THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, , NY • June 2013 OPC Urges Obama to End Excessive Secrecy by Susan Kille, Larry Martz and Aimee Vitrak The OPC’s Freedom of the Press Committee has written hundreds of letters to foreign governments pro- testing abuses of the press. It is tes- timony to the success of democracy in America that relatively few such letters have been needed at home. In the past ten years, however, the Committee has written 18 letters complaining of press freedom abus- es by the Bush and Obama admin- istrations. A year ago, the Commit- President Obama announced a review of press freedom guidelines tee organized a panel in Washington during a major speech on defense and security on May 23. D.C., co-sponsored with the Na- He set a deadline of 12 July for a response. tional Press Club, calling attention to President Obama’s prosecution of its reach with had stopped six government whistle-blowers un- there, but on the heels of the AP re- OPC Letter to Obama der the Espionage Act – more than port arrived news of a re- all such cases put together since the porter. James Rosen broke the news May 28, 2013

Act was passed in 1917. But the May that was planning mis- Dear Mr. President: 13 disclosure that the Department of sile launches in fierce defiance of the Justice has subpoenaed two months U.N. Security Council’s 2009 con- The Overseas Press Club of of records from 2012 of more than demnation of Pyongyang’s nuclear America thanks you for your ac- 20 telephone lines used by AP re- program. knowledgement that “journalists porters triggered outrage among The DOJ searched Rosen’s per- should not be at legal risk for do- defenders of press freedom and this sonal e-mails and spied on his move- ing their jobs,” which we believe Committee. And if only the news of ments in an investigation that led to should be the standard for the Unit- the federal government overstepping the indictment of State Department ed States and every other nation. security adviser Stephen Jin-Woo Recent leak investigations, particu- Inside. . . Kim on charges of disclosing nation- larly the probes into Fox News and al defense information. the , have indeed Kamber Book Night Recap...... 3 Between these two disclosures overstepped the customary boundar- People...... 5-8 came conflicting messages from ies that have safeguarded reporters President Obama. On May 16, pursuing legitimate stories on what People Remembered...... 8 Obama said he had “no apologies” the government is doing, and we are for launching investigations into gratified that you have called for re- Profile: George Bookman...... 9 national security threats and offered consideration of these policies. AP and the Fourth Estate...... 10 “complete confidence” in Attorney We remain troubled, however, General . He declined to that you have entrusted this re- Berlinica Book Night...... 10 comment on the case, but defended thinking to Attorney General Eric Film Recap...... 11 the seizure of records in broad terms: H. Holder Jr., in effect asking him “U.S. national security is depen- to investigate himself and his own New Books...... 12 (Continued on Page 2) (Continued on Page 4) (Continued From Page 1) shield law to guard against government overreach. And dent on those folks being able to operate with confidence I’ve raised these issues with the Attorney General, who that folks back home have their backs, so they’re not just shares my concerns. So he has agreed to review existing left out there high and dry, and potentially put in even Department of Justice guidelines governing investiga- more danger than they may already be. And so I make no tions that involve reporters, and he’ll convene a group of apologies, and I don’t think the American people would media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that expect me as Commander-in-Chief not to be concerned review. And I’ve directed the Attorney General to report about information that might compromise their missions back to me by July 12th.” The troubling aspects of this statement are how the or might get them killed. DOJ leaks will be investigated, the limits of a shield law “Now, the flip side of it is we also live in a democracy and the person charged with leading the investigation. where a free press, free expression and the open flow of To aid the DOJ investigation, phone records were information helps hold me accountable, helps hold our seized that could have assisted in ascertaining where government accountable, and helps our democracy func- security leaks might have originated. Record seizure is tion. And the whole reason I got involved in politics is an effective tool in rooting out the broad term “national because I believe so deeply in that democracy and that security,” so there’s no reason the government would re- process.” fuse to invoke a resource to protect vague “national in- Obama channeled both sides of the argument in the terests.” Rose Garden that day but left many in the media uneasy Shield laws only protect a reporter’s privilege from with the “no apologies” statement, which became the revealing sources and documents. The Privacy Protec- headline of his speech. Then, on May 23, Obama deliv- tion Act of 1980 and the present Free Flow of Infor- ered his first major speech on counterterrorism and it in- mation Act — similar to shield laws in most states that cluded his parameters, for now, for journalists: Charles Schumer is working to reintroduce to Congress “I believe we must keep information secret that pro- — do not prevent a phone company or Internet service tects our operations and our people in the field. To do provider from handing over data on its customers; this so, we must enforce consequences for those who break information is technically third-party information and the law and breach their commitment to protect classi- can be had with a subpoena. In the AP case, the subpoena fied information. But a free press is also essential for our was issued in secret without the AP’s knowledge; in the democracy. That’s who we are. And I’m troubled by the Fox News case, the DOJ said notification of the subpoe- possibility that leak investigations may chill the inves- na was sent three years ago to News Corp., the parent tigative journalism that holds government accountable. company of Fox News, but News Corp. has refuted this “Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their claim. jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law. Finally, the very person who oversees the DOJ has And that’s why I’ve called on Congress to pass a media (Continued on Page 4)

OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS

PRESIDENT SECRETARY Deidre Depke Santiago Lyon ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS Michael Serrill Jonathan Dahl Executive Editor VP and Director of ­MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Assistant Managing Former Editor-in-Chief The Daily Beast Photography Brian Byrd David A. Andelman Editor Smart Money Associated Press Program Officer John Corporon Bloomberg Markets Adam B. Ellick NYS Health Allan Dodds Frank ACTIVE BOARD *Video and Print Marcus Mabry Foundation Alexis Gelber FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Jacqueline Albert- Editor at Large William J. Holstein Tim Ferguson Simon International Herald Emma Daly Marshall Loeb Editor U.S. Bureau Chief * on leave attending Tribune Communications Larry Martz Forbes Asia Politique Internationale Harvard Kennedy School Director Roy Rowan John Martin Leonard Saffir SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Amar C. Bakshi Arlene Getz Writer/Editor Larry Smith Abigail Pesta JD/MBA student Editor-in-Charge, Media Sarah Lubman Richard B. Stolley Freelance Journalist Yale University Thomson Reuters Romesh Ratnesar Partner Deputy Editor Brunswick Group EXECUTIVE THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Rebecca Azmat Khan Bloomberg DIRECTOR Toni Reinhold Blumenstein Senior Digital Producer Businessweek Minky Worden Sonya K. Fry Editor in Charge, Deputy Editor in Chief Al Jazeera Director of Global New York Desk Tom Squitieri Initiatives EDITOR Reuters Evelyn Leopold Freelance Journalist Human Rights Watch Aimee Vitrak Paul Brandus Independent Journalist TREASURER West Wing Report United Nations Seymour Topping Abi Wright OPC Dorinda Elliott Emeritus Director ISSN-0738-7202 Global Affairs Editor Howard Chua-Eoan Dafna Linzer Professor of Alfred I. duPont – ­Copyright © 2002 Conde Nast Traveler Former News Director Managing Editor International Over­seas Press Club of Time MSNBC.com Journalism Awards America Columbia University 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 2 Photojournalists Come Out to Support Kamber’s Book EVENT RECAP: MAY 15 by Aimee Vitrak There was a palpable “wow” factor happening in the 25CPW Gallery on May 15 as Michael Kamber’s five- year project had been finalized in his book, Photojour- nalists on War. The gallery space was large and allowed for series of photos from various journalists featured in the book to be displayed along with quotes from the pho- tojournalists on what it’s like to cover war. Andrea Bruce’s photos were displayed with this quote: “I started to divide my life into two different realms. I have a bulletproof vest and I travel with ten ©Benjamin Petit/Haytham Pictures thousand dollars in my sock. I wear an abaya half the Michael Kamber, center, rests a hand on David Carr, time and my helmet the other half, like some sort of de- media reporter for The New York Times, who introduced ranged superhero or something.” This exhibition was the Kamber and spoke about the book. rare instance where placards felt as heavy and meaning- ful as the images on the wall. Even with the large space, the crowd assembled were elbow-to-elbow vying for a place to listen to speeches from speakers who stood on a low riser. New York Times media reporter David Carr was a surprise guest and introduced his friend’s book. “I’m privileged to be in a space among great work that immoralizes an important point of American history,” Carr began. “Everybody brags about their friend’s book, but this is a book that will stand a long time to come. These [photojournalists] are silent witnesses, they’re not talkers. In this book, we get access into a kind of priesthood.” Carr recommended that everyone take a good look at the photos as the “busi- ©Benjamin Petit/Haytham Pictures ness model that supported these photos is changing fast” Andrea Bruce’s photos accompanied a quote from her on and a book like Kamber’s “won’t happen again.” how difficult it can be to cover war. Kamber was up next and said that the book began unintentionally when he got together with Yuri Ko- zyrev one night in and they began to talk about work and Kamber turned on a tape recorder and let it roll. “It’s the work of incredible people,” Kamber said of the 75 people he interviewed for the book, only half made it into the final edit. “Photographers didn’t charge me [for the photos in the book], but the news organiza- tions did,” Kamber said to knowing laughs among the crowd. He spoke about two photographers in Baghdad who had died and took a moment to compose himself as the crowd settled, seeing vestiges of the emotional toll of covering the Iraq War. Dexter Filkins spoke last and played the crowd up Sonya K. Fry and down like a conductor, at once being humorous, From left: Lynsey Addario, Dexter Filkins and then serious. “Photographer’s brains are black boxes,” Michael Kamber stand before photographs at the he said. “You don’t know what goes in or comes out but exhibit taken by Christoph Bangert. look at these photos. Nobody asks them what they think. They’re the ones finding the human condition in this rub- Iraq War was going on, it was so polarizing. But you ble and they don’t say a thing but that’s the genius of this don’t hear ‘traitor’ anymore [for photographers covering book. I had no idea they were thinking so hard. the war]. No one would argue now that the Iraq War was “The amazing thing about this book is that when the great. Why? Because these guys did their work.”

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 3 (Continued From Page 2) accurate, leaves much to be desired. He would have been been placed in charge of investigating his own depart- less conspicuous had he walked into the State Depart- ment. The veracity of the findings will be, on its face, ment wearing a sandwich board lettered with his inten- called into question. If journalists must strive for fair and tions to obtain classified information and then blasted an balanced reporting, it is not too grandiose a hope for the air horn to further alert authorities to his business.” federal government to do the same and issue an indepen- Jane Mayer, a staff writer with , dent investigation into why and how the DOJ has so con- echoed Shafers’s notions in The New York Times May sistently impeded free speech in the hunt for leaks and 24 article saying that during the Bush Administration, given convenient explanations of “national security.” she had to remind herself that “the ‘e’ in e-mail stands for “evidence” and instead, met people in person to talk The New York Times wrote on May 25 that the fallout about topics that are touchy.” from the government investigations has created a chill- Still, the AP case is difficult to fathom because its re- ing effect on sources: “Some officials are now declining porters and editors behaved responsibly in reporting its to take calls from certain reporters, concerned that any story. Not only did it notify all concerned in the investi- contact may lead to investigation…and the government gation, it delayed publishing the story until the CIA said officials typically must pay for lawyers themselves, un- publication would pose no threat to national security. like reporters for large news organizations whose com- The OPC Freedom of the Press Committee is now panies provide legal representation.” chaired by Board Member Howard Chua-Eoan who Jack Shafer of Reuters issued a strong note of dissent will oversee the committee and continue to write and edit with journalists who feel under attack in a column titled: letters to President Obama and seek press freedom coali- “What was James Rosen thinking?” Shafer takes Rosen tions that urge for greater protections for journalists. to task for not protecting his sources better. He writes: In outlining the OPC’s argument with the Obama Ad- “…reporters should never depend on the law alone to ministration’s sliding position on press freedom, OPC protect them and their sources from exposure. By ob- President Michael Serrill closed his letter: “We urge serving sound tradecraft in the reporting of such delicate you to take concrete action, not only to curb the most stories, they can keep themselves and their sources from recent excesses and excuses of the Justice Department, getting buried when digging for a story. but to rethink the need for secrecy at all levels of your “Rosen’s journalistic technique, if the Post story is government.”

(OPC Letter Continued From Page 1) in order to gratify official dignity. in reflexive over-classification of Quite properly, the AP went ahead information. It is a time-honored bu- department. And we fear that this and published. reaucratic instinct. But it has gone limited review will not get to the Yet the Justice Department, underlying problem: the excessive too far, and it is long past time to rein in seeking the source of the leak, it in. When this excessive “security” secrecy that causes officials at all seized the records of more than 20 levels automatically to classify any was invoked to call James Rosen office and personal phones of AP of Fox News a “co-conspirator” in information that might embarrass reporters and editors. As we have someone in the government or cause violating the Espionage Act, it had previously protested, this was far a chilling effect on reporters and any conceivable problem. from a targeted action based on For just one example, consider editors everywhere. Rosen’s tactics well-grounded suspicion; instead, it in breaking the story of North Ko- the recent AP leak investigation. was an obvious fishing expedition rea’s plans for a missile launch were The wire service, having learned for any information that might turn completely legitimate reporting, that the CIA had foiled an al Qa- up, and the department has produced and have been accepted for genera- eda plot in Yemen to place a bomb no evidence that it had exhausted all on an airliner bound for the United other possible sources of the infor- tions by journalists and investigators States, at first held the story when mation needed. And on May 14, de- alike. We urge you to take concrete told it would pose a security risk. spite the White House’s willingness action, not only to curb the most Then, having been officially assured a year ago to announce the story, At- recent excesses and excuses of the that the risk had passed, the AP de- torney General Holder asserted that Justice Department, but to rethink cided to publish on May 12, 2012. this breach of secrecy was the worst the need for secrecy at all levels of We understand that the White House security violation he had ever seen, your government. did ask that the story be held until one that “put the American people at Respectfully, the CIA’s success was officially an- risk.” Michael Serrill nounced – in effect, a request to sac- Mr. President, your Administra- President rifice the hard-won exclusive story tion is far from the first to engage Overseas Press Club of America

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

OPC SCHOLARS tion for work in its home county to men Times established Yemen’s first Anders Melin, the 2013 recipi- improve press freedom. community radio station and pub- ent of the OPC Foundation’s Reuters lications to advocate for women’s Scholarship, also won a scholarship Tomás Munita, a Chilean pho- participation in politics. Al-Sakkaf’s in May from the Foreign Press Asso- tographer with a father, Abdulaziz, founded The Ye- ciation. Melin, a graduate student in primary interest in men Times in 1991 as the county’s New York University’s Business & social issues, has first independent English-language Economics Reporting program, has won the second an- newspaper. already begun his OPC Foundation nual Getty Images internship in the Reuters bureau in and Chris Hondros PRESS FREEDOM Brussels: a nice fit for his aspiration Fund Award. The It remains unclear why Paki- to cover the European Union’s eco- award is a memo- stan’s Interior Ministry expelled De- nomic and fiscal policy and global rial to Chris Hon- Munita clan Walsh, Islamabad bureau chief financial markets. dros, who was killed two years ago for The New York Times, on May by mortar fire while working in 11, the night of national elections. WINNERS Libya. Munita will receive $20,000. Walsh has reported from Pakistan Marie Colvin and Mika Yama- Bryan Denton, a freelancer based for nine years, covering violent po- moto posthumously shared the Inter- in Beirut, was named a finalist and litical convulsions, Islamist insur- national Press Institute’s (IPI) 2013 will receive $5,000. The awards gents and uneasy relations with the World Press Free- will be presented June 7 at a recep- . He was hired by The dom Hero award. tion at the New York Public Library, Times in January 2012 and previous- The women, who which will include a fund-raising ly worked . In a letter died last year while silent auction of photographs by of protest to Pakistan’s interior min- reporting in Syria, Slim Aarons, Dave Burnett, An- ister, Jill Abramson, executive edi- were honored in Colvin drea Bruce, Milton Greene Ernst tor of The Times, described Walsh as May for bravery Haas, Todd Heisler, John Moore, a “reporter of integrity who has at and professional- Randy Olson, Brent Stirton, Ma- all times offered balanced, nuanced ism while cover- rio Tama, Scout Tufankjian and and factual reporting on Pakistan” ing conflicts. Col- dozens of other award-winning pho- and asked that Walsh’s visa be rein- vin, an American tojournalists. stated. Walsh, now based in London, who worked for continues to cover Pakistan. the Sunday Times Yamamoto Nadia Al-Sakkaf, Yemen, chief of London special- editor of The Yemen Times, received ized in reporting from the world’s a Business for Peace Award, con- most dangerous places and was sidered the world’s highest honor killed in a shelling attack on a make- given to business leaders for fos- shift press center in Homs. She lost tering peace and stability. It was her left eye from a shrapnel wound awarded May 14 in Oslo, Norway. while reporting in Sri Lanka in 2001. She was one of Yamamoto, a Japanese photojour- five recipients cho- From left: Daily Monitor editors nalist who had covered wars in Af- sen by a process Henry Ochieng and Daniel Kalinaki ghanistan and Iraq, was working for that includes the with their lawyer. The Japan Press, an independent TV U.N. Development news provider specializing in cover- Program, the Inter- Police in Uganda raided the of- ing conflicts, when she was killed in national Chamber fices of the Daily Monitor, the coun- Aleppo. Witnesses said government of Commerce and Al-Sakkaf try’s leading private newspaper, and soldiers appeared to target her and past Nobel laure- the Red Pepper on May 20 follow- other press members. Also, Malay- ates in Peace and Economics. Under ing reports that President Yoweri sia’s Radio Free Sarawak won IPI’s Al-Sakkaf, who was part of a 2011 Museveni, who has been in power 2013 Free Media Pioneer Award, OPC program called “Women Lead- since 1986 and is due to step down which is given to a news organiza- ers in Middle East Media,” The Ye- (Continued on Page 6)

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 5 (Continued From Page 5) nap, torture and kill journalists and in 2016, is preparing his son to suc- other news providers.” Five names ceed him. The papers had published were added: Xi Jinping, the new a confidential letter, purportedly Chinese president; the Jihadi group written by an army general, about Jabhat Al-Nosra from Syria; mem- plans to assassinate officers opposed bers and supporters of Egypt’s Mus- to the succession. Henry Ochieng, lim Brotherhood; Pakistan’s Baloch the Daily Monitor’s political editor, armed groups; and Maldives’ reli- said about 50 plainclothes police en- gious extremists. Four past preda- tered the paper’s offices in Kampala tors were dropped: former Somali to search for evidence against the information and communications bushed a car carrying Abbas and her general. minister Abdulkadir Hussein Mo- crew near Dabaa, the Syrian Infor- hamed, Burmese President Thein mation Ministry said in a statement. Colombian authorities on May Sein, whose country is experiencing A cameraman and his assistant were 14 said they uncovered a plot for a unprecedented reforms despite eth- wounded, the report said. hit man to kill freelance investiga- nic violence, the Basque armed sep- tive journalist Gonzalo Guillén, aratist group ETA, and the Hamas Nineteen days after his family re- who has written for the Miami-based and Palestinian Authority security ported him missing, the body of ra- Spanish language newspaper El forces. dio journalist Mohammad Mohsin Nuevo Herald, as well as columnist Hashimi was discovered May 19 in León Valencia and political analyst Two Australian journalists, Nick a well near his home in the northeast Ariel Ávila. It is believed the hits McKenzie and Richard Baker of Afghanistan province of Kapisa. were ordered to retaliate for a 2011 of The Age, will not be ordered to A local official told reporters that investigation linking armed groups give evidence in a bribery case that Hashimi’s body had stab wounds. and politicians that developed from their reporting. His wife told police that he had re- led to more than Last December, a ceived threats before his disappear- 100 mayoral and magistrate issued ance. gubernatorial can- a summons that didates being dis- would have com- Three employees of a Bengali qualified. The an- pelled the two to daily in Agartala, the capital of the nouncement came Guillén reveal their con- northeastern Indian state of Tripura, two weeks after fidential sources. McKenzie died May 19 after multiple stabs. Po- Ricardo Calde- Fairfax Media ap- lice said two men stormed the offices rón, chief investi- pealed the magis- of Dainik Ganadoot around 3 p.m., gative reporter for trate’s decision to stabbed proofreader Sujit Bhattacha- the newsweekly Victoria’s Supreme rya and driver Balaram Ghosh be- Semana, escaped Court and lost but fore going upstairs and killing office a mafia-style hit. Valencia pressed on to the manager Ranjit Chowdhury, who po- Calderón was working on a story Court of Appeal, lice said bore a resemblance to Sush- Baker about how soldiers serving time on which in April said il Chowdhury, the editor and owner a military base after being convicted the magistrate did not have jurisdic- who lived upstairs. The assailants of human rights abuses were given tion to issue the summons. While escaped. The deaths and lack of ar- special privileges that included welcoming the decision, the IPI rests were condemned in India and shopping trips to Bogotá. Govern- urged the Australian government throughout the world; Tripura was ment officials said some 90 Colom- to introduce extensive and uniform crippled May 21 by a dawn-to-dusk bian journalists live and work under shield laws. protest strike. Sushil Chowdhury, government protection. believed to be the target of the assail- MURDERS ants, told reporters he was not aware On World Press Freedom Day, Yara Abbas, a prominent Syr- of a motive for the attack. May 3, Reporters Without Borders ian reporter for a state-owned Al- released an updated list of 39 Preda- Ikhbariyah TV, was killed by sniper Twelve days after Guylain tors of Freedom of Information — fire May 27 in Homs province near Chanjabo, a Congolese journalist, “presidents, politicians, religious Dabaa airport, which forces loyal to disappeared, his body was found leaders, militias and criminal orga- President Bashar al-Assad want to May 17 on the bank of the Ngezi nizations that censor, imprison, kid- recapture from rebels. Rebels am- River near the provincial capital of

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 6 Bunia, where Chanjabo worked at and produced dozens of interactive for ripping up the rule book.” Radio Canal Révélation. His badly projects under some of the highest decomposed body showed signs of editorial standards in journalism. Matthew Winkler, editor-in- strangulation. She will move to Washington and chief of Bloomberg News, apolo- begin the new job in June. gized in May after it was revealed Turkey’s Supreme Court of Ap- that Bloomberg peals ruled May 15 that a “crimi- NEW YORK: OPC’s former reporters used the nal gang” planned the 2007 murder headquarters overlooking Bryant company’s finan- Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian Park at 54 West 40 Street in mid- cial data terminals journalist who town Manhattan was recently pur- to view subscrib- was murdered out- chased for $32 million by the same ers’ contact in- side the offices of buyer who in 2010 agreed to pay formation and, in Winkler Agos, the newspa- $26.5 million, according to The New some cases, moni- per he founded in York Times. OPC bought the 11-sto- tor login activity. Those functions Istanbul. The rul- ry clubhouse from the Republican were promptly turned off after Gold- ing, which is ex- Club in 1961 and sold it in 1973 man Sachs complained that a re- pected to bring a Dink to Daytop Village, a rehabilitation porter knew that a partner had not retrial, overturned group. Eric Hader, a real estate de- logged onto his Bloomberg terminal a lower court’s judgment that only veloper, agreed to buy it from Day- lately. “Our client is right,” Winkler, two people, now serving prison top in 2010, but the deal ended when an OPC member, wrote in an online sentences, were behind the murder. Daytop declared bankruptcy. Hadar, apology. “Our reporters should not Dink’s family and friends say the who owns the abutting 50 W. 40th have access to any data considered state has protected the masterminds St., successfully bid again. Hadar is proprietary. I am sorry they did. The of a conspiracy behind the death. renovating No. 54 but there is talk error is inexcusable.” Supporters also say state agents bear of tearing down No. 54 and all but responsibility for neglecting threats the facade of No. 50 for an apart- Friends of the late CBS corre- against Dink. His death prompted ment and hotel tower of more than spondent Richard Threlkeld raised large street rallies and the case has 40 stories. brought criticism from the European money to endow OPC’s Corne- lius Ryan Award Union, which Turkey hopes to join, Insiders were surprised by the prize in his honor. over the country’s treatment of mi- May 20 announcement naming Deb- Threlkeld, who norities. orah Turness, edi- died in a car acci- tor of Britain’s ITV UPDATES News, as president dent in 2012, won BOSTON: Azmat Khan, an of NBC News. The six OPC awards OPC board member, is leaving surprise was not during his 30- PBS’s Frontline because she will be plus year career for a senior role as the first woman in at CBS and ABC. a digital producer the job but because The first Ryan with the flagship Turness award, which is NBC went outside Threlkeld and his news program of the company and for the best non- wife, former CNN Al Jazeera Amer- outside the coun- fiction book on correspondent ica. She wrote in try, although ITV international af- Betsy Aaron in her blog: “Relent- and NBC News fairs, endowed in 1999. Khan less, fiercely objec- have a content- Threlkeld’s honor tive journalism has sharing relation- was presented in April. Further do- always been paramount to my work, ship. Turness will nations can be sent to the Threlkeld and I see in AJA’s new channel a succeed Steve Ca- Capus Fund, 147-16 16th Road, Whites- bold, radical opportunity to raise the pus, who stepped tone, NY 11357. For information, bar in cable news: to do it differently down in February after nearly eight contact OPC member Beth Knobel and more seriously, with integrity, years in the job. The London Eve- at [email protected]. fairness, respect, transparency and ning Standard has described Tur- independence.” Since joining Front- ness, who starts her new job in Au- Five months after his kidnapping line in 2010, she has reported hun- gust, as a “tough but fair livewire.” in Syria, NBC News Chief Foreign dreds of digital investigative stories The Guardian said she is “renowned (Continued on Page 8)

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 7 (Continued From Page 7) boat near the Great 2008, foreign editor. In 2007, he was Correspondent Richard Engel and Pyramid at Giza diagnosed with aggressive prostate his production team returned to intended to con- cancer. After treatment he was told Syria on May 6 to investigate the vey the spirit of the the cancer was gone, but in 2010 it reported use of chemical weapons. pharaoh Cheops returned. As foreign editor, and af- In April, Engel stepped in at the last to the underworld; ter his diagnosis, Beeston continued moment to be an award presenter at and the 1956 Suez to cover frontline assignments, in- this year’s OPC Awards Dinner. Canal crisis, which Love cluding reporting from post-Saddam he revisited in a Iraq, Afghanistan and from behind AMMAN, Jordan: Palestin- 1969 book, Suez: The Twice-Fought rebel lines in Syria. He continued to ian journalist Daoud Kuttab and War. He joined The Times in 1948, oversee coverage while gravely ill, Miami Herald World Editor John working in the morgue before be- and was in the office three weeks Yearwood were elected May 21 coming a reporter in 1950. He at- before his death. The Times reported to the IPI Executive Board during tended and was he died peacefully at his west Lon- the group’s 62nd a pilot in the Navy Air Corps during don home after his wife, Natasha, General Assembly World War II. Love left The Times in read him four chapters of Evelyn here. Kuttab, who 1962 to cover culture and foreign af- Waugh’s Scoop. runs the Amman- fairs for USA1, a magazine that went based Community out of business after five issues. He Wayne Miller, a pioneering Media Network later taught journalism at the Ameri- photographer who took some of the an Arab Ngo, be- can University in Cairo and worked first images of the destruction of Hi- came the first Arab Kuttab for the Peace Corps. roshima, died May 22 at his home elected to IPI’s in Orinda, California. He was 94. board. Yearwood Richard Beeston, a foreign cor- Miller was among a small group of was also elected a respondent and later foreign editor photographers recruited by Edward vice-chair, replac- of The Times of London, was just Steichen to join a Navy photography ing Simon Li, for- 50 years old when he died of can- unit he had formed during World mer assistant man- cer May 18. Beeston spent 30 years War II. In the role, Miller captured aging editor of the reporting from trouble spots across images of U.S. troops in battle , Yearwood the globe, beginning his career at from the Philippines to the south who had served 21 covering South Africa and the of France. After the war, Miller re- two terms as vice-chair. Monjurul Lebanese civil war. He served for turned to his native Chicago, where, Ahsan Bulbul, editor-in-chief and a decade as Times correspondent in grants from the Guggenheim Foun- CEO of Boishakhi TV in Bangla- Jerusalem and then Moscow, where dation allowed him to spend three desh, and Pavol Múdry, founder he reported on the conflict in Chech- years producing a heralded collec- and former general manager of SI- nya. He was one of the first reporters tion of photographs of black life on TA-Slovak News Agency, will re- to arrive in the Iraqi Kurdish town the city’s South Side. Miller worked main as vice-chairs. Galina Sidoro- of Halabja after Saddam Hussein as a freelance photographer for Life, va, an investigative journalist and launched a chemical gas attack in Ebony, National Geographic and special correspondent of the Russian which 5,000 died. After many years other publications. From 1962 to monthly Sovershenno Secretno, will as the Time’s diplomatic editor, he 1968, he was president of the Mag- remain IPI’s chair for the next two became deputy foreign editor and in num Photos collective. years.

PEOPLE REMEMBERED The Midtown Executive Kennett Love, a correspondent One Complimentary in the Middle East for The New York Times in the early days of the cold Prix Fixe Lunch war, died May 14 of respiratory Weekdays noon to 2 p.m. at Club Quarters Midtown failure in Southampton, New York. 40 West 45 Street He was 88. Love, an OPC mem- When dining with a group of three guests or more. ber, covered the 1953 overthrow Only one voucher redeemable per table. of Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran’s For reservations: democratically elected prime minis- [email protected], [email protected] ter; the 1954 discovery of a 50-foot

OPC Bulletin • April 2012 • Page 8 Longtime Affinity for News Keeps Bookman Going by Myron Kandel stint as a Washington reporter for United Press. This profile originally appeared in the They had two children and George now has four March 2013 edition of the Silurian News and grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. has been edited for the OPC. George Bookman The Post offered George his old job back — is the oldest member of the Silurians and one but only at his old salary even though he now of the OPC’s long-time member, although not had a family and it was four years later. So he its oldest. went back to David Lawrence’s magazine and George B. Bookman, who turned 98 this later moved to Time’s Washington bureau. Next past December, has had a remarkable career in came Fortune’s board of editors in New York, news, wartime service, public relations and a and when that proved a bit dull, he went to Wall commitment to improving journalism. Street in 1962 as public relations chief of the His taste for journalism began as a teen when he New York Stock Exchange. wrote a social column for a newspaper on the Jersey At the NYSE, George won the respect of a bunch shore, but his professional career started when as a stu- of often-cynical Wall Street reporters, who found him dent at Haverford College he obtained a paid summer trustworthy and knowledgeable. He helped the exchange internship in the financial department of the New York President Keith Funston popularize the slogan “Own World-Telegram during the Great Depression. Your Share of American Business,” which attracted a Following graduation from Haverford as a member of new generation of investors to the stock market. Phi Beta Kappa in 1936, George sold a lengthy magazine After he and Janet bought a Revolutionary-era house article titled “Life Begins at Graduation” to the Ladies in Millbrook, New York, adjoining a sprawling arbore- Home Journal. It appeared while he working at The Vil- tum owned by the New York Botanical Garden, George lager, a Greenwich Village weekly, where, in addition to received a job offer he couldn’t refuse: heading public af- writing and editing news, he sold ads. After a year there, fairs at the Garden, which involved spending two days a he created, together with two equally young friends, an week at the arboretum. Among other achievements there, “ultra-progressive” newsletter for students and then start- he broadcast a program on gardening that ran on WCBS ed a newspaper feature service, which ran out of money radio for two years. after a few months. Then in 1979, the NYSE asked him to help out again, His big break came in 1939 when David Lawrence, and George decided to create his own consulting busi- the columnist and magazine publisher, hired him as a cub ness, with other clients, including the Dreyfus Corp., reporter for U.S News to cover a number of New Deal Time Inc., the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Dep- government agencies, particularly those involved with tartment of Energy. He remained busier than ever, at an the economy. He then moved to , age when many of his contemporaries were retiring, and where he covered the White House among other assign- he continued working until he was nearly 86. ments. With World War II looming, he joined what later He has also maintained his love for the news business, became the Office of War Information, with a recom- having been active in a number of journalistic organiza- mendation from President Roosevelt’s press secretary tions in addition to the Silurians. He served as president Steve Early that supported his desire to be sent overseas. of the Deadline Club, headed the Admissions Committee Utilizing the language he perfected while spending of the OPC for many years, and appeared in the Financial his junior college year in Paris, he was assigned to a post Follies show of the New York Financial Writers’ Asso- in Brazzaville, in what was then French Equitorial Af- ciation, among other activities. He continues an active rica, the only territory in the western world that flew the schedule and often appears at club events with compan- Free French flag. Among other duties, he made broad- ion Ruth Bowman. casts in French and English that were short-waved to George wrote his autobiography, Headlines, Dead- North Africa and Southern France. After spending time lines and Lifelines, largely at the urging of his children. It in Beirut, Lebanon, George moved to Italy, following was published four years ago and is filled with personal behind American troops as they liberated that country. letters to and from his wife dating back to his World War He was responsible for all the news and propaganda in II days, and to his parents even before that. It’s a fascinat- the forward area as the Allied troops advanced and the ing account of a remarkable life. Germans retreated. “The book,” he explained, “has been written for per- After two and a half years overseas, he was granted sonal reasons, not to become a New York Times bestsell- home leave, the highlight of which was his marriage in er, but if that should happen, I could live with it.” December 1944 to Janet Schrank Madison. They were married for 57 years until her death in 2002. Janet had a Myron Kandel was Silurians president from 2012-13.

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 9 The AP Case and the Importance of the Fourth Estate by Wililam J. Holstein make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or In an era in which billionaires pillage major newspa- prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the pers with impunity, it may be easy to forget that the me- freedom of speech, or of the press.” The framers of the dia has traditionally played a vital role in American de- Constitution believed that if new U.S. citizens did not mocracy — that of the Fourth Estate. The phrase means enjoy a free media, they would be subjected to the same that the media is supposed to act as a check and bal- type of treatment to which King George had subjected ance on the executive, legislative and judicial branches them. of government. The media is supposed to prevent the Today’s corporate media owners are often not as ag- emergence of a government that is so powerful that it gressive in defending this freedom as their predecessors can trample the rights of individual Americans. (usually families who were committed to a broad role This is what’s at stake in the Justice Department’s for the media) because it does not seem relevant to their commandeering of phone records from The Associated desire to earn profits from their journalistic assets and Press. The Obama Administration is going further than capture more eyeballs on their websites and their Face- even the Nixon Administration in seeking to muzzle the book accounts. But in the few pockets of high-princi- media. The right to break news stories without revealing pled journalism that remain, it’s clear that the Obama the source is central to the ability of the media to fulfill Administration has gone too far. If it can find out who a sacred obligation. Younger journalists today may not realize the importance of this fight because they didn’t told The AP about a failed terror operation in Yemen, live through the or The New York then it can arrest and imprison that individual or those Times’ decision to print the Pentagon Papers, which individuals, as it did the Army private who leaked the showed that the government had engaged in a pattern Wikileak papers. That would create a chilling effect in of deceit about the war in Vietnam. But the lessons re- which fewer people with access to sensitive informa- main the same: if the media do not put up a howl of tion will be brave enough to come forward with it. Jour- protest every time an American administration crosses nalistic organizations will think twice, and a third and the line and seeks to prevent the media from printing or fourth time, about running with information that may broadcasting news on the basis of leaked information, be important but that will land them in hot water with the government will continue to push until the media is prosecutors rather than courts, for whom catching bad defenestrated. guys is more important than press freedom. There will The Founding Fathers were wary of a king’s control be a pernicious and corrosive impact on American soci- of the media, so much so that they made press freedom ety and American freedom if the administration does not an element of the First Amendment, not the second or pay a steep political and public relations price for what third. The amendment reads in part: “Congress shall it has done to The AP. Berlinica to Celebrate the Release of Two New Books at KGB Bar OPC member Eva Schweitzer reenactment of Tucholsky’s own first unpublished Berlin stories are as- invites OPC members to attend the book presentation, everybody who sembled here for the first time, - to launch of two new books buys a book gets a free shot of gether with a riveting account of his from her publishing company, vodka or whiskey. adventures. Berlinica at the KGB bar, at A Tramp in Berlin tells Berlin! Berlin! is a satirical selec- 85 East 4th Street on Sunday, how Twain spent the winter tion from the man with the acid pen June 16 at 7 p.m. of 1891-92 in the German and the perfect pitch for hypocrisy, Berlinica Publishing pres- capital. America’s foremost who was as much the voice of 1920s ents two new books by two humorist conspired with dip- Berlin as Georg Grosz was its face. It acclaimed authors; Mark lomats, frequented the salons, Twain, s, and Kurt Tuchol- had breakfast with duchesses, shines a light on the Weimar Repub- sky’s Berlin! Berlin! Dis- and dined with the emperor. lic and the post-World War I strug- patches From the Weimar Re- He also suffered an “orga- gle, which foreshadowed the Third public. There will be a reading nized dog-choir club,” picked Reich. This book collects Tuchol- by David Henry Sterry, a a fight with the police, was sky’s news articles, poems, and book author, performer, edu- abused by a porter, got lost funny stories about his home town cator, activist, actor, screen- on streetcars, and witnessed a Berlin, never published in America writer and muckraker. In an proletarian uprising. Twain’s before.

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 10 Director Discussed New Film at Member Preview EVENT RECAP: MAY 8 At the end of the film “Fill the Void” both the Di- rector Rama Burshtein and the lead actress Hadas Yaron came to the SONY screening room to talk with OPC members about the film. Hadas won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival, which was impressive since “Fill the Void” was her first film. Rama spoke about how she interviewed many actresses until she found Ms. Yaron. Hadas, like many young Israelis, is in the Army so she had to keep getting permission to be away from her post in order to be in the movie. The director field- From left: Director Rama Burshtein, actress Hadas Yaron ed many questions about her film that gave an interest- and OPC President Michael Serrill. ing look at a Hasidic family living in modern Tel Aviv. — by Sonya K. Fry

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS

Kimberly Adams Peter Gwin Broadcast Journalist Senior Writer Giza, Egypt National Geographic Magazine Active Overseas – Young Washington, D.C. Active Non-Resident Paul H. Anderson Retired UPI Foreign Alex Perry Correspondent Freelance Correspondent Tulsa, Oklahoma Cape Town, South Africa Associate Non-Resident Active Overseas

Natalie Bailey Jonathan Sanders state-sponsored Director of Communications Associate Professor six-week tour. Dysautonomia Foundation Stony Brook University One day he was Associate Resident - Young School of Journalism taken to what was Stony Brook, NY described as the Kelly Bit Associate Resident Reporter home of a “typi- Bloomberg News ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE cal Chinese worker Liu Active Resident - Young Linda Goetz Holmes, Chair family,” an apart- George Bookman ment with modern amenities in a Felice Levin Canton high-rise. The next morn- Robert Nickelsberg Charles Wallace ing on a walk without a minder, he came upon the man he had met while being told mosquitos have Chinese literature; Orville Schell of in the apartment. The man invited been eradicated. the ; and Lois Wheeler Mirsky to his real home — “shabby, Contributors include Morton Snow, widow of Edgar Snow, au- poorly painted, only two rooms, no Abramowitz, a former diplomat who thor of Red Star Over . private kitchen or bathroom” — and is now a senior fellow of The Cen- Liu has worked as columnist together they drank “white tea,” or tury Foundation; Tom Gorman, based in Washington writing for boiling-hot water. publisher of Fortune China; Andrew The essays relate other such Nathan, a political science profes- The New York Sun and for the Hong telling incidents and gestures that sor at Columbia University and co- Kong Economic Journal. He is cur- revealed hidden truths, such as ask- chair of the board of Human Rights rently with the South China Morning ing simple questions that can’t be in China; W. J. F. Jenner, a historian Post. answered or watching a mosquito who has translated many classics of — by Susan Kille

OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 11 rules of objectivity. They analyzed Tim Judah, V.S. Naipaul, Mary what they saw and recorded a mo- McCarthy, Jerzy Popieluzsko and New Books ment in history. Prologues written by Stephen Spender. GLOBAL O MARK ITS FIFTIETH either the original authors or by Ian T anniversary, The New York Re- Buruma, the author, journalist and ASIA view of Books has given us a pres- frequent NYRB contributor, update O YOU REMEMBER YOUR ent: The New York Review Abroad: facts and re-evaluate politics. D first time? Your first time to Chi- Fifty Years of International Report- Susan Sontag writes about the na, that is. age [New York Review Book, June staging of Waiting for Godot in war- Kin-ming Liu, a veteran corre- 2013]. torn Sarajevo while Ryszard Ka- spondent and former chairman of the The NYRB is not a foreign affairs puscinski provides a terrifying de- Hong Kong Journalists Association, magazine, but it has dispatched bril- scription of being set on fire while had the inspiration to ask 30 China liant writers around running roadblocks in experts to recount their first visit to the world to observe 1966 during Nigeria’s the country. The result is the enter- and write about inter- first civil war. Alma taining and illuminating My First national revolutions, Guillermoprieto’s Trip to China: Scholars, Diplomats, scientific explora- report from inside and Journalists Reflect on their First tions and noteworthy Colombia’s guerrilla Encounters with China [East Slope movements. Robert headquarters includes Publishing Ltd., February 2013]. B. Silvers, co-found- a disturbing encoun- It wasn’t so long ago that China er and editor of the ter with young female was largely unknown territory to the magazine, selected the fighters. Caroline West. Sinophiles studied it from afar. book’s 28 eyewitness Blackwood’s cover- The visits recalled begin in 1942, essays. age of the 1979 grave- during the Japanese occupation, and The collection has diggers’ strike in Liv- end in 1986, three years before Ti- aged well. Perhaps erpool is considered ananmen Square. The essayists are that’s because Joan a noir masterpiece. now old China hands. While their Didion, William Timothy Garton writing is formed by their experienc- Shawcross and oth- Ash’s essay on Vá- es watching China grow into a world ers did not have to conform to daily clav Havel’s Prague in 1989 presents power, it is clear that they had their journalism’s deadlines or newspaper an inside account as seen at the Mag- eyes wide open from the beginning. ic Lantern theater, the headquarters For example, Jonathan Mirsky, for the Velvet Revolution. former East Asia editor of The Times Other bylines include Christo- of London and a regular contributor pher de Bellaigue, Mischa Ber- to The New York Review of Books, linski, , Rosemary got into China for the first time in Dinnage, Amos Elon, Nadine 1972 as a college professor on a Gordimer, Elizabeth Hardwick, (Continued on Page 11)

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OPC Bulletin • June 2013 • Page 12