NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR AT

Vm. 60 No. 2 SuMMER 2006 Five Dollars

Journalists: On the Subject of Courage

'Courage, I discovered while covering the "dirty war" in Argentina, I I I I is a relatively simple matter of ! I I overcoming fear.

I realized one day that I could deal with the idea

that I would be killed, simply by accepting it as a fact.

The knot in my stomach loosened considerably after that.

There was, after all, no reason to fear being killed

once that reality had been accepted.

! I It is fear itself that makes one afraid.' I I' I' I ROBERT Cox, ON TELLING THE STORY OF THE 'DISAPPEARED' " to promote and elevate the standards of journalism"

-Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.

Vol. 60 No. 2 NIEMAN REPORTS

Summer 2006 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Sarah Hagedorn Design Editor Diane Novetsky

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 by the Nieman Foundation at Hai-varcl University, E- Address: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected]

Su bscriptions/B us iness Internet Address: 1elephone: 617-496-2968 www.nieman.ha1-vard.edu E-Mail Address: [email protected] Copyright 2006 by the President and Fellows of Ha1-vard College. Subscription $20 a year, S35 for two years; acid $10 per year for foreign airmail. Single copies S5. Second-class postage paid at Boston, Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Massachusetts and additional entries.

Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. Vol. 60 No. 2 F,MAN Summer 2006 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVAR D UNIVERSITY

Reflections on Courage: International

4 Courage as a Stoty Needing to Be Told BY LANCE MORROW

6 When Death Seems Inevitable BY ROBERT Cox

8 Climbing to Freedom Word By Word BY JosE A. MARTINEZ-SOLER

10 Murder, Threats, Fires and Intimidation in Gambia BY ALAGI YORRO ]ALLOW

13 Violence in Liberia Extends to BY ISAAC BANTU

15 Dictatorship and Democracy Require Different Kinds of Courage BY SUNDAY DARE

18 A War Reporter Tries to Understand What Courage Is BY ALEXIS SINDUHIJE

19 When Corporate Managers Nudge Decisions BY PHILIPPA GREEN

21 Repressive Actions Give Way to Business Realities BY SHYAKA KANUMA

23 Burmese Reporters in Exile Confront Different Risks BY AUNG ZAw

25 When a 's Voice Is Silenced ADAPTED ARTICLE BY PHILIP J. CUNNINGHAM

28 Journalism's Triumphant Journeyin Nepal ADAPTED ARTICLE BY KANAK MANI D1xrr

29 Threats Come atJournalists in Pakistan From All Sides BY BEENA SARWAR

31 Self-Censorship as a Reaction to Murders by Drug Cartels BY RAYMUNDO RIVA-PALACIO

33 A Quiet Courage BY KATHLEEN CURRIE

34 What We Learned About the Courage of Women Journalists BY ]UDY WOODRUFF 35 Truth in the Crossfire BY ]!NETH BEDOYA LIMA 36 Trauma Lingers After Escaping the Danger BY IGNACIO "NACHO" G6MEZ

38 Persevering Despite the Dangers BY MAURICIO LLOREDA

39 Death Threats Are Sent to Tty to Stop Reporting BY KIM BOLAN

41 Challenging a Democratic Government's Secrecy BY RussELL MJLLs

42 The Courage ofJournalists in the Middle East BY RAMI G. KHOURI

44 Courage Can Mean Pushing Gradually Against Boundaries in BY OMID MEMARIAN

45 Western Correspondents Display Cold War Courage BY LARRY HEINZERLING

48 A DifficultJourney From Repression to Democracy BY ANN COOPER

49 Government Clampdowns on Send Reporting Online BY ANDREI KHRAPAVITSKI

51 Courage Emerges From the Work Journalists Do BY AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON 53 Going to Tell What Others Have Forgotten I1 TERVIEW Wrrn ANNE NIVAT 55 Assessing the llisks Reporters in Iraq Confront EXCERPT FROM a LECTURE BY ]OllN Burns 56 War Teaches Lessons About Fear and Courage BY CHERYL DIAZ MEYER 60 Witnessing War to Send Its Images Home ADAPTED REMARKS BY SANTIAGO LYON

61 When Bearing Witness Overrides a Reporter's Fear BY JANINE DI GIOVANNI

63 The Survival Mode of Reporting From a War Zone INTERVIEW Wm-1 FARNAZ FASSII-II

67 Teamwork Replaces Ego on the Frontlines of War BY BARRY MoooY

68 Transforming Anger at Journalists' Deaths Into Action BY RODNEY PINDER

Reflections on Courage:

71 The Forces Threatening Journalism BY ]AY HARRIS

72 Telling a Sto1y That No Other Will Tell BY STEPHEN G. BLOOM

74 H.L. Mencken: Courage in a Time of Lynching BY MARION ELIZABETH RODGERS

76 Heroes in the Tough Transition to Digital News BY DAVIS "Buzz" MERRITT

78 Public Support Wanes, Some Journalists Press On BY BARRY SUSSMAN

80 Courage of the Wise and Patient Kind BY GENEVA OVERHOLSER

81 Doesn't Win Many Friends BY CHARLES LEWIS

83 Seeking Journalistic Courage in Washington, D.C. BY WALTER PINCUS 84 The Muslim Cartoon Controversy Exposed an Absence of Courage ADAPTED ARTICLE BY DouG MARLETTE 86 A Distinction Journalists Like to Ignore BY LAUREL LEFF

88 The Embrace of Principled Stands BY GENE ROBERTS AND HANK KLIBANOff

90 The Difficult Isolation Courage Can Bring BY HooDING CARTER III

92 Editorial Pages: Why Courage Is Hard to Find BY ]IM BOYD

93 Risking Relationships as a Measure of Courage BY SHERYL McCARTHY 95 A Local Newspaper Endures a Stormy Backlash BY DEAN MILLER 98 Courage: What Network News Needs Now BY BILL WHEATLEY

99 The Road Traveled From Journalism to Jail BY DAVID A. SYLVESTER

100 1\vo Sides of Courage BY Eu REED

3 Curator's Corner: What We Share About Courage BY BoB GILES

103 Nieman Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

103 Covering the Sago Mine Disaster BY FRANK LANGflTT 105 Class Notes 115 Encl Note: Conscience and Integrity in Journalism BY ]IM DOYLE

2 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Curator's Corner

What We Share About Courage

By Bob Giles

n the working life of most American journalists, courage After a brief exile there, and with help from the Committee does not typically define what we do. Holding public to Protect Journalists, he found sanctua111 as a member of I officials and corporate leaders accountable, digging that Nieman class. through files and records and challenging what political This spring, David Sylvester, a 1986 Nieman Fellow, called and business leaders say can be difficult. Resisting a court to say that during an assignment in Guatemala he'd encoun­ order to answer questions about sources can result in seri­ tered three investigative reporters for the weekly newspaper, ous consequences. But in a society in which the rule of law elPerioclico, who were under threat by the government as and First Amendment press freedoms prevail, these activities a consequence of their reporting. They were determined do not require an unusual degree of courage. to continue their work but needed to learnmore about in­ There are dangerous assignments for U.S. journalists, vestigative reporting. "What could the Nieman Foundation to be sure-combat coverage and editorializing about civil do to help them?" Sylvester asked me. rights in the South in times gone by come to mind. But These journalists' commitment to their reporting inspired the daily routines of our nation's newsrooms are not life us to create a "mini" fellowship to bring them to Cambridge threatening. fora week in mid-May. They worked with The Boston Globe's I did not appreciate the fullmeaning of this until soon Spotlight Te am, attended a confer­ after I arrived at Lippmann House in August 2000, when a ence presented by Investigative Reporters and Editors and phone call from Tim Golden, a New York Times reporter The Managing Editors NewsTrain program and 1996 Nieman Fellow, brought Ignacio Gomez, a young at Lippmann House, and met with Nieman Fellows. They Colombian investigative reporter, into our lives. Nacho, as talked about the difficulties of their journalistic work in he is known, had been forcedto flee Colombia-his country, Guatemala; one described how his home was ransacked where more than 30 journalists had been murdered-after by government police looldng forrecords and of the death his newspaper, El Espectaclor, published stories in which threats made to the paper's owner by agents who held him Colombian police and military were linked with violent and his familyhostage in their home. right-wing paramilitaries. In one of the stories, a Colombian In telling of their experiences, Gomez, Nyarota, our new military colonel was said to have masterminded the 1997 friends from Guatemala, and journalists in many Nieman massacre in Mapiripan, in which right-wing paramilitaries classes, recent and past, have taken other journalists to killed nearly 30 people for allegedly supporting left-wing places deep inside themselves where an understanding guerrillas. Nacho received hundreds of death threats after of what courage feels and looks like emerges. What we've that article was published. learned from them is how what's happened has toughened Nacho joined the 2001 Nieman class and he, along with their resolve to do what journalists do even when clangeris several other fellows, reminded us all of places where the all around them. Often, too, what Nieman colleagues from practice of journalism is a courageous act. abroad and the United States absorb from these exchanges In January 2003, we met Geoff Nyarota, the founder and is a greater appreciation of the inestimable value a free editor of The Daily News in Zimbabwe. The government had press holds. • orchestrated his firingas editor, then sent Zimbabwean police in a raid on his home, hoping to arrest him. Geoff and his 181 [email protected] family narrowly escaped across the border to South Africa.

All of the words written forthis issue of Nieman Reports and watchdogs of powerful institutions. revolve around an organizing thought: What does courage Courage, as these journalists remind us, exposes itself look like in the practice of journalism? This seemed to us a in different guises. It can be found in the wisdom of un­ journey of reflection worth taldng at a time when the lives derstanding when clanger finally has outweighed the risk. of reporters are in peril on the frontlines of war; when Or it can surface when threats to personal safety lurk but dictatorial governments threaten and harass reporters and the lessons of training combine with inner strength to editors whose work demonstrates their independence; when push fe ar aside and persevere. Courage can reside, too, in invigorated prose cu torial efforts are underway to tq1to force a journalist's isolation when editorial stands taken shake reporters to reveal sources on stories about heretofore secret the foundation of friendship and sever long-held ties to U.S. government policies and programs, and when public one's community. trust in the press is low and new media voices challenge In this issue, glimpses of such journalistic courage are

_ journalists' roles as the primary conveyors of information offered. •-Melissa Ludtke l_

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 3 Courage

Courage as a Story Needing to Be Told 'Unlike love, which may be an emotion only, courage must manifestitself in action.'

By Lance Morrow

ourage is one of the cardinal One of the more interesting and anx­ in such a world is , the virtues (the others are justice, ious questions people ask themselves, 41-year-old editor of Forbes Russia C wisdom, temperance) and one especially when young, is whether they who, on the night of]uly 9, 2004, was of the human mysteries. It is hard to have courage. Journalists, as soldiers gunned down on a street in northeast define,risky to predict. Courage is not do, have gone to war to learn the as he walked from his office to bravery exactly. Not fearlessness pre­ answer. But the exoticism of battles the Metro station. An ambulance took cisely, forfe arlessness may be amoral, in far-off places may have fa ded some­ him to the hospital, and he died on even psychotic. Nor does the word what, and journalists reporting the the way to the operating room when fortitude quite cover it. Courage sug­ world ofterror, suicide bombings, and an elevator stalled between floors. gests a deeper moral or spiritual dimen­ tribal genocides (Bosnia, Rwanda) are Klebnikovwas the 15th journalist killed sion-the strength of the heart (coeur) . less likely to think of young Winston in Russia since Vladimir Putin became Courage may be entirely irrational-a Churchill covering the battle of Omdur­ president in 2000. The grandson of matter of the good heart overriding the man as they are of young Daniel Pearl Russian emigres who fled afterthe Bol- prudent mind and rising shevik Revolution, sometimes to an almost he had the ingre­ mystical level of human Courage may not be indispensable to the practice dients of an ideal possibility. More pro­ journalist: fiercely of journalism, but it has become an increasingly fanely, it may be a strategy fo cused energy, of careerism-courage pertinent and vivid theme in the dangerous, great intelligence, is not always unself­ education (a PhD instantaneous world of the early 21st century. ish-and an aspect of from the professionalism, a habit School of Econom- of calculated risk. ics) , and passion John Kennedy considered courage dying in a room in Pakistan. Churchill for the story (the emergence of the to be the first, theindispensable virtue; inhabited a world of chivalry, of"dulce new Russia-part Wild We st, part thu­ with courage, he said, anything is pos­ et decorum est pro patria mori," (the gocracy) . Klebnikov fearlessly made sible; without it, nothing. Unlike love, Roman poet Horace's line, known to enemies of the crooked and powerful, which may be an emotion only, courage every British schoolboy) . Churchill said publishing two books about Russian must manifest itself in action. Unless that nothing is so exhilarating as to be plutocrat/gangsters. Prosecutors said courage actually does something, and shot at without result. the hit was ordered by the head of does it well, it is just bragging. Courage A journalist assigned to cover Iraq or the Chechen mafia, Khozh-Ahmed may not be indispensable to the prac­ Afghanistan or Chechnya or the drug Nukl1ayev, the subject of Klebnikov's tice ofjo urnalism, but it has become an wars of Colombia or northern second book, "Conversation With a increasingly pertinent and vivid theme finds the residual jauntiness and bra­ Barbarian." in the dangerous, instantaneous world vado draining off pretty quickly. The The Tin Wo odsman needed a heart; of the early 21st century. Seventy-three psychological effect is not exhilaration the Scarecrow, a brain, and the Lion journalists have died covering the war but a terrible corrosion of nerves and wanted courage. "The Wizard of Oz" in Iraq; elsewhere 171 journalists have spirit. Merely to work becomes an act dramatized an ideal trinity of virtues­ died doing their work in the past six of courage, and the work stirs one of heart, brain, courage-that combine to years. our deeper anxieties-the thought of make a perfect journalist. There is no The journalists' reflections on dying a meaningless death or a death of such thing, of course, but Klebnikov courage collected here explore mani­ which the rest of the world is unaware: approached this kind of ideal, and he festations of courage not only in the merely to vanish as, say, thousands of died as a result of his commitment to face of physical dangers that threaten the "disappeared" did in Argentina. this work he believed in, as George journalists but also in less violent .Journalists may risk that possibility in Polk did in an earlier generation, as­ environments-the political and cor­ order to live a meaningful life: to do sassinated in Greece in 1948 because, porate-that may endanger journalism valuable, useful, important work. it seems, his journalism brought him itself. My model of journalistic courage fa tally close to the truth.

4 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Courage

Klebnikov and Polk were martyred a silencing whiff of mob psychology. had casually ground him, unnoticed, ideals. But journalists-whose mis­ The late Meg Greenfield,who for years into the rural mud? It is the tree-fall­ sion is to dig forthe truth, including directed 's edito­ ing-in-the-forest question. In some sometimes the truth about them­ rial page, wrote a memoir in which she ways, I suppose the greatest courage selves-must, more than most, beware described the culture of Wa shington would be the loneliest-unnoticed, of self-congratulation and of their own cocktail parties when she arrived there unrecorded, uncommented-upon. (In cant.Journalists often pride themselves in the fifties. What passed for a cogent today's strange metaphysics, there is on "speaking truth to power," a cliche political analysis, she wrote, might the counterpossibility of beheadings perhaps justified when courageous sound like this: "Dulles! Dulles! Oh, enacted on video before a world au­ reporting is performed under dicta­ God .... Dulles!" The realm of journal­ dience.) torial regimes that destroy printing ism is made up of \Narlord fiefs, each My mind snagged, for an instant, presses, arrest reporters, torture them, with its own tribalisms, and it takes when I came upon editor Robert Cox's or worse. But the "speaking truth to courage to go against them, or to play statement that "I realized one day that power" formula, when applied to the mugwump in a nest of zealots. I could deal with the idea that I would journalism in the United States and Courage raises as many questions be killed, simply by accepting it as a , should, as Sheryl as do other great abstractions, such as fact .... It is fe ar itself that makes one McCarthy suggests in her essay, involve justice. In these pages, editor afraid ." My reaction to that was a three­ journalists testing themselves to see Barry Moody deprecates the egoism cushion shot. First, this is a stunning if they have the courage to engage and heroics of old-style war coverage thing to say. Could it be so? Cox, after truthfully with peers within their own in favor of professional teamwork. Is all, has the grim authority of his experi­ ideological community, or at least to courage necessary anymore? Or is it ence in Argentina during the time of question what have been sacrosanct a dangerous irrelevance? Wall Street the disappeared. But when Franklin assumptions or admit Roosevelt told Americans doubt that ingrained in early 1933 that the "Only prejudices should be thing we have to fear is fe ar held beyond question. To challenge friends or employers in their itself," he was hardly telling To challenge friends bristling core beliefs may be to declare them the truth. They had or employers in their plenty to fear, starting with a bristling core beliefs oneself an enemy, to risk ostracism. ruined economy and (if they may be to declare one- were prescient) the coming self an enemy, to risk to power of Adolf Hitler. But ostracism. At certain finally, I decided that while dinner parties, it requires suicidal reck­ Journal reporter Farnaz Fassihi en­ Roosevelt's line was a stroke of brilliant lessness to assert that George W Bush dured appalling clangers in Iraq but psychology, Cox's use of the same idea and Dick Cheney have probably been concludes, " ... being there to tell the was working a deeper vein of individual right all along about Iraq; in the months story was important and was worth awareness and acceptance. after 9/1 1, ofcourse, it would have been the risks." But the contrarian side Most of us do not have the experi­ heterodox to say that Saddam Hussein of the mind asks: If so much about ence to judge what Cox says. Some was a paper tiger. At a conference of war and violence are so drearily and tales of journalists' courage amount The New Yo rk Times editorial board grimly the same, then why exactly is it (almost) to stories from beyond the these days, it would take courage for a important forjo urnalists to risk their grave. We must accept them. Cox is member to argue against Roe v. Wade. lives to witness and report, once again, telling us his particular truth. Courage Similar courage might be needed if a what we've already seen and know? I is inspiring and communicable, but just staff member at National Review spoke answer my own question along these as it is always a story, it is also unique in favor of legalizing gay marriage, or lines: Journalists risk their lives to tell and intensely personal. • if Rush Limbaugh's producer praised us again and again about this violence Hillary Clinton. so that we will always see it, never be Lance Morrow, a fo rmer essayist Every editorial operation inevitably dulled to it, never accept it. with Time magazine, is the author has a culture of shared prejudice, and Courage is always a story. But what of "Evil: An Investigation, " "The Best every story conference is subtly suf­ does courage become when no witness lt>ar of Th eir Lives: Kennedy, John­ fu sed by an ideological atmosphere, es­ is there to tell the story? Photojournal­ son, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the pecially in the polarizations of George ists showed the world a solitary man Secrets of Powe1; " and "Second Drafts W Bush'ssecond term. Editors speak in standing in front of the tank near of History: Essays. "He is writing a a nuanced political shorthand: Lightly Tiananmen Square. What if the man's biography of Hemy Luce. playing beneath the surface of conver­ protest had taken place in the coun­ sation in every editorial conference tryside of Shandong Province, with !BJ morrow I [email protected] will be a note of collective coercion, no cameras present, and tank treads

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 5 Courage

When Death Seems Inevitable 'There was a problem with acceptance of death; I was never in a mood to accept torture.'

By Robert Cox

ourage, I discovered while fe eling pleased when I hit upon the visit that I heard the screams of people covering the "dirty war" in Ar­ idea of thwarting the death squad that being tortured. But Superintenclencia C gentina, is a relatively simple I expected would one clay come to get de Seguriclacl was the site of a legal jail, matter of overcoming fe ar. I realized me by running into the elevator and not one of the regime's clandestine one day that I could deal with the stalling it between floors. The idea was prisons, and being imprisoned there idea that I would be killed, simply by silly, I suppose, but I thought that if I turned out to be a useful experience. accepting it as a fact. The knot in my could hold off my pursuers fora while, On entering the underground cell­ stomach loosened considerably after I stood a better chance of putting off block I was greeted with the Argentine that. There was, after all, no reason the inevitable. fe deral police's welcome sign-a huge to fe ar being ldllecl once that reality There was a problem with accep­ swastika covering an entire wall, with had been accepted. It is fe ar itself that tance of death; I was never in a mood "Nazi-Nacionalism" written under­ makes one afraid. to accept torture. I thought if I could neath it. Illuminating, too, was the time I thought this approach was a pretty put up such a fight, then my woulcl­ I spent in the infamous "tubos"-the good ruse because it allowed me to be captors would have to ldll me. The vertical tubes that constituted the cells. behave quite normally. So much so, that same idea came to James Neilson, The firstone was lit only by the faint I have told friends who are fe arful of who was my deputy. He told me that clayligh t from the air shaft farabove . The flying that they will have no difficulty he carried an old-fashioned cutthroat second had a dim electric light. I was in getting on board the plane if they razor that he intended to use against left alone long enough for my eyes to have already made up their mind that his attackers and then on himself. We become accustomed to the gloom, and the plane will crash and they will die, were in agreement; they would never I was able to read the heart-wrenching though nobody to whom I have told take us alive. inscriptions scratched by human nails my theory for overcoming fe ar of fly­ on the walls.Judging by what these for­ ing has told me that they have tried it, The Secret Police Arrive mer prisoners wrote on the cell walls, and it works. But by facingevery clay in they appeared to be very young and Argentina expecting to be murclerecl, Before I cleciclecl upon fatalism as very religious. I saw only one militant telling myself that this was exactly how an antidote to fe ar, I had a few lucky proclamation of defiance. It was from it was going to be, worked for me. escapes, and these helped me to deal a member of the self-styled Marxist­ I fe el a strildng identification with with the increasing realization that my Leninist People's Revolutionary Army. Iraqi journalists who are covering most time might be running out. When I was The other inscriptions were cries for of the war from outside well-fortified, arrested on April 24, 1978, I guessed, help and were addressed to Goel or protected zones after it has become too rightly as it fortunately proved, that the appeals to their mothers. dangerous forthe easily recognizable heavily armed thugs from the secret After an insider's tour of four cells foreign correspondents to get out and police were not planning to "disappear" and two prisons, I ended up in a VIP about, even in Baghdad. Some Iraqi me when they came to take me away that cellblock ironically referred to as "el reporters explain that their ability to afternoon as I was worldng in my office Hotel Sheraton." This was where nota­ function is because they accept their at the Buenos Aires Herald. Politely I ble prisoners were lodged ternporarily inevitable elate with death. Acceptance asked the thugs where they planned to while the military governmentcleciclecl is the secret; it is a kind of grace. take me. They told me "Superintenden­ what to do with them. Relatives bribed Naturally, there was a bit more to it cia de Seguriclacl," which was an annex the guards and were able to bring than that. I also decided I would do as of police headquarters where the cells food. Jacobo Timerman, the leading much as I could to avoid being ld llecl. for political prisoners were. Argentine journalist at the time, whose That meant I needed to make plans to I had been there three years earlier book, "Prisoner without a Name, Cell avoid being captured. At the same time, when the Herald was raided one night without a Number," described what it I told myself! must maintain absolute by police commandos. I insisted on was like to be in the belly of the beast, normalcy. I continued to take the "col­ accompanying the newspaper's city spent time there after his ldclnapping ectivo" (bus) to work, buttriecl to avoid editor, Andrew Graham-Yooll, who was and apparent disappearance aroused being alone on the street. I remember taken in fo r questioning. It was on this an international outcry. He read the

G Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Argentina

I I Members of ATgentina's "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" in San Martin Square, opposite Argentina's foreign ministry. November 1977. Photo courtesy ofThe Associated Press. same inscription on the wall of the that I could decide what to report. So my well-honed instinct for taldng an communal shower: "Yankee, Get Me I went out as a reporter, firstencoun­ objective stance, but in the midst of Out Of Here." Later he was plunged tering women searching for theirhus­ a circumstance that was so surreal, back into the nethe1world of the Ar­ bands or children who had been taken abandoning this inclination didn't gentine military's clandestine prison away by the "fuerzas de seguridad." seem a loss at all. system where he was brutally-and With my wife we checked out such In 1979, I experienced a near kid­ pointlessly-tortured. rumors we'd heard that the city's cre­ napping in which I was saved by the A secret of survival was a sense of matorium was working overtime. We doorman of our apartment building humor. It was a comfort that the hor­ drove there at night and discovered that who was a Jehovah's Witness who ror was not unrelieved horror. The it was true, and we published stories had suffered under the military and wackiness of the military dictatorship about what we 'd found. I went to many !mew that the Herald had spoken up was to be savored, and at the Herald fu nerals, and we published reports of for his religious peers. I decided to we did that, along with trying, as best the missing. leave Buenos Aires when what I had we could, to report news that the Ar­ My personal situation-and the not expected-what I had not fac­ gentine press was not able to publish. newspaper's-was helped in that the tored into calculations about my own I saw our role as upholding a tradition military leaders did not know what to death-happened. \Vo rel reached me that the newspaper had established do with me. They claimed they were that the military would go after my wife during the 1946-1955 dictatorship of fighting fordemocracy against interna­ and children. On December 18, 1979, Juan Domingo Peron when, as one tional communism in some sort of a my family and I left Argentina. • Argentine newsweekly put it, 'The Bue­ third world war. Eventually, for us, the nos Aires Herald published in English job of running this newspaper became Robert Cox, a 1981 Nieman Fe llow, what the other newspapers cover up a matter of saving lives. Never was it is assistant editor of editorial and in Spanish." more clear to me how vital journalists op inion pages at Th e Post and Cou­ As the editor of the Herald, I was can be, especially when other societal rier in Charleston, South Carolina. fortunate that the newspaper's owners, institutions have lost their ability to be He was editor of the Buenos Aires The Evening Post Publishing Company, a counterbalance to destructive forces Herald from 1968 until 1979. where I still work, were thousands of within. Of course, assuming such an miles from Buenos Aires. That meant oppositional posture moved against 181 [email protected]

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 7 Courage

Climbing to Freedom Wo rd By Wo rd '. . . our ethical and political convictions gave us strength to resist and keep advancing.'

By Jose A. Martinez-Soler

will never know if I am a courageous darrama, northwest or cowardly journalist, especially of Madrid. There I while being tortured or facing a they interrogated me mock firingsquad execution of a para­ fornine or 10 hours military commando. In those horrific using the traditional circumstances, which happened to me methods of torture on March 2, 1976, my body was bat­ to obtain the desired tered black and blue, my face burned information. I was and bloody, and a gun was pointed at "obliged" to sign an my fo rehead two hand-lengths away. official declaration A ld dnapper was slowly counting; he that was to be used would shoot me on three if I did not against two top rank­ reveal the identity of my sources. Those ing generals of the guarding me from behind stepped Civil Guard whom aside, as their footsteps rustled the they considered anti­ leaves. Francoists. 1 I do not know if I would have had Just before night­ the courage to keep secret the names fall, the kidnappers of my sources, but I did not betray my abandoned me in sources because I never knew their real the mountains but names. My confidentialmilit ary sources threatened to kill knew what they were doing and wisely me and my wife, protected their identity with pseud­ Ana We stley, also a pain taunte onyms, while the investigative clues journalist, if I ever they gave me were easily confirmedin denounced what the Official Bulletin of the Army and had happened. I involved the systematic transfer, i.e. was terrified. After r the purging, ofdemocratically minded leaving the hospital, Coverage of Jose Antonio Martinez-Soler's kidnapping and high-ranking generals to isolated rural where Ana and I felt beating appeared in the Sunday Times (of London). areas. Would I have betrayed them had unsafe, we decided I known their identity? Perhaps, but I that I could at least will never know. try to annul my "official" declaration. home there were more death threats. Ever since that traumatic day, I've I went to a night court and said that We were given police protection, and never considered myself a courageous I had been beaten and was forced to I applied to the Nieman Foundation. journalist. I understand those who "tell sign something official, "three carbon Ever since the ld dnapping, I have been all" under torture, and I understand copies," but that I suffe red from trau­ afraid to confirm publicly, in writing, fear. On that day, fouror five hooded matic amnesia and could not remember the details-just in case. In an exercise men armed with machine guns and details. After I did that, we received of catharsis, as I prepared this article, pistols blocked my car as I was leaving death threats over the telephone while for the first time I have written a full my home in the outsldrts of Madrid. journalists demonstrated (illegally) in account of the experience, which is They burned my face with a spray, the streets. now on my personal , along with handcuffe d me, and drove me to an F01· convalescence, we went into hid­ some pictures taken of me in the isolated spot near the top of Sierra Gua- ing forseveral weeks. Upon our return hospital. 2

' General Francisco Franco led a military coup against the democratically elected government of Spain's Second Republic in 1936. Franco ruled Spain until his death in November 1975.

http://blogs.20minutos.es/martinezsoler/post/2006/04/13/mi-secuestro-hace-30-anos

8 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Spain

Journalism in a Dictatorship read between the lines. Dozens of times mocracy was shockingly fragile. Ta nks I was indicted for so-called press or rolled into Spanish TV and radio sta­ In writing now about this experience, I opinion "crimes."With my article about tions and all broadcasts, except military want to reflect about what happens to the Civil Guard, in addition to being marching music, were suspended. The the practice of journalism when one's kidnapped I was indicted by the depart­ tanks rumbled on toward newspapers. words are subjected to official censor­ ment of military justice on charges of Members of Parliament, and the en­ ship or when freedom of expression is sedition, despite being a civilian. I did tire cabinet of ministers, were held threatened. One thing I have learned not have a court martial, thanks to an hostage for 18 hours by machine-gun is when readers live in a dictatorship, opportune general amnesty for press toting Civil Guards. When a Spanish they know that the supreme of crimes decreed by King Juan Carlos TV cameraman managed to leave his information is the dictator. Therefore, later that year (1976), just as I accepted camera running, he filmed the coup, they distrust the official press and my Nieman Fellowship. and this was later aired throughout believe very little of what journalists, These are ways that freedom of the world. who are bound by censorship and expression emerged word by word The Parliament members were hobbled by judicial threats, publish. under the long dictatorship of General served sandwiches wrapped in the Ye t they're able to decipher facts and Franco. Every banned word and image front page of a special edition ofEl Pais, opinions written between the lines, so we managed to defeat was another step the leading paper, with the headline, as journalists we work hard to establish on our upward climb toward freedom "El Pais with the Constitution: The coup a privileged thread of communication and democracy. For us, there could be in the process of fa ilure." Receiving through complicit winks, subtleties, no retreat, and our ethical and political those words gave hope to the hostages humor and layered meanings that are convictions gave us strength to resist and government ministers who had largely invisible to censors. and keep advancing. In doing this, we no news from the outside; they also Franco's dictatorship controlled the were not displaying courage but profes­ disconcerted the coup perpetrators. large tectonic plates of Spanish society, sional integrity. For this, we would take Had the coup triumphed, it is not hard but journalists managed to communi­ some risks, but not too many. Actually, to imagine the fateof those journalists, cate through the fissuresamong these we were fairly prudent, and we became photographers and cameramen. plates. Using euphemisms, parables artists at simulation and mockery. We Four days after the coup failed, I and humor, we found ways to zigzag were experts at subtly slipping in a wrote a story in El Pais that told how around official control and transmit word here, another there. We moved the coup attempt was experienced messages at the least possible risk. The about in a dictatorship-and still we in Brunete, a nearby town outside of censors, for example, forbid the use move about in our democracy-like a Madrid that had been an important of the word "strike." Franco's police pendulum that looks for equilibrium battlefront during the civil war. With sequestered the weekly newsmagazine, between passion for the truth and the the coup thwarted, I never considered Cambio 16, for publishing informa­ instinct for survival, between costs and any special risks involved with doing tion about a strike, so the next week I usefulness. this story, even though democracy was wrote a story about the same strike but I do not believe that journalists obviously still fragile under constant called it a "technical worker stoppage." deserve any more merit than doctors, milita1y surveillance by the die-hard Nothing happened. And just before the lav.'Yers, teachers, firemen, or engi­ followers of Franco. Was I daring? death of Franco, one of his ministers, neers who also tq1 to do their job well. Courageous? Irresponsible? What I was who had been a press censor, solemnly The difference is that we work with doing is only what journalistsdo in tell­ declared: "From now on, we will call material that is highly inflammable or ing an interesting story of tension and a strike a strike." His statement made explosive-words that give form to inflamed passions in a small town. headlines. And when democracy came ideas and news events. Like others, That afternoon, the mayor of Bru­ to Spain, the dictionary was restored we only want to do our job well, and nete visited me and said, "I come to journalists. we know risks come with the job. But unarmed," which I took to be a threat. During Franco's time, we also for us, the compensation-when we The mayor warned me that he could learnedto print the riskiest information manage to publish what we intended not "contain" some villagers who were in centerfolds that could be easily re­ to publish-is immediate, intense and planning to burn our house down that moved. That way, if the censor banned priceless. I cannot calculate how many night because they were angered by the article, we could quickly reprint it times we put ourselves at risk in order my sto1y titled, "It's not an argument, with the required changes or replace to publish a dangerous bit of news. But woman, it's another uprising!" After it with another innocuous fe ature, was it out of personal courage or just hearing this, we called the national thereby avoiding a costly sequestering forthe satisfactionof doing a sto1ywell? police and my wife, my three-year-old of the entire publication. Another tech­ Or was it for personal vanity? son, and I took refuge that night in the nique involved substituting objection­ On February 23, 1981, an attempted house ofReuters bureau chief, Franc:;ois able paragraphs with photos. military coup suddenly made it pain­ Raitberger. Nothing happened to our But the dictatorship also learned to fully apparent that Spain's young de- house, and the town's soccer team

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 9 Courage won a game against a neighboring town, so the passions dissipated. That, and perhaps a call to order from the national police.

Journalism in a Democracy

Tw enty years after my kidnapping, in fully democratic Spain, I was the television interviewer of candidates forprime minister on state controlled TYE during the electoral campaign of March 1996. I had been called in from New Yo rk, where I was bureau chief, to do the interviews. I asked the Popular Party challenger what I thought was A demonstration in support of Martinez-Soler. an easy, even friendly, question about what he would do with the extreme published an editorial titled, ''A Chill kidnapped, tortured and subjected to right wing members of his party, who in Spain," and the Financial Times mock execution, after writing an article were popularly termed the "J urassic ran an opinion piece titled, "Spanish about the paramilitary Civil Guard. Park." The candidate, Jose Maria Aznar, Practices," which ended with these This time he has merely been sacked bristled, fudged a reply, and went on to words: from his correspondent's job. That's win the election. progress foryou ." • Early in his term as prime minister, "Martinez-Soler, 49, may now well Aznar's government fired me from be kicking himself for a lapse in tact Jose A. Martinez-Sole1; a 1977 Nie­ my job as the New Yo rk bureau chief during the Aznar interview when he man Fe llow, is the fo under and chief of Spanish Te levision.3 So much fo r referred to the Popular Party's old executive offi cer of "20 Minutos, " freedom of expression in a new de­ guard as 'Jurassic Park.' A former fe l­ Sp ain 's most widely read da ily mocracy! What journalist would not low of Harvard University's prestigious newspaper based in Madrid with 14 reconsider his or her questions on the Nieman journalists' programme, he editions in major cities. next interview? For me, it became very had also clashed with the previous difficult to find work again in Spain Socialist administration. Before that, [8J [email protected] despite support I received worldwide shortly after General Franco's death, from journalists. The New Yo rk Times as a young magazine editor, he was

3 More information about this in Spanish can be found on Jose Martinez-Soler's personal blog at http://blogs.20minutos.es/martinezsoler/post/2006/03/04/aznar-vuelve-primera-pagina-decimo­ aniversario-su

Murder, Threats, Fires and Intimidation in Gambia An anonymous letter sent to a prominent journalist 'promised to teach a lesson to journalists who persisted in their negative reporting.'

By AlagiYo rro Jallow

ambia was once known as the and despots. It boasted a long tradi­ threw the 29-year long government of "smiling coast," a place fu ll tion of press freedom and celebrated Sir Dawda K. Jawara. Soldiers installed G of sunshine, welcoming with in.June 1994 with a journalismtraining one of their own, Ya hya Jammeh. generosity of spirit. Home to the African workshop in which I took part that was He promised to rid the country of Commission on Human and People's sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. corruption and run a decent, open Rights, it was a bastion of democracy A month later eve1ything changed. government. It wasn't long before his in a continent beset by military coups A group of junior army officers over- promise of transparency became a

10 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Africa

transparent lie. embarrassed by the story Attacks on news orga­ because after a spouse nizations started almost dies it is customary for immediately. There were a person to wait one raids on the independent year before remarrying. press, and journalists were Hardly a week passed subjected to harassment when the newspaper and deportation. Because and staff members were the country had few private not harassed by NIA au­ media outlets, a change thorities or by people of ownership-and sub­ identified with the ruling sequently a change in its regime. approach to news report­ In October 2003, The ing-at the Daily Observer, Independent's prem­ one of the nation's big­ ises were set on fire for ger papers, narrowed the the first time, and the outlets for independent The lndependent's printing press was burned in 2004 as part of a cam­ newsroom was partly de­ news gathering still further. paign to stop the biweekly newspaper from being published. stroyed. A security guard Against this backdrop, I was attacked and hit with started a biweekly called The Inde­ however, I was arrested again, and this an iron bar. I began receiving death pendent, which hit ne\vsstands in time placed in solitary confinement threats. By January 2004, the situation July 1999 and soon became the fastest where I was subjected to physical and had deteriorated even more, when I growing newspaper in readership and mental harassment and psychological received a letter signed by a group popularity. With its Monday and Friday torture. Officersforced meto strip na­ called the "Green Boys" threatening editions, circulation grew to 10,000, ked, and I was kept in the empty cell. to kill me and destroy my newspaper with an estimated readership of more Mosquitoes were everywhere, and the because of our reporting. Soon the than 30,000. floor was damp with urine. Many of the printing press was burned.On e source Less than a month after The Indepen­ prisoners in this jail were sick, and I told the National Assembly that two of­ dent was launched, the National Intel­ contracted pneumonia and malaria. ficers of the Gambian National Guard ligence Agency (NIA) raided its offices, During my confinement, I was held were among those who attacked The and many journalists were arrested and incommunicado and was not allowed Independent, yet no investigation of detained. Authorities claimed the paper to talk to anyone, including my family this crime has been undertaken. had not fu lfilled all of its obligations or a lawyer. AfterThe Independent's press was to be allowed to operate. This came A month later I was arrested again burned, the Daily Observer printed despite the paper's managing editor when The Independent published a the paper for us. Soon,however, I was having been given permission by offi­ stoq1with news that the vice president notified that the arrangement had been cials in the government. For two weeks, had remarried. The government was terminated; no reason was given. For the paper ceased publica- two months, The Inde­ tion. Once it began again pendent did not publish, harassment and intimida- but its press run was re­ tion continued with unre­ sumed by a skeleton staff strained regularity. I was Independent Critique - Page 9 working in Gambia and a arrested and detained as few determined reporters the authorities attempted THE INDEPEN and editors elsewhere. to investigate the paper's Tr ul'h is our Pri11. ciple Its circulation dropped

source of funding. Even l'ric<":llS.00 almost 50 percent, and it \'ol: ·I ;>.o: MJ ...... � 0196-IJ� ,\f,-.J,1.1 .'.:-. 1;1 1/- /\f.,1 .'ll(IJ fe male typesetters were INDEPENDENT VIEW was printed on a smaller bundled to the NIA head­ sheet by press operators quarters in Banjul. who prefer to remain In July 2000, I was ar­ anonymous. Other Gam­ rested and detained by bian printing and publish­ the NIA after I published ing outlets have refused an article about a hunger to print the newspaper strike at the Central Prison. on contract because, I Asked to reveal my sources, believe, they have either I refused. Eventually I was been threatened not to released on bail. In August, A fro nt page story about Gambia's president in a 2003 issue. print The Independent or

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 11 Courage fe ar that they or their presses could be would also be able to forcejou rnalists or approximately $20,000, an amount attacked as well. to reveal their sources. Strict penalties that is four times the previous bond would be assessed if journalists did not requirement and so excessive that it Threats and Murder comply with the new law, including will have the effect of shutting clown imprisonment and heavy fines. the private newspapers. The act also When it began, The Independent had In 2002, this bill was enacted into requires newspapers to register with 25 staffe rs and fr eelancers. About four law. Deycla Hyclara, editor of The Point the Registrar General. The Criminal and a half years later (after I'd received newspaper, and I knew that this law Code Amendment Act expands the a personal death threat in the letter was inimical to a free press. We part­ definition of libel and provides for signed by the "Green Boys" along with nered with the Gambia Press Union harsh imprisonment terms of not less a threat to destroy The Independent), to challenge it and hired a lawyer to than three years in jail. This legislation many of the newspaper's senior re­ contest the legislation. The lawsuit was passed by the Gambian National porters and support staff have left the reached the Supreme Court in 2003 Assembly in December 2004. paper. Many have also left the country, and challenged the constitutionality Hyclara and I prepared to launch as some of its leading journalists have of the National Media Commission another lawsuit against these laws. By sought political asylum in Europe and Act of 2002. Tw o hearings were held doing this we became targets of the the United States. before the state counsel-the lawyer state; we were seen as using the courts In June 2004, officersarrested and for the government-declared that to justify our actions in exposing the detained me for three hours dictatorial tendencies without charge, allegedly for of the government. publishing a story that two Soon the state devel­ persons were killed in a Gam­ oped a diffe rent tactic bia-Senegal border clash fol­ of silencing us, by lowing a violent football match destroying our prop­ between the two countries. erties and by murder. Attacks on journalists contin­ In December 2004, an ued. In August 2004, Demba unidentified assailant A. Jawo, then-president of the shot and killed my Gambia Press Union, received friend, Deycla. Tw o an anonymous threat at his members of his staff house that referred to critical also were injured. reporting by Jawo and other The government has members of the independent not investigated his press against President Jam­ death. meh and his government. \ Hyclara's assassina­ The letter promised to teach tion is evidence of the The lndependent's newsroom was partly destroyed when it was set on "one of your journalists a very extent to which the fire in 2003, another attempt to stop its publication. good lesson." Three clays later, Gambian government unidentified persons set on is prepared to go in fire the house of BBC stringer Ebrima the government was going to repeal order to silence its opponents. Actions Sillah, but he escaped unharmed. (In this act. We did not want to withdraw taken against the independent press July, the BBC in London had received our case because even if this law was demonstrate the intractable view of a letter that accused Sillah of biased repealed, we wanted a final declaration President Jammeh that all journalists reporting against Jammeh and threat­ by the court that it was unconstitu­ are criminal illiterates who would be ened an attack on him.) tional. This lawsuit is pending before best "buried six fe et deep." It reveals, President Jammeh's hostility to­ the Supreme Court, which sits every too, the impunity of those who mur­ wards journalists is what pushed six months. We are awaiting a final der people who dare to oppose the members of Parliament to find ways decision while we look for sources of government. Such actions expose the to muzzle the press. In 1999, the funding forour lawyer to continue to rotten heart of the government in my Gambian Parliament prepared a bill to pursue the case. beautiful country. If a man like Deycla create a National Media Commission The government then proposed Hyclara can be murdered for the proper with quasijuclicial powers including an equally draconian set of laws-the execution of his profession, then no registering private media houses and Newspaper Act and the Criminal one can sleep peacefully. Nobody will journalists, to revoking licenses, issu­ Code Amendment Act. The Newspa­ be spared. ing arrest warrants for journalists, and per Amendment Act forces private Is it possible to act courageously as fining or even sentencing journalists newspapers and journalists to execute a journalistin Gambia today? Perhaps, to imprisonment. This commission bonds in the order of 500,000 clalasi, though it is surely true that our experi-

12 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Africa ences-with the murder of our brave fa milies of those who operate printing released after brief questioning, but friend, the torching of our printing presses, now pressure their loved ones two of my paper's senior editors were press, the imprisonment and torture to refrain from overt criticism of the held in custody for more than three and threats that reach us and do not regime and to look for other employ­ weeks incommunicado and without abate-have taught us that there are ment. Even slight association with the any charges filed against them, which limits to what we, and our family mem­ independent media is dangerous. is against the laws of Gambia and bers, can endure, especially when we But no amount of intimidation, the Universal Declaration of Human are not able to do the work we know death threats or attacks can cower me Rights. One of our reporters was then is ours to do. As intimidation builds, into silence or compromise my edito­ arrested and remains in custody, with stress findsless and less relief as eve11' rial policy. Though I now live in exile in no contact allowed. The Independent possible effort to push on and report the United States, my interest in learn­ remains closed today because of the and publish is exhausted. When time ing and publishing the truth remains government's actions against it. • and time again those efforts are foiled paramount. As a Gambian journalist, by government intervention, when I am prepared for the dangers and Alagi Yorro]allow is cofounder and our personal safety is threatened, the risks, the trials and tribulations, and managing editor of The Independent courage to seek another way and do the aches and stresses of running a in Gambia. He has twice won the so from another place can become the wholly independent newspaper such Hellman/Hammet award, in 2000 force of change. as The Independent. Ye t even this and 2004, and also is the winner of Self-censorship by the press in spring, in March, plainclothes police the 2005 Canadian journalists fo r Gambia is a real possibility. Hydara's officers stormed The Independent's Free Expression International Press death sparked a climate of fear that offices and arrested eve11' member Freedom Award. He will be a 2007 could lead to fewer voices critical of of my staff, as guards sealed off the Nieman Fe llow. government. Families of journalists newspaper. No reason was given for and independent media workers, even it being closed. Most of the staff was l:8J [email protected]

Violence in Liberia Extends to Journalists 'The government warned that any journalist or news organization that violated the ban would be considered and treated as "rebels."'

By Isaac Bantu

ournalists report out of a sense government officialsreacted to reports Doe's regime unleashed a brutal wave of responsibility to info rm and to that they considered unfavorable. The of reprisal against real and perceived J educate the public. But it takes recent histo11' of the Liberian press is enemies. It was an act of courage that courage for journalists to take on replete with stories of abuse against Gbenyon chose to go out into the field reporting assignments that they can journalists who were harassed, intimi­ and report unfolding developments anticipate will have dangerous conse­ dated, jailed and murdered, while news amid the mass chaos that was danger­ quences, including the possibility of organizations were banned or vandal­ ously life threatening. imprisonment, torture and even death. ized. These actions were sanctioned Several journalists were arrested in Conditions of press freedom diffe r in by government officials, directly or the wake of that failedcou p, and I was countries with repressive regimes, but indirectly. among them. I was arrested primarily all journalists who report under these The worst example of this treatment for reports I' cl filed to the British Broad­ circumstances share a sense of what occurred in November 1985, when my casting Corporation's African Service it means to tl)' to do this work while Liberian colleague Charles Gbenyon, in London about the chaotic state of being always mindful of what might a young enterprising television jour­ affairs in Liberia when Doe stole the happen. nalist, was arrested and butchered to presidential elections of October 15, Even though journalists in the We st death upon orders of then milita1)'ruler 1985. Like other members ofthe press African nation of Liberia now enjoy Samuel Kanyon Doe, reportedly fo r his in Liberia, I was mindful that if what a high level of freedom in this fledg­ antigovernment reporting. Gbenyon I reported did not please the regime, ling democracy, reporting under past was arrested in the wake of a failed then I faced danger. Nevertheless, my dictatorial regimes required courage milita11' coup to depose Doe, which reporting reflected the reality on the given the violent manner in which turned ve11' violent and bloody as ground, not necessarily what the re-

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 13 Courage

dangerous repercussions. Others fa­ vored publishing the report as a way of drawing public attention to such illegal activities, irrespective of con­ sequences. Williams sided with those supporting publication of the report, though he was aware that doing so could endanger him and the news organization. Hours after the paper appeared on the newsstands, Ecomog soldiers ar­ rived in the paper's offices to pick up Williams. Tw o staff members decided to accompany him to the headquarters of the peacekeeping force. After many hours of interrogation and clays of harassment, in which the top brass of Ecomog unsuccessfully tried to force him to retract the report, peacekeeper officials finally acknowledged their The National Patriotic Force of Liberia (NPFL)-the rebel forces in that country's brutal problems. Faced with a serious inter­ civil war-left their mark on news organization buildings they destroyed. Photo by Grego1y national embarrassment, they were Stemn. forced to institute some operational reforms in their Liberian operations. gime wanted the Liberian public and civil war, the peacekeeping fo rce, the world to be told. For these reports, dominated by regional po'vverNigeria, Government Bans Reporting I was arrested at my home-brutalized provided fu ll security in and around and stripped to my underpants-and the Liberian capital of Monrovia against During 1989, in the early months of then my house was set ablaze and re­ rebel forces then ledby Charles Taylor. the senseless and bloody civil war, as duced to ashes. I was incarcerated for Nigerian forces were stationed at the rebel forces marched from the interior nearly four months. It was not the last air and seaports, where some of them to Monrovia to depose Samuel Doe's time I would be arrested and treated were found to be involved in illegal regime, independent journalists and abusively. activities with the customs service, in­ news organizations were among those cluding facilitating the importation of targeted by the regime as enemies, real Challenging Authority drugs into Liberia. Nigerian warships or perceived. As security conditions under Ecomog patrolled Liberia's ter­ deteriorated, governmentoff icials an­ During these difficulttimes, even at the ritorial waters to prevent the smug­ nounced a ban on all press coverage peril of their lives, journalists had to gling of arms and raw materials into relating to the war. The regime said decide whether to impose self-censor­ and from the country, but there were that reporting of the war was creating ship or rely on the courage required to allegations that some smuggling was more fe ar, tension and chaos among the publish and report "sensitive" stories taking place. public. The government warned that and suffe r the consequences. In May The Inquirer was tipped offabout any journalist or news organization that 1991, Gabriel Williams, the managing a ship that was involved in the smug­ violated the ban would be considered editor of the independent daily The gling of arms and raw materials with and treated as "rebels." Such threats Inquirer, along with the paper's news the collusion of some top brass of the had resulted in the past with journalists editor and a reporter, were detained peacekeeping force. AfterThe Inquirer being jailed, tortured and killed, and by commanders of the We st African concluded an investigation establish­ newsrooms were vandalized. peacekeeping force commonly called ing that some of the peacekeepers were Immediately after the government Ecomog. These journalists were ac­ involved in illegal activities, Williams ban was announced, journalists of the cused of smearing the image of the convened some editorial meetings to independent media convened a meet­ peacekeeping force and undermining discuss whether to publish the report. ing under the auspices of the Press security because of a report in The Part of the discussion revolved around Union of Liberia (PUL). This national Inquirer linking a top brass ofEcomog consideration of the potential risk in­ journalist organization, of which I to gunru nning and smuggling of raw volved in publishing the story. once served as president, was formed materials. Some editorial staff members urged to build stronger solidarity in the face Deployed in Liberia to bring an encl that the report not be published, cit­ of clanger. At this meeting, the union to that country's senseless and bloody ing security reasons and potentially announced that its members would not

14 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Africa abide by the government's directive ; the country. low this to happen during all of those they continued to report on the war As rebels attacked the city and Mon­ years of repression. • at great risk to themselves and their rovia descended into chaos, indepen­ news organizations and did so out of dent news outlets were vandalized or Isaac Bantu, a 1992 Nieman Fe llow, conviction and courage to keep the burned to the ground. Most indepen­ is president and director of Mano public informed. dent journalistsalso went into hiding River Media Fo rum,/MARIFO, a Bos­ A few weeks beforethis meeting took during this period; many were forced ton-based news network that nwni­ place, the offices of the independent into exile simply to stay alive. tors issues concerning press freedom, Daily Observer, one of the leading daily The history of the Liberian press human rights abuse, political, social newspapers in We st Africa, had been has long been characterized by the and econoniic issues in the Mano set ablaze in retribution for an article struggle to keep the public adequately River Basin countries that include the paper published relating to the war. informed in the face of repression by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, The regime deemed it to be unfavor­ regimes determined to keep the people which are bordered by the Mano able coverage. The fire destroyed the subservient to their will as they operate Rive1: Observer's photo processing room with impunity. Principally through acts and libraq1, which had one of the best of courage independent journalists l8l [email protected] collections of resource materials in and news organizations refused to al-

Dictatorship and Democracy Require Different Kinds of Courage 'Officialsbe gged the magazine not to pursue the story and then they enticed us with rewards. All efforts to derail our reporting failed.'

By Sunday Dare

t was May 1999, and Nigeria's apologists, and political desperadoes these allegations-resulted in many military ruler General Abdulsalami who were willing to do anything to journalists and news organizations IAbubakar had finally brought to remain in power. Early on, members simply ignoring the sto1y conclusion a protracted political tran­ of the were caught flat­ sition journey that lasted almost 14 footed when they failed to investigate Reporting in a Fledgling years. The country was still awash in informationand rumors that emerged. Democracy the euphoria of the exit of the disgraced The story would involve the third military leader from power and, after most powerful person in the govern­ People in Nigeria thought this sto1y conducting a successful election, newly ment-the speaker of the House of about the speaker was dead and that elected President Olusegun Obasanjo Representatives, who had falsified his his hold on government power would was sworn in. The Nigerian media were age, academic credentials, and other continue. But The News magazine's also enjoying a honeymoon period; as qualifications that he'd submitted to editorial team met and decided this was milita1y power was ending, a new dawn contest and enter elections. For nearly a stOL)' that needed to be thoroughly of journalistic freedom beckoned with two months, journalists made feeble investigated ifNigeria's new democracy the arrival of civil democracy. efforts to investigate these allegations. was to survive. The magazine com­ Or so it seemed. But if Nigerian And during this time, repeated deni­ menced investigations in Nigeria and journalists, along with many citizens, als by the speaker and his aides were overseas as it set out to uncover the facts believed that with the diminished reported. about the speaker's qualifications. power of the milita1y such qualities as Why didn't the press act more ag­ As general editor of The News, I selflessness, determination and commit­ gressively to report this sto1y? Perhaps played a lead role in the investigations. ment to a just democratic cause were many of them feared that in doing After looking into his childhood and no longer essential, they were in fora so they might harm the countq's his family and academic background, rude shock. newfound democracy. \X'hatever the conducting Internetsearches and do­ \X'ith Nigeria's new democracy motivation, this lack of journalistic ing interviews, The Ne\vs assembled emerged a new breed of strange bed­ courage-the news media's failure compelling documentaiyand anecdotal fellows-corrupt politicians, military to dig deep and find out the truth of evidence that the speaker was a fraud.

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 15 Courage

Terror Unleashed

Sunday Dare has written a boo!�, armed with .45mm rifles flew out. They meant only one thing-the state security "Voices Froni the Tr enches: The Story of made straight for the entrance of the agents were around to arrest anyone in Guerrilla journalism Under Militaiy newspaper building. With their heavy sight. As eve1)'one raced towards the Rule in Nigeria. " He is now looking boots they kicked on the iron doors secret back exit, many fell face down fo r a publishe1: In an exce1pt, he tells to crudely announce their presence. and were not spared by the others who about an incident that happened with In less than five minutes they made a simply stepped on them to make the fi­ Th e News, an independent magazine forcefulentrance, but not before one of nal desperate flight to safety. The escape in Nigeria. Dare describes the context the magazine's security discretely dis­ route was narrow and only a few made of this exce1pt: "This Gestapo-lilw raid patched a coded message around using it. A few editors made it first, helped on Th e News and Te mpo magazines the intercom telephone system buried by the stronger hands, not out of any occurred sometime in Ap ril 1998 when in one of the desk drawers of the security plan, but out of an understanding that milita1y dictatorship under the regime post table. "Move, move or I will shoot," they are the ones the security agents of General Sani Abacha was in its barked one of the governmentsecurity wanted badly. Ye t many reporters and most brutal stage. Th e journalists at men as he ordered the two rattled and administrative staff stood frozen either Th e News, Te mpo and Te ll publications visibly frightened guards to lead them shocked or unable to comprehend the were singled out fo r attacks, harass­ to the offices of the editors. swift seconds of unfolding dramatic ment, arrest, unlawfu l detention, and Inside the newsroom of The News assault and escape from the clutches eliniination. Th is was the height of magazine in Ikeja, central Lagos, Ni­ of the enemy. the Abacha paranoia andjourn alists geria, reporters, editors and media As the scramble to safety progressed, were ganie. " workers responded simultaneously the company guards employed delay to the urgent warning passed around. tactics to provide more time for escape Seconds after the Peugeot station wagon Whenever such sudden movements by taldng the security goons first to the and a pickup truck came to a suicidal occurred, especially a security guard storage basement and then to other screeching halt, six security agents rushing into the newsroom breathless, it unoccupied offices within the build-

While our investigation was going sold, which made this the highest sell­ purposes. For journalists, it offered a on, The News staffwere threatened by ing edition in the hist011' of magazine valuable lesson in courage, one that government officialsbut also cajoled by publication in Nigeria. Less than two they can never afford to forget. For them, too. Officialsbegged the magazine weeks after The News published its those in power, what The News did not to pursue the story, and then they sto1)', and eve11' effort to intimidate us was to serve notice that no safe haven enticed us with rewards. All efforts to to retract the story or face court action existed foranyone who had climbed or derail our reporting failed. Three aides failed, a tearful speaker, Salisu Buhari, would climb to power based on misrep­ of the speal(er, who were the firstones to wept in front of national television as resentation and corruption. The News threaten me with demands that the sto11' he announced his resignation and con­ went on to do several similar reports in be dropped, visited me in my house in fessed to falsifying his age and academic which solid reporting led to exposure the early morning hours. I refused, de­ qualifications. of politicians, primarily governors and spite their threats. Then they offered me In making sure this sto11' was thor­ senators, who were elected using false the carrot of two briefcases apparently oughly reported and told, The News staff credentials. filled with cash. I told them their best displayed an adherence to the rigors of option was to have the speaker defend investigative journalismand a commit­ Reporting Under a Military himself in an interview or a court oflaw. ment to findingthe truth, all the while Dictator I also advised them that any attempt to showing the necessa11' fortitudeto resist buy off the magazine would fail. They attempts at bribe1y Each reporter and On June 12, 1993, a national election left my house furious. editor who worked on this story faced was stopped abruptly by the milita11' The magazine hit the streets with great personal risk. What they did in government's orders. Only The News the cover line "The Face of a Liar." The reporting this stoqr is courage in the published the results, which were an­ impact of our publication resonated practice of journalism. nulled by the government and nearly throughout Nigeria. The issues sold The publication of this sto11' about a sent Nigeria on the path of war. Soon out fast, so we did three print runs; in powerful political leader disgraced out after, General Abacha, who went on to all, almost a half million copies were of officeser ved two important defining rule Nigeria with brutal power for five

16 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Africa

ing. Sensing that time was deliberately to resemble an abandoned abode of a and other media houses. The team ral­ being wasted, the leader in a fit of rage lunatic. Then they turned on the guard, lied, as it had always clone after every hit one of the guards on the shoulder Bello, and gave him some thorough attack, to strategize. The group met in a with the butt of his gun. "You will be thrashing after which they bundled him safe house somewhere in central Lagos arrested and tortured if the editors unto the floor ofthe jeep and macllyspecl where a mobile newsroom was quickly escape." The guard let out a scream of way. They also whisked away personnel set up within hours. There was work anguish and crumbled to the floor. to do and no time to waste. Iclow Notwithstanding, kicks from the Obasa, a trained accountant and much-talented general manager of jackboots of the other four security 'You will be arrested and tortured if men rained on him to teach him the group, rallied the team. There a lesson. the editors escape.' was no let up. Wo rk continued on Without any more tricks, the the next edition of the magazine. second guard, unwilling to go Instructions were issued, and through the same treatment given everyone basically knew what to to his partner, led them into the nearly staff, including the librarian. Just about do after several years of similar experi­ empty newsroom and the deserted of­ anyone they saw around. ences. It was back to the trenches, and fices of the editors. Six hours after the attack, clarlmess the newsroom was a no-go area. Obasa Instantly, they knew they had been fe ll. Te n agents of the clreaclecl State was a towering figure who combined his fooled. Mission unaccomplished, they Security Service moved in to keep a accounting duties with an unmatched furiously overturned the tables, ran­ covert surveillance over the premises, in editorial skill. He was on call as always sacked the drawers fordocuments, and full alert to arrest anyone attempting to and ensured that the publications-The used the butt of their riffles to smash access the office.The siege declared on News and Te mpo-stayed on the streets the desktops. In 30 minutes, the hith­ The News was at its highest stage. during the darkest days of the siege erto organized newsroom was made Darker nights lay ahead forTheNews against the media. •

years, was installed in power. During detention of editors and reporters by tacks and manhunts continued, yet in Abacha's rule, The News reported on government security agents, failed to the face of so many risks our magazine an alleged coup plot against his regime. stop the journalism that we practiced at was produced each week. Afterconducting a thorough investiga­ The News. \V hen those attempts failed, We worked under very difficult tion, our magazine scooped the special the militaqroutlawed the publication as conditions. For months at a time, the investigation panel report that cleared well as consumption of any publication senior editorial team and the produc­ all the soldiers and civilians who had related to The News. The editors ofThe tion crewwere holed-up in a one-room been accused of plotting to overthrow News-Bayo Onanuga, Dapo Olorun­ apartment on Lagos Island. Report­ the government. Our reporting exposed yomi, Babafemi Ojudu, Kunle Ajibade, ers dropped their stories at different Abacha's allegation of a coup attempt and Seye Kehinde-were declared on locations. Meetings were held in odd as untrue, a phantom charge orches­ national television to be wanted by the places like churches, stadiums, bars and trated by his military government to militaqr government. During this time, I restaurants, car parks and in taxicabs. eliminate opponents and deal with the was still a national correspondent. We became constantly mobile journal­ critical media. Rather than stop reporting, the ists who worked incognito; we had no Because of The News' unfavorable editors decided to take The News un­ fixed address and were isolated from reporting and interviews, successive derground and thus defy the military's friends and family. Magazine production military governments tried to cripple order. Soon we were doing "guerrilla was broken down into differentstages our magazine's operations. For ex­ journalism" for a new magazine we and printing done in several printing ample, General Babangida's regime called Te mpo, which in reality was houses, while circulation was done went after The News fewer than six simply a new name and face for The under the cover of the night. months after it began publishing in News. Even though government offi­ We continued to write critical stories 1993. Repeated attacks on its offices, cials figured out what was happening, that government officials did not want including the destruction and confisca­ and knew the same journalists were published, such as when we exposed tion of thousands of copies of editions behind this new publication, we were that it was the agenda of the military to of the magazine and illegal arrests and undeterred. The harassment and at- continue in power indefinitely. Many

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 17 Courage of my colleagues, as well as journalists Institutional and personal courage the country's Constitution to allow the at Te ll magazine, a sister weeldy that often go together as reporters work incumbentpresident a third term offour endured a fate similar to ours, were to uphold journalistic ethics in their years. Those who oppose this amend­ arrested, tortured and jailed. My clos­ reporting and news organizations ment, along with those who report on est colleague at The News, Bagauda refuse to succumb to pressures to cen­ these critics, are under scrutiny and Kaltho, was abducted in 1995 and sor what is reported. The result of this risk arrest. tortured to death; his body has never partnership is courage, just as it takes In this current climate, it is essential been found. courage to venture into enemy territo1y that journalists remain vigilant and In the faceof these travails and risk so an important stmy will be told. To bold as they keep a watchful eye for to our lives, we continued our work as display fe arlessness in pursuit ofa sto1y, any unconstitutional acts of Nigeria's journalists. The brave1y and determina­ even when danger lurks clearly in the powerful central government. If Nige­ tion I witnessed during this time-to shadows, is courage. It is also about rian journalists were under any illusion not desist from reporting when the having the tenacity to keep going after that with the exit of the milita1y the risks of doing so are so enormous-is an important story even when the odds courage needed to report on political courage epitomized. The fe arlessness seemed stacked against success. Cour­ developments would be lessened, they I saw among these reporters as they age is about seeing each new day as an were mistaken. The events during the dared to be different when other jour­ opportunity-another challenge-to past five years demonstrate clearly that nalists were either quitting their jobs rely on the ethics of good journalism. the level of courage needed to report or supporting through their silence Without courage, the vitally impor­ events truthfully and not be compro­ and inaction an illegal government is tant stories we, in Nigeria, have read, mised in doing the work of journalism courage in action. heard and seen in the news media remains very high. • This determination of Nigeria's pro­ through recent decades would not gressive media, alongside the actions have been possible. And this continues Sunday Dare, a 2001 Nieman Fel­ of many brave people in civil society, to be true, even more so now. Though low, is chief of the Hausa service fo r eventually paid offwhen the milita1y no Nigeria has an elected government in the Vo ice of America and is based in longer could justify theirst ay in power, place, the need for journalistic cour­ Wa shington, D. C. . lost all legitimacy, and decided to allow age remains in high demand, such as an election to take place. during the dubious attempt to amend 1:81 [email protected]

A War Reporter Tries to Understand What Courage Is 'Thinking about courage becomes a reflection on humanity.'

By Alexis Sinduhije

mmanuel Ndamwumvaneza was speechless. This woman's situation searching for answers as to how a covers wars for our radio news became the focus of his reporting as person shows courage. He'd ask this E station. One day, with no other no one paid attention to her screaming question of all of us in the newsroom, reporter on hand, Emmanuel was sent cries for help. He had some money with as he wondered where someone gets to cover a health sto1y. We 'd heard him, but not enough to financethe care the courage to stand forwhat is right that in Burundi's hospital emergency she needed. In time, a man did walk when everything is wrong. I'm afraid rooms, when sick people can't pay their by who had money meant to feed his all he received from us were vague bills up front they are not cared for. family, but he gave it to the hospital responses. All of us knew that Em­ At Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) , an to save the life of this woman and her manuel was ve1y courageous, risking independent radio station, we wanted baby. Emmanuel's own feelings were a his life all the time to report on war. But to put a constant watch on this situation mix of anger and happiness. "I was so few of us ever paused to think about to see if this was true and, we hoped, happy to see that in the countty there what courage is really about. I never to end this unfairru le. are people \V i th heart, people who can imagined that one clay I'd be asked to \Xfhen Emmanuel Ndamu, as \Ve call give without thinking of themselves, sit in front of my computer and write him, a giant, strong and courageous just help," he said. about courage, so when I did this my war reporter, saw a woman who was In his radio story, Emmanuel spoke thoughts turned to Emmanuel. giving birth refusedmedical attention of humanity, a word he'd never used in Thinking about courage becomes a because she had no money to pay, his stories about the violence of war. reflection on humanity. In my countty, instead of his usual loud shouting, he In his work, Emmanuel was always Burundi, beyond the savage rules in

18 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Afr ica our hospitals, injustice and cruelty is Te aching them journalistic skills was Parliament who was denouncing the imposed by the government against one challenge; the hard part forus was misuse of public funds. innocent civilians. Most of time people maldng them believe they could work Courage comes fromanger, the an­ are killed for what they are: Hutu ldlls together and fight for people's rights ger to refuse injustice. In every society, Tu tsi and Tutsi ldlls Hutu . Humanity is by using a microphone instead of an when the powerful use lies to rule disregarded as children, old people, AK-47. We met Emmanuel in this way, unfairly, there are people with courage and women are killed. In this poorest and he and the others quickly became who rise in opposition. The man who of nations, whatever growth in wealth good reporters. In time, through their paid for the woman to receive help there is gets taken by powerful political reporting, they denounced human at the hospital was driven by anger at actors who put their energy into steal­ rights abuse, exposed corruption, the selfish. One clayas Emmanuel was ing the limited riches of the counuy investigated state crimes, and covered investigating a large massacre, I asked RPA' s values are rooted in the belief the war. To do this they risked their him if he was feeling afraid of the ldllers. that providing Burundi's people with lives, but because of what they did they "I am so ang1y about this," he told me, independently verifiedin formation will discovered and brought to light many "that I think there is no place for fe ar break the circle of violence, promote crimes against humanity in Burundi. in me. These people who have been accountable leadership, and improve Because of their stories, many people slain could be me. I have to go after the lives of the people. In the midst were able to get back the lands that the truth no matter what." • of our nation's ethnic war, between had been taken by more powerful Hutu and Tu tsi, we recruited Hutu and forces. By brealdng the codes of the Alexis Sindubije is the fo under and Tu tsi combatants to work together in powerful interests on both sides of director of Radio Publique Africaine, gathering news. It was a very difficult the conflict, these young and dynamic and in 2004 be was awarded the In­ and dangerous thing to attempt since reporters became the voice of the voice­ ternational Press Freedom Award by it meant taldng fighters from the war. less. Recently, they were also brave the Conunittee to Protect jo urnalists. In doing so, we were alienating our­ enough to remind the newly elected selves from the Hutu rebel group and president that the people in Burundi 181 [email protected] the Tutsi-led army. We had to convince are citizens, not his subjects, after the these soldiers to take this job instead president had sent police to stop a of fighting each other. press conference led by a member of

When Corporate Managers Nu dge News Decisions The clash of cultures 'affects editors' and reporters' ability to investigate stories and break new ones.'

By Philippa Green

n the South African winter of2005, ing him with bottles and other objects. our best reporters, several times that a young broadcast reporter, Mandia Premier S'bu Nclebele,like all premiers, clayas the story developed. About an I Zembe, went to cover a rally for is appointed by the president, and the hour beforethe main TVnews bulletin, the anniversa1y of the Soweto upris­ crowd now regarded him as Mbeki's a senior SABC manager in Johannes­ ings in the eastern seaboard province man. They also scrawled Zuma's name burg called me. He demanded that I of KwaZulu-Natal. Two clays earlier, on cars parked at the stadium. Under "discipline" Zembe fo r his inaccurate South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki this barrage, the premier had to be reporting. Premier Nclebele had com­ had dismissed his deputy,]a cob Zuma, rushed off the stage with his body­ plained after the radio reports aired, after he'd been named in a trial of a guards protecting him. claiming that he had neither been businessman as having been involved Zembe filedhou rly reports forthe peltedwith objects nor driven from the in a corrupt relationship. Zuma, who is radio news bulletins on all the sta­ stage. My manager told me he'd prom­ from this province, was a popular gue­ tions of the South Africa Broadcasting ised the premier time on our current rilla leader in the underground army Corporation (SABC). He reported the affairs show on the Zulu-language sta­ that fought the apartheid regime and story, too, for the SABC's evening TV tion Ukhozi to set the record straight, has voluble support in the region. bulletins. as well as prime time on TV As the provincial premier spoke, the At the time, I headed SABC 's radio Zembe was badly shaken. As he'd crowd expressed itself fo rcefully, pelt- news service. I spoke to Zembe, one of driven out of the stadium through the

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 19 Courage hostile crowds, his car had been pelted. new journalists; there is also a sharp sensibilities. At times, black reporters "You should see my car. It has 'Zuma' divide between editors and reporters were even whipped into submission. written all over it," he said. When he from both eras who are committed to "If people were fortunate enough to had arrived in the newsroom, he'd journalism and a cadre of managers, be called to a cl isciplina1y hearing, foundarmed bodyguards there-and also from both eras, who see the pub­ they could choose to be sjambokkecl assumed they were the premiers'. They lic broadcaster's role quite diffe rently. [whipped] rather than fired," one re­ didn't talk to him, but their presence This clash is especially keenly fe lt in porter testified to the Truth and Recon­ made him uneasy. That evening some­ the provinces, where the SABC has a ciliation Commission that investigated one called to threaten him with death. vast network of journalists and radio apartheid atrocities. Even harder for him, he told me, was stations that, if robust, can seriously Control of news was tight. An execu­ that he clicln 't !mow what to do because irk local rulers. The instinct of manag­ tive producer of an African-language his story was accurate. I advised him ers in the head office of]ohannesburg, radio current affairsshow told me how, to stay with the truth. and their proxies in the provinces, is in the old era, he was assigned to inter­ The premier used the airtime af­ often to soothe the feelings of the lo­ view a Bantustan leader (the stooges forded him to deny that he had been cal big fish. of apartheid who maintained the farce forced to cut short his speech or leave In one sense this is because the of black "independent" homelands). the stadium earlier than planned. The SABC has had a hard time shedding His briefing was not to ask questions next clay newspapers around the coun­ its shoddy past. During the apartheid but to just let the chief minister speak. try carried pictures ofNclebele leaving regime it was, in the words of Allister And then he was not allowed to edit the stadium under a metal table that Sparks, "an explicit and unashamed the politician's musings: He had to play was carried by his bodyguards to shield propaganda machine." Under the new the tape in full on the current affairs him from the welter of objects thrown democratic government it has emerged show that evening. from the stands. with a much more representative board KwaZulu-Natal has always been of directors, as well as legal protection When Managers Intrude a hard place for SABC journalists to from political interference. Its editorial work. Some three years earlier I'd charter pledges fairness and public The challenge today at the SABC is rushed clown to Durban, the province's service journalism, with a news service that many of these control structures capital city, to wrest from the police that produces news in all 11 official still exist, albeit in a changed form. a tape they had confiscated from a languages plus, in the case of radio And while press attention (local and radio reporter. The tape contained an news, two other San languages. international) fo cuses often on the interview with a man who had held his Ye t the SABC is an organization that rambunctious changes at the very \v ife hostage over a grievance related continues to make almost as much top levels, little attention is paid to to his tmv-truck business and alleged news as it produces. One reason is its nether regions. In these provincial police corruption. The police had shot this clash between old and new. An­ bureaus, several journalists, both him dead minutes after the interview other is its contradictory structure and black and white, who tried under the although he seemed to pose no threat practices: At times in the postapart­ dire circumstances of apartheid to do to his wife. Then they had taken our heicl era, the SABC has been run as a their jobs with integrity, are now in reporter's tape. professional public news service; at positions of responsibility as regional I bristled with righteous anger, but others its operations are impelled by editors (provincial bureau chiefs also this soon fizzledin the face of truth. The the bottom line (the government fu nds responsible for the local radio current reporter, a veteran from the apartheid less than five percent of its running affairs shows) , executive producers era at the SABC, had given the police costs) and, at still others, it becomes a of current affairs shows, and senior the tape without protest. This was political grazing ground for the ruling reporters. what he'd clone in the past, he said, party faithful. Often these trajectories Covering provincial affairs is crucial and had seen no reason why he should coincide. But the nub of the problem to tracking democracy and providing not do so now. In sharp contrast to the lies deep in the institutional culture citizens with information. Provincial young, postapartheicl Zembe, who had that, despite numerous changes in leaders are responsible for deliver­ clung to the truth of his story against executive leadership, has not changed ing services-water, housing, health authority, this reporter was steeped in much. This culture affects editors' and care-to those so long deprived by the art of acquiescence. reporters' ability to investigate stories apartheid. Success can mean promo­ The irony: Zembe has since left the and break new ones. tion to the national cabinet; failure SABC; the old reporter is still there. During apartheid, black reporters can mean ignominy. It can also mean who reported news for the African­ that voters get rough, and in the past Clash of Cultures language stations were closely tracked nvo years there have been sporadic by (white) supervisors who spoke ver­ demonstrations around the countty This profound clash of cultures does nacular tongues and checked that news protesting lack of cleliveiy not manifest itself only between old and broadcasts did not offend government Given these circumstances, a robust

20 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Africa editor and newsroom in a province can affairs shows are accurate, fair and holidays, although as his editor I had be a thorn in the side for an inept or lively enough to attract listeners. But approved his leave. Another regional tactless premier. In my years working instead of empowering them to do their manager called the newsroom on a Sat­ at SABC I heard provincial premiers jobs, top managers in Johannesburg urday afternoon to order a cameraman excoriate radio news anchors (who weakened them three years ago when, to a funeral of a powerful businessman, work in the provinces), slam regional against protests of the news division, a funeral where this manager was the editors for not providing coverage they installed regional managers in master of ceremonies. when they opened a public building, the provinces at levels above regional The risks for regional editors and criticize reporters who did unflattering editors. In the news division, we were reporters are significant, and thus it stories, and all the time find sympa­ assured that our regional editors would requires courage for journalists to thetic ears among top management in still report to editors inJohannesburg, speak out against these intrusions into Johannesburg. but we were concerned. These regional their work. Resigning or losing a job in Reporting provincial and local is­ managers were given no staff and tiny a country such as South Africa, where sues can be a lonely and sometimes budgets, yet they are paid big salaries the market for broadcasting skills is dangerous job. In our worst case, a and given generous car allowances and tight, particularly in African languages, young provincial reporter, Sonnyboy a mandate to be SABC "ambassadors" is not an option that many newsroom Hlahane, who had covered local pro­ in their provinces. staff can afford to take. But if the edi­ tests extensively, set up an interview In time, a measured campaign of tors don't defend their space against one evening in a dilapidated rural area interfe rence began. It started in the these "ambassadorial" managers, who fora background story on the protests. fa r north when the regional manager hanker for cozier relations with the The next morning the police found would wander into the newsroom at local political and business leaders, Sonnyboy's body in a pool of shallow deadline and "reassign" reporters al­ public service journalism in our new water with strangling marks behind his ready working on stories. A provincial democracy will be diminished. • neck and scratch marks on his arms, cabinet minister might be having a hands and wrists. That was more than a cocktail fu nction. "Go and cover that," Philipp a Green, a 1999 Nieman Fel­ year ago. No one has yet been charged he'd order a junior reporter. When I low, served as head of South Af rican with his murder and only his local col­ told him to stay out of our newsroom, Broadcasting Co1poration 's Radio leagues seem concerned by this. he replied that he was "CEO of Lim­ News until 2005. She is a visiting Fe r­ At times the battles over news popo" and could do as he pleased. ris Professor of ]o urnalisni at Prince­ coverage in the provinces are tough. Soon the "big chief" culture spread. ton University. Regional editors must ensure that the A regional editor in one province was television bulletins broadcast out of hauled before a disciplinary commit­ 181 [email protected] Johannesburg are serviced and that tee by the regional manager for being the local radio bulletins and current absent for a clay during Christmas

Repressive Actions Give Way to Business Realities 'Independent newspapers and privately owned TV and radio stations lack the economies of scale necessary to become sustainable businesses.'

By Shyaka Kanuma

ntil a few years ago, if a journal­ party of governing autocratically. A him $600,000 in kickbacks. Mugabi ist in Rwanda published a story number ofjour nalists saw the inside of was locked up on the clay the story U deemed unfavorable to the a prison cell after writing such articles. appeared. regime, police or unidentified"sec urity A few fled into exile and others cleciclecl Another journalistic offense, and not operatives" would arrive unannounced self-censorship was the best way to go surprisingly in Rwanda a criminal one and drag the frightened journalist or if they were to stay in business. as well, is to write anything deemed editor away to jail. For publishing "of­ One John Mugabi of Rwanda News­ hate speech. Amiel Nkuriza of the Ki­ fe nsive material" they'd be locked up line, a Kigali-based weekly, published gali-based newspaper, Le Partisan, did fo r months without a court hearing. a story implicating a big army officer that and served a three-year jail term Considered a punishable offense was in the purchase of junk choppers for without a court hearing. In his article, writing an article accusing the ruling the military in a deal that would net he questioned the "right of the Tu tsi

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 21 Courage

[ethnic group) to govern the country With the government no longer our base, if one manages to sign contracts given they are the minority and so can­ main threat, we grapple with another with a few of the nongovernmental or­ not possibly govern democratically." major hindrance to our craft. Indepen­ ganizations working in Kigali. These in­ N kuriza 's opinions echoed some ofthe dent newspapers and privately owned clude local UN agency offices,We stern ideas disseminated by the extremists TV and radio stations lack the econo­ aid agencies, a few airlines operating who planned and instigated the 1994 mies of scale necessary to become in Rwanda, five-star hotels, and some Rwandan genocide in which many sustainable businesses. The finances quasigovernment agencies such as members of the Hutu ethnic groups of running a private news organiza­ those handling its procurement needs participated in the mass murder of tion in Rwanda are far different than and a few others. Mainly these are job their Tu tsi neighbors. in countries with longer established announcements or tenders to supply No journalist-or any­ services and goods. Even one else-spoke up for then, these advertisers him to argue that it was show a bias towards excessive of the state to The finances of running a private news working with govern­ lock him up forthree years organization in Rwanda are far different than in ment-owned media. And while denying him the why not? If they want to chance to defend himself. countries with longer established media that get work out to as wide Because many in Rwanda's serve far bigger markets. Even before the mass an audience as possible, news media were willing the government press is accomplices in the dis­ murders and mayhem, the reality in Rwanda the way to go. semination of the ideology was that only government-owned media could The independent of mass murder,' today the press has never earned press is in the unenviable operate with any regularity. money and so it can position of being trusted afford neither the staff, less by most people than the infrastructure (com- the government. puters, printing presses, The count1)"s new president, Paul media that serve far bigger markets. phones), nor the capacity to publish Kagame, after conceding that the gov­ Even before the mass murders and newspapers or broadcast on a regular ernment has been on bad terms with mayhem, the reality in Rwanda was that basis. Small independent media are the news media, has been inviting only government-owned media could trapped in a vicious poverty cycle. members of the media to his office for operate with any regularity. discussions on ways that the news me­ Slightly more than eight and a half The Courage to Try dia and government can make Rwanda million people live in Rwanda; 60 a better society. After many excruciating percent of them live below the pov­ It seemed crazy even to me when I years of open hostility, the realization erty line (defined by the Wo rld Bank decided to quit my job at UNHCR (the seems to have sunk in that if Rwanda as surviving on less than one dollar a United Nations High Commissioner for is to become a progressive, democra­ clay) . Radio is likely to be the medium Refugees) in Kigali to return to jour­ tizing countl1' characterized by rule of most of the poor will have access to nalism. But I did this with the idea of la\.v, unbridled hostility to the media is and only those who pay the price of a starting an English-language publica­ not one of the ways to go. tiny transistor and batteries to power it. tion called Focus that would target its This good news allows me to write Even among the other 30 percent, a lot reporting on holding politicians and a sentence that I could only have of those people are poor, though not policymakers accountable, including dreamed of writing just a couple of destitute. They, too, depend on radio the lawyers, information technology years ago: To day in Rwanda we enjoy for entertainment and news. Only a specialists, medical doctors, civil ser­ press freedoms on a par with any tiny percentage of Rwandans own TV vants, and teachers who comprise the \X festern democracy. This is not to sets. A ve11' few have the disposable professional and powerful elite. Some say Rwanda has all of a sudden be­ income to buy newspapers and other fr iends saw the need for this kind of come a democracy. What we have is publications regularly. paper and pledged money to finance a progressive dictatorship with good Given this environment, there is three or fourprint runs. intentions, but no safeguards exist to little advertisement money to be had. I removed all my personal savings prevent it from returning us to the Ye t for a good private press there exists from the bank and borrowed money bad old clays. a tiny, potentially profitable advertising from fr iends. I bought some desktop

' Though almost every media organization became a tool of these ideologues, the most notorious accomplices were Hassan Ngeze, publisher and editor of the Kangura newspaper, and Ferdinand Nahimana and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, founders of RTLM radio.

22 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Asia computers, paid rent for the office ers would surface. drove me to do this? Of that, I cannot space, a phone line and an Internet In the five months that Focus has be certain. But I do know I wouldn't connection. I hired three reporters, been in existence, we've foughtin every have lasted another month at my old an office manager, and an editor. Soon way we know how to get readers. By job since I was ever more fe el up with we were in business in our 30-by-30 May, progress was apparent. Our first UN bureaucracy that made my work an foot downtown Kigali office building. issue sold 20 copies, but we took nearly ordeal. Whether courage led me to do We outsourced advertisement opera­ a thousand unsold ones and distributed this, I know now that courage is going tions to a small group of freelancers . them forfre e as a promotion. The sec­ to be necessaq1 to keep us going. Some Like all good salespeople, they badger ond issue fa red better with 400 copies of that courage comes from knowing me with concerns about projected bought. Circulation jumped to 3,000 that my best contribution to a better circulation growths, demographics, with the third and fo urth issues. Tw o Rwanda will only be made by being a the reach of our distribution network, or three advertisement contracts have journalist. • and so on. I tell them it does not take been signed, but we are not celebrat­ much market research to know that a ing. Debts have accumulated to such Sbyaka Ka nu ma, a 2003 Nieman. Fe l­ number of Rwandans have the money an extent that Focus teeters on the low, is fo under and editor of Fo cus, to buy a newspaper but were long ago brink of bankruptcy. But we hang on, a new independent newspaper in. put off by the mediocre products the knowing another jump in circulation Rwanda. In 2001 be was awarded market offered them. If we regularly will rescue us. tbe CNN/Freedom Fo runi 's Free Press put out a good product-a well-re­ Starting a private paper here certain­ Afr ica Award fo r his reporting witb searched, well-written, rigorously ly requires a different kind of courage tbe Kigali weeldy, Rwanda Newsline. edited weekly-I sensed there was a than was asked of us a few years ago in a strong chance a whole lot of new read- country like Rwanda. Wa s courage what C8l shyaka200 [email protected]

Bu rmese Reporters in Exile Confro nt Different Risks Publications must assert independence from 'the international donors upon which they rely for financial support in the absence of a sustainable business model.'

By Aung Zaw

ower shortages and blackouts the only reason for Burmese to stay regulations, which continue to stifle are nothing new in Burma.1 glued to the broadcasts of shortwave press fr eedom. P Nor are news blackouts. In early radio stations beamed from overseas. Critics of the regime are not wrong. February, authorities detected bird flu The plain fa ct is that most Burmese The New Yo rk-based Committee to in Sagaing and Mandalay divisions but have no clue what is happening in their Protect Journalists branded Burma in the news didn't appear in state-run own country. its 2005 report on press freedom one newspapers or privately run jour­ In Burma, the Press Scrutiny and of Asia's most repressive countries nals until the middle of March. The Registration Department (PSRD), once for the media. In February, Report­ government's mouthpiece, The New controlled by Khin Nyunt's military ers Sans Frontieres issued an urgent Light of , waited until March intelligence officers, is now run by report saying that the milita11' govern­ 16th to report the outbreak. Info rmation Minister Brigadier General ment is tracking down people who Why do the authorities wait so long Kyaw Hsan and a new director, Major give information to the international to inform the public of such an impor­ Tint Swe, whose staff was increased to media. Indeed, the threat to journal­ tant development that directly affects more than 100, some 60 of whom are ists in Burma remains a ve11' real one, them? The reason for this particularly charged with regularly monitoring the and to practice journalism inside the cynical form of censorship has to be press. Despite changes at the top, there counu11-as it is meant to be prac­ the official fear of causing a panic. Ye t have been little signs of a relaxation ticed-requires courage, not only by fe ars of a serious health hazard aren't of the PSRD's draconian censorship individuals but also by the news or-

1 In ne\VS coverage of Burn1a, the countq' is, at tin1es, referred to as "J\11yann1ar," a nan1e given to it by its military government in 1988, or as "1'vlyanmar, formerly known as Burma." Journalists who have written for Nieman Heports, including this author, chose to use Burma as the counny's nan1e, as do n1any ne,vs organizations.

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 23 Courage

ganizations that must decide whether rest of Southeast Asia. in prison once they are finally able to to publish the information that solid In the past, in response to "friendly return to a "free" Burma. reporting by their staff might find. On requests" from the Burmese authori­ Over the years, has March 24th two photojournalists were ties, Thai security officials have asked not only questioned the accountability sentenced to three-year prison terms exiled publications to shut clown or and transparency of the exiled opposi­ for taking video and still photographs relocate their offices for "security tion, but has also exposed atrocities, of the junta's new administrative city reasons." However, many continue to including extrajudicial executions of in Pyinmana. Tw elve journalists are publish articles and editorials critical alleged infiltrators, committed by rebel among the more than 1,300 political of the many questionable deals being groups along the border with Thailand. prisoners in Burma. struck between the generals in Ran­ As a result of these reports, opposition goon and neighboring countries eager and rebel groups now exercise greater Burmese Press in Exile to do business with them. restraint in their handling of suspected Meanwhile, many exiled publica­ spies in their ranks. While some journalists inside Burma tions face pressure from other sectors While the reaction to our efforts to bravely continue to push the envelope, of the exile community. Editors and hold opposition groups accountable during the past decade Burmese-run reporters are often closely associated can take a toll on the morale of staff publications in exile have flourished. with political organizations or cam­ members, especially those with person­ Pro-democracy groups and journalists paign groups. As a result, they tend al ties to politically active fe llow exiles, living in exile produce an array of print to shy away from publishing critical The Irrawaddy remains committed to and online publications in English, commentary on the democratic op­ serving its readers. \l(te encourage our Burmese and various ethnic languages. position's weaknesses and sometimes reporters to pursue any line of inquiry Many of these publications are based in flawed strategies. that will yield informationof value to Burma's immediate neighbors-Thai­ In this environment, The Irrawaddy, the public, without regard for how land, India and Bangladesh-and many an independent publication not affili­ political groups or governments might receive grants and other formsof assis­ ated with any political organization, respond to their revelations. tance from international donors, chiefly stands out in publishing editorials in Europe and America. and articles that are critical of the Confronting Pressure From Since the host countries of these ex­ opposition in Burma and abroad. Donors iled publications enjoy press freedom, The publication of such stories is not these publications have been able to done to agitate or denigrate Burma's Burmese publications in exile must also remain highly critical of the Burmese ongoing "democracy movement," but assert their independence from other regime's human rights violations and to create healthy democratic debate, influences, namely the international do­ repressive nature. Even though the to restore a culture of tolerance and nors upon which they rely forfinancial regime and its censorship board cannot constructive criticism, and to educate support in the absence of a sustainable put any direct pressure on these exiled the "democratic opposition." business model. In the long run, some publications, they are not without While maintaining its critical stance publishers and editors are concerned their troubles, and the work they do toward the regime in Rangoon, the that this may prove to be the greatest requires diffe rent kinds of courage to magazine often looks at and examines challenge to . be demonstrated. the opposition's shortcomings, includ­ Many Burmese publications in exile seek Increasingly, under the rubric of ing its lack of transparency, account­ to diversify their donors, as they worry "constructive engagement," the gov­ ability and effectiveness. Reporting that depending upon a single source ernments of neighboring countries on these sensitive issues is not easy. of financial aid makes them vulner­ are forging closer traderelations with There have been threats and intimi­ able to pressure from donors that take the regime in Rangoon. As bilateral dation from some opposition groups issue with the publication's reporting ties between Burma and its neighbors that ostensibly espouse the democratic or editorial policies. strengthen, central authorities and lo­ principle of press fr eedom, but argue The Irrawaddy is among those ex­ cal security officialsin these countries that the time is not right to start putting iled publications that receive funding have put more pressure on the editors it into practice. "You can write freely from several international donors from of exiled publications. This has been when the revolution is over" is their European countries and the United the experience ofThe Irrawaddy, a Thai­ common refrain. States. Without these generous con­ land-based newsmagazine published Criticizing opposition parties or tributions, The Irrawaddy and most since 1993. Run by Burmese journal­ prominent figures such as Aung San other publications produced in exile ists, including this correspondent, The Suu Kyi, who is still under house ar­ would not survive forlong. But grants Irrawaddy offerscritical coverage of the rest in Rangoon, can provoke such a from international funding agencies Burmese regime and has exposed its vociferous outcry from dissidents that can also bring their share of troubles close ties with neighboring countries, some exiled journalists joke that their to publications operating in exile. An notably , India, Thailand and the hard-hitting editorials could land them incident relating to The Irrawaddy can

24 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Asia serve to illustrate the perils of relying tacks, I wrote an editorial on U.S. in editorial interference when it called on international donors. foreign policy that appeared on The for the withdrawal of the commentary, In 2002, at a Burma Night panel Irrawaddy's Web site, as well as in the but was merely taking action because discussion at the Foreign Correspon­ Bangkok Post. This opinion piece was Mizzima had violated one of the condi­ dents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok, indeed critical of the Bush administra­ tions of its grant agreement. (Under its I came under fire from the former tion's foreignpoli cy, but did not say that charter, NED is specifically prohibited charge d'affa ires of the U.S. Embassy the United States deserved the attack. from fu nding groups that engage in in Rangoon, Priscilla A. Clapp, for al­ Clapp apparently believed she was armed struggle. Ironically, the chief legedly condoning the attacks on the entitled to make this unwarranted and editor ofMizzima was a former hijacker United Sates on September 11, 2001. undiplomatic assault on me because I who commandeered a Thai Airways (The charge d'affaires has been the am the editor of a magazine that has International plane to Calcutta fr om highest-ranking U.S. diplomatic offi­ been receiving grants fr om the \Va sh­ Bangkok in 1990.) cial in Burma since the United States ington-based National Endowment for At home and abroad, Burmese jour­ downgraded its diplomatic ties with Democracy (NED), a Congress-funded nalists face sometimes daunting ob­ Rangoon in 1988.) Clapp, who was a organization. NED supports several stacles in their struggle to survive and guest of honor at the Burma Night dis­ Burma-related projects promoting preserve their editorial independence. cussion, was invited to make a closing democracy, human rights, and media Though the ldnds of journalistic cour­ remark on a panel discussion, which development. age called upon in each circumstance included this author. More recently, in March 2006, an­ diffe r, without strongly adhering to the She first praised the "very good other Burmese media group, the New stance of independence neither entity journalism of The Irrawaddy" before Delhi-based Mizzima , was will fu nction as it should. • she said, "I remind [the editor of The told by NED to retract an essay that Irrawaddy] that he is highly supported claimed that it advocates violence. Aung Za w is editor of TheIrra wad­ by the American government, and we Mizzima pulled the article, but the dy, a magazine about Burma and did notice his editorial in the Thai press damage was done. A radical campaign Southeast Asian affa irs, located in saying that America deserved the at­ group known as Dictator Watch issued Ch iang Mai, No rthern Th ailand. tack on September 11." She continued a statement criticizing NED, calling sternly, "That does not go unnoticed it the "National Endowment for Hy­ 1:8:1 [email protected] in Wa shington." pocrisy." Just after the September 11th at- NED insists that it was not engaging

When a Journalist's Vo ice Is Silenced In using the Internet to share his views, Li Datang is 'breaking the wishes of authorities who would preferhe did not speak to the foreign press.'

By Philip J. Cunningham

i Datang is difficult to locate at in the cafe is somehow fitting for a dif­ he has during these winter months first. At a glance he could have fident but determined local journalist shown an unprecedented willingness L been any one of a number of stepping into the international media to talk to the foreign press, in transla­ middle-aged bespectacled gentlemen spotlight for the firsttime . tion, in the hope that some of what he taldng a break over cigarettes and tea in Embattled editor LiDatang appears has to say will be translated back to the crowded lobby of the Poly Building, to be in excellent spirits. He smiles Chinese and distributed domestically. a multiplex sporting a modern theatre, often, and his eyes are clear and alert. In doing so, he's brealdng the wishes art displays, a hotel and officeblock not Freezing Point, the supplement he of authorities who would prefer he did fa r from his office at the China Yo uth edits for China Yo uth Daily, is closed not speak to the foreign press. [See Daily. I see a man emerge from the glare down. He has been banished from the accompanying box of excerpts from a of sunlight, wearing a jacket but not a newsroom; within China, his name is critical memo Li Datang wrote to his tie, waving me over to his table with a blocked in search engines, but he is paper's editor in chief and circulated grin. That he had staked out a seat in communicating in every way he can. through the Internet.] the brightest yet most secluded spot Although he does not speak English, It's February, and in the last few

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 25 Courage

Words That Made a Difference

In the summer of 2005, Li Datang, editor of Freezing In his letter Li Datang, who had worked at the China Point, a popular supplement that he edited fo r Ch ina Yo uth Daily fo r 26 years, responded to the introduction Yo uth Daily, wrote a lengthy memo to the paper's editor of a numerical sy stem that would reward reporters based in chief,Li Erliang, and the editors' committee in response on the leindof praise their articles receive. to a set of Appraisal Regulations that he believed would adversely affe ct basic news standards and practices As I read these regulations, I could not believe my eyes. at the pape1: According to a Wa shington Post account When a report or a page received the highest accolade of this incident, without telling the editor in chief, Li from the readers, only 50 points is awarded. But if a Datang posted his letter on the newspaper's coniputer certain officiallikes it, there is at least 80 extra points up system befo re he went into the staffmeet ing where this to a maximum of 300 points ! Even worse, in the section new sy stem was to be discussed. Only at the end of this on "subtracting points," points will be deducted when meeting did he announce what he had done. By then, officials criticize it. What does that mean? his memo had been leaked and was sp reading across This means that no matter how much effort was put the Internet, and copies were posted on China 's most into your report, no matter how difficult your investiga­ popular We bfo rums. Soon thegove rnment's Internet cen­ tion was, no matter how well written your report was, and sors scrambled his words and ordered many We b sites to even if your life had been threatened during the process delete his lette1: Tw o days late1; confronted with public (and enough reporters have been beaten up for trying to outrage at what the editor in chief planned to do, the report the truth), and no matter how much the readers plan was shelved. Li Datong's lette1; in its entirety, can praised the report, as long as some official is unhappy be read at http://c1ypto1ne. cnJli-datong. htni and makes a few "critical" comments, then all your work

days he has spoken to Asahi Shimbun, a research post, involuntarily, while his tory-because that's an area they can Die Zeit, Kyodo News, The Yo miuri popular and sometimes controversial easily manipulate public opinion on," Shimbun, Financial Times, and CNN news supplement, Freezing Point, was Li Datang explained. so that he might continue to say what closed down. He is guardedly opti­ He went on to say that China's press he wants to say, albeit indirectly, to the mistic about appealing the decision. I is freer than ever while paradoxically it people of China and, more critically ask him if the article he published by remains as under control as ever. One given his battle of wills with certain Professor Yu an We ishi, "Modernization way to illustrate this is an expanding party censors, the leaders of China. and History Te xtbooks," challenging balloon marked by a design that gets When asked if he is being followed or orthodox views of Chinese history, was bigger as the balloon gets bigger. monitored, he grins again. He seems the reason Freezing Point got closed In an Open Letter that Li Datang sent unfazed even though the answer to clown.' out via the Internet after his dismissal, both is in the affirmative. "No, of course not. They have been in part, he wrote: "I watch the traffic for signs of being warning me for a long time, at least tailed, and I sometimes say hello to once a month. They didn't like my "This incident exposes the basic the unknown people listening in on running stuff by Taiwan writer Lung flaws in the news control system of our my phone, but I continue to do what Ying-tai and some other things. It's not country. A small number of people in I must do. I have nothing to hide," he one article, it's everything, everything the Central Propaganda Department says with gritty confidence. "What I do we do in Freezing Point." have a narrow worldview and mind is legal and supported by the constitu­ So why single out that article? and used dictatorial methods to im­ tion of my country. " "That's just an excuse, they needed pose controls that deaden what should He explains that he \.Vas abruptly an excuse to close me clown, and be a lively political scene in which a transferred out of the newsroom into they chose that particular topic-his- hundred flowers bloom and a hundred

' In his article, Professor Yu an challenged the Chinese traditional view of histot)' in which the Chinese are always seen as "good" and the enemies viewed as "bad." On the basis of his research, Yu an suggested that not all foreigners were bad and not all Chinese were good, an argument that touched on identity issues in China. Li Datang received some harsh responses to the article from readers.

26 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Asia

is worth zero, you have aclclecl zero to the reputation of tising revenue is not \V Orth mentioning. The newspaper the newspaper, and your readers' opinions are worth had a significant operating deficit last year. At the same less than a fart-in fact, you will be penalized as much time, many urban newspapers have begun to look and act as this month's wages! like mainstream newspapers, including their responsibil­ Under this unreasonable system, the editors and report­ ity to report. They are getting better with the news and ers will go out of their minds instead of worrying about commenta1y In terms of business, there are numerous media's role to monitor. Oddly enough, the most basic newspapers that make hundreds of millions per year fr om and irreplaceable role formains tream media to act as the advertisements ... the mainstream newspapers in China conscience of society and to seek justice for the socially are now facing a bad situation in their business. This vulnerable groups is completely missing in this document reflects the choice of the readers; it is also the choice of about the appraisal regulations. This cannot possibly be the market. As to how to deal with this highly competitive explained as cl ue to "omission" or "negligence." situation to restore the party newspapers to prominence, the choice is obvious. There is no choice but to win the Later in his lette1; Li describes how be views the situation trust of the people, like Marx's "people's news": "It must the China Yo uth Dailyfa ces in the new, more mar/wt-based live among the people, it must share the problems and environment of China's 21st centu 1y urban econo1ny. pains with the people, it must love and hate with the people, it must fairly tell all the things that people hope The very cold facts are that the China Yo uth Daily is facing forand suffe r from." Marx emphasized: "The trust of the serious problems in terms of surviving and developing. people is the condition for a newspaper to live. Without The circulation is decreasing from year to year. The aclver- this condition, the newspaper will shrivel." •

schools speak out. These people want your back to the wall, remain alert. that his traditional platformfor expres­ obedience and not equality. W'hich item Li Datong pauses in speaking only sion has been taken away. • in the party constitution of the Com­ rarely, focused as he is on the flow of munist Party lets them do that?" thought, deeply committed as he is to Freezing Po int resumed publication on March 1st with a In some of his writings diff erent appearance in defense of journalism, ... within China, his name is blocked in search and without the edito­ I'd noticed that he quoted rial leadership of Li Karl Marx, including a engines, but he is communicating in every way Datang and his dep uty counterthrust he directed he can. Although he does not speak English, edito1; Lu Yuegang. Th e at his boss when he' cl said fi rst issue included a "the trust of the people is he has during these winter months shown state-mandated ap ology necessary fora newspaper an unprecedented willingness to talk to the fo r running the Yu an to live, without which it We ishi article that, as will shrivel." When I ask foreign press, in translation, in the hope that Li e::..plained, neatly if invoking the name of some of what he has to say will be translated framesfo r its readers the Marx to protect press shutdown as an issue of freedom is an example of back to Chinese and distributed domestically. nationalism. using the reel flag to fight Th is article was adapt­ the reel flag, he gathers ed fr om. what Philip ]. his thoughts, then smiles. Cunninghmn, a 1998 "It's more like making sure whatever the cause of keeping his compact with Nieman Fellow, wrote in Fe bruary trick they try to use rebounds back his readers. 2006 and was posted on Danwei, on them." It's clear that Li loves his job and is a a We b site that provides links to Listening to Li Datang, his intense newspaperman through and through. Ch inese publications. His original gaze broken by someone walking by, He is very much of the ink and paper article is available at www. danwei. I'm reminded of the comment Malcolm tradition, but he is quickly learning the org/m edia_and_ advertisin g/li _ da­ X made about sitting in shops. Keep power and speed of the Internet now tong_meets_the _p ress_ by _jJ.php

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 27 Courage

Journalism's Triumphant Journey in Nepal 'With the royal regime's overt intentions to muzzle the press and radio, journalists have fought back to keep autocracy at bay and the flame of freed01n burning.'

By Kanak Mani Dixit

efore the 1980 plebiscite, the and economic expansion, in turn, gen­ as watchdogs over political parties and world of Nepali journalism was erated advertising, so we found it was governments that came to power after B mostly form and little content. possible for broadsheet newspapers to 1990. For a while, in the initial years We called ourselves journalists, but survive with market revenue. of the Maobadi "people's war, " there not many of us were that, if you re­ The decades-long pent-up demand was romanticism in the press cover­ gard journalism first and foremost as for informationin a newly literate na­ age, and to this day (with exceptions) a freedom forum to speak truth to the tion was rapidly filledby several broad­ there is fe ar among journalists when it powerful state. The journalistic energy sheets, including Kantipur, which was comes to covering rebel atrocities. And was concentrated in the tabloids like started by some maverick businessmen when Chairman Gyanendra (the royal Bimarsa, Samikshya, Dristi and Desan­ and touched the pulse of the moment monarch who ruled Nepal) started to tar, which sought valiantly to make up and sold well. Before long, a need was show his autocratic ambitions, with forthe lack of civil society, free courts, felt for the kind of analysis provided the bacldng of the milita1y, many news and political parties. by newsmagazine journalism. Himal media practitioners were exposed as The reporting tended to be weak, but Khabarpatrika introduced this genre, men of straw. the papers, printed on cheap newsprint which marked the second leap in print Perhaps because journalists were in cold lead type on treadle presses, journalism after the arrival ofKantipur. so dramatically aware of what the Pan­ provided plenty of opinion. These And those who had predicted the death chayat period had done to freedom of published opinion pieces reflected as of the political weekly had to recant, expression, and to Nepal's prospects much dissidence as was possible under as the tabloids have remained among generally, they were immediately cog­ the Panchayat system of government us, daring to go where the corporate nizant of the ramifications on their that had been established by King publications fear to tread. And with a work when the royal coup ofFebrua1y Mahendra in the early 1960's. And the surge in daily or weekly tabloids, jour­ 1, 2005 took place. Since then, work­ limits on the opinion press varied ac­ nalism spread throughout Nepal. ing with the Nepal Bar Association, cording to the regime's mood. In those The countrywide spread of journal­ the Federation of Nepalese Journalists times, if you were not a hack worldng ism has taken full advantage of new has played a central part in the fight for the government's Gorkhapatra/Ris­ electronic and digital possibilities, for pluralism. With the royal regime's ing Nepal or a regime-sympathizing including fax, mobile phones, satel­ overt intentions to muzzle the press "Panche" scribe, you were considered lite connections, and the Internet. All and radio, journalists have foughtback a "partisan" journalist.Journalists who this has helped the news media play to keep autocracy at bay and the flame did not particularly like the autocracy, a unifying role in the midst of our of freedom burning. but did not want to be associated with unsettled and stressful recent times. With the rise of the Maoist rebels the banned political parties, took the Nepali bloggers are active in spread­ and the king's repressive rule and mili­ path of apolitical journalism-writing ing personalized news and opinion. tarization, journalists were confronted and reporting on culture, language, Compared with other South Asian by challenges inherent in living up to literature, travel writing, and so on. countries, Nepal's the highest principles of their voca­ and political cartooning have evolved tion. They've had to fightgov ernment The Transformation rapidly and now provide reaction and censorship while also guarding against reliefas the country has descended into self-censorship, which has taken cour­ Journalists pushed the envelope offr ee­ political anarchy and violence. age, and they've had to show courage dom after 1980 and helped greatly in Since 1990, the Nepali journalists' under fire as they've worked under creating the conditions for the People's learning curve has been very steep. the threat of commissars and gun­ Movement of the spring of 1990, when In earlier years, we did not take full men. They have resisted demands of windows were forced opento let in the advantage of our available freedoms soldiers who have entered into their air of freedom. Public support and mar­ because many of us were so inexperi­ newsrooms and recording studios, and ket expansion helped buoy the world enced as journalists, even if some of many of them have remained at the of journalism. Newspaper distribution us were advanced in years.Journalists, forefront of news and analysis while expanded with the spread of highways, forexample, did not perform strongly they've watched others go silently

28 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Asia into hiding. When news organizations their standards of self-criticism and provided by the people, to be able to that had talked loudly suddenly went improvement. Journalism today is still make a difference. • quiet, it was left to individuals like the riddled with weaknesses, despite the redoubtable Rishi Dhamala to keep impressive journey we've made so far. Kanak Mani Dixit is editor of Himal his Reporters' Club of Nepal going. In In the fu ture, we will have to work at Southasian and publisher of Himal April, during the time of street protests dramatically increasing social inclusion Khabaipatrika. He started his ca­ against the Icing's rule, Dhamala and within our ranks and ensure that the reer in journalism. with an article two other journalists were beaten by journalists in the local districts are paid in The Rising Nepal in 1971. Th is police as they closed down a program at a level befittingtheir competence and article is adapted and updatedfr om organized by the Reporter's Club in role. Publishers must not shy away from a sto1J1 he wrote in Fe brumy fo r Th e Kathmandu. competition, and we must inculcate Kathmandu Post. During the recent At a time when so many other sectors higher standards in training as well as toppling of the royal regime, he was of society failed the people of Nepal, fostering investigative journalism. arrested and sp ent several weeks in journalists will one day be forgiven For now, the journalists of Nepal jail, where he gave interviews by cell for basking in well-earned credit when can take satisfaction for being in the phone and wrote articles clandes­ peace and democracy return. midst of the good fight. Let no jour­ tinely. But even as Nepal moves towards nalist complain of how difficult it is in democracy, journalists must maintain the profession today: It is a privilege l:BI [email protected]

Threats Come at Journalists in Pakistan Fro m All Sides Despite gains in press freedom, news organizations and reporters engage in self­ censorship as a strategy to protect themselves and their business.

By Beena Sarwar

hen I think about courage in coverage that they do what they can to legal safeguards in the United States; the context of my countqr, accommodate "the other side." Those much reporting about government W Paldstan, I am reminded of who ask questions that are unpalatable abuses (Guantanamo Bay and Abu the Cowardly Lion who went looldng to the administration find themselves Ghraib) is done without reprisal, even for the Wizard of Oz so he could get being edged out of the circle of those at a time of heightened concern about courage and then realized he actu­ privy to inside information or not called prosecu torial attempts to force journal­ ally already had it. It strikes me that on during press conferences. Recently ists to reveal sources. Still, even in this reporting honestly and fairly-what John Green, executive producer of reporting, few reporters have probed the best of journalism should be the weekend edition of ABC's "Good beyond the obvious transgressions of about-requires courage whenever the Morning America," was suspended af­ human rights: The focus remains on surrounding climate is geared towards ter e-mail messages he wrote that were the whistleblowers rather than on those suppressing the truth, as it is in Paldstan critical of President Bush and former who are violating human rights. and so many other places today. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright In Paldstan, despite recent improve­ Despite press freedom in the United were leaked. ments in press freedom, dangers re­ States, for example, many journalists The more I learn about journalism main for those whose reporting takes still find it hard to question authority, in the United States, the more I believe them against the officialversion of the investigate corruption, or follow up on that things aren't all that different with truth. There are numerous examples of unpalatable truths. Some who report journalism in Pakistan. Even today, what happens to these transgressors, on government and politics in Wash­ when the press situation is freer than well documented by watchdog bodies ington, D.C. have told me about the it's ever been, what is happening in such as the Committee to ProtectJour ­ self-imposed restraints that creep into Washington is familiar to journalists in nalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, their work. Other conversations reveal Pakistan who dare to cross swords with and Human Rights Wa tch. Among that many U.S. journalists are so afraid the establishment. There are, ofcourse, the tactics of intimidation used are of being labeled "partisan" in their more constitutional protections and phone taps, surveillance, threatening

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 29 Courage

or interrogating phone calls, or visits intimidation and harassment. In 1999, then charged with sedition forworking from intelligence agency personnel. journalists were involved in a campaign against the "national interest." Since the "war on terror" was declared, calling forthe release of Najam Sethi, There are some journalists in Pald­ in which Pakistan is a key U.S. ally, editor of the weekly The Friday Times, stan (and throughout the world) who Pakistan's intelligence agencies have whom the government's intelligence criticize these reporters as being "fool­ developed close links to their American agencies had picked up after he gave hardy. " They argue, perhaps rightly, that counterparts, and this war is used as a a speech in "enemy territory" (New they should have obtained "versions" handy excuse to intimidate the political Delhi, India) , in which he was alleg- from the other side and presented opposition, as well as journalists them alongside the information who question official policy. they did report. Journalists in The cozy relationship be­ Pakistan often find it difficult to tween Pakistani and U.S. intel­ When journalists see what happens obtain such "versions," given the ligence agencies means that to reporters like [Hayatullah] Khan secrecy culture of those who are "terror suspects" can be handed in power. And given "the other over to American authorities in and others, it deters some from side's" power, if an attempt is Pakistan, though this practice is probing further into situations that made to obtain such information denied by both sides.Journalists there is a good chance the story fear that this is what happened should be more deeply investigated. will not run either because pres­ to Hayatullah Khan, who was sure will be put on the editors kidnapped by "unidentifiedgun- not to do so or because the edi­ men" last December. Khan, who tors themselves might exercise worked for the Urdu-language daily, edly critical of Pakistan. A climate of caution through self-censorship. Ausaf, and the European Pressphoto menace descended on some of these When journalists see what happens Agency in Pakistan's tribal areas, is journalists; a note delivered to the to reporters like Illian and others, it still missing. Colleagues believe his home of Ejaz Haider, a colleague at deters some from probing further into disappearance is linked to a report he The Friday Times, warned him to in­ situations that should be more deeply filed thatcontradicted official accounts stall bulletproof windows in his car. investigated. ImtiazAlam, who started claiming that a senior al-Qaeda com­ Journalists Imtiaz Alam and Amir Mir, the South Asian Free Media Association mander, Abu Hamza Rabia, died after who had been writing about the intel­ in.July 2000, observes that the Paldstani munitions exploded inside a house. Ac­ ligence agencies' transgressions and news media, while quite vibrant and cording to a CPJ report, "Khan quoted also had been involved in the effort critical, is "being gradually entrapped local tribesmen as saying the house to free Sethi, had their cars set on fire in an elaborate system of self-censor­ was hit by an air-launched missile. He outside their homes. ship," as corporate interests increas­ photographed fragments of the missile Other colleagues have faced con­ ingly set the nature of content and the for the European Press photo Agency." sequences for what they've reported direction of editorial policy. Given the Using his photos, foreign journalists or for working with foreign journal­ climate in which they work, journalists identified it as a Hellfire missile fired ists probing issues the government are cautious in how they report on the froma U.S. drone. CPJ went on to note preferred to suppress. There are nu­ army, the intelligence agencies, corru p­ that Khan received "numerous threats merous examples, including several t ion and religious extremists. from Pakistani security forces, Taliban prominent journalists who had to flee Journalists who exercise their members, and local tribesmen because the country after their interrogations political right as citizens to peaceful of his reporting." by the intelligence agencies. Soon after protest also need courage, given the Intimidation and danger now also freelance journalist Ghulam Hasnain tendency of police to use tear gas and come to journalists from militant "disappeared" for48 hours in January batons. Recently in Islamabad the po­ organizations that have gained in 2002, he left the country with his family lice attacked and arrested journalists strength during the past few decades. and for months he could not talk about demonstrating to demand changes in Drawing strength from ethnic or reli­ his treatment at the hands of Pakistan's the Pakistan Electronic Media Regula­ gious polarization, members of these intelligence agencies. Khawar Mehdi to1y Authority (PEMRA) , a law that gives organizations have attacked reporters Rizvi, now in political asylum in the sweeping powers to law enforcement and editors, as well as buildings where United States, knows, too, about the agencies and to PEMRA. journalists work. They've also gone tactics of the intelligence agencies: For a woman in Pakistan, holding after those who sell newspapers on He was a "fixer" who worked with the a job as a journalist comes with all of the street. Arson and guns are among French journalists whom the Pakistani the challenges that women reporters their weapons of intimidation. authorities arrested in December 2003 eve1ywhere face-t1ying to balance When journalists offer support to for being in an area they were not "au­ responsibilities of the home with colleagues in trouble, danger transfers thorized" to be in. He was held without those of the newsroom while proving itself to them in the form of threats, any charges for more than a month and themselves on the job in ways male

30 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas

colleagues do not seem to need to do. Wo men in the local language media are Beena Sarwai; a 2006 Nieman Fel­ This can push one into being sterner also often underpaid, have little or no low fr om Paldstan, will return to the than one might like. It needs additional job security, and no health coverage. United States as a fe llo w at the Carr courage to do all of this in the tradition­ For those ofus.:who work in the English Center fo r Human Rights Policy ally male-dominated atmosphere that language press the situation is relatively at the john F. Kennedy School of exists most noticeably in local language better, given the more progressive Government at Harvard. She is the publications. There the newsroom atmosphere there. However, with the fo rmer ojJ -ed and fe atures editor environment is often hostile to the rise of private television stations and of Th e News International, fo rmer presence ofwomen; Urdu newspapers, newspapers, the number of women editor of the News on Sunday, and a for example, persist in using bylines journalists is increasing, even in more documenta1y filmmalw1: such as "By Our Lady Reporter" despite conservative small towns throughout protests by journalists' organizations. the country. • C8J [email protected]

Self-Censorship as a Reaction to Murders By Drug Cartels 'The message of this newsroom assault was obvious: stop inessing with drug­ trafficking affairs.'

By Raymundo Riva-Palacio

ose Luis Ortega Mata was a brave "disappeared" allegedly by drug l

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 31 Courage

• In 2004,Javier Ortiz Franco, coeditor of a leading investigative newsmaga­ zine, Zeta of Tijuana, was in charge of a special task fo rce appointed by the Mexican government and the Inter American Press Association to investigate the 1998 murder ofZeta's cofouncler, Felix Miranda, and the 1991 killing of its columnist, Vic­ tor Manuel Oropeza, from Ciuclacl Juarez, Chihuahua. That happened when he arrived home with his two kids; he was murdered in front of them.

• In Februaqrof this year, a few clays after El Manana news paper co hosted a seminar in its hometown ofNuevo Laredo, Ta maulipas about how to confront drug-related violence against journalists, gunmen stormed its headquarters. They fired assault rifles and tossed a grenade, injuring reporterJaim e Orozco Tey, who was Newspaper columnist Francisco Arratia Saldiernawas beaten to death in August 2004 shot fivetimes . The clay of the assault and his body left outside the offices of the Red Cross in the border city of Matamoros. was a holiday, which explained why Saldierna's column appeared in several papers throughout the border state of Ta maulipas. there was only one death, of a copy Photo courtesy ofThe Associated Press. boy, and no other victims aside from Orozco. are fou nd almost every clayin Nuevo It is now presumed that drug cartels The message of this newsroom as­ Laredo from one side or another, and feed information to reporters to blast sault was obvious: stop messing with their names, background or liaisons their enemies. A number ofMexico City drug-traffickingaff airs. Its recipient was are never published by El Ma11.ana.The reporters recently went into a panic not necessarily meant to be El Manana, newspaper publishes only the body after El Universal newspaper broad­ but the Mexican press, as a whole. count on the city streets. cast on its We b page the fu ll video of As with El Manana, newspapers and the execution of one gunman of Los News Reporting Is Silenced magazines in many cities in Mexico have Zetas, the hit squad. They stopped giving details of the ongoing realized they might have been used El Mai'iana was one newspaper that urban battle for marketsand cities. In months before by the mercenaries that didn't need a fresh delivery of this places like Tijuana and Hermosillo, taped that video when they printed a message. Since 2004, when its editor, Sonora, reporters stopped going to description of the execution. When Roberto Javier Mora, was stabbed to cover stories at night or very early in pushed by the federal authorities af­ death, the newspaper had begun to the morningbecause they fear it might ter the video broadcast to reveal who censor its coverage on drug trafficking be a set up. They have in mind the case told them of the content of the tape and organized crime. Every drug-re­ of young reporter Alfredo Jimenez, before the Mexican government knew lated story was published without any fromEl Imparcial in Hermosillo, who about it, the reporters cleciclecl to no identifying details or fu rther investiga­ disappeared in April 2005 on his way to longer pursue the story. A number of tion. Nuevo Laredo is one of the two meet a fe deral police source. Jimenez reporters who cover the federal police hottest places in Mexico where drug was a notorious investigative reporter beat followed their colleagues' lead in lords are fightingfor control of the city. who had several scoops on the where­ solidarity. The main drug cartels, the Gulf and the abouts of a number of members of one is now synonymous with Pacific,are trying to gain fu ll control of drug cartel in the region. Federal au­ bloody violence, and a growing num­ that border town that is home to the thorities investigating the crime didn't ber of news outlets, most of them main commercial border point of entry know thatJimenez was feel information in northern Mexico, have stopped to the United States and the access fr om a rival cartel to damage its enemy naming this cartel hit squad in their to Interstate 95, which runs into the and, when the "enemy" found out the stories out of fe ar for their own safety. most lucrative emerging cocaine mar­ original source of information; they are (Lawyers and media consultants pres­ ket in the United States. Dead bodies presumed to have murdered him. sure editors and reporters not to do

32 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas

it, as well.) Even more dramatic, the self-censorship to exist. In 2004 and tion on the same day, without a byline, highly respected syndicated column 2005, among Latin American nations, to protect the reporters involved in of reporter Jesus Blancornelas, the Mexico had the highest number of the project. This is a unique experi­ cofounder and fo rmer editor of Zeta journalists killed, more than long war­ ence for Mexican newspapers, whose who survived a murder attempt by the torn Colombia and the highly unstable relationship is usually characterized former all-powerful , was Haiti. This recognition is nothing to be by envy and distrust. But now there cancelled by a number of newspapers proud of, and there are many reasons is no other choice; they must come in Mexico because of the sensitive is­ for journalists to still be afraid. together to face the drug kingpins at sues he covers. This year some Mexican news or­ whatever cost might result and regard­ A few years back self-censorship ganizations decided to confront this less of what the government does. This happened for financialreasons as news­ challenge by working together. Their is especially the case since so far the papers and magazines stopped fighting model is based on the U.S. experience government is losing the war against hard against government repression of of the Arizona Project, created by in­ the drug cartels. • the press. Although there were cases in dependent journalists to continue the which government officials put pres­ work of investigative reporter Don Raymundo Riva-Palacio, a 1992 Nie­ sure on publishers and editors to fire Bolles, who was assassinated while man Fellow, is managing editor of journalists they fe lt were "uncontrol­ researching mob activities in Arizona. El Universal, a newspaper in Mexico lable," there were only sporadic cases The Mexican newspapers agreed to in­ City. of physical violence against reporters vestigate collectively the whereabouts and editors. These are new times. Now of El Imparcial reporter Jimenez and [8J [email protected] the drug wars provide new reasons for publish every step in their investiga-

A Qu iet Courage Journalists demonstrate this kind of courage 'while attention is focused elsewhere.'

By Kathleen Currie

ournalists Carmen Gurruchaga her by the International Wo men's Me­ Bedoya Lima relived her abduction from Spain andJineth Bedoya Lima dia Foundation (IWMF) for exhibiting by paramilitary forces, who tortured J from Colombia discovered a com­ journalistic tenacity. Gurruchaga spoke and gang-raped her beforeleaving her mon bond in Santee Alley's open-air of her reporting on the ETA, an often bound by the roadside. [See her article market in downtown Los on page 35.] Angeles. In October 2001, What these brave wom­ while strolling through this When asked what help Western journalism en share is the ability to market that offers every­ deny the reality of danger thing from imitation Kate organizations could provide her, she in pursuing a larger goal. Spade handbags to pots responded that we should remain silent. Too Intense and deeply com­ and pans, these \vomen dis­ mitted to their work, I de­ covered they are both tena­ much public association with us would taint lighted in watching them cious shoppers. Exhibiting her and threaten her ability to remain in her also embrace together the their world-class bargain­ joy they'd fo und that af­ ing skills, they nimbly ma­ country and continue reporting. She chooses ternoon on Santee Alley. nipulated shopkeepers in to go it alone, relying on survival instincts Last month's release their native Spanish-each of The Christian Science taking hardheaded stands honed through years of reporting risky stories. Monitor's Jill Carroll amid moments of shared after 82 days of captivity laughter-and in no time by gunmen in Iraq again at all were weighed down fixedthe spotlight on the with purses, shoes, dresses and the violent and armed Basque nationalist risks journalists take in doing their additional luggage they needed to haul organization, and recounted howmem­ jobs. Armed insurgents know that their purchases home. bers of the ETA had bombed her apart­ journalists make high-profilehostages That night each woman accepted a ment, sending her and her two young who bring with them sustained public Courage inJournalismAward, given to sons scrambling from shards of glass. attention. With 73 journalists and 26

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 33 Courage news media workers killed since the A Quiet Heroine carefully balance what recognition war in Iraq began, there can be no means to their work. For 15 years, doubt of the dangers journalists face One journalist,a quiet heroine, works Shahla Sherkat, founderand editorial in covering this war. under an assumed name to protect her director of Zanan in Te hran, has writ­ Carroll's release was justifiably family, including her son. She faces re­ ten about women living under Islamic and widely celebrated by journalism peated lawsuits because her digging is fu ndamentalism. She waU(s a tightrope, groups. Board members at IWMF, uncomfortable forgov ernment officials. carefully measuring the words and where I work, voted only two days For several years, she has been targeted stories she can publish while pushing beforeher release to award her its Cour­ fo r death by an armed group that has a boundaries in her count1y If she fal­ age in Journalism Award . In October, particular fondness forki lling journal­ ters, she risks a prison sentence and when she accepts it, she will join 50 ists and a track record of making good closure of her magazine. For manyyears other women who have been its recipi­ on its threats. Not long ago she was again she refused public recognition of her ents, all of whom have demonstrated in court, defending a la,vsuit that could work. Finally, last year she traveled to extraordinary brave1)' in their pursuit land her in jail foryears. When asked the United States to accept a Courage of international news reporting. what help We stern journalism organiza­ in Journalism Aw ard. Each word she For the courage these journalists tions could provide her, she responded spoke while in this countl)' was care­ display, they deserve a rightful spot­ that we should remain silent. To o much fu lly calibrated to be sure she could light. For some, whose daily work public association with us would taint return to Iran and her work. continues amid unrelenting danger, her and threaten her ability to remain For her, as forothers unnamed, pas­ public recognition can offe r a mantle in her countl)' and continue reporting. sion lies in the work, not its celebration. of protection as it forcesauthoritarian She chooses to go it alone, relying on This brand of quiet courage is practiced governments and armed groups to be survival instincts honed through years while attention is focused elsewhere. waq1 of targeting them. There are other of reporting risky stories. It, too, must be honored. • journalists who prefer to stay out of the Other journalists tell us that recogni­ spotlight, who want only to continue tion would bring them too much atten­ Kathleen. Currie is the deputy direc­ their work without fanfare,contending tion in their newsrooms, where they tor of the International Wo men's that too much attention can hamper battle to cover stories that go against Media Fo undation. Fo r more info r­ their ability to report. They display the political grain in their countries and mation on the Courage in journal­ what I call quiet courage, a kind of at their news organizations. They, too, ism,Awar ds, go to www. iwniforg tenacious bravery that can be lonely ask to be passed over foraward s. and ve11' hazardous. There are still other journalists who f8I [email protected]

What We Learned About the Courage of Women Journalists

By Judy Wo odruff

It was 16 years ago when a group of American women in different countries on fivecontinents, the courageous journalists convened the first international conference women who have received this award share much in exclusively for women journalists. Held in Washington, common. D.C., this gathering evolved, as it was taking place, from

one in which we thought the focus would be on rapidly • LikeCarmen Gurruchaga, Jineth Bedoya Lima,and Jill changing technology and gender barriers to job promo­ Carroll, many of the award's recipients have reported tion to one in which the sharing of harrowing reporting from the frontlines of a war-in some cases several experiences emerged to become its core theme. Many of wars. In 1998 in Kosovo, Anja Niedringhaus, a German our visitors spoke powerfully of difficult and frightening photographer, was blown out of a car by a grenade on-the-job situations that most of the American journalists while caught in crossfire,and the next year NATO forces could barely imagine. mistakenly bombed her and several colleagues at the These women's determination to press on with their Albania-Kosovo border crossing. Just a year earlier, her work in the face of various forces of government harass­ foot was crushed and broken by a police car while she ment and antagonism, as well as threats of violence fr om covered demonstrations in Yu goslavia. Kuwait, Iraq and openly hostile criminals and insurgent groups, inspired the Middle East have also been places that drew her to the International Wo men's Media Foundation to create its their stories of war.

Courage in Journalism Award. In the intervening years, • Tw o of our recipients received their awards while im­ what we've discovered is that despite living and working prisoned by their governmentsfor what they risked their

34 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas

Truth in the Crossfire In a brutal attack, 'my truth ... was dealt a mortal wound.'

Ji neth Bedoya Lima, a reporter with El The confrontation, which includes, and was dealt a mortal wound. Espectador in Bogota, was /iidnapp ed in addition to the political interests To day, eight months after that ter­ and tortured by paramilitaryfo rces in of the guerrillas, the far right-wing rible episode, I can't stop thinldng Colombia in 2000. In. the Sp ring 2001 groups, the drug traffickers, the hand so much of my own personal drama, issue of Nieman Reports, she wrote of the state veiled in impunity, places but of the drama of Colombia, which about this experienceas part of a col­ the press-and therefore the truth of also has a mortal wound in its truth. lection of stories entitled "Colombia: what is happening in Colombia-in the It is the sum of hundreds of atrocities: Th e Wa rAgainstJourn.alists, "and that crossfire. We are caught in a thick web There have been towns razed by the article is reprinted here. that subjects its victim to awaiting the lack of conscience of the guerrillas; slow approach of any of its victimizers. peasants affronted by the barbaric acts For many, working as a journalist in Co­ As a result, we, journalists who have of the paramilitary groups ; children lombia is exciting. It's like experiencing sought to scrutinize these dark webs wounded by mines sown by terror­ the magical and unreal of what the of interests, have ourselves become ists; ideologues, professors and trade world has to offer in the 21st century. their targets. unionists subjugated by the black But forthose of us who, in addition to On May 25 of last year [2000], glove of power. And there is a latent working in Colombia, live in Colombia when I still thought truth prevailed foreign threat silently closing in with and for Colombia, it is an exhausting over bad intentions and that it was the its winds of war. workday in which clay by clay one gives best protective shield for a reporter It's Colombia. It's a countiy that up slices of life, and one experiences in Colombia, three armed men, who has seen in recent years how freedom the spirit of death in each task. This identified themselves as members of of the press has been at these difficult is the reality left by the Colombian the paramilitary forces under the com­ crossroads. But journalistshere have a armed conflict: an undeclared civil war mand of Carlos Casta!l.o, kidnapped, great responsibility not to grow weak that, in the course of 50 years, has left tortured and assaulted me in the worst in the face of the cynicism of its rulers thousands of persons killed, displaced, possible way. That clay, my truth was and the muteness of its authorities. And disappeared and exiled. caught in the middle of the crossfire in the face of the rulers and authorities,

personal freedom to report. Christine Anyanwu, who tional courage. Recently, recognition has gone also to those was editor in chief of an independent weekly in Nigeria, women who have displayed moral courage as they stood incurred the wrath of her country 's dictator, General up to subtle but hostile treatment by government officials Sani Abacha, and was sentenced to life in prison for who don't tolerate critical treatment in the press. stories her magazine published. Gao Yu , a newspaper For those of us involved in their selection each year, reporter based in Beijing, was imprisoned for"leaking their acts of courage remind us that in what they do these state secrets" and served six years in prison beforebein g women risk not only their jobs, which is their livelihood, given a medical parole; she remains in poor health. but also their lives and health and sometimes the well­

• For some reporters, like Mabel Rehnfelclt of Paraguay, being of those whom they love most. What we learn from the violent response to their words spills over onto each of them, as they speak to us about their struggles, is a family members. In 1989, Rehnfelclt was attacked by common purpose that keeps them going, despite the risk. an unknown man after she wrote an article about busi­ It is stunning in its simplicity: to report the news to their ness/government scandals. About six years later, she and countqrmen and women, who depend on the information her driver were chased by a car with three armed men fortheir lives and fu ture well-being. • while she was in the process of investigating a gasoline smuggling ring. And in 2000, she was threatened with Judy Wo odruffbas covered politics and other news fo r death. Three years later, as she continued her report­ more than three decades at CNN, PBS and NB C. She is ing, several people tried to ldclnap her 11-year-olcl a sp ecial correspondent fo r the PBS Generation. Next daughter. initiative and the fo unding cochair of the International Wo men's Media Fo undation.. In the faceof such outright hostility, threats and physical clanger, these women journalists have displayed excep- 181 [email protected]

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 35 Courage journalists have also waged bloody of how it had been taken over by guer­ is my life. I love what I do. I go to the battles that put us at a disadvantage rillas in 2002 and held for more than a jungle on many trips to cover milita11' since we are weaker, and that weakness year. Some 70 families had disappeared opportunities. I know there is a chance places us in the sights of the guns. Ye t in the FARC takeover and the entire of not coming back. There are fe ars. we still have the indissoluble power of village had been forced into cocaine These are not personal fe ars, but more the truth, the same truth that is mortally production. about my family and things that depend 'vounded as it lies surrounded by poli­ Bedoya and a photographer cleared on me. And there are millions who ticians, police, soldiers and criminals. the military checkpoint for the region read my work. This is my contribution It is the same truth that eight months but, after a six-hour boat trip, they had to society. " after I became disabused of many il­ a rude shock when they arrived at the Journalists remain as targets of the lusions, also enables me to continue hamlet. "The guerrilla man in charge warring factions in Colombia, and living and writing a few lines. This same told us we had no business being Bedoya is t11'ing to change that situ­ truth has spurred on the journalistin there ... got really incensed, ordered ation. '�Armed groups believe that the me, but that nonetheless has not been our kidnapping," said Bedoya. "We press is part of the conflict, that report­ able to encourage the woman in me. were stripped of our cameras and our ers work for bourgeoisie media groups, It is merely the reflection of a country clothing and locked up in a house." who have the power and money in Co­ and the drama of many who, perhaps, FARC guerrilla's told the villagers not lombia," said Bedoya, who is involved don't have the good fortuneto be able to fe ed them or allow them to contact in Bogota with what she describes as to tell their feelings to someone else, anyone, and Lima was told she and the a "circle of journalists." She founded as I can now. • photographer were going to be killed. the group to tl1' to educate the public, After six clays of captivity, during which the government,the guerrillas, and the Tw o years late1; Bedoya Lima was kid­ time a villager defied the order not to paramilita11' warring forces about the napped a second time. Wh at fo llows feed them, a FARC commander freed role of an independent media .... are exce1pts about this kidnapp ing them, saying their imprisonment was Even though she admits "some clays fr om "Fifteen Ye ars of Courage, " a all a mistake and against FARC policy. are still very difficult, when I remem­ publication. written by Peggy Simpson He also offe red to reimburse the two ber what happened to me," Bedoya fo r the International Wo men 's Media hostages for loss of money, cameras explained that the Courage in Journal­ Fo undation.. Simpson, a 1979 Nieman and other equipment. "We didn't ac­ ism Award [presented to her in 2001 Fe llow, is a fr eelancejournal ist based cept his apologies," said Bedoya. "I by the International Women's Media in Wa shington, D. C. said I would never accept help from Foundation] gave her more courage to the guerrillas." ... continue reporting. Now in her early Bedoya was kidnapped again in early As traumatizing as the second kid­ 30's, her role models are older Colom­ August 2003 by a FARC guerrilla who napping was for her, Bedoya resists bian journalists. "They take their work controlled the hamlet of Puerto Alvira labeling herself "courageous." She ve11'seriousl y, both men and women. and its 1,100 residents. FARC got a observes that "Courage is something ... Those who died became sources of foothold in that region in 1996 and that is ve11' subjective. We can be cou­ inspiration. They gave their lives for brought in coca crops .... Bedoya had rageous in certain circumstances and the sake of information." • gone to Puerto Alvira to tell the story become real cowards in others. This

Trauma Lingers After Escaping the Danger 'My whole world feltwounded during my firstmonths in the United States: I could not sleep and, when I did, it seemed only to dream weird things.'

By Ignacio 'Nacho' Gomez

remember when my fr iend kept me as having posttraumatic stress In my mind, I erased the doctor, too, asking me if I was the one who disorder. I had stress, and trauma, until my friend one clay asked me for I made a two-hour phone call from and the syndrome, but what I lacked this doctor's brochure that she had her apartment in Manhattan to a small was the "post" part. When I go back to given me to read. town in the Midwest. For a year and Colombia I know the risks will come This friend was also the person a half I denied it because it was the back to me. When a person wants to who picked me up in New Yo rk on number of a doctor who diagnosed ignore a weakness, he forgets it exists. the clay in 2000 when I arrived there

36 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas as a man without a countq1 and after tool of survival while working in my was the result of racketeering activities I'd walked up and clown Manhattan country on stories about corruption that were a part of the city's Colombian and through Queens for almost 12 or reporting war news-was a good community, where he lived fordecades. hours. The next day and for half of idea. I never called the doctor again. In the summer of 1994, the Committee my third in the United States I slept Instead I decided to play some sports to ProtectJournalists asked me to check on her couch after she fed me my first so I would sleep better, study, enjoy on both of these versions from inside American-style meal. When I woke up, the country, and feed my dreams. the neighborhood. she and her husband asked me ques­ I sent the brochure about posttrau­ At the time of his death, Unanue was tions about what I'd been through, matic stress disorder to Colombia for publishing a series of the Colombian listened as I told them my story, and other journalists who might be in need mafialeaders' biographies and heavily then gave me the brochure about a of this information. It described how criticizing the mafia'sinf luence in the posttraumatic disorder ins ti tu te that psychologists were trained to listen community's life. He was obsessed, they had coincidentally received that and advise journalists after they'd ex­ too, with El Espectaclor, the Colombian clay. When they did this, I tried to ex­ perienced traumatic situations. With newspaper that reported on drug traf­ plain that I was not becoming a crazy Colombian journalists, such situations ficking, which had put more than 14 homeless person but simply someone were very fa miliar. In 2000, the year I journalists on a list of those silenced enjoying the fe eling ofwalking around came to the United States, there had by death and a car-bomb explosion when nobody is going to rape you or been a huge number of death threats, that almost destroyed its entire plant shoot you clown. killings and a brutal kidnapping. I was in 1989. Unanue had gotten firedafter When I was on my own, I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity publishing some editorials at El Dia­ less in need of professional care; just to leave-and in May of that year I rio-La Prensa that pushed against the being with friends seemed enough to did-but not all journalists were as mafiain the neighborhood and did so help with the feelings I had. What was lucky. Some friends went to Spain; by naming names. The CJR reporter hard, though, was that I couldn't stop nearly all ofthe exiled journalists drank understood the complaint as extortion; thinking about how defenseless Juliana a lot, became poorer, and sunk into but formost ofUnanue'sreaclers, it was was, a dear fr iend with whom I'd shared deep depressions. Many colleagues I clear that this Puerto Rican journalist an apartment in Colombia, and how chatted with during my firstmonths out wasn't one of the mafia. my mother and other family members of the countty seemed not to be them­ At the time I worked forEl Especta­ were doing in Colombia. My whole selves-less than what they'd been in clor and had become almost an expert world fe lt wounded during my first Colombia, as I was feeling myself. on the topic of journalists being killed months in the United States: I could not After the September 11th attacks, a by the Colombian mafia. In micl-1986, sleep and, when I did, it seemed only friend of mine, an elementary school when I got my firstassignment to do a to dream weird things. I never could counselor who was responsible for story on drug trafficking, three journal­ stop the feeling of waiting for another 21 kids who were experiencing sleep ists covering this beat had been killed. possible attacker to come. problems, talking about death, and By the encl of the year, when the paper's When I shared these feelings with not feeling "normal," asked me for managing director, Guillermo Cano, a Colombian colleague, his diagno­ this brochure. Their school was one was shot clown in front of the newspa­ sis was immediate: "Paranoia," he of the first evacuated in the wake of per, there had been fivedeaths in that declared. He claimed that he is also the attacks. She also needed care such one year. I learned a lot helping U.S. paranoid but told me he doesn't fe el as I'd received, but she fe lt that the reporters to do articles about how our uncomfortable. He rids himself of the children had problems that required country had the highest murder rate feeling by quoting firefighterswho say a lot more treatment. of any in the world, about shootings "even false alarms save people." Not that were happening in the streets, and being paranoid, I think, can be a big Journalists' Deaths the hunting of spies and mercenaries mistake. For example, it might seem in Colombia. These reporters found unlikely that a guy with crimson jeans I had met my American friends when me because my closest coworkers had and a yellow shirt would be a killer, I went to Queens, New Yo rk to report either been killed or had to flee. I'd but in my experience there was at least on the killing in 1992 of a Latino jour­ become the obituary correspondent one who was. For this reason, I don't nalist in the Little Colombia section. and the contact person for those who fe el good when I see a guy dressed in Manuel de Dios Unanue, the former had to flee to the United States, which bright colors. editor of El Diario-La Prensa, the big­ I've had to do two times. For me, paranoia means having the gest U.S. Latino paper of his time, had The death that hurt me the most awareness required to size up the is­ been shot dead in a restaurant. He was was Julio Daniel's. He was a terrific sues with which we work. The Midwest a "crusader," according to The New writer, a reporting partner of mine. He doctor said he could cure me, but I Yo rk Times in its news coverage and dared to do the series "What Violence wasn't sure that ridding myself of para­ editorials. The Columbia Journalism Has Left" as he visited the places that noia-which I felt was a fundamental Review (CJR) suggested that his death were deserted after the 36 massacres I'cl

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 37 Courage reported on in 1987 and 1988. He and erased from my mind. I remember the fe ars I had when I kidded each other and talked to each I went to the United States because was reporting the massacre st01y other constantly as we wondered aloud of my friends. They convinced me that At the time, the U.S. Congress was why we were doing this kind of work. it would be a good place to "neutralize" discussing big military involvement Julio used to say that he'd decided to the powerful interests about whom in Colombia. But when I heard the give his life for this story because he I'd written in my story. My article had personal testimony of people who fe lt we could be killed even by a stray fo cused on the time and place co­ lost family members in the Mapiripan bullet. We had expressions we used incidences involving a colonel, who massacre, I knew I had to tell this story. with each other to rank the danger masterminded a 1997 massacre (he That's my duty. involved with each story we did: "You was the person in the military jail), In 2001, I was ready to go back to smell flowers," or "You're going out and 12 members of a group of U.S. Colombia, even though many news with the fo ot first," or "You lost your Army trainers. What was hard for me organizations were closing clown. To head on that," all of which were mafia to explain to my Colombian friends me, this meant there would be less metaphors. Julio wasn't ldlled in 1991 was that ifAmericans were the subjects risk for journalists; fewer journalists for being a journalist for ElEspectador; of the piece, why I would leave to go would equal, in my mind, fewer attacks. he was simply in the wrong place at to America. For me, I understood that The fe eling I had as I returned to my the wrong time. the United States doesn't work like my count1y was that with all that the war I've had some dreams with Julio's country. In fact,the journalist I admire in Colombia had done to all of us, I ghost and, eight years after he died, most was an American, Gary \Vebb, an­ was returning to live in a place where I think at last I felt some of what he other "kamikaze" or "crusader" whose there was bound to be an epidemic of felt. That moment happened when I investigation of CIA involvement with posttrauma disease. • walked out of the door at the military Colombian cocaine traffickers to sup­ prison after I did my last interview for port the Nicaragua war appeared as a Ig nacio "Nacho " Gomez, a 2001 El Espectador. In a week I'd received lengthy series in the San Jose Mercury Nieman Fe llow, is the investigations 65 letters of hate and hundreds of News. The government sued him; he director at Red Independiente/Noti­ hate-filled phone calls. My life was sur­ was fired from the paper and, after cias Uno in Bogota, Colombia. rounded by guns, some of them for my being found not guilty by a jlll1', he protection. This moment will never be committed suicide. [8J [email protected]

Persevering Despite the Dangers El Tiempo's investigative editor 'has become accustomed to receiving floral arrangements and notes sent to regret her death, a form of indirect death threats.'

By Mauricio Lloreda

here does courage intersect There is a direct connection between sence of courage in journalism comes with journalism? This is the environment in which a journalist down to this: What needs to be told is W a question with many an­ works and the effortor courage needed more important than the well-being of swers, particularly in Colombia where to report. When on a battlefield, the the person doing the telling, who risks war over drugs, territory and power fact of journalists being there speaks all to gather information. has been with us-and taken many to their courage. Once the reporter Wa r photographers and investigative lives from us-for several decades. In is there, words or images transmitted journalists, particularly in countries my countiy, courage is inherent in the have courage as their foundation. To where what reporters and editors do daily practice of journalism given the place oneself in the line of fire with inevitably touches sensitive and power­ environment in which we, as reporters the sole purpose of witnessing and ful interests, know this lesson all too and editors, must function. At the end reporting to others what's happening well. In Colombia, we certainly do, of the day, courage for us is just an act in a place of danger is very much about for in our count1y so many journalists of faith-our faith in the hope that our this ldnd of courage. Words and images have been threatened or harmed or lost images and words, sto1ytelling clone are what people often rely on to shape their lives in the pursuit of information in any way, can help shape the society their sense of reality and might be used about the warring factions who fight we live in and keep it from collapsing by those who read or hear them to over drugs, land and power. into complete chaos. change the course of events. The es- Marta Soto is the head of the inves-

38 Nie1nan Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas tigative unit at El Tiempo, the larg­ the extreme right are similar, and the echoed in the work of others who also est newspaper in Colombia. In such Colombia drug cartels need no intro­ decide to write about critical issues capacity she daily deals with a steady, duction; they've earned a worldwide while understanding the personal harm unending stream of situations that pose reputation fortheir brutality. that can come to those who do. Their all kinds of risks: politics (the extreme Soto perseveres despite the clangers, writing is not unlike ours, nor are the right, extreme left, and extreme civil and she teaches other journalists about risks they take. Such a person is Peter society) , drug trafficldng,intervention how to survive in these trenches. Last Bunyard, a scientist from Oxford Uni­ by the United States, negligent and year she was invited to a journalism versity, who tirelessly travels through corrupt governmental authorities, and school to give the students some guid­ the Amazon basin in Colombia-to corruption in the private sector as well. ance about covering drug trafficking. places where even the Colombian army When all of this gets mixed together, Her wise words offered a lesson in takes many preventive measures before what gets fo rced out are the extremes courage as she spoke to them about entering. And he doesn't cease from of journalism. To o often reporting has how to weigh risks and, in part, rely on letting others know about the risks resulted in the death of reporters or instinct to survive. A few days after she to humanity involved with lowering editors, or what happens is that silence left, drug dealers went into the jour­ the Amazon's water and devastating descends; this is not to be confused nalism school and killed or wounded its forests. with self-censorship, since silence can many who had heard her speak. I think there is also a hidden courage be a strategy taken simply to survive. My sense is that the courage neces­ in those people who live in a develop­ During recent years, Soto has be­ sary to undertake all of this begins ing country who choose journalism as come accustomed to receiving floral well before a story is reported or a a career. In such countries, journalism arrangements and notes sent to regret photograph is taken. This courage is is a very low-paid job, but to be able to her death, a form of indirect death inherent in the search for the truth convey messages of great importance threats. All ldncls of threatening phone and the need to cast a light on what is is a great reward. Doing good journal­ calls come her way. She is also often happening so that the evil is exposed ism is synonymous with courage. As followed on thestreet. Whatever might instead of being allowed to fadefrom journalists, we live to open our eyes scare her is tried. She constantly moni­ view. In my work as a reporter and and see what others sometimes refuse tors her bank accounts after learning columnist at El Tiempo, I've been a to see. And we cannot go on without about an attempt to deposit a large sum privileged witness to such moments knowing what others might be too of money in her account as a way of and had to decide whether to de­ frightened to uncover. That is what involving her in some dark plot. Those nounce a situation regardless of the makes us courageous. • intimidating her-and other journal­ possible consequences I might face. ists, as well-are dangerous people. Consequences can be immediate, but Mauricio Lloreda, a 2004 Nieman FARC, on the political extreme left, is what these tell you as a journalist is Fe llow, is an op -ed colwnnist and an internationally recognized terrorist that some part of society needed to analyst with El Ti empo in Bogota, organization that is responsible for be touched and situations needed to Colombia. thousands ofldclnappings and murders be brought to light. each year. The paramilitary units on The courage journalists display is 181 [email protected]

Death Threats Are Sent to Try to Stop Reporting 'If I kept writing, I thought, the threats would eventually stop because they weren't working.'

By Kim Bolan

hen I got my first death had been stirring the pot and maldng rectly called me a man, "a bad man." It threat in December 1997, I some people feel uncomfortable, and said I would be killed if I did not stop W didn't take it too seriously. police had warned me that I might be writing about a Sild1 leader who was As a reporter for The Va ncouver Sun, I threatened as a tactic to get me to stop later charged in the bombing-Ripu­ had been digging up new information my investigations and articles. claman Singh Malik. The handwritten on a group of militant Sild1 separatists The letter that arrived in the news­ single-page note also targeted a local believed to have been responsible for room late in the afternoon two clays Sild1 newspaper publisher I had inter­ the 1985 Air India bombing. I knew I before Christmas was juvenile. It incor- viewed for a few of my stories-Tara

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 39 Courage

Singh Hayer. The Air India bombing, which was previews. "You die, Hayer man," it said. "You plotted and hatched in Va ncouver, was "Tara Singh Hayer has been shot," die like Gandhi woman." the deadliest act of aviation terrorism my editor said. "He is dead." I clicln 't like the message, but I didn't in history prior to 9/1 1. The suspects Just like the letter I had received realize at the time how significantand weren't hiding out in some mountain 11 months earlier predicted, Hayer prophetic it would become in my life range in Afghanistan. Those responsible died very much the way that former and my career. Instead of finishingmy forthis airplane bombing were living in Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi Christmas shopping, I waited in the opulent homes and running businesses had-gunned clown at close range. newsroom for police to make what here in British Columbia. They were For the first time I felt fe ar. But I would become the firstof many reports also felt like I had to write even more. of death threats. Now I had to investigate and expose I remember fe eling angry that some­ details of the plot to ldll Hayer-the one was trying to scare me. I called sev­ only journalist in Canadian history to eral sources, including Hayer, to findout be assassinated for his work. if they had been threatened. Some had. The threats on my life continued; I One woman had her house attacked. ended up with periods during which I She ended up fleeinginto the witness had bodyguards, special alarms, panic protection program. Hayer was already buttons, and almost ridiculous security. in a wheelchair after an assassination I moved from my home for several attempt from the same Sikh militants months. Events unfolded so rapidly lefthim paralyzed in 1988. that I did not have time to really reflect Hayer was accustomed to receiving on what I had gotten myself into. The threats. He told me not to worry, to threats I received garnered media at­ continue my stories because they were tention. I hated it, but also wanted to clearly pushing the right buttons. take advantage of the publicity to draw attention to the unsolved Air India case Pushing Threats Aside and Hayer's murder. Because of the coverage about my I did keep writing and the threats con­ reporting, I was nominated for and tinued. Some were telephoned to the then received one of the three Courage newsroom. Others were broadcast on in Journalism Awards in 1999 from the unregulated Punjabi radio stations. A International Women's Media Founda­ few were made to me face-to-face at starting charities and opening schools tion. I did feel a little awkward sharing events that I was covering. Eventually, a to teach their philosophies to children, the stage with an Afghani woman who protest was organized outside my office, with the assistance of millions of dollars had been beaten by the Taliban forher fe aturing several bombing suspects. And in government grants. journalism, not to mention a radio sta­ in July 1998, my house in Va ncouver, After I began covering them in an tion owner fromKosovo who had oper­ where I live with my two sons, was unprecedented way, a window opened ated throughout the war. But I did try targeted in a drive-by shooting. in the local Sikh community. Some in to use this opportunity to tell everyone I still felt, perhaps naively, that the the community finally felt comfortable I met about the injustice of the Air India objective of the threats was to stop the enough to go to police with informa­ bombing case and the fact that no one stories. If I kept writing, I thought, the tion about the bombing. I learned that had ever been charged. Hayer's murder threats would eventually stop because even Ta ra Hayer, the Sikh journalist, had also remained unsolved. they weren't working. agreed to be a government witness in the Finally, in October 2000, murder Several police investigations into case. There was a fe eling that forthe first and conspiracy charges were brought activities of the Air India bombing sus­ time since the June 23, 1985 bombing, against two British Columbia Sikh lead­ pects-activities that were independent charges might finally be coming. ers-Malik, the man I'd been warned to of the acts of terrorism that left 331 pas­ leave alone, andAjaib Singh Bagri, a mill sengers and crew dead-were launched A Reporter Is Killed worker who had made vengeful, hate­ as a result of my stories. Some charges, filled speeches across North America albeit less serious in nature than mur­ It was an exciting time to be a reporter. calling for thousands of murders. A der, were filed. Like any reporter who I felt like my work was really having an third accused man later pleaded guilty enjoys "gotcha" journalism, it was fun impact. I wasn't really worried about to a small role in the plot. to see my work have an impact on a the threats-at least until November I remember thinldng that day about very frightening and small group of 18, 1998. About 7 p.m. I got a call from all the threats I had received, about people who had gotten away with so my city desk as I sat in a movie theater Hayer dying for the story. I remember many murders. with my two young sons, watching the thinldng that at least something good

40 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Americas has come out of it. The 19-month crimi­ cally. That had always motivated me as I don't face imprisonment or state­ nal trial that ensued got bogged down a reporter. sanctionecl execution forwhat I write almost immediately with admissibil­ Many people had tried to help the like many journalists around the world ity arguments and legal technicalities. truth come out in the Air India terrorism do. I don't like having police cameras After so many years, it was largely a case-I had, along with other journal­ peering out from my front door. I feel circumstantial case, albeit a compelling ists, including Ta ra Singh Hayer, and silly having bulletproof film covering one. One of my original sources, the several witnesses who were threatened my home's windows. But I do fe el a woman whose house was targeted and and shot at and even investigators who sense of duty to my profession and to who fled into the witness protection devoted years to collecting information the people I cover. IfI back clown now, program, was the so-called lynchpin in forthe legal file. afterall these years, the act of threaten­ the prosecution's case. I came to the conclusion that I could ing will have become a successful tactic. Families of the bombing victims were not leave the st011' now, in spite of More Canadian journalists will get let­ so convinced they would see convictions the verdict-or really because of the ters like the one I got almost eight years that they came from across Canada verdict. ago. And my old colleague, Ta ra Singh and throughout the world to crowd So I wrote a book that tries to shed Hayer, will have died in vain. • into the British Columbia Supreme light on all that went wrong. I have dug Court on March 16, 2005. They left up even more since the trial ended a Kim Bolan is a senior investigative absolutely devastated when both men year ago. And I continue to receive new reporter with Th e Va ncouver Sun. were acquitted. threats, including from two young men, Awards fo r her work include a Na­ whose fathers are both linked to the tional Newspaper Award and the ReflectingOn My Wo rk bombing suspects. They muscled me in National Press Club of Canada 's a courthouse corridor in March and said Press Freedom.Awar d. Her book, In the months following the verdict, I I would get what is coming to me. "Loss of Fa ith: How the Air India often questioned my sanity in sticking I don't think of myself as courageous Bombers Got Away With Murde1; " with the story as the hostility against or brave. I get annoyed and embarrassed was published last fa ll by McClelland me increased. I had assumed foryears when I am described that way. "No," I & Stewart. that justice would prevail, that it just argue. "I am really just stubborn and needed to be helped along journalisti- obsessive." IBJ [email protected]

Challenging a Democratic Go vernment's Secrecy 'Of particular concern to journalists is the lack of support some owners of Canadian news organizations have given as they've tried to contest these policies.'

By Russell Mills

n Canada, only a few major media (PPG), the association of journalists minute when it was learned that the companies exist, with a resulting who are responsible for covering the journalist planned to ask her about I high concentration of ownership. fe deral government. In spite of meet­ the Kyoto Protocol on the limitation of As a consequence, relationships that ings between press galle11'of ficersand greenhouse gases, an agreement that develop between media owners and the aides in the prime minister's office, Canada has signed but done almost governmentleaders sometimes impede restrictive policies remain in place. nothing to implement. Ministers are the flow of information to the public, Among these policies is one that only free to speak in glowing lan­ a situation that often requires moral requires ministers in Harper's govern­ guage about the government's top five courage to be shown by journalists, if ment to seek approval from the prime electoral priorities. Ironically, one of they are going to do their jobs. minister's office before meeting with these is improving the accountability Since his election in January, Can­ journalists and to have all interview of government. Communicating about ada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, topics and statements cleared with any other topic is verboten. who is the leader of the Conservative the prime minister's officials. This is Nor are journalists informed when Party, has attempted to control news a much more restrictive policy than Cabinet meetings are held; this is an coverage of his government in extraor­ followed by previous governments. attempt to be certain that reporters clina11' ways. This has led to conflict A recent interview with the environ­ won't tl1' to question ministers when with the Parliamenta11' Press Galle11' ment minister was cancelled at the last they leave the room. Secret Cabinet

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 41 Courage

meetings had not been held fo r de­ lack of support some owners of Cana­ ment secrecy, as journalists should cades. The prime minister has also had dian news organizations have given as do in the public interest, they are not his aides decide which journalistscan they've tried to contest these policies. only viewed as acting against the prime ask him questions at press conferences, An editorial in the National Post, which minister but they must act without the as they also t11' to control the subject is the voice ofCan We st Global Commu­ support of their publication's owner­ of their questions. nications Corporation, Canada's larg­ ship. The Conservative government's ex­ est media company, labeled journalists This circumstance might not require treme crackdown is surprising since in "whiners" fo r complaining about the physical courage of the kind needed in its campaign the party promised open­ ban on coverage of the bodies of sol­ a war zone or when reporting in coun­ ness and transparency. But it quickly diers coming home and other secretive tries ruled by brutal regimes, but there assumed the label as the most secretive policies. In an extraordina11' attack is no doubt that standing up to both a government in Canadians' memo1y on the PPG's battle against secrecy, government and your boss at the same Perhaps the most controversial news CanWest's national newspaper said: time requires more moral courage than ban imposed by this government has "Get over it guys: the world does not should be required by journalists in a been coverage of the return of bodies of revolve around your need to file 800 count11' such as Canada. • Canadian soldiers killed in Afgh anistan. words fo r tomorrow's edition." Many Canadians view this as the prime Staying on the good side of this Russell Mills, a 2003 Nieman Fellow, minister merely fo llowing the lead of government, regardless of its policies is executive dean of the fa culty of President Bush's administration, with towards journalism and journalists, arts, media and design at Algonquin its adherence to the policy of a news appears to be a major objective of College in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. blackout of the return of bodies of Canada's largest media company, even He was fired as publisher of the Ot­ soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. when doing so is clearly not in the pub­ tawa Citizen in 2002 fo llo wing pub­ The PPG strongly resists this con­ lic interest. And this means that there lication of criticism of fo rmer Prime trol, but little they've been able to say are pressures placed on journalists Minister]ean Chretien. or do has made much difference. Of working fo r the company. If reporters particular concern to journalists is the or editors t11' to work against govern- Bl [email protected]

The Courage of Journalists in the Middle East 'Acting with integrity 1neans honestly probing the causes of the many problems and tensions that define the 1nodern Middle East

By Rami G. Khouri

ournalist can choose to work ing and challenging the power of the responsibility in the modern world. ourageously in the Middle government and its security services. Doing the same thing in the news ast in several different ways, Honest journalism in the face of au­ media is the defining characteristic given the many dangers that define the thoritarian regimes and police states of courageous journalism in the con­ news business in this region, includ­ is the highest formof courage, and the temporary Middle East, most of which ing clangers from active wars, is characterized by a deadly guerrilla and militia groups, combination: authoritarian state violence, terrorism, for- Honest journalism in the face of or autocratic governments eign military occupations and and public opinions defined armies, political intimidation, authoritarian regimes and police states often by mass anger and and the power of mass public is the highest form of courage, and the emotionalism. opinion. While there is heroism The journalists I respect in working in the face of all most dangerous, in the Middle East. most in the Middle East, es­ these threats, my 35 years of pecially the Arab world but experience lead me to believe also in Iran, Tu rkey, Israel that the greatest form of courage that most dangerous, in the Middle East. and other countries in the region, are a journalist can display in his or her Speaking truth to power, the late those who confront the control mecha­ work is to affirmun iversal standards of Palestinian-American intellectual Ed­ nisms of their ruling power structure. human rights and dignity by confront- ward Said noted, was the intellectual's They defy existing rules, run against

42 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 The Middle East the grain of prevailing public opinion, foreignpolic y, as it was fo r journalists more than against external enemies. raise unpleasant issues for public dis­ in the Middle East to suggest that our Governments for decades indiscrimi­ cussion, and demand that public or of­ societies needed to appreciate the nately closed publications, jailed or ficialpower be exercised equitably and many reasons why American public harassed journalists, and used every humanely, according to internationally opinion enthusiastically supported available means of control and intimi­ accepted standards of democratic plu­ military action after 9/1 1. dation. They did this in order to present ralism and human rights. Hundreds of Another word for courage is the the citizenry with only the govern­ journalists who have acted with such Less flamboyant "integrity, " a word ment's view of events, aiming mainly courage have been jailed, threatened, that comprises professional, moral to perpetuate the ruling elite's grip on intimidated and even killed during the and political integrity in doing one's power. The government-disseminated past several decades. Several promi­ job as a reporter or analyst. Acting view was usually incomplete, inaccu- nent journalists have rate and untruthful, recently been killed designed to pro­ or injured in bomb It was as difficult for an American journalist in late mote a citizenry of attacks in Lebanon. docile yes-men and Their courage and 2001 to suggest that American society needed to women, unthinking sacrifice continue to explore the full reasons for the 9/11 attacks, including and robotic nation­ inspire many of us in als who make neither the news media who backlash against U.S. foreign policy, as it was for serious demands nor are committed to the journalists in the Middle East to suggest that our utter independent quest for balance, thoughts. The conse­ accuracy, integrity, societies needed to appreciate the many reasons why quence is all around fa irness, relevance American public opinion enthusiastically supported us today-a region and truth in our daily wracked by home- work. military action after 9/11 . grown violence and In contexts such as foreign armed oc­ the modern Middle cupations, corru p­ East, journalism is not tion, abuse of power, only a vocation for conveying informa­ with integrity means honestly prob­ criminality, terrorism and a widespread tion and providing entertainment; it is ing the causes of the many problems desire among youth to emigrate. a critical tool for promoting coherent and tensions that define the modern Journalists who dare to challenge statehood, sensible governance, and Middle East and suggesting antidotes the prevailing power structure and basic decency in the Lives of all men that offer a way towards a more stable, demand a better and more just order and women in our societies. In most productive and equitable society. It in society represent one form of cour­ cases the news media provide the only means demanding that power in the age, alongside others who do the same possible means of challenging official hands of the state be exercised with thing in civil society, the religious and narratives, and those journalists who a sense of responsibility, and within educational establishments, the world make use of that opportunity, at great Limits, while also demanding moral of arts and the business community. risk usually, can often inspire other behavior on the part of private busi­ Journalists often are the first to make citizens to mobilize for the well-being nesses, Local traditional leaders, and public demands of the state, challenge of their entire count1y civil society organizations. Challenging its use of power, or suggest a better, At its simplest level, courageous the governments of the Middle East, in more humane style of public Life and journalism may mean offering an opin­ particular, has meant demanding that political authority. Their courage de­ ion that diffe rs fr om the government's, the guns and money in the hands of rives from their willingness to make or proposing ideas that run counter to the central government be subjected to the first move in tightly run societies, the dominant trend in public opinion. mechanisms of accountability, whether to be the firstto challenge authority in At its most complex and dangerous, through representative governance public, to point out that the emperor it means challenging security systems based on elected parliaments, the is naked, and that the citizens are hu- and ruling oligarchies to be account­ rule of Law based on independent ju­ man. • able, transparent and equitable in their diciaries, or more informal traditional monopolistic exercise of power. These systems of representation, voice and Ranii G. Khouri, a 2002 Nieman Fel­ are universal values, not particularly pluralism that are deeply ingrained in low, is editor at large of tbe Beirut­ Middle Eastern: It was as difficult fo r Middle Eastern cultures. based Tb e Daily Star and an interna­ an American journalist in Late 2001 to The modern history of the Middle tionally sy ndicated columnist. suggest that American society needed East, especially the Arab world, has to explore the fu ll reasons for the 9/1 1 been plagued by police states that use C8l [email protected] attacks, including backlash against U.S. violence against their own citizens

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 43 Courage

Courage Can Mean Pushing Gradually Against Bo undaries in Iran 'Courage is not always about overcoming immediate dangers or reaching immediate ends.'

By Omid Memarian

''This is our responsibility, " said political prisoners shy away from at­ During the past 20 years many Iranian an Iranian journalist right after tending such committees out of fear; journalists have been jailed, tortured, signing a letter to the prosecutor usually, they remain silent, weary of pressured and firedfrom their jobs. At general of Te hran to stop the violence the consequences of revealing what the same time, however, the number against imprisoned journalists. A week happens inside Iran's notorious jails. of people who are entering this risky before the letter was written, in De­ However, I decided to attend the com­ profession has increased dramatically. cember 2004, I was released fromjail. mittee hearing with my friend Roozbeh And that is why journalism seems in­ Altogether, 128 of my colleagues had Mirebrahimi. We gave testimony about secure, risky and dangerous but also asked the prosecutor general to stop what had happened to us, though we a task respected by the people. The intimidating imprisoned journalists in were terrified of what might happen motivating fo rce that pushes journal­ order to obtain confession letters. Such as a result. Only a few years beforea ists forward is the people's demand letters are used by the Iranian judiciary number of secular writers had been for news, as well as their respect and to instill fear among journalists and murdered by the intelligence services appreciation. political activists. while undergoing similar arrest and I used towork at a newsroom in Iran I was one of the journalists who interrogation methods. with six other journalists. They were all was coerced into writing a confession Our testimony shocked everybody. intimidated by officialsand constantly letter. And I did agree to write such a The international community objected in danger oflosing their jobs. But most letter after spending 55 days in solitary strongly to what had gone on inside of them, when they facedintimi dation, confinement, experiencing irregular detention centers, and the head of came back to work after a while and psychological pressures as part of a Iran's judiciary met with us in a private continued writing, more seriously than terrifying interrogation process, and gathering and promised to stop such in the past. As journalists, they believed losing all connection to the outside violations. And the words we spoke in their commitment to tell the truth world. I agreed to do this so I would to this presidential committee had an and cover the critical areas, but for be released, knowing full well that the impressive impact on reformingIran's many of them this was not possible to public would not believe such a letter detention methods by clarifying the do. In Iran, many subjects that journal­ to be true. This tactic is used by the Is­ mistreatment of journalists who are ists would want to cover exist in the lamic regime regularly with prominent detained. Many politicians told us that forbidden red zone: religious laws, cler­ politicians, intellectuals and journalists the publicity surrounding our testi­ ics, Islamic foundations, high-ranking who strongly insist on doing their job, mony had made it incredibly difficult officials, corruption, bad governance, even if what they say or write is in op­ for the government to coerce journal­ social problems, foreignpolic y, and so position to the government's position. ists into writing confession letters. "It on. Though it is very hard sometimes Their goal is to inspire fear among takes a lot of effort, energy and risks to understand how journalists can do their colleagues. When used against for them do it again," said Mashallah their jobs and keep themselves away journalists, the authorities believe Shams ol-Vaezin, a prominent Iranian fr om danger, this is not an excuse for they destroy their solidarity while also journalist who has himself been jailed many journalists not to cover these injuring them personally. beforefor more than 10 months, "now difficult topics. And when they do, The story about my letter, however, that eveq1body knows what happens journaliststry to be careful, but none received a great deal of coverage both inside detention centers and that these of them is safe. within Iran and outside of it. When letters are worthless." it was published, former esidentPr Differing interpretations of law, A Particular Kind of Courage Mohammad Khatami established an blurred professional lines, and a investigative committee to look into general lack of trust toward the news Consequently, journalists frequently allegations of torture and mistreat­ media have turned journalism into a pass over these zones. Seven years ago, ment in Iranian prisons. Normally risky and dangerous profession in Iran. while many secular writers were be-

44 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Eastern Europe

ing murdered and fear was dominant, more than a profession; it is a valuable journalistsin Iran are facedwith clanger Akbar Ganji, an investigative journalist, tool for social change. As this happens, no matter what topic they are work­ wrote a series of bold articles in which the people in Iran provide support for ing on, so the work they do-while he exposed the Iranian intelligence journalists by creating an atmosphere considered routine and ordinary in ministry's involvement in perpetuating in which it becomes possible to cover other places-can demand courage these murders. The popularity of his more dangerous topics. from them. writings forced the president to estab­ Courage is not always about over­ In the absence offr eedom of expres­ lish an investigative committee. This coming immediate clangers or reaching sion, with suppression of civil society generated a public dialogue, albeit a immediate ends. It can be based on and political activism, journalists have censored one, on the issue of political journalists assuming strong responsi­ become the nation's pioneers in de­ murders. The government was finally bility and commitment to finding truth fe nding human rights and promoting forcedto reformthe intelligence service. in ways that are possible for them. social change. In Iran's current political Ganji, however, was sentenced to six Iranian journalists report on poverty, atmosphere, the news media play the years in prison forhis writings. He never prostitution, unemployment, drug role of political parties, civil society gave up and showed how journalism addiction, crime and corruption in a organizations, and educational facili­ could effectively bring differences to country where any kind of criticism is ties. These overloaded responsibilities the society. considered to be "painting a black pic­ put onto journalists, in an environment Unlike Ganji, many other journalists ture of the Islamic regime." They walk with an inappropriate proportion be­ shy away from such investigative work this thin line by connecting with grass­ tween the commitment required and and write about social issues and mat­ roots organizations and employing a freedom allowed, provide a situation ters that relate more to the daily lives constructive tone. As a result, they've that makes courage the determining of the people. Despite government written many stories that have leftdeep factor in the lives of successful jour­ censorship, they do their best to expose impressions on the society and led to nalists. • these problems. Often they shed light some kinds of change. Journalists, as on the unknown, dark and hidden parts an Iranian saying goes, "walk on the Oniid Memarian, an Iranian jour­ of the society and generate a public edge of the blade." nalist and blogge1; is a visiting space for dialogue by bringing social Moreover, in defining courage scholar at the University of Califor­ and political issues to the surface. among the Iranian journalists, one nia at Berkeley Graduate School of These Iranian journalists show cour­ needs to understand the nature of the journalism. Human Rights Wa tch age in their commitment to truth and government, society and the media. honored him with its 2005 Human understanding the dynamic oflranian Sometimes even reporting on cultural Rights Defender Award. His writing society today, through the motivation issues, such as writing movie and book can be read on biogs at www. omid­ they have for change and improvement reviews, can be considered threaten­ memarian. blogspot. com and www. and by their persistence. Journalists ing, since the Islamic Republic of Iran berkeleyforum. blogspot. com. who cover critical social topics take re­ believes that foreign enemies, particu­ sponsibility forwhat they report. With larly the United States, are unleashing [8J [email protected] this approach, journalismis becoming a "cultural invasion" on Islam. Thus

Western Correspondents Display Cold War Courage 'I walked and cried. Death seemed a great relief but so difficultto find .... If only the interrogator would call me. I would admit anything.'

By Larry Heinzerling

f any Associated Press (AP) corre­ faced: Leonard Kirschen in Romania, state activity, and all three men, aware spondent had been asked about William Oatis in Czechoslovakia, and of the clangers but doggedly pursuing I courage in journalism in the 1950's Enclre Marton in Hungary. All were their profession, fell victim to Stalinist at the height of the cold war, as the imprisoned for their reporting. regimes and their secret police. tempo of arrests, show trials and death Throughout Soviet-occupied East­ Kirschen, a Romanian, the first ar­ sentences mounted behind the Iron ern Europe, We stern journalistic prac­ rested and longest held, was accused Curtain, three names would have sur- tices were regarded as a criminal, anti- of spying for the United States and

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 45 Courage

Britain. He was an experienced, British­ but then overflowing with 2,500. In Ida as he saw them." He was sentenced eclucatecl reporter hired in Bucharest Februa1-y 1960, as the international to 10 years. His Czech staff received in the post-Wo rld War II turmoil of diplomatic climate changed, Kirschen harsher terms. President Han-y Truman January 1946. He was detained, tried was invited to apply to have his sen­ denounced the trial as an attempt to and sentenced to 25 years in 1950, tence suspended. Within clays he was intimidate the We stern press. becoming the first lmown AP corre­ released. It had taken the U.S. State "I was in prison in Czechoslovakia spondent ever imprisoned. After 10 Department and the British foreign for over two years, and I can tell you years of cruel confinement, he was office a decade to win his release, all this," Oatis reported later. "Living in released in 1960. the while prodded by AP, which had that prison is like being buried alive. supported Kirschen's ailing and des­ A cell there is like a tomb. And the Kirschen's Interrogations titute fa ther and his wife. inmate is like a man in purgato1y He Kirschen and his family moved to is waiting, and his problem is to get His interrogations by the Romanian England, where he rejoined AP in through time." secret police went on, clay and night, London and developed a reputation The jailing of this American citizen week after week, during which he was as a commodities reporter. In an edi­ became a major cold war incident. asked to write, then to rewrite, his torial appearing a few clays after his The United States cut off all trade life's histoqrin a clingy cell. "We have death in 1983, of London with Czechoslovakia, travel there by methods to make you talk, and you recalled his book, "Prisoner of Reel U.S. citizens was banned, and Czech won't like it at all," Kirschen was told. Justice," published in 1963. "One of the commercial flights to We st Germany "You know, other people also tried best prison books amongst the many were prohibited. Oatis was finally to be clever with us and didn't talk. published by victims of Communism, released May 16, 1953 after his wife, After we were finished they even told this is also one of the least bitter," the Laurabelle, appealed personally to the us eve1ything they'd sucked in with Times wrote. Czech president. It was a seeming act their mother's milk during childhood." of grace, but the Czechs were under Kirschen recalled that at that moment Oatis's Tr ial heavy economic pressure, and Presi­ he began to shiver. He was denied sleep dent Dwight Eisenhower had held open and forced to keep writing the same In January 1950, Czechoslovalda ex­ the possibility ofmore normal relations thing over and over, as the interroga­ pelled all We stern correspondents. if Oatis were freed. After recuperating tions began each afternoon and lasted AP's Czech nationals were ordered from tuberculosis, contracted while until 5 a.m.. Then, wearing only thin, not to send stories abroad. The AP was he was in prison, Oatis eventually was badly holed socks, he was placed into allowed to reopen its bureau under reassigned to the UN bureau in New a room six by nine fe et and ordered to William Oatis, of Marion, Indiana, later Yo rk, where he specialized in reporting "walk arou ncl his cell and think." Eve1y that year, but on April 23, 1951 Oatis about developing countries. He died six hours he was told to stop walking, and his entire Czech staff were arrested September 16, 1997. and he was given a straw mattress and charged with spying. Oatis was held covered with urine and bloodstains incommunicado nearly 70 clays before Marton's Dispatches fromthe previous walkers on which to he was brought to trial. He was ques­ sleep. After two hours of rest he was tioned around the clock, held in solita1-y Enclre Marton survived the first years forced to resume walldng fo r another confinement,and permitted no visitors, of Soviet domination in Hungary, six hours. He wrote: not even the U.S. ambassador. including his coverage in 1948 of In a staged trial beforea Communist the sensational show trial of Joseph "I walked and cried. Death seemed court, Oatis "confessed" to gathering Cardinal Minclszent:y. Marton's brush a great relief but so difficult to find. I facts about Czech agriculture and with authority came later but did not bumped my head against the wooden manufacturing production. In sum­ deter him from covering one of the wall, longing forit. The warder lashed ming up, the prosecutor damned Oatis biggest stories of the cold war. He out at my fe et with a belt. 'Get moving. with remarkable praise, saying he was and his wife, Ilona, who worked for What do you think you are doing?' he "particularly dangerous because of United Press in competition with her shouted as I tried to drag my fe et along. his discretion and his insistence on husband, were arrested in 1955 and If only the interrogator would call me. obtaining only accurate, correct and charged with espionage. He was jailed I would admit anything." verified information." The U.S. State by a secret Hungarian milita1-y court Department described the confession for 18 months, she fo r half that time, Eventually, unable to endure the as nothing more than "the admission alternatively threatened with execution psychological and physical torture any of an American reporter that in the and treated with relative leniency. They longer, Kirschen decided to "confess," high traditions of his profession was were freed in the more liberal politi­ signed a statement of guilt, and was attempting under the most unfavorable cal climate prevailing in the summer taken to the prison at Jilava, a 19th conditions to report a true picture of of 1956, just in time to witness the centuq1fortress intended fo r 600 men conditions and events in Czechoslova- bloody uprising by Hungarian freedom

46 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Eastern Europe fighters, a pivotal moment that pitted a battlefield shortly after noon today 4th Soviet troops overran the country. students and workers against Soviet when a Soviet tank opened fire on a The fighting killed and wounded tens tanks brought in to crush the revolt. few thousand peaceful demonstrators of thousands of Hungarians, and some On October 23rd, tens of thousands whose only weapons were Hungarian 200,000 refugees fled to the We st of Hungarians pushed into Stalin flags." through Austria. On November 12th, Square in Budapest shouting "Ruskies the revolt crushed, Marton gave this go home" and "Down with Gero," the The story reported as many as 200 overview: head of the Communist Party. The or 300 dead. The fighting escalated demonstrations mounted the following and spread to other towns. Demon­ "BUDAPEST, Nov. 12 (AP)-After 15 day but Marton, his communications strators armed with Molotov cocktails, years under the heel first of Nazi Ger­ to the outside world cut, was unable homemade grenades and small arms, many and then of Communist Russia, to send out stories. clashed with Russian forces in tanks Hungary got a whiff of intoxicating Tw o days later, Budapest's freedom in late October. Parliament Square became "Then came Sunday, No­ a battleground. Marton was vember 4th. Budapest was there when Soviet troops fired 'The nighttime silence of the large room awakened by the roaring of into a crowd of demonstra­ was suddenly broken when my machine guns. By authoritative esti­ tors. He had witnessed what mate, the Russians had moved he called "the story of my sprang to life. I stared at it, waiting 4,600 tanks and between life," but he had no way to to see what would happen. And then, 180,000 and 200,000 men get it out. He pleaded with a into Hungary to crush the friendly official in charge of miraculously, the words appeared on revolution. Against this might, outgoing communications the paper: "Associated Press, Vienna." Hu nga1y had nine divisions of for access to a government 90,000 men or less, equipped building from which he could I sat there, with trembling fingers, and with obsolete weapons, and send his sto1y. His contact punched back: "AP, Budapest." Back kids, some with guns." agreed, but warned Marton: "I don't think you can make came the message: "Endre ... Is that In Janua1y 1957, Marton it. Yo u will be shot before really you?"' -Endre Marton first received warnings he you get there. It's not worth might be arrested again, fol­ it." Marton reached the office lowed by hints there might and gave the telex numbers of be no objections if he left the several AP bureaus to a clerk. Marton and the hated Hungarian secret police. count1y and, finally, word the regime waited several hours. He had never On October 29th, the Hungarian army would welcome his departure. The used a telex machine before. Marton announced that Russian troops had Martons and their two children cle­ described the scene this way in his begun to withdraw from Budapest. The ciclecl to leave, traveling first by road book, "The Forbidden Sky": fo llowing clay, Premier Imre Nagy, the to Austria and several months later first leader in the Soviet orbit to attempt moving to the United States. Marton "The nighttime silence of the large introducing "socialism with a human continued his work with the AP in room was suddenly broken when my face," announced the one-party Com­ Washington, where he served many machine sprang to life. I stared at it, munist system had been abolished. It years as State Department correspon­ waiting to see what would happen. was a Soviet ruse. dent. He died November 1, 2005 at And then, miraculously, the words On November 2nd, Marton reported the age of 95. • appeared on the paper: 'Associated Russian tanks and soldiers had re­ Press, Vienna.' I sat there, with trem­ turned and encircled Budapest as Nagy Larry Heinzerling is The Associated bling fingers, and punched back: 'AP, pleaded on Budapest Radio for the Press deputy internationaleditor fo r Budapest.' Back came the message: United Nations to guarantee Hunga1y's world services. He is among a team 'Endre ... Is that really you?'" independence. The Hungarian rebels of nearly20 writers, editors and had repeatedly broadcast appeals for researchers working on a new his­ The next clay his sto1y, the first eye­ support from the United States. The to1J1 of The Associated Press, updat­ witness account, some 2,000 words U.S. government had often spoken of ing Oliver Gramling's "A P: Th e Sto1y long, was splashed on the front page of "liberating" Communist countries and of News. " Th e stories in this article The New Yo rk Times and other news­ rolling back the Iron Curtain, but it did emerged from, research fo r this booli. papers around the world. It began: not intervene in Hunga1y. Direct inter­ vention in Soviet controlled Eastern [8J [email protected] "BUDAPEST, Hunga1y, Oct. 25-Par­ Europe would have been tantamount to liament Square in Budapest became declaring Wo rld Wa r III. On November

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 47 Courage

A Difficult Journey From Repression to Democracy Brave journalists who challenge authoritarian regimes often 'enter a postauthoritarian era full of c01npromises and new repressions.'

By Ann Cooper

nAugust 1991 I witnessed some of nalists were among the heroes thanked predictable. CP)'s filesare full of tales the more courageous and world­ by a deliriously grateful public. Their of brave journalists challenging dicta­ I shaking journalisticacts of the 20th bold reporting had emboldened oth­ torship, helping push countries toward century. On a mild summer morning, ers; the Ye ltsin image in particular democratic reform, only to enter a the masterminds of a hard-line Com­ telegraphed a message of hope in a postauthoritarian era fu ll of compro­ munist coup put Soviet leader Mikhail time of despair. mises and new repressions. Gorbachev under house arrest. To I reported on these events for Na­ Shortly after I arrived at CPJ in 1998, ensure control over information, they tional Public Radio (NPR) , having been the Nigerian military strongman Sani shut down all but the most loyal news­ NPR's Moscow bureau chief for five Abacha died suddenly. Heroic editors papers and deployed who had gone to jail or tanks and soldiers to been forcedun derground surround Moscow's for challenging Abacha's state broadcasting facili­ Some [Russian] media companies were rescued corrupt rule were now free-and more than ties. Then they ordered by rich oligarchs, but the exchange was that radio and television ready to build a national announcers to report these new bosses often turned them into forum for vibrantdebate. Instead, they watched that they took action mouthpieces for their own political ends. Other in order to combat newsstand sales plummet the "mortal danger" to news media made serious ethical compromises as a politics-weary public demanded more sports the motherland posed in order to survive: Selling news space to those by Gorbachev's failed and entertainment. And policies. willing to pay for favorable coverage became a they soon learned that For a few hours , routine business practice. even under an elected events played out like a government some Nige­ theatrical revival of the rian police and security heartbreaking Soviet agents were eager to beat crackdowns in Hungary and Czecho­ years. When I left Moscow one month or harass journalists for their critical slovakia decades earlier. But soon a few after the fa iled coup, it was clear the reporting. [See article by Sunday Dare journalists-some veterans of Soviet Soviet Union was dead. Less clear was on page 15.] rule, others weaned on Gorbachev's what would follow, though had I been CPJ has documented similar stories glasnost-stood up to fight. Editors of asked at the time, I am sure I would have about the independent press corps that banned newspapers combined efforts predicted that a vibrant, independent survived such dictatorships as Suharto's to put out a daily called the "Common media would grow and thrive, and its in Indonesia and Slobodan Milosevic's Newspaper" in defianceof the coup. A existence would help shape some form in Yugoslavia. These journalists, often brash young reporter confronted the of post-Communist democracy. at the forefront in demanding change putsch leaders at a press conference, under authoritarian rule, could be just dismissing their phony propaganda Roadblocks Along the Way as tough on new rulers at the first sign and informing the nation, via live of corruption or human rights abuses. television, that a coup was underway. Now, 15 years later, both Russian Like the Nigerians, they learned that Hours later, television officials, their democracy and Russia's independent just because elected leaders say they studios still encircled by tanks, snuck media are in tatters. And as director respect press freedom doesn't mean another electrifying report onto the of the Committee to Protect Journal­ they really do. air: the image of Boris Ye ltsin, atop an ists (CPJ), where I work in defense In 1991, I had not yet learned this armored vehicle, in dramatic defiance of courageous colleagues every day, lesson. Nor did I imagine that the press of the Communist takeover. I have come to believe that many of corps hailed for heroism in August of In the rejoicing that fo llowed the the difficulties encountered by media that year would be derided for cor­ coup's collapse a few days later, jour- in post-Communist Russia were quite ruption just a few years later. When

48 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 EasternEurope

Communist rule collapsed, many of for Putin to bring all national news are not Soviet, but neither are they the Soviet Union's thousands of media broadcasting under Kremlin control free. What both need desperately is a outlets were privatized. Without the and to effectively bar independent new generation of courageous jour­ party's financial subsidies, though, reporting on the country's most sen­ nalists-reporters like Politkovskaya, economic survival was difficult. Some sitive issues-in particular, the war in who has been arrested, poisoned media companies were rescued by Chechnya. and targeted with death threats for rich oligarchs, but the exchange was Increasingly, opposition voices cry her dogged coverage of human rights that these new bosses often turned into a wilderness in Russia. A handful abuses in Chechnya. them into mouthpieces for their own of newspapers with limited circulation Brave voices like hers must survive political ends. Other news media made might carry their messages. But under to tell the truth, just as her predeces­ serious ethical compromises in order Kremlin pressure, few other media sors did back in August of 1991. • to survive: Selling news space to those outlets dare run even basic campaign willing to pay for favorable coverage platform debates, rendering elections Ann Cooper served as executive di­ became a routine business practice. in Russia no longer free and fair."We are rector of the Committee to Protect By 2000, when a new president, hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into jo urnalists from 1998 until June Vladimir Putin, launched fresh restric­ an info rmation vacuum," warns Anna 2006. She left to head the broadcast tions on the press, the audience forRus­ Politkovskaya, perhaps the scrappiest department at Columbia University 's sian news media saw journalists as so journalist now worldng in Russia. Graduate School of jo urnalism.. comprised that they were not deemed Russia today is not a dictatorship, worthy of defending. That made it easy but neither is it a democracy. Its media

Go vernment Clampdowns on Newspapers Send Reporting Online In , with many people not able to use their computers to read about what is happening, 'Online is not yet a worthy substitute for newspapers.'

By Andrei Khrapavitski

eing an independent journalist to have any of these publications sold turned to their We b sites in the hope in Belarus has always been a at the kiosks it controlled. of maintaining the flow of news-and B challenge. Inrecentyears, news Since January 2006, 60 journalists the momentum toward democracy. reports have been censored by govern­ were detained (28 beforethe elections, This effort, which ultimately failed, ment officials, reporters and editors 36 on Election Day and afterwards, and demonstrated an important lesson have been arrested, physically attacked, three were detained twice). Of them, for journalists throughout the world: threatened, expelled and one reporter 34 were sentenced to imprisonment, Online is not yet a worthy substitute disappeared and is believed dead. nine were beaten up. Though our for newspapers. Heading into the pivotal March 2006 nation's "denim revolution" failed,this Access to news is critical. When news election, in which presidentAleksandr was not because of any lack of cour­ is shared only online, people who don't Lukashenko sought a third term, the age and determination by journalists. have the ability to get to the information situation for journalists grew even Rather, this political movement fa iled will be left out and thereforebe unin­ more grave. Fearful of another "color because the Belarus government shut volved. In Belarus, as in most parts of revolution," as happened in Ukraine down newspapers and succeeded in the world, the Internet is still populated and Georgia, government officials suppressing info rmation about the primarily by the young and educated. blocked any information (other than opposition's ideas and candidates, a Data from the Independent Insti tu te of what they provided) from reaching the tactic neither the government in the Socio-Economic and Political Studies public. The state-owned newspaper Ukraine nor Georgia had used. tells us that nearly one-quarter-some distribution company, Belposhta, no 23-24 percent-ofBelarusians use the longer allowed subscriptions to or Tu rning to the We b Internet; only half of these people do the distribution of privately owned, so on a regular basis. And pre-elec­ independent newspapers . Another Faced with the inability to circulate tion polls indicated that the majority state monopoly, Belsayuzdruk, refused their newspapers, Belarusian journalists of those who support Lukashenko are

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 49 Courage pensioners and people who live in vil­ of desperation. And even with limited Belarus and would, most likely, move lages or small towns-a group often public access to We b sites, the govern­ totally online. far removed fr om modern technology. ment continues to harass journalists Vo lnaye Hlybokaye and Vi tebski The vast majority oflnternet users are as they shift to publishing online. Ye t Kurier, both newspapers, allow third­ based in Minsk, are under the age of journalists continue to use whatever party We b sites, Sumiezza and Vitebsk. 30, and have slow connections. means they can to get their words out by, to re-post their articles online. And Being a reporter in the Belarus in­ and have their voices heard, even many well-respected news organiza­ dependent press guarantees neither though many of these strategies require tions provided RSS feeds to We blogs on money nor fame; instead it brings those personal courage. Election Day so that people could still who do it real problems and dangers. Under Belarus's media law, the have access to information, even if the Despite these clangers, there are still court can ban a newspaper aftertwo publications' We b sites were blocked hundreds who choose to keep report­ officialwarnings are given. One of the or hacked. Indeed, Election Day did ing news during this difficult time. As firstclosed publications was Pahonia, turn into an online battle between Andrei Dynko, the editor ofNasha Niva, a major regional newspaper from Web administrators and hackers, with who was arrested and jailed fo r several Grodno, which criticized the govern- the former working to keep their sites days in March, observed about updated and available, while the his newspaper's working con- latter attacked them to try to ditions: "We have to ignore disrupt the flow (and succeeded The question journalists in Belarus many lmvs-the 24-clay annual with some sites) . paid leaves, maternity or sick confront is how to keep independent After the election, direct leaves, maximum 40 hours attacks on the Internet sites journalism alive. As reporters and of work per week, sanitary stopped, and We b sites contain­ norms in the office, nightly editors and bloggers in Western ing the work of independent shifts. I'm not even mention­ journalists continue to be acces­ democracies explore ways to transition ing repressive regulations. We sible to those with the computer are distributing a newspaper news reporting from print to online, in and wired connections to get to which is banned from being them. And with all of the actions Belarus this shift is happening, but not subscribed to or sold in news­ against newspapers, indepen­ stands. Some women come to naturally or thoughtfully, as it should. dent print journalism could not work with month-old babies to be revived; the remaining few preserve the oldest Belarusian newspapers have had to move newspaper, the only one left online as their only hope for in the country, published exclusively ment in overt ways. After its closure, survival. Even if all the newspapers in the ." Pahonia went to an online edition in fa il, there will still be underground As Lukashenko's dictatorship in an attempt to maintain its mission of printouts, bulletins and We b sites that Belarus hardens after the harshest and providing the public censor-free news. will deliver news to Belarusians. most fraudulent electoral campaign in But its problems did not stop. Editors Are these ways of distributing news its history, being a journalist in Belarus Nikolai Markevich and Pavel Mozheiko able to substitute for the traditional demands real courage, sometimes were arrested and sentenced to a year print media7 heroism. Survival of the independent and a half of "corrective labor" on In the opinion of many observers, press is at stake, as government of­ charges of libeling Lukashenko in an not yet. • ficials continue their crackdown on online article. news coverage and its distribution and Nasha Niva, a major intellectual Andrei Kbrapavitski is a graduate newspapers reach smaller and smaller publication, struggles to preserve its student at tbe University of North audiences. print version. But to accommodate Carolina School of journalism, its circumstances and its online pos­ wbere be studies as a Musk�ie Fello w Online Restrictions sibilities, the publication switched from while resea rcbing tbe role of inde­ being a broadsheet to a bulletin-like pendent media in Belarus, Uliraine The question journalists in Belarus format. The reason: Nasha Niva can and Georgia. In Belarus be worked confront is how to keep independent be downloaded in a PDF-version, then as a deputy editor at Vo lnaye Hlybo­ journalism alive. As reporters and printed and distributed by its read­ kaye, fo unded an independent youth editors and bloggers in Western de­ ers to others who live nearby. Now publication., Ka nspekt, and worked mocracies explore ways to transition authorities are attempting to ban the in tbe network of resource centers news reporting from print to online, in newspaper by closing its Minsk office fo stering new niedia initiatives. Belarus this shift is happening, but not and depriving Nasha Niva of its legal naturally or thoughtfully, as it should. address. If this happens, Nasha Niva 181 [email protected] The shift in Belarus is happening out will lose its right to be published within

50 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Courage Emerges Fro m the Wo rk Journalists Do ' ... journalists' courage needs a source, and so far I have recognized three such sources: insanity, lack of any clue, ideals.'

By Aida Cerkez-Robinson

ourage. I think I'm the wrong person to talk about courage C because I'm a coward. Being forced into action that might be de­ scribed as courageous when you have no other option-that's not courage to me. What many photojournalists and reporters did is courageous. But I will give you my observation and my opinion about it anyway. I don't think courage is a category that plays a role by itself. As far as I could see in the 15 years of working in journalism and surviving Sarajevo, journalists' courage needs a source, and so far I have recognized three such sources: insanity, lack of any clue, ideals. Either you are completely insane to voluntarily expose yourself to snipers, mortar shells, cold, hunger and the rest A Bosnian man cradles his child as they and others run through one of the worst spots of the mise11' I saw within the besieged for sniper shootings in Sarajevo. Easter Sunday, 1993. Photo by Jvlichael St ravato!Co11rtesy city of Sarajevo for more than three ofTh e Associated Press. years. Or you decide to ignore the danger and do your job because you and although it was in our count!)' only has to move the tube, maybe even have never really seen a tank before we, in Sarajevo, still thought it was by accident, forone or two millimeters, and you have no clue what it can do to far away from us. Then it came closer and his shell would land right into our you, so you are not afraid of it, which and closer and artille11' started pound­ ldtchen. And that-was close. describes my case at the beginning of ing the Sarajevo old town. That's not Seeing people dying clay by day, Bosnia's war. where I live, so in my neighborhood we-the army of the clueless-slowly I saw bombs in violent cartoons we spoke about how "this is not close realized it's wiser to stay in the base­ when I was little. However, Bugs Bunny to us," without noticing how our safe ment and not to come out until it's would always appear alive in the next world was shrinldng. over, which was three and a half years scene. I'd seen tanks before, but they The first idea of how close it had later. Some Sarajevans made it out and did not appear that big and dangerous; come was when I watched my mother became refugees all over the world. they could all fitinto a TV or movie preparing food at the stove next to the I didn't because I could not believe screen, and they never shot at me but open balcony door while also watch­ this could be happening to a city in at someone else. So in my mind, the ing nearby residential buildings being Europe at the end of the 20th centu11' artille11' that shot at my city in 1992 pounded by mortars. Just an average­ and thought it would be over in a few was always aiming at someone else, sized park divided our neighborhood clays. not at me; bad things can't happen to from those buildings, and when I us, just to other people. Civilians are warned her to go to the basement she Joining Journalists to Te ll the in general unaware of what weapons replied, "This is not close to us." I real­ Story can do, unless they've dealt with them ized how stu pi cl her comment was only before in army training. because a day before a neighbor had I joined the journalistic community The shooting started in Bosnia first described to me what a mortar looks basically because I felt I had to do some­ in cities close to the Serbian border, like, and I understood that the gunner thing that makes sense and, I thought,

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 51 Courage after telling the outside world what is not their home. They had nothing to "See, I have chosen to come here going on, something will change. With do with my city and my world; they to report about what is happening in this idea in my mind, I began helping came here as reporters and chose to Sarajevo. To provide the information. fo reign reporters tell about Sarajevo's expose themselves to what I was forced To make sure it's on TY, it's on the reality to the world outside. The job to endure. They were neither insane radio, it's in the papers. To make sure drew me closer and closer to clanger. nor clueless. people can't avoid the information," When danger occurs at some spot in I often asked myself why are they this colleague told me. "Not because the city-a square is bombarded and doing this then. The answer came I think it will change something right there are dead people-foreve1 )'body one night, in the middle of the war. away but simply to make the informa­ else in town, this informationis a signal I was ready to quit, ang1)' about the tion available. So one day when this is that one has to run as far away from ignorance of the world toward the all over one way or the other, nobody that spot as possible. But you, as a suffering of my city. The idea I started can use that argument. Nobody can reporter, are the one running in the op­ with crashed. The outside world did say: 'I did not know. "' posite direction of the crowd-toward know what was happening; we told it, That night I realized how simple, the bad spot, to see, to hear, realistic and noble his motive to capture it in the form of a was for exposing himself vol­ photo or TV footage, in order untarily to danger. Oh, man, it ... I saw a tank for the first time in my to show and tell the world what was worth dying for.He will not is going on. life, stood next to it, and realized how change the world himself and I was not even afraid. I sat in might not even see a change in small I was compared to it and how I trenches on frontlines without his lifetime. But step by step, really !mowing what the clanger can't hurt it at all. That's when the fear one by one, journalists slowly from the other side looks like. widen the consciousness of came and the courage ended. I never thought about it. I had humanity. It's a profession that no picture of it. It was abstract. does offer the possibility to I sat there in my pink overalls, play a small role in the overall white shoes, and camouflage understanding that the world helmet on my head that someone had but it did not do anything about it. All is made of people who deserve our given me. Even my outfit spoke about the reports we were sending seemed to attention and action although they how clueless I was. me like screaming into deaf people's live on another continent. People My frequent trips tofr ontlines-basi­ ears-they produced nothing. So there do care about other people-they cally outskirts of my little town-encl eel was no point forme to continue. just have to know about them. Some sometime in 1993, after I saw a tank I was all in tears when I was ex­ people devote their life to being that forthe first time in my life, stood next plaining this to one of my colleagues, connection between people, being to it, and realized how small I was who had left the safety of his life in that channel. This motivation makes compared to it and how I can't hurt it Paris to come here and sit with me in journalists then also be courageous at all. That's when the fear came and this stupid, pointless misery He was as a byproduct. Yo u don't go into a the courage ended. The rest of the war listening carefully and then said after a war zone to report because you are a I tried to keep a low profile, picked while: "So you were up to changing the courageous person. Yo u go because up tips from experienced colleagues world, and it didn'twork. Now you are you believe in what you do so much on how to survive and kept going the disappointed. Yo u think it is not worth that you get over the fe eling of fear in best I could. Wa lking down the street risking your life fornothing. Yo ur goal order to achieve your goal. was almost as dangerous as sitting in was set too high," he said. The journalists who get their cour­ a trench at the frontline, but there He explained to me that after World age from the third source-ideals­ was no other option for me. Here War II, many Germans were asked those are the ones I envy. • was my home, my friends, my family, where they were when their Jewish my life, and it was under fire, being neighbors were taken away in the Aida Cerkez-Robinson has wor!wd killed eve11' day. Pushed to the corner, middle of the night and where they fo r Th e Associated Press in Sarajevo, having nothing to lose, you somehow were taken and what happened to Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1992. She are forced to do things others may call them. The most common answer was: started as a fixer and translato1; courageous, but in fact you are just "I didn't know." The lack of informa­ then became a reporte1; and by the tL)'ing to survive. tion gives them some kind of amnesty, end of Bosnia 's war she was AP 's an excuse, since it opens the door for bureau chief, a position she holds The Emergence of Courage the possibility that, would they have today. known, they would have done some­ This was the diffe rence between my thing about it. But they didn't, so they 181 [email protected] foreign colleagues and me. This was are okay.

52 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Go ing to Tell What Others Have Forgotten A war correspondent seeks out people who live in dangerous war zones to tell their stories and finds that 'by sharing the fearit helps a lot.'

OnMarch 29, Melissa Ludtke, the editor war reporter, which is what I am, you of Nieman Reports, sp oke by telephone don't have the choice, you must over­ with Anne Nivat, who was in France, come your fear. Yo u must overcome having returnedfrom reporting trips your fe ar. Yo u have no alternative. If that too/?, her to Chechnya, Pa kistan, you cannot do that, you cannot be Afg hanistan and Iraq. Ni vat, who is a a war correspondent. That is impos­ war correspondent fo r Ouest-Fra nee, sible. When you are such a journalist, was writing a preface fo r the paper­ you go where battle rages, where fe ar bac!z version of her most recent boolz, and death is everywhere; you will see "The Wa /eeof War: Encounters with the terrifying things, and you have to be People of Iraq andAfg hanistan, " which able to watch them, to be a witness. will be published in the fa ll. And to be a witness to me is not only to be there and watch and call your Melissa Ludtke: When you hear the newspaper and dictate your article or word courage applied to what jour­ send it by computer. It is to be able to nalists do, what does that word mean overcome the indifference when you to you? come back. From my experience, the most difficult thing for that kind of Anne Nivat: For me courage is when courage is not when you leave for the journalists should be able to go to field but when you come back from the field, stay on the field, and report the field-when you have to reaclapt to from the field as long as something they afraid of, what makes them dream, the normal life, to your personal life, is going on there. Independently, if what do they dream about? To try to to the life of an individual who most we talk about a war, on neither side, understand someone else's mentality, often lives in a democratic country, a which means not to be embedded or forgetting your own frame. To be able rich country, a country with no war, to stay in a hotel for journalists but to to adapt, not only physically but also and having in mind all you experienced try to make their way through the civil psychologically. That is what courage in as a war correspondent. Not to forget population. In other words, to blend journalism is today and, unfortunately, them-your experience and also the in. Courage in journalism means not I don't really see it, not often. people you left behind. To continue to be afraid of going back and back to being a witness. Not to jump from a the same place, tq1ing to attract the Ludtke: Yo u describe two levels at war to another war, which has become public's attention to forgotten wars, which courage must happen for this very fashionable these clays. such as the war in Chechnya, to men­ kind of reporting to take place. One tion the war I !mow the best and the is courage within the institution of Ludtke : Recently you traveled to Af­ war that is completely forgotten by journalism to fight againstthe impulse ghanistan and Iraq. What part of these the mainstream media. Yes, courage in to move on to the next story. And the war stories clicl you feel you could tell journalists is to have the will, to have other kind of courage would seem to that wasn't being told? And was there the strength, to report about forgot­ be overcoming fe ar of not being safe, some courage in trying to tell a differ­ ten issues, forgottenplaces, forgotten of not being well protected while you ent story? people. Not to stick always with what are doing your job. makes the news, the TV news, which Nivat: I think it is just a completely is obviously too light, too quick, too Nivat: Ye s, you are exactly right. diffe rent perspective. For example, superficial. There is a need to take the from my most recent trip to Pakistan, time to go deeply into what is hap­ Ludtke: Maybe you could speak to Afghanistan and to Iraq, a trip I made pening. Not to be made afraid by a each of these levels of courage. last winter to write a book that is complicated situation. To be capable coming out this spring in France, the of giving nuances, details-details, Nivat: The institutional level of cour­ perspective is told in the title of the details, details-details about how the age is more important to me than the book, "How Do the Islamists See Us?" people live, how they survive, what are second one because when you are a How do they see us? This means it is

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 53 Courage not another article about how we see heavy, daily bombardments from the helps a lot. The local people survive them-meaning the We st, the rich Russians. So it can't be worse. In terms it, so why wouldn't you? And you are We stern countries, Europeans and of security, it can't be worse. doing your job, and it is by being with Americans, and how do we see them them that I am at the heart of the events. without really understanding them. Ludtke: That experience gave you If not, I feel separated. I feel no reason But taking it the other way around-it some sense of confidence or some for me to be there. is just the opposite. By going there sense that fear is not part of your think­ and t1)'ing to meet with them, some ing. What was the legacy this experience Ludtke : Because you speak many of them being very, ve11' anti-\Vestern, left with you? languages and you are familiar with and listening to them, listening to them many ways that people use language, I without judging them, in order to get Nivat: I think it gives me the strength am wondering if you've foundthat the the most I can from them and to convey to go on, yes. I know what it is to be word "courage" has different meanings it back to my readers. under shelling, in a terribly unsafe when it is spoken about in different situation. I've been through that. I languages and cultures and whether Ludtke: To do that required that you can't accept that to go to Afghanistan its meaning changes. traveled out of protected zones, basi­ or Iraq today outside of the secure cally on your own, in areas that many zone means the same level of clanger. Nivat: Oh, I think the word has com­ We stern reporters feel are too unsafe For me, it doesn't, but this is probably pletely diffe rent meanings according for them to go. because I've had these experiences. to the world you live in, according to If I had not had these experiences, I the civilization in which you belong. Nivat: Ye s, that is correct, but that is would probably not think the same The countries I most visit are Muslim exactly what I have been doing since way. So it is very specific to me, or at countries, and I think for them cour­ the vet)' beginning of my work as a least I think so. age has a completely diffe rent meaning journalist. I never travel with other than for us. people, and I never travel in secure Ludtke: Even with this sense that zones. Never. My specialty is to go to you can handle it, do you still make Ludtke: How does this difference these places-and to me, it doesn't judgments in the course of a clay or show itself? sound difficult. It is not difficultto do: a week when a particular risk might Yo u just need to want to do it. seem foolhardy to take rather than Nivat: I think they feel that we are courageous? Is there a thin line that civilizations that love the ve11' notion of Ludtke: To you, it probably doesn't separates those two ideas? courage. We , Europeans, and of course sound courageous either. even more An1ericans. Because they Nivat: All of this is words, words and feel that we live in ultra protected soci­ Nivat: And it does not even sound only words. When you are in a situa­ eties; that we have completely lost the courageous. It sounds normal, because tion, when you are living a situation at notion of what is real, what is not real. I think I can do it. Why shouldn't I do risk, you have to be very colcl-blooclecl. They think we live in a virtual world, it, because I know I can do it? Yo u have to have the ability to think that we live in a bubble. By going to vet)', vet)', very quickly about what is their countries, I sort of give them the Ludtke: Can you identifywhat inside possible and what is impossible. Yo u feeling that yes, there are some people of you pushes you past what ought to never know in advance, never. What from that world who can still go and be a level of fe ar and allows you to take I know is, and what I have always visit them and tt)' to listen to them, to these risks that others don't take? said to my colleagues back in France understand them. Some people here or to my loved ones, my relatives, is in the We st think it is vet)' courageous Nivat: I am not sure. Probably first it that if I know in advance that there is of me, but it is not again forme. It is is a question of personality, of course. something that I would like to do and not. And from their perspective it is But secondly it has to do with my per­ I cannot do it because of various safety not either. sonal experience in Chechnya. I am reasons, I won't do it. I won't take use­ But to come back to your firstques­ absolutely convinced that what I went less risks. But it just never happened. tion, I think for methe ve111 definition through in Chechnya is worse than I've never had to not go forward. But of courage would be to have the cour­ everything else. And during my trips to again maybe when you live in families, age of another perspective. Not the Pakistan, to Afghanistan, to Iraq, and with the people, you share the fe ar one that is the easiest to have, but the during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with them. Yo u are one of them at that perspective of the other. That is in our traveling deeply into those countries, time. It helps a lot. world very courageous. • I have never fe lt the fear I could have had in Chechnya. In Chechnya I was Ludtke : By sharing the fe ar? [8] [email protected] inside the country with the civil popu­ lation for nine months in a row under Nivat: Exactly. By sharing the fear it

54 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Assessing the Risks Reporters in Iraq Confro nt 'I don't believe in the journalist as a hero.' john Burns, who is Baghdad bureau it was absolutely deadly, which it no no front page and no lengthy holidays chieffo r Th e Ne w York Times, delivered longer is, thank God, I noticed that the and no journalisticprizes forthe people the 25th Jo e Ale:>.: Morris,]1: Memorial great racing drivers all believed up until oflraq who endure this. And neither are Lecture, held at the Nieman Fo unda­ the moment it happened to them that there, by the way, forAmerican combat tion on Ma rch 9, 2006. Th is annual it wouldn't happen to them. troops. Yo u could say, well, they joined lecture honors Morris, a fo reign cor­ I think people generally speak­ the military, they knew what they were respondent with the Los Angeles Ti mes ing-and you don't have to be a corre­ doing. But they didn't have any choice who was killed while on assignment spondent in a war zone to say this-find in the cold light of dawn when they go in Te hran, Iran in February 1979. coping with their own mortality a rather out into the streets of Ramadi or the Burns responded to questions, one difficult thing to do. I regularly ask the many other places they go where there of which fo cused on the adjustment correspondents in our bureau to ad­ are these deadly risks. he will undergo when he leaves Iraq dress seriously the risks that they run. I don't believe in the journalist as by year's end and heads a hero. We are very well to London. He reflected on rewarded for what we do. risl�sjournalists confront in And I have to say in the case I don't go anywhere without armed guards, reporting in Iraq and how of The New Yo rk Times, at a they cope with dange1: armored car, very elaborate communication time of some stringency in the economics of newspa­ systems, which would allow us in the know it's not going to be per journalism in America, anywhere near as exciting worst case, should we survive an attack, to The New Yo rk Times, and I as what I'm doing right the same is true ofThe Wa sh­ call in American Medevac helicopters in a now, nor to be honest with ington Post, the Los Angeles you in the scheme of things matter of minutes. Times, the bigger papers, as important to The New Yo rk have been unstinting, un­ Times. But I'm 61 years old, stinting in their willingness and I thought it was time to buy us as much protection that I tried to live a more normal life, I said you should not be here if you as we could possibly have. An armored though I'm told by my wife, among are not prepared forthe possibility that car, of which we have several, costs others, that this is beyond hope. I live you will die here. It's a real possibility. $300,000. I blanche when I think of in hope that a life in which I can go And I say whether I personally would the budget that we are running in to the golf course every weekend is be able to do this or not, I don't know. Baghdad. And all we've ever heard from something that I can adjust to. Micah would probably tell me having New Yo rk is the occasional-because War is a narcotic; there's no doubt been subjected to a lengthy kidnapping The New Yo rk Times had to lay off last about it. The lives we live are energized that everything changes when the gun year some several hundred people by risk, and in the end I guess you'd is at your head. across the United States through its have to say we live by it. Micah Garen, I say to our people if at all possible, various corporate entities as a matter who's here tonight, has been closer to if it happens to you, remember the of retrenchment-if you can find any the edge of the abyss in Iraq by a long words of Robert Falcon Scott on his savings, please do. We were never sub­ measure than I have been. He was return from the South Pole in 1912, ject to mandatory restraints. So we are kidnapped in August of 2004 during when he wrote in his diary on his last extremely fortunate in being afforded one of the Shiite uprisings and was night: "We took risks, we knew that these protections. extremely lucky to come back. It was we took them. And now that things I just want to say something else, a time of a great spate of lddnappings have turned out against us, we have because I think it's remiss of me if I and beheadings. no cause to complain." didn't mention how Jill Carroll of The It's somewhat unseemly to talk Yo u know, it's a well-rewarded life, Christian Science Monitor is, after two about risk. Ulla (Joe Alex Morris's I have to say. The heroes where I work months, still missing. (She was released widow) was telling me earlier that Joe are not journalists. The heroes are-it in March 2006.) And ifthere are heroes Alex did talk about it but never actually sounds a little bit self-righteous to say in all of this, it's the Jill Carrolls, who believed that it would happen to him. this-but the heroes are the people venture out into the badlands with I have a great passion for Formula One who endure these miseries and these absolutely no protection whatsoever. motor racing, and in the days when risks with no hope of reward. There's I don't go anywhere without armed

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 55 Courage

guards, armored car, very elaborate do.Jill wentouton that Saturday morn­ responsibility. I don't think this will communication systems, which would ing two months ago in a softcar with an change. There will always be freelance allow us in the worst case, should we interpreter and a driver-an extremely correspondents in every war who will survive an attack, to call in American brave, some would say foolhardy and want to do this, but I think the days Medevac helicopters in a matter of min­ extremely foolish, thing to do. of freelancing into those shadowlands utes. This is a very expensive thing to I think it does raise the question of are probably at an end. •

War Teaches Lessons About Fear and Courage 'In war zones, I would learn about another feeling, one I have yet to define but seems the opposite of fear .

By Cheryl Diaz Meyer

ourage. I fe el the tears push learn about another feeling, one I have and if anything should happen to me, past my eyelashes as I reflect on yet to definebut seems the opposite of then the burden would be on his soul. Cthe word because in my heart, fe ar: that fe eling is a sense of my alive­ I explained that he was not ultimately I know that I lack it, and all I really ness. And somewhere between these accountable for my choices and that want to do is crawl into bed and sleep two fe elings resides a place I think of I took full responsibility formy deci­ so I never wake up . as courage . I now believe that without sions. I gave him a fresh business card, courage, a person never can attain that advised him to contact my boss if I was Wo rking as a photojournalist, I've been feeling of being vigorously alive. Or so injured or killed, and told him where through war zones several times in the it has seemed in my life. my money was hidden. past five years.I was there at the height Within minutes, a loud and chaotic of the war in Afghanistan, during the Understanding Fear battle, as only I had seen in the mov­ fa ll of Konduz, when the last Ta liban ies, unfolded before our eyes. In the stronghold in northern Afghanistan Other than in my dreams, the first distance were explosions from rocket­ was destroyed. I was embedded with time I came face-to-face with deep and propelled grenades. Colored tracers the U.S. Marines during the invasion penetrating fe ar was during a battle in lit up the scene, and men scurried of Iraq and later worked unilaterally northern Afghanistan. I twas Thanksgiv­ forcover in the flat, dusty landscape. at a time when the sectarian violence ing Day, 2001 and I was following an Soon the high-pitched whiz of bullets intensified. opposition movement with my young resounded in my ears. I was barely One month after 9/1 1, I made my translator, who went by the single name, able to focus my eyes ahead when my first trip into a war zone when I trav­ Esmatullah. I called him Esmat, and I ove1worked brain registered the fact eled to Afghanistan for The Dallas learned in the time we spent together of that armed men were running towards Morning News. In preparing for the his moral courage, as I explored my own. us. Instead of carrying their weapons assignment, I talked with David Lee­ After eight hours of tagging behind the pointing foiward, they were slung on son, my colleague at the paper who mujahideen-waiting, movingfo1ward, their shoulders, and a panic palpably had experienced war before. "Are you waiting, then finally moving forward consumed their faces. If the mujahi­ scared?" he asked. again-an eerie quiet settled over the deen were running away, I figured, "No, should I be?" I replied. area, and a tactile tension seemed to things must be bad. He tilted his head to one side and suck oxygen from the air we were try­ I knew I must take photographs, arched his brows, as his lips curled up ing to breathe. recognizing that I was witnessing an at the edges. But there was no humor Esmat lagged behind me fu rther and amazing scene. Trembling, I put my in his expression, only irony. further, as he walked in a zigzag line, camera to my face but my muscles At the time I was too wrapped up in muttering to himself. This seemed an would not cooperate. My pictures were the details ofthe preparations to think, unlikely time forhim to check out men­ so blurry that I quickly gave up and much less to reflect on fear. In time, tally, and I didn't want him to suffer, so ran behind the Afghan fighters. I had I would know its meaning because I I advised him that I did not pay him to no training forwar so I did what I'd would recognize it as a part of me, not risk his life. If he was not comfortable seen Vic Morrow do on the television unlike my sense of familiarity with my with the situation, he should go back. shows of my childhood. I ran low. And appendages. In war zones, I would But he insisted I was his responsibility when I heard a mortar go off close by, I

56 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage plastered my body on the nearest mud journalist. The day, April 4, 2003, is Returning From War wall and waited for the resounding indelibly stamped in my mem01y. Rid­ explosion before I continued. ing in an amphibious assault vehicle, My greatest challenge with my war cov­ By the time we had reached the encl I watched as young Marines loaded erage has been at home, in the months of the village where we could safely get cartridges in M-16 rifles and fired off after my last trip to Iraq, as I deal with cover, each breath seared my lungs. I round afterround while we took both the ongoing personal effects of my war turned to Esmat in relief and said, "Oh artille1y and gunfire in an ambush in experience. Tw o weeks after my return my goodness, my feet are killing me!" AlAziziyah, just south of Baghdad. The to the United States, on August 2, 2005, In the gravest of terms, he said, "No earth shook from the violence, and gun­ a dear man and a fr iend, New Yo rk Cheryl, you are killing you." I looked powder filled our nostrils. I was numb freelance journalistSteven Vincent, was at him and couldn't help but laugh at fromexhau stion, and my senses were killed in Iraq. Steven and I lived in the this young man, who at that moment reeling from the activity. same hotel and often shared meals and seemed larger than life. Soon, confusion began to grip the many heated political discussions. His That day taught me the meaning of Marines in my group. I gleaned that a death violated me; his death could so fear, but I also learned something else civilian had gotten caught in the cross­ easily have been my own. It unhinged as eve1y cell in my body screamed with fire, and he was injured and trapped in my sense of safe ty and well-being. life. At that moment there was a sense his burning minivan. I lmew that the I search forthe courage to not fa ll that I was, as all of us are, the sum of chances of the vehicle exploding made into a moat of helplessness, to draw up each primordial organism that has helping him extremely treacherous. my inner fortitudeagai nst the violence. endured through billions of years of But he was ve1y close to our vehicle, I search for forgiveness at those times evolution to become the complex units and a couple of the men fe lt compelled when I do feel weak and victimized. of cells known as a human being. My to jump out. Months ofquiet and solitude have been heart-the preserver of that life-was It was a moment of reckoning fo r my path to peace. Only the passage pounding so loudly in my chest that me. Would I stay inside the safety of of time has replenished my creativity it echoed in my ears. our armored cocoon or should I get out and will. In silence, we trudged back to and risk the battlefieldand the burning Courage, I've learned, means having the frontlines, as I contemplated my vehicle to make a picture of what was the strength to recognize and accept epiphany: Though paradoxical, I re­ happening? I was there to cover a war, our weaknesses. It means having the alized then that we are no closer to I mentally prodded myself. There was wherewithal to stay on course when life than at moments when we are so no time to write down the pros and we believe in something. Courage is close to death. Our existence, so easily the cons of the situation, to consider pursuing our dreams, and it is doing extinguished, and our death, are not the percentages of risk, to weigh life's what is right when it could cost us so opposite as we might think. deeper truths. In a fraction of a sec­ our lives. In war, emotions and choices ond, I determined that the situation Courage is telling our mothers become exponentially multiplied. was worthy of my life, so I rushed out that we are going to cover a war and Esmat's decision to follow medespite behind the men. that we have chosen to go of our own the danger has always ove1whelmed me My mind and my camera were in volition. • with awe. We don't see that kind of raw sync. Perhaps my previous exposure courage in our clay-to-day lives in the to battle violence falselyinoculated me Diaz Meyer's photos follow. United States. It's rare that we are called from inju1y. I moved quickly and me­ upon to make those kinds of decisions thodically to make images of Marines Cheryl Diaz Meye1; a senior staff of deep and final consequence. Ye t he saving the life of an aged civilian Iraqi, photographer fo r Th e Dallas Morn­ made the choice not only to risk his life even as some of their own had just ing News, won the Pulitzer Prize fo r to look after my safety, but also to cany been killed in battle. Within minutes breaking news photography in 2004 the burden of my death if that should of making pictures of the rescue, I with fe llow staffphoto grapher David have happened to me. And this, coming photographed somber faces as a Marine Leeson fo r their images depicting the froma young man half my age, from a sergeant was carried away on a cot. invasion and aftermath of the US.­ culture foreignto mine, from someone Witnessing efforts like this makes it led war in Iraq. Her wor/efromIraq, I barely knew. The lesson Esmat taught easier to findthe strength to look past also awarded the Visa D 'Or Daily me that day has humbled and haunted one's fe ars. Somehow, the Marines' sac­ Press Award 2003, is available in me ever since. rificewas multiplied by the conditions, boo/es, "Desert Diaries" and "The Wa r and I felt compelled to look beyond in Iraq, "published by Corbis and Bearing Witness in Battle myself to record them in their moment Life . Fo r her Afghanistan. coverage, of brave1y. Ultimately, I found thatmy she won the Overseas Press Club's It would be more than a year later when courage had simply been a byproduct john Fa ber Award. I would find myself in Iraq, covering of a moment whose significance was the U.S.-led invasion as an embedded greater than me. 181 [email protected]

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 57 Courage

Uniss Mohammad Salman, 10, returned to Al Arntithal Elemen­ tary School to a message on the chalkboard from U.S. mili­ tary-"Iraq is fr ee!" Al Arntithal was the first school to reopen in Baghdad. Of 1,200 pupils, only a handful of children returned. April 27, 2003.

At Abu Ghraib Cemetery just outside of Baghdad, families from all over Iraq go to unearth the bones of their relatives who were tortured and killed by Sad­ dam Hussein's regime. Moham­ mad Balrnr Whathiq lovingly kisses the skull of his brother Brer Balrnr Whathiq. Brer was arrested in October 1993 for opposing the regime. April 25, 2003.

Photos and captiom bJ ' Clmyl Diaz J\1qerl The Dallas /Vlorning Ne ws.

58 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Lt. Jeffrey Goodman, left, and Lance Corporal Jorge Sanchez, right, drag a wounded civilian away from his burningvehicle during an advance on Baghdad by the Marine's Second Ta nk Battalion. The man was acci­ dentallyinjured when he raced into the midst of an ambush. The fighting left fourMarines dead and 17 injured. April 4, 2003.

After a short firefight in Sayyid Muhammad, a few kilometers northeast of Baghdad, suspects are rounded up, stripped and interrogated by the U.S. Marine Scouts of the Second Ta nk Bat­ talion. April 9, 2003.

Photos and captions bJ ' Che1yl Diaz f\1qer!The Dallas Mo rn­ ing Ne ws.

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 59 Courage

Witnessing War to Send Its Images Ho me 'What of our colleagues who have trauma engraved on their psyches?'

Santiago Ly on, a 2004 Nienian Fe l­ all we have and that includes our men­ Some call me forhelp ortheir friends low, is the director of photography at tal health." Then I said to him, "When and colleagues are quick to alert me Th e Associated Press, and therefo re it gets to be too much, stop. Don't be if they suspect something is wrong, responsiblefo r sendingphotographers shy. Be as decisive walking away as you since they !mow that I know what this into war zones, conflicts, civil unrest, were walking in." But I've watched, too, is all about. I speak the language of and on other potentially dangerous as some veterans, who haven't walked experience and can often sense the assignments. At a Nieman Fo undation away, crumble. Sometimes I see their degree of pain, but at much of what is conference held in October2005, Ly on marriages fall apart. Their children involved in dealing with trauma and its joined otherjournalists and trauma become strangers to them. Knowing effects, I'm an amateur, albeit a well­ sp ecialists to sp eak about how what they're in pain, I reach out and try to intentioned one, concerned about the journalists experience can affe ct their offer assistance. issues involved with trauma and how it lives and health. Th e primary fo cus My responsibility to the brave in­ affects those who cover war and other of his presentation was on the ethics dividuals I assign is continuous and tragic situations. of assigning journalists to cover wm; unwavering, before, during and after crisis anddisaste1: An adapted version they've done their stories. It cannot Ethics of Assignments of what he said that day fo llows. be anything but that. Nobody is ever obliged to cover a dangerous or a dif­ The ethics of assignments are sometimes eing the director of photog­ ficultsto ry. We only accept volunteers. troubling. In the November 2004 U.S.­ raphy at The Associated Press But not just any volunteers. Nobody led offensiveof Fallujah in Iraq we had B [AP] means I'm responsible for is allowed anywhere near a danger­ a young Iraqi photographer, a resident sending photographers into harm's ous story fo r the AP unless they've of the town, inside the city with a digital way. Having been a photojournalist been through what's called "Hostile camera and a satellite phone. He wanted for 20 years, and having covered not Environment" training, which are to stay and cover the offensive from a few such stories myself, I bring to typically five-day courses that many inside the city, and I wanted him out, my work a dual perspective: I've been news organizations put their people for hisown safety. He insisted, and so on the frontlines and returned home, through, where they learn a little bit did I. In the end, he stayed. I was ve1y and now I am the one who must make about how to survive in dangerous clear. I sent him a message saying, "Your decisions about sending others into environments. It's basically a combi­ safety is paramount. I don't want to see places of chaos and danger. nation of some firstaid, some milita1y any photos, unless you're comfortable Fresh-faced photographers, keen to la1owledge, and some common sense. and safe in sending them." go to war, come to my office almost For the experienced professional it The offensive began. I dreaded every month wanting to go off to the often reinforces things learned in the that my phone would ring with bad next nasty conflict, disaster or fa mine. field. For the first-timevisitor to stories news. Instead his amazing images I do my best to put them off, telling of this nature it is an extremely useful trickled out, and then silence, and then them it's really not a very good idea. and eye-opening course. more dread. Finally, with his house The keenest ones insist and sometimes Participants also learn about tak­ destroyed, he went into hiding and they go. I know they will not likely be ing care of themselves, what they're eventually squeezed out of Fallujah the same after they've seen what they likely to encounter, and what effect and went back to Baghdad. One of his will see, but they are adults. They those things might have on them. It is images went on to be part of a Pulitzer make choices, and the world needs extremely difficult to witness death, Prize-winning package. to see what their images might help destruction and other turmoil without The quandary I faced in this case them to see. being affected by it. Some people, is something I find quite difficult. A I also talk with the veteran journal­ though, are naturally resilient and photographer who wants to show the ists, repeat visitors to horrible places, bounce back better; some get stuck world what is happening assumes the who are resilient, strong and deter­ on a· particularly disturbing memory or risk, forcefully and willingly. He was a mined, but vulnerable, too. One of series of memories that affects other freelancer, not bound to the AP by con­ those veterans, a colleague and a friend, behavior. On occasion photographers tract. Short ofrefusing his images, what asked me in a private moment whether feel wounded by what they have seen. could we do? But what if he had been a it is okay to stop going to these stories. The word trauma, after all, comes to We stern employee? I could oblige him "Of course," I told him. "Our health is us from the Greek "wound." or her to leave or threaten dire conse-

60 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage quences if they didn't-a scenario that them, as always, are hoping to make so exhilarating as to be shot at with has occurred in the past when some their names professionally, going no result." news organizations ordered their U.S. where no one else will go in search of Are the employee assistance pro­ staffou t of Baghdad prior to the U.S. compelling images or a sto1y. Some are grams offered by media companies invasion. (Some ofthe U.S. journalists just hoping to make some money or complete and thorough enough? De­ ordered out by their employers found looking for the adrenaline thrill that pending on the individuals and their ways to "miss the bus" until it was too often comes with covering violence. circumstances, counseling might have late, and they had to stay.) Many, of course, are genuinely con­ to stretch for months, if not years. Do It's clear and obvious, however, that cerned, hoping to give voice to the employers understand that? Are they no sto1y is worth a life. The Freedom voiceless, or any combination of all of willing to fu nd long-term investment Forum} ournalists Memorial carries the those things. in keeping their people healthy? Do names of hundreds of journalists who That mix of characters on a news the counselors or psychiatrists offered have perished over the years doing sto1y is nothing new. What is new is by employee assistance programs or their job. A dozen of my colleagues, a better understanding of the effects media organizations really understand including a few close friends, have their that covering those stories can have on the issues at hand? Are they up-to-date names inscribed there, and they shall people. Research shows that almost 30 with the new research and investiga­ not be forgotten. But it's clear that dead percent of journalists repeatedly ex­ tion on the effects of trauma? Are they journalists can tell no stories. posed to traumatic situations develop trauma specialists? Do they understand For those of us still here, war, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) the nature of journalism as it relates to trauma, disaster and human suffering over their lifetimes. That's almost one covering stories of this nature? We 're are unfo rtunately an integral part of in three who continue to cover these not, after all, bankers, or lawyers, our profession, and aside from t1ying stories. That's a ve1y high percentage, or businessmen whose contact with to actively keep people out of life ­ in my view. trauma and violence, while often ve1y threatening situations and minimizing And the questions are many. When, direct, is usually involuntaiy. the risks, what of the survivors? What for example, does the intimacy of Journalists want to see and com­ of our colleagues who have trauma someone's mental health become municate the truth. It is their mission engraved on their psyches? In one case, an employer's concern? Especially if and ours and, to fulfill it, these pho­ I asked that the journalist be assessed they're resilient, as they often are, tographers must often deliberately psychiatrically, and he passed the test continue to plow forward, ignoring expose themselves to terrible things, and carries on. or hiding PTSD symptoms, fe arful that unforgettable things that can haunt Increased demand for news content they will be taken away from what are them, and often do, forthe rest of their and the easy-to-use technology to often highly compelling, not to men­ lives. We have a collective responsibility deliver it means that more and more tion disturbing, experiences in the to provide what assistance we can, and inexperienced, young journalists are field? Churchill was probably right that responsibility is thankfully starting turning up at large stories. Some of when he said that "Nothing in life is to be recognized. •

When Bearing Witness Overrides a Reporter's Fear

' . . . courage is not me, a clunky reporter clutching a notebook and treading on people's lives, trying to get them to open up their souls.'

By Janine di Giovanni

he novelist Adam Thorpe, writ­ he writes. "She's covered it in places to bring back the stories of the "small ing in The Guardian (U.K.) such as Rwanda, Iraq, Bosnia, Sierra voices." He describes me as "stubbornly T newspaper, recently reviewed Leone, Chechnya and Afghanistan. brave." I like reading these words, but my book, "The Place at the End of the She's not quite sure how she's survived, they embarrass me, too. Stubborn I am, World: Stories From the Frontline," It and neither are we." That part made fiercelyand annoyingly so. But brave is was a ve1y good review but, as always, me laugh. I'm afraid it is true. not something I would call myself. when one reads something written Later Thorpe writes that in my 18- As a child I was afraid of the dark. I about oneself, there are interesting year career, I have gone to "suicidal still hold an irrational horror for jungle revelations, to say the least. lengths" to bear witness to human creatures: spiders, insects, large things "War is di Giovanni's staple subject," rights abuse around the world and with wings. I sometimes sleep with the

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 61 Courage bathroom light on ifl am alone and get everyone has their own reason as to taries with a gun pointed at my back. I up at least five times to make sure all why the bullet that hits the guy next got stuck in dangerous places in Africa. the doors are locked and the windows to you won't hit you. I slept a terrible sleep on a door frame barred. And once, in a guesthouse in I believe the -.vork that I have done in East Timor and waited for an assault Liberia during the civil war, I was so over the years is important, and I am fr om rebels with machetes. But even­ frightened of what lay outside my door proud when I get a letter from an tually-and sometimes it took weeks that I barricaded the room with chairs ordinary person, someone in Middle and even months-I got out, I went and drugged myself to sleep with a America or Middle England, a house­ home, I took a hot shower, I ate a good codeine painkiller that a United Na­ wife or a teacher or a radio technician, meal. I went to the cinema, I slept in a tions doctor had slipped me in case of who writes and says, "Thank you for real bed with clean sheets. The people gunshot wounds. who befriended Some of the places me, who shared that I have been have their rice, who been very frighten­ made me laugh, ing. There are things I who helped me will never forget. The fi nd water to early, frozen dawn wash, did not. of a Grozny suburb They stayed be­ after Russian forces hind. had taken the city, That is always when I huddled in a the guilt of the potato cellar with an reporter who old woman listening covers conflict. to the bombardment Yo u survive, and sure I would be someone else dead by daylight. does not. And Watching an Ivorian why? And why is soldier slowly raise it that I was born his gun to my chest in a comfort­ after I screamed at able suburban him to let me take a American hos­ wounded man to the pital and had hospital in my taxi good shoes and during the first day A father's hands press against the window of a bus canying his tearful son and wife to music lessons, of the coup d'etat. safety from the besieged city of Sarajevo during the Bosnian Wa r in November 1992. and someone The sound of rapid Photo by Laurent Rebo11rs/Co11rtesy ofThe Associated Press. else was born gunfire over a bush in Srebrenica in Sierra Leone, where a few seconds your compassion." and was of fighting age in 1995, so before there had been stillness. Then But I don't think of myself as coura­ therefore is probably dead? These are the rush of chaos. My car being sur­ geous. Because courage is meant for the things I think about when I go to rounded by teenage, drugged soldiers the people I leave behind-the civilians sleep at night, and because of that I in Freetown who waved RPG's and who could not cross the fr ontlines of do know that I have something that is demanded that I get out so they could Sarajevo to leave the debilitating medi­ known as compassion. rape me. The terrible hollow sound of eval siege. The young boy in Mogadishu But courage is reserved for other a bomb being dropped near my base who helped me find my way through people. camp in Kosovo and the screams of the maze of clan warfare and who told Courage was my father bravely and pain from the people that it hit. me how one day, walking clown the doggedly fighting cancer, saying right I have been terribly frightened at street with his brother, he heard the up until the very end, "I'm not going times, but innermost in my mind was whiz ofa bullet, then found his brother to let cancer kill me!" And u11ing to be that I would always survive. Why, I am dead on the ground next to him. Or brave so that we would not fa lter. not sure, but I believe it probably has even that old woman in the potato Courage is Lotti Latrous, a wealthy something to do with faith. A friend cellar in Grozny, who got up from the Swiss woman who gave up her entire of mine, a former combat photogra­ cellar at one point to make us tea on life, including her family, to sleep on pher once said, "I never think I will a camp stove. the floor of a hut and nurse Ivorians get hurt because my mother loves me I went to lots of terrible places. I got dying of AIDS who had been left to die too much." It sounds ridiculous, but marched in the woods by Serb paramili- in the street.

62 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Courage is Felicia Langer, an Israeli daily Oslobocljenje-but to raise her more than anything. Martha Gellhorn Jewish woman who inspired me to do children in the back room of her house once wrote about loving only one war, the work I do now, who fo r many years because it was farther from the street and the rest being duty. I still fe el like was one of the few Jewish lawyers de­ and thus safer from errant shrapnel or that-Bosnia was the war that took fe nding Palestinians in military court. snipers' bullets. and broke my heart in a million little The cost she paid to defend the enemy Courage is my old interpreter pieces. But Africa, the Middle East, was being constantly worried about Mona in Baghdad, who stuck by my Asia, the rest of the world, the places her own personal security. side through the darkest days of the I will go and bring back a story that Courage is the Kosovar Serbs who Saddam times and during and after I hope someone will read, and then hid Kosovar Albanians in their homes the invasion. go to bed that night thinking: "Thank during the NATO bombing in 1999. Courage is the man who drove God I don't live in Mogadishu" and Courage is the mothers ofSrebrenica through Russian tanks to bring me out gain some kind of insight, some kind who saw their menfolk walk into the ofGrozny after he heard my newspaper of compassion-that to me is my re­ forest in July 1995 to defend their reports aired on Russian television, and sponsibility. • town against a brutal onslaught-and he knew that if Russian soldiers found never return. me, they would probably kill me. Janine di Giovanni is tbe autbor of Was it Hemingway who described Courage is all of these people and "Madness Vis ible: A Memoir of Wm; " courage as grace under pressure? I a million more who are embedded publisbed by Knopf and "The Place am not sure. But when I think of that, forever in my notebooks. Ordinary at the End of the Wo rld: Stories Froni courage is not me, a clunky reporter people. The bravest souls are the ones the Frontline, "publisbed by Blooms­ clutching a notebook and treading on who keep familiestogether during war, bury in the Un ited Kingdom. She people's lives, trying to get them to who manage to continue their lives has reported on numerous wars and open up their souls. without going mad. conflicts and has won two Amnesty Grace under pressure is Gordana No, a reporter's role is to bear wit­ Internationalawar ds, tbe Na tional Knezevic, a Bosnian of Serb origin ness. And if we have the ability to do Magazine Award, and been named who managed not only to bring out a so-the financial backing of a paper Britain 's Fo reign Correspondent of newspaper every day of the siege-the or a TV company, the guts and the tbe l'ecu: Her We b site is www.janin­ embattled and wonderful Sarajevo vision-then we have an obligation edigiovanni.com

The Survival Mo de of Reporting Fro m a War Zo ne 'Our generation is more vocal about trau1na we experience than others have been. It can't be avoided when you see this much violence and senseless death.'

Fa rnazFassihi directed Th e Wa ll Street time a car bomb exploded outside of we are there almost mechanically, but jo urnal's Baghdad bureaufrom.2003 the house you were living in, and yet it hits us when we leave. untilDecember2005. She then became you had to stay there knowing that tbe newspaper's senior Middle East insurgents were outside and might Ludtke: Is there a way you can describe correspondent, covering Iran and possibly abduct you. It is as though what this survival mode fe els like? It otberArab countries. She sp oke in May you can't escape from it. sounds to me like it is more the absence with Nieman Reports edit01; Melissa of fe eling than it is its presence. Ludtlw, from . Farnaz Fassihi: I think in those cir­ cumstances, when you live and work Fassihi: I think it is almost automatic; Melissa Ludtke: What does it fe el in Iraq, you go into a survival mode it's not something you think about like not only to work but also to live in which you push the fe ars out of doing. It is something that happens in an environment in which your life your mind and just do what you have to you. Yo u never really rest or have is threatened-to never escape from to do. It's only when you leave that deep sleep at night. Yo u are always the threat of some harm or clanger? environment that your body and mind vigilant for sounds and movement and Yo u describe a car bomb that went off can truly process the trauma you've ex­ on full alert. near a house you had recently left and perienced. I think that is why so many several foreigners abducted and be­ of us are experiencing posttraumatic Ludtke: Yo ur family had fe ars for your headed in the neighborhood. Another stress disorder; we can function when safety. Yo ur only sibling, your sister,

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 63 Courage

When Risks Make a Story Too Dangerous to Tell

On janua1y 26, 2006, a Je w days aft er freelance re­ who loved to read English literature, had helped me porter fill Carroll was leidnapp ed in Iraq, Los Angeles buy Iraqi shoes so that I would appear more local, and Tinies correspondent Alissa]. Rubin wrote a Page One had taught me about the world of Iraqi women. But I sto1y entitled, ''Abduction Fo rces a Grim Look at What pushed ahead. a Sto1y Is Wo rth. " In her article she described how the Then it turned out we didn't have a Thuraya satellite kidnapp ing of a fe llow jo urnalist had compelled her to phone in the car. Cell phones are notoriously unreliable "reevaluate limits and responsibilities. "At the conclu­ in Iraq because the U.S. military often blocks signals dur­ sion of her article, which we exce1pt below, Rubin wrote ing its operations. Traveling without a satellite telephone about assessing the risks she was ta/eingin doing a sto1y as a backup is at best foolhardy. But we had already left, and the responsibility she fe lt to the Iraqi translator so I resigned myself to traveling without it. and driver who were accompanying he1: We weaved through the Baghdad traffic.The road was crowded, and people could easily see us through the Last week I set out in the early morning for Kut, a city car windows. Although I usually look out at the passing about two hours south of Baghdad. We left early so that scene, I forced myself to look into the car so that my we could get back in a day, adhering to the rule that you eyes and skin would not be visible. shouldn't stay long in a single place because word will The most dangerous part of the trip is the 15 miles get around that a We sterner is in town. of road immediately south of Baghdad proper. It runs I roused one of our British security advisors at 7 a.m. through a largely Sunni farming area, one where muti­ and had him remind the drivers of protocol (keep the lated, headless bodies have turned up often. It fe els like cars apart, don't look like a convoy, rely on radios to com­ outlaw countqr: Someone could grab you and no one municate). But when I went out, it turned out the driver would say anything. had brought his own vehicle, not an armored car. As we went through the last Baghdad checkpoint, a Carroll's experience hung in my mind . She had been policeman told our driver that a new security plan was abducted in part because she lacked the protection of an in effect, and we would not be able to reenter the capital armored car, and her interpreter had been shot dead. I for 48 hours. The driver pulled over and turned to me: looked at my interpreter, a beautiful young Iraqi woman Diel I still want to go?

when she got engaged asked you for other journalists-and described how be back. And if I wasn't back within a one gift: to stop going back to Iraq so you would monitor each other for half an hour of when I said I'd be back, that you would be alive when she got security. Do you think the intensity of they were to let my editors !mow. And married. How did those fe elings/fears these friendships gave each of you the also we could talk to each other in ways affect you and your work in Iraq? ability to be more courageous in the no one else could; there is a sense that work you were expected to do? no one else other than your colleagues Fassihi: Other people's fe ars about you and friends on the ground really get are never fa r from your mind. For me, Fassihi: The conditions in Iraq were what you have been through. it has meant just being a lot more care­ so extreme that it created a parallel ful. My sister was getting married, and reality to the outside world we knew. Ludtke : After you were confronted by my motherwas very agonized about my So having fr iends does help keep you angry mobs and were fired upon or Iraq assignment. When I had to make sane. We looked after one another. We your car was chased, I am wondering a decision about a reporting trip, I'd would count on each other forsupport how you prepared yourself to go out ask myself whether I really need to go and check on one another several times and report again after having that ldncl on this interview, whether it was worth a clay. Whenever I would leave to go of concrete experience with clanger. the potential risk ofgetting ldclnappecl, somewhere-whether it was out on a ld llecl or injured. Sometimes I cleciclecl story, or to do an interview, or to go Fassihi: It slows you clown formaybe against going and would send one of out to buy a loaf of bread-there were a clay or two, but then you go back the Iraqi staffe rs at our bureau. rnro or three other journalists I would out because that is what you need to call to let them know where I was go­ do. I was in a helicopter one time with Ludtke: Yo u have said that working ing. I'd tell them exactly what streets some militaq' troops and we just about in such a dangerous place led to you I'd be taldng, where the interview was crashed, but I went back in helicopters forming "intense friendships" with taldng place, and when I expected to after that happened. But the feelings

64 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

It was a moment of truth. I had to get back that night. my interpreter, who said she would go with me no mat­ Wa s there any other way I could get into Baghdad if the ter what. About my parents, who hated that I was in roads were closed? Ye s, my driver said. "You can walk Iraq. About Carroll, whom I imagined alone in a room, across the Diyala Bridge, and the office can send a car perhaps cold, perhaps not knowing that thousands of to 1neet you." people were thinking about her. He nodded to a stream of people who were doing And I thought about an autumn night more than a that right then-women in swirling abayas picking their year ago when a colleague had rushed off into western way through the mud, men striding along. "How far Iraq to cover a suicide bombing. I remembered how wor­ would I have to walk?" I asked. About a mile. "Is it safe?" ried I had been, and when I finallyreached him on the The driver shook his head. "There are bad people here. satellite phone I had said: "It's not about us. We can die Everyone can see you when you are walking. We cannot if we want to here, but we can't put those who work for honestly tell you it is safe." us in more danger than they already are. We 're making decisions formore than ourselves." 'We Can't Go' I remember that he had listened and, hard as it must have been, said, "You're right, I'm coming back." I appealed to my interpreter. "What do you think, Zainab? I heard my own words now in my head. There was no Is it that unsafe ?" She turned and looked at me. "I'llgo choice. "We can'tgo. There's noway to make it a safe trip," with you if that's what you decide to do, but the driver I said. "Let's turn around and go back to the office." wants to know what he can do with his car. He can't leave Wa s it the right decision? Could I have walked across it outside Baghdad on the road for the night. It would be the bridge unnoticed? Did the drivers really assess the stolen. He can't stay with it-it's dangerous. And then we danger correctly? I don't know. But what I do know is have the chase car. What do you want them to do?" that Iraq is hostile ground and nothing I do can make I was silent. I had come back to Iraq to do a small it safe. • number of interviews. If I didn't go to the one in Kut, I wouldn't be able to finish the story. I thought about close calls I had had in the past. About

hit me not on other military helicopter observers of conflict, and if journalists I needed to leave. At the same time I rides but when I was flying in com­ were not there to tell this difficultsto ry, argued strenuously that there had to mercial airlines outside of Iraq. We hit then people would have to rely on only be another reporter sent to Baghdad any turbulence, and I would freak out; what the military and government of- and that the bureau we have there had the memories and fear would come to remain open. back. I have to say, forme, the feelings are most intense when I'm outside of Ludtke: By the fall of2004, insurgents Being there to tell the Iraq and have a chance to reflect and in Iraq were abducting fo reigners from process my experiences. story was important and their homes in Baghdad. By then, you had hired armed guards and were was worth the risks. But I Ludtke : Yo u said there were times traveling in a fully armored car and when you put parts of a story in the came to realize that after limiting the reporting trips you made hands of Iraqis who were working outside of protective zones. And you three years of being in with you at the bureau. But were there were relying on Iraqis who worked also times when you thought that the Iraq ... I needed to leave. in your bureau to be your eyes and story was not worth the risks it was ears in Baghdad-though they would demanding of you or of your Iraqi sometimes bring people to your hotel staffers to tell? office for you to meet and interview. ficialswant us to know. Being there to And for stories outside of Baghdad Fassihi: I never thought the story as a tell the story was important and was you only traveled as an embedded re­ whole was not worth the risks. I firmly worth the risks. But I came to realize porter, with the U.S. military or State believe that war correspondents have a that after three years of being in Iraq Department as escorts. How did these mission. They are the only independent and working under these conditions dunged circumstances-based on a

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 65 Courage

situation where violence exists around Ludtke : Where do you think they find about an assignment she set out on you-affect the reporting your paper this kind of internal strength to do this with her Iraqi translator and driver. could do and the stories that were kind of work? Have you talked with [See box on page 64 fo r an excerpt important to tell? them about this? from her article.) It called for her to travel outside of Baghdad to do an Fassihi: Our inability to move around Fassihi: I did talk with them about interview. At each step along the way, freely or to travel to parts of the coun­ this. I think journalism is addictive; for she became more concerned about the try made this very, very difficult. And them, it enables them to help to tell risks she might be taking forherself and to have to use Iraqis to do some of their country's story to the world, and those who were traveling with her, but our interviews, sometimes they were this gives them a powerful sense that she continued to press on. Finally at not able to pick up on subtle things they are doing something useful and the last roadblock they were told that that we might feel are they could not important to the story, return for 48 or might not observe hours, which things in the same way They [Iraqi staffers] risk being kidnapped or killed, or meant staying we 'd want to if we had having family members kidnapped . They never carry with in a vet)' dan­ been able to go out to gerous place, do the story. But we them an identification that would show that they work for when they had tried to be creative and us, and no one other than their spouse knows what they intended to be find ways around the back in Bagh­ challenges and, I have do. They would not tell their children in fear that they dad that same to say, under extremely might say something to someone . And Iraqis who have evening. At that difficult and danger­ point, she felt ous circumstances, I worked for Western news organizations have been killed, that because of think we've all done and they've had family members threatened . the lives of her our best. companions whom she was Ludtke : Yo u-and oth­ responsible for er We stern correspon- she could not dents-speak about the commitment important at a time when their countt)' go any fu rther and turned around and and courage displayed by the Iraqi is being torn to pieces. returned to Baghdad. Have you had staffe rs who took on increasingly risky a similar moment when you've had assignments to them and their fam­ Ludtke: Yo u have written that "being circumstances acid up to a decision ily members as the violence in Iraq a woman correspondent in an Arab that the risk is just too large foryou increased. In one of your articles you Muslim culture proved to be a huge to go on? quote one of your drivers as saying, asset," and that your Iranian-American "We live like animals in the wild. We identity also became vet)' useful in Fassihi: Ye s, I remember during the eat, we sleep, and we tl)' not to get your work, as you could wear and shed seizure of the Imam Ali mosque in killed each day. " Can you talk a bit your heritage and upbringing depend­ Najaf, I went down there with another about what those Iraqis who worked ing on the situation. Because of this, journalist. We didn't take armored cars with you risked by doing the kind of do you think that this enabled you to because we wanted to blend in with work your news organization and oth­ take risks in your reporting that other the locals and we hid our flak jackets ers began to rely on them to do? \Xfestern reporters might not fe el they and satellite phones and I wore a are able to take? black, long abaya all the way. About Fassihi: They foremostrisk their lives. a mile or so near Najaf, we reached They risk being kidnapped or killed, Fassihi: Yes, I think it did. I think look­ a blockade that we could not pass. or having family members kidnapped. ing like a local and being able to hide The cops had closed the road, and They never can)' with them an iden­ under those garments made me more they were engaged in a shootout with tification that would show that they invisible. This made it easier for me to some people who looked like militia work fo r us, and no one other than blend in than it would be for someone running around open fields along the their spouse knows what they do. who had blond hair and blue eyes and road. We quickly turned around and They would not tell their children in thereforemight be a more visible target had to make a choice: Do we wait for fear that they might say something to than I would be. the shooting to stop, do we take the someone. And Iraqis who have worked back way through the village, or sim­ for We stern news organizations have Ludtke : Alissa Rubin with the Los An­ ply return to the next nearest city? We been killed, and they've had family geles Times wrote an article in]anuat )', chose the last option, which was the members threatened. soon after Jill Carroll was kidnapped, safest, and ended up spending a night

66 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

in Karbala. But a trip that should have that returns to you from these times, a huge responsibility. I think our gen­ taken us only a few hours turned into what have you learned about courage in eration of war correspondents is more taking us two days. Constantly, we the practice of journalism in a situation vocal about trauma we experience than were evaluating risks like these every like the coverage of war in Iraq? others have been. It can't be avoided step of the way and having to make when you see this much violence and decisions on whether to go ahead in Fassihi: Courage comes out of the senseless death. And it's something that reporting what we set out to report or commitment to telling the story, a be­ is going to be with us, likely with all turn around and go back to where it lief that this is what we must do and of us, when we leave Iraq. I still jump would be safer forus. the importance of doing it. Bearing when I hear loud sounds like a door witness to conflict and the impact it slamming or thunder. I can't watch Ludtke: Now that you are out of lraq, has on ordinary lives is not easy, and fireworks; they remind me too much and you spoke earlier about the trauma the chance to relay it to the world is of mortars. •

Teamwork Replaces Ego on the Frontlines of War 'Reckless correspondents endanger not just themselves but everyone in the close-knit teams that operate in Iraq.'

By Barry Moody

eroism under fire was long "Barber of Daily Mail shot, how about they also risk their lives every day just the stuff of barroom legend, you?" to reach their workplace. H not just forsoldiers but also The bravery still exists, of course, But the age of disregarding the clan­ fo r war correspondents. and has even grown in the face of an ger forthe sake of a story has long gone. Many journalists revelled in a exponential increase in the dangers It belongs to a more romantic era that � reputation for careless courage in facingjo urnalists,particula rly in Iraq, was finallyended by the Iraq War. We the adrenaline rush to get the story \vheredeath can come from any direc- have all become more keenly aware of first. Reporters built the enormous risks reputations on their fo r modern cor­ apparent lack offear respondents, risks It is an object of daily sadness for me that this, the when shells and bul­ that leave no space lets were flying. On a bloodiest period in Reuters 155-year history, occurred for bravado. More few occasions, pho­ than 70 Iraqi and during my watch as editor for the Middle East and tojournalists were foreign journalists so intent on the Africa. ... I would be lying if I did not admit to losing have been killed image in the lens in Iraq since the plenty of sleep after authorizing reporting trips to war that they recorded U.S.-lecl invasion in their own deaths, zones, even after carefully assessing the risks and March 2003. Add catching the swing­ in media support concluding that they were acceptable. ing tank gun turret workers, and the or a soldier aiming number is a horrify­ his rifle, just before ing 100 or more. they were hit. Iraq is so deadly I remember being told one of those tion at any time in a countq1 bathed in because death comes from either side barroom legends about the veteran endemic, almost casual violence. of the "frontline" in the fog of this war. British war correspondent Noel Barber, The bravest journalists I know, by a All our casualties were killed by U.S. ac­ who was badly wounded during the long shot, are the Palestinian crews or tion, while many more journalistshave Hungarian Rising in 1956. According the incredible team of Iraqis working died at the hands of the insurgents. to the probably apocryphal account, fo r Reuters. They don't just do the Reuters has suffe red particularly an arch rival is said to have received a lion's share ofcovering a conflict where grievously in this deadly new century. telegram from his editor after Barber's easily identified We sterners can report We lost eight of our journalists in the gripping story was splashed saying: only in tightly restricted conditions, last six years, since Ku rt Schor!( died

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 67 Courage in Sierra Leone. Four of them, all fr om made hostile environment training sponclents hunker clown in Baghdad, television, were killed in Iraq. It is an compulsory at the start of the decade, everybody lives cheek by jowl both in object of daily sadness for me that some of our most experienced war cor­ and out of work. Characters who do this, the bloodiest period in Reuters respondents raised a cynical eyebrow not fit in will undermine the mental 155-year history, occurred during my at the idea they could be taught any­ as well as physical welfare of their watch as editor for the Middle East thing. After careful training by fo rmer colleagues. and Africa. soldiers, they have universally changed So what is courage in this new jour­ This new era of journalism places their minds. Several have told me their nalistic world? It is certainly not run­ extra strains on editors. I would be ly­ lives were saved by the training. The ning towards the guns with camera or ing if I did not admit to losing plenty best war correspondents are the ones notebook in hand. We have drummed of sleep after authorizing reporting who meticulously plan their assign­ into our journaliststhe mantra that no trips to war zones, even after carefully ments, make sure they have the best story is worth a life. They all know it assessing the risks and concluding that equipment, and do everything possible and share it. But courage these clays they were acceptable. For despite the to minimize the risks. still exists in abundance. Yo u need it clanger, we remain absolutely com­ These clays the old gung-ho spirit just to take the plane to Baghdad and mitted to maintaining coverage and seems to exist only among a few novices drive into the city gazing watchfully out making sure it is as balanced as the rest eager to earn their spurs and unaware of the car windows along the danger­ of our reporting. That means cover­ of just how dangerous it is. As often as ous airport road. ing both sides of a conflict and brings not that is a good reason to reject them. The modern combat journalist is with it regular, difficult decisions on Recklesscorr espondents endanger not still often a person of huge personal deployments. just themselves but everyone in the bravery. But these clays bravery has to The military in America and Britain close-knit teams that operate in Iraq. be tempered by great amounts of good tell you that the only way to reduce the Several translators, guards and drivers sense, preparation and training. And risks is to embed journalists so they have been killed during kidnappings above all leave the ego and bravado get the best protection and are not of Westerners. We have made it abun­ behind. • mistaken for the enemy. It is hard to dantly clear that anyone who breaks convince many officersthat embedding the rules on how to behave in Iraq will Bany Moody, a long-time Reuters tells only one side of the story, andwe be withdrawn immediately. journalist, was editorfor the Middle must have both sides to ensure our Te amwork is the one thing that has East and Af rica fo r seven years essential independence. grown during the Iraq conflict. Every­ befo re recently moving to Na irobi to During many years running Reuters body covers for their colleagues, and oversee a campaign to boost the cov­ coverage from this part of the world, I correspondents who bring a big ego erage fr om the African continent. saw very clearly how attitudes to war to Baghdad will not be invited back. reporting have dunged. When we In the fortified bunkers where corre- !BJ [email protected]

Transforming Anger at Journalists' Deaths Into Action The International News SafetyIns titute provides training and support for journalists whose work puts them in danger.

By Rodney Pinder

ecently I read an op-eel by a way to get ahead. Those who did it by reporters, photographers, cameramen, journalism teacher that made and large were a bunch of thrill-seek­ fixersand others who provide most of Rme mad. Under the headline ing egoists who, the writer implied, the news we read and see from their 'The glamour ofthe frontline," this sage had only themselves to blame if they ravaged count1y Tw o-thirds of the set out to expose the "dirty little secret became casualties of war. 123 news media staff who have given in journalism" that conflict reporting Te ll that to the many unsung heroes their lives to cover this war were Iraqi, was glamorous and fun and a great of the war's coverage in Iraq-local according to the figurescompiled by

68 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Wa r Coverage

Seeking Support for News Media Safety From the United Nations

INSI has joined the International Fed­ of civilians in conflict and read: actions taken to identify and hold ac­ eration of]ournalists (IFJ) and the Eu­ countable those who commit such acts, ropean Broadcasting Union in pushing "Recognizing the critical importance and to explore and propose additional for a United Nations Security Council of freedom of information and expres­ ways and means to enhance the safety resolution on news media safety. This sion, noting Article 79 of the Protocol and security of such personnel." move was prompted by a U.N. resolu­ Additional to the Geneva Conventions tion on the safety of humanitarian work­ which states that journalists engaged Now we've been advised that even ers in conflict, yet more than three times in dangerous professional missions in this small gesture might be too much as many news media staffare killed in areas of armed conflict shall be consid­ forthe Security Council to accept. But warfare. A draft was presented at the ered as civilians, concerned by increas­ we press on, with support emerging Wo rld Electronic Media Forum to U.N. ing evidence of acts of violence and, from an unexpected quarter, the U.N. Secretary-General KofiAnnan, who ex­ in particular, deliberate attacks against Commission on Human Rights. Ambeyi pressed sympathy. "The United Nations journalists and media staff and associ­ Ligabo, its special rapporteur on the ... defends your right, as journalists, to ated personnel, urges States to ensure promotion and protection of the right be free from physical intimidation and that crimes against journalists, media to freedom of opinion and expression, harm," he said. "I will continue to press staff and associated personnel, when delivered an unequivocal defense of governments to uphold their responsi­ perpetrated to prevent the exercise of press freedom to the commission's 62nd bility both to create conditions in which freedom of information and expres­ session in Geneva in}anuary. Citing INSI journalists can do their job safely and sion, are properly investigated and do data on journalist deaths, Ligabo said the to bring to justice those who commit not remain unpunished, and requests proposed resolution "is worth careful crimes against them." the secretary-general to address in all consideration." He declared that there Subsequently we were advised that his country-specific situation reports, is a need for international guidelines it was unlikely the Security Council the issue of the safety and security of and rules that could be adopted by would pass such a resolution. It was journalists, media staff, and associated the General Assembly concerning the then reduced to a clause to be included personnel including specific acts of protection and security of journalists in a proposed resolution on the safety violence, remedial actions taken and and other media staff. • -R.P.

the International News Safety Insti­ report what war is about, often paying 146 recorded deaths. tute (INSI). Or tell journalists in Latin the ultimate price; often we hear of Outside of Iraq, the Philippines America who are dying, literally, to tell them when danger wins. Ye t most of was the most dangerous place to be a the story of the drug trade about the the news media personnel who die on journalist last year, with 10 murdered. glamour of what they do. Or say this assignment throughout the world are Other places with multiple deaths to independent broadcasters in the workaday reporters who are covering were Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Colombia, Philippines who seek merely Haiti, Brazil, Afghanistan and to exercise their right to free- Mexico. Most of the victims dom of speech in an Asian The bullet is a cheap, effective and were targeted because of democracy and are murdered their work, and they were by those they offend. relatively risk-free form of press shot, blown up, stabbed Thrill-seekers? Egoma- censorship; it silences forever a and/or beaten to death. Over niacs? Romantic fools? No. the years, drug traffickers in These people are just incred­ troublesome reporter and intimidates Latin America have exacted ibly brave, ordinary men and colleagues, friends and family. a terrible toll on journalists women who believe that trying to expose their activi­ without freedom of expres- ties. Corrupt police and other sion there is no democracy authorities let them get away and who are prepared to put their low-level conflict and disorder, corrup­ with it. lives and livelihoods on the line to tion and crime in their own countries. The bullet is a cheap, effective and keep their countrymen and the rest of More than 1,300 such journalistsha ve relatively risk-freeform of press censor­ the world informed.Int ernational war died violently over the past 15 years; ship; it silences forevera troublesome reporters courageously facedanger to last year was the worst on record, with reporter and intimidates colleagues,

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 69 Courage friends and family. Around the world, During the past two years INSI has changes to the rules of engagement something like 90 percent of killers of raised sufficient money fr om interna­ that govern armies in war. journalistsget away with it. At best, the tional donors to provide basic safety authorities do not seem to care very training in 11 countries, including Convincing the United Nations to act to much. At worst, they collude because Iraq, to more than 500 journalists give journalists the protections they they don't like prying journalists, who were unable to afford their own. deserve fo r the essential work they do. either. Many of them work fo r international [See box on page 69 about the United Anger and concern over the rising outlets as stringers and freelancers. Nations.] death toll prompted some in the global Hundreds more remain in dire need, news industry finally to act. We were lacking even basic knowledge, training INSI recognizes that journalists also tired of the usual journalist reaction or equipment, while clanger levels rise need to reexamine their attitudes and of getting mad and sounding off and inexorably. INSI has created regional approaches to reporting on conflict then moving on. We felt we had to safety networks in East and South in an increasingly polarized world do something effective, and no one Asia, Latin America, Africa and the in which journalistic neutrality, once else-no government, no politician, no Middle East to focus on aid efforts and taken for granted, no longer widely army-was going to do it for us. provide real-time risk assessment for applies. They and their employers journalists planning assignments or must educate themselves better on Acting to Protect Journalists who are already on the scene. Other safety measures, equipment and social INSI activities include: conditions surrounding conflict. They At the International Press Institute must also rid themselves of any linger­ Congress in 2002, Chris Cramer, then Initiating a series of safety debates for ing idea that they are somehow special president of CNN International Net­ news media professionals, focusing on and invulnerable. Bravery on its own works, issued a wake-up call to the lessons learned in conflicts, and acting isn't enough. • profession. ''Journalists and those who as a clearinghouse for advice on safer support them are more in harm's way coverage of high-risk stories, such as Rodney Pinder is the director of the than ever before," he observed. ·�nd avian flu and other human and natural InternationalNews Safe ty Institute, those of us who manage and assign them disasters. based in Brussels. have a greater than ever responsibility to ensure we do everything possible for Engaging in behind-the-scenes dis­ [8J rodney. pinder@newssafe ty.com our staff." Leaders of other international cussions with military organizations news organizations echoed this senti­ aimed at improving understanding and ment and urged concerted action. communication between armies and Following this meeting, some 80 journalists on the battlefield-and at news organizations, journalist support ensuring prompt and open inquiries International News Safety groups, and humanitarian organiza­ when fatalities occur. We achieved a tions came together in Brussels and breakthrough this year with the British Institute: The Work It Does set up the INSI. Launched on Wo rld Ministry of Defence that, for the first International News Safety Institute Press Freedom Day in 2003, it is the time, agreed to inscribe journalist safe­ (INSI) is a nonprofit organization only international journalist support ty measures in its "Green Book" bible comprised of journalists working on organization focused solely on safety for military-media operations in war. behalf of other journalists. As such, issues. Through training, exchange The measures do not go far enough, it requires the support of concerned of info rmation, and other informed but it is an encouraging beginning by journalists and news organizations for guidance, INSI aims to equip journal­ a major military power. its work to continue. Chris Cramer, ists to pursue brave reporting with the managing director of CNN Inter­ an improved chance of getting back Undertaking a global inquiry-the first national and honorary president of alive. [See box on this page fo r more of its kind-into the rising number of INSI, has expressed his frustration that information about the INSI.] journalist deaths around the world, broadcasters and agencies lead the way Of course, conflict journalism can led by an investigative committee com­ on safety. "Newspapers and magazines never be safe, but journalists can be prising news organizations, individual ... have been the slowest in making trained how to look after themselves journalists, journalist support groups, this a priority, " he said in remarks he better. Far too often, journalists are the and international legal experts. The made in 2002. That situation has not only professionals on a battlefield who inquiry aims to produce a report and changed much in the past fouryears. have received no preparation for what recommendations for actions to be INSI counts only three newspapers in they are facing. Andthe plight of local taken by the international community. its 60-plus membership. More informa­ journalists in the developing world These might include changes to the tion about INSI can be found at www. who toil at the roots of the world infor­ laws that govern conflict, changes to newssafety. com • -R.P mation flmv is particularly acute. attitudes that encourage impunity, and

70 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

The Forces Threatening Journalism 'The challenges facing news professionals-and threatening journalism in the public interest-are significantand cannot be avoided.'

"Ifsomeone says that be cares fo r some continue to erode journalism's service Few are the publishers of newspa­ individual, community or cause, but to the public. pers who would-or even could-make is unwilling to risk harm or danger But the forces challenging journal­ such a decision today. The same is true on bis, ber or its behalf, be puts in ists and threatening the best journalism forthe general managers of broadcast question tbe genuineness of bis care are not irresistible. Journalists who stations. But, in fairness, it should be and concern. Courage, the capacity face these challenges can help shape a noted that on many days each year in to rislzharm. or danger to oneself, bas new and more hopeful future for their news organizations large and small, its role in human life because of this profession and forAmerica. similar, if less dramatic, acts of cour­ connection with care and concern. What does courage in journalism age do occur. Th at is not to say that a man cannot look like? Where is it to be found? genuinely care and also be a coward. The battle to preserve the best and Courage and Capitalism It is in part to say that a man who most important journalism-journal­ genuinely cares and bas not the capac­ ism in the public interest-is being What cons titu tes the courageous act at ity fo r risking harm or danger bas to fought on many fronts. In the day-to­ the level of the institution of journalism definehimself, both to himselfand to day practice of journalism examples as an instrument of self-government in others, as a coward. " -From "Aft er come easily to mind. They include the American republic? Vi rtue, " by Alasdair Macintyre the defense by individual reporters Of the four forces-technology, and editors of the profession's highest individualism, commercialism and By Jay Harris standards and purposes. The standards American capitalism-challenging our of responsible journalism in the public nation and threatening its free and interest are the foundation of the pub­ responsible press, the most powerful he great challenge of our time is lic's trust and help define journalism and pernicious is American capitalism, this: The institutions that form as a public trust. Journalism's highest which is eating away at businesses T the foundation and superstruc­ purpose is the undaunted pursuit of that have supported journalism for ture of America's political and social stories and truths citizens need to know decades. life are being distorted and disrupted in our self-governing republic in order The news business (or "the industry" by powerful, impersonal, corrosive to fulfill their civic responsibility. as some call it) is the source of the es­ fo rces. Among the most consequential Frequently the battle is fought in sential financial supportfor the institu­ of these are technology, individual­ organizations or in defense of the tion of journalism-but the business . ism, commercialism and American broader institution of journalism. The and the institution are not the same . capitalism. battles are not witnessed by many. Few The imperatives of the marketplace for These same fo rces threaten Ameri­ are directly involved in the contest but, capital and customers have replaced can journalism. Resisting the damage if the contest at these levels is lost, the ethic ofstewardship for journalism being done to journalism by these the tradition of journalism as a public as a public trust and the highest priority forces requires courage-courage in trust-with its paramount obligation for most of today's news executives and the form of a willing assumption of to the public weal, an obligation that owners. The priorities and direction of personal risk in defense of a strong, developed and evolved over the life of the news business have, primarily as vital and public-spirited free press as the republic-may be lost. a result of so-called "public" owner­ a necessary institution of American Perhaps the best example of courage ship (or, more accurately, ownership democracy. in a news organization in the recent by institutional investors), been taken The challenges facing news profes­ histoqr of American journalism was over by the powerful imperatives of sionals-and threatening journalism the decision by then-Wa shington Post American capitalism. in the public interest-are significant Publisher Katharine Graham to publish In his book "The Soul of Capital­ and cannot be avoided. The factsof the the Vietnam Wa r-era Pentagon Papers ism," journalist William Greider writes situation are these: The past cannot be in the face of threats from the Nixon that American capitalism has many recaptured. News organizations sup­ White House. She weighed the risk of strengths, but "one large incapacity" ported by businesses caught between losing her company against the respon­ in the "logic" of the system. "A s a mat­ the realities of the marketplace and the sibility of her newspaper to the public ter of principle," he says, capitalism demands of American capitalism will and chose the latter. "cannot take society's interests into

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 71 Courage account. The company's balance sheet mer and defiling the latter? recognized as courageous acts. Most has no way to recognize costs that are The roll call of vandals includes are everyday acts ofprinciple that build not its own, no reason or method to fa miliar names: General Electric, Dis­ character and reflect it. calculate the future liabilities it causes ney, Clear Channel, Sinclair Broadcast Courage will lie in refusing to take but that someone else will have to pay. Group, MecliaNews, Gannett, Knight a path that is inconsistent with one's The incentives, in fact,run hard in the Riclcler, and Tribune. Notwithstanding values and commitments, regardless of opposite direction." responsible, courageous deeds each the cost. But courage is not reckless. As the contemporary mainstream can legitimately point to, each has acted Wisdom requires understanding the news business is slowly but systemati­ in ways that have weakened journalism difference between the inconsequen­ cally stripped bare by the demands of as an institution of our democracy and tial and the inviolable. capitalism, the cost to society that is not as an instrument of self-government. Courage will lie in accepting the recognized on its balance sheet is the inevitability of change and working degradation of the press as an institu­ Individual Courage to ensure change yields good out­ tion of democracy and an instrument comes. of self-government. So what can a journalist do? Courage will lie in working to pre­ So again we might ask, what consti­ The distinguished 20th century serve the essential in what is and in tutes the courageous act at the level of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's famous taking the risk of creating alternatives the institution of journalism? Serenity Prayer asks that each person to support it-in determining how Wo uld itmatter ifwe askecl?Woulcln't who recites it be granted "the serenity enduring values can be preserved and any act of courage be a bit late now? to accept the things I cannot change; practiced in the fu ture. • Haven't the self-interested values of courage to change the things I can, and business effectively triumphed already wisdom to know the difference." jay Harris holds the Wa llis Annen­ over the values of news coverage in the This is particularly wise advice for berg Chair in journalism and De­ public interest? Aren't the majority of those with the courage to face the threat mocracy at the Un iversity of South­ businesses that support and manage to journalism that serves the needs ern California's Annenberg School journalism controlled by institutional of the republic, its citizens, and their fo r Conununication. He is a senior investors who sap it forprofit at their democracy. Change will happen-but fe llow at USC's Annenberg Centerfo r whim or demand? Haven't the corpo­ change need not be bad altogether. Co mmunication, an interdisciplin­ rate barbarians already crashed through Most acts of courage are not big; ary research cente1: the gates to the city and through the most are not noticed. Most will not doors of the temple-sacking the fo r- bring acclaim and, in fact, will not be r8I [email protected]

Telling a Story That No Other Newspaper Will Tell 'If we don't print these stories about the casino, who will? People need to see this

By Stephen G. Bloom

eaching journalism, as I do, is fe el-good stories. In the Sunday paper, today know what constitutes a good difficult today no matter where puff pieces reign-where to go in the newspaper. Few 20-year-olcl's have an Tyou do it. But in , it's state and what the weather will be once idea what a gracefully written profile especially tough. Iowa's newspapers you get there. It's a sorry encl to what or a masterful investigative story is, are in a sorry state. Iowa's largest was a remarkable legacy. because they've never read one in an newspaper, The Des Moines Register, The largest newspaper closest to Iowa newspaper. bought by Gannett in 1985, once was where I live is the locally owned The That's precisely why I wanted to one of America's great newspapers. In (Cedar Rapids) Gazette, with a circu­ teach a new class for master's jour­ its heyday, the Register had a combined lation of 63,000. When I first moved nalism students. As what Professor circulation of 380,000. To day, circula­ here 13 years ago from San Francisco, I David Protess at Northwestern clicl tion has slipped to 152,800. The paper awakened one Easter morning to read with the Medill Innocence Project, 12 runs ads on page one-often stickers a banner headline in The Gazette, "He journalism students would spend 15 above the fold that readers have to Has Risen." The newspaper has not weeks reporting and writing on one peel offto see the lead story. News has improved. issue. My hope was that we 'd break given way to boosterism, paid obituar­ Because there are so few local ex­ new ground in a state fertile with un­ ies, canned celebrity gossip, and sappy emplars, relatively few Iowa students reported stores.

72 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

What I didn't count on was that to convince locals to approve gam­ had gotten at the nub of the sto1y. They my students would get to experience bling in Riverside. The out-of-state produced a project of more than 16,000 firsthand what courage looks like in consultants outspent locals 50 to words, spread over 21 articles. With the newspaper journalism today. one, spending nearly $ 100 per vote, help of Jennifer Sturm, the editor of fora referendum that squeaked by The Daily Iowan, we started laying out The Untouched Story with just 352 votes. In doing so, the pages. The project had mushroomed pro-casino forces broke state cam­ to 24 pages. Certainly, there were enough topics for paign-disclosure laws by concealing Casey was in a bind. He had given the students-feces-infested drinking contributions. his word to publish the project, but the water, the continued decimation of a • The Riverside sheriff, who oversees costs to him-both in pages published once-robust farm economy, the prolif­ a police forceof just nine deputies, with no ads and a possible loss in ad eration of filthymeatpacking plants, to conceded that his officers will be sales because of the content of these name a few. But there was one issue overwhelmed with the 1.6 million stories-were potentially huge. This that begged to be investigated: the gamblers expected to show up in was made even more apparent after state's largest casino resort, scheduled town. He described the casino as a the Riverside Casino started taking out to open in four months in a rural disaster in the making. large display ads in the A-section of town 15 miles south of the University • Despite what Iowa casino propo­ the newspaper, looking forblackjack of Iowa. nents promised-that a percentage dealers and roulette wheel operators In just two decades, casino gambling of revenues will go to schools in among University of Iowa students. has spread like a disease in Iowa, with districts where casinos are located­ The day before we went to press, nary a dissent coming from the state little revenue ever gets allocated to Casey paced the newsroom, shaking legislature. The state has become ad­ education. In a similar Iowa town his head. "You have tenure, they can't dicted to millions ofdollars in revenue to Riverside, for the first five years fire you," he told me. "Twenty-four from gambling. And 70 paid pro-casino of casino operation nothing was pages and no ads? I ought to have my lobbyists in Des Moines aim to keep it distributed to schools. In the sixth head examined." thatway. The only thing left to do seems year, the casino coughed up a measly I asked Casey ifhe wanted to shrink to be to build more casinos. $65,000 into school coffers. the project. I didn't bring up another

No Iowa newspaper had examined • The incidence of bankruptcy, di­ option-to kill it. legalized gambling in a thorough, vorce and domestic abuse jumps But Casey was resolute. He looked comprehensive way as a project, and astronomically in rural communities me straight on and said, "If we don't none had covered the range of implica­ once a casino opens. print these stories about the casino, tions of the casino, scheduled to open who will? People need to see this." in September in Riverside, a speck of With our Riverside Project, the idea Casey was talking like John Peter a farming community with 928 resi­ was to shine a light into very dark cor­ Zenger. dents. Many newspapers in this state ners. But would the students' reporting "Just make sure we don't get sued," look at casinos as sacred cash cows of ever get published? What newspaper Casey said. "That's all I ask." advertising revenue. There may be a would print such explosive stories? The Daily Iowan published our cause-and-effecteconomic explanation project on May 5th. The students for the paucity of coverage, or it may A Gutsy Publisher Steps Up truly broke new ground, and so far we be that editors at these papers don't haven't gotten sued. And Casey didn't have the resources to cover the topic Early in the semester, I had approached get fired, although some on the busi­ adequately. It also may be that editors Bill Casey, the publisher of The Daily ness side of his newspaper complained don't see legalized gambling as an es­ Iowan, the independent newspaper that he was giving away the store. sential story fortheir readers. that circulates on the campus and in While Casey works for an 11-per­ Whatever the reason, it left the door Iowa City. Casey, who has been pub­ son board and The Daily Iowan is a wide open formy students. After snoop­ lisher of the 20,500-circulation Daily nonprofitcorporation, the newspaper ing around Riverside for eight weeks, Iowan for 30 years, immediately said still has to bring in money. Printing the the students came up with an arsenal yes to publishing the stories in a special project, and doing so without ads, was of stories. Here are several: section in which no ads would appear; a decision few newspaper publishers he believed running advertisements would even consider.

• The casino owner had paid a Chicago would undermine the copy. At the time, "You can't adequately cover the consulting firm-which had racked Casey figured the project would be a impact of legalized gambling in the up victories in six other Iowa gam­ four- or eight-page tabloid section. daily news pages," said Casey. "It's bling referenda, as well as worked As we got closer to our publication too complicated. Sometimes you do on Bill Clinton and John Kerry's date, the copy swelled. I edited fiercely. things that don't make money. You presidential campaigns-more Students were not used to such tight can't do it all the time, but you have to than a quarter of a million dollars and many told me so. But they do it occasionally because that's what

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 73 Courage

newspapers ought to be doing. Why Good reporting requires money. It father, and interviewed their five-year­ else are we in this business?" takes time and experience. And to do olcl daughter. The Daily Iowan boasts some terrific it right requires space, sometimes lots "Do you know what rain is'" I asked journalists in its 138-year history, from of it. Words can be edited and paired her. fo rmer New York Times fe ature writer clown, but good reporting can't be The girl looked puzzled. "I think so Judy Klemesrucl and former Los .... I've seen rain on TV It's Angeles Times cartoonist Paul like when they open up the Conrad to Neil Brown, execu- faucet in the sky, right?" 'Sometimes you do things that don't tive editor of the St. Petersburg Many of my journalism stu- Times and Kirsten Scharnberg, make money. You can't do it all the dents view quality journalism national correspondent forthe the way that little girl looked time, but you have to do it occasionally Chicago Tribune. at rain. They've heard about For the 125-year reunion of because that's what newspapers ought it, they sort of know what it the paper in 1993, Casey spent is, but they've never experi­ to be doing. Why else are we in this two clays reading microfilm enced it themselves. of the newspaper clecacle-by­ business?' -Bill Casey Now they have . • clecacle. "And you know what? I never knew if one year the Stephen G. Bloom teaches paper made money and another journalism at tbe Univer­ year it lost money. In lOOyears, no one's clone in 14-inch snippets. Good report­ sity of Iowa. He bas been a reporter going to look at how much money we ing invites trouble. It courts lawsuits. fo r tbe Los Angeles Ti mes, Tbe Dal­ made in 2006. What people will look It tempts angry responses fromadver ­ las Morning News, TbeSacr amento at is how we covered the events of our tisers and readers. For the majority of Bee, and Sanjose MerCWJI Ne ws. He time. That's our job." American newspapers these clays, such is tbe author of "Postville: A Clash risks are seldom worth taking. of Cultures in Heartland America, " Room forGood Reporting When I was a reporter for The published in 2000 by Harcourt, and Sacramento Bee in the 1980's, I cov­ "Inside tbe Wr iter's Mind: Wr iting Is Bill Casey courageous? Considering ered a severe drought on the central Narrative jo urnalism, " released in the bottom-line mentality of journal­ coast of California. Parts of the region 2002 by Blackwell Publishing. ism today, I think he is. After all, good hadn't been soaked with a downpour reporting is only possible if there's a in five years. I headed to a children's [8J [email protected] brave publisher willing to print it. playground, chatted up a mother and

H.L. Mencken : Courage in a Time of Lynching Subscriptions were cancelled, threats made on him and Sunpapers' staff, and advertisers' products were boycotted, but Mencken's words were published.

By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers

n December 4, 1931, on the a tree. A crowd of 2,000 men, women been the encl of it," noted the New Eastern Shore of Maryland, and children cheered. The body was York Outlook. As it happened, the O an African American named then doused with gasoline and burned. lynching occurred in Maryland, a state Matthew Williams shot and killed his One member of the mob cut off several that took pride in the Sunpapers-the white employer, then turneda pistol on ofWilliams's toes and carried them off (Baltimore) Sun and the Evening Sun. himself, inflicting a wound. Staggering as souvenirs. The family-owned institution had a away from the scene of the crime, he It was the first lynching the state reputation for accuracy, fairness and was shot by the employer's son, then had witnessed in 20 years. The local independence, free from private in­ arrested and taken to a Salisbury hos­ townspeople celebrated the occasion terests. Its publisher, Paul Patterson, pital. Hours later, a mob clescenclecl on by draping the tree with an American always stood by his men. On the lynch­ the building, seized Williams, dropped flag. ing story, the Sunpapers lived up to him from a window, dragged him to the "Had the outrage occurred in some their reputation. The editorial pages courthouse green, and hung him from other Southern state, this might have issued denunciations of the lynchers,

74 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States demanding that the perpetrators be anthem, "Maryland, My Maryland." season approached, residents who arrested and tried. Editors from the Wo rcester Demo­ regularly shopped in Baltimore now But it was the Sunpapers' most crat of Pocomoke City, Maryland ac­ began going to Wilmington and Phila­ famous columnist, H.L. Mencken, cused Mencken and Duffy of being delphia. who helped lead his newspaper into a "jealous" because they had not got­ Alarmed, members of the Baltimore contentious fight thatraged for years. ten to "enjoy" the lynching. Mencken Association of Commerce, including Mencken's fame, as journalist Alistair reprinted extracts from the Worcester the We sternNewspaper Union, bought Cooke noted, was "rightly grounded Democrat in his subsequent column. advertisements in Baltimore and shore on the vigor he brought to unpopular "They serve ve1y well," he wrote, "to papers appealing for good will. "Please causes." At the end of all the controver­ show what effect the lynching spirit, do not judge the people of Baltimore sies, even his enemies came to realize if it is allowed to go unchecked, has by what appears in the Baltimore Sun," that Mencken's great strength was his one read. "The Sun is being condemned courage. on all sides by the people of this city, who fe el that Mencken's article was a Criticism of Press Cowardice most disgraceful attack on one of the MENCKEN finestsections of the state." The 1931 lynching on the Eastern The Sunpapers' officewas besieged Shore revolted Mencken; he was furi­ THE AMERICAN with complaints. Subscriptions were ous that no one had done anything to ICONOCLAST cancelled. Stores that sold copies of stop Williams's murder, only one of Th e Life andTi mes of the Bad Boy of Baltimore the newspaper were forced to stop, more than 5,000 lynchings that had on threat of boycott. Copies of the occurred in the United States since Sunpapers were thrown on the streets 1922. Equally disturbing was what and burnedbefore theycould be placed Mencken perceived as the cowardice on sale. Tw o circulation trucks were of some of the press on the Eastern ambushed, their papers thrown away, Shore. Editors played down details and their drivers beaten. Reporters of the atrocity in order to cool off the who went to Salisbmy to cover the explosive atmosphere. st01y were threatened with violence. In his column-carried in the Sun­ According to Mencken, one of the papers-Mencken singled out the photographers, Robert F. Kniesche, Salisbury Times and the Cambridge "was saved from rough handling, and Daily Banner as prime examples of "a maybe even murder, only by escaping degenerating process" that had been in an airship." undermining the region foryears. The Ta lk of revenge went on for weeks. Banner, Mencken said, had criticized The editor of the Easton Journal ad­ the lynching "formally, but only fo r­ upon the minds of simple people­ vised Mencken not to set foot on the mally." The Salisbury Times, he wrote, even upon the more literate minority Eastern Shore "for the next 20 years. "went to almost incredible length of thereof." The Eastern Shore, Mencken In Salisbury, they'd rather lynch you." dismissing the atrocity as a 'demonstra­ wrote, was being run by "its poor white He warned that Mencken's toes, and tion.' We ll, the word somehow fits. It trash" that still accepted "the brutish perhaps his ears, might be taken as sou­ was indeed a demonstration of what imbecilities" of the Ku Klux Klan. Men­ venirs. The publisher of the Crisfield civilization can come to in a region tally and morally, he said, "it has been Journal called Mencken "a curse on wherein there are no competent po­ sliding out of Ma1yland and into the humanity. " Bundles of letters reached lice, little save a simian self-seeking in orbit of Arkansas and Te nnessee, Mis­ Baltimore criticizing Mencken forwrit­ public office, noapparent intelligence sissippi and the more flea-bitten half ing "crap" and the Sunpapers as "not on the bench, and no courage and ofVirginia." He proposed the shore be even fitfor the outhouse." As Mencken decency in the local press. Certainly it detached from Ma1yland and joined to recalled, "The main charge was that I would be irrational to ask forenlight­ Delaware and Virginia to form a new was an apologist fordrunkards, whores enment in communities whose ideas state to be called "Delmarva." and murderers, but there were also are supp lied by such pathetic sheets as correlative charges that I was both a the Cambridge Daily Banner and the The Price Paid Communist and a German spy. " Salisbury Times." Pulitzer Prize-win­ When a second lynching occurred ning Sunpapers' cartoonist Edmund Within 48 hours of Mencken's column in Princess Anne, Ma1yland in 1933, Duffy drew a sketch of the lynching to being published, thousands of dollars President Franklin D. Roosevelt's re­ accompany Mencken's article on the worth of orders from Baltimore's retail­ fusal to speak out on the atrocity was editorial page, ironically captioning ers were cancelled by cities along the a matter of discussion throughout the his cartoon with the title of the state Eastern Shore. As the 1931 Christmas count1y. Determined that this outrage

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 75 Courage

not be dismissed, Mencken joined publisher, Paul Patterson, held his at it as hard as the Sunpapers have forces with Clarence Mitchell of the ground. African-American journalist done, over a period of time they can NAACP to promote the Costigan-Wag­ George Schuyler, of the Pittsburgh exert an enormous influence for the ner Anti-Lynching Bill that would make , later said Mencken and the good. The two Baltimore papers have lynching a capital offense. Mencken's Sunpapers "had guts." given other newspapers a high mark impassioned testimony in support of Animosity towards the Sunpapers to shoot at." the bill galvanized senators on the com­ lingered foryears. "Baltimore was as In 1934, the Nation magazine placed mittee. Predictably, Roosevelt refused segregated racially as ] ohannesburg," Mencken on its Honor Role of the Na­ to challenge the Southern leadership recalled formerNew Yo rk Times' col­ tion for his denunciation of the two of his party, and the bill died. umnist Russell Baker. Although the lynchings. But on the Eastern Shore he Undeterred, the Sunpapers printed Sun was an all-white newspaper, there remained persona non grata, detested the story of the lynching in large were those who still thought the Sun­ even in Ocean City, a seashore town 25 headlines. Once again subscriptions papers "soft" on black people, rooted miles from Salisbury. Characteristically were cancelled; once again circulation in the columns Mencken had written philosophical, Mencken was unper­ men, reporters and photographers denouncing the lynchers. turbed. As he put it, "Inasmuch as I had were threatened. "A curious fe ature Elsewhere , however, there was no desire to be admired by morons I of the whole uproar was that public praise. "The Sunpapers have fu lfilled let the Shoremen howl." • opinion in Baltimore seemed to be the best traditions of intelligent jour­ predominantly on the side of the lynch­ nalism," wrote the editors ofNewYork Marion Elizabeth Rodgers is the ers," recalled Mencken. "I got more Outlook. "Newspapers are not police author of "Mencken: The American threatening letters from city people forces, nor prosecutors, nor courts. Iconoclast, " which was published in than from the simians of the lower Their job is not to arrest, try and pun­ 2005 by Oxford University Press. Shore itself." ish the perpetrators of crimes. Their Amid the economic hardship ofthe job is rather to inform and arouse the [81 [email protected] Great Depression, when every loss public so that these processes may be of a subscriber mattered, the paper's carried out. If they accept and work

Hero es in the Tough Transition to Digital News A long-time newspaper journalist assesses the courage required if essential values are to be retained.

By Davis 'Buzz' Merritt

n a realistic admission in the spring Pruitt's words were unremarkable. But Newspaper Journalism that it would take time-perhaps for journalists at the 20 newspapers to Iyears-forMcCla tchy Company to be retained by McClatchy they were a During the 300 years of their history, regain its financialmomentum after it jolt of encouragement and, for those An1erican newspapers gradually de­ acquired Knight Ridder, Gary Pruitt, at the dozen to be sold, they contained veloped the standards, practices and the company's president, CEO and at least a glimmer of hope. It had been layered processes that make newspaper chairman said, ''I'll take long-term gain years since any corporate person with journalism the core of the public affairs over short-term decline." What made sway over their journalistic effortshad information that sustains democracy. his words significant is his assurance expressed a commitment to more than And owners of newspapers discovered that time would be available. short-term financial results. early that they could make good money In today's Wa ll Street, a $4.5 billion And forthe U.S. newspaper industry publishing them. For some, that was deal is less than routine. Soap makers, caught in a maelstrom of disruptive enough. Other owners, differently coat hanger companies, tomato can­ technology and financialstress, Pruitt's motivated, believed that publishing ners attract more buyers and money, declaration offered a respite, if only newspapers was an important public if not more attention, than did the of the briefest sort. For that short mo­ service, and the fact that good money nation's second largest newspaper ment, it was possible to imagine a world could be made doing it only made the publisher when itwas forced by a group beyond the turbulence that threatens process that much more rewarding. of restless investors to put itself on the to destroy the newspaper journalism We ll into the 20th century, newspapers, auction block. So in most contexts, upon which democracy depends. with owners of both sorts, held a virtual

76 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States monopoly on mass communication of journalism is successfully transferred Britney and Katie, cat columns and information, but this situation was not to whatever technologies emerge, who Snoop Dogg, and ill-informed rhetoric to last. As other methods of telling news will have been the heroes? posing as public conversation. emerged-radio, broadcast television, They will be economists and lawyers 24-hour cable news, the Internet-each Journalism's Heroes who fashioned innovative ownership brought fresh predictions that news­ models to move public service journal­ papers were doomed. The heroes in this transition will be ism beyond the reach of Wa ll Street's Those predictions have not come publishers and corporate officers and insistence upon ever-increasing profits about, but now greed and short-term board members and, yes, even share­ without, perversely, making it subject thinking are the enemies of news­ holders who realized that public ser­ to even more threatening political papers' survival-and, if we are not vice journalism was in trouble, is the pressures inherent in tax and public careful, newspaper journalism. If priority outweighing all others, and policy concessions implicit in some

newspaper journalism withers away who were willing to sacrifice short-term models. 1 because those who own papers do profits to sustain it. Making a success­ They will be public-minded non­ not understand and appreciate its fultransition from print to digital will journalists who, taking advantage of intrinsic and crucial strengths and its be a marathon run requiring time and the We b's ready and cheap access, used role in democracy, much more will be oxygen supply, and only the money biogs and other techniques formore gone than simply one particular and people can ensure those. than blustering: nongovernmental traditional way of telling news. They will be reporters flexible organizations, foundations and even Democracy can exist without news­ enough to embrace the new ways of affinity groups that, though admittedly papers, but it cannot exist without convergence but firm enough not to mission-driven, unearthed and circu­ newspaper journalism and the unique succumb to the journalistic shortcuts or lated hard data not readily within reach attributes it brings to its synergy with fa ll into the traps of self-indulgence and of journalists but verifiable by them. democracy. Those include: personal aggrandizement that conver­ And, bless their hearts, they will be gence technology so beguilingly offers. bloggers who, by thinking of the odd

• Depth of reporting based on mul­ The essential values that drive newspa­ question or snagging contradictory tiple sourcing per journalism cannot be a cloak that is informationout of the rushing stream Professional objectivity-that is, donned only in newspaper newsrooms of data they watch, enriched the public avoiding a particularistic voice and laid aside in digital environments. conversation and expanded the nec­

• Accountability The standards and motivations must essarily limited reach of professional

• A layered process of fact-checking be migrated along with the facts and journalists. and editing words and personalities. That requires

• Community coherence-that is, a reporters to exercise both personal Will Newspaper Journalism clear concept of who is being served restraint and the discipline not to let Survive? and why the pressure of round-the-clock dead­

• Recognition of the responsibilities lines corrupt the reporting. Some early Can newspaper journalism survive the inherent in journalism's agenda-set­ convergence experience indicates that eventual passing of newspapers them­ ting role otherwise solid reporters are drawn to selves? Will the substance provided by

• Ethical underpinnings, including act differentlyon a Weblog or We bcast. newspaper journalism, even with all distinguishing between fact and That is deadly. its faults, be present in the dominant opinion. They will be editors who insist upon new forms ofcommunication just over that constancy and resist the enormous the horizon? Migrating newspaper journalism internal pressures to dilute the hard­ If newspaper companies continue onto new platforms will, however, news content that is the historic core to sublimate their obligations to public require time and experimentation op­ of the newspaper journalism franchise. service and democracy to ever-increas­ portunities that are not overwhelmed These heroes will not crumble under ing profit considerations, the answer by the pressure for constant bottom­ the assault from outsiders who equated is most certainly "no." And if serious line improvement on an already robust aggressive reporting with a lack of pa­ journalism continues to be replaced base of 20-and-up percent operating triotism, nor will they heed the taunts of by news-as-entertainment, the answer return. And it will require dedicated surrendering insiders who declare the is almost certainly "no." people acting bravely. end ofwhat they derisively call "eat your For newspapers driven by the bot­ When (not, pray, if) newspaper spinach journalism" in favor of more tom line, people are seen as customers

' For a wide-ranging discussion of alternative ownership models, see the proceedings of The Breaux Symposium, held on March 20, 2004 at Louisiana State University's Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, available at: \vww.lsu.edu/reillycenter/67272_Breaux_Symp.pdf

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 77 Courage

to be wooed rather than c1t1zens to Newspaper owners and journalistswho lisbed by i-lmacom in 2005. He wrote be helped, and the nation is seen as fail to understand the connection and the book aft er be retired from Knigh t an audience to be accumulated and act as if it matters will not only destroy Ridder in]anuary 1999. He worked tallied rather than a democracy to be themselves but democracy itself. in n.ewsp aperjournalisnifor 46 cherished and sustained. Those with the courage to stay in years, 42 of them with Knigh t Ridde1: The great irony is that in America the marathon ahead will be not merely no authority can dictate what news­ survivors but heroes. • [8J [email protected] papers ought to do. This is a freedom that stems from, and is essential to, Davis "Buzz"Merritt is the author of democracy. The democracy that sus­ "Knigbtfall: Kn igh t Ridder and How tains journalism is itself sustained by the Erosion of Newspaper]ournalism responsible public service journalism. Is Putting Democracy at Risk, " pub-

Public Support Wanes, So me Journalists Press On 'Despite the low esteem in which the news 111edia are held today, some of the best, most courageous news coverage is being produced.'

By Barry Sussman

xploring connections between outnumbered by reporters who are of the best, most courageous news what the public thinks about less independent-minded and tend to coverage is being produced. And it's E journalistsand whether and how be more prone to following than lead­ being done despite a lot of factors that reporters and editors display courage ing, as well as by self-censoring editors would mitigate against it. There are in their work can be tricky territory. We who too often view challenging stories all-too-frequent cu ts in newsroom staff know that most people today do not as headaches. and the news hole at a time when the have high regard for reporters or news antinews climate, set by the Murdoch­ organizations, even though important What Surveys Tell Us Ailes-0 'Reilly-Gingrich-Republican stories, faithfully handled, sometimes Party cable TVcrowd, is popular. There elicit great respect. But surveys inform Since 1973, The Gallup Organization is, too, a sustained effort by the Presi­ us that majorities, sometimes large has asked the public about confidence dent and vice president to discredit ones, think journalists do not care in American institutions. Last year the press, with more than $1.6 billion about the people they report on, bully only 28 percent of those interviewed in spending by the Bush administra­ victims of personal disasters until they said they had a great deal or quite a tion on a campaign of propaganda, cry, tl)' to cover up or not accept blame lot of confidence in TV news and in including support forthe creation of for theirmistakes , are in bed with poli­ newspapers. Pretty poor scores-the fakenews by fake reporters. Then there ticians, and quake when the powerful lowest fo r the press since the ques­ are the Bush administration's varying look at them sideways. tions were first asked. We ak as those characterizations of the U.S. press as Not much middle ground can be ratings were, they still were on a level just another annoying, self-promoting, found between these disparate as­ with confidencein the criminal justice untrustworthy pressure group, while sessments. At least that's my reading system (26 percent), and better than it proclaims the core value of a free of public-opinion polls taken during the scores for organized labor (24 press in its messages about democracy the past 25 years, including ones I was percent), Congress and big business in countries where authoritarian gov­ involved with during the 1980's when (each at 22 percent) and, lowest of all, ernments now rule. I ran the news polling operation for HM O's (18 percent) . The Wa shington Post. In 1985, the old Times-Mirror orga­ Reporting in Different Eras Of course, there are many jour­ nization sponsored a poll on the news nalists who won't be deterred from media. On its completion, full-page ads Some of the 2006 Pulitzer Prizes, for taking a courageous course in their promoting the findings asked: "Is the example, honored reporting that was work, even when they don't sense a Wa tchdog Really a Lapdog?" so powerful that, for at least a few great deal of support for what they Despite the low esteem in which moments, all seemed well in the news do. The problem is they are heavily the news media are held today, some business.

78 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

The Hurricane Katrina coverage of news hole, concurred, and lamented early stages: The Wa shington Post Biloxi, Mississippi's Sun Herald was the grip Wa ll Street profits hold over (where I was in charge ofthe coverage declared "valorous," while The (New the news business. He went on to note and given the title "special Wa tergate Orleans) Times-Picayune was regarded that "there's still excellent investigative editor"), The New Yo rk Times, the as "heroic," and its breaking news work being done out there, but it's be­ , the now defunct reporting was said to be "courageous ing done as much as anything because Wa shington Star, and Time magazine. and aggressive coverage ... overcoming of individual journalists and editors Te levision was absent altogether. In the desperate conditions facingthe city and who are concerned that this work be critical four-and-a-half months from the newspaper." Some of the the break-in to the 1972 elec- journalists' hardest work took tion, the only broadcast news place as floodwaters forced an ... editors are working at a time when attempt at telling viewers about evacuation of their newsroom; Watergate came when Walter many of them lost their homes shortages of staff and budget are Cronkite, on a Friday evening and dealt with tough personal paired with an historic moment when newscast, did a lengthy report circumstances while remaining in which he recapped news on the job to tell other people's political and societal pressures are that had been in the papers. He stories. aligned against the press. promised a second report on New Yo rk Times columnist Monday, but CBS Chairman Wil­ Nicholas Kristof's "personal liam S. Paley intervened; while risk" in going to Sudan was there was a second report, it acknowledged as he was honored for done. Even with the budget cutbacks, was much abbreviated. drawing attention to the horrendous they are doing it out of dedication to Wa tergate was a 26-month scan­ massacres of people in Darfur. the best of what journalism is." [See dal-from the break-in to Nixon's Washington Post and New Yo rk Harris's article on page 71.] resignation. About nine months into Times reporters won Pulitzers for With scarcer resources to devote to it a lot more news organizations got stories that President Bush personally what can often be lengthy reporting to work-pack journalism, it might be sought to block. The publication of stints, editors are working at a time called-and began to report the story these news stories has led to govern­ when shortages of staff and budget aggressively and well. ment leak investigations and recrimi­ are paired with an historic moment Now in the sixth year of this ad­ nations, even the firing ofa CIA leak when political and societal pressures ministration's drive to discredit the suspect. Secrecy advocates say the are aligned against the press. Before press (and therefore make it an irrel­ reporters should be getting prison this current administration, the press's evant part of our democracy), news terms instead of Pulitzers. most hostile President was Richard organizations are following a pattern On the April day when the Pulitzers Nixon, who used his vice president, not unlike what happened during the were announced, two newspaper Spiro Agnew, as attack dog. Mouthing \Vatergate era. For the first fouryears veterans, Jay Harris and Alex Jones, sly phrases written by William Safire, or so, including the run-up to the Iraq exchanged views on the PBS NewsHour Agnew labeled the press "nattering Wa r, only a small number of journal­ about challenges confronting watch­ nabobs of negativism," describing them ists at only a few news organizations dog reporting in today's inhospitable as a liberal bunch out of synch with did independent, aggressive report­ business environment. Harris, a mem­ American values. ing. Using Harris's notion, these were ber of the Pulitzer board and former How does one measure the chilling primarily individuals acting out of publisher of the San Jose Mercury effect of such characterizations, then dedication. Over time, a pack mental­ News, was impressed by the finalists' and now? By lack of coverage, per­ ity has set in. work: "... the press as a watchdog haps? If so, the attacks worked then, As I write this, the Bush adminis­ did its job remarkably well this year." and they seem to be working now-a tration's K Street and Capitol Hill oc­ Emphasizing the value of investigative time when similar political pressures cupants' arrogance and corruption are reporting, Jones, a Pulitzer winner combine with the new, difficult finan­ fair game. Unfortunately for citizens, who directs the Shorenstein Center cial constraints. the journalists' pack is smaller these at Harvard University, observed that For a long time during Nixon's days, and they've got a lot of catching "in the environment that we're in ... presidency much of the up to do. • there's probably a lot more work that were onlookers, not independent and could be done and should be done that aggressive in reporting on either the Barry Sussman is editor of the Nie­ isn't being done because of the sort of Vietnam Wa r or about Wa tergate. man Fo undation 's Wa tchdog Project turmoil that the newspaper industry is Wa tergate has often been hailed as a and the We b site, www. nieman­ undergoing." great press triumph, but the fact is that watchdog. org Harris, who resigned in 2001 rather only fivenews organizations did much than execute deeper cuts in his staffand to move the story along in its crucial t8l [email protected]

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 79 Courage

Courage of the Wise and Patient Kind 'Our craft demands such courage if we are to find a constructive way through the many difficulties that challenge us today.'

By Geneva Overholser

ll kinds of courage are needed back, a way of saying "you made an If our times call for patient courage, from journalists in 2006: The impact" or "you get credit." All of this they also demand wise courage. Some A courage an editor calls upon fe eds a very satisfying loop. journalists are fighting avidly against to run a story despite the anticipated Then there is the courage that feels developments that are identified (ac­ brouhaha; the kind a publisher needs to more like a slow, hard slog. The cour­ curately for the most part) as solely make the case for newsroom resources, age to keep reporting things no one profit-driven and destructive of good and the kind a CEO needs when work. But our customary aversion talking to analysts about the public to all change can cause us to do interest. The courage a Washington Wise and patient courage are more harm. While we must protect reporter summons to question a journalism in the public interest, politician who will portray the act harder to summon and more when long-time models of its of questioning as a failure of pa­ difficult to notice than the bold practice are challenged, wisdom triotism. Then there is the courage is what we need to enable us to any newsgatherer must summon moves we seem to admire most. distinguish between traditions to persevere in getting quotes on we don't need to cling to-be the record when anonymity is so they ink on paper or the inverted much easier. And journalists have pyramid-and those that we do. long relied on courage to speak truth to wants to hear-or worse, that no one Our craft demands such courage if we power. All of these traditional forms of does hear. The courage that keeps a are to finda constructive way through journalistic courage are more essential journalist toiling away until one day the many difficulties that challenge than ever in our post-9/1 1 spin-driven, all of the work gets acknowledged us today. secrecy-proliferating, profit-seeking by the difference it has made. This is This kind of courage doesn't draw at­ times. a courage that keeps on believing. in tention to those who practice it. Instead Other kinds of courage are vital to that day despite signs that it's not soon it is the speak-it and think-about-it, our work today, too: subtler forms, approaching. It's this strength that build-it-slmvly and protect-it-from-be­ such as the courage to admit mistakes, pushes a journalist to go on making ing-undermined, go-back-at-it-again­ acknowledge doubts, hold ourselves the phone calls, setting up contacts, after-your-ideas-have-been-clismissed accountable, make our work transpar­ writing pieces, all done with the spirit kind of courage. And its feel is less like ent. And there is the courage it takes of good cheer and all to the purpose an explosion, more like water wearing to vie for a position that no one who of making happen what the journal­ on a stone. Wise and patient courage looks remotely like you has ever held ist believes will and must eventually are harder to summon and more dif­ or to promote to an important post happen. This kind of courage is very ficult to notice than the bold moves someone whose strengths and leader­ much like faith. we seem to admire most. But they are ship style are entirely different than One of my favorite exemplars of this precisely the kinds of courage that will your own. "we can do it" kind of courage is Philip likely save journalism. • It is true that certain kinds of cour­ Meyer, who teaches at the University age in our craft continue to be more of North Carolina . Geneva Overholse1; a 1986 Nieman readily rewarded. Physical courage, so No matter how predictable it is that Fellow, holds the Curtis B. Hurley often tested abroad, is rarely required someone will howl, "But that sounds Chair in Public Affa irs Reporting fo r of us here at home; still, we like to be like credentialing," or ''Journalism isn't the Missouri School of journalism, in as close to such clanger as we can and a profession and thank goodness for its Wa shington, D. C., bureau. reward the bold stroke-the pioneer­ that," Meyer holds fast. He has strong ing story or the brave speech made to beliefs and backs them up with sub­ [81 [email protected] an expected hostile crowd. These are stantial research, which, of course, admirable steps, and widely acknowl­ makes his ideas eminently worthy of edged as such, whether through prizes, serious consideration and, therefore, favorable coverage, or slaps on the very likely to make a difference.

80 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

Investigative Journalism Do esn't Win Many Friends '. . . just about everything has been tried to discourage these kinds of investigations by those who are unhappy with what we find.'

By Charles Lewis

t was 1992, in Moscow, and some with rollbacks of various access to in­ them cover more while also facing the of the world's most respected in­ formation laws nationwide, with the real possibility of unemployment next I vestigative journalists had gathered increased federal prosecutorial zeal week, next month, next year? for an international conference. In against journalists, and with the deten­ For roughly 30 years I've been the opening hours, stark differences tion of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay investigating politicians and the pow­ emerged as reporters described condi­ Naval base formany years without trial erful forces behind them and, like so tions they confronted in the practice of and under the veil of anonymity and many practitioners, I grew increasingly independent journalism. The Russian absolute secrecy. All of these affronts frustrated as many important stories and Ukrainian journalists lamented the are reflected in the United States's inconvenient to "the powers that be" losses of their murdered colleagues; downward slide to 44th place in Re­ got spiked or not even assigned. My British and Indian reporters recounted porters Sans Frontieres' 2005 Wo rld own tipping point came late in 1988 how they'd been arrested forviolating Press Freedom Index. when, at the age of 35, married with the Official Secrets Act; the reporter But the most urgent, ominous threat a family, a mortgage, and no savings, I from apartheid South Africa grippingly to quality commercial journalism in abruptly quit my job as Mike Wa llace's recalled seeing her sources gunned the United States is economic. Cou­ producer for"60 Minutes." It was the down in the street, and a Colombian rageous and independent watchdog most impetuous thing I've ever done; journalist told how her sister was reporting is on the wane, based on friends and colleagues discreetly in­ murdered following her investigative the numbers alone: There simply are quired if perhaps I seriously had lost stories on the Medellin drug cartel. fewer and fewer professional reporters my mind. As their turn to speak came, straight­ monitoring those in power. According I started searching fora way to do faced American journalists earnestly to the 2006 annual report on the State serious and substantive, original in­ complained about the government's of the News Media, published by the vestigative journalism at the national tardy handling of their Freedom of Project for Excellence in Journalism, level, unfe ttered by the normal daily Information Act requests. while newspaper owners continue to time and space limitations or well­ I was struck by the stark, global dis­ reap 20 percent annual profitmargins, titled, well-paid facelessminions (a.k.a. parity in daily working circumstances they have jettisoned at least 3,500 the "suits") telling me what I could or and also the extent to which American newsroom professionals since 2000, couldn't do. With no management, reporters lead a distinctly privileged or seven percent of the editorial work­ fu ndraising or business experience, I existence, which we rarely acknowl­ force nationwide. began and directed a new, independent edge. Unlike much of the rest of the In recent years, two newspaper effort-known as the Center for Public world, when attempting to ferret out executives very publicly resigned after Integrity, which today is the largest uncomfortable truths inside the United refusing to lay off more reporters in nonprofit investigative reporting or­ States (and Canada), life and death order to boost their company's already ganization in the world. physical safety is not really an issue. inordinately healthy profits.Jay Harris, And our constitutional protections of the publisher of the San Jose Mercu1y Oppositional Forces press freedom and our two centuries­ News, a Knight Ridder newspaper and, old legal system that generally fosters just last year, John Carroll, the editor \V ashington "access" journalism transparency and open discourse about of the Los Angeles Times who had just doesn't really happen at the Center public figures and institutions are shepherded the Tr ibune Company for Public Integrity. Being despised distinctive relative to so many other newspaper to five Pulitzer Prizes, could and frozen out by those in power is an nations. not countenance the continued corpo­ occupational hazard of what gets done Fourteen years and several interna­ rate carnage. It's difficult to overstate at the center-indeed, it is a badge tional investigative reporting confer­ the rank-and-filenewsroom distrust of of honor for investigative reporters ences later, this disparity of privilege owners; it is quite palpable and affects eve1ywhere. For example, within days still exists. It does so despite the the ve1y soul of journalism itself. After of the invasion of Iraq we published a audacious, recent encroachments to all, just how courageous and indepen­ report, which found that at least nine of the public's ability and right to know, dent can reporters be when fewer of the 30 members of the Defense Policy

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 81 Courage

The Center for PublicIntegrity: What It Is. What It Does.

From its founding in 1989 to the encl are best known for tracking political Consortium oflnvestigative Journalists of 2004, when I stepped clown as its influence in Washington, D.C. and in (ICIJ) project was initiated by the cen­ director, the nonpartisan Center for the 50 state capitals. Utilizing dozens ter. It is the firstworking network of95 Public Integrity grew to a fu ll-time of researchers, writers and editors preeminent reporters in 48 countries staff of 40 people and roughly 20 paid and studying thousands of pages and on six continents and has produced rotating college intern researchers each half a dozen types of federal and state more than half a dozen reports across year. During the center's first 15 years, records, a signature product has been borders. more than 275 investigative reports, the center's quadrennial investigative More informationabou t the center, including 14 books, were produced. dissection of the powerful economic including its reports, fu nding and the The center's findings or perspective interests behind the major presidential awards its work has won, can be found have been covered in approximately candidate, "The Buying of the Presi­ at wvvw.publicintegrity. org -C.L. 10,000 news stories in the United States dent," published in each presidential and throughout the world. Its reports election year. In 1997, the International

Board, the government-appointed suggested I leave via a seconcl-sto1-y evening news sto1-y about one of the group that advises the Pentagon, had window. Another time a death threat center's reports-which had found ties to companies with more than $76 was personally communicated by con­ that broadcasters and telecommuni­ billion in defense contracts in 2001 cerned state troopers who asked us to cations companies had taken Federal and 2002. Months later, the center leave the area immediately. We didn't. Communications Commission officials reported that Halliburton was on 2,500 all-expense-paid trips by far the Bush administration's over an eight-year period-the favorite contractor in Iraq. We piece was pulled from the eve­ Reportorial courage, independence had meticulously tallied and ning broadcast at 5:30 in the posted all of the major govern- and commitment to community afternoon. ANew Yo rk network ment contracts in Iraq and Af­ executive scolded his Washing­ are antidotes to the poisonous ghanistan, which took 20 of our ton bureau correspondent and researchers, writers and editors combination of falling readership, producer forletting things get six months and 73 Freedom of that far that late by developing inordinate shareholder greed, and InformationAct requests. This a sto1-y that might embarrass effort also involved success- dwindling newsgathering budgets. their company: "Areyou out of fu l litigation in federal court your fucking mind?" against the U.S. Army and the Journalism-and the pub­ U.S. State Department. A lawsuit was people have been lic-require no-holds-barred reporting, necessary because much about the hired to infiltrate the center's news not anticipato1-y self-restraint, which is entire contracting process is deliber­ conferences and pose as "reporters" Jay Harris's term for self-censorship. ately hidden and therefore unknown to ask distracting questions. Some of Informationabout crucial issues of our to the public. the center's financial donors have been time is needed, not spoon-feel pablum All of this inconvenient "truth tell­ pressured and expensive, frivolous from officials or market-driven drivel ing" doesn't make friends in high libel litigation that requires years and based on focus groups and demo­ places, and just about everything has costs millions ofdollars to defend (and, graphic research to please advertisers. been tried to discourage these kinds in the encl, get dismissed) is used as a Reportorial courage, independence of investigations by those who are form of intimidation. 1 and commitment to community are unhappy with what we find. I've had Meanwhile, it has become painfully antidotes to the poisonous combina­ subpoenas against me issued and evident that the news media is inca­ tion of fa lling readership, inordinate had my hotel room stalked. I've been pable of covering its own economic shareholder greed, and dwindling escorted off military bases and threat­ and political agenda. For example, newsgathering budgets. ened with physical arrest. It's been when a TV network was preparing an We 've seen some truly inspiring

1 To defend against this oppositional strategy, The Fund for Independence in .Journalism, a 509(a)(3) endowment and legal support organization, was created, with initial fo undation contributions totaling S4 million and a goal of at least 520 million.

82 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States flashes of journalistic excellence, as its offices that, along with many of its ers do, will journalists, publishers and reflected in the most recent Pulitzer employees' homes, were underwater. broadcasters summon the courage of Prizes. The domestic surveillance ex­ It's hard to recall a prouder, more their convictions and commit them­ pose by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau courageous moment than The Times­ selves to doing the work on which our of The New Yo rk Times, published over Picayune of New Orleans defying the democracy depends? • the strenuous objections of the Bush odds and publishing "come hell and administration, epitomized courage high water," a phrase the paper's staff Charles Lewis is the fo under of the and independence. Is there any better wore on their T-shirts after the levees Center fo r Public Integrity in Wa sh­ way to stand up to secrecy? Or how broke. ington. Th e fo rmer "60 Minutes" about a newspaper's prescient truth What happened in New Orleans producer and 2006 Shorenstein telling, which predicted what would might serve us well as we think about Fe llow at Harvard is writing a book happen to its city if it was hit by a fero­ our beleaguered profession. As watch­ about powe1; the news media, and cious natural disaster, and then, after it ful observers point to dangerous fault the public's right to know. happened three years later, managing lines developing in many of the institu­ to publish in spite of having to abandon tions that once supported what report- 181 [email protected]

Seeking Journalistic Courage in Washington, D.C . 'The disturbing trend is that more and more of these informational offerings are nothing but PR peddled as "news."'

By Wal ter Pincus

ourage in journalism today police caught in a firefight, a fire, an prior administrations to help network takes all the obvious, traditional accident, a home run in the ninth to news television producers plan use of C forms-reporting from a war win a game, an Oscar winner, or a drop their camera crews each clay, into an zone or from a totalitarian country in the stock market. initial shaping of the news story for where a reporter's life or safety are I also am talking solely from the that evening. He would roughly say issues. In Washington, D.C., where I point of view of a reporter who has President Reagan will appear in the work, it's a far less dramatic form of spent almost 50 years watching daily Rose Garden to talk about his crime courage if a journalist stands up to a coverage of government in Washington prevention program and will discuss it government officialor a politician who become dominated by increasingly in terms of Chicago and San Francisco. he or she has reason to believe is not sophisticated public relations practi­ That would allow the networks to telling the truth or living up to his or tioners, primarily in the White House shoot B-roll matter in those two cities her responsibilities. and other agencies of government, but so there would be pictures other than But I believe a new kind of cour­ also in Congress or interest groups and the President speaking when it went age is needed in journalism in this even think tanks on the left, right or on the evening news. age of instant news, instant analysis, in the center. To day there is much too The President would appear, make and thereforeinstant opinions. It also much being offeredabout government his statement, perhaps take a question happens to be a time of government by than can be fitinto print or broadcast or two, and vanish. After a while, the public relations and news stories based on nightly news shows. The disturbing network White House correspondents on prepared texts and prepared events trend is that more and more of these would attend these early morning tech or responses. Therefore, this is the time informationaloff erings are nothing but sessions and even later print reporters forreporters and editors, whether from PR peddled as "news." did. On days when there was nothing the mainstream media or blogosphere, At the beginning of the Reagan ad­ prepared and the President went off to pause beforeresponding to the latest ministration, Michael Deaver-one of to Camp David or his Californiaranch, bulletin, prepared event, or the most the great public relations men of our ABCNews White House correspondent recent statement or backgrounder, time-began to use an early morning Sam Donaldson began his shouted whether from the White House or the "tech" session at the White House as questions-and those flip answers Democratic or Republican leadership something more than notice to televi­ became the nightly news, and not just on Capitol Hill. Of course, I'm not talk­ sion producers as to when and where on television. The Wa shington Post, ing about reporting of a bomb blowing the President would appear each day. which prior to that time did not have a up in a restaurant, soldiers being shot, He turnedthat meeting, which began in standing White House story scheduled

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 83 Courage each day (running one only when the went after him for"mixing up the daily A new element of courage in President did something new and thus message." journalism would be foredit ors and newsworthy) , began to have similar The truth of the matter is that with reporters to decide not to cover the daily coverage. help from the news media, being able President's statements when he-or At the end of Reagan's first year, to "stay on message" is now considered any public figure-repeats essentially David Broder, the Post's distinguished a presidential asset, perhaps even a re­ what he or she has said before. The political reporter, wrote a column quirement. Of course, the "message" is Bush team also has brought forv,rard about Reagan being among the least the public relations spin that the White another totally PR gimmick: The Presi­ involved Presidents he had covered. House wants to present and not what dent stands before a background that The result was he received an onslaught the President actually did that day or highlights the key words of his daily of mail from people who repeatedly what was really going on inside the message. This tactic serves only to re­ said they had seen him every night on White House. This system reached its inforce that what's going on is public TVworking diffe rent issues. The often apex this year when the White House relations-not governing. Journalistic told Deaver story is that one night CBS started to give "exclusives"-stories courage should include the refusal to News correspondent Leslie Stahl met that found their way to Page One, in publish in a newspaper or carry on a him after narrating a particularly critical which readers learn that during the TV or radio news show any statements piece on Reagan, and Deaver told her next week President Bush will do a made by the President or any other as long as the President was on camera series of four speeches supporting his government official that are designed smiling it didn't matter what she had Iraq policy because his polls are down. solely as a public relations tool, offer­ said about him. Such stories are often attributed to ing no new or valuable informationto When President George H.W Bush unnamed "senior administration of­ the public. • succeeded Reagan and occasionally ficials." Lo and behold, the next week drifted off theappointed subject, criti­ those same news outlets, and almost Wa lter Pincus reports on national se­ cism began to appear that he "couldn't everyone else, carries each of the fo ur curity issues fo r The Wa shington Post. stay on message." When Bill Clinton speeches in which Bush essentially arrived and as President did two, three repeats what he's been saying for two l:8l [email protected] or four things in a day, some critics years.

The Muslim Cartoon Contro versy Exposed an Absence of Courage '. . . the continuing timidity of the American media looked increasingly like cowardice, appeasement, or better-you-than-me cynicism.'

By Doug Marlette

''Give up the cartoonists; they're cuted Daffy Duck in an old Warner But once these images became a ma­ in the attic." That is what many Brothers cartoon. We now see what jor news story (and given that they of us fe el has been our lot since we're made of: not a lot of guts, or easily satisfied Western standards of our brethren in Denmark were forced brains, either. legitimate commentaq' and in fact into hiding after drawing likenesses of Admittedly, there's something about only became internationally contro­ the Prophet Mohammed. As art will do, cartoons, which are by definition un­ versial after being misrepresented to "themdamn pictures"-"Boss" Tweed's ruly, tasteless and immature, which the larger Muslim world), I can see term forThomas Nast's cartoons from brings out, if not the ayatollah, at least little reason-other than bodily fe ar, a more innocent time-have exposed the disapproving parent in even the bottom-line self-preservation, and just not just the internal dynamics of what most permissive of adults. And granted, poor judgment-that the U.S. media some call "Islamofascism" but the cor­ there may be a rights-vs .-responsibili­ and the public officialsentrusted with responding corruption of our values ties debate to be had over the Danish defending our freedoms wimped out and character in the We st. Our insides newspaper Jyllands-Posten's decision so thoroughly. have been illuminated like an electro- to commission images of Mohammed. To not publish these images because

84 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States of misguided sensitivity, we allow ni­ ing timidity of the American media first East-West journalism conference, hilistic street mobs fr om London to looked increasingly like cowardice, held in Prague in July 1990, about the Jakarta to definethe debate. In effect, appeasement, or better-you-than-me incendia1y role of the cartoonist. The our failure to do so means we capitulate cynicism. By denying their audiences best political cartoons, I told them, are to intimidation and threats and negoti­ the opportunity to look at the images, always created in the spirit of the Prague ate with terrorists. Ye t defensiveness American media outlets, with few ex­ Spring and the Ve lvet Revolution. They about caving in to the imams spread ceptions, kept the public in the dark question authority, challenge the sta­ across our nation's editorial pages, about the roots of one of the year's tus quo, and are inevitably accused of while the 24-hour cable news talking major news stories. (Adding to the "Disturbing the Peace," borrowing the heads clucked tongues about some in absurdity of the mainstream media's title of Vaclav Havel's 1990 book. If the irresponsible European press who editorial anguish, the images are only the editorial cartoons are doing their had reprinted the offending images. a click away on the Internet.) job, efforts will be made to suppress Even cartoonist Garry Tru deau assured Such bad judgment isto be expected them. the San Francisco Chronicle that he fr om the corporate media culture, but So in Prague, afterhearing the East­ would never depict the prophet in his when artists fe ar for their lives because ern European journalists repeatedly comics in a mocking way; nor would of something they've drawn, where are admonished to be "responsible in their he show improper pictures of Jesus. the defenders offree expression among journalism," I took the opportunity to As Doonesbury's Zonker might say, their fe llow artists in this country? At point out that the Japanese word for "Dude, this isn't about you ." a certain level I can understand why cartoon is "irresponsible drawings." Re­ The images of Mohammed com­ U.S. newspaper cartoonists, who have sponsibility, of course, like beauty, lies missioned by Jyllands-Posten do not seen their jobs shrink from more than always in the eye of the beholder. The mock the prophet any more than I 200 only 20 years ago to fewer than reporting of some of the great journal­ dishonored Jesus Christ when I drew 80 today, might be reluctant to stick ists who were at that conference-date­ a cartoon of the Last Supper in which their necks out. This can explain why lined Vietnam, for example-was often We lch's grape juice was served. I was there was no special day sponsored by labeled "irresponsible." Vaclav Havel's exposing the followers of Christ who the American Association of Editorial writings were called "irresponsible" used the doctrine of inerrancy to Cartoonists designated to drawing the by the Soviet thought controllers who promote a crude agenda; the Danish Prophet Mohammed or, failing that, not long before had convened in the cartoonists were not only exploring turning in blank cartoons in solidar­ hotel where we were staying. The list issues of self-censorship and intimida­ ity with our fe llow Danish artists in of"irresponsible" expression goes on: tion but also depicting the hijacking of hiding. from The Washington Post's coverage Islam by fanatics like the tormenters of I had a sense of the global ramifica­ of Wa tergate to The New Yo rk Times's Salman Rushdie and the murderers of tions of the cartoons' publication when revelations of warrantless wiretap­ filmmaker Theo van Gogh. last December the culture editor of ping. I'd further argue that publishing Jyllands-Posten contacted me for an Having grown up in the Southern those cartoons was an act of democratic interview about the threats I'd received United States during the era of the civil inclusiveness. By engaging satirically after drawing an Arab driving a Ryder rights movement, I remember how with Islam, these brave artists included truck loaded with a nuke. My cartoon business, civic and religious leaders Muslims as peers in the tradition of was published in 2002, before the called Martin Luther King, Jr. "irre­ satiric self-examination and irrever­ Iraq invasion, with the caption "What sponsible" as a way of disagreeing with ence that until recently we've taken Wo uld Mohammed Drive?" Though this his means without having to actually fo r granted in the We st. Denmark's cartoon was more inflammatory than take a moral stand on his ends. Those Muslims might have simply expressed any of the ones that caused riots in cautioning "responsibility" in today's their displeasure through the accepted cities around the world, I was merely cartoon controversy-in both the We st democratic avenues of their adopted denounced on the front page of the and the Middle East-have much in country if their unscrupulous imams Saudi Arab News by the secretary gen­ common with those "good people" of and the corrupt Arab governments eral of the Muslim World League, and the segregated South, who preferred, whose tyranny they serve hadn't ma­ my newspaper, syndicate and home as King wrote, "a negative peace which nipulated the cartoons by, fo r example, computer were flamed with tens of is the absence of tension to a positive disseminating some offensive drawings thousands of e-, viruses and death peace which is the presence ofju stice." that were not part of the original, rather threats aimed at intimidating my pub­ Their own decent, Christian values tame, Danish package, to ignite riots lishers and shutting me up. were embarrassed by terrorists who across the Muslim world. burned crosses and bombed churches As newspapers in Europe and even Solidarity and Defiance in the name ofJesus, as Islam has been Muslim editors in Jordan withstood subverted by the hooded thugs of Mus­ the intimidation of the jihadists by Still, this was a bit more excitement lim extremism. And like the leaders reprinting the cartoons, the continu- than I had in mind when I addressed the of the segregated South, the corrupt

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 85 Courage leadership of these Arab countries en­ sive political system and channeled the have lost their meaning, as going to jail courages the anticartoonists because outrage ofhelplessness constructively, lost its stigma when it was in the service their violent passions are a diversion so too would a fo rm of cartoon direct of freedom. Collecting his Nob el Peace from the government's neglect and action have advanced the true interests Prize after the Birmingham campaign, abuse of its people. of Islam. As King wrote in his "Letter King noted that "every crisis has both Why haven't the true Muslims­ from Birmingham Jail," ''Actually, we its dangers and its opportunities." moderate religionists, men and women who engage in nonviolent direct ac­ Perhaps one day the Jyllands-Posten of good will-risen up to condemn tion are not the creators of tension. We cartoonists will be recognized for their those who so disgrace their faith? merely bring to the surfacethe hidden contributions to democratic health and We constantly ask this question even tension that is already alive. We bring it to a peace truer than the one they have though the answer is contained in the out in the open, where it can be seen disturbed. • reluctance of our own instruments and dealt with." of free expression to confront the In the spiritually expansive style of Doug Marlette, a 1981 Nieman Fel­ problem. "Fill the jails" was Mahatma Gandhi and King, journalists could low, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Gandhi's strategy of noncooperation have summoned their aggregate moral editorial cartoonist with the Tu lsa with a nondemocratic system, formak­ authority and humbly dedicated a page Wo rld. "Magic Ti me, " his novel about ing society look at right and wrong of their newspapers or half a minute of the civil rights era, will be published in a fresh way, and it was one that their newscasts to showing the cartoons in the fa ll by Sarah Crichton Books/ Reverend King adapted in 1963 when and explaining why they must, not as a Fa rrm; Straus and Giroux. Th is he flooded the jails of Birmingham to taunt but as a teaching opportunity, as article is adaptedfrom, one that was defeat segregation. a prayer for coexistence. In supporting published on Salon.com in February. Just as nonviolent demonstrations of Denmark's embattled cartoonists in solidarity and defianceexposed a corro- this way, then the taboo images might � dmarlel [email protected]

A Distinction Journalists Like to Ignore 'Journalists, both then and now, too readily allow fears of a public backlash to inhibit their actions.'

By Laurel Leff

hen Nazi Germany forced Journalism and mass communication thousands of Jewish schol­ departments made no such hires. W ars and professionals to flee When two professors tried to enlist in the 1930's and early 1940's, many American law schools and American disciplines in the United States made journalism schools in their efforts to Buried by significant efforts to help their perse­ retrain European refugees, journalists cuted colleagues. One did not-jour­ resisted their entreaties. While 21 law nalism. schools agreed to waive tuition and The Times Doctors, lawyers, psychologists and admit refugees, not a single journalism The Holocaust musicians established committees to school accepted refugees through the anti America's help colleagues who, as a result of program. While lav.ryers raised thou­ Most Important anti-Semitic legislation, were no longer sands of dollars for living expenses for Newspaper allowed to practice their profession in the refugees enrolled in law schools, Germany and later in other occupied newspaper publishers wouldn't even Laurel Leff countries. American journalists estab­ consider such an effort. In fact, the lished no such committees. Historians, publishers' association refused to al­ mathematicians, sociologists, chemists low one of the professors, Harvard's and economists added European schol­ Carl Friedrich, to address their 1939 ._ .

ars to their university departments, en­ convention. ' • abling them to immigrate to the United Although several factors explain •• States outside of restrictive quotas. this callousness toward professional

86 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States brethren, who at the least were los­ sides in what was considered a contro­ their own anti-Semitism and its impli­ ing their livelihoods and, at the worst, versial issue and to avoid alienating cations for both news coverage and their lives, one factor distinguished Americans hostile to immigration and refugee assistance by deflecting it upon journalism from other professions to Jews, journalists did nothing. the audience. Finally, in presuming and disciplines-the fear of a negative an audience response, journalists too public response. Indeed, timidity in the Journalism and Public often fail to take into account the ways fa ce of anticipated public opposition Opinion in which they have helped shape those is a recurring journalistic affliction. ve1y attitudes. If the press failed to re­ The news media's participation in the Journalists, both then and now, too port sympathetically on refugee issues rush to war in Iraq is a recent example; readily allow fe ars of a public backlash for fear of a hostile public response, their refusal to help their Jewish col­ to inhibit their actions. In the ongoing for example, it is not surprising that an leagues in the 1930's is a particularly and inevitable tension between leading uninformedpublic remained hostile to repugnant one. the public and catering to its whims, those refugees. Of course, more benign explana­ journalists lean too much toward the Whatever the prevailing mood, tions might account for journalists' latter. The proliferation of how-to journalists abrogate their central re­ reluctance to become involved in the articles and sensationalistic stories sponsibility when they allow fe ar of refugee issue. They might have been are the most obvious contemporary a negative public reaction to shape worried about European refugees' lack manifestations of this tendency. But their actions. Knowing more than of facility with the English language, more insidious and less discussed is a the public and communicating that as well as the tight job market due reluctance to get too far ahead of the information is what it means to be a to the lingering effects of the Great public on controversial issues. journalist. Journalists therefore must Depression. But other profession­ The most distressing aspect of this lead, particularly on issues where it's als, who proved more welcoming, professional tendency is that it seems all too easy for prejudice to dominate would have had similar the public discourse. concerns. Journalists In the 1930's, jour­ might also have fret­ In the ongoing and inevitable tension between nalists failed in that ted about differences responsibility and, between American and leading the public and catering to its whims, ironically, may have European journalism, journalists lean too much toward the latter. lagged behind public particularly the partisan attitudes. When aid nature of much of the groups firstbegan help­ European press. But ing Jewish academics again all disciplines faced challenges to be based on little more than vague and professionals, they shunned in acclimating refugees, and concerns fe ars and lack of nerve. For journal­ publicity for fe ar of attracting atten­ about a different journalistic tradition ists don't really !mow what the public tion and hostility. By the late 1930's, wouldn't explain the reluctance to thinks or how it will react. Even the however, they routinely issued press retrain Europeans in American jour­ most refinedtechniques for measuring releases touting their successes. The nalism. audience response can't fu lly capture lawyer retraining group even crowed Instead, journalists may have been the complicated phenomenon of news about the "excellent accounts in The stymied by what they perceived to be perceptions. Not only is the audience Boston Globe and other papers" that its the public mood. Opinion polls taken large and varied but the very nature of announcements received. But the ve1y in the late 1930's indicated that a ma­ the news-that it is in fact new-means profession that was publishing those jority of Americans opposed greater the audience often doesn't know, liter­ stories was simultaneously refusing to immigration to the United States, ally, what it wants to !mow. So journal­ hire or help retrain its own persecuted and some of the opposition had anti­ ists tend to react to attitudes about colleagues. • Semitic overtones. Journalists would which they can only guess. have been uniquely sensitive to those Moreover, journalists can project Laurel Leff, an associate jJrofessor of sentiments. Although all disciplines their own biases into the void and then journalism at Northeastern Univer­ had to overcome anti-Semitism, both rationalize those prejudices based on sity, is the author of "Buried by Th e latent and blatant, in order to helpJe w­ public attitudes. Given the blatantly Times: Th e Holocaust and America 's ish refugees, academics could operate anti-Semitic reasons a few journalism Most Important Newspape1; "jJub­ within the ivory tower, and other pro­ school deans gave for refusingto admit lished by Cambridge University fe ssionals needed to placate only their refugees in the 1930's, it's reason­ Press. She workedfor 18 years at Th e own constituents, not the public at able to conclude at least some of the Wa ll Street journaland Th e Miami large. Responding to public concerns, reluctance to help refugees stemmed Herald. however, is built into the practice of from journalists' own prejudices. Ye t journalism. To avoid appearing to take journalists could avoid confronting 181 [email protected]

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 87 Courage

The Embrace of Principled Stands During the civil rights era, a few newspaper owners, editors and reporters risked their lives and livelihoods by supporting Supreme Court rulings and desegregation.

By Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

uford Boone's years as an FBI RisksWo rth Taking newspaper suffe red severe circulation agent introduced him to fe ar, drops and lost an amount equivalent B but nothing like he fe lt when he Boone, who held his own and survived to $13 million today. But they didn't climbed the stairs inside the Tu scaloosa the night, was one of a small group of alter their views a bit. courthouse in January 1957 to face a liberal and moderate Southern editors, The owners of the main black seething, racist mob of white men and probably no more than 20 at any one newspaper in town, the Arkansas State women. Boone-who had returned time, who risked the anger of their read­ Press, lost even more. In 1950, when to his first career, newspapers, and ers as well as circulation and advertiser Ebony magazine asked black editors to become editor and publisher of The boycotts to urge compliance with the write the headline they most wanted Tu scaloosa News-had to see in their news­ taken a strong and over­ papers, LC. and Daisy whelmingly unpopular Surrounded by a scrum of angry white men, [the Bates wrote the most stand that the University ambitious of them all: of ought to editor] was taunted, slapped and pushed to the "South Abolishes All enroll and protect its ground. He rose, quietly retrieved his hat, and tried Jim Crow. " They wrote first black student, Au­ their newspaper-and therine Lucy. And he had to walk forward when he was kicked repeatedly in her advocate's role, decried the thugs who from behind . Then a man leapt onto his back, Daisy ran the local swarmed on campus NAACP and led the and tried to attack her put him in a stranglehold and nine black students as she headed toward smashed him on the head . who integrated Central classes. High School-with the Now he was about same gutsy ambition. to encounter the We st They remained bold Alabama Citizens' Council, which had Su pre me Court's school desegregation even as their national advertising base enough clout to gain use ofa courtroom decisions of 1954 and 1955. Reporters disappeared. They kept the paper on for their meeting. He had been invited and photographers, too, braved mobs, life support until 1959, when it finally to explain his position. Then he had bottles, bricks and gunfireto report on gave out and died. been uninvited-out of concern that the civil rights struggle. They painted Some editors responded fearlessly he would be physically attacked. a picture of white supremacist and to brutality. L. Alex Wilson was highly He went anyway. In spite ofthe hiss­ segregationist excesses that An1erican respected and influential in the black ing and jeering, he started talking. "It voters, ultimately, could not ignore. community and among white politi­ is not the easiest speaking assignment Many editors were not even integra­ cians and professionals in Memphis, I ever have accepted," he said. "But I tionists, or didn't start out that way. where he was editor of the Tri-State believe the problem of segregation They urged little more than compliance Defender, a black weekly. But on the and integration is one that needs to with the law. But they paid a heavy price streets of Little Rock, where he and be discussed rationally, fully and intel­ even for that stand. During the Central three other black journalists walked ligently. " High School desegregation crisis in toward Central High, the lanky, impec­ He added, "I believe the Supreme Little Rock in 1957, Harry Ashmore cably dressed editor was treated with Court decision had to come and was and JN. Heiskell, editor and owner the indignity of a slave. Surrounded by morally right." The mocking continued, of the Arkansas Gazette, editorialized, a scrum of angry white men, he was accompanied by a threat to throw him sometimes on the front page, that the taunted, slapped and pushed to the out the window. But he kept talking. national interest must prevail over re­ ground. He rose, quietly retrieved his "Nothing in it is inconsistent with my gionalism and that the Supreme Court hat, and tried to walk forward when conception of democracy .... "1 must be obeyed to avert anarchy. Their he was kicked repeatedly from behind.

1 Boone's entire speech was published in Nieman Reports in Jul)' 1957.

88 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

Then a man leapt onto his back, put ing sentiment among wh ites: "What they moved from Southern dateline him in a stranglehold and smashed with all these nosey newspapermen to Southern dateline. Claude Sitton of him on the head. and preachers and Ya nkees and other The New Yo rk Times and Karl Fleming Wilson's revenge came in his re­ such communistic trash, it's getting to of , who set the standard fusal to break. He picked himself up where a Mississippi white man can't kill for reporters covering the movement, every time he was knocked clown, he himself a nigguh without getting his learned to operate strategically for recreased his hat eveq1 time it was name in the papers and losing up to survival. They saw that if they took a crumpled, and he walked without as­ two or three days in court. Downright steno pad, cut it in two and put one sistance to his car. Through it all, he subversive, we call it, and something in the inside breast pocket of their suit kept the middle button of his suit coat ought to be done. Otherwise, what coat, it couldn't be seen by the mobs. fastened. But he was never the same was the use of us winning the war for And if they put both inside the pocket, after that. He suffered physical after­ Southern independence?" the mobs might think they were hiding shocks that contributed to his death After Carter wrote an article for a shoulder holster and mistake them three years later at age 51. Look magazine detailing the menacing for FBI agents. In north Mississippi, Hazel Brannon spread of the Citizens' Councils, the There may never have been a time in Smith watched the financial health article was branded on the floor of the our nation's history when more jour­ of the Lexington Advertiser decline Mississippi House of Representatives "a nalistic courage was shown than in the precipitously after she protested the willful lie [by] a nigger loving editor." civil rights era of the 1950's, 60's and sheriff's shooting of a black man fo r The House censured Carter. 70's. The presence of Southern editors making too much noise. The boycotts Carter's front-page editorial re­ willing to display dissent against rising against her paper increased in intensity sponse was a classic. "By a vote of 89 mob madness emboldened national when she editorially attacked the white to 19 the Mississippi House of Rep­ leaders-presidents, congresses, re­ Citizens' Council. Her husband was resentatives has resolved the editor ligious figures, corporate executives firedfro m his job as a hospital admin­ of this newspaper into a liar because and, especially, black civil rights lead­ istrator. She didn't back down. of an article I wrote .... If this charge ers-to press forchange . The bravery Ira Harkey, ] r., editor and publisher were true it would make me well quali­ of reporters and photographers drove of the Pascagoula Chronicle in Missis­ fied to serve with that body. It is not them to penetrate the South to see sippi, became a pariah in his town. His true. So to even things up I herewith firsthand-and, more importantly, to offense? He opposed Governor Ross resolve by a vote of 1 to 0 that there show-the raw grip ofwhite supremacy Barnett's stop-at-nothing approach are 89 liars in the State Legislature .... on an entire region of the country. to preventing the desegregation of I am hopeful that this fever like the Ku The journalistic boldness, in turn, the University of Mississippi. A bullet Kluxism which rose from the same kind made the nation more courageous as pierced the door of his newspaper. A of infection, will run its course before it spoke up against injustice and trans­ shotgun blasted out a window of his too long a time. Meanwhile those 89 formed civil rights from a movement home. A cross was burned on his lawn. character mobbers can go to hell col­ to a national imperative. • "Ah, autumn!" Harkey wrote. "Falling lectively or singly and wait there until leaves ... the smell of burning crosses I back clown. They needn't plan on Gene Roberts, a 1962 Nieman Fellow, in the air ...." returning." [The entire editorial ap­ is a journalism profe ssor at the Uni­ pears on page 91.] versity of Maiyland and the fo rmer The Power of Wo rds \xrhen it became popular among editor of Th e Philadelphia Inquirer racists to refer to Atlanta Constitution and fo rmer managing editor of The Humor often proved to be the only editor Ralph McGill as "Rastus Ralph," Ne w Yo rk Ti m.es. Hank Klibanoffis antidote and best bond among the dis­ McGill fought back. He named his little managing editor fo r news of Th e sident editors . Tw o of the most coura­ dog Rastus and trained it to bark when­ Atlanta]ournal-Constitution. Th eir geous were father and son, Hodding ever a telephone receiver was pointed booli, '"The Race Beat: Th e Press, the Carter, Jr. and Hod ding Carter III ofThe at it. Thereafter, when he received ha­ Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awa!i­ Delta Democrat-Times in Greenville, rassing telephone calls at home, McGill ening of a Nation, " will be published Mississippi. [See Hodding Carter Ill's would say, "So you want to speak to in the fa ll by AlfredA. Knopf article on page 90.] They never lost Rastus," and point the receiver at the their ability to laugh or their sense of dog. The dog would bark away. IBl Hl

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 89 Courage

The Difficult Isolation Courage Can Bring Newspaper boycotts forced 'the need for courage beyond the physical

By Hodding Carter III

f you grew up a white man in the last great American frontier that I was the Deep South in the first half of the 20th century, courage was well understood. It was not a matter of cerebration. It was the instinct that impelled a man to fightrather than to run. For the most part, it was under­ stood to be physical at its core. Those who demonstrated it were respected, if not necessarily loved. Those who flunked the test were held in contempt, or treated as beneath it. But there was another great cultural leitmotif forthe Southern white. Con­ formity to the code ofwhite supremacy was a supreme value and enforced by all means necessa1y Those who deviated, or seemed to deviate, from unblink­ ing commitment to "our way of life," were outside the dominant society's pale. At times, not even silence was enough to prove loyalty. Yo u had to prove it by word and deed. "If you're not with us, you're against us" was an Hodding Carter, Jr., editor and publisher of The Delta Democrat-Times, in the 1940's. implicit slogan. Whites treasured what my Dad man back into the ditch. he broke another. Black women were translated from Sir Wa lter Scott as the This was the environment in which "girls," or Sally, or nigger. "broadsword virtues." The values of Dad founded and ran his small town As a result, even beforeWo rld War II, the clan came first.The approbation of daily for 21 years, with time off for he had need forthe courage instilled the clan was treasured. Isolation from World War II, and I forthe next 15. He in him by his courageous father, an it, expulsion for violating its precepts, had come to Greenville, in Mississippi's unblinking segregationist who never was tantamount to spiritual death. Delta, in 1936. The men who backed backed off from a fight in his tiny Against that background, and the him, most notably the planter-poet Wil­ Louisiana town. When threatened, reemergence of black Southerners as liam AlexanderPe rcy, had no reason to Dad threatened back. When warned actors rather than victims, running a believe they were subsidizing a traitor not to say or do something, he said Mississippi newspaper that questioned to the white race. His racial views were or did it. Face-to-facewas a preferred racist verities was an invitation to black­ Southern orthodox. mode of disagreement. And he filled balling, economic pressure, physical But his intellectual drive was not, his home and his officewith gu ns, let­ violence and-potentially rather than nor were his moral values. He broke the ting everyone know that he had them ever in fact-death. As the civil rights mold early by printing]esse Owens' pic­ close at hand and that killing could be movement began to crest and the ture in the paper-the depiction of the a two-way street. fe deral government stirred from its great Olympic ru nner-breaking the 80-plus years of moral slumber, white taboo against showing the black man as Speaking for Change Mississippi-first my Dael's and then anything but clown or criminal. When mine-reacted like a baited bear. Its he began to use the honorific"Mr s." in But if Dad broke the Southern code aim was to repel the outsider, punish his Delta Democrat-Times to describe of conformity, he did not do it as a the white dissenter, and shove the black black as well as white married women, revolutionary. His was an evolutionary

90 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States journey. He never became what any I could to encourage comparisons. she was often frantically worried in self-respecting Northern liberal would From the time I returnedto Greenville private. have called an integrationist. He spoke from the Marines until 1964, a pistol Here is the lesson I learned early forthe South in scores of articles that was always in my car, in my pocket, from that clash of courage with cultural alternated their loving depiction of in my office desk, and at my bedside. conformity I witnessed at such close Southern virtues with condemnation There were places in the Delta I had quarters for so long. Real courage of its most blatant and inhuman ex- better sense than to go at night, but I consists of looking your fear in the eye, cesses. He spoke for change, then soldiering on. Dael was but organic and slow rather afraid much of the time. I than legalistic and fast. was afraid much of the time, Slow or fast, it was too � ID.elfntm,(J_c lll rnf·mfntt� too, from my assumption of HOODING CARTER JOHN T. GIBSON much for the white majority. Editor and Pttblliber Gencrul Manager editorial control in 1962 un­ A Pulitzer Prize in 1946 for 12 Greenville, l\tiss.1 Sua1lny, April 3, 1955 til the moment when white editorials he wrote stressing Mississippi had to accept Liar By Legislation the need forracial tolerance the reality that lone editors and respect in the wake of By a vote of 89 to 19 the Mississippi House of Rep­ were not the problem and the war against fa scism did rescntaUves has resolved the editor ol \his newspaper that "second reconstruc­ into a liarbecause of an article I wrote about the Citize�s· nothing to swing that majority Councils for Looi< Magazine. If this charge were true it tion" was not going to lead would make me well qualified to sel'\'e '.Vith that body. to his side. Then, in the wake It is not true. So to even things up I herewith resolve to "second redemption." by a vote of 1 to 0 that there are 89 liars !n the State of the 1954 Supreme Court's Legislature, beginning with Speaker Sillers and working By then, Dad was dead and way on down to Rep. Eck Windham of Prentiss, a political school desegregation deci­ loon whose name is fittingly made up of the words I was on my way to Jimmy "wind" and "ham." sion he had warned against, · Carter's Washington, D.C. As for the nrticle I ston long a time. Meanwhile those 89 cha"­ Full-scale economic and circu­ acter mobbers can go to hell collectively or singly and as determined and vicious wait there until I back down. They needn't plan on re- lation boycotts thereafter kept turning. and lethal as the white The Delta Democrat-Times Hooding Carter racists of Mississippi a half­ isolated within the borders century and less ago-or of Greenville's Washington In 1955, Carter responded to the state legislature's censure of him even worse or even less. County; he was condemned by with a front-page editorial. What is required, what Dael the Mississippi legislature. showed me, is that you suck This is when the need for up your gut and do the best courage beyond the physical came in. refused to hunker clown and withdraw you can. Dael was a Southerner through and from the larger society, just as he and It's an old lesson, but its applica­ through. He wanted to be loved by Mother had lived a full social life in tion by Betty and Hoclding Carter in his fe llow white Southerners. The con­ their hometown. one Mississippi Delta town during demnation, the boycotts, the incessant It helps to have a companion in the time when "never-ever" gave way nighttime threatening phone calls were courage if that is what the situation now remains the most important of all hard to take. Harder, however, was requires, and Mother was that, as well my life. • the sense of isolation from the con­ as charming, disarming and concilia­ forming majority. He spoke ever more tory with all and sundry. She had not Hodding Ca rter III, a 1966 Nieman vigorously, and he suffe red ever more been raised for such a life. A French Fe llow, is professor of leadership and intensely from the hate and scorn of his major at Sophie Newcomb College in public policy at the University of clansmen. It took a fearsome toll. New Orleans, at 23 she was suddenly North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They never actually came for him thrust into the uncharted waters of or, later, for me. There was a sense crusader's wife when Dael started an 181 [email protected] out there that he was a dangerous anti-Huey Long tabloid daily in his man, a physical man whom a person Louisiana hometown in 1933. That was would have to kill to silence. No one war enough, though never as intense actually took me for Dad, butI did all as the one to come. Serene in public,

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 91 Courage

Editorial Pages : Why Courage Is Hard to Find The Star Tribune published strong editorials about Bush administration truth telling when fewother papers did, and an editor there explores s01ne reasons why.

By Jim Boyd

love what the word "newspaper- half-truth after another. The next day, "liberal" at us until we got spooked. 1nan"-or "newspaperwoman"­ editorial writers at every newspaper in It began to sound like the "N" word. I implies: someone who knows a the cou nt1y had enough material (easily Whenever we printed an opinion or lot but lacks pretension; someone available) to do an extended truth-tell­ reported facts that were uncompli­ who knows how to take names and is ing editorial. In my newspaper, the Star menta1y to the administration, we'd get unafraid of kicking backsides; someone Tribune, a devastating critique filled that label thrown at us. So we backed who knows truth will prove ever elusive the entire editorial column. No other off generally. And when we did get but is damn determined to pursue it. paper did anything similar, though into controversial waters, we used the The quintessential newspaperman fo r Cheney came in forsharp criticism on old "on-the-one-hand, on-the-other" me was the late Lars-Erik Nelson. He some of the better biogs. approach: Three sources said the sun wrote fo r the New Yo rk Daily News and Why were we, in Minneapolis, the will rise tomorrow. Reached for com­ did his best backside kicking in, of all only ones in the mainstream media ment, an administration source said it places, The NewYorkReviewofBooks. to make an effort at calling Cheney's wouldn't. Yo u make up your mind. No one escaped his verbal scalpel if they words to account? I'm not sure I know, deserved it, including The New Yo rk but when the Downing Street memo 2. Access. With the Washington press Times's treatment of nuclear scientist hit the British press, we again devoted corps, myview from afarsuggests many We n Ho Lee. I really miss him. most of an op-eel page to printing its have sold pieces of their journalistic That kind of journalistic courage is fu ll text. To my knowledge, we were souls fo r access. They so value get­ difficultto find today. I'm not talking the only paper to do that. Why? Again, ting the good stuff from people like about physical courage, which many not sure I know, but the list is lengthy Scooter Libby and Karl Rove that they good journalists display daily in Iraq of truth-telling editorials and op-ed dare not do anything-including good and other dangerous places. I'm talk­ pieces that can be found pretty much journalism-that would put that access ing mental toughness, willingness to exclusively on our pages. in jeopardy. The means become the risk. We have very few Nelsons, few Doing this was uncomfortable. end. I.F. Stones, few David Halberstams Right-wing bloggers took after us with and Neil Sheehans. People I consider all barrels blasting. Radio host Hugh 3. Comfort and celebrity. Life's good, courageous are Murray Wa as at the Hewitt attempted to get our readers the money flows freely, the chance to National Journal; Dan Froomkin at to cancel their subscriptions. A United rub elbows with the in-crowd is sweet. washingtonpost.com and nieman­ States senator warned folks above my So you become some version of (name watchdog.org; Warren Strobel and pay grade (as deputy editorial page any cable news anchor): inane, dense several of his colleagues at the Knight editor) that we were becoming a and willing to invest great energy in the Ridder Washington bureau (soon to laughingstock in Washington. My pub­ sto1y of who killed a blue-eyed white be the McClatchy Washington bureau) ; lisher, concerned with the same sort girl on spring break. Walter Pincus and Dana Priest of the of circulation problems confronting Post. And, of course, Helen Thomas. almost eve1y newspaper, was extremely 4. Economics. This is the one that re­ But it remains an exclusive list. The uneasy, as were his bosses at McClatchy ally pains me. Wa ll Street demands that Bush administration arguably com­ corporate headquarters in Sacramento. newspapers make obscene profits; if bines the worst elements of the Nixon, We fe lt besieged. they don't, their share price will drop, ] ohnson and Hoover administrations in From my perch in the Midwest, I've and soon the corporate officeswill be one. And yet most of the mainstream tried to develop several explanations redecorated for someone new. As I press has handled it with kid gloves, for the lack of courage I've seen dis­ write, final touches are being applied most powerfully on Iraq. For me, the played on so many editorial pages and to the deal that will see Knight Ridder entire problem was captured in Vice in so many news sections: disappear, most of it into McClatchy, President Dick Cheney's appearance on which owns the Star Tribune. It stinks "Meet the Press" in September 2003. 1. Newt Gingrich's strategy worked. that one greedy geezer could force Cheney fed Tim Russert one lie and His kind just kept throwing that label Knight Ridder out of existence be-

92 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States cause it wasn't making enough profit terms. It doesn't always feel good to administration foreign policy. In its for him. With the nation politically do that, but it is necessary. citation, the academy recognized our polarized, with Newt's "liberal media" exhaustive research, our willingness to message deeply embeclclecl in conserva­ I don't know what's to become of tell truth to power, and our dedication tive heads, with readership declining our beloved craft, so critical to the to nonpartisanship. The academy was (cause or effect?), corporate leaders proper functioning of democracy. As saying we clone good. It was a gutsy in media companies want above all individuals, we can't control that. But thing to say. Wherever journalists dem­ to avoid offending people. Their bias what we can control is the stiffn ess in onstrate courage, we need fo lks like toward the local, the cute, the non­ our spines. More of us must begin to the members of the academy, willing to controversial isn't ideological; it's a demonstrate real journalistic courage, stand up and say, unequivocally, "Well pocketbook issue. and that means going after what is true cl one, newspaperman." • no matter how uncomfortable this 5. Reasonableness. Editorial writers pursuit becomes for those in power Jim Boyd, a 1980 Nieman Fe llow, is like to engage on the level of reason. or forus. deputy editorial page editor at the But that doesn't work when you are To do this, we need support from Star Tribune, Minneapolis. He has dealing with ideologues to whom rea­ those who believe as we do in the held that position fo r 24 years. His son is an inconvenience. They ignore it. value of truth-seeldng journalism. At writing now tends to fo cus on in­ In some circumstances, to be effective the Star Tribune, last year we won an temational affa irs but, he says, like an editorial writer must get clown in award from The American Academy most editorial writers, he will take the muck and have it out, which means of Diplomacy, which is this nation's on almost any topic, ifnecessmy. being willing to talk truth to power in leading diplomatic establishment, for blunt and, on occasion, ungentlemanly our forceful editorializing on Bush r:BJ [email protected]

Risking Relationships as a Measure of Courage 'Questioning the reasons for the war meant not only going against the President's policy but against the beliefs of many people I knew and respected.'

By Sheryl McCarthy

hen U.S. newspaper col­ based on reporting and juclgment­ who think ourselves wiser than those umnists analyze and make they write what they know will alienate we write about-and better informed W judgments about people, them from the people and environ­ that those who disagree with us-we issues and events, the job rarely, if ments that usually sustain them. Writ­ appear thick-sldnnecl and impervious ever, entails dodging bullets or the ing such words can put to criticism. Not so, since like everyone state authorities, or being threatened at odds with people who have, until else, most of us, at least, want respect, with the loss of a job. So what does now, shared similar political beliefs. with a little affection mixed in. Usually courage look like in our line of work? Or it can fracture connections with we get this respect and affection from Is it courageous when we wage cru­ the members of their racial or ethnic those who believe in what we espouse. sades on issues of importance that are group, or with their colleagues and So when we risk taking positions that largely neglected by those who should social acquaintances. Judgments a we have pretty good reason to know shoulder responsibility and by the rest columnist reaches and writes about will earn us disapproval from these of the press? Or is it part of what we can sometimes, too, put her in deep people, one word comes to mind for do in taking unpopular stands on con­ conflictwith religious and moral values the decision to push ahead. That word troversial issues? Or can it be found in on which she was raised and possibly is courage. the work we do in holding the power­ risk the severing of familyties. What follows are a few courageous ful accountable? Certainly, a measure In their expression of opinion, moments that stand out: of courage is sometimes evident but, columns are propelled by ego and per­ since this work is what columnists do, sonality. Paid to stand above the fray, In the aftermath of 9/11: After 9/1 1, doing it doesn't necessarily make any we hurl observations and judgments a columnist disputed the need for of us courageous. at the public, presumably fo r their Americans to know the reason forthe Columnists show courage when- edification. Regarded often as people attacks. The terrorists' motives didn't

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 93 Courage interest him, he declared. All he cared and economic problems facing our fe rence, to write them requires a ve11' about was that the people responsible community. Most black columnists I thick skin, if not courage. were hunted clown and punished. His know routinely acknowledge the im­ column reflected the mood of the na­ pact that racism has on African Ameri­ In questioning one's core va lues: Col­ tion. But columnists needed to ask the cans, but we are characterized as "not umnist Jimmy Breslin comes to mind. question, "Why do they hate us?" and being black" and criticized as "blaming Raised an Irish Catholic, he used his to offer more than President Bush's the victim" when we go on to suggest New Yo rk columns to criticize the glib answer, "They hate us because we that aspects of black culture play a role Catholic Church for its practices-its in­ love freedom." It was important for in impeding progress when we write sistence that priests remain celibate, its Americans, filled as they were edicts against birth control, and with grief and anger, to try to the institutional arrogance and understand-without excusing Columnists show courage when- based insularity that allowed sex abuse the attacks-how some of our by priests to go unchecked for country 's policies have given on reporting and judgment -they write decades. His sizeable ego prob- people from other cultures a what they know will alienate them ably anesthetizes him against the reason to despise us. Refusal approbation of his fe llow church to confront this dynamic could from the people and environments that members, but in his willingness result in future attacks. The few usually sustain them. to challenge the validity of the columnists who raised questions moral precepts of his religion, of this kind were branded un- he's been a courageous role patriotic by the administration, model for me and, I suspect, a charge echoed by their readers. It about insufficient respect for educa­ other columnists. When I argued that was a difficult time to endure such a tion, the glorificationof street culture, "under God" could be removed from backlash. entrenched sexism, or attitudes about the Pledge of Allegiance without de­ sex and reproduction. Rejecting the stroying the moral underpinnings of In the walk-up to the Iraq War: When "black line" by aclmowledging that the count11', my column was reprinted columnists questioned the threat many solutions can be controlled by in my hometown newspaper. My deeply Saddam Hussein posed to the United us represents courage. religious mother read it, we quarreled, States prior to the invasion-as I did in and then didn't speak to each other for columns I wrote at Newsday-outraged By supporting highly unpopular, but months. She didn'tsee the columns I've e-mails and letters arrived in bulk, even worthy causes: Inspired by some tragic written supporting abortion rights and as a few readers agreed. My naivete cases in New Yo rk and New Mexico, I criticizing the church's wrong-headed was questioned by many, including a wrote several columns urging more push for abstinence-only education for former congressman and mayor whom compassionate treatment by the crimi­ teenagers. I'm grateful for that, though I respected. My view about the impend­ nal justice system of domestic violence I would have written what I wrote even ing war ran contrary to that held by victims-women and children-who if I'd lmown she would. many of my friends and colleagues, kill their batterers after enduring years some of whom became apoplectic as I of horrendous and traumatic abuse. These small, daily moments of cour­ wrote and argued this perspective. For In other columns I criticized state age cannot be compared with the columnists, words we speak among prison systems for charging inmates life-threatening risks that journalists friends only get amplified when we excessive rates to make phone calls face in countries where reporting and publish them, too. Questioning the to their fa milies. And I took on the opinion-writing can result in them be­ reasons for the war meant not only highly inflammatory press coverage ing firedfrom their job, jailed, beaten, going against the President's policy given to some high-profile murder murdered or forced into exile. But but against the beliefs of many people cases in which suspects were essen­ they do pose risks to many of the I knew and respected. tially tried and convicted in the press. relationships we value most. In their Media overkill, aided by police leaks, willingness to take such risks-as When black columnists reject "black" could lead to serious miscarriages of many columnists do-our courage gets argu ments: Black journalists often ap­ justice, I argued, while at the same measured. • proach their work believing they have time acknowledging that these were an obligation to "think and write black." unsympathetic defendants who might Sheryl McCarthy, a 1996 Nieman This expectation is shared by many in well have committed horrible crimes. Fellow, is a fo rmer columnist fo r the black community. But this means With virtually no public sympathy for Ne ws day. embracing a philosophy of blacks as these issues (sometimes only outright victims that blames white people and hostility) and probably little likelihood l:8l Mccart73 [email protected] institutionalized racism for most social that words like mine will make any dif-

94 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

A Lo cal Newspaper Endures a Stormy Backlash 'We had the opportunity to tell the story of powerless people who'd been hurt by powerful people who counted on the public never learning what they'd done.'

By Dean Miller

ome clays we felt like one of those that while under investigation Stowell ahead. Though our stories were aimed plucky anglers in a small boat confessed his problem to his bishop at decisions made by the Grand Te ton S who solidly hooks a halibut, only in 1988 and had been sent to church Council (which at 30,000 members is to be beaten to death by the thrashing counselors for sex abuser treatment. bigger than our newspaper's reader­ brutewhen it's hauled aboard. The Post Seven years later, this bishop told ship), some Mormon church members Register is a wee dory of a newspaper: scout executives he knew of no reason characterized our coverage as an attack With 26,000 daily circulation, it's not Stowell should not be a scout camp on their fa ith. "The Church," as it's buoyed by any corporate chain and leader. The files also showed lawyers known here, dominates eastern Idaho has an opinion page often reviled in for the Boy Scout organization knew even more than it does Salt Lake City. this livid corner of reddest Idaho for about more victims, but never told Some counties that our newspaper its reliable dissent. those boys' parents. The victims were serves are more than 70 percent Mor­ Last year, by exposing Boy Scout probably asleep at the time, one law­ mon, and for generations scouting has pedophiles and thosewho fa iled to ldck yer said, and even if not, it was a bad been the official youth program for them out of the scouting program, we memory best ignored. Mormon boys. More than 90 percent energized three of our community's big In February 2005, the Post Register of the troops in our local Grand Te ton forcesagainst us, including those most launched a six-clay series. The firstclay's Council are sponsored by Mormon able to punish our newspaper-the story fe atured 14-year-olcl camper, congregations. community's majority religion, the Adam Steed, who forcedadult leaders For fo ur generations, the Post richest guys in town, and the conserva­ to call the cops on Stowell. Steed was Register has been controlled by the tive machine that controls Idaho. the son of a Mormon seminary teacher Brady family, Irish Catholics, and First came the tip: A pedophile and a cinch to become an Eagle Scout. Democrats, so there are readers who caught at a local scout camp in 1997 But he'd quit scouting and school; imagine liberal papists on every beat. had nothad two victims, as we reported instead of being praised for his efforts They are encouraged in this belief by at the time; he had dozens. When we to stop Stowell from harming others, some local politicians and businessmen went to the courthouse to look for scout leaders and fe llow scouts had who benefit from making the paper the civil suit filedby these victims, the shunned him for bringing clown this Mormon Republicans' straw man. Even clerks (and the computers) said there man whom they described as charming with careful editing to preserve only was no such case. We later learned that and accomplished. germane mentions of religious affili­ the national Boy Scouts ofAmerica and ation, we knew that some talk-radio its local Grand Te ton Council had hired The Backlash Begins hosts would start banging the "Post two oflclaho's best-connected law firms Register is anti-Mormon" drums. to seal the filesand hide what came to Rank-and-file church members were The drums banged, and we were be known as the Brad Stowell case. among the firstto complain: "Areyou a flooded with calls and e-mails and let­ The Post Register went to court in Christian?" a woman in her 70's hissed ters to the editor from readers who told late 2004, and by January 2005 we'd across the newsroom conference table us that holding the Grand Te ton Coun­ dragged the case file into the light at me Monday morning, as she quoted cil accountable was Mormon-bashing. of clay and read it from beginning to from scripture. We responded to every call, letter and encl. Turns out that as early as 1991 Why had the paper clreclgecl up this e-mail we received. The bacl

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 95 Courage

It's one thing to lose an account noted the Mormon Church opposes their families had identified to us as when you're an employee. It's quite gay marriage and that the Boy Scouts pedophiles. Meanwhile, the Post Reg­ another when you 're also a stock­ no longer allow gay men to lead troops, ister kept on printing Va nderSloot's holder; 140 employees hold close to but briefly added: "We think it would ads, even when they included serious 49 percent of the company's stock. be veqr unfair for anyone to conclude mischaracterizations, errors of fact, For many families, this is their retire­ that is what is behind Zuckerman's and glaring omissions, such as the fact ment. Many of them have been scouts n1otives." that the Boy Scouts' national staffe r or scout leaders, and at least a third Strangers started ringing Peter's in charge of youth protection had are Mormon. Even non-newsroom staff just pleaded guilty to trading in child were catching heat about the series at pornography. Va nclerSloot said his ads, church gatherings and scout meetings. THE COMMUNITY PAGE which he labeled "The Community �' Responsible journalismor Misleading Propaganda? Even so, throughout this time most of . �-- Page," were intended to bolster people L · what I heard inside our building were who were too scared of the mighty Post words of support. Register to speak up. With each additional day of the se­ But no one who was named in our ries, economic pressure built. Publish­ articles asked for a correction, retrac­ er Roger Plothow wrote an open letter SCOUTS' tion or clarification. They couldn't to readers in which he criticized scout HONOR and still had not a year later. The executives' decisions and said these stories were based on information in stories were a victory for open public deposition transcripts fo und in the records. He was unapologetic and re­ secret lawsuit file. Not satisfied with minded readers he grew up Mormon the impact of his ads, Vandersloot de­ and proudly claims the rank of Eagle manded a debate. Insiders had warned Scout. A lot of what is popularly called us not to pick fightswith Vandersloot. courage is simple integrity. Plothow, by He owns an international multilevel standing up with a stoic and clear-eyed marketing/health products company, defense, spoke for us, but also for the Melaleuca, Inc., and often threatens to values of journalism. start a rival newspaper. But we fe lt we couldn't run away from this challenge, Attacks Get Personal so we agreed to two half-hour debates on a local TV station. One month after the series ran, Stowell, A few minutes into the debate it who had served a brief jail term for his became clear to me that Va nclerSloot scout camp predations, violated his had not, as I had, read the entire case parole and was sent to prison fortwo file or even the most significant de­ to 14 years. Around this same time, positions. Broad assertions that had A local businessman, Frank Va nderSloot, Grand Te ton Council staff had been been prepared for him by a young bought full-page ads to criticize the paper's telling volunteer scoutmasters that the lavvyer fe ll apart in the face of details reporting on the Boy Scout story. stories were all lies cobbled together from the court record. The clay after by a gay reporter on a vendetta against the firstdebate aired, the Post Register the Boy Scouts. Our reporter, Peter doorbell at midnight. His partner of five published documentation that at least Zuckerman, was not "out" to anyone years was fired from his job. Despite two other pedophiles had preyed on but family, a few colleagues at the paper the harassment, Peter kept coming to Grand Te ton Council scouts, including (including me), and his close friends. work and chasing down leads on other a vicious child rapist who had been When the magnitude of the story be­ pedophiles in the Grand Te ton Council, reported to the Grand Te ton Council came evident, I vetted him thoroughly, while continuing to cover his courts in the 1980's, convicted in Utah, and making sure he had not been active in and cops beat. I spoke at his church was now back at work for the council. the debate over gay scouts and had not one Sunday and meant it when I said Tw o weeks later, we documented an­ been kicked out of a troop. that I hope my son grows into as much other pedophile in the council. In this Peter's personal life and the series of a man as Peter had . case, his criminal file had been sealed itself went under the microscope in The local Boy Scout executive had and hidden. June when a local multimillionaire, declared Stowell was the only child By now the paper had secured Frank Va nderSloot, began buying fu ll­ molester he'd discovered in the Grand evidence of fo ur recent pedophiles in page critical ads in our Sunday paper. Te ton Council. But by midsummer, the the local scout council, about as many He devoted several paragraphs to es­ paper was hunting for documentation documented cases as the 500,000- tablishing that Zuckerman is gay. He on a dozen leaders whom victims and member Catholic diocese of Boston

96 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States when that scandal erupted in The What Courage Means needed to speak out against those who Boston Globe. had harmed them. By his example, Judges called the Post Register's cover­ Plothow stiffe ned the spines of mi­ Losing the Company age of this stoq1 "courageous" when nority stockholders (many of whom President's Support they awarded it the Scripps Howard are staffmembers at the paper) , who First Amendment prize. That's a hard stood firm. Full-page Va nderSloot ads kept ar­ word for those of us at the paper to Laboring in obscurity, and without riving-a half dozen in all. The last wear comfortably. After all, we'd wit- resources their peers at larger papers declared victory. His words weren't have, community journalists often hurting our circulation-which was Doln!l lhe Jerk end up dreaming small. But my 34 . , [!]r:v! -.::!'�t>.VO.. .Ll lll =r.:.::�:� ...,.-.,.,, rising-but we were growing tired of MHflJ colleagues at the Post Register-in the smear campaign. Va nderSloot did " ·�.·� particular the cadre of editors who score a victory in the fa ll. In the Sep­ ...... � ... Po st Register have worked together fora decade and tember 23rd Post Register, Democratic Te en is lead a largely enti11-level staff- refused Missed charge gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brady in death to pull back in the face of much op­ of skier .;;.. � opportunities position. They were dogged in their published an open letter headlined Leaders of Scouts, church had with Will Rogers' quip: "The only thing mul1iplc chances to stop nbuscr work until the victims' stories-and wrong with Boy Scouts is there aren't the aftermath of their telling-were enough ofth em." Brady recited a litany complete. Peter Zuckerman, in par­ of the benefits ofscouting, pledged his ticular, persevered despite repeated and his wife's support, and said "We threats that were inflamed by a care­ regret any negativity that might be fully orchestrated ad hominem attack . ,... ,. _. - associated with the great Boy Scouts � on him and his work. organization ... the entire community One of the sweeter moments of our should support the scouts." year occurred when we received figures Brady is the president of the Post ;1 from our circulation audit. While the Company and serves as chairman of sales numbers ofother U.S. newspapers its board. Religion, "big" money, and were in free fall, we were among the the conservative movement's rabid nation's faster growing daily papers. protection of local scout leaders had For us, these numbers testified to the gotten to our boss. value of fortitude. Now the newsroom was really on its Publishing uncomfortable truths own as we started to cover the lobbying needn't be an act of hot-blooded campaign of Paul Steed, father of the courage; it should be a cool-headed boy who forced the Grand Te ton Coun­ Ill exercise in focus: Find the civic heart cil to turn Stowell over to the cops. of a sto11', steer a steady course to The elder Steed had quit his Mormon The Post Register's front page on the it, and serve the public's legitimate Church job to push for changesin Idaho second day of its six-day series. interests in openness and justice. Do law. He was the kind of divisive force that and, even when the sto11' rocks that Brady scolded in his campaign ad. nessed the courage of Adam Steed your boat, trust that the waves won't But then Idaho surprised us. When and his younger brother, Ben, and capsize it. • the Republican-dominated legislature Jeff Bird when, as grown men, they convened in Janua11', a sympathetic went public in the paper and revealed Dean Miller is managing editor legislator introduced the Steed family's humiliating details of what had been of the Post Register in Idaho Fa lls, proposal. A flinching and at times tear­ clone to them atscout camp. Even now, Idaho. Th is series of articles, "Scouts' ful house committee heard the awful we fear for them and their families, Hono1; " is online at www.postregis­ stories in testimony from the wounded as VanderSloot's full-page attack ads te1: com/scouts_honor /index.php. Fo r boys and their parents. The lawmakers continue. his worli on this series, Peter Zuclwr­ unanimously voted to do away with the But was what any of us did coura­ man won the Livingston Award in statute of limitations on child molesta­ geous? With no corporate bankroll to the catego1y of local reporting, a tion, and the governor signed the bill fa ll back on and coping with the pres­ prize recognizing the nation 's best into law with the Steeds and JeffBird, sures any newspaper publisher faces journalists under the age of 35. another scout victim, standing by. The today, our publisher, Roger Plothow, house committee chairman wrote to took lonely risks to uphold the prin­ L8J [email protected] the Grand Te ton Council to ask why ciple of open government. In doing so, its leader had not been fired. he gave victims the opportunity they

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 97 Courage

Courage : What Network News Needs No w 'Network news spent decades establishing its solid credentials. Now is no time for it to lose its nerve.'

By Bill Wheatley

aced with vigorous new compe­ If lower profits won't do, it is all the Put real news back into morning news tition and declining revenues, more important that some brave lead­ programs. Pushed out by "lifestyle" F network television news is ers step forward and get their networks reports, celebrity features, and thinly increas i ngly behaving as though moving in the right direction. Instead disguised promotions for network oblivion is only a few fiscal quarters of reading their obituaries, they need entertainment programs and other away. Short-term profit is trumping to apply to their traditional businesses corporate priorities, real news needs long-term viability. Compromise is the drive and creativity that they are to be put back in. No one expects the defeating consistency. Courage-act­ showing in their new ones. They must morning programs to deal only with ing boldly in the face of adversity-is insist on excellence. And though it may news, but in their drive to maximize in short supply. seem counterintuitive, they should be audiences the producers have mini­ While the news divisions of the concentrating on expansion rather mized what viewers want and need: major broadcast networks are mov­ than contraction. well-reported stories about topics that ing energetically into the digital really matter. age-creating Web sites, Pod casts, news programs forcell phones­ Short-term profit is trumping Get back into radio. Though the they are reducing the journalistic three broadcast networks are in quality on which they have built long-term viability. radio, their news effortsare nowso their reputations. Budgets have modest (mostly hourly summaries been cut, talented people have and occasional special reports) been let go and, inevitably, good jour­ There are ideas-some aging well that many Americans are probably not nalism has suffered. Worse, some of with time-just waiting for resolute aware of it. National Public Radio (NPR) their programs are tilting toward the souls to champion them. Let me list news programs attract tens of millions tabloid, softening their standards and a few: of listeners each week with a blend blurring the lines between news and of reportage, interviews and features. entertainment. The irony is, of course, Expand the half-hour evening newscasts NPR has demonstrated that there's a that in doing this the networks are to an hour. There certainly wouldn't be sizable audience for serious news on likely hastening the very decline they any shortage ofimportant content. The the radio. It's time for one or more of are trying so hard to avoid. one-hour programs would have more the networks to go after it. TV networks are businesses, so stories, deeper reporting, perhaps even generating profits and pleasing time for interviews and guest commen­ Quality is key to all of this. In a swell­ shareholders is a must. But even with tary. Added costs would be modest. To ing sea of consumer choices, standing shrinking revenues, network news is help persuade affiliates to surrender for something matters. Network news likely to produce profits fo r years to the airtime, the networks could offe r spent decades establishing its solid come. Why would the people who run them some of the commercial slots in credentials. Now is no time for it to the networks endanger those profits the added half-hour. lose its nerve. If the people who run by weakening their news programs? it want to ensure its future, they're And why would they put at risk the Create better news programs in prime going to have to change direction. To integrity of the very brand names they time. With the exception of "60 Min­ do it, they'll need to show some cour­ are counting on to propel them into a utes," prime-time newsmagazines are age. Othe1wise, oblivion may beckon successful digital fu ture? no longer attracting sizeable audiences. after all. • The networks could, of course, live In a tacky and so far unsuccessful at­ with lower profits on the not unrea­ tempt to get back in the game, most sonable theory that better journalism of them have moved down-market, Bill Wh eatley, a 1977 Nieman Fellow, would, at least, keep profits flowing. focusing largely on crime and sex. is a fo rmer executive vice president But taking a stance requiring that kind The networks can do better. It's time of NBC News. of courage isn't likely in today's Dar­ for their best people to come up with winian corporate environment. new and worthy approaches. t8J [email protected]

98 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

The Ro ad Traveled From Journalism to Jail 'What is absent in journalism is not courage but consciousness and compassion.'

By David A. Sylvester

ixda ys after I took a buyout from Ghraib in Iraq. When these stories first dices, including those implanted by the my newspaper and left behind came in, I was worldng as a copyeditor spinners and manipulators who meet S three decades in journalism, I did on the national desk at the San Jose them at every turn, as they gather and something I had never done before: I Mercury News; in my job, I couldn't present the facts." He describes the joined a protest against U.S.-sponsored skip the stories I didn't like or ignore human being as being caught between torture and got myself arrested. I had news irrelevant to my particular beat. "emotions and prejudices" and, citing covered demonstrations before but I had to read every word of coverage Walter Lippmann, truth-seeldng "scien­ always as a reporter, playing the role and write some of the paper's headlines tific principles" that create "victories of the detached observer. But this time and captions for those iconic photos. over superstitions of the mind." I stepped out of my accustomed role I had to digest the horror almost like The flaw in Berry 's argument is that and broke the journalist's taboo, be­ it was my dinner and, even after work, journalism, especially investigative coming one of20,000 others who were on the way home, I still had the taste journalism, has always been boldly protesting the policies and practices at of it in my mouth. and defiantly nonobjective. That has the renamed School of the Americas Compared to the enormity ofwhat not made it subjective; it's made it that has trained the repressive Cen­ had happened, the whole enterprise value-based.Journalism used to take as tral and Latin American rnilitaries fo r of journalism-from reporting to edit­ a core value the need to "comfort the decades. ing-seemed unbearably passive, like afflictedand afflict the comfortable," a . I'm now an inmate at a fe deral prison the people who discuss the progress of quote attributed to Joseph Pulitzer but camp at Lompoc, California, serving a a fireas it burns through a neighbor's actually written by Chicago columnist three-month sentence for trespassing house. Finley Peter Dunne. There's no ob­ onto a federal military installation with The problem with journalism isn't jective basis forsaying that victims of 36 other protesters as an act of civil a lack of courage. In spite of the pres­ oppression are important, in fact more disobedience. Between then and now sures, there are still moments of great important than, those who crush them I've had lots of time to reflect on what courage, even careers of courage. It fortheir advantage and then cloak their happened and why. Journalists reading takes courage to report outside the actions in platitudes and excuses. The my words may decide I've adopted "a Green Zone in Iraq, and it took cour­ truth takes sides; it sides with victims point of view," or become "political," age for The New Yo rk Times to break and challenges the oppressors. This is or lost my "objectivity," or become the story of the Bush administration's part of the structure of reality. "partial" to one side or the other. I warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citi­ In my opinion, truth-seeking on don't accept those labels, and I do zens, and now to defend its right to behalf of those who are victimized is wonder how those who would want to do so against government pressures. the courage that is missing in journal­ put them on me deal with the kind of But these moments stand out pre­ ism. But today no one seems to care shame I've felt for so many years after ciselybecause of their contrast with the about the victims who populate so reading the impartial news accounts main direction of journalism, which is many of our news stories, especially of assassinations, disappearances and rooted in the much-debated theology when they live beyond our borders. torture. of "objectivity." Imagine how the Abu Ghraib scandal Still, 25 years later, I fe el ashamed of Objectivity provokes lively debate, would have been reported had its the tacit United States collusion with as journalism professors Geneva Over­ victims been Americans treated in this the killers of Archbishop Oscar Romero holser (my Nieman classmate from way by Saddam Hussein's secret police. in El Salvador and ashamed of the El 1986) and Stephen Berry (a former To this day, most reporters covering Mozote massacre, when 773 villagers investigative reporter) displayed in Iraq seem entirely unaware of the toll in El Salvador were murdered by U.S.­ recent articles they wrote for Nieman that the U.S.-imposed sanctions had trained soldiers. It's humiliating to read Reports. To Overholser's declaration during the decade of the 1990's, when the evasions and distortions of the Rea­ that '"Objectivity' as a touchstone has an estimated 350,000 children under gan administration officialswho denied grown worse than useless," Berry re­ the age of five died from the lack of the massacre and then persecuted the sponded with a defense: "Objectivity basic medicines and poor postwar reporters who broke the sto1y Now is a standard that requires journalists conditions. there is the torture of prisoners at Abu to try to put aside emotions and preju- What is absent in journalism is not

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 99 Courage courage but consciousness and com­ ated. Actually he is perfectly aware of civilians caught in the crossfire, are passion. An example from another era what's going to happen, but he doesn't unworthy. might show this more clearly than one care. Later in the sto1)', he comments: Ye t when the press conferences and taken from the heat of this moment. "Does one fe el any pity or compassion meetings are over, and the editors go OnAugust9, 1945, a NewYo rk Times for the poor devils about to die? Not home, and the lights go out and the reporter wrote the following lede: "We when one thinks of Pearl Harbor and presses are running, the villagers of El are on our way to bomb the mainland of the Death March on Bataan." Mozote are still dead, and Iraqi parents of ] a pan." In the next sentence, the This reporter did not lack courage are still grieving for their children who reporter describes the "specially de­ in writing this article. Neither did he died during the 1990's sanctions, and signed B-29 Superforts," one of which show cowardice. He was simply empty relatives are still searching foranswers is carrying a bomb with "an explosive of any fe eling for the victims. Despite about what happened at Abu Ghraib. energy equivalent to 20,000 and under milita11' censorship, he might easily This is the reality I contemplate as I lie favorable conditions, 40,000 tons of have written a more "balanced" and on a prison bunk. For right now, prison TNT." The writer speculates on the tar­ "objective" lede, perhaps using words feels like the right place to be. • get before describing how he watched such as these: "We're on our way to the "small group of scientists and Army drop a bomb that might well end the David A. Sy lveste1; a 1986 Nienian and Navy representatives privileged to war-at the cost of thousands of lives Fe llow, was an assistant business be present at the ritual of this loading of unsuspecting civilian ] apanese." editor and business reporter at the in the Superfort last night, against a But he didn't. He separated the world Sanjose Mercury News. He is now a background of threatening black skies into what professor and author Noam federal inmate and freelance write1: torn open at intervals by great lighten­ Chomsky refers to accurately as the His essays and reflections on the ing flashes. It is a thing of beauty to "worthy and the unworthy victims." actions that resulted in his prison behold, this 'gadget.'" Those who died at Pearl Harbor were sentence can be fo und at his We b log, This "embedded" reporter was flying worthy; those in Nagasaki unworthy. http://bydavidsylveste1: blogspot. com on the plane that dropped an atomic The problem in journalism today bomb on Nagasaki. At the distance of is an epidemic of unconsciousness. IBJ [email protected] some 60 years, it seems remarkable Wo rthy victims seem only those within that the reporter appears utterly un­ our borders, such as the victims of the Until July 10: conscious of the 40,000 unsuspecting attacks ofSeptember 11th, while those [email protected] civilians who are about to be inciner- outside our borders, such as the Iraqi

Two Sides of Courage 'Only after I left the foreign battlefields and returned to the United States did I discover the quiet part of courage in what it is I try to do.'

By Eli Reed w:ar zones test only a part of t1)' to do. those anticipated images in favor of photojournalists' courage. As my early mentor, Donald Green­ showing some of the more affirming, It's the noisy part, filledwith haus, told me, for the photographer unexpected moments of youngsters' an odd mixture ofbravado, determina­ willing to chance rejection, and pos­ daily life. tion and hope, layered onto an intense sibly ridicule, from those who hold Easier to sell into a marketplace focus on the day-to-day job of bearing the power to accept or reject his work, hung1)' forverification of what already witness to brutality that is impossible the opportunities are boundless. To is known about poverty and racism are to comprehend. Enduring such danger bear witness to what isn't shown with the guns and blood, the street corner is one reliable way for photographers the purpose of revealing an aspect hangouts, and the swollen bellies to build their reputations and get of life no one expects to see is the of teenage girls. More enlightening, their pictures used. Only after I left challenge I took on. In an urban en­ however, might be visual evocations of . the foreign battlefields and returned vironment linked in people's minds those quieter moments when what is to the United States did I discover the to violence, there can be courage in a revealed becomes worth knowing. quiet part of courage in what it is I photographer's willingness to reject

100 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 United States

Beirut 1984: John Hoagland, Newsweek magazine staff photographer, Rick To mpkins, Associated Press stringer (with the camera to his eye), and I were taking photos of the Muslim revolt from a hotel window. This was my second tour covering the situation in Lebanon for Magnum Photos. We were shooting from the window because the fighting was too out of control and fierce on the street. Hoagland was sent to Beirut for a short break from El Salvador, where he had been covering the civil war. It was deemed unsafe for him to continue working there because death squads had threatened him. Beirut was relatively quiet and not seen as dangerous as El Salvador. After his work in Beirut, Hoagland returned to El Salvador where, on assignment, he was caught in crossfire and killed.

Northern Lebanon 1983: I re­ member another especiallyugly day during internecine fighting in the Beddawi refugee camp. I was running for my life down a dusty road, moving with three other photojournalists away from our rocket-damaged car and the incoming shell- ing, which came down as if it were rain. I thought to myself, "I could be in San Francisco looking at the ocean and yet here I am preparing to die gracefully. " Things started to unravel quickly, but I managed to talce this photograph of my colleagues (the driver is to the left) after diving into a ditch as the shelling and the fighting raged around us.

Photos a11d captions by Eli Reed.

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 101 Courage

Seattle, Washington, the l 990's: This photograph of a mother and her baby appeared in an issue of People maga­ zine that was dedicated to an in-depth coverage of teenage pregnancy. Showing them to­ gether in this way illuminates the experience from a perspec­ tive that rarely is acknowledged in our national conversation about tl1is emotional issue.

Harlem, New Yo rk, 2004: This photograph of young black men hanging out on a stoop was tal

Photos and captious by Eli Reed.

EU Reed, a 1983 Nieman Fellow, is a Magnum.photo jo urnalist and professor at the University of Te xas at Austin. In his long caree1; he has covered civil wars and other events in El Salvad01; Beirut, Haiti and Pa nama, as well as work docwnenting the blade experience in America and Af rica.

1:81 [email protected]

I 02 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman No tes Compiled by Lois Fiore

Covering the Sago Mine Disaster How a game of 'whisper down the coal mine' ricocheted around the world.

By Frank Langfitt

hen most of the news media The Beginning friends and families of the trapped misreported that a dozen miners are waiting. Most have given W men had survived the coal How did this sto1y get so messed up? It up hope. mine disaster in Sago, West Virginia was a low-tech/hi-tech debacle, a game The news of survivors sweeps last J anua1y, critics reflexively pointed of "whisper down the coal mine" that through the sweltering sanctuary. In fingers at the usual suspects : the ricocheted across the world. The sto1y celebration, someone begins ringing demands of the 24n news cycle, the was transmitted through a breathtak­ the bells in the steeple. Reporters are erosion of attribution, and just plain ing array of communication devices: standing down the hill, corralled by sloppy reporting. For the audience, hand-held radios, mobile phones, police in a small, muddy area, warming it probably seemed like just another church bells, satellite trucks, and-fi­ themselves by open fires. screwup by an indusuy that is burning nally-notes scribbled in the dark. A gaggle rushes to the church. Family through its credibility. It begins a little before midnight, members say a mine foremanhas told But if you were working in the mud two days after New Ye ar's. After more them that a dozen men have survived. and misting rain in Sago early that than 40 hours, rescuers find the men We st Virginia GovernorJoe Manchin­ morning, the truth was more compli­ about two miles inside the mine. Eleven apparently relying only on the families' cated and the lessons deeper. are dead, already cold to the touch, account-gives a thumbs-up. Communications technology was with rigor mortis setting in. One is goes live on both a boon and a curse. Cell phones barely alive. CNN. allowed us to report directly from a But that's not the first message the remote mountain hollow, but they rescuers send to the surface. They sim­ The Confusion Deepens also contributed to the confusion. ply say they have found " 12 individuals" Conversely, the same technology that and one is alive. They are using radios The coal company has no professional allowed news organizations to beam that can't transmit through the rock. spokesperson and no one on-site to the wrong information around the So they send the message through five confirmor deny the st01y. Officialswith world in seconds also made it easier underground relay stations. Because of the fe deral Mine Safety and Health Ad­ to correct later. the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, ministration are also at Sago. But they The limits of the oldest and most some of the rescuers have to repeat the give no briefings and are essentially earth-bound medium, the print words through face masks. invisible. newspaper, were painfully clear. CNN By the time the message reaches the Newspaper reporters phone their could instantly change its sto1y on air surface,it has morphed into, "Twelve desks . Editors change leads and or on its Web site. But there was no Alive!" headlines for the final edition. Some refresh button to change the embar­ In an earlier time, before mobile cover themselves by attributing the rassing headlines-"They'reAlive" and phones, the confusion might have re­ information to families. Others state "Miracles Happen"-on newspapers mained there, at the mouth of the mine. it as fact. as they landed in driveways later that But the mine company is broadcasting I'm sitting in a hotel room 40 miles morning. the radio trafficover speakers. Rescue north, sending audio tape back to head­ And when the sto1y seemed to take workers nearby hear it and begin dial­ quarters for National Public Radio's a U-turn, we reporters should have ing their cell phones. "Morning Edition." After I see CNN been more skeptical. If more of us About 300 yards away-across a report the news, I call a colleague on had stuck with the old adage-write river, railroad tracks, and a police road­ the scene, To m Vanden Brook of USA what you !mow, not what you think block that keeps reporters at bay-a To day. you know-eve1yone would have been mine employee answers. He's at Sago "Is this forreal?" I say. better off. Baptist Church, where hundreds of Only that afternoon, the coal com-

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 103 Nieman Notes

pany had tested air inside the mine and priming IVlines, getting IVequ ipment, cues-the ringing bells, the ambu­ fo und fatal levelsof carbon monoxide. monitors out." lances-reinforced the story. I'd covered mine disasters before in But most of us suspended disbelief Kentucky. They almost always encl Later, a different woman wearing a when we should have kept asking the badly. I'm all but certain these men nurse's uniform and an I.D. tag walks nagging question: How did these guys are dead. up to a CBS satellite truck, which is survive? Maybe we got caught up in the "The familiessay they're alive," says on the other side of the police line. emotions. Facing the tragedy of l2 dead To m. "You should get down here." She tells CBS correspondent Sha1yn men-fathers, brothers, sons-we I jump in the car and head south. Alfonsi that she's been treating the were moved by a miracle, even if it News of survivors snowballs. men outside the mine. She gives their defied logic. And perhaps we were On the way victims of our back to the mine, own humanity. I pass signs out­ But most of us suspended disbelief when we should have It's a charge you side restaurants don't hear lev­ that hours earlier kept asking the nagging question: How did these guys eled at report­ had read : "Pray for survive? Maybe we got caught up in the emotions. Facing the ers very often. Our Miners." Now, When the they say: "Our Mir­ tragedy of 12 dead men -fathers, brothers, sons-we were miners' bodies acle Miners." moved by a miracle, even if it defied logic. were brought \X'hen I get to to the surface, the mine road, people fo und state troopers notes they had have blocked it. written while They are keeping it clear for the am­ medical conditions in detail. they were dying. One was from Junior bulances that will take the survivors to The "nurse," of course, is maldng Hamner, a shuttle car operator with 26 the hospital. I hike three miles back to the story up. Alfonsi, who is preparing years in the mines. He left the note in the scene in the dark with a fora morning report, never broadcasts his lunch box forhis wife and daugh­ producer. He predicts the survivors the information. ter. In a day filledwith confusion and will sell their rights to the stoq1, and Later, a Red Cross volunteer tells miscommunication, it was the clearest we 'll be watching this as a movie of me that high profiledisasters like Sago and most eloquent message. the week. often attract mentally unstable people None of us are as keen as we might with rescue fantasies. But in a dark "Hi, Deb and Sara. I'm still OK at be. Most have been covering the sto1y and muddy West Virginia hollow, how 2:40 p.m. I don't lmow what is go­ for nvo days straight with little or no would you know? ing on between here and outside. We sleep. Some people have been sleeping Back at Sago Baptist, eve1yone is don't hear any attempts at drilling or in their SUV's. under the same impression as the phan­ rescue. The section is full of smoke Back at the scene, I start worldng the tom nurse. They are singing hymns and and fumes, so we can't escape. I just sto1y again, gathering tape from family making room in the pews fora reunion want you and Sara to know I love you members and waiting for confirmation with their loved ones. They expect the both and always have. Be strong and I fromthe coal company. I stay off the air, miners to walk through the front door hope no one else has to show you this partly because I don't have a pressing any moment. note. I'm in no pain, but don't know deadline, partly because I feel I don't Instead they get Ben Hatfield, the how long the air will last." • have the st01y mining company president, flanked Outside the mine, medical staffare by state troopers. Hatfield gives them Fra n/eLan gfitt, a 2003 Nieman Fel­ preparing for survivors. Kevin Stingo the bad news. All but one are dead. He low, covers labor and the worlep lace works as a nurse at a nearby hospital. gets out as fast as he can. fo r Na tional Public Radio. Later, he describes the scene to me People triclde out of the church, when he arrived at the mine: heads down, striding past reporters. 181 Bangfitt@.org We learn the story that most of us "One of the ER nurses was standing have reported is completely wrong. outside the tent on the cell phone, and she said, 'We've been told that all 12 Questions Remain are alive and that they're going to be bringing them out in stages.' So they Why weren't we more skepticaP There were basically going to give us the were sources-family members, the worst of the patients. So we started governor, the phantom nurse-that getting ready, warmed up IV fluids, seemed credible. All the physical

I 04 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman Notes

-1952- secretary-treasurer for 17 years. U.S. Information Agency (USIA) first as Davies was a long-time member of a magazine editor and then as director John 0. Davies Jr. , a former editor the Ya rdley Count11' Club in Bucks of the agency's cultural, education and of the Courier-Post, died March 6th County, Pennsylvania. According to information programs at U.S. embas­ at his home in Ewing To wnship, New his son, former-councilman John 0. sies in, successively, Brussels, , Jersey. He was 88 years old. Davies was Davies III, even last summer he scored London and Paris. For fouryears after the first journalist from that state to a respectable 91 on the golf course. his retirement from USIA in 1994 receive a Nieman Fellowship. A memorial service for Davies was he also was the administrator of the Davies worked fo r 25 years at the held April 10th in Pennington, New Museum of American Art in Giverny, now-defunct Newark News, where he Jersey. He is survived by two sons, France. Korengold remains active jour­ was political writer for more than a one brother, seven grandchildren, and nalistically covering France as senior decade and covered both Republican nine great-grandchildren. His first wife, correspondent for the American \Xfeb and Democratic national conventions. Louise, died in 1964. His second wife, site www.bonjourparis.com During World War II, he served with the Ana, died in 2000. U.S. Marines as a sergeant and combat Dan Wakefield's new book, "The correspondent and was the only Ma­ -1964- Hijacking of Jesus: How the Religious rine to edit the Army Stars and Stripes Right Distorts Christianity and Pro­ in Shanghai, China. He later served Robert (Bud) Korengold was motes Prejudice and Hate," was pub­ as state house bureau chief and as a inducted April 24th into the "Hall of lished this spring by Nation Books. In correspondent covering the Chinese Achievement" of the Medill School of the book, Wakefield questions why and civil war (1948-49) and the Korean War Journalism at Northwestern University. how the Republican Party has been so (1950). In 1962 he joined the Gannet The honor is accorded annually to se­ successful in identifying themselves Company and rose to become editor of lect graduates whose distinctive careers with the Christian faith, creating a situa­ the Courier-Post, where he stayed until are considered to have contributed tion where they are seen as the party of retiring from journalism in 1975. greatly to their fields. After graduat­ "moral values." Through an analysis of The author of two sports novels ing from Northwestern in 1951 and the religious right and interviews with and a biography of the late Jersey City a Korean \Va r stint in the U.S. Navy, religious leaders across the count1y, he Mayor Frank Hague, "The Last of the Korengold was a UPI correspondent in explores how Christians can reclaim Big City Bosses," Davies spent the first Paris and a UPI bureau chief in Geneva their faith. 13 years of his retirement as execu­ and Moscow. After his Nieman year he tive assistant to the State returned to Moscow as Newsweek's -1966- Commission of Investigation. He also bureau chief and went on to head the served as president of the New Jersey magazine's London bureau until late DonaldJackson, 70, died on Febru­ Legislative Correspondents Club as its 1972. In 1973 he joined the former a11r23 rd. Wayne Wo odlief, a classmate,

]. Anthony Lukas Prize Project 2006 Winners

Each year the Columbia Graduate Nate Blakeslee received the J. An­ given to aid the completion of a School of Journalism and the Nieman thony Lukas Book Prize ($ 10,000) significantwork of nonfiction on a Foundation honor three exceptional for his book "Tulia: Race, Cocaine, topic of American political or social works of nonfiction that exemplify and Corruption in a Small Te xas concern. "litera1y grace, commitment to serious To wn" (Public.Affairs). research, and social concern." This • Megan Marshall won the Mark Lyn­ The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project year Nate Blakeslee, Megan Marshall, ton Histo1y Prize ($10,000) for her Awards, established in 1998, honor and and Laura Claridge received the J. book "The Peabody Sisters: Three continue the work that distinguished Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Wo men who Ignited American Ro­ the career of journalist and author at a ceremony held on May 9th at the manticism" (Houghton Mifflin). J. Anthony Lukas, a 1969 Nieman

Nieman Foundation. The recipients • Laura Claridge received the J. An­ Fellow. For more info rmation on the then participated in a panel entitled thony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award awards, including 2006 finalists, juries "Entering Another Wo rld: Journalism ($30,000) for "Emily Post and the and citations, see the awards page at

and Empathy, " moderated by Nicholas Rise of Practical Feminism" (to be www.nieman.harvard.edu • Lemann, dean of the Graduate School published by Random House). The of Journalism at Columbia University. Lukas Wo rk-in-Progress Award is

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 105 Nieman Notes

Nieman Fellows Win Pulitzers

Stan Tiner's (NF '86) paper, The of The Sun Herald that earned the and Stern for their "notable work" Sun Herald, won the 2006 Pulitzer Pulitzer. Monroe has been Knight on the story, which spanned June Prize for Public Service "for its val­ Ridder's assistant vice president of through Decemberoflastyear. Kam­ orous and comprehensive coverage news since 2002. mer covers U.S. and Mexico relations of Hurricane Katrina, providing a Jerry Kammer (NF '94) and his fo r Copley News Service. New Yo rk lifeline for devastated readers, in colleague Marcus Stern shared the Times reporters James Risen and Eric print and online, during their time 2006 National Reporting Pulitzer Lichtblau also received the National of greatest need." This Pulitzer was Prize for "their disclosure of bribe­ Reporting Pulitzer fo r their Decem­ also awarded to The (New Orleans) taking that sent former [California) ber 2005 stories on secret domestic Times-Picayune. Tiner is executive Rep. Randy Cunningham to prison eavesdropping.

editor and vice president/news for in disgrace." The Pulitzer, which See www. pulitzer.com for more the paper in Biloxi, Mississippi. was awarded to the staffs of The San on this year's winners. • Bryan Monroe (NF '03) was part Diego Union-Tribune and Copley of the Knight Ridder team and staff News Service, singled out Kammer

wrote the followingtribute : 'Do not stand at my grave and cry. Singapore and studied law at the Uni­ "Donald Dale]ackson, author of two am not there. I did not die."' versity of Singapore. While studying well-read books on judges and the Gold part-time in the early 1960's, he worked

Rush, died in his sleep, in his own bed, - 1977- in Reuters Singapore as a journalist. As as he wanted, after coping with heart a Reuters correspondent in 1965, he disease for several years. Alfred Larkin, Jr. was promoted covered the Vietnam Wa r. "Jackson wrote Life magazine's to executive vice president of The "In 1967, he joined Bernama for cover story on Lee Harvey Oswald after Boston Globe in March. In his new a short stint and then left and joined President Kennedy's assassination, and position, Larkin is responsible for the Malay Mail and covered the May 13th he bailed out Nelson Rockefeller when Globe's corporate communications, riots in 1969. When the Singapore that wealthy candidate, who seldom organizational development, and com­ Herald opened in 1970, he joined. He carried much cash, couldn't pay his munity relations, including the Globe left when the Singapore government bill at a coffe e shop during the 1968 Foundation. He also is a senior adviser refused to renew his work permit. presidential campaign.Jackson earned to Richard Gilman, the publisher of "He started his freelance career awards forcoverage of civil rights, the the Globe, and other members of the writing for the Far Eastern Economic environment and prison reform, and New England Media Group's senior Review (FEER) . He was already a after his Nieman year freelanced for management. stringer for the Hindustan Times. He Readers Digest, Smithsonian magazine, Larldn started as a reporter at the wrote for FEER for three years until he and Sports Illustrated. He explored Globe in 1972 and has held a variety started writing forAsiaweek, which he jungles, traveled with medicine men, of management positions in the news­ started with four others. While writing and once spent several nights alone in room. In 1997 he moved to the business for Asiaweek, he was a stringer for the desert to see what the experience side of the newspaper as assistant to Newsweek. was like. the publisher and most recently has ''After his Nieman year, he started "Husband of Darlene Jackson and been senior vice president for general contributing articles to a host of news­ father of two children, Dale Jackson administration and external affairs. papers and broadcasting companies and Amy Lynn Jackson Ayala, Jackson around the world. He was banned was a writer's writer. He filled his MGG Pillai, freelance journalistand from Singapore in 1990 as a result of notebooks with how people looked, political commentator, died on April an article that he wrote criticizing the dressed, reacted to offense, and treated 28th in Kuala Lumpur of heart com­ Singapore government. others. Reading his book "Gold Dust," plications. He was 66 years old. Pillai "In 1995, he started the firstInternet you could smell the sawdust, taste the was the first from Malaysia to receive newsgroup called Sang Kancil where whiskey, hear the crack of a rifle, and a Nieman Fellowship. he posted commentaries and analysis see those miners toil. His son, Sreekant, recalls: of current issues. He later started his ''Aquotation from an Indian prayer, "MGG Pillai was born inJ ohor Bahru, own Web site called www. MGGPillai. circulated at the service for Jackson Malaysia in 1939. He studied in English com, where readers were welcome to on February 27th in Newtmvn, Con­ College (now known as Maktab Sultan comment directly on his articles. He necticut, included this closing line: Abu BakarJohor Bahru), and Andrews traveled widely to the United States,

I 06 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman Notes

Europe and Southeast Asia ...." managing eclitor since May 2004. In his Must Rise to the Global Health Chal­ Pillai was known as a pioneer in new position, Marimowwill oversee all lenge.' I'm working on another book Malaysia's world of online journalism. of the news division, which includes on global health issues and will be The clay following his death, aliran. approximately 350 employees and 36 working in China, India and the Middle com, the We b site of the Malaysian bureaus around the nation and around East over the next six months." reform movement cleclicatecl to justice the world. In making the announce­ Hilts has been a health and science and freedom, posted this tribute: ment,Jay Kernis, senior vice president reporter forboth The New Yo rk Times "Malaysian journalism has lost a for programming, said, "Bill is a dedi­ and The Wa shington Post. His book legendary figure. We only hope that cated journalistwho has already dem­ "ProtectingAmerica's Health: The FDA, other journalists will be inspired by his onstrated ability to make a diffe rence Business, and One Hundred Ye ars of courage and take up the baton he has at NPR News, both in our newsgather­ Regulation" won the 2003 Los Ange­ handed over in the struggle for inde­ ing and in the ways we translate it to les Times Book Prize for Science and pendent journalismin Malaysia." emerging platformsthat are critical to Te chnology. Pillai is survived by hiswif e,Jayasree the expansion of our public service." and his two sons. Marimow bolstered beat coverage in -1990- areas including the media, technol­ Bill Wheatley received a 2006 ogy, environment, police and prisons, Yo ssi Melman writes, "After writing First Amendment Service Award from and labor and the workplace. He also (and fora couple of years broadcast­ the Radio-Television News Director's supervised many ofNPR's investigative ing) more than 4 million words (I did Foundation at a banquet in Washing­ pieces, which have received Robert F. count them, using my paper's libra11') ton, D.C. in March. Wheatley, who had Kennedy and Investigative Reporters in articles, fe atures, commentary, news been executive vice president of NBC and Editors Aw ards. items, and investigative pieces over 32 news beforeretiring nine months ago, Before moving to NPR, Marimow years, and afterpublishing seven books was described by "Meet the Press" host was a reporter and editor at The in 11languages in 35 countries, I wrote Tim Russert "as the heart, soul and Philadelphia Inquirer, where he won a play. It is called 'The Good Son' and compass of NBC News." The award two Pulitzer Prizes. Later, he was the is being staged in the Cameri, Tel Aviv, honors three broadcast journalists for managing editor and editor of The city theater. their work on behalf of press freedom. (Baltimore) Sun. "Billie, my wife, and I are working The other awards are The FirstAmend­ now to translate the play from Hebrew ment Leadership Award, given to the -1985- into English. If there are fellows who Hurricane Katrina Station Groups, and might be interested in reading the play the Leonard Zeiclenberg First Amend­ Ed Chen has a new position. He and in helping me to find international ment Award, given to Gwen Ifill. (See writes: "I've left the LA.Times, left stages and theaters, I would appreciate Wheatley's article on page 98.) TribuneWo rld, left the newspaper busi­ it very much and will send the transla­ ness altogether, in fact. After 26 years tion once it is ready. -1978- at the Times, the last seven as its White "The play is about treason and House correspondent (and 36 in daily loyalty, love, patriotism, science and Fred Barnes's book, "Rebel-in­ journalism), I have left for 'greener' national security. It asks probing ques­ Chief: Inside the Bold and Controver­ pastures, going from an industry that tions about loyalty and disloyalty and sial Presidency of George W Bush" was kills trees to one that saves them. On the shifting borderline between them. published by Crown Forum in]anuary. March 20th, I became the first-ever Why is modern society more tolerant of In interviews with the President, vice director offecleral communications for unfaithfulness to a wife or a husband, president, secretary of state, and de­ the NRDC [Natural Resources Defense to children and family, than of disloyalty fe nse secretary, the book, according to Council), the most respected and main­ to count11'? The play seeks to grasp that Crown, provides access to an admin­ stream environmental advocacy group porous divide, separating between the istration that is "shaking up Washing­ in the world. And I am thrilled to be lawful and unlawful in a democracy, ton" and "reshaping the conservative doing the Lord's work. Perhaps it's a between right and wrong. Treason movement." Barnes is executive editor sign of the times-out of 12 (An1erican) and loyalty appear to represent op­ of The We ekly Standard and cohost of Niemans in my class, eight are now posites. But when we touch the sets of "The Beltway Boys" on the Fox News out of daily journalism. What it says, notions behind both these opposites, Channel. I'n1 not sure." we may expose moral dilemmas, which clash with laws and conventions. The -1983- Philip J. Hilts writes: "I have just traitor's genetic code often contains published my sixth book, one on global the DNA of loyalty. Bill Marimow was named vice health that was linked to the six-part "The play also probes at the issue of president for news for National Public [WGBH) public television series. The science in the service of national secu­ Radio (NPR) in March. He had been book title is 'Rx for Survival: Why We rity. Science is certainly not 'pure.' But

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 107 Nieman Notes does it retain its autonomy? And how on the people living downstream. of awards this year. Riley, the paper's far can a democracy go in the name "Early Signs" is a joint production of editor, writes: of its security? Can it 'expropriate' the the University of Californiaat Berkeley "It has been a good year for The scientist of his knowledge and divest Graduate School of.Journalism, where Roanoke Times. For the second time in him of his 'intellectual' property?" To lan teaches, Salon.com, and "Living four years, we've been ranked number On Earth." Transcripts, audio clips, and one in daily newspaper readership by -1993- more information on the project can Scarborough Research, which tracks be found at www. loe.org the percentage of adult readers in the Sandy To lan celebrated the release top U.S. markets who read their local of his new book, "The Lemon Tree," at -1994- newspaper. the National Press Club in Washington, "We've also been pushing the enve­ D.C.. He writes: "After three years of Gregory E. Brock has been pro­ lope in online multimedia forseveral research, field work, and writing, I moted to senior editor of The New years, and this past year we've been am delighted to announce the pub­ Yo rk Times. In that role, he works on fo rtunate enough to garner some na­ lication, on May 2nd, of 'The Lemon the frontlines of the newsroom's deal­ tional recognition for our integrated Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of ings with the public, taking incoming print and online efforts. the Middle East,' from Bloomsbmy compliments and complaints, coordi­ ''Among our recent awards: the This true story goes to the heart of the nating corrections and editors' notes Scripps Howard Foundation's National Arab-Israeli conflict through the expe­ with all departments, and working Journalism Award in We b Reporting rience of two families-one Arab, one closely with the standards editor and fora multimedia package on old-time Jewish-and their common history in the public editor. mountain music; the Associated Press the same stone home in al-Ramla, 30 Brock joined the Times in 1995 Managing Editors Online Convergence miles west of] erusalem. I tell this sto11' after nine years with The Wa shington Award for a project on Somali Bantu not as an endless string of violence, Post. He was selected for the Nieman immigrants; a Newspaper Association but as a chronicle of two families with program in 1994 while a news editor at ofAmerica Digital Edge Award for Most unending hopes, passions and attach­ the Post. During a two-year break from Innovative Multimedia Storytelling for ment to the same place: in short, with the Post, Brock was assistant manag­ a trio of packages, including one on evet)'thing at stake. ing editor/news for The San Francisco tornado chasing;a National Headliner "... The book juxtaposes the his­ Examiner from 1987-89. Earlier in his Award, and a 2006 EPpy award forbest to1)' of the Khairis, a Palestinian fa mily career, he was news editor for The overall newspaper-affiliated We b ser­ driven out of their home in al-Ramla Charlotte Observer, where he worked vice under one million unique monthly during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, with from 1977-1983. visitors. We 've also been recognized as that of the Eshkenazis, a Jewish family a To p 10 sports section by the Associ­ who escaped the Holocaust and who Katie King joined the Center for ated Press Sports Editors. came to Israel, to al-Ramla, and to Public Integrity last fall as director of "The best thing about these awards the same house, four months later, in communications and digital publish­ is that they stand as tangible recogni­ November 1948. ing. King is involved with a team that tion of our fine staffers who pursue "My wish is for 'The Lemon Tree' is creating a digital and online strategy journalistic excellence eve11' clay. " to serve as an opening forencount er to extend the reach of the center's between Arab and Jew and for deeper award-winning investigative reports. Lou Ureneck is acting chairman understanding-both for students of The center is a nonprofit organiza­ of Boston University's Department of Middle Eastern hist011' and for the gen­ tion cleclicatecl to producing original, Journalism. He writes: "I was elected eral reader who has always wanted to responsible investigative journalism chairman ad interim of the Depart­ understand the roots of the Arab-Israeli on issues of public concern. ment of Journalism by the journalism conflict." To hear more about the book, Since 1989, the center has released faculty last week. I'm looking forward go to Te rry Gross 's interview with To lan more than 275 investigative reports and to leading the department through a on National Pubic Radio's (NPR) "Fresh 14 books. In the past eight years it has turbulent period of change in the field. Air," www. npr.org/programs/fa been honored more than 31 times by, Just as newspapers must adapt to a A project on global warming clone among others, PEN USA, Investigative new world and find waysto encourage by journalism students in Tolan's class Reporters and Editor, the Society of Pro­ and support journalism worthy of the can now be heard on "Living on Earth," fessional Journalists, and the George First Amendment, so must journalism NPR's weekly environmental news Polk award ( online category) . education. My two principal goals are and information program. The latest to integrate the concept of convergence installment of "Early Signs: Reports -1995- in all its complexity into the curriculum From a Warming Planet" documents and help the faculty find ways to engage Mount Kilimanjaro's melting icecaps, Michael Riley 's newspaper, The in the national conversation over the disappearing forests, and the effects Roanoke Times, has won a number future of journalism."

108 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman Notes

The Sacramento Bee Wins Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers

The Sacramento Bee received the how a $50 million investment in a sion held May 11th at the Nieman 2006 Taylor Family Award for Fair­ rare-coin fund controlled by one Foundation. ness in Newspapers for "The Pineros: of President Bush's biggest Ohio The judges for the 2006 award Men of the Pines," a series by To m fundraisers became a major politi­ were Robin Gaby Fisher, a 2005 Knudson and Hector Amezcua that cal scandal. Columbus Bureau Chief Taylor Award winner from The Star­ documents the misuse and abuse James Drew and staff writers Mike Leclger (Newark, NJ.); William B. of Latino immigrants in America's Wilkinson, Steve Eder, Christopher Ketter, editor in chief and vice presi­ forest industry. D. Kirkpatrick,Joshua Boak, and Jim dent of news at The Eagle-Tribune In nine months of work on "The Ta nkersley reported the story. Special (Lawrence, Mass.); Te rry Ta ng (NF Pineros: Men of the Pines," Knudson Assignments Editor Dave Murray '93), metro beats editor at The New and Amezcua discovered that some managed the Blade's investigation. Yo rk Times, and Melinda Patterson of the contractors who employ these Grenier, Nieman Foundation direc­ workers have been cited for violating East Valley Tri bune (Mesa, Arizona) tor of communications. Nieman fe deral labor laws, yet the contractors for "Mesa en Transicion," a series Curator Bob Giles (NF '66) was the are paid with federal fu nds. "Much of that examines the fu ndamental chair of the jury. the mistreatment is unfolding inside demographic and cultural shift that The Taylor Aw ard, which carries a government program that invites is changing Mesa into a primarily a $10,000 prize, was established foreign workers to the United States Hispanic city from one that's been through gifts for an endowment by to fill labor shortages," they reported heavily identified with white Mor­ Chairman Emeritus of The Boston in the first story of the series. mons since it was fo unded almost Globe, William 0. Taylor, along with The judges praised the Bee's series 130 years ago. Ma11' K. Reinhart, members of his family. The purpose for including all the groups affected Kristina Davis, Blake Herzog, John of the award is to encourage fairness by this timely issue and for"the way Ya ntis, Brian Powell, CeCe To dd, in news coverage by daily newspa­ the pictures and stories gave a voice Jennifer Pinner, Slim Smith, Leigh pers in the United States. to people who are rarely heard." Shelle Hunt, and Julio Jimenez con­ To read "The Pineros: Men of the The judges also recognized two tributed to the series. Patti Epler was Pines," go to www.sacbee.com/con­ finalists: the project editor. tent/news/projects/pineros •

The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) for the series The winner and finalists were "State of Tu rmoil," which explained honored at a dinner and discus-

Ureneck is a former vice president quote about the art of being a good from Beijing, where we were put up in of the Portland Press Herald and served observer, so true, and especially effec­ a 700-year-old tea house (which prob­ as assistant to the editor and deputy tive when lecturing in a city that fora ably aged another centlll1' or so clue to managing editor for The Philadelphia thousand years was a national capital. the happy frolicking of my ldds) while Inquirer. He joined the faculty of Bos­ I put the quote on the board and had looking forlodging. So far it reminds ton University in 2003. the class try to guess who said it when me of my Nieman year, back on cam­ (the best guess was off by 2500 years pus with a modicum of security after -1998- or so-Ed Murrow!) a long stretch of freelance journalism "I'm sure Bill will not be entirely and commenta11' writing. For those Philip Cunningham is now teach­ amused to lmow I first came across passing throughJapan, feel free to visit. ing journalism and media full time 'Elements of Journalism' unawares in My e-mail is [email protected]. (See at Doshisha University in Kyoto, "a an English language text purchased Cunningham's article on page 25.] fine university historically linked to in China. A full seven unattributed Amherst College, with a touch of New chapters of the book made it into the -1999- England brick and green la\vns in the Chinese textbook. What sparked my otherwise cramped but delightful an­ curiosity after a good read (no doubt Suzanne Sataline is now The Wall cient capital of Ky oto," he writes. "I've subliminally fa miliar from Nieman StreetJournal's religion reporter, based been thinking of my Nieman year, not lectures) is that it ended abruptly just in Boston, Massachusetts. Before writ­ least because I am using Bill Kovach's when it got to the watchdog role of ing about Catholic assets fights and de­ text in a journalism course on the his­ the press. Coincidence? nomination squabbles, she was a staff tory ofjournalis m. I use the Thucydides "[My family and I] arrived in Kyoto writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nieman Reports I Su mmer 2006 109 Nieman Notes

-2000- Capitol Reporters and Editors. She also -2005- oversaw the development and launch Kwang-chool Lee has left his po­ of the center's database project, Lobby­ Richard Chacon has left The Boston sition as bureau chief of the Korean Watch, which is a resource of lobbying Globe to become director of communi­ Broadcasting System's (KBS) Wash­ information fornews organizations. cations forDeval L. Patrick, a Democrat ington, D.C. office and returned to running for governor ofMassachusetts. Seoul, Korea as director of their KBS -2003- Chacon, who had been at the Globe for news center. Lee is a former deputy about 12 years, spent the past year as editor and anchorman of KBS Evening Raviv Drucker and Ofer Shelah ombudsman. In the paper's announce­ News. have coauthored a book in Hebrew. ment, Chacon said he wanted to work "Boomerang: The Failure of Leadership with Patrick because of "the message Mary Kay Magistad shared a 2006 in the Second Intifada"was published that he's trying to get out to the people. Scripps-Howard National Journalism in Jerusalem by Keter Books in 2005, I'm truly excited about this, and I just Award with tv.ro fe llow correspondents the month before Israeli Prime Minis­ think that this is kind of a new and and an editor at the Public Radio In­ ter Ariel Sharon's planned disengage­ diffe rent kind of public service from ternational/BBC program "The World" ment from Gaza and parts of the We st what I was doing before as a journal­ for their series on stem cell research Bank. According to Jerusalem-based ist." In his career at the Globe, Chacon in China (Mary Kay's contribution), freelance writer David Dabscheck has been deputy foreign editor, Latin Israel, Britain and the United States. in his review of the book in Foreign America correspondent, and city hall The series, which also won a 2006 Policy, "Boomerang" "contain[s] the reporter. duPont-Columbia silver baton, offered explosive charge that the pullout was a primer on stem cell research, as the concocted more to protect Sharon from Henry Jeffreys was appointed interests of science, medicine, politics a looming corruption indictment than editor in chief of the Cape Town daily and religion converge and conflict in to protect Israel's national security. " Die Burger, effective June 1, 2006. the ethical debate over their use. Mary Packed with interviews, examinations Die Burger is the flagship daily of the Kay is "The Wo rld's" Beij ing-based of classified documents, and accounts Naspers Group, South Africa's largest Northeast Asia correspondent. from top-level officials, "Boomerang" media company. Jeffreys and his fa m­ has become a favoriteof those opposed ily are relocating to Cape Town from -2001- to disengagement. Sharon's critics Johannesburg. At the time of his Nie­ called for an investigation based on man year, Jeffreys was deputy editor Don Aucoin was named a finalist the authors' allegations, but the newly of Beelcl in South Africa. for the Freedom Forum/ASNE Award installed attorney general exonerated for Outstanding Writing on Diversity Sharon on the corruption charge before Maggie Mulvihill began a new job for his contributions to The Boston the book's release citing its reliance on in April as the investigative producer Globe's "How We Live Here" series unnamed sources, writes Dabscheck. fo r CBS 4 in Boston. on race relations. Aucoin's work will Drucker is a political commentator on appear in "Best Newspaper Writing Israel's Channel 10 News. Ceri Thomas is now editor of the 2006," to be published this fall by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) Poynter Institute. -2004- Radio 4's "Today," a flagship news and current affairs program. -2002- Pekka Mykkanen will become "For my money, this is the bestjo b in Wa shington, D.C. correspondent for BBC daily journalism," said Thomas in Roberta Baskin resigned as ex­ his newspaper in Finland, Helsingin a news release. "It's fascinating and fu ll ecutive director of The Center for Sanomat. He and his wife, Yin Zi, and of challenges, and I'm very fortunate Public Integrity as of June 15th and son, Miro, will be moving to the United to be taking it on at a time when the was succeeded by Managing Director States in August. He writes, "This will program's in such good shape .... I'm We ndell Rawls, Jr.. In an announce­ be a very important period in our lives tremendously excited to be given the ment made by the center, Baskin said and Mira's life especially, which makes chance to build on it." she plans to focus on investigative us even more enthusiastic. Yin Zi is Helen Boaden, BBC director of and documentary television projects. also excited about her work. She was news, said: "Ceri Thomas is an excellent While under Baskin's leadership, the recently asked to write columns/articles and experienced journalist with a great center won the Society of Professional for the Chinese-language We b version instinct for connecting with audiences. Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Aw ards for of the Financial Times. She also con­ His flair and passion for radio make online investigative and public service tributes to one economic daily and one him the ideal editor for'Tod ay. '" reports and received firstplace honor art magazine, so she can be writing as Thomas previously worked for for in-depth reporting by an online much as she wants." They expect to be "Today" as a junior producer in 1991, publication from the Association of in Washington for 4-5 years. progressing to assistant editor (1995).

110 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman Notes

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: some old scores here. He certainly new correspondent-to work with lmows better. In NR several years ago, him and Agence France Presse in In his essay (NR Spring 2006) on he attacked Henry's journalistic eth­ league against The Associated Press the coverage of Andrei Sakharov by ics, accusing him of cutting corners (AP) and Reuters. In return fo r any Western correspondents in Moscow, to stay in good with the Kremlin. I stories I gave him, he would give me Murray Seeger attacks-not for the responded then with a letter similar stories. Since AP and Reuters were firsttime-the integrity and journal­ to this one, which NR printed, set­ vigorous in covering dissidents, this istic honesty of Henry Shapiro (NF ting the record straight. To pursue arrangement left UPI out of touch. '55), the longtime UPI bureau chief this vendetta now shows bad faith, Bill Long and Ray Moseley, who suc­ there. Murray writes that "Henry to say the least. Henry is long dead ceeded Shapiro, got the UPI back on Shapiro, near retirement after 40 and unable to defend himself, but I the st01y. years in Moscow, refused to allow his am honored to do so. My anecdotes and conclusions UPI correspondents to compete with about Shapiro derive from former reporters from theAP and Reuters in Richard C. Longworth, NF '69 UPI staff members, most ofwhom re­ covering the dissidents. Stories on vere him, other correspondents, and this topic were filed only on orders 181 [email protected] from my own observations. I note from UPI's New Yo rk office until that Dick Longworth left Moscow Shapiro retired in 1973." in 1968, before the Jewish emigra­ This is false. I know because, un­ To the Editor: tion and Sakharov stories became like Murray, I was one of Henry's cor­ so important. Arrests and trials are respondents in the Moscow bureau I am glad to see Dick Longworth is specific events; no agency could af­ from 1965-68, before my own Nie­ still defending the honor of Henry ford to not report them. man. Henry, who had lived through Shapiro. It is hard to find anyone else I have no "feud" with Shapiro. Like the worst of the Stalin years, never who knew Henry in Moscow who most Moscow correspondents, I was really understood what Sakharov will challenge the evidence most of hoping he would write a memoir af­ and the other dissidents against the us have of Henry's life of compro­ ter he retired and went to University Brezhnev-Kosygin regime were all mises with the rulers of the Soviet of Wisconsin-Madison as journalist about. But he certainly never tried to Union. Shapiro learned journalism in residence. But he never wrote a stop us younger UPI correspondents, as a stringer forforeign news agen­ memoir and few articles except to who thought it was a terrific sto1y. I cies in Moscow before he took over criticize other correspondents for broke the Sinyavsky-Daniel arrests, the UP and later UPI job. He never their lack of understanding about interviewed PavelLitvinovand Larisa worked any place else; for him Mos­ the USSR. In research for my book, Daniel, covered the Ginzburg trial cow was the real world. No wonder, "Discovering Russia: 200 Ye ars of and other trials and demonstrations. as Longworth admits, Shapiro never American] ournalism," I found a tell­ My UPI colleagues and I kept up a understood what the dissidents were ing comment made by Aline Mosby, a steady run of good dissident stories, complaining about. former UPI Moscow correspondent, and Henry gave us our head. He I met Shapiro in Cambridge in after Shapiro died in 1991: "I think never "refused to allow" us to cover 1961 when he visited Harvard during he always hoped that the Soviet those stories, nor was there was any a home leave. Although the Nieman system, the socialist system, would order from New Yo rk. UPI's editors Foundation had sheltered him when work, and that they would get out recognized Henry forwhat he was, he was forcedto leave Moscow dur­ of their problems." the most distinguished Moscow cor­ ing a Stalinist anti-Jewish campaign respondent of his day, and wouldn't (leaving his Russian wife behind) , Murray Seeger, NF '62 have dreamed of telling him how to Shapiro refused to meet with our run his bureau. class after he met with Harvard 181 [email protected] While Henry's integrity is unas­ faculty. sailable, he could be a difficultch ar­ Within my first two weeks in acter, reveled in fe uds, and suffe red Moscow in 1972, I visited Shapiro. no fo ols. Perhaps Murray is settling He invited me-as he did eve1y

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 11l Nieman Notes

He then worked as an editor at "Radio secrets to Wall St.," published last Au­ attle Times its Best in Business projects Five Live" and over time became head gust, exposed a Wa ll Street practice of award in the large newspaper category of news. After his Nieman year, he paying medical researchers for details for the sto1y. Winners were honored was radio newsgathering editor, with on potential drugs to get an investment in a ceremony held April 30th in St. a focus on strengthening the relation­ edge. The article received the Scripps Paul, Minnesota. ship between radio news and BBC Howard Foundation's 2005 National Heath and Timmerman's story, newsgathering. Journalism Award for Business/Eco­ which exposed 26 cases of doctors nomics Reporting, which included the breaking confidentiality agreements,

- 2006- William Brewster Styles award and a has led to Securities and Exchange cash prize of $10,000. The award was Commission investigations and a crack­ David Heath, along with fe llow presented April 2 lst at the National down by the Association of American reporter Luke Timmerman, wrote the Press Club in Washington, D.C.. Medical Colleges to "scrupulously story that won two awards fo r The The Society of American Business honor" confidentiality. • Seattle Times. "Drug researchers leak Writers and Editors also gave The Se-

Jo hn Kenneth Galbraith, Nieman Friend, Dies john Kenneth Galbraith died on Ap ril occasion. 'It's the farthest I've been Given his age, you might have ex­ 29th in Cambridge, Massachusetts. away from home in nearly a year.... It's pected his fo cus would lapse or trend He was 97. Here are some exce1pts entirely appropriate, though that it is of thought would be occasionally in­ from two remembrances on the Nie­ to the Nieman center, one of the oldest terrupted. But no, he was remarkably man We b site, www. nieman. harvard. associations I have with Harvard." articulate. But more striking for a man edu/galb1·aith/pageone/ The last time we saw Ken was dur­ of his fame,he didn't take himself too ing the annual Francis Avenue block seriously. In the early years of the program, party in September 2005. He sat in I saw him often, taldng walks along Harvard professors resisted the idea his wheelchair to greet all who would the street. At Lippmann House, though, of welcoming journalists into their approach. Several fe llows sat with him. we felt his presence more regularly. It classrooms. Ken, then a young instruc­ He drew them in close with his large seems eve1y important publisher and tor in economics persuaded them by left hand as he inquired about their author ofbook s on international affairs observing that they and their students newspapers or their countries and in the world sent Galbraith advance would learn from the perspectives that their purpose at Ha1-varcl. copies for review. Even if he did noth­ journalists could contribute to class On the clay we learned that Ken had ing else, there was no way he could discussions. cliecl, we felt a great sense of loss. But read more than a handful. They were When the Nieman Foundation we cherish the support he gave the so many, ifhe didn't remove them from moved to Walter Lippmann House Nieman Foundation in the beginning the house, they would soon have been in 1978, the fe llows and staff found and the knowledge and enthusiasm he stacked to the roof. in Ken and Kitty Galbraith warm and shared with the fellows over the next To avoid that catastrophe, nearly welcoming neighbors. 67 years. • -Bob Giles, NF '66 eve1y week a box full of the books and In recent years, even as his health journals arrived at Lippmann House. was failing,Ken was determined to con­ The foundation kept a few, and the fel­ tinue his annual conversation with the lows were at liberty to take their pick. fellows. Often these occasions began In 1991, I arrived at Ha1-varcl Uni­ And in that way we read some of the with the sight of Kitty pushing Ken in versity as a Nieman Fellow. Across the most important books that were to be his wheelchair up the circular brick road, we were told, lived Professor published in the United States in the walk to Lippmann House. One year, Galbraith. And better still, he was a early 1990's months beforethey hit the when Ken was bedfast, he invited the "Nieman friend," and had been invited shelves of the bookshops. fe llows to come by in groups of three to speak to the fellows early in 1992. Galbraith taught us that a man's, or fourto sit by his bed while he held The clay arrived. Galbraith spoke or indeed woman's, best gift is the forth on the issues of the clay. about his pet theme-thatAmerica put brain-not the body.•- Charles On­ The next year, his first pilgrimage its world leadership at risk by leaving yango-Obbo, NF '92, from an article outside was to Lippmann House. "I so many of its citizens poor and by he wrote forThe East African must tell you this is a very great and its failure to invest enough in public welcome clay for me,' he said on that services.

112 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 Nieman Notes

A Nieman Classmate Remembers William F. Wo o

By Philip Meyer

he Nieman class of 1967 gradu­ for the Kansas City Times, which was green, coming from somewhere else, ated in interesting times, and the morning edition of the Kansas City now approaching a bend under high T William F. Wo o enjoyed them Star. The Post-Dispatch hired him away limestone and then going on its way, as much or more than any of us. It five years later. toward another place that cannot be was the decade when the newspaper When he became editor of the seen from here. industry firstbegan to track readership paper in 1986-he was "the first edi­ "It is a still, peaceful morning, and numbers, and soon they would start tor not named Joseph Pulitzer"-Bill this is the time." to fa ll. Fear of the fu ture motivated continued writing opinion. "He wrote His academic career was ended by publishers to increase their support a beautiful conversational column ev­ cancer 10 years later in Palo Alto on for quality journalism. A golden age ery Sunday, " recalls William Freivogel, April 12th. His last e-mail, composed began. former deputy editor of the editorial the clay before, urged his Stanfordcol­ For Bill Wo o, that brought exciting page. "He was able to talk about issues leagues to increase the financial aid work after Harvard. He had been a that faced the world, the nation, and offerto a prospective student. When he fe ature writer for the St. Louis Post­ the community, and he could relate died, his computer was still on. • Dispatch, and he returned to the paper these issues to his family, wife and with freedom to travel and dream up three boys." Philip Meye1; a 1967 Nieman Fe llow, his own assignments on social and By the 1990's, the good times had is the Kn ight Chair in]ournalis1n at cultural trends. He saw these projects waned. Newspapers continued to lose the University of North Carolina at "essentially as Harvard term papers readers to more specialized forms of Chapel Hill. He can be reached at turned into journalism: unemploy­ media. Joseph Pulitzer d.ied in 1993, pmeyer@email. u nc. edu. ment in the black community, America's and his successor, Michael Pulitzer, housing problems, explicit sex in the wanted to experiment with new forms. cinema ..., and campus rebellion," he Bill clung to the old values, a dedicated told Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. 's biographer, hard-news man. The conflict led to his NOTE: The family requests Daniel W Pfaff. That work led to other move to Stanford University in 1996, that memorial contributions job offers. To keep him, the Post-Dis­ where he continued to write columns be made to the William F. Wo o patch made him assistant editor of the in the form of letters to his students, Memorial Journalism Educa­ editorial page, putting him on a track to each making a philosophical point tion Fund at The University become editor of the page in 1973. about journalism and society. of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, A close relationship with Pulitzer­ In a 2005 Thanksgiving piece, he China. The fund will be used like father and son, members of both mentioned the problem of finding ap­ to bring Chinese journalists families recall-gave him the freedom propriate words of thanks at the dinner to Hong Kong and the United to grow in that job. His personal his­ table without sounding too personal or States to study journalism. tory provided empathy and the ability trite. He brought up the case ofAmnat Checks should be made pay­ to reach across cultures. His parents Khunyosying, the Thailand editor who able to Friends of the Univer­ had met at the University of Missouri, was shot for criticizing public officials. sity ofHong Kong, a U.S.-basecl and Bill was born in Shanghai where he "I was truly thankfu l for him and for 501(c) (3) organization, in care spent the years of Wo rld War II. Once the brave men and women around of Monica Ye ung, executive he recalled watching "from the upstairs the world whose daily struggles are director, 1321 Drive, porch of our home on Avenue Haig a testament to the power of an idea, Sunnyvale, California 94087. as wave after silver wave of American namely that the freedom to think and E-mail: usfriencl@hku .hk planes filled the sky with reel and yel­ to write and to speak is the dividing Please designate the Wil­ low parachutes" dropping supplies to line between liberty and slavery," he liam F. Woo Memorial .Jour­ Westerners in Shanghai. wrote. nalism Education Fund in the His parents divorced after the war, Bill departed gently from St. Louis, memo field. Anydonation to and Bill was raised from the age of writing his last newspaper column in this fund should be eligible fo r 10 in Kansas City by his mother. He a cabin above the Meramec River at employer's matching fu nds, majored in English literature at the the edge of the Ozarks. Below him, he where available. • University of Kansas, then reported said, the river flowed "old and slow and

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 113 Nieman Notes

Nieman Foundation Announces Fellows for 2006-07

The 2007 class of Nieman Fellows is a Nieman Fellow in Global Health Her fe llowship is supported by the has been selected. Th e names and Reporting, with fu nding provided Buffe tt Foundation. affiliations of the U.S. and interna­ by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun­ Kate Peters (United Kingdom), tional fe llows are: dation. producer, British Broad­ Tangeni Amupadhi (Namibia), casting Corporation. U.S. Fellows editor, Insight Namibia magazine. Gail Sntlth (South Africa), editor, Amupadhi is the Montalbano Fel­ Pulse Magazine (City Press) . Her fe l­ Gina Acosta, editorial page copyedi­ low, with fu nding provided by the lowship is supported by the Nieman tor, The Washington Post. William Montalbano (NF '70] Me­ Society of Southern Africa. Christopher Cousins, reporter, The morial Fund. Mauricio Herrera Ulloa (Costa Times Record/Brunswick (Maine) Yu yu Dong (China), opinion page Rica), investigative journalist, La Publishing Company. Cousins is the editor in chief, Guangming Daily. Nacion. He is a John S. and James Donald W Reynolds Nieman Fellow Dong is the Carroll Binder Fellow, L. Knight Foundation Latin Ameri­ in , with with funding provided by the Carroll can Nieman Fellow, with funding funding provided by the Donald W Binder Fu nd. provided by the John S. and James Reynolds Foundation. Alagi Yo rro }allow (Gambia) , L. Knight Foundation. Renee Ferguson, investigative re­ managing editor, The Independent Jungho Yo on (South Korea) , staff porter, WMAQ TV NBC-5 Chicago. newspaper. }allow is the Bingham writer, The Chosun Ilbo. Yo on's fe l­ Dexter Filkins,Baghdad correspon­ Fellow, with fu nding provided by lowship is funded by The Asia Foun­ dent, The New Yo rk Times. the Barry Bingham, Jr. Fund. dation and the SungkokJournalism Eliza Griswold, freelance journalist, Damakant Jayshi (Nepal), deputy Foundation. New Yo rk, New Yo rk. news editor, The Kathmandu Post. Evelyn Hernandez, opinion page Jayshi is the Chiba Nieman Fellow, The U.S. fe llows were selected editor, El Diario/La Prensa. with funding provided by the Atsuko by: Cecilia Alvear (NF '89) , an NBC IanJohnson, reporter/editor, Chlba (NF '68] Nieman Fellowship producer in Los Angeles; Hodding The Wa ll Street Journal. Fund. Carter III (NF '66), University Profes­ David Kohn, medical and science Juanita Leon (Colombia), Semana sor of Leadership and Public Policy reporter, The Sun, Baltimore, Ma111- online editor, Publicaciones Semana. at the University of North Carolina land. Kohn is a Nieman Fellow in Leon is a}ohn S. and James L. Knight at Chapel Hill; Kathleen Molony, Global Health Reporting, with fund­ Foundation Latin American Nieman director of the We atherhead Fellows ing provided by the Bill & Melinda Fellow, with fu nding provided by Program in International Studies at Gates Foundation. the John S. and James L. Knight Harvard University; Ken Winston, a Andrea Mccarren, investigative re­ Foundation. lecturer in political and professional porter, WJLA-TV, Washington, D.C. Rose Luwei Luqiu (China), as­ ethics at the John F. Kennedy School Cameron McWhirter, staff writer/ signment editor, Phoenix Satellite of Government, Ha1-vard University, metro, The Atlanta Journal-Consti­ Te levision. Luqiu is the Ruth Cowan and Bob Giles (NF '66) , committee tution. Nash Fellow, with fu nding provided chairman and Nieman Foundation Claudio Sanchez, national educa­ by the Nash Fund. Curator. tion correspondent, National Public Kondwani Munthali (Malawi), Tw o other people worked with Radio. broadcast journalist,Mala wi Broad­ Giles to select the Nieman Global James Scott, general assignment casting Corporation. He is a Nieman Health Fellows. They ilre Stefanie reporter, The Post and Courier, Fellow in Global Health Reporting, Friedhoff (NF '01), freelance cor­ Charleston, South Carolina. with fu nding provided by the Bill & respondent and science writer, and Tittl Tr an, Vietnam bureau chief, The Melinda Gates Foundation. Jay Winsten, an associate dean and Associated Press. Patsy Nakell (Finland), editor in the Frank Stanton Director of the Craig We lch, environment reporter, chief, NyTid. She is the Robert Wa ldo Center for Health Communication The Seattle Times. Ruhl Fellow, with fu nding provided at the Harvard School of Public by the Robert Wa ldo Ruhl Fellowship Health. • International Fellows Fu nd. Her fellowship is also sup­ ported by Svenska Kulturfonden. Harro Albrecht (Germany) , medi­ Anja Niedringhaus (Germany), cal writer/editor, Die Zeit. Albrecht photographer, The Associated Press.

114 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 End No te

Conscience and Integrity in Journalism The Louis M. Lyons Award, given by Nie1nan classes, recognizes journalists who display these elements of moral courage.

By Jim Doyle

W:1en the Nieman class arrived headline read: "Kennedy Says Democ­ view in which he said why he was for n the fall of 1964, the Louis racy AllDon e," and the story began with Roosevelt. And he said it was the best M. Lyons Award was just a these words: "Joseph P Kennedy was interview he'd ever had. But he wasn't plaque that was hung in the Nieman of­ sitting in his shirtsleeves eating apple an ambassador then."' fice, unassuming in appearance. Soon pie and American cheese in his room at the idea of the Lyons award became the Ritz-Carlton. His suspenders hung It was a great story, accurately reflect­ close to our hearts. We were the last around his hips." ing Kennedy's negative views toward class chosen under Lyons' curatorship, In the interview, Kennedy was reac­ the allied powers and a certain inevi­ and we came to respect him and his tionary toward Europe and isolationist tability for Adolf Hitler in an interview wife, To tty, during visits we had with and defeatist about the war with Ger­ that had rambled on for 90 minutes. them during our Nieman year. A few many. One explosive quote in a long The impact was immediate. Kennedy months earlier the class that preceded and garrulous performance ended was finished not only as ambassador to ours had awarded it for the first time Kennedy's hope fora political career: the Court of St. James's, but also as a in honor of their retiring curator. The "Democracy is finished in England. It power in the Roosevelt administration. journalists they'd selected to receive may be here." The interview created a less welcome the award, which had been created to After the stoq1 was published, Ken­ legacy for The Boston Globe, earning recognize conscience and integrity in nedy tried to deny the quote, but Lyons that paper the undying enmity of one journalism, were American corres pon­ had a witness, Ralph Coglan, editor of of Boston's most powerful families. dents in Vietnam cited for reporting the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Kennedy Kennedy controlled much of the liquor "the truth as they saw it ... without claimed the interview was off-the-re­ commerce along the East Coast, and yielding to unrelenting pressures ... cord, but Lyons covered that in his for 20 years or more he saw to it that from numerous sources including the original story as well: few if any brands were advertised in United States government." the Globe. As a Boston Globe reporter, I already "Coglan and I rushed fora cab to get In those days, there were eight daily knew Lyons because I'd reported on to an officewhere we could compare newspapers in Boston; the Globe was some of his speeches, lectures and ap­ notes and save every crumb we could often the most timid as well as the pearances at forumson public affairs. of Kennedy's talk. Coglan, an editorial least partisan. Lyons' story, and the In the Globe's city room I'd heard the writer, wanted it only forbackgr ound. owner's support when the heat rose stories of his scoops, the most famous He didn't have a story to write. in its aftermath, was an example of being his interview with Joseph P '"I wouldn't be in your shoes,' said conscience and integrity. Kennedy, then U.S. Ambassador to the Coglan. 'How do you know what you My 1965 Nieman classmates and I Court of St. James's (Great Britain), in can write? He just puts it up to you to were pleased that those honored by the which his defeatist views toward the follow your own conscience and judg­ Lyons award were reporters in Vietnam coming war were exposed. ment and protect him in his diplomatic who had displayed physical courage The story led the Sunday paper on capacity. ' under fire in the field and moral cour­ November 10, 1940, at a time when "'Well, last time I interviewed him age facing critics back home. Three Nazi troops occupied Poland, Belgium, in 1936 he poured himself out just like individual journalists were singled out Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and this, without laying any restriction on for praise-Cornelius (Neil) Sheehan France, and German bombs were falling me, and I wrote every bit of it, and it ofUnited Press International, Malcolm on London and other British cities. The \vent all over the country-the inter- Browne of The Associated Press, and

Nieman Reports I Summer 2006 115 End Note

David Halberstam of The New Yo rk late in taking on Senator Joe McCarthy ning, even though there were still no Times-though in a special citation and powerf"ul enough to survive even guidelines and no assistance to help their colleagues also were honored though he did. But we had no other Nieman Fellows choose a winner. Then, for their "courage, determination and nominations. If any official voting was for 13 years, from 1967 until 1980, the skill [that] helped to let the people done, my guess is that it occurred after award disappeared. Louis died in 1982, kno"'· " dark in a nearby pub. having watched this small tribute to his Soon it became our turn to select a Ray Jenkins wrote to Ed Murrow's life wither away. Lyons award recipient. Given that four widow, Janet, and received a heartfelt Selecting the best person to honor decades of time have passed since we letter of thanks. In subsequent years, in a given year is hard work. Jim Thom­ made that decision, I've asked some the name of Edward R. Murrow has son helped restore the award, and of my classmates about how we ap­ been cited as personifying the Lyons Bill Kovach made it a high priority for proached doing it. Nobody remembers award as much or more than any the fellows by beginning work on the much discussion until quite late in our other recipient. It was a good choice, award selection early in their Nieman Nieman year; I don't recall Dwight though our process fo r making it was year. They, along with Hmvarcl Simons Sargent, our curator, mentioning it as not so good. and Bob Giles, deserve credit for keep­ a somber duty awaiting us as our year By the next year, the class solicited ing the spirit of the Lyons award alive. commenced, nor do I believe the pre­ nominations for the award from former More than ever, rewarding conscience ceding class left us a road map about Niemans and honored Wilson F. Minor and integrity in the practice of our craft how they'd made their selection. of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune seems warranted. • Then on April 27th, just about the for "sharply perceptive investigative time we were getting ready to return reporting of political and racial affairs Jim Doyle, a 1965 Nieman Fellow, to our papers, Edward R. Murrow died. [that] has consistently blown open the was a reporter at Th e Boston Globe, Lionized in the obituaries, Murrow's doors of a closed society. His subjects the Wa shington Evening Stai; and life and death was in the news formany have ranged fromKu Klux Klan's infil­ Newsweek He served as a sp ecial days. Obviously qualified, we chose tration of the State Highway Patrol to assistant to Wa tergate Prosecutors him to win the award posthumously. the inequities of educational fu nding Archibald Cox and Leon Ja worski in Tw o classmates recall a third member in Mississippi." 1973 and 1974. of our class frowning on the choice as After three years, the Louis M. Lyons a cop-out, contending that Murrow was Award seemed off to a strong begin- f8l [email protected]

Iraqi Journalist Atwar Bahjat Receives 2006 Louis M. Lyons Award

On February 22, 2006 Iraqi TVjournal­ and to emphasize human losses. been killed in Iraq since March 2003, ist Atwar Bahjat was kidnapped and Her late fa ther was Sunni; her making it the deadliest conflict for killed while covering the bombing of mother, who survives her, is Shiite. the media in recent history, according a Shiite shrine Askariya, also known as Bahjat supported a united Iraq, a senti­ to the Committee to Protect Journal­ the Golden Mosque, in her hometown ment she expressed in her last report: ists (CPJ). The killings continue two of Samarra. Also killed in the attack "Whether you are Sunni or Shia, Arab trends in Iraq: The vast majority of were Bahjat's Iraqi cameraman and or Kurd, there is no difference between victims have been Iraqi citizens, and engineer. Bahjat, 30, was a war corre­ Iraqis, united in fear for this nation." most cases have been targeted assas­ spondent forAl Arabiya, a Dubai-based As a symbol of her support for a united sinations rather than crossfire. CPJ satellite giant and the most popular country, she wore a golden pendant research shows that Iraqis constitute news channel in Iraq. in the shape of Iraq around her neck. nearly 80 percent of journalists and To many Iraqis, Bahjat was a heroine. Bahjat was a poet, a journalist, and a support staffe rs killed for their work in She went from delivering propaganda fe minist. She had written one book on Iraq. Overall, 60 percent of journalist through heavily censored state televi­ her adventures as a war correspondent deaths were murders. sion to reporting on the U.S. occupa­ and was working on another on the The 2006 Nieman class said they tion for Al] azeera satellite channel. She role of women in Iraq. gave the award to Bahjat because "She stayed with Al Jazeera formonths after At least three other Al Arabiya jour­ represents the many Iraqi journalists the Iraqi government outlawed the nalists and five of its support workers who have given their lives since the news service. This winter, she moved have been ldlled since the beginning conflict beganin March 2003 and those to Al Arabiya. She used her pulpit to of the conflict. At least 73 journalists who continue to face grave clanger as give a balanced picture of the fighting and 26 media support workers have they report the news in Iraq." •

116 Nieman Reports I Summer 2006