OPC Awards Showcase Ambitious Reporting in 2014
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THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • May 2015 OPC Awards Showcase Ambitious Reporting in 2014 and Atish Saha’s dis- EVENT RECAP section of a factory By Trish Anderton collapse in Bangla- In tones ranging from defiance desh. While heavy to joy and mourning to optimism, hitters like The New foreign correspondents gathered on York Times were April 30 to celebrate the vitality of well represented, their profession. less traditional or- “It’s time for us to take our story ganizations like Hu- back from the handwringers,” Dean man Rights Watch, Baquet, executive editor of The New Medium/Matter and York Times, proclaimed in his keynote HBO Real Sports address at the Overseas Press Club with Bryant Gumbel Michael Dames Annual Awards Dinner. “We need also turned up on the Keynote speaker Dean Baquet. to scream about the fact that there is winners’ list. Chivers described the secrecy and huge and ambitious work being done Motlagh started his reportage oppression he faced trying to discov- in the old places like The New York several months after the Rana Plaza er how many U.S. soldiers had been Times, the Los Angeles Times and disaster, which claimed more than poisoned by abandoned Iraqi chemi- the Washington Post, and in the new 1,100 lives. He said he drew inspira- cal weapons. places like BuzzFeed and Vice.” tion from Saha’s unsparing photos. “We like to think it’s Uzbekistan The same digital technologies that “He had worked the scene of the that acts like that, but you’re in a have turned the industry’s business tragedy for three weeks, every day, country that does too.” model upside down have also given it day in and day out, pouring every- Secrecy and danger were under- new tools and “enormous new audi- thing into his photographs,” Motlagh currents running through the evening. ences,” Baquet added. recalled with Saha at his side. “They Whitman Bassow Award winner Nick “The issues confronting the world were startling and personal and they Miroff recalled being surrounded by are big, and our ambitions should be really challenged me to find the angry gold miners in Peru, and facing at least as big,” he urged. words to match.” (Continued on Page 3) There was no shortage of ambi- tious reporting on display, from C.J. Chivers’s investigation into Ameri- Panel to Discuss Press Freedom in China can troops’ exposure to chemical courts, and Internet activists, and EVENT PREVIEW: May 18 weapons in Iraq, to Jason Motlagh has even created a special tool called President Xi Jinping’s crackdown the Great Cannon to disrupt foreign Inside. on all sources of political diversity websites that host content not con- inside China is reaching new heights sidered favorable to the government. Call for OPC Board Nominations........2 and is being compared with some of In so doing, Xi is dashing any hopes Book Night Preview: The Lonely War.2 the ideological campaigns that Mao that the Communist Party would al- Award Dinner Photos...............4-5, 8 Tse-tung once waged. The number of low a process of “peaceful evolu- OPC Award Winners........................6-7 dissidents and lawyers fleeing China tion” to develop. Please come to a People Column...........................9-11 has reached levels not seen since the panel discussion that will consider suppression of the Tiananmen dem- these increasingly dramatic devel- Press Freedom Update............12-14 onstrations in 1989. Xi’s govern- opments. Q&A: John Moore..........................15 ment has targeted foreign non-profit As the anniversary of the sup- New Books....................................16 groups, journalists, educators, local (Continued on Page 2) (Continued From Page 1) CALL FOR 2015 BOARD NOMINATIONS pression of Tiananmen Square protesters approaches on Members of the OPC are invited to consider June 4, a panel of experts will consider how far Xi will running for the OPC Board of Governors. This go in taking steps against not only corrupt members of year, the membership will elect ten (10) Active the Communist Party, but also against all elements of a members of the board and two (2) Associate civil society. Panel members will also discuss the impli- members. Candidates for the OPC board are cations for U.S.-China relations. invited to submit a statement of candidacy, which William J. Holstein, Overseas Press Club board should combine an overview of the candidate’s member and China correspondent starting in 1979, will qualifications and a sense of what one might moderate. His is also editor of the OPC book, Has the contribute to the OPC board. American Media Misjudged China? [January 2015] Please watch your emails for further details Panelists include Kathleen McLaughlin, who is just and deadlines. Send nominations to Brian Byrd at [email protected]. completing a Knight Journalism fellowship at MIT and returning to Beijing as correspondent for Science maga- zine. She previously reported from China for The Econ- Book Night: The Lonely War omist, The Guardian, and BuzzFeed, and has served as head of the media freedoms committee for the Foreign EVENT PREVIEW: May 20 Correspondents’ Club of China; Sarah Cook, senior re- Join us for an evening with Nazila Fathi to discuss search analyst for East Asia at Freedom House, author her personal account of life before and after Iran’s 1979 of The Politburo’s Predicament: Confronting the Limi- revolution in The Lonely War: One Woman’s Account tations of Chinese Communist Party Repression [Janu- of the Struggle for Modern Iran, which interweaves her ary 2015]; Ying Zhu, professor of media culture at the personal story with the country’s turbulent struggle be- City University of New York, College of Staten Island, tween hardliners and reformers. and an expert on the Chinese media and cultural insti- Fathi worked for two decades as a correspondent in tutions; and Jerome A. Cohen, professor at New York Iran before she was forced to flee in 2009 during the University School of Law and co-director of its U.S.- Green Revolution. She is a writer for NPR and Foreign Asia Law Institute. Cohen is also a leading expert on the Policy, and a commentator for the Persian Language Chinese legal system. Voice of America television. Attendance is free, but you must make a reservation The event will be moderated by Gary Sick, a senior re- by contacting the OPC office by email or phone. search scholar at Columbia University’s Middle East In- The program begins at 6:30 p.m at Club Quarters. stitute. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. at Club Quarters. Stop by for a reception at 6:00 p.m. OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Charles Graeber Robert Nickelsberg ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS Marcus Mabry Jacqueline Albert- Freelance Journalist Freelance MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Editor at large Simon and Author Photojournalist Brian I. Byrd Michael Serrill The New York Times U.S. Bureau Chief Lara Setrakian Program Officer David A. Andelman Politique Internationale Co-Founder & CEO NYS Health John Corporon FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Azmat Khan News Deeply Foundation Allan Dodds Frank Calvin Sims Investigative Reporter Alexis Gelber President and CEO Rukmini Callimachi BuzzFeed News Bill Collins William J. Holstein International House Foreign Martin Smith Director, Public & Marshall Loeb Correspondent President Business Affairs Larry Martz SECOND VICE PRESIDENT The New York Times Dan Klaidman Rain Media Ford Motor Comapny Roy Rowan Abigail Pesta Deputy Editor Leonard Saffir Freelance Journalist Yahoo News Emma Daly Larry Smith Jane Ciabattari Liam Stack Communications Richard B. Stolley THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Columnist Breaking News Director Pancho Bernasconi BBC.com Evelyn Leopold Reporter Human Rights Watch EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Vice President/News Independent Journalist The New York Times Patricia Kranz Getty Images United Nations Daniel Sieberg Chris Dickey Global Head OFFICE MANAGER TREASURER Foreign Editor Seymour Topping of Media Outreach Boots R. Duque Tim Ferguson The Daily Beast, Paul Moakley Emeritus Google Editor Paris Deputy Director Professor of EDITOR Forbes Asia Photography and International Journalism Abi Wright Chad Bouchard Visual Enterprise Columbia University Executive Director, SECRETARY Peter S. Goodman Time magazine Prizes OPC Deidre Depke Editor-in-Chief Graduate School ISSN-0738-7202 Journalist and International Charles Wallace of Journalism Copyright © 2015 Author Business Times Financial Writer Columbia University Over seas Press Club Awards of America 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • May 2015 • Page 2 (Continued From Page 1) drilling crews in Bolivia who wanted to take his photog- rapher’s camera. He also devoted part of his speech to the plight of fellow Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who is imprisoned in Iran. “Jason is in jail for doing his job, the job that all of us do every day,” said Miroff. Acknowledging Post editors in attendance who’ve been working for Rezaian’s release, he asked the crowd to “show them your support and help us free Jason.” He got a passionate round of applause in response. Associated Press journalist and longtime OPC mem- ber Kathy Gannon lit the traditional Candle of Concern in Michael Dames honor of foreign correspondents killed, injured or miss- President’s Award recipient David Rohde. ing last year. Gannon was gravely injured in a shooting ples, including AFP, the AP, Bloomberg, the BBC and Re- in Afghanistan in 2014. Her colleague Anja Niedringhaus uters. “Together we can stop governments from stealing was killed. our voices. Together we can stop the rich, the corrupt and “I am so honored to have been asked to light this can- the criminal from intimidating us.