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THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOL. 64 NO. 3 FALL 2010 VOL. 64 NO. 3 FALL 2010 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY ATHARVARD FOUNDATION NIEMAN THE PLACES FARAWAY FROM REPORTING 2010 FALL 3 NO. 64 VOL.

Reporting From Faraway Places Who Does It and How? ‘to promote and elevate the standards of journalism’

Agnes Wahl Nieman the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation

Vol. 64 No. 3 Fall 2010 Nieman Reports The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

Bob Giles | Publisher Melissa Ludtke | Editor Jan Gardner | Assistant Editor Jonathan Seitz | Editorial Assistant Diane Novetsky | Design Editor

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THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOL. 64 NO. 3 FALL 2010

Reporting From Faraway Places: Who Does It and How? 4 Introduction by John Maxwell Hamilton

Who Does It? 6 Even in Digital Age, ‘Being There’ Still Matters in Foreign Reporting | By Bill Schiller 8 Correspondents: They Come in Different Shapes and Sizes | By James Reynolds 11 Adding ‘Far-Flungs’ to a New Kind of Reporting Partnership | By Doug Struck 14 Should Local Voices Bring Us Foreign News? | By Solana Larsen 15 The Attention Deficit: Plenty of Content, Yet an Absence of Interest | By Ethan Zuckerman 16 ‘It’s the Audience, Stupid!’ | By Maria Balinska 18 When Journalists Depart, Who Tells the Story? | By Michael J. Jordan

How Is It Done? 21 Bearing Witness: The Poet as Journalist | By Kwame Dawes 23 Chasing Haiti | By Amy Bracken 26 Tanzanian Travels: Why Flexibility Matters | By Jeb Sharp 28 The Uninvited: Snapshots From Hyena Square | An Essay in Words and Photographs by Jeffrey Porter 32 Into Africa—With a Newspaper in Iowa | By Perry Beeman

What Perspective? 34 Leaving a Sad and Difficult Story in Gaza Behind—For a While | Conversation with Taghreed El-Khodary 37 A Foreign Correspondent as Suspect | By Nirupama Subramanian 40 When ‘We’ Don’t Want to Know About ‘Them’ | By Afsin Yurdakul 42 Piecing Together a Mosaic of America | By Pekka Mykkänen

Who Pays? 45 The Sometimes Bumpy Nonprofit Ride Into Digital Foreign Correspondence | By Jon Sawyer 47 It’s Not Like It Used to Be | By John Schidlovsky 49 A Global Investigation: Partners + Local Reporters = Success | By David E. Kaplan 51 Africa—Revealed on GlobalPost Through People-Oriented Stories | By Andrew Meldrum 53 An Odd Couple: Journalists and Academics | By Monica Campbell 55 Creating a Go-To Digital Destination for Foreign Affairs Reporting and Commentary | By Susan B. Glasser 57 Connecting Correspondents With Broadcasters | By Henry Peirse 59 Similar Paths, Different Missions: International Journalists and Human Rights Observers | By Carroll Bogert 61 Living Manhattan, Feeling Zamboanga | By Phil Zabriskie

What Happens in War? 63 This Is How I Go | By Kevin Sites 66 Bonds of Friendship on an Emotional Journey | By Joseph Kearns Goodwin 67 Noticing Quiet Amid the Battles of War | By Chris Vognar 69 From War Zones to Life at Home: Serendipity and Partners Matter | By Jason Motlagh 71 Trust and Perception: Powerful Factors in Assessing News About War | By Matthew A. Baum

What Are the Risks? 73 Brutal Censorship: Targeting Russian Journalists | By Fatima Tlisova 74 Journalists Who Dared to Report—Before They Fled or Were Murdered | By Fatima Tlisova 77 A Journalist’s Near-Death Experience in Chechnya | By Anne Nivat

What Can Be Taught? 80 Teaching the Science of Journalism in China | By Glenn Mott 83 An American Observes a Vietnamese Approach to Newsgathering | By Sam Butterfield 85 Investigative Journalism in the Arab World | By Justin D. Martin 86 Taking Those First Small Steps | By Madeleine Blais

3 Curator’s Corner: Overcoming the U.S. Visa Denial of a Colombian Nieman Fellow | By Bob Giles

88 Nieman Notes | Compiled by Jan Gardner 88 In South Africa, Connecting With a Wealth of Nieman Fellows and Finding Signs of Hope | By Nancy Day 90 Class Notes 98 End Note: A Texas Border Community Grapples With Illegal Immigration | By Chris Cobler

For slideshows featuring the work of some of the contributors in this issue, go to www.niemanreports.org.

Cover: The Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston. Photo by and courtesy of Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe.

2 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Curator’s Corner

Overcoming the U.S. Visa Denial of a Colombian Nieman Fellow A collaborative effort reverses a ‘permanent’ decision by the State Department and enables investigative reporter Hollman Morris to join his classmates at Harvard.

BY BOB GILES

he e-mail message from Hollman Morris was un- activities.” He said the denial was permanent and that the expected. It was “urgent,” he said. “Please call im- federal Privacy Act restricted him from saying more. mediately on Skype.” I reached him and his brother, With guidance from Harvard’s general counsel, I wrote TJuan Pablo, in Bogota. His image on the computer screen to the State Department’s office of consular affairs with revealed a stricken man at pains to say that he had just details of Hollman’s exemplary work as a journalist and been told by the United States Embassy in Bogota that it asked for a review of his case for a visa. The story became had denied his application for a visa to travel to Cambridge public on July 9 in a dispatch from Frank Bajak, The for his Nieman Fellowship. Associated Press’s bureau chief in Bogota. Juan Forero Hollman said the denial was based on accusations by the followed the next day with a piece in The Washington Post. Colombian government linking him to the leftist guerrilla I was asked to write an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, group FARC. His probing television reports had disclosed and soon news spread widely via Twitter and Facebook. abuses by the country’s intelligence agency, angering the Stories, columns and editorials followed. Thoughtful, Colombian government. Particularly, he said, his travel persuasive letters to the State Department, the White to southern Colombia to interview senior FARC leaders House, and Alvaro Uribe, then president of Colombia, were for a documentary on kidnappings had raised suspicions. written by Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect He shared his fears that these serious allegations would Journalists, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, endanger his life. As I said goodbye, I repeated our assur- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organiza- ance that the Nieman Foundation would do all it could tion of American States, American Civil Liberties Union, to reverse the U.S. State Department’s decision. At that International Federation of Journalists, Dart Center for moment, on June 18, it seemed like an empty promise. Journalism and Trauma, National Association of Hispanic What a paradox. The government of the United States, Journalists, International Press Institute, North American with its longstanding commitment to press freedom Congress on Latin America, the journalism school faculty worldwide, was turning away a journalist whose ground- at the University of Texas, and other organizations. breaking work had exposed him to persecution by his own Nieman Fellows wrote to express outrage and ask what government and the grave possibility of personal violence. they might do. I called on members of the Nieman class Colombian officials have accused Morris of being “close of 1988 to contact their classmate, Juan Manuel Santos, to the guerrillas” and “an accomplice of terrorism,” but who was to become president of Colombia on August 7. the State Department’s denial made little sense against As efforts continued, documents were disclosed reveal- its own history of granting him visas to enter the U.S. ing that the Colombian intelligence agency had conducted to accept awards and make speeches. Could this decision a systematic campaign to discredit and harass Hollman. be an unintended consequence of our national obsession A number of separate back channel contacts reaching with terrorism? into the White House and the highest levels of the State The task of trying to reverse the decision seemed daunt- Department gave us hope that the visa decision might be ing. I turned first to the Committee to Protect Journalists reconsidered. As a security measure, Hollman took his whose mission it is to protect journalists worldwide. Joel family to Spain where, on July 22, he sent an e-mail say- Simon, the executive director, knows Hollman and the ing, “There is good news that I hope to share with you in prominence of his work and moved quickly to build a full detail as soon as I return to my country and have a coalition that would explore how to undo the decision. In new conversation with the consulate.” a series of conference calls, we decided first to gather as A week later Hollman called with a joy in his voice to much information as we could and to quietly reach out to say that he and his family had their visas and would join sources in the State Department and in Congress. his Nieman classmates. Over and over, he said how happy I called Scott Renner at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to he felt and thankful he was to have friends and colleagues ask for a clarification of the reasons for the visa denial. He who supported him. Overcoming the improbable odds of said that Hollman was ineligible for a visa under a provision persuading the State Department to change its mind was of the Immigration and Nationality Act covering “terrorist made possible by an inspiring community effort. 

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 3 Reporting From Faraway Places: Who Does It and How?

BY JOHN MAXWELL HAMILTON

In trying to figure out the future of foreign newsgathering, let’s start with this unpleasant truth: Few people really care much about news from abroad. They tell pollsters that they do, of course, but they are fibbing. They know that they should care—after all, everyone knows foreign news is important—or they are embarrassed to admit that events overseas just don’t seem that urgent when they are rushing to gulp down news. Nor does serious international news sell. Just ask newsmagazine editors: When a foreign news story goes on the cover, newsstand sales head down. Or ask online publishers of international news about the stories people decide to click on. GlobalPost’s cofounder Charles Sennott shared with a New York Times Magazine reporter that two of the most popular stories during his Web site’s first year of operation were about a racy cartoon in India and cat costumes designed in Tokyo. I do not raise these unhappy truths to suggest we must resign ourselves to news media that ignore the rest of the world. Thinking realistically about foreign news can help us fashion good solutions. So can a little historical perspective showing why finding new ways to do this has become so urgent. The mass media system that piled up profits for owners in the 20th century served foreign news relatively well. A handful of prestige media with public-spirited owners and relatively elite customers—the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and the Chicago Daily News, and CBS, when it was described as the Tiffany network—excelled at foreign news. Others gave their audiences less, but still something, largely by drawing on wire services. This helped them attract a mass audience, which pulled in advertisers. This system is sputtering. Foreign correspondence as a standalone business proposition is at a huge disadvantage. It is one of the most expensive kinds of reporting to do, and because of its relatively small audience, advertisers generally are not keen to finance it. The obvious conclusion: We need new ways to subsidize foreign news coverage. The Christian Science Monitor, with its long tradition of outstanding foreign reporting, points us in one direction. The mother church sustained the paper for decades and still does as the Monitor has moved online. This philanthropic approach is spreading. A good example of the nonprofit model is the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. After selling all their news properties in 2005, Pulitzer family members gave more than $1 million to Jon Sawyer, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington bureau chief, to start the independent center, which now has multiple donors to help it support journalists as they cover overlooked foreign stories. One sign of the viability of such a strategy is that old-line news organizations air and publish these stories. Traditional media organizations, however, are often unwilling to pay much for the material they use. There also is the worry that foundations will lose interest as they generally like to move from one intriguing idea to another. Another way to subsidize foreign news is to charge the consumer more for the reporting than a news organization does. This works especially well with financial news, and it’s a model that The Wall Street Journal adopted early in the digital news era. Bloomberg News, which also charges for

4 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 some of its financial news, has 105 bureaus overseas, staffed by close to 1,300 reporters, editors, TV technicians, and support staff. Government support also can help. This is not as heretical as it sounds. For more than two centuries the federal government has supported the news through reduced postal rates and exemp- tions from unfair trade practices. In the future it could, among other things, grant tax breaks to offset the expense of foreign correspondents or foreign bureaus in the way it provides incentives to encourage private investment. We are also seeing creative ways to reduce costs. One way is to use technology more efficiently, bypassing costly presses that use expensive newsprint. Another is to make more use of indigenous correspondents, as Global Voices Online does by harnessing the work of bloggers. Yet another is to rely on non-news organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, which chase down facts to make their cases. Former journalists often do this work. Finally, correspondents are becoming more entrepreneurial. Consider the approach used by former Washington Post correspondent Doug Struck, now a journalism professor. He raised funds for a foreign story idea, starting with the Deer Creek Foundation in St. Louis, then worked on an ad hoc basis with The Christian Science Monitor and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting brought on board journalism students, a source of reporting that has become more important for newsgathering of all kinds. As we are reminded by Kevin Sites, who chased news about conflicts with a technology-laden kit in tow for Yahoo! News and is reporting again from Afghanistan, “freelance operators like me are the rule, not the exception.” What is clear in this experimentation is that foreign news coverage and correspondents no longer conform to a single elite model such as dominated the profession in the last century. Given the dedication and daring of innovators, new methods for gathering and delivering foreign news will continue to emerge. As we think of the proliferation in the types of foreign correspondents, let’s keep in mind the entrance of another actor, the scholar. It is a great pity that so few political scientists have seriously studied news in general, let alone foreign news. Fortunately this is changing, one reason being the wild and woolly—and not well-understood—media that new technologies are enabling. Matthew A. Baum’s essay on how audiences respond to foreign news is an excellent example of the analysis being done more often these days. Such scholarship can improve the quality of coverage and suggest ways to engage readers. Freelance journalist Monica Campbell shows, too, how partnerships between journalists and academics can work as she reported from Mexico on the drug wars for a conference hosted by Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. While there are limits on public interest in foreign news, I agree with former BBC news editor Maria Balinska that one of the best ways to enlarge audiences for foreign news is to show how events abroad connect with our own lives. But which approaches will work well remains to be seen. As we’ve learned by now, no model lasts forever. Foreign news always has been a work—really a struggle—in progress. Yet, what has counted most are the extraordinary efforts of those journalists who courageously gather news at great personal risk, as the inspiring stories of Fatima Tlisova and Anne Nivat attest. 

John Maxwell Hamilton, former dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University, is LSU’s executive vice chancellor and provost. He reported at home and abroad for ABC Radio, The Christian Science Monitor, and others. His latest book, “Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting,” received the Goldsmith Book Prize this year.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 5 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | Who Does It? Even in Digital Age, ‘Being There’ Still Matters In Foreign Reporting ‘The textile workers’ strike was into its 19th day, and it appeared that we were the first journalists to arrive.’

BY BILL SCHILLER

There’s a textile workers’ strike “More than 5,000.” south of Beijing—and be in the in Henan province.” “Who’s reporting on it?” thick of it by midmorning. “It’s Monday morning in Bei- “No one that I can see.” This is, after all, why my news- jing, shortly before noon, and Two hours later we’re boarding paper, The Toronto Star, pays for my Chinese assistant has just a train at Beijing West Railway me to be here: To try as much spotted a reference to a strike Station. I estimate we’ll be in as possible to go deep into the in the Chinese heartland posted Henan’s capital Zhengzhou by culture and the countryside, to on the Web site of a Hong Kong sundown, grab an early morning try to bring back an understand- nongovernmental organization. bus to Pingdingshan—the site of ing of a complex country that “How many workers?” I ask. the strike, about 1,000 kilometers is changing, virtually, at warp

Uniformed police march in the central Chinese city of Pingdingshan during a workers’ strike that local journalists were barred from covering but became front-page news in The Toronto Star. Photo by A. Zhang.

6 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It? speed. I cannot do that from my desk They also need to make ample use of that had sealed off the road where the in Beijing, equipped as it is with all fast new technologies, but not become factory was located. the wondrous tools of the digital age. obsessed by them. These are, after all, Our arrival sparked a sensation: Nor can I tell this story in bursts of tools meant to help us tell stories in Police swept in on us demanding 140 characters. And I can’t rely on ever more captivating ways. But the papers. The crowd swept in on them Google—since Google, as we all know, stories we report are why we’re here to make sure we stayed. With papers isn’t at such places. and, in the end, it’s why readers will in hand and the people behind us—a It’s really up to us. And it’s report- turn to us for news and information. few shoving the police—the police ing—notebook in hand, on the ground, finally backed off. Then, something verifiable reporting—that remains at Shoe-Leather Reporting extraordinary happened: The people the core of our craft, especially for applauded us. foreign reporting, where coming to In the spring of 2006, Tom Friedman The textile workers’ strike was into grips with a different culture is never wrote a tribute to his early mentor in its 19th day, and it appeared that we an easy task. United Press International’s London were the first journalists to arrive. In our anxiety-stricken, content- office, the late Leon Daniel. I read it We learned later that a brave young driven age, when the predominant during my Nieman year and it still Chinese journalist from Hong Kong goal seems to be to upload content to resonates with me—even more so as we was also working her way through the the Web site as soon as possible, I’m speed forward through our digital age. crowd. Journalists from a newspaper fortunate to work for a paper that still Daniel had taught him the fundamental with offices located on the same street believes in foreign reporting, still pays fact of all good journalism, memorable as the strike were banned by the gov- for it, and still understands that it takes advice that stuck with him, just as it ernment from reporting on the strike. time and a measure of money—spent does now with me: “If it isn’t based on Yes, here in a nation of 1.3 billion prudently—to go deep. If we ever hope shoe-leather reporting, it isn’t worth people in 2010, Pingdingshan was to explain what Lyndon Johnson’s late a bucket of beans.” a great story—but one contained to presidential adviser Jack Valenti once Today I fear we risk producing a gen- within a few city blocks, with news of called a foreign culture’s “ancestral eration of journalists who are coming to it passed on mainly by word of mouth. rhythms,” we have to go to where those consider on-the-ground reporting as a No wonder people were pleased we’d rhythms play out—and watch as they quaint endeavor from another era—the come. Two local bloggers had done are rearranged on a daily basis. snail mail equivalent of newsgather- their best to get the news out. But in We’ve got to get close enough to ing: slow, time-consuming and with a country with more than 50 million listen—and understand what we are delayed delivery. After all, with the blogs, Pingdingshan’s plight was lost hearing. retrieval of information and opinion in cyberspace, a plaintive note in the At a time when many American from social networking sites making hum of informational muzak swirling newspapers are closing foreign it possible to provide near-instant about China every day. bureaus, relying on wires or on report- content ready for upload to the Web, That evening, over tea in a private ers surfing the Web and working social why bother to board a plane, train or apartment, four workers with 100 years networks, there isn’t a day that goes by even take a taxi across town? of experience among them told us that I don’t consider myself lucky to Editors and journalism educators I stories of hellish working conditions: work for a paper that still gets it. Sure, speak to share my worry. Some speak a punishing cycle of two-day rotating it’s possible to parachute into a breaking of a generation of nascent journalists shifts, harsh and arbitrary fines, and news event and pull down content and who are supremely tech-savvy—but a workers fainting in 105-degree heat. contacts by making efficient use of the segment of whom are becoming less Many earned about 65 cents per hour. Net. But on a broad-based, developing interested in leaving the newsroom, and This story went on our front story like China—which continues to equally wary of picking up a telephone. page, and then The New York Times change our world in profound ways “I really believe a good number are graciously cited it in an editorial on daily—you have to commit: You’ve got actually afraid to interview people,” July 5th. to be here for the long haul. Make no one professor told me recently. The strike was ultimately sup- mistake: The Star has closed bureaus, Most good journalists I know pressed, the workers forced back to too, paring back to a precious few, to would still travel 1,000 kilometers at their workstations, and we returned what might be called “the once and a moment’s notice for a good lede, to Beijing. future powers”—Washington, Beijing as would I. So off my assistant and I But only, I assure you, for a little and New Delhi. In those bureaus, went that day. while.  correspondents are keenly aware of In Pingdingshan, we landed on their need to stay focused on story a breathtaking scene: 1,000 police Bill Schiller, a 2006 Nieman Fellow, and deliver content that not only officers—with guns, batons, helmets is based in Beijing as the Asia amuses, when appropriate, but also and riot shields—3,000 striking work- bureau chief for The Toronto Star. always matters. ers, and an armada of police vehicles

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 7 Reporting From Faraway Places

Correspondents: They Come in Different Shapes And Sizes A BBC correspondent describes the benefits of three approaches to foreign news coverage—with caveats accompanying each one.

BY JAMES REYNOLDS

In May, BBC News correspondent James then those of us who do it for a living considerable. I’m told that a foreign Reynolds delivered the Bernard D. Nos- need to explain clearly the benefit that bureau for a U.S. newspaper costs siter ’47 Lecture at Dartmouth College. derives from having a special tribe of around a quarter of a million dollars a Reynolds, a 2010 Nieman Fellow, has paid foreign correspondents. year to maintain—much more if it’s in been based in South America, China, Put simply, we need foreign cor- a war zone. Consequently, many U.S. the United States, and Great Britain respondents for reasons similar to newspapers, including The (Baltimore) as well as the Middle East. Here is an why we journalists are essential—so Sun and The Boston Globe no longer edited version of his talk, entitled “Stuff that we don’t live in the dark. Foreign have any foreign bureaus. Them or Shoot Them? The Future of correspondents help us understand the The BBC, where I work, has seven the Foreign Correspondent.” world by shedding light on places where large foreign news bureaus and many our fellow citizens are engaged in wars smaller ones. Yet we are also under oreign correspondents. We are and on people and governments whose pressure to cut our costs so editors basically a pain in the neck. We decisions absolutely affect our lives. there have come up with new, cheaper cause our editors endless amounts But here’s the problem. This job costs ways of getting stories from abroad. In Fof grief with our annoying habit money, and in the old way of doing this spirit, I’m going to take a look at of getting arrested and kidnapped. it, the cost to news organizations was three alternatives—the local reporter, Foreign governments would prefer us to pack up and go home. Many people—perhaps some of you—think that we spend our time lounging by the pool in safari suits drinking gin and tonics, relics of an antiquated era. But I want to argue that it’s worth keeping us around for a while longer. Journalism is unlike law or medicine. No one is required to pass an exam before doing the job and there is no such thing as a license for foreign correspondents. Wake up one morning and buy a plane ticket, pack a computer, and become one. Or write home from a trip abroad and you’re doing a basic form of foreign corresponding. So if Before he was sent to Gaza for the BBC, correspondent James Reynolds underwent training for reporters all of us can do this, working in hostile environments. Photo courtesy of the BBC.

8 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It? the unsupported freelancer, and the America and left behind among the them children crushed under collapsed multiskilled staffer, as well as some most penetrating observations ever schools, authorities at first allowed variations on these possibilities. made about her people. And while all reporters to cover the story. Then I’ve been in America, I’ve learned a things began to get more difficult when Local Reporters lot about my country, Great Britain, parents of these children began to ask by reading the recent election coverage tough questions of the government. Why deploy one of your own home of reporters such as Anthony Faiola Soon the Chinese authorities banned reporters at great cost when you can and Dan Balz of The Washington coverage by the domestic media of hire a local reporter in a foreign country Post who wrote about the campaign the parents’ campaign. At that point, to do the same job? After all, local for prime minister. I enjoyed their foreign journalists were the only ones reporters know the story, and they’re outsiders’ perspective, in particular able to continue covering this story. much cheaper. their comparison of United Kingdom Our Chinese colleagues could not In many ways, this can be an excit- election rallies with American election report for their own publications, nor ing step; local reporters as foreign rallies. Here’s what Balz wrote: could they report for ours given that correspondents are often spectacularly a law prevents Chinese citizens from successful. In Gaza, Rushdi Abu Alouf Obama would often speak for having bylined reports in foreign news and Hamada Abu Qammar have 30 or 45 minutes. [Nick] Clegg publications. worked behind the scenes for the BBC [the Liberal Democrat leader]’s To return to Gaza, though local as a producer and organizer helping prepared remarks lasted little reporters do much of the finest report- incoming teams arrange interviews. In more than six minutes. His ing in that region (Palestinians in Gaza December 2008, Israel carried out an closing argument was a clarion and the West Bank, and Israelis in offensive into Gaza to stop Palestinian call for change, but what was Israel), Israeli restrictions mean that rocket fire, and its government closed most striking was the reserve Palestinian reporters in Gaza are not the border so that most foreign cor- of the polite audience. Though allowed to cover the Israeli side of the respondents were unable to get into they whooped at his arrival and story nor are Israeli reporters allowed Gaza. Rushdi and Hamada were there when he finished, his best lines into Gaza to report. The only reporters so they filed the reports that BBC were greeted with virtual silence. who can routinely tell both sides of the correspondents would normally file. story are foreign correspondents, who For the next few weeks they provided Had I been asked to write this article, can compare an Israeli air strike in clear, lucid and fair-minded coverage there’s a very good chance that I would Gaza City one day to a Hamas rocket of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. They have missed observing the crowd’s strike on an Israeli town another day. helped me to see the role of a foreign reserve; I simply wouldn’t have noticed This ability to be on the ground on correspondent in a different way. it because it was so familiar. Catching either side allows us to report from In Latin America, the BBC has three what the insider takes for granted is various perspectives, and this adds foreign correspondents: in Sao Paulo, one of the ways in which an outsider immeasurably to the depth of coverage Mexico City, and Buenos Aires. For can provide a fresh perspective. we can provide. years, it mostly sent British reporters I want Chinese reporters and Indian While I welcome the advent of more from London to do these jobs, as they reporters to be able to go and report local reporters providing foreign news once sent me a decade ago. Now the critically on what happens in Britain. coverage, there is still a need for the BBC has hired local correspondents I don’t want reporting to be restricted outsider as foreign correspondent. for these posts. I welcome them as by nationality. I want as many different colleagues who will give us a fresh perspectives as possible. It makes for Unsupported Freelancers perspective on the news from their good journalism and it also makes for countries. a stronger society. Why should news organizations send In so many ways, it is important for There’s another point to consider: staff correspondents when unsup- a people to tell their history and their There are some places in which we ported freelancers will do the same stories. For centuries, many societies simply cannot rely on local reporters job for a lot less money? and cultures were denied this basic to get us the story, however much we There is a great attraction to having right. Now many see the advent of local might want them to. In places where freelancers gather foreign news. At the reporters as a welcome step toward a the government firmly controls the core of every reporter is that instinct post-colonial reporting world. media, a person who carries a foreign to get up and go and to try to make a But there remains enormous value passport usually has more freedom to name by taking risks and being bold. in the view of the outsider. Often, tell the story. To some extent, it’s always been this outsiders tell us things about ourselves From 2006 until 2009, I was the way but never has the opportunity been that we don’t know or fail to notice. BBC’s China correspondent. When an there as it is today. A young journalist Alexis de Tocqueville, a 25-year- earthquake in Sichuan province killed with a laptop, mobile phone, and a old Frenchman, wandered through as many as 90,000 people, many of camera can pick a country and start

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 9 Reporting From Faraway Places

to ask questions and take photos and colleagues who routinely report on the in Santiago, Chile. The minister came there’s a strong chance that in time drug war in the north of the country, in and sat down, and when he saw me news organizations will take those one of the most dangerous assignments setting up the camera he assumed that reports. in the world. I was the cameraman. Despite the appeal this has, we “How does it work before they go?” “Where’s the correspondent?” he should be careful about going too I asked her. “Do they speak on the asked me. far down this path. News organiza- phone to people at the organizations “I’m the correspondent,” I replied. tions have a responsibility of care for they’re going to file for to clarify what His expression showed his shock; those whose work they publish. This happens if they get injured or what he’d never heard of a cameraman/ duty costs money. The BBC takes this kind of risks they should take?” correspondent before. He didn’t know responsibility very seriously. Before “That conversation almost never how it would work. Nor did I. So I the BBC deploys any of its reporters happens,” my friend told me. “It is a sat next to the camera, and when I to a conflict zone, it pays for us to gray area.” asked him a question and he started go on a six-day hostile-environment It shouldn’t be. We should not be to respond, I would jump out of my training course, usually held in the quietly allowing dangerous news stories chair to look through the viewfinder to British countryside. Former soldiers to be gathered by those with no sup- be sure his face was still in the shot. teach basic battlefield first aid, how to port—simply because it’s cheaper to do I’d call this a reasonably stressful way deal with gunfire, and what to do if it that way. There is plenty of need for of carrying out an interview, but we kidnapped. We go on refresher courses daring, talented reporters who want got it done. every three years. Whenever we come to work as foreign correspondents and Today this is how it works in the back from a war zone, we’re offered who are intrepid enough to do the BBC’s many smaller foreign bureaus; free trauma counseling. This all costs job on their own. But all of us need one person does everything. During money. But it means that when I go to think through the consequences of my years as the BBC’s South America into Baghdad or Gaza, I’m prepared, what it means to take that reporter’s correspondent, I often went with a well protected, and well cared for if work without offering proper training video camera in one hand, a minidisc anything goes wrong. and protection. radio recorder in the other, and a In 2007, a local militia in Gaza digital stills camera round my neck. City kidnapped Alan Johnston, the Multiskilled Staffer Sometimes, when I was travelling, I BBC’s Gaza correspondent. During his would hire a taxi driver for the day captivity the BBC supported his family, So far the choice seems to be between and then recruit him as my camera negotiated with various governments, the lumbering, expensive staff cor- assistant; I’d ask him to shoot what and organized a successful public respondent and the cheap, mobile- we call the piece-to-camera, the bit and private campaign for his release. enhanced freelancer. But there is when I’d speak to the camera. Many of David Rohde, a correspondent with an alternative combining the best of these drivers really enjoyed doing this, The New York Times, was kidnapped each—the training and support of a and we did some good work together. in Afghanistan in 2008; The Times staff correspondent and the agility In taking this approach, the BBC supported his family and kept lines of a freelancer into what I call the has plenty of company. In 2007, of communication open with Afghan multiskilled staffer. ABC News set up seven one-person and American officials until he escaped Given my BBC orientation, I believe foreign bureaus from South America and came home safely. strongly that foreign correspondents, to Southeast Asia. A lot less expensive Johnston and Rohde received both staffers and freelancers, should than what bureaus used to be, the comprehensive support from their know at least the basics of camera work, news organizations get to cover more organizations. What would have editing and radio recording. To have all foreign stories. happened had either of them been a of these skills is now essential to get But this also comes with a word of freelance contributor? a job as a foreign correspondent—and caution. Multiskilling has its limits so We need to be wary of allowing to keep it. I ought to know, since even there are times when having more than the creation of two classes of foreign in my first foreign posting in South one person in a bureau is critical, and correspondents—on the one hand staff America, my bureau was so small here are three reasons why: correspondents who receive proper that I was it. The deal I made with training and support from their news my bosses was that I would have to Breaking News: Sometimes when the organizations and on the other hand do pretty much everything myself; it news breaks, there’s simply too much an army of young freelancers, stringers was cheaper this way. So if I wanted to do on your own. At any one time, and guest contributors who are asked to do a TV story, I would have to go the BBC may have five or six news to do the same job but without the and film it myself. shows broadcasting. At the busiest same level of support. I’ll never forget an interview I did times, all of them will want stories, A friend of mine is a foreign corre- with the Chilean foreign minister at the features and news updates. The best spondent in Mexico. She has freelance rather grand Foreign Ministry building way to divide the workload is still the

10 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It? old-fashioned one—a reporter writes Thompson, BBC director-general, spondents that provides news coverage the scripts, a camera operator does gave a speech about the organization’s from around the world. [See story the filming, and a producer does the international role and when he spoke about GlobalPost, on page 51.] Using organizing. It can be the only way to about Afghanistan, for example, he a different approach, Global Voices get the job done. said, “We’re in it for the long term. Online conveys to an international We’ve been in Afghanistan for decades audience the words of bloggers and Quality: Someone who is a great writer and intend to be there for decades to citizen media from around the world. and reporter is not always a great cam- come—whether Western forces are still [See story about Global Voices Online eraman, just as the person who takes present or not.” on page 14.] remarkable photographs is not always Other news organizations, for a going to be able to write a compelling variety of reasons, cannot offer that None of us can know what the article. If we strive for excellence in same commitment so I want to point future holds—or which of these models our industry, then we need to reserve out a few examples of other ways of (or combination of models) will work space at the top of our profession for paying for foreign news coverage: to sustain foreign news reporting. I such specialists—those people whose believe strongly and passionately that work takes our breath away. Fellowships and Foundations: Several of there remains a vital and viable role these provide vital new ways of fund- for the foreign correspondent, just as Safety: In a conflict zone, reporters ing foreign reporting. The nonprofit there is much to be gained from local are safer when they have someone International Reporting Project (IRP), reporters explaining their country with them; being with someone else founded in 1998, tries to fill the gap to foreigners. Similarly, I see great can save your life. left by newspapers and broadcasters. promise in the energy and multime- [See story about IRP on page 47.] dia talent of young reporters as they Paying for Foreign News And the Pulitzer Center on Crisis experiment with telling these stories Reporting funds foreign reporting on digital platforms. Yet through all So how is this paid for? Since I’m not projects. [See story about the Pulitzer of these times of transition, my hope the one paying (as neither an editor Center on page 45.] In addition, the remains that we never forget the power nor publisher, entrepreneur or venture Overseas Press Club Foundation offers words have to transmit across our capitalist), I can’t pretend to know fellowships to students who want to national boundaries the experiences the answers about money. I do know report from abroad. of a foreign people.  that some news organizations remain committed to foreign news coverage, Digital Start-ups: Founded in 2009, and I am fortunate that the BBC is the Web-only publication GlobalPost among them. Earlier in May, Mark has a network of more than 50 corre-

Adding ‘Far-Flungs’ to a New Kind of Reporting Partnership An investigative story tests a new model of foreign news reporting—and leaves a lot of valuable lessons in its wake.

BY DOUG STRUCK

oreign news reporting can be mar- continents, and four institutions and multimedia editions on the Web sites ried to a new model of journal- involved more than 22 people and of the Monitor and the New England ism. Just be prepared: Planning 841 e-mails (mine alone) to produce Center for Investigative Reporting Ffor this wedding takes an awful lot an investigative series examining (NECIR). Its publication spawned of time and it is likely to make one the abuses and inefficiencies of the radio reports, elicited wounded howls nostalgic for a newsroom. carbon offset marketplace. These sto- from two of its exposed targets, and These are among the lessons I ries debuted in an eight-page spread drew recognition with an award for learned while working on a project in The Christian Science Monitor’s public service. that stretched across 16 months, five glossy weekly newsmagazine and in Amid all of the chattering about new

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 11 Reporting From Faraway Places

models of journalism, there is relatively We’re getting the money.” A few blocks away in Boston are little talk about foreign reporting. “I’ve got another job. I don’t have the offices of The Christian Science That is because foreign reporting is time now,” I protested. Monitor. This news organization the most costly, logistically challeng- “Can’t back out now,” he replied. is one of a dwindling few with the ing, and time-consuming branch of valuable asset we needed: a veteran journalism. Throw an investigative Assembling a Reporting Team and respected foreign staff. Joe and I topic into the mix, and it’s a formula knocked on the door of The Monitor’s for a long and expensive endeavor. Yet This grant from the St. Louis-based editor, John Yemma, and presented with a willingness to ignore traditional Deer Creek Foundation gave us a him with a proposal that only a few boundaries, NECIR and The Christian healthy start. It would pay for the years ago would have been considered Science Monitor teamed up to produce U.S. reporting. Joe and Maggie could audacious: Can we enlist your foreign just such a report. marshal help from students at Boston staff to partner with our nonprofit University (BU), where NECIR is organization, two college journalism An Idea + Money based. I enlisted a bright, savvy jour- programs, and reporters who don’t nalism graduate student at Emerson work for you, for a story to run in Here is how it came together: In Janu- College, Katy Jordan, for the project. your weekly magazine and on your ary 2009 I was chatting with Joe Web site? Bergantino, a veteran investigative Yemma was comfortable with reporter who left Boston’s premier experimentation. He had taken television investigative team to the Monitor from a daily print launch a nonprofit investigative newspaper to a weekly print center with Maggie Mulvihill, newsmagazine and daily online another dogged print and broadcast news operation in March 2009 reporter.1 When I mentioned my and no longer sees old boundaries suspicions about the potential for as sacrosanct. He did not flinch. scams in the global marketplace of Our reporting partnership carbon offsets—offering certificates began last December with the that promise to offset a buyer’s Monitor’s “far-flungs,” as foreign carbon footprint—he seized on it. correspondents used to be called. But first, he said, go out and International Editor David Clark raise the money for it. Scott and the magazine’s Senior This was my first rude awaken- Editor Clara Germani embraced ing. For a reporter who had spent the arrangement with impressive all of his 30-plus years in the busi- collegiality. They gave me direct ness on the bankroll of newsrooms, The Christian Science Monitor magazine published access to the foreign reporters. mostly The Washington Post and an investigative series for which it partnered with We consulted one another at each The (Baltimore) Sun, the idea of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. step as reporters were dispatched having to raise money before I to obscure spots to report this Courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor could even start to report was a story. They also sent photogra- (csmonitor.com). wholly new concept. phers Melanie Stetson Freeman But Joe encouraged me to tackle and Mary Knox Merrill and, with the unfamiliar realm of nonprofit foun- I also had invaluable technical help only some misgivings, equipped them dations. I made calls and wrote pitch from students and staff at Emerson with video cameras. They also tapped letters. Six months later, I’d come up for the video component. their freelance network to fill holes in with … nothing. It wasn’t fun; I wasn’t For the story to work, however, we the coverage. reporting, and I wasn’t paying the rent. would need on-the-ground reporting The stories were constructed out of When Emerson College offered me a from many international locations. my reporting and the files received from faculty position teaching journalism, I We could squeeze one overseas trip five other reporters—Sara Miller Llana thanked Joe for the interesting experi- from the budget so I picked the best in Panama, Ilene R. Prusher in Israel, ence and said goodbye. target for our reporting and headed Ben Arnoldy in India, freelancer Kathy Or so I thought. to Hungary. But we clearly would not Marks in Australia, Jordan in New A few months later, he called: “One have the funds, time or reporters to England, with additional reporting by of the grant proposals went through. visit the other locales. Peter Ford in China. In a Herculean

1 See Mulvihill’s story about the university-based New England Center for Investigative Reporting in the Summer 2009 issue of Nieman Reports at www.niemanreports.org.

12 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It?

In Hungary, villagers push bicycles with firewood past where the “Vatican Forest” was supposed to be planted by KlimaFa, which marketed carbon offsets as a way to neutralize CO2 emissions and lessen global warming. Photo by Bela Szandelszky. sprint of late-night stints, Germani editors. Virtually unseen, other gears valuable lesson for future fund-raising. transformed all of this into a smoothly would have clicked in: lawyers to This is clearly not a nimble or a fast edited package with a main story, five check it, production people to create process. Without trust and cooperation, sidebars, graphics, photographs and and distribute it, and marketers to our effort could have been stopped cold the video. It ran in the Earth Week promote it. at a number of institutional boundar- issue of the magazine and was posted In this case, staff in the Monitor’s ies. And readership returns for such online on April 20. newsroom provided a healthy chunk an effort remain a question, given of this kind of support. But the coor- the ever-present challenge of drawing Assessing Our Effort dination among so many players was eyes to stories in a fragmented media strenuous. For example, to protect environment. A success? Yes. We produced an each responsible entity, we had to Is all of this worth the result? Ever investigative piece that neither the run the story through three legal the optimist, Joe declared the story a Monitor nor the NECIR would have reviews—at the Monitor, at BU, and success as he plunged into the next undertaken on its own. The Deer at the Boston-based NPR radio station one. Perhaps nonprofits like NECIR Creek Foundation’s money helped to that ran part of our report. For the will one day be flush enough to have make it possible and the assistance we video piece, the diversity of formats their own cadre of far-flungs or have received from the journalism schools used by the Monitor’s photographers, a budget big enough to send reporters at Emerson and BU was vital. local crews working with NECIR, and abroad. Until then, they will have to Yet, I realized, too, what a great a crew I assembled in Hungary proved depend on novel arrangements and invention the old newsroom was and a technological nightmare. And Joe cooperative goodwill with news opera- how efficient newsrooms could be, was in perpetual motion just trying to tions that do.  despite their chaotic personas. At arrange outlets and cooperative play the Post, I could have done this proj- for the package. Doug Struck, a 2004 Nieman ect—from idea to publication—in two And of course our work was juggled Fellow, is associate chairman of the or three months, instead of 16. Once around students’ schedules, teaching journalism department at Emerson sold on the story, editors would have calendars, and Joe’s other directing College in Boston. For 12 years he allocated the funds, summoned help duties at NECIR. Hanging over this was a member of the foreign staffs from other correspondents, dispatched project always was the question of of The Washington Post and The photographers, graphic artists, and whether our budget would be enough. (Baltimore) Sun and reported from sewed the thing up with a legion of It wasn’t, thus serving, I suppose, as a six continents.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 13 Reporting From Faraway Places

Should Local Voices Bring Us Foreign News? ‘Depending on who is making the argument, the idea of not having foreign correspondents is either something to fear or look forward to.’

BY SOLANA LARSEN

n the multitude of stories about offered a citizen’s perspective. Richard Sambrook, who was then the Iran’s “Twitter revolution,” hardly Events don’t look the same when director of BBC’s global news, stood up a mention could be found of pro- they are told from the inside out. I and said he agreed with me. Parachute IAhmadinejad bloggers writing in Per- am reminded of this daily as I com- journalism was on the way out, he sian. Yet there were plenty of them, pare our stories with those I see in said, and hundreds of local stringers and what they were saying about Iran’s newspapers. And I know what we do were already on the job for the BBC. president was a critical piece of the is special when I hear from foreign Depending on who is making the story. I get most my international news news reporters who have to fight with argument, the idea of not having foreign from local bloggers so I could follow editors to be allowed to tell (or sell) correspondents is either something to what they were writing (in transla- important stories from abroad. If they fear or look forward to. Many younger tion). In my job as managing editor at do not have the luxury of reporting people I speak with seem to find the Global Voices Online, a community of to an international audience, they idea obvious. Given the rate at which more than 300 volunteers who monitor must also find a local angle so that foreign news coverage is declining, and translate blogs and online citizen Western audiences will connect with what other alternative do we have? media from their own countries, we the story from something other than The pool of talent for those who can make the words of bloggers—from a human angle. tell these stories must become bigger almost everywhere—available for oth- and more geographically and linguisti- ers to read. Local Knowledge cally diverse. As with the Iranian bloggers, Global My own position is not absolutist. Voices Online reveals local perspectives Imagine the difference if all foreign There will always be writers who that often go unnoticed in mainstream news was told by reporters who are travel abroad, and there will always news coverage. The recipe is simple. native to the country where events be people capable of international Our volunteers alert us to important happen. I am convinced it would analysis. I believe that foreign cor- conversations taking place in online change which stories are told, how respondents do an important job and media where they live. On one day it’s they are reported, and how audiences would never suggest that all local about gay bloggers in Uganda standing respond to them. journalists are better. Nor am I mak- up for their rights. On another day it’s A few years ago I suggested during ing the case that citizen journalists about reactions by South Koreans to an Internet media conference in Los should replace foreign correspondents. North Korea’s World Cup soccer game Angeles that one day soon there would Grassroots blogging informs my views or the suspicious deaths of several be no foreign correspondents. I argued and widens my horizons, but I still animals in a Ukraine zoo. that foreign reporters who parachute believe in professional journalism. It’s a grassroots media newsroom. into a country without the language Finally, where a journalist is born and Our small staff of part-time editors skills to even read a local newspaper raised does not necessarily determine reviews submissions for quality, but are not going to do a better job than that person’s level of knowledge or we rarely turn down a story. I trust native journalists. This was soon after experience. But intimate knowledge my Chinese colleagues to tell me the riots in Tibet, and CNN and other of the language or culture where one why something is important rather news organizations were experiencing is reporting is important—perhaps than arbitrarily deciding whether a backlash from Chinese netizens who even more important than intimate it’s newsworthy. What we try to do were furious about the misreporting knowledge of the audience. is bring perspectives to the fore that of several events. For those who see doom ahead, I aren’t heard anywhere else. While news Given our emerging global media have a more optimistic perspective on a stories about the coup last year in environment, I proposed that we have future without foreign correspondents. Madagascar tended to echo the French no option but to ask local journalists When Global Voices Online is at its foreign ministry rather than the Mala- to help us do a better job. My words best, I feel deeply connected to the gasy people themselves, Global Voices triggered responses from the audience people who are telling their stories. Online helped international journalists in which I was labeled naïve and They sound like me when they write reach bloggers from Madagascar who irresponsible. So it was surprising that their blogs, whether they are in China

14 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It?

The Attention Deficit: Plenty of Content, Yet an Absence of Interest

By Ethan Zuckerman

As news organizations wrestle with into unfamiliar situations and offer have not cracked the mainstream the challenge of discovering profit- a view that’s insufficiently informed news narrative, like the coup in able reporting models for a digital by the facts on the ground and is Madagascar and its aftermath. age, at least three types of public overly influenced by the biases of The scarce resource in the age of service journalism are endangered the audience they’re speaking to. digital journalism is not high-quality species—investigative reporting, The rise of participatory media and content, but attention. I have no in-depth statehouse and city govern- the flowering of independent press fear of a shortage of quality report- ment coverage, and foreign coverage. around the world gives us alterna- ing from Madagascar or Malaysia. Expensive to produce, they have been tives to the foreign correspondent: Instead, I fear these voices are likely subsidized by more profitable facets We can listen to local journalists to go unheard. The best foreign of news operations. While online (professional and citizen) who report correspondents are not just deeply news producers like ProPublica and on the situation in their countries knowledgeable about the countries Voice of San Diego offer promising through local eyes, relying on local they write about—they are masters new models to sustain investigative knowledge. at leading their audiences to a story and local government reporting, less I share Larsen’s passion for ampli- they might have otherwise ignored. experimentation—though some—is fying independent voices to a global As we move to a time in which we being directed at sustaining high- audience. But I am less sanguine rely more on local voices to report quality international coverage on than she at the prospect of losing the international news, we will need to digital platforms. If greater attention foreign correspondent. In a digital wrestle with this problem by asking is not paid to this circumstance, we age we can listen to knowledgeable ourselves how we help a U.S. audience may soon reach a time when the local voices, but it’s unclear that we pay attention to a Malagasy reporter’s foreign correspondent is a relic from will. Our experience at Global Voices dispatch from her own country.  a past age of journalism. Online suggests that there is a great My colleague Solana Larsen offers appetite for local voices on stories Ethan Zuckerman is a senior a provocative suggestion that the end that have made the global radar: researcher at the Berkman Center of the foreign correspondent model the Haitian earthquake, the election for Internet & Society at Harvard might be a good thing. Too often, protests in Iran. But there’s far less University and cofounder of Global foreign correspondents parachute interest expressed in stories that Voices Online. or Iran, and whether they are describing She realized halfway through that people about whom we are writing. I street protests or war or writing about they were telling her story without am sure that many Americans would mundane things like rain or a traffic the empathy with which they would find objectionable representations in jam or a meeting with a suitor for an have told it if it had happened in their European media of them as gun-toting, arranged marriage. Yet I don’t usually own community. Curry then told her Christian fanatics. But then there is the feel this kind of personal connection team to film the interviews “like it was superb foreign news reporting of The when an embedded journalist sends your sister who had been raped.” The Guardian’s Gary Younge whose insights stories home from Iraq or Afghanistan. lights were softened and the cameras about Americans inspired U.S. publica- During the earthquake in Haiti as doz- came closer, and the tone of their tions to want him to write for them ens of journalists interviewed foreign conversation changed. about U.S. culture, too. When foreign aid workers about a country some of At the end of the day, what I am reporting works best the subjects and them barely knew, I wondered what talking about isn’t the passport a audience learn something they didn’t we were learning from their accounts. journalist holds, but how the language, know. But when journalists fumble Not only are too many journalists tone and perspective of foreign cor- in the dark to understand a foreign reporting the same story; too often they respondence can change. We do this people and culture—and then report are neglecting the local and personal by listening to a broader range of on events there—their audiences will perspectives that matter most. voices and recognizing that stories fumble too.  NBC’s Ann Curry says she first worth telling are not always identi- figured out how to tell foreign news cal to those told by our competitors. Solana Larsen is the managing stories so they really matter to people Most importantly, we need to report editor of Global Voices Online. Previ- back home when she was interviewing in ways that are respectful of the ously she was an editor with openDe- a woman in Africa about being raped. culture, opinions and interests of the mocracy, a global politics Web site.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 15 Reporting From Faraway Places

‘It’s the Audience, Stupid!’ Using a new approach to storytelling ‘we managed to broaden our audience, expand our coverage and—this is critical—not “dumb down” in the process.’

BY MARIA BALINSKA

re Americans interested in What I heard was gratifying—and to let us know that he was following international journalism? The encouraging. They confirmed that European news for the first time. A usual response is that it’s an EU politics were distant and bor- Birmingham truck driver called in live Aelite interest, if it exists at all. Like ing, but then they told me how they to ask a Serb housewife in Belgrade spinach, it may be good for you, but wanted more storytelling about the and an Albanian baker refugee in it’s not intrinsically attractive to a lot daily lives and concerns of Italians, Macedonia questions about the war in of people. I don’t agree. I’m convinced Germans and Poles. Most striking was Kosovo. He wasn’t alone; when calls that there is a greater hunger for global their interest—raised repeatedly and kept coming that day, we extended information than is usually recognized. without prompting—in what people in the segment to an hour. This belief leaves me with two critical other European countries were doing We managed to broaden our audi- questions: What kind of information about problems that affected all of us, ence, expand our coverage and—this will entice and satisfy this appetite? problems like unemployment, illiteracy is critical—not “dumb down” in the And are journalists doing enough to and what to do about the mountains process. Out of this experience three provide it? of waste we produce. clear lessons emerged: About 10 years ago I faced a similar Admittedly, my approach was unsci- conundrum at the BBC. As the editor entific and my sample size small, but • It’s the audience, stupid! of World Current Affairs Radio, one of what I heard that afternoon informed • Wider interest in international news the shows I oversaw was “Euronews,” our editorial agenda from that day exists than much of the mainstream the United Kingdom’s only daily forward. Looking back, it was a crude media assume. information program about European form of crowdsourcing before that • To paraphrase my high school affairs on Radio 5 Live, the BBC’s word existed. Comparisons between principal, “more humility, ladies and 24-hour news and sports network. the United Kingdom and the rest gents of the media!” The public’s As my colleagues liked to remind me, of the EU became a regular feature lack of interest in international “Euronews” was the ultimate serving not just of “Euronews,” but also of news could (just possibly) reflect of spinach. Despite the fact that the other programming for which I was the quality of our journalism rather show’s topics ranged from law and responsible. On Radio 4, which is the than the topic itself. justice to culture and sports and well UK’s leading news, speech and drama beyond European Union (EU) politics, network, we launched a series of reports The U.S. Experience we were up against the undeniable from continental Europe related to fact that too often “Europe” seemed issues being debated at home. When How relevant is any of this to what’s synonymous with byzantine politi- there was controversy over “super happening in the United States? At cal machinations in the EU capital, casino” licenses in the United Kingdom, the very least it is ironic that at a Brussels—significant yes, but hard to we went to France to tell the story of time when news organizations have understand and oh so foreign. one gambling addict’s lawsuit against shut down foreign bureaus, a March Survey after survey showed cover- a casino owner. As British fishermen 2010 Pew Research Center survey— age of Europe stuck stubbornly at the protested quotas imposed to counter “Understanding the News Participa- bottom of the list of audience interests. overfishing, we reported how Norway tory Consumer”— showed that about After a while, I got fed up trying to revived its herring industry after a third of Americans say they would justify the existence of “Euronews.” overfishing almost killed it. like more international coverage. So one afternoon I slipped out of As we did this, we were breaking (The actual figures are 42 percent of the office, audio recorder in hand, stories and broadcasting exclusive “news participators,” defined by Pew and engaged with the audience who interviews. Soon, our colleagues across as those who contribute to or share allegedly weren’t engaging with us. BBC radio and television were consult- news online, and 28 percent of other For five hours I stopped people on ing us for our European expertise. Our adults.) This result is all the more London streets to ask them what, if programs were nominated for awards. remarkable given that never before anything, they wanted to know about Best of all was what the audience was has there been such quick and easy Europe and Europeans. telling us. A night watchman wrote access to international news as there

16 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It? is now with digital media. worked in the United States. Insurance journalism from overseas it would The message I take from the Pew companies are global corporations, have revealed that Italy has the worst findings is that people are still in search just as pharmaceutical companies are. record among European countries of a different kind of international cov- Americans live everywhere and require when it comes to school bullying and erage. Or perhaps I should say different medical care. Norway has the best. Expert analysis kinds. The fact that “outsider” news The American debate about health could have offered some explanations providers like The Economist, the BBC, care does not exist in isolation. In of what accounts for this difference. A and its Boston-based co-production almost every European country, this legal reporter might have discovered with Public Radio International, “The topic is the subject of passionate con- that in the United Kingdom a mother World,” are increasingly popular proves versation at the pub, café and office. successfully sued the local school the demand is there—and I’d argue With my editor’s cap on, what I see in board for negligence when they failed there is still plenty of room for fresh to protect her child against bullying. perspectives. Each of these is an interesting story, After all, places that once seemed but beyond that each provides the kind far away and foreign to most Ameri- And thanks to digital media of contextual dimension of journal- cans are now part and parcel of ism that enhances understanding. their everyday lives. A nurse taking we have tools to engage Paraphrasing New York University their blood pressure might have just journalism professor Jay Rosen, this returned from her family in Haiti made the audience as never kind of journalism is the background homeless by the earthquake. Their before: We can call on their narrative that makes sense of news. local supermarket sells goods not only Often that background narrative has from China but Central America and expertise; we can facilitate an international dimension. India and Eastern Europe. Language Historically, foreign affairs journal- lessons with native speakers are now international debate ... ism has taken its cue from govern- offered via the Internet so their child’s mental priorities: war, trade policy, teacher might be in Beijing, Moscow disaster relief. It’s past time to expand or Sao Paulo. its focus—to welcome the grassroots International coverage too often these connections are compelling sto- perspectives of ordinary people. We fails to reflect—or take advantage ries capable of resonating with people have an opportunity to create a new of—the increasing networks of per- who share the experience—whatever genre of international coverage while sonal relationships that globalization the nationality—of being sick or need- exciting people about the relevance of enables. The ease and familiarity of ing a doctor’s care. journalism and the world to their lives. these global connections speak, how- These kinds of stories can offer To try out my ideas, I have decided ever, to the potential of a bottom-up insights that make the audience “wiser,” to leave my job at the BBC and return approach to international journalism. as New York University professor to the United States after many years And thanks to digital media we have Mitchell Stephens argues persuasively away. With the benefits of digital tools to engage the audience as never in “The Case for Wisdom Journal- technology and social media networks, before: We can call on their expertise; ism—and for Journalists Surrendering my own experience in the trenches of we can facilitate international debate; the Pursuit of News,” which appeared international journalism, and reflec- we can use crowdsourcing techniques in Dædalus’s “Future of News” issue tions that I’ve had during my recent to have them participate in deciding in the spring. And the beauty of this Nieman year, I’m ready to experiment which stories to cover. approach is that it can be practiced with a “Euronews” type strategy in my Consider, for example, the debate as easily at the local level as it can at own country. As the gambling idiom Americans had last year about the national. so graphically puts it, it is time to reforming health care. Opponents High school bullying may be a real- put my money where my mouth is.  of single-payer proposals made dire ity across the U.S. but the headlines claims about the Canadian and British this year were made by South Hadley, Maria Balinska, a 2010 Nieman national health systems, but apart from Massachusetts when a teenage girl Fellow, served as editor of World a handful of good explanatory features committed suicide after classmates Current Affairs Radio at the BBC about how these systems work (not relentlessly taunted her, online and off. from 1998 to 2009. She is the to mention the French or Japanese Several of those classmates ended up author of “The Bagel: The Surprising systems) there was little sustained facing criminal charges. In the weeks History of a Modest Bread,” international context brought into the that followed her death, news outlets published by Yale University Press in American debate. And yet the connec- were full of opinions about how the 2008. tions are there to be explored. Many situation was handled by the school American doctors have worked abroad; and the community. many foreign doctors have studied and Had there been some comparative

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 17 Reporting From Faraway Places

When Journalists Depart, Who Tells the Story? Press releases and broadcast-ready video substitute for European Union coverage, as news organizations cut back on staff reporters in Brussels.

BY MICHAEL J. JORDAN

t the age of 28, Irina Novakova in real time. Back home, some edi- stories. Those stories can be published holds a lofty perch in Bulgarian tors think that European affairs, like online before Consoli even returns to journalism, covering Brussels as so many other stories today, can be his office. AEuropean Union (EU) correspondent covered cheaply and easily from the Follow this to its obvious conclusion, for both the most serious newspaper newsroom via the Internet and tele- however, and we have to wonder who and weekly magazine in Bulgaria. phone. Why keep a correspondent in will be left to even ask questions? What She is prominent among the pack of pricey Brussels? happens when those who actually do correspondents from ex-Communist Novakova describes the “sense of reporting are no longer there? Eastern Europe who try to explain gloom” that permeates the press corps. Especially at times of crisis, such the often bewildering EU to its newly “I wouldn’t call it a crisis or panic as when European nations this year democratic members. Nevertheless, but when you talk to colleagues over grappled with Greece’s financial situ- she’s anxious. The economic crisis is a beer, they say, ‘What can you do, ation, which sent the euro tumbling roiling the region’s media. Finances these are the times we live in?’ ” she and EU members scrambling to find are so bad for her paper in Sofia, the says. “There’s a lot of dark humor. It’s a viable solution. At that point, insti- Bulgarian capital, that management a sense of powerlessness that it’s out tutional knowledge and connection hit the staff with pay cuts. of your control. Also, that you’re not to reliable sources is vital. Reporters In Brussels, meanwhile, recent EU unique: What has hit the car-making who’ve been covering the story for member Lithuania is already down to industry or the banking industry in years are well positioned to dig deep zero correspondents. The last Latvian London is hitting us. It’s in journalism. and tell the story with confidence in fends for survival, and a Hungarian It’s everywhere.” the validity of information they have correspondent tells Novakova how For denizens of its 27 member gathered. his country’s sagging interest in EU countries, what the EU does matters, Without such a foothold, the impulse affairs may force him to freelance, as does the ability of voters back to cut corners can be strong. That’s moonlighting in public relations. A home to know how and why their when the material produced by the PR veteran Serbian correspondent whose representatives make their decisions. folks in Brussels is presented as news. postwar nation aspires to join the EU With fewer correspondents roaming While editors might alter it slightly, the laments he might need to leave because the halls in Brussels, 500 million or news organization may still present it no client in Belgrade can afford to pay so EU citizens are less informed about as original journalism. Especially prone him to report from there. Novakova the policy decisions that affect their are cash-strapped outlets in Central has attended several farewell parties country and about the complex rela- and Eastern Europe. And not enough where the correspondent departs tions their country has with myriad readers and viewers are savvy enough without being replaced. European institutions. to detect the difference. This trend, though, is not limited to Yet the vast EU public rela- Eastern Europe. The EU press corps tions machinery—with its Webcast Changing Rules itself is dwindling: According to the press conferences and well-written International Press Association (IPA) press releases along with its slick Concerned about this trend and with an in Brussels, the number of accredited broadcast-ready video—has devalued, eye toward reinventing the added value reporters has shrunk from some 1,300 unintentionally, the work these foreign of Brussels-based correspondents, the in 2005 to 964 in 2009. correspondents do in the eyes of con- IPA has called on EU institutions to What’s happening in Brussels is part sumers and editors alike, says Lorenzo “cooperate more closely and openly” of the same storm system battering Consoli, IPA president. When Consoli with accredited correspondents to the journalism industry globally. The attends a Brussels press conference “promote a more democratic media pressure is not only financial. EU agen- and asks a probing question, reporters landscape.” cies are embracing multimedia and back home who watch and listen on a Here is how Consoli describes the using the Internet to deliver messages computer, with press release in hand, alternative: The idea of bypassing the directly to constituents in what we can incorporate the answer (and the professional press, getting rid of that might consider political spin-doctoring question, if they choose to) into their filter for information, and speaking

18 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Does It? directly with the citizens is the totali- complexity of what the EU does and restricting information in the process. tarian dream. Public opinion doesn’t why in a way no one else can. They “It’s rank protectionism,” says Ren- ask questions. It is the privilege—and have a responsibility to provide the nie, who was based in Brussels while duty—of the press to ask these ques- public with the information they need he wrote this column for one of the tions, to challenge officials, and get to form opinions on their own.” few publications thriving in these hard answers. This is how democracy works. The commission grants the press times. “In their anxiety to preserve With the Internet and all the new corps unique access, says Hansen, with journalists physically based in Brus- media nowadays, a lot of people are more frequent background briefings sels, they’re behaving like the worst forgetting this. for selected correspondents on certain kind of labor union. What they don’t As part of this push, the IPA made topics. But in meetings with the IPA, understand is it won’t work because several requests of the European Com- she says, EU officials have explained the forces closing bureaus are more mission and Council of the European that a general embargo policy would powerful than that. It’s also a direct Union as a way for correspondents be neither “manageable nor desirable.” attack on the media from Eastern on the ground to produce deeper, “Operationally speaking, this would Europe that can’t afford to be in Brus- more meaningful stories. The IPA backfire,” says Hansen. “We all know sels and are trying to cover it from far proposed setting up more off the leaks happen, but can you imagine if afield. If you shut off the information, record or background briefings with some journalists were favored or if there you hurt other journalists.” more candid officials, along with early were no market sensitivity to the subject Indeed, the real cost is for Central access to press releases that would be matter? Some journalists complain that and East Europeans who once saw their embargoed until correspondents have we need to be more transparent, but nations’ 2004 entry to the EU—and time to digest and interpret EU actions. what would be next—withholding the to the NATO military alliance before “It’s an acknowledgement for com- broadcast of press conferences? Such that—as crowning achievements panies that go through the expense of a policy would be difficult to defend.” of their painful post-Communist having people here that it’s worth their Meanwhile, not every Brussels cor- transition. For the Czech Republic, while,” says IPA vice president Ann respondent agrees with the IPA’s posi- Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cahill, who is Europe correspondent tion. David Rennie, who used to write Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (joined for the Irish Examiner. “I compete, and the Charlemagne column on European by Romania and Bulgaria in 2007), I’m happy to compete. But if I can get affairs for The Economist, blasts the membership cemented their break something in advance, then I’m happy IPA for the “privileged access” it seeks, from a totalitarian past and carved to do that, too.” European institu- tions themselves rec- ognize the integral role of Brussels-based cor- respondents to not only explain the nuances of EU operations, decisions and policies but to shape public opinion, says commis- sion spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen. This is especially true in member states where political forces less friendly to Brussels often sway popular attitudes against it. “Of course we’re very concerned when journalists leave and their media choose not to replace them,” says Hansen. “We see the importance of having an accredited press corps to capture the The European Union has invested in technology to deliver its message directly to the public.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 19 Reporting From Faraway Places

out a new place in the Western world. have about what’s happening here. the public there was developing a high At the same time, journalists were This year, for example, when the level of interest in what was being said keen to track their country’s progress fastest growing far-right party in about them in Brussels. The intensity in Brussels and hold European and Europe, Jobbik, claimed 17 percent of interest peaked when the EU took their own officials accountable for in Hungarian elections, some Western unprecedented action and suspended their words and deeds. That some have correspondents came over to decipher aid to Bulgaria in 2008. drifted toward having no correspon- the phenomenon, as I did from across As a result, while other national dent based in Brussels who can report the border in Bratislava, Slovakia. contingents are today pulling back in their national language to folks back Understandably the reporting only from Brussels, the Bulgarians have home illustrates how detached some scratched the surface, says Eddy, who climbed from one correspondent, countries are from the EU. contributes to the Financial Times and whom Novakova joined in 2006, to The Economist Intelligence Unit. Eddy seven reporters based in Brussels. Changing Appetites has done such in and out reporting Even more interesting, says Novakova, in the region so he understands the Eurobarometer polls suggest the Bul- The watchdog role of the press resides limitations. “If you parachute in,” he garian public now has so little faith in at the core of any healthy democracy. says, “it’s inevitable you won’t know their own government that they trust For countries that have little or no it as well as the guys on the ground.” Brussels more. In turn, the public and tradition of democracy, as in Central Novakova understands well what’s thus many editors don’t demand critical and Eastern Europe, the absence of happening. When she arrived in coverage of the EU’s maneuverings. the journalist in the broad mix of Brussels in 2006, at the age of 24, The ones she writes for, however, policy discussions is a troubling trend. Bulgaria was abuzz. After four decades are more serious minded. So Novakova Coincidentally, as this region’s invest- in which it was perceived as the Soviet has devoted significant time during the ment in EU correspondence wanes, Union’s “16th republic,” sitting on the past four years to comprehending the Western Europe web of EU insti- seems to have tutions, develop- also lost interest ing sources and in their region, The watchdog role of the press resides at the core of any schmoozing with as measured by key players over journalists’ feet on healthy democracy. For countries that have little or no drinks. As she’s the ground. tradition of democracy, as in Central and Eastern Europe, told me, while EU When I worked officials “can chat in Budapest dur- the absence of the journalist in the broad mix of policy to you for hours ing the 1990’s, it in the corner of was a hopping discussions is a troubling trend. the press bar, they place for foreign would not take correspondents your call at all if from North Amer- you are sitting in ica and Western Europe. Generally strategic western shore of the Black the newsroom in Sofia trying to figure speaking, we were there documenting Sea, Bulgaria was on the brink of out what is really going on.” the grand experiment from dictatorship joining the European Union. Back She feels “lucky” not to be compelled to democracy. Some foreign reporters then I was writing for The Christian to defend her position or lobby to also used it as a base to cover the Science Monitor, and EU officials were explain the value of having someone on wars in the former Yugoslavia, which expressing serious concerns about the ground, as some of her colleagues is Hungary’s neighbor to the south. the entry of Bulgaria and Romania. have had to do. “It’s an existential Today the Hungarian International Upset about the reluctance of their question at some point,” she says. “To Press Association (HIPA) serves as governments to crack down on the justify that you should keep doing your a bellwether for Western curiosity. worst corruption and organized crime job—that’s not a nice conversation to During the last decade turnover in in Europe, the EU attached conditions have with your boss.”  personnel—like me—coupled with to their admission. tighter foreign reporting budgets and It was during this stretch that I met Michael J. Jordan is a Slovakia- Western disinterest have caused a Novakova. In 2007, she was taking a based foreign correspondent. He has “steady erosion” of HIPA membership, one-week break from her Brussels job reported from two dozen countries says Kester Eddy, a longtime member to participate in a foreign correspon- and leads the reporting project of the and president from 2003 to 2007. dence training I help lead in Prague biannual Transitions Online Foreign Naturally this affects the coverage the every six months. (Rennie is a longtime Correspondence Training Course in region receives and spills over into the lecturer for the same course.) With Prague. amount and kind of information people Bulgaria’s woes so much in the news,

20 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | How Is It Done? Bearing Witness: The Poet as Journalist ‘I stand as a witness to the silences—to what goes unspoken and ignored—to the things that float away as if insubstantial but that are filled with the simple breaths of people trying to make sense of their existence.’

BY KWAME DAWES

Poet and journalist Kwame Dawes has traveled to Jamaica and Haiti to work on multimedia projects for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. In combining his poetry with the images of photographers Joshua Cogan and Andre Lambertson, the life circumstances of people living with HIV/AIDS are revealed. Dawes describes these photographers’ work as “rich with the possibility of language” and his poems as providing a “dialogue with their dance of light and moment.” The multimedia Web site for “Hope: Living & Loving with HIV in Jamaica,” a collaboration with Cogan, was awarded an Emmy last year in recognition of its new approach to news and documentary programming. In this essay, Dawes, who is distinguished poet in residence at the University of South Carolina, writes about the interwoven roles he experiences as a witness—as poet and journalist.

o matter how often I do it, I am unable to shake the nagging sense that an interview I am about to Nconduct is not going to reveal anything interesting or anything that will hold the interest of anyone else. At the heart of the fear is the concern that the person I am about to interview will not want to say anything at all. This is especially so when I am about to do an interview involving matters that can be intimate and deeply private. My fear is not merely academic. I have interviewed people who simply would not speak. I could tell quite quickly that they had either misunderstood what the interview was about or they had changed their minds. But as a poet everything is useful mate- rial. Such material might be drawn from a long interview filled with brave details Poems and photographs work together in the multimedia project, “Hope: Living & about violence against homosexuals and Loving with HIV in Jamaica.” Photo by Joshua Cogan (www.joshuacogan.com).

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 21 Reporting From Faraway Places

risk-taking honesty about the person’s the poem “Coffee Break,” which is part own life, as I did in Jamaica two of our multimedia project, “Hope: Liv- years ago, words I never heard again ing & Loving with HIV in Jamaica.” after the cameraman somehow lost I am not sure what this poem says the videotape. Or from talking with about HIV/AIDS in Jamaica yet it is the self-centered head of a major about a man who dies of this disease organization in Haiti who gave me there so in that sense it is a poem pat answers and spoke as if he had about what I feel about HIV/AIDS Coffee Break done this interview a million times in Jamaica. But nothing happens in By Kwame Dawes before, which, alas, he might have; he that poem. Nothing extraordinary. A gave one hint of something new and man dies of AIDS. The only reason for interesting in all that he said. Yet, as the poem is the implied shock felt by It was Christmas time, a poet, I am always storing material a man who sees death everyday as he the balloons needed blowing, for some use. sees this one man die. So people die and so in the evening This seems to present a false parallel easily. What does that mean? Why is we sat together to blow between the making of poems and the that important? Why is that helpful in writing of a news report—journalism, making us understand the disease in balloons and tell jokes, in a word. But this is not the case. Jamaica? I don’t know. But I do know and the cool air off the hills Poetry and the collecting of material that I wrote the poem because when made me think of coffee, for poetry are never self-conscious. I heard the story told to me my eyes so I said, “Coffee would be nice,” Indeed, the material that I collect for filled with tears and I stored it in my poetry is never collected for poetry head not as a note for a poem but as a and he said, “Yes, coffee but collected by me to keep track of moment of feeling and understanding would be nice,” and smiled where I have been, who I have been that I wanted to keep with me for as as his thin fingers pulled with, and how I feel about what I long as I could. the balloons from the plastic bags; have seen. I am collecting, yes, but I did not write about this man’s not consciously. What I am doing is death in a journalistic piece nor did so I went for coffee, responding as a human being to what I say a great deal about it even as and it takes a few minutes I am seeing and hearing and trying I told people about what I learned to make the coffee to find ways of keeping track of what about AIDS in Jamaica. But it came and I did not know I am discovering. back to me when I started to write a I’ve recently made two reporting poem. It came back to me whole and if he wanted cow’s milk trips to Haiti. When I came home fully formed. And I transported myself or condensed milk, after the first trip I did not know if to the moment, a moment I did not and when I came out I would find anything to write about actually witness, and so a moment I to ask him, he was gone, in poems. I knew I had a lot to write invented. The moment, which sits at about in terms of straight journalistic the heart of the poem, is that final just like that, in the time pieces, but a poem is not the “story,” image: “the balloons sat lightly/on his it took me to think, it is something deeper; it has to do still lap.” What actually happened may cow’s milk or condensed; with an image, an image that can be have been more interesting, but for me the balloons sat lightly both something seen or something the thought of his last breath caught that happens, a snippet of a nar- in the balloon that seems strangely on his still lap. rative. It can be a detail, a scent, a alive despite his passing is a haunting question, a fear, a desire. I come to image that came to me at once when the poems without answers. By now I started to write the poem. I’ve seen and felt enough in my time The poems I have written about Haiti in Haiti to write many poems, but come from these “grace moments”— the odd thing is that when I look at moments of silence and seeming the poems I have since written, I do insignificance. I am taking a chance to not have a clear recollection of mak- even suggest that therefore these poems ing any mental notes of what drove are about a subject, about something them to existence while I was on the that we understand in a journalistic ground. I never refer to notes when way. Yet they are exactly that because Reprinted with permission from I am writing the poems. they are about my witnessing not intel- “Hope’s Hospice and Other Poems,” If someone said to me, write about lectually but mostly emotionally what published by Peepal Tree Press what you feel about HIV/AIDS in is happening before me. I stand as a in 2009. Jamaica, I would say much more than witness to the silences—to what goes

22 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done? unspoken and ignored—to the things I come to the page nervously. I have and by being poems their loyalty is that float away as if insubstantial but no idea whether the page will yield a to themselves and to my emotional that are filled with the simple breaths poem, and I have no idea what that and intellectual truth—as limited as of people trying to make sense of poem will be. It is reassuring to know that might be. In that place I try to their existence. This act of witness- that anxiety will always be my state be as open a witness as I can be. This ing allows us to reach to other levels before any kind of story. is not the place to find out the facts of meaning that can only be reached If someone is seeking to discover of HIV/AIDS in these countries, but through the poem. the core of my experience researching, it is where one can find a way to see In a sense, my poems come out of interviewing and writing about HIV/ the way that disease enters the human a hunger to be in some kind of con- AIDS in Jamaica and Haiti, one will find imagination. This has to have some versation. Like the interview, though, it in my poems. They are unguarded value. 

Chasing Haiti ‘Spending enough time in a tormented country for the reality to truly sink in is a painful experience.’

BY AMY BRACKEN

ne afternoon in June, I was sitting in my car at a red light in downtown Port-au-Prince, Owhen I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a begging hand reaching toward my window. I hate being hit up at stoplights. I hate being honked at when the light turns green as I’m reaching for change. I hate worrying that I’m going to run over someone’s foot as he pushes up against my car. I waved the begging hand away. But when the light changed and I began to ease forward, I saw that the man was in a wheelchair, his legs severed. And the wheelchair was one of those cheap, white plastic deck chairs, con- nected by bent metal rods to bicycle wheels. I gasped. I had heard about a Haitian wheel- chair factory in the metal artisan town of Croix-des-Bouquets. They made cheap, funky, creative wheelchairs, I was told. In my mind, the factory Haiti remains devastated by the earthquake that struck in January. Photo by Amy Bracken. represented the kind of Haitian innovation that springs from a lack of asking random people on the street. down the hill. I drove until I spotted resources to meet desperate needs. I No luck. them, parked the car, and pursued had wanted to find that factory. I had Now, seeing the begging man, I on foot. But they disappeared into called government people, disability knew these chairs existed. I wended my the crowd. I asked everyone I saw on organizations, and United Nations way through the streets and returned the street if they had seen the man humanitarian groups. I had driven to the stoplight. By then he had left in the wheelchair. After deliberation around Croix-des-Bouquets and fac- but merchants on the sidewalk said and debate, fingers pointed through tory districts around Port-au-Prince, they had seen someone pushing him another intersection and around a park.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 23 Reporting From Faraway Places

I got back in my car and followed, take for this to happen. During the while working for Reuters and The circling, searching and finding nothing. past seven years, I have spent a total Haitian Times were by now forgotten. They were gone. I felt crushed. of some 30 months in Haiti, and I still There were other factors, including I would think about that man in struggle to fathom the things I see, hear bad timing when it came to Americans’ that wheelchair for the next 24 hours, and experience. When I first set out interest in news from Haiti. Focus had replaying what had happened and for Haiti, a friend told me, “In Haiti, rapidly shifted elsewhere. Haiti had no wondering what I should have done believe nothing of what you hear and coups or major natural disasters then. differently in my pursuit. How could I only some of what you see.” I followed Gang fighting was limited to certain have been so slow? When I considered this advice if only because I couldn’t slums, and elections happened without recounting this story to friends, I wrap my mind around much of what any major violence. Meanwhile wars hesitated. Who would sympathize with was happening around me. were raging in the Middle East, and a foreign journalist who only cared During a period of violence that New Orleans was under water. What’s about a needy legless man because he followed the ouster of President Jean- more, there was suddenly far less space could help her with a feature story? Bertrand Aristide, a nice-looking young and money for international news. I wondered if journalism had skewed man pointed to a beheaded corpse in Though I was still fascinated by Haiti, my sense of what mattered. the road and proudly took credit for it. and I had the time to pursue the stories Meanwhile I kept thinking about the I nodded and wrote in my notebook. I had been unable to do with the AP, man, wondering not only where he had After floods and landslides that killed the takers were few and paid little. gotten his wheelchair, but other things: several hundred people in the spring I was frighteningly underemployed. where he lived and how old he was, of 2004, residents of a devastated I returned home to Boston and who was pushing him around, how he village told me they had just lost all moved in with my mother. I holed had lost his legs, how much money he of their children, and I nodded and myself up in my room with a computer made begging, if he had another source wrote in my notebook. for days, applying to fellowships and of income, if he would get any help While I was accumulating plenty jobs. The outcome: An offer for a night from nongovernmental organizations of material for articles, I was having cops reporting position at a paper in a coming into the country. I thought a very hard time comprehending that small town where the police responded about the back pain I get after sitting any of this was anyone’s reality. to calls about graffiti and, at least once, too long in an uncomfortable chair. It Spending enough time in a tor- “a suspicious seagull.” struck me that that wheelchair might mented country for the reality to truly But I also began to identify outlets hurt like hell. sink in is a painful experience. It also that seemed to be bucking the trend Finally, it struck me that it was the becomes increasingly challenging to away from quality international news journalist in me that was asking all write about a place you’re getting to reporting. The Christian Science Moni- these questions. My instinct had been know quite well for an audience that tor not only wanted features, but it also to wave the man away, but my profes- knows nothing about it. For Reuters was looking for “positive” stories about sion had taught me to pursue what I and then The Associated Press (AP), Haiti. World Vision Report wanted sometimes want to avoid. A vague story my subsequent employer, this meant richly textured and detailed pieces idea had triggered a determination to finding ways to succinctly explain what about life in other countries. Inter Press understand more. What I had missed Haiti is and what it is going through. Service paid little but had an almost wasn’t just the chance to do a quirky I found out that I am not cut out endless interest in the Caribbean and radio piece, it was an opportunity to for wire services. Work with them a new budget for stories on women’s learn something about the man in the forced me onto the frontlines of issues. Global Radio News (GRN) wheelchair. important events, but I did not thrive was there with broadcast contacts under the tight control by bosses in around the world should anything Arriving in Haiti another country, the always-yesterday arise in Haiti. [See story on page 57 deadlines, and the quick-and-dirty about GRN by founder Henry Peirse.] Learning about people’s dramatically reporting style. There was no time for Random glossies, like Marie Claire different lives was a reason that I the reality of what I was experiencing and the Argentinean edition of Alma started thinking about foreign report- to penetrate or percolate. Magazine, would occasionally bite. ing when I graduated from college in I left AP to try my hand at full- Through all of this, mediabistro. 1997, and it was why I moved to Haiti time freelancing for magazines and com, the online resource for freelancers, after journalism school in 2003. Haiti newspapers. But that reality came as helped me identify outlets and figure was known on the outside as a land a bit of a shock. I kept thinking that out how to pitch to them. of coups d’état, chaos and poverty. my phone wasn’t working. It nearly I finally discovered Public Radio I wanted to understand what these stopped ringing after I left AP to strike International’s “The World” based at circumstances actually meant to the out on my own. The AP had barred WGBH in Boston. Like so many other people living there. me from freelancing while I worked news programs, “The World” struggles I never imagined how long it would for them so moonlighting gigs I had with budget constraints, and it’s hard

24 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done?

A makeshift “hotel” was set up on the edge of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Amy Bracken.

to get a job there in part because dangerous, as it always has been. For part to find new ways to understand turnover is so low. But after waiting that reason, too many people lost what I’ve seen in Haiti. It’s hard to around for opportunities and pester- limbs, if not their lives, even before know where this path will take me, ing them for years, I’ve been able to the earthquake. And with or without but I can’t imagine ever completely report for them from Haiti and do such handicaps, more children and leaving journalism behind. freelance production work in their adults were begging on the streets I know I’ll be returning to Haiti. Boston newsroom. From the latter in the months before the earthquake Maybe I’ll see the man in the wheelchair I’ve learned that it’s possible to do than I had seen in previous years. again, and if I do, I don’t know if I’ll stimulating international journalism, Now the number has multiplied. The wave him away or chase him down. even in the United States. deeply entrenched problems of poverty, Even though I’ll likely be burnt out on corruption and lawlessness are hard suffering, maybe I’ll have the courage Returning to Haiti to be around, and almost impossible to ask what life is like for him. I might for me to absorb. I still feel I have a think I already know the answer, but Almost six months after the devastat- choice: I can nod my head and pas- just as likely I’d discover that I don’t, ing earthquake, I returned to Haiti to sively record the cries for help; or I that the world doesn’t, and that that’s report for “The World.” It was my third can fight through the pain involved in why I’m here, to find out. trip to the country since the tragedy truly grasping the human dimensions One thing Haiti has taught me is to struck in January. And it’s still—or of all that I am seeing and hearing try to resist shutting out the suffering maybe increasingly—painful to see the and ask questions and make real, in I find around me and to ask about it, destruction all around. Perhaps even whatever ways I can, people’s experi- try to understand it, and do whatever harder is seeing the problems that ences for those listening back home. I can to help my audience to care. existed in Haiti since well before the Mostly, I am trying to do the latter, That’s why I love my job—but it’s also earthquake. Somehow one had hoped but I can’t do it all the time. So I take why I hate it.  that all the international attention—all short trips to Haiti and go back home the donations after the earthquake— to process, relax and recover. As of Amy Bracken is a freelance jour- might have brought some modicum this fall, I am a student again, at the nalist who splits her time between of positive change. Fletcher graduate school of interna- Boston and Port-au-Prince. Traffic is chaotic, and driving tional affairs at Tufts University, in

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 25 Reporting From Faraway Places

Tanzanian Travels: Why Flexibility Matters ‘In these cash-strapped times, when heading off to Africa the expectation is that you will return with more than just a few stories. A daily radio show is a hungry beast to feed.’

BY JEB SHARP

’m not sure there is any longer a kept reminding myself that flexibility School, where 12 students perished typical reporting trip, and the trip I is the key to success. in a fire in a dormitory last year. A took recently to Africa was certainly It’s a lesson I remember often along student was studying late by candle- Inot typical for me. When I’d gone to the way. light. A mattress caught fire and the Africa before—to Rwanda, Chad and Then there’s the packing, always building was engulfed in flames. Since the Democratic Republic of Congo—the more stressful and time-consuming then, candles and kerosene lamps have stories I brought home were about than it should be. I put my work gear been banned; only solar-powered lights the legacy of genocide. When I went in a backpack: audio recorder and are allowed. The tragedy was also the to Tanzania in May, such brutalities microphone, cords and headphones, catalyst for a renewed push for safe were not central to my assignment. camera, flash cards, batteries, laptop, lighting in all of Tanzania’s schools. The impetus for my trip was a cell phone, chargers and adapters, handful of radio stories that our health notebook, pens, press ID. I also Reporting Begins editor at “The World” was keen to see add my valuables (passport, money, done from Tanzania. I volunteered to e-tickets). Then I fill a small suitcase Here is where I hit my first reporting go; I was eager to get back to Africa with clothes and other sundries, snag. It’s Thursday morning—a day and intrigued to work on what sounded including mosquito net, bed sheet, later than I thought we’d get there— like good news. That, by itself, would towel, toiletries and first aid. The and the headmaster with whom we’ve be a welcome change. backpack travels with me; the suitcase made arrangements has left town When heading off to Africa in these gets checked, but not without qualms for a funeral. His deputy doesn’t feel cash-strapped times, the expectation about what happens if the bag goes that he has the authority to give me is that you will return with more astray. This time, volcanic ash forced permission to interview students and than just a few stories. A daily radio a stopover in Amsterdam, and when teachers. Phone calls are made to try show is a hungry beast to feed. By the I arrived in Dar es Salaam 36 hours to locate the headmaster on his travels. time I left for Tanzania, some of the behind schedule, my suitcase didn’t. No luck. Our cajoling, pleading and stories we’d wanted to pursue didn’t (Let’s just say I’m extremely grateful reasoning fall on deaf ears. hold up, but other compelling ones for the extra T-shirts and underwear So we move on to the village’s emerged. There was the promise and I bought in Amsterdam just in case.) health clinic where solar panels are challenge of bringing solar power to On the ground, my first call is to being installed. Once in place, they rural Tanzania and the difficulty of Mason Huffine, an American who will power all of its lights. I record the combating road traffic injuries in Dar works with the British nongovernmen- contractors installing the panels on the es Salaam. I would also take a look tal organization SolarAid. Our plan is roof; I take photographs of the clinic; at clinical trials for a malaria vaccine to go to Idodi in Iringa District where I interview staff about the difficulties and the recurring attacks against SolarAid has two projects, one at a of working without electricity. Health Tanzanian albinos. And I’d fit in the health center, the other at a boarding worker Tarchisya Kipangula shows me time I needed to profile performance school. Idodi is a day’s drive away so how she holds her cellphone flashlight artist Mrisho Mpoto. Mason and his Tanzanian colleague Ste- in her mouth when she delivers a baby If the stories weren’t typical for phen Chimallo and driver Bino Khan in the dark. me, the way I went about preparing scoop me up at the airport and we’re Later we return to the school where for my trip certainly was. After some on our way. The drive is interminable officials now will allow me to talk to preliminary research I set up inter- but the company is delightful. As we one teacher and some handpicked views, found a translator, secured a pass through Mikumi National Park, students. I am forbidden to ask about Tanzanian visa and journalist’s permit, we make a game of spotting elephants, the fire. So I go through the exercise and booked flights and a place to stay. giraffes and zebras. We spend the night of interviewing some of the kids, and I’ve done this often enough to know at a cheap guesthouse in Iringa and they tell me how wonderful it is since that even the best-laid plans won’t reach Idodi village the next morning. solar power came to the school, how hold, so as I prepared to head off, I Our first stop is Idodi Secondary they can study more, and how well

26 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done? they are doing as a result. Their answers sound like they’ve been rehearsed. While I appreciate the school’s apparent desire not to re- traumatize the kids, it’s frustrating not to be able to talk with them more freely. As night falls, I get a taste of darkness in rural Tanzania. It comes on thick and fast and full, enveloping everything. But it doesn’t last long at the school. After dinner the lights—powered by solar energy stored in batter- ies—come back on in classrooms so students can study. I record the hubbub of their voices and footsteps and the scraping of wooden chairs on concrete floors as they gather there. Then, as these teenagers enjoy the light, I step outside into the darkness to take in the most dramatic night sky I’ve seen in years. The Milky Mason Huffine of SolarAid gives an impromptu demonstration of solar power on the way to Way is truly milky. The stars are Iringa, Tanzania. Photo by Jeb Sharp/Public Radio International’s “The World.” sharp and bright. Then, the irony hits me: This intense darkness is for me a novelty, between Amsterdam and Dar es materialize as social media though I yet for these students the novelty is Salaam. After a sponge bath with baby post a few photos to my Facebook page, the strong light they now study by. wipes, I collapse under the bed net. if only to say “I’m here. I’m alive and Later, we drive around the village to I’m too tired to realize it yet but it’s all’s well.” It’s partly that I’m tired and do an inventory of light. Most houses been a productive day. pressed for time. But there’s another have none, but in a few we see the yellow The next morning we head back to reason as well. After years of producing flickers of a kerosene lamp. A diesel Dar es Salaam. I retrieve my suitcase radio, that is what I am wired to do. generator lights up a phone-charging at the airport and at the hotel I enjoy It requires an intense focus, a certain kiosk and a string of colored lights at the luxury of a hot shower and fresh relentlessness. If there’s down time, the local tavern is presumably powered clothes. On Saturday, I meet Robby I’m not blogging. I’m preparing for the the same way. Otherwise it’s dark. What Marwa, a colleague from the BBC next interview or raking over my to-do I now understand is how huge the office in Dar es Salaam, who will be lists in my mind. That discipline has potential market is for solar power—if my fixer (i.e. translator, driver, guide) always served me well, obsessive as it the price is right. Later, we drop in at for the remainder of my stay. Dur- may seem. And when I’m in that mode, the home of the health clinic worker ing the next week, we move rapidly blogging or tweeting is the last thing with whom I talked earlier that day. from place to place doing interviews, on my mind. I could force myself to Mason conducts an impromptu focus recording sound, and taking photos do these things, but I realize that on group with her and her colleagues, for my other stories. this trip, at this particular moment, prodding these relatively affluent Frustrations abound—logistical, I choose not to.  women for information about what linguistic and bureaucratic. But all in solar devices they might be willing to all, the days go well as I spend time Jeb Sharp, a 2006 Nieman Fellow, is buy. Part of SolarAid’s mission is to talking with lawyers and politicians, a reporter for Public Radio Interna- figure out how to stimulate markets doctors and merchants, and artists and tional’s “The World” and host of the and distribution networks for micro teachers in apartments and hospitals, show’s history podcast, “How We Got solar products like desk lamps and markets and schools, and on beaches. Here.” She has twice won the Over- phone chargers. I record the session Steadily I gather what I need to deliver seas Press Club’s top radio award. to capture the feel of his sales pitch. what I’d promised. Her stories and photographs from Tonight’s accommodation is sparse What I don’t do—and what I thought Tanzania can be heard and seen at so Mason lends me a bed sheet since I would do before I got there—is blog www.theworld.org. mine is somewhere in that suitcase or tweet. My good intentions never

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 27 Reporting From Faraway Places

AN ESSAY IN WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

The Uninvited: Snapshots From Hyena Square

BY JEFFREY PORTER

Lili, a 16-year-old prostitute, waits for a customer along one of the many passageways surrounding Hyena Square in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s bastion of commercial sex workers.

’m standing at the summit of Mount know that during a yearlong courtship, ahead of us, just silhouettes of men Kilimanjaro with my close friend which will include three subsequent against kerosene-lit fried fish stands. I and colleague Kevin Sites. At this trips to Tanzania, the foundation of our get nervous when she slips the engage- Icelebratory moment, watching the relationship will be laid in one of the ment ring I gave her into her pocket sunrise from the “rooftop of Africa,” I most unloving places on earth, Hyena for safekeeping. As we enter Hyena have no clue that in a week I will meet Square, Dar es Salaam’s notorious Square for the first time, its inhabit- the woman I will eventually marry— bastion of commercial sex workers. ants are as surprised by the sight of a Jacqueline, a native Tanzanian bank Four months later, Jacqueline and Westerner as we are by the droves of teller from Dar es Salaam. Nor do I I can barely see the dusty footpath emaciated young women selling their

28 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done?

Buried deep in one of Dar es Salaam’s densely populated squatter settlements, Hyena Square is innocuous by day, but under the cover of night it teems with as many as 200 young prostitutes. Nearly all of them have migrated from Tanzania’s remote rural areas in search of a better life. Unable to find jobs, they turn to prostitution to survive. Their customers are drinkers, drug addicts, and hopelessly unemployed men who pay as little as a dollar for sex. Photo and text by Jeffrey Porter.

bodies for as little as a dollar in the Jacqueline tells me that there are At this moment, as a photojournal- nearly pitch-black night. At least half many open-air flesh markets through- ist, I know that I must try to bring the girls appear to be infected with out the city, thousands more teenage attention to the social injustice I see HIV/AIDS, but it’s impossible to be sex workers, and little sustained effort in front of me. I can only hope that sure as they’re all severely malnour- by the Tanzanian government to cre- in doing so I will spur humanitarian ished, and many are tejas (Swahili ate incentives for girls to remain in organizations to lean on the Tanzanian slang for “junkies”). They’ve migrated their villages or provide alternatives government to reverse this abomina- from dirt-poor villages in search of a to commercial sex work for those who tion. Jacqueline came from a destitute better life, but this is what they find. do come to Dar es Salaam. village in rural Tanzania and feels a

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 29 Reporting From Faraway Places

connection to these girls. She agrees Ironically, Pili is one of the first to start to feel differently. While a truthful to be my translator. come around. She invites us to take representation of their situation, the We underestimate the challenge all photos and wait in her room—for a photographs are explicit and difficult to of this poses. small fee, of course. Still, her offers reconcile. It might be that the people “I’m in the business of selling my are genuine, and she becomes one of to whom I will pitch this story will kuma (vagina) not my face,” Pili, a our strongest allies. She tells us that balk at publishing these pictures and 28-year-old prostitute, shouts when she as a teenager she dreamed of becom- tell me that they are too depressing sees my camera. “And if this mzungu ing Miss Tanzania, but a one-way bus for audiences to absorb. But the girls (white person) wants my kuma he can ticket to Dar es Salaam sealed her fate. have taken risks by allowing us into come to my room and pay for it like Now three fatherless children and a their lives so we feel a tremendous everybody else.” drug habit trap her here. responsibility to honor their lives Within moments we’re surrounded Lili, a newcomer not yet ravaged by by telling the stories they’ve shared by a mob of prostitutes and johns, the pitfalls of prostitution, becomes with us. pushing, shouting and grabbing at my like a sister to us. At 16 years old, she’s After a much needed break from camera. We’re marched to a cinderblock the youngest prostitute in the area and Hyena Square, we complete the project. police outpost where we assure officers one of the busiest; men aggressively Walking along the familiar footpath for that we only photograph those who pursue the younger girls believing the first time in two months, I can feel give us permission. But no one who they’re less likely to be infected with my heartbeat racing with trepidation is present believes we’re here for any HIV. Some men force her to have sex but also with excitement. Jacqueline reason other than exploitation. To without using a condom—others she and I are bringing prints to the girls avoid a stint in the outpost’s crowded allows if they offer her more money. we’ve photographed, and we’re looking jail cell, we pay Pili a cash settlement Her teenage invincibility prevents her forward to their reactions. and are released. from seeing her destiny, etched on the Surprisingly, we’re greeted like old It is a shakedown to be sure, one drawn faces of the other girls. friends. The girls giggle and pass the of dozens we will endure in the com- Her love for the camera is refresh- photographs around so everyone can ing weeks. But Pili’s objections aren’t ing, but, like Lili, we are blinded by see them. We even bring photos for entirely motivated by cash. Being a our own ambition. While photograph- Lili hoping someone might know her prostitute in Tanzania is considered ing her outside her “guesthouse” a whereabouts, but most can barely disgraceful and embarrassing, and strung out drug dealer begins hurling remember her. Two new arrivals from public knowledge of the fact can bring baseball-size stones at the three of us. Mwanza have taken her place: Neema, shame to an entire family. Luckily they whiz past us, denting 17, and Susie, 16. Neema seems to Despite our promise that the story the corrugated metal siding of the manage the men who prowl around is strictly meant for Western audiences, guesthouse instead of our heads. He her. Susie is a deer in the headlights. the girls are cynical beyond their years. reveals a stick of chiseled hardwood, The atmosphere is different this They’re convinced we’ll sell the story to promising to beat us with it if he sees time, and for the next few days we Tanzanian newspapers and TV, reveal- us again. A crowd forms behind him are able to photograph with little ing their dirty little secret. They may echoing his threats. resistance. On our last night at Hyena be village girls but they understand We’ve finally worn out our wel- Square, Jacqueline and I are swarmed the power of the media. come—and, sadly, Lili’s too. by a group of prostitutes and johns, The girls who let us photograph On our sofa, Lili looks like a typical only this time they are not calling them are subject to the same hostility teenager in the new clothes we bought for our arrest—they had come to say we are—not just from other prostitutes, her. She watches Swahili hip-hop vid- goodbye. The photography is finished but local brew makers, drug dealers, eos while we make dozens of phone but my pursuit to expose the betrayal and others who depend on prostitution calls, trying to find someone who these young women are experiencing for their livelihoods. Every time my can take her. Though she can barely is only just beginning.  camera is out of its bag for longer than spell her name, she knows too well 60 seconds I find myself retreating to that there aren’t many social safety Jeffrey Porter now combines his the side of my 5-foot-3-inch fiancée nets in Tanzania. The next day she career as a feature and documentary while she goes head-to-head with disappears with her new wardrobe. filmmaker with being a photojour- disgruntled inhabitants. Despite the We never see Lili again. nalist. In one of his films, “A World insults they hurl, she treats them with For a moment we think about shelv- of Conflict,” he chronicled Kevin respect, remembering what it feels like ing the project. The girls have been Sites’s Yahoo! News Hot Zone project. to be pushed to the edge of survival. victimized enough without us making [See Sites’s story about his return to I’m humbled by her devotion to their struggle for survival even more Afghanistan on page 63.] me—and to the project. Some of the difficult. I know the inhabitants of girls, I can see, are starting to notice Hyena Square fear publicity but after this too and slowly begin to trust us. looking at some of the photographs I

30 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done?

Sixteen-year-old Susie, left, and Neema, 17, interrupt a local dice game to solicit customers. The girls say it’s best to stop by the kolokolo tables early, before the men lose all their money.

Pili’s three children sleep behind a curtain while their mother sells her body at Hyena Square. “It’s crucial I move away from here so my children have a chance for a better life,” she says. “I have a 9-year-old daughter. I’d feel very sad if she found her way into this profession.”

Photos and text by Jeffrey Porter.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 31 Reporting From Faraway Places

Into Africa—With a Newspaper in Iowa With International Reporting Project support, ‘my story reminded Iowans that it’s not just the large coastal papers that bring them news from abroad.’

BY PERRY BEEMAN

t’s a moment I never saw coming a country that is far poorer than even at one point was 99 percent gone; it when I studied journalism in col- its sub-Saharan neighbors. It was a had a direct tie to Des Moines. lege. Here I was in Rwanda watch- story I wanted to report. Twice, I was turned down. The Iing scientists sort chimp poop—and For me, the question was how could interest was there, but the Register’s thinking about how I was going to I make this happen? budget simply was too tight. share this moment with readers back That’s when I turned to the IRP for in Des Moines, Iowa. Local Meets International help. I had read about the program on For a long time I’ve reported on SEJ’s Web site. The privately funded, the environment for The Des Moines My Rwandan experience provides an independent IRP is located at Johns Register. In that job, I usually travel excellent example of the crucial role Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze to sunny state parks and dank sewage organizations—partners, really—such School of Advanced International treatment plants, to industrial hog as the International Reporting Project Studies in Washington, D.C. [See farms and State House meetings, and (IRP) play in an era in which news story about IRP on page 47.] It exists to winding rivers dotted with dead fish organizations are struggling to hold to promote international reporting and state swimming areas where I pull on to their worldview as travel bud- and likes to send its fellows to places water samples to test for contaminants. gets blow away like so much glacial they’ve never been. This would be my But I end up spending too much time till. With IRP’s support, my story first trip to Africa so I knew I was on in my newsroom cubicle with a view reminded Iowans that it’s not just the the right track. of little else but desks and colleagues. large coastal papers that bring them When I decided to pursue the Sometimes I travel far away, like news from abroad. IRP fellowship, my vision broadened when I trained journalists in Panama, The Register is a midsized paper as I spent time learning more about Belize and Mexico and accompanied with 16 Pulitzer Prizes and a long his- Rwanda’s environmental efforts. What scientists along the Amazon River tory of reporting, at least occasionally, I found was a rebel leader turned studying what happens to the envi- on international events important to president, Paul Kagame, who had ronment when Brazilians clear the Iowans and other Americans. quietly become perhaps Africa’s most rainforest to raise cattle. During my In the past four decades or so, the vocal supporter of environmental ini- time as president of the U.S.-based Register reported from the Soviet tiatives. This struck me as surprising, Society of Environmental Journalists Union about grain issues, from Nica- refreshing—and a good story to tell. (SEJ), I led panel discussions and ragua about ongoing unrest, from From the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” if tours in a number of states. Africa about hunger, and from Finland nothing else, what Americans know A key lesson: The world is small. about innovative education initiatives. about Rwanda is that the Hutu gov- When rainforest is cut in Rwanda Among the Pulitzer winners was edito- ernment killed 800,000 to one million or Brazil, it could upset the earth’s rial writer Lauren Soth, whose bold Tutsis, the minority, and moderate carbon balance in ways that can affect invitation to Soviet Premier Nikita Hutus in 100 days. This bloodbath—the the climate from Iowa to Iceland to Khrushchev to visit farms in Iowa latest and worst in a series of genocides Italy. Americans’ infatuation with made history. going back to 1959—happened after the huge cruise boats can lead to damage With history in mind, a couple of Hutu president was shot down near to reefs in Belize. The world’s thirst years ago I proposed to my editors the Kigali airport. A study later blamed for corn-sweetened sodas can plow that I visit Rwanda to cover a project President Juvénal Habyarimana’s own under habitats that pheasants and cofounded by Great Ape Trust, a Des soldiers for his death. He had angered waterfowl need. Moines-based research center focused many by signing a peace accord with Those international connections on the language, social and cognitive the Tutsis. are what led me to Rwanda, known skills of great apes and the conservation Kagame’s rebel army returned Tutsis mainly for its mountain gorillas, 1994 of the endangered primates. That work to power on July 4, 1994. Now he genocide, and poverty. What drew me involves saving a small, isolated group leads a country where citizens struggle to east-central Africa, however, was the of chimpanzees in the Gishwati Forest with that history and a per capita breadth of environmental initiatives in in northwestern Rwanda, a forest that income of $500, barely more than

32 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 How Is It Done? half the sub-Saharan aver- age. Yet President Kagame insists that Rwanda’s first broad-based, international economy be built with envi- ronmental sustainability in mind. He banned plastic grocery bags that end up in trees. Women sweep litter from streets and the hydropower that lights many bulbs is now assisted by solar panels. There is talk of wind turbines. I proposed a series of stories about these aspects of Rwanda’s environmental activism, and my project was one of 10 selected from nearly 200 applicants. This meant they paid for me to travel to and report from Rwanda for five weeks. Dur- ing this time I wrote blog posts for the Register and IRP, and then in December, Neighbors working in a bean field are part of the 90 percent of Rwanda’s population engaged in agricul- my stories were published ture. The government’s goal is to shift some of these workers to ecotourism and high-tech jobs. Photo by as “Renewal in Rwanda,” Perry Beeman/The Des Moines Register/International Reporting Project. a four-part series in the Register and on our Web site as well as the IRP’s. taught how to recognize the sound of International reporting is as vital as various weapons so we would know ever, perhaps more so as the Internet, Life as an IRP Fellow whether to drop to the ground in a environmental concerns, travel and strategic position or run as fast as we trade connect us as we’ve not been I described the unmistakable and knew how. It was all very realistic. before. Tapping these new partnerships moving joy in the faces of 1,000 Then we spread across the globe to is part of what it will take to keep our worshippers in a Pentecostal church do our reporting before returning to eyes and ears on world developments in Gisenyi, raising their voices in Washington to spend two weeks writing as The Associated Press struggles, news praise without a trace of the pain that and filling in the reporting blanks. I organizations close bureaus, and people must come with praying alongside gave presentations at Johns Hopkins, throughout the world clamor for even people who killed your kin. I wrote George Washington University, and more news, updated by the minute. about an invigorating 10.5-mile hike the Woodrow Wilson International My project was important work through the Gishwati Forest to track Center for Scholars, where I accepted that started with a regional focus and chimps and of the scientists’ laborious an invitation to serve as a short-term grew to the type of international view efforts to sort through their poop to public policy scholar. When I got home, that reporters need to find ways to see what the primates eat in varying the speaking engagements piled up at keep alive. With fellowships such as weather conditions and seasons. I also churches, breakfast clubs, and schools. IRP, journalists who work for news described the country’s work to spread For “Renewal in Rwanda,” I, along organizations, large and small, and clean water, alternative energy, and with the IRP, received a citation from freelancers, too, can still bring home toilets across the countryside. the Overseas Press Club of America. that worldview.  Before I left for Rwanda, IRP offered Showing up in online search results, me and the other fellows semi-private this story that originated in Des Perry Beeman writes about environ- offices not far from Dupont Circle. Moines traveled the world with the mental issues for The Des Moines They connected us with former British series drawing the attention of readers Register. Royal Marines who were flown in to on several continents. Parts of what I teach us how to avoid booby traps, wrote were reprinted in Rwanda and kidnapping and petty theft. We were in other countries.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 33 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | What Perspective? Leaving a Sad and Difficult Story in Gaza Behind— For a While ‘... I always say that I am not the story. I am out of it. I observe the place, and I describe it as it is. If I talk to people, I talk to all sides of the story. That’s how I conceive it.’

From 2001 to 2009, Taghreed El- Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. losing my sources that I have been Khodary, who is Palestinian, reported as a panel member at a discussion establishing for many, many years. from Gaza for The New York Times. about covering Palestine. At that event, It’s a very sensitive issue, as you all Her reporting for the Times ceased soon she spoke briefly about her decision to know, not only that, but it’s also risky after it was revealed that the son of suspend her reporting, expressing how and you have many small groups who Ethan Bronner, the paper’s Jerusalem sorry she was to leave Gaza. would like revenge and I can be a bureau chief, was serving in the Israeli “But my bureau chief’s son joined great person to get a hold of. It’s very army. The Times decided not to remove the Israeli army and I felt like it’s not sensitive and I was really disappointed Bronner from that position. wise of me [to stay],” she said, and that they took this decision but they In June, El-Khodary spoke at The explained why. “I don’t want to risk understand why I left.”

Palestinian children walk on a makeshift bridge over floodwaters after a rainstorm in a Gaza City refugee camp. Photo by Adel Hana/ The Associated Press.

34 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Perspective?

For a full transcript of that discus- office; they relied heavily on their all coverage and, if so, whether that sion go to http://bit.ly/blRuFk. photographers and their cameraman. perception would pose problems for But as a journalist, I felt responsible you in going back to them as sources. El-Khodary, who is a 2006 Nieman to go to the scene to actually see it. Fellow, is a visiting scholar in the I cannot believe it unless I see it. I El-Khodary: Luckily, I enjoy a good Middle East program at the Carnegie cannot believe anything unless I see reputation because I never belonged Endowment in Washington, D.C., where it with my eyes. to any political faction; even my par- she focuses her research on Gaza. She ents have nothing to do with politics. spoke with Nieman Reports editor Ludtke: That’s a very big risk. It is an advantage. When I see what Melissa Ludtke in June shortly after I believe is the truth, I speak out. Israel raided one of the ships in the El-Khodary: Yes. It is a risk. I risked And I have people around me in the flotilla of boats headed from Turkey to my life several times. I have a very community who are aware of me as deliver supplies to the people of Gaza. good driver, but he has a family so a journalist and know that I am fair. In the conversation, she spoke about I can’t ask him to take those risks. I how she approached her coverage of always asked him to stay away, and Ludtke: So they are able to separate Gaza. Edited excerpts appear below: I would walk. On many occasions I you, as the journalist they know, from would walk by myself. It was hard the institution for which you write Taghreed El-Khodary: When I worked but there was a driving force inside that they may perceive as having a on a story in Gaza, I understood that me to get the truth out because I am different view? I was writing for Americans. I felt as responsible and it was very critical though I play a role in explaining the to tell this story. I don’t want to give El-Khodary: I mean, you have the Jewish situation happening on the ground. I any wrong information so I am very Americans, some of them, that are not feel responsible for doing that. thankful that there was nothing wrong happy at all with the coverage. Then in my articles. Even when there was you have some Palestinians and they Melissa Ludtke: Right now, as news [a disputed] bombing of a school, I are not happy with the coverage. But, of the Israeli raid on the flotilla is didn’t say that it happened inside the you know? You cannot make everybody breaking, you are not in Gaza and the school. I said outside. happy. And yes, I feel very sad that Times doesn’t have another person I knew because I went to the scene, Gaza has not been covered in the past with your kind of experience to bring I went to the hospital, I spoke to wit- year. No features or analysis of the news to their readers. Without you nesses. Many other news organizations place until recently. there, what dimensions of this story had to correct their reporting after are we not getting? they found out that it wasn’t inside Ludtke: How did you reconcile your the school. It was outside. Many civil- own commitment, for lack of a better El-Khodary: We can always learn some- ians were hurt, of course, but I said word, to the cause of the Palestinian thing. I feel guilty, as a journalist, to the bombing happened outside of the people with the expectation of how leave the place, but at the same time school. There were Jewish readers and you would go about covering what for me, it’s important to get out, to Israelis who asked the newspaper to happened there in an objective way? breathe, and to listen to other voices. correct my story. But the Times said Did you have a difficulty in reconciling For me, I cannot live in one place. In that they didn’t need to correct what these two things? Gaza, there has been so much pres- I’d written. It was reported correctly. sure on me that I decided to take off El-Khodary: Human beings fascinate for a while. Ludtke: But people thought you’d said me; it’s people who move me. It’s a it happened inside of the school? hard story, but I just get a feel for the Ludtke: How would you describe your people anywhere I go. It doesn’t have mission as a journalist in covering El-Khodary: I felt like I did my part to be a place where I’m from. But at Gaza for a Western audience? when I covered that story. All I was the same time, of course, I was born thinking was to get the truth out to and raised in Gaza. And I can see El-Khodary: I felt the pressure of be- the American people. That was my since childhood how the place has ing the only one covering the war only agenda, to get the truth out. changed. It’s a sad story, definitely. in Gaza for The New York Times. I mean, it’s sad when I see how the Whenever there is a war somewhere Ludtke: You talk about Western audi- society is collapsing. It is due to the the newspaper will send an army of ences responding to what you write. wrong policies. It’s sad to see it going, journalists, an army of producers. But With digital media, your sources in in a way, backwards. And I see all of in Gaza I’m by myself covering that Gaza can read The New York Times. that, and I am moved, of course. But big story. I felt so responsible. Many I’m wondering if they perceived a you have to learn, and I always say wire service journalists decided to bias in the coverage of the Israeli and that I am not the story. I am out of work from home or only from their Palestinian conflict in the paper’s over- it. I observe the place, and I describe

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 35 Reporting From Faraway Places

and then you figure out how the other person works.

Ludtke: I would guess that Western audiences bring perceptions about Gaza and the people who live there to their reading of stories about Gaza or about this conflict. Did you make an effort in your stories to break through some of these preconceptions?

El-Khodary: There are many precon- ceptions that people have from their reading. They want it to be a certain way. But as reporter, you cannot; you have to see the whole thing as it is. This takes time—to understand the whole dynamic—so it’s essential to spend time in the place. It’s essential to talk to many people. That is very Palestinians living in a refugee camp in Gaza City wait for their monthly food supply from important. There are things that people the United Nations. Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/The Associated Press. don’t say but in time you can read it through their voice, facial expression, and action. It’s what I call the living it as it is. If I talk to people, I talk El-Khodary: It’s important to have an expressions, the feeling, and those are to all sides of the story. That’s how I outside eye coming in and observing very important to understand. conceive it. the place and describing the place. When I was in the West Bank, I But of course, they cannot do it by Ludtke: Can you remember a story in asked people living there questions themselves because most of them don’t which you think your reporting con- because I want to understand the speak the local language. So, of course, veyed this living expression of feeling? mindset. How do they think? Why they need someone always to help for them is it important to take over them, whether it’s a driver, whether El-Khodary: I have a list of many of a Palestinian land in the West Bank? it’s a local reporter, to help them, to them. There is so much pain in Gaza. They are leaving Brooklyn or Manhat- guide them. It is very important to There are many people who lost their tan to go live in a Palestinian village find a good one because in the end loved ones, and these are the moments. or Palestinian town saying that it is that person is guiding them. When a woman is talking about her part of “our DNA.” For me, it is fas- love of her girl or the loss of her boy. cinating to understand so I interview Ludtke: And framing the story in This is very important. There are many many of them. For me, it is always many ways? women who will lose children and the interesting to understand the other pain is expressed differently from one voice, the other analysis, so I can get El-Khodary: Yes, of course. They play human being to another. You need to the whole picture. a great role in framing the story, and be able to transmit, to understand and I don’t isolate myself from their that’s why it’s important to find a cred- to conceive it. There are those that reality. I am a realist. I cannot just ible one, a good one. The scary thing don’t cry and are not expressive. To be stuck with only one side of the is when some reporters go to the field feel it, it means you have to get closer story. That’s one of the reasons it’s so and find it hard to listen to people. to the source. You have to think like hard to be in a place like Gaza and There are those who are completely them. You have to make them feel just to cover the same thing over and brainwashed and stick with whatever very comfortable with you. over again. stereotype they bring with them. Ludtke: A lot of the time you’re prob- Ludtke: What are challenges you see Ludtke: How can you tell who is going ably dealing with people who have with Western news organizations to be a good guide and who is not? suffered from trauma, and that requires parachuting someone in to report from a particular need for empathy, under- Gaza? Will they have the ability to tell El-Khodary: You just have to keep trying. standing and special journalistic skills. anything approximating an accurate It’s a relationship you develop, and you story about what’s happening there will see how you can be comfortable El-Khodary: These are very sensitive and the forces at play? and how you understand each other, and delicate stories. You have to pay

36 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Perspective? attention and you have to respect the Many women cannot. to see women journalists. There’s so pain. You have to be able to listen. It much potential. And they always ask is very crucial and difficult since you Ludtke: Why are you able to and other me “How does this work? I feel it is are not the one going through that women can’t? dominated by men.” Of course, I worked pain. There are many people who cover as a reporter, but at the same time this story, but how many people feel El-Khodary: Because I don’t have a you hear many things. Many voices it? How many people can? family that would say no. are critical. You have to understand these voices. You shouldn’t be angry. Ludtke: I’m wondering if there were Ludtke: This has more to do with You should understand. challenges for you in terms of being cultural norms rather than laws or a woman and doing this reporting in regulations. Ludtke: Maybe those same voices the region in which you were working. might question what you are doing I can’t imagine that there are a lot of El-Khodary: Yes. And sometimes it’s in this role. Palestinian women working there as very helpful to be a woman. Especially reporters. covering stories about women. At the El-Khodary: You have to respect them. same time, of course, as a woman, Sometimes you don’t need to question. El-Khodary: Surprisingly it is changing there is much pressure. But you have The story, after all, is not you. Many from when I started reporting in the to manage. You have to be able to journalists come from outside. Some mid-1990’s. Many female reporters are present yourself in a very respectable of them, they think it’s about them. working there. But how many women way. You have to respect the place, It’s interesting to see that. But you go into the field? Some rely heavily on after all. Wherever you go, first of have to be aware of things. You have their cameramen. Some go. It depends all you have to understand the place. to protect yourself from the story. It on the story. I can go anytime at night. That is very important. In Gaza, I like takes time. 

A Foreign Correspondent as Suspect ‘One of the first things to hit me was the difference between how the Pakistani state and the Pakistani people viewed me.’

BY NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN

t is one of the most coveted assign- The newspaper’s Pakistan coverage their nuclear arsenal. My predecessors ments in Indian journalism, and is known for its sobriety and balance; had warned that life would not be easy. I had dreamed about it for many Pakistan-watchers in India and else- Having left in February after nearly Iyears. Yet as I flew to Islamabad from where follow it closely. One former four years in Pakistan, I look back on New Delhi in May 2006 to take up my diplomat, who had served as India’s my time in that country as the most post as the new foreign correspondent high commissioner to Pakistan, told complex and rewarding period of my in Pakistan for my newspaper, The me before I left: “You will be one of 24 years as a journalist. I learned Hindu, my heart filled with dread. only two Indians who can write what much as I unlearned much more Partly, it was the challenge of a new they see and hear for others to read. about Pakistan and my own country assignment. An unwritten agreement We diplomats write too, but that’s only and gained important insights into between India and Pakistan ensures for the files.” my profession. only two journalists from either coun- In part, the dread that I felt was try can be stationed in the other at about going to a country that I had The Eyes Watching Me any given time. Pakistan always sent grown up thinking of as “the enemy” representatives from its state-owned and where people thought likewise of One of the first things to hit me was the media to New Delhi. The Hindu, a India and Indians. Pakistan separated difference between how the Pakistani privately owned independent English at birth from India in 1947, and after state and the Pakistani people viewed language daily, has one of the two slots three and a half wars they are locked me. On arrival, I gained two shadows for India, a wire service the other. The in instinctive rivalry over everything from the national intelligence agencies. job comes with much responsibility. from the cricket ground to the size of During the next four years, the “state”

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 37 Reporting From Faraway Places

would be with me constantly—mostly be seen talking to an Indian journalist all this, a friend with contacts among just one man on a motorbike, wearing for fear of earning a career-affecting the farishtey dropped a warning: “They blue jeans and glasses, but at times, black mark from the intelligence agen- think you are calling the Indian High three or even four men, stationed cies. My only professional interaction Commission too often.” outside my house, following me with the government was through wherever I went. I took for granted press officers. The Pakistani military Visa Problems that my phones were tapped and my held briefings for foreign journalists e-mails read. and took them on visits to the North- The visa terms for Indian journalists There was nothing covert or discreet West Frontier regions where they were are restrictive, and this drastically about the shadowing; it was done fighting the Taliban. Neither of the two affected my coverage of events. Based openly. Nor was I singled out. The Indian journalists was ever invited. in Islamabad, I could travel to Lahore other Indian journalist got similar From the kind of questions I asked and Karachi only. Every other place in treatment, as had all our predecessors. at a press conference to the number of Pakistan was off-limits. I was always Indian diplomats are subject to much times I visited the Indian High Com- told I could ask for permission to closer surveillance. I quickly realized mission and which Indian diplomats I visit any place in Pakistan. Long it was not so much to keep track of socialized with, I felt constantly studied after the dates of my proposed travel me as to discourage Pakistanis from for evidence of my presumed links to were past, I would get a note from interacting with me. the Indian intelligence agency, the the information ministry’s External Pakistanis, fed up with the over- Research and Analysis Wing. Publicity Wing telling me that “your whelming influence of the national The onus was on me to prove I request is regretted”(sic). intelligence agencies on their nation’s was clean and not just through what Rawalpindi, which is less than 10 destiny, sarcastically call them far- I wrote for my newspaper, although kilometers from Islamabad, was out ishtey, Persian/Urdu for “angels.” If I that was important too. This I found of bounds too. But just once, I got went to a Pakistani home, they would to be one of the big challenges of my permission to go. It was to cover be visited the next day by a farishta, or job. As a journalist, I had to find out Benazir Bhutto’s election campaign they would receive a phone call from about things, but if I asked too many rally in that city on December 27, a “blocked caller ID” number asking questions, even in a social situation, 2007. I was just 30 feet away when a them how they knew me, what business people would say: “My dear, you are suicide bomber blew himself up near they had with me, and what we had very curious, aren’t you?” her car in the attack that killed her. talked about. If a Pakistani visited me Afraid that I might unwittingly The visa renewal process was an at my office-cum-home, he would be confirm the presumption that I was annual battle. I applied four months accosted by the farishta at the gate, an extension of the Indian High before the visa ran out in May every asked for his identity, and the same Commission, I deliberately interacted year, and I usually got it four months questions followed. Evidently the intel- with Indian diplomats less than I did after it expired. It was something to ligence agencies feared I could be an during an earlier posting in Sri Lanka; keep you on tenterhooks for eight Indian intelligence operative who was at press briefings, I worked hard at months of the year. At the first trying to recruit agents in Pakistan. phrasing my questions so that no one renewal in 2007, I had to wait until Not surprisingly, I had very little could accuse me of asking one planted September. The exact reason for the official access. No bureaucrat wanted to by the Indian government. Even after delay was never spelled out to me.

Scenes of Pakistan range from a protest in the streets and a remembrance of the slain Benazir Bhutto to

38 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Perspective?

But one day the top official in external principle—“Our journalists in India as I was to know more about them publicity summoned me and warned are not even invited to your foreign and their lives, they wanted to find that I was “trespassing in the domain office briefings.” out about me and my country and of national security” and to stay clear its successes and failures. We did not of such “activities.” People Talk to Me always agree on everything, but if I was My own conjecture—based on able to bring perspective and depth to identically worded reports containing If official Pakistan was always suspi- my coverage, it was thanks to these an indirect reference to me in two cious, distant and sometimes hostile, interactions with Pakistani people. English language newspapers—was the people seemed to inhabit a separate With my Indian nationality far that I was being punished for being universe when it came to dealing with more important than my identity as friends with Ayesha Siddiqa, the author an Indian. Even if some thought I was a reporter in the eyes of others, all of “Military Inc.,” a critical book about a spy, their reactions to me were a through those four years I was acutely the Pakistani military that caused a complex mix of curiosity and suspicion, aware that I was not just a journalist storm when it came out in mid-2007. friendliness and antagonism, warmth reporting a story but also a part of Considering how shut out I was and caution. the story. Just how much this was from official Pakistan, I was lucky My nationality was a natural ice- so is something that I realized with that one of the big stories during my breaker. “Oh! Indian? Which part? the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in time there, the fall of General Pervez My father is from [Indian] Punjab” November 2008. Musharraf, unfolded mostly on the was a common refrain. Or “Have you Every Pakistani I knew wanted me streets of the Pakistani capital. My met Shahrukh Khan?”—a reference to tell them “what India [is] think- lack of government access did not to India’s top film star. Bollywood ing.” A day didn’t pass in which I matter nor did the travel restrictions; films are a huge hit in Pakistan, as is found myself without a variant of that it was all happening on the streets Indian music, both pop and classical, question. Pakistani television shows outside the Supreme Court, a couple and Pakistani women are hooked on asked me to talk about the “Indian of kilometers from where I lived. Indian soaps. I encountered both viewpoint.” Those tense months were Lawyers and politicians involved in dislike and admiration for India and a revelation about how governments the protests were always happy to talk an envy that it had left Pakistan far use the media and how the media in and were extra courteous when they behind in so many ways. turn can manipulate both government discovered I was Indian. Other events Waiting for a flight to Lahore once, and their audiences. Strangely enough, in 2007, a defining year in Pakistan’s I was accosted by a teenage boy who I made more friends during this time history, were also easily accessible asked me for my autograph. “Why than in the two years before. because they were happening on the do you want my autograph?” I asked The Pakistani state came back at me streets of Islamabad, such as the siege him. “But you are Indian, aren’t you?” in 2009. In August as I waited for my of Lal Masjid. he said. visa extension, I was abruptly asked to There were downers, too—my Many people braved the angels at leave the country within two weeks. requests for interviews with the the gates to visit me and opened their My application had been rejected. I president, prime minister, or foreign homes to me. I had never expected was given no reason, and this time minister were never granted. Offi- to make so many friends in Pakistan. I had no clue if it was to do with a cials always quoted the reciprocity Some I now count as family. As eager story I had written, something I had

the pleasures of henna and video games. Photos by Nirupama Subramanian.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 39 Reporting From Faraway Places

said on one of the television channels, certain. One is that it would do much Nirupama Subramanian, a 2003 or if the angels were simply unhappy for relations between India and Paki- Nieman Fellow, is deputy editor with with my rapidly expanding network of stan if the two governments scrapped The Hindu. For her coverage from Pakistani friends. The Hindu preferred that two correspondents rule, opened Pakistan, she won two prestigious to work out this situation quietly so up to as many media organizations awards in India, the Prem Bhatia that it would not become another from the other side as are interested Award for Excellence in Journalism point of contention between the in sending correspondents, and allowed in 2008 and the Chameli Devi two governments. I got a six-month them to travel without restrictions and Award for Outstanding Woman reprieve, until February 2010. report freely. Mediaperson in 2009. From my experience in Pakistan, Journalists on both sides must push there are a few things I now know for hard for this to happen. 

When ‘We’ Don’t Want to Know About ‘Them’ A lot happened after a Turkish journalist set out to tell people in her country about those who belong to the Armenian diaspora.

BY AFSIN YURDAKUL

was not surprised to hear the opening. His “no” sounded more like diaspora to my editor, Semin Gumusel, question: “Have your editors in a “yes,” albeit a half-hearted one. Even in October 2009, right after Turkey Istanbul ever changed the meaning better, our conversation continued. and Armenia signed protocols for the Iof anything you wrote in the past?” a Why, he wondered, would a Turk- normalization of ties. She worked in prominent Armenian-American source ish journalist choose to write about Istanbul for Newsweek Türkiye, the asked me when I reached him by phone the diaspora? And could a Turkish edition of the magazine published for the first time. journalist ever write fairly about it? there; I reported from Washington, “Of course not,” I replied. Each question he tossed my way D.C. At that time, the Turkish media Here I was in the midst of trying spoke to the lack of contact between were flooded with news about the to explain my intent with the story I “us” and “them.” As I carefully consid- diaspora Armenians from Paris to was calling about, and what I thought ered my responses, I knew he would New York protesting the accords. In were reassuring words weren’t working. weigh my words and listen to the tone Turkey, what little was known about What I wanted to do was offer Turk- of my voice. He seemed to be testing this far-flung community was fed by a ish readers the opportunity to hear whether I was someone he could trust. narrative that rarely stretched beyond directly from people in the Armenian If so, perhaps he would keep talking political paranoia. diaspora about the tensions between with me. My proposal was to expand the arc of these two communities. It took nearly an hour but we finally this worn-out narrative by reporting a Predictably, a long, awkward silence reached that juncture when I could tell story with a different goal—a desire to ensued. After connecting by phone he felt he could say things to me. He demystify the diaspora. Once Gumusel with Armenian-Americans who live told me that he had not spoken to a gave my idea the go-ahead, this article, in Glendale, California, I was growing Turkish or an Armenian journalist in which would be published as a cover accustomed to enduring these pauses in more than a decade. Why? Because he story, embroiled me in more than four conversation. As a Turkish journalist, fears being misquoted. With me, my months of reporting. From Istanbul, I wasn’t someone who they would feel attitude has somehow convinced him Gumusel oversaw the story’s progress comfortable about opening up to until that he can go on the record. and Richard Giragosian, another some sense of trust was established Our rough start led to one of my correspondent, contributed reporting between us. most honest and heartfelt interviews. from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. “I will have to decline your request Over the course of editing this story, because of the sensitivity of the issue,” Pushing Past Speculation we exchanged hundreds of e-mails, this person told me. and in them we discussed with utmost While I was disheartened by another I had pitched the idea of writing an sensitivity how we thought readers of rejection, in his voice I heard a faint in-depth piece about the Armenian various political slants would perceive

40 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Perspective? our tone and even our usage of words. withdrew its U.S. ambassador, and any helped me to establish and build trust Throughout the process, we were hope of proceeding with the protocols with my sources, despite the initial acutely aware of the intellectual respon- between Ankara and Yerevan was dim skepticism that I encountered. sibility resting on our shoulders, given at best. Amid this political turmoil, For most Turkish readers too, it was the enduring forces of division and the article achieved its original goal, an unusual experience to be exposed fear that stood ready to politicize our which was to challenge perceptions to a sensibly written article about the effort. In my role as the lead reporter that Turks and Armenians have about Armenian diaspora. What they read reaching out to Armenian-American one another. shook deep-rooted assumptions they sources, my experiences taught me a held. For example, my reporting shed lot about dealing with frustrations that Returning to My Sources light on the amount of money Turks were simply a part of trying to untie assumed Armenian organizations spent a knot that had grown only tighter as For my Armenian-American sources, in Washington for lobbying. I hadn’t the 20th century moved on. the idea of a Turkish journalist reach- found any substantial reporting done First, I had to come to terms with the ing out to listen to their stories with on this topic in Turkey, yet speculation inevitability of being misunderstood by genuine interest was relatively new on the street was that the spending Turks and Armenian-Americans. Some and partly surprising. Yet when they was in the millions of dollars. Armenian-Americans doubted that I felt convinced that I would tell their In researching this question, I was could or would represent their voices story as I heard them tell it to me, they able to document that one prominent fairly. No matter how much I tried shared their views openly. In return, Armenian group spent less than to assure them about my journalistic I did all I could to make certain they $300,000 in 2009, and this amount standards, the fact that I am Turkish felt comfortable with the material I turned out not to be significantly higher overrode anything I could possibly say. would use in my story. Numerous times than what was spent in the preceding From Turkish readers came concerns, I went over the paragraphs with my years. It turned out that the Turkish too, as some questioned the magazine’s sources—both the original transcripts government spent more than ethnic editorial judgment. To publish this of my interviews and my Turkish Armenian organizations on its lobbying piece with the prominence of a cover translations. I suggested that they efforts. Before our story appeared, this story meant too much attention was consult with other Turkish speakers wasn’t known in Turkey, and reveal- being paid to Armenian perspectives at whom they knew so that they wouldn’t ing it launched a discussion about the expense of drowning out Turkish rely solely on me. These conversations how Turkey imagines the diaspora’s voices on these issues of historic influence in Washington. and contemporary importance. There are reasons why our My view was that our editorial article was received well in decision was to spur a new dia- contemporary Turkey whereas a logue that didn’t bear the residue decade ago this probably would of the old one with its impulse not have been so. Posing and to debase or glorify one of the contemplating difficult questions two sides. Within my reporting, is part of the societal change under I wanted to search for common way in Turkey today, just as the ground and thereby push the magazine’s initiative is part of a discussion past conventional new wave in Turkish journalism boundaries. The usual two-sided in which space is opened up for narrative fed on clashing loyalties informed and critical debate. the Turks and Armenians have Recently Newsweek Türkiye’s Edi- nurtured for decades, but I hoped tor in Chief Selcuk Tepeli let me this one would create fresh appe- know that thoughtful and sensible tites for new exploration. Focusing news reporting is becoming more on opposing perspectives leaves important as Turkey finds itself little room for empathy. This story squarely in the midst of a rapidly would be different. changing political environment. It was published in the Turkish This story about the Armenian edition of Newsweek during the diaspora as well as Giragosian’s week in March when the Foreign piece calling for keeping the chan- Affairs Committee in the U.S. nels of dialogue open prompted House of Representatives passed high-ranking diplomats to get in a resolution to recognize the 1915 touch with my editors. The foreign killings of Armenians as geno- The Turkish edition of Newsweek broke new ground ministry had taken notice of the cide. Following this vote, Turkey with a cover story about the Armenian diaspora. debate that Newsweek Türkiye’s

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 41 Reporting From Faraway Places

cover story stirred in the media and among the most-read articles on the spaces previously sealed off from such offered assurances that such calls for magazine’s Web site in the weeks that conversation can be found.  dialogue wouldn’t be stymied. And followed. Such sustained interest—and despite concerns and criticism voiced watching how it sparked conversa- Afsin Yurdakul is a New York City- by some readers, the magazine’s sales tion—convinced me that when fair- based correspondent for Newsweek’s increased by almost 25 percent that ness is a cornerstone of storytelling, Turkish edition. Her articles have week. words have the power to transform, appeared on MSNBC.com and PBS’s This was the first in-depth article even when the political picture looks Tehranbureau.com. written about the Armenian diaspora grim. By placing human beings at in the Turkish press, and it remained the hub of complex political issues,

Piecing Together a Mosaic of America ‘As a foreign correspondent, my challenge was to tell stories about America in ways that would connect with my Finnish audience—both in print and through my multimedia presentations …’

BY PEKKA MYKKÄNEN

our years and 50 states later it largest daily newspaper in Finland, There was my interview with Tony is hard to say what has been got their money’s worth when I flew Lagouranis, who’d written the book, the most striking, stunning, to Chicago in November of 2007 for “Fear Up Harsh: An Army Interroga- Fdepressing, wonderful or uplifting a two-day reporting trip. The result: tor’s Dark Journey Through Iraq.” He experience I’ve had while covering three revealing stories, each very dif- told me that he had tortured prisoners the United States. But I can say that ferent from the other, each offering a in Iraq while working there as a U.S. my bosses at Helsingin Sanomat, the glimpse of America. Army interrogator. That was when President George W. Bush and his inner circle were still insisting that “the United States does not torture.” I then met William Spielberger, who was helping poor, mostly black, often old, and sometimes nearly illit- erate people sue some of the nation’s biggest investment banks because of complex products they had been sold. In time, Americans would become quite familiar with the consequences of subprime loans. Rachel Felson worked in a campaign headquarters located in a office build- ing and was getting ready to devote herself fully to what then looked like the long-shot campaign of a local politician with an exotic name: Barack Hussein Obama. Those two days in Chicago paint a portrait of the good, the bad, and the ugly that I shared with my Finnish readers as I told them about America. Terry Holmes, who works at Gun City USA in Nashville, Tennessee, said sales rose after the Anywhere I went, it seemed, I would 2008 presidential election. Photo by Pekka Mykkänen. stumble on this variety of stories in

42 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Perspective? this wild, fascinating, mad and lovable fold your wings up and drive home,” law, I remembered words from an essay land. For a foreign journalist the United their commercial instructs. by Richard Hofstadter entitled “The States is a gold mine and a nightmare. In politics, I discovered a land of Paranoid Style in American Politics,” Ever think you finally understand her, overlapping realities. In Oregon, a which I first read during my Nieman and something happens to bulldoze state known for its progressive politics, year at Harvard. Here’s why: that feeling. where euthanasia is legal, two members In my four years as our paper’s cor- of the state Supreme Court are openly American politics has often respondent based in Washington, D.C., gay, and green practices and policies been an arena for angry minds I witnessed the election of the first are common, I wrote about the fact … behind this I believe there is black U.S. president, reported on the that the state is also the home of a style of mind that is far from worst economic crisis since the 1930’s, America’s most conservative Republi- new and that is not necessarily chronicled the fall of the auto industry right-wing. I call it the paranoid and the rise of health care reform, style simply because no other and conveyed the horrible effects of word adequately evokes the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. I sense of heated exaggeration, spent time talking with heartbroken Given my readers’ suspiciousness, and conspirato- fishermen from Louisiana, and in perceptions about rial fantasy that I have in mind. Florida I walked through neighbor- hoods that went belly up when the America, which I learned Hofstadter wrote those words in mortgage crisis hit. Long-suffering the 1960’s, though he could have families in Flint, Michigan shared the from their e-mails written them today, or in the 1830’s, pride they felt in being the birthplace and online comments, as he acknowledged in his book when of General Motors, and then they he referred to Lyman Beecher, a expressed anger and sorrow as they I often found myself Presbyterian minister (and the father watched their livelihoods from the of Harriet Beecher Stowe). In 1835, American automobile industry vanish. bringing forth Beecher was worried about the great I traveled to a coal mining area countering evidence ... tide of Catholic immigrants from of eastern Kentucky where the life Europe: They would fill the jails and expectancy of residents is 10 years crowd the poorhouses, multiply tumult less than those who live nearby in and violence, quadruple taxation, and northern Virginia. Too much Mountain mess up the elections. “Whatever we Dew, beer and OxyContin and too can voters, as measured in exit polls. do, it must be done quickly,” he wrote many potato chips and cigarettes are With its ongoing battle between the in “Plea for the West.” the culprits. Countless businesspeople country’s most liberal voters and its Something must be done—quickly— and ordinary Americans I talked with most conservative, Oregon turns out or the sky will fall. This story line is expressed concern about China’s ris- to be America’s most polarized state. a common thread running through ing power, and people everywhere let In Tennessee, I interviewed Tea American politics. It’s certainly one me know their fears about the future Party activists and gun owners who that I relayed to my Finnish audi- and their feelings about the unkept told me they were afraid of Obama’s ence as I tried to explain these times. promise of the American Dream; it “socialism” and its destructive impact Despite this sense of urgency, back didn’t matter whether they were mak- on their beloved country and its fiscal in Washington, D.C. partisanship has ing steel pipes, paper, gravestones or strength. “It’s only a matter of time often crippled any action, slow or fast. solar panels. when this house of cards will collapse,” I also discovered in the state of said Stacie Burke, cofounder of the Storytelling for a Finnish Washington a private university called Tennessee Tea Party and a mother of Audience DigiPen with a degree-granting cur- three. “People are afraid and absolutely riculum that teaches students how convinced that it is only a question of As a foreign correspondent, my chal- to make entertaining, addicting and time when the federal government will lenge was to tell stories about America sometimes even educational video come and take away our freedoms,” in ways that would connect with my games. Back on the East Coast, I explained Terry Holmes who worked Finnish audience—both in print and went to the Massachusetts Institute of at a gun store in Nashville. Holmes through my multimedia presentations, Technology (MIT) and met an artist lost his right hand in Vietnam. He blog postings, videos and radio pieces. who was studying the relationship told me that guns and ammunition After all, if they wanted news about between a researcher and a humanoid sold like hotcakes after Obama won America, they could go to the Web and robot. And I read about some other the presidential election. find (in English) an abundant supply researchers at MIT who invented a When I visited Arizona to report on of U.S. publications. Yet, because I flying car: “Simply land at the airport, the passage of its strict immigration am Finnish, grew up there, still have

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 43 Reporting From Faraway Places

mail, and we have a lot to learn from their experiences and electoral innovations.

I’d also remind readers that whenever a mistake is made in or by America or power is abused, forces surface to remedy the problems and get the country back on track. For every Hummer that an American owns, there are long waiting lists of people eager to buy an environmentally friendly Prius. In the aftermath of a hurricane at home or an earthquake or tsunami in other countries, the American people volunteer to help. Former President Bill Clinton expressed this best at the Democratic National Convention in 2008: “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” At times it was hard to tell whether This free dental clinic in Soft Shell, Kentucky was organized by a nonprofit that provides Americans truly understood how health care in remote areas of the world. Photo by Pekka Mykkänen. much their policies and actions dur- ing the past decade—concerning the military, the environment, and the family living there, and therefore they are fundamentalist Christians who economic crisis—have harmed their understand and appreciate the cultural trust in the Old Testament’s “an eye for international standing. When the and political sensibilities of my audi- an eye” philosophy. As evidence, they pictures from Abu Ghraib surfaced ence, the stories I decided to tell and point to the fact that Utah’s attorney in the spring of 2004, the U.S. State how I told them were closely tied to general thought that the execution by Department postponed the release of our shared experiences. firing squad of Ronnie Lee Gardner its global report called “Supporting I came to this U.S. posting, for was something people would like to Human Rights and Democracy: The example, with the knowledge that Finns read about on Twitter. (“I just gave U.S. Record 2003-2004.” When it are very suspicious of American foreign the go ahead to Corrections Director was released two weeks late, I recall policy: Only about 5 percent of Finns to proceed with Gardner’s execution. how one Chinese official mocked the felt their country should join the inva- May God grant him the mercy he U.S., saying the report had become sion of Iraq. And Finns’ stereotypical denied his victims.”) the laughingstock of the world and views of Americans have largely been Given my readers’ perceptions about it exposed America’s hypocrisy about shaped by the TV shows and movies America, which I learned about from human rights. they’ve seen, holidays some have spent their e-mails and online comments, In heading back to Finland I take here, and individual encounters with I often found myself bringing forth with me an understanding I didn’t Americans. They are curious, however, countering evidence as I wrote about have when I arrived four years ago: A and digest bits of information that some of these issues: person can tell stories about America they come across. For example, many but never quite explain her.  of my readers assumed that Americans • Listen up folks: Michigan abolished are ignorant. Why? Because a well- the death penalty in 1846, more than Pekka Mykkänen, a 2004 Nieman publicized survey revealed that nearly 100 years before the high-minded Fellow, was the Washington, a third of Americans could not name folks in Finland. D.C. correspondent for Helsingin their vice president. Others believe • Yellowstone was the first national Sanomat, the largest daily in that Americans don’t care about the park in the world and the U.S. Finland, from 2006 to 2010. He environment because they account for Congress established it in 1872 reported for the newspaper from a disproportionate share of the world’s when one would think that they China as its Asia correspondent from carbon emissions. Here are a few other might have been busy with other 1998 to 2003. beliefs that many Finns hold: Ameri- things. cans invade faraway countries for oil; • All voting in Oregon is done by

44 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | Who Pays? The Sometimes Bumpy Nonprofit Ride Into Digital Foreign Correspondence ‘We began with the naïve assumption that if we covered the costs of getting journalists to the field they would be able to earn a decent income through placement of the resulting stories. We were wrong!’

BY JON SAWYER

he Pulitzer Center on Crisis as foreign correspondents. Five years Collaboration: Our best projects have Reporting began with a simple and some 150 projects later those entailed partnerships with multiple or- idea—that we could leverage remain key goals but our mission has ganizations and outlets. We developed Tsmall travel grants to journalists to expanded—and with it our sense of our expertise on video by producing assure multiple voices on big global what is required of nonprofit journal- several dozen short pieces for the now issues and at the same time help ism initiatives like the Pulitzer Center. defunct public television program “For- talented individuals sustain careers Some lessons we’ve learned: eign Exchange With Fareed Zakaria,”

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supported the collaboration of a photographer and a poet who produced an Emmy Award-winning multimedia project about HIV in Jamaica. Photo by Joshua Cogan (www.joshuacogan.com).

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 45 Reporting From Faraway Places

for example, and we extended our au- Livehopelove.com was an unconven- students around the globe, all presented dience by partnering with YouTube on tional take on an important issue but within the context of the high-end its first video reporting contest. In our it led to an abundance of conventional journalism we have sponsored. The project on Sudan we are collaborating news-media coverage—from essays in idea is public engagement—informed with The Washington Post to support The Washington Post and Virginia engagement—with the issues that af- the work of journalist/attorney Rebecca Quarterly Review to a featured inter- fect us all. Hamilton and funding complementary view on “NewsHour” and a one-hour coverage on “PBS NewsHour.” We have radio documentary that aired on doz- Editorial Standards: In the beginning worked in tandem with “NewsHour” ens of public radio stations. Projects we assumed that our role would focus and National Geographic to promote like this have also given us rich visual on identifying stories worth cover- our common work on the global water assets to enhance the presentation of ing and selecting journalists to do crisis. In these and other reporting ini- our work online, especially through the work; we would provide funding tiatives we have recruited donors with the Gateway portals on our site that and help with placement but the an interest in raising the visibility of draw from our reporting around the principal editorial supervision would systemic issues—and an appreciation world to address issues such as climate come from the news media outlets that the journalism cannot succeed change, fragile states, and women and with which the work was placed. unless there is an assurance of absolute children in crisis. We did not anticipate that most big independence in our work. regional newspapers would jettison Education and Outreach: The Gateways their foreign editors and that national Multimedia and the Web: I began the have also become a principal means of outlets would increasingly consider Pulitzer Center with no video experi- engaging middle school, high school, freelance pieces for publication or ence, thinking that our focus would be and college students. We began with broadcast only when those pieces were enterprise print projects of the sort the idea that our role was to fill gaps in nearly completed. That has placed a I had done over three decades as a the supply of high-quality journalism, larger burden on organizations like correspondent for the St. Louis Post- with a focus on international report- the Pulitzer Center to provide edito- Dispatch. I learned the power of video ing that traditional news outlets were rial direction from within; so has the in the center’s first project, a trip I increasingly less able to undertake increasing prominence on our site of made with African Union peacekeeper on their own. We soon realized that Untold Stories, which publishes blog forces in Darfur. At the suggestion to be effective we had to address the posts from journalists in the field. A of “Foreign Exchange,” I recruited equal challenge on the demand side, painful, useful learning experience for Egyptian videographer Abdul Nasser especially among younger audiences us was our photojournalism project on Abdoun. The footage we collected led to with no attachment to traditional news child sacrifice in Uganda, in which we a video report for “Foreign Exchange,” media. We had to reach out to them briefly published and then withdrew a televised panel of experts at the U.S. where they are—in the classroom, on images that we determined were in- Holocaust Memorial Museum, and a YouTube, and on Twitter, Facebook appropriate. The experience led us to longer documentary that we showed and other social media. The Pulitzer craft an explicit policy on ethics and at three dozen universities—a far Center is now funded for 10 full time standards, now featured prominently greater reach, in short, than the print jobs; four of them are devoted almost on our Web site and as an explicit part report I wrote for the Post-Dispatch. exclusively to educational outreach of our relationship with the journal- Multimedia presentations have been and two others to social media and ists we fund. We have also added the a hallmark of Pulitzer projects ever Web outreach. We produce dozens of position of senior editor to our staff, since—from the photojournalism of journalist events at schools and col- reflecting the importance of this part Sean Gallagher in China and Fred leges each year; we engage thousands of our work.1 de Sam Lazaro’s television reporting of students through online encounters on food and water to immersive Web with journalists, with each other, and Income for Journalists: We began with experiences such as “Hope: Living & with individuals in the countries on the naïve assumption that if we covered Loving With HIV in Jamaica” that is which we report. On projects such as the costs of getting journalists to the built on the poetry of Kwame Dawes our reporting on water we have col- field they would be able to earn a de- and won an Emmy last year for new lected hundreds of “Share Your Stories” cent income through placement of the approaches to news and documenta- videos, short statements or reported resulting stories. We were wrong! We’ve ries. [See Dawes’s story on page 21.] pieces from interested individuals and had projects in which we provided

1 On April 30, Sawyer delivered a speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ conference titled “New Journalism, New Ethics?”, in which he spoke in depth about the Uganda project. It is online at http://bit.ly/dh3pB0.

46 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays?

$15,000 and up in travel costs and at a time but never stationed perma- Nieman Fellow. We were introduced journalists invested weeks or months nently in any of the places I covered. It to her with the help of Persephone of work—and national news media was parachute journalism, to be sure, Miel, a senior journalist at Internews, outlets have paid $1,000 or less for but undertaken with a commitment to a former fellow at Harvard’s Berkman the articles they have published. An providing both a fresh perspective and Center for Internet & Society, and urgent part of our mission has become sufficient reporting to ensure against constant champion of journalists strug- the identification of income streams superficial results. Many of the projects gling against great odds in repressive for our journalists—from payment for we fund follow this model, with the regions of the world. Miel died earlier talks we arrange on college campuses aim of producing print and broadcast this summer. She asked that Internews to the provision of income within our journalism that will speak to the largest and the Pulitzer Center create a fellow- journalism grants themselves. Pulitzer possible American audience. ship in her honor that would provide grantees who have demonstrated their Yet as we expand, we are conscious Pulitzer Center reporting fellowships ability to produce great work—jour- of the need to incorporate authoritative for journalists like Tlisova. nalists like Jason Motlagh—know local voices from the countries we cover, It’s an honor to be part of this they can count on us for the quick indigenous journalists who speak from initiative, so close in spirit to our funding decisions that enable them an experience no visitor can match. commitment to “illuminate dark to seize reporting opportunities. [See Our collaboration this year on food places” and “interpret these troubled page 69 for Motlagh’s story.] Oth- insecurity issues with Global Voices times.” We hope this fellowship will ers, among them radio documentary Online, the international community be an integral part of our work for producer Dan Grossman, have raised of bloggers, is one example of this years to come.  significant funding by using the Pu- approach. [See page 14 for story about litzer Center as fiscal agent and by Global Voices Online.] Another is our Jon Sawyer is the founding director incorporating their work within our partnership with Nieman Reports to of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis coverage of specific issues. The basic support the work of Fatima Tlisova, Reporting, a Washington-based argument is simple: Good journalism featured in this issue, on the persecu- nonprofit that promotes in-depth costs money. It has value. Those who tion of journalists in her home region engagement with global affairs create it should be paid. of Russia’s North Caucasus. [See page through its sponsorship of quality 73 for Tlisova’s story.] international journalism across all Local Voices: In my career at the Tlisova was given political asylum media platforms and an innovative Post-Dispatch I prepared dozens of in this country and spent two years at program of outreach and education. enterprise projects around the world, Harvard, first at the Carr Center for traveling to areas of interest for weeks Human Rights Policy and then as a

It’s Not Like It Used to Be Just a dozen years ago, the International Reporting Project’s approach was very different. Then, it trained staff reporters hoping to head to foreign bureaus; now it supports story ideas, many of them from freelancers.

BY JOHN SCHIDLOVSKY

t was the spring of 1999, and acknowledged he was a bit apprehen- powerful stories for NPR, including a Steve Inskeep, then a 30-year-old sive about his five-week trip. memorable interview with an elderly correspondent at NPR, poked his “Steve,” I told him, “you’re a great village woman who, just days after Ihead into my office. “Got a second?” reporter. You’ve spent six weeks prepar- Inskeep spoke with her, was killed he asked. As part of his International ing for this story. You’ve taught yourself by the very military forces she had Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowship, basic Spanish. You’ve talked to every told Inskeep she feared. His riveting Inskeep was scheduled to fly the next expert on Colombia you could find. stories helped to confirm NPR’s editors’ day to Colombia to report on that You’re going to do just fine.” judgment of him as a major talent. country’s guerrilla war. With virtually And he did. Inskeep returned to He was assigned to the Pentagon no experience reporting overseas, he Washington five weeks later with and, after the September 11th attacks,

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 47 Reporting From Faraway Places

to cover the war in Afghanistan, the In our early years, we awarded fel- to be done by stringers, freelancers first of many international reporting lowships to lots of rising stars from or former staffers now applying for assignments. Later Inskeep was named news organizations such as The Dallas grants like ours. cohost of “Morning Edition,” NPR’s Morning News, The (Baltimore) Sun, By 2005 IRP had morphed into a flagship program. NPR, The Boston Globe, Newsday, prototype of a new model of journalism. Inskeep is just one of the many U.S. The Philadelphia Inquirer, and oth- As a small nonprofit, we were now journalists who have had their first ers. Our program was short—just 13 underwriting dozens of international taste of overseas reporting through one weeks—and intense. Twice a year, stories a year; this was more original of our fellowships, which have been groups of eight to 10 journalists arrived global coverage than newspapers like supported by grants received from at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. the Sun, the Globe, and the Inquirer a wide range of foundations. Today, Nitze School of Advanced International combined. Word spread quickly among nearly 13 years after the program’s Studies in Washington, D.C., and spent journalists. By 2009, 186 U.S. journal- founding in 1998, more than 330 U.S. six weeks taking classes (some studied ists applied for our fellowships; this journalists have traveled overseas on the Arabic or Russian) and attending was the largest number of applications IRP programs. Just over half of them seminars with world-class scholars on from U.S. journalists to any university- have been reporters going on five-week international topics. based journalism fellowship program individual reporting trips that have We offered what was considered to that year. taken them to 92 countries, from be a bold experiment in journalism Where does the money come from? Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The others fellowship programs. Instead of a break Since 1998, we’ve received nearly $14 have been senior editors and producers from reporting, our project gave report- million in grants from individuals and who have traveled on intensive two- ers a chance to do a kind of reporting foundations, which have included The week expedition-style trips designed they had not done before. Each IRP Pew Charitable Trusts, Bill & Melinda to remind top newsroom executives Fellow went overseas for five weeks to Gates Foundation, The William and just why we need foreign reporting. pursue an in-depth project. Our first Flora Hewlett Foundation, John S. and group of fellows, in the fall of 1998, James L. Knight Foundation, Carnegie In the Age of Foreign Bureaus reported from China, southern Africa, Corporation of New York, Rockefeller the Middle East, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Brothers Fund, The Stanley Founda- As the founding director of the IRP, Bosnia, Kenya and Chile, and their tion, and others. The foundations agree I knew we were filling a need. While stories appeared prominently in the to leave the editorial decisions to us so there were plenty of mid-career Inquirer, The Dallas Morning News, IRP decides which journalists receive journalism fellowship programs, none The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade, the San our reporting grants and which stories were designed to encourage more or Francisco Chronicle, The Independent get covered. better international coverage in the in London, and elsewhere. Betsy Hiel, U.S. media. With a three-year start-up a member of our first group of fellows, In an Era of Freelancers grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, won the Edward Weintal Prize for we created a specialized journalism Diplomatic Reporting for her stories Today IRP is all about stories, and fellowship with a mission of “train- from Gaza and the West Bank. two-thirds of our applicants are ing the next generation of foreign Yet even a few years into our effort freelancers. Each year the number of correspondents,” as Loren Jenkins, it was becoming apparent that a major fellows who are freelancers increases; senior foreign editor at NPR and one change was taking place in the way they have made up 58 percent of our of our initial advisory board members, international news was being covered. fellows during the past three years. described it. The Sun, where I had been the bureau Fellows still come to IRP before they What I could not have envisioned chief in New Delhi and Beijing in two go overseas but our in-house sessions then were the significant shifts we’d tours in the 1980’s, went from having last only two weeks; reporters are too make in our program’s approach as eight foreign bureaus at the start of impatient to get to their story to sit for a result of massive changes in the 2000 to none by the end of the decade. our former six-week academic stint. journalism business. In the beginning, The Globe, the Inquirer, the Chicago From the beginning, we’ve encour- we saw ourselves as giving a boost to Tribune, and others all began to shut aged reporting about the developing young reporters whose ambition was overseas bureaus. world on topics such as health care, a foreign bureau assignment within Soon, that next generation of foreign environment, religion, post-conflict their news organization. A decade later, correspondents we were planning to recovery and development, women many bureaus were closed, and so our train would have no jobs to aim for. and children’s circumstances, refugees focus switched to providing support for There would be no more expense and population issues. Of the 174 international stories—many of which account-wielding, long-term expat IRP Fellows we’ve funded since the are reported by independent journal- residents in Beijing, Nairobi, Paris, program started, 82 percent of them ists—and creating a digital platform Bangkok or Rome. Much of the next have reported from Africa, Asia or for their publication. era of foreign reporting was going Latin America. Woefully neglected by

48 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays? the mainstream media, Africa is the sustainable? It’s too soon to tell. Here’s ing news about other countries can continent that our fellows travel to the what we know: There is an abundant go online and easily find plenty of most; 58 of our journalists—one third interest in telling foreign stories and information at indigenous news orga- of the fellows so far—have reported IRP Fellows produce high-quality nizations. Yet much of this information from 30 African countries. [See Perry journalism. Each year we turn down is presented without the context that Beeman’s story about reporting from more than 100 proposals from journal- most Americans want and need. That’s Rwanda on page 32.] Add up all the ists with terrific ideas for international what foreign correspondents at their time they’ve spent there and it is the stories. With more funding we could best can do—make what is foreign equivalent of five and a half years’ support many more critically important seem accessible and inviting. worth of daily reporting. global reporting projects and we could Today, great value remains in send- In 2009, Joanna Kakissis, a easily triple our annual allocation of ing journalists to do this on-the-ground freelancer and IRP Fellow, traveled 32 fellowships. reporting in faraway places even to Bangladesh where she produced Fellows’ stories have won Emmy though the economic model that once a multimedia project exploring the Awards, Overseas Press Club Awards, supported such a mission is gone. The displacement of people within that two Oscar nominations for best docu- challenge for all of us becomes this: country due to global warming. Flood- mentary, and other honors. Stories Will funders continue to appreciate ing, caused by drought and sea level by IRP Fellows have been carried by this as a value worth paying for? We change, has created a new intracountry almost every major U.S. news organiza- shall see.  category of refugees, and her stories tion, including The New York Times, about their plight were broadcast on The Washington Post, NPR and PBS. John Schidlovsky is the founding the BBC/Public Radio International The stories produced by our IRP director of the International program “The World” and published Fellows are ones that likely would Reporting Project based at the Johns on the front page of the International not be done without the support of Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze Herald Tribune. foundations. But is such foreign news School of Advanced International Is this kind of nonprofit model reporting really needed? Anyone seek- Studies.

A Global Investigation: Partners + Local Reporters = Success Exposing the booming asbestos trade in the developing world became the most recent of many projects undertaken by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

BY DAVID E. KAPLAN

oing quality investigative report- new set from operating internationally: in 50 countries. Our journalists— ing has always been a challenge, differences in language, culture, profes- numbering anywhere from three to even in the United States, sional standards, and libel laws. Then 20—come together as teams to work Dwhere the craft enjoys an honored and throw in a bunch of more mundane on long-term investigative projects. storied century-long tradition. We’ve headaches like time differences and We’re a true network, linked by cell had to fight for reporting time and for access to reliable communications. phones, e-mail, collaborative online space to publish and broadcast what Finally, figure out a way to finance software, and a handful of core staff we’ve dug up. We face threats from a months-long multinational bout of in Washington, D.C. lawsuits and from penny-pinching muckraking. ICIJ was created in 1997 by the owners. Lately the obstacles have Welcome to my world—or, more Center for Public Integrity, one of the become downright nasty: a shifting precisely, welcome to the International original nonprofit centers dedicated economic model for news, changing Consortium of Investigative Journal- to investigative journalism. Founded technology, fleeting attention spans, ists (ICIJ), a rather unusual animal 20 years ago in Washington, D.C., the and a bruising recession. in the news media wilderness. We center was the brainchild of former “60 And we have it easy. are a network of leading investigative Minutes” producer Chuck Lewis. He Now add to those challenges a whole reporters, with more than 100 members recognized the need for an independent

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 49 Reporting From Faraway Places

organization in the nation’s capital to do the kind of tough investigations into corruption, conflict of interest, and other pressing social issues that the news media too often fail to cover. ICIJ was charged with taking the center’s style of in-depth, watchdog journalism overseas. While our name might be unfamiliar, our work might not be. Over the years ICIJ teams have exposed the collusion of tobacco companies with organized crime; inves- tigated the hidden efforts of private military cartels, water privatization developers, and climate change lobby- ists; and broken new ground by reveal- ing details of Iraq and Afghanistan war contracts, including those of a once obscure company called Halliburton. I came on board as ICIJ director in 2008, following in the footsteps of Maud Beelman, who is now deputy managing editor for projects and enterprise at The Dallas Morning News. Building on the foundation that she and others established, we have The homepage for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ asbestos project. expanded ICIJ and now have a staff of six at our Washington headquar- ters, a growing membership, and an biggest public health story no one’s and other developing countries. One active Facebook community of more writing about?” Some suggested he key reason we found: The asbestos than 5,000 followers in at least 30 look at the booming asbestos trade industry has spent millions of dollars countries. Our partners include some in the developing world and pointed to market its wares around the world. of the world’s top media organizations: him toward Fernanda Giannasi, a The human cost, health experts told the BBC’s International News Services; Brazilian labor inspector waging what us, would be enormous: By the year Le Soir, the leading French daily in amounted to a one-woman war against 2030, some predicted, between 5 Brussels; Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s the asbestos industry. Marina Walker million to 10 million people would top paper; Novaya Gazeta, one of the Guevara, ICIJ’s deputy director, grew die from asbestos-related cancer, with few gutsy papers left in Russia; and convinced that he was on to a good the toll increasingly centered in the the enterprising McClatchy newspaper story. On the lookout for shorter developing world. chain here in the United States. pieces to accompany our big projects, Convinced we had a great story, we commissioned the piece and sent we began assembling a team. One Global Collaboration him to Brazil. of ICIJ’s strengths is its ability to That was in the fall of 2009. Like draw on top local reporters in a host Our latest series, on how the asbes- many investigative stories, I expected of countries. Membership in ICIJ is tos industry has targeted developing we’d continually narrow our focus on by invitation only, and we work with countries, featured 21 stories produced this piece until what remained were the first-rate journalists wherever we find by a joint BBC/ICIJ investigation bare essentials. That didn’t happen. The them—at partner news organizations that appeared on radio and TV and more we learned, the more intrigued we and nonprofit investigative centers in newspapers, weekly magazines, became. It turned out that 52 countries and among the embattled foreign and as online multimedia presenta- had either banned or sharply restricted press corps of freelancers and fixers tions. Dubbed “Dangers in the Dust: the use of asbestos, blamed for killing around the world. With “Dangers in Inside the Global Asbestos Trade,” the hundreds of thousands of workers the Dust,” our outreach effort was no series began modestly enough with a in North America and Europe. The different. By now, Morris had joined proposal by veteran environmental European Union has banned entirely the Center for Public Integrity staff reporter Jim Morris to do a single the sale of the mineral. Yet sales of and become our project leader. In feature on the asbestos trade. Morris the fiber, valued for its fire and heat New Delhi, India, we recruited Murali had been asking sources, “What’s the resistance, are booming in China, India Krishnan, a veteran correspondent and

50 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays? longtime ICIJ member. From Russia, language legal complaints from state sheeting. Most of all, for ICIJ, it was we worked with Roman Shleynov, the labor officials in India, pored through a follow-the-money investigation. After investigative editor of Novaya Gazeta. Portuguese-language company records months of digging, our team pieced In Mexico, we tapped the talented in Brazil, and pursued reluctant indus- together the story of how the asbestos Ana Avila, a freelance reporter based try officials in a half-dozen countries. industry had spent nearly $100 million in Mexico City. And in London we A dozen reporters and producers each since the mid-1980’s to keep its toxic teamed up with Steve Bradshaw, an from ICIJ and the BBC worked on product in commerce. accomplished BBC producer. the project, some in tandem, some The series, released July 21, has Key to ICIJ projects is finding the independently. We had to sort out reached millions worldwide and right partners. Linking up with major questions of assignments, key findings, sparked needed debate in Brazil, India, news organizations boosts both our legal review, and joint credit. There and Mexico, as well as in Canada, resources and our reach. In this case were, not surprisingly, differences in where the leader of the Canadian we approached Anne Koch, the com- organizational culture. The stately, opposition has called for an end to missioning editor of the BBC World measured BBC and ICIJ’s scrappy his country’s role as a major asbestos Service. She grasped immediately the network of investigators sometimes saw exporter. Still, these big international potential of the story and opened door the stories differently, but both sides projects are like wrestling an alliga- after door at the BBC. We soon were benefited immensely from a respectful tor—exhausting. At the end of what working with World Service, the BBC’s dialogue and careful approach. As in became a grueling editorial process, overseas radio branch which reaches all partnerships, success depended on I turned to the center’s managing into more than 150 countries; BBC personal relationships, and we owe editor, my old friend Gordon Witkin, World TV, the international news much to Koch’s leadership at the BBC. and asked him to remind me, “Why channel seen around the globe; and The topic itself was complicated, do we like doing this?” BBC News Online, one of the world’s with no shortage of angles. There His answer—and mine—was obvi- top news sites. Backed by ICIJ report- was a strong science story, in which ous: This kind of a job is more than ing and its own work, the BBC staff industry-backed scientists argued work—it’s a calling, and we’re a few of produced 10 news and documentary that white asbestos—the only kind the lucky ones left who get to do it.  programs on asbestos while ICIJ pub- used today—is less hazardous than lished its own seven-part series which now-banned blue or brown forms. It David E. Kaplan directs the Inter- we syndicated to our print partners was also a business story, with our national Consortium of Investigative around the world. reporters scoping out the dimensions of Journalists, a global reporting initia- Collaborations this big can turn a multibillion dollar industry ranging tive based at the Center for Public maddeningly complex. The final project from a Russian mine half the size of Integrity in Washington, D.C. grew into a nine-month, eight-country Manhattan to Indian mom-and-pop behemoth. We translated Gujarati- shops that sell asbestos-laden roof

Africa—Revealed on GlobalPost Through People- Oriented Stories ‘We work hard to make our stories break out of the “should read” category and into the “want to know” one.’

BY ANDREW MELDRUM

n Morocco, marijuana growers ers”—feed them scraps of goat meat These are among the recent dis- protest, angered by the escalating and, over time, befriend them. patches that GlobalPost has published pressure to pay bribes to local police And Dakar, Senegal is a destination from Africa as part of our daily online Ito be allowed to grow their illegal crop. of choice for European women looking international news coverage. Global- On the streets of Harar, Ethiopia, for “sun, sea and sex,” creating a market Post’s approach to stories from Africa packs of hyena prowl at night, posing for sex tourism as men earn favors— is the same one we bring to reporting a danger to the city’s farm animals, but and sometimes money—through these from the rest of the world. some residents—the “hyena whisper- liaisons. Stories are sent to us by a world-

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 51 Reporting From Faraway Places

wide network of 50 journalists, who us that finding—and maintaining—an geared to attract readers’ attention are under contract to GlobalPost to Internet audience for African news is immediately. They aren’t homework; deliver two to four stories per month tough, if not impossible. For decades, they are quick, informative, interesting for which they are paid. In addition, news from Africa has been routinely pieces to be consumed then and there. correspondents receive shares of stock relegated to the bottom of the foreign The appeal comes from the lively, in GlobalPost, giving them a stake news pile, and that was when news- offbeat topics that elicit a “who knew?” in the for-profit company’s future. papers and networks actually had reaction, but this is coupled with efforts In most months, about 125 freelance bureaus and covered global news. To we make to put a GlobalPost twist on journalists file stories for GlobalPost. put it bluntly, Africa is a continent important international stories of the And their reporting focuses more on filled with fascinating and important day—the ones in the news that people what is happening with people than stories, and what we are discovering are talking about. governments or policy. In addition, is that an audience will be there to With World Cup soccer in South bloggers publish posts on our site read them when we give them the Africa—being played on the African without any editorial review, and this right connecting threads through our continent for the first time—Global- is explained so that readers know how reporting and presentation. Post brought together the reporting of the content got there. We are doing this by producing correspondents in the 32 participating As the editor in charge of coverage stories that are fun to read. We work countries. The question uniting them from Africa, I have correspondents hard to make our stories break out of was this: What does this World Cup filing regularly from 10 countries, and the “should read” category and into the team mean to this country? From I also receive stories from other Afri- “want to know” one. Think about it Germany came word of how this is can countries. What a correspondent this way: Someone might come across the first time its team had an ethnic sends me needs to be tightly focused, a lengthy story about Sudan and think, diversity that reflected the rise of provocative, crisply written, and to “I should read that” and bookmark its immigrant population. And the the point—usually about 600 to 800 it online (or clip it in print) to get dispatch from Spain told how the words. A lot can be told in that length, to later. That pile of worthy stories national team showed a new unity but it leaves no room for waffling. To quickly grows, and soon becomes of players from that country’s bit- make it work requires an attention- daunting, even guilt inducing, until terly divided Basque, Catalan and grabbing lede, informative nut graf, finally either the paper goes into the other regions. Likewise, stories from sharply focused quotes, solid facts, recycling bin or the bookmark recedes the other countries illuminated this and a satisfying finish. from memory. interplay between soccer and politics, Conventional wisdom would tell In contrast, GlobalPost stories are economics and popular culture. Logistically, it was a chal- lenge for our small editorial team in our home office in Boston, Massachusetts to gather, edit, design the graphics, and link these 32 stories together on our site, but the result was satisfying and in synch with how we use on-the-ground reporting to inform fresh international coverage. During the weeks of the tournament, we con- tinued to publish a range of illuminating articles from South Africa, in one case exploring whether the new stadiums built for the World Cup would become white elephants. Another unifying theme emerged in Rainbow Planet, our series about what’s hap- pening with gay rights in The care and feeding of hyenas on the streets of Harar, Ethiopia was the subject of a story on Global- many countries. GlobalPost’s Post. Photo by Prasanna Muralidharan/GlobalPost. correspondents wrote about

52 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays? the rights of homosexuals in countries The company expects that by year’s news, GlobalPost is taking advantage of such as Brazil, Japan, South Africa, end the total number of users will the Internet to get reporting, photog- Saudi Arabia, and France. Along with be close to 10 million. Of those who raphy and multimedia presentations finding out how politically charged the stop by GlobalPost, nearly half return. out to readers quickly and efficiently. issue is in so many countries, it was We’re heartened by our progress And we are taking advantage of social fascinating to learn how this contro- and recognize that continued success media and search engines to reach versial issue is affecting local events. relies on finding the revenue streams out to new audiences. It is a testing In addition to these larger special that will sustain our worldwide opera- time for international news, as it projects, GlobalPost produces daily tion. Included in our business strategy is for journalism. At GlobalPost we stories about politics and economic is advertising revenue, which is the are finding it is also a time of great developments, culture and technol- most important part of our long-term opportunity and new solutions and ogy, health and education. Because financing; the syndication of our con- we relish our role of providing lively of the quick and constant pace of our tent through partnerships with media foreign reporting for a global, digital coverage, the pressure to run more entities; the backing of individual audience.  comprehensive and lengthier stories investors; and our paid memberships, is reduced; our correspondents know, which provide extra content for a Andrew Meldrum, a 2008 Nieman as we do, that a tightly focused and price. GlobalPost members now pay Fellow, is senior editor at GlobalPost. informative dispatch works best for $2.95 per month or $29.95 a year. From 1980 to 2007 he worked in our audience. Convincing one percent of our site’s Zimbabwe and South Africa, writing A year and half after our launch, monthly visitors to become members for The Guardian, The Economist, GlobalPost attracted more than would generate $270,000 a year. and several other publications. 900,000 unique visitors from 222 At a time when most news organi- countries in May and again in July. zations are moving away from foreign

An Odd Couple: Journalists and Academics Partnering with Harvard’s Carr Center gave a freelance journalist the chance to continue her reporting about drug wars in Juárez, Mexico.

BY MONICA CAMPBELL

ight o’clock Monday morning in violence. Having reported from Mexico This kind of university partnership Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Federal for several years, I developed a pro- signals an interesting and perhaps cops, their high-powered weap- posal for research that would focus overlooked opening for journalists, Eons pointed outward, packed pickup on citizens’ response to the violence particularly those with a specialized trucks and patrolled the city’s streets. in Juárez, the epicenter of Mexico’s area of reporting. In my case, Mexico Women waited at a bus stop to head to bloody drug war. and its battle against powerful drug factory jobs. A newspaper’s front page My proposal struck a chord with cartels are topics I’ve covered for many featured grisly crime scene photos. It Leonardo Vivas, a fellow at the Carr years. Typically, university support for was July, searing hot, and I headed to Center. My reporting would provide a those in news media comes in the my first interview. contemporary, frontline view of how form of journalism schools, founda- Unlike my previous trips to Juárez, some residents in Juárez are attempt- tions, such as the Nieman, or other I was not there on a traditional news ing to address neighborhood troubles awards. But I’m learning to look, too, assignment. On this reporting project brought on by the violence of the drug in lesser known academic nooks, at my partner was the Carr Center for cartels. It turned out that the topic smaller centers and institutes that may Human Rights Policy at Harvard I wanted to report on fit well into a be flexible and interdisciplinary—and University’s Kennedy School of Govern- conference—sponsored by Harvard open to new ideas and partners. ment. This opportunity arose during and Mexico’s Monterrey Institute of Of course, while it can help to have a my Nieman year when I noticed a Technology and Higher Education— relationship with a university, it’s not a growing interest among academics in that he was planning about Mexico’s requirement. What will make this work Mexico’s escalating drug cartel-related drug wars. is if a department chair or professor is

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 53 Reporting From Faraway Places

Teens gather at a community center in Ciudad Juárez. Photo by Monica Campbell.

able to appreciate your idea, evaluate of on-the-ground reporting behind me, application, Barclay attached a cover your expertise, and trust that it will be I have a strong start. letter acknowledging that funding a a good complement to their research. There are other pluses. Before head- journalist might be unorthodox. But At the same time, universities, many of ing to Mexico, Vivas, an expert on Latin her proposal appealed to the selection which are increasingly cash-strapped, America, passed me a stack of papers committee and, after defining her are not looking to fund journalists. The he had collected on violence and social methodology a bit more precisely, she bar can be high and funding tough capital. Other academics also offered got the grant. to find. What’s crucial is that your their guidance and insight into topics While Barclay and I agreed on experience and expertise, whether it’s including corruption, Mexico’s politi- the upsides of university funding, we been gained through covering health, cal history, and drug gang dynamics. also acknowledged that the arrange- religion or Latin America, meshes with In Juárez, I traveled with Viridiana ment and mission of a project must the interests of the university. Rios, a doctoral candidate at Harvard’s be clear. The university funded our Finding such a partnership has clear Department of Government who is research and, for a time, we were benefits. To meet the requirements also researching Mexico. Our daily within the academic sandbox. But the Carr Center set out for me, I will recaps, poring over our notes and we are still journalists, and our work present a report at the conference taking stock of the day’s interviews, reflects our strengths—relating stories about anti-crime initiatives in Juárez provided a valuable running dialogue and testimonies we gathered and being led by citizens, the challenges about Mexico’s dilemmas. arriving at possible conclusions. If a they face, how they measure success, Once back from Juárez, I checked university trusts that our storytelling and the type of support they need in with fellow freelance journalist Eliza and research skills can benefit their to advance their projects. I will also Barclay, who had just returned from work, too, then let us hope that such tap the material I gathered in Juárez a three-week research trip to China, partnerships expand.  for use in producing my own stories. funded by Johns Hopkins University. With the luxury of not being on a tight While completing a master’s degree Monica Campbell, a 2010 Nieman deadline for a news organization, I had in science writing, Barclay spotted Fellow, reported from Mexico for the freedom to watch a story unfold a call for proposals from the Center The Christian Science Monitor, San as I did my reporting and research. for a Livable Future. The grant for Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek and Of course, there’s no guarantee that a research on diet, health and food other magazines from 2003 to 2008 long-form magazine piece will evolve security—topics Barclay has written and was the Mexico consultant for from this. I’ll have to regroup and write about extensively—was open to all the Committee to Protect Journalists. a story proposal, but with a good deal Johns Hopkins’ students. With her She is now based in New York.

54 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays?

Creating a Go-To Digital Destination for Foreign Affairs Reporting and Commentary ‘At the start of our Web relaunch, here’s what we had: essentially no money, no reporters, a creaky and often barely functioning custom-made Web platform, a wonderfully talented young staff …’

BY SUSAN B. GLASSER

he journalistic crowd has taken with correspondents in Azerbaijan out there, as the many vibrant Web it as an article of faith in recent and Burundi, Congo and Colombia, sites offering news and commentary years that international news is Afghanistan and Pakistan, China and about everything from sports to U.S. Tnot a draw on the Internet, coming to Russia, Egypt and Israel. On any given politics to Hollywood attest. It’s true believe, however reluctantly, that the day Foreign Policy now publishes more that foreign news in the future may be advent of new media means it’s just original writing about international more of a niche journalistic product no longer worth the effort and cost affairs than The Washington Post or than it was in the past. Then again, involved. As Pew Research Center’s Newsweek. the world is a pretty big niche. president Andrew Kohut and journal- But Bollinger is right about this: ist Bruce Stokes put it after looking Other sources of foreign news have Transitional Times at survey numbers, Americans are been cut back or vanished at an “disinterested in foreign news, except alarming rate. The question for jour- At the start of the decade, I was a foreign when it deals directly with the United nalists, though, is no longer whether correspondent for The Washington States or the war on terrorism.” Many we can hold on to the old model of Post. When I covered the battle of Tora editors have taken as axiomatic what international coverage but whether we Bora after the 9/11 attacks, I traveled Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia embrace new models that work for the to that remote part of Afghanistan with University, wrote in a July Wall Street digital era. Such models are already a reporter and photographer from The Journal op-ed when he con- Boston Globe. When the U.S. tended that the “decimated” invaded Iraq two years later, ranks of American foreign we rode across the sandy correspondents means there border in a fleet of rental is no longer any way for cars with colleagues from Americans to inform them- Newsday and the Chicago selves about crucial global Tribune. None of those vener- issues. able news organizations has a Against this skeptical single foreign correspondent backdrop, Foreign Policy anymore and even The Post, launched an experiment in where I was among nearly January 2009: a new daily 30 correspondents just a online magazine for people few years ago, now only who care about the world. has 15 staff correspondents Since then our site has covering foreign news. And attracted a growing audi- it’s not just cutbacks: It has ence for original reporting, become increasingly clear writing and analysis about that the old style of foreign global issues—much of which correspondence will have to has little to do with either change, and radically so. With the United States or terror- little print space devoted ism. And despite Bollinger’s to international news and concerns, we’ve found the little to nothing in the way Web has also unleashed an of original Web features, abundant new supply of correspondents in recent international coverage, mak- Thomas E. Ricks, formerly a reporter for The Washington Post, years have often had to beg ing it easy for us to connect blogs daily for Foreign Policy about national security. their paper or magazine to

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 55 Reporting From Faraway Places

run their stories, and they have been single-minded gaze on the world. For grown 1,000 percent to more than 1.5 writing fewer of them. us, the appeal was in fact the inter- million unique visitors and 11 million Instead of reinventing international national outlook at a time when more page views a month. We now publish coverage for the digital era, many people than ever perceive themselves more than 100 original articles each news organizations embraced the as global stakeholders. We wanted month—an average of five or more conventional wisdom—that reader to combine a relentless focus on the every weekday as well as the daily interest wouldn’t be there so it was not world with the belief that a dedicated, blogs. On any given day the site offers worth pursuing—and a self-fulfilling underserved—and large (or at least a mix of stories: a scoop about the cycle ensued. Foreign news was de- large enough) community of readers United Nations looking to award a emphasized, kept on the Web long was out there. prize endowed by an African dicta- after the news cycle had moved on, tor; an essay by Turkey’s influential or offered little of added value beyond Launching Our New Site minister of foreign affairs; former top the news wires’ much faster versions, Bush administration officials politely so it not surprisingly received few At the start of our Web relaunch, castigating the White House in their page views. All of this was taken as here’s what we had: essentially no Shadow Government group blog; a confirmation that there just wasn’t money, no reporters, a creaky and sharp dispatch from Moscow; an op-ed any appetite for foreign news. often barely functioning custom-made salvo from Senator John Kerry; the Like many other pronouncements Web platform, a wonderfully talented latest installment of journalist Anna being made by those in the news young staff—and the freedom to try Badkhen’s monthlong journey across business in their panic about the new things with the edge and sensibility northern Afghanistan; a report about Internet, this claim seemed spurious. that a traditional news organization Israel’s settlements on our new Middle Remember these other dictates? Long would find hard to get away with. At East Channel. stories don’t work on the Web. No one the time Foreign Policy had exactly Our approach to telling these stories reads investigative stories. There’s no one blog and published a single ranges from first-person narratives to value in original reporting anymore; Web-exclusive article every day or so. short items about State Department the Web is all about aggregating others’ Our site averaged just fewer than one scuttlebutt, from policy debates to content. And, my personal favorite: million page views a month. slideshows. At its core, what we are Good design just isn’t important on In six weeks we created a new doing on the Web is a natural digital the Web. site—with a new approach to covering evolution of a magazine’s roving curi- All seemed assumptions worth foreign news. We constructed it around osity about its subject—with far more disproving. a vibrant homepage and created a net- entry points and daily variety than And we set out to do so as soon work of blogs written by authoritative was possible before, when editors had as the Post Company bought Foreign experts, including Pulitzer-winning to make painful choices about which Policy in late 2008 with the idea of military reporter Thomas E. Ricks on small handful of foreign pieces they developing a robust Web site to go national security, Harvard’s Kennedy would run. along with the award-winning but School professor Stephen Walt on In that and so many ways, we’ve money-losing print magazine. There international relations, and former been lucky. As counterintuitive as it were some great models to emulate, Clinton administration official David might seem, this is a great time to cre- such as The Atlantic’s savvy collection Rothkopf on how Washington actually ate new pathways for journalism—and of newsy blogs and the edgy writing works. We also recruited established journalists. There is no shortage of on our new sister publication Slate. independent bloggers, including writers with a real desire to connect Still, the Web seemed like a wasteland international trade expert Daniel W. with the audiences we reach—and in the realm of international affairs, Drezner and Middle East scholar Marc fewer and fewer ambitious places to which was often covered as though Lynch, who signed up after learning of feature their work. Given the exodus a small handful of men in gray suits the project from Drezner’s Facebook from many news organizations of jour- really did run the world—and would update. For the first time in Foreign nalists forced into painful transitions, be the only ones interested in reading Policy’s 40-year history, we added now is a good moment to go looking about it. Jokingly at first, but later less original reporting, with The Cable, for expertise. so, we decided that our slogan should a daily blog reporting on the Obama Ricks was our first such recruit. The be “The world is not a boring place.” administration’s foreign policy team author of the bestselling book “Fiasco: Many editors have talked in recent and its initiatives; by scooping more The American Military Adventure in years about wanting to capture the established competitors about who Iraq” and a veteran of The Post, he audience and energy of the British was getting what job, it became a had taken a buyout from the Post to newsweekly The Economist, with its must-read in Washington. become a senior fellow at the Center impressive print circulation. Most of Soon after we relaunched our audi- for a New American Security. Now his them look to emulate its opinionated ence tripled, and it has continued to daily blog The Best Defense is defining and sharp analysis, not necessarily its expand. As of this summer, it had a new genre of reporting. With several

56 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays? original items a day, his blog features Policy staffers on the old journalism on our Middle East Channel. everything from e-mailed comments model; indeed, most of our staff is an Experiment is the key word. The Web from General David Petraeus to editing staff, working to pull together a certainly made it easy and inexpensive investigative reports on the military’s coherent site from an array of contribu- to find and grow our audience; it has cover-up of a disastrous battle at the tors who run the gamut from young also connected us to a network of Afghan outpost of Wanat (later covered freelancers abroad to leading experts new writers and readers in countries on the front pages of the Post and in their fields looking to reach our throughout the world. Advertising has The New York Times). In the spring audience. For some, this is a replace- grown, too. But beware of anyone who Ricks was recognized with the first ment for the newspaper op-eds they claims to have cracked the code; I’m National Magazine Award for best used to write and little payment is not sure there’s any business out there blogger of the year. expected, then or now. But for others, that can credibly argue it’s figured out But Ricks also suggests the limits the time will come when someone what it takes to support the journalistic of our new approach; for now, Foreign will have to pay more to sustain the ambitions of a magazine determined Policy’s new Web site couldn’t exist independent journalism they are doing. to take full advantage of the digital without the support of institutions— Until we have the money to do so, era. Until then, an experiment it will whether universities or think tanks we are intent on experimenting with remain.  or more deep-pocketed mainstream any model that works, from the New news organizations—that still pay some America Foundation fellow who works Susan B. Glasser is editor in chief of of those who write for us something with us as a contributing editor to the Foreign Policy magazine. approximating a living wage. Only a Carnegie Corporation grant that helps few of our writers are full-time Foreign support the scholars who collaborate

Connecting Correspondents With Broadcasters Global Radio News, an online agency for reporters, insists on fair treatment and insurance to protect those whose work takes them into harm’s way.

BY HENRY PEIRSE

hen I started freelancing the do much of the work. I’ll never forget to each of my clients. Then I’d wait news business was changing, the bureau chief of one of the big TV and hope they would pay. and that was even before news agencies with his two suites in On quiet days I wasted money on Wthe Internet was the cause. It was too a luxury hotel, one for work and one phone calls as I’d try to persuade an early for that to happen. Back then it for play, all on an expense account. He accounts person that I really did the was the BBC that was slowly suffocat- had a blast and still delivered. work and deserved my payment. It ing what had been one of the oldest, I was covering the war in the former wasn’t easy since I couldn’t get angry largest and most reliable sources of Yugoslavia. It was a mad time. I was 22, and risk being labeled as a problem foreign news, World Service Radio, with no real grasp of the risks. There correspondent and see my client list in its quest to move into television. was no hostile environment training shrink. In the early 1990’s I’d hear words and no insurance. Journalism was a After I spent seven years on that such as “multiskilling,” as reporters trade; we learned it as we worked. story, I decided it was time to come started being trained in how to use Passion for the story drove us, and home. My editors were happy to meet video cameras. money was a welcome byproduct. My for a drink, but work was hard to In many ways, this was the beginning editors cared only that I was on the come by. Budgets were already under of the end. Or seen through the lens scene with a phone connection and the knife. of today, it was the start of a journey could file. It was hard work; when a It was then that I was struck with that hasn’t ended. story broke, I’d call all my clients, half moment of genius, or so I thought. In In those days, news organizations a dozen regulars, to persuade them Bosnia, I learned how the Web was had big budgets and paid good salaries the story was worth running. I’d file, being used for instant communications to staff reporters, though they were and if I was lucky I’d send the same when I saw students keeping in touch starting to rely on freelancers like me to piece again with a different sign-off via e-mail across the frontlines during

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 57 Reporting From Faraway Places

the war. So I figured that freelancers use journalists who live where the story Connecting Reporters and could use the Web to pitch and sell is taking place. Local journalists have Broadcasters stories with somebody in the middle the gift of institutional knowledge and to chase payments for them. Back this can set them apart from those During the uprising in Kyrgyzstan this in London, I did the dot-com thing, who parachute into a story, though spring, we watched the story develop and like so many others I pretended the old-timers can also be ready to for a few weeks. Then one morning Tim that I understood the business and leap in given the expertise they carry Judah, a reporter we’ve worked with I raised some money. But I blew it inside of them. When they were for- for many years, called us to say that on the wrong things, and soon the eign correspondents, they settled in a his son Ben was in the capital, Bishkek, bubble popped. region of the world and got to know and he’d written about the troubles in Whether it was vanity or blind their way around; they were ready that country. We immediately pushed stupidity or the tenacity I acquired in when news broke. In this tweeting Ben’s name and whereabouts out via Bosnia, something kept me going. I generation of journalists, deep digging the daily alerts we send to our clients. could see that budgets were shrinking isn’t valued so this kind of ingrained We then set about organizing his insur- at news organizations, but I also knew knowledge doesn’t grow. Of course ance, knowing that bookings would that the appetite for well-sourced, this is understandable at a time when start to come in soon. And they did. reliable foreign news reporting Broadcasters watch our alerts wasn’t. And so I set out to cre- as they are deciding whether they ate Global Radio News (GRN) want to cover a story and if so, and for 10 years the business has how. Are they willing to spend the played the critical middleman role money to send a staff reporter? in connecting broadcasters with Or will they take a chance on a proven reporters. We’ve faced some reporter like Ben who is there, competition, and we’ve adapted knows the story, and can start to the changing marketplace by to file immediately. A number of using technology to streamline our clients—CBC, CBS, France 24, our services. Fox News, Deutsche Welle, and RTE, among others—chose to use Designing a New him so for several days he was a Newsdesk busy man. And as he handled his reporting assignments, GRN took Now GRN has embarked on an care of the sales and marketing of initiative to fill the vacuum left his work, billed the broadcasters, by the hollowing out of news- and paid him. rooms. Not too long ago those As protests escalated on the at the newsdesk knew where streets of Tehran last summer, every reporter was at any time, Saeed Kamali Dehghan picked up whether on the frontlines of a reporting assignments after other battle or on a stool at a bar. And broadcasters had been forced to they knew what story a reporter leave or had their movements was covering and how. They were severely restricted by the authori- usually the ones to give reporters ties. Given his local knowledge, Global Radio News (GRN) provides insurance for their next assignment. Now this Dehghan, who was writing for reporters on assignment in places such as Bangkok, function falls to desk editors, one The Guardian, started to be used Thailand where protesters clashed with government job among many. extensively by other news organi- forces. Photo by Andrew Chant/GRN. This is where GRN steps in. zations, including broadcasters. We do what newsdesks used to Writing recently in The Observer do and more. We suggest stories, of this experience, he recalled how using ideas we pick up from daily mes- it’s the rare news organization that his assignments increased: sages sent to us by reporters working invests in having a reporter watch a in all parts of the world. Widespread story until it becomes news. One day, I was on the back of reporting about the famine and bru- GRN’s role is to support report- a motorbike. A friend was help- tality in Darfur started with an alert ers by finding them and investing in ing me to get from one place we received from one of our reporters them before a story breaks in their to another in Tehran and my who’d been there. In some cases, we backyard. When it does, we connect agents, GRN in London, called even help to direct coverage. broadcasters with a person who is and said: ‘Saeed, in five minutes GRN tries as much as possible to ready to do the job. you have to go live on CNN.’ With

58 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays?

no broadcast experience, I was quality reporters, it must be willing to within 30 days. We also advance funds suddenly live on TV for the first treat them fairly and do all they can on confirmed stories and help reporters time on the back of a motorbike to keep them safe. And what they pay get discounts on the tools and services in the middle of a city in chaos. has to be commensurate with the use they’ll need in the field. They loved it and I gave more they want to make of the reporting The cost to the reporter is our com- than 50 live TV interviews to they receive; put simply, they can’t mission, their loyalty, and a small fee different broadcasters in June own the rights forever if they pay little paid to belong to GRN. As agents, we alone, most of the time appearing to produce it. earn money through commissions that anonymously. Seeing that these obligations are vary. Broadcasters pay rates that are met doesn’t happen easily, but GRN determined by their size and location, Insisting on Fairness has fought similar battles before. When but reporters earn the same percentage we were starting out we insisted that of the fee whether the broadcast outlet Our business works by providing a broadcasters pay for even a brief phoner is enormous or tiny. Our same rigorous service for broadcasters and report- with a reporter; making that stan- professional standards always apply. ers. Given the danger inherent in dard procedure required a fight. The We know that a reporter working foreign news reporting—especially broadcasters presumed that reporters on his or her own would earn more for in conflict zones—we use our agent would be satisfied just to be asked to each job, but with us they benefit from role and leverage to insist on a solid talk on their news program, and that our economies of scale and the practices level of protection for reporters. Our would be enough. It isn’t. that we insist be in place for them. In approach comes out of our belief that To take these next steps, we created 10 years, we’ve only had a handful of no broadcaster should run a story, a package designed to support the reporters leave GRN and head out on picture or video done by a reporter work that our foreign news reporters their own. Ours is a model of organizing who is not insured. To accomplish this, do. We call it “GRN Assignment Insur- and running the business of foreign we’ve established a program whereby ance.” Through this program, we assist reporting that fits its time while also all of the reporters who work through reporters in securing the insurance they holding on to the journalistic values GRN carry insurance when they do a need by helping to cover its cost with that guided reporters in the past.  story that has been assigned to them a guarantee of work. We also help in through us. arranging their visas and press cards. Henry Peirse is the founder and CEO If a broadcaster wants reliable, high- We book work and facilitate payment of Global Radio News (GRN).

Similar Paths, Different Missions: International Journalists and Human Rights Observers As some journalists migrate to Human Rights Watch, one reason might be that they are ‘tired of treating all stories with the same pretense of aloofness— especially the ones who have covered mass atrocities.’

BY CARROLL BOGERT

n June when violence broke out in gated the violence, who was killed or cameraman to take video. Both of the Fergana Valley of Kyrgyzstan, injured, what the perpetrators did, these shooters had worked with us Human Rights Watch happened what weapons they had, what time before and had substantial experience Ito have a researcher already in Osh, they showed up, how long they stayed, covering armed conflicts. the epicenter of the mayhem. Within who said what to whom, what everyone This was not exactly journalism days, we sent in reinforcements from was wearing, and now let’s go over because Human Rights Watch is an our emergencies team—the “firemen” all this one more time. It took days. advocacy group and not a media who cover armed conflicts for us. Human Rights Watch also assigned organization. But the fact remains They interviewed dozens of victims, a photographer who works frequently that the commercial model for inter- separately whenever possible, asking for the international media, paying national fact-gathering and distribu- detailed questions about who insti- him a standard day rate, and a local tion is broken, and the number of

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 59 Reporting From Faraway Places

a changing information economy in which Human Rights Watch is a useful and reliable producer of good, fresh stuff. We bring juicy tidbits to the information marketplace. And the price is right—they’re free. The nonprofit sector generally has a good deal of credibility, at least according to a study done by the Edel- man Trust Barometer. In this annual review, conducted by a big New York public relations firm, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were found to enjoy greater public confidence than business, government or the media. Trust in NGOs is significantly higher in Latin America and relatively lower in Asia for reasons the survey does not fully explain. But the overall numbers are pretty compelling: The NGO sec- A woman mourns her husband, who died after being severely beaten by local security forces tor is the only institution trusted by in Nariman, Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Moises Saman for Human Rights Watch. more than 50 percent of “informed publics” aged 35-64 in 20 countries. So I’m not sure that the information foreign correspondents working for against Uzbeks. We sought out Kyrgyz generated by Human Rights Watch U.S. newspapers and TV networks victims, although they were fewer in will be less credible to the public has fallen precipitously. Meanwhile, number, to ensure their stories got than the information produced by the the number of researchers at Human told. And we didn’t, for example, fall mainstream media. Rights Watch is larger than the corps for that legend about pregnant women We don’t try to pass ourselves off as of foreign correspondents at either getting their bellies ripped open by the journalists. It’s important for Human The New York Times or The Wash- enemy, a claim that did get published Rights Watch to be transparent about ington Post, and the organization has on the Web. (We’ve heard the same who we are and how we gather our facts quadrupled in size since I joined in claim in many ethnic conflicts we’ve in the field. We’re not slyly distribut- 1998 after a dozen years as a foreign covered over the years.) We are more ing “stories” pre-packaged for local correspondent for Newsweek. experienced than many journalists in television, as the Bush administration Our researchers do more than cover taking testimony from people whose liked to do. Our multimedia packages the story, of course. In Kyrgyzstan, passions are inflamed, who are acutely are branded as Human Rights Watch in addition to interviewing all those distressed, or who have suffered great products, and our methodology is victims and eyewitnesses, they were trauma. We’ve logged more hours on spelled out in detail on our Web site. also consulting with United Nations these types of stories, and our research- So are our major donors and our mis- agencies about getting humanitarian ers are specifically and extensively sion. This is the kind of transparency aid to people, issuing press releases trained to do this kind of work. that led Jim Barnett, writing for the calling for an independent inquiry Nieman Journalism Lab, to conclude into the violence and for international Establishing Credibility recently that Human Rights Watch police to be deployed, urging Kyrgyz is producing “work of the same—or, government officials to rein in security The fact that we do advocacy in arguably, higher—journalistic quality.” forces, and meeting diplomats to get addition to collecting facts does not We do have a lot of ex-journalists on them to issue démarche. In other necessarily reduce our credibility, our staff. Some of them are research- words, once the facts are collected, however. Human Rights Watch is far ers who wanted to “get out of the we don’t consider the job over—our from a household name, but we’re bleachers and join the game,” as a researchers become energetic advo- pretty well-known among people, job applicant put it recently. (Despite cates on the question of what should including foreign correspondents, the cool metaphor, he didn’t get the be done about them. who follow news from places like job.) Some work for our multimedia Nevertheless, our researchers may Kyrgyzstan. In 2008, The New York team, repackaging the material that have been more thorough and objective Times cited Human Rights Watch our researchers collect. We also hire than some journalists. Many reporters 200 times. I don’t think that means freelance photographers, videogra- focused almost exclusively on violence they’re not objective. It simply reflects phers and radio reporters to go into

60 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Who Pays? the field and illustrate our research deal of extreme brutality. For their “name and shame” the perpetrators of findings. These multimedia features psychological health, some of them abuse are critical partners in the mis- live on our Web site and often get want to contribute to an organization sion of Human Rights Watch, whether picked up by mainstream media all that’s doing something about it, not they think of themselves that way or over the world—including in the just covering it and moving on. not. We want them to keep doing their United States. One of them won a Human Rights Watch gathers job. The best foreign correspondents Webby this year. information in a lot of places where are highly seasoned and experienced, The numerous job applications we journalists don’t go. In part, this is and we learn a lot from them. They receive from journalists are mostly a because we don’t use a commercial have bigger audiences and they work for product of the bad economy. If times yardstick to measure the worthiness better-known brands. But I wouldn’t were good at American newspapers, of the information we gather. We count Human Rights Watch out. most journalists would not be inter- don’t care if people don’t care about We’re different from the journalistic ested in moving to a human rights Burundi. We cover it anyway. We decide institutions of yesteryear, to be sure, organization. Yet there are extremely whether to cover an issue based on but we’re no less legitimate.  good journalists who get tired of treat- criteria that may sound familiar to ing all stories with the same pretense creaky old junkies of what used to be Carroll Bogert is the deputy executive of aloofness—especially the ones who called “hard news”: How many people director of Human Rights Watch have covered mass atrocities. Think of suffered? Did the abuse of power lead for external relations. Before joining Christiane Amanpour’s impassioned to the tragedy? If we reveal that abuse, the staff in 1998, she worked for 12 pleas for Western intervention in can we succeed in getting some people years as a foreign correspondent at Bosnia. War photographers, in par- riled up about it? Newsweek. ticular, have often witnessed a great Foreign correspondents who help us

Living Manhattan, Feeling Zamboanga After returning to the United States following a long stint overseas, a reporter is reminded that it is still all about adapting to circumstances.

BY PHIL ZABRISKIE

arly in 2008 I came back to the though the daily conversation over here that became a part of my identity, is United States after living and just isn’t the same and despite the no more. reporting overseas for seven fact that the tactile sense that comes Not surprisingly, perhaps, I often Eyears in Asia and the Middle East. with physically being in those places found myself seeking out places where It didn’t take long for the reality to is impossible to recreate. “over there” and “over here” converge, sink in of how different it was being I came back willingly and gladly, where the massive movement of “over here” and how thoroughly my but I do miss those long drives on people around the world is clearly time “over there” had shaped my in- bumpy roads, those tense moments in evident—Chinatown, for example, or terests and habits. Every morning I’d interviews with government officials neighborhoods in Queens that are look first at the international news in or religious leaders, those drinks with nearly as South Asian as South Asia American papers, then scour the Web colleagues at the end of a long day, and itself. I’ve also done lengthy spells sites of The Independent, the Jakarta those times when I’d come around a of reporting on Nepali Bhutanese Post, The National, Tehelka, Ha’aretz, corner to see something I’d never seen refugees being resettled in the Bronx, MindaNews or TamilNet. Or I’d read before. And I wonder how people I Cameroonian and Ethiopian asylum reports from the International Crisis met and shared extremely meaningful seekers in the Washington, D.C. area Group or Moby Capital’s regular col- experiences with are doing, worrying who’d been tortured in their home- lections of Afghanistan and Pakistan about some and hoping they are safe lands before fleeing, and soldiers and bulletins. and content. Marines returning from deployments Even now, I’ll often go to sleep or But it’s more than simple nostalgia, in Afghanistan and Iraq. wake up thinking about something more than friendly concern. It’s the I continued going abroad to work that’s happening over there. It has sense that something that was so as well, returning to Afghanistan and remained my everyday language, even central to me for so long, something Jerusalem, for instance, and making

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 61 Reporting From Faraway Places

Phil Zabriskie in a U.S. military helicopter above one of President Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in Tikrit, Iraq, days after U.S. forces captured Hussein. Photo by Yuri Kozyrev.

my first trip to Russia. But whether from the field. This job held the story of the day. But I made my choice it was timing or simply that I wasn’t promise of some stability, which at to come home and the ground shifted. that good at foreign news freelancing the time was very attractive, and travel That part of it is not so much different out of New York City, it kept getting to places I very much wanted to go. from life overseas when, more often harder to do these stories. I made I applied and was hired, starting the than not, there was no choice but sure to pepper my story proposals day after the earthquake in Haiti. It to adapt to circumstances, whatever with assertions that I knew how to was a whirlwind beginning, tracking they were. keep costs low wherever I was. But and chronicling a large-scale, complex I love reading stories and seeing I still heard often that certain ideas, response to that devastating event. The photographs by colleagues who are still especially those that involved flying frenetic atmosphere was comforting, out there, watching them demonstrate halfway around the world, paying a though. It felt familiar. why being there, seeing things up fixer/translator, and spending a signifi- I can still write, too, which is great. close (not from a desk in a TV studio cant block of time (and money) in some I can’t write about countries where the somewhere) still matters. I do get envi- faraway land were just too expensive organization has missions, which rules ous, but for the moment, this job feels to commission, at least from me, at out some of my favorite places. And right and the work worthwhile. Soon least at this time. The answer might time is an issue. But I have been able I will be able to travel to places that be “maybe,” if someone else picked up to get assignments on topics that are interest me, and that will feel good, part of the tab or if the publication connected in some way to things I’d even if it’s not to as many places as had not already done, say, an Africa done or that involve familiar dynamics I’d like to get to or how I imagined story that year, or if there were more and struggles. Thus far that’s meant, I’d get there.  Americans involved. But otherwise, it among other things, profiling gay wasn’t going to happen. soldiers serving under “don’t ask, Phil Zabriskie, who is managing Dispiriting though it was, I had don’t tell” and following education editor for publications for Doctors to start looking at other possibilities. projects in inner city Baltimore. And, Without Borders USA, spent 2001 Again, though, I hoped to find some- of course, I’m still looking for that through 2008 in Asia and the thing that built on my experiences great book idea. Middle East working as a staff overseas. And one day I noticed that It’s hard and at times unsettling writer for Time and freelancing Doctors Without Borders needed a to have only one foot, or a couple of for National Geographic, National managing editor to oversee publica- toes, in journalism, especially when I Geographic Adventure, The Wash- tions and its Web site. It was an see that, for instance, Afghanistan, a ington Post Magazine, and others. organization I knew and respected place I’ve been a dozen times, is the

62 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | What Happens in War?

This Is How I Go ‘Every time I leave for war, there are rituals and routines—and one unyielding truth.’

BY KEVIN SITES

he sun is a tea bag dipping into that makes the palm leaves shudder beat—but I keep the gear and duffle the Pacific seeping orange and above our heads. We keep an easy bags in the closet until I absolutely reds onto the horizon. Scattered pace—chatting about what happened have to pull them out. Tsurfers catch the meager waves of this during our day. She is preparing for In my past relationships, I never summer evening while members of a a half-marathon in Seattle. I’m pre- talked about going. The resulting sad- fitness boot camp do crunches near a paring to go to Afghanistan—for the ness would overwhelm the short time homeless man sleeping under a tree. fourth time. we had left so we avoided the topic until I’m running with my girlfriend along This is how I go to war. I pretend it hung over us like a raincloud, finally a bluff next to Ocean Avenue. It’s in I’m not. It’s always in my forebrain, as spilling its contents on our drive to the the 70’s with a soft onshore breeze involuntary as breathing or my heart- airport, too late to be constructive or

War correspondent Kevin Sites enters a U.S. Army Buffalo, a military vehicle used to search for roadside bombs, prior to a mission with the 20th Engineer Battalion. Photo by Ben Brody.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 63 Reporting From Faraway Places

cathartic. My girlfriend now will have under the liberation of the lighter soon will do what is easy for me—tell none of that. She is small and feisty, digital gear while heading into the stories that can almost tell themselves. bull-charging awkward moments like new journalistic paradigm, which is After all, war is a ready-made drama, they were San Fermin revelers on the turning the only job I’ve ever known packed with moral dilemmas and the streets of Pamplona. She wants me to firmly and distinctly on its head. inevitable struggle to stay human in talk about it, share my excitement, the face of killing and dying. Right even though it makes her sad. What I Leave Behind now, I need to write and notarize my Still, my instinct is to tamp it down. will, buy presents for birthdays I’ll So I wait until she’s at work to look Every time I leave for war, there are miss, schedule online payments, and at my cameras, lay out the three sets rituals and routines—and one unyield- extend credit cards slated to expire of quick-dry pants and shirts that I ing truth. in my absence. will rotate wearing for the next two While my packing routine is deeply months. I place on the bed my pocket ingrained in muscle memory, the rituals My Departure multitool that can cut, carve, pull and of this preparation seem as distinct open nearly anything; my ballistic and different to me as each child is Even as I move through my to-do sunglasses that the manufacturers say to a mother. What has changed for list, it grows lengthier as I think of will deflect shrapnel; my compass and me are the circumstances I will leave other things I need to do. In the past, carabiners; my fireproof Nomex gloves behind. No longer am I responsible working for NBC and CNN, even for so, if I need to, I can open the door of only to myself; I’m enmeshed in a party Yahoo! News, I had administrative a burning Humvee. I have a 100-foot of five, living with my girlfriend, her support and producers. People booked parachute cord that I will cut and use sister, and their daughters—one nine, my business class tickets overseas and to do everything from replacing boot the other five. Because my only job expedited my foreign visas. They then laces to making a clothesline for a is to prepare to go to war, I’ve taken handed me briefcases of cash to keep quick dry after washing. I have pens, an active role in the daily care of the our war zone news bureaus running. a khaki baseball cap, a 60-day supply girls. I make breakfast, take them to This trip signifies the irreversible of vitamins, a power strip to recharge school, get them snacks when the changes in the foreign coverage model batteries for cameras, a satellite modem school day is over, and talk and play in which freelance operators like me that connects to my laptop and allows with them while I pack and prep for are the rule, not the exception. Unlike me to transmit my stories from nearly my looming deployment. the past, when I simply went to a anywhere in the world. My space-age Pushing my loaded cart down conflict area and did the job and got tripod folds flat for packing and its the grocery store aisle as I pick out paid for it, now I cover all of my own removable leg will serve a dual purpose maple-flavored oatmeal and cat-shaped costs upfront and try to pay it off one as an extension boom for my camera cookies, I jokingly text my girlfriend story at a time. I must fill out applica- to videotape over walls and around about how I’ve gone from being a war tions for my Afghan visa and pay for corners. I’ve also discovered that it’s correspondent to a desperate house- it, apply for a spot as a U.S. military a nice gadget to have if someone is wife. She’s empathetic but relentlessly embed, buy my flight tickets from Los shooting at you. practical. Do the job in front of you, Angeles to Kandahar, Afghanistan, I double-check that I have backup she reminds me by example, and not and upgrade my gear. Though I never USB cables to download my video and the one you want to do—in my case, a wore a helmet—and rarely wore body still pictures. And there is the first aid job that garners the attention despite armor—on past assignments, the U.S. kit with the large trauma pad that its inherit selfishness. military now requires it for journalists soldiers advise me to carry, and so I Going to war, I know, will result in seeking to embed so I need to buy both. do, in my right rear pocket. Widely me thinking only of myself again, as After finding what I consider to be a known to most American troops at everyday things like paying bills and reputable supplier online, I spend one least, this kit is the first place to look feeding kids get pushed aside. The morning talking with Steve at Bullet for something to staunch the bleeding problem is that I have found my short Proof Me. He walks me through the in case of a shooting incident. month of domesticity so lopsidedly process of measuring “sweet spots,” To paraphrase the title of Tim more rewarding than my suppos- where vital organs reside, that I need O’Brien’s classic book about the war edly adventurous life in conflict. At to make sure are properly covered. in Vietnam, these are the things I moments, it occurs to me that perhaps While he finds me the proper ballistic carry when I head off to report a war. I feel this way because I’ve had the panels (the material that actually stops This baggage is physical and psycho- luxury of experiencing too little of the bullets), they do not have the logical. These things allow me to do the first and too much of the second. outer shell or carrier in stock. I need my job but also transform me into a This time, before I go, there are to custom order it and with only two beast of burden—the price of being a things I need to do as a family mem- weeks to go before my deployment, it backpack journalist. I struggle even ber, and not just as a person who will be a tight turnaround.

64 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Happens in War?

her hair around her face. After she leaves for work, I repack, and then head to the airport. The next thing I realize is that the pop singer Seal is in the security line next to me. As he and I go through the screen- ing machines and then pull our belts and shoes back on, I smile, thinking how the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now our great equalizer. Suddenly and weirdly, one of the TSA supervi- sors yells “bravo.” Others answer back with the same. We are told to move away from the screening machines and freeze in place, which in that moment makes all of this seem almost like Many who go off to war often take keepsakes of their loved ones—photographs end up in the linings of a child’s game. It’s five helmets or stashed within body armor. Photo by Kevin Sites. minutes before I hear someone yelling “clear.” Magically, we are unfro- In my last week before departure, on every deployment since. zen and proceed to our gates. things start to unravel. When I’m at I know I have it somewhere, but I It’s at this point, heading to my REI buying some last minute items, can’t find it. Go to work, I tell her, and gate, that I being to feel like a bag of my credit card is declined. When I I’ll find it and e-mail a photo of me sand being dragged across the ground talk with a customer service rep, I wearing it. It’s not a solution that and through a small hole, losing all find out that someone in Germany satisfies her so as I tear open my the things that give me shape and has been using my card to play online well-packed gear, the tension becomes substance. Despite the draining lone- video games. I cancel the card with the more frantic. She tosses things from liness I feel, I know in my heart it’s promise that a new one will arrive via my closet, looks under the bed. Finally, much easier for those of us who leave FedEx on Thursday morning. I find it in the crevice of my gear bag. than for those who are left behind.  That’s the day I’m scheduled to “I’ve got it,” I shout, pulling it over leave, and it’s also the day my body my head. I rush upstairs and soon she Kevin Sites, a 2010 Nieman Fellow, armor vest is slated to arrive. is crying with relief as I embrace her. is the author of “In the Hot Zone: That morning I make the girls It’s a dangerous thing to imbue an One Man, One Year, Twenty Wars,” breakfast and they give me drawings inanimate object with so much power. based on his reporting for Yahoo! they did on index cards that I tell them A few minutes later, a FedEx truck News. His next book, which is about I will carry to Afghanistan. As I hold pulls up with my new credit card and the isolating experiences of war, is tight to my girlfriend, I assure her that my bulletproof vest. One of the girls’ titled “The Things They Cannot Say,” we’ll be in contact regularly through drawings is deposited in an opening and will be published by Harper e-mail. Before she leaves for work, she in the front, the other in back, as I Perennial in 2011. His war reporting asks me to show her the lucky charm tell them how they will protect me can be seen at http://hotzone.yahoo. I wear around my neck—an Iraqi dog from both sides. Under my helmet’s com and www.kevinsitesreports.com. tag I found in the dirt on the day I webbing I slide a photograph of my was captured in Tikrit by Saddam girlfriend, the one I asked her to choose. Hussein’s Fedayeen militia soon after It is from an unforgettable day on the the invasion. I’ve worn it or carried it beach when the ocean breeze tossed

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 65 Reporting From Faraway Places

WAR: TOLD FROM THE INSIDE OUT

When journalists go into war zones, some of them are and journalist Sebastian Junger who emerged from his there to report the news of battles fought, of ground time in Afghanistan with a book called “War” and a gained or lost, and of soldiers hurt or killed. Others companion documentary film, “Restrepo,” co-produced remain with soldiers for a longer time, embedded in with photojournalist Tim Hetherington. In the following their unit, and over time they become embedded in two essays, we offer the perspective of a soldier who served their lives. It becomes their purpose to absorb what it in Iraq and Afghanistan on how well Junger succeeded means—and convey what it feels like—to be a soldier with “War” and of a movie critic, Chris Vognar, who fighting this war. Such is the vantage point of author writes about “Restrepo.”

Bonds of Friendship on an Emotional Journey

BY JOSEPH KEARNS GOODWIN

uch is the raw power of Sebastian his wounds after crawling “around turn, I experienced an intense frus- Junger’s book “War,” which fol- on the mountainside without a leg,” tration, even rage. Given the hit and lows a platoon stationed in the they cheered. I remember all too well run tactics, the improvised explosive Sharsh Korengal Valley of Afghanistan, experiencing similar emotions while devices (IEDs), and the indirect fire that I found myself responding with leading my platoon in Baghdad. On of the conflict at that time, this was a visceral memory of my own combat our nightly patrols we were either a fairly common occurrence. Hours service in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I looking for insurgents to shoot or just later, however, back in the safety of followed Junger’s portrait of the Second waiting for them to shoot at us so we my bunk, I couldn’t conceive that I Platoon, Battle Company of the storied could return fire and kill them. had mustered such strong emotions 173rd Airborne Brigade, I completely On nights when we took fire but simply because I had been denied the understood the intense bonds of friend- were unable to positively identify opportunity to take a life. The very ship the young soldiers formed with the targets in order to kill them in thought that I hungered for it seemed one another, immersed as they were disgusting to me. Even still, the feeling in an alien landscape, wholly reliant returned time and time again. upon each other, and under constant Conversely, when we were able to threat of mortal danger. find our attacker, the feeling was not I joined the Army in the aftermath one of satisfaction that one would of 9/11, having graduated from Harvard assume to be the natural counterpoint College that June. I had been the happy of the earlier frustration. There was beneficiary of almost every advantage no celebrating, there was no sense of a free and prosperous society offered. triumph, instead there was an intense It seemed only fair, right and just that sadness, especially when the collection I spend time giving something back to of the body almost inevitably revealed the great country that had given me a man whose youthful features were so much. But what began as a selfless so evocative of the men of my platoon. pursuit quickly became a selfish one, Junger clearly articulates one of the for joining the military proved to be primary ways in which men justify these the start of a journey during which killings. “You’re thinking that this guy powerful friendships, much as those could have murdered your friend,” one Junger describes, were forged in the of the soldiers tells Junger. “People fires of hardship, isolation and danger. think we were cheering because we just Junger tells what may seem to many shot someone but we were cheering a chilling story. When the men at the because we just stopped someone from firebase heard on the radio that an killing us.” Junger himself recognizes injured Taliban fighter had died of this very personal aspect of armed

66 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Happens in War? conflict when he ruminates on the carefully constructed your emotional multiple redeployments, lost their lives. individual whose IED just barely failed and intellectual justifications for the I believe post-traumatic stress to kill him. He is shocked by “the raw horrors organic to armed conflict, it disorder is not simply a function fact that this man wanted to negate is difficult to emerge whole from such of images that cannot be forgotten, everything I’d ever done in my life or experiences. actions that cannot be rationalized. might ever do.” In fact, many do not emerge The returning soldier is no longer For me, such rationales, necessary unscathed. Junger’s primary protago- part of a group bound together by a to maintain a bit of sanity in the nist, Sergeant Brendan O’Byrne, is one clear sense of purpose, familiar rituals, insanity of combat, break down when of those. Serving as the voice of the and shared experiences. Relationships innocent civilians are killed. While platoon, his character is more fully forged under fire cannot be easily in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009, realized than any, save Junger himself. recreated in the modern world or one of my responsibilities was to help As such, it is particularly painful to even understood by anyone who has investigate allegations of major civilian watch his slow demise when he returns not been in combat. This is especially casualty incidents potentially caused from the deployment, first to his home pronounced in the modern era of by NATO and international forces. base in Italy and ultimately out of the warfare, when such a tiny percentage In one instance we went to a camp Army in the United States. He drinks of the population is actively engaged of nomads where a U.S. missile had heavily, begins to see enemies where in America’s conflicts. Yet, if we are struck the night before, seeking out, none exist, and ultimately needs an to reach our troubled soldiers, we in vain, a “high value target.” officer’s assistance to be allowed to must begin to understand that feel- We landed one hilltop over from return home rather than go to jail. As ings of isolation and the absence of where the Kuchi nomads had estab- he writes to Junger, “A lot of people camaraderie combined with the loss lished their camp. For the most part, tell me I could be anything I want of clear purpose weigh as heavily as the actual body parts had been cleared to be. If that’s true, why can’t I be the memories of the bodies, bombs out—however, the destruction visited a fucking civilian and lead a normal and bullets.  by the U.S. ordnance was such that fucking life?” there were still remnants strewn After our arduous deployment, this Joseph Kearns Goodwin, a former throughout the area, most barely was a question tacitly asked by mem- captain in the U.S. Army, served recognizable and indistinguishable bers of my company and platoon as as a platoon leader in Iraq between from the livestock that had been they experienced a similar downward 2003 and 2004 and as a top aide to in the kill zone. Indeed, the most spiral. Some lost years to drinking, the director of strategic communica- recognizable human remain was the one went to jail for assault, numerous tions in Afghanistan from 2008 to oddly preserved decapitated head of a marriages did not survive. Others, 2009. He is now in law school. 12- to 14-year-old boy. No matter how sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan for

Noticing Quiet Amid the Battles of War

BY CHRIS VOGNAR

platoon patrols a particularly the trust built between the filmmakers ries—Junger a torn Achilles tendon, treacherous part of the Korengal and their subjects. As consumers of Hetherington a broken leg. They made Valley, the locus of combat for war films, we are conditioned to see it clear that they were in for the long AAmerican troops in Afghanistan. The gore and await dramatic climax. But haul. So by the time the maddening men know they’ll take enemy fire. We that’s not war. That’s entertainment, quiet came along, their presence was know this too, even as we watch them the kind that wins Oscars and allows taken for granted. from the safe distance of Sebastian escape. “Restrepo” is more experiential than Junger and Tim Hetherington’s docu- Junger and Hetherington are after objectively informative. And part of mentary “Restrepo.” But first we all something else. They spent the better the experience is the relationship that have to wait as the silence builds and part of 14 months with the Second forms between journalists and subjects builds until it’s ready to break—which, Platoon, Battle Company of the 173rd when immersion is an option. Call it inevitably, it does. Airborne Brigade. The filmmakers went access, but for these soldiers it was This is the kind of moment that on patrols with the platoon. They took something more. “You build trust,” defines “Restrepo” and, by extension, many of the same risks, suffered inju- Jay Liske, a sergeant in the Second

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 67 Reporting From Faraway Places

“Restrepo” focuses on the soldiers’ outpost in the desolate Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Image © Outpost Films.

Platoon, told me in an interview. “You figured out how to deal with it inside,” it, that’s kind of a weight lifted off our can open up more and talk about he says. “The only hope I have right shoulders. We don’t have to explain what’s really going on and not be now is that eventually I’ll be able to it to people who have no idea. Now afraid that they’re going to pick and process it differently. I’m never going they actually have something to see.” choose the words and make it look to forget it. ... I don’t want to not Documentary filmmakers are like it’s something it’s not.” have that as a memory.” He doesn’t recorders and storytellers, not thera- Forming bonds of trust also pays say as much, but you get the feeling pists. But Liske hit upon an intan- dividends once the combat and wait- this soldier is learning to do this even gible kind of alchemy on display in ing cease. It’s then time for the men as he speaks about figuring this out. “Restrepo,” and it comes back to that to attempt the near impossible and “Restrepo” brings the war from sense of trust. Soldiers don’t tell just explain to those who weren’t there Afghanistan to us, inviting us to move anyone about their nightmares or the what it was like to lose friends, take inside that which we don’t normally way traumatic memories cling to them. lives, and fear for their own as they even see. The film has been playing at Nor do they tell just any journalist. adjust to being back home among theaters alongside all manner of other They confide in someone who’s been civilians. “I’ve been on about four or movies, and it has been discussed over along for the ride and has invested the five different types of sleeping pills and post-screening beers among friends time to burrow deep inside the story. none of them help, that’s how bad the seeking out Friday night diversion. For the soldiers, it’s trust. For the nightmares are. I prefer to not sleep Sure, we want to understand. But the filmmakers, it’s dedication. And for us, and not dream about it than sleep and act of talking about it seems to serve it’s a different kind of war film—pow- just see the picture in my head,” one a different purpose for the guys who erful, provocative and penetrating.  platoon member says, describing his were there. life in the aftermath of war. “It’s really hard to put it into words Chris Vognar, a 2009 Nieman Another foresees his internal and talk about how it feels,” Liske told Fellow, writes about movies and struggle as he attempts to figure out me. “When people ask what it’s like, culture for The Dallas Morning how to remember his time at war, a we say it sucks. But an actual movie News. time that others might urge him to that shows people exactly what we went try to forget: “I still obviously haven’t through and the emotional aspect of

68 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Happens in War?

From War Zones to Life at Home: Serendipity and Partners Matter ‘This Pulitzer Center partnership turned out to be the start of a productive ad hoc partnership that kick-started my career as an independent journalist.”

BY JASON MOTLAGH

he Chinook helicopter banked what once required a crew of people, nonprofit organization committed to hard and dropped to the ground, at times it can feel self-defeating. At drawing attention to under-reported whipping up a cloud of dust and those moments I envy colleagues who global issues. [See story on page 45.] Tdebris. The summer fighting season doggedly devote themselves to a single Their mission instantly struck a chord, in southern Afghanistan was winding medium. Their videos or photographs and I knew partnering with them down yet bands of Taliban were still often seem sharper, and their text was something I needed to try to do, harassing villagers in the badlands of stories are richer with nuance. Perhaps especially since I was relaunching with Paktika province where I was embed- they really are. paltry resources at my disposal. Two ded with the U.S. Army, and they were But after working at this hectic times I applied for grants, and twice now flushing them out by air assault. pace—and serving these various I was rejected. With stubbornness Local sources had relayed word earlier masters of video, stills and words—for a prerequisite for this line of work, in the morning that militants were several years now, I’ve come to thrive my third proposal—to report on a moving around the area. We were told on the mix. There’s a greater sense of then little-known Maoist insurgency to be ready for incoming fire. freedom and storytelling possibility as in backcountry India—was accepted. It was late 2008 and I was on a the tools of the trade become more I doubled down and moved to New video assignment for Time.com, my user-friendly. Most importantly, the Delhi to cover South Asia. The timing first. The plan was to exit the chop- ability to do more with less keeps me was critical. Soon after I got my first per and film the soldiers surging out busy in an increasingly tight foreign grant, a host of outlets I’d written behind me, rifles at the ready. But I news market. for—the San Francisco Chronicle, The also hoped to snap a few pictures to Washington Times, U.S. News and go with the print stories I had lined A Pathway to Multimedia World Report—either drastically cut or up for other longtime clients. “Go, go, Reporting stopped taking freelance foreign copy go,” yelled the sergeant as we touched altogether, emblematic of industrywide down. With my video camera rolling When I was in college, journalism troubles. The writing was on the wall: in one hand, my still camera slung programs weren’t teaching multimedia Shrinking news pages alone no longer over my shoulder, I ran out the back skills, and I never did go to journalism offered enough space to make a living. and quickly dove for cover in a fur- school. When I first struck off for West Much to my benefit, part of the Pulit- row. There was no shooting but the Africa as a freelancer in mid-2005, it zer Center’s approach is that stories scene on camera was lively enough: was to be a print correspondent. For be distributed as widely as possible, guns, grit and a thumping rotor. Or the better part of a year I roved around across a variety of media platforms. so I thought. In my haste, alternat- the region, reporting on trans-Saharan My multimedia skills were still raw ing between cameras, I later realized smuggling in Mali, the civil war in but the Pulitzer center was willing that I’d forgotten to switch the video Ivory Coast, and a food crisis in Niger. to midwife some projects, pairing camera’s external microphone back Along the way editors started taking me with seasoned videographers so I on. Most of the footage was unusable. an interest in my photographs. This could learn on the job. Within months This wasn’t the first or last time opened my eyes to a secondary source I produced my first segment for TV that’s happened. As a multitasking, of income that gave me a competitive broadcast, tried my hand at shooting multimedia journalist, I find that such edge in getting stories placed. Although and editing my own pieces, and put snafus are an inevitable part of the a staff job at a newswire brought me together narrated slideshows. daily hustle, a kind of occupational back to the United States, after months Suddenly, it seemed, I was doing a tax. Juggling gear and making split- of itching to be back out in the field I little bit of everything, and there were second decisions under pressure—as called it quits and decided to freelance incentives to keep it that way. to what to document and how—are overseas full time. This Pulitzer Center partnership near-constant challenges. While it During a lull, I saw an ad for the turned out to be the start of a pro- can be invigorating to do on my own Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a ductive ad hoc partnership that kick-

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 69 Reporting From Faraway Places

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting funded reporting on what was then a little-known Maoist insurgency in backcountry India. Photo by Jason Motlagh.

started my career as an independent for his patience. The air assault piece have the luxury of writing longer and journalist. Over the past three years, that I almost botched was the first of in my own voice. Recently I’ve teamed the center has generously funded many Web videos that have allowed me up with filmmaker Rick Rowley to projects of mine in Asia, from stories to explore offbeat story topics while co-produce several documentary fea- about ethnic strife in Sri Lanka to developing a visual style all my own. tures for Al-Jazeera’s English channel. ongoing work on the impact of civil- What’s more, the video entree at Time. A book project is also taking shape. ian casualties in Afghanistan. To get com subsequently opened a backdoor Nothing stays the same, though. If more mileage out of the reporting to the editorial department. there’s one lesson I’ve learned it’s that they support, they have an outreach These days my Web videos are often you have to be flexible personally and program called Global Gateway that packaged with text stories that have professionally, embracing change as sponsors journalists to speak at high become a large part of my livelihood. it comes. Last fall I became a father. schools and universities. At a time when When news is breaking I might be It’s added an incredible new dimen- many expect something for nothing, writing every day. When it’s slow, I sion to my life but there are extra we are paid for these profile-boosting can dig into my video features. Either financial strains on a freelance income appearances, which also give us the way, the need to change gears without and being away for long stretches of rare chance to engage with young breaking stride ensures the work is time is not what it once was. To find news consumers. They’ve also made interesting and filled with purpose. something close to a balance, I’ve some key introductions that have led Being versatile requires mobility. had to become more efficient in the to steady work that’s not always related From my new base in Istanbul, it’s way I work. Instead of, say, trawling to the projects they support. It’s a lot easy for me to travel on short notice for stories in a conflict zone, I go in like having an agent that pays you to anywhere between Khartoum and with a clear-cut plan, get what I need, do what you love. Kathmandu. Recently I returned and get out. This is how I met Craig Duff, the from a monthlong Time assignment It’s early yet. But much like my multimedia director at Time.com. to Afghanistan’s southern battlefront transition into multimedia reporting, He was building his shop there and, where the Taliban is ramping up the what began out of necessity is starting fortunately, was willing to stomach fight against American forces. The to have its own distinct rewards. I’m some of my early shortcomings as a country is similarly hard on equipment; now able to make a decent living, sup- videographer. One thing I remember and this time out my video camera and port my family, and be more selective him saying upfront was that submis- laptop went bust in quick succession about the work I do—while spending sions he received tended to have the so I stuck to writing stories to salvage much less time in lonely hotel rooms.  “V but not the J,” in other words, the trip. I also report for other outlets the technical video skills but not the including The Economist and the Jason Motlagh is a freelance multi- journalistic backbone. I’m grateful Virginia Quarterly Review, where I media journalist based in Istanbul.

70 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Happens in War?

Trust and Perception: Powerful Factors in Assessing News About War How the public responded to news reporting about the surge in Iraq was more about what the audience brought with them than what they took away.

BY MATTHEW A. BAUM

ow Americans absorb news—in surge is not working,” while, during this case, news about a war the Petraeus hearing, then-Senator involving Americans—turns Barack Obama, who as president Hout to have a lot to do with what they would later hire him to direct the believe before they hear it. And it mat- war in Afghanistan, characterized the ters a lot who is conveying it to them. war as “a disastrous foreign policy That is the conclusion that Tim J. mistake.” As late as February 2008, Groeling and I drew from a series of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared news exposure experiments; surveys of the surge “a failure” and added, “... the journalists, bloggers and citizens; and purpose of the surge was to create a news content analyses for our book, secure time for the government of Iraq “War Stories: The Causes and Conse- to make the political change to bring quences of Public Views of War.” Our reconciliation to Iraq. They have not findings show how and why political done that.” affiliation shapes perceptions about the Public opinion followed suit. success or failure of the war strategy According to The Pew Research Center in Iraq. What we found was that for the People & the Press, between Democrats and independents perceived February and September 2007 over- that U.S. prospects for victory in Iraq whelming negativity regarding the had declined from the prior year and outcome in Iraq continued unabated that there had been no change in U.S. head in September when the plan’s among Democrats and independents. casualty rates, despite six months of author, General David Petraeus, Meanwhile, a majority of Republicans declining casualties. Republicans were appeared before Congress. Democrats said it was going well. far more optimistic. and even some Republicans greeted What accounted for this dispropor- Reasons for this disconnection him with skepticism, and the liberal tionate skepticism in the face of mount- reside at the intersection of politics advocacy group Moveon.org placed a ing evidence that the tide had turned and journalism and relate directly full-page ad in The New York Times in Iraq? The most obvious answer is to people’s level of trust and their asking “General Petraeus or General that after discovering belatedly that perceptions. Betray Us?” prior Bush administration pronounce- Yet by then circumstances had ments regarding Iraq—stretching all The Iraq Surge already begun to change in Iraq. In the way back to the justifications for September 2007, U.S. fatalities were the war itself—were at best dubious, In January 2007, President George roughly half the May peak, and they Americans were hesitant to accept W. Bush announced a plan for what continued to fall, from 63 in September further claims by the administration became the 30,000 U.S. troop surge to 37 in October to 25 in December. of turning points in the conflict. Yet in Iraq in an effort to reverse the Iraqi civilian and military casualties the fact that Republicans accurately nation’s seemingly inexorable slide followed a similar trend. Far from recognized the changes in “events on into full-scale civil war. The announce- turning the domestic political tide, the ground” long before Democrats ment was greeted with widespread however, the steady decline in violence and independents suggest that this skepticism. Developments over the had almost no effect on news reporting, explanation is not sufficient. next few months appeared to bolster public opinion, or Congress. these critics as U.S. fatalities in Iraq For instance, on the eve of General Credibility and Framing continued to climb, peaking in May Petraeus’s Congressional testimony, 2007 at more than 120. Rising public Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin The keys to understanding these pat- and Congressional rancor came to a declared, “The reality is … the Bush terns lie in two factors: credibility and

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 71 Reporting From Faraway Places

framing. Credibility, in this case, refers coverage of Iraq that Democrats and segment of the public inclined to accept to the persuasiveness of different types independents considered far more such reframing of Iraq from failure of information emanating from differ- credible—and hence persuasive—than to possible success were Republican ent speakers and news outlets, each the earlier pro-war streams emanat- partisans, who were still predisposed with varying partisan reputations. Our ing from outlets they perceived as to trust the president. experiments show that Democrats were pro-Republican. Eventually, as the trend toward more skeptical than Republicans and The second key factor is framing. stabilization and reduced casualties independents of “good news” about Iraq In the early stages of any conflict, the persisted, even Democrats began to announced by the Fox News Channel, president and his representatives enjoy reassess. Pew Center data showed a which they perceived as biased toward a substantial advantage as sources. marked uptick in optimism among Republicans, but more accepting of With few independent authoritative Democrats by February 2008, a trend the same stories presented by network sources, reporters usually depend on that was not apparent in our own evening newscasts or CNN, which government officials for their informa- survey just two months earlier. That they perceived as more balanced. tion. This gives the president great this uptick did not emerge until nearly Conversely, Republicans were more latitude in framing the conflict and nine months after U.S. casualties began skeptical of “bad news” stories about helps account for the “rally-round- a steady decline is testament to the Iraq presented by the latter outlets the-flag” phenomenon. However, to difficulty of recasting an event once which they perceived as biased toward paraphrase a blogger interviewed in rhetoric and reality have converged, Democrats but were more accepting “War Stories,” sooner or later reality even given a subsequent stark change of the same news on Fox. asserts itself. Over time journal- in that reality. It also reveals the When we analyzed the content of ists develop alternative information importance of citizens’ assessments of news coverage of the war, we confirmed streams and assess the reliability of the credibility of partisan elites, the that early in the surge Fox did offer the administration’s previous asser- messages they seek to convey, and the substantially less critical coverage tions, such as its claims about Iraq’s news outlets conveying their messages of Iraq than CNN or the broadcast weapons of mass destruction. Once in determining whether they will rally networks, whose journalists were this happens, the administration has behind the president. This decision unconvinced by claims of a turnaround less latitude in framing the narrative. depends on a complex interaction in Iraq. Encapsulating this view, CNN between the perceived motivation Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr Rhetoric vs. Reality of the speaker and the news outlet commented in October 2007: “We’ve broadcasting the rhetoric, along with had five years of the Pentagon telling “Elasticity of reality” is the phrase we the content of that rhetoric and the us there is progress, there is progress. use to describe the relative size of the perceived interests of the recipients. Forgive me for being skeptical, I gap between the rhetoric and reality In the fall of 2007, President need to see a little bit more than one that journalists and the public will Bush was trapped in an information month before I get too excited about accept at any one time. It’s always environment in which his message all of this.” the case that various factions try to of a positive turnaround in Iraq was This meant that Republicans were frame reality to their own advantage. persuasive only to his core Republican relying on relatively more positive Iraq Sometimes rhetoric and reality tightly constituents. To others, this message news on Fox while discounting more cohere, as when events are going well was self-serving cheap talk emanating negative Iraq news on other outlets. from the administration’s perspective; from a discredited commander in chief. Conversely, Democrats were able to at other times, not. Yet as the gap The parallel rejection of positive mes- ignore or discount the relatively more between reality and rhetoric expands, sages by most mainstream journalists pro-war news on reputedly conserva- the risk increases that journalists and reinforced that perception. With such tive outlets like Fox while accepting the public will notice and grow skep- messages relegated to media outlets as reliable the relatively more critical tical of future rhetoric, even when it that were themselves perceived as Iraq news on outlets they perceived as better fits reality. As journalists and biased, the rhetoric—and the real- more balanced. citizens acquire more and more diverse ity, filtered through perception—was These patterns help account for information over time, the elasticity unpersuasive.  Republicans upgrading their outlook of reality shrinks. on Iraq following the surge more rap- At the onset of the Iraq surge, Matthew A. Baum is the Marvin idly than Democrats or independents. this elasticity had collapsed almost Kalb Professor of Global Commu- Eventually even skeptical journalists entirely; reality appeared bleak and nications and professor of public like Starr recognized and acknowledged so did most rhetoric emanating from policy at Harvard University. He is the post-surge improvement in Iraq officials in Washington. This made it coauthor of “War Stories: The Causes and began adjusting their reporting extremely hard for President Bush to and Consequences of Public Views of accordingly. This produced a new alter what had become the prevailing War,” published by Princeton Univer- stream of relatively more positive narrative of Iraq—a fiasco. The only sity Press this year.

72 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | What Are the Risks? Brutal Censorship: Targeting Russian Journalists

BY FATIMA TLISOVA

“Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of their work while an additional 38 the many journalists who, fearing for of thought and speech ... Censorship “may have been killed because of the their lives, fled from Russia to seek shall be prohibited.” work they did.” Yet Russia’s Ministry safety and asylum in foreign lands. —Constitution of the Russian of Internal Affairs puts the number Some suggest that 40 journalists Federation, Chapter 2, Article 29 of journalists killed during the same have gone into exile during the past period at 19. decade. No one really knows, though idely varying numbers tell a The internal affairs ministry is an I know a lot of reporters who, like disturbing story about what’s official source in Russia. The IFJ is me, decided to do that. Attacks on happening to journalists and an independent group of journalists news organizations and journalists Wjournalism in Russia, especially when that published the report, “Partial have increased dramatically, as have someone in power finds their reporting Justice: An Inquiry Into the Deaths of abductions. At the same time, criminal offensive. First, look at the findings Journalists in Russia, 1993-2009.” In and civil prosecutions of reporters and released last year by the International many ways the difference between the editors have escalated. Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which two sources in the number of journal- Some journalists have been mur- reviewed the deaths of 313 Russian ists’ deaths exemplifies the reality of dered in ways that resemble an journalists from 1993 to 2009. IFJ Russian life today: Everything official execution. And the cruel response of determined that 86 journalists and is constructed to favor the state. high-ranking officials as they seek to media workers died in Russia because Neither of these sources tells about marginalize the victims has convinced

Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva visits the grave of her slain Chechen colleague Natalia Estemirova in August 2009. Photo by Musa Sadulayev/The Associated Press.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 73 Reporting From Faraway Places

Journalists Who Dared to Report—Before They Fled or Were Murdered Fatima Tlisova is an independent for his professional activities. He in the U.S. The IWPR subsequently journalist living in exile after endur- was arrested, searched and had his closed its North Caucasus office. ing years of intimidation and threats, passport confiscated by the security harassment and arrest by government services, which restricted his ability Natalia Estemirova was an award- officials in the North Caucasus region to travel across the region. His laptop winning journalist and human rights of Russia. Earlier this year she returned computer, with data for all of his activist based in Chechnya. For more to the region and traveled in Europe stories, was stolen. Family members than a decade she reported for human to talk with journalists about what received phone calls promising severe rights organizations and Novaya caused them to flee their country. For punishment and death. In 2007, he Gazeta, an independent newspaper her colleagues who were murdered in the was granted political asylum in the that had lost four of its journalists course of their reporting, she reminds United States. covering the Caucasus. She investigated us of the stories they were working activities of the “Eskadrony smerti” or on—the ones that likely led to their Valery Dzutsev worked as the North death squads. For more than a decade deaths. This project was supported by Caucasus coordinator for the Institute she collected and published video and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), photographic evidence of the state in partnership with Nieman Reports. a UK-based nongovernmental organi- security services’ involvement in the Tlisova’s expanded profiles of these zation. In 2004 he reported from the disappearance and murder of local resi- eight colleagues are online at the Beslan School #1 on the hostage crisis dents. In July 2009, she was abducted Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting where more than 300 people died near her apartment in Chechnya. That (http://pulitzercenter.org). during a rescue operation. In 2007 same day her body was found with Dzutsev was accused of tax evasion; bullets in her head and chest. Russia Yuri Bagrov reported for The Associated the case was never dismissed although denied the United Nations access to Press in the North Caucasus, where he the investigation showed that he had investigate Estemirova’s assassination. covered the war in Chechnya and the paid the taxes. His computers were terrorist attacks that were spreading confiscated and he was warned that Magomed Evloyev was a founder of the across the region. He investigated cor- the government intended to imprison Web site Ingushetia.ru, which became ruption in local government and war him for his work with IWPR. In 2008 the most popular news source in the crimes. He was constantly harassed Dzutsev was granted political asylum North Caucasus. Through its use of

observers that these are not random focused their reporting on the North are Russian face intimidation if they murders. They are a publicly sanctioned Caucasus. There, as in Chechnya and ask questions that the government punishment for reporters’ efforts to St. Petersburg, no one who has killed doesn’t want asked. reveal the truth. a journalist (or media worker) was Of the few news media outlets in the Even after journalists are dead, the prosecuted between 1993 and 2007, North Caucasus, the vast majority are attacks on them continue. Shortly after and this region accounted for three of owned and operated by the state. By law, Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated the five media-related deaths in Russia every TV station is a regional branch in the elevator of her apartment build- in 2008, according to the IFJ report. of Russia’s state-owned network and ing, Vladimir Putin, then president of For more than two decades, the this means that government control is Russia, called her an “insignificant” people living there have endured certain. Among the local newspapers reporter. In reality, she was a coura- violence resulting from separatist, in the Caucasus only four present any geous investigative reporter within ethnic and religious conflicts. People views that are in opposition to those Russia and a journalist whose stories are killed or disappear on a daily basis, of local government officials. Local from Chechnya gained international but because Russia has virtually closed businessmen own three of these four recognition. Soon after the abduc- this region to journalists, stories of papers and the state security service tion and murder of award-winning these crimes are rarely told. Report- there supports the other one. No criti- journalist Natalia Estemirova, Chechen ers who are not Russian citizens are cism appears on their pages of either President Ramzan Kadyrov said she required to obtain four to five types the federal government or its delivery was “a woman with no morality.” of accreditation from government of local services. These topics remain Most of the Russian journalists officials, depending on where in the taboo for regional press anywhere in who have been targeted for death Caucasus they intend to go. Those who Russia.

74 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Are the Risks?

social media, Evloyev’s site provided easy solution—institutionalization. In Russian mainstream media, Panfilov exclusive video and photographs of May 2009 Maglevannaya fled Russia in the fall of 2009 bought a one-way terrorist attacks and public protests seeking political asylum in Finland. ticket from Moscow to Tbilisi, Georgia. as well as investigative reports about What happened to Panfilov represents corruption in local government. After Zurab Markhiev reported from Ingush- the strategies of marginalization and he organized a public campaign show- etia—the most violent region in the alienation—the two methods that the ing that more than 70 percent of the North Caucasus—for more than six Kremlin uses most often to bring about votes in Ingushetia were fraudulent, years. He investigated crimes com- censorship in Russia. the Kremlin organized a court hear- mitted by the Russian military and ing against Ingushetia.ru in which it security troops, reported from the Mikael Storsjö is a prominent Swedish accused Evloyev of extremism. In 2008, scene of a terror attack, and wrote journalist who focuses on Internet free- Evloyev was abducted and killed while about torture, extrajudicial killings, dom. He provides hosting for Kavkaz in police custody. The officer who was and the daily disappearance of local Center, the most controversial Web found to be responsible was released people. In 2006 he was abducted by site now covering the North Caucasus. from jail this year and promoted; he the Federal Security Service (FSB), Chechen IT specialist and journalist was killed in August. the KGB’s successor, and forced to Adam Tumsoev [a pseudonym used sign an agreement of collaboration to protect his identity] administers Elena Maglevannaya was a freelance under the threat of death. Two years Kavkaz Center. This Web site is blocked reporter for a local newspaper in Rus- later, he received a warning that he in Russia as being a platform for local sia’s southern city of Volgograd. The was targeted for assassination by the leaders of a jihadist underground. city administration issued a libel suit FSB. In 2009, Markhiev fled Russia, However, in the absence of an indepen- against her for investigative reports seeking political asylum in Europe. dent news media, which the Russian about the torture of detainees in local government’s aggressive tactics have prisons. The court ignored evidence Oleg Panfilov is an internationally effectively smothered, Kavkaz Center she presented and sentenced her to recognized author and expert on media remains the only and most popular publish a refutation and pay a $7,000 and journalism in crisis zones. He is source of resistance information for fine—an amount of money she had a founder and chairman of the Center international journalists. They quote never had in her life. She was attacked for Journalism in Extreme Situations, from this Web site when reporting on by the members of the Russian neo- a journalist protection organization in the situation in the North Caucasus.  Nazi group RNU who promised her an Moscow. Long denied access to the

Journalism is one of the poorest unlimited access to users’ profiles and identity—writing under pseudonyms, paid professions in the North Caucasus. allows filtering and remote control of as I have—when they report for foreign The average salary for journalists who Internet traffic from the headquarters or independent Russian media. Usually work in this region is $200 to $350 of a special branch of the FSB. This they simply play the role of a source in per month. At mainstream news orga- Service of Special Communications passing along information and turning nizations in Russia, average monthly and Information (SSCI) was formerly over the results of their investigations income ranges from $5,000 to $7,000. the 16th Directorate of KGB, and it to colleagues who don’t face the same Only one news Web site in the reports directly to Putin, who once threats. Of course in doing this, they North Caucasus is legally authorized. directed the FSB and is now prime don’t reap the professional rewards of That site in Dagestan, charged with minister of Russia. their investigative work. extremism, is now under criminal With all of these eyes watching With SSCI’s control over all types investigation. If people try to go to them, North Caucasus journalists who of communications in the Caucasus, an unofficial Caucasus-based Web decide to work independently find that the use of a pseudonym affords only site, they will find on their screen the reporting becomes a life-threatening limited protection. In time, the iden- words “forbidden” or “prohibited” or pursuit. Word has gotten out about the tity of most journalists is discovered. the browser will redirect them to a murder or abduction of some report- From that point on, that reporter’s life pornography Web site. ers but the story of what happened to changes dramatically. Some of them Since 1998 all Internet providers in many others remains untold as they leave journalism. Some alter their Russia have been required by law to became targets of official and unofficial reporting styles while changing their install a monitoring system that gives harassment and intimidation. pseudonym. Some flee the country. the Federal Security Service (FSB) Most local journalists hide their Others die.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 75 Reporting From Faraway Places

Telling Their Stories—and tured and poisoned by the representa- profiles appear on the Pulitzer Center Mine tives of state services. In 1998 I was site at http://pulitzercenter.org.] severely beaten and hospitalized for Temurziev was one of Anna Polit- For this project, I returned to the two months, yet those who did this kovskaya’s guides in Chechnya. In a Caucasus early this year and traveled to me were never identified. Groups recent e-mail, he gave me permission in Europe to meet with journalists who of masked men searched my house to tell the story of his abduction by had fled the region. Like so many of and my parents’ house. I lived under the FSB. When the FSB insisted that them, I, my children, and my extended constant surveillance; after a while I he pass on to Politkovskaya only the family left after deadly threats against could distinguish which cars following information that they permitted him me took on a level of seriousness that me belonged to the FSB (formerly to give, he refused to cooperate and forced me to abandon my home and the KGB) and which belonged to the he was tortured. Subsequently he was come to live in the United States. I Russian police force. From 2004 to fired from his job, lost his ability to undertook this journey so that I could 2007, I was arrested and detained five earn an income, and for almost a year talk with other journalists who fled times with no legal explanation. My lived in a refugee shelter in Ingushetia. Russia seeking political asylum in actions were videotaped; what I said As a result of torture, his health is not Europe or the United States. What they on my phone was recorded. good. Now the Committee to Protect shared with me is chilling testimony to After two top government officials Journalists is supporting his case in the repression of the press in today’s told me in confidence that my name the country where he has resettled. Russia. They also told me about the was (and still is) on the list of those On my return trip to the Caucasus, I stories they were reporting, and these sentenced to death, I fled to the United started by collecting information about accounts provide a roadmap to help States in 2007. I did this to save my my murdered friends and colleagues, us see what the government is afraid life and my children. Estemirova and Evloyev. From the to have known. During three years of living in my moment I set foot there, I was watched The stories of my friends and privileged exile, I received phone calls with great intensity. How absurd it colleagues, Magomed Evloyev and from friends and colleagues, telling must sound that working with legal Natalia Estemirova, each of whom was me of their circumstances or about documents I felt like a criminal and murdered for their work as journal- our peers who had been killed, had was dependent on friends and others ists, represent the apotheosis of brutal disappeared, or fled. I’ve devoted myself to hide me, as needed. Friends helped censorship in Russia. After the state to helping journalists from this region me travel from place to place, and they used all kinds of power against them by connecting them with immigration rescued me when I was ambushed and still failed to silence their voices, services and media advocacy groups. and chased. They also let me know assassination became the ultimate I’ve testified for those seeking asylum whenever the FSB interrogated them solution. at the embassies in Europe and in the to find out about my plans and travels. When I told people about my desire United States, and I’ve written articles Every detail of the trip was thought to do this project, they used words like in memory of those whom we have lost. through. And yet I wasn’t able to pro- “insane” and “crazy” to try to persuade Yet I grew convinced that I needed tect those who helped me from being me not to go. While I appreciated to do more by bringing attention to arrested and savagely interrogated even that their concern for my safety was how journalists struggle to report the after I was gone. Among those who foremost in their thoughts, no one news in the Caucasus. So in January risked their lives to assist this project, could persuade me that the risk I might and February—with the backing of the there was never a suggestion that it be taking wasn’t worth the stories I Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting was “insane” to attempt the work—a would bring back with me. and Nieman Reports—I traveled to testament to how eager people in the For a decade I worked as a reporter in Europe to meet colleagues who were North Caucasus are for a free press, the North Caucasus, and I experienced living in exile and hear their stories. just as they hunger for freedom and the full range of what falls under the For reasons related to their security, justice.  term “brutal censorship.” Three times I will refrain from mentioning all the I went to court in cases involving places where we met, and some journal- Fatima Tlisova, a 2009 Nieman government officials accusing me of ists will be given pseudonyms. There Fellow, was an independent jour- libel; I won each time. I investigated are stories I wanted to tell but can’t nalist for nearly a dozen years in a civil case that was filed against me at this time due to limited resources. the North Caucasus. She is now an by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ingush journalist Alikhan Temurziev online reporter for Voice of America’s which I was accused of illegally receiv- was eagerly waiting for me in a refugee Russian service. In May 2009, she ing a pension; the case was dismissed camp in Eastern Europe, but I was received the Louis M. Lyons Award after I published my investigation in not able to travel to meet with him. from the Nieman Foundation for Novaya Gazeta. I have been arrested, [Brief descriptions of the journalists her “courageous reporting in the face even when no accusations were filed whose stories I am able to tell are in of severe intimidation and physical against me. I’ve been abducted, tor- the box on page 74. More detailed assaults.”

76 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Are the Risks?

A Journalist’s Near-Death Experience in Chechnya ‘... I said to myself, “This is the place where I’m going to die. This is the last thing I’m going to see in my life.” ’

French journalist and author Anne Nivat has traveled found was a place that she says is “frozen in time and to war-torn Chechnya very frequently during the last more violent and chaotic than ever.” decade. Since the republic’s second war with Russia broke Nivat spoke with Nieman Reports editor Melissa Ludtke out in 1999, she has covered the events in Chechnya by about what happened when a car in which she was riding blending in with the local population and sharing the was stopped at a checkpoint outside of Grozny. At the danger and despair of their lives. In her book, “Chienne time, she was traveling with the parents of her nanny de Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the who had received political asylum in France. Nivat was War in Chechnya,” she told of the nine months she spent dressed as a Chechen woman, wearing a long skirt and there during the war. a veil that nearly covered her hair, “the way they wear In September 2009, 10 years after the beginning of it in Chechnya,” she explained. After the officer examined what Moscow officials still call an “anti-terrorist opera- her French passport—and took it from her—a man got tion,” Nivat returned to Chechnya to see for herself the into their car and drove away with her and her nanny’s spirit of the “after-war” situation so she could write a mother in the back seat, leaving the father at the check- story for Le Point, a weekly French magazine. What she point. Nivat described what happened next:

ooking at him, I saw that he was I was also thinking that this was a few months earlier. not wearing any uniform. He was exactly the same way that two dif- My friend said, “Give him your dressed like a civilian, but he had ferent women working for nongov- phone. I want to talk to him.” With La weapon. Speaking in Russian, I asked ernmental organizations (NGOs) in his left hand, he took the phone while him many times the same question, Chechnya—Zarema Sadulayeva and he drove. This car was a very old car; “Who are you? Introduce yourself, Natalia Estemirova—had been killed he was driving very fast. Everything please. Who are you? Where are you driving me? I am a citizen of France. Where is my passport?” Here I was without my passport in this car, not knowing where I was going, with an unknown driver, who was refusing to answer my questions and who was wearing a weapon. The guy was extremely nervous and shouted at me in Russian, “Shut up. Shut up. I won’t talk to you.” Nevertheless, I kept asking, “Who are you? I am Anne Nivat. I am French. I am a reporter. Where is my passport? Where are you driving me?” And I said to him, “What you are doing is illegal.” No answer. I took my cell phone and dialed the number of a friend of mine who is a Chechen woman, one of my many friends in Grozny, to let her know what was happening. In front of this guy I explained to her everything in Russian. Of course he heard when I said, “I don’t know who he is; he is Women grieve during the burial in August 2009 of slain Chechen human rights activist Za- armed. Maybe it’s a kidnapping. How rema Sadulayeva. Her bullet-riddled body was found a day after she was kidnapped. Photo do I know?” by Musa Sadulayev/The Associated Press.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 77 Reporting From Faraway Places

and I sort of noticed just that and I said to myself, “This is the place where I’m going to die. This is the last thing I’m going to see in my life.” I also thought, “I’m going to get killed in front of an old woman who happens to be the mother of the woman who is taking care of my child.” This is what I thought about as he was shouting at me. All the minutes before I so much wanted him to talk to me, but at this time I was so obsessed and preoccupied with The body of slain Chechen human rights activist Natalia Estemirova is carried to a cemetery for burial in July what he was about 2009. Photo by Musa Sadulayev/The Associated Press. to do that I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying. He was very hectic. I heard my friend phone. Who are you? Who are you?” was insulting me, telling me to get start introducing herself to him in And the phone kept ringing, because, out of the car. Chechen but he refused to talk to of course, my friend, who works for an Here we were face to face and I was her and tried to switch off my phone NGO in Grozny, thought I had already staring at his hand. He had the gun in yet he didn’t know how. He stopped been killed and she was trying to get his hand, and I know this kind of gun, the conversation without having said in touch with him. it’s a Russian-made gun. I heard the a word to her. I repeated to the guy, “I am a citi- click of when it’s ready. He unlocked And he did not give my phone zen of France. If you don’t allow me it. There was no security anymore. back to me. to answer this phone, people will get I said to myself, “Even if he doesn’t So you can imagine my situation. very anxious. Don’t you understand want to kill me, now he might kill me Now I was without any possibility to that? Let me answer the phone, let by mistake.” He put the gun on my contact the outside world. The guy me answer my phone.” Of course he belly; he touched me. I’m recounting kept driving in a totally mad way and didn’t care at all. the story slowly, but it all happened I was saying to myself, “If this guy is At a certain point we started fight- very quickly. I just remember what I not giving back my phone to me, that ing because I thought I should get told him, I said to him in Russian, means that he has something in mind, my phone back by force. For him it “I beg you. I am begging you, please. something not good, because how was not easy because he was driving. I beg you don’t do anything to me come he doesn’t give me my phone I saw his pistol between his legs. At because I am the mother of a young back? How come he doesn’t want to a certain point he stopped the car in boy. That’s his picture on the phone.” explain who he is?” the middle of nowhere to the right side He finally slowly went back to his It was really a terrible situation. of the road. He opened his door and seat. He had probably seen the picture I was trying to think about how to took his weapon in his hand. I was on my phone. That’s probably why he act, what to tell him in order to force watching every single move of his. I didn’t do anything. I have no idea if him to explain what he was doing. I knew he was coming to me. He walked it’s because of what I told him. I will was lucky enough to speak the same along the car to my door, which was never know the reason. language as he does, but he didn’t want the back right seat door. He opened We continued driving. to talk to me. I kept telling him, “What it violently. I remember the vision of Now it was exactly the same problem you are doing is totally illegal. Give a sunny late afternoon in September, except that I was much more quiet in me back my phone. Give me back my and this was an uncultivated place, the car. I couldn’t speak anymore. I was

78 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Are the Risks? terrified, but eventually we arrived on be very bad if something happened to someone who had said something the outskirts of Grozny. At a certain to me. He finally showed up at the very intelligent to me. He said, “Why point he was about to stop the car so immigration department while I was is it that the Chechen people still I opened the door and rushed out. But there. don’t know the names of the people I couldn’t make a move because all of I still was very confused about who who are committing terrorist acts in a sudden there were many men like was doing what and what was the the middle of the capital? Why is it him around me, not wearing uniforms meaning of all of this. It was difficult that the police don’t tell us who they but carrying weapons. to find out who was behind it. I never are under the pretext that there is an I could see only one man in uni- saw again the guy who had threatened inquiry going on? In fact, everything form, so I addressed him, “Major, me with his weapon—he just vanished. is erased as if it never happened.” This major (which is a military rank in My passport and my cell phone came person went on to say, “We are a very Russian). Please, who are you? What’s back somehow. I don’t know through small population and we would like happening? This guy almost killed me. whom, but they were given back to me. to know what led these people to kill What’s happening?” He took me and Then the guy in the uniform showed themselves and to kill others. What put me into another car in which he up again and he had a little talk in led them to commit those terroristic was riding, and when I got into that Chechen with the Parliament member. acts that are not in the tradition of car I saw my nanny’s father sitting They talked in Chechen in front of our society?” next to him. me because they didn’t want me to Those kinds of questions are very This guy in uniform eventually gave understand their discussion. They common in Chechen society today. me his last name and told me we were knew I don’t understand Chechen. People want to know what’s happen- going to the immigration department By then colleagues of my friend ing. But they receive no answer to any “to check you.” I said, “OK. But who whom I’d called from the car were questions. Everything is kept secret is this guy who took me? Who is he present and later translated for me to pretend that everything is all right representing? He almost killed me.” what these two men said to each and under control. Nothing is under He remained silent. Here I was other. “We had been given an order to control. Nothing. clueless in another car but I was less stop this car and this young woman Well, the state of censorship is anxious because at least the guy had in particular inside the car,” said the under total control, yes. Chechnya is told me where we were going. I was uniformed guy. So it was not by chance: part of Russia, and Moscow pretends still without my passport and without someone somehow gave an order. that the Russian society is an open my phone. At this place I met with That’s all I know, and I will not society, a democratic society, and that officers who were not carrying weapons, try to find out more because I know all the problems have been solved in which was much more comfortable for this is hopeless. I will never learn the Chechnya. What has been solved? me. They accused me of not having name of the guy who did that to me. People live with such a level of fear registered with a police department I will never know who he was. My that I’ve never experienced in my life within 72 hours of entering Russia, guess is that he was some kind of a as a war correspondent. Some elderly which I had done—and I had a stamp special security officer working for the people in Chechnya even compare it on my passport showing I’d done it. This Chechen government. He was not a to the 1930’s in Russia. is required of a foreigner. They were private guy, he was a representative I was in Chechnya a decade ago trying to find anything to legitimize of the state. during the peak of the war when the what they’d done to me. So the lesson is that in Chechnya level of fear was the level typical of In the meantime, I didn’t know what today, 10 years after this war started, wartime. War activity provokes that. had happened to my friend, the one we find this sort of violence from the What I have spent my time as a whom I had called for help. It turned very people who are supposed to defend reporter looking at here—and in Iraq out that she had called the maximum the citizens. It gives you an idea of and in Afghanistan—is what happens people she could in the minimum of the level of arbitrary lawlessness in next. What is happening behind the time because she knew that’s how it this place. It is a level not reached facade of a war terminated? Most of starts. She knew on which road I had before. I have in-depth experience of the time the people controlling the gone. I never go somewhere without this country, and I can tell you that situation don’t want any witnesses saying where I’m going. Chechnya it is a very bad sign. It is a sign that from any country and of any nature, is small and there’s just one road absolutely anything can happen in neither journalist nor NGO people, going in each direction. She also had Chechnya today … and is happening. nobody. During the war, these people called, among others, the member of What happened to me is happen- know other people will be watching. Chechnya’s Parliament whom I had ing all the time to Chechen people But after the war they believe that no interviewed two days earlier. She was who are also asking questions. Not one should be a witness, that no one sure that he would somehow help only journalists, but citizens asking should see what’s happening and be because he had seen me. She told him questions. able to talk about it.  the story and specified that it would While researching my story I spoke

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 79 REPORTING FROM FARAWAY PLACES | What Can Be Taught? Teaching the Science of Journalism in China ‘... I was constantly aware that the journalism they could practice was antithetical to the principles I was teaching, or so I believed until I learned to trust the scientific nature of these principles.’

BY GLENN MOTT

hina is a land of stupefying is just as prized in China as it is by been established the year before with contradictions. One of the best investors anywhere else to assess risk funding from the John S. and James metaphors I know describes it as and for markets to function properly. L. Knight Foundation in conjunction Ca Mandarin duck, appearing to float And so the party has expanded the with the International Center for calmly on the surface of the water teaching of journalism at Chinese Journalists. As a Fulbright lecturer, while its feet are moving as fast as they universities (the country now has some independent of the department as a can underneath. It is a place without 800 journalism-oriented programs) to whole, I taught two graduate seminars the rule of law, where placing limits produce financial journalists capable of rather dubious value to the occu- on free expression becomes the high- of more transparent reporting than pational mandates of the Communist est form of democracy—the greatest their predecessors. Party committees at the university: harmony for the greater good—and As an American lecturing in journal- opinion and commentary, and narrative where authoritarian capitalism is ism at one of China’s top universities for journalism. During our time together, axiomatic, not oxymoronic, and terms leadership candidates in the Commu- my students would come to see how like innovation and entrepreneurial are nist Party, a political apparatus known writers such as Michael Lewis, Joan redefined within a system of Confucian for its suppression of information and Didion, or, reaching further back, hierarchy and state control. dissenting opinions, my experiences James Agee, could take their financial Human rights, democracy and jour- with students there taught me much reporting a step beyond the Bloomberg nalism are three of the most transitive about the role journalism and journal- handbook to a level never contemplated terms in the English language when it ists are expected to play. by the ministry of information. comes to our thinking about China; we The students I taught came from a think we understand them until we see Foreign Students of diverse group of countries—Australia that the Communist Party enshrined Journalism in China to Zambia. About half of the nearly 50 all of these in its Constitution. students in the program were Chinese The most voracious consumer of Business journalism wears a cloak of nationals, all but four of them female. news media in China has always been protection in China; it is a somewhat Just over half of the international the state itself, which needs reliable safer moniker on campuses than students were men; a few had prior information in order to legislate. Given journalism unmodified. My graduate experience as journalists, and at least the Communist Party’s heavy invest- students at Tsinghua University were two were working journalists reporting ment in global enterprises, the value of recruited from the Global Business from China. independently verifiable financial news Journalism (GBJ) program that had Foreigners in Beijing would often ask

“Seek truth from facts” is a Chinese slogan that Glenn Mott utilized as a tenet of journalism. Calligraphy by Yingfei Yang.

80 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Can Be Taught? me a variation on the question “What Chinese Journalism Students anything sweeter than this to an on earth are international students editor’s ears? A finance student, also doing studying journalism in China?” Highly rewarding as this international commenting on “All the President’s It was a question I arrived with and group was, I wanted more Chinese Men,” wrote: one I hoped my experiences would nationals in my classroom. On leave help me answer. Over the course of from Hearst for a year, I hadn’t come Before seeing it, I did not know the year, I asked my students: “Tell to Beijing to do what I might have that two ordinary reporters me why are you studying journalism done as an adjunct at a university in played such an important role in China?” As the year wore on I gave New York. In my travel to other parts in the whole incident. Unfor- up on the idea that there was a single of China on the Fulbright, I’d spoken to tunately we rarely see similar satisfactory answer. Instead, I felt that large halls of Chinese students from all responsive and motivated jour- all we could do was to keep asking disciplines. Seeing a chance to design a nalists in our country, and it is ourselves this question, as I would journalism course for non-majors open almost impossible to learn any do often since as a Fulbright scholar to Tsinghua undergraduates, I brought “insights” from our media. Even if I was studying the Chinese way of my proposal to the dean to design there was someone who encoun- journalism as much as anyone. And a course we called “Media Culture.” tered intolerable injustice, his or when I was with my Chinese students, My course description cast a wide her voice was always dampened. I was constantly aware that Few would tell an “unau- the journalism they could thorized” story. practice was antithetical to the principles I was teach- In most ways the class- ing, or so I believed until I rooms at Tsinghua were learned to trust the scientific similar to those on Ameri- nature of these principles. can campuses, though not so It turns out that China is well carpeted or loaded with a fascinating place to study Teaching the “scientific method” helped students understand the the latest Apple technology. journalism as a foreigner, Western model of journalism. Calligraphy by Yingfei Yang. But they were a protected if what you are studying space where any topic is is China and the rapid open (behind closed doors), evolution of Chinese media. And net: “… designed for non-journalism including, I was told by Executive Dean few views are more intimate—and majors, we will apply solid journalistic Li Xiguang, the “Three T’s”—Tibet, revealing—than the one I had inside principles to any field of endeavor. …” Tiananmen, and Taiwan. Nothing, he Beijing’s Tsinghua University with a Among the features of this highly told me, would be off-limits to student rare classroom of Chinese and foreign popular course—to attract stressed-out reporting, though he encouraged me students in a department that was engineering, science and economics to be more discrete in official public receiving both state and international students—was the extracurricular gatherings of faculty and students. funding. screening of such journalism-themed But the situation in my classroom It would be easy to take a jaundiced films as “Ace in the Hole,” “Shattered is far from what these students would view of Tsinghua’s GBJ program and Glass,” and “All the President’s Men.” face as working journalists at state- say that to recruit an international As part of one assignment, a student run news organizations. It should be student body and faculty served to from the School of Economics and noted here that only a few of the GBJ validate a form of “journalism with Management wrote: graduate students will become financial Chinese characteristics” found else- reporters. Most of the Chinese nation- where in the School of Journalism and Had I not taken this course, I als hoped to find a stable government Communication. In Mandarin-only would have been more sympa- job or go into communications and departments like Marxist Journalism, thetic [to] the two reporters public relations for private enterprises. journalism is seen as a profession to [Woodward and Bernstein] Given this, many times I wondered serve the goals of orthodoxy. On the who were pushed to squeeze out whether these students were all that other hand, funding from the Knight another source of confirmation different from journalism students at Foundation, Bloomberg terminals, and on the national [Watergate] American colleges facing the cubicles an international roster of guests from conspiracy. But after “Shattered in corporate media. Among my Chinese Tony Blair to Joseph Stiglitz made it Glass,” I have started to under- graduate students in one class, eight of possible for the Chinese students to stand the importance of fact the 13 went to work for state media; have an unprecedented international checking and the crucial role two work in the internal reporting experience, grounded by faculty and that an editor plays. department at Xinhua News Agency peers who brought different criteria where their reporting is read only by to bear. Ben Bradlee, pro vobis. Is there party officials, one is with a weekly

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 81 Reporting From Faraway Places

magazine published by Xinhua, and units as part of the push for a Chi- out my year at Tsinghua that a desire five were hired by China Daily. nese CNN to grow its influence over for freedom and reform transcends the For my undergraduates, who were news and information. Or they might currents of nationalism. Ideally, I told mostly engineers, “The Elements of find work as news assistants at the students in my opening lecture, jour- Journalism,” by Bill Kovach and Tom foreign bureaus of international news nalists are something akin to scientists Rosenstiel became the core text. I organizations—though the chance that of facts, relying on methods that make taught these principles as I would this will be an American publication it possible to practice newsgathering anywhere else, but that does not mean is less likely as bureaus close. as an objective discipline within the my students would be able to practice When censorship of China’s media subjective prejudices of the writer. their craft using the same standards, is decried from abroad, it often sounds In the Chinese system, foreign if they decide on careers in journal- shrill inside China. For one, it does journalists are thought to be biased ism. They will be licensed by the not take into consideration how the because we do not confirm our facts government and have to sit regularly majority of urban Chinese (those in with the government, which has pro- for recertification to ensure they are the Eastern cities) feel—that new cessed all the sanctioned particulars up on the latest policy decrees from media technologies and the ability into a single version of the truth; the Communist Party. They might call to tunnel under the Great Firewall instead, our arbitrator is our editor. these core competencies; we would have given them access to more world The Chinese way is imperial in origin. call them something else. And they news, Internet forums, and social Chinese state journalists are asked to are entering a field that will not have media tools to speak more freely report the truth as it was reported to the capacity to absorb them if they and more anonymously than they them, or so it sometimes appears. The expect to practice the ideals of the ever did through traditional media. ministry of information dictates what profession as they studied it. Add to That anonymity may be cold comfort topics are sacrosanct and out of bounds this the fact that the prospects for a from here in the U.S., where Chinese to reporters; yet these rules remain young Chinese reporter are low—com- censorship has another face; here it mostly unwritten, so each editor has pensation and legal protections are is regarded as not just a challenge to to determine the Maginot Line based inadequate, and none of the requisite the liberal-democratic ethos but as a on home contingencies and the politics professional organizations are in place trade barrier. Censorship is keenly felt of the local prefecture. to assist them. as media protectionism favoring Chi- At Tsinghua University, I was teach- nese clones like Baidu over American ing journalism scientifically, as a craft Contradictions to entities like Google. with a set of practices for newsgathering Nationalism There is a new self-confidence in and objectivity built into the working China brought on by weathering the model. By approaching journalism in Given the current situation, why are so current financial crisis. Its students are this way, my undergraduate engineers many Chinese j-schools bulging with more assertive and less impressed by and science majors easily made the applicants? As young reporters they liberal democratic ideals as models for connection. After all, they were incul- will join a force of more than 700,000 the developing world. My elite students cated in the scientific method of testing Chinese journalists and media workers were the embodiment of this new pride, evidence and allowing a scientist to who face off with editors who will but I could not help noticing ironies bring observation and experience to censor their stories in accordance with in the aggrieved sense of nationalism bear, which is necessarily a subjective China’s laws and regulations. And they promoted by the Communist Party. stance while still being able to report will be asked to self-censor. Yet under For me, there was a weird sense their findings objectively. this metaphysical ceiling of orthodoxy, of satisfaction in the prurient thrill One student sent me this e-mail stories abound, reporting sometimes my students took in pointing out the after that opening lecture: gets through, consumer fraud and supposed licentiousness of American official corruption are exposed. A society they got from headline news. I really appreciate the first lecture fortunate few will even work at places They kept me abreast of American TV on Monday, and was especially like the former Caijing magazine with shows I had not seen, downloading impressed by “Journalists are an editor like Hu Shuli before she them from the Internet, and eagerly scientists of facts.” It astonished resigned in protest and became a told me about shootings I would have me that you didn’t say experts founder and editor in chief of Caixin missed in the news cycle (viewing them instead. Experts could be hired by Media, or Southern Metropolis Daily, as as proof of the dangers of American a company or a country, but the it had been under the visionary editor- life). My students still admired Ameri- soul and the original thoughts of ship of Cheng Yizhong before he was can innovation, technology and higher a real scientist definitely couldn’t removed. Increasingly, some will count education, and that democracy can even be bought by anyone. on being dispatched overseas after work amid the bedlam of American Pragmatism is what Deng dues paying at Xinhua headquarters, power and politics. Xiaoping deeply believed in assigned to one of its international But there were many signs through- economy, but also in publicity

82 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Can Be Taught?

word “propaganda”). In different different. Some Chinese scholars may come to a point where the choice is to times, the media or basically the accuse Western journalists teaching uphold the principles of the profession press could be “used” in different at Chinese journalism schools of or deny their own credibility. ways. The tradition lasts long conspiring with the Communist Party To be a student journalist in China is in this old nation that media is by teaching future Chinese journal- to be sufficiently pragmatic, cooperative always regarded as the mouth- ists the best practices of the West and comprehensive. To teach journal- piece of the authority. But I think without fundamentally changing the ism in China is to be agnostic about the willing[ness] of the whole monolithic nature of state media. the application of scientific principles society to seek truth and facts Through interactions like the e-mail of journalism, to trust the critical skills is stronger than any time before. exchange with my student, I came to of the craft. If one of my students who Although there are still many understand that my teaching would is a member of the Communist Party dark sides in journalism or op-ed result not in the wholesale adoption should use her journalistic faculties in in China, it’s been a good sign of American journalistic standards, the service of her country, at least we that this kind of willing[ness] impossible under Chinese orthodoxy, will have a higher level of discourse and hope continues. That’s why but rather in my students borrowing with which to engage each other in agreement echoed in my mind. and using what could work for them. the future, and this will necessitate By imitation and participation that we, too, hold our professional There is nothing like having students China’s state media are pretending to practices to the standards we profess to make a person reexamine their the world to practice “journalism with for American journalism.  own ideas. This is particularly true Chinese characteristics.” The question with foreign students, who reveal the becomes whether by pretending to Glenn Mott, who is the managing fault line in assumptions of shared practice journalism is it inevitable that editor and director of publishing values. American scholars come from enough Chinese reporters will eventu- at King Features Syndicate, a unit a pluralistic environment where First ally practice solid principles—and have of Hearst Corporation, taught jour- Amendment rights are the bedrock on the support of good editors who are nalism at Tsinghua University as a which the media should function. But equal to them. Whether by imitation Fulbright scholar. in China, the press situation is entirely and participation, they will necessarily

An American Observes a Vietnamese Approach to Newsgathering ‘Consider this a content sharing agreement, with the “agreement” part being implicit, at best.’

BY SAM BUTTERFIELD

EDITOR’S NOTE We have made the decision to remove from our online Since he does not read or speak Vietnamese, he worked publication “An American Observes a Vietnamese on VietNamNet Bridge, the news organization’s English- Approach to Newsgathering” based on a number of language Web site that is considerably smaller than the concerns raised both within VietNamNet and by credible Vietnamese site. Due to this circumstance, he was not observers subsequent to its publication. qualified to characterize the entire news organization in the way his story suggested. Sam Butterfield portrayed his summer internship through personal observations. However, we now believe that Melissa Ludtke, Editor his experience should have been placed in a broader Jan Gardner, Assistant Editor context. Had this been done, this story would have more fairly represented for the reader the general practices of VietNamNet and provided a truer sense of the limited vantage point out of which he wrote.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 83 Reporting News From Faraway

84 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Can Be Taught?

Investigative Journalism in the Arab World ‘Why not create a ProPublica-like news organization here to give the public more watchdog journalism?’

BY JUSTIN D. MARTIN

rab news organizations two nonprofits, along with largely report visible several even newer ones with events, rather than un- similar missions and funding Acover news about what isn’t. streams (a mix of foundations Investigative journalism has and individual donors), have never taken off in the Arab given investigative reporting a world as it has in the West. To significant boost at a time when put it mildly, government of- many cash-strapped news orga- ficials in this region don’t look nizations aren’t able to support favorably on the idea, not that it as they once did. ProPublica their counterparts in Western won a Pulitzer Prize this year for democracies always appreciate its coverage of the life-and-death the stories watchdog reporters decisions of exhausted doctors produce. But in Arab countries at a Katrina-battered hospital journalists face a barbed maze in New Orleans. fraught with intimidation, Despite having the necessary permit, Ian Lee was told by a Throughout the Arab world, demotion, incarceration and plainclothes policeman outside the Cairo headquarters of nongovernmental organizations sometimes even death. the government-owned Al-Ahram newspaper to stop tak- (NGOs) fund efforts to promote The most common way ing pictures—even of these flags. Photo by Ian Lee. economic development. Why that Arab governments stifle not create a ProPublica-like investigative reporting is by news organization here to applying financial pressure. give the public more watchdog Arab states are intimately involved clients. Most major newspapers in the journalism? in the economic well-being of many United Arab Emirates, for example, Arab news organizations so they apply if not owned outright by the regime, An Arab Nonprofit Center pressure in several ways, most notably receive heavy government subsidies. through ownership or advertising. In The result of this patronage isn’t Here’s what I envision. Financially, return, they get homage. Perhaps the surprising. To put a contemporary a nonprofit center for investigative best-known example is Al-Jazeera, twist on what George Bernard Shaw journalism would be set up in ways funded by the Qatari royal family observed: A government that pays similar to CPI and funded by foun- and which broadcasts nary a report Peter to write about Paul will always dations and individuals. An initial critical of Qatar’s government. But be pleased with coverage of Paul. grant to fund this organization would there are others. Egypt’s Al-Ahram So from my perch as a journalism come from a place like the John S. newspaper, the country’s largest in professor in Cairo, I have wondered and James L. Knight Foundation or circulation, is owned by President whether as nonprofit investigative the Carnegie Corporation with the Hosni Mubarak’s regime and is duti- journalism becomes more prevalent hope of generating long-term support fully pro-government. Jordan’s largest in the West, donation-driven journal- from other groups and individuals. (It circulation daily, Al-Rai, is also partly ism might create and sustain a more wouldn’t work to have money from owned by the ruling government, independent and investigative press either a government agency or labor and its devotion to the monarchy is in Arab countries. Could nonprofit union as part of the mix.) Once the similarly clear. journalism organizations in the United center starts to publish investigative Some Arab governments also heavily States, such as the longstanding Center reports that Arab citizens find useful, subsidize or buy advertising in privately for Public Integrity (CPI) and the then more funding would find its way owned news outlets which, should they more recently founded ProPublica, to supporting this effort. There is no publish something the government serve as inspiration for investments shortage of Arabs who, in despair over finds unseemly, could suddenly find in the Arab world that would promote the lack of government accountability, themselves without one of their largest investigative reporting? After all, these might give to a nonprofit center that

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 85 Reporting From Faraway Places

has demonstrated the demand for dual nationality to file reports from and broadcast news organizations. more of it. Israel and the Palestinian territories, Investigative journalism does exist, Other than financial leverage, one to which many Arabs cannot travel. to some extent, in Arab countries. way that Arab governments control In the words of anti-corruption The independently owned Al-Ghad the press is through licensing require- group Transparency International, newspaper in Jordan, for example, ments. Many Arab journalists must this center would devote itself to takes its watchdog role seriously, and obtain government permits to work investigating the “abuse of entrusted opposition papers in countries such and can lose their credentials if they power,” whether in government or in as Lebanon and Egypt routinely push get too pushy. In Egypt, for example, political, religious or financial institu- boundaries. Also, Arab bloggers reveal journalists shooting video footage must tions. Such reporting could involve the scandals while citizen journalists have get a series of government permits, monitoring of presidential elections in used mobile cameras and social media which, once obtained, often don’t Egypt, following the trail of foreign aid to bring videos of official torture in stop the regime from physically block- in Jordan, and screening the activity Egypt and other countries to digital ing newsgathering. And in Iraq, the of banks in Lebanon. outlets such as YouTube. government is also trying to impose Of course, even an investigative But sporadic investigative reporting licensing on journalists. Such a center, journalism center based in a country in this autocratic region isn’t enough. then, would probably have to be based such as Lebanon or Jordan would There need to be independent news initially in Lebanon, an Arab country face government limitations. These organizations in the Arab world with where journalists have relatively more countries have at times either impris- the sole mission of monitoring and freedom and whose government doesn’t oned journalists or imposed punitive making known abuses of power. Right impose a draconian licensing system. fines on them, and if reporting duties now power in the Arab world resides The center would be staffed with took them into other countries, they’d mostly in the governments and their Arab and non-Arab reporters and confront an even harsher climate of intelligence services, not with the editors. It would likely be necessary resistance. Still, an internationally people or the press. It doesn’t have to have a few reporters of other funded journalism center would be to be this way.  nationalities working there, too, such hard for these governments to contain. as Iranians and Turks, to cover some As a way to buttress their work—and Justin D. Martin teaches in the regional issues. All publications would perhaps create greater protection Department of Journalism and Mass be made available free online in both against government intrusion—these Communication at the American Arabic and English, with occasional journalists could team up with global University in Cairo. He tweets reports in French and Persian. The news outlets like The New York Times @Justin_D_Martin and can be center would also need reporters with and Reuters on joint reporting projects, reached at [email protected]. Arab-American or Arab-European just as ProPublica has done with print

Taking Those First Small Steps ‘ “You mean it’s OK in your country to tell a leader what to do?” a few of them asked.’

BY MADELEINE BLAIS

ome invitations are hard to refuse. of free speech. Located in Blagoevgrad the concept of openly speaking your The one that professors Sandra (Blago, for short) which is about a mind is still foreign, despite the fall Earley and Phelps Hawkins sent two-hour drive from the capital city of Communism more than 20 years Sme was especially enticing. I’d spend of Sofia, AUBG was founded in 1991, ago. A student from Turkmenistan told a week in March teaching journalism soon after the fall of Communism. how the dictator named the months at American University in Bulgaria The university enrolls more than of the year after members of his fam- (AUBG), working in classrooms in 1,000 students, just over half of whom ily. A Bulgarian student talked about what used to be the headquarters of come from countries outside Bulgaria. statues disappearing and how she never the local Communist Party, spending Classes are taught in English. knew who would be honored in the time with students who come from Teaching journalism in a post-Soviet town square one day and replaced the countries with virtually no tradition bloc country is challenging because next. Coming from places of secrecy

86 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 What Can Be Taught? and shifting sands, it is not so easy “Of course it is,” said Sandra. “We It gets to you, Bulgaria. It is isolated. for these young people to imagine have an expression in English, ‘A cat The terrain is a perpetual challenge. It the free trade in barbs and opinions can look at a king.’ ” She explained has a veneer of mystery in its silence, that we enjoy in Western-style media, that no one is so important that an of a vast hidden bank of unspoken even if even if it is sometimes fraught ordinary person cannot look at him thoughts and dreams. and imperfect. or her. When she asked if any of their Even after my short visit, it lives Here, we worry about whether countries had a similar saying, the on. I will always take cheer from the journalism has a future; in Blago, students offered blank looks. Where answers the students came up with in the students and their teachers worry they come from, cats can gaze upon the basic newswriting class when we about whether it has a present. cats. (Maybe mice too, if they are lucky.) asked them to offer their own advice Sandra shared with me an incident My advice to Obama was jocular to President Obama if he were to tour that happened in her class when a in spirit. I shared excerpts and then their homelands. A Bulgarian student diplomat visited. In an interview with Sandra and I suggested that they come said, “Do not be surprised by bad roads a student, he said something that up with their own directives should and people always frowning.” the student would only characterize Obama ever visit their countries. Other Bulgarian students quickly as “harsh.” This student refused to One evening I gave a talk in the added that once the president recovered tell Sandra any more about even the library and I hoped the students from those perceptions, he should content of their conversation because who came were drawn there by more explore the Seven Rila Lakes and of feeling the need to protect the dip- than just the promise of refreshments watch a traditional folk dance and lomat. Nor would this student consider afterward: “White wine, red wine, and he would definitely see some smiles. having what he said be published. water.” Hearing them ask questions He should also enjoy some rose petal Sandra could not begin to imagine convinced me that they were. One jam. And he should try some rakia, what this visiting dignitary had told the student asked if I regretted being a an anise-flavored spirit popular in the student. Only after much prodding did journalist. Balkans, as well. the student confide, in a soft halting This question took me by surprise. A young man from Athens said, voice that almost choked on its own “Regret? Oh, no,” I answered, “Just “Expect riots and protests if you go to fearfulness, that the diplomat had said the opposite.” Greece. This is Greece in general. It that it might well be in Bulgaria’s best Later, I asked Sandra what she is not personal.” Another student: “In interest to more openly promote the thought prompted the question. “Prob- Russia, wintertime might be a bad idea. rights of gays, women and the Roma. ably a variety of things. It contains In good weather, go to St. Petersburg, “I find the anecdote rather sweet an undercurrent of something very not Moscow. St. Petersburg is real and, unfortunately, typical,” Sandra Eastern European and post-Soviet, Russia. Try the Borscht.” A student told me. “Students from the former a kind of fatalism or regret that is from Kazakhstan said, “Go to private Soviet republics don’t seem to feel almost a default position in that house for good dinner.” entitled to information as journalists or culture. Where these kids come from, As a group they agreed on several as citizens. They often ask permission journalism pays next to nothing. You points. In certain countries Michelle when they don’t need to. When they can get into a lot of trouble for doing Obama must wear a headscarf. “Reli- ask for information, particularly from it. There is no culture of a free and gion,” a girl said in a quiet voice, “is public officials, they don’t expect to get open exchange. The idea of it as a very important.” But above all, the it. They expect to be told no, with no profession is frightening.” president, they said, should avoid explanation, and public officials are But, she added, these students are looking like a tourist: “Mr. Obama, often only too ready to fulfill their trying. “Baby steps,” she sighed. remember, no sandals with socks and expectations. Student reporters seem As if to prove her point, after I no camera dangling from your neck,” to have a hard time understanding left, Phelps was in touch with the one student advised. “In big crowds, that they stand in the place of their following message: “I just received watch the wallet. Wear something readers and are entitled to information the following e-mail from one of my nice: Calvin Klein or Burberry. Be to pass on to citizens via the media.” freshmen students. Isn’t it dear?” good looking.” When I told the students about a Here’s the e-mail: This wasn’t exactly hard-nosed column I’d written in The Boston Globe reporting we were seeing. It was, giving President Obama advice about Hi, professor! I wonder why however, one of those encouraging what he should do and how he should journalists write in one article baby steps.  conduct himself during his vacation two different points of view. last year on Martha’s Vineyard, they Moreover, these two parts con- Madeleine Blais, a 1986 Nieman were wide-eyed. tradict each other. Is it because Fellow, teaches journalism at the “You mean it’s OK in your country the journalists want to show us University of Massachusetts in to tell a leader what to do?” a few of all the truth and all sides of this Amherst. them asked. or that issue?

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 87 NIEMAN NOTES In South Africa, Connecting With a Wealth of Nieman Fellows and Finding Signs of Hope A first trip to the former land of apartheid is a time to renew friendships and ponder the nation’s future.

BY NANCY DAY

y Nieman class (1979) with the anti-apartheid activist It would be “un-African” to meet included two fellows Steve Biko. Donald uncovered in a restaurant, John assured from South Africa: John evidence that torture in police me, and so they prepared a MMojapelo and Donald Woods. custody led to Biko’s death. After traditional braai for me at the Getting to know them while these stories were published, he energy-efficient home they built studying the nature of prejudice and his family were threatened. on repatriated land once seized kindled an interest in visiting that The South African government from the Mojapelo family and country, one I was finally able to “banned” him for five years, and thousands of others under the fulfill earlier this year during an he fled the country with his wife apartheid government’s Group academic sabbatical. and children. Donald died in Areas Act. In 1978, John was on leave from London in 2001, but earlier this I spent more than four weeks his job as a reporter for The Rand year I was able to visit with John, in South Africa, writing about Daily Mail. Donald had been edi- who is a lawyer, and his wife, women in leadership roles, tor of the Daily Dispatch in East Elizabeth, a school principal, in and meeting people, including London, where he became friends Lady Selborne, west of Pretoria. as many Niemans as possible, in Johannesburg, Durban, the Eastern Cape, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, plus rural and township settlements in between.

A Question of Leadership

In all of those places, I saw South Africans reading newspapers. Thabo Leshilo, NF ’09, who was named the first public editor of Avusa Media, which publishes the Sowetan, Sunday World, and the Sunday Times, told me why. “We lag behind the U.S. in terms of technological develop- ments driving newspapers into bankruptcy,” he said. “Internet penetration is very negligible and the vast majority of the populace is not techno-savvy enough to ditch newspapers.” I also saw plenty of people armed with mobile devices so the pressures on print media are John Mojapelo, NF ’79, inscribes his memoir, “The Corner People of Lady Selborne,” published intensifying. For now, however, last year. “newspapers remain powerful in

88 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Notes

African family, but the extended ANC family,” he said. After Mandela was released from prison, he asked Zwelahke to leave the New Nation newspaper he’d founded and join him as his communications liaison on his world tour. In 1993, the ANC tapped him to transform the SABC from a tool of apartheid into a true public broadcaster to help the country prepare for its first democratic elections a year later. South Africa has 11 official languages, one of many logistical and philosophical challenges he faced in that role. He is still involved in broadcasting, through Urban Brew, which is the biggest content provider for SABC, and a number of other industries, including book publishing, solar energy, and mining. A project close to his heart is Soweto TV, what he calls “the first community television channel in this country.” Thabo Leshilo, NF ’09, is the first public editor of Avusa Media. “A lot of our presenters are kids who live off the streets,” he said, but the South Africa and their views matter,” Sanders Theater during the Nieman’s endeavor is not social work. “I would Thabo told me. He cited the case of 50th anniversary celebration in 1989. say in the next 12 months Soweto TV Julius Malema, president of the Afri- He had been in detention in South will be financially viable.” can National Congress (ANC) Youth Africa; it took the intervention and League, who is under investigation for pressure of influential Americans to A Rallying Point local government contracts awarded to get him released, and few in the room his company that, according to Thabo, that evening were sure that he would The effects of apartheid are still harshly performed “shoddy work building show up. apparent in the huge disparities in bridges and roads. These have had Today Zwelakhe is a prosperous economic well-being, educational to be redone, costing the taxpayer entrepreneur. His sister, Lindiwe, is attainment, and job prospects. Yet more. This [rebuilding] would not defense minister; his brother, Max, the cultural context of South Africa’s have happened had the media not is speaker of the National Assembly. young people—the Born Free—is quite exposed the shenanigans.” News stories As he reflected on my leadership different from that of their elders. when I was in the country accused question, he noted that his late father The generation who grew up during Malema of interfering in the delicate Walter, who cofounded the ANC Youth the struggle had many “assembly diplomacy between South Africa and League, and Mandela were products of points”—in prisons and in impassioned Zimbabwe and inciting anti-white missionary schools. Each was brought strategy sessions, for example. Today’s violence by repeatedly singing a song up with a strong moral code, which young people have none. A program of that literally translates into “Kill the sustained them during long imprison- national (not military) service might be Boers [farmers].” ments. Zwelahke credits his mother, a way to teach job skills, teamwork and I asked Zwelakhe Sisulu, NF ’85, Albertina, with holding many families discipline to this younger generation, once a crusading journalist and later together while parents were jailed, creating a common purpose. Perhaps, the first black to head the South banned and exiled. Zwelahke suggested, Soweto TV and African Broadcasting Corporation “Our home was really a community similar ventures he plans to launch in (SABC), about the apparent absence center,” he recalls. People left clothes other urban centers could be future today of idealistic leaders of the to help out the families, so he found community assembly points. caliber of Archbishop Desmond Tutu himself as a boy literally in the “big He described Mandela’s leadership or Nelson Mandela. Zwelahke and I shoes and big suits” of struggle leaders. as “this big tree under whose shade met informally at Lippmann House With the clothes came stories: “This we all lived,” while acknowledging in 1985. The next time I saw him, was so-and-so’s who was sentenced President Jacob Zuma’s charisma. But he was greeted by wild applause as … .” Life was hard, but inspiring. “It the country will not advance signifi- he triumphantly entered Harvard’s was not just the sense of the extended cantly without creating more jobs. “You

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 89 Nieman Notes

need a leader who is going to be very the quality is not always the best. He Nancy Day, a 1979 Nieman Fellow, sophisticated economically,” he said. is confident that expanded broadband has chaired the Journalism Depart- “One of the great things about the capacity and more access will acceler- ment at Columbia College Chicago new South Africa is that media and ate change. He commended today’s since 2003. Previously, she was an journalism are thriving,” said Zwelahke, journalists, for standing up “to all associate professor at Boston Univer- who praised the diversity of views and sorts of threats, direct and implied, sity and a journalist in Chicago, Los choices, even if, as he acknowledges, without buckling under.”  Angeles, and San Francisco.

1943 Fund for the Republic, a nonprofit launch, said, “Bob Bergenheim was a organization founded by the Ford newsman who combined vision with Foundation to fight McCarthyism and integrity. Long before most others, he Frank K. Kelly died on June 11th promote freedom of expression. saw that business news was going to in Santa Barbara, California at the He and his family moved to Santa be a bigger player than ever before.” age of 95. Barbara when the fund established the Bergenheim’s son Roger, who was He was a soldier and reporter Center for the Study of Democratic working at the Boston Phoenix at the in World War II, a speechwriter Institutions there in 1959. For 17 time, told the Globe, “He called me for President Harry Truman, and a years he worked closely with Robert and said ‘How would you want to set cofounder and senior vice president Hutchins, the center’s president. Kelly up a business journal?’ ” of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, wrote a number of books, among them In 1986 the Bergenheims expanded according to a tribute by foundation “Court of Reason: Robert Hutchins the franchise, launching the Providence cofounder David Krieger published in and the Fund for the Republic.” (R.I.) Business News. Roger remains the Santa Barbara Independent. His wife, Barbara, to whom he the paper’s president and publisher. His writing career got off to an had been married for 54 years, died The following year Bergenheim sold early start with a science fiction story in 1995. Kelly is survived by two sons. half-ownership of that paper along with published in Wonder Stories when full control of the Boston Business he was 16. After graduating from the 1954 Journal and Boston Business magazine University of Kansas City, he worked to a Minneapolis-based publishing for The Kansas City Star and The company. He bought back full owner- Associated Press in New York City. Robert C. Bergenheim died June ship of the Providence weekly in 1990. Kelly was a speechwriter for Harry 5th at his home in Naples, Florida. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, Truman during his 1948 presidential A Navy veteran of World War II, he four sons, and two daughters. Another campaign against Thomas E. Dewey. was 86. son died in 2008. Forty years later, in an oral history He got his start in the newspaper In lieu of flowers, the Bergenheim interview for the Harry S. Truman business at 17 as a copy boy for The family has asked that donations be Library & Museum, Kelly talked about Christian Science Monitor in Boston, made to the Nieman Foundation. the campaign and a phrase he wrote then moved into a reporting job after to sum up the issues: “peace, prices the war. After his Nieman year, he 1956 and places to live.” returned to the Monitor as a reporter Following his stint as a speechwriter, before becoming city editor. Eventually Kelly held a number of positions he became manager of the Christian Robert L. Healy died June 5th at his in government and public policy Science Publishing Society, which not home in Jupiter, Florida. He was 84. organizations, including assistant to only published the Monitor but books A veteran political journalist, Healy a U.S. Senate Majority Leader and and magazines as well. spent more than four decades at The vice president of the Center for the He was publisher of the Hearst- Boston Globe. He covered nine national Study of Democratic Institutions. In owned Boston Herald American from elections, beginning with the presi- the early 1950’s he directed a national the mid-1970’s until 1979. dential primary in New Hampshire campaign against book censorship and Two years later he founded the in 1952, and wrote a column on the held a leadership role in the Study weekly Boston Business Journal. In op-ed page for 26 years. He had been of World News, conducted by the an obituary published in The Boston executive editor, Washington bureau International Press Institute. In 1956 Globe, journalist Peter Kadzis, who chief, and political editor. he became the vice president of the worked with Bergenheim on the Born in Boston, Healy started as

90 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Notes a copy boy at the Globe, where his father worked as a mailer for 50 years. The first newspaper story he covered was the scene at the mortuary where families of victims of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire went to identify bodies. After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he returned to the Globe in 1946, attending college full time as well. Among the big stories Healy covered over the years were the Brink’s robbery, the sinking of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket, and Mayor James Michael Curley’s release from federal prison. In the obituary that appeared in the Globe, Jack Driscoll, a former editor of the Globe, said Healy “was best known for his political instincts and passion. Nieman Fellows Francisco Santos, left, and Juan Manuel Santos flank then-President Al- Political conventions and campaigns varo Uribe during a ceremony in Bogota in 2007. Photo by Fernando Vergara/Associated Press. were his bread and butter. He was a whirling dervish during those times.” Healy broke a couple of stories that Niemans Entering and Leaving Office in Colombia were difficult for the Kennedys. In Juan Manuel Santos, NF ’88, was director of the morning news program 1962 when Edward M. Kennedy was elected president of Colombia in June, for Colombian broadcaster RCN Radio. running for the U.S. Senate for the and he was sworn into office in August. The Santos family has long been first time, Healy learned that Kennedy Santos, who received 69 percent of the involved with Colombian politics and had been expelled from Harvard as an votes, had been the country’s defense media. Juan Manuel’s granduncle undergraduate for cheating on a test. minister from 2006 until 2009 under Eduardo Santos was president in the The Kennedys agreed to cooperate on President Alvaro Uribe. 1930’s and 1940’s, and the family owned the story if it was played below the Meanwhile, his cousin Francisco Colombia’s largest daily newspaper, El fold on Page One. It ran under the Santos, NF ’92, who served as vice Tiempo, until 2007, when it sold the headline “Ted Kennedy Tells About president under Uribe, has returned majority share to a Spanish media Harvard Examination Incident.” to journalism, taking on a new role as company.  In 1965, Healy played a key role in a Globe investigation into the qualifications of a lawyer who had As I told Salon.com, ‘We’re going to tions have been friendly,” McElheny been nominated for a federal judge- be doing a lot of growing up in the wrote. “The reviewer for Science said ship. The nomination was withdrawn way we think about genetics in the the book ‘cuts fresh paths into recent and the Globe won the Pulitzer Prize next decades.’ I began covering stories history.’ The Economist’s reviewer said, for Public Service in 1966. about DNA even before my Nieman ‘Mr. McElheny knows almost everyone Healy is survived by his wife, year, when I first met the DNA pio- involved and describes their motiva- Mary, four sons, two daughters, two neer, Jim Watson.” McElheny’s book, tions fairly.’” stepdaughters, and three stepsons. “Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Founder of the Knight Science Revolution,” came out in 2003. Journalism Fellowships at the Massa- 1963 McElheny continued chusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in his e-mail: “It the longtime science journalist is in took six years of his 13th year as a visiting scholar in Victor K. McElheny has written his study, scientific con- MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, third book, “Drawing the Map of Life: ferences, and inter- and Society. Inside the Human Genome Project,” views, a year of which was published by Basic Books writing, and half a 1988 in June. In an e-mail, he discussed the year of post-produc- project: “So here we are, a few years tion” to get “Draw- away from complete human DNA ing the Map of Life” Eileen McNamara is writing a sequences for the price of a CAT scan. into bookstores in June. “Early reac- monthly column for Boston magazine.

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United Nations. It is his first diplomatic posting. Ulibarri is the former editor of 1987 Niemans Gather in D.C. La Naciòn, Costa Rica’s leading daily newspaper, and has taught journalism at the University of Costa Rica. He also serves as the president of the Institute for the Press and Freedom of Expression in Costa Rica. “For me this is totally unprec- edented,” Ulibarri said after his appointment was announced. “I am not a specialist in diplomatic matters nor do I have systematic training in international themes, but I have always been studious and I have an understanding of the extended world.”

Gene Weingarten’s “The Fiddler in the Subway,” a collec- tion of his profiles, columns and feature stories for The Washington Post, was published in July by Simon & Schuster. The book Nieman Fellows and affiliates from the class of ’87 gathered in D.C., on the couches from takes its title from left: Betsy Lamb, Martha Matzke, Chuck Alston, Lois Fiore (former longtime staff member the piece—about a world-class violinist at the Nieman Foundation), Jamie Lamb, and Susan Dentzer. Others from left: Rick Carns, playing for change in a Washington, Al May, Valerie Hyman, Ira Rosen, Libby Cumming, and Doug Cumming. D.C. Metro station—that won Wein- garten his first Pulitzer Prize for An impromptu reunion took place in to converge on their home for four days Feature Writing. Other pieces in the Washington, D.C. in May. Four ’87 Fel- of eating, drinking, shopping, touring, collection include “The Great Zucchini,” lows are D.C. area residents: Al May, cigar smoking, and the traditional his profile of a troubled but extremely Martha Matzke, Chuck Alston, and poker game. Jamie made his famous successful children’s entertainer, and Susan Dentzer. Two others had plans cioppino and Chuck wowed the bunch “The Armpit of America,” about his to be in town: Jamie Lamb and his with quiche and biscuits at the conclud- search to find the worst city in the wife, Betsy, as well as Valerie Hyman. ing brunch at his and Susan’s home. country. When word of this confluence got out, Hyman writes: “Ours is the class that other Fellow families decided to join has continued reunions without pause 1990 the party: Ira Rosen and his wife, since our graduation. Once annually, Iris Schneider, came down from New now biannually, we have seen each York, Doug Cumming and his wife, other through weddings, divorces, Daniel R. Biddle is Libby, drove over from Lexington, illness, job changes, and children. It’s the coauthor of Virginia, and Linda Wilson and her a rare group of any kind that remains “Tasting Freedom: husband, Rick Carns, flew in from connected as our class has, and we’re Octavius Catto and Castle Rock, Washington. Al and his grateful for this lifelong blessing. Next the Battle for Equal- wife, Carol Darr, welcomed the group summer: Woodstock!”  ity in Civil War America,” published in September by Temple University It debuted in the “Best of Boston” issue years, McNamara has been teaching Press. Biddle, the this summer. Formerly a columnist at journalism at Brandeis University. Pennsylvania editor for The Philadel- The Boston Globe, she was awarded a phia Inquirer, wrote it with Murray Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1997. Eduardo Ulibarri has been named Dubin, his longtime colleague at the Since leaving the Globe after nearly 30 Costa Rica’s new ambassador to the paper.

92 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Notes

Catto, an activist for equal rights for blacks, was murdered during an election-day race riot in Philadelphia Nieman Reports Editor Receives Yankee Quill Award in 1871. In an e-mail, Biddle wrote: “Dubin and I stumbled onto this Melissa Ludtke, NF ’92, editor of Ludtke has been active in a number story and realized right away it had Nieman Reports, has been selected by of organizations devoted to the welfare all the elements: It was full of drama the Academy of New England Journal- of children, including Families with and amazing characters; it had not ists to receive the Yankee Quill Award Children from China and Roots & been widely told; and it could make recognizing a lifetime contribution Shoots, a program of the Jane Goodall a difference. All that remained was to toward excellence in journalism. Institute. research and write—for seven years! In a letter to Ludtke announcing The Yankee Quill Award was We became library rats, poring over the award, academy chairman William established in 1960 as a way to honor archives and combing old newspapers. B. Ketter wrote that the selection “was extraordinary journalists who work to We learned of men and women who not based on any single achievement better their communities. anticipated Rosa Parks, Jackie Rob- but rather on the broad influence for Ludtke was nominated for the inson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. good you have had on New England award by Bob Giles, NF ’66, curator by nearly a century. They sat down journalism over your career. This of the Nieman Foundation, who said, in whites-only streetcars, challenged includes your distinguished history “Melissa is a gifted journalist. She baseball’s color line, and marched of fighting for equal opportunities for works effectively with a network of through hostile crowds to proclaim women sportswriters, your deft editing writers to tell reflective, informative their right to vote. The story of their of one of America’s most thoughtful and inviting stories about journalism struggles has changed my understand- journalism publications, and your con- in a time of extraordinary change. ing of America’s racial history. I hope scientious involvement with children’s She has creatively enlarged the reach it does the same for readers.” and other social organizations.” of Nieman Reports, finding a voice Ludtke, who has been editor of for the magazine in the conversation Monica Flores Cor- Nieman Reports since 1998, began about the future of journalism through rea is the author of her journalism career in the 1970’s. digital and social media outlets.” “Agosto” (“August”), As a reporter for Sports Illustrated, Ludtke is the third staff member of a collection of short she was the lead plantiff in a lawsuit the foundation to be inducted into the stories written in that gained women in the media equal academy, Ketter said. Louis M. Lyons, Spanish. It was pub- access to baseball locker rooms. As a NF ’39, was inducted in 1963 when he lished this year by correspondent for Time magazine, she was curator. Dwight Sargent, NF ’51, Artepoética Press. A focused on children and family issues. was inducted in 1978, six years after resident of New She is the author of “On Our Own: stepping down as curator.  York City, she Unmarried Motherhood in America.” teaches literature and Spanish at the Cervantes Institute and the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute. In defiance of Prime Minister … how democracy is working at the 1992 P.W. Botha’s order, Mostert released grassroots level.” all of the evidence. Rickard writes a syndicated col- 1993 Carmel Rickard has umn from the Trading Places bed written a book, and breakfast she runs in the Free “Thank You, Judge State. Her column is published in all Michael Skoler joined Public Radio Mostert,” being pub- of the Independent Group’s morning International (PRI) as vice president lished in September titles—the Star, Pretoria News, Cape for interactive media in June. He plans by Penguin Press in Times, and the Mercury as well as to expand PRI’s reach into online com- South Africa. Anton on the Independent’s Web site. She munities and develop new initiatives Mostert was one of explained the scope of her column: in digital media. Skoler was previously S o u t h A f r i c a ’s “I have a wide brief, but usually write with American Public Media in St. youngest judges about the intersection of law and Paul, Minnesota, where he developed when he was appointed in 1978 to politics, or clean governance issues the Public Insight Journalism model. head an investigation of financial or—and I really love this—what life is “I’ve learned that culture is even regulations. It unearthed evidence of really like in the post-1994 platteland more important than strategy for massive government corruption involv- [rural areas], what it’s like for a city success in today’s networked media ing some of the nation’s power elite. person to live here, what you notice world,” Skoler said of his new position.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 93 Nieman Notes

Nieman Foundation and Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Join Forces to Strengthen Global Health Reporting

A new collaboration between the to the developing world to learn and The new partnership is underwrit- Nieman Foundation and the Pulitzer report about health issues, the global ten by a three-year grant from the Center on Crisis Reporting will sup- health reporting fellowship has become Pulitzer Center, which will cover the port international reporting initiatives a metaphor for the massive changes cost of fieldwork for 2011 global health with a special focus on global health affecting journalism and international fellows Antigone Barton and Helen coverage. reporting in particular. Within just Branswell as well as for their coun- The partnership also will bring a few years of the program’s incep- terparts in the 2012 and 2013 classes. Pulitzer Center journalists to Harvard tion, placing these well researched, The collaboration between our two for presentations and discussions on groundbreaking international health organizations is apparent in other ways, underreported international stories stories in mainstream media outlets has such as this issue of Nieman Reports, and provide an annual workshop for become a challenge despite the global with articles by Pulitzer Center director fellows that will explore the center’s health fellows’ journalistic experience, Jon Sawyer (“The Sometimes Bumpy strategies for using multimedia plat- connections and success in learning Nonprofit Ride Into Digital Foreign forms effectively; placing news stories new media skills at Harvard. Correspondence” on page 45) as well in the media for maximum impact; Based in Washington, D.C., the as journalists funded by the Pulitzer and employing social media, educa- Pulitzer Center funds, promotes and Center, Kwame Dawes (“Bearing tional networks, and other innovative publishes international reporting Witness: The Poet as Journalist” on techniques to engage the public in projects and has built a reputation page 21), Jason Motlagh (“From War important global issues. as an innovator when it comes to Zones to Life at Home: Serendipity The new collaboration grows out of keeping global affairs on local radar and Partners Matter” on page 69), the Nieman Foundation’s fellowship screens. In collaboration with the and Fatima Tlisova, NF ’09, (“Brutal in global health reporting, which was Nieman Foundation, the center’s staff Censorship: Targeting Russian Jour- established in 2005 and includes a will support global health fellows as nalists” on page 73). Nieman Reports four-month reporting project at the they plan their trips and try to place is serving as the publishing partner end of the Nieman year. their stories. The Nieman Fellows also for Tsilova’s reporting about Russian Once intended to provide major will be part of the center’s outreach journalists who have fled the country news outlets with funds to send fellows program. or been killed. 

“PRI has both—a creative, risk-taking explained in an e-mail. 1995 culture and a clear-eyed strategy for Henson’s previous job was deputy creating value. It is a terrific group of editorial page editor at the Sacramento people and a very exciting platform for Bee. She left that position in May Michael Riley has been hired leadership in digital media.” 2009 to return to South Africa and as managing editor for Bloomberg Botswana, where she had been on Government, a new paid subscrip- 1994 sabbatical the previous year. tion Web site that will report on and On her most recent trip there, she analyze the business implications of pursued her idea of writing a book government actions. Maria Henson has been appointed about a botanist and mapmaker who Since January, Riley has been hiring associate vice president and editor at had lived in a tree in the bush of a team focused on health care policy, large at Wake Forest University in Botswana for nearly a decade. “After and he’s hopeful that the enterprise Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A a time I decided to drop the book will expand significantly during the 1982 graduate of the university, she idea because I felt my protagonist was second half of 2010 to cover other oversees the Wake Forest University too private to share her story unless important subject areas. “It’s great Magazine and manages a number she wrote it herself,” Henson wrote. to be hiring talent for an innovative of editing and writing projects. The “I enjoyed the rest of my time in journalistic enterprise,” says Riley, “so university plans to launch a blog Africa, going back to the bush and also if you know some top-notch journalists later this year and Henson will be spending time with Nieman classmate with an entrepreneurial bent looking among those writing for it. Her duties Barney Mthombothi in Johannesburg to work in D.C., please let me know.” eventually will include teaching. “I who invited me to accompany him on Earlier this year, Riley left his hope to mentor students in the way a trip to impoverished rural areas to position as the editor and senior vice I was guided by my professors,” she deliver books to schoolchildren.” president at Congressional Quarterly.

94 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Notes

1997 interviewed more than 50 political “Friday Night Lights,” called “Score- prisoners in Papua and the Moluc- board, Baby” “the most harrowing cas Islands. “We revealed that the book I have ever read about college Deborah Seward, the Paris bureau Indonesian government keeps on sports.” The book expands on a 2008 chief for The Associated Press (AP), prosecuting minority activists who series in The Seattle Times, “Victory has been named an assistant manag- aired their political aspirations peace- and Ruins,” that Armstrong and Perry ing editor for the news cooperative. fully,” Harsono wrote. Some prisoners wrote about the University of Wash- Seward will help oversee the AP News died after being tortured; many had ington football team, which won the Center in New York City. The center no access to medical care. 2001 Rose Bowl even though at least works closely with the AP’s regional two dozen players had been arrested. and department leaders worldwide and Michael Paul Williams received works on new storytelling methods and the George Mason Award from the 2002 content for new products and devices. Virginia Professional Chapter of the “Debbie brings strong news experi- Society for Professional Journalists in ence, plus a sharp awareness of how June. The award is given annually to Jabulani Sikhakhane is the new AP’s customers worldwide use and journalists who provide “significant, spokesman for the National Treasury interact with our journalism in all lasting contributions to Virginia of South Africa. Sikhakhane formerly forms,” said senior managing editor journalism,” according to the group. worked for Destiny Man, a business and Mike Oreskes, in an AP story announc- Williams, a longtime reporter and lifestyle magazine, while also writing ing the job change. columnist for the Richmond Times- on a freelance basis for Business Day, Seward, who began her career with Dispatch who frequently writes about the Saturday Star, the Weekend Argus, AP in Warsaw, Poland, in 1988, has minority issues, spoke in his accep- and the Sunday Tribune. In addition, been Paris bureau chief since January tance speech about his work: “I got he took two online classes, in music 2009. to speak out on behalf of the poor, theory through Berklee College of the unemployed, the disenfranchised Music and in the history of medicine 2000 and marginalized. On behalf of the through Oxford University. rights of gays and lesbians to equal On joining the government, protection under the law. I’ve tried Sikhakhane wrote: “After the end of Andreas Harsono is the recipient to spark or perpetuate conversations my contract with Destiny Man, I was of the West Papua Advocacy Team’s about race, and have been gratified John Rumbiak Human Rights Defend- to see how much we’ve progressed in ers Award for 2010. He is the first our ability to hold such conversations. Indonesian to win the annual award “Our fundamental calling is to Nieman Fellows Enroll established in 2008 to recognize an afflict the comfortable and to comfort individual or institution making a sub- the afflicted. This is the gospel of In Kennedy School’s stantial contribution to the protection journalism. It’s a religion America Mason Program of human rights in West Papua, which will always need.” has been part of Indonesia since 1963. In an e-mail, Harsono highlighted 2001 Two Nieman Fellows, Kalpana two of his major writings on the subject. Jain, NF ’09, and Alejandra “Criminal Collaborations? Antonius Matus, NF ’10, are enrolled this Wamang and the Indonesian Military Ken Armstrong is fall in the Mid-Career Master in in Timika,” coauthored with S. Eben the coauthor of Public Administration Edward Kirksey, was published two years ago “Scoreboard, Baby: S. Mason Program at Harvard’s in South East Asia Research, a peer A Story of College Kennedy School. Students from reviewed journal based in London. Football, Crime, and developing and newly industri- It focused on the murder of two Complicity,” pub- alized countries earn a master’s American teachers and one Indonesian lished by Bison degree while taking part in a teacher during an ambush in Papua in Books in September. year-long program in which they 2002. “We revealed the possible col- The book, written meet with leading thinkers and laborations between a Papuan fighter, with Nick Perry, practitioners in political, economic Wamang, and the Indonesian military shows how a community’s blind and social development. A number in the killings,” Harsono wrote. embrace of the University of Wash- of Nieman Fellows have graduated For “Prosecuting Political Aspira- ington football team compromised from the Mason program.  tion,” a Human Rights Watch report judges, prosecutors, police agencies, published in June, Harsono visited the university itself, and the media. more than a dozen prisons and Buzz Bissinger, NF ’86, author of

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 95 Nieman Notes

approached by the National Treasury the only senior Khmer Rouge to have beat,” Guillermoprieto writes. “The CPJ to join the team as the spokesperson admitted his responsibility,” Cruvellier [Committee to Protect Journalists] for the department and the minister writes. “Because it was essentially a has just come out with a truly chill- of finance. The National Treasury is guilty plea in a legal system that does ing report that I hope will be read by a good vantage point from where to not have plea bargaining and therefore many of our colleagues abroad. Simply view the whole of government because allows a full trial whatever the plea of staying alive is the true achievement 99.9 percent of what the rest of govern- the accused, I found the Duch trial for too many reporters working the ment does must, at some point, pass to be a unique opportunity to hear drug beat today.” through the National Treasury. Most the voice of the perpetrator.” Cruvel- importantly, it’s a good place to learn lier covered the eight-month trial in 2006 about the South African economy and 2009. His e-mail closes, “… the book, politics!” for sure, will not be published before next year … in French first!” Guillermo Franco has written a 2004 report, “The Impact of Digital Tech- 2005 nology on Journalism and Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Thierry Cruvellier for the Knight Center for Journalism has updated his Alma Guillermoprieto is the recipi- in the Americas at the University of book, “Court of ent of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Texas at Austin and the Open Society Remorse: Inside the Award from the International Women’s Foundations Media Program. International Crim- Media Foundation (IWMF). The award The report, based on discussions inal Tribunal for honors the careers of women who and proposals from the 2009 Austin Rwanda,” for the “elevated the principles of journalistic Forum at the University of Texas, English edition, practice and became worthy role mod- examines the long-term effects of which was trans- els for young women—and men—in increased broadband penetration and lated from French newsrooms around the world.” Past the diffusion of media and govern- by Chari Voss and published by the recipients include Barbara Walters, ment power through social media, University of Wisconsin Press in Helen Thomas, Katharine Graham, among other topics. It also features an August. In an e-mail, Cruvellier wrote, and Molly Ivins. introduction by Knight Center director “My apologies to non-French speakers “Actually, when I first was notified Rosental Alves, NF ’88. The entire as it took four years to have it available of the award I went into a funk,” document is available in English and in English.” Guillermoprieto wrote, “because, as Spanish at http://knightcenter.utexas. He updated the new edition with is well-known, lifetime achievement edu/digitaltech.php. what he called the most important awards are generally given to people judgment to be issued by the tribunal: who are about to drop off the hooks. 2006 the conviction in December 2008 of But [Nieman Foundation curator] Colonel Theoneste Bagosora on charges Bob Giles [NF ’66] saved the day by of genocide, crimes against humanity, sending kind congratulations with the Zippi Brand Frank directed and and war crimes. caveat that a mistake had been made, co-produced “Google Baby,” a docu- Cruvellier, who covered the tribunal and I’d gotten the award much too mentary about the globalization of the from 1997 to 2002, draws on interviews soon! So with that as my article of faith fertility industry that premiered on with victims, defendants, lawyers and I feel really delighted and honored.” HBO in June. It focuses on a clinic judges and his observations during Guillermoprieto has written exten- in India that pairs egg donors in the the proceedings to take readers inside sively on Latin America for The Guard- United States with gestational carriers the courtroom to witness the complex ian, The Washington Post, Newsweek in India where some view surrogacy as dynamics. The book focuses on the and The New Yorker. She has covered a form of prostitution. A process that men charged with the mass murder conflict throughout the Americas, and can cost $100,000 in the United States of Tutsis as well as the history leading in 1982 reported on mass killings in can cost as little as $6,000 in India. up to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda El Salvador that were carried out by During an interview on NPR’s and the challenges facing the emerging a U.S.-sponsored Salvadoran army. “Talk of the Nation,” Frank said she international justice system. The IWMF will make the official wanted to draw the public’s attention Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia presentation at the Courage in Jour- to what is a rapidly growing business for the past three years, he is working nalism Awards ceremonies in New that raises ethical questions. She said on a book about Duch, the former York and Los Angeles in October. “I she initially felt the arrangement was head of the infamous detention and hope I can use both occasions to call exploitative of women, yet her attitude torture center in that city during the attention to the desperate situation of changed after hearing the feminist Pol Pot regime in the 1970’s. “He is also Mexican journalists covering the drug views of the Indian doctor and seeing

96 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Notes how the income improved the lives of Islam to fight the USSR. The CIA took it. I also enjoy not being subjected to the surrogate mothers. over this project in the 1950’s, which 100 PR pitches a day (green staplers! became based around a mosque in solar panels that will save the world!), 2007 Munich. Eventually the project was as I was at the NYT; life is much more run by the Muslim Brotherhood, which balanced now.” made the mosque its first overseas She is still writing a monthly column Alagi Yorro Jallow is a Reagan- base.” More information is available at on green issues for the International Fascell Democracy Fellow at the www.ian-johnson.com. Herald Tribune. Her e-mail continued, National Endowment for Democracy, a Johnson, who won the 2001 Pulitzer “I’ve also been working on a longer private nonprofit in Washington, D.C. Prize for International Reporting for project, together with another Austin During his fellowship, he is evaluating his coverage in The Wall Street Journal journalist, about the Texas wind-power the role of the news media in The of a popular religious uprising in China, rush: how George Bush, Enron and a Gambia. On the 16th anniversary of has returned to that nation where he bunch of Texas tinkerers helped the the military takeover of The Gambia, is accredited through The New York oil and gas state become the national he wrote an essay, published on the Times bureau in Beijing and is again leader (by far) in wind power. It’s a Nieman Foundation’s Web site, in looking at religious issues. totally improbable tale, and that’s the which he concluded, “A free press is allure.” unlikely to emerge in The Gambia Craig Welch, an environmental unless and until the country adopts reporter for The Seattle Times, has Christine Gorman is the new and sustains a solid democratic cul- won a first-place beat reporting award health and medicine editor at Scientific ture, an independent judiciary, and in the print category of the Society American, as of August 30. Prior to a respectable, apolitical military that of Environmental Journalists’ annual taking the job, she was freelancing. is eager and willing to serve under a contest. Twenty-nine winners in 11 Among her assignments during that democratic commander-in-chief.” categories were selected from 216 period was writing a major report for entries. The judges wrote that what the Institute of Medicine on the future Ian Johnson’s book set his entry apart was his “ability of nursing. It is due to be released in “A Mo s q u e i n to bring together solid reporting October. Munich: Nazis, the on a wide range of topics, from the In an e-mail, she wrote, “The past CIA, and the Rise demise of local shellfish industries to two years of freelancing have been of the Muslim conflict between wolves and ranchers, great. I proved I could do it and make Brotherhood in the and deteriorating levees, with superb a living. … I loved being able to set my West,” published in writing. Welch used a wide variety of own schedule—although I did end up May by Houghton voices to tell compelling local stories working all the time. And freelancing Mifflin Harcourt, that tie into larger regional or global allowed me to housetrain our puppy has a strange cast issues. His stories broke news, were (Zeke is our 6-month-old Havanese of characters. As Johnson himself put surprising and readable, the trifecta and a bundle of joy). it, “The people involved are so bizarre in beat reporting.” “I am very excited about this next that they sound like the start of a phase. It will be great to interact on joke: you have a brilliant Nazi linguist, 2008 a daily/in-person basis again with a a CIA man who’s a nudist, and a group who care about the news.” radical Muslim on the lam…” This fall she will again teach a Johnson wrote in an e-mail that the Kate Galbraith joined the staff of course at New York University on book grew out of an investigative piece the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit Web press ethics.  he did for The Wall Street Journal site that covers public policy, politics in 2005. “I took book leave, visited and government, in June, six months archives and then had the Nieman after getting laid off by The New York year to learn more about the issues and Times. “(A layoff is a badge of honor ruminate on the structure. I benefited in journalism these days, right?)” she a lot from that year, especially the wrote in an e-mail about her new part- narrative writing class and the chance time position. “I’m based in Austin, Correction to use Widener Library, where I had and my beat is energy and environ- In the Summer 2010 issue, an a wonderful carrel facing south on ment. Texas is fun to cover, because article titled “Categorizing What the sixth floor. the issues are generally important and Works—So We Can Apply Those “The book is mainly a work of history, slightly weird, and often overlooked by Lessons to Future Endeavors” tracing three efforts to instrumental- the national press. The Texas Tribune failed to identify The San Francisco ize Islam. Starting in the Nazi era, it (www.texastribune.org) is a young, Examiner by its full name.  looks at how Germany tried to use lively, welcoming operation, and I love

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 97 END NOTE A Texas Border Community Grapples With Illegal Immigration The Victoria Advocate’s multimedia reporting about a tragedy involving human trafficking elicits vociferous criticism and civil conversation in community events.

BY CHRIS COBLER

ive years after what remains struggled to respond to the became known as Fort Saint Louis the nation’s worst human human toll dumped in its near what is now Victoria, and trafficking tragedy, our com- backyard. Victoria lay along a a European battle for control Fmunity wanted to forget. The well-traveled route from Mexico played out across the Texas nation already had. to the nation’s fourth-largest city, Gulf Coast. Only after Victoria Nineteen illegal immigrants but the community had largely was officially founded in 1836 baked to death in the back of a ignored immigration issues. as part of the Republic of Texas tractor-trailer headed from the Mexican Americans, including did Anglos begin to dominate Mexican border to Houston on many who have lived in Victoria the culture and power structure. May 14, 2003. When the driver for generations, like to observe At the Victoria (Tex.) Advo- finally stopped to see what was that the border crossed them, cate, the state’s second-oldest happening to his human cargo, not the other way around. daily newspaper, we decided he was outside a truck stop called The city’s roots trace back to to explore the lessons learned, Chubby’s near Victoria, Texas. the Spanish expedition of Cabeza if any, from the immigrants’ A slow-paced and friendly DeVaca in 1530. In 1685, French deaths. In 16 installments pub- city of about 65,000, Victoria explorer La Salle established what lished monthly, we first looked at how the community responded to the tragedy and then dug deeper into the many unresolved questions posed by illegal immigration. Public service editor Gabe Semenza led the “Fatal Funnel” project, which the Society of Professional Journalists awarded the Sigma Delta Chi prize for non-deadline reporting by newspapers with circulations of less than 50,000. Some mem- bers of the community, however, offered a much lower opinion of the series, accusing the Advo- cate of dredging up bad memories and promoting illegal immigration. Law enforcement personnel begin their investigation into the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants be- We went to great ing transported in a tractor-trailer. Photo by T.C. Baker/Victoria Advocate. lengths in the series to

98 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 End Note do original reporting never director of Centro Victoria, a done or not possible when the literary center based in UHV’s tragedy occurred in 2003. With School of Arts and Sciences. each installment, our multi- One of her first projects with media team produced a video author Dagoberto Gilb, the to complement the multi-page center’s executive director, was print piece, which included an to develop “Made in Texas,” a opinion page devoted to that bound guide to help teachers month’s topic. On the opinion incorporate more Mexican- page, we attempted to span American authors into their the political spectrum, invit- lessons. ing columnists ranging from At the community event, spokespeople for the Minute- Hernández spoke of growing man Civil Defense Corps to up in the Rio Grande Valley as Mexican Americans Joined in a child of Mexican immigrants Community Affairs. and encouraged the com- Semenza’s reporting took munity to maintain the civil him to the border town where conversation started through the human smugglers first the forum. One of the audi- packed up to 100 immigrants ence members put it this way: into the back of the trailer and “I think it’s a really good idea locked the door. He traveled for it to start locally because into Nuevo Laredo to learn we are profoundly affected by how powerful drug cartels have immigration where we are. I seized control of all traffick- think we have been having a ing, making the border even national conversation, but it’s more dangerous than it was in become rather abstract. Here 2003. He captured the voices it’s very concrete, very specific. of ranchers along the border It touches people’s lives.” who recalled the days when Construction of a border wall has begun the near the town Hudson’s band, Coastal immigrants came to work of Granjeno, Texas. Photo by Frank Tilley/Victoria Advocate. Bend, still performs around without all of the crime and the city at venues like Greek violence that now scar their Brothers restaurant and in border homes. He went along De Leon Plaza, named for the the border wall, which many Texans seventh anniversary of these deaths at empresario who established a colony oppose because they see it as a multi- the makeshift memorial that remains under Spanish rule and named it billion-dollar boondoggle. Many want alongside the truck stop. Unseen Victoria after the Mexican president. the border secured, but the economic, visitors leave bottled water, stuffed In Coastal Bend’s song, Hudson’s cultural and geographic complexities of animals, and crosses on the side of plaintive cry still rings out: illegal immigration defy easy answers. the gravel road, but the community Texas Governor Rick Perry and other provides no official memorial of the Open up the gates state politicians blame the federal painful day. Give them water government for failing to enforce its That’s not to suggest that the Souls from Victoria laws, but generally back away from community doesn’t care. Victorians Shouldn’t have to wait …  endorsing an Arizona-style approach. packed two community events the newspaper organized to discuss illegal Chris Cobler, a 2006 Nieman Fellow, Heated Debates immigration. At the event marking the has been editor of the Victoria Advo- end of the series, Tim Hudson, then cate since April 2007. In 2009, he The subject of illegal immigration president of University of Houston- received the Texas Daily Newspaper proved to be as polarizing in South Victoria (UHV), debuted a song he Association’s Editorial Achievement Texas as in the rest of the nation. wrote honoring the 19 dead called Award recognizing “courage and The series earned the newspaper both “Souls from Victoria.” commitment to the newsroom and new and more diverse sources and The community event also featured leadership in the community in critics who remain vocal even after Macarena Hernández, the Victoria advocating and pursuing openness the project has ended. The chorus of Advocate endowed professor for and accessibility to government.” critics rose again when we reported humanities at UHV. An award-winning This project is at www.Victoria on the small ceremony marking the journalist, Hernández is managing Advocate.com/FatalFunnel.

Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 99 End Note

At a service on the fifth anniversary in 2008, An unofficial memorial pays tribute to those the grandmother and sister of Jorge Mauricio who died in what remains the nation’s worst Torres Herrera mourn his death. Photo by human trafficking tragedy. Photo by Frank Christina Burke/Victoria Advocate. Tilley/Victoria Advocate.

Sheriff T. Michael O’Connor stands near where the bodies were found in a truck. Photo by Christina Burke/Victoria Advocate.

100 Nieman Reports | Fall 2010 Nieman Reports One Francis Avenue Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138