MONTHLY NEWSLETTER I June 2018

Brussels Hosts Congress INSIDE of International Press Clubs Event Preview: OPC Theater Night 2 by jonathan kapstein IAPC Welcomes ith 75 delegates representing 21 countries Press Clubs 2 – 22 if OPC readers consider Scotland a separate nation – and representatives of Phnom Penh Post 3 W several international organizations, the biennial con- OPC Condemns gress of the International Association of Press Clubs EPA’s Reporter Ban 4 exchanged best practices and experiences in Brussels from May 31 to June 2. People Column 4-7 The Press Club Brussels Europe hosted the event with club president Maroun Labaki, former foreign Press Freedom Update 8-9 editor of Belgium’s daily LeSoir, Executive Director KAPSTEIN JONATHAN Laurent Brihay, and consultant Gregor Kupper han- Left to right: Peter Kramer of the Netherlands, past New Books 11 dling arrangements. The lone American representative president of the Press Club Brussels Europe; Maroun was Jonathan Kapstein, longtime OPC member and Labaki of Belgium, current PCBE president; Jona- Q&A: Scott Sayare 12 immediate past president of the Brussels club. Kap- than Kapstein of the US, past president; and Laurent stein flew from his new Connecticut home to ensure an Brihay, PCBE executive director. OPC presence. Patricia Kranz, OPC executive director who was present with Kapstein at the 2016 congress in cal pressures felt by journalists not just in emerging Geneva, had a conflict and couldn’t attend. The OPC is economies but worldwide. the only North American press club that is a member A random, alphabetical sampling of attendance of the IAPC. showed journalists from Albania, Australia, Bahamas, newspaper won the prestigious Belarus, China, Egypt, India, , Poland, Rwanda, Freedom of Speech award for coverage on breaches of Switzerland Togo, Zambia, and other countries adding personal data. One panel focused on problems of press value to the exchange of ideas. freedom in Africa. Another panel explored the role of Didier Reynders, Belgian foreign minister and the press in fostering national governance. The subtext deputy prime minister, was the main speaker at a gala throughout the discussion and Q&As related to politi- Continued on Page 2 Sieberg to Introduce ‘Civil’ - a New Platform for Journalists EVENT PREVIEW: JULY 11 all over again in the current media development lead at Civil, to The program will be held at climate. What would that look learn more about this new global Club Quarters, and gets underway magine you could take like? And how do blockchain and eco-system that is launching this at 6:30 p.m. on July 11. Click on the everything you don’t like about cryptoeconomics provide a foun- summer and needs help from the gold button below to register. v Ijournalism – from broken dation for a platform that’s driven broader industry to collabora- business models to trolls to bad by journalism, supported by devel- tively create a sustainable future. actors – and put them in a box for opers and owned by the people? In In others words, find out how – Click here a minute. Just for a minute. Now a nutshell, that’s Civil. and why – you can get involved. to RSVP for the imagine building a decentral- Please join Daniel Sieberg, Sieberg previously served as program. ized platform that’s in service of a former OPC Governor who global head of media outreach at journalism – essentially starting is a co-founder and business Google.

1 1 OPC Night at the Theater

EVENT PREVIEW: SEPT. 20 journalist who was murdered in day Evans. The production will be for her brave coverage of staged at 122 Community Center he PlayCompany the war in . Following (formerly P.S. 122), at 150 1st (PlayCo) is reserving a the performance, there will be a Avenue in New York. Informa- Tblock of tickets for OPC panel discussion about reporting tion on pricing and a link to buy members at discount prices on on conflicts. a ticket will be sent to members Sept. 20 for Intractable Woman, Intractable Woman is written and published on the OPC website A Theatrical Memo on Anna by the Italian playwright Stefano later this summer. v Politkovskaya. Anna was a Russian Massini and directed by Lee Sun-

IAPC Welcomes Press Clubs From African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries

elegates from the Inter- public they inform.” national Association of Press The group offered the ACP group Clubs welcomed press clubs temporary observer status with the IAPC Dfrom African, Caribbean and Pacific while the parties work out a more perma- countries for the first time during the nent arrangement. IAPC General Assembly on June 2. “In the interim we invite those indi- During the a nnual meeting in Brus- vidual press clubs which are members of sels, the group released a statement the ACP Press Club Federation and wish expressing solidarity with press clubs in to join the IAPC to apply for membership “countries of those regions who face seri- directly to the Secretary General of IAPC ous safety challenges, including killings, Press club representartives and otehr so that their individual applications can arbitrary arrests and other various forms leaders at the founding meeting of the of attacks and offer support for their be considered by the current member ACP Press Club Federation in October pursuit of press freedom.” Press Clubs at forthcoming meeting.” the 2016. The IAPC expresssed support for IAPC wrote in a statement. the creation of an independent African, The ACP Press Clubs Federation was Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Press Clubs founded in October 2016 at a congress Federation to bolster professional stan- in in Kigali, Rwanda. The IAPC and the dards and ethics in journalism “for the ACP-PCF convened in November 2017 to benefit of media organisations and the discuss membership arrangements. v

‘IAPC’ Continued From Page 1 dinner in the elegant Solvay Library building next to the European Parliament. On the eve of a trip to New York inaugurating Belgium’s two-year seat on the UN Security Council, Reynders, 59, emphasized Belgium’s commitment to press freedom. In that context, he noted that Belgium was a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, and the original, six-nation Common Market which has evolved into the 28-country Euro- pean Union. The IAPC’s next congress is set for London in 2020. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders ad- In the meantime, the Press Club Brussels Europe wel- dresses journalists at an IAPC dinner. comes all visiting journalists, and especially those from clubs like the OPC with which it has reciprocity. v

June 2018 2 A Post Script on the Besieged Phnom Penh Post by james reddick Naturally, the editorial staff wanted to or months, rumors had been cover the sale of the newspaper, and we floating around about the future didn’t want to sugarcoat it. We laid out of The Phnom Penh Post. Almost the potential conflicts of interest involv- F ing the new ownership and put the story every day, it seemed, a new theory was presented as fact – that the newspaper on the front page. would soon be in the hands of a govern- When we sent that Monday edition ment-linked tycoon, or that a sale was off to the printer just before midnight, being brokered by the owner of a rival we weren’t sure exactly what the reac- newspaper. When the news finally came tion would be, but we definitely weren’t out that the paper had indeed been sold, prepared for the chaos that would follow. the reality appeared not much better than First thing in the morning, a representa- the doomsday predictions. tive of the new owner demanded the In early May, it was confirmed that removal of the story from the website. Bill Clough, an Australian with mining The article’s reporters Ananth Baliga and interests who had owned the paper since Brendan O’Byrne immediately resigned, 2008, had sold it to Sivakumar S. Ga- as did Managing Editor Stuart White and napathy, a Malaysian PR man. A simple Web Editor Jenni Reid after they were Reddick Google search immediately turned ordered to take the article down. Next, up clues that the sale might seriously widely respected Editor-in-Chief Kay reporters have told me that they are dis- impact the Post’s editorial freedom. Ga- Kimsong was fired. In all, nearly every couraged by the new management from napathy’s firm listed Cambodian Prime native English-speaking editor and re- getting analysis from sources, including Minister Hun Sen’s government as one porter resigned that day. from respected human rights organizations. of its clients in the 1990s; one of its of- While I can’t speak for all of them, After the sale, outlets around the fered services is “covert PR” on behalf some local staff who stayed have told world decried the “silencing” of the Post of politicians and foreign governments; me they did so because they have few and contended the sale was part of a and Ganapathy had seemingly devoted reporting options in a country where larger crackdown on media. That’s a pre- much of his journalism career to writing nearly every media outlet censors itself mature assessment. There are still talent- a fawning biography of a controversial to remain in the good graces of the gov- ed journalists there working every day Malaysian politician and timber baron ernment. The foreigners like me have the to present the real picture of a country accused of large-scale corruption and privilege of being able to work all over where the message is tightly controlled environmental destruction. the world, a luxury not available to our by the government. But its editorial stan- To understand the reaction to the Cambodian colleagues. dards have slipped noticeably and by all news, some context is needed. Through- It is still unclear what the new owner- accounts morale is abysmal. out last year, the Cambodian government ship’s vision for the paper is, and why We may never know if the govern- shut down more than two dozen radio they purchased it. Ganapathy insists that ment was involved in the sale, but in the stations that had broadcasted content it was a business decision, despite the end it appears we didn’t need it to rein from Voice of America, Radio Free Asia fact the previous owner never managed us in. The previous owner was more than and other often critical voices. It im- to turn a profit over the last decade. At happy to have found a willing buyer, and prisoned two RFA reporters for alleged the moment, there is no credible evi- in so doing may have ended the news- “espionage”, as well as an Australian dence that he is working in league with paper’s 26-year run as an outlier in the filmmaker. All three are still awaiting the government. What is clear is that he region – a publication that used quality trial. And The Cambodia Daily, the and new Editor-in-Chief Joshua Purush- journalism to hold the powerful to ac- country’s other independent newspaper, otman have different beliefs in the role of count. closed down when it was unable to pay a journalism than the previous owners. At mammoth tax bill widely seen as inflated a press conference following the bumpy James Reddick was deputy managing for political reasons. With elections com- transition, Ganapathy asked reporters editor at The Phnom Penh Post through ing up in July, the ruling party made it why the newspaper would need to be the end of May. He was the winner of the clear that there would be little room for “critical” of the government. “Where I Overseas Press Club Foundation’s Irene dissent. The Post was the exception, and come from, we report the facts,” he said. Corbally Kuhn Scholarship in 2015. v we all knew that we were operating on That mentality has, by all accounts, borrowed time. been enforced in the newsroom. Multiple

June 2018 3 OPC Condemns EPA for Barring Reporters From Event

by chad bouchard Knickmeyer, after threatening her when she refused to leave. The AP’s David Bauder wrote n may 23, the OPC released a stae- of his colleague that “after security told her that ment denouncing actions of the Envi- ‘we can make you get out,’ Knickmeyer said Oronmental Protection Agency, which she took out her phone to record what was hap- barred reporters from news organizations from pening. Some of the security guards reached an event on the impact of toxic chemicals on for it, and a woman grabbed her shoulders from drinking water at the agency’s headquarters. behind and pushed her about five feet out the OPC president Deidre Depke strongly con- door.” demned the agency’s actions. On the second day of the summit, the “This is an unacceptable intrusion into the agency said no reporters would be allowed public’s right to monitor the workings of gov- to attend and blocked journalists for Politico, ernment and sets a dangerous precedent,” she IMAGES WILSON/GETTY MARK E&E News, Crown Publishing and CNN. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt arrives at a said in a statement. The summit surrounding Per- and Polyfluo- Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hear- On May 22, the agency allowed a select roalkyl Substances, or PFAS, had been planned ing on Capitol Hill, May 16. group of reporters to cover the first hour of a for months, but gained more attention after national summit on toxic chemicals that in- journalists reported that senior agency officials The US Federal Advisory Committee Act cluded introductory remarks from agency head had helped to block the release of study that requires that “any committee, board, commis- Scott Pruitt, but then escorted jornalists out of might have increased warnings about the chem- sion, council, conference, panel, task force, or the event. Ejected reporters were from The As- icals. Watchdog organization Environmental other similar group, or any subcommittee or sociated Press, CNN and E&E News. The AP Working Group reported a White House aide other subgroup” used by an agency to provide reported that security guards physically forced as saying the supressed report would create a recommendations to the federal government one of its reporters, EPA beat reporter Ellen “public relations nightmare.” should be open to the public. v

PEOPLE By Farwa Zaidi and Chad Bouchard

OPC SCHOLARS tweet, Pesta congratulated the Dake Kang, the 2016 Fritz Beebe win- reporting team, Michael Cork- ner, had a piece published for The As- ery, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, sociated Press on May 17 about atrocities David Segal “and a cast of committed against Muslims held in deten- brilliant designers!” Pesta is tion centers in China. The article, “Thank currently deputy editor in the the Party!’ China Tries to Brainwash climate and environment group Muslims in Camps,” covered China’s de- at the Times. The Loeb Award tention of possibly hundreds of thousands winners will be announced at a of Muslim Chinese and foreign citizens banquet in New York on June in internment camps. In April, a US Com- 25. mission called it “the largest mass incar- Clay Bennett, this year’s ceration of a minority population in the Kang Quinlan world today.” Kang interviewed a former Thomas Nast Award winner, prisoner who had been seized while visit- New York Times, a freelancer in China, was also named winner of this ing his family from Kazakhstan. Kang and is a graduate of Yale University. year’s Silver Reuben Award for editorial is currently a reporter for the Associated cartooning from the National Cartoonists Press in Beijing. WINNERS Society. The Reuben Awards have been OPC member Jesse Pesta edited a New nicknamed the “Oscars of Cartooning.” Adriane Quinlan, 2013 Flora Lewis York Times piece about the business of In a snafu that prompts memories of the winner, is now a show writer for Vice addiction treatment that has been named 2017 Oscars, a tabulation error caused News Tonight on HBO. Before that, she a finalist for a 2018 Gerald Loeb Award two Reubens to be handed out to the worked for two years as a writer for CNN for feature writing. The piece, “Addic- wrong recipients at the May 26 ceremony International, and started her career as a tion, Inc.,” is deep dive into the shady and in Philadelphia. The Chattanooga Times reporter with the Times-Picayune in New lucrative world of drug treatment amid Free Press cartoonist joked during his Orleans. She also was a fellow at The America’s ongoing opioid crisis. In a acceptance remarks that “since it was al-

June 2018 4 WELCOME N E W MEMBERS ready announced that I lost, it would South China Morning Post. The that President Trump and Haspel Rebecca Murray be an understatement to say that this SCMP is a 115-year-old English would set the tone for torture, and Freelance Beirut, Lebanon honor was unexpected.” Bennett newspaper based in Hong Kong. It that amid allegations of sexual assault Active Overseas also won the Society of Professional was acquired by Chinese billionaire against Trump, “and because he has Jennifer O’Mahony Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding performed his enthusiasm for torture Freelance this year. Ltd. in 2015. Politico’s collabora- before cheering thousands (‘They Dakar, Senegal tion with the paper will start small, asked me about water-boarding. Active Overseas, Young UPDATES with a content-sharing partnership I said, “I love it. I love it.”’) can (29 and under) Craigslist entrepreneur Craig New- involving joint projects between the anyone doubt that people tortured Brenda Smiley mark has announced a $20 million editorial operations of each publica- under his orders will assume that Freelance gift to the CUNY Graduate School tion. If the project goes well, the to his perversities have infected our Brooklyn, NY Active Resident, Retired of Journalism, and the school will companies plan to expand financial military?” Padnos wrote a letter for be renamed in his honor as a result. and editorial ties on both sides. For the Bulletin in March last year talking The money will fund an endowment now, Politico is not hiring any ad- about his ordeal and giving advice for the school, which comes amid a ditional staff. to colleagues on conflict reporting, decline in state funding. Newmark under the title “Dear Journalists gave $10,000 to the school’s elec- Fox News and the Fox Business Net- Who Are Thinking About Going to tion coverage initiative in 2016, and work have named Suzanne Scott the Rebel-Held Bits of Syria or Any added a $1.5 million research grant as the network’s first female chief Other Newsworthy Place We Have in February 2017. Newmark has also executive officer. Scott will report Bombed.” He joined the OPC in donated $1 million to ProPublica, jointly to Lachlan Murdoch and Ru- January 2017. $500,000 to the Columbia Journal- pert Murdoch, 21st Century Fox Ex- ism Review, $1 million to research ecutive Chairman, Executive Chair- LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles institute Data & Society, and more man of Fox News and Co-Chairman Times has named longtime OPC than $560,000 to the International of the proposed New Fox. Scott has member and award sponsor Norman Center for Journalists. served as president of programming Pearlstine as the paper’s top edi- since last May, following the depar- tor. The announcement came on the Editorial staff atThe New Yorker ture of longtime programming chief first day billionaire biotech executive magazine have organized a union. Bill Shine. The news comes after a Patrick Soon-Shiong took ownership On June 6, staff members sent a let- turbulent year for Fox News, with a of the paper. In an interview with The ter to editor David Remnick, inform- sexual harassment lawsuit by former New York Times, he called Pearlstine ing him that the group has formed a anchor Gretchen Carlson, and firing “the perfect person to guide us into union and asking for the magazine of co-founder, and CEO Roger Ailes. this new era.” Pearlstine has led a and owner Condé Nast have to vol- The network also settled a racial number of major news operations in untarily recognize membership with discrimination lawsuit from several the past, including TIME, Bloomberg the NewsGuild of New York. The employees in May for $10 million. and The Wall Street Journal. Soon- letter outlined a lack of job security Scott joined the network in 1996, Shiong announced plans to purchase and salary disparities as two top helping to launch Greta Van Sus- the Times in February for $500 mil- motivating factors. According to teren‘s show On the Record in 2002. lion. Since then, Pearlstine has been NewsGuild, 90 percent of The New She was promoted to vice president acting as his advisor and helping him Yorker staff has signed on. The move of programming in 2007. select possible candidates for the comes as a growing number of print editor position. As time progressed, and digital journalists seek to union- OPC member Theo Padnos wrote Soon-Shiong realized Pearlstine was ize. On the same day, staff members an open letter in Rolling Stone the right person for the job. Pearls- at Fast Company also announced magazine to President Trump’s tine sponsors the OPC’s Hal Boyle that they had formed a union with CIA nominee, Gina Haspel, about Award honoring the best newspaper, the help of The Writers Guild of his experience in a Syrian torture news service or digital reporting from America, East. In April, staff atThe prison and why she should not obey abroad. Chicago Tribune formed a news- torture orders from the president. room union, the Chicago Tribune Padnos was abducted and held NEW YORK: OPC member David Guild, marking the first of its kind in hostage by al-Qaeda in Syria from Rohde has taken a new post as the newspaper’s 171-year history. October 2012 to August 2014. In executive director at The New an interview with Slate’s Virginia Yorker. Rohde has already been Digital politics news site Politico Heffernan on Trumpcast, Padnos serving as online news director is launching operations in Asia. recounted his experience, saying that for the publication. He previously Three years after expanding cover- torture practices are “infected with worked as reporter, editor and age in Europe, the website has now the sick sexual hangups” that the columnist for Reuters and reporter launched a partnership with the torturers have. He wrote in the letter for The New York Times. Rohde was June 2018 5 OPC Governor Minky Worden wrote a their helicopter was shot down over Laos in Continued From Page 5 pointed opinion piece for The New York 1971. Many of his photos appeared recently Times calling on FIFA to hold Russia to in the Ken Burns documentary series also Eastern Europe correspondent for the account in its mistreatment of gender and “Vietnam.” The exhibition, “Larry Burrows Christian Science Monitor in the 90s. He sexual minorities. She pointed out that the Revisited,” features more than 50 images, has been an OPC member since he won the governing body of international soccer and will run through June 29. This marks club’s President’s Award in 2015. pledged to require minimum human rights the fifth time the gallery has held a solo standards for host countries, including zero exhibition of Burrows’ work since 1985. He OPC Governor Charles Graeber’s book, tolerance for discrimination based on sexual won the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award in The Breakthrough; Immunotherapy and the orientation. Worden said FIFA so far had 1963, 1965 and 1971, and an OPC award Race to Cure Cancer [Hachette/Twelve], largely ignored Russia’s anti-gay policies for “Best Photographs, Magazine or Book” will be released on Nov. 6. The book that penalize LGBT advocacy and foster in 1970. describes how a new generation of scientists a climate of stigma and violence against finally cracked the code on how the human LGBT people. “Instead of speaking out, immune system can fight and defeat the FIFA is at best turning a blind eye to such disease. Charles did three years of intensive homophobia and, at worst, rewarding it,” reporting on new answers to an ancient she wrote. She called for FIFA and sponsors question: why doesn’t the body respond to express public support for the LGBT to cancer the way it does other diseases? community, and to put Qatar on notice to Graeber wrote that his research revealed repeal its anti-LGBT laws before hosting the that “our natural defenses react to the next World Cup in 2022. Worden is director common cold, or even a splinter, but did not of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. appear to even notice cancer until it was too late. The answer to that question turns out Award-winning reporting from OPC to be that cancer has evolved various tricks members Azmat Khan and Anand to hide from and shut down our immune Gopal on the undisclosed civilian casualty response. That new understanding has led to toll from US-led airstrikes against ISIS Brooke breakthrough therapies that defeat the tricks continues to make ripples. A recent and unleash the disease. One of the first to Amnesty International report claims the be approved was what most people think US killed thousands of civilians when it of as “the Jimmy Carter drug,” the one that tried to wrest Raqqa from ISIS in 2017. In KIEV, UKRAINE: OPC member Jim cleared the melanoma from the 91-year-old response on June 2, the Pentagon said the Brooke has taken a new post as editor-in- former President’s brain. But few people US military only killed about 500 civilians chief of Ukraine Business News. Brooke realize how different this approach is from in 2017 while injuring 169 more. Vox and previously served as editor-in-chief of the therapies that cut out, radiate or poison the other outlets reporting on the Amnesty Ukraine Business Journal in 2016 and 2017, tumor, much less what we can expect in the International study have cited a story that and CEO of the Post before that. He years ahead.” Anand and Gopal wrote for the New York also worked as managing editor and editor- Times Magazine, “The Uncounted,” in in-chief of The Khmer Times in Cambodia OPC member Kumiko Makihara is set to November last year that found the US-led for two years before moving to Ukraine in release a new book on July 17. Dear Diary collation was killing civilians at a rate 31 November 2015. He reported for 24 years Boy: An Exacting Mother, her Free-spirited times higher than the military claimed. That for The New York Times, mostly overseas in Son, and Their Bittersweet Adventures in report won this year’s Ed Cunningham countries such as Japan, South Korea, Ivory an Elite Japanese School is the story of Award for best magazine reporting, among Coast and Brazil. Ukraine Business News is a mother and son navigating their way accolades from other organizations, an English-language subscription news site through Japan’s private school system. The including the National Magazine Award and based in Kiev. memoir takes place in Japan, and touches on the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism. many issues for parents who have concerns Khan also currently serves as a Governor of WASHINGTON, DC: OPC member and about the best parenting philosophies and the OPC. former governor Steve Herman sparked frustrations about education and testing sys- headlines with a tweet about a sinkhole on tems. Author Johnathan Alter wrote that the A photo exhibit at the Laurence Miller the White House North Lawn near the press book “speaks volumes about motherhood, Gallery in New York is showcasing the briefing room that was “growing larger boyhood, cross-cultural adjustment and the wartime photography of four-time OPC by the day.” The tweet, accompanied by a power of conformism and parental ambition award-winner Larry Burrows. Burrows photo of the hole in question surrounded everywhere.” This is Makihara’s first book. worked for LIFE magazine, covering by safety cones and police tape, stepped Her work has previously appeared in the In- conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, and into the spotlight on the social media site ternational Herald Tribune, New York Times is particularly known for his iconic images as users quipped “drain the swamp” jokes. Magazine and Newsweek. She has been an of the Vietnam War. Burrows died with The New York Times published a story OPC member since 2016. fellow photojournalists Henri Huet, Kent covering the sinkhole, with comments from Potter and Keisaburo Shimamoto, when geologists and the National Park Service

June 2018 6 7 on the real-life swamp that forms the conditions. He cited threats of violence more “under investigation.” Almendral won foundation of the district. Herman is White from Moroccan security officials who the David A. Andelman and Pamela Title House bureau chief for Voice of America. divide families amid widespread allegations Award this year for coverage of the war of sexual assault against women. Raghavan along with collaborator Ed Ou, who won an Associated Press reporter and 2017 is the Post’s Cairo bureau chief and has OPC Foundation scholarship in 2007. Madeline Dane Ross Award winner reported from 17 African wars. Susannah George has joined the HONG KONG: OPC member Suzanne agency’s Washington bureau to cover TORONTO: OPC member Scott Sataline filed a story for VOA News sur- U.S. intelligence agencies and national Gilmore wrote an opinion piece that rounding a recent directive from the Chi- security. George was part of the team of appeared in the Canadian news magazine nese government requiring Hong Kong sci- reporters that won the OPC’s award for best Maclean’s. In an article entitled “The G7 entists and researchers to demonstrate their international reporting showing a concern Question: How do we America-proof the “love the country and Hong Kong” in order for the human condition for their coverage West?” Gilmore argues that the U.S. has to receive state funding. More than 20 edu- of the ISIS defeat in Mosul. George has turned from a keystone of the Western cational groups and individuals launched been reporting for AP since 2015, when alliance to a “rogue member” of the G7 a petition in protest, saying that including she was hired as acting bureau chief in that other member must protect themselves a patriotic test could interfere with their Baghdad. Her coverage was also part of a against. He cites Trump’s recent maneuvers, work. Sataline quoted Carrie Lam, the city’s body of work that was named as a Pulitzer such as starting trade wars with five G7 chief executive, as saying the furor was an finalist this year. members, calling Canada a national security overreaction, and that “some commentators threat, and scolding French President have read too much into this term.” The an- PARIS: OPC member Rachel Donadio Emmanuelle Macron over the phone, while nouncement comes as Hong Kong hammers has filed several stories forThe Atlantic he congratulated Putin after rigging the out a bill under Beijing’s orders, that would about political developments in Europe Russian election and celebrated China’s require citizens in the special semi-auton- over the last few weeks. She wrote at the Xi Jinping for being declared “president omous region be required to honor China’s end of May that the collapse of a populist for life”. Gilmore wrote that Canada national anthem. Sataline has been an OPC coalition in Italy has set the country on a should distance itself from the U.S. as member since 2016. path of instability with possible ripples Trump makes increasingly bad diplomatic across the EU. After the coalition of the decisions. Gilmore also suggests that PEOPLE REMEMBERED anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and Canada should invest in their own armed Longtime CBS News correspondent and right-wing League party dissolved, Donadio forces and take a lead role in international former Associated Press reporter Murray wrote, strengthened the countries hard-liner crises such as the Syrian civil war. Gilmore Fromson died on June 9 after a battle with right and sparked a de facto referendum has been an OPC member since 2015. Alzheimer’s disease at age 88. Fromson is on the euro currency. Only one week known for coverage of key stories of the later she wrote a piece entitled “It’s the OPC member Simcha Jacobovici’s 20th Century, including the Korean War, the Right Wing’s Italy Now” profiling Matteo documentary “Hollywoodism: Jews, Vietnam War, civil rights, and the famine in Salvini, the leader of the League party and Movies and the American Dream” was Bangladesh. He reported from Hong Kong, the country’s new interior minister, who is featured on June 2 as part of a special , New Delhi, Tokyo and other calling for more migrant deportations. “We matinee series titled “This Jewish American countries during his career. He later became need to keep these desperate people in their Life” at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema a journalism professor at the University of countries of origin through an economic in Toronto. The 1998 film shed light the rise Southern California and directed its j-school collaboration that blocks their departure,” of several Hollywood moguls, including from 1994 to 1999, had a particular interest he announced during a visit to a migrant Louis B. Mayer, Harry Warner and Sam in fostering international journalism. He is arrival point off the coast of Sicily. Donadio Goldwyn. The documentary, co-directed also known as a champion of press freedom is a Paris-based staff writer atThe Atlantic, with Stuart Samuels, is based on Neal during a time when President Richard covering politics and culture across Europe, Gabler’s book An Empire of Their Own: Nixon’s administration was using subpoe- and has been an OPC member since 2016. How the Jews Invented Hollywood. nas to summon reporters and pushing them to violate confidentiality with sources. He MANILLA: OPC member Aurora MOROCCO: OPC member Sudarsan was a founding member of the Reporters Almendral has continued award-winning Raghavan filed a story from Morocco for Committee for Freedom of the press in coverage of Philippine President Rodrigo The Washington Post about issues facing 1970. v African migrants who can no longer travel Duterte’s brutal drug war for The New through Libya to Italy due to European York Times, with pieces delving into ripple efforts to stem the number of immigrants effects of the crackdown and profiling law reaching Europe. He traced new alternative enforcement behind the operation. In the routes that immigrants use that wend first week of June, Almendral filed a story through Morocco to reach Spain. Raghavan about Ronald dela Rosa, the chief of the wrote that more than 8,200 migrants have Philippine National Police, and a separate reached Spain in the first five months of story about those who have been displaced 2018, with more than 240 people dying by the antidrug campaign, which has on their way to Spain due to perilous claimed at least 4,000 lives, with thousands June 2018 7 7 PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE... By Farwa Zaidi The Committee to Protect Journal- and the driver’s door open. Cvetkovic has with supposed traffickers of stolen fuel. ists has announced this year’s International been critical of Serbian officials and investi- The meeting had been a trap to target the Press Freedom Award winners from across gated claims of embezzlement. The Serbian journalist, who is an investigative reporter. the globe, including heroes in the Sudan, Association of Independent Journalists says Two journalists were murdered in the same Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam. Honor- he has been the target of numerous acts of state late last year. Shantanu Bhowmick was ees are Amal Khalifa Idris Habbani, a intimidation a violence, including death beaten and stabbed to death., and another, freelance journalist and contributor to the threats. Sudip Datta Bhaumik, was shot and killed. Sudanese news outlet Al-Taghyeer, who faced physical attacks, imprisonment, and The apparent staged death of Russian jour- At least seven Palestinian journal- threats by the authorities in connection nalist Arkady Babchenko has sparked ists were injured by Israeli gunfire while with her reporting; Nguyen Ngoc Nhu condemnation and confusion after news covering protests in the Gaza Strip on May Quynh, knows as “Mother Mushroom,” one that he had been murdered in Ukraine 14. Thousands of Palestinians had been of Vietnam’s most prominent independent turned out to be a sting operation by protesting for seven consecutive weeks bloggers, who has been imprisoned since Ukraine security officials aimed at exposing against Israel refusing to allow refugees to 2016 on charges connected to her work; his would-be killers. Babchenko turned up return to their pre-1948 homes. The protests Luz Mely Reyes, a Venezuelan investiga- at a press conference the day after news of coincided with three events: Israel’s 70th tive reporter and co-founder of the inde- his death, and explained tat he’d been in on Independence Day, Palestinians’ commemo- pendent news website Efecto Cocuyo, who the plot for more than a month. The story ration of the anniversary of their displace- has covered politics in Venezuela for more has sparked calls for more transparency in ment, and the opening of the US Embassy than 25 years; and Anastasiya Stanko, the case. Reporters Without Borders con- in Jerusalem. Of the seven journalists shot, a journalist and TV presenter who fighting demned the actions outright, saying that two required intensive care afterwards. Yas- censorship and was taken hostage in eastern there is no justification for faking a journal- ser Qudeih, a freelance photographer for the Ukraine in 2014 while covering the Russian ist’s murder. In an open letter, CPJ President daily Palestine, and Nihad Fuad, a reporter annexation of Crimea. The CPJ will also Joel Simon demanded that President Poro- for a community radio station. Since the present the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award shenko answer key questions about the inci- protests started on March 30, at least 22 to Maria Ressa, who in 2012 founded dent, and expressed deep concern for press journalists have been hit by live rounds fired Rappler, a Philippine news website known freedom implications, including undermin- by the Israeli Defense Force. Two of them for bold coverage of President Rodrigo ing confidence in the work of journalists - Yaser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein - Duterte’s controversial policies and orders. and tempering public outrage when they are later died from their injuries. The awards will be presented during a din- killed. ner on Nov. 6. Egyptian police detained blogger Wael A suspect arrested on June 12 in connection Abbas on May 23 and later charged him The CPJ blasted the US Justice Depart- with the shooting death of newspaper editor with “spreading false news” and “joining a ment for going after a journalist’s data Gauri Lankesh in India has confessed to banned group.” [what group?] Police arrived for the first time under President Trump’s being the gunman, according to local me- at his Cairo home at dawn and took him to administration. Prosecutors obtained re- dia reports. Lankesh was shot and killed in an undisclosed location. According to The cords from telecommunications companies, September last year in the state of Karnataka Arabic Newtork for Human Rights Informa- including Google and Verizon as part of an in southwestern India in an incident widely tion, the police did not present a warrant or investigation into leaked government in- thought to be carried out by Hindu extrem- give any reason for the arrest. They blind- formation. “We fear it could be an opening ists. Police assigned a special team to inves- folded him and seized his computer, phones salvo in an ongoing battle over reporters’ tigate Lankesh’s murder. The editor was an and books. He has been blogging since ability to protect their sources,” the CPJ said outspoken critic of Hindu nationalism. The 2004, often criticizing the Egyptian govern- in a statement. The Obama administration suspect, Parashuram Wagmore, is a member ment and security forces. Last year, Abbas prosecuted a record number of cases involv- of the far-right Hindu group Sri Ram Sene, told the CPJ that hackers had tried to break ing leaks, including subpoenas for records and told police that he was recruited to car- into his email and social media accounts of Associated Press reporters. During a ry out the shooting in May last year to “save after he reported on the government’s crack- press conference last year, Attorney General my religion.” He said he had shot Lankesh down on NGOs. In 2010, he was convicted Jeff Sessions pledged to triple the number of several times from the back oa motorcycle on charges of “providing telecommunica- leak investigations, and called for review of outside her home on Sept. 5, 2017. tions to the public without permission from Justice Department policies to make obtain- authorities” after publishing a series of blog ing journalist records easier. Meanwhile, another journalist in India, posts accusing the government of human Suman Debnath, was nearly killed on rights abuses. Serbian investigative reporter Stefan June 18 in the state of Tripura when two Cvetkovic was found alive and well after unidentified attackers stabbed him with a Indian paramilitary officials have been going missing for two days near the town of knife and attempted to slit his throat. Neigh- accused of assaulting freelance reporter Bela Crkva. President Aleksandar Vucic said bors heard Debnath cry out and came to Muheet ul Islam. The journalists said the journalist turned up without any trace his rescue, causing the main suspect to flee, that officers from the Central Reserve Police of injury. His car had been found on June 13 though a second was arrested. Debnath had Force (CRPF) beat him on June 2 while he June with the motor running, the lights on gone to the location, an oil depot, to meet was on his way to the funeral of a civilian June 2018 8 9 who’d been crushed to death by a CRPF were attacked by demonstrators who had influential radio and TV journalist in the vehicle the day before. Islam was going to gathered to support the president before he Villahermosa region. He was the founder the funeral in Srinagar city, when he noticed surrendered himself to authorities. Report- and host of “Panorama Sin Reservas,” a ra- the road had been cordoned off with barbed ers with three radio stations, CBN, Band- dio show that focused on local politics. He wire. HE said when he told an officer that news FM, and Jovem Pan, and three TV also presented a news program on the TV he was a journalist on his way to cover the channels, Bandnews, Rede TV, and Globo, channel Canal Nueve. The governor of Ta- funeral, the officer began physically and ver- suffered verbal and physical violence. Simi- basco, Arturo Nunez Jimenez, told sources bally assaulting him, and six or seven other lar attacks were reported in different cities that Huerta was the target of a planned CRPF officers then joined in, beating ul Is- in early April. Reporters’ vehicles in Sao murder, not just a victim of a random crime. lam on the back, arms and legs. In a separate Paulo and Brasilia were attacked and their Mexico is the deadliest country in the west- incident on the same day, witnesses reported windows were smashed. In Joao Pessoa, ern hemisphere for journalists. that CRPF officers in Srinagar beat Junaid demonstrators attacked the Cabo Branco TV Bazaz, a reporter for Kashmir Reader. headquarters. The president’s imprisonment The body of Mexican journalist Hector has intensified an already polarized Brazil. Gonazalez Antonio was found on May Two Pakistani journalists were abducted The upcoming presidential election in Oc- 29 with signs that he had been beaten to in separate incidents on June 5. Journalist tober is expected to fuel increased violence death. Gonzalez was a correspondent for Gul Bukhari was abducted by unknown towards the media. national newspaper Excelsior and the tele- men while on her way to record a television vision program Imagen. An unidentified program for Waqt News. Bukhari is a senior MURDERS person found his body in Cuidad Victoria, journalist known for outspoken criticism Yemeni journalist Anwar al Rakan died the capital of the northern Mexican state of the military. She was in a press car on two days after he was released from a Houthi of Tamaulipas. He was last seen leaving his her way to the station when her vehicle was prison as a result of mistreatment during his girlfriend’s house the night before at ap- intercepted in an army cantonment area detention. A Yemeni journalist group said he proximately 11:00 p.m. His face and body near her home. The driver was forced out, was ravaged by starvation, torture and dis- showed signs that he had been beaten with beaten, and told to run away. The men put ease when he was released. His family did rocks. The head of the Federal Special Pros- a mask on Bukhari and dragged her off. She not know he was being detained, so did not ecutor for Attention to Crimes Committed was released a few hours later and tweeted a campaign for his release. Family members Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) confirmation that she was safe. On the same said Houthi militiamen in Al-Houban prov- told CPJ on May 30 that a federal investiga- night, BOL TV journalist Kharal was in- ince arrested him about a year ago after he tion had been opened. Gonzalez’s colleagues tercepted on his way to Lahore airport and had departed from the Houthi-controlled say that the journalist had never received beaten. He sustained several injuries to his capital, Sanaa. The family said press cards threats in relation to his work. He covered head. Kharal is critical of the former ruling tha soldiers discovered were the reason he general news, including politics and crime, party, and often reports on government cor- was arrested. for Excelsior and Imagen. His most recent ruption. articles for Excelsior were on crime in Mexican journalist Alicia Diaz Gonza- Tamaulipas, including gang activity and the Privately owned Liberian newspaper Front lez was found murdered on May 24. Her arrest of four police officers involved in a Page Africa is facing a $1.8 million sons discovered her body soon after she was kidnapping. v civil defamation lawsuit. The newspaper killed, in her home in Monterrey, the capital has long been dogged by complaints and of Nuevo Leon. She bore marks of multiple harassment for critical reporting on the blows, including stab wounds to the back of government. This lawsuit relates to an her neck. Nothing was stolen during the at- advertisement about land administration tack. Diaz was working for the El Finaniero published by the paper in March. On April newspaper, covering local business, real es- 9, court sheriffs delivered a summons to the tate, taxation and public investment. She had newspaper’s Monrovia office. Police briefly previously written for the El Norte and La detained at least seven journalists, and shut Moneda newspapers. Her colleagues said down the office. The staff was held at a civil that Diaz did not cover “sensitive” topics. court for three hours before their lawyer A Nuevo Leon judicial official said that “all posted bond for their release. The paper re- lines of investigation are open.” Diaz is now opened on the same day, and has continued the fifth journalist to be murdered in Mexico to publish. Liberian journalists are often since the start of 2018. intimidated and harassed with defamation lawsuits and ordered to pay exorbitant fines. Mexican journalist Juan Carlos Huerta was gunned down near his home on May Journalists in Brazil were attacked and 15. Huerta lived in Villahermosa, the capital verbally abused in April while attempt- of southeastern state of Tabasco. He had just ing to cover President Luiz Inacio Lula de left his home in his car when gunmen in a Silva’s last minutes of freedom before he gray vehicle blocked his route and shot him was sent to prison. At least eight journalists several times. Huerta was a well-known and

June 2018 9 9 NEW BOOKS By Farwa Zaidi

Overseas Press Club for his National Geographic work PHOTOJOURNALISM “The Illegal Trade in Endangered Wildlife.” Raymer PC member and former National Geo- has also received multiple honors from the National graphic staff photographer Steve Raymer has Press Photographers Association and the White House v Opublished a visual memoir entitled Some- News Photographers’ Association. where West of Lonely: My Life in Pictures [Indiana University Press, May 2018]. Raymer, now an YEMEN Indiana University professor emeritus, collected more than 150 images and wrote around nterfaith dialogue can be a challenge to 65,000 words of text and captions begin, promote and encourage. This is especially to present a career that spans five Itrue in a country like Yemen, a majority Muslim decades as a writer, photographer, country where people of different faiths are enemies. and professor of journalism and The Fox Hunt: A Refugee’s Memoir of Coming to media ethics. America [William Morrow, April 2018] tells the story Photographs in the book capture of how four interfaith activists saved a Yemeni Mus- vistas and people from Raymer’s lim man’s life in a grueling thirteen-day ordeal. travels in 100 countries and five Born in a devout Muslim household, author continents, documenting conflicts Mohammed Al Samawi was taught that Jewish people and tragedies such as famines in and Christians were responsible for all the world’s Bangladesh and Ethiopia, and ex- turmoil and spent most of his life not questioning posing corruption surrounding the these beliefs. That was until at the age of twenty- controversial Trans-Alaska pipeline. three, he met a Christian man named Luke, who gave In a blog post about his career on the Indiana Uni- Al Samawi his first Bible. After reading it, the author versity Press website, Raymer said following global realized commonalities between Christianity and stories took him to what he called “embattled corners Islam. He began connecting with Christians and Jews from the world” including the Middle East, Afghani- on social media and used his newfound knowledge stan, South Asia, Northern Ireland, to become an activist El Salvador and Cambodia, where in Yemen, spreading he was wounded in 1974. “In these interfaith dialogue and and many other cases, it was my promoting unity. job, or calling, to take an unblinking Many people were look at the world’s heartaches,” he upset with his new wrote. “In my experience, it is not activism. He began the pay or the awards that motivate receiving death threats. war correspondents, but a sense of To protect himself and moral outrage at the obscenities of his family, Mohammed our times.” moved to the southern Thomas R. Kennedy, executive port city of Aden. The director of the American Society city would soon become of Media Photographers and former director of a battleground in a north- photography at National Geographic, wrote that West south civil war and a proxy conflict between Iran and of Lonely “expresses clearly what it takes to make Saudi Arabia. While his city exploded with grenades compelling visual journalism that informs and edu- and gunshots, Mohammed holed up in his bathroom cates, and how the experiences of the life journey as and desperately tried to reach his Facebook contacts. a National Geographic photographer shaped his view A handful of people responded. The Fox Hunt of his own responsibilities.” follows four young, ordinary people with no Raymer is also author and photographer of international diplomacy experience as they helped Al Redeeming Calcutta: A Portrait of India’s Colonial Samawi escape Yemen. The group worked across six Capital [Oxford University Press, 2012], Images of technology platforms and social media sites to save a Journey: India in Diaspora, [Indiana University his life. Despite low food and water supplies and the Press, 2007], Living Faith: Inside the Muslim World threat of electricity outages, Al Samawi ended up on of Southeast Asia [Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., an Indian Naval ship to America. 2001], and St. Petersburg, a 1994 book about the Studio executives have acquired an option to imperial Russian capital. make The Fox Hunt into a film in coming years, with Raymer has won multiple awards for his photogra- La La Land producer Marc Platt and Oscar-winning phy. He was awarded “Magazine Photographer of the screenwriter Josh Singer attached to the project. Year” from Pictures of the Year International for his re- porting of the global hunger crisis in 1976. He received a citation in the 1981 Olivier Rebbot category from the June 2018 10 their water. If you understand how the press works, its norms and constraints, it’s not terribly complicated to use it to your advantage (which is to say, to manipulate it). I don’t much like being used; but it’s the feeling of being trapped, unable to do anything to avoid being used, that I truly despise. Scott Sayare When traveling, you like to … Meet the OPC Members: Walk, and walk everywhere. Hardest story: The hardest stories for me Q&A With Scott Sayare have always been the ones that involve speaking with victims of some sort, and by chad bouchard journalism and, insofar as I had no experi- especially those that involve speaking ence whatsoever, I was a particularly with victims who don’t particularly want cott sayare is a writer and poor candidate. I did speak good French, to speak. There are few better ways to feel reporter based in Paris. He reported though – I’d learned in high school – and like a parasite. Sfor five years for The New York I speculated that I might be able to parlay Times with the paper’s bureau in Paris, my language skills into some sort of Journalism heroes: There are so many, during which he filed stories from across relationship with an American news outlet but Orwell above all the rest, I suppose. France, southern Europe and North Africa. in France. I moved to Paris to get a job, He currently writes for The Atlantic, GQ, not with the usual stars in the eyes; it was Advice for journalists who want to and Harper’s. only after I’d arrived, I’m embarrassed to work overseas: Listen carefully, and ask admit, that I really became interested in why. A big part of the job is interpreting Hometown: I grew up in Boston. France in its own right, or in Europe or cultures not your own; the best way to get North Africa more generally. to know those cultures, and how they op- Education: Stanford University, BA in erate on the people who inhabit them, is to Human Biology. Major challenge as a journalist: ask those people to explain them to you. Finding stories, especially stories with Languages you speak: French; enough enough narrative and intellectual meat for Favorite quote: A theory of journalistic Portuguese to be a danger (mostly to a magazine feature. It’s absurd that this practice that I’ve always liked, from Mi- myself); enough Maghrebi Arabic to earn should be so difficult, but I’ve never met a chael Herr: ”I stood as close to them as I an occasional smile. journalist who thought it was easy. could without actually being one of them, and then I stood as far back as I could wi- First job in journalism: Intern at the AP Best journalism advice received: thout leaving the planet.” bureau in Paris – an undeserved first shot It’s not journalism advice, exactly, but on for which I will forever remain grateful. the first day of the only journalism class Most over-the-top assignment: I ever took, the instructor (a brilliant re- Maybe not over-the-top, exactly, but re- Countries reported from: France, porter and foreign correspondent himself) porting on wolves and shepherds from the Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, England, told us that if we were ever approached middle of nowhere in the southern Alps is Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, by a journalist, we should immediately probably the most fun I’ve had (and the Canada. turn and run. His point was that journal- most exercise I’ve gotten) as a journalist. ists are dangerous, because they, and not When and why did you join the OPC? their subjects, control the stories they tell. Most common mistake you’ve seen: In 2017, to keep abreast of colleagues, I think that’s absolutely right, and I try Not daring to ask. mostly. to remind myself that people are always putting themselves in danger when they Twitter handle: @scottsayare v How did you become involved in speak with me. I’m grateful for their reporting in the French-speaking willingness to take the risk. world? My interest in reporting from the French-speaking world was, at the Worst experience as a journalist: outset, entirely logistical. When I finished Those moments when I feel I’m part of college, where I studied science, I decided the media circus – this is a feeling I asso- Want to add to the OPC’s collection of that I wanted to be a reporter. It was a bad ciate with press conferences, in particular Q&As with members? Please contact time to be looking for a job in American – being used by the powerful to carry [email protected].

June 2018 11 40 West 45 Street New York, NY 10036 USA Phone 212.626.9220 Fax 212.626.9210 opcofamerica.org

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

40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036, USA • Phone 212.626.9220 • Fax 212.626.9210 • opcofamerica.org 12 June 2018