OPC Scholar Begins Internship with Nairobi Mall Attack

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • November 2013 OPC Scholar Begins Internship With Nairobi Mall Attack by Jacob Kushner between the hospitals and morgues what empty office abuzz with nearly Just days after I arrived in Nai- to learn as much as I could about a dozen staffers busily compiling robi as an OPC Fellow with the As- the victims. In Nairobi as the siege stories and video and sharing infor- sociated Press, the news came via a dragged on, I met families mourning mation across the newsroom. phone call to a friend: The the sudden loss of loved ones The day the attack began, Jason businessman from New Zea- who were killed while depos- Straziuso, AP reporter and editor, land whose BBQ I had just iting a check or while chauf- had been just minutes away from the attend the week before had feuring a client to the mall. mall when he received a call from a been shot in the chest. For five days after the at- family friend trapped inside. The siege of Nairobi’s tack began I was so busy re- “Reporters everywhere must sep- porting across Nairobi that I arate their emotions from scenes of Westgate Mall by al-Shabab Jacob Kushner militants went on to capture didn’t have time to stop by the horror, but that’s a near-impossible the newswires for days, as Kenyan AP office itself. When I finally did, I task when your friends are facing at- police and military attempted to take found the typically quiet and some- (Continued on Page 2) back the mall and save the hostages believed to be held inside. New Book on China From Audrey Topping The last time I was at the center tomb. I flew to the ancient capital of of a major breaking news event was Q&A Xian and became the first Western in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I was string- Audrey Ronning Topping re- journalist to witness the excavation ing for the AP when a negligent U.N. cently published China Mission: A of the incredible find. My story was peacekeeping mission there intro- Personal History from the Last Im- a world scoop. I was awed by the duced the cholera bacteria, which perial Dynasty to the People’s Re- working site resembling an ancient began sickening and killing people public, an account of China as seen battlefield with legions of broken sol- across the country. by three genera- diers and horses These were very different types tions of her fam- half buried in of disasters, yet I found myself re- ily. She discussed the red earth of porting on the Nairobi attack much in the book, which is the Yellow River the same manner I covered the chol- reviewed on page Valley. Then it era outbreak, rushing back and forth 12, with Susan Kille. struck me: Here Q: How long I am witnessing Inside. . . did you work on the reincarna- tion of Emperor Preview: Book Night...... 2 China Mission? A: For 30 Qin Shihuang Rowan/Topping Recap...... 3 some years off Audrey Ronning Topping at a book Ti. The history and on. In 1975 I launch party with grandson Ryan. of China’s first Paris and London Previews...... 4 was in China on Photos of her ancestors are in Imperial Dy- the background. nasty was being Global TV Wars Recap...... 4 assignment for The New York Times and National revealed before People...... 5-8 Geographic when I heard about the my eyes. And 2,200 years after the discovery of the life-size clay sol- first dynasty, my grandparents would People Remembered...... 9-10 diers guarding the tomb of China’s witness the fall of the last dynasty. While looking into the ancient site Foreign Editors Circle Recap...... 10 First Emperor, who was buried in 210 BCE. It was the most important I decided to write a book about how New Books...... 12 archeological find since King Tut’s (Continued on Page 11) Killing Bhutto: Gettting Away With Murder EVENT PREVIEW: DECEMBER 4 the mystery of Bhutto’s death. Lead- Lally Weymouth, senior as- ing a United Nations’ inquiry, Mu- sociate editor of The Washington On December 27, 2007 a suicide noz delved into the murky Post, will be the Interlocu- bomber killed Benazir Bhutto, the world of Pakistani politics, tor. She interviewed Prime former prime minister of Pakistan. the controversies and vio- Minister Bhutto two weeks She was the head of a po- lence surrounding before the assassination litical family as important to the Bhutto family which was Bhutto’s last Pakistan history as the Gan- and the unexpected foreign interview. Lally is dhis in India or the Kenne- role that the U.S. Heraldo Muñoz the daughter of Katharine dys in the United States. played in the tragic and Philip Graham, both Bhutto had recently re- events. publishers of the Post. Pre- turned from exile to chal- OPC mem- viously she was the special lenge military dictator ber Tom Brokaw diplomatic correspondent Pervez Musharraf in a dem- wrote “This is a for Newsweek. The Book ocratic election. Specula- chilling account of Night will be held at the tions as to who assassinated deceit, corruption and mur- Lally Weymouth Americas Society, 680 Park Bhutto ran wild. The individuals der at the highest levels of Avenue at 68th Street. Reg- behind the conspiracy have never power in Pakistan, an American ally. istration begins at 6 p.m., the Talk at been found, but in Getting Away A carefully researched and compel- 6:30 p.m. followed by a Reception. with Murder, Heraldo Muñoz goes ling tale of tragedy masked as a gov- Please RSVP to Wilda Escarfuller at further than anyone else to unravel ernment.” [email protected].

(Continued From Page 1) morgue: “Whenever you see a preposition, that means tackers lobbing grenades and firing bullets,” he wrote in you can cut words.” a firsthand account published later that day. “Over the As reporters work to unravel what really occurred next several hours my role as a reporter collided with my at Westgate and make sense of the regional politics that concern for close friends in mortal danger.” fostered the attack, I’ve decided to stick around after my Once his friends made it out safely, it didn’t take St- OPC fellowship ends and base myself out of East Africa raziuso long to return fully to his role as reporter and for the coming year. editor, calling me at 10:30 p.m. one night to tell me to Jacob Kushner is the recipient of the 2013 N.S. Bien- streamline the copy I was sending him from the city stock Memorial Scholarship.

OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT SECRETARY Jane Ciabattari Awards Michael Serrill Jonathan Dahl Freelance Writer Santiago Lyon Charles Wallace PAST PRESIDENTS Assistant Managing Editor in Chief NPR.org, Daily Beast VP and Director of Financial Writer EX-OFFICIO Editor WSJMoney Photography David A. Andelman Bloomberg Markets Deidre Depke Associated Press ASSOCIATE BOARD John Corporon ACTIVE BOARD Executive Editor ­MEMBERS Allan Dodds Frank FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Jacqueline Albert- The Daily Beast Marcus Mabry Brian Byrd Alexis Gelber Tim Ferguson Simon Editor at Large Program Officer William J. Holstein Editor U.S. Bureau Chief Martin Dickson The New York Times NYS Health Marshall Loeb Forbes Asia Politique Internationale U.S. Managing Editor Foundation Larry Martz Financial Times Robert Nickelsberg Roy Rowan SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Amar C. Bakshi Freelance Sarah Lubman Leonard Saffir Abigail Pesta JD/MBA student Arlene Getz Photojournalist Partner Larry Smith Freelance Journalist Yale University Editor-in-Charge Brunswick Group Richard B. Stolley Digital News Romesh Ratnesar THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Rebecca Thomson Reuters Deputy Editor Daniel Sieberg EXECUTIVE Toni Reinhold Blumenstein Bloomberg Head of Media Outreach DIRECTOR Editor in Charge, Deputy Editor in Chief Azmat Khan Businessweek Google Sonya K. Fry New York Desk The Wall Street Journal Senior Digital Producer Reuters Al Jazeera Martin Smith Minky Worden EDITOR Paul Brandus President Director of Global Aimee Vitrak TREASURER West Wing Report Evelyn Leopold Rain Media Initiatives Dorinda Elliott Independent Journalist Human Rights Watch Global Affairs Editor Howard Chua-Eoan United Nations Seymour Topping Conde Nast Traveler Former News Director Emeritus Abi Wright OPC Time Dafna Linzer Professor of Director ISSN-0738-7202 Managing Editor International Journalism Alfred I. duPont – ­Copyright © 2002 MSNBC.com Columbia University Columbia University Over­seas Press Club of 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 2 Topping and Rowan Recall Covering the Chinese Civil War but also under attack,” he said. “We EVENT RECAP: OCTOBER 1 took a bullet through the windshield by Aimee Vitrak and decided then and there to pack The description of “legend” can up and return to Shanghai. I was be overused. The notion of a “leg- feeling despondent. I had no job; no end” begs the question: how do you prospects. When I arrived in Shang- know when one has crossed over hai, there was a stack of letters for into the terroritory of unforgettable, me including a rejection letter from admireable and heroic? The answer Nick Rowan the Columbia Journalism School.” arrived on October 1 when two OPC Seymour Topping, left, and Roy He paused to let the crowd’s laughter members relayed their experiences Rowan before the talk. settle. “In a gloomy mood, I walked on covering the Chinese civil war. to get around the country. They land- to the then-Palace Hotel. I was stand- Seymour Topping and Roy Rowan, ed on dirt roads with no orientation ing next to this gentleman, he was made that long-ago and far-away as to what they’d happen upon. drinking straight vodka out of a blue event pertinent and relevent to the Rowan and Birns were in Beijing bottle sheathed in ice and asked if I packed house in the Solarium Room and had an interview with National- wanted a drink and it turned out he at the 3 West Club. Topping and ist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek. was the Time and Life bureau chief Rowan are the two surviving Ameri- Rowan wrote in his notebook that in Shanghai.” And thus began Row- can correspondents who covered Chiang Kai-Shek seemed like a China’s civil war. an’s career. sparrow — he was jumpy and ner- OPC Foundation President Wil- “I got a job, like Roy, in a bar as vous and repeated stock phrases like liam J. Holstein set a cinematic a correspondent based in Peiking,” the communists are a cancer. “It was scene for the crowd: The commu- Topping said. He covered the war for an unsatisfactory interview,” Rowan nists and nationalists had not chosen three years and worked for INS and said. “The big point he made was that to engage with each other until the then shifted to the AP. “Most impor- Manchuria was safely in his hands; Japanese left after World War II. In tant, in Nanking, I met the beautiful he had 250,000 troops. So Jack and I 1946, Rowan had been in the Ameri- Audrey Ronning. I courted her assid- decided to head to Manchuria a few can military and found a job driving iously and became engaged before days later and there the nationalists Jeep convoys for a U.N. agency and she and her family were evacuated were in full retreat.” Topping was still in American uni- with other diplomatic families when Holstein asked, “Do you think form as an infantry captain and took communists closed in on Nanking.” that Chiang Kai-Shek had no idea a terminal leave to begin working as Topping slept in a cave on a cot what was going on in Manuchuria or a correspondent for the International in Yenan while he waited to inter- did he lie to you?” News Service. view Mao, but the interview never “He lied to us,” Rowan said. From there, Topping and Rowan happened. He was told Mao was in Rowan and Birns took many pho- bandied recollections about like seclusion, but at that point, Topping tos of the collapse of Manchuria but they had happened that morning, hypothesized that Mao was planning it was Saturday morning in Shanghai which at 91 and 93, respectively, military operations in Manchuria. and Life used to go to press Saturday only bolstered their “legend” status. Topping said that Mao had asked night in New York. “We put the film They tossed out dates of when they President Roosevelt if he could visit on a Pan Am flight to San Fransciso, filed the story (Rowan: December Washginton so they could come to 40 hour trip minus 13 hours. Life set 7, 1947) and word count (Topping: some kind of understanding about up a portable film processing outfit 85-word dispatch to the AP, which the war, but Roosevelt never re- at the San Francisco airport; got a scored a scoop of the communists ceived the message. “If Mao had courier to carry the negatives to Chi- taking of Nanking), which cuts cen- gotten to Washington...there could cago where a New York editor came tral to the core of a journalist: to oth- possibly not have been a Korean war out to Chicago and edited the film in er audiences those particulars are too or Vietnam war,” Topping said. a taxi cab. It went to press a day late, granular, but to this crowd, they tell Rowan teamed up with photog- but it was a great scoop. There were everything about a good journalist. rapher Jack Birns and their terri- no other Americans in Manchuria.” Rowan spent more than a year tory was the entire country of China. More photos of the event and vid- supervising truck convoys never Rowan said they’d go out to the eos are at http://opcofamerica.org knowing if the U.N. relief he was de- airport at 4 a.m. and take off with a Rowan discusses the fall of Shang- livering was to a nationalist or com- former flying ace from World War II, hai and Topping relays Chiang Kai- munist village. “We were successful one named “Earthquake Magoolin,” Shek’s troops fleeing to Formosa.

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 3 OPC to Hold Panel Discussions in Paris and London paign “A Day Without News?”; OPC members Jim Bit- OVERSEAS EVENT PREVIEWS: NOVEMBER termann of CNN International and Vivienne Walt Time by Sonya K. Fry magazine contributor will be co-hosts. The OPC has organized two panel discussions in Par- The London event takes place Tuesday, November 19 is and London. Both cities have an abundance of OPC and is co-sponsored by the Frontline Club. The topic is: members who are helping to set up programs under the “Syria: Changing Media Coverage?” After the targeted aegis of a Ford Foundation grant. death of Marie Colvin and French photographer Remy The Paris panel will discuss “The Human Cost of Ochlik in Homs in 2012, news organizations reassessed News Gathering” on Tuesday, November 12 at the their responsibilities to coverage of Syria. Freelancers American University of Paris. The statistics of journal- have often filled in the gap in this high-risk situation. ists who are killed, kidnapped and targeted for murder Panelists include: Emma Beals, a freelance journalist continues to climb but the numbers are only part of the and founding member of Frontline Freelance Register, story. How does this situation affect news organizations will speak to the problems of hiring freelancers in war that send journalists into conflict zones and how does the zones; Sean Ryan, formerly foreign editor and now as- reporter respond to places of escalating conflict? sociate editor of The Sunday Times; Stuart Hughes, se- Panelists include: Janine di Giovanni, an award win- nior world affairs producer of BBC News will moderate. ning journalist and author who has covered every major Fabio Bucciarelli, Agence France-Presse photog- global conflict since 1980; Lucie Morillon of Reporters rapher, winner of the 2012 Robert Capa Gold Medal Without Borders who contributed to the “Free Press and Award from the OPC and recently a winner of the Prix de Journalists Safety” panel that the OPC organized in War- Bayeux photography award for war correspondents will saw in June; Aidan Sullivan, Vice President of Photo serve on both panels. Panels for both events continue to Assignments for Getty Images and creator of the cam- evolve, please check opcofamerica.org for updates. Global Newscasters Reach in America Is Low, Ambitions High difficulty using its own mate- EVENT RECAP: OCTOBER 1 rial for a website due to legacy by Aimee Vitrak contractual issues related to The Ford Foundation East River the channel it purchased for Room was full of people curious broadcast, Current TV. about the global broadcasters who News anchor for CCTV are newcomers to the U.S. market. Elaine Reyes said that to dis- The international media organiza- tinguish itself in the crowded Lesley Topping tions are fueled largely by seasoned marketplace, CCTV news is American journalists like panelist From left: Jay Campbell, Elaine Reyes, going wider and international Jim Laurie, Marcy McGinnis and Porter Bibb Marcy McGinnis, formerly of CBS with its coverage. “We want News who is now Senior Vice Presi- American news marketplace if any to cover undercovered areas of the dent of News Gathering and mod- of these channels can be successful? world like Latin America, Africa. erator Jim Laurie who was an NBC Porter Bibb, media commentator, You’re not going to go to many other correspondent in Saigon and now is said, “None of these networks are channels on the dial and see a live a broadcast consultant. Both McGin- suffering the way American news nis and Laurie are OPC members. shot from North Korea with their media has in terms of profit and loss. Laurie asked for a show of hands missle lauches. You’re not going to Al Jazeera, CCTV and NHK have ba- from the audience for who had seen see a live shot in Havana or the pro- sically blank checks to pay for what the channels represented on the tests in Brazil [on American TV].” they do. They do very good journal- panel: Al Jazeera America, CCTV She gave an example of traveling ism, but they’re either government and NHK. Al Jazeera America was a week before to Bali for the APEC or partisan controlled or perceived to the most recognizeable of the three Conference and when President be, which inhibits its reach. The dis- and reaches 40 million American Obama cancelled, there was a pause tribution pipelines are hostile to any- households. Part of the issue behind in the atmosphere as many of the thing that isn’t red, white and blue the seeming obscurity of these chan- western press corp left. Coverage of America. As a viewer, I want to see nels is the difficulty each has had in an important gathering like APEC is what Al Jazeera can cover from the securing a channel with cable and something Reyes said is fundamental Middle East.” sattellite providers, and even, as is to her news organization’s mission. Videos from the panel are at the case with Al Jazzeera America, Laurie asked if in the crowded http://youtube.com/opcofamerica

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 4 PEOPLE... by Susan Kille [email protected]

OPC SCHOLARS of Syria multiple times in 2012, of- new global news site that launches Gregory D. Johnsen, winner of ten traveling at night by foot to avoid in January 2014. Jones is currently the 2006 David R. Schweisberg Me- detection. They gained the trust of a freelance journalist in Cairo. Her morial Scholarship, was selected by rebel groups and reported amidst stories have appeared in The Daily BuzzFeed as the inaugural Michael bombs, bullets and the constant Beast and Foreign Policy, among Hastings National Security Report- threat of capture. “Syria is probably others. She also interned for Reuters ing Fellow. The fellowship, which as dangerous as or more dangerous at the Ramallah Bureau in the West began October 20, is a yearlong po- than any other country that a winner Bank. sition focused on national security has reported from,” said Richard and institutions of power, the corner- Stolley, a former OPC president and WINNERS stone of Hasting’s work. Hastings, a former managing editor of Time The Committee to Protect Jour- who won a Polk Award for the Roll- who was one of three judges for the nalists (CPJ) will award its 2013 In- ing Stone profile that led to the 2010 award. “What was most remarkable ternational Press Freedom Awards ouster of General Stanley McChrys- was, under these awful conditions, to four courageous journalists who tal, was 33 when he died in a fiery how good their writing and reporting have reported in the face of severe solo car crash in June. Ben Smith, was.” reprisal: Janet Hinostroza, a televi- editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed said: sion reporter in Ecuador and a target “Gregory Johnsen has already prov- Hannah Rappleye, who won of the government’s ongoing assault en himself one of his generation’s the IF Stone Award from Harper’s on free expression; Bassem Youssef, wisest and most original voices on Magazine in 2011, is working as a the host of a satirical Egyptian televi- national security. He’s the right writ- reporter for the in- sion show that has attracted 40 mil- er to carry on Michael’s legacy of vestigative unit at lion viewers while drawing criminal fiercely intelligent and deeply com- NBC, with a focus charges for “insulting the president,” pelling journalism about how Amer- on criminal justice, “insulting Islam,” and “reporting ica has shaped and been shaped by immigration and hu- false news;” Nedim Şener, a lead- more than a decade of war,” Johnsen man rights. A Soros ing investigative journalist with the is a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Media Justice fellow Rappleye Turkish daily Posta who is consid- studies at Princeton University and in 2012, Rappleye has a story com- ered a terrorist by his government; the author of the critically acclaimed ing out in The Nation this winter and Nguyen Van Hai, a Vietnamese book The Last Refuge: Yemen, al- that was funded by the Open Society blogger who is currently serving a Qaeda and America’s War in Arabia. Foundation. She will continue her 12-year prison sentence. Also, Paul freelance work in her new location, Steiger, founding editor-in-chief of Ben Hubbard, who won the New Orleans. ProPublica and former managing 2007 Stan Swinton Scholarship, and editor of The Wall Street Journal, C.J. Chivers were awarded the 2012 James Jeffry, winner of the 2012 will be presented with the Burton Medill Medal for Courage in Jour- David R. Schweisberg Memorial Benjamin Memorial Award for life- nalism from Northwestern’s Medill Scholarship, is returning to Ethio- time achievement in the cause of School of Journalism for their work pia, a country that has fascinated press freedom. The winners will be in Syria. Hubbard him since his first visit there in 2000, honored at CPJ’s annual award and won for his report- when he spent six months teaching benefit dinner November 26 at the ing for The Associ- English to monks in Addis Ababa. Waldorf-Astoria. ated Press, but he and He wrote about Ethiopian coffee for Chivers are now col- his graduate dissertation at the Uni- OPC member Christiane Aman- pour will be among the winners as leagues at The New Hubbard versity of Texas. Jeffry intends to York Times. Hubbard report primarily on business and en- the Newswomen’s Club of New began his career with trepreneurship. York presents awards during its an- an OPC Foundation nual gala, November 14 at the Down internship in AP’s Sophia Jones, winner of the Town Association. Amanpour will Jerusalem Bureau. 2012 Reuters Scholarship, will be be honored for an ABC news spe- Hubbard and Chiv- joining The Huffington Post as a cial tracing the common roots of the ers went in and out Chivers Middle East correspondent for its (Continued on Page 6)

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 5 (Continued From Page 5) went off about 45 minutes later. Two Association of Tanzania, Tanzania Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Chris- soldiers died from the first explosion. Editors’ Forum, the Media Institute tianity and Islam. The Marie Colvin The incident was in the far south of of Southern Africa, Tanzania Chap- Front Page Award for Foreign Corre- Thailand, an area where rebels are ter, the Media Council of Tanzania, spondence will go to Alia Malek of active. CPJ called on both sides of the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs, Al Jazeera. Tina Brown will receive the insurgent conflict to refrain from Dar es Salaam City Press Clubs and the Front Page Award for Lifetime attacks that imperil journalists. Tanzania Human Rights Defenders. Achievement. Gemma Tarlach, an associate MALE, Maldives: On October editor of Discover Magazine, and 7, six masked men armed with steel Steve Chapple, a columnist for U-T bars and machetes started an early- San Diego, have received Kyoto morning fire that destroyed much of Prize Journalism Fellowships that the headquarters of Raajje TV, a pop- will enable them to travel to Japan in ular television station that supports November to attend the 2013 awards former President Mohamed Na- ceremony, lectures and workshops of Hassan Ruvakuki said he was sheed, who was forced from office the Kyoto Prize — Japan’s highest arrested for doing his job. in 2012. The attack came a few days private award for lifetime achieve- after the station reported on threats it ment. They will meet and interview BUJUMBURA, Burundi: had received. The men forced their the 2013 Kyoto Prize laureates, Dr. Journalist Hassan Ruvakuki, who way into the building after restrain- Robert Dennard, an IBM Fellow; had been jailed on terrorism charges, ing and stabbing a security guard. Dr. Masatoshi Nei, an evolutionary was granted a conditional release in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) biologist; and Cecil Taylor, a jazz October that allows him to go back reported that witnesses said police pianist. to work. Ruvakuki, who works for were called but did not respond un- French radio station RFI’s Swahili til after the building was ablaze. PRESS FREEDOM service and for a local broadcaster, With the help of other media, Raajje MOGUDISHU: Radio Sha- was arrested in November 2011 and TV resumed limited broadcasting. belle, a Somali-owned private sta- given a life sentence in June 2012, tion that has had more than 10 of its a ruling condemned by press rights BEIJING: While the world journalists murdered in the past 10 groups. The sentence was later cut to awaited the announcement of the years in gun attacks, went off the air three years, and he was released in 2013 Nobel Peace Prize winner in on October 26, shortly after a raid March for health reasons. Ruvakuki October, RSF issued a call to re- by government security forces. Ac- has maintained his innocence. member that dissident Liu Xiaobo, cording to the government, the sta- the 2010 laureate, will mark his sixth tion was closed because it was oc- DODOMA, Tanzania: Me- year of imprisonment in Decem- cupying a government building and dia owners, publishers and journal- ber. Liu was a co-author in 2008 of was given adequate time to find an ism groups agreed in early October Charta 08, a manifesto that called for alternative location. Abdimalik to not cover any news event and to China’s political and legal system to Yusuf Mohamud, station director, not publish statements or pictures shift in the direction of democracy. disagreed. “This is politics and has of the minister of information, cul- Liu, a literary critic, writer and polit- nothing to do with the premise,” he ture and sports or that of the coun- ical activist, was arrested in Decem- told Al Jazeera. “We only received try’s director of information. The ber 2008 and sentenced a year later one letter and we received it five indefinite coverage ban was in pro- to 11 years for undermining the state days ago.” The station, considered test to a government ban on Swahili- authorities. Somalia’s most popular and influen- language newspapers. On September tial domestic station in the country, 27, authorities suspended publica- CARACAS: Press rights groups often broadcasts politically sensitive tion of Mwananchi for 14 days and are concerned about President Nico- stories. Mtanzania for 90��������������������� days, citing sedi- lás Maduro’s crackdown on me- tious stories. A third Swahili-lan- dia organizations, whose freedoms BANGKOK: Five journalists, guage paper, Mwanahalisi, has been already were restricted by former including a photographer for Agence suspended since July 2012. The Oc- President Hugo Chávez who died in France-Presse, who went to cover tober 9 statement announcing the March. In September, Maduro cre- a roadside bombing on October 19, coverage ban was signed by repre- ated an agency called the Strategic were injured by a second bomb that sentatives from the Media Owners’ Center for Security and Protection

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 6 of the Fatherland. He said the agency shot to death October 5 while on as- UPDATES would centralize intelligence infor- signment in the northern Iraqi city NEW YORK: The New York mation to help overcome plans, plots of Mosul. Ali Wajih, news director Times no longer has a Foreign and attacks against the country. CPJ, of the privately owned Al Sharqiya, Desk. On October 1, the newspaper however, described it as “a bald- told the AP that 16 staff members now has an International Desk. The faced attempt to intimidate the media have been killed on the job since change reflects a growing global and censor the news.” Also, TV sta- 2003, the year of the U.S. invasion. readership with different definitions tion Globovisión is facing a fine of of “foreign.” A third of monthly up to 10 percent of its annual income Cláudio Moleiro de Souza, a ra- readers, or 16 million people, visit in an investigation of whether cover- dio station manager in northwestern nytimes.com from outside the United age of shortages of food, electricity Brazil, was shot and killed October States. The change came in the same and other essentials in Venezuela has 12 by an intruder inside the radio month that the International Herald “provoked anxiety.” Those wide- station. Alberto Dutra Duran, a Tribune was rebranded the Interna- spread shortages include newsprint; colleague, was also wounded. The tional New York Times. Combining print media, particularly local news- motive was unclear but RSF called the NYT staff with that of the for- papers, are finding it hard to find the on investigators to “seriously exam- mer IHT, gives the company 31 in- paper they need. ine the possibility that it was linked ternational news bureaus, more than to his work as a journalist.” Souza The Times ever had in the past. The was the sixth journalist to be killed full-time reporting staff totals about MURDERS in Brazil since January. 75 people, not including substantial editing operations in Paris and Hong The president of the Khyber Kong. At a time when other news Union of Journalists linked the Octo- operations have cut back, The Times ber 11 murder of Ayub Khan Khat- says it is committed to international tak to the Pakistani journalist’s cov- coverage. erage of a local drug mafia. Khattak, a reporter for Karak Times and for a Thomson Reuters reported on Oc- TV channel, was shot dead by two tober 29 a third-quarter profit of 48 Family and friends pray at the gunmen outside his home. Pakistan cents per share, beating Wall Street funeral of Mohamed Mohamud. is the second deadliest country for expectations by 4 cents. Thomson Mohamed Mohamud, a Somali journalists so far this year, after Syr- Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler journalist, was shot six times in the ia. A day earlier, three men used iron told staff members earlier that month neck, chest and a shoulder on Octo- rods to beat Sardar Shafiq, a report- that the company planned to cut as ber 22 and four days later died from er for the Urdu daily Ittehad and for- much as 5 percent of its newsroom those injuries, bringing to seven the mer general secretary of the Abbot- staff. Continuing staff cuts in the number of journalists killed in So- tabad Union of Journalists. He was face of a positive earnings report left many in the industry to cry foul. The malia this year. Mohamud, who re- attacked while leaving his office. company employs about 2,800 jour- ported for the private U.K.-based José Darío Arenas, a newspaper nalists worldwide, so the cuts trans- Universal TV, was shot early in vendor in Caicedonia, Colombia, late to about 140 people. A week the morning as he drove to work in who helped reporters cover a sensi- earlier Thomson Reuters CEO Jim Mogadishu. tive local story, was killed Septem- Smith said the company plans to

ber 28 by gunmen while selling cop- eliminate 2,500 jobs from its core fi- Three journalists were gunned ies of Extra Quindío, a regional daily nancial and risk division in February down within three weeks in the from the nearby Quindío province. 2014. In September, the company northern Iraqi city of Mosul. On The top story in the paper that day announced it was ending work on October 24, Al-Mosuliya TV cam- was about complaints by relatives of Reuters Next, an ambitious 2-year- eraman Bashar Abdulqader Najm inmates who said they had been mis- old and much-delayed reworking of Al-Nouaymi was killed by a gun- treated by guards at the Caicedonia the company’s legacy web product man using a silencer. Mohammed prison. Reporters said Arenas had built around creating streams of con- Karim Al-Badrani, a correspondent pitched the story idea, helped find tent, even from outside sources, tied for Al Sharqiya television, and cam- sources and supplied photographs. to a specific news event. eraman Mohammed Ghanem were (Continued on Page 8)

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 7 (Continued From Page 7) and an OPC member got to know anchor, received a good review from Seymour Topping, an OPC the McGraw family in the 20 years The Washington Post for his newest board member, is this year’s recipi- he spent as editor-in-chief of Busi- play, “Bell,” a one-man show about ent of the Lifetime Achievement ness Week. That tenure ended in Alexander Graham Bell that opened Award from the Society of the Silu- 2009 when McGraw-Hill sold the a 10-day run at the National Geo- rians. He has spent 67 years in jour- magazine to Bloomberg L.P., but the graphic Society in September. The nalism, beginning as the editor of his friendship continued as did the fam- National Geographic, which is cel- high school newspaper and going on ily’s interest in business journalism. ebrating its 125th-anniversary, sug- to a career that included extensive Now, CUNY’s journalism school is gested to Lehrer the idea of writing international reporting. He was for- getting a new business journalism about Bell, the society’s second pres- eign editor and managing editor of center, thanks to a $3 million dona- ident. Lehrer has written four plays The New York Times, administrator tion by the Harold W. McGraw Jr. and 21 novels. Top Down, Lehrer’s of the Pulitzer Prizes and SanPaolo Family Foundation, which was es- most recent novel published in Oc- Professor of International Journal- tablished in 2010 by the children of tober by Random House, is about the ism at Columbia University, where its namesake, the late chief execu- Kennedy assassination. he remains an emeritus professor. tive and chairman of McGraw-Hill. The award will be presented at the Shepard said the Harold W. McGraw Jim Lehrer was also in the news Silurians’ annual banquet November Jr. Center for Business Journalism in October when he and Robert 14 at the Players Club. will have two main goals: to find MacNeil announced they have en- and recruit journalists for fellowship tered into talks to give WETA, a pub- After years of experimenting programs and to offer scholarships lic TV station, their ownership stakes with ways to promote serious jour- to students who choose to pursue in “PBS NewsHour.” MacNeil and nalism, Pierre Omidyar revealed CUNY’s business and economics re- Lehrer have been linked to the show October 16 he was porting concentration. Shepard, who since it began in 1975 and for many going to finance will step down as dean at the end of years were co-anchors. Since 1981, a new mass me- the year, is staying on as a professor they have been the show’s owners dia venture where and said he promised the McGraws and co-producers through MacNeil/ he will be joined he would help look after the center. Lehrer Productions. WETA already by Glenn Green- co-produces the show, which has wald, the journal- OPC member Norman Pearl- its studios across the street from ist who brought Omidyar stine, who served as the editor-in- WETA’s headquarters in Arlington, The Guardian the scoop about Na- chief of Time Inc. from 1995 to Virginia. Lehrer and MacNeil wrote tional Security Agency surveillance 2005, is returning to the company to NewsHour staff: “We felt the contained in documents leaked by to take on a new need to create a way to insure The Edward J. Snowden. Ironically, role as executive NewsHour will always be in steady, Greenwald was a victim of a news vice president and professional journalistic hands and leak about the venture that spurred chief of content. minds once we step even further Omidyar to step forward. Omidyar, Pearlstine is leav- away — to coin a phrase that fits our who founded eBay and is now a phi- ing Bloomberg LP, current happy elder status,” lanthropist, wrote on his blog that which he joined in Pearlstine last summer he considered buying 2008 with the title of Al Kaff died two years ago on The Washington Post, which sold to chief content officer. October 25, 2011. We continue to another tech billionaire, Jeff Bezos, Time Inc., which miss his collegiality and daily pres- for $250 million. “That process got publishes Time mag- ence in our e-mail inboxes. Susan me thinking about what kind of so- azine, is reorganiz- Kille took over the People and New cial impact could be created if a ing as it prepares for Books columns in December 2011 similar investment was made in a spinoff from Time Nelson and we are grateful for her stepping something entirely new, built from Warner in 2014. The in to fill such large shoes and doing a the ground up,” Omidyar wrote. Cer- position of editor in chief has been great job every month. This month’s tainly, much can be created with a eliminated: Martha Nelson, who columns required a lot of juggling couple hundred million dollars, but has held the job since January, is as her daughter, Lucille Kille Saw- for now plans are unclear. leaving the company. yer, was married in Manhattan on November 1 to Jonathan McNeil Stephen Shepard, founding WASHINGTON: Jim Lehrer, Keller. Best wishes to Susan and her dean of CUNY’s journalism school an OPC member and former PBS expanded family.

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 8 People Remembered: Jerry Vondas PEOPLE REMEMBERED Jerry Vondas, an OPC member since 1979, was one of the most- Jeffrey Blyth, an OPC member read journalists in Pittsburgh until he was seriously who covered major events around injured in a car accident in March. He died August the world, died September 21 in 20 at the age of 83 from an infection stemming from New York. He was that accident. For the last 15 years, Vondas was the feature 87. As the New obituary writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. York-based cor- He was known for celebrating the ordinary in lives respondent for the as he told the stories of Western Pennsylvanians fa- London Daily Mail mous and unknown. Readers loved what he wrote, from 1957 to 1972, expressing themselves in letters, emails and tele- Blyth rode into phone calls to the paper. And Vondas loved the job. “He was a constant in the newsroom, a fellow in his Havana on Fidel 80s still coming to work and looking forward to it,” Castro’s jeep, saw the building of said Jim Cuddy, managing editor of “the Trib.” the Berlin Wall, stood in the Dallas After starting off as a waiter and bartender while attending the Universi- police garage when Jack Ruby killed ty of Pittsburgh, he began his journalism career at the North Hills News Re- Lee Harvey Oswald and was in Los cord in 1968. He joined The Pittsburgh Press in 1971 and stayed until the newspaper closed on Dec. 31, 1992. After a stint with the Greek Orthodox Angeles when Sen. Robert F. Ken- Diocese of Pittsburgh’s newspaper, he joined the Tribune-Review in 1998. nedy was assassinated. He covered Pittsburgh is one of the country’s increasingly rare two-newspaper mar- the Hungarian revolution, the Suez kets. A sign of the mark Vondas made is that the competition, the Pitts- Crisis and the Vietnam War. One burgh Post-Gazette, wrote a tribute with a headline calling him a “longtime of his biggest scoops came in 1956 and caring Pittsburgh journalist.” His daughter, Maria Vondas Connelly, told the Post-Gazette that peo- when he persuaded Prince Rainier to ple often asked him if it was depressing to write obituaries. “He would say, give an exclusive interview on the ‘This is a story about their life, not about their death,” she said. “It helps eve of his wedding to Grace Kelly. people remember what they did in life and what they accomplished.’” He His first big scoop was when, as was able to memorialize them and to capture the human spirit with his writ- shipping correspondent for the Daily ing talent. It’s a gift to capture a person’s essence. This was his calling.” In 2000, the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania presented Vondas Mail, he found the car in which the with its first Service to Journalism Award for his decades of reporting ex- famous spies Guy Burgess and Don- cellence. ald Maclean had fled London and then abandoned near the docks of tember 23 in Wash- Virginia. From 1963 to 1973, he Southampton, England. Blyth, a past ington, N.C. He worked for UPI in Tokyo, Bangkok president of the Foreign Press As- was 77. He joined and Saigon. He worked for News- sociation of New York, was born in UPI in 1959 and af- week from 1973 to 1987, first in South Shields, England, and started ter being appointed New York and then as Tokyo bureau his career at age 16 earning 7 shil- science editor in chief in the early 1980s. He later lings a week at the Shields Gazette. 1973, he won many covered the Pentagon from Washing- After the Mail, he was a New York awards for his cov- ton. In 1990, Willenson and his wife correspondent for the BBC and the erage of the U.S. Ayako Doi, a journalist and a mem- South African Broadcasting Compa- space program. Rossiter was named ber of the Council on Foreign Rela- ny. He set up a company called Inter- executive editor in 1987 after three tions, founded the Daily Japan Di- press, filing regular weekly reports top UPI editors left the company gest newsletter, a Washington-based on show business, media and travel amid significant staffing cuts. He was English-language publication. In for various British publications. He executive vice president, responsible 1987, he published The Bad War, a is survived by his widow, Myrna for editorial operations worldwide retrospective on the conflict in Viet- Blyth, who served as Ladies’ Home when he left UPI in 1992. He later nam. He was co-winner of an OPC Journal editor-in-chief from 1981 served as assistant vice president at award for reporting on the war be- to 2002, during which she launched Duke University’s office of public tween Ethiopia and Somalia in 1977. More in 1997 as a spinoff. She cur- affairs and director of the Duke News rently is AARP publications’ edito- Service until his retirement in 2001. Rolla J. “Bud” Crick, a founder rial director. of the Pacific Stars and Stripes, died Kim Willenson, a former UPI May 1 in Portland, Oregon. He was Al Rossiter Jr., a longtime UPI and Newsweek journalist whose spe- 95 and had traveled to more than 100 science writer who became the wire cialized in Asian affairs, died at age countries and all seven continents. service’s executive editor, died Sep- 76 on September 20 in Arlington, (Continued on Page 10)

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 9 In Response to Growing Dangers, Editors Shun Freelancers by Michael Serrill to send non-staff reporters into situ- private contractor whose staffers Whenever guns go off and ations where their status as non-par- have military backgrounds. The hostilities break out, whether in tisan observers is not respected and company also tracks reporters and Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya or Syria, they stand a good chance of being photographers while they are inside freelance reporters and photog- kidnapped, assaulted or murdered. hostile territory and provides “ex- raphers appear at the edge of the Right now, for instance, few media traction” services if needed. They battlefield, ready to risk life and outlets are risking sending anyone counsel families and provide advice limb to get the story. These days into northern Syria after a plague and assistance if a reporter is taken the opportunities for these men and of kidnappings, the editors said. hostage. women are dwindling, as main- Though little known — because the Less prosperous outfits than stream media are increasingly wary media have agreed not to publicize the CBC, of course, can’t afford of putting them to work unless they information on individual cases the insurance and training to send meet very specific criteria. Even — some 30 reporters and photogra- either staff or freelance reporters if the freelancer goes in without a phers are now missing and assumed into hostile situations. The result is sponsor and comes out with a great kidnapped in Syria. The Islamic that the reporting doesn’t get done. story, she may not be able to sell it. militants of the Al Nusra Front have With northern Syria a no-go zone That was the consensus at the annual meeting of the International reportedly targeted five journalists for journalists, the extent of the Press Institute’s Foreign Editors by name for seizure if they dare to slaughter there, and the condition of Circle, held in Toronto October enter the battle zone. in-country refugees, is simply not 31. The meeting included editors Even in situations where the known. from various Canadian newspaper danger is less, many news outlets Our sister organization, Vienna- and broadcast outlets, plus foreign are demanding that freelancers meet based IPI, describes itself as “a editors from the Associated Press, certain criteria. They have to have global network of editors, media Detroit Free Press, Christian Sci- insurance and hostile environment executives and leading journalists ence Monitor, Miami Herald and training, something the Canadian dedicated to furthering and safe- myself, from the OPC and Bloom- Broadcasting Company provides all guarding press freedom, promoting berg News. its reporters who put themselves in the free flow of news and informa- The editors, despite severe danger, according to CBC Director tion, and improving the practice of cutbacks in overseas staff in recent of News Content David Walms- journalism.” You can find them at years, said it is just too dangerous ley. That training is provided by a http://freemedia.at

(Continued From Page 9) Khomeini took power. In 1957, At the beginning of when the Navy World War II, he tried drew lots to to join the Army Air chose a journalist Corps but was turned to go to the South down because of a Pole, Crick was hernia. He was draft- chosen; an en- ed a few months lat- gine malfunction er. Crick told an offi- turned a planned cer that his dream job 20-minute stop would be to start a Stars & Stripes at the pole into in the Pacific Theater. The officer Left, Crick reports from the South Pole 1957. a 23-day ordeal. introduced him to a major with that Right, Crick interviews people in Saigon in 1975. After retiring, goal. As a combat reporter, he was he volunteered in Hiroshima shortly after the United covered everything, but especially to work for the States dropped the atom bomb. After the military. He was nominated for Oregon Red Cross and was in New leaving the service, he spent 42 years two Pulitzer Prizes. He was in Sai- York City as their spokesman for reporting in Portland for The Oregon gon the week it fell to Communist three months after the destruction of Journal and then The Oregonian. He forces and in Iran when Ayatollah the World Trade Center towers.

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 10 (Continued From Page 1) ously accepted by LSU Press but the anonymous reader, the history of my own family was entwined with the his- who later turned out to be Andrew Burstein, suggested tory of China. The actual writing of China Mission took many cuts, but commented that it ended too soon. So about three years but while it was cooking I published I added the three last chapters and the epilogue. two books: The Splendors of Tibet and Charlie’s World: Q: While making clear the deep Christian faith that The story of an Australian Cockatoo and his American began the Ronnings’ relationship with China, the book is Family. never moralizing. Was that a challenge? Q: Descriptions in family letters to and from China A: No, not moralizing was never a challenge, per- bring this book alive with first-hand accounts. How did haps because my grandparents and parents were not the Ronnings preserve these letters? judgmental. They were more concerned A: I think handwriting is a lost art. In with giving than taking and never felt the olden days, before email and Twitter, superior to the Chinese or sorry for people like my grandparents, Halvor and themselves. They spoke Chinese and un- Hannah Ronning, as well as my parents derstood the enormous problems facing wrote intimate and thoughtful letters by China. Which is more than I can say for dipping quill pens in India ink under some other foreigners in China. the light of oil lamps. In those days, no Q: Is there anything you did not put one threw letters away. They were cher- in the book but wish you had? ished and kept in special boxes or secret From left: Audrey Ronning A: Oh yes! I am constantly think- drawers. Later, some family letters were Topping, Chester Topping and ing of what I left out and I would like to typed with carbon copies. My grandpar- Zhou Enlai in 1973. write the whole book over. I feel I have ents also sent letters about their work to only revealed the tip of the iceberg but mission headquarters both in Norwegian and English, writers have to know when to stop. I haven’t learned that which were kept in files. yet. Q: What was missing from the family archive that Q: What do you predict is in China’s future? you wish was there? A: Remember that China is the only civilization on A: In China my grandfather wrote a diary of letters to earth that has come down through the ages intact. The his brother Nils in Minneapolis, who took it upon him- women of China are a special breed, a strong force that self to destroy letters he felt too intimate for others to has evolved through “survival of the fittest.” They are read and I regret that. I also regret that I never met my demanding “Half The Sky” and although China has and grandmother or my great-aunt who died 20 years before will have great problems, both environmental and politi- I was born. As a child I was told I looked like my grand- cal, I believe that China is on the road to a special type of mother and I was curious about her life. I started writing democracy with feminine Chinese characteristics. the story of Hannah but Halvor kept taking over and be- Q: Your father made a “three wishes journey” to Chi- came the strongest character. I knew my grandfather well na. Where would you go on such a trip? and loved him deeply. He was a great storyteller and told A: Well I might wish that my five daughters, seven many of the stories in the book. grandchildren and two great grandchildren will accom- Q: Do you have an anecdote to share about organiz- pany me back to China to visit the Buddhist Temples ing the book? Caves again — with a stopover in Norway to pay my re- A: The first draft ended when my family settled in spects to my ancestors in Telemark and a romp in Gala- Canada in 1928 shortly before I was born. It was gener- pagos Islands.

(Continued From Page 12) time, Eldon was divorced and work- books detailing his adventures and photos were published. ing on a film in Los Angeles. Dan passions. Eldon created a travel- Eldon’s life has had many pivots, had been angry at Eldon for leaving ing exhibit and best-selling book of but its great devastation was in 1993 his father, but right before Dan died, the journals, filmed a documentary he and Eldon had come to terms and when a mob in Mogadishu stoned about Dan’s life, and has worked realized how much they loved each to protect journalists in war zones. and beat Dan to death. He was 22. other. After inheriting his mother’s love of She overcame her grief, kept her She and Amy founded the Creative Africa and of telling stories, he was sanity and found a new voice by Visions Foundation and a center in a photographer for Reuters covering preserving her son’s memory and Malibu, California, that assists activ- the Somali civil war when he and creativity and in encouraging others ist artists. three colleagues were killed. At the like him. Dan left behind 17 note- — by Susan Kille

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 11 The couple, Americans with Nor- rewards readers with unique per- wegian roots, had seven children. spectives of Chinese history. New Books Nelius, the oldest, had plans to be ASIA HE BOOK BY AUDREY a missionary in China but died as a ATHY ELDON, AN OPC T Ronning Topping, China Mis- young man in Canada. Another son, K member, said it took 17 years sion: A personal History from the Talbert, did become a missionary in and “a lot of blood, sweat and tears” Last Imperial Dynasty to the Peo- China. Chester, their second child, to write her memoir, In the Heart of ple’s Republic [Louisiana State Uni- served in China first as a teacher Life [HarperOne, October]. It is a versity Press, October] is more than and then as a senior Cana- revealing account of the dis- a family memoir. It is an engaging dian diplomat highly val- ruptions of her life – loves, account of a turbulent century in ued for his native speaking sorrows, challenges, trag- China. Beginning with her grand- skills and deep knowledge edies, joys, guilt and more – parents in 1891, Topping writes: of Chinese history and cul- and her recovery from what “Ronning was there for almost every ture. And, as is common gives the book its subtitle: event of importance.” knowledge among OPC A Mother Loses Everything Ronnings have been kicked out members, China is where Before She Discovers True of China six times but they keep go- Audrey Ronning meant the Joy. ing back. Nine Ronnings were born dashing foreign correspon- Eldon was born and in China and three died there. Top- dent, Seymour Topping. raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and ping tells their story through on- Audrey met “Top” in China dur- from an early age was fascinated by the-ground reports drawn from a ing the outbreak of the Civil War. Africa. She graduated in 1968 from treasure of family letters and diaries Chester and Top witnessed the fall Wellesley College, where Hillary written over three generations, books of Nanking to the Communists. Au- Clinton was a year behind her and by family members and her own re- drey Topping has returned to China Diane Sawyer a year ahead. She fell porting and research. many times as a journalist and au- in love with an Englishman, married Hannah Rorem, Topping’s grand- thor, including 1966 to report on the in 1969 and headed to London. In mother, was just 20 when she sailed Cultural Revolution for The New 1977, she moved to Nairobi with her to China to be a missionary with York Times Magazine; after getting husband and their two children, Dan, Halvor Ronning, 29, and his sister, her story and spectacular photos, she who was 7, and Amy, 3. Thea. A month after they arrived, was escorted out of the country by In Kenya, Eldon worked as a Hannah and Halvor were married. Red Guards who called her a “Ron- journalist and felt more at home ning dog of Imperialism.” than “I ever had in London, or even China Mission, Topping writes, Iowa.” The family experienced the refers to the missionary efforts of her failed 1982 coup and its aftermath. grandparents and uncle, but also to They took trips into the bush and had her father’s diplomatic mission for many friends. Dan sometimes joined UPCOMING EVENTS: the West to understand the complex- her on assignments and some of his ity and beauty of China. The book (Continued on Page 11) “Human Cost of News Gathering” Overseas Press Club of America 40 West 45 Street November 12, Paris New York, NY 10036 USA

“Syria: Changing Media Coverage?” November 19, London

Book Night: Getting Away With Murder by Heraldo Muñoz December 4

OPC Bulletin • November 2013 • Page 12