MONTHLY NEWSLETTER I June 2017

Panelists Discuss the Future of and Mentorship With The Media Line INSIDE hosted to discuss the crucial link EVENT RECAP Event Recap: between policy and journalism Preview of ‘Letters by chad bouchard and to celebrate the agency’s Press From Baghdad’ 3 and Policy Student Program. The any journalists and Event Recap: program offers students studying media watchers have Screening of journalism, public policy or interna- voiced growing concern ‘Hell on Earth’ 4 M tional relations one- about the future of journalism in on-one mentorships, Event Recap: an era of constant challenges and Foreign Editors Circle GREGORY PARTANIO GREGORY either remote or Click here uncertainty. With diminishing trust by Michael Serrill 5 on-site in the to watch video in traditional media, sound reporting Felice Friedson, left, talks to Shirley from the event. Middle East with 6-8 dismissed as “fake news” and blatant and Arthur Sotloff. People Column The Media Line falsehoods passing for news content, news bureau’s veteran Press Freedom the information stream has been Update 9-10 cy covering the Middle East, told at- journalists. Selected students can polluted. tendees during a recent forum at the earn academic credit or pursue inde- “Many of us are disgusted when Q&A: OPC. “I tell you that our forefathers pendent study. Yaroslav Trofimov 11 we look at the media and try to un- would turn in their graves.” Former OPC President David derstand what is going on,” Felice 12 Friedson made her remarks on Andelman, who serves on the pro- New Books Friedson, president and CEO of The Tuesday, June 13 at an event that Media Line, an American news agen- the OPC and The Media Line co- Continued on Page 2

OPC Attends JPC Freedom of the Press Conference staff cuts and the closing of for- McClatchy, the Herald and interaction with subscribers. EVENT RECAP eign news bureaus,” she said at and more than 100 other media They share notes and story ideas by patricia kranz the Press Club’s Second partners. and solicit tips and insights from International Conference on the Mayka Blok, media strategist readers. Blok lamented the power PC president Deidre Freedom of the Press on May 8-9. for De Correspondent, a member- of , which she claimed Depke told a crowd of in- Her panel was titled “Innovation funded Dutch news website, tweaks its algorithm frequently to ternational journalists that O and Press Freedom.” described how her company cre- divert readers from media web- there are reasons to be optimistic Depke pointed out that several ated a profitable business model sites to Facebook. “Facebook is about the future of journalism in OPC awards this year went to through crowd-sourcing and evil,” she said several times. the despite myriad journalists who received funding subscriptions. The site launched Giving the keynote speech challenges. from those non-profit groups. For in 2013 after raising $1.7 million was Carl Bernstein of Watergate “Partnerships between news example, the Malcolm Forbes in 30 days. Since then, the site has fame. outlets and non-profits like Award was bestowed on “The signed up more than 50,000 sub- GroundTruth, the Pultizer Center Panama Papers,” a massive global scribers who pay about $65 a year. OPC Executive Director and the International Consortium investigation of financial cor- More than 30 correspondents write Patricia Kranz also attended the of Investigative Journalists are ruption conducted by the ICIJ, in-depth stories based on reporting event in Jerusalem. v helping to fill the gap created by 1 1 gram’s Board of Professional money and technology will end up Advisers, helped to facilitate the determining what is on the air or event. what is published.” “Where are we today if we Kalb said despite these chal- Peter Yarrow don’t have a press that’s not just lenges, he remains optimistic in the PARTANIO GREGORY free but a press that’s reliable and light of passion and tenacity he sees responsible?” Friedson asked. in journalism’s next generation. at with an to resonate in their hearts what it “The bottom line is that it’s about “It’s much more difficult for emphasis on Human Rights. is that’s being shared so that they being complete. That’s what we them now than it was for me in my Asaf Zilberfarb, a recent grad- come to a conclusion. We can’t teach our students.” time, but somehow or another I’m uate of Dartmouth College who have a democracy unless people Friedson said The Media Line absolutely persuaded that they are interned at The Media Line during can synthesize information.” has trained four dozen young stu- going to do it. They’re going to the rise of ISIS in 2014, said one Yarrow spoke about an or- dents with internships at the Jeru- pull it off, and we’re all going to of his first assignments was to ganization he co-founded called salem bureau over the last decade. be the better for it.” pose as a prospective ISIS joiner Operation Respect that seeks to During the event, she an- During the program, Friedson from London, using social media tackle bullying and bolster self- nounced the launch of the distance interviewed three alums of the to approach recruiters to see how esteem. More than a decade ago, learning partnership with six uni- program who worked at The Me- far he could get. the group launched an educational versities around the world, where dia Line bureau. “We got pretty far,” he said. program and curriculum called students are paired with mentors Liana B. Baker, who is cur- (“Too far,” added Friedson.) “We Don’t Laugh at Me, which has remotely in The Media Line’s rently a business journalist at were contacted by a lot of people been disseminated in schools Middle East bureau to help them covering mergers and ac- and it really provided us with a across the globe, including many shape and strengthen stories. The quisitions, recalled the early days lot of insight as to how this kind in the Middle East. The program Media Line recently wrapped up of her internship in 2006, when of movement and flow of people expanded after an op-ed written a pilot program at Atlantic the Lebanon War was dominating happens, and how easy it is, and by Felice Friedson alerted the US University. Other partners include headlines. how surveillance doesn’t really Embassy to the program which the the Middle East Studies Depart- “You had me look at some exist in the virtual space, at least embassy ultimately sponsored, a ment at King’s College in London, of the sectarian strife in Lebanon not then.” development that Friedson points Al-Quds University in the Pal- and how there’s different sects of Zilberfarb, who speaks , out illustrates the link between estinian territories as well as the Muslims and Christians. I wrote spent much of his time translating media and policy. The program University of Houston, University sort of an explainer, and that was a local newspapers. He spoke about is now in 60 percent of Israeli of Denver and University of Mi- whole new subject for me. That’s following the range of coverage schools and preparing to launch in ami, with about 50 more currently where [The Media Line] is really and angles across Arabic media the Palestinian territories. Yarrow discussing partnerships. great,” she said, “finding the sto- on a single story, like the boycott also performed the song Weave In introducing the program, ries in the Middle East that no one of . Me the Sunshine, and led a sing- writer and media consultant Neil else is covering. Where else could “One of the things I learned along with attendees. Berro lauded The Media Line’s you read an explainer on groups in from Michael [Friedson] and Friedson then spoke with “commitment to an honest broker- Lebanon?” Felice and the other people in the Arthur and Shirley Sotloff, the ing to find the truth, to work with Baker was attending North- newsroom is this idea that there parents of Steven Sotloff, an people of all sides.” western University at the time of isn’t a single truth. It’s about American journalist who was held During introductory remarks, her internship. completeness. It’s about providing hostage by ISIS for a year before long-time The Media Line adviser Katie Beiter, who worked in different narratives to the same he was brutally killed in August , Edward R. Murrow the Middle East, wrote a total of story. And that couldn’t be more 2014. Steven filed stories for The professor at Harvard and senior about 50 stories for The Media important than political work and Media Line while working in the fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Line during her stint there after in policy work,” Zilberfarb said. Middle East, and was in close Center on the Press, Politics and studying at Rice University, a file He will take the press to policy contact with Friedson in the days Public Policy, addressed journal- that Friedson said works out to an paradigm to economics at Ernst before his disappearance. ism’s rapidly changing landscape average of about one story every Young. She said Steven was frustrated and the effect of financial pressure day. Peter Yarrow, renowned singer that news agencies would not on the quality of reporting. “I joke with Felice that I from the folk trio Peter, Paul and publish his reporting on the devel- “Everywhere you turn today racked up quite the international Mary, spoke about the crucial link opment of ISIS in , and yet the idea of the internet is central phone bill, and I had a permanent between policy and journalism. today the story remains a solemn to the way in which we get infor- kink in my neck from all the time “Something is happening in reminder of journalism that could mation and the way in which we I spent on the phone, Beiter said. this administration that is so fasci- have affected policy had his voice communicate with one another,” But it was my first dip into learn- nating and so mesmerizing that the been heeded. he said. “And that has, in my ing how to research, be inquisitive, substance of what is going on and Friedson recalled talking to opinion, coarsened what was once synthesize that information and the context is obscured,” he said. Steven over the last weekend be- a beautiful, honest pursuit of fact. then learn how to impart it.” She “It’s increasingly difficult for the fore he disappeared, asking him if Today we look at a time when will do that next semester studying ordinary citizen to have the raw he trusted his . “Steven was a material to make decisions, and bit naive, frankly. But on the other 2 hand he was one of the most bril- liant young journalists that we’ve Filmmakers ever seen in terms of understand- CHAD BOUCHARD ing what was happening in front Discuss Left to right: Lamia Al Gailani Werr, Lisa Anderson, Zeva Oelbaum and of us.” Sabine Krayenbuhl. Shirley Sotloff remembered ’s ‘Queen had shifted to the background and the natives. Really genuinely seeing seeds of Steven’s interest sadly by the time we finished the believed that. Knew the language, in journalism and narrative at a of the Desert’ film, the Middle East is once again cared deeply, thought that British very young age, writing “scary in the headlines” influence was the best thing that stories” as early as six years old, EVENT RECAP Research took the filmmakers could happen but thought that this and later resurrecting his high by chad bouchard to more than 25 different archives should be on the way to empow- school newspaper and becoming around the world, including some erment - the kinds of things that editor-in-chief. She said he showed ar, sectarian based in , the Netherlands, [Bell] said.” a great interest in the stories of his conflict and the rise of France, U.K., Germany and the One of Bell’s biggest legacies grandparents, who were Holocaust terrorist groups like W U.S. A Gertrude bell archive at is her dedication to the creation of survivors. “He would listen to his ISIS have dominated headlines Newcastle University held pho- the Iraqi National Museum. Lamia grandma and grandpa talk about about Iraq for more than a decade. tographs and 1600 letters that she Al Gailani Werr, a British-Iraqi the atrocities that happened to Some observers point to roots wrote to her family. archaeologist and expert in the them, to their families as they lost of conflict that reach back to the Oelbaum said they were establishment of the museum, also everyone in the Holocaust,” she drawing of artificial boundaries by surprised to discover how much spoke on the panel. She provided said. Steven later pursued journal- Western powers following the fall “Miss Bell’s” legacy remains an update on efforts to recover ism at the University of Central of the Ottoman Empire in 1920. present in Iraq, even as knowledge some of the 15,000 objects that Florida. Gertrude Bell, a British spy and of her story has faded in her home were looted from the museum dur- Arthur Sotloff said Steven was explorer who is sometimes called country of the U.K. Bell was ing the U.S. invasion in 2003. deeply curious and had a knack for the “female Lawrence of Ara- addressed with the title “al “About 4000 have come back getting people to open up to him. bia,” was a central figure Khatun,” an honorific usu- and the rest haven’t,” she said. Arthur remembered that in high in the early forging of Click here ally reserved for queens. “Very few have come out in the school, while working to revive the this amalgamized nation to watch video Oelbaum said when [black] market, so where have school newspaper, Steven made a and the shaping of the clips from the the Iraqi Ambassador to they gone? Of about 5000 of the point of sitting at different tables Middle East. discussion. the United States recently [inscribed cylinder seals], which during lunchtime so he could talk On May 17, the OPC saw the film at a screen- are small objects, only 600 have with different people each day. hosted a special sneak ing in Washington D.C., he come back.” v “I miss him a lot,” Arthur said. preview at International House of remarked that “you really need to He added that Steven was one a new documentary about Bell’s understand this is a real term of OPC ANNUAL MEETING of the first reporters on the scene life, Letters from Baghdad. respect and it’s not a term that’s SEPTEMBER 5th after the 2012 attack on US facili- Bell traveled widely in Arabia thrown lightly around,” she recalls ties in Benghazi, Libya, and was before being recruited by British him as saying. “So there seems to The OPC Annual Meeting, open able to track down and interview military intelligence during WWI be enormous recognition still in to all members, will be held on guards at the facility whose ver- to help draw the borders of Iraq Iraq about her.” Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 6:00 p.m. at sion of events contradicted the US and as a result helped shape the Also speaking on the panel Club Quarters. government’s narrative. modern Middle East. was Lisa Anderson, a specialist “He was just trying to make Following the screening, a on politics in the Middle East and This year, the OPC will elect people aware of what was going panel including filmmakers Sabine North Africa who was president of ten (10) Active board members on that nobody else was reporting. Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum The American University of Cairo and two (2) Associate board And that’s why he went into . discussed the project and the from 2011 to 2016. members to begin two-year He was the voice of the voiceless.” Bell’s legacy. Anderson said that often terms. Next month’s Bulletin will In concluding the event, Krayenbuhl said they chose portrayals of Bell default to her feature bios and messages from Friedson said that The Media Line Bell as a subject for a documenta- unusual role as a woman in a candidates. pushes students to find material ry in part because of its relevance world of men. outside of their comfort zone, and and parallels to more recent “But she’s also a representative To cast your vote, you will to be thorough in their report- turmoil. of a very interesting complicated receive an email from the OPC ing. She encouraged attendees to “From the beginning, we role in the 20th century which is with a link to Balloteer, our become involved in mentorship for thought this film would make a the liberal imperialist,” she said. online voting service, or you can young journalists. great springboard for discussion,” Who many see as “real creeps.” call the office for a paper ballot “This is our future,” Friedson she said. “When we started the “That’s how we think of them at 212-626-9220. said. “This is how we take back film five years ago, it was at the perhaps, but that era had lots journalism.” v moment the U.S. had pulled out and lots of people who thought Results will be announced at the of Iraq, so the political context they were doing good things for annual meeting.

3 Junger and Quested Probe Conflict in Syria for ‘Hell on Earth’ by chad bouchard if you just judge by n Wednesday, May 24, the OPC the amount of people hosted a special screening and killed.” discussion of the documentary Hell Junger talked O about the responsibil- On Earth: The Fall Of Syria And The Rise of ISIS, with filmmakers Sebastian Junger and ity of nations to pro- Nick Quested. tect refugees fleeing The film puts the atrocities of this brutal conflict. paramilitary group in historical context, The filmmakers tracing the roots of ISIS to the rebel move- also talked about ment against Bashar al-Assad in Syria as Western fighters who well as U.S. mishandling of the aftermath of have joined ISIS, and the Iraq War. what their fate might Hell On Earth was cut from 1,000 hours be if the organization CHAD BOUCHARD Sebastian Junger, left, and Nick Quested. of footage that includes that of a family was successfully put living under ISIS control that finally fled to down. . Asked what the filmmakers would hope Junger said to get footage of the family, President might glean from they sent them cameras and gave the film if he watched it, Quested them loose technical instructions. said he would like to impart a “We were very clear with them: Click here sense of compassion for those who self-document, but only make to watch video are fleeing violence. clips from the “They were forced to flee decisions that you yourselves are Q&A. making for your own welfare. And because of the intense bombing by eventually they decided to flee the Russians and Assad, and then ISIS territory, which was a very risky thing by the very nature of living under to do,” he said. “We were incredibly lucky the Islamic State. That’s really the primary because not only did they get through safely take away. If he could but these two guys who had never shot understand that if New video and their lives shot some of the most York was attacked moving profound footage of the entire film.” now, we’d be facing The film also follows Kurdish fighters all kinds of the same in Sinjar and Shia militias in Iraq as well choices.” as al-Qaida-affiliated fighters in and around One audience mem- and . ber who was preparing Since there was little chance of safely to go to the Middle “embedding” with ISIS, the filmmakers East to work for an aid drew from ISIS propaganda films to repre- organization asked if sent their strategies and recruitment. Images Junger thought the role of patriotic songs and violent rhetoric were of journalists might be juxtaposed against nationalistic images of changing. “The role of doc- CHAD BOUCHARD other countries, such as the US and France. OPC member Jacqueline Albert-Simon, left foreground, tors is to cure illness, “Every society is sort of blind to its own asks Junger and Quested about imagery used in the film. violence, really,” Junger explained. “And to help people to alle- people are particularly irrational in how viate suffering. And the role of journalism is they evaluate violence. [Bashar Al-Assad] to bring the truth out. End of sentence. And has killed far more people than ISIS, but I don’t think that will change,” he said. ISIS because of the public nature of the Hell on Earth debuted at the Tribeca violence are sort of known as the bad guys. Film Festival in April and aired on National And they’re terrible people you know I’m Geographic, which produced the film. not defending them. But what we forget Junger and Quested previously col- in America, or the news consumer forgets laborated on a trio of films about the war in is that Assad is roughly eight times as bad : Restrepo, The Last Patrol and Which Way is the Front Line From Here. v 4 Journalism in the Age of Trump by michael serrill war-torn countries to the West; the backlash against globalization; the rollback of democracy in countries uch has been made of how the administra- like Turkey, Hungary and Russia; and the retreat of tion of President Donald Trump requires a U.S. leadership in global affairs. On the last trend, he Mdifferent kind of coverage than its predeces- noted the silence of the Trump administration when con- sors. Washington Post editor Marty Baron disagrees. fronted with the crushing of dissent in nations such as “Our traditional role serves us fine,” he says. That role, Turkey and Venezuela. he adds, is to be “an honest observer” of political events The dangers of overseas reporting were addressed and then to “tell the people what we’ve found.” by Gary LaFree, a University of Maryland professor That classic approach, of course, has resulted in a and founder of the National Consortium for the Study of series of spectacular scoops for the Post, including its Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). LaFree report that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had has compiled a database of attacks on journalists around lied to other government officials about his contacts with the world; it counts 1,165 kidnappings of news men and the Russian government. Flynn was fired days later. women and 1,300 murders since 1970. Some 146 of the Baron was speaking to the Foreign Editors Circle, a killings happened in 2015 alone, LaFree said. Hannah gathering of foreign editors and others who meet annu- Storm, executive director of the London-based News ally to discuss the challenges of covering the world. This Safety Institute, said that two journalists are killed every year it was held at the plush, spacious headquarters that week for doing their jobs. Her the Post occupied after its purchase by Amazon founder group is a forum for informa- Jeff Bezos. tion sharing and has provided Baron did acknowledge that the Trump administration safety training for more than has a marked hostility toward the media. “I am not sure 2,500 staff and freelance Trump has read the First Amendment; he skipped over it journalists. and went right to the Second,” Baron joked. Still, he said, Storm noted that a growing “we shouldn’t be partisan, though the administration is category of journalistic harass- trying to portray us as partisan.” ment is virtual, and that women The Post editor lamented that Trump’s disrespect are most often targeted online. for the press extends beyond our shores. Unlike other “In almost all situations the Presidents of both parties, “he is not a good advocate attacks become sexualized,” for freedom of the press around the world. When the she said. Baron said Post re- Secretary of State [Rex Tillerson] doesn’t allow reporters porters have been subjected Marty Baron to travel with him, that is a bad sign.” to a flood of online assaults POST. WASHINGTON THE OF COURTESY CARIOTI, RICKY So, he said, is Trump’s “admiration for [Russian since Trump’s election, many President] Putin and others who control the press.” of them anti-Semitic and some threatening violence. The The Foreign Editors Circle meeting was organized by paper has had to beef up security at its offices as a result. the Vienna-based International Press Institute and The Outside the U.S., the internet, rather than a boon to . More than 20 foreign editors and repre- free speech, has too often become a vehicle of oppres- sentatives of media organizations, including the Overseas sion. “Sovereign control of the internet” is the rule in Press Club, the GroundTruth Project and the International much of the world, Baron noted – “a tool of authoritarian News Safety Institute, spent the day discussing global regimes.” politics, the dangers of overseas reporting, particularly The internet is also the great disrupter of U.S. journal- for freelancers, and the continuing struggle of news out- ism’s economic life. Newspapers in particular “are still lets to survive in the internet age. struggling to figure out the model in major metropolitan The difficulty of dealing with an Administration that areas,” Baron said. “We have to deepen the level of labels fact-based reporting as partisan was a persistent engagement, get people to read the second and third day theme. John Daniszewski, standards editor and for- story. We have to prove to our readers every day that we mer foreign editor of The Associated Press, noted that have value.” even that scrupulously objective news outlet has been One way to do that is with high-impact investigative denounced as anti-Trump. Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial stories of the kind underwritten by the non-profit Pulitzer editor of the Post and former foreign editor, asked, “How Center for Crisis Reporting. The Center, founded by Jon do you react to Trump? Do you call him on his lies? Do Sawyer, who attended the Washington meeting, has spent you engage with him? He wants us to get into an argu- $2 million in the past decade providing direct grants to ment with him.” reporters working on international stories. One result: In his talk to the group, Diehl outlined four trends four winners of this year’s Overseas Press Club Awards that will dominate global affairs in coming years: were backed by the Pulitzer Center. v the uncontrolled movement of people from poor and

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By Trish Anderton OPC SCHOLARS Journalism Review. Vernon is cur- OPC member and 2015 Emanuel R. rently a CJR Delacorte Fellow. Freedman scholar Ben Taub has won a prestigious Livingston Award Ed Ou, Dan Eldon Scholarship – the largest all-media, general- winner in 2007, is now a visual jour- reporting prize in the country. The nalist with NBC Left Field, a new Livingston, which is sponsored by documentary journalism unit of NBC the John S. and James L. Knight News. NBC Left Field bills itself Foundation and the University of as an internationally-minded video Michigan, honors accomplished jour- troupe that makes short, creative nalists under age 35. Taub won for docs and features, all designed for “The Assad Files,” his New Yorker social media and internet. Ou will be Velshi story about smuggled documents that based in . He is currently IMAGES TALAIE/GETTY RAMIN tie Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to torture represented by Reportage by Getty and other abuses. Images and has previously worked Velshi told Forbes the show sprang for Reuters and The Associated from the lively conversations the Elisa Mala, the Flora Lewis Intern- Press. two would have in his office about ship winner in 2012, has a six-month stories that were getting overlooked contract at Google in New York. OPC member and 2004 Roy Rowan in the increasingly frantic breaking She will be managing logistical Scholar David Shaftel has co- news environment. “We’re not run- components at three offices for the launched a tennis magazine called ning a market show at all, and we’re Engineering Residency program, a Racquet with Caitlin Thompson of not doing personal finance,” Velshi rotational program for early-career the Swedish podcasting company said. “It’s this whole category in the engineers. Elisa spent her OPC Acast. “We are in this world and we middle.” The show airs on Saturdays Foundation fellowship in the AP bu- love it. We were doing it before we at 12:30 Eastern Time. reau in Bangkok. had a magazine,” Thompson told the Nieman Lab, adding that Racquet OPC member Howard Chua-Eoan Stephen Kalin, who won the Roy is positioned to be an independent has been named co-deputy editor Rowan Scholarship in 2013, is now voice in what she sees as the insular of Bloomberg Businessweek, a role senior correspondent in the Reuters world of tennis broadcasting and he shares with Jim Aley. He will bureau in Riyadh. Stephen joined journalism. Shaftel is a freelancer continue overseeing the front of the Reuters in 2013 and was posted to in ; he has lived and book in addition to his new duties. Beirut, Cairo, and Bagdad before worked in Mumbai, London, Trini- Chua-Eoan is a former news director moving to his current position in dad, Louisiana and Cambodia. for TIME magazine and has written Saudi Arabia. He’ll be working several books. alongside Katie Paul, the Irene WINNERS Corbally Kuhn winner in 2007. Katie OPC member Dean Baquet handed Hannah Dreier, who won the Hal has been a staff reporter covering the Mirror Awards i-3 Award for Boyle Award at the OPC Annual business and politics in Saudi Arabia Impact, Innovation and Influence to Awards Dinner this spring, is slated since September 2015. New York Times Publisher Arthur to start covering immigration for O. Sulzberger Jr. on June 13. The ProPublica in July. Dreier has been Pete Vernon, the 2016 Theo Wil- awards are presented by the New- the AP’s Venezuela correspondent for son Scholar, had some house School at Syracuse University. three years. Her winning story, “Ven- measured words for The “ recognizes, ezuela Undone,” is also a finalist for New York Times after it evaluates and embraces the digital a Gerald Loeb Award. eliminated the position transformation of journalism to re- of public editor. The pa- main relevant in a constantly evolv- “Latin America has a great deal to per said it would handle ing landscape,” said Newhouse Dean teach the rest of the world,” says reader feedback directly Lorraine Branham in a statement. New York Times Brazil bureau chief via social media and the The Fred Dressler Leadership Award Simon Romero, who is moving comments section, but went to , who won the back to the U.S. after 12 years in that’s “a curious way of OPC President’s Award in 2013. the region. “[T]he portrayal of Latin replacing an experienced America as a simmering cauldron of journalist who could of- UPDATES problems doesn’t coincide with the fer nuance and perspec- NEW YORK: OPC member Ali region I’ve had the privilege of cov- Vernon Velshi is co-hosting a new show on ering,” he told the Knight Center for MICHAEL DAMES MICHAEL tive while writing with the institutional backing MSNBC. Velshi & Ruhle pairs him Journalism in the Americas. Romero of the nation’s most influential news- with fellow anchor Stephanie Ruhle won the 2013 Robert Spiers Ben- paper,” he wrote in The Columbia to discuss big-picture business news. jamin Award. He will remain at the

6 7 Times, where he’s been since 1999, before,” wrote Times executive edi- consistent with initial accounts of an and will cover immigration from his tor and OPC member Dean Baquet RPG attack. Gilkey, a photographer, home state of New Mexico. and managing editor in and Tamanna, a reporter working as a memo. The paper hopes to hire up an interpreter, were traveling in a The Associated Press has pub- to 100 additional journalists with the convoy of on a remote road lished a lengthy review of its World savings. in southern Afghanistan when their War II-era arrangement with Nazi vehicle came under attack. NPR is Germany, in which A.P. photos were Other New York-headquartered out- continuing to investigate their deaths. published in Nazi propaganda and lets experiencing layoffs or buyouts Nazi photographs were made avail- include HuffPost, Vocativ and Time NPR’s Steve Inskeep, who shared able to U.S. news outlets. The report, Inc. HuffPost laid off 39 staffers the OPC’s 2014 Best Multimedia written by Columbia University “as part of a corporate-wide layoff in News Presentation with others at adjunct assistant professor and for- connection with Verizon’s acquisi- NPR, is co-hosting a new podcast mer A.P. editor Larry Heinzerling, tion of Yahoo,” according to a state- aimed at capturing the morning news concludes that the wire service “took ment from the employees’ union. audience. Up First is a ten-minute steps to retain its independence and Yahoo and AOL, operating operating podcast distributed every weekday provide factual, unbiased informa- as a single business unit called Oath, by 6 a.m., in which Inskeep, David tion to the world despite intense own HuffPost and other properties. Greene and Rachel Martin highlight pressures from Nazi Germany.” A Time Inc. announced in June that the top two to three stories of the German historian has claimed the it’s cutting 300 positions worldwide day. It is positioned to take on The arrangement allowed the Nazis to through layoffs and buyouts with a New York Times’ short morning “portray a war of extermination as a goal “to become more efficient and newscast, . conventional war.” to reinvest resources in our growth areas.” Vocativ cut some 20 writers “When you’re coming here, you’re and text editors as it shifts its focus coming broken,” Mexican immigra- to video. tion activist Rudy Lopez told OPC Foundation board member Nicho- First Look Media’s Topic studio las Schifrin in a recent story on de- plans to turn the story of Vietnam portation. Schifrin headed to Mexico War reporter Kate Webb into a to see what’s happening to longtime movie. On the Other Side will star U.S. residents who are being sent Carey Mulligan and is slated to start there. He found deportees disoriented production in 2018, according to in an unfamiliar country, missing the New York Post. While serving as their families in the U.S. and unsure UPI’s bureau chief in Phnom Penh in Inskeep

how they were going to make a liv- 1971, Webb was captured by the Viet JOHN PEMBLE (FLICKR) ing in Mexico. Schifrin is a special Cong and held for 23 days; her death correspondent for PBS News Hour. was reported in The New York Times before she was finally released. The PHILADELPHIA: Former OPC IBT Media, which bought News- native New Zealander went on to Governor Michael Moran has week in 2013, has rebranded itself as report from the Philippines, Iraq, joined software firm microshare, Media Group. News- Indonesia, South Korea and Afghani- where he will manage communica- week is now the company’s mass- stan before retiring to her adopted tions and security strategy, among market news brand; it continues homeland of Australia. other duties. Moran, an international publishing more narrowly focused security and political analyst, previ- properties, including International WASHINGTON, D.C.: NPR says ously worked at Control Risks. He Business Times, iDigital Times, Latin new information casts doubt on the has also worked for numerous news Times and Medical Daily. Adweek re- official account of the deaths of its organizations, including as a cor- ports the newly reorganized company journalists David Gilkey and Zabi- respondent for the BBC and head of will also produce conferences and hullah Tamanna in Afghanistan international news for Radio Free other events. last year. “The two men were not the Europe/Radio Liberty. random victims of bad timing in a The New York Times has offered dangerous place, as initial reports in- LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles buyouts to editors as it reorganizes dicated,” wrote NPR’s Robert Little Times announced another round of newsroom roles. “Our goal is to on June 9. “Rather, the journalists’ buyouts in June. In a memo, editor significantly shift the balance of edi- convoy was specifically targeted by and publisher Davan Maharaj said tors to reporters at the Times, giving attackers who had been tipped off the buyouts would be voluntary and us more on-the-ground journalists to the presence of Americans.” Fur- limited to non-union employees with developing original work than ever thermore, the men’s injuries were not at least 15 years of employment at

7 7 PEOPLE

the paper. Some 80 reporters and edi- as a member of the famed “Class of Westmoreland issued an order saying tors left the paper in a previous round 1977” – the first class accepted in the female journalists could not stay in of buyouts in 2015. wake of the Cultural Revolution, and the field with troops overnight. This one that yielded a number of politi- effectively barred them from most SYDNEY: OPC member Stephen cal, intellectual and business leaders. combat missions. Morrissy helped Dupont has created a live stage “They had rich life experiences and organize a handful of women to show around his conflict photogra- were good in academics,” FlorCruz appeal to the Defense Department, phy. “Don’t Look Away” debuted at told the audience.”They were keen to which overrode the ruling. Morrissy Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary learn and help reform China.” Flor- worked for ABC news, covering civil Art and will tour nationally. “I’ve Cruz, who retired as CNN’s Beijing rights and the space program before spent years doing talks and lectures, bureau chief in 2014, is writing a her assignment to Vietnam. keynotes,” he told the Sydney Morn- book about the Class of 1977 slated ing Herald. “I needed another kind for publication at the end of this year. Sally Jacobsen, the A.P’s first of approach to my work, one that female international editor, died on uses photographs, soundscapes, mu- MOSCOW: A green disinfectant May 12 in Sleepy Hollow, New York sic and videos, but called zelyonka has become a tool of at the age of 70. After assuming the FlorCruz most importantly oppression in Putin’s Russia, OPC top editorial position over the news one that allows me member Sabra Ayres recently wire’s foreign bureaus in 1999, she the presence on reported in the . oversaw coverage of the wars in Af- stage to deliver re- Journalists and activists have have ghanistan and Iraq. Veteran AP cor- ally personal and had the liquid thrown at them, some- respondent Bob Reid said Jacobsen revealing stories.” times mixed with other substances, was “a calm, steady, collegial hand” Dupont lives in in an apparent effort at intimidation. for reporters laboring in war zones. Sydney and divides Opposition leader Alexei Navalny Jacobsen began her career at the AP his time between underwent surgery in May to repair in Baltimore in 1976 and later served production there and damage done to one of his eyes in as a correspondent in Mexico City work in the field. such an attack. and Brussels. v

BEIJING: OPC PEOPLE REMEMBERED member Jaime Anne Morrissy Merick, who FlorCruz was recognized at Peking worked with other female reporters University’s 119th anniversary cel- to overturn a ban on women staying ebration along with two other distin- overnight in battle zones in Vietnam, guished alumni. FlorCruz was inter- died on May 2 in Naples, Florida. viewed onstage about his experiences She was 83. In 1967 Gen. William PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE... A Venezuelan court has fined other Arab Gulf states in early June. able, and unlawful.” Gianforte also one of the country’s most popu- The network said the “systematic vowed to donate $50,000 to the lar news sites the equivalent of and continual hacking attempts” Committee to Protect Journalists. $500,000 for causing “moral dam- were “gaining intensity and taking He faces charges of misdemeanor age” to former Vice President Di- various forms” but that its platforms assault. osdado Cabello. The court ruled the had not been compromised. La Patilla website had committed The president of Mexico has civil defamation by republishing a Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs vowed to prioritize journalist safety story alleging connections between has accepted an apology from Con- and fight impunity for those who kill Cabello and a drug trafficking ring. gressman-elect Greg Gianforte of journalists. Enrique Peña Nieto Cabello has denied the allegations. Montana, who threw Jacobs to the told the CPJ that his administration La Patilla founder Alberto Ravell floor when the journalist attempted would follow up on crimes against told a Colombian radio network he to ask him a question on the eve of members of the media and fund planned to appeal. the election. Gianforte had initially federal protections that are slated to issued a statement blaming Jacobs run out of money this fall. Mexico is Al Jazeera reported all of its for the incident, but in his apology currently one of the most dangerous digital platforms had come under letter he wrote that his “physical places in the world to be a journalist. cyberattack after a rift opened be- response to your legitimate ques- tween its home state of Qatar and tion was unprofessional, unaccept- The names of 14 slain journal-

8 9 ists were added to a memorial at the lease journalists from jail, and allow first time. They say the journalists Newseum in Washington, DC on closed media outlets to reopen. Some are suffering from health problems June 5. The 14 hailed from Brazil, 165 journalists are currently jailed in caused or worsened by their im- Mexico, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Turkey – more than any other place prisonment. According to Reporters Libya, , Syria and Ukraine, in the world. Without Borders, arbitrary arrests and they symbolize “all those who and disappearances have increased died in pursuit of the news in 2016,” China has moved to exert even sharply since the beginning of the according to the museum. The Jour- stronger control over internet access Saudi-led military campaign against nalists Memorial was established by imposing licensing requirements the Houthi militia in . in 1837 and now bears 2,305 names. on news organizations. The new rules would require news websites to Indian cable station NDTV has The UN’s special rapporteur on be incorporated in China and run by accused the government of a “witch freedom of expression says press a Chinese citizen. Journalistic joint hunt” after the nation’s Central Bu- freedom in Japan is in danger. In ventures would need special security reau of Investigation raided homes a recent report, David Kaye argued clearance and only publicly-funded and offices connected to NDTV’s government pressure on the media, a news gathering operation would be founders. The bureau said the raids lack of public debate over historical allowed, according to the CPJ. The were related to allegations of bank events, and crackdowns on infor- regulations require news sites to fraud, but NDTV and other news mation “require attention lest they “serve the people, serve socialism,” outlets linked them to government undermine Japan’s democratic foun- while providing “correct guidance” criticism of the station’s cover- dations.” Among other concerns, he to the public. age. “A message is being sent out,” cited the nation’s 2014 secrecy law, Praveen Swami, a reporter for The which could makes journalist vul- A man in Thailand has been Indian Express, told The New York nerable to prison terms of up to five sentenced to 35 years in prison for Times. He added that “journalists years for involvement in leaks. Ja- criticizing the king. Human rights who are very influential are finding pan’s UN ambassador, Junichi Ihara, advocates say it’s the harshest pun- that their access has been cut off” if responded tartly, saying “It is regret- ishment ever meted out by the nation they crossed the government. table that some parts of [Kaye’s] for violating its lese majeste law, report are written without accurate according to the Bangkok Post. The MURDERS understanding of the government’s 34-year-old man was charged with ● The founder of a Russian news- explanation and its positions.” posting on Facebook 10 times about paper that covered corruption was the monarchy; he was sentenced to killed in Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk A Mexican journalist who sought 70 years in prison but the punish- Krai, Siberia on May 24. Dmitry asylum in the U.S. has returned to ment was cut in half because he con- Popkov was the editor-in-chief of his home country after being held fessed. The sentence suggests new Ton-M, a paper that bore the slogan for more than three months by Im- king Maha Vajiralongkorn, who took “We write what other people stay migration and Customs Enforcement. the throne in 2016 after the death of silent about.” The 42-year-old was In a statement, Martín Méndez his father, is unlikely to reform the found shot to death in a Russian Pineda said “maltreatment, humili- repressive law. bathhouse, according to the Moscow ation and abuse by local authorities” Times. The newspaper had previ- forced him to waive his claim and Officials in have blocked ously been subjected to political leave the U.S. voluntarily. According access to 21 news sites, claiming pressure and police raids. to the Knight Center for Journalism they backed terrorism or reported in the Americas, Méndez has re- fake news. According to Reuters, the ● Mexican journalist Javier ceived death threats in Mexico since target outlets include Al Jazeera, the Valdez, who was known for his writing about allegations of abuse by Huffington Post’s Arabic website and reporting on the drug trade and authorities there. local independent news site Mada organized crime, was shot to death Masr. Egypt’s state news cited a on May 15 in Culiacán, Mexico. Press freedom organizations are senior security source as saying the Attackers opened fire on Valdez’s car calling on the U.N. Human Rights news sites supported terrorism and on a busy street in broad daylight, Council to pressure Turkey over published lies. according to . Valdez its treatment of journalists. PEN was the co-founder of Riodoce, a International, ARTICLE 19, the Press freedom organizations are regional weekly newspaper, as well a Committee to Protect Journalists, demanding the release of ten Ye - a correspondent for the Mexico City Human Rights Watch, International meni journalists who have been daily La Jornada. Valdez was a past Press Institute and Reporters With- detained for two years in Sana’a. winner of the CPJ’s International out Borders called on the council to Family members say the ten men Press Freedom Award and the Maria press the Erdogan regime to halt its have not been charged and some Moors Cabot Prize from the Colum- crackdown on free expression, re- were only recently questioned for the bia Graduate School of Journalism.v

9 9 NEW BOOKS

REFUGEE WORLD WAR II

n August 13, 2004, 10-year old Sandra hen trailblazing World War II journal- Uwiringiyimana’s life changed forever. The ist Ruth B. Cowan showed up to cover the Orefugee camp where she was sleeping in Wconflict in Sicily, General Patton was more Gatumba, Burundi, was attacked by men with guns, than a little skeptical about the idea of a female war machetes and torches. In the ensuing chaos, a man put correspondent. a gun to Uwiringiyimana’s head – but didn’t fire. “What’s the first law of war?” he quizzed her. “Perhaps he didn’t want to waste a precious bullet on “You kill him before he kills you,” came the a little girl,” Uwiringiyimana muses in her book, How answer. Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child [Katherine “She stays,” the general decreed. Tegen Books, May 2017]. “I was just a girl, after all, so Ray Moseley’s Reporting War : How Foreign how could I possibly survive? I imagine this is what he Correspondents Risked Capture, Torture, and Death was thinking.” to Cover World War II [Yale University Press, March An explosion knocked Uwiringiyimana to the 2017] is full of colorful stories like these that capture ground and she ran away. Her six-year-old sister the experiences of a generation of pioneering journal- Deborah was not so lucky; she died that night in their ists. mother’s arms. Like all conflicts, World War II reflected a chang- Uwiringiyimana and her family are members of the ing social landscape. It was the last war in which Banyamulenge, a tribe that faces discrimination in her American journalists wore military uniforms and native Democratic Republic of Congo. They had fled held honorary ranks. It cemented women’s place as from Congo a few months earlier to escape threats of conflict reporters – although, like Martha Gellhorn violence. Now the violence had come to find them. famously stowing away on a hospital boat to cover D- The book, co-written with OPC Governor Abigail Day, women often had to bend the rules to get close Pesta, traces Uwiringiyimana’s path from that terrible to the action. night, through her family’s arrival a few years later as A handful of black reporters covered the war; in refugees in the United States, and to her eventual fame addition to reporting on the fighting, they provided as an artist and activist around refugee issues. How Dare insight into the racism faced by black soldiers. “The the Sun Rise is clearly written with young women in Negro troops are full of injustices done them by mind, but Uwiringiyimana’s powerful, clear voice and various army officers,” wrote Roi Ottley of the PM Pesta’s storycraft combine to create a narrative most newspaper and Liberty magazine. “Americans deeply readers will find compelling and moving.v resent what little freedom Negroes enjoy here.” Journalists often confronted the same dangers as the troops, without the means to fight back. And their casualty rates showed it. Of the 1800 correspondents accredited to the Allies, 69 died on the battlefield. Reporters suffered a 2.2 percent death rate, close to the 2.5 percent borne by the military. The injury rate among journalists was actually higher than for the troops. Even though more than half a century has passed, today’s war cor- respondents will see echoes of their own experiences here – from the agony of trying to file from remote conflict zones (some WWII report- ers resorted to carrier pigeons) to struggles with external and internal censorship. Moseley himself spent decades reporting for UPI and the from places including London, Berlin, Cairo, Belgrade and Nairobi. His painstakingly researched book, crammed with both facts and anecdotes, presents a detailed account of what reporters faced covering the world’s bloodiest conflict.v — By Trish Anderton

10 When traveling, you like to … Walk through the city, to feel its pulse on the street level, wherever possible. Have time to understand the culture and the way people think. Generally: to blend in.

Hardest story: Covering the deaths of people you know and love.

Journalism heroes: Anthony Shadid and . For depth of writing, caveats et al: Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Advice for journalists who want to work overseas: Learn languages and read lots of history books because in many places history, no matter how ancient, still isn’t in the past. When there, break out of the expatriate bubble. And don’t trust what diplomats and Yaroslav Trofimov officials say: they often know far less than you. Meet the OPC Members: Dream job: Current one. Favorite quote: “The fool doth think he Q&A With Yaroslav Trofimov is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – Shakespeare. by trish anderton Countries reported from: Close to 100 – across the Middle East, Europe, Asia Place you’re most eager to visit: Syria. aroslav Trofimov is a and Africa. columnist and senior correspon- Most over-the-top assignment: Ydent at , Year you first became an OPC Cage-diving with great white sharks in where he writes the weekly Middle East member: 2003. South Africa, for a story on how they Crossroads column. He joined the Jour- increasingly get used to eating humans nal in 1999 and has served as Rome and Major challenge as a journalist: in that area. (The cage had much bigger Middle East and Singapore-based Asia Remain objective. We are all human and openings than I imagined.) correspondent, as well as bureau chief in we all have feelings, sometimes very Afghanistan and . Previously he strong ones when we experience wars. Most common mistake you’ve seen: worked at Bloomberg News. He is the Objective coverage doesn’t mean moral Making assumptions based on author of two books, Faith at War and equivalence between the killer and the insufficient reporting. Siege of . victim, obviously. It’s one thing to give both sides fair play when you cover an Country you most want to return to: Hometown: Kiev, Ukraine (as in place election in Germany, it’s another when Cambodia. of birth); London and New York (as in you are being bombed by one of them where most friends live). in a civil war. Equally, it is hard – on a handle: @yarotrof v human level – to remain objective when Education: New York University (MA) you are on an “embed” with soldiers on Want to add to the OPC’s collection of Kiev Institute of Economics (BS). whom you rely to protect your life, but Q&As with members? Please contact whose potential misdeeds you would [email protected]. Languages Spoken: Italian, Russian, have to document. French, Ukrainian, Spanish, Arabic. Best journalism advice received: Make First job in journalism: Writer for The another phone call and see if someone European, a now defunct weekly based else can confirm or explain. in London. Worst experience while on the job: Writing a story that then doesn’t run.

11 UPCOMING EVENTS

Mixer at THE HALF KING 7:00 p.m. June 27 Annual Meeting Open to all members 6 p.m. Sept. 5

Steve Herman Martin Smith White House Bureau Chief President PAST PRESIDENTS Voice of America Rain Media EX-OFFICIO Douglas Jehl Charles Wallace Marcus Mabry Foreign Editor Freelance Writer Michael Serrill Vivienne Walt David A. Andelman Anjali Kamat Correspondent John Corporon Correspondent TIME and FORTUNE Allan Dodds Frank BOARD OF GOVERNORS Fault Lines Alexis Gelber Al Jazeera English ASSOCIATE BOARD MEMBERS­ William J. Holstein PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Scott Kraft Bill Collins Marshall Loeb Deputy Managing Editor Deidre Depke Hannah Allam Director, Public & Larry Martz New York Bureau Chief Reporter Los Angeles Times Business Affairs Larry Smith Marketplace BuzzFeed Rachael Morehouse Ford Motor Company Associate Producer Richard B. Stolley FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Molly Bingham Emma Daly Deborah Amos President & CEO CBS News 60 Minutes Communications EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Correspondent NPR OrbMedia, Inc. Robert Nickelsberg Director Patricia Kranz SECOND VICE Rukmini Callimachi Freelance Photojournalist Human Rights Watch PRESIDENT Foreign Correspondent OFFICE MANAGER Calvin Sims Michael Oreskes Sarah Lubman The New York Times Boots R. Duque President and CEO Senior Vice President Partner International House Anupreeta Das of News /Editorial Director Brunswick Group EDITOR Reporter NPR THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Daniel Sieberg Wall Street Journal Chad Bouchard Pancho Bernasconi Mary Rajkumar Global Head Vice President/News Chris Dickey International Enterprise of Media Outreach OPC BULLETIN Getty Images Foreign Editor Editor Google ISSN-0738-7202 ­ The Associated Press TREASURER The Daily Beast, Paris Minky Worden Copyright © 2015 Abigail Pesta Scott Gilmore Roxana Saberi Director of Global Over­seas Press Club Freelance Journalist Initiatives Freelance Journalist International Columnist of America Human Rights Watch SECRETARY Maclean’s Magazine Lara Setrakian Liam Stack Charles Graeber Co-Founder & CEO Breaking News Reporter Freelance Journalist News Deeply The New York Times and Author

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