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THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • APRIL 2012 OPC Gears Up for a Banner Awards Dinner EVENT PREVIEW: APRIIL 25 by Sonya K. Fry The champagne is on ice, microphones are “testing, testing,” and congratulations are floating in the air. It must be time for the OPC Annual Awards Dinner. This year’s dinner will be held at the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle on Wednesday, April 25. The Reception at 6 p.m. is sponsored by the computer company Lenovo. The “Meet the Winners” Reception after dinner is sponsored by Thomson Ted Turner, above, will receive the OPC . With cocktails at both ends President’s Award. Lester Holt, top right, and of the evening, it promises to be a Alison Smale, right, will present the awards. great dinner. The program will begin with AP Panel to Discuss War-Time Censorship the Candlelighting Ceremony in honor of journalists killed in the EVENT PREVIEW: MAY 8 line of duty in the past year, like On May 7, 1945, Associated organizations angrily protesting, and reporter Maria Colvin and French Press reporter Ed Kennedy became the AP firing him. photographer Remi Ochlik who the most famous — or infamous — In Ed Kennedy’s War: V-E Day, were killed in in February American correspondent of World Censorship, and the Associated and countless others who covered War II. On that day in Press, Kennedy re- the Arab uprisings, the drug wars in France, General Alfred counts his career as a Mexico and corruption in Russia and Jodl signed the official newspaperman from his lost their lives in pursuit of a story. documents as Germans early days as a stringer Joao Silva, photojournalist for The surrendered to the in Paris to the aftermath of his dismissal from who lost both legs Allies. Army officials (Continued on Page 2) allowed a select number AP. During his time as a of reporters including foreign correspondent, Kennedy to witness he covered the Spanish Inside. . . this historic moment, Civil War, the rise of OPC President letter...... 3 but then instructed Mussolini in Italy, unrest in Greece and ethnic “Hitlerland” Book Night Recap...... 4 the journalists that the story was under feuding in the Balkans. People...... 5-9 military embargo. In a During World War II, he courageous but costly reported from Greece, Tribute to Marie Colvin...... 10 move, Kennedy defied the military Italy, North Africa, and the Middle East before heading back Ecuador and Press Freedom...... 11 embargo and broke the news of the Allied victory, generating to France to cover its liberation and New Books...... 12 instant controversy with rival news (Continued on Page 3) OPC Awards: Continued From Page 1 its inauguration he famously said, “We won’t be signing off until the in after stepping on a world ends. We’ll be on, and we will land mine in October 2010, will light cover the end of the world, live, and the ceremonial candle and usher in a that will be our last event…we’ll moment of silence. play ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’ Lester Holt, Weekend Anchor for NBC News and Alison before we sign off.” His daring Smale, Executive Editor of the venture changed news forever. His Joao Silva will light the candle to philanthropy is legendary with the International Herald Tribune will honor those journalists killed in the share duties presenting the 27 line of duty in the past year. $1 billion gift to support U.N. causes awards in categories ranging from through the U.N. Foundation. In launch an invasion of Iraq, reporting photography to online commentary. 1991, Turner became the first media from the front lines in Lebanon Alison Smale was deputy foreign figure to be named Time magazine’s on the war between Israel and editor at The New York Times before Man of the Year. Hezbollah, the aftermath of the she went to the IHT. Previously Dinner Co-Chair William J. as Vienna bureau chief for The devastating earthquake in Haiti, and Holstein, President of the OPC , she covered the last year he covered the political Foundation, has been leading the fall of Communism across Eastern and civil unrest in Cairo and the charge on selling corporate tables. Europe, the rise of Milosevic and earthquake and nuclear crisis in Sir Harry Evans, formerly editor of Serbian nationalism and the 1990’s Japan. Holt was the primary anchor The Sunday Times of London from Balkan wars. She was posted in for MSNBC’s coverage of world 1967 to 1981 and now editor-at-large Moscow from 1983 to 1987 where events and before that he was at for Thomson Reuters is co-chair of she chronicled the transition from WBBM-TV in Chicago for 14 years the dinner committee. Andropov to Gorbachev. Smale was where he was anchor for the evening OPC member dinner tickets in New York on September 11th and news. He is currently the Weekend remain $250 for a member and $250 helped to organize much of the prize- Anchor for “NBC Nightly News” for one member guest. Non-member winning New York Times coverage of and Co-anchor of the weekend tickets are $600. Table pricing that event and the subsequent wars edition of the “Today” show. is $15,000, $12,000, $9,000 and in Afghanistan and Iraq. She is fluent OPC President David A. $6,000 for tables of 10. Reservations in French, German and Russian. Andelman has selected Ted Turner are essential for this annual black-tie Lester Holt joined NBC News as the recipient of this year’s event. Please join us in celebrating in 2000. His assignments include President’s Award. Turner founded the best in international reporting. reporting from the Kuwait/Iraqi the Cable News Network in 1980 as OPC members have been sent a border as U.S. forces prepared to the first 24-hour news channel. At printed invitation in the mail.

OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT SECRETARY Tim Ferguson Toni Reinhold ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS David A. Andelman Jane Ciabattari Editor Editor in Charge, ­MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Editor Author/Journalist Forbes Asia New York Desk Bill Collins John Corporon World Policy Journal Reuters Director, Public & Allan Dodds Frank ACTIVE BOARD Chrystia Freeland Business Affairs Alexis Gelber FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Ron Allen Global Editor-at-Large Tom Squitieri Ford Motor Company William J. Holstein Marcus Mabry Correspondent Thomson Reuters Freelance Journalist Marshall Loeb Editor at Large NBC News Emma Daly Larry Martz International Herald Tribune Evelyn Leopold Gillian Tett Communications Roy Rowan Rebecca Independent Journalist U.S. Managing Editor Director Leonard Saffir SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Blumenstein United Nations Financial Times Human Rights Watch Larry Smith Michael Serrill Page One Editor Richard B. Stolley Assistant Managing Editor Santiago Lyon Seymour Topping Sarah Lubman Bloomberg Markets Director of Emeritus Partner EXECUTIVE Paul Brandus Photography Professor of Brunswick Group DIRECTOR THIRD VICE PRESIDENT West Wing Report Associated Pess International Sonya K. Fry Arlene Getz Journalism Abi Wright Editor-in-Charge, Media Jonathan Dahl John Martin Columbia University Director EDITOR Thomson Reuters Editor-in-Chief Writer/Editor Alfred I. duPont- Aimee Vitrak Smart Money Joel Whitney Columbia University TREASURER Abigail Pesta Editor Awards OPC Jacqueline Albert- Adam B. Ellick Editorial Director Guernica ISSN-0738-7202 Simon Video and Print Journalist Women in the World ­Copyright © 2002 U. S. Bureau Chief The New York Times Over­seas Press Club of Politique Internationale America

40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 2 Long and Winding Road to Success in News Business American boxing team, since news, all the time?” Lots of folks LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT they’re all military folks reporting it seems. Turner took that 24-hour On July 4, 1986, the U.S. to the commander-in-chief. I have news model global with words and Ambassador to the Soviet Union, no boxers, so how would you like to pictures. as he did every year, gathered box for America,” he repeated. “You April will also mark the official the American community, do that for me and I’ll let your CBS debut of Global Parachute — what correspondents, residents, and those camera inside.” Now, I’d been in I believe will become a resource assorted Russian friends who dared wars, revolutions, witness to a raft for all journalists. Our launch will risk a trip to the gardens of Spaso of carnage but never with my own feature 15 countries with overviews, House to celebrate Independence blood involved. And it wasn’t gonna fact sheets, contacts and, most Day. But this was an especially happen then, either. precious of all, wikis written by on- unusual year. Ted Turner was Ten days later, I was at the the-ground reporters. Launch funds in town and he was all set to Bastille Day celebrations at the came from the Ford Foundation; inaugurate the Goodwill Games — French Embassy in Moscow. we’re seeking additional funding an international athletic competition President François Mitterrand to add countries and broaden he’d ginned up, gathering 3,000 showed up, so had Turner who opcglobalparachute.org’s network athletes from 79 countries, many spotted me and gestured to of journalists. of whom had boycotted the 1980 Mitterrand, “Can you introduce Finally, a shout out to our two Moscow Olympics and the 1984 me?” I did the honors and they hit it interns: Rixey Browning, who’s Los Angeles Olympic Games in off, but that introduction still didn’t helped administer awards, pitched tit-for-tat actions provoked by the get a camera into the stadium. in with Global Parachute and co- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On April 25, I will have the authored press freedom letters and As the CBS News correspondent privilege of paying homage to this wrote the feature on page 11, and in town, I had a problem. Turner giant among us as I present Ted Marissa Miller who pilots the had a boycott of his own in force: Turner with the President’s Award OPC’s Facebook and Twitter pages No cameras at the Goodwill Games for Lifetime Achievement. Turner and live Tweeted our recent book except those of CNN, which he’d is one of our true visionaries and a night with Andrew Nagorski and founded six years earlier. Still, I transformative figure in the media wrote the event recap (see page 4). was persistent. In the corner of the industry. If you’re in the hall, you’ll Of course, our April 25 Awards gardens, Ted was holding court. also have an opportunity to read in Gala hardly means the end of our I identified myself and he stood, Dateline magazine, edited by our year’s activities. We’re already looked me up and down and leaned own Tim Ferguson, the moving planning events in May so stay in and whispered, “How’d you and masterful tribute to Turner by tuned as the OPC goes from strength like to box for America?” I finally NBC’s Tom Brokaw. to strength. managed to stammer, “Sure.” He As it happens, my first job in Best regards, beamed and said, “You look like New York was in the fateful summer a bantamweight.” I demurred. He of 1965, when WINS went all-news, continued, “Reagan’s boycott of the world’s first. “Fah,” scoffed my Games has removed the entire skeptics. “Who’d ever want all David A. Andelman

AP Event: Continued From Page 1 relations between the military and the news media. the German surrender negotiations. His decision to break Panelists include , who was with The New the news of V-E Day gave him front-page headlines in York Times for four decades and now curates the Polk The New York Times. In his narrative, Kennedy emerges Awards; George Bria, retired AP foreign correspondent both as a reporter with an eye for a good story and an who knew Ed Kennedy; Sally Buzbee, AP’s Washington unwavering foe of censorship. bureau chief; and John Maxwell Hamilton, Professor of The book was edited by Kennedy’s daughter, Julia Journalism at Louisiana State University and author of Kennedy Cochran. Cochran has worked as a journalist Journalism’s Roving Eye, a history of American foreign for The AP, Reuters and Business Week before working reporting. as a marketing manager for high-tech companies. This event takes place on Tuesday, May 8 at 6 p.m. at OPC member Tom Curley, President and CEO of the AP headquarters, 450 West 33 Street. Books will be for AP, wrote the introduction to the book and will lead the sale and signing. Please RSVP to the OPC at 212-626- panel discussion that will include the topic of wartime 9220 or [email protected].

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 3 Book Offers Inside Perspectives on Hitler in Germany EVENT RECAP: MARCH 19 by Marissa Miller The topic of Adolf Hitler is by no means an anomaly within the sphere of history writing. Myriad authors and historians have published an array of books on the infamous Führer and his rise to power. But in Andrew Nagorski’s latest book, Hitlerland, he uses firsthand accounts of American journalists and diplomats living in

Germany during the days of Hitler’s ascent to power. Sonya K. Fry On March 19, the OPC hosted Nagorski for a discussion of his new book at Club Quarters. Author Andrew Nagorski, his wife Christina, Accompanying Nagorski in his book talk was Sabine OPC President David Andelman and Jochen Wolter, Anton, a German correspondent for Europe’s largest Press Consul for the German Consulate television network RTL. As a native of Berlin, Anton of stagecraft. Hitler would begin the rallies with a soft, offered her own personal insight into Germany’s history rational voice and as he gathered momentum, he became and led the book talk with her questions for Nagorski. agitated. At the end, which is all Americans saw in Of Polish descent, Nagorski has always been newsreels, he looked like a raving lunatic, waving his interested in just how Hitler and his followers could have arms and screaming, but Nagorski said that if you were gained total control of Germany so quickly. His parents at the rally, you might have had a different impression. were political refugees who escaped from Poland and Reports from American journalists varied greatly from came to the United States, making this transformation seeing Hitler as a clownish figure who would soon of Germany personal. As an author of four previous disappear from the political scene to those who came to books focusing on Eastern European and Soviet history, admire his ability to tap into the German people’s psyche it was no surprise to Nagorski to write another book on and anger after World War I. Looking back, people see this subject matter. However, he explained, he wanted Hitler as evil personified, but when he was a politician to write about Hitler in a way that no other historian gathering steam in Munich, the view was much different. or author had done before. He realized that no book Nagorski observed that there were many more had been published from the perspective of Americans journalists in Berlin at that time, about 50 in the 1930’s. living in Germany during the 1920’s and 30’s. He said he American newspapers, wire services, radio and even wasn’t sure there would be a sufficient amount of sources smaller city dailies sent correspondents overseas. to substantiate his work, but through research, he found The Chicago Daily News office at the intersection of a breadth of unpublished memoirs, interview transcripts, Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden became more and varying types of correspondence that all provided like a mini-diplomatic mission with reception areas for detailed insights into the lives of Americans and their visiting Americans. perceptions of Hitler. The talk transitioned into a discussion of the prominent characters in the book. Nagorski explained that he WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS wanted “to present his work as watching events through Steve Govoni Chana Schoenberger their eyes” and give readers a window into what life was Senior Financial Reporter, Dow Jones and Writer/Market Analyst The Wall Street Journal like for these Americans. He said some of the attitudes Lord Abbett Active Resident held by the German people leading up to World War II, Associate Resident run counter to how Americans imagine what it was like Geraldine Sealey to be in Germany. Nagorski said that when Jesse Owens Douglas Jehl Editor at Large Foreign Editor Marie Claire went to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics he was warmly Active Resident welcomed by the German people. The sociologist and Washington, DC historian W.E.B. Dubois found that Germans treated him Active Non Resident ADMISSIONS with “uniform courtesy and consideration.” He found COMMITTEE less racism in Germany than in the U.S. so it was difficult Gary Regenstreif George Bookman, Chair Editor, Special Felice Levin for some to fathom the extreme antisemitism that was Projects Linda Goetz Holmes taking hold in Germany. Thomson Reuters Robert Nickelsberg Most observers, whether they admired or saw an Active Resident Charles Wallace ominous leader in Hitler, agreed that he was a master

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 4 PEOPLE...

The People column is written by Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Lemay, who at press time had not Susan Kille. For news tips, e-mail and Vietnam. RSF added India and been charged, was with his pregnant [email protected]. Kazakhstan to its list of countries wife and two young children when “under surveillance” due to concerns police arrived at 6:45 a.m. to serve OPC SCHOLARS: Elizabeth of increasing Internet censorship a search warrant. George Kalog- Dickinson, winner of the 2007 I.F. while dropping Venezuela and erakis, managing editor of Le Jour- Stone Scholarship from the OPC from that list. RSF said 2011 was the nal, says the seized material will be Foundation, has joined World Affairs deadliest year for “netizens,” a term sealed as the newspaper contests the Journal as a blogger and contribut- that combines citizen and Internet warrant in court. The raid, reported ing editor. She lives in Abu Dhabi, and implies an interest in using the RSF, followed a complaint by a having previously worked as as- Internet to open access and advance hospital accusing Lemay of “theft sistant managing editor at Foreign free speech. RSF said five netizens of property worth less than $5,000” Policy magazine and Nigeria cor- were killed in 2011 and at least 200 and “trafficking in identifying infor- respondent for The Economist. She arrested, with 120 in jail. mation.” held internships with The Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels and u , : A The New York Times West African few days after Israeli Defense Forces bureau in Dakar. Her writing has ap- Elles van Gelder and Ilvy conducted an early morning raid on peared in IRIN News, AllAfrica.com, Njiokiktjien won first prize in the Palestinian television stations to shut International Herald Tribune, News- World Press Photo Multimedia down the stations, remove transmit- week International, and the Mail and Contest for “Afrikaner Blood,” ters and seize computers and other Guardian. which follows teenage Afrikaner documents, the OPC Freedom of boys in South Africa who attend the Press Committee wrote in pro- WINNERS a nine-day camp where they learn test to Israeli Prime Minister Benja- The media center of the Local self-defense and how to combat a min Netanyahu, citing “an escalat- Coordinating Committees of Syria, perceived threat. Vincent Laforet, ing campaign against the media in a group of citizen the jury chair, said the project the West Bank and in Israel itself.” journalists and activists was “an incredibly well “One would expect that a democrat- in a country largely crafted and nuanced piece ic nation that aspires to the respect of inaccessible to Western with a very cohesive structure the world would have a much better journalists, was awarded and refined execution.” record than it has,” wrote Jeremy the Google-sponsored Both women are from the Main and Larry Martz. In addition Netizen Prize for 2012 Netherlands. Van Gelder to decrying the raid on the Palestin- by Reporters Without is a foreign correspondent ian stations, the March 9 letter noted Borders (RSF). In who covers sub-Saharan that an Associated Press photogra- announcing the award, Africa and Njiokiktjien is pher was arrested briefly in Decem- which includes €2,500, Activist Jasmine ac- a photojournalist who has ber, and a few days later, injured by a on March 12, RSF cepted the RSF prize on behalf of activists worked in South Africa, gas canister fired at his legs and also described how the group inside Syria. but is now based in the that a “female photographer for The collects and verifies on- Netherlands. New York Times, although pregnant, the-ground information of the Syrian was forced to go through an X-ray uprising from citizen journalists, PRESS FREEDOM machine three times last fall while translates it into English and MONTREAL: Quebec provin- Israeli soldiers laughed at her.” distributes it on the group’s website cial police raided the home of Le and through social media. Journal de Montreal reporter Eric- DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: In a report issued the same day Yvan Lemay on March 15, tak- Internet users and providers in as the prize, RSF added Bahrain and ing his fingerprints, computer and Tajikistan as well as international Belarus to its “Internet enemies” clothes he wore while visiting hospi- press groups are voicing concerns list with Burma, China, Cuba, tals for an exposé about lax protec- about online censorship after the Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, tion of confidential patient records. (Continued on Page 6)

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 5 (Continued From Page 5) gunshots fired by two unidentified the fine to 17 minimum salaries. government on March 9 lifted a six- men. Kadaf had run Radio day ban on Facebook and several Somaliweyn until the station was MURDERS news websites. “A year and a half looted and shut down by Al-Shabab Fausto Evelio Hernández after the last episode of this kind, the in 2010. Reports said that Kadaf, Arteaga, who worked at Radio Tajik authorities have gone back to who was also active in politics, Alegre de Sabá in the northeast of large-scale cyber-censorship,” RSF planned to restart the station. Honduras, died March 10 after being said. “This major blocking initiative attacked with a machete while riding is as inacceptable as it is absurd.” CHALMENT, Louisiana: his bicycle, news reports said. Most American journalists condemn of his wounds were on his neck and other countries for not protecting face. The local police chief told AFP journalists, but we do not always that multiple witnesses had seen the need to look overseas. After crime, but no one wanted to assist complaints by the International Press in the investigation. Authorities Institute and others, Sheriff Jack have not determined the cause of Stephens of St. Bernard Parish near the attack, but ruled out robbery New Orleans apologized February as the journalist was found with 28 and said that his deputies will no all of his belongings. RSF reports 26 journalists have been killed in Abdolfattah Soltani longer use photographs of WVUE- TV reporter Lee Zurik for target Honduras in the past decade, 19 TEHRAN, Iran: Abdolfattah practice. Stephens, who admitted since the June 2009 coup. Soltani, a human rights lawyer jailed that the incident happened more than A Haitian radio journalist since September 2011, was told once, declined to initiate disciplinary died March 5 after his vehicle March 5 that a revolutionary court action, saying that no ill will or threat came under heavy gunfire from had sentenced him to 18 years in was intended. Zurik reported last fall unknown assailants. Jean Liphète prison and a 20-year ban on working about alleged voter fraud by sheriff’s Nelson was the manager of as lawyer. Sotani is a founder department employees. Radio Boukman, a community of Nobel peace laureate Shirin radio station he had founded in Ebadi’s Centre for Human Rights 2004 in Cité Soleil, the poorest Defenders. On March 6, an appeals neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. court upheld a six-year jail sentence Rajesh Mishra died March 2 for another of Ebadi’s colleagues, from injuries suffered a day before Narges Mohammadi, a journalist when he was hit on the head with an who served as spokeswoman for the unidentified weapon while he was Centre for Human Rights Defenders. at a public tea stall in Rewa, a town in Madhya Pradesh in central India. MOGADISHU, Somalia: Luis Agustín González According to the Hindustan Times, Deaths in February and March raised Mishra had received telephone the number of journalists killed in BOGATA, Colombia: A threats after writing reports for the Somalia over the past five years to provincial court on February 28 Hindi-language weekly Media Raj 28. Ali Ahmed Abdi, who worked upheld the defamation conviction alleging “irregularities” in a chain of for Radio Galkayo and the news of Luis Agustín González, editor boarding schools owned by Rajneesh website Puntlandi.com, died when of the Cundinamarca Democrática, Banerjee, owner of another Rewa- he was shot three while overturning a libel conviction based Hindi newspaper, Vindhya times in the head issued last October when a municipal Bharart. News reports said five men, by unidentified judge found Gonzalez guilty of including Banerjee, were arrested in assailants as he both charges after publishing an connection to the attack on Mishra. walked home in article critical of a former governor RSF said it was “stunned” to Gasoor village and senator. The municipal judge learn that a court in the Dominican on March 4. had ordered Gonzalez to spend 20 Republic acquitted three men on Abukar Hassan months in prison and to pay a fine March 1 in the 2008 murder of Kadaf was killed equivalent to 20 “minimum salaries,” Normando García, a cameraman outside his home or approximately $5,500. The employed by the Santiago-based in Mogadishu on provincial court lowered the prison TV station Teleunión. RSF noted February 28 by Ali Ahmed Abdi term to 18 months and 18 days and that the court chose not to hear

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 6 the testimony of the police officer covering these and similar cases. who led the investigation. If the murderers are not quickly found and punished, these cases will pose a continuing threat to press freedom in Brazil.” Two journalists — a brother and sister — were found strangled to death on February 26 near their home Journalist Nedim Şener was released in El Alto, Bolivia, just outside the from prison in March. country’s capital, La Paz. Verónica on charges that they were part of a Peñasco Layme, communications Nepalese policemen tussle with jour- plot to overthrow the government. nalists during a protest in Kathman- director for Radio San Gabriel, and The four were among 13 defendants, du in March 2010. Journalists were Victor Hugo Layme, a journalist six of whom remain in jail. demanding an increase in security with Radio Pachamama, had been After a court ordered the release after well-known newspaper publish- missing since about 5 a.m. the er Arun Singhaniya was killed. of Şener, Ahmet Şık, Sait Çakır and day before when Verónica was to Coskun Musluk, Şener promised to have led a morning broadcast. The keep investigating the January 2007 On March 1, 2010, Arun murders remain unsolved, but at assassination of an ethnic Armenian Singhaniya, owner of Janakpur least five street demonstrations have journalist, Hrant Dink. A recent Today newspaper and Janakpur been held in response to the deaths trial acquitted 19 men of conspiring Today Radio, was shot and killed and a government decree ordered the to kill Dink and gave one man a life by a gunman on a motorcycle after media to provide transportation for sentence. The Journalists Union of he stepped out of a prayer service employees between home and work Turkey says about 100 journalists in Janakpur, Nepal’s second largest during the hours of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. are currently imprisoned, but the city. He was the second person government disputes that figure and affiliated with Janakpur Today to be UPDATES insists that most jailed journalists murdered within a year. Two years CHICAGO: The Chicago News were arrested for activities other than later, his family still lives in fear and Cooperative run by Jim O’Shea, an reporting. is increasingly desperate to see the OPC member, suspended its opera- case solved. Representatives from 14 tion and website at the end of Febru- LONDON: Headed to the international organizations joined the ary. In a letter posted on the website, Olympics? Space will be tight but Nepalese Federation of Journalists in O’Shea said the decision was made through the London Press Club, OPC a fact-finding and advocacy mission “so we can reassess our operations members can have access to facilities to investigate the case and other and determine if there is a more sus- at the Adam Street Club, home of the threats to press freedom in Nepal. tainable path to the future.” The non- London Press Club, just off Trafalgar At a February 27 press conference in profit news organization provided Square. For a fee of £100, a limited Kathmandu, the groups said impunity news to The New York Times and number of special memberships are prevails in the majority of media competed online with the Chicago available to cover the three weeks of killings and expressed concerns Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. the Olympics and the week before and over self-censorship and weaknesses O’Shea is former managing editor of after. For information, contact kate. in Nepal’s draft constitution, the Chicago Tribune and past editor- [email protected]. due to be adopted this year, in-chief of the Los Angeles Times that threaten press freedom. and author of The Deal From Hell, a u Following the deaths of two book about how Chicago real estate Brazilian journalists in one month, investor Sam Zell came to acquire When planning a trip to London, which were reported in the March those newspapers. keep in mind the OPC’s association edition of the Bulletin, the OPC’s with Club Quarters, which has Freedom of the Committee wrote ISTANBUL: Nedim Şener, recently opened its fourth hotel President Dilma Vana Rousseff a reporter for Milliyet and winner in London at Lincoln’s Inn Field, on February 27 that the “most of the 2010 International Press near Chancery Lane and Holburn. disturbing part about these murders Institute’s World Press Freedom Weekend and holiday rates for OPC was their clear political motivation. Hero Award, and three other Turkish members start at £67, plus members Both men attacked corruption in journalists were freed from jail can receive a “Night on the House” local politics, and their deaths were March 11, a year after they were certificate for every business stay clear warnings for other journalists detained and began awaiting trial (Continued on Page 8)

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 7 (Continued From Page 7) June the Justice Department found after the first stay. Club Quarters the statement unsubstantiated. also has London locations near Ortega’s supporters petitioned for a Gracechurch, Trafalgar Square and new investigation that led to a three- St. Paul’s. person panel that found probable cause to file charges against Reyes. u NEW YORK: Two new mem- Jim Sciutto has left ABC News bers have recently joined the OPC Gerardo Ortega after 13 years to become chief of Board of Governors when two elect- staff and senior policy advisor to recommended that murder charges ed members resigned. Travis Fox Gary Locke, the U.S. ambassador be filed against ex-governor Joel and Nikhil Deogun resigned so the to China. Sciutto, who was based Reyes in the January 2011 death of OPC went back to the summer elec- in London as ABC’s senior foreign Gerardo Ortega, a journalist and tion and brought in two new mem- correspondent, has reported from environmentalist who was gunned bers who were next in the number of more than 50 countries. down in Puerto Princesa City, votes. John Martin, a foreign corre- spondent for ABC News from 1975 MANILA: The Philippine Palawan. The accused gunman, a former security guard for Reyes, to 2002 and a teacher of television Department of Justice on March news writing at Columbia University named Reyes in the murder but last 13 reversed an earlier decision and Graduate School of Journalism, and Junger Starts Medic Training for Freelancers Paul Brandus, writer of the West Wing Report on Twitter and spon- Sebastian Junger said he was inspired to establish Reporters Instruct- sor of the OPC’s Whitman Bassow ed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) and train freelance journalists to treat Award, will fill out the terms of the life-threatening battlefield in- departing board members. juries, because he believes his friend Tim Hetherington PHILIPPINES: In June 2011, could have survived a mor- the Philippines placed third behind tar attack in Libya last April. Iraq and Somalia on the Commit- Photojournalist Chris Hon- tee to Protect Journalist’s Impunity dros was mortally wounded Index, which spotlights countries in that attack, while a piece where journalists are slain and their of shrapnel cut Hethering- killers go free. In March, two Phil- ton’s femoral artery, a seri- ippine journalists were wounded in ous injury but one where fast shooting incidents. Two unidenti- action could have prolonged fied men on a motorcycle on March his life until he reached a 5 shot Radio Mindanao Network doctor. Instead, Hether- DYRI station host Fernando Gabio. ington bled out and died in On March 11, unidentified assailants the back of a pickup truck. beat Fernan Angeles, who works for RISC plans three training The Daily Tribune, and shot him sev- programs a year. The first eral times near his home in Manila. will be April 18 to 20 in New York, followed by a fall ses- SANTO DOMINGO, D.R.: sion in London and a winter one in Beirut. For information, go to the web- The Dominican Republic’s first lady, site: www.risctraining.org. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, filed Hetherington, a photographer, and Junger, a writer, made the 2010 Os- criminal forgery charges on March car-nominated documentary “Restrepo” about their year-long tour with a 5 against television commentator platoon in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. They shared in a 2007 OPC Marco Martínez, who alleged that award for work done during that tour. They discussed the film and recent she has millions of euros stashed in books each had published during an OPC book night in November 2010. a Danish bank account. According Hetherington died eight days before he was to serve as co-presenter at to Dominican media, Fernández’s last year’s OPC Awards ceremony and receive a citation for his own pho- attorney accused Martínez of tography in the book Infidel. falsifying documents to attack the honor and reputation of the first lady,

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 8 of Japan, died February 24 from People Remembered: Free Speech Champion, Barney Rosset prostrate cancer. Marks, 69, was a Barney Rosset, who died Febru- veteran foreign correspondent who ary 21 at age 89, was a provocative served in the Navy SEALs during the publisher, fierce defender of the First Vietnam War. He frequently reported Amendment and an OPC member on wars and civil strife throughout since 1961. Asia and the Middle East and was on He introduced American read- the team of UPI ers to European writers like Samu- correspondents el Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean- who covered the Paul Sartre and Jean Genet and climax of the published Che Guevara, Ho Chi war in Indochina. Minh, Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs. In the 1960s, his Grove Marks spent Press imprint published D.H. Law- much of his rence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and career at UPI, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, two where his posts decades-old erotic books that had never been distributed uncensored in included Bangkok bureau manager; the United States. He picked up The Autobiography of Malcolm X after general manager for North Asia Doubleday dropped it. He published the literary journal Evergreen Review with responsibility for all editorial from 1957 to 1973. To do all that, Rosset risked prison and financial ruin and business affairs in South Korea, and fought hundreds of court cases against censorship. He was largely re- Japan and Taiwan; marketing sponsible for breaking down U.S. obscenity laws in the 1950s and 1960s. director for UPI’s conversion to He made millions that helped pay his legal bills when he imported the steamy-for-the-time Swedish film “I Am Curious (Yellow).” That popular satellite communications; executive film was among the many cases that took Rosset to the Supreme Court. assistant to the president; and vice Rosset, who had said in an interview that he was not a good business- president and general manager for man, sold Grove in 1985 and published Evergreen Review online and books the New England division. under new imprints, Foxrock Books and Blue Moon Books. In 2008, the Na- tional Book Foundation awarded him the Literarian Award for “outstanding u service” to American letters. Algonquin Books plans to release his autobi- ography, The Subject Was Left-Handed — a title he took from his FBI file. who is running for vice president. were working as freelancers with the Iranian state-owned Press TV, were SEOUL: Steve Herman, an held by the Swehli militia after their OPC member and Voice of America capture on February 22 until they bureau chief in Seoul, Korea, is the were transferred March 14 to the new president of custody of the Libyan government. the Seoul Foreign Correspondents WASHINGTON, D.C.: Brian Paula Lerner, an award-winning Club. Herman Lamb is stepping down as chief photojournalist, died March 6 after a served as both executive officer of C-SPAN, the long battle with cancer. Lerner, 52, chairman of The public-affairs cable network he focused much of her work on issues Foreign Press in helped found in 1978 and has led facing women, children and girls. Japan as well as ever since. Rob Kennedy and Susan Her work “Behind the Veil” was an president prior to Steve Herman Swain, who have worked with Lamb in-depth multimedia piece about the moving to Korea. for decades, will become co-chief lives of women in Kandahar, Af- executives on April 1. Lamb, 70, will ghanistan, which won an Emmy in TRIPOLI, Libya: Nicholas remain as chairman of the board and 2010 for New Approaches to News Davies-Jones and Gareth take on the new title of executive and Documentary Programming. Montgomery-Johnson, two chairman. He will continue to host Her photos appeared in many British journalists, left Tripoli on his Sunday night program “Q&A.” publications including Smithsonian, a flight to London March 18 after People, Time, , and Busi- being detained for nearly a month PEOPLE REMEMBERED ness Week. Her most recent book and accused of spying. They were Ted Marks, a former president titled Afghan Stories is available at cleared of all charges. The men, who of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Blurb.com.

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 9 Double Tragedy Strikes the Journalism Community by Charles M. Sennott the story of the Middle East was breaking from the first The news that Marie Colvin was killed while re- Gulf War to the Israeli-Palestinian intifadas I and II porting in Syria hit like a gut punch this morning. I had to Iraq and Afghanistan and, of course, Egypt and the to pull over on my commute to take it in, and take in the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ (though she didn’t like to call it extraordinary tragedy of losing two of the best Middle that.) East correspondents of our generation in the space of One of my fondest memories was when Marie and one week. I were walking around in Ramallah The terrible news came to me commiserating on how many times in the pleasant tones of the BBC we had requested an interview with World Service in the early morning Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat only broadcast where I so often heard to be turned down. We calculated Marie give us accounts of what we had both spent five years trying was happening on the ground in the to get him to talk about the collaps- Middle East in her vivid, breathless ing “peace process” and the descent and irreverent way. into violence. Most recently I saw Marie in This was in the spring of 2002 in Egypt where she was positively Marie Colvin the aftermath of September 11th as giddy with excitement over the still- the intifada was raging once again unfolding revolution, and the extraordinary moment we and it seemed the world was hardly watching the Israeli- were witnessing in history. She wanted to be hopeful for Palestinian conflict. We had both just been in Afghani- the Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans and Syrians who had stan, if I remember correctly, and we were trying to take risen up against tyrants. But she also knew somewhere a day off covering the plodding and predictable Israeli- down deep that, in the end, this would not go well. Palestinian conflict. Our despair was interrupted by one And it sure as hell hadn’t at the end of February as of Arafat’s most trusted aides who said, “Okay, how the Syrian regime showed the world just how ugly it is about now? Come with me right now and we will see willing to get to put down this brave rebellion. Abu Ammar (the nom de guerre for Arafat.)” All of us who care to try to understand the Middle We shrugged our shoulders and walked from our East have lost something incalculable in the deaths of friend Nasser Atta’s home in Ramallah straight into Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London and An- a three-hour lunch with Arafat where he loaned us his thony Shadid of The New York Times within the span own stationary to take notes on since neither of us had a of a week. Both died in Syria doing their job and doing notebook. what they believed mattered. For them, it was worth the “That’s how it happens! You just gotta be there,” risk. And both often said so. Marie said as we rushed from the interview to write up More than just talented and courageous colleagues, the “exclusive” for our newspapers. they brought a depth of experience and an ear for truth And she was always willing to “be there.” As was on the Arab street that was simply unparalleled. Anthony. And that is the essence of ground truth. That Marie was my good friend, as was Anthony. And she is what it is all about. The only way you can hear the and Anthony couldn’t have been more different. He was sound of truth is there on the ground. a listener. She was a talker. He was Lebanese-American They couldn’t have been more different, but together and she was Irish-American. He was the consummate these two journalists were like Bose engineering that bureau chief, becoming grounded in the countries he bring together the high and low sound waves, bass and covered and particularly in Lebanon where he had treble, in high fidelity to allow us all to hear the music recently restored his family’s homestead. She was the of the Arab world. classic parachute artist, sweeping into the big story from They let us tune in to the sounds of the people who her home in London and taking her place at the bar after sway to the Egyptian legend Umm Kulthum’s triumphal deadline wherever correspondents were staying to cover music of Arab nationalism and the dark, brooding voice the big story. She always had a story to tell that usually of the Lebanese singer Fairuz who captures the tragedy ended in a laugh that rattled the glasses on the bar. of the Middle East. And now from Syria, they have Every time I saw her mischievous smile comple- brought us the sad stereo effect of two deaths — a long, menting that eye-patch she picked up covering the mournful ballad like the “prayer for the dead” pouring conflict in Sri Lanka, I knew I was in the right place to out of the minaret of a mosque. get the story. Charles M. Sennott is an OPC member and founder For the past 20 years, our paths crossed everywhere of Globalpost.com

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 10 In Ecuador, a Thinly Veiled Threat From Correa by Rixey Browning posing the favors The headline looked like a victory for press freedom: Correa did for his Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced he was brother, Fabricio dropping his cases against six journalists whose work Correa, including had offended him, and he pardoned them from prison state contracts for terms and crippling fines totaling $42 million. But after Fabricio and his taking in the details, the champagne went flat. In truth, business associ- Correa was signaling that he was still waging his long ates worth more battle to dominate the media of Ecuador — and that he than $600 mil- still held the whip hand. lion. Ecuador’s Protestors on February 16 after By the fines and sentences imposed, the case against government was Ecuador’s high court ruled against the leading daily El Universo was the most outrageous. also overcharged El Universo newspaper in a libel suit The newspaper was sentenced to a potentially bankrupt- by $140 million filed by President Correa. ing $40 million in fines, and Emilio Palacio, a colum- for these con- nist, and the brothers Carlos, César and Nicolás Pérez, tracts, according to Inmediato, a Quito-based newspaper. the top executives of the paper, were each given prison The Correa brothers have since fallen out, and Fabricio sentences of three years. Correa had sued for criminal has publicly toyed with running against Rafael for the libel for a column Palacio wrote referring to the presi- presidency. But Rafael sued Calderón and Zurita for dent as “the Dictator” and warning him that “there is no criminal defamation, charging that his honor had been statute of limitation for crimes against humanity.” Pala- impugned. In such cases, truth is not a defense — a fact cio was referring to a potential coup d’etat in 2010 when that by itself argues that criminal defamation laws should Correa, trapped in a hospital by rebellious police, was be abolished as an offense not only against press free- rescued by the military — in Palacio’s account, after he dom, but against basic fair play. ordered the soldiers to fire on the hospital. Correa, a left-leaning ally of Venezuela’s Hugo After a local court imposed the sentences, defense Chavez who has been feuding with conservative media lawyers charged that Correa had had his own lawyer since he took office in 2007, underscored his message write the judge’s decision. But the verdict was upheld on with a blunt warning: “There is forgiveness, but it is not appeal by the nation’s highest court, and it was only after forgotten.” And in the aftermath, his followers -- known that ruling that Correa, under pressure from neighboring as Correistas — have started an online campaign call- governments and press watchdog groups including the ing for “no more attacks against Ecuador” in the global OPC, issued his pardons. The net result: The precedent press. This campaign targets organizations defending in the case is firmly in place, and the journalists of Ecua- global freedom of expression, as well as the national and dor are on notice not to offend the president. international media. Journalists in Ecuador can be glad In the second case, the authors of the book El Gran that their colleagues have escaped draconian punish- Hermano (The Big Brother), Juan Carlos Calderón and ment. But the threat of more of the same still hangs over Christian Zurita, each faced $1 million in fines for ex- all their heads.

New Books: Continued From Page 12 of women journalists and that the age when even the most astounding of talents and access idea arose from the brutal sexual to the highest courts could not overcome being a bas- attack on Logan while she was tard and bisexual — what was then a double taint with a reporting in Cairo. Other con- power unimaginable to us now. tributors to the book include the BBC’s Lyse Doucet and Caro- GLOBAL line Wyatt, CNN’s Hala Go- BS NEWS CORRESPONDENT LARA LOGAN, rani, ’s Jennifer Grif- C inspired No Woman’s Land – On the Frontlines With fin, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Awad Female Reporters and also wrote its foreword. The book, and the former Egyptian state TV anchor Shahira Amin. published in March by the International News Safety In- “The stories tell of the risks and the safety measures stitute, is a collection of articles written by 40 women these women must take to get the story,” said INSI Dep- from a dozen countries who have covered conflict, disas- uty Director Hannah Storm, who compiled and edited ters, corruption and civil unrest around the world. the book with her colleague Helena Williams. INSI says this is the first book dedicated to the safety — by Susan Kille

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 11 and moved into the abandoned of research by Curtis Bill Pepper, New Books and battered house of his great- an OPC member and former Rome MIDDLE EAST grandfather in Jedeidet Marjayoun, bureau chief for Newsweek. This T IS GOOD TO KNOW a town in southern Lebanon. In the is Pepper’s seventh book. He left I Anthony Shadid’s voice, intel- three generations since the family Newsweek following the success of ligence and insight are still with us. migrated to Oklahoma, the home his first book, The Pope’s Backyard In November 2005, Shadid had suffered from neglect and a half-­ [Farrar Strauss, 1966]. brought his mother and exploded Israeli rocket that The idea for Leonardo followed daughter with him when struck the upper story. His Pepper’s studies in the Italian Re- he spoke to OPC members new neighbors derided naissance at the University of Flor- about his book that had the project but were glad ence. With the skill of a storyteller just been published, Night for the money Shadid and the investi- Draws Near; Iraq’s People was willing to spend. gative skills of a in the Shadow of America’s Shadid writes journalist, Pepper War [Henry Holt & Co, that his motivation was paints a portrait 2005]. Every Bulletin “bayt and the desire to of Leonardo da reader knows that Shadid, resurrect what once stood Vinci, the Re- an OPC member who died for something.” Bayt, naissance poly- February 16 in Syria while reporting Shadid writes, is an Arabic word that math whose tal- for The New York Times, will not “translates literally as house, but its ents ranged from be talking to us about House of connotations resonate beyond rooms painting to engi- Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and walls, summoning longings neering to botany to astronomy and and a Lost Middle East [Houghton gathered about family and home.” beyond. Leonardo has been called Mifflin Harcourt, February 2012]. Shadid mixes past and present and the most diversely talented person Shadid, however, has much the history of the Ottoman Empire who ever lived�������������������� but despite his in- to tell. House of Stone has been in telling the story of his family’s fluence in art and science, the man widely and positively reviewed migration, the reconstruction of the himself has remained mysterious and after its publication date was moved house and the restoration of his own remote. up a month following Shadid’s spirit. This home is the place where Pepper, who divides his time be- death on February 16. The book Shadid returned last spring when he tween New York and Umbria, Italy, relays how and why Shadid rebuilt and three other journalists working explored archives and records that for The New York Times were released allowed him to write an intimate and after being captured in Libya. deeply compelling account �����������that illu- minates Leonardo’s life, work, mind, EUROPE conflicts and character. Pepper fills EONARDO: A BIOGRAPHICAL in the gaps of what is known about a LNovel [Alan C. Hood & Co., Jan- man who remained an outsider in an Coming up... uary 2012] is the product of 15 years (Continued on Page 11)

OPC Awards Dinner Overseas Press Club of America April 25 40 West 45 Street New York, NY 10036 USA Mandarin Oriental In New York City See page 1 for details

AP Book Night: Ed Kennedy’s War May 8, 6 p.m. AP Headquarters See page 1 for details

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 12