Russia Hands to Gather and Swap Stories at Reunion

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THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • February 2016 Russia Hands to Gather and Swap Stories at Reunion By Patricia Kranz David Hoffman will join him on to take the severance money and Covering Russia in the 1990s the panel, along with Ann Cooper, run to Russia. There was a visa war was the highlight of my journalism NPR’s first Moscow bureau chief, at the time, and the Soviet Foreign career, so when Bill Holstein sug- Tom Kent of the Associated Press Ministry would not give U.S. news gested that the OPC sponsor a Rus- and the Harriman Institute, and Sey- organizations permission to bring sia Hands reunion, I jumped at the mour Topping, former correspon- in more full-time correspondents. I chance. Since November, I have dent and editor of The New York was certain that if I could get myself had a great time reaching out to old Times. there, I could get work. Thanks to friends and colleagues and asking The gathering is an opportunity my Russian teacher, who persuaded them to spread the word. By Feb. 18, to reminisce with old friends as well friends in Moscow to sponsor me on over 170 people had signed up for as analyze Russia’s political and me- a private visa, I hopped on a plane in the event, which is co-sponsored by dia landscape. Columbia University’s Harriman In- July, and stayed for much of the next I fell in love with Russian history stitute and will be held there on Feb. decade. I worked my way up from 24, starting at 4:00 p.m. and literature in college. When Mc- stringer to Moscow bureau chief for The program includes two panels Graw-Hill abruptly closed the news BusinessWeek. followed by a reception. The first service I was working for in Wash- I look back on my time in Russia panel, moderated by Harriman Di- ington DC in early 1990, I decided (Continued on Page 3) rector Alexander Cooley, will look at the challenges of covering Putin’s Mei Fong Discusses ‘One Child’ Aftermath Russia. Panelists are Carol Wil- EVENT RECAP liams, who has reported on every regime since Konstantin Chernenko By Chad Bouchard in the mid-1980s for the Los Ange- When a deadly earthquake hit les Times; Vladiimir Lenski, an an- Sichuan, China in 2008, Mei Fong, chor for Russian TV International; longtime China correspondent for and Timothy Frye, a professor at the The Wall Street Journal, traveled Harriman Institute. from Beijing with migrant workers Chad Bouchard The second panel is focused on to report on the disaster. Mei Fong, left, with Minky Worden. the Communist era and the fall of They arrived to devastating required to be sterilized soon after Communism. Robert Kaiser, former news. The quake struck during having their first child. managing editor of The Washington school hours and thousands of chil- “Of course, 30 years later all Post and a Moscow correspondent, dren were killed when poorly con- these people were trying to reverse will moderate. His Post colleague structed school buildings collapsed. the procedures. They were so des- Many of the workers lost their only perate.” children. This reporting eventually Inside. . . Sichuan, she discovered, had spurred her to write a personal Recap: Remembering Castro...... 2 also been a pilot site for China’s memoir and analysis of the policy, Recap: Book Night for ‘The Lovers’....3 one-child policy before it was im- One Child, The Story of China’s Recap: Encryption for Journalists...... 4 posed nationally in the late 70s. Most Radical Social Experiment. People Column...... 6-8 In the aftermath of the earth- On Feb. 9, OPC Governor Press Freedom Update...... 9-10 quake, parents who lost their only Minky Worden hosted a Chinese Q&A: Jim Maceda...... 11 children soon flocked to hospitals New Year-themed Book Night to New Books...... 12 to get sterilizations reversed. discuss Fong’s work with OPC Under the policy, parents were (Continued on Page 4) Karl Meyer Recounts 1958 Meeting With Fidel Castro EVENT RECAP By Chad Bouchard When Washington Post reporter Karl Meyer first met Fidel Castro as a rebel leader in the Sierra Maestra mountains in the summer of 1958, his first impression was of a “slightly manic” man with what he described as an “enormous ego.” “The impression you got from Castro was very much of a guy of overweening self-confidence and a sense of mission, and a sense of humor.” “Like Donald Trump?” an attendee joked. “The two would get along absolutely!” Meyer re- Chad Bouchard sponded. Karl Meyer, center left, and David Andelman. On Feb. 3, the OPC hosted a lunch in the Club Quar- When he was ready to depart for the mountains, he ters dining room to talk about Castro’s legacy with the sent a telegram from Santiago to Post editor Bob Esta- veteran reporter, who served on the editorial boards of brook, which read “Dear Bob, business in our line is ex- The New York Times and The Washington Post. Former cellent. Have a possibility of making a deal, but involves OPC President David Andelman, who worked for many seeing two brothers. And that means a side trip from Via years at The New York Times and World Policy Journal, Hermosa. Probably be out of touch for a week or more. moderated. Unless I hear from you within 48 hours, I will assume Castro and his army had been hiding and out of touch that you said ok,” he recalled the telegram reading. “And with the press for weeks when Meyer, still a cub reporter then I left immediately.” for the Post but slowly making a name as a Latin Amer- Meyer got into a car with his guide and went through ica specialist, contacted Castro’s movement in Wash- a series of checkpoints. They rode on horseback for three ington and hatched a plan to meet “El Comandante” in days through the Sierra Maestra before finally meeting Cuba. Castro at his camp. Risking arrest if he’d been discovered as a journalist, The two soon struck up a friendly conversation, in Meyer slipped into the country under guise as a teacher mixture of broken English and broken Spanish. He re- and told his editors that he was going on a “vacation.” (Continued on Page 5) OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Scott Gilmore Paul Moakley ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS Marcus Mabry Jacqueline Albert- International Columnist Deputy Director MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO U.S. Lead Simon Maclean’s Magazine Photography and Brian I. Byrd Michael Serrill U.S. Bureau Chief Visual Enterprise Twitter Moments Time magazine Program Officer David A. Andelman Politique Internationale Peter S. Goodman NYS Health John Corporon Editor-in-Chief FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Hannah Allam Robert Nickelsberg Foundation Allan Dodds Frank Calvin Sims International Freelance Alexis Gelber Foreign Affairs Business Times President and CEO Correspondent Photojournalist Bill Collins William J. Holstein Director, Public & Marshall Loeb International House McClatchy Mary Rajkumar Newspapers Charles Graeber Business Affairs Larry Martz Freelance Journalist International Enterprise SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Editor Ford Motor Company Roy Rowan Deborah Amos and Author The Associated Press Larry Smith Abigail Pesta Correspondent Freelance Journalist Emma Daly Richard B. Stolley NPR Steve Herman Lara Setrakian Communications Bureau Chief Co-Founder & CEO Director Molly Bingham Southest Asia News Deeply EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Human Rights Watch Patricia Kranz Pancho Bernasconi Freelance Journalist Voice of America Vice President/News Martin Smith Rukmini Callimachi President Daniel Sieberg OFFICE MANAGER Getty Images Anjali Kamat Rain Media Foreign Correspondent Global Head Boots R. Duque Correspondent Fault Lines of Media Outreach TREASURER The New York Times Liam Stack Al-Jazeera Breaking News Google EDITOR Tim Ferguson Chad Bouchard Anupreeta Das Reporter Editor Azmat Khan The New York Times Minky Worden Forbes Asia Reporter Wall Street Journal Investigative Reporter Director of Global Charles Wallace Initiatives OPC BuzzFeed News Financial Writer SECRETARY Chris Dickey Human Rights Watch ISSN-0738-7202 Deidre Depke Foreign Editor Dan Klaidman Vivienne Walt Copyright © 2015 New York Bureau Chief The Daily Beast, Deputy Editor Correspondent Overseas Press Club Marketplace Paris Yahoo News Time and Fortune of America 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 2 (‘Russia Hands’ - Continued From Page 1) than once. I remember the braggadocio of Mikhail as one big adventure, and one that afforded me the privi- Khodorkovsky, who was so proud to call himself “an lege of witnessing history in the making. I will never industrialist,” and who ended up in a Siberian prison forget being in the Russian White House in August 1991 when he underestimated the wrath of Putin; baby-faced when the mayor announced over the loudspeaker (in typ- Mikhail Fridman, who ruthlessly manipulated local ically sexist Russian fashion), “All women and children courts to take over companies he coveted; and the Don- must vacate the building,” because the hardline putsch ald Trump-like cockiness of Boris Berezhovsky, who leaders had ordered KGB troops to storm the building. thought anything good for him was good for the country. (The troops defied the order, which spelled the end of Politicians of that era courted the Western press. I in- the 3-day revolt.) When Yeltsin triumphantly returned to terviewed Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov in the White House, only to realize when I got back to the of- the White House and waved to the crowd, I was a half fice that my slacks had been unzipped. Thank goodness dozen yards away from him. (No one else would be able the jacket had covered it! I, like many others who knew to pick me out in the crowd surrounding Yeltsin in the him, were sickened when a sniper killed him last year on BusinessWeek cover photo, but I swear the figure in the a bridge near Red Square. Nemtsov had embodied better white sweater with long hair is me!) than anyone else the optimism of the early Yeltsin era. Two years later, after a hiatus back home, I arrived Of course, many journalists also have been killed just in time to witness the 1993 uprising. My apartment pursuing their craft in Russia. We still mourn Forbes re- was not far from the White House, and I awoke around porter Paul Klebnikov. I am proud that I was a judge on 7:00 a.m. to the unmistakable sound of tank treads chew- the OPC panel that gave the brave Anna Politkovskaya ing up the tarmac on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, which I had her first award from an American organization. Inves- first heard in 1991. I ran to the Hotel Ukrainia and sol- tigative reporter Yuri Shchekochikhiin was a frequent diers shooed me away from the tanks that were circled guest at the BusinessWeek bureau. on the road below along the Moscow River. Moving to On a personal level, the friends I made in Russia, the front of the hotel facing the White House, I felt bul- both Russian and expat, are among my closest. I was lets whiz by my ears, possibly from snipers across the delighted to find out that the daughter of close friends, river. Then the tanks started firing their big guns at the who was 8 years old when I met her, was inspired by my White House. Each time, the reverberation caused me friendship to become a journalist. and others nearby to jump a few inches off the ground. There are many other tales to tell, some not suitable As a reporter for BusinessWeek, I interviewed all of for the Bulletin! Please join us on Feb. 24 and share the so-called oligarchs of the Yeltsin era, several more your stories. Rod Nordland’s ‘The Lovers’ Paints Portrait of Honor Killings

families and sectarian taboos to live EVENT RECAP in hiding. By Chad Bouchard He covered the story closely While serving as Kabul bureau for the Times, gaining access to the chief for The New York Times, Rod couple as well as their would-be Nordland stumbled on a story he killers from Zakia’s family, to paint hoped would bring the horrors of a portrait of a tragedy in progress. so-called “honor killings” in Af- The story became the subject of his ghanistan into sharp focus. book, The Lovers: Afghanistan’s Chad Bouchard These murders of women are Romeo and Juliet, The True Story Marcus Mabry and Rod Nordland common in Afghanistan, where of How They Defied Their Families it to prevent the murders from hap- those who carry out acts of ven- and Survived an Honor Killing Pro- pening. geance, usually male family mem- gram. “They’re being pursued by peo- bers, against female family mem- On Jan. 27, the OPC and The ple who are very determined and bers considered to have shamed the New York Times’ Asian Heritage who know that if they do kill them family, often receive little punish- Network hosted a Book Night at they’ll get the same sort of penalty ment. the Times building to discuss his that all other honor killers have got- Women’s right activists put Nor- work. ten, which is to say none at all,” Nor- dland in touch with a young couple, Nordland said he wanted to get dland said. Zakia and Ali, Afghan lovers from inside the mind of the would-be He felt that a book focused more different tribes who defied their killers and hopefully by covering (Continued on Page 10)

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 3 Panelists Urge Journalists to Protect Sources with Encryption EVENT RECAP By Chad Bouchard Protecting sources and keeping information secure has always been a critical part of the journalist’s job. But as digital tools become more and more integrated into the profession, the ways for adversaries to trace, steal or censor data and communication have also proliferated. Digital encryption has become an indispensable tool in the journalist’s fight for safety and secrecy. On Feb. 2, the OPC co-sponsored a forum on encryption for journalists with the New York University’s Ar- thur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Chad Bouchard The discussion featured Ryan Tate and Erinn Clark Left to right: Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Ryan Tate of The Intercept, an online magazine published by First and Erinn Clark. Look Media that was launched in February 2014 as a through a series of computers around the world. Clark platform to report on documents released by Edward was part of the development team for the open-source Snowden. project. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, a reporter for The Wall More complicated tools include using a so-called “Pret- Street Journal, moderated the panel. ty Good Privacy” or PGP key to encrypt email messages “It’s getting to the point from what I see in news- that only recipients with the right password can access. rooms,” Clark told students and other attendees at the in- Clark said that these tools all have different uses de- stitute, “where it’s going to be hard to avoid learning this pending on the sensitivity of the information and need stuff. If not this year, within the next three years I think for secrecy. Part of the skill of digital security, she said, it’s going to be an expected basic skill for journalists.” is to know when to use the right tools. The panelists recommended that journalists start with She said that while some communication is fine by a few “baby steps,” like using an encryption app such as encrypted email, for some digital conversations you Signal, which allows users to talk and text chat securely want more rigorous tools with “forward secrecy” that over mobile phone networks. will keep information safe longer. For online communication and research, Clark also “If someone someday recovers your private key, or recommended using TOR, a browser that encrypts your your PGP key, they will be able to decrypt every single Internet traffic and then hides your identity by bouncing (Continued on Page 5)

(‘One Child’ - Continued From Page 1) equivalent of 10 years of farming end the one-child rule and allow members – and invited prospective income. two children per couple. Fong said members – at Worden’s Manhattan The bride shortage also creat- the decision, stemming from con- home. ed more demand for trafficking of cerns about the ageing population, women from neighboring Cambo- In the book, Fong explores many is still an extension of the mostly- dia, Thailand, Vietnam and North knock-on effects of the policy, such male government’s control and re- Korea. as gender imbalance caused by a As in most of the world, greater striction of reproductive rights for cultural preference for sons that re- longevity has meant an ageing pop- women. sulted in 30 million more men than ulation for China. But because so “Just last week they announced women – roughly the population of many families only have one child, they will offer free operations to Canada, Fong noted. Fong notes, there will be a much women to remove their sterilization “It’s not just sterilizations and smaller workforce to support age- process and to remove their IUDs so abortions that the one-child policy ing parents. they can have these more children affected, but just simple ordinary “China already has 25 percent that China wants,” she said. “Well, decisions like marriage and dating.” of the world’s Alzheimer’s suffer- first you want no children and then The shortage of women spurred ers. Jump forward 20 years and it’s an increase in the “bride price” paid going to be over 60 percent,” she you want more. I mean women are by a groom’s family, from a tradi- added. like taps here – you know, ‘turn on, tional gift of a few pieces of fur- In October last year, the Chinese turn off.’ It’s fundamentally very niture and household items to the government announced it would unsettling for a woman.”

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 4 (‘Encryption’ - Continued From Page 4) mail addressed to that key, however many years old it is, ENCRYPTION RESOURCES whereas if someone intercepts a chat, they may not be ● Signal – An app for iPhone and Android able to decrypt every single chat that you’ve had.” phones that allows you to do end-to end encrypt- And sometimes, the panelists said, material is sensi- ed phone communication. tive enough that the best protection is good old fashioned Site: whispersystems.org face-to-face conversations. Tate said at The Intercept, ● TOR – A browser that encrypts Internet traffic workers employ strict “operational security,” with ongo- and obscures your location then by bouncing it ing projects kept in compartments and information shared off of computers around the world. only on a “need to know” basis, even with top editors. Site: torproject.org Tate, who worked for Gawker, said he learned to curb ● OnionShare – A Dropbox-like file sharing gadabout tendencies when working on sensitive material. service for sending files between computers over “I’m certainly not the only one internally who has the TOR network securely. to really watch his mouth. [Journalists] like to chat, we Site: github.com/micahflee/onionshare like to find out what’s going on,” he said. “A lot of times ● Tails – A secure operating system you can boot the answer is not encryption. A lot of times the answer to using a USB stick, so you’re not actually using is keeping your frickin’ mouth shut or just waiting until your normal computer. It’s a version of LINEX your story is already out.” that is more anonymous and private, with infor- As an example of the need for operational security, mation routed through TOR. Site: tails.boum.org Valentino-DeVries cited the case of FOX News journal- ● PGP – Pretty Good Privacy keys give you a ist James Rosen, who asked for classified information way to send messages from one email to an- from a State Department source. The US Justice De- other without allowing outsiders to read them. A partment used the timing of phone, email and ID badge good resource to get started with PGP is avail- records for the building to trace the leak and obtain a able at Help Keybase.IO search warrant against Rosen in May 2013. ● Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – A “Even if they had used encryption on those commu- Surveillance Self Defense Guide for journalists is nications that they were making, it doesn’t matter if all available at ssd.eff.org. the metadata that they were throwing off would have been beyond enough to go after this guy,” she said. makes things incredibly inconvenient. But if you’re not para- Clark said it’s important to remember that encryption noid enough, that could mean jail, that could mean someone is rarely a permanent way to secure information, but it gets killed – it could mean really a lot of bad things.” can give you time – “breathing room” – to report, talk The panelists discussed an arsenal of tools and ser- with sources and then to destroy risky information once vices during the panel that journalists can use to keep the story is published. their reporting secret. See the box on this pate for some “The only downside of being overly paranoid – besides of their their top recommendations to get started. More impacting your mental health – is that it’s inconvenient. In links from the panel are posted on the “resources” page of the day-to-day aspect, if you’re really paranoid at worst it the OPC website at opcofamerica.org.

(‘Castro’ - Continued From Page 2) fearing Cuba’s Communist leanings Castro said. “I have often told how I calls Castro quoting Mussolini dur- and loyalty toward the Soviet Union think, but I understand that you, as ing their first meeting. amid a crackdown on dissidents, im- a U.S. journalist, have to ask about posed a sugar embargo. Castro re- Communists.” “‘You can make a coup with the sponded by nationalizing U.S. assets He adds that seeds of animos- army, or you can make a coup within Cuba, and later declared Cuba as ity were sown in April 1959 when out the army, but you can never make a socialist enterprise and proclaimed Castro met with then-Vice President a coup against the army.’” Meyer re- himself a “Leninist-Marxist.” Richard Nixon (President Eisen- called Castro saying. “‘Karl, we’re But before these events, Meyer hower dodged a meeting with the proving Mussolini wrong.’” argues, Castro showed no passion Cuban leader), who spent the whole Articles from his meeting were for Communism and little interest in meeting pressing Castro on his atti- one of the only confirmations the an alliance with the Soviet Union. tude toward Communism. rest of the world had that the rebel Meyer said Castro once told “Castro was fuming when he came leader was still alive. Jules Dubois, a Chicago Tribune out of that meeting. He felt humili- Meyer said Castro’s relations correspondent, that he was not a ated,” Meyer said. “And he has used with America began to sour after the Communist. “If I were, I would be that word several times in his discus- Eisenhower-Nixon administration, brave enough to declare it publicly,” sions of his relations with America.”

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 5 PEOPLE... By Trish Anderton

OPC SCHOLARS Lauren Bohn, winner of the producing a “new kind of journalism John Ismay, winner of the 2014 2012 H.L. Stevenson Internship, has that challenges and unites us around Jerry Flint Fellowship for Interna- landed a long story in The Atlantic. our human story.” tional Business Reporting, has re- The Jan. 23 piece profiles five fami- ceived a 2015 George Polk Award lies about the aftermath of the upris- Martha Mendoza, who shared for a New York ing that felled Egyptian President the 1999 Madeline Dane Ross Times investigation Hosni Mubarak five years ago. Bohn Award with colleagues at the AP, has of the Navy SEALs. is the Middle East correspondent for won a George Polk Award with an- The award, in the the GroundTruth Project, which was other AP team. The Military Reporting founded by OPC member Charles prize for Foreign category, recogniz- Sennott. She is also the co-founder Reporting went to Michael Dames of Foreign Policy Interrupted and a the agency’s series es seven journalists Ismay – Ismay, Nicholas contributing editor at The Cairo Re- on the Thai fishing Kulish, Christopher Drew, Mark view of Global Affairs. industry, “Seafood from Slaves.” It Mazzetti, Matthew Rosenberg, Mendoza Serge F. Kovaleski and Sean D. Justine Drennan, the Stan documented how Naylor – for two stories. One story Swinton Internship winner in 2013, poor people from Myanmar, Cam- focused on SEAL Team 6, the unit has been named a junior editor at the bodia, Laos and Thailand are locked that killed Osama bin Laden, while Stanford Social Innovation Review, up, beaten, and forced to risk their the second probed the 2012 beating a social policy magazine at Stanford lives catching seafood for the U.S. death of an Afghan detainee. Ismay, University. Drennan was an OPC grocery and pet food markets. More Foundation fellow in the AP bureau than 2,000 captives have been res- a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, in Bangkok. cued and companies have been shut served as an explosive ordnance down in the wake of the stories. disposal officer in Iraq. He -is cur 2015 Stan Swinton Fellowship rently a Military and Veterans Issues winner Miriam Berger has a story Two-time OPC Award winner T. Reporter at KPCC 89.3FM, a pub- on Buzzfeed about Uber’s efforts to Christian Miller of ProPublica has lic radio station based in Pasadena, address sexual harasment in Egypt. won a Polk Award for a joint effort California. Berger is currently freelancing while with The Marshall Project, “An Un- studying toward her master’s degree believable Story of Rape.” The piece Maddy Crowell, who won at Oxford. showed how police in Lynnwood, the Irene Korbally Kuhn scholar- Washington, pressured an 18-year- ship in 2014, has started a new job Georgia Wells, Emanuel R. old rape victim to recant her story as a reporter for Freedman Scholarship winner in – only to discover later that the se- the Khmer Times. 2012, is now a multimedia producer rial rapist who had attacked her had The Phnom Penh- covering technology for The Wall gone on to assault five other women. based English-lan- Street Journal in San Francisco. guage publication Previously, Wells was an editor at Tom Yellin, who has won two was launched by WSJ.com and wrote about emerging OPC Awards, was honored with a OPC member Jim Michael Dames markets. Polk Award for Documentary Film Brooks in 2014. Crowell for his work on “Cartel Land.” The Crowell, a Carleton AWARDS Oscar-nominated film spotlights College graduate, has previously re- Orb Media, which is headed by citizen groups that are trying to ported from Ghana and New Delhi. OPC Governor Molly Bingham, counter the influence of Mexican has won a $450,000 award in the drug cartels. Also at the Khmer Times is James Knight News Challenge on Data. Reddick. The 2015 Irene Korbally The “Weighing the Wisdom of the UPDATES Kuhn Scholar is now an editor there. Crowd” project aims to create an NEW YORK: OPC Governor Reddick got his master’s from the open-source tool to help journalists Paul Moakley and members San- journalism school at UC Berkeley and others carry out scientifically tiago Lyon and Vaughn Wallace last year. He has also lived and re- sound surveys online. Orb, a non- will mentor young photographers at ported in Beirut. profit, was founded with the goal of the Fourth Annual New York Port-

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 6 folio Review in April. The event as- Digital, at bestofajam.com, provides sembles “75 of the most influential online stories indexed by topic and editors, curators, gallerists and book journalist. It also offers bios of all publishers” to give private photo the digital staffers. As Poynter.org critiques to 150 up-and-coming points out, it’s at least the third ex- members of the profession. There’s ample of journalists promoting each no charge, but admission is by ap- other’s work and careers online af- plication only. The Review is jointly HBO ter projects shutter. The other two hostages. Foley was murdered while sponsored by The New York Times are Circa, the news app that closed in captivity in 2014. Lens Blog and the City University last year, and Digital First Media’s of New York’s Graduate School of Thunderdome project, which ended The New York Times ended the Journalism. in 2014. fourth quarter of 2015 with a net income of $52 million, a 48 percent in- OPC Governor Robert Nickels- Vice Media’s daily news show crease over the same period in 2014. berg spent eight months working is tentatively set to launch on HBO Revenues were flat, however, and with Al Jazeera America reporter in the second quarter of 2016, ac- executive editor and OPC member Dorothy Parvaz on a story about sex cording to The Hollywood Reporter. Dean Baquet announced a sweep- trafficking. The seven-parter, “Sell- Former Bloomberg chief content ing review to “develop a strategic officer Josh Tyrangiel is overseeing ing American Girls,” ran in Decem- plan” for the news operation. Baquet ber with Nickelsberg’s powerful the project. The half-hour newscast said costs are a concern but he did will air five days a week and feature photos from streets and jails around not anticipate any layoffs this year. the U.S. original reporting. Vice has been He added that some areas of the mum about the show’s content, but newsroom, such as multimedia and OPC Governor Daniel Sieberg Tyrangiel told the New York Post international coverage, might even- that he likes “complicated stories, is leading a plenary session at the tually grow. annual convention of the Religion versus hitting people over the head with a hammer.” Communicators Council in late The New York Times has also de- March. Sieberg, the global head of buted a Spanish-language news site, OPC media outreach for Google News HOLLYWOOD, Calif.: AdWeek’s FishbowlNY reports. The member Dan Rather is defending Lab, will “share insights about the site, located at NYTimes.com/es, fea- the story that ended his reign at CBS ever-evolving innovations and chal- tures translated Times stories as well News. “We reported a true story. We lenges of storytelling at the intersec- as original reporting from a team in didn’t do it perfectly. We made some tion of media and technology.” Mexico City and correspondents in mistakes of getting to the truth. But Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Mi- that didn’t change the truth of what Last year’s OPC President’s ami. It is edited by Elias Lopez. we reported,” the former anchorman Award recipient, David Rohde, has told the Hollywood Reporter in De- been promoted. His new title at Re- Al Jazeera America is closing cember. Rather left CBS in late 2006 uters is national security investiga- down its digital operations by the after questions arose about the legiti- tions editor – a new role at the news end of February – earlier than origi- macy of the documents in his 2004 service, according to AdWeek. His nally expected – according to Polit- story about George W. Bush allegedly work will focus on national security, ico Media. Digital staff have report- going AWOL from the Texas Air Na- international relations, defense and edly been told not to come to work tional Guard during the Vietnam War. diplomacy; he’ll also handle some after Feb. 26, but will still be paid A movie about the controversy, Truth, social media duties. Rohde joined through April. Employees on the was released in late 2015. Rather is Reuters in 2011 and previously TV side will continue working until currently hosting the web series “The worked for The New York Times. April 12. Al Jazeera announced last Big Interview.” month that the channel would shut HBO aired a documentary about down in April after struggling with ATLANTA: The entire staff of slain reporter James Foley on Feb. losses and low ratings. CNN’s international desk at its head- 6. Jim: The James Foley Story was quarters in Atlanta has been laid off directed by Foley’s close childhood Meanwhile, Al Jazeera Ameri- and asked to apply for new jobs and friend, Brian Oakes. It traces his ca digital staffers have built a site to titles, according to AdWeek’s TV life story, including his captivity at showcase their work – and promote Newser. Several positions will report- the hands of Islamic State, through themselves to potential employ- edly move to Hong Kong and London, interviews with friends and fellow ers. The Best of Al Jazeera America (Continued on Page 8)

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 7 (Continued From Page 7) have been unimaginable a year ago.” camera to let you feel like you are while the jobs that remain in Atlanta But, she added, successfully hosting entitled to exhale.” The exhibition, will undergo title changes. The moves 40,000 visitors for the Paris climate called simply “The Presidents,” will are part of a restructuring and will not talks – just weeks after the November go on display next in Melbourne, include layoffs, the website reported, terror attacks that claimed 130 lives Australia in mid-2016. adding that the changes are set to take – helped restore a sense of unity and place in late March. solidarity to the city. KISH ISLAND, Iran: Minky Worden, an OPC governor, recent- BRUSSELS: The Press Club ly published an opinion piece on Brussels Europe, headed by OPC CNN.com about the human rights member Jonathan Kapstein, re- problems associated with an Iranian cently hosted the secretary general beach volleyball tournament sched- of the International Association of uled for this month. Iran bans wom- Press Clubs (IAPC), Jaroslaw Wlo- en from attending volleyball match- darczyk, as well as Club Suisse de es, in violation of the International la Presse director Guy Mettan. The Volleyball Federation’s own consti- Yukiko Matsuoka (flickr) Yukiko clubs discussed the IAPC and Eu- tution. The ban was adopted in 2012, ropean Press Club Federation Con- and women have been arrested for LONDON: The BBC is merg- gress to be held in Geneva in May. protesting against it. Worden, the di- ing its radio and TV divisions as part of a reorganization designed to rector of global initiatives at Human slash more than $700 million from AMSTERDAM: Marcus Rights Watch, calls on the federation its budget, Poynter.org writes. The Bleasdale, who won last year’s OPC to insist that Iran scrap the ban. move will do away with the net- Robert Capa Gold Medal Award for work’s channel-based system and his work documenting militia-fueled OLD GABALA, Azerbaijan: reshape it to focus on audience and violence in the Central African Re- “The hand is what draws your at- content type. It will also help the public, co-hosted a master class at tention. It belongs to a man. It rests, organization cut its payroll. “This Human Rights Weekend in late Jan- gently, on the woman’s face.” That’s is mostly about stripping out out- uary. Bleasdale and Human Rights how 2006 Bob Considine Award dated management and executive Watch emergencies director Peter winner Paul Salopek begins his jobs,” said Rick Edmonds, Poyn- Bouckaert discussed “the essentials latest report from the Out of Eden ter’s media business analyst. “It’s of international crisis reporting – Walk, his seven-year trek along the not clear how it will impact staff- from on-the-ground investigation path the first humans may have tak- ing of TV, radio and digital jour- methods to techniques for ensuring en out of Africa. Salopek goes on to nalism activities.” that stories reach the broadest audi- describe the 1800-year-old grave of ence possible.” Bleasdale is a pho- two lovers – “that hand to the cheek The Guardian has announced it tographer for National Geographic makes it impossible to call them oth- will slash costs in a bid to erase its and Human Rights Watch. He and erwise” – recently unearthed in an operating deficit within three years. Bouckaert collaborated on his work archaeological dig in this corner of The plan will cut its $380 million in the CAR. northern Azerbaijan. Salopek began annualized costs by 20 percent, ac- walking just over three years ago in cording to The New York Times. The LISMORE, New South Wales, Herto Bouri, Ethiopia and aims to company also hopes to double reve- Australia: OPC member David end his journey at the tip of South nue from readers. It would not com- Burnett’s exhibition of presidential America. He’s documenting his ex- ment on whether the austerity plan photos has just finished a run at the periences at outofedenwalk.com included staff cuts. Lismore Regional Gallery. Burnett is one of the few photographers to cap- PEOPLE REMEMBERED ture every U.S. commander-in-chief , who spent four PARIS: A year bracketed by Ronald Singleton shocking terrorists attacks has left since John F. Kennedy. “Being in the decades as the Rome correspon- Paris a different place, OPC Governor company of presidents remains a rar- dent for the Daily Mail of London, efied place,” Burnett told theSydney has died at age 92. In Italy, Single- Vivienne Walt told Time magazine in January. “There’s definitely a sense Morning Herald. “You seldom have ton covered topics ranging from the of vulnerability that was never there second chances. You need to be on Mafia, to earthquakes, to opera. He before,” she said in a video posted on top of your game. When that look, also had postings in Los Angeles and the Time website. “There are soldiers that gesture, that moment happens, New York. He continued working everywhere at sites that just would there is nothing like that click of a well into his seventies.

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 8 PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE... v Freelancer Anna Therese Day multiple life sentences for two jour- 9.84 was covering a protest by trade and her three-person camera crew nalists accused of revealing state se- unions when he was stopped and were arrested and held for two days in crets. Can Dündar and Erdem Gül questioned by some 20 men carry- Bahrain in mid-February, during the of the Cumhuriyet newspaper were ing sticks. When Pierro said he was fifth anniversary of arrested in November after publish- a journalist, they began hitting him. that country’s Arab ing photos that purported to prove Authorities in Athens said the at- Spring uprising. The President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tack was under investigation. government claimed government had attempted to send the journalists were weapons to Islamists in Syria. Pros- A court in Seoul has given a “participating with ecutors asked the Istanbul court to one-year suspended sentence to a a group of saboteurs Chad Bouchard sentence each of the men to one ag- South Korean journalist for mak- who were carrying Day gravated life sentence, one ordinary ing positive statements about North out riot acts” in the village of Sitra. life sentence, and an additional 30 Korea on his blog. The journalist, The families of the four expressed years in prison. International press identified only by his surname Lee, gratitude to Bahrain and to U.S. dip- freedom groups held a vigil outside also faced charges for following lomats for their release. Day spoke on the jail to protest the prosecutors’ North Korea’s official Twitter- ac a panel about journalist safety at the request. count, but was acquitted because he OPC in December last year. She has didn’t retweet any posts. According reported from numerous countries in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional to the Korea Times, South Kore- the Middle East and elsewhere for Court has invalidated a criminal def- ans are forbidden from praising the VICE, Huffington Post, CNN and amation law that has been used to North in any way under the South’s CBS. prosecute dozens of journalists. The national security law. International Press Institute quoted A university newspaper adviser local media reports saying all nine Hungary is the latest nation to in Maryland has been offered his justices had agreed that the law vio- weigh anti-terror laws that could job back after being fired in a con- lates the constitutional right to free clamp down on the media’s right troversy over remarks by the insti- speech and freedom of the press. The to report the news. The Interna- tution’s president. Ed Egan over- 2004 law made it possible to sen- tional Press Institute reports that in saw Mt. Saint Mary’s University tence journalists to up to two years the event of a “terror threat situa- student newspaper, The Mountain in prison for publishing content that tion,” the proposal would enable the Echo, when it ran an article on Jan. was found to be defamatory. government to “seize broadcasters’ 19 quoting president Simon New- equipment and control media con- man comparing students to bunnies At least six journalists have tent” and “suspend the use of tele- and saying they should be drowned died in Yemen due to airstrikes by communication services and control or shot. Egan was told he was being a Saudi-led coalition, according to Internet access and traffic.” These fired for disloyalty, according toThe the Committee to Protect Journal- powers would be in effect for 60 New York Times. He was reinstated ists. The military coalition has an- days and could be extended by Par- following a public outcry. Newman nounced plans for a “high-level in- liament. The leaked draft proposal has since apologized for his remarks. dependent” investigation into bomb- has been condemned by press free- ing deaths in civilian areas. Camera- dom organizations. The offices of two pro-govern- man Hashim al-Hamran, 17, is the ment newspapers in Istanbul were most recent journalist to die in the Two TV stations have been or- simultaneously attacked with guns strikes; he was seriously injured in dered off the air in the Democratic and Molotov cocktails on Feb. 11. the town of Dahyan on Jan. 21, and Republic of Congo. The Commit- According to TodaysZaman.com, died the next day. tee to Protect Journalists reports that empty cartridges were found in front Nyota TV and Radio TV Mapendo of the Yeni Akit and Yeni Şafak of- A Greek radio reporter was hos- were shut down on January 28, al- fices and their windows were- shat pitalized after being attacked by legedly for non-payment of taxes tered. No deaths or injuries were a mob at a demonstration in early and licensing fees. But local press reported. February. In a press release, Re- freedom groups say the stations porters Without Borders writes that have paid their outstanding bills. Turkish prosecutors are seeking Dimitri Pierro of municipal radio (Continued on Page 10)

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 9 (Continued From Page 9) stan’s TOLO TV were killed in a Diallo in the Guinean capital of Both stations are owned by Moïse suicide bombing on Jan. 20, and Conakry on Feb. 5. Diallo was shot Katumbi, rumored to be a potential 26 people were injured. The sta- in the chest when fighting broke opposition candidate in presidential tion listed those killed as: Moham- out in front of an opposition party , video editor; office. Media organizations held a elections slated for later this year. mad Jawad Hussaini Zainab Mirzaee, dubbing artist; “press-free day” on Feb. 9 to protest Mehri Azizi, graphics; Mariam his killing; according to the Guard- Washington Post reporter Jason Ibrahimi, dubbing artist; Moham- ian, TV stations and news websties Rezaian and U.S. Secretary of State mad Hussain, driver; Mohammad carried a photo of Diallo’s face and John Kerry spoke at the opening of Ali Mohammadi, dubbing artist; the words “Press-free day in Guinea. the Post’s new building on Jan. 28. and Hussain Amiri, decoration. Justice for El Hadj Mohamed Dial- Both men choked up as they talked TOLO reported that the employees lo.” Diallo, 30, was a reporter for the about Rezaian’s recent release from were on their way home in a bus in websites Guinée7 and Afrik. captivity in Iran. “For much of the Kabul when they were targeted by a 18 months I was in prison, my Irani- car bomber. The Taliban has taken Two media figures were killed an interrogators told me The Wash- credit for the attack. in a two-day period in Oaxaca, ington Post did not exist, that no Mexico in January. Community one knew of my plight, that the U.S. Anabel Flores Salazar, a report- radio host Reinel Cerqueda Mar- government would not lift a finger er who covered crime in Veracruz, tinez was shot dead in the city of for my release,” said Rezaian. “To- Mexico, was dragged from her home Santiago Laollaga on Jan. 22. Mar- day I am in this room with the very near the city of Orizaba by eight tinez, 43, worked for the station people who helped prove the Ira- men on Feb. 8, according to her fam- El Manantial. Reporter Marcos nians wrong.” “In the military, the ily. Her body was found by the side Hernández Bautista was shot to most sacred pledge is you can never of a road in the neighboring state death while getting into his car in leave a buddy behind,” said Kerry, a of Puebla the next day. Police have San Andrés Huaxpaltepec on Jan. Vietnam veteran. “Like most pledg- since arrested a suspect in the case. 21 January. The 38-year-old was a es, it’s a lot easier to say than to do.” Flores Salazar was 32 years old. reporter for the newspaper Noticias Voz e Imágen and also worked for a MURDERS Political violence claimed the number of radio stations, according Seven employees of Afghani- life of journalist El Hadj Mohamed to Reporters Without Borders. (‘Rod Nordland’ Continued From Page 3) “I made a decision to intervene and I think did the right generally on these kinds of murders would not be as ef- thing. I don’t really think I had a choice as a human being.” fective as an intimate and personal look at one couple’s Zakia and Ali remain in hiding, and Nordland said struggle. their lives are still in great peril. “It’s something I think most people would not take “Their story’s not over, and they’re still not safe. I the trouble to read a book about. But they will read a think they’re safe this winter but come spring I think any love story about two very appealing young people, and day they could easily be killed.” there are an awful lot of lessons to relate between the Their best hope for survival, Nordland said, is to es- bigger picture and what’s happening to them.” cape Afghanistan and apply for asylum from another Nordland said as he became more involved in the country. They have been turned away by many consulates couple’s lives, his objectivity and journalistic ethics and embassies in Kabul, Nordland added. were tested. He recalled meeting with the couple, who Countries have told the couple that to make a case for were on the run from police, in a remote area with a asylum, they would have to risk their lives to cross into large and conspicuous team of photographers and vid- Iran and then Turkey and into Greece. But the couple is eographers. not willing to risk the life of their baby to do it. “It became apparent, once we knew that the police During a Q and A session, an audience member asked were probably on their way, that it wouldn’t take them Nordland, who has been covering conflict zones since long to find us or find where we had been, so we would 1978, how he copes with witnessing the struggles of peo- have been responsible for leading them to them in a ple like Zakia and Ali while reporting abroad. way,” he said. “I think you become a war correspondent or a for- He had to choose between letting things unfold and eign correspondent by some happenstance, and then covering the couple’s arrest, which might have been a having done it you become qualified to do it, and then better and more representative story on that day, or put- the longer you do it, the more qualified to do it - if you ting the couple in the team’s car and shepherding them can still keep up your interest and your energy and not to safety. become cynical.”

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 10 Meet the OPC Members: Q&A With Jim Maceda

By Trish Anderton Jim Maceda has reported from more than 100 countries and interviewed dozens of world leaders in a career spanning more than four decades – most of it spent as a correspondent at NBC News. He began in Paris in 1973, working for CBS News and French TV before joining NBC in 1980. His postings have included Tel Aviv, Manila, Moscow, Frankfurt and London. He has done scores of embeds with U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Maceda has received four OPC Awards, an Edward R. Murrow, two Emmys along with seven nominations, and three National Headliner awards. NBC announced Photo courtesy of Jim Maceda his retirement in January 2015 with an on-air tribute. Jim Maceda reporting from the West Bank during an Israeli ground offensive in 2003. Hometown: “Hometown” is a bit complicated for me, dad’s wire service “hack” friends a bit too rowdy and and perhaps why I feel like a “world citizen.” I was born unhealthy. But I guess journalism was in the blood and, and raised in New York City, but went to school mostly when I started out as a copyboy at CBS News Paris in in California. I spent my formative adult years in Paris, 1973, I had the amazing luck to learn the business of and lived for decades – off and on – in London. I truly broadcast journalism from some of the Murrow-era feel at “home” in more than one “town.” reporters, like Charles Collingwood, Bob Trout and Peter Kalischer, who had largely invented the craft of Education: Graduated from Stanford in 1970, majoring minute-ten spots, tops and tails, SOT’s and standuppers. in English Literature. Studied French and Theater at the I believe what kept me in the business for 42 years was a Sorbonne, 1971-72. love of history, the thrill of witnessing that history from Languages: Fluent in French, conversational in Russian a front row seat, and the belief that peoples’ stories are and Spanish, and have survival Portuguese. inherently interesting and really matter.

Year you joined the OPC: September, 2004. Major challenge as a journalist: My major challenge has never changed – how to tell someone’s or something’s You retired from NBC News a year ago, but you say story without short-changing the subject…or the truth. you’re busier than ever as a freelancer and author. And this corollary challenge – how to write a simple Can you tell us what you’re working on?: Currently declarative sentence. (That’s still a work in progress.) working on my 4th play, based on the true story of Pvt. Henry Nicolas Gunther, an American soldier and the last Worst experience as a journalist: Having an to die in WW1, sixty seconds before the Armistice. Have investigative piece on the fleecing of American taxpayer recently published Kamila & Yossi, a ‘doomed’ love money and the mismanagement at the Marshall story between an Israeli Jew and Arab set in the Galilee. (Defense) Center in Germany pulled off the air, after Have continued my TV reporting, with an exclusive threats from the U.S. DoD. (NB: this was the ONLY time in my career that my story was killed for political look in December at the military buildup by Russia and or corporate reasons. It was ugly then, and still is.) NATO in Eastern Europe and specifically in and near the Baltics, the frontline of what many are calling the Hardest story: Covering the 1996 and 1999 Chechen New Cold War. Have also enjoyed moderating at the Wars. There were no red lines. Nowhere to hide. The Althorp Literary Festival in the British countryside, and Russians never hesitated to strafe or bomb civilian a 6-month, “around-the-world” tour of the US, Canada, targets – which sometimes housed ethnic Russians and Asia and the UK with my wife, Cindy, which will wrap Western journalists. It didn’t matter, as long as there up in Portugal, where we’ve retired – or “retooled” – to, might be Chechen rebels inside. in May. Most memorable interview: in one Moscow afternoon, What drew you to international reporting?: My Mikhail Gorbachev on the fall of the Soviet Union, and father was a wire service journo and Los Angeles Times Boris Yeltsin, on the future of Russian-NATO relations. sub-editor. Growing up, we watched more historical documentaries on TV than sitcoms. Still, I wanted Want to add to the OPC’s collection of Q&As with to be a musician, not a journalist. (I think I found my members? Please contact [email protected].

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 11 editing process, bylines and more. Glass House: An Undiplomatic Look New Books Along the way, she unearthed fas- at the United Nations [CreateSpace, AP HISTORY cinating stories from many of the January 2016] Abbadi shares his re- T WAS THE MID-1930s, AND major news events of the past eight markable journey from the village, I Mahatma Gandhi was being re- decades. to the United States on a Fulbright leased from prison in the middle of Anyone who’s worked Fellowship, through his the night. On his way out, he found as a foreign correspondent many years at the U.N. an Associated Press reporter wait- will recognize themselves Abbadi offers insights ing for him. Gandhi reportedly or their colleagues in these “shook his head and professed that tales. There’s the war re- into the world organi- he would likely run into an AP even porter with a fear of flying zation and its leaders: at heaven’s door,” writes Giovanna who’s logged hundreds of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Dell’Orto in AP Foreign Corre- hours in helicopters and for example, was a man spondents in Action: World War II to fighter planes. There’s the “of great intellectual abil- the Present [Cambridge University journalist who was writing ity and enormous diplo- Press, November 2015]. about “basketball and fatal matic experience,” but he That’s an appropriate opening for car crashes” in Albany, New York offended the U.N. bureaucracy and Dell’Orto’s book, which examines – and four days later found himself faced a distrustful staff. Kofi Annan, the role of the AP in journalism – as in Saigon covering the war. Or the while charming and well-liked, was reporter whose favorite assignment well as in the ordinary person’s un- hampered by his lack of political and derstanding of world events. After was a mudslide in Nicaragua, be- diplomatic experience and “did not all, the AP is expected to be wher- cause “I had a feeling that if I wasn’t ever news is happening. As Nick there, nobody would care.” While show leadership” during his decade Polowetzky, AP foreign editor from the book is a serious academic ex- at the helm. 1973 to 1990, once said: “The basic ploration of what foreign correspon- Ban Ki-Moon, Abbadi writes, point about a wire service like the dents do and why, it also often feels has “demonstrated that he could AP is that we are there; like a love letter to the face the vast problems of the United we’re always there. We profession. Nations while remaining a calm, have always been there, International Report- respectful and dignified diplomat.” we are there now, and we ing Project Director John Still, he has “tackled many issues will be there.” Schidlovsky writes: “At without, so far, being able to resolve The agency has stuck a time of new models of them completely.” to this game plan despite international news cover- Abbadi also offers his thoughts rapid upheavals in the age, this book reminds us on reforms to make the U.N. more business. The AP estab- of the fundamental im- effective, from reorganizing the Se- lished bureaus in Pyong- portance of having trained curity Council to making internal yang in 2012 and Yangon journalists at the scene. in 2013, signaling an on- Plus we get some terrific hiring and promotion more demo- going commitment to “what some memories and anecdotes from leg- cratic. He recommends the organi- call its Marine Corps tradition – first endary correspondents about how zation shift resources from peace- in, last out,” Dell’Orto writes. they did it.” keeping – “the expensive correction Dell’Orto interviewed 61 corre- of problems that have grown out of spondents about their methods, their UNITED NATIONS control” – to preventing conflicts tools, how they choose stories, com- PC MEMBER ABDELKADER through diplomacy. He also advo- bat-zone safety, the OAbbadi was born in a small vil- cates for a stronger role for the sec- lage in Morocco in the 1930s, in retary-general, a position he says is Upcoming Events a house without running water or currently “a mere figurehead, with electricity. By the time he retired no real power.” Russia Hands Reunion in 1997, he held the office of di- While he is critical of the institu- 4:00 p.m., Feb. 24 rector of the African division in tion, Abbadi notes that in the “rela- the Department of Political and tively short period of its history, it OPC Foundation Security Council Affairs at the has achieved much.” With changes, Scholarship Luncheon United Nations. he argues, it could achieve more. 11:30 a.m., Feb. 26 In From the Garden to the — By Trish Anderton

OPC Bulletin • February 2016 • Page 12