Quick viewing(Text Mode)

New President: OPC 'More Crucial' Than Ever Before Covering Conflict After James Foley

New President: OPC 'More Crucial' Than Ever Before Covering Conflict After James Foley

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • September 2014 New President: OPC ‘More Crucial’ Than Ever Before By Chad Bouchard Other elected The election of a new Board of board members in- Governors rings in a new era for the clude Calvin Sims, OPC, along with fresh challenges president and CEO of and aims. On Wednesday, Aug. 20, International House, the board revealed election results who will serve as first for officers and 10 Active and three vice president; Abi- Associate board members. gail Pesta, freelance Club members elected Marcus , who was Mabry, an author and editor-at-large elected second vice at , to replace president; and Pan- outgoing President Michael Ser- cho Bernasconi, vice rill, assistant managing editor of president/news for Chad Bouchard Bloomberg Markets, who will re- Getty Images, who Incoming OPC President Marcus Mabry, right, shakes main on the board. will serve as third hands with outgoing President Michael Serrill after accepting the traditional gavel. The meeting was sobered by vice president. Tim news that journalist James Foley Ferguson, editor at Forbes Asia, will Peter S. Goodman, Azmat Khan, was executed at the hands of his take over as the club’s new treasurer, Dan Klaidman, Paul Moakley, Lara captors. Outgoing president Mi- and Jonathan Dahl, editor-in-chief of Setrakian and Liam Stack. chael Serrill asked for a moment WSJ/Money, will take the helm as The club also elected three As- of silence for Foley before passing secretary. sociate board members: Brian Byrd, the traditional gavel. Mabry said Ten Active members were elect- Emma Daly and Bill Collins. the club faces an “awesome task” ed to the board, including Jacque- Board members’ titles and affili- ahead. line Albert-Simon, Rukmini Calli- ations are listed in the masthead on “What we do at the OPC I think machi, Deidre Depke, Chris Dickey, page 2. is more difficult now, by almost ev- ery measure, than it’s ever been be- fore,” he said. “And it’s also more Covering Conflict After James Foley and former New York Times reporter crucial now, by almost every mea- EVENT PREVIEW: SEPT. 9 sure, than it’s ever been before.” David Rohde, who was abducted James Foley’s murder and other by members of the Taliban in 2008 Inside. . . recent tragedies have rekindled dis- and spent seven months in captiv- cussion about the safety of journal- ity before escaping; Phil Balboni, Event Previews ...... 2 ists, particularly freelancers, when GlobalPost CEO and co-founder, reporting on upheaval. Marcus Mabry’s Welcome...... 3 who fought for Foley’s release since The OPC has partnered with the his abduction on Thanksgiving Day Foley Remembered...... 4 Columbia School and the 2012; and Nicole Tung, a freelance DART Center for Journalism and conflict photographer and friend of Tyler Hicks in Gaza...... 5 Trauma to present a panel titled “Af- Foley’s who first discovered him Video Chat Recap...... 5 ter James Foley: Covering Conflict missing. When Are Targets.” The event will get underway on People & Press Freedom...... 6-10 Panelists include OPC award Thursday, Sept. 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the winner, board member and New York Columbia Journalism School Lec- Q&A with Steve Herman...... 11 Times foreign correspondent Ruk- ture Hall. Admission is free and open New Books...... 12 mini Callimachi; Reuters columnist to the public. What in the World... Photo Winners Share Secrets EVENT PREVIEW: SEPT. 18 EVENT PREVIEW: SEPT. 25 As traditional press organizations shrink their foreign For an up-close view of photographs that won OPC bureaus, three surprising media outlets are expanding over- awards this year, and a chance to meet some of the pho- seas operations. tographers, join the OPC Sept. 25 at the Columbia Uni- On Sept. 18, the OPC is co-sponsoring a panel discus- versity School of Journalism. sion at ’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism The event will include a photo exhibit showcasing Institute titled “What in the World are , Mashable, work by Tyler Hicks and VICE News up to as They Expand Their International of The New York Coverage?” featuring editors from this hip digital trio. Times, who won the Mashable global news editor Miriam Elder, Buzzfeed OPC’s Robert Capa foreign editor Miriam Elder and VICE News editor-in- Gold Medal and a chief Jason Mojica will be on hand to discuss their strat- Pulitzer Prize for his egies. Amy O’Leary, a member of The New York Times photos of the Kenyan innovation report team, will moderate. mall massacre; OPC Tyler Hicks, left, and The event is free and open to the public, but attend- board member Robert Robert Nickelsberg ees are required to RSVP on Eventbrite or by calling (212) Nickelsberg, who won the Olivier Rebbot Award for 998-8044. The dicussion will get underway at 6:30 p.m. his book : A Distant War; and Jerome De- on the 7th floor of 20 Cooper Square, and is sponsored lay of AP, who won the John Faber Award for his pho- in collaboration with OPC and the Carter Journalism In- tos of unrest in the Central African Republic. stitute’s Global and Joint Program Studies and Studio 20 Hicks and Nickelsberg will join a 2009 OPC winner, program. Sarah Voisin, and James Estrin, editor of The New York Times Lens to disuss best practices in international reporting. Remember to Vote... Voisin, a photographer for , won ...on the proposed amendment to the OPC con- the John Faber award in 2009 for her photos of Mexico’s stitution allowing those engaged in journalism- drug war. related work to be considered as candidates for The event starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbia Universi- active membership. Check your email box for ty Graduate School of Journalism, 2950 Broadway. Please more information on the proposal and instruc- RSVP by emailing [email protected] or calling tions for voting online. Deadline is Sept. 17. the OPC at 212 626-9220. OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Azmat Khan Liam Stack Daniel Sieberg PAST PRESIDENTS Marcus Mabry Jacqueline Albert- Senior Digital Producer Reporter Senior Marketing EX-OFFICIO Editor-at-Large Simon Al Jazeera America The New York Times Head of Media Outreach Michael Serrill The New York Times U.S. Bureau Chief David A. Andelman Politique Internationale Dan Klaidman Seymour Topping John Corporon FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Deputy Editor Emeritus Abi Wright Allan Dodds Frank Calvin Sims Rukmini Callimachi Yahoo News Professor of Director Alexis Gelber President and CEO Foreign International Journalism Alfred I. duPont – William J. Holstein International House Correspondent Evelyn Leopold Columbia University Columbia University Marshall Loeb The New York Times Independent Journalist Awards Larry Martz SECOND VICE PRESIDENT United Nations Charles Wallace Roy Rowan Abigail Pesta Jane Ciabattari Financial Writer Leonard Saffir Freelance Journalist Columnist Paul Moakley Larry Smith BBC.com Deputy Director ASSOCIATE BOARD Richard B. Stolley THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Photography and ­MEMBERS Pancho Bernasconi Deidre Depke Visual Enterprise Brian I. Byrd EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Vice President/News Journalist and Time magazine Program Officer Patricia Kranz Getty Images Author NYS Health Robert Nickelsberg Foundation OFFICE MANAGER TREASURER Chris Dickey Freelance Boots R. Duque Tim Ferguson Foreign Editor Photojournalist Editor , Bill Collins EDITOR Forbes Asia Paris Lara Setrakian Director, Public & Chad Bouchard Co-Founder & CEO Business Affairs SECRETARY Peter S. Goodman News Deeply Ford Motor Comapny OPC Jonathan Dahl Editor-in-Chief ISSN-0738-7202 Editor-in-Chief International Martin Smith Emma Daly ­Copyright © 2014 WSJ.Money Business Times President Communications Director Over­seas Press Club of Rain Media Human Rights Watch America

40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 2 Hands Reconnect Mabry Welcomes New Board EVENT PREVIEW: SEPT. 12 By Marcus Mabry The work of the Overseas Press Club has rarely been The OPC’s China Hands reunion on Sept. 12 is gain- more difficult – or more important. ing momentum. Fellow sponsors, the Foreign Corre- Our world is more interconnected and complex than spondents Club of China (FCCC) and the Asia Society’s ever. We have the technology to tell stories nearly instan- ChinaFile, have helped identify and draw in top talent taneously from anywhere on the surface of the planet. And to discuss some of the hottest issues involved in China humankind has an unquenchable thirst to absorb them. coverage today as well as reflect on coverage over past Yet journalists – of the professional decades. and citizen variety – are besieged by The event kicks off with a lunch at 12:30 p.m., cost- threats, mortal and existential. The re- ing $20. The charge for attending afternoon panels, the sources American journalism organi- cocktail party and the dinner is $50 per person. zations commit to covering the world “Covering China’s Economy” is the topic that will continues to fall. Governments around be explored during lunch. Panelists include Orville the world assassinate reporters with Erica Lansner Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations impunity. And our own government Mabry at the Asia Society; Pete Engardio, an OPC award win- has made it a point to go after whistle- ner and longtime Hong Kong correspondent for Busi- blowers and journalists. (We hope the attorney general’s nessWeek; and John Bussey, assistant managing editor words that no journalist should go to jail for doing her job and executive business editor of The Wall Street Jour- will dictate the future of the case against New York Times nal. Afternoon sessions will be held in the Priestly journalist .) Room on the second floor of CQ. On the day that I received the honor of being elected The first at 2:00 p.m. is entitled, “Covering The Con- your president, President Obama addressed the world and tradictions of Today’s China.” Moderators are Dorinda the murderers of American journalist James Foley. Elliott and Marcus Brauchli. The panel will ask: How “Today, the entire world is appalled by the brutal mur- do we address the life of China’s middle class; very real der of Jim Foley by the terrorist group ISIL. Jim was a gains in open society; and the emergence of a civil soci- journalist, a son, a brother and a friend. He reported from ety in the environment and the arts? difficult and dangerous places, bearing witness to the lives Panelists will be Barbara Demick, outgoing Beijing of people a world away.” bureau chief of the ; Evan Osnos, The first word Obama used to describe Foley was former Beijing correspondent for and “journalist.” author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Like many foreign correspondents, he was working in Faith in the New China; and Gady Epstein, Beijing bu- a dangerous place. Like many foreign correspondents, he reau chief for The Economist. did not have health care and a pension provided by a big At 3:15 p.m., Jocelyn Ford, representing the FCCC, company where he was a staff reporter. will coordinate a discussion about the Chinese gov- If the OPC is to remain relevant and to grow, we must ernment’s crackdown on the Western media. Panelists answer the needs of all foreign correspondents, editors and include Joseph Kahn, foreign editor of The New York producers. That will be the priority of my tenure as OPC Times; Kathleen McLaughlin, a Knight Science Jour- president. We will redouble our efforts to increase mem- nalism fellow at MIT; and Minky Worden, director of bership, with a particular emphasis on recruiting younger global initiatives, Human Rights Watch. members. To wit, the board voted in June to reduce the rate The third panel, at 4:30 p.m., will discuss how social for members under 30 to just $20! media and the have transformed China cover- But we will also increase our programming and our age. Susan Jakes, editor of ChinaFile, will coordinate. networking opportunities for all OPC members. And we Speakers include David Wertime, editor of Tea Leaf Na- will seek to increase the services and support that we can tion; Rose Tang, a activist and writer who offer, in particular, our freelance members. survived the Tiananmen massacre; and Emily Parker, I could not ask for a better OPC board to tackle these author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices substantial challenges. I have had the privilege to work From the Internet Underground. with many of our new and returning board members – both The panels will be followed with an Open Bar at 5:30 at the OPC and in our day jobs. In some cases, for decades in the living room of Club Quarters. A Chinese dinner (Chris Dickey). This board is also our most diverse in OPC will then be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Taipei Economic and history. I think that diversity will serve us well as we seek Cultural Office, at 1 East 42nd Street. The events will be to grow the OPC. videotaped. To make a reservation, call the OPC office at I could not be more honored – or more humbled – by (212) 626-9220 or email [email protected]. this great challenge.

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 3 A Chance Meeting with James Foley Remembered By Susan Kille the Islamic State. Just before Marcus Mabry was elected Add to the things being said about James Foley, that president of the OPC on Aug. 20, he joined Michael he had a great smile and was charming over cocktails. Serrill, the outgoing president, in a joint statement de- Foley came to the 2012 OPC Awards Dinner with nouncing Foley’s murderers and offering condolences colleagues from GlobalPost to accept the Best Online to his family. Coverage of Breaking News award for “The Libyan Re- “The OPC deplores this savagery both on behalf of bellion.” I looked around the room at the pre-dinner re- Jim’s family and the international journalism commu- ception for someone to talk to and chose a tall, handsome nity,” the statement said. man who seemed to be alone. “The Islamic State, aka ISIS or ISIL, is right to worry He said this was his first OPC Awards Dinner and that reporters will disclose to the world its crimes against didn’t see many humanity disguised in re- people he knew. We ligious garb. That is our settled into small talk. job. But around the world, Normally, he didn’t from Beijing to go to such things, he to Kiev to Tel Aviv to said, because he spent Washington, journalists a lot of time overseas. are under attack, whether At present, however, on battlefields or in the he was working in the courts, for doing their jobs GlobalPost offices in too well.” Boston and there was Foley was a regular a ticket that allowed freelance correspondent him to attend. for GlobalPost, but he He said he had also worked for other been in and Michael Dames news outlets. GlobalPost, contributed to the James Foley, left, attended the 2012 OPC Awards dinner with a which was co-founded by material that won the group from GlobalPost accepting the Best Online Coverage of OPC Foundation Board award. Left unsaid Breaking News award for “The Libyan Rebellion.” Member Charles Sennott, was that the previous year he was captured by pro-Gad- has said it hired a security firm and spent millions of dol- dafi forces and held captive for 44 days. Standing there lars trying to free Foley. in his tuxedo with that smile, he showed no signs of the “Was Jim reckless? Should we pull back from work- ordeal. I later read that after Libya, GlobalPost wanted ing in places like where the peril seems to be thick- him in Boston for a while. ening like a dark, toxic plume on the horizon? Will this I’d like to remember more. We talked by the two- change the way we cover stories?” Sennott wrote on story wall of windows near the bar on the 35th floor of Aug. 22. the Mandarin Oriental overlooking Central Park. Surely, “The short answer is: Of course this event will change we spoke about the view. Like many good journalists, he us. It sobers us. It reminds us that the work journalists in was easy to talk to. the field are doing is increasingly perilous. It confirms Foley didn’t stay long in Boston. He returned to that we have to redouble our efforts to stick to standards Libya and witnessed the fall of Moammar Gaddafi. He and practices for working safely in the field.” was kidnapped in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2012. His In the video of Foley’s murder, the Islamic State vows parents, Diane and John Foley, came to the 2013 OPC to kill , an American freelance journalist Awards Dinner and led the traditional opening of the din- who has been missing in Syria in August 2013, if Amer- ner by lighting a candle to remember journalists killed, ica does not stop airstrikes on . Islamic State has re- injured, missing or abducted. Reports came at different leased a video claiming to show his beheading. Sotloff times saying that he was alive and being held with other has written for Time magazine, The Christian Science kidnapped journalists. Monitor, Foreign Policy and World Affairs Journal. Then, a video surfaced Aug. 19 showing his behead- After negotiations by the government of Qatar, Peter ing by a member of Islamic State. People who watched Theo Curtis, a freelance American writer held captive for the video said Foley showed incredible bravery and no nearly two years by a rival terrorist group in Syria, was fear.The OPC joins journalism organizations, human freed Aug. 24 under circumstances there were not im- rights groups, the U.N. Security Council, public offi- mediately clear. Relatives were quoted saying they were cials and ordinary people around the world in condemn- told no ransom was paid in accordance with the strict ing Foley’s barbaric death by the vicious monsters of no-ransom policy of the United States. OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 4 Tyler Hicks: Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore By Tyler Hicks boys were beyond help. They had been killed instantly, GAZA CITY — My day here began at 6 a.m. Pho- and the people who had rushed to them were shocked tographing something as unpredictable as war still has a and distraught. routine. Earlier in the day, I had photographed the funeral for It is important to be out the door at first light to docu- a man and a 12-year-old boy. They had been killed when ment the destruction of the last night’s bombings. By a bomb hit the car in which they were riding south of midmorning, I check in at the hospital’s morgue to see if Gaza City, severely injuring an older woman with them. families have come to pick up the dead for burial. There is no safe place in Gaza right now. Bombs can When the routine is broken, it is because things can go horribly wrong in an instant. That is how it happened in Libya in 2011, when three colleagues and I were taken captive by government soldiers and our driver was killed. On Wednesday, that sudden change of fortune came to four young Palestinian boys playing on a beach in Gaza City. I had returned to my small seaside hotel around 4 p.m. to file photos to New York when I heard a loud ex- plosion. My driver and I rushed to the window to see what had happened. A small shack atop a sea wall at the fishing port had been struck by an Israeli bomb or mis- sile and was burning. A young boy emerged from the Tyler Hicks / The New York Times York Hicks / The New Tyler smoke, running toward the adjacent beach. I grabbed my cameras and was putting on body armor The aftermath of an airstrike on a beach in Gaza City on and a helmet when, about 30 seconds after the first blast, Wednesday, July 16. Four young Palestinian boys, all cousins, were killed. there was another. The boy I had seen running was now dead, lying motionless in the sand, along with three other land at any time, anywhere. boys who had been playing there. A small metal shack with no electricity or running By the time I reached the beach, I was winded from water on a jetty in the blazing seaside sun does not seem running with my heavy armor. I paused; it was too risky like the kind of place frequented by Hamas militants, the to go onto the exposed sand. Imagine what my silhou- Israel Defense Forces’ intended targets. Children, maybe ette, captured by an Israeli drone, might look like as a four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes, running from grainy image on a laptop somewhere in Israel: wearing an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas fighters, body armor and a helmet, carrying cameras that could be either. mistaken for weapons. If children are being killed, what is there to protect me, or anyone else? This article was published in the New York Times on I watched as a group of people ran to the children’s July 17, and appears here, along with Tyler Hicks’s pho- aid. I joined them, running with the feeling that I would tograph, with permission from . Tyler Hicks is find safety in numbers, though I understood that feeling an OPC member and winner of the 2013 Robert Capa could be deceptive: Crowds can make things worse. We Gold Medal Award. arrived at the scene to find lifeless, mangled bodies. The Adriana Gomez Licon: ‘Don’t Get Killed for Color’ ommended talking to refugees before venturing into the EVENT RECAP city. “Who is going to talk to you, the bullets?” By Chad Bouchard That was just one of many safety tips Gomez Licon Sometimes, it’s better to wait for trouble to simmer shared during a live OPC video chat on July 16. During down before rushing in to cover a story. “Don’t get killed the Q&A session, the Mexico-based re- for color,” a fellow reporter once told 2013 OPC win- porter covered how to report safely and protect sources ner Adriana Gomez Licon. A city near Mexico’s northern when investigating hostile groups. border with Texas had been evacuated after a spate of She won OPC’s Madeline Dane Ross award for her drug violence. story, “Death of a Beauty Queen,” in which she inves- About 300 refugees fled to a shelter. Gomez Licon tigated the death of a young woman killed in a gun was itching to cover the aftermath, but Dudley Althaus, a friend who worked for The Houston Chronicle, rec- (Continued on Page 8) OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 5 PEOPLE... By Susan Kille [email protected]

OPC SCHOLARS Journalism, which administers the for The New York Times, was seri- Alexander Besant, who won the prizes, chose Frank Bajak, chief ously injured in an Aug. 12 heli- OPC Foundation’s Alexander Kend- of Andean news for the AP; Tracy copter crash in Kurdistan, she was rick Scholarship in 2011, Wilkinson, Mexico Bureau chief back on the front page with a story began work in July as a curator of for the Los Angeles Times; Paco she dictated here from her hospi- ’s mobile application Pa- Calderon, cartoonist for El Heraldo tal bed. She said she knew she was per, which is intended to serve as a de Mexico; and Giannina Segnini, alive when she heard herself groan. phone-based equivalent of a newspa- who was until recently the editor of The helicopter was carrying aid to per or magazine. Besant, a contribu- the investigating team of La Nacion Yazidi refugees in the Sinjar Moun- tor to the OPC’s Global Parachute, in Costa Rica. A special citation is tains. The crash killed the pilot and has written for GlobalPost, The As- being given to Tamoa Calzadilla injured other passengers, but none sociated Press, Hearst Newspapers and Laura Weffer for work they as seriously as Rubin who suffered and The Globe and Mail. did with the investigative unit at broken bones and a fractured skull. Ultimas Noticias of Venezuela. The Adam Ferguson, a freelance pho- Anna Nicolaou, a 2014 OPC win- awards will be presented Oct. 15 at tographer working for the Times who ner, started work in August as a digi- Columbia University. Members of was accompanying Rubin, pulled tal editor and reporter for Financial the Cabot Prize board include OPC her from the wreckage. She won an Times in New York. She won the 2014 member Abi Wright, executive di- OPC award in 2009 for best maga- Standard & Poor’s Award for Eco- rector of Professional Prizes at the zine writing from abroad. nomic and Business Reporting and Columbia Journalism School. had an OPC Foundation fellowship in PARIS: John Morris, a long- the Reuters Bureau in Brussels. Asma Shirazi, a journalist in time OPC member, was described in Pakistan, has become the second an Aug. 14 posting on the Lens blog woman to win the Peter Mackler of The New York Times as “perhaps Award for Courageous and Ethical the best-known living photo editor.” Journalism. Shirazi, who has been Lens wrote about the publication described as Pakistan’s first female of Quelque Part en France: L’été , was host of a 1944 de John G. Morris (Somewhere popular television talk show that was in France: John G. Morris and the banned by former military ruler Per- Michael Dames vez Musharraf. The award, which is Anna Nicolaou, left, with Reuters Fel- administered by Global Media Fo- lowship recipient Portia Crowe. rum in partnership with Reporters Without Borders and Agence France- Jad Sleiman, the 2013 David R. Presse, will be presented Oct. 23 at Schweisberg Memorial Scholarship the National Press Club. It honors winner, is now a staff reporter based journalists who fight courageously in Germany for Stars and Stripes. and ethically to report the news in Sleiman, a former Marine, covers countries where Afghanistan, the Middle East and is either not guaranteed or not recog- . nized. The award is named for Peter Mackler, a veteran journalist who WINNERS was chief editor for North America Patricia Trocmé Two Americans are among the at AFP when he died in 2008. OPC John Morris four 2014 winners of the Maria members Marcus Brauchli and Moors Cabot Prizes for outstanding Rebecca Blumenstein serve on the Summer of 1944), a book that was reporting on Latin America and the award’s board. featured in the June issue of the Bul- Caribbean, the oldest international letin. Photos from the book were awards in journalism. Columbia UPDATES displayed this summer at the Inter- University’s Graduate School of ISTANBUL: Four days after national Center of Photography in Alissa J. Rubin, Paris Bureau chief

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 6 New York. Morris, 97, was the Lon- Amy Eldon Turteltaub, had the op- gunpoint to make the video. For the don photo editor for Life throughout portunity in August to meet Malala last several years, Centanni has been World War II, where he edited the Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen-age based in Washington. photographic coverage of the war activist who was shot in the head in in Europe including Robert Capa’s 2012 by the Taliban PEOPLE REMEMBERED photos from the D-Day invasion. He for advocating for Fred Ferguson, an OPC member later became picture editor of Ladies’ girls education. El- since 1984 who once edited the Bul- Home Journal, executive editor of don described Ma- letin, died Aug. 22. He was 82. Fer- Magnum Photos, an assistant man- lala as a “true hero” guson began his career as a stringer aging editor at The Washington Post and “creative activ- on Pacific Stars and Stripes during and picture editor of The New York ist extraordinaire, the Korean War covering the south- Murray Rosenbaum ern Japanese Islands. He spent 27 Times. Morris is the subject of “Get who is using the Eldon the Picture,” an award-winning doc- power of story tell- years at United Press International, umentary that was released on DVD ing to impact the world.” where his father had also worked, in August. and served as a reporter and editor CAPE TOWN: It’s a Black/ at bureaus in Mississippi, New York PARIS: Stefania Rousselle, White Thing by OPC member Don- and New Jersey. He later became an OPC member, reports that she na Bryant has been shortlisted for regional executive for New Jersey, and multimedia editor Mimi Cha- the City Press Tafelberg Nonfiction Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. karova are working to have their Award, given for books that add to One of his fondest memories was feature-length documentary “Men: the understanding of society, his- escorting former President Harry S. A Love Story” ready in time for the tory and politics in South Africa. Truman on his daily walks. At the Sundance Film Festival that begins The book was reviewed in the June OPC’s first Tchotchke Night in 2010, in January. Rousselle described it Bulletin. Ferguson shared a story about hiding as “an unprecedented dark comedy a walkie talkie under a baby car- about men’s thoughts on women, sex TOKYO: Brian Bremner, who riage to dictate scoops from outside and love” presented in a “collection had been assistant managing edi- a Russian mission on Long Island. of stories told in an honest, uncen- tor of Bloomberg Businessweek, is After leaving UPI, Ferguson worked sored, uncompromised, unapologetic headed to Tokyo to become manag- in public relations, first for 8 years and definitely not politically correct ing editor for enterprise for Bloom- at an agency now known as Ogilvy narrative.” She is an award-winning berg News in Asia. He spent 15 PR and then at PR Newswire for 15 freelance video journalist based in years in Asia, with stints in Tokyo years. A favorite phrase of his was: Paris. and Hong Kong, and won the 1998 “Now I’m a flack instead of a hack!” Overseas Press Club of America’s Ferguson was a second-generation BEIJING: Tsinghua University Morton Frank Award for coverage of member of the Silurians. His father, Press will publish a Chinese transla- the Asian financial crisis. also named Fred, was a boyhood tion of On the Front Lines of the Cold friend of Roy Howard (of Scripps- War: An American Correspondent’s WASHINGTON: Steve Cen- Howard fame) and spent many years Journal From the Chinese Civil War tanni, a veteran foreign correspon- as president of the Newspaper Enter- to the Cuban Missile Crisis and Viet- dent for Fox News, is retiring. He prise Association. nam by Seymour Topping, an OPC traveled throughout the Middle East board member. The book, originally and reported from the , In a career that spanned Morse published in 2010 by Louisiana State Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and code to satellites and the Internet, University Press, documents Top- he also covered the 2011 murder Tony Beard, the longtime commu- ping’s travels and trial of the Somali pirates who killed nications manager in the London Bureau of The New York Times, was reporting for the four Americans after hijacking their often compared to Q, James Bond’s International News yacht. He and Olaf Wiig, a freelance technology expert. He died Aug. 17 Service, the AP and cameraman from New Zealand, were at age 80. He spent 46 years in the The New York Times kidnapped in Gaza and held for 13 bureau – 1955 to 2001 – seeking fast- during a tumultuous days in August 2006. Ten days after er, easier and less cumbersome ways period. the kidnapping, a video was released Michael Dames to transmit stories and photos. John showing the two men in Arab robes Topping Burns, a two-time Pulitzer Prize win- LOS ANGE- reading from the Koran to indicate ner and former London Bureau chief, LES: OPC member Kathy Eldon their conversion to Islam. Centanni reports that she and her daughter, said he and Wiig had been forced at (Continued on Page 8)

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 7 (Continued From Page 7) final joke shortly before his death: Times in 1997, he taught journalism said Beard “had seen the likes of me “Tell them I’m out of scoops.” at the University of Southern Cali- – young man in a hurry, impatient fornia and at the University of Cali- of cautions from those minding the Jim Frederick, a foreign corre- fornia, Berkeley. home front, eager to escape the of- spondent, editor and author died July (Continued From Page 5) fice and head out to the badlands – 31 in Oakland, Calif. He was 42 and battle between drug cartels and the many times over the years. He had his wife said the cause of death was Mexican army. Her reporting took grown accustomed to his meticu- cardiac arrest. Frederick wrote Black her deep into the state of Sinaloa, a lously prepared technological wiz- Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent violent center of the country’s drug ardry disappearing out the door of into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of industry. his base in the London Bureau, only Death, an account of the 2006 mur- Gomez Licon used social media to return, if it ever did, abused and ders of an Iraqi family, and the rape to gather information and develop battered, and to the expectations that of their 14-year-old daughter by four a network of sources before going he could somehow wring replace- U.S. soldiers. Frederick worked for to the area, and took digital security ments from his stores, and explain it Men’s Journal and Working Woman precautions while reporting on the all to the budget overseers in New magazines, but spent most of his ground. She shared some of her best York. And he did all of this with a career at Time Inc., where he was common-sense advice for correspon- meticulous courtesy, a tolerance for a reporter and editor for Money and dents working in dangerous places. overblown stories of derring-do, and Time magazines. At Time, his jobs Gather information about your a good humor that marked him out included managing destination before you go, and fa- as a truly civilized man.” editor of Time.com, Tokyo Bureau chief miliarize yourself with local media. Always have an exit strategy. Iden- Chapman Pincher, a British and senior editor in tify two or three alternative escape journalist who unmasked Soviet London in charge routes. spies and tormented prime minis- of the news week- Travel in groups. Plan your re- ters, was 100 years old when he ly’s international porting with other journalists or a died Aug. 5 at his home in Kintbury, coverage. In 2008 Frederick fixer, and tell your plans to trusted England. He had an extraordinary while he was in allies. Be a moving target. Change 30-year career unearthing state se- Tokyo, he was the co-author of The your location frequently, and don’t crets as the defense and science Reluctant Communist, with Charles spend too much time in one place. correspondent of The London Daily Robert Jenkins, a U.S. soldier who Keep your Facebook settings Express, then England’s best-selling deserted his post in Korea in 1965, private, and disable geolocation newspaper. Pincher, who was known crossed the border and remained on apps such as and Insta- as “the lone wolf of Fleet Street,” in for 40 years. After gram. Keep GPS features turned on worked as a one-man investigative leaving Time Inc. in 2013, Freder- for private apps like Find Friends, unit producing scoop after scoop ick had traveled extensively with his which can help editors or police of postwar military secrets. He was wife, Time senior editor Charlotte track you down if you drop out of proud of being likened to a kind of Greensit, whom he met while sta- contact. official urinal in tioned in London. Gomez Licon also addressed which ministers and the particular dangers of reporting defense chiefs could Kenneth B. Noble, a reporter as a woman. She said she remains stand patiently leak- who headed the West Africa bureau vigilant of her surroundings, and on ing. He retired from of The New York Times from 1989 guard when approaching groups of the Express in 1979 to 1994, died July 17 in Gainesville, men. But mostly, she hasn’t found and went on to write Fla. He was 60 and died of conges- gender to be a barrier to her report- more than 30 books. tive heart failure. Noble also cov- Pincher ing, and in the Sinaloa it might have His best-known ered business in Washington and been an advantage. book was 1981’s Their Trade Is was the newspaper’s Los Angeles “In this kind of story I think it Treachery, where he made the case bureau chief during the O. J. Simp- helped me that I was a young wom- that Roger Hollis, a former director son trial. While reporting from two an, that I could sort of relate to the general of MI5, was a Soviet spy. dozen countries along Africa’s west lives of these young women,” she Those charges were denied. Pincher coast, Noble covered the civil wars said. “I found that the mother sort published his last book in February, in Liberia and Angola, the AIDS had a motherly attitude toward me, a memoir titled Dangerous to Know. pandemic in Zaire and coup at- and I think that helped her to really His son said Pincher had made a tempts in Nigeria. After leaving the get into how she felt.”

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 8 PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE... By Susan Kille Press freedom advocates were outside the United States,” Howard his time between Washington and struck this summer by an unexpected Chua-Eoan, chairman of the Free- Kabul, was denounced as a spy and similarity between Tehran and Fergu- dom of the Press Committee, and banned from returning to Afghani- son, Mo.: both detained reporters for Michael Serrill, OPC president said stan after he refused to reveal sourc- The Washington Post. in a statement dated Aug. 19. “It is es for a story. It was the first expul- Jason Rezaian, the Tehran Bureau therefore with both shame and out- sion of a Western journalist from chief for the Post, and his wife, jour- rage that we condemn the police ac- Afghanistan since the Taliban was nalist Yeganeh Salehi, were arrested tions in Ferguson that have put not ousted in 2001. on July 22 along with a photographer only American reporters at risk in Statements issued in July and and the photographer’s non-journalist their own country but also have en- August by the Foreign Press Asso- husband. Iran of- dangered journalists from other na- ciation in Israel about the treatment ficials, who waited tions who have come to cover the of journalists covering the latest con- until Aug. 18 to give story.” flict in Gaza faulted both Israel and a statement, said the Getty Images photographer Scott Hamas but came down particularly arrests were for se- Olson was among those detained. hard on Hamas for intimidating for- curity reasons. The Pancho Bernasconi, an OPC board eign reporters. The FPA represents photographer, whose member and Getty’s vice president about 480 resident correspondents family asked that her Rezaian for news, said in a statement that Ol- and hundreds more visiting Israel name not be pub- son later told him: “I want to be able and Palestine each year. lished, was released Aug. 21; her hus- to do my job as a member of the me- And while democracy has swept band was freed July 28. Rezaian and dia and not be arrested for just doing Latin America in recent decades, the the photographer are dual American- my job.” Knight Center for Journalism in the Iranian citizens. Salehi, who reports Ferguson is not the only trou- Americas has found that the region for The National in Abu Dhabi, is an bling domestic press freedom issue. falls short on a major component of Iranian citizen. Rezaian and Salehi On Aug. 14, advocacy group Roots democracy: transparency in govern- have not been heard from since their Action presented the Justice De- ment. In August, the center released arrest. partment with a petition with more Transparency and Accountability: It is not unusual for journalists de- than 100,000 names asking that the Journalism and Access to Public tained in Iran to be held in solitary and U.S. government stop all legal ac- Information in Latin America and to be unable to contact their employers tion against James Risen, a reporter the Caribbean, a free e-book that or family, said OPC member Roxana for The New York Times who may explores access to information in 11 Saberi, an American-Iranian journal- be jailed for not revealing a source. Latin America counties and the Ca- ist who in 2009 was held in Tehran for Risen, who has exhausted all legal ribbean region. 100 days on charges of espionage. Sa- appeals, has refused to testify pros- beri, who works for Al Jazeera Amer- ecution of a former CIA official MURDERS ica in New York, said she believed in- whom prosecutors believe provided The International News Safety ternational pressure helped lead to her classified information that appears Institute in July released “Killing release. Douglas Jehl, foreign editor in Risen’s 2006 book, State of War. the Messenger,” a biannual survey of the Post and an OPC member, said, Fourteen Pulitzer Prize winners re- of news media casualties around the “we are deeply troubled by this news leased statements on Aug. 11 in sup- world. INSI found that Ukraine was and are concerned for the welfare” of port Risen. the most dangerous country for jour- Rezaian and Salehi. Meanwhile, Afghanistan showed nalists in the first six months of 2014 In Ferguson, of rare agreement with neighboring with seven journalists killed. Iraq, the Post and at least 10 other journal- Pakistan when it expelled Matthew Syria and Pakistan were next on the ists were detained and released with- Rosenberg, a cor- list. INSI said 61 journalists died car- out charge while covering protests respondent for The rying out their work in the first half that followed the fatal shooting of an New York Times, of the year, a distressing increase unarmed teenager by a police officer. on Aug. 20. In May from the 40 journalists who had died The OPC joined other press groups 2013, Pakistan ex- in the same period during 2013. and human rights organizations pro- pelled Rosenberg’s Since the last Bulletin, these testing detentions of journalists. colleague Declan deaths have been reported: “Throughout its history, the OPC Walsh, who now Rosenberg has mostly sought to safeguard re- covers Pakistan Simone Camilli, an Italian video porters on hazardous assignments from London. Rosenberg, who split journalist based in Beirut for the AP, OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 9 (Continued From Page 9) Colleagues of Octavio Rojas Aug. 14. The attackers did not steal died Aug. 13 in an explosion in the Hernández, a Mexican journal- money or belongings, causing offi- Gaza Strip, becoming the first in- ist, linked his Aug. 11 murder to a cials to rule out robbery. The body ternational journalist killed in the story published two days earlier in of Herlyn Iván Espinal Martínez latest Gaza conflict. He was killed which he tied a local police chief was found July 21 at a ranch in the along with Palestinian journalist Ali to a criminal gang. Rojas was shot Yoro province, three days after he Shehda Abu Afash, who was serv- four times outside his home in the was kidnapped. ing as Camilli’s interpreter and who state of Oaxaca. Authorities said the worked regularly with foreign cor- killer was a young man who said he The body of Timur Kuashev, an respondents. They were among six came to purchase a car. Rojas, the independent journalist in the auton- people killed in the explosion, which fifth journalist to be murdered this omousa Kabardino-Balkar republic occurred when an unexploded-ord- year in Mexico, was a reporter for in the Russian Caucasus, was found nance squad in Gaza attempted to El Buen Tono, a daily newspaper in Aug. 1 in woods near Nalchik, the defuse a bomb. Four others were the nearby state of Veracruz, the site republic’s capital. An editor at Dosh, injured, including AP photographer of violent turf wars between drug a magazine where Kuashev worked Hatem Moussa. At least nine Pal- gangs. Two weeks earlier, commu- as Nalchik correspondent, said that estinians working in the media have nity radio journalist Kuashev regularly received threats. been killed since the start of fighting Indalecio Benítez on July 8. In addition to Abu Afash, narrowly survived Nolberto Herrera Rodríguez, a the dead include two members of the an ambush in Luvi- television journalist in Mexico, was Palestinian Network for Journalism anos that killed his found July 29 stabbed to death in and Media, the editor Mahmoud Al- 12-year-old son. his Guadalupe home. He had been Khassas and a photographer, Rami stabbed more than 20 times. Her- Rayan; also Khalid Hamad, a cam- Luis Carlos rera Rodríguez worked for a station eraman for Continue TV; Hamdi Cervantes Solano, Hernández in Zacatecas state, a notorious drug- Shehab, a driver for the Media 24 the director of the trafficking hub. news agency; Baha Edeen Gharib, community radio station in northern Israeli affairs editor for Palestinian Colombia, was gunned down Aug. Kaled Aghah Yaghubi, a ra- TV, and his 16-year-old daughter 12 after accusing the local mayor’s dio show host in Afghanistan, was Ola; Abdurrahman Abu Hina, a staff of plotting to kill him. gunned down July 13 in front of programming staffer at Al-Kitab TV, his children in his home in Mazar- Mohammed Smirir, who worked Two killings this summer e-Sharif, the capital of the northern for the Gaza Now website; and brought the 2014 death toll of jour- province of Balkh. The manager of Khaled Hamed, who worked for nalists in Honduras to seven. Nery the radio station said the attacker Ray News Agency. Francisco Soto Torres, a television rang Yaghubi’s doorbell about 1 p.m. news anchor in northern Hondu- and opened fire when the journalist’s ras, was killed outside his home on 4-year-old son opened the door.

LETTERS The July/August Bulletin included a story about the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Lucy Birmingham, president of the FCCJ, made these comments in a letter to the OPC:

• The membership campaign was launched last year in October and finished this year in March. • The FCCJ is still solidly run by journalists. The public interest incorporated association status simply requires that we gear 50% of our activities toward the public. The club has already been doing close to this for years, so it’s not a big change. One of the big advantages of this new status is the right to receive donations. This will be a great help to us. • At the same time, we decided that as a group of foreign reporters, we were not equipped to handling the complexities of a full restaurant and banqueting operation, which was posting large losses. We therefore decided to bring in an outsource partner, one of Japan’s biggest hotel and restaurant operators, allowing the Board and Club management to focus on the journalistic activities that are at the core of what we do. • A handful of members filed one lawsuit against the club. In short, we had to outsource or face possible closure. We faithfully negotiated financial packages for full-time, regular employees, and others. Probably the part-timers were let go. • The building in the photo is not the proposed new location, which has not yet begun construction. • As always, we look forward to visits by OPC members when coming to Japan.

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 10 Meet the OPC Members: A Q&A with Steve Herman By Susan Kille Steve Herman is a well-traveled OPC member who served five consecutive years as chairman of The Foreign Press in Japan and a one-year term as presi- dent of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. He also was president of the Seoul Foreign Corre- spondents Club. He recently agreed to answer a few questions from the OPC.

Current assignment and title Southeast Asia bu- reau chief/ correspondent, Voice of America (respon- sible for covering 20 countries).

Hometown Nomad roaming Asia for 25 years, who owns a house in Tokyo, currently lives in Bangkok, has Nevada residency and is a Cincinnati native (and still a Reds fan). Steve Herman reporting from the Maidan (Independence Square) in Kiev, Ukraine in 2014 Age 54. Education M.A. in Public Diplomacy earned at Mountain State University after many years of class- room and online learning at various universities, in- cluding American University, Harvard and The New School.

Languages Able to converse fluently in Japanese with sushi chefs, can give taxi directions in several languages, including Korean and Thai.

First job in the business Helping an older friend hawk newspapers to passing motorists at a Cincin- nati intersection. Years after that in the late 1970s, I worked part-time at several radio stations in south- ern Nevada while going to high school and college simultaneously. Herman, right, inside an air force helicopter over Sri Lanka as Countries I’ve reported from More than 20 (most- the civil war comes to a close in 2009. ly in Asia, but also in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Kyrgyzstan, etc.). Dream job The one I have right now. Organizations I’ve reported for An alphabet soup over the last 35 years including freelancing for ABC, CBC, Place I’m most eager to visit Antarctica, even though CBS, CNN, NBC and NPR before becoming a staff cor- I hate the cold. respondent for VOA. The country I most want to return to Bhutan. I’ve Best advice about journalism I’ve received “Don’t been there five times and it’s as close to the fabled Shan- stay in this business if you want to make money.” gri-La as there is on this planet with its simple Buddhist bliss and ema datshi national dish (made of yak cheese My best advice to budding correspondents “You’ll and chili peppers). The arra moonshine isn’t bad either. stumble onto your best stories by serendipity. So always carry around a high-quality discreet camera and have Books I’ve authored Two forgettable novels, a pictorial some way to jot notes.” about Bhutan and a salacious travel guide decades ago that had modest success under a nom de plume I still While traveling, I always… Try to find one good res- dare not reveal. taurant and hotel I can recommend to colleagues. (See my 200 reviews on TripAdvisor.) Twitter handle: @W7VOA My journalism heroes are Ambrose Bierce, Lafcadio Want to add to the OPC’s collection of Q&A’s with mem- Hearn, Edward R. Murrow, Ernie Pyle, Neil Sheehan bers? Contact Susan Kille at [email protected].

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 11 and Fly Rod & Reel. Yorker. In Age of Ambition: Chasing Bears is chiefly concerned with Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New New Books urban wildlife in the United States, UNITED STATES China, Osnos writes about what he but the concept grew from Ricciuti’s ITH BEARS IN THE BACK- calls China’s Gilded Age and “the reporting on socio-eco- collision of two forces: aspi- Wyard: Big Animals, Sprawling nomic issues of wildlife Suburbs, and the New Urban Jungle ration and authoritarianism.” conservation in develop- Readers of Osnos’s “Let- joining a long list books that include ing countries “and trying Killer Animals, Killers of the Seas ters From China” for The to make people here un- New Yorker know his skill and The Devil’s Garden, you could derstand why a poor Afri- wonder if OPC member Ed Ricciuti in story telling and his sense can farmer might not look of irony. Fans will recognize wants people to stay inside reading favorably on elephants instead of venturing outside. Ricciu- some portraits of the politi- when they are trampling cal elite, billionaires, dissi- ti said he just wants people to have his crops and kids.” He a healthy respect for wild dents, members of the newly saw parallels prosperous middle class and animals when outside. between vil- everyday people but Osnos Ricciuti is a science lagers in Zim- has revisited them as their journalist, naturalist, and babwe struggling with el- lives evolved. He reworks his earlier former curator at the New ephants and suburbanites in reporting and adds to it to trace Chi- York Zoological Society Westchester County, N.Y., na’s journey from poverty to a world (now the Wildlife Conser- coping with deer. power. vation Society) who has Urban wildlife once The transformation of China, Os- traveled the world writing meant rabbits, raccoons nos writes, was 100 times the scale about wildlife. A steadfast and possums but now coy- interest in how humans otes, cougars and bears and 10 times the speed of the first think about and interact show up in backyards and Industrial Revolution that created with wild animals has led on streets. In Bears, Ric- modern Britain. The rewards of that to more than 80 books for adults and ciuti explores the latest research on dramatic economic ascent may be young people and four file cabinet what is happening and what it means unevenly distributed, but he reports drawers filled with his articles for while telling readers how to protect that by “almost every measure, the publications such as Audubon, Field themselves from dangers. Chinese people have achieved lon- & Stream, Outside, Wildlife Conser- ger, healthier, more educated lives.” vation, Science Digest, USA Today CHINA Osnos, who won two OPC awards VAN OSNOS WITNESSED for reporting from Asia, will be among E a time of extraordinary growth the speakers at the China Hands Re- and upheaval in China as a for- union, described on Page 3, that the eign correspondent based in Beijing OPC is co-sponsoring on Sept. 12. He from 2005 to 2013, first for the Chi- is now based in Washington for The cago Tribune and then for The New Upcoming Events New Yorker. — By Susan Kille After James Foley: Overseas Press Club of America Covering Conflict 40 West 45 Street 7 p.m. Sept. 9 New York, NY 10036 USA China Hands Reunion 12:30 p.m. Sept. 12 Vote The OPC Is Going Green! Amendment : Starting in October, the OPC Bulletin will be e-mailed Deadline to members. This will save the club thousands of 5:00 p.m. Sept. 17 dollars a year on printing and postage costs as well as help the environment. If you wish to continue to What in the World receive a printed copy of the Bulletin through the post 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 office, e-mail [email protected] or call the From the Outside In OPC at 212 626-9220 and we will be happy to send it 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 to you.

OPC Bulletin • September 2014 • Page 12

Top View