MONTHLY NEWSLETTER I January 2018

CBS ‘New Generation’ Anchor to Address OPC Foundation Scholars by jane reilly during its critical launch period. As CBSN continues to grow, Glor will INSIDE eff Glor, the anchor of the maintain a prominent presence on the OPC Holiday Party 2 “CBS Evening News with Jeff digital streaming channel. As a cor- Glor,” the network’s flagship J respondent for “CBS This Morning” Hong Kong Hands evening news broadcast, will be and “60 Minutes Sports,” he filed re- Reunion 3 the keynote speaker at the annual ports from Alaska, Africa, Greenland, Overseas Press Club Foundation Call for Entries 3 Ireland and Newfoundland, among Scholar Awards Luncheon on Fri- others. day, Feb. 23, at the Yale Club. The People Column 5-7 Also at the luncheon, the Foun- event begins with a reception at dation will award a combination of Press Freedom the club’s Rooftop Terrace at 11:30 Update 8-9 scholarships and fellowships to 16 a.m., followed by the luncheon in graduate and undergraduate college New Books 10 the Grand Ballroom. which ends Jeff Glor students aspiring to become foreign promptly at 2:00 p.m. news climate.” correspondents. Holstein is especially Q&A: Bill Holstein, president of the Roopa Gogineni 11 OPC Foundation, said the choice Glor, an Emmy-award winner and pleased to announce the first award in of Glor to headline the Founda- veteran CBS News journalist, has the name of Sally Jacobsen, who died tion’s signature event was espe- reported across the globe for virtually unexpectedly in the spring of 2017. A cially significant for this year’s all CBS News broadcast and digital former vice president of the Founda- scholars, since he represents a new platforms in his 10 years with the tion and a widely experienced As- generation at the helm of network network. He has anchored numerous sociated Press correspondent, she was broadcast news. He noted, “Glor is breaking news stories, most recently the first woman to serve as the news at the heart of the legacy media’s in the field for Hurricane Irma and in service’s international editor, oversee- attempts to transform itself to com- the studio for the Las Vegas shootings. ing coverage of wars, terrorism and a pete with many different forms and Glor was a lead anchor on CBSN, stream of history-making events. Her formats in a changing and volatile CBS’ 24/7 streaming news service, Continued on Page 2

The OPC Remembers Past President Marshall Loeb by chad bouchard The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, he 1988 and had been a member for ast OPC President Mar- joined TIME magazine in 1956 as almost 30 years. After graduating shall Loeb, who helmed the a writer, rising over the years to from the University of Missouri club from 2006 to 2008, business editor and nation editor. School of Journalism, he served as P He retired from Time Inc. at 65, a correspondent for United Press died at age 88 on Dec. 9 after a long battle with Parkinson’s and edited The Columbia Jour- in Frankfurt, Germany. An article disease. nalism Review, regularly aired marking his retirement from For- Loeb was a business journalist financial advice on CBS Radio tune called him “one of the most credited for bolstering the success and served a short stint as host of visible and influential editors in of Money and Fortune magazines. the PBS television program “Wall the magazine industry.” Street Week.” Past OPC President Michael After a year as a city reporter for Marshall Loeb Loeb joined the OPC in August Continued on Page 4 1 1 Holiday Party Launches OPC Events for 2018 Left to right: Colleen Jose, past OPC President Michael Serrilll, and Dave Fondiller.

Emma Daly, Robert Sullivan and OPC President Deidre Depke

Left to right (at table): Dave Fondiller, Kumiko Makihara, Andy Katell and Clarissa Left to right: Minky Worden, McNair. Albert Goldson and Sonya Fry.

‘OPCFoundation’ the opportunity to meet and observe prominent journalists in action is as Continued From Page 1 valuable as any monetary awards. For the fourth year in a row, on the Saturday after the luncheon, the 39-year career took her from a Washington economics correspondent OPC Foundation will offer a full day of risk assessment and situational to Brussels to the pressure-packed job at AP’s New York headquarters, training for the winners at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. where she lead scores of international correspondents through the years Frank Smyth, president and founder of Global Journalist Security, a hos- of 9/11 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. tile environment training firm based in Washington DC, will again lead “Sally was part of the very soul of the Foundation board, having the program. Those who participated in the past called the experience in- played an integral role in launching the fellowship program and the valuable. “We have a responsibility to make sure our winners engage in sending of our first young fellow to the Bangkok bureau of the AP and the world’s stories in ways that keep them safe,” Holstein said. “We will then expanding the program to include other news organizations. With continue to do what we can, as fiscal sponsors of the ACOS Alliance, to every fiber of her being, she believed in what we are doing,” Holstein see that journalists throughout the world have the training and support added. they need to do their jobs as well and as securely as possible.” Holstein is concerned with how the current economic model support- Up to 12 of this year’s winners will receive fellowships to work in ing international news will affect this generation of young journalists. the foreign bureaus of the Foundation’s media partners, including the “We think we are witnessing a decline in the number of young Ameri- AP, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, GroundTruth Project and Forbes. cans who believe that becoming a foreign correspondent is a great and The fellowships ensure that the awardees gain valuable experience and glorious cause. So we are increasingly playing the role of an institution insight working with veteran editors and reporters. In 2017, the Foun- that encourages young people to see the act of covering international dation funded fellowships in bureaus across Europe, Asia, Africa, the stories as something that is valuable to themselves and to our democracy Americas and the Middle East. The Foundation picks up the cost of the as a whole,” he said. airfare and one to two months of living expenses for the winners. The 2018 winning recipients are from Brown University, City Uni- Holstein is grateful to Bloomberg, which again hosted the judging in versity of New York, Columbia University, DePauw University, New December, and to the dedicated panel of judges who chose the 2018 re- York University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Mis- cipients: Allen Alter; Bill Collins; John Daniszewski of the AP; Joe Flint souri, University of Texas at Austin and Yale University. “These young of The Wall Street Journal; Allan Dodds Frank; Sharon Gamsin; Tim people inspire me every year because they want to travel down what I Ferguson of Forbes Asia; Holstein; Adam Horvath of The Wall Street regard as the sacred path of bearing witness. They just want a chance. Journal; Larry Martz; Marcy McGinnis; Maria Mercader of CBS News; Our imperative is to help train them and keep them safe as they explore Kate McLeod; Ellen Nimmons of the AP; Jim Pensiero; Charlie Sennott the world,” said Holstein. of the GroundTruth Project; Michael Serrill; Steve Swanson of the New Events for the 2018 winners will last three days starting on Thursday York Botanical Garden; and Karen Toulon of Bloomberg. afternoon, when the Foundation will host two panels at Reuters for those Lydia Polgreen, HuffPost editor-in-chief, was previously announced award winners interested in either business journalism or television to be the speaker but she had to cancel because of a scheduling conflict. news. That evening, Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler will host the Luncheon tickets are $85 for OPC members and $150 for non-members. traditional reception for current and past winners of OPC Foundation The Foundation encourages media and corporate support at its three lev- awards at the wire service’s Times Square headquarters. On Friday, els of giving: Benefactors, $9,000; Patrons, $6,000; and Friends, $3,000. besides addressing a distinguished audience of more than 200 luncheon Tables seat 10. All proceeds benefit the OPC Foundation. For further guests at the Yale Club, the award winners will meet with Holstein and information, contact Jane Reilly at 201 493-9087 or veteran international journalists in a pre-luncheon breakfast and with [email protected]. v several foreign editors following the luncheon. For many, says Holstein, January 2018 2 Hong Kong Hands Share Memories Spanning Five Decades by chad bouchard coverage, Leung said on the sidelines. Tanzer discussed his newly released orrespondents who Yvonne Dunleavy, who worked for book, Robert Kuok, about a “secretive” covered Hong Kong and China the Hong Kong Standard in the 60s, overseas Chinese tycoon from Malaya gathered on Dec. 12 to swap remembered seeing signs of trouble who made his fortune on the sugar fu- C brewing in the early days of the Cultural tures market in the 1960s and spent 40 stories and reminisce at a special OPC reunion. The evening featured comments Revolution in 1966, as revolutionaries years living in Hong Kong. and storytelling from notable journalists marched in formation in navy blue uni- Tanzer had interviewed Kouk for a as well as representatives from the Hong forms while holding copies of the “Little cover story in Forbes magazine in 1997 Kong Economic and Trade Office, which Red Book” and chanting “down with – a story Tanzer said helped to start the co-sponsored the gathering. the governor!” in protest against British Forbes “billionaires list” franchise – and Bill Holstein, who worked in Hong colonial rule. later worked on his memoirs. Kong as deputy Asian editor for United Soon it escalated into a full-fledged The book follows the businessman’s Press International from 1979 to 1981, civil war, she said. “Trucks and busses life as a Chinese emigrant in Johor said the city served as a platform to were overturned, people working for the Baru, where he attended British colonial launch his career that continues to focus British government were threatened by schools and was classmates with several on issues in Asia. sympathizers in Beijing, saying ‘there’s a future Malay prime ministers and Sin- “We want to acknowledge that it was list and you’re going to be on it when the gapore’s longtime prime minister, Lee a place that touched our lives and that we Maoists come.’” Kuan Yew. The book has made waves in remain connected to,” he said during an Dunleavy remembered being chased Southeast Asia because of Kuok’s com- introduction. into a hotel while carrying film forLife ments about prominent political figures, Joanne Chu introduced herself as the magazine, and later narrowly escaping Tanzer said. Kwok goes on to work for new director of the Hong Kong Econom- her car being overturned by protesters. Mitsubishi and plays a controversial role ic and Trade Office in New York, having Richard Bernstein, who covered busi- in getting food into China during the arrived in July last year. She pointed out ness in Hong Kong and China for TIME Cultural Revolution. similarities between Hong Kong and magazine, went to Hong Kong in 1975 The book had a limited release in New York, both of which are centers of at the end of the Cultural Revolution and English in Asia, and is slated to be avail- finance and cities with “a strong pres- stayed until 1979. able in the U.S. in March. v ence of international media.” He said he feels nostalgic about those Clement Leung, the Hong Cong years, when the city was orderly and Commissioner to the US based in Wash- stable and growing in prosperity. ington, DC, dropped by the reunion to “It never stopped thrilling me to just chat with journalists. Hong Kong has be in this place. It reeked of a kind of a separate trade mission to the US as a post-colonial exoticism.” result of the “one country, two systems” He said Westerners who became policy of reunification that followed the journalists after studying Mandarin and end of colonial rule in 1997. China at the time formed a fellowship of “Given the state politics in DC, I “China watchers” who monitored news always try to get out for some fresh air,” of the mainland from Hong Kong, often Leung joked. He recalled a recent return depending on scant information like the to Hong Kong in November for a meet- Survey of the China Mainland Press, ing of heads of mission. “When you land which published translations of Chinese at the airport you feel the energy, you radio broadcasts. The deadline to submit entries for this year’s OPC feel the vibrancy, and the intensity, but “Despite sparse resources I think we got the story right,” he said. “That awards is fast approaching! Please help spread the of course I enjoy the efficiency and the word about the OPC’s 22 awards for international there was a power struggle involving pace,” as well as the food, he said. coverage in Newspapers, News Services, Digital, When Leung mentioned his daughter [Premier] Zhou Enlai on one side and the Magazines, Radio, Podcasts, Television, Video, is now studying journalism in Hong Gang of Four on the other, and a contest Cartoons, Books and Photography. Visit the OPC website for more information. Kong, Holstein piped in to recommend between a more reformist group and a he “tell her to pick a different field.” more hard line ideological group.” ENTRY DEADLINE “That’s what my wife said,” Leung Andrew Tanzer, who worked in Hong Kong for Forbes magazine and others, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time responded. “Our family practices ‘one on January 31, 2018 family, two systems,’” he said. Leung’s told the gathering that he first went to wife studied journalism, so the two do Asia on a $3000 award from the Over- AWARDS DINNER not always agree on government matters, seas Press Club Foundation in the early April 26, 2018 at Cipriani 25 Broadway he added. 80s to pursue a project in Taiwan. “Hong Kong Hands” at the event He went to work for the Far Eastern collectively represented experience span- Economic Review in 1983, replacing ning five decades, and “centuries” of someone who had been kicked out by the Taiwan government. January 2018 3 ‘Marshall Loeb’ sion because he had been so successful at Fortune and was so Continued From Page 1 universally admired. He was still working for MarketWatch when the disease took hold and he kept that going as well. He Serrill, who served from 2012 to 2014, said Loeb was a legend was remarkably courageous in the face of what promised to who “helped to invent modern business journalism, considered be a long illness. And he was a gentleman throughout, a rarity a journalistic backwater until the 1980s. He also, in the course in today’s media landscape.” of reviving Fortune, helped to make business coverage global, Former OPC Executive Director Sonya Fry called Loeb “a offering reports and profiles from moguls around the world.” true gentlemen.” Past OPC President Allan Dodds Frank, who served from “Marshall was always gracious even though its was obvious 2008 to 2010, called Loeb a “pillar of the Overseas Press Club that the Parkinson’s was taking over his body. At some point of America and the much larger world of financial journalism.” near the end of his presidency, when walking was very compro- “He was a charming true gentleman with a sly sense of mised, he still took all his duties seriously, like coming to the humor that illuminated his prodigious gifts as a storyteller. He OPC office with a Russian health aide to sign checks, certifi- also had the great skill set that makes a superb editor,” he said. cates and make sure that the programs and awards dinner were “Marshall was a wonderful listener, terrific incubator of ideas progressing. Marshall was a lovely, caring man with a will to and an even better counselor about how one should proceed. At succeed and conquer no matter the odds.” both Money and Fortune, he nurtured dozens of reporters and OPC member Tim Ferguson also lauded Loeb’s contribu- editors while invigorating the spirit, content and profits of those tion to the industry. “For business journalists of a certain age, publications. He was a great mentor, leader, confidante and the Loeb era at Fortune, coinciding with those of Jim Michaels friend. We will miss him and never forget him.” at Forbes and Steve Shepard at Business Week, was a golden Past OPC President Richard Stolley, who served from 2004 one.” to 2006, remembers his friendship with Loeb when the two Bill Rukeyser, OPC Foundation board member, remem- worked at Time Inc., where Stolley served as editor of the Life bered Loeb for his friendship and professionalism. and was founding editor of People. “Marshall Loeb was a good man – unfailingly courteous, “The managing editors (the term for top editor) at Time Inc. considerate and loyal to friends, colleagues and especially his had a weekly lunch, and I often sat next to Marshall because beloved family. He succeeded me at both Money and Fortune he was good company,” Stolley said. “When I came back from as managing editor, the title Henry Luce had awarded to each three years as the weekly Life senior editor in Europe, Marshall top editor of a Time Inc. magazine to denote that all of them encouraged me to join the OPC, for which I am eternally grate- were No. 2 to the editor-in-chief: him. Though neither maga- ful.” Stolley said his own years as OPC president were “made zine was in dire circumstances, Marshall’s intelligence, bril- possible for me because of Marshall and his urging me to look liant editorial radar and legendary energy (“All anybody wants into the OPC.” to talk about is my glands,” he once complained to me) raised Past OPC President Larry Martz, who served from 2000 to both to greater success. I miss him.” 2002, called Loeb “a tough competitor.” In an email message forwarded to the OPC, Gordon Cro- “I remember many years ago, when I was business editor at vitz, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, called Loeb Newsweek and he had the same job at TIME, when I was go- “a leader among the generation of American journalists who ing through the morning papers I’d see a big story and wonder, made business news as fascinating, engaging and instructive ‘How is Marshall Loeb reacting to this one?’ And I’d try to as any form of news. Thanks in large part to Marshall, it’s now order up reporting on some angle he might overlook. It didn’t hard to imagine that business, finance and technology were often work out. Marshall was thorough, and a good editor.” once considered dry topics.” Past OPC President Bill Holstein, who served from 1994 to Current OPC Executive Director Patricia Kranz added that 1996, remembered asking Loeb to run in the club’s election. “A “Marshall Loeb was a very loyal and supportive member of number of us former and future presidents persuaded Marshall the OPC. Every December he mailed a very generous donation to run for president in 2006, which he did,” Holstein said. check to help support the club’s work. “Soon after, he and I had lunch and he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Within a few months, the disease began to manifest itself. Then Executive Director Sonya Fry and I, and others, stepped in to stabilize the club’s management. But more importantly, even suffer- ing a serious illness, Marshall hung in there and fought for the causes he believed in, such as press freedom around the world. His name alone gave us big credibility in the profes-

January 2018 4 PEOPLE By Chad Bouchard WELCOME OPC SCHOLARS OPC Governor Josh N E W Anupreeta Das, former OPC Fine, along with MEMBERS governor and winner of the Reuters several colleagues scholarship in 2006, has been named at HBO Sports With Omnia Al Desoukie deputy business editor of The Wall Bryant Gumbel, has Freelance Dubai Street Journal. An announcement to received an Alfred Active Overseas, Young Journal colleagues called Das “one I. duPont-Columbia (29 and under) of our finest, most creative, most University Award for Ruchi Kumar versatile reporters and a trusted men- an global investiga- Freelance tor to many in our newsroom.” Since tion into the Interna- Kabul joining the Journal in 2010, she has tional Olympic Com- Active Overseas, Young covered mergers, finance and invest- mittee. The same sto- (30-34) ing and serves as part of the paper’s ry, “The Lords of the Anna Pujol-Mazzini Das Sonne financial enterprise team. Before Rings,” also won the Freelance joining the Journal, Das covered OPC’s inaugural Peter London Edward Wong, former Beijing Active Overseas, Young tech, media and telecom deals for correspondent for The New York Jennings Award last year. Fine and (29 and under) Reuters. his colleague, David Scott, who Times and 1998 David Schweisberg Norman Stockwell scholarship winner, wrote a longform also worked on the IOC story, won Paul Sonne, Swinton winner in Publisher feature about China’s growing global 2014 The David A. Andelman and & Reporter/Photographer 2008, is leaving The Wall Street role and its use of force, writing that Pamela Title Award for “The Price of The Progressive Journal after more than 8 years to the “emerging imperium is more Glory.” Also receiving an Alfred I. Madison, WI join the national staff ofThe Wash- Active Non-Resident a result of the Communist Party’s duPont-Columbia University Award ington Post to cover the Pentagon. exercise of hard power, including was OPC member Amy Mackin- Cassandra Vinograd Sonne had an OPC Foundational Freelance economic coercion, than the product non, formerly of Coda Story, who fellowship with The Associated Press London of a gravitational pull of Chinese shared an award with the team that in Moscow. He also interned with Active Overseas, Young ideas or contemporary culture.” OPC worked on “Russia’s New Scape- (30-34) The New York Times in Moscow be- Foundation President Bill Holstein goats,” a radio documentary about fore joining the Journal in London, wrote on his blog that “all of us at Russia’s anti-gay movement. The covering business and political news. the foundation are touched that we award was shared with collaborators While in London, Paul and his col- helped launch Ed Wong, who has Reveal from The Center for Investi- leagues won the Malcolm Forbes become an important voice on issues gative Reporting and PRX. Since re- Award for best international business that Dave [Schweisberg] was pas- porting on the story, Mackinnon has reporting in newspapers. He later re- sionate about.” Holstein worked with returned from stints in Moscow and turned to Russia to serve as Moscow Schweisberg in Hong Kong, and both Tbilisi to pursue a masters degree at correspondent for the Journal from served as chief of the Beijing bureau the CUNY journalism school. 2013 to 2016, covering the Kremlin for UPI in the 80s. as relations between Washington and UPDATES Moscow soured. Since then, he has WINNERS Facebook sent shockwaves through covered national security from the 2016 Hal Boyle Award winner Han- the media industry in early January Washington bureau. nah Dreier has received a 2018 when it announced it would rein in Ochberg Fellowship from the Dart news content and official business Diksha Madhok, Theo Wilson Center for Journalism and Trauma and organization pages on users’ winner in 2011, has been named at Columbia University’s Graduate “feeds” to prioritize posts from fam- digital director of ThePrint, a news School of Journalism. The weeklong ily and friends. Facebook has been media start-up in India. Madhok has program focuses on exploring issues neck-and-neck with Google over also worked as India editor at Quartz surrounding psychological trauma recent years as top provider of digital and as a reporter for Reuters in New and ethics challenges connected to news. The announcement sent Face- Dehli. journalists’ work. Dreier won her book shares falling 4.5 percent and costing founder Mark Zuckerberg Katie Paul, Irene Corbally Kuhn OPC award while covering political an estimated $3.3 billion, according scholarship winner in 2007, is turmoil in Venezuela The Associated to the Bloomberg Billionaires In- transferring from one Reuters bu- Press, and is currently a reporter at dex. Media analysts say prioritizing reau to another in the Middle East. ProPublica, focusing on immigration. content from friends would worsen After several years in Riyadh, she is the so-called echo chamber in which moving to the Dubai bureau where people only see and discuss content she will be a senior correspondent that supports their own assumptions. covering business throughout the Facebook faced governmental scru- Gulf. Katie had an OPC Foundation tiny last year for its role in spreading fellowship in the Reuters bureau in Continued on Page 6 Buenos Aires.

January 2018 5

Continued From Page 5 misinformation and hate speech. ica, where she struggled to adapt to a over the last year. The “Images Of Financial Times CEO John Ridding new life attended a middle school in Strength” collection includes 18 pho- told Poynter that challenges in the New York. tos that show Rohingya refugees in new information ecosystem will Bangladesh, survivors of gun attacks require a subscription model that OPC Governor Emma Daly, who in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, allows publishers to manage access serves as director of communications Texas and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to their content and make a direct for Human Rights Watch, wrote an soldiers embracing children in Iraq connection with readers, or else “as extensive piece in December detail- and first responders in the aftermath the large majority of all new online ing the efforts of journalists and hu- of hurricanes Maria and Harvey in advertising spend continues to go man rights activists to report on war Puerto Rico and Texas and the earth- to the search and social media plat- crimes during the Yugoslav Wars of quake in Mexico City. Bernasconi forms – quality content will no lon- the 90s. Daly, who was Balkans cor- told Uproxx in a Q&A that images ger be a choice or an option.” Jacob respondent for The Independent from depicting moments of strength and Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate 1990 to 1997, wrote that “human compassion provide crucial context Group, told The New York Times that rights activists helped put war crimes for stories about crisis. “The world the change “looks like the end of the firmly on the international agenda – can have a conversation through a social news era.” with help from journalists who often shared sense of an image or a truth,” didn’t understand the legal implica- he said. Bernasconi also underscored NEW YORK: An investigation span- tions of the horrors they reported on the need for photojournalists to stay ning several months by OPC Gover- every day.” Her piece, titled “Beyond vigilant when covering conflict or nor Azmat Khan and OPC member Justice: How the Yugoslav Tribunal working in disaster zones. “You as a Anand Gopal into underreported Made History,” coincided with the professional work with your editors civilian casualties in Iraq continues closure of the Yugoslav tribunal, and the people you know and trust to to make ripples after it was published which indicted a total of 161 people mitigate [risks] as much as possible. in the new York Times Magazine after 24 years. Daly spent a total of And, we have to trust our photogra- late last year. In “The Uncounted,” 18 years as a journalist, mostly as a phers,” he said. Khan and Gopal found that airstrikes foreign correspondent, at a number in Iraq are killing civilians at 31 of outlets including The New York OPC Governor Rukmini Cal- times the rate that the US-led coali- Times, the Independent, Newsweek, limachi is warning that the decline tion forces reported. In an interview the Observer and Reuters. of ISIS has been overstated, saying about the piece for Al Jazeera, Khan that the terror network is now more said on-the-ground reporting at air- OPC Third Vice President Pancho deadly than the Taliban. In separate strike sites in ISIS territory revealed Bernasconi of Getty Images spoke podcast interviews, Callimachi told that one in five bombings resulted in to digital culture news site Uproxx PRI’s The World and World View, a a civilian death. about a specially curated gallery of foreign affairs podcast produced by images to honor the “love and resil- The Irish Times, that although Islam- OPC Governor Lara Setrakian iency” of survivors of tragic events ic State’s territory has reduced in size has co-founded a campaign to stop sexual harassment and assault in lo- cal and national newsrooms. “Press Forward” plans to analyze best prac- tices to create better working envi- ronment, and will ultimately publish a “blueprint” for media organiza- tions. Members of the independent group are current and former jour- nalists, and receives support from the Greater Washington Community Foundation. It is slated to launch early this year.

The New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library both named How Dare the Sun Rise, a book co-written by Sandra Uwir- ingiyimana and OPC Treasurer Abigail Pesta, among the best Left to right: OPC members Alan Riding, Vivienne Walt, Sonya Fry and Jim books of 2017. The memoir follows Bittermann during a lunch at the Traveller’s Club on the Champs Elysees Uwiringiyimana’s story as a young in Paris. Fry went to Paris for the John Morris Memorial at the American woman who escaped a childhood Cathedral where Bittermann spoke about his friend and colleague. massacre in Africa and fled to Amer- January 2018 6 7 by 98 per cent in Syria and Iraq, the the independence of the Los Angeles reported on Iran for several years. In US Pentagon reports that its numbers Times or do you want someone else 2009, she was arrested while work- in Yemen have doubled over the last negotiating on your behalf?” Results ing on a book about Iran and held for year. Her interviews follow Callima- are slated to be released on Jan. 19. 100 days at the notorious Evin Prison chi’s reporting in the Times over the in Tehran on espionage charges. An last month on two IS bomb attacks LONDON: Carrie Gracie, former announcement on the CBS site said in Kabul on Dec. 28 and Jan. 4, and China editor for the British Broad- Saberi “brings a wealth of unique a gun assault against members of a casting Corporation (BBC), resigned international and national reporting Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on from her post in Beijing citing a experience.” Dec. 29. “secretive and illegal pay culture” of pay inequality compared to male in- BUENOS AIRES: An Argentin- The OPC’s 2016 Best Commentary ternational editors at the broadcaster. ian fact-checking site has released a winner, Masha Gessen, delivered During an interview on BBC Radio piece of software that automatically the Robert B. Silvers lecture, titled 4’s Woman’s Hour, Gracie said she identifies claims in online media “The Stories of a Life,” on Dec. 18. was offered a 33 percent pay increase and matches them with existing fact The lecture was created by Max but rejected it because she wanted checks. The tool, Chequeabot, Palevsky and named in honor of equality, not more money. She said uses machine learning to assist fact Silvers, the co-founding editor of she could not resume her post in Chi- checkers in newsrooms. Poynter.org The New York Review of Books, who na and “collude knowingly in what I reported that the software scans text died in March last year. Her talk was consider to be unlawful pay discrimi- from 25 media outlets in Argentina, featured on the New York Public nation.” BBC was forced to disclose automatically flagging claims from Library Podcast in January. employee salaries last July, revealing politicians and other sources. The bot that two thirds of the highest paid has already helped to flag erroneous WASHINGTON, DC: Hannah on-air talent were male, and the top trade surplus numbers from the coun- Allam, BuzzFeed reporter, for- seven earners were men. The UK- try’s foreign ministry in a newspaper mer OPC Governor and a current based National Union of Journalists interview, and to unpack statements member, was interviewed on NPR’s has filed complaint with the BBC on about the electricity grid that the Morning Edition about her coverage behalf of 121 female employees over energy minister made during a press of allegations of sexual harassment pay disparity. conference. The organization that surrounding Dallas-based Muslim developed the software, Chequeado, celebrity preacher Nouman Ali Khan. received a fellowship in 2016 from Allam told the public radio program Poynter’s International Fact Check- that many Muslim women face ad- ing Network to work with Full Fact, ditional challenges when deciding a nonprofit based in the UK that is whether to report abuse involving developing similar automated tools cultural and religious taboos. Allam for English-speaking newsrooms. spoke to one of Ali Khan’s accusers for a BuzzFeed piece in December PEOPLE REMEMBERED with details of how he allegedly ma- The former editor of the Guardian, nipulated female followers into sham Peter Preston, died on January marriages and then paid them to stay 6 at the age of 79. Preston began silent. his career at the paper in 1963 and served as editor for two decades, LOS ANGELES: Newsroom em- from 1975 to 1995. Preston helmed ployees at the Los Angeles Times the Guardian through a period of voted in early January on whether to historic news events and is credited form a union for the first time in the Saberi with helping the paper survive a paper’s 136-year history. The work- DAMES MICHAEL price war with The Independent by ers are calling for higher salaries, overseeing a redesign in the mid- better benefits and working condi- 80s. His final column on press and tions, and pay equality for women CBS News has hired OPC Governor broadcasting was published on New and minorities. The vote to join Roxana Saberi as correspondent Year’s Eve, in which he said jour- NewGuild would affect about 380 based in London. Saberi served as nalists’ biggest new challenge is to employees. The New York Times re- a freelance correspondent for the re-establish “some modest degree ported that the move has sparked ten- network news service and for its af- of public respectability” and trust sions between the paper’s manage- filiate, Newspath, since 2016. She among readers amid attacks from ment and employees, with manage- has also served as fill-in anchor President Trump and others around ment urging for staff to vote against for CBSN. Saberi, who is fluent in the world. Preston is survived by his the move and saying in an email that Persian, previously worked as corre- wife Jean, four children, and eight “The question to you is do you want spondent for Al Jazeera America, and grandchildren. v to preserve your independence and January 2018 7 7 PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE...

The The Committee to Protect president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are calling for the US Department of Journalists reports that at least Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Justice to release Mexican journalist 42 journalists were killed during he Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Emilio Gutierrez, who is being course of their work in 2017, which organization said Trump “consis- detained at a federal detention facil- represents a decline in numbers tently undermined domestic news ity in Texas. Gutierrez has been seek- overall for the second year in a row outlets and declined to publicly raise ing asylum in the U.S. for more than compared to record highs over the freedom of the press with repressive a decade after receiving death threats last decade. According to a report leaders.” Myanmar leader Aung San in connection with his reporting for from the organization, the decrease is Suu Kyi was given the award for El Diario del Noroeste newspaper in due to fewer armed conflicts. Mexico “Biggest Backslider in Press Free- the northern state of Chihuahua in was a notable exception, where six dom.” Mexico. The request was finally de- journalists were killed due to their nied in July last year. After a wave of reporting, marking a historical high. Egypt has ordered a criminal in- news reports and a visit from Texas In 2016, 48 journalists were killed, vestigation into a report in The New Congressman Beto O’Rourke, the and before that the number had York Times alleging that an intelli- Board of Immigration Appeals has ranged from the low 60s to the mid gence officer told TV hosts that they reopened the Gutiérrez asylum case 70s, partially due to coverage of con- should persuade viewers to accept and temporarily blocked his deporta- flict in the Middle East. The report President Donald Trump’s decision tion, though he remains in detention. also notes that 2017 was the first year to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Syria was not one of the most deadly capital. Press freedom advocates say OPC member Kiran Nazish with countries for journalists. Eight of the investigation is the latest move in the Coalition of Women in Journal- the journalists killed this year were a tightening of censorship ahead of ism is calling attention to the arrest women. That represents 19 percent presidential elections in March. The of freelance journalist Priyanka of the total, compared to a historical country has extended a state of emer- Borpujari, who Mumbai police average of about 7 percent. gency and used it to justify prosecu- wrongfully detained for “inciting tions of journalists and placed them violence” while covering a protest. A delegation of global press free- on terrorist watch lists. Between May In a phone interview with HuffPost dom groups has embarked on a last year and January 11 this year, India, Borpujari said police “were fact-finding mission to gather data the government blocked access to at trying to intimidate me, they kept on the state of press freedom in the least 465 websites, including news snatching my phone away, and when United States. The CPJ and IFEX websites, blogs, rights organizations, I bent down to pick it up, they pulled convened the group, which includes according to the Association for my shirt. I came home with two- representatives from organizations Freedom of Thought and Expression three bruises and contusions.” She including Reporters Without Borders and the U.S. based Open Observa- said when she asked police how she (RSF), Article 19, Index on Censor- tory of Network Interference. had instigated violence, that the fact ship and the International Press In- that she was present with a camera stitute. The group plans to meet with Celebrity TV host Oprah Winfrey encouraged protestors. “high-level policy makers” in Hous- gave a nod to journalists amid at- ton, Texas, Columbia and St. Louis tacks on press freedom during a Colleagues of South African free- in Missouri, and Washington, DC. In speech at the Golden Globes award lance photojournalist Shiraaz a release Christophe Deloire, RSF’s ceremony in January. As she accept- Mohamed, who was abducted by secretary general, said that under ed Cecil B. DeMille Award for life- gunmen more than a year ago while President Trump’s leadership, “the time achievement, she underscored working in northwestern Syria, say US has become a treacherous place the value of journalism and added they have received proof that he is for media workers and journalists in “we all know the press is under siege still alive. Gift of the Givers, the a way we haven’t ever seen before.” these days. We also know it’s the South African humanitarian NGO, According to data US Press Freedom insatiable dedication to uncovering told RSF that Mohamed’s family has Tracker, at least 32 journalists were the absolute truth that keeps us from correctly answered questions only he arrested, 39 physically attacked, and turning a blind eye to corruption and would be able to answer. On Jan. 10, 16 journalists had their equipment to injustice.” She also cheered men 2017, Mohamed and two employees seized in the US in 2017. and women who broke silence about of Gift of the Givers were abducted sexual assault and harassment in the by men who claimed they represent- The CPJ has given President Don- wake of accusations against producer ed “all armed groups in Syria.” The ald Trump the dubious top prize Harvey Weinstein and other powerful two NGO employees were release for “Overall Achievement in Un- men in the entertainment industry. soon after their abduction. At least 29 dermining Global Press Freedom.” The speech has sparked widespread journalists, including 7 foreign jour- CPJ in January named five awards to speculation about a possible run for nalists, are still being held hostage by highlight leaders around the world the White House in 2020. armed groups in Syria, according to who go “out of the way to attack the World Press Freedom Index. the press.” The list included Turkish The National Press Club, RSF and other press freedom organizations In Brazil, attackers in a silver car January 2018 8 9 ran Gabriel Barbosa da Silva, a Sudanese police confiscated the Naveen Gupta, a stringer who’d part-time freelance reporter, cartoon- entire print runs of eight newspapers been working for India’s Hindustan ist, and photographer for the São due to their critical coverage of un- newspaper, was shot and killed on Paulo publication VerboOnline, off rest following a spike in bread prices. Nov. 30, CPJ reported. The organiza- the road while he was driving his Two of the papers Akhbar Al-Watan tion called in December for authori- motorbike on Dec. 28. A passenger and Al-Midan, support opposition ties in Uttar Pradesh to investigate in the car then shot a gun three times, parties and four of the papers are the possible motive for his death. though none of the bullets struck da independent, including Al-Tayar, Al- Naveen’s brother, Nitin, had been Silva. Da Silva had been covering a Mustagilla, Al-Karar and Al-Assay- with him at the time of his murder controversial garbage collection tax ha. RSF condemned the censorship outside Nitin’s office where his broth- and was critical of the local govern- of critical voices, saying the move er had gone to visit him. Nitin re- ment. He received a text message “contravenes international law” and called Naveen talking to two men and from someone claiming to be one of is only “illusory as a way of ending seeing Naveen give his phone to one the attackers, according to VerboOn- popular discontent.” of them when about four assailants line’s reports. shot him. Nitin said his brother had From June 20 to 23, 2018, press free- written “fearlessly on multiple issues” Tajik police arrested reporter dom research groups will hold an in- during his decade at the newspaper, Khayrullo Mirsaidov after he ternational conference, titled “Free- according to CPJ. v published an open letter calling for dom of Speech: dialogues a crackdown on local government and reflections from Law and corruption. His letter on Nov. 8 was Literature,” at the Universidad San addressed to President Emomali Francisco de Quito campus, in Quito, Rahmon, as well as the governor and Ecuador. The groups are calling for general prosecutor of the Sughd re- papers on several topics, with a due gion. Mirsaidov was arrested and on date in March. Dec. 8 charged with “embezzlement, forgery, false reporting to police, and The Press Freedom Foundation inciting ethnic and religious hatred.” and other watchdog organizations are mourning the death of James Two Reuters reporters were arrested Dolan, one of the co-creators of the while working in the Myanmar city digital document software Secure- of Yangon on Dec. 12. On Jan. 10, Drop, after he took his own life over Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone were the holidays at the age of 36. Secure- charged violating the country’s Of- Drop is an open source whistleblow- ficial Secrets Act. Police said the two er submission system that journalists were arrested for possessing “impor- have relied on to protect sources tant and secret” documents connected and secure documents crucial to to events in the country’s western Ra- their reporting. In January 2013, khine state, where more than 650,000 Dolan’s colleague and co-founder Rohingya refugees have fled violence. of SecureDrop, Aaron Swartz, com- The charge carries a possible sentence mitted suicide while he was under of up to 14 years in prison. investigation for violating the Com- puter Fraud and Abuse Act related to Documentary filmmaker Comiti allegedly copying academic articles Paul Edwards was arrested on Dec. from JSTOR. 9 in Srinagar, a city in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, while producing MURDERS a video on pellet gun injuries against Veteran Mexican journalist Carlos protestors. Pellet guns have report- Domínguez Rodríguez was edly been used by authorities to quash stabbed to death in broad daylight protests, and have led to nearly 100 in the border town of Nuevo Laredo deaths and thousands of injuries, on Jan. 13, marking the first journal- according to TheWire.in news site. ist to be murdered in Mexico this Police said they arrested Edwards year. The reporter had worked for 40 because of an issue with his travel years, most recently for the Noreste documents and lacked permission to Digital and Horizonte de Matamoros make a documentary on political or websites, and was critical of the lo- security-related issues. He was re- cal government wrote about frequent leased on bail on Dec. 26. and handed kidnappings and organized crime in over to a French Embassy official. the region. January 2018 9 9 NEW BOOKS By Chad Bouchard

KIDNAPPING VENEZUELA

fter Jere Van Dyk was freed from Tali- s Venezuela groans under the weight of ban kidnappers in 2008, he found himself President Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship, Ahaunted by questions about his capture and economic crisis, endemic corruption and about what went on behind the scenes to secure A rampant starvation, the country serves as a model of his release. Captured while covering the region for the so-called resource curse. Despite having some CBS News, he was held for 45 days and held in the of the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela ap- no-man’s-land between Afghanistan and Pakistan. pears to be teetering on the edge of collapse. In his In The Trade: My Journey into the Labyrinth of new book, Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Political Kidnapping, [PublicAffairs, October 2017] Venezuela [Potomac, October 2017], Latin America Van Dyk documents his journey back to Afghanistan analyst Raul Gallegos proposes that the in 2014 and his personal investigation into his own country’s collapse began long before kidnapping and liberation. Maduro’s ascension after the death of He was the second American journalist to be cap- former President Hugo Chavez in 2013, tured by the Taliban; the first was Wall Street Journal with roots stretching back more than a reporter Danial Pearl, who was killed by Pakistani century to the digging of its first major terrorists in 2002. After Van Dyk was freed, he was oil well in 1914. thrust into an emotional journey common to many Gallegos argues that Venezuela’s survivors, suffering waves of guilt for those who did dependence on the cycles of a singular not survive capture and for loved ones who lived in resource has warped its economy and despair during his captivity. political development. Short-term booms Many of the people involved behind the scenes, it have spurred government spending turns out, actively discourage digging too deeply for sprees that make it vulnerable to inevi- answers. CBS News warned Van Dyk not to write table downturns and exaggerated the or talk about his ordeal, saying doing so could put divide between rich and poor. The book other correspondents at risk. The FBI would only tell places the country’s current crisis and strongarm him cryptically that they had “brought all assets into regime in context as just another cycle in a long his- play.” The US bans negotiation with terrorist orga- tory “of larger-than-life leaders who promised to use nizations and most countries deny paying ransoms. oil to quickly turn Venezuela into a modern, power- Families in the US are told to keep the kidnapping of ful nation, only to disappoint voters in the end.” their loved ones secret. Gallegos, now a senior analyst with consulting Despite this resistance, Van Dyk delves into the firm Control Risks, formerly worked as a correspon- shadowy “business” of hostage negotiations among dent for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street governments, corporations, families and agents of Journal. His reporting includes interviews with an the criminal underworld. His investigation takes extensive cast of subjects such as a retired policeman him through tribal areas of Pakistan and tea houses hoarding food and a plastic surgeon working connec- in Kabul to the White House and homes of family tions to import breast implants. Gallegos offers sev- members of people who were kidnapped, including eral concrete, though idealistic suggestions for how an emotionally loaded visit with Daniel Pearl’s par- to fix the economy with oil revenue used for rainy ents in Los Angeles. day funds and cash dividends to citizens. The book “Van Dyk is a methodical and sensitive reporter, nevertheless serves as a cautionary tale, warning that and his emotions are made vivid,” Writes Janine di “too much money poorly managed can be worse than Giovanni in a New York Times book review, con- not having any money at all.” cluding that “there is no happy ending to Van Dyk’s The Naughty Nineties examines how a decade tale. Perhaps, in the grim world of The Trade there of excess and sensationalism built a foundation never will be. for a Trump presidency and an accepting public. In 2010 Van Dyk published a book titled Captive He covers a broad range of events and phenomena about his days in Taliban control. In October last including the rise of fertility drugs, third-wave year Van Dyk spoke on an OPC panel with Kathy feminism, gay marriage equality, plastic surgery Gannon and David Rohde, with Bill Holstein serving and shock-jockey entertainment like the Howard as moderator.v Stern Show. With scandal and sexuality dominating headlines and becoming part of the background noise, Friend believes the current political climate was inevitable.v

January 2018 10 Roopa Gogineni

attack (carried out with machetes) left 38 Meet the OPC Members: dead, many of them women and children. I arrived shortly after it had happened and Q&A With Roopa Gogineni the survivors were in a daze. The hardest part for me was seeing the impermanence by chad bouchard Joined in 2017. I’ve been a member of of the story in the news. There was no the Foreign Correspondents Association greater war, or geopolitical relevance, oopa Gogineni is a freelance of East Africa for many years, which has and that impacted the news value of this photographer and filmmaker who been an amazingly supportive commu- unconscionable violence. That calculus Rhas worked around the globe, nity and resource. I’m now working in continues to be hard. covering a range of issues including other parts of the world and wanted to health care in India, food shortages in join a broader community of colleagues.. Advice for journalists who want to Sudan and turmoil in Somalia. She is work overseas: Move somewhere for a based in Nairobi and Paris, and has com- How did you become interested in while. There’s no substitute to living in a pleted first aid and hostile environment reporting from Kenya? place with your ear to the ground. There training. In 2017 she received Firelight I wanted to be near Somalia. It wasn’t are ways to support yourself that may not Media’s Short Film Grant, which she feasible to live in Mogadishu at that time, be so obvious from home in the US. I got used to find a documentary on Sudanese so I moved to Nairobi to get close. a gig writing art reviews for a Kenyan political satire for The New York Times. newspaper, then photographed for an Her work has also appeared in VICE, Major challenge as a journalist: airline industry magazine. It was not the NPR, CNN, Al Jazeera, PRI and The As a freelancer, funding is always a chal- work I had set out to do, but it I learned Guardian. In 2016, Gogineni traveled to lenge. I’m bad at pursuing grants, or pitch- from the experience and paid my bills. South Sudan with OPC member Nicholas ing big projects, and tend to sink lots of my Kristof to help document “killing fields” money in offbeat stories before anyone is Favorite quote: Primum non nocere for The New York Times. convinced by them. (First, do no harm). It’s the aphorism taught in medical school, but could equal- Hometown: Charleston, WV. Best journalism advice received: ly inform the practice of journalism. Don’t wait for someone to send you some- Education: BA Diplomatic History & where. Carry oral rehydration salts. Dump Most over-the-top assignment: Produc- African Studies, University of Pennsyl- cards every night and religiously backup ing a Somalia Idol TV series (a departure vania; MSc African Studies, University hard drives. from journalism…) of Oxford. Worst experience as a journalist: Most common mistake you’ve seen: Languages you speak: French, Spanish, I’ve had a couple bad experiences with Seeking “human” moments, raw emo- Telugu, deteriorating Arabic and Swahili. commissioning editors who had certain tion, at the expense of someone’s emo- ideas of what a story from Somalia or tional wellbeing. We’re not psycholo- Chad should look like, and pushed me First job in journalism: Photographing gists, and there’s a limit to our cultural and my fixers into dangerous situations. West African and South Asian migrant competency. I think we have a respon- In general, media has become more risk sibility to not further someone’s trauma workers fleeing Libya during the Arab averse when sending foreign corre- in the course of making a story. More Spring. spondents to cover war, but I’m always generally, a lack of self-awareness. frustrated that there’s not the same regard Countries reported from: Somalia, Su- for the local journalists or fixers. Instagram handle: @roopagogineni dan, Chad, South Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, India, Israel, Turkey, Hardest story: Reporting on a massacre Iraq, Jordan, Spain, USA. in the Tana River Delta in Kenya, during a Want to add to the OPC’s collection of spate of violence between Pokomo farm- Q&As with members? Please contact When and why did you join the OPC? ers and Orma pastoralists. This particular [email protected]. January 2018 11 40 West 45 Street New York, NY 10036 USA Phone 212.626.9220 Fax 212.626.9210 opcofamerica.org

David Furst Roxana Saberi PAST PRESIDENTS International Picture Editor Correspondent EX-OFFICIO The New York Times CBS News, London Marcus Mabry Charles Graeber Lara Setrakian Michael Serrill Freelance Journalist Co-Founder & CEO David A. Andelman and Author News Deeply John Corporon Douglas Jehl Vivienne Walt Allan Dodds Frank Foreign Editor Correspondent The Washington Post Alexis Gelber BOARD OF GOVERNORS TIME and FORTUNE William J. Holstein Anjali Kamat Marshall Loeb Freelance Journalist ASSOCIATE BOARD PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Larry Martz Azmat Khan MEMBERS­ Deidre Depke David Ariosto Brian Byrd Supervising Producer Investigative Reporter Larry Smith New York Bureau Chief Program Officer NPR’s “All Things Considered” New America Richard B. Stolley Marketplace NYS Health Foundation Molly Bingham Scott Kraft FIRST VICE PRESIDENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR President & CEO Deputy Managing Editor Bill Collins Deborah Amos Communications Consultant Patricia Kranz Correspondent OrbMedia, Inc. Los Angeles Times Emma Daly NPR Rukmini Callimachi Rachael Morehouse OFFICE MANAGER Associate Producer Communications Director SECOND VICE Foreign Correspondent Farwa Zaidi PRESIDENT The New York Times CBS News 60 Minutes Human Rights Watch Calvin Sims Christopher Dickey Rod Nordland Sarah Lubman EDITOR President and CEO Foreign Editor International Correspondent Partner Chad Bouchard International House The Daily Beast, Paris at Large Brunswick Group THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Kabul Bureau Chief OPC BULLETIN Paula Dwyer The New York Times Minky Worden Pancho Bernasconi Editor Director of Global ISSN-0738-7202 ­ Vice President/News Bloomberg News Mary Rajkumar Initiatives Copyright © 2015 Getty Images QuickTakes International Enterprise Editor Human Rights Watch Over­seas Press Club The Associated Press TREASURER Linda Fasulo of America Abigail Pesta Freelance Journalist Freelance Journalist and Author SECRETARY Josh Fine Liam Stack Senior Segment Producer Breaking News Reporter HBO’s Real Sports The New York Times with Bryant Gumbel 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036, USA • 212.626.9220 • 212.626.9210 • 12 Phone Fax opcofamerica.org January 2018