing number of other Web sites and Weblogs that link to it. Third is es- The homepage of the NKzone Weblog. sentially “word of mouth:” for instance, when one respected scholar who writes about North Korea sends out an e-mail big army. I want to know what makes lishing editor-less to the Web does result recommending NKzone to a list of other them tick, and I pick some of that up in a much more direct, personal voice scholars and journalists interested in via NKzone.” Yet another respondent than one tends to have in conventional North Korea. hit upon the value of media listening news reporting. This is something that The NKzone community appears to and conversing with its information many in NKzone’s community have said to be quite loyal: 30 percent of survey community, as opposed to just talking at they appreciate. respondents said they access the site the audience: “You can see nonexperts’ I can also be completely transpar- daily, while nearly 28 percent visit “a views here. Of course, it’s experts and ent about my successes and failures, few times a week.” What do they like politicians who make all the policies and this also seems to be a subject of about NKzone? One respondent wrote: regarding North Korea. However, they great interest to my community. If I had “I like the policy of allowing people of have to persuade those nonexperts first made my query to Cao de Benos as a all viewpoints to have their say. NKzone before they do anything about North Ko- journalist with a conventional news allows me to access news on NK that rea. In that sense, we have to pay more organization, my community most otherwise would take a lot of digging. attention to nonexperts’ views.” likely would never have known about Given the small amount of time I have This is a niche community, not a my attempt to get into North Korea. for reading news, it’s likely that I would mass audience. But the hope is that Audiences of conventional news media get very little news on NK if it wasn’t for NKzone can serve as a resource and hear only about our successes—not NKzone aggregating it for me.” public service for those who want to our failures. As a consequence, I think In response to the question, “What go beyond what they’re getting from that audiences generally are not aware does North Korea zone do for you that their usual media diet. of the effort required for journalists to you’re not getting from newspapers, cover certain kinds of stories. magazines, TV or conventional news Weblogs and Journalism With a Weblog, it was easy for me to Web sites?” One person replied: “A lot! recount my exchange with Cao de Benos In fact, most of the media sources are Writing for a Weblog is different from and his rejection of my efforts to join his too busy ignoring one of the most re- reporting for a news organization. I can, group to North Korea in full, including pressive regimes in the world.” Another of course, post anything I want, with no my reply in which I invited him to supply wrote: “Conventional media has next to editors to argue with about relevance his information and analysis on North nothing about the DPRK beyond men- or coherence. This has good and bad Korea, which I was happy to reproduce tioning that Kim Jong Il is a madman aspects, as everybody’s work can be in full, unedited, on NKzone. Not only or that they’re starving but have a very improved by an editor. However, pub- did visitors to the site leave a lively se-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 105 International Journalism

ries of comments to this post, but one how Weblog authors handle errors is as a nonprofit public service funded commenter brought our attention to key to building credibility. by grants and donations or as a ser- something I was not aware of—a link For now, NKzone is primarily de- vice sponsored by an organization or to a segment of streaming video on a rivative journalism—drawing upon the academic department with an interest pro-North Korea Web site in which Cao firsthand reports of professional news in promoting more enlightened dis- de Benos proclaims his love for North sources and accounts from people who cussion of the North Korea issue. The Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il (and at one have been to North Korea more recently NKzone model—building an informa- point even sings about it). This pro- than I. Am I trying to compete directly tion community around a particular voked more reactions and discussion. with conventional mainstream media? issue—may perhaps be most effective More importantly, the whole exchange No. There are kinds of investigative and and sustainable when used by an orga- provided insight into the nature of the life-threatening journalism that I believe nization or group that has an interest North Korean regime and the people will always be difficult if not impossible in filling specific “holes” in mainstream who support it in a very different way to do well without the deep financial news coverage and that already has than a conventional news report could pockets, legal staff, and reputation of sources of funding to pay a few people have done. Members of the NKzone powerful media companies. There are to run the project. community were able to experience and some kinds of stories that will always There is also no reason why main- participate in the process of discovery. be best told by long, well-crafted, highly stream newspapers, TV companies, and They also helped newsmagazines me uncover facts I with online edi- would not other- tions can’t also wise come across: Is this journalism? I believe it is—albeit a try to fill some One member dug raw, unvarnished form that still makes many of these niches up the identity of professional journalists uncomfortable and gives themselves by the chairman of a utilizing the pro-North Korean most of their editors goose bumps. techniques and organization in the technologies of United States. This Weblogs. In tak- man, quoted with ing this step, great fanfare by North Korean media, is edited and fact-checked pieces of text, there will be fears—and real risks—of a homeless person living in Oregon. audio or video—not by blog posts. losing control over information and Is this journalism? I believe it is—al- Still, after a semester of blogging I brand image. Many major American beit a raw, unvarnished form that still believe a Weblog like NKzone can fill a media companies such as CNN do not makes many professional journalists niche demand that mainstream media allow their reporters to blog. Others— uncomfortable and gives most of their organizations are not filling in their including The New York Times, The editors goose bumps. NKzone is not current formats. I have received numer- Washington Post, and MSNBC—have fact-checked or subedited, although ous e-mails from journalists who find begun to experiment with Weblogs and as a trained journalist I make a point NKzone to be an invaluable source of Weblog-like forms of journalism. to credit my sources and fully disclose leads for stories, academics who find it It is a new media frontier waiting their biases and backgrounds. I try to be a useful way to keep abreast of develop- to be occupied by whoever gets there careful with my facts as any journalist is ments and debates, and many others first. ■ trained to be and certainly don’t make working in a range of other fields who things up—NKzone’s visitors must trust are appreciative of the free information Rebecca MacKinnon is a fellow at me on that, despite the fact that I do and discussion that NKzone provides. the Harvard Law School’s Berkman not have the credibility and weight of a But is the NKzone model sustainable? Center for Internet and Society. She major brand news organization behind I’ve been able to spend a substantial was a spring 2004 fellow at the Joan my work. However, if members of the amount of time working on the site Shorenstein Center for the Press, Poli- NKzone community detect error, bias, every day thanks to several fellowships tics & Public Policy. Her paper on or omission of important information at Harvard University. When those end, interactive participatory media and in my blog posts, they quickly inform NKzone faces a problem typical of many international news can be found at me in the “comments” section at the dot-com projects: A significant number www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/Re- bottom of the offending post. In some of people find it valuable and useful, search_Publications/Papers.shtml. cases I’ve then engaged in discussions yet there is no clear business model. MacKinnon was bureau chief for with them about the facts of a situation. NKzone is unlikely ever to become a CNN in Tokyo and Beijing. She is the The online format makes it very easy to profitable enterprise. Turning it into a founder of a Weblog about North correct and acknowledge errors and fee-based service would run counter to Korea at www.NKzone.org. thank people who point them out. Judg- the idea of an open, information-shar- ing from NKzone community feedback, ing community. A more likely route is  [email protected]

106 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea Focusing on Human Rights With survivors telling their stories, U.S. News & World Report describes life inside North Korea’s gulag.

By Thomas Omestad

o many killed and tortured, and opponents—real and imagined—in man rights activists in both countries yet so little coverage. That, in North Korea. The official, speaking on and academic observers, could provide Sbroad terms, was the motivation background, related a practical problem useful context and overview. But the for U.S. News & World Report to conduct U.S. intelligence had faced in gathering most compelling reports would come a months-long probe into the secret information about the gulag. A U.S. from those few who had survived the world of the North Korean political spy satellite couldn’t locate the fenced camps and fled North Korea to tell their prisons. While the media have showered perimeter of one camp in northeastern stories. That meant doing most of the plenty of attention on North Korea’s bid North Korea. Only after repeatedly pull- reporting from South Korea. to develop nuclear weapons, relatively ing back the frame did the satellite at The North Korean government de- little effort has gone into examining last capture the fortified fencing that nies that political prisons even exist, human rights conditions in the impov- marks the full dimensions of the com- and no reporter is believed ever to have erished, totalitarian state. plex: something larger than the entire had an opportunity to visit one. First- More than 200,000 North Koreans District of Columbia, with clusters of hand observation is impossible. And are believed to be held in political pris- buildings here and there resembling a striking fact that emerged quickly in ons, and some 400,000 have perished small villages. This official—and oth- our reporting was how small the field there over the years, according to U.S. ers—said that the Bush administration of potential interviewees with personal and South Korean officials and human was focusing more attention on the experience in the camps was: some 10 rights activists. These camps are impor- gulag. in all. Relatively few people are released tant not only for the human cost they There was an important reason for from the camps, and few of those have exact but because they are a signature that focus: George W. Bush himself. In then managed to escape from North means of control for a regime obsessed Bob Woodward’s book, “Bush at War,” Korea. with threats within and without. North the President showed his agitation over Working through human rights Koreans have been tossed into the gulag the North Korean camps, talking about groups in Seoul, I managed to interview for such offenses as sitting on a picture the torture and separation of families five people who survived or worked at of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il or and shouting, “I loathe Kim Jong Il!” But the camps and who live in South Korea. listening to foreign radio. Perceived the President’s personal anger over the But the exercise quickly laid bare the political foes—and, in many cases, their camps goes deeper, it turns out. Recall- problem that has made most traditional kin—are removed from society and sent ing a private conversation with Bush, human rights groups reluctant to pub- into prison. The prisons serve to strike Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican lish major studies about the camps: fear into any North Korean who might from Kansas, told me that the gulag, there exists a frustratingly limited rise to challenge the government. more than anything else, is “why the amount of corroborating and firsthand To my editors and me, this modern- President is after Kim Jong Il: It’s how evidence, at least when compared with day gulag—as the chain of camps are he treats his own people.” typical human rights investigations. known—seemed to provide an impor- Brownback’s interview proved to be “There is a reluctance to credit the tant window on the North Korean sys- important for us. The sense that the stories of refugees,” says a veteran hu- tem, revealing part of the basic nature camps are one motivation for Bush’s man rights worker in describing the of a regime at loggerheads with the hard-line response to North Korea North Korean problem. And there is United States. deepened our belief that reporting on something else that has apparently the gulag was well justified—and not deterred human rights groups, in gen- Starting to Report the Story only as a story of horrors inflicted on eral, from taking on the North Korean the powerless by the powerful. gulag in a big way. This involves a past In the winter of 2003, I sat in the office Ultimately, though, we felt that the pattern by South Korean intelligence of a senior Bush administration official story of the gulag should be told in of manipulating information about for the first in what would become a human terms—from the viewpoint of North Korea. Past distortions about long string of interviews and meet- the victims. Knowledgeable officials in Kim Jong Il’s lifestyle, living conditions ings on the imprisonment of political Washington and Seoul, as well as hu- in the North, and Pyongyang’s military

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 107 International Journalism

capabilities have sown cynicism in ing out organized bits of information. be among the most dispassionate and South Korea and among human rights Sometimes our conversations went on detail-oriented interviewees in recalling observers about the quality of the scant for hours, a reflection of both the time his years in prison. information on the camps that has been needed for consecutive translations and In Seoul, I was also able to meet up carried out of the North. An important the need to let the victims talk without with a former camp driver named Ahn and recent exception has been the work feeling pressure. The sessions were Myong Chul. His observations were of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights often dominated by rambling recollec- especially useful, coming from some- in North Korea, a group that last year tions, with specific anecdotes tumbling one who had been part of the prison released an ambitious and broad study out slowly. establishment but who later turned of political imprisonment in the North. As they described the torture ses- against the system and fled. That inter- The study’s author, David Hawk, view was perhaps most memo- became an important source for rable—and uncomfortable—for our story, serving as a master of I felt that the writer’s job was his matter-of-fact recollections detail on what has been a topic of participating in the beating with few specialists. mostly to get out of the way and of prisoners, acts he now obvi- Despite these difficulties, a let the stories—once distilled— ously regrets. But at the time, broadly consistent assessment tell themselves. he acknowledged, the attitude of the scope and role of the among security personnel was camps—and the nature of the that prisoners were somehow abuses—is shared by officials in less than human. By telling their Washington and Seoul and by that por- sions, some survivors showed mo- stories now, Ahn and the lucky few who tion of the human rights community that ments of great emotion. Lee Soon Ok, got out of the gulag are exposing horrors has watched North Korea closely. The a woman who’d done accounting work once successfully hidden from view. most detailed accounts, naturally, come for a Communist Party distribution Despite the fact that international from the survivors. A Seoul-based group center and who later endured beatings news covers rarely sell well, the editors called the Citizens’ Alliance for North and water torture, teared up as she thought that the poignancy of the story Korean Human Rights, led by Benjamin expressed disbelief that a system she and the depth of depravity—along with Yoon, proved to be an invaluable source had loyally served had turned against the importance of North Korea as a se- of analysis and, more importantly, a her so brutally. But more often, I was curity issue—together justified making way station for contacting those who struck by the deadpan recollections of it a cover story. The article generated spent time in the camps. The Citizens’ torture methods and details of camp considerable reader interest. I was Alliance and the U.S. Committee for life. Some chose to show me physical invited to several television interviews Human Rights in North Korea both scars from their abuse. Lee Young Kook, and a couple of panels touching on the helped provide confirmation of the a man who once served as bodyguard topic. I was told by a U.S. senator a few identity of the survivors I interviewed, for Kim Jong Il, rolled up his pants to weeks later that the story was seen by a as well as the reliability of their general show me the grayish-brown scars on number of lawmakers and influenced accounts. In some cases, U.S. officials his right leg, a remnant of blows from their views as they considered new on background, as well as the published long wooden sticks. “It was a system to legislation on admitting North Korean proceedings of past human rights con- kill us,” he said. refugees to the United States. ■ ferences, provided further backup for In its telling, there is little need to the stories of the victims. dramatize such material. It speaks for Thomas Omestad is a senior writer itself. I felt that the writer’s job was based in Washington who covers di- Hearing Survivors’ Stories mostly to get out of the way and let plomacy and international news for the stories—once distilled—tell them- U.S. News & World Report. Some survivors were reluctant to talk, selves. One particularly articulate survi- I was warned. And yet, most of those vor, Kang Chul Hwan, was imprisoned  [email protected] whom I met with seemed eager to tell at the No. 15 camp at Yodok as a boy their stories. They conveyed a sense of simply because his grandfather was mission: to bear witness to what they suspected of disloyalty. Kang was even- have experienced and seen. Talking with tually released, and after he escaped them, in some respects, was similar to to South Korea he became a journalist interviewing victims of savage crimes for a major Seoul daily, Chosun Ilbo, anywhere. These were not interviews covering a subject he has lived: North that could be conducted crisply or Korean affairs. Perhaps because of his efficiently in terms of quickly draw- professional instincts, Kang proved to

108 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea Taking Photographs in North Korea ‘You are not allowed to photograph people. You are not allowed to go anywhere without a guide.’

By Dermot Tatlow

oon after President Bush declared nothing more. a guide. If you do, it is a serious matter North Korea to be one of three Arriving at the airport, I was subjected and will result in your early departure Smembers of the “axis of evil” in to a thorough search and forced to yield from the DPRK [Democratic People’s 2003, I was twice sent there as a pho- my cell phone and other communica- Republic of Korea].” Having been in tojournalist, once for Time and once tions equipment I had. The minders North Korea a few years earlier, I knew for The Boston Globe. Getting in was who met me there and remained with I’d have to find the delicate balance of only half the battle. Producing images me every step of the way were polite, getting photographs the news organiza- to shed light on how people live in this but they made their rules very clear: “If tions wanted to publish and not getting most secluded of nations was much you want to take a photo you must ask expelled prematurely. harder. The North Koreans are zealous us for permission,” they said. “You are Being in North Korea is to experience in making sure that foreign journalists not allowed to photograph people. You an overwhelming feeling of emptiness. see only what they are meant to see and are not allowed to go anywhere without The cities seem absent of inhabitants.

The “Dear Leader,” Kim Jong Il, celebrated on a billboard in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo by Dermot Tatlow.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 109 International Journalism

There is little traffic and few crowds. The winter is bitterly cold, and people tend to stay indoors. There is no advertising, little color to catch the eye, and almost no shops or signs of commerce. People keep away from foreigners, especially ones with cameras and, if approached, they quickly scurry away. On one of my trips, we drove from the capital, Pyongyang, down a deserted highway to Kaesong, a city just north of the border with South Korea. Fuel is in short supply. During the day, people walk along highways devoid of cars. Despite living in high-rise buildings, women carry buckets to an outside spring to collect water. Either the water pumps were out of order or their pipes had frozen. On this particular night, in subzero temperatures, we drove along Barefoot peasants carry animal feed across a partially frozen river outside of Kaesong, pitch-black streets. No light came from North Korea. They did not put on shoes as they continued to walk back to their farms. the street lamps, and in only a handful Photo by Dermot Tatlow. of the apartments in the many buildings we drove past could we see a faint glow of light from windows. There seemed to be virtually no electricity. The tour- ist hotel where we stayed had its own generator, but with little fuel available it stopped running at 10 o’clock that night. Lights out, and goodnight. In a country that has acute food shortages, tourists eat extremely well. It was a constant struggle to survive the endless alcohol-laden toasts and then draw to a close these multicourse ban- quets that are held for foreign guests. But that was my goal, since I needed to find ways to get our hosts out of the restaurant so I could quietly snap a few more photos. On just a few occasions, I succeeded. At one point in our journey, we stopped by the side of the highway south of Kaesong to let a North Korean official explain the location of a planned in- dustrial development zone they hoped The main square in Pyongyang, North Korea, with the national flag and a portrait of South Korean investors would build. As Kim Il Sung prominently positioned. Photo by Dermot Tatlow. the North Korean official waxed lyrical about the development potential of his country, a man and a youth walked by carrying enormous bundles of dried they were barefoot and expected them Dermot Tatlow is a freelance photo- grass on their backs. Presumably the to put their shoes back on when they journalist whose work has appeared grasses were either for fuel or animal reached the other side. They did not. in Time, The Boston Globe, and Der feed. As they came to a partially frozen They just kept on walking barefoot Spiegel. river, the two of them waded across it, along the frozen ground off into the without breaking their stride. I realized distance. ■  [email protected]

110 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea

At the tense border between North and South Korea, a North Korean guard eyes his South Korean counterpart.

On their wedding day, a couple goes to the historic Song Kyun Guan Confucian Academy in Kaesong, North Korea, to be photographed. She wears traditional dress, he wears a Western suit. Both wear the ubiquitous pin badges of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung near their hearts. Photos by Dermot Tatlow.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 111 International Journalism

To celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong Il, a brass band was driven to Onjung-Ri to perform for South Korean tourists and journalists at the Hyundai tourist resort. Kim’s birthday on February 16th is a national holiday.

In winter in Pyongyang, North Korea, with little electricity and no running water, women are forced to carry water home.

Photos by Dermot Tatlow.

112 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 North Korea The Hidden Stories of North Korea Relying on defectors, experts and occasional glimpses, a reporter tries to provide information and insights about this closed society.

By Barbara Demick

hen I tell people I am the Los the Will” immediately comes to mind) a bureau devoted exclusively to cover- Angeles Times’s Korea cor- and contribute to North Korea’s dismal age of Korea. Although we are located Wrespondent, they invariably image in the West. in the South Korean capital—there are pose that most embarrassing question: In many other ways, North Korea predictably no foreign news bureaus “How much time do you spend in North does itself a disservice. Extreme secrecy in Pyongyang—we consider it our mis- Korea?” breeds rumor. The very lack of consis- sion to cover both Koreas. There are a It is not easy to explain the rather tent press coverage fuels all sorts of couple of ways we’ve found to cope ludicrous predicament of writing about speculation and urban legend about with North Korea’s news blackout, all Korea when I am more or less banned what happens inside North Korea—can- of them admittedly imperfect. from the half of the Korean peninsula nibalism, infanticide, human biological that is North Korea. The Democratic experimentation. Nothing is too horrific Defectors: Journalists covering People’s Republic of Korea, as it is to be ascribed to North Korea, much of North Korea rely heavily on defectors. properly known, admits journalists only it probably true, but exaggerated. More than 4,000 defectors now live with official delegations and, on those What might be written from inside in South Korea and many more live rare occasions, they are as closely chap- North Korea could hardly be worse than in China. They are a gold mine of in- eroned as many a girl at her first school what’s now written from the outside. In formation about what life is really like dance. The coverage opportunities are some cases, journalists might actually be outside the showcase city of Pyongyang. even worse for those of us holding U.S. helpful. Iraq, which I covered in the late Away from North Korean minders and citizenship, especially since February 1990’s as Middle East correspondent for informants, they tell of eating bark 2002, when President George W. Bush The Philadelphia Inquirer, used to se- and bugs to survive during the years of famously lumped North Korea into his lectively admit journalists with the hope famine and of faking tears at the funeral “axis of evil.” that they would publicize the impact of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung The antipathy between North Ko- of U.S.-imposed economic sanctions. to feign loyalty to a despised regime. A rea and journalists is mutual. There’s Indeed, the sanctions had contributed retired chemist told me recently about not much that is positive to say about to rising deaths of young children, watching political prisoners gassed to North Korea, and the country gets abso- and journalists dutifully reported this, death with a cyanide compound as lutely awful press. The British journalist which led to the easing of sanctions. part of an experiment with chemical Christopher Hitchens described it in a Similarily, the dire lack of electricity in weapons. Others have told us about 2001 article for Newsweek as the worst North Korea could make for a moving youth leagues enlisted to grow opium country in the world. The same maga- feature story that might lend credence poppies for North Korea’s illicit drug zine later ran a cover story headlined to Pyongyang’s pleas for foreign energy trade. In these interviews, which often “Dr. Evil” about North Korean leader assistance. But North Korea seems to last for hours and involve considerable Kim Jong Il. A BBC documentary crew have little interest in generating such shedding of tears, one gets a glimpse who talked their way into North Korea coverage and, for now, we and the rest of the flesh-and-blood people behind last year used a hidden camera to catch of the world—like the North Koreans the caricatures. embarrassing shots of their minders. themselves—are left in the dark. The difficulty is that it is often hard It will be a long time before another to substantiate the claims of defectors. Western television crew gets visas. Covering the North Korea Desperate to win asylum, they have North Koreans invariably appear in Story a powerful incentive to embellish. the media as automatons, conspicuously The unfortunate custom among some displaying adulation of their leaders in So how is a journalist supposed to re- South Korean and Japanese journalists the mass gymnastic spectacles of which sponsibly cover North Korea? This has of paying for interviews adds another the North Korea regime is so proud. Of been my challenge since opening a bu- incentive for them to make up stories. course, to a foreigner, such spectacles reau in Seoul for the Los Angeles Times Another problem is that defectors are evoke images of the Third Reich (Leni in November 2001. We are one of the not really representative of the North Riefenstahl’s documentary “Triumph of few American news organizations with Korean population. As with any other

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 113 International Journalism

refugee population, they tend to be the for many North Koreans to switch on journalists is the tiny expatriate com- people who were most disenchanted the lights, even if they had the energy munity living in Pyongyang. These are with life in their home country. A dis- resources. He also observed the primi- mostly aid workers, U.N. employees, proportionate number come from a tive tools being used by a highway crew and diplomats. Although their move- single province, North Hamgyong, at to build a new road. One couldn’t help ments are restricted in North Korea, the Chinese border. Often, by the time but notice how the villages seemed to they do actually live in the country and they’ve arrived in South Korea they’ve magically disappear from the landscape interact daily with North Korean col- been out of North Korea for several once night fell because of no electricity leagues. I try to interview as many of years, so their information can be out or even oil lamps to alleviate the dark- the aid officials coming through Seoul of date. We get around this by trying to ness. On the basis of that trip, I was able as possible. They tend to present a more interview defectors in China, where they to write a fairly detailed front-page story positive and less caricatured portrait of usually come first, but this can be diffi- about North Korea’s energy crisis. North Korea than outsiders. If I were to cult because they are fearful of attracting Journalists can also sneak a glimpse generalize, I would say they describe not the attention of the Chinese government of North Korea from the Chinese bor- an “axis of evil,” but a flawed country and getting deported home. der. On a trip last summer, I traveled trying to cope with a failed ideology and Even in South Korea, North Korean with three South Koreans along much economy, desperately seeking a place defectors do not feel completely free to of the 800-mile-long border between for itself in the world. The Pyongyang- speak out. Many worry about the impact North Korea and China. We took a boat based aid community was especially on their family members back home if ride on the Yalu River where we could helpful after April’s big train accident their names appear in a U.S. newspaper. see up close the idled factories and the in Ryogchon, supplying journalists who The South Korean government also rusting hulk of a Ferris wheel that hadn’t were unable to get to the site detailed discourages some high-level defectors revolved in years. We went to an island descriptions of the devastation and from talking to the press. During a re- in the river where we were so close to photographs. cent interview with Hwang Jang Yop, the North Korea that we could talk to mili- Admittedly, all of the above are highest-ranking North Korean official to tary border guards. They were mostly merely coping mechanisms for those of defect south, agents of the South Korean obsessed with begging for cigarettes, us who have to cover what is probably National Intelligence Service squeezed beer and sunglasses. One flirtatiously the most closed country in the world. into a tiny conference room with us, a let a South Korean colleague of mine, There is no substitute for being there, hovering presence that had a decidedly an attractive young woman, hold his as any good journalist knows. But at chilling effect on the interview. rifle. I used that scene later for a story the moment, there is no sign that North Exploring Around the Edges: Even about plummeting morale in the North Korea is about to open its doors. This if a journalist can’t get a visa to visit Korean Army. is a country, after all, with virtually no Pyongyang, there are ways of explor- Experts: There are a wealth of North Internet access or even international ing around the edges of North Korea. Korean pundits in South Korea. They telephone service. In an era in which One place journalists can go is to an have an amazing variety of information gigabytes of information can be moved enclave in the far southeast coast of the at their disposal that they analyze with across continents with barely a click, country, where for the past couple of the discerning eye of Kremlinologists. North Korea is, in effect, a black hole years a South Korean company, Hyundai Some of it is gleaned from North Korean in the global village. Asan, has been running hiking tours media, other comes from defectors or A colleague once compared North for tourists to scenic Mount Kumgang. sources inside North Korea. These ex- Korea to a jigsaw puzzle with a million To be sure, tourists have absolutely no perts can tell you everything from who’s pieces. Each time one gathers a nugget freedom of movement to get off of their up and who’s down in the North Korean of news, it is tantamount to finding tour buses or heavily patrolled trails. workers’ party to the price of rice. Most another piece of the puzzle. For now, But you can still peer from your bus of them haven’t spent any more time in- a lot of pieces are still missing. As jour- window into the dismal villages and side North Korea than I have, but they’ve nalists, we use the tools we have to try chat with the North Korean security devoted a lifetime of scholarship to this to find them. ■ guards on the trails. hermit kingdom. They are an excellent On one trip, I was able to talk to the resource, although many tend to have a Barbara Demick is the Seoul bureau staff of a North Korean restaurant about strong political bias—either harsh crit- chief for the Los Angeles Times. A capitalist-style reforms and the tourism ics of North Korea from the old school foreign correspondent for more than business. Another time, I went with an of anti-Communism or supporters of 10 years, she previously covered the energy expert affiliated with the Nautilus South Korea’s current “sunshine policy” Middle East and Eastern Europe for Institute, a Berkeley, California-based of dialogue who tend to be forgiving to The Philadelphia Inquirer. nonprofit, who was able to point out a fault about North Korea’s shortcom- what I might otherwise have missed— ings. Still, they know a lot.  [email protected] the extensive damage to the electrical grid. This damage made it impossible A resource less frequently tapped by

114 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore

Partnering With Young People A program to improve child health engages teenagers interested in journalism.

By Jerome Aumente

n impressive effort is underway universities to make newsrooms more trends in new media, the Internet, in Trenton, New Jersey’s capi- racially and ethnically diverse. and advanced broadcasting in a digital Atal, to provide every newborn, As the workshop ended, we invited age. High school teachers described infant and toddler with resources to them to use words, sounds and im- video and photography projects that develop healthier lives. By using a mul- ages to articulate their thoughts about could connect with career goals. The timillion-dollar grant from The Robert their own young lives—about their mayor and school superintendent Wood Johnson Foundation, Children’s relationships and friendships leading to urged students to get involved in their Futures provides parents and children courtship and lifelong commitments, to community. with comprehensive health and social children and family and parenting. The time we spent together was equal services through a network of new com- When a community specialist asked parts information and inspiration. One munity centers and special programs. students at the workshop whether they teenager who attended the youth work- It is a possible prototype for efforts knew of someone who left school be- shop wrote to us about what the day’s elsewhere to nurture children during cause of teenage pregnancy, two-thirds experience had meant: “I think today crucial periods of development—prena- raised their hands. On her workshop made a change in the way I looked at tal through the fragile early years. application, one teen described her life. I found different perspectives of Local print and broadcast media baby sister’s struggle to deal with lead the media. I would give this summit have made commitments to report on poisoning as her motivation for want- an A-plus because it allowed teens to these issues—and these approaches ing to be involved. Others discovered voice their own opinions. Thanks.” to responding to them—and the personal connections between the Others expressed similar kinds of ap- Children’s Futures program is enlisting program’s themes, their life experi- preciation for giving them this outlet young people to help communicate ences, and career aspirations. for their thoughts. this information to the members of the In his keynote speech, Acel Moore, What was clear to those at Children’s community. In doing so, these young a 1980 Nieman Fellow who won a Futures—and to me—is that what is hap- people couple community service with Pulitzer Prize and is associate editor of pening in Trenton to improve children’s career training as print or broadcast The Philadelphia Inquirer, urged the health must also be connected to im- journalists, poets, artists, writers or students to be diligent in gathering news proving the lives and future prospects photographers. and information, to be skeptical and of those leaving childhood and moving In March, about 30 young people scrupulously accurate, and to expect through adolescence. This can be done from Trenton Central High School and stiff competition for jobs. He described by getting them involved in learning and from several youth groups met at a hotel an ongoing project he initiated to let using communication skills to connect for a daylong seminar that I moderated young people publish stories written with efforts like this one. With this in with journalists, educators and child about their communities in special mind, I worked to organize some media health specialists. The workshop par- youth pages of the Inquirer. training programs with Children’s Fu- ticipants were predominantly African Other speakers from the Princeton tures’ President Rush Russell and Vice American and Hispanic American. Our Packet community newspapers, New President Melinda Green. message: There are ways for them to Jersey Network (NJN) Public Televi- So far we’ve held a workshop for print explore the possibility of journalism sion, and Morris Broadcasting (Radio) and broadcast journalists to provide careers by reporting and communicat- Company provided tips on how young tools and knowledge to help improve ing about these important child health people can break into journalism. The news coverage of child health and de- development issues in the Trenton New Jersey Press Association staff de- velopment, and we had this daylong community. And in the process of do- scribed some of its college scholarships seminar for these young people in ing this, they could put themselves in and special summer minority training Trenton. This fall, we intend to offer a a better position to take advantage of programs. Speakers from Rutgers Uni- seminar about important policy issues the urgent need of the news media and versity and Temple University reviewed for lawmakers and health experts and

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 115 Nieman Notes

will again work with members of the about child health. The School of Com- Jerome Aumente, a 1968 Nieman news media to inform them about child munication, Information and Library Fellow, is distinguished professor health legislation and policy concerns Studies at Rutgers University and the emeritus at Rutgers University’s that merit the public’s attention. New Jersey Press Association—which School of Communication, Informa- As an outgrowth of these gatherings, are partners in the project’s media tion and Library Studies. His projects discussions are underway about the initiatives—are also looking at ways to include training of Arab journalists, possibility of linking a newly created work with the young people. programs in Macedonia and Russia citizen-run, educational foundation for What makes us hopeful about this in journalism education, and a book the Trenton schools with the student connection is what we heard when on the history of newspapers in New media interests. NJN is exploring pos- one of them asked us about next steps Jersey. sible joint television grant applications and then supplied an answer. Perhaps, with Children’s Futures, and the high this student suggested, they could all  [email protected] school’s media studies program might “shoot for the moon and land among find ways for the students to do projects the stars.” ■

—1947— St. Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney, cisco Examiner as editorial director of Australia. He was 82. the opinion pages, a position he held Robert C. Miller died on July 26th Plater served with the Royal Air Force until his retirement in 1991. After his at home in Hilo, Hawaii after a series in World War II and was awarded the retirement, Dearmore continued to of strokes. He was 89 years old. Military Cross on April 22, 1943. A write opinion columns. The day after his college graduation, long-time journalist, Plater switched “Racial equality and fairness became a Miller began his job at United Press to public relations when he joined Eric lifelong theme of Dearmore’s eloquent International (UPI) where he worked White Associates in the 1950’s. Plater editorial voice,” recalls James Heavey as reporter and bureau chief until his led the New South Wales branch of the in his Chronicle column. “His blend retirement in 1983. He also served as Public Relations Institute as president of country warmth, humor and hard- UPI bureau chief in Sydney and Tokyo and became national president for the eyed political perception was rare. …” and spent 16 years as head of the wire year of 1973. Heavey served on the editorial staff of service in Honolulu. In 1944, Miller Plater also served as chairman of the both The Evening Star and the San Fran- received the Purple Heart for injuries consultancy Ronald Plater & Company cisco Chronicle with Dearmore. sustained as a civilian in Verdun. Party Limited. He is survived by his Dearmore is survived by two children Bruce Cook, senior editor of UPI, children, grandchildren and great- and one grandchild. writes that Miller “was a hero to me and grandchildren. other young reporters in Hawaii in the —1961— sixties. … Bob had assignments most —1960— reporters only dream about. He was a Donald G. Brazier died on Novem- colorful writer and great storyteller.” Thomas Dearmore died on July ber 5, 2003 in Seattle, Washington. Less than a week before his death, 2nd in Cathlamet, Washington. He was A retired Navy captain, Brazier served Miller married Michi Haga after a court- 76 years old. in World War II, Vietnam and the Western ship said to have lasted over 53 years. Dearmore was born in Mountain Pacific for 45-day tours of active duty Home, Arkansas and attended the Army from 1966 to 1968, writing news and —1955— Air Corps program at the New Mexico feature stories and doing photography. College of Agriculture and Mechanical He was a stringer for The Wall Street Sam Zagoria, class correspondent, Arts (now New Mexico State University). Journal, worked for The New York reports that his classmate Piers Ander- While serving in the Air Force from 1944 Times, and retired from The Seattle ton “is alive, but not so well, and living to 1946, he edited the base newspaper Times as ombudsman after 40 years in England.” Anderton was diagnosed in Spokane, Washington. with the newspaper. with cancer just after Christmas last year. After he left the Air Force, Dearmore Brazier is survived by his wife, Susan Despite his illness, his wife, Birgitta, became coeditor and co-publisher of his Howard Brazier, three children, three writes, “luckily [he] still has his won- family’s award-winning weekly publica- grandchildren, and a sister. derful American-kidding-around sense tion, The Baxter Bulletin. In 1970, he of humor.” Piers and Birgitta welcome joined the editorial page staff of The —1962— hearing from their Nieman friends. (Washington) Evening Star. In 1976, Dearmore returned to Little Rock to Ian Menzies would like to let his —1956— become associate editor of the Arkansas classmates know that his wife, Barbara, Gazette (now the Arkansas Democrat- died last month after a long battle with Ronald Plater died on June 5th at Gazette). Later he joined The San Fran- cancer. Menzies spent the last three

116 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Nieman Notes years as his wife’s caregiver. He states worked with the International Press by their four children at a restaurant in that he is well but a bit unsettled as he Institute and became founding editor Southold, New York, where they have a prepares for his fourth move in one of its new magazine on international second home. Now in semi-retirement, and a half years. journalism that is now in the hands Jim still writes a regular column for The of Stu Loory at the Missouri School of Record of North Jersey, where he served —1967— Journalism. In 1999, I served as the as state house correspondent, editorial chairman of the Pulitzer Prize jury on page editor, and managing editor. Dewey James writes, “I am retired— international reporting. Miriam and I really retired—and enjoying it. Aside have also been traveling, revisiting many Itsuo Sakane writes: “Since the from doting on our three grandchildren of our favorite places overseas. We plan mid-60’s, I have been exploring my and our newly acquired daughter-in-law, to see America one of these days.” interests in the new movement of art Barbara and I have done some travel- Shuster’s e-mail address is Alvin. and technology in the world, working ing and are more or less model senior [email protected]. in the intersecting fields of art, science citizens. After three decades plus in and technology. I have written columns journalism, much of which was spent —1968— for the Asahi Shimbun and other me- churning out editorials (usually three dia, organized exhibitions of new art a day) and a few hundred columns, I Michael Green has written his mem- works, and taught media art at college retired from active newspapering.” oirs, “Around and About,” published by and university. My Nieman experience James left the Morning News in Flor- New Africa Books, Cape Town, South Af- expanded my scope as I met unique art- ence, South Carolina in 1989. After that rica. The book covers his 50-year career ists, scientists and engineers who shared he was director of the Pee Dee Heritage in journalism and includes a chapter on similar interests. After retiring from the Center at Francis Marion University and Harvard, with special reference to South Asahi Shimbun in 1990, I was invited to retired again in 2001. He can be reached African involvement over the past 45 be a professor at Keio University, and at [email protected]. years. Green, who is retired and lives in I organized course lectures on Theory Durban, was a newspaper editor for 20 on Science-Art, Environmental Design, Philip Meyer received the Profes- years. He was the eighth Nieman from and a multimedia seminar. sional Freedom and Responsibility South Africa, and his daughter Philippa “In 1996, by the governor’s request, Award from the Newspaper Division of (Pippa) Green was the 39th, in the class I organized a new school of the Inter- the Association for Education in Jour- of 1999. They are the only parent-child national Academy of Media Arts and nalism and Mass Communication at its combination to have been awarded the Sciences (IAMAS) in Ogaki City, Gifu annual meeting in Toronto in August. fellowship in South Africa. Pippa is now Prefecture. IAMAS was comprised of The award is for contributions to both head of radio news of the South African two courses, including what has become the professional and academic side of Broadcasting Corporation. [See Pippa the graduate school of the Institute of journalism. Green’s article on page 41.] Advanced Media Arts and Sciences. After Meyer’s next book, “The Vanish- seven years as a president of IAMAS, I re- ing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in —1970— tired in March 2003 and was given a title the Information Age,” is scheduled of emeritus president. I have been an for November publication by the Uni- J. Barlow Herget is now host of State international and honorary co-editor of versity of Missouri Press. His e-mail is Government Radio, an online radio sta- Leonardo, a journal of the International [email protected]. tion that covers North Carolina’s state Society for Art, Science, and Technology government. He also continues to be a from 1985 to the present. Alvin Shuster is senior consulting panelist on “NC Spin,” a television pro- “I have published many books based editor of the Los Angeles Times, having gram that addresses topics of interest to on my columns and translated books retired in 1995 as the foreign editor, a North Carolinians. Herget has written related to art and science. Recently I job he had for some dozen years. He for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the published ‘Expanded Dimension—Be- writes: “The result is no lifting of heavy Detroit Free Press, and North Carolina’s yond the Conflict between Art and or light copy, no approval authority over The News and Observer. He served for Science’ (NTT Publications, 2003). I weird expense accounts, no queries four years on the Raleigh City Council. have received several awards, includ- from the far flung asking where they Herget is the coauthor of “Insider’s ing the Prix Ars Electronica Golden are going next, no keep-awake worries Guide to the Triangle,” which he peri- Nica for Life Achievement (2003) and about whether our folks are in the right odically updates. the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs place at the right time. The younger Award (2003).” minds have taken over all that, and I —1971— miss daily contact with that talented Jo Thomas, as of July 1st, is now as- foreign staff. But I do have an office at Jim Ahearn recently celebrated 50 sociate chancellor of Syracuse University the paper and keep in touch. years of marriage to Mary Ann at a (S.U.). “Why did I do this?” writes Jo. “After retiring as foreign editor, I surprise anniversary party orchestrated “My boss, Nancy Cantor, left the Uni-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 117 Nieman Notes

versity of Illinois to become president a regular op-ed column for that news- This winter he will be traveling to Laos and chancellor at S.U. and asked me to paper and for the St. John Times. to do a book with Martin Stuart-Fox, go to Syracuse with her.” Jo had been who was his Vietnam correspondent assistant to Cantor at the University of —1974— in 1965-66 while with UPI. Illinois. Thomas, best known for her many years of reporting from all over Steve Northup’s wife of 30 years, Morton Kondracke’s wife, Milly, for The New York Times, adds that her Lee Kaufman Little, died in June of died at age 64 on July 22nd at her home husband, Bill, will also be leaving the pulmonary hypertension. Lee was a in Washington, D.C. from complications University of Illinois faculty to join the clinical psychologist in private practice of Parkinson’s disease. anthropology department at Syracuse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she and Kondracke wrote the book “Saving and its Maxwell School of Citizenship Northup lived in a house they built by Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson’s and Public Affairs. hand in 1977. Northup has been a staff Disease,” in 2001 about his wife’s illness photographer for United Press Interna- and their efforts to manage the disease’s Ron and Diane Walker, who have tional (UPI), The Washington Post, and debilitating effects. Kondracke’s book lived in St. John, Virgin Islands since Time. He has also worked as assistant documents the experiences they had 1993, welcomed classmates Jim and managing editor/graphics for The Santa as advocates for Parkinson’s disease re- Mary Ann Ahearn and Jo Thomas and her Fe New Mexican. Now Northup is the search and the crucial role Milly played husband, Bill, to their home. Maxine photographer for the New Mexico Living in the fight for increased funding. and Dan Rapoport have also visited. Treasures Project and for the last decade Kondracke is executive editor of Roll Ron, a former managing editor of the has given photographic workshops in Call, a Washington, D.C. publication San Juan Star in Puerto Rico, still writes New Mexico, Guatemala and Scotland. providing Congressional news.

Reflections on the life of Aggrey Klaaste, the ‘soul and spirit’ of the class of 1980. By Acel Moore

It was deeply saddening to learn of printed stories reporting the facts about near Harvard Square when whites were the death of Aggrey Klaaste on June the death and injuries of anti-apartheid the predominate customers. 20th, who for me embodied the soul protestors by South African police. (Un- While a Nieman Fellow, he spent most and spirit of the class of 1980. Klaaste, der the apartheid regime at that time, of his waking hours reading. He enjoyed 64, was one of South Africa’s most the government could arrest and detain American literature, philosophy, black distinguished journalists. During the people and censor and ban newspapers thought, and history. Such writings were anti-apartheid movement and post- whenever they saw fit—without a trial.) banned in South Africa and, Klaaste said, apartheid period, he was one of the Because of those accounts, Klaaste and blacks could be imprisoned if they were nation’s most important figures in his the late editor of The World, Percy caught with banned books. He told me role as editor of the Sowetan, the larg- Qoboza, (Nieman ’76) were arrested that even the book “Black Beauty” was est black newspaper. Nelson Mandela and detained. Klaaste was released after banned. “They didn’t know it was about recognized his importance—Klaaste nine months in detention and Qoboza a horse,” he said with a wry smile. was one of the people Mandela visited after three months because of national Aggrey, through his journalistic skills soon after he got out of prison. and international pressure and letters and courage, contributed to today’s The news of Klaaste’s death brought of protest from journalists and others independent nation of South Africa eulogies filled with praise and tributes around the world. that continues to rebuild from the de- from political, civic and journalistic lead- Klaaste was physically of slight build, struction of apartheid. I feel honored ers in South Africa, including President but his heart and intellectual curiosity to have known him at Harvard, and I Thabo Mbeki. He praised Klaaste for his made him a powerhouse. Despite his was fortunate to have borne witness to innovative and courageous journalism. tenacity, he was gentle and thoughtful. his journalistic resolve during a visit to Klaaste deserves this credit for inspiring In his special way, he not only reminded his South Africa in 1985. others to act and for the strength and us of the value of a free press but also of Aggrey is survived by his wife, Caro- clarity of his work. Through his writings other rights and privileges that Ameri- line, and three children. The Nieman and commentary, Klaaste coined the cans take for granted. class of ’80 and, I’m sure, the wider phrase, “nation-building.” I’ll forever remember Klaaste’s first Nieman community, join me in paying In 1977, Klaaste was the number weeks of his nine-month Nieman year. tribute to his memory. ■ two editor of The World. That black- He would flinch and reach for his pass- run newspaper was banned, and its port whenever he saw a police officer. Acel Moore is associate editor of The editors detained by authorities, after it He was reluctant to eat in restaurants Philadelphia Inquirer.

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—1981— —1983— do Livro, is now in its second edition. Araujo, based in Lisbon, Portugal, is now Carlos Aguilar, after a career with Callie Crossley has been appointed working on his third thriller. CBS News and local and regional TV to the duPont-Columbia jury, which de- news operations in Houston and Dal- cides the annual recipient of the Alfred Tim Giago has retired as CEO of las, has been teaching media literacy I. duPont-Columbia Award. Crossley Lakota Media, Inc. He will continue and technology to at-risk inner-city high herself received the duPont-Columbia to write his syndicated column for the school students in Houston and just Award’s highest honor, the Gold Baton, Knight Ridder Tribune News Services. In completed study for and was awarded for her production work on “Eyes on his final column as editor and publisher his Texas secondary teaching certifica- the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years of Lakota Journal, Giago wrote: tion. Carlos’s “classroom” at Davis High 1954-1965,” the first of two series about “When I started the Lakota Times School in the Houston Independent the American Civil Rights Movement. [now Indian Country Today] more than School District features a state-of-the- Crossley’s hour, the sixth of the series, 20 years ago, there was not a single art TV studio with nonlinear computer “Bridge to Freedom,” also received independently owned Indian weekly editing stations for each student, and an Oscar nomination in 1987 for Best newspaper in America. … I knew that if his students not only provide news and Documentary Feature. I produced a product they could read, information for their own campus but Crossley is program manager at the gain knowledge from, and just plain also contribute to the district’s cable Nieman Foundation and a media critic enjoy, it would succeed no matter the TV channel. on “Beat the Press,” WGBH-TV in Bos- economic conditions.” Carlos has stayed active in broadcast ton, Massachusetts. “Beat the Press” re- Giago sold Indian Country Today in journalism even while teaching full ceived the Arthur Rowse Award for Press 1998 and started the Lakota Journal, time, most recently as a part-time re- Criticism from the National Press Club part of Lakota Media, Inc., in 2000. He porter for the just-dismantled News 24 in July 2004. The award was the second has received The (Baltimore) Sun’s H.L. Houston Time Warner Communications for the program; the first came in 2000. Mencken Award, the National Education all-news station. He covered general Crossley is also principal of CrossChan- Association’s Human & Civil Rights news and aired a twice-weekly feature, nels, a company she founded. Award, and the International Society “The Real Houston.” of Weekly Newspaper Editors’ Golden —1989— Quill Award. David Lamb, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, has accepted a buyout Bill Kovach received the 2003 Rich- —1992— offer from the paper but will continue ard M. Clurman Award for Mentoring, to write and travel. Lamb began as a an award given to “senior professionals Seth Effron is the executive editor reporter at the Times in 1970 on the who are superb on-the-job mentors.” of State Government Radio, based in metro staff. He worked in New York The award, which is administered by the Raleigh, North Carolina. State Govern- on the national staff and then on the University of Michigan, was presented ment Radio is a news service that, as of foreign staff in Sydney, Nairobi, Cairo to Kovach by Jill Abramson of The New this writing, is in its embryonic state. It and Hanoi. For the past few years he York Times. Kovach is chairman of the is a division of Curtis Media Group that was based in Washington, D.C., as na- Committee of Concerned Journalists, will cover North Carolina government, tional correspondent. He has written coauthor of “The Elements of Journal- policy and politics. The service will a number of books, including “The ism” and “Warp Speed,” and former be Internet-based with both stream- Africans,” “The Arabs,” and “Vietnam Curator of the Nieman Foundation. ing audio broadcast and text services Now: A Reporter Returns.” at www.StateGovernmentRadio.com. The Times’s national editor, Scott —1990— Programming is also available “over the Kraft, said in his announcement about airwaves” in the Raleigh area. Curtis Lamb’s retirement that he “epitomized Brian Pottinger was appointed chief Media Group is North Carolina’s largest the word ‘correspondent’ at this news- executive officer of Johnnic Commu- network of radio stations, now at 14, paper for 32 years. … What those of us nications Africa Limited, South Africa’s located throughout the state. who are current or former foreign and leading media and entertainment national correspondents remember company. He was formerly managing —1994— best is that David was the gold stan- director for BDFM Publishers, a busi- dard—a talented reporter and writer but ness media associate of Johnnic Com- Larry Tye’s new book, “Rising From also a valued and generous colleague munications. the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Mak- who was the best friend to have in a war ing of the Black Middle Class,” has been zone and the best company at dinner in —1991— published this year by Henry Holt and a three-star restaurant (back when those Company. The book tells of the men who were allowed on the expense account). Rui Araujo’s most recent book, worked on George Pullman’s railroad He’s a class act ….” “Lisbon Killer,” published by Oficina sleeping cars, examining their role in

Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 119 Nieman Notes

Angeles and in New York in October. 1994 Reunion Renews Nieman Spirit [See Lister’s article on The Namibian on page 43.] When is a Nieman not a Nieman? Never! that seem to be dividing into “blue and The class of 1994 reconfirmed that, red” camps—we talked about all of these David L. Marcus happily announces gathering in Cambridge over Memorial issues and more. No holds or questions that he’s finished his nonfiction book Day weekend for our 10th anniversary. were barred, but we spoke and listened about adolescents on the edge. In Former Curator Bill Kovach and his in that professional supportive Nie- January, Houghton Mifflin will publish wife, Lynne, who led and inspired the man way that allows for open honest “What It Takes to Pull Me Through: Why Class of ’94, joined nine fellows and discussion and a diversity of views. Did Teenagers Get in Trouble—and How three affiliates to look back at the decade we solve the profession’s problems? Four of Them Got Out.” Marcus, who left since our amazing year at Harvard. Hardly. But I think we all walked away the staff of U.S. News & World Report, Larry Tye, Terry Gilbert and Henry refreshed and enlightened by the in- is freelancing and teaching at Ithaca Stevens, Lorie Conway and Tom telligent discussion and renewed by a College’s Park School of Communica- Patterson, Alan and Yoko Ota, Jerry shared passion for getting it right. tions. For more information, see www. Kammer, Greg Brock, Melanie Sill, We also reintroduced ourselves 10 DaveMarcus.com. He can be reached at Maria Henson and I were there, and we years after those first, nervous intro- [email protected]. sorely missed the fellows who weren’t ductions of orientation week. It was able to make it. more than just catching up. It gave us Jacques Rivard writes that he left We had fun. We ate, we drank, we a chance to see how much we have put the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on danced at that Cambridge institution into practice ideas and inspirations we September 1st, “after 32 years of TV The Cantab. But amid the hugs and the took away from our year at Harvard. coverage mostly devoted to the Green reminiscing, we couldn’t resist falling For some, that means actually running Beat. A retirement period could be very back into our old Nieman habits of a newsroom. For others it is trying new interesting, as I intend to travel the hunkering down for long conversations forms of journalism, or consulting, or world for a while, visiting my friends about the state of our profession. book-writing. in Asia, possibly ending up in Seoul Many of us are deeply worried about The bottom line is, we passionately and Beijing. Then, on my return, I’ll plummeting public confidence in the believe in what we do. Gathering to- focus on what I like most: journalism media and about the doubts journal- gether for something as simple and and teaching. Retirement is about ists are expressing toward their own profound as a class reunion to share keeping fit.” Rivard can be reached at colleagues and institutions. Crises at that belief reinforced our efforts. I highly [email protected]. The New York Times and USA Today, recommend it. ■ —Katie King is a criticism of the media’s coverage of the writer and online media consultant —1997— U.S. invasion of Iraq, news organizations based in Washington, D.C. Maria Cristina Caballero is listed in Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith’s book “40 the Civil Rights Movement, black trade bureau of Cox Newspapers, Inc.. She Famous Women,” published in Eng- unions, and the birth of the African- also is an adjunct professor at George land by Celebration Press. The book American middle class. Tye is also the Washington University, where she highlights Caballero’s career and attests author of “The Father of Spin: Edward teaches business journalism. that she “became a respected journalist L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Rela- who risked her life to investigate the tions” (Crown, 1998) and “Home Lands: —1996— violence and human rights abuses in Portraits of the New Jewish Diaspora” her country.” (Henry Holt and Company, 2001). He Gwen Lister was selected to receive Caballero and her husband, John is the program manager of the Health one of three Courage in Journalism Lenger, had a baby, Juan Raphael Jo- Care Fellowship program at Babson Awards for 2004 from the International seph. Caballero is a fellow at Harvard’s College’s Center for Executive Educa- Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). Center for Public Leadership. tion in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Lister, founder of The Namibian, a journalist from Paraguay, and one from —1998— —1995— Algeria are being honored for risking their lives to “report on corruption, Philip Cunningham’s first novel, Marilyn Geewax received a master’s human rights violations, and terrorism.” “Peacock Hotel,” has been released in degree in liberal studies from George- The award was established in 1990 by Thailand in September 2004 by Black- town University on May 22nd. She the IWMF with the intent of strength- berry Press. “Peacock Hotel” tells the focused her studies on international ening the role of women journalists story of a Californian who tries to regain economic affairs. Geewax is the national throughout the world. Ceremonies to the enthusiasm of his youth by moving economics reporter in the Washington present the awards will be held in Los to Bangkok. Through his experiences,

120 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 Nieman Notes the highs and lows of Bangkok life are patients, their families, people in their dance hall in Cuba. exposed. Cunningham writes: “I’d like communities, health workers and to give everyone a copy, but I am told traditional healers, and plans to write —2000— that’s not a realistic business plan.” magazine articles on deinstitutionaliza- For more information about “Peacock tion programs in South Africa. Andreas Harsono writes: “I was ap- Hotel,” visit www.dcothai.com. pointed chair of the Pantau Foundation David C. Turnley married Melina in September 2003. It is a nonprofit Marcelo Leite is leaving his job as Zacharopoulos on July 11, 2004 at the organization whose mission is to elevate science editor at the Brazilian daily Folha Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy the standards of journalism in Indone- de S. Paulo in August after more than Trinity in New York. According to their sia. It is a new organization (established 18 years at that paper. He will continue marriage announcement in The New in 1999) that provides journalists with to write his Sunday column, Ciencia em York Times, Zacharopoulos worked training and opportunities for media re- Dia (Science Update) and freelance. until April as an associate at the law firm search and publishes books on journal- Sheresky Aronson & Mayefsky. Turnley, ism. It is like a community of journalists, Kathryn Strachan, a freelance jour- a freelance journalist, won the Pulitzer artists, photographers and cartoonists. nalist in South Africa, has been named Prize in 1990 for his coverage of 1989 Its focus is to help in the less developed one of this year’s 10 Rosalyn Carter Fel- uprisings including Tiananmen Square but vast eastern Indonesia. lows for Mental Health Journalism by the and the fall of the Berlin Wall. He has “I recently translated and published Carter Center’s Mental Health Program. published the book “Baghdad Blues: Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel’s book Strachan is one of the first two South A War Diary” (Vendome Press, 2003), ‘The Elements of Journalism’ into Ba- African journalists to be named a Carter among others, and directed the docu- hasa Indonesia. The book is pretty popu- Fellow. Strachan will be interviewing mentary “La Tropical,” about a famous lar now in Indonesia and used by many schools of communication. But I mainly work on my book, a political travelogue about identities in my country, entitled ‘Old Europe’ Welcomes Members of the Class of 1999 ‘Indonesia: Political Journey,’ which I plan to publish mid-next year. …” The population of Berlin swelled by de, the Internet newspaper run by Ilka’s Harsono is an associate editor of about a dozen in late June as members husband, Michael Maier, and a rarity the Internet journal First Monday and of the Nieman Class of 1999 descended in the new media world: a Web paper periodically writes for Bangkok’s The on the heart of “old” Europe for a much- that is actually making money. Nation and Kuala Lumpur’s The Star. anticipated reunion. Ilka took us for a cruise on the river Since 1995, he has been on the board Ilka Piepgras organized the gather- and led us on a walking tour of Berlin, of the Jakarta-based Institute for the ing, showing off a city that had changed complete with a bird’s eye view of the Studies on Free Flow of Information. a great deal since the wall came down. city from the gloriously glass-domed Those attending were Lily Galili; Pippa Reichstag. She threw a party at her apart- —2001— Green, her husband, Alan Hirsh, and ment where we could meet her twins, their son, Matthew; Frans Roennov; Rebecca and Jonathan, and stepkids Linda Robinson’s book, “Masters Bill and Karin Graves, and me and my Bernie, Anna, Ruth and Susanna. of Chaos: The Secret History of the family, Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, Gwyneth We cross-pollinated with Niemans Special Forces,” is to be published in and Beatrice. We were delighted that from other years. Paolo Valentino October by PublicAffairs. In the book, Bill Kovach and his wife, Lynne, also (Nieman ’90) hosted dinner at an Italian Robinson tells the stories of men in made the trip. restaurant. And Paul Stoop (Nieman the U.S. Special Forces and documents Ilka was a wonderful host. We visited ’95), and his wife, Adelheid Scholten, their role from post-Vietnam combat in the sleek offices of Ilka’s paper, Die Zeit, welcomed us to the American Academy Panama to the frontlines of the war on where we met with editor at large Theo in Berlin, where he is deputy director. terrorism. Robinson wrote, “I had been Sommer. We also experienced a bit of It was after visiting the American visiting war zones since the 1980’s and cold war nostalgia when we sat down Academy, set in an airy mansion on the had begun my journey into the world with Michael “Mischa” Wolf, the former shore of Wannsee Lake, that many of of the Special Forces before September head of East Germany’s spy apparatus. us contemplated learning German or 11, 2001, but the attacks galvanized (Wolf’s first job was as a reporter. “It’s at least feigning an interest in things me to write a book about how they are not so different between journalists Teutonic. We were wondering how best sent around the world into all kinds of and [secret] agents,” said the man who to wangle a fellowship at the academy unconventional conflicts to figure out prided himself on ferreting out sensitive and perhaps recreate that Nieman what to do, with less shooting and more information from the West.) year experience. ■ — John Kelly is a cleverness than one might imagine.” We toured the offices of netzeitung. reporter for The Washington Post. Robinson is currently a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report.

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Peter Turnley writes: “I’ve been of- and journalism. I think this marks not Ground with the Eliav-Sartawi award for fered a one year, renewable agreement only a very exciting opportunity for Middle Eastern Journalism. The award is with Harper’s magazine to create four me, but also a wonderful development in recognition of the courageous articles major eight page photo essays for the for photojournalism and for the use of they have written and had published magazine during the next year. I will be visual storytelling in magazine journal- in the Arab, Israeli and Western press, listed on the masthead as a contributing ism. …” Turnley’s first essay appeared articles that “have sought to promote editor and, most importantly, the philos- in Harper’s August issue. dialogue and peaceful coexistence, to ophy behind this new agreement is that break down myths and stereotypes, to I will author my own visual stories that —2002— expose readers to new perspectives, will be given prominent display quar- and to open windows of understanding terly in a magazine with a long and rich Rami Khouri is one of three jour- into the society of ‘the other.’” Khouri tradition of publishing excellent writing nalists honored by Search for Common won in the Arab press category for his article, “Affirming the Law and National Will, From Babylon to Beirut,” which appeared in The Daily Star (Beirut) in Media Nation: A New Nieman/Student Collaboration October 2003. The award ceremony was held in September in Brussels. A first-time partnership between the tips, and wrote the stories. Khouri is the executive editor of The Nieman Foundation, the University of Seasoned news professionals di- Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon, and his Massachusetts-Boston [UMass Boston] rected and oversaw a staff of 20 college weekly column, “A View from the Arab Center on Media and Society, and The students from Harvard and UMass Bos- World,” is now being internationally syn- Boston Globe produced a two-page ton. Ellen Hume, director of the UMass dicated by Agence Global, a U.S.-based daily newspaper about the news me- Boston Center on Media and Society and agency (www.agenceglobal.com). dia covering the Democratic National I were coeditors. Other news profes- Convention in Boston in August. The sionals working on the project included —2003— newspaper, Media Nation,was pub- broadcast veteran and founding edi- lished on four sequential days as a tor of Stateline.org Ed Fouhy, Nieman Shyaka Kanuma is in his fall semes- part of the Globe’s special convention Foundation senior web editor, Melinda ter at City University in London, England coverage. Media Nation is available on Grenier, and former Wall Street Journal working toward a master’s degree in the World Wide Web at http://mediana- graphics editor, Karl Hartig. Nieman journalism. He is a recipient of a British tion.umb.edu. Fellow Doug Marlette provided a daily government scholarship. Before mov- The paper broke news on the plight political cartoon. College staffers came ing to London, Kanuma was based in of many international reporters who from The Harvard Crimson and the com- Rwanda working as an information and found themselves without expected munications studies program at UMass media consultant for UNHCR, the U.N. workspace when the Bush administra- Boston. Funding was provided by the agency for refugees. He also contributed tion failed to fund an international Christopher Georges Fellowship Fund, articles for publications in Eastern Africa press center for the first time in 20 which is administered by the Nieman and South Africa. [See Kanuma’s article years. It examined how Arab-language Foundation. about his experience as a journalist in news organizations were covering the Hume, with assistance from Grenier, the independent press in Rwanda on convention and the growing influence other UMass faculty, and me, developed page 37.] ■ on political reporting of Hispanic and a four-week independent for-credit African-American media organizations. course of study for the UMass Boston Talk radio, the convergence of news- students to prepare for the project, gathering (led by innovations at The while the Harvard students also spent Associated Press) and efforts by MSNBC two weeks prior to the convention Guillermoprieto Added to to climb out from the shadows of CNN preparing. Monica Clark, a Harvard Nieman Class of 2005 and Fox were also among the stories Crimson staffer who worked on the that Media Nation published. project, said “Media Nation made me Alma Guillermoprieto has joined the The Kovach Library and computer realize that I want to be a political Nieman Fellows class of 2005. A frequent room at Lippmann House were trans- journalist—either print or broadcast or contributor to The New Yorker and The formed into a newsroom for those doing both. It’s a great feeling to finally know New York Review of Books, Guillermo- research, producing graphics, and edit- what I want to do.” ■ —Seth Effron, a prieto has written about Latin America ing the content. In a not-so-quiet corner 1992 Nieman Fellow and former spe- for more than 20 years. of the Globe’s workspace at The Fleet cial projects director for the Nieman Center in Boston, more Media Nation Foundation, is now executive editor editors and reporters gathered informa- of State Governent Radio in Raleigh, tion, conducted interviews, checked out North Carolina.

122 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 End Note

Using a Camera to Shoot the Big Five A retired journalist refocuses to connect with ‘the slower heartbeat of the African bush.’ By Hennie van Deventer

eing an expert with a camera year of my retirement from journalism. impala, quaint wildebeest, plump zebra is not required to take great At first many prize photographs escaped drinking at water holes and cheetah and Bwildlife photographs in South me as a result of my hasty journalistic hyena on the prowl. There are a fistful Africa’s famous Kruger National Park in nature and lack of bush awareness. Then of many impressive birds, too, and all the province of Mpumalanga. Amazing I toned down and refocused, changing of these were shot with my Canon EOS opportunities present themselves regu- my lifestyle to suit the slower heartbeat 500N fitted with a flash and a modest larly. On a day trip through the reserve of the African bush. Not only did my 75-300 zoom. I often rely on automatic a visitor can expect to encounter a large quality of life immediately improve, but mode. As far as film is concerned, ex- diversity of species and at least two or also the quality of my photographs. perience has taught me that 100ASA three of the “big five”—lion, leopard, Although strictly an amateur, I am film is a good all-round choice. It is, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Those most thrilled to have the walls of our bush however, advisable to carry a couple fortunate score five out of five. cottage in Sabiepark, a private reserve of rolls of faster (400) film as well, for A decent camera is required, but also neighboring the Kruger, be adorned dull conditions or to get extra reach for valuable are alertness, patience and with dozens of special wildlife images. flash photography at night. perseverance—three qualities I have These pictures include members of the The van Deventer cottage, dark brick learned the hard way since 1998, the big five and also stately giraffe, graceful and thatched, is less than two miles from

On the morning of my wife’s birthday in 2003, we found this pride of lions—14 in all—draped on a rock right next to the road. The exceptional scene seemed to be choreographed by an expert. The lions patiently allowed us to photograph them from all sides before slowly getting up, stretching and sauntering away into the bush. Photo by Hennie van Deventer.

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the Kruger gate and only 10 miles from even giraffe making love—a rather tirement in February 1999. Previous- Skukuza, the main rest camp. One of the complicated, hasty affair. On the other ly he edited Die Volksblad in Bloem- unique perks of living in Sabiepark is the hand, on quiet days we have driven for fontein for 12 years. In 1997 he was opportunity for quick visits to Skukuza hours without sighting anything special. awarded the Phil Weber gold medal, or short, concentrated drives along the It’s the luck of the draw. We know that, the highest honor bestowed by Sabie River, with its lush growth. A “wild and we never complain. ■ Naspers, for sustained performance card” at a bargain price offers unlimited in a career spanning 35 years. He is entry—and adventure. On the short Hennie van Deventer, a 1977 Nie- also the author of six books. stretch to Skukuza we have come across man Fellow, was chief executive of lion kills, angry elephants, or vast herds Newspapers of Naspers in Cape Town,  [email protected] of buffalo blocking the traffic for hours, South Africa from 1992 until his re-

A magnificent leopard awakens in a tree, ready for the night’s activities. This feline mammal, usually sporting a tawny yel- low coat with black rosette-like spots, represents one of the great sights of the African bush. For many visitors, encountering a leopard is more exciting than coming upon a lion.

Impala, a smallish antelope with lyre-shaped horns, have the ability to move with enormous, yet very graceful leaps when disturbed. Thousands of them roam Kruger Park. The name “impala” comes from the Zulu language.

Photos by Hennie van Deventer.

124 Nieman Reports / Fall 2004 End Note

A white rhino appears menac- ingly from the bush. This powerful animal, with its massive body, two horns on its nose, very thick skin, and three digits on each foot is a real danger when provoked. The black rhino is even more aggressive, but smaller. Both white and black rhinos are considered members of the big five.

It takes time and patience for a thirsty giraffe to get the legs, front and back, in exactly the right position. And it must not be easy on the nerves to stand stretched in such a vulnerable way. Finally settled to enjoy a drink, this giraffe withdrew a moment after the photo was taken; evidently the muddy pool had a foul taste or smell. Photos by Hennie van Deventer.

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