THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • November 2014 OPC Forges Partnership to Promote Journalists’ Safety By Marcus Mabry compact between Your OPC has been busy! Since news organiza- the new officers and board of gov- tions and journal- ernors took office at the end of ists, in particular the summer, we have dedicated freelance, around ourselves to three priorities, all safety and profes- designed to increase the already sionalism. We have impressive contribution that the only just begun, but OPC makes to our members and our partners include our industry. the Committee to We have restructured the board Protect Journalists, to dedicate ourselves to services Reporters Without for members, both existing and po- Borders, the Front- tential, whether those members are line Club, the In- Clockwise from front left: Vaughan Smith, Millicent veteran reporters and editors, free- ternational Press Teasdale, Patricia Kranz, Jika Gonzalez, Michael Luongo, Institute’s Foreign Sawyer Alberi, Judi Alberi, Micah Garen, Marcus Mabry, lancers or students. In addition to Charles Sennott, Emma Daly and Judith Matloff dining services, we have reinvigorated our Editors Circle and after a panel of how to freelance safety. See page 3. social mission, creating a committee the OPC Founda- dedicated to planning regular net- tion. We met in September at The you need and the social events you working opportunities for all mem- New York Times headquarters to want. And, just as important, get bers. So if you are in New York – or try to align efforts that many of our friends and colleagues who are not coming through New York – look us groups had started separately. members of the OPC to join. We are up and come for a drink with mem- We will keep you updated on stronger together. bers and potential members. our efforts. In the meantime, please But I am most proud of the work help us in our drive to bring our Your President, that we are doing in conjunction members the professional services Marcus Mabry with other journalism organiza- tions to create, for the first time, a Club Mixers to Strengthen Networks EVENT PREVIEW: Dec. 10 owned and has served as a regular Inside. haunt of writers and correspondents Clubs are meant to be social. So, OPC Board Changes.......................2 since it opened more than a decade as part of an effort to expand our ago, is at 505 West 23rd St. just Muckrakers Book Night Preview......2 networking opportunities, the OPC west of 10th Ave. has arranged two evening mixers The club’s newly created com- Freelancing Safely Panel Recap.....3 where members – and prospective mittee for social events has sched- members – can meet up, unwind Useful Sources Panel Recap...........4 uled a second mixer for Wednes- and swap stories over food and day, Dec. 10, also at The Half King, Book Night Recap: A Path Appears...4 drinks. where members and guests will get On Thursday, Nov. 13, we gath- a 20 percent discount on appetizers, Welcome New Members.................5 ered in the back garden of The Half entrees and drinks from 6:00 p.m. King Bar and Restaurant, where People & Press Freedom...........6-10 to 8:30 p.m. members and guests enjoyed half Keep an eye on the OPC web- Q&A: Spencer Platt........................11 price on all food and drinks from site for more mixer announcements 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ahead as we plan networking events New Books....................................12 The pub, which is journalist- for the 2015 schedule. OPC Board Changes Hope for Muckrakers By Chad Bouchard Members might notice a few changes to our mast- EVENT PREVIEW: DEC. 1 head this month. Former OPC Secretary Jonathan In Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative In Dahl of The Wall Street Journal stepped down to take Journalism From Around the World, OPC awards judge the helm at digital news startup Anya Schiffrin takes a close look at in- Ozy in California. vestigative journalism over the last cen- The board elected Deidre Depke tury that has made a significant impact to take his place as club secretary. on the world. Depke has worked as a reporter and On Monday, Dec. 1 at 6:00 p.m., editor in New York for 25 years. Schiffrin will be on hand to discuss her She currently manages a consul- work during a book night with food and tancy that works with new media drinks. Schiffrin is the director of the me- startups. dia and communications specialization at Award-winning freelance jour- Anya Schiffrin Columbia University’s School of Inter- nalist Charles Graeber stepped in to national Affairs. fill Depke’s vacated spot on the board of governors. The event will be held at Club Quarters at 40 West Graeber was a candidate in this year’s board elec- 45th Street. $20 covers the program from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 tion and is a contributor to publications including p.m., and beer or wine and hors d’oeuvres from 7:00 p.m. Wired, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue, to 8:00 p.m. Robert Friedman of Bloomberg News, who is National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek and the head judge for the OPC Awards, will moderate. RSVP The New York Times. by emailing [email protected] or calling the OPC He won the OPC’s 2011 Ed Cunningham Award at 212 626-9220. for his piece for Bloomberg Businessweek, “After the Tsunami, Nothing to Do but Start Again.” Each year, LOOKING AHEAD TO 2015 the Ed Cunningham Award honors the best interna- Event Preview: Dec. 17 tional reporting in magazines. Join the OPC and Controls Risks, the global risk Read more about this month’s board changes in Susan Kille’s People column on page 7. consultancy, for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. Dec. 17 at Club Quarters for an expert view on geopoliti- cal challenges that may emerge in 2015. OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Azmat Khan Martin Smith Emma Daly PAST PRESIDENTS Marcus Mabry Jacqueline Albert- Senior Digital Producer President Communications EX-OFFICIO Editor-at-Large Simon Al Jazeera America Rain Media Director Michael Serrill The New York Times U.S. Bureau Chief Human Rights Watch David A. Andelman Politique Internationale Dan Klaidman Liam Stack John Corporon FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Deputy Editor Reporter Daniel Sieberg Allan Dodds Frank Calvin Sims Rukmini Callimachi Yahoo News The New York Times Senior Marketing Alexis Gelber President and CEO Foreign Head of Media Outreach William J. Holstein International House Correspondent Evelyn Leopold Seymour Topping Google Marshall Loeb The New York Times Independent Journalist Emeritus Larry Martz SECOND VICE PRESIDENT United Nations Professor of Abi Wright Roy Rowan Abigail Pesta Jane Ciabattari International Journalism Executive Director, Leonard Saffir Freelance Journalist Columnist Paul Moakley Columbia University Prizes Larry Smith BBC.com Deputy Director Graduate School Richard B. Stolley THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Photography and Charles Wallace of Journalism Pancho Bernasconi Chris Dickey Visual Enterprise Financial Writer Columbia University EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Vice President/News Foreign Editor Time magazine Awards Patricia Kranz Getty Images The Daily Beast, ASSOCIATE BOARD Paris Robert Nickelsberg MEMBERS OFFICE MANAGER TREASURER Freelance Brian I. Byrd Boots R. Duque Tim Ferguson Peter S. Goodman Photojournalist Program Officer Editor Editor-in-Chief NYS Health EDITOR Forbes Asia International Lara Setrakian Foundation Chad Bouchard Business Times Co-Founder & CEO SECRETARY News Deeply Bill Collins OPC Deidre Depke Charles Graeber Director, Public & ISSN-0738-7202 Journalist and Freelance Journalist Business Affairs Copyright © 2014 Author and Author Ford Motor Comapny Over seas Press Club of America 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • November 2014 • Page 2 Panel of Experts Shares Tips on How to Freelance Safely to luck, but said avoiding danger depends heavily on EVENT RECAP caution and situational awareness. By Chad Bouchard “The most dangerous times are when you first show As traditional news outlets shrink overseas bureaus, up there, and then when you’re too comfortable,” he said. freelance journalists bear more of the burden for foreign Sawyer Alberi, lead trainer for Reporters Instructed reporting, and they’re doing it with less support and few- in Saving Colleagues, or RISC, who served two tours er resources than their employed counterparts. That puts of duty in Iraq as a flight medic and one as a combat freelancers at greater risk of injury or kidnapping, and medic in Afghanistan, said journalists on any assignment underscores the need for more safety training and more should always prepare for the worst. “You have to know support from strings and press organizations. your medical resources. You have to know where the On Oct. 21, a panel of experts from organizations hospital is, to know what they have and what they don’t dedicated to the welfare of journalists tackled how best have,” she said. to freelance safely for an audience at the Columbia Uni- Alberi added that freelancers should not overlook versity School of In- basic travel medicine to ternational and Public cope with other dangers Affairs. reporting abroad, like Judith Matloff, a car accidents or travel- veteran foreign corre- er’s diarrhea. spondent who teach- “The reality is that es a safety training more people get sick course at the Colum- than they do get blown bia University School up. That’s statistically of Journalism, said just true,” she said. Echo- maintaining a support ing the advice of other network of editors and panelists, she added that colleagues is critical colleagues can help to for staying safe and as- reign in other journalists sessing risk.