OPC Scholar Begins Internship with Nairobi Mall Attack
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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 Over seas 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.