THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • April/May 2013 Brokaw Receives Standing Ovation at Awards Dinner mie Doran arrived EVENT RECAP: APRIL 24 wearing a tartan kilt by Aimee Vitrak and Fabio Bucci- The past year was just as daunt- arelli wore aviator ing in terms of press freedom and sunglasses, but they its toll on journalists and journalism were award winners as in years past, but the mood in the so shaking up the room managed to be festive. Per- status quo seemed a haps journalists have grown numb part of their job and to the bad news, or at least decided gave a rebel quality to honor those journalists who were to the room. tenacious and even lucky enough The candle that is Michael Dames lit at the beginning to walk away from scenes in Syria, Tom Brokaw accepts the OPC President’s Award China, Southern Africa, Nigeria, of the dinner hon- launched an internet campaign free- Honduras, Afghanistan and many ors those journalists other dangerous and difficult places who are killed or missing in action. jamesfoley.org to raise awareness to tell the story, when so many of This year’s tribute was again a mov- for their son’s situation and to urge their compatriots have not. ing one with Diane and John Foley the Syrian government to release The 74th OPC Annual Awards lighting the candle for all journal- him. The Foleys are all-too familiar Dinner started on the thirty-fifth ists and in particular, for their son to concerns of journalist safety and floor of the Mandarin Oriental James Foley who has been missing press freedom as James was also where guests mingled around two in action in Syria since Thanksgiv- taken for a month by the Libyan well-stocked bars, rounds of hors ing Day 2012. The Foley family has (Continued on Page 3) d’oeuvres and celebratory image panels that honored this year’s recip- ients, all courtesy of party sponsor, War Portrayed Beyond the Camera Lenovo. The room became loud and EVENT PREVIEW: MAY 15 elbow-to-elbow with people dressed in tuxedos and cocktail dresses. Ja- Photojournalists on War, the much anticipated, ground breaking visual and oral history of America’s nine-year conflict in the Middle East will publish on May 15 with a book Inside. launch event at 25CPW Gallery in Awards Dinner Photos................2, 6 New York presented by author Mi- chael Kamber, The University of Awards and Winners....................4-5 Texas Press and the OPC. accounts by the world’s top news photographers, Kamber, a writer People........................................7-12 A reception and book signing will take place at 6:30 p.m. followed by a and photojournalist for more than 25 People Remembered...............12-13 discussion at 7:30 p.m. with Kamber, years, interviewed 39 colleagues for Dexter Filkins, and photojournalists the book, many from leading news New Members...............................13 featured in the book at 25CPW Gal- organizations like Agence France- Presse, The Associated Press, the Mikhail Beketov Remembered......14 lery in New York. With visceral, previously unpub- Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, New Books....................................16 lished photographs and eyewitness (Continued on Page 15) OPC Awards Dinner Photos by Michael Dames NBC colleagues Richard Engel, left, and Tom Brokaw. Fabio Bucciarelli tests his Robert Capa Gold Medal for authenticity. After-party revelers from left: OPC board member Toni Reinhold, OPC members Andrew Lluberes and Edie Lederer and OPC Executive Director Sonya K. Fry. OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT SECRETARY Deidre Depke Santiago Lyon ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS Michael Serrill Jonathan Dahl Executive Editor VP and Director of MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Assistant Managing Former Editor-in-Chief The Daily Beast Photography Brian Byrd David A. Andelman Editor Smart Money Associated Press Program Officer John Corporon Bloomberg Markets Adam B. Ellick NYS Health Allan Dodds Frank ACTIVE BOARD *Video and Print Marcus Mabry Foundation Alexis Gelber FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Jacqueline Albert- Journalist Editor at Large William J. Holstein Tim Ferguson Simon The New York Times International Herald Emma Daly Marshall Loeb Editor U.S. Bureau Chief * on leave attending Tribune Communications Larry Martz Forbes Asia Politique Internationale Harvard Kennedy School Director Roy Rowan John Martin Human Rights Watch Leonard Saffir SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Amar C. Bakshi Arlene Getz Writer/Editor Larry Smith Abigail Pesta JD/MBA student Editor-in-Charge, Media Sarah Lubman Richard B. Stolley Freelance Journalist Yale University Thomson Reuters Romesh Ratnesar Partner Deputy Editor Brunswick Group EXECUTIVE THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Rebecca Azmat Khan Bloomberg DIRECTOR Toni Reinhold Blumenstein Digital Producer Businessweek Minky Worden Sonya K. Fry Editor in Charge, Deputy Editor in Chief PBS - Frontline Director of Global New York Desk The Wall Street Journal Tom Squitieri Initiatives EDITOR Reuters Evelyn Leopold Freelance Journalist Human Rights Watch Aimee Vitrak Paul Brandus Independent Journalist TREASURER West Wing Report United Nations Seymour Topping Abi Wright OPC Dorinda Elliott Emeritus Director ISSN-0738-7202 Global Affairs Editor Howard Chua-Eoan Dafna Linzer Professor of Alfred I. duPont – Copyright © 2002 Conde Nast Traveler News Director Managing Editor International Columbia University Over seas Press Club of Time MSNBC.com Journalism Awards America Columbia University 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • April/May 2013 • Page 2 (Continued From Page 1: Awards Dinner Recap) government in April/May 2011. The Hal Boyle Award winner submit- ted her work to the judges anonymously, one of two winners of the night to do so. (The other was CNN for the David Kaplan Award, which remains “anony- mous.”) Upon winning, the Los Ange- les Times identified the journalist of the winning entries to be Raja Abdulrahim. Judge coordinator Arlene Getz wrote in the introduction to this year’s winners, “Not since the Cold War have there been ‘Anonymous’ entries to the OPC awards. In 1969, the Robert Capa Gold Medal Michael Dames went to an anonymous Czech photogra- Diane and John Foley lit the candle to honor those journalists who were killed or went missing in action in 2012. pher who covered his country’s upheav- over a decade. If you would have asked me do you be- als. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union was lieve you’ll be in New York getting an award for wed- the name of the photographer revealed.” Abdulrahim ding pictures, I would have said it would never happen,” took the award and went off stage without giving an acceptance speech. It was unclear if her leaving with- he said as the audience laughed. “This is the first time out speaking was intentional for her safety or a shyness I’ve won something for work that is happy and it’s very that gave way last minute, but it turned out that it was important for me that we can show from the same office only a misunderstanding at the podium and she was the conflict, but also the other side of life in Israel.” called back up to accept her award and address the audi- Another astonishing winner was Alberto Arce for ence. “I’d rather sneak into Syria than talk in front of a the Robert Spiers Benjamin Award for reporting from crowd,” Abdulrahim said. Latin America. Arce is a one-man reporting team for the She relayed an experience she had a year before Associated Press in Honduras, one of the most violent when she spent the night in a Jordanian jail trying to countries in the world. “Everybody says I’m brave, but get into Syria and was caught by a Jordanian soldier. I think my editors are brave because they invest in hav- “Aside from having a rifle shoved in my face, it was a ing a person in a place where nobody cares,” he said. pretty easy experience,” she said. She shared a cell that “The challenge for me is to put a small village on the night with a brothel madam who said that if she was mosquito coast on your map.” taken to jail, don’t go to cell block 3, those women are Tom Brokaw, intrepid NBC News anchor from 1982 dangerous, they will cut you. “Luckily the next day I to 2004, received the President’s Award with a standing was released thanks to help from the U.S. Consulate,” ovation. “These are evenings of renewal for our pro- she said. “But [my experience is] one of the most minor fession,” he said. “I was struck tonight of the sense of of hazards that journalists face when reporting on Syria. nobility, honor, courage and importance that these win- The challenges that we face in Syria underscore what ners represent.” He said that the winners, hailing from the activists that we rely on face daily. The activists a varied background, men and women, reflect a chang- sometimes look at us and say, ‘we know why we’re here ing tide in a type of reporter that was not on the ground but why are you here?’ And I think for any journalist twenty years ago. Technology and “borderless” states who’s inside Syria and sees the situation and desperate have excelerated the news cycle and what it means to be need for coverage on the ground knows that answer.” a foreign correspondent. “We were reminded last week Thomas Nast Award winner Rob Rogers from the in Boston that it is a world without borders. Where is Pittsburgh Post-Gazette put together a slideshow of his overseas? We are caught up in wars that are stateless.