NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOL. 58 NO. 2 SUMMER 2004 Five Dollars

The Energy Beat Complex and Compelling

Words & Reflections: War and Terror “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”

—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.

Vol. 58 No. 2 NIEMAN REPORTS Summer 2004 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Elizabeth Son Design Editor Deborah Smiley

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected]

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Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. Vol. 58 No. 2 NIEMAN REPORTS Summer 2004 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Journalist’s Trade 4 The Energy Beat

6 Moving From a Backwater Story to a Front-Page Beat BY EDWARD FLATTAU

8 Energy Stories Shouldn’t Be Just the Big Ones BY GERALD KAREY

10 Energy and Politics: The Stories Never End BY MARGARET KRIZ

WATCHDOG 12 Using Documents to Report on Mountaintop Mining BY KEN WARD, JR.

14 Unraveling the Great Hydrogen Hoax BY VIJAY V. VAITHEESWARAN

WATCHDOG 18 Terrorism Fears Thwart Journalists’ Reporting BY JOSEPH A. DAVIS

WATCHDOG 20 Government Studies Vanish From Reporters’ View BY BILL FINCH

WATCHDOG 22 Keeping Reporters and the Public in the Dark BY ELIZABETH MCCARTHY

WATCHDOG 25 Why Did California’s Lights Go Out? BY RICK JURGENS

WATCHDOG 27 Being a Watchdog of FirstEnergy Corp. BY DEBBIE VAN TASSEL

31 Using Narrative to Tell the Blackout Story BY MARK CLAYTON

34 Green Buildings Need Sharp-Eyed Architecture Critics BY RANDY GRAGG

36 A Local Newspaper Invests in a Foreign Reporting Trip BY DOREEN LEGGETT

Words & Reflections 38 War and Terror

WATCHDOG 40 Revealing a Reporter’s Relationship With Secrecy and Sources BY BARTON GELLMAN

WATCHDOG 45 Telling Stories the Military Doesn’t Want Told BY DAN OLMSTED

48 Portraits of the Wounded BY NINA BERMAN

52 Developing Word Pictures to Inform a Complex Story BY JEFFREY FLEISHMAN

54 The Iraq Experience Poses Critical Questions for Journalists SPEECH BY ANTHONY SHADID

60 The Responsibilities of a Free Press SPEECH BY ANTHONY LEWIS

62 The Unseen Is Made Visible PHOTO ESSAY OF FLAG-DRAPED COFFINS

One of the offshore windmills set up in the North Sea, about nine miles west of the small village of Blavandshuk near Esbjerg, Denmark in October 2002. Standing 363 feet tall, the electricity windmills cover eight square miles of water. Photo by Heribert Proepper/The Associated Press. 64 The Press and Public Misperceptions About the Iraq War BY STEVEN KULL

66 The President, Press and Weapons of Mass Destruction BY SUSAN MOELLER

68 A Matter of Faith: The White House and the Press BY DAVID DOMKE

71 Images of Horror From Fallujah BY DAVID D. PERLMUTTER AND LESA HATLEY MAJOR

75 The Psychological Hazards of War Journalism BY ANTHONY FEINSTEIN

77 Journalism and Trauma: A Long Overdue Conjunction BY ROGER SIMPSON

79 Equipping Journalists With Tools for Emotional Balance BY WILLIAM J. DRUMMOND

82 “Welcome to Hell” DIARY AND PHOTO ESSAY BY STANLEY GREENE

86 Acting as a Witness to a Forgotten War BY ANNE NIVAT

88 When a Story Inhabits the Mind BY THOMAS DE WAAL

89 The Risks of Independent Reporting in Chechnya BY TIMUR ALIEV

92 Books

92 A Scholarly Look at War Reporting BY BARBIE ZELIZER

93 Securing the Right to Be Heard BY KAY MILLS

WATCHDOG 96 Digging Beneath Quotes to Tell the Story BY DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

98 Measuring the News Media’s Effectiveness BY DANTE CHINNI

100 International Journalism

100 Government Pressure and Thailand’s Press BY PHILIP J. CUNNINGHAM

103 The Rising Tide of Internet Opinion in China BY XIAO QIANG

105 China and Internet Filters BY JONATHAN ZITTRAIN

3 Curator’s Corner: Dedicating the Knight Center at Lippmann House BY BOB GILES

108 Nieman Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

108 Newsroom Training at Urban High Schools BY LYNDA MCDONNELL 109 Class Notes

117 End Note: “Fields of Despair” BY NURI VALLBONA

2 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Curator’s Corner Dedicating the Knight Center at Lippmann House The Nieman Foundation works to broaden its reach.

By Bob Giles

This Curator’s Corner is excerpted from remarks made at the Foundation, and I were Nieman classmates, but also because dedication of the Knight Center at Walter Lippmann House, the first 17 years of my newspaper life were spent in the May 24, 2004. newsroom of the Akron Beacon Journal where Jack Knight was the editor. JSK was a plainspoken Ohioan who had he Knight Center is the physical expression of an idea become a national figure as chairman of Knight Newspapers. that was more eloquent and visionary than anyone at He found his voice in The Editor’s Notebook, a Sunday THarvard could have imagined in the late 1930’s. “Pro- column he had started in 1930 at the Beacon Journal that, by mote and elevate the standards of journalism and educate the 1960’s, was reaching a national audience. The notebook persons deemed specially qualified for journalism.” That was was where JSK spoke his mind with blunt honesty, often to the mandate that accompanied an unexpected gift of one the discomfort of his social peers at the country club and million dollars from the estate of Agnes Wahl Nieman. business peers in the boardroom. In deciding that the income from the Nieman gift would be In 1967, public sentiment was building against the war in used to fund a sabbatical for experienced journalists, Harvard Vietnam. But by then, Jack Knight had been warning against President James Conant created a fellowship program that U.S. involvement in Indochina since 1954. Increasingly, he was a success from the start and gave virtue to the concept of saw the war as a quagmire and wrote with passionate indig- continuing education for working journalists. For many nation, “Either our government has no well-defined policy or years, the Nieman idea has been limited to a small group of stands guilty of lying to the people … or both.” That year a carefully selected journalists who came to Harvard for a year reporting trip to Vietnam merely deepened his skepticism. of study—10 at first, then 12, and now, with the inclusion of “The American people,” he wrote, “can’t understand why the international journalists, an annual class of 24. lives of our young men are being sacrificed to keep unscru- The larger number of fellows and affiliates, and the addi- pulous South Vietnamese politicians in power. … We are tion of new initiatives, such as the Nieman Program on paying a tragic price for what may prove to be an unobtain- Narrative Journalism and the operations of the Nieman Web able goal.” site, began to push the limits of Lippmann House and created Back home, he denounced the rise of anti-intellectualism an imperative for improving the educational environment for as a corrosive side effect of the war. “Although the right of the fellows. And the opportunity to add more space inspired dissent is clearly set forth in our Bill of Rights,” he wrote, us to think expansively about the role of the Nieman Founda- “there are those who would deny this right to others who tion and address a fundamental question: Should the Nieman view U.S. involvement in Vietnam as a grim and unending Foundation be just for the 24 fortunate journalists who are tragedy.” awarded fellowships, or should Mrs. Nieman’s mandate be The following May, when the Pulitzer Prize for editorial expanded to serve the larger world of journalism through writing was awarded to Jack Knight, then 74 years old, the seminars and workshops where journalists can engage with Pulitzer Board noted his clearness of style, moral purpose, leading practitioners, with Nieman Fellows, and with mem- sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion. JSK bers of the Harvard faculty who are scholars on many subjects set a high standard for the stewardship of newspapers as a in the news? public trust. He was a smart and successful businessman who The answer, of course, was to explore an expansion. As we never allowed the imperatives of the bottom line to diminish set out to find a partner in this venture, we turned to the John the editorial strength or integrity of his newspapers. S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with whom the Nieman In honoring Jack and Jim Knight today, we can recognize Foundation shares a common purpose in our dedication to how Agnes Wahl Nieman’s eloquent vision has been nur- provide training and education for journalists. The Knight tured over the years by wise curators and accomplished Foundation responded with the lead gift for the construction fellows who strengthened the core program and expanded of the new wing on Lippmann House that is being dedicated the reach of the Nieman idea to the larger world of journal- this afternoon as the Knight Center. ism. Were Mrs. Nieman with us today, I believe she would The Nieman Foundation’s association with the Knight heartily approve. ■ Foundation has been particularly meaningful to me, not only because Hodding Carter, president and CEO of the Knight [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 3 Journalist’s Trade

The Energy Beat

To a journalist’s ear, the words “energy” and “crisis” belong together, in part because coverage of energy issues has been fueled largely by episodic coverage of difficulties people confront when sources of energy diminish—such as gasoline price hikes and shortages—or they vanish, as in electricity blackouts. To some degree this approach is changing as better-trained journalists pursue stories about energy and keep watchful eyes on a wider range of critical energy issues. For three decades Edward Flattau wove reporting about energy issues into his nationally syndicated columns about the environment. In a 1973 six-part series, he focused attention on a new concept called “net energy” and the lifestyle changes Americans might need to make because of it. This resulted in one-third of his newspaper clients canceling his column. Today Flattau writes that he finds “much more awareness of energy’s importance in our daily existence [but] energy pervasiveness is all too often still not appreciated, even by those who report regularly on it.” As Washington bureau chief for a daily newsletter, Platts Oilgram News, Gerald Karey does detailed reporting about oil news, the kind most news organizations don’t give their audience. This daily beat provides him a good perspective on how mainstream reporting of these issues might be improved, and he offers suggestions for how some oil issues in the Congressional energy debate might be covered. Margaret Kriz, whose Washington, D.C. beat includes coverage of energy issues for the National Journal, describes how politics and energy policy intersect—and how this intersection is sometimes covered—and she provides a list of energy stories to watch. In West Virginia, energy is equated with coal, and its mining drives the state’s economy. To investigate whether companies were adhering to environmental laws regulating the removal of mountaintops to mine coal, Ken Ward, Jr., who has covered the environment for The Charleston Gazette for more than a decade, dug through documents to develop a database of mining permits. His reporting revealed many flaws in the regulatory system that allowed companies to avoid their post-mining responsibilities in restoring the land. Ward says he and his newspaper have taken “a lot of heat” for his reporting but, as he writes, “This is where the months I spent reading mining regulations and studying dozens of mine permits paid off. I was armed with the facts, and that made my reporting stand up to all levels of criticism.” Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, who is global environment and energy correspondent for The Economist, examines how well journalists navigate through the claims and counterclaims (what he calls “the hydrogen hoaxes”) made about the hydrogen fuel cell’s potential as an energy carrier. In showing why skeptics’ concerns don’t hold up, Vaitheeswaran contends that “reporters taking a global view would see that the question of hydrogen cuts right to the heart of the great debate over sustainable development itself ….” Joseph A. Davis, who edits the WatchDog, a newsletter about First Amendment issues for the Society of Environmental Journalists, explains the consequences to reporters of a change in

4 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 regulations made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and aimed at protecting information about the nation’s energy infrastructure from terrorists. The rule “applies not merely to information about existing facilities, but to proposed facilities that might be built if FERC licenses them.” This means neither journalists nor the public can gain access to information that until recently was made available to help people assess the risks and dangers posed by various energy facilities. At the Mobile (Ala.), Register reporters had difficulty obtaining key studies and documents from FERC regarding the siting of a potentially dangerous liquefied natural gas terminal in its city. Bill Finch, the paper’s environment editor, writes about the Register’s persistent coverage of this issue despite government officials repeatedly sidetracking or refusing “virtually every request we’ve made to obtain documents, even when documents had been distributed for review to scientists or legislators.” From California and Cleveland, Ohio comes coverage of electricity issues, including an article by Elizabeth McCarthy, editor and publisher of California Energy Circuit, who writes how secret dealmaking by companies and government officials made it difficult for reporters to help the public understand why the lights were going out and how much the energy deals were costing them. Rick Jurgens, a reporter with the Contra Costa Times in California, covered his state’s yearlong energy crisis. To do so, the paper’s team of reporters had to learn about the way deregulation works. Now, with the crisis over, Jurgens believes the challenge for his newspaper and others remains to “figure out how to be consistent and effective watchdogs” of a deregulated marketplace. The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer’s business editor, Debbie Van Tassel, explains why her newspaper—which had thoroughly reported on problems of the nearby utility FirstEnergy Corp. since the late 1990’s—was well prepared to lead the nation’s investigative reporting after the massive electricity blackout in the summer of 2003. She also shows how Plain Dealer reporting revealed serious problems at FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant and lax oversight by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In covering this same blackout story, Mark Clayton, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor, found a way to get inside a New York generating plant. He shared with readers a reconstructed narrative account of how power was restored in this old yet critical plant. Randy Gragg, who writes about architecture and urban design for The Oregonian, describes some new challenges in writing about “green” buildings. As more developers and marketers make claims about energy innovations, he writes that “part of an architecture critic’s job is to figure out if the message is truly captured by a building’s design.” A vigorous debate about a possible wind farm siting in Nantucket Sound off Massachusetts is being covered by Doreen Leggett, an environment reporter for The Cape Codder. Despite her weekly paper’s small size, her editor sent her to Denmark to report on that country’s experience with large wind farms as a way to better inform the residents of Cape Cod. She writes about this reporting trip—what she learned and the reaction her article had back home. ■

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 5 Journalist’s Trade Moving From a Backwater Story to a Front-Page Beat From homeland security to economic growth, energy issues weave their way into coverage as renewable energy sparks new controversies.

By Edward Flattau

rior to the first official Earth Day 10) gallon of new fuel have, in effect, on April 22, 1970, what news entered the marketplace. Pcoverage there was of energy is- sues consisted primarily of technical Newspapers Reject His analyses of industrial processes and Energy Message stories about rate adjustments. These stories were not attractive fare for gen- In a six-part series of columns I wrote eral assignment reporters, who usually in the final months of 1973, I explored lacked the necessary technical exper- potential ramifications of Odum’s far- tise to effortlessly translate the com- reaching theory. My reward for shining plex into the comprehensible, much a spotlight on energy, specifically on less make it scintillating reading. More- Odum’s perspicacity, was that 13 news- over, few journalists had either the papers—representing approximately motivation or time to acquire the know- one-third of my clientele at the time— how this assignment would require. cancelled my nationally syndicated The stories usually had little impact, environmental column. Such a simul- even when accurate, given that such taneous cancellation was highly un- articles often seemed better suited for usual, and even though these news geologists, chemists, engineers and stat- organizations wouldn’t directly say so, isticians than John Q. Public. I knew their response was in reaction During those days, an endless sup- to this series. ply of cheap energy was taken for What did they find so threatening granted by Americans, so there didn’t about the topic of net energy? Most seem much raw material for general- likely it was the suggestion of an end to and pesticides. This, too, was not some- interest stories about energy-related the cheap, plentiful supply of energy thing newspapers wanted to hear, es- issues in daily newspapers. Fuel sticker that fueled America’s great prosperity pecially those located in the farm belt. shock was reserved for those who ven- in the second half of the 20th century. Net energy’s lesson for transportation tured beyond the borders of the United Such a thought raised the prospect of was greater emphasis on “people en- States. some energy shortages, higher prices, ergy” in the forms of walking and bik- But in the 1970’s, it became increas- and at least a temporary downturn in ing, a switch to more fuel-efficient ve- ingly evident that inexpensive energy the economy at a later date. In this hicles, and increased use of public might not be as infinite as we had series of columns, I examined net transit. The message undoubtedly originally thought. The 1973 Arab oil energy’s implications for lifestyle rankled those newspapers that relied embargo was the first jolt. It was fol- change, stressing the pressures to end on highly profitable automobile adver- lowed by the late renowned geophysi- conspicuous consumption. Continu- tising supplements. cist M. King Hubbert’s well publicized ing in that vein, I wrote of the need for Odum argued that products should projections of oil deposits’ finite na- us to put greater emphasis on recycling be priced by how much energy was ture. The “net energy” hypotheses of and reuse of materials. From the news- needed to make them, not by some University of Florida ecology Professor papers’ perspective, all these changes contrived dollars and cents measure. I Howard T. Odum—that it takes energy raised the specter of a decline in adver- guess my temerity at treating such a to produce energy—created additional tising revenues. thought seriously was enough for some trauma. Odum’s deceptively simple, Net energy’s ramifications for agri- editors to relegate me to the loony bin. yet revolutionary, premise can be illus- culture and transportation were also Initially, I was stunned at the vis- trated as follows: If nine gallons of fuel significant. Our nation’s farmers were ceral reaction to the series but, upon are required to operate an industrial among the most energy inefficient food reflection, realized that Odum’s hy- process that produces 10 gallons of producers in the world because of their pothesis raised some uncomfortable finished product, then only one (not heavy use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers questions, not only for newspapers,

6 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat but also for many other segments of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge— ists’ advocacy of renewable energy a American society. America’s Serengeti—free of any oil challenge to the capitalistic primacy of rigs. Reams of copy have been written giant utilities that manage the nation’s Energy as a Front-Page Story about the nuclear power plant melt- main power grids. Hence, conservative downs and subsequent contamination critics take every opportunity to ques- As we headed into the 1980’s, the fear at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island and tion the practicality of renewable of oil embargoes and surge of dire Russia’s Chernobyl facility. During the energy’s widespread application. And supply forecasts faded with a return to past two decades, journalists wrote this political bias is ideologically bol- an energy glut (however fabricated). about widespread thermonuclear stered by the decentralized infrastruc- Nonetheless, energy was fast becom- warfare’s potential to wipe out life as ture of renewable energy and need for ing a more expansive and popular story we currently know it. Saddam Hussein’s generous government subsidies to gain line, and this phenomenon was re- igniting Kuwait oil wells in the first competitive parity with conventional flected in how frequently I wrote about Gulf War sent black clouds swirling as energy sources in the marketplace. the subject in my column. far away as Europe and drew attention (That the U.S. government heavily sub- Reporters began to flock to this to the scientists who theorized about a sidizes the fossil fuel industry is conve- emerging beat and receive more as- “nuclear winter” in the aftermath of an niently ignored.) signments for their enterprise because atomic war. Under that concept, fall- Conservatives dismiss widespread energy use was increasingly being out from extensive nuclear explosions use of such energy alternatives as ex- linked to pollution, various public would circle the globe for months, otic figments of a science fiction writer’s health issues, transportation questions, blotting out the sun and causing devas- imagination. By contrast, those who wilderness preservation, and adequate tation, famine and possibly a fatal set- champion renewables vehemently ar- food and medicine supplies. In an- back to modern civilization. gue that without these sources, a sus- other decade, energy would be drawn More recently, energy coverage is tainable energy future is likely beyond directly into the national security de- branching out to include international our reach. It is a controversy that makes bate because of energy facilities’ vul- terrorism and an evaluation of military for good copy, even for general assign- nerability to terrorist attacks. In short, strategy. Journalists have reported ment reporters. by the time the 21st century arrived, a about how renewable sources of en- Although there is much more aware- realization was growing that energy ergy tend to be decentralized in con- ness of energy’s importance in our had an integral role in virtually every trast to a main power grid and thus less daily existence, energy pervasiveness aspect of our lives. This added dimen- vulnerable to sabotage. Nuclear power is all too often still not appreciated, sion propelled energy from the busi- plants make tempting targets for at- even by those who report regularly on ness page to the front page as it became tack, and questions have been raised it. We see this in the news media and not only a big story but, in many in- about the quality of their security. And public’s frequent failure to recognize stances, the story. there has been much discussion in the energy’s vital, if sometimes oblique, During the past two decades, fewer news media about just how much our influence on such knotty problems as articles have been published about the military interventions were motivated urban sprawl and escalating food prices. adequacy of future fossil fuel supplies. by our need for a guaranteed supply of Of greatest significance is the wariness The previously mentioned artificial glut imported oil. journalists display in exploring what seems to have temporarily alleviated lifestyle changes future energy supply concern over energy shortages, as has Renewable Energy and demand will almost certainly im- the reassuring proposition that tech- pose. Perhaps this reluctance is not nological advances can squire us Because of its potential for reducing unlike the reaction to my columns of through a transition to the post-petro- humanity’s reliance on “dirty” fossil more than 30 years ago. Some editors leum era without any need to cut back fuels, renewable energy has been draw- seem reluctant to rock the boat. But on our use of oil. Environmental hard ing increased press attention during isn’t it their job to do so? ■ news stories and advocacy columns the past two decades. With so much such as mine have tended to focus on gloom and doom in the daily rendi- Edward Flattau is the author of threats to wilderness preservation from tions of news, the prospect of clean, “Evolution of a Columnist” (Xlibris energy development and the ecologi- renewable energy sources, such as sun Corporation, 2003). During the past cal impact of massive oil spills. The and wind power, has become grist for three decades, Flattau’s twice-a- hazards of nuclear power proliferation upbeat features. Yet the enthusiasm is week environmental column ap- and the adverse effects of industrial not universal. peared in as many as 120 daily and vehicular fossil fuel emissions on It is ironic that hard-core conserva- newspapers and has received 10 air, water, wildlife and public health tives, who routinely promote technol- national journalism awards. have also received more coverage. ogy as the path to societal salvation, There has been plenty of press on regard renewable energy with suspi- [email protected] the battle to keep the coastal plain of cion. Many consider environmental-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 7 Journalist’s Trade Energy Stories Shouldn’t Be Just the Big Ones From reporting in Platts, complexities of energy issues can be woven together.

By Gerald Karey

nergy is something of a backwa- ter beat, elbowing its way to the Efront pages of general interest newspapers (or at least of their busi- ness sections) only when certain events take place. Gasoline prices increase precipitously. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets. The lights go out in California and the Northeast. The battle over oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Arctic Na- tional Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) heats up in Congress. What tends to get overlooked—or buried on back inside pages—are the agencies and administration’s handling of often arcane regulations, obscure policy initiatives, and the slow, relent- less grinding of bureaucratic and legis- The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Photo by The Associated Press/Arctic lative machinery. Yet the ultimate im- National Wildlife Refuge. pact of these decisions on energy’s use and costs—both monetary and envi- dustry filings with regulatory agencies, gasoline prices last summer and the ronmental—can be dramatic. and the flood of reports and statistics record high prices earlier this year. from government offices. Of course, Many of us dutifully trudged up to Collecting Every Bit of we cover congressional hearings, Capitol Hill to listen as politicians de- Energy News House and Senate floor debates, con- nounced rapacious oil companies for ferences and press briefings. price gouging and demanded federal Platts, a McGraw-Hill company, is the With this intensive coverage, we get investigations, as well as pointed fin- world’s largest energy news and price to stories early. We start to track a gers at members of the other party for reporting service. Our Washington regulation when it is a gleam in a not doing anything to prevent the price bureau covers both ends of the energy bureaucrat’s eye or follow an amend- increases. However, notwithstanding spectrum—the arcana and the big is- ment when it first gets buried in a piece the culpability of the oil industry (and sues. This is the kind of coverage our of legislation. We follow these stories previous federal and state investiga- audience, which is comprised largely well before they catch the attention of tions have failed to find any illegal of industry professionals and govern- the general press. Having this kind of activity), a number of factors and events ment policymakers, demands and re- focus enables our reporters to learn in the preceding weeks, months and quires. The news and information we the issues intimately, and they can then even years—many of which received report hourly, daily and weekly informs share expertise across the bureau be- only scant coverage in the mainstream their decisions. No item seems too cause so many energy issues overlap press—had set the stage for price insignificant for us to report. Putting it industry sectors. And our reporters have spikes. another away, any bit of news about the background and knowledge to This story actually had its origins on energy can be put to use. frame a story when it emerges as big Capitol Hill, where Congressional ac- Our newsletters and real-time news news and provide context and insight tion concerning energy, or its first services cover specific industry sec- that cannot be matched by a reporter cousin, the environment, can and does tors—oil, natural gas, electricity, who parachutes in when an energy affect gasoline prices. What led, in part, nuclear and coal. And we pay a great story gets hot and walks away when it to the rise in gasoline prices involved deal of attention to the minutiae of cools. the additional cost of producing a com- each of these sectors, making certain to Major news organizations, for ex- plex slate of less polluting gasolines to report on Federal Register notices, in- ample, covered the sharp increase in meet federal and state environmental

8 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat requirements. Away from Capitol Hill, able. This observation is not intended Cleanup costs could run to hun- there had also been supply disruptions as a sweeping indictment of press en- dreds of millions of dollars. The resulting from pipeline or refinery ac- ergy coverage. I see some very good House bill will exempt MTBE pro- cidents, which occur in the course of energy reporting from the mainstream ducers from defective product li- running complex industrial facilities. press and then I see some stories that ability lawsuits. Not surprisingly, Add to that the fact that refinery clo- simply don’t measure up. both House and Senate bills will sures and industry consolidation had The comprehensive energy bill, also exempt ethanol producers from halved the number of U.S. refineries pending in Congress, has provided any future liability for environmen- and the remaining refiners had reduced ample opportunity for both kinds of tal damage. inventories to historically low levels, stories to surface. On balance, the cov- • The dream of energy indepen- which is a reasonable business practice erage makes me wonder whether a lot dence: The House version of the because it saves money, but can result of Americans can rely on their usual bill contains a provision authorizing in tighter supplies and higher prices. sources of news to learn what is actu- oil and gas leasing in a portion of the There is also an ever-growing U.S. de- ally in this bill, why it’s in the bill, and ANWR. Advocates of ANWR leasing mand for gasoline needed to fuel a how passage of it will affect them. What talk of a need to free the United vehicle fleet increasingly dominated follows is a selective summary of infor- States from dependence on oil im- by gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles mation members of the mainstream ports by developing domestic re- and minivans. Finally, there are OPEC press should provide about its more sources. But it will take at least 10 production cuts to consider and the important oil-related provisions: years to develop ANWR and to begin resulting increase in crude prices. moving its oil to market, if oil is By knowing these factors—and in- • Gasoline prices: A number of poli- found. When fully developed, and if terweaving their impact—it was not a ticians contend that this year’s the refuge contains as much oil as surprise this spring when gasoline record-high gasoline prices under- some studies estimate, ANWR would prices spiked well over two dollars per score the need to pass the energy provide less than two percent of gallon in parts of the country. When bill. In fact, nothing in the legisla- U.S. consumption. There is little in adjusted for inflation, this price is still tion will affect current gasoline the bill to lessen U.S. oil demand, below prices of 20 years ago. But that prices. which makes talk of energy inde- fact hardly registers with irate motor- • Energy or farm policy?: The re- pendence, or even significantly re- ists who don’t pay with 1980 dollars. newable fuel in this bill will be etha- ducing oil imports, a pipedream. nol, because little else is or will be Connecting With the available. Ethanol is an oxygenate, These oil-related issues are just some Mainstream Press which when mixed with gasoline of the complex items contained in this provides a cleaner burning fuel. huge stalled energy bill. With each sec- It doesn’t require an army of investiga- Refiners can make clean burning tor of energy, there are numerous top- tors armed with subpoenas to learn fuels without using an oxygenate. ics whose coverage need to be strength- these things. But neither does this kind However, the renewable fuel’s man- ened and made more clear if Americans of information have much day-to-day date means a guaranteed market for are going to be able to understand— news value for the mainstream press. ethanol producers and farmers and care about—what this bill contains But this news and information gather- (most of the ethanol will be pro- and how passage of these new policies ing is the stock-in-trade for Platts’s oil duced from corn), and the provi- are going to affect them and all of us. reporters who have a different role and sion is in the bill at the insistence of When these, and a host of other en- approach their jobs differently than do farm-state members of Congress. ergy-related issues, are not well cov- mainstream reporters. As a reader of • MTBE vs. ethanol: Driven by the ered by the press, the public—and its mainstream energy news, I don’t ex- agricultural lobby (again), Congress future—is being poorly served. ■ pect each newspaper article about gaso- mandated the use of an oxygenate line prices to include a primer on oil in reformulated gasoline in 1990 Gerald Karey is Washington bureau markets. But enough information with the expectation that corn-based chief for the daily newsletter, Platts should be conveyed over time to give ethanol would be the oxygenate of Oilgram News, and its real-time the attentive reader at least a basic choice. Instead, refiners generally news service, Platts Global Alert, understanding of the web of issues. chose to use methyl tertiary butyl and reports on the oil industry and Because energy issues affect so many ether (MTBE) that was more widely issues related to it. Before joining critical areas of our nation’s well-being available, easier to handle, and McGraw-Hill, which publishes Platts, and our daily lives—the economy, en- cheaper. However, as a result of he worked for the Asbury Park (N.J.) vironment, health, national security, gasoline leaks and spills, MTBE, Press and The Newark Star-Ledger. and even whether and where the United which smells like turpentine, con- States chooses to go to war—superfi- taminated drinking water in com- [email protected] cial or ill-informed stories are inexcus- munities across the country.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 9 Journalist’s Trade Energy and Politics: The Stories Never End ‘If I could stomach dealing with BTU’s and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, my job would never be dull.’

By Margaret Kriz

n March 2001, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s main conference hall Ibuzzed with Washington lobbyists. They were there to hear a speech by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham— the first public preview of the Bush administration’s national energy strat- egy. For these powerful energy lobby- ists, the speech confirmed that the White House was delivering on its promise to make life easier for the coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power in- dustries in the United States. As jour- nalists later learned, some of those business representatives had privately met with White House officials and had helped shape the strategy. As an energy reporter jammed in the back of the room, shoulder-to-shoul- der with dozens of other scribes and The Yucca Mountain Project, Nevada. Photo by Laura Rauch/The Associated Press. TV crews, the event was an “ah-ha” moment. The enthused reaction of the Washington Post and the National Jour- report was released. Among other inside-the-beltway crowd and the pro- nal, made me a promise. If I could things, it spelled out plans to expand industry language in the speech sig- stomach dealing with BTU’s and the oil and gas development on millions of naled the emergence of a new era of Federal Energy Regulatory Commis- acres of federal lands, including wild federal energy policy. In fact, energy sion, my job would never be dull. It’s regions that had been protected by the issues have served as a significant sub- an assessment with which I whole- Clinton administration. It also con- plot in the war-dominated chronicle of heartedly agree. firmed the administration’s intention the Bush administration. Long before to ease environmental controls on older President George W. Bush and Vice Politics and Energy coal-fired power plants. President Dick Cheney stepped into Congressional Republicans have in- the West Wing, the two had served as In some ways, covering the Bush corporated many of Bush’s energy pro- energy industry executives and were administration’s energy policy began posals into their omnibus energy pack- sympathetic to the energy industry ar- with the 2000 presidential race. Politi- ages, which have included billions of guments. Since taking office, they have cal pundits noted that Bush carried dollars in energy-related tax incentives, included energy issues in their deci- West Virginia, usually a Democratic two-thirds of which would go to the sion-making on a variety of military, stronghold, by promising to support fossil fuel and nuclear power indus- political and environmental matters. the state’s coal industry. In fact the tries. But for the past three years, that Energy, economics and environmen- Bush/Cheney ticket, which vowed to legislation has been entangled in po- tal policy have long been inextricably champion the interests of the extrac- litical wrangling in the Senate and re- intertwined. At least that’s how a Na- tion industries, did well in most energy cently raised new deficit-reduction con- tional Journal editor explained it to me producing states in the South and Rocky cerns at the White House. Instead of in the late 1980’s when he talked me Mountain West. waiting for Congress, Bush has made into adding the magazine’s energy port- But it became clear how much en- significant headway in reshaping na- folio to my environmental beat. The ergy would win out, especially over tional energy policy by working under late Dick Corrigan, who had written environmental policy, once the the public radar screen, reinterpreting about energy and environment for The administration’s 2001 energy policy and rewriting the little-noticed federal

10 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat land-use and environmental protection and the election of the high-profile dustries into the big leagues. regulations in the name of energy de- Republican Governor Arnold • Oil: The United States has only three velopment. Schwarzenegger. Energy trading scan- percent of the world’s oil reserves, Many of the administration’s energy dals brought down Enron and resulted but uses 24 percent of the world’s maneuvers have been complex, tech- in huge fines against Reliant and other annual oil output. Even if the Bush nical and almost impossible to track. companies. Western electricity prices administration convinces Congress But from a policy wonk’s perspective, have stabilized. But high natural gas to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wild- a few have been fascinating. Take the and gasoline prices continue to plague life Refuge to oil exploration, the administration’s efforts to resurrect consumers across the nation. new output probably won’t impact nuclear power. During the 2000 presi- world oil prices. Bush has no plans dential campaign in Nevada, the Re- Energy Stories to Watch to significantly boost federal fuel publicans won the state by promising economy standards. Meanwhile, that Bush would never use Nevada’s What happens next? No matter who is Americans are paying the highest Yucca Mountain as a permanent dump elected President this fall, a handful of recorded price for gasoline. Oil has for the radioactive waste piling up at energy stories are certain to remain on also become a foreign policy story. the nation’s 110 commercial nuclear my watch list. Those issues include: • Electricity restructuring: For de- power plants—unless the proposal was cades, electric companies were state- based on the “best scientific evidence.” • Climate change: In 2001, Bush with- regulated monopolies. In recent But Bush officials knew that to lure drew the United States from the years, several states have allowed potential investors into sinking money United Nation’s Kyoto Protocol to independent electricity generators into building new nuclear power plants, control climate change. That treaty to sell energy directly to consumers. the government had to solve the waste would have required the United The change has been part of a revo- problem. Once in office, the President States to dramatically cut its emis- lutionary and currently incomplete took immediate steps to speed approval sions of carbon dioxide and other transformation of the way the elec- of the Yucca project. Bush signed off pollutants that scientists have linked tric industry operates and is regu- on the Yucca facility in 2002, leaving to global warming. Oil-burning cars lated. California’s failed attempt at continued questions about the long- and coal-burning power plants and deregulation, for example, resulted term safety of the site to the Nuclear boilers are among the worst emit- in skyrocketing energy prices. Battles Regulatory Commission. ters of greenhouse gases. Nonethe- raging between the states that have Now several electricity companies less, the European Union in 2005 opened their markets to competi- are rallying around a plan to order the will begin an unprecedented emis- tion and those that oppose such first new nuclear plant in the United sion trading program that will allow changes make this story one of the States since the 1979 Three Mile Island companies to buy or sell credits as a most complex, geeky and absorbing power plant meltdown. Where will they way of reducing their greenhouse energy issues to watch. build the facility? That industry consor- gas emissions. Most U.S. companies tium is apparently eyeing a site owned can’t participate. The Kyoto treaty Energy issues rarely make for sexy by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a will become legally binding once it stories. They only draw front-page play quasi-federal corporation. The poten- is ratified by Russia—a step that is during an energy crisis. And they are tial investors are also hinting that they guaranteed to increase international often so technical that they defy trans- will need hefty federal financial incen- pressure on Bush. lation into plain English. But energy is tives to build the new plant. • Electricity demand: By 2025, the the lifeblood of the economy. In our Headlines about energy have nation is expected to use 40 percent industrialized economy, electricity and changed since Abraham’s 2001 speech, more electricity than it used in 2002. transportation have become nearly as when California was suffering from Will it be reliable? Where will it come important to Americans as the air they rolling blackouts and the Western states from? In the last decade, natural gas breathe. As a result, energy will always were hit by historically high electricity has been the favored fuel. But in the be a hot topic with Washington and natural gas prices. Back then, poli- wake of high natural gas prices, some policymakers and a fascinating beat for ticians and consumer groups were be- power companies are taking a new Washington reporters. ■ ginning to cast a suspicious eye at en- look at coal. Nuclear proponents ergy wheeler-dealers like Enron and say the nation can cut pollution and Margaret Kriz covers energy and Reliant Energy. Meanwhile, car owners fulfill its power needs with new environmental issues for the Na- filling up at the pump were witnessing nuclear plants. Meanwhile, wind, tional Journal and writes a column the signs of summer gasoline price solar and other renewable energy for The Environmental Law volatility. Since then, California’s en- companies are waiting in the wings, Institute’s magazine, the Environ- ergy crisis and the resulting economic hoping for new technology leaps, mental Forum. downturn triggered, in part, the ouster federal subsidies, or environmental of Democratic Governor Gray Davis regulations that could kick their in- [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 11 Journalist’s Trade

WATCHDOG Using Documents to Report on Mountaintop Mining When coal industry officials and business leaders complain about coverage, ‘the only way to counter such pressures is with good, solid reporting.’ By Ken Ward, Jr.

y wife, Elizabeth, likes to tell people how I took her to a Mstrip mine for one of our first dates. Usually, though, she leaves out the fact that it was her idea. It makes for a better story, I guess. It was July 1998, and I was in the midst of reporting a series of articles that would become the biggest story of my career: mountaintop removal coal mining. I’m sure I talked about it constantly—the huge shovels and dozers, barren hill- sides, buried streams, and coalfield residents who live with gigantic blasts shaking their homes and dust clogging their lungs. Elizabeth wanted to see what the big deal was. So we went on a little picnic to Kayford Mountain. It’s a mountaintop removal site, just a 30- An aerial view of Arch Coal, Inc.’s Hobet 21 mine after it had stripped more than 10,000 minute drive from downtown Charles- acres from mountaintops in Boone County, West Virginia. Photo by Lawrence Pierce/ ton and the state’s gold-domed capitol Sunday Gazette-Mail, courtesy of The Charleston Gazette. building. On top of the mountain, Larry Gibson tends his old family cemetery. White crosses dot the spot, at the head “The costs are indisputable, and the 1977, Congress passed a federal law to of Cabin Creek. At the end of a long damage to the landscape is startling to regulate strip mining. Was it not work- ride up a battered dirt road, the cem- those who have never seen a mountain ing? Were state and federal regulators etery sits as a solitary island of grass, destroyed,” Loeb wrote. “Indeed, if falling down on the job? brush and scattered trees among the mining continues unabated, environ- strip-mined moonscape. mentalists predict that in two decades, A Watchdog Emerges Larry’s home place is surrounded half the peaks of southern West on all sides by mountaintop removal. Virginia’s blue-green skyline will be After I got the okay from my editors, I Various companies have mined thou- gone.” started the hard work of digging sands of acres in all directions. Larry’s Now it’s not like The Charleston (W. through the documents to try to an- little cemetery is the last holdout. Ev- Va.) Gazette had never covered swer these questions. I read the 1977 eryone else sold to the mining compa- mountaintop removal before. My col- law—the federal Surface Mining Con- nies. “I told the company they could league, longtime investigator Paul trol and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). I have my right arm, but they couldn’t Nyden, spent years uncovering coal- also read SMCRA’s implementing regu- have the mountain,” Gibson told me industry abuses and wrote numerous lations, the congressional history of on my first visit there in April 1997. articles about mountaintop removal. the law, and as many law review ar- “We’re here, and we’re here to stay. But what Loeb’s work did was to give ticles on the subject as I could find. They just don’t know it yet.” the issue national prominence, and it What I found became the basis for my Within a few months, the company— prompted those of us at the Gazette to stories: During arguments over SMCRA, and everybody else—knew it. Later that delve into it more deeply. Ken Hechler, then a Democratic con- year, in August, Penny Loeb reported a Was the situation as bad as Loeb gressman from West Virginia, tried to stinging exposé on mountaintop re- portrayed it to be? More importantly, if ban mountaintop removal altogether. moval for U.S. News & World Report. it was, how had it gotten that way? In As often happens, lawmakers compro-

12 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat mised: mountaintop removal was al- enforcement by DEP and a complete the on-the-ground people work hard lowed, but only under certain condi- absence of oversight by the U.S. Office and want to do a good job, so if report- tions. of Surface Mining (OSM), the federal ers show them they will be thorough Mountaintop removal is just what agency charged to make sure states and fair—and can be trusted—they will its straightforward name implies. Coal properly enforce SMCRA. be helpful. operators blast off entire hilltops to How could this happen? Spending After more research, I was able to uncover valuable, low-sulfur coal re- hour after hour in the DEP office look- find 34 mountaintop removal permits serves. Leftover rock and dirt—the stuff ing through files helped me to answer with AOC variances. Only one included that used to be the mountains—is this question. The agency’s permit writ- a post-mining development plan. shoved into nearby valleys where it ers, inspectors and various supervisors There, the state built a prison. The buries streams. got to know me. They felt comfortable AOC variance permits usually called When Congress passed SMCRA, the talking to me, and we’d spend hours for post-mining land uses such as lawmakers required coal operators to sitting and chatting over permit maps pastureland, hayland or something put strip-mined land back the way they or reclamation cross-section drawings. called “fish and wildlife habitat and found it. In legal terms, this means they As it turned out, DEP previously had a recreation lands.” In simple terms, coal must reclaim the land to its approxi- rule that any mine that chopped off 50 operators were leaving mountaintop mate original contour (AOC). Of course, or more feet off a mountain had to get removal sites—more than 50 square when the top of a mountain is re- an AOC variance. But at OSM’s urging, miles of land that used to be some of moved, achieving AOC is impossible. that rule was eliminated. Any mine— the richest and most diverse forests in So lawmakers gave coal companies an no matter what kind of changes it made North America—as leveled off grass- option. They could remove to the terrain—could get a permit as an land. mountaintops, ignore the AOC rule, AOC mine. DEP staff who knew and I published another lengthy Sunday and leave formerly rugged hills and trusted me told me about this policy article that explained how coal opera- hollows flattened or as gently rolling and gave me the public records to tors had gotten away with ignoring the terrain. But to get a permit to do so, explain it. post-mining development responsibili- companies had to submit concrete Sixty-one of the 81 mountaintop ties and, in doing so, had broken the plans that showed they would develop removal permits that I examined were social compact that allowed the flattened land after it was mined. approved, even though they did not mountaintop removal to continue in Coal operators had to build shopping propose or contain AOC variances. In the first place. malls, schools, manufacturing plants May 1998, I published a long Sunday or residential areas on their old mine piece that detailed my findings. I led by The Follow-Up Investigations sites. describing two DEP staffers’ reactions Continue I suspected this wasn’t really hap- when I asked them about how one pening and decided to find out for huge mountaintop removal mine that These stories were published about six sure. As so often happens in investiga- was being left flat could possibly meet years ago. Since then, it’s been a pretty tive reporting, this was tougher than I the AOC rule. The DEP staffers just wild ride. When fellow reporters ask thought. The state Department of Envi- laughed. “Approximate original con- me what I’m working on, I almost al- ronmental Protection (DEP) told me it tour is the heart of the federal strip- ways say, “mining stories—still more didn’t even know how many mining law,” I wrote. “But among many mining stories.” That’s because the mountaintop removal mines had been West Virginia regulators, it’s becoming controversy about mountaintop re- approved. I then spent three months a joke.” moval has only grown since that day huddled at a table in a back office that Next, I turned to the post-mining Elizabeth and I made our visit to Kayford DEP calls its file room. I befriended a development plans. It turned out that, Mountain. couple of staffers there who seemed to even when DEP required AOC vari- There was a series of investigations be the only ones in the agency who ances for mountaintop removal mines, to follow-up on what my stories al- knew where permit fields were, and I it didn’t require development plans. I leged. Eventually, the OSM published started combing through the records. returned to the file room for another a report that confirmed my findings— Every mine permit file filled three to six three months of research. A few of the and promised reforms of the permit- thick binders. Each had hundreds of DEP staffers I’d talked with before were ting process. pages and dozen of maps and dia- a little less helpful after my story showed Then there were the lawsuits. The grams. DEP had changed the permit their agency wasn’t doing its job. But West Virginia Highlands Conservancy format several times over the years, so most of them wanted to do a good job and other groups have filed a series of tracking specific items became more policing the coal industry and were cases in federal court to try to force difficult. proud of their efforts and upset when proper enforcement of the permit re- Eventually I built my own database politicians up the line got in the way of quirements for mountaintop removal. of dozens of mining permits. With it, I tough enforcement. I’ve found that So far, there have been three major was able to pinpoint a shocking lack of most regulatory agencies are like this: federal court and one state court as-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 13 Journalist’s Trade

sault on mountaintop removal. Two of mits paid off. I was armed with the mercial centers, or parks. These facili- the federal court suits resulted in rul- facts, and that made my reporting stand ties were promised to communities ings by the now-late U.S. District Judge up to all levels of criticism. when lawmakers struck a bargain to Charles H. Haden II to strictly limit the The other thing I’ve learned is that allow mountaintop removal to con- mining practice. Both were later over- it’s important to be able to give readers tinue. turned on appeal. The third federal solid information about the economic Since my original series, I’ve written court and the state court suit are still impacts of environmental regulation. hundreds of stories about mountaintop pending. I’ve covered all of these cases, For example, through a federal Free- removal. The subject has drawn the attempting to master and explain in dom of Information Act request, I dis- attention of every major newspaper, simple language the complicated mat- covered government studies that wire service, and TV network in the ters from Clean Water Act permitting showed that the economic impacts of country. For the most part, stories done schemes to the 11th Amendment con- tougher mountaintop removal regula- by outside news organizations focus stitutional prohibitions against suing tions were not nearly as drastic as the on the environmental damage with the state governments in federal court. coal industry would have had people theme being a jobs vs. the environ- My paper and I have also taken a lot believe. ment fight. That’s a simple story line of heat. After one of Haden’s rulings, Reporting on this impact study took that reporters, editors and media con- the United Mine Workers of America me back to when I began covering sumers are used to seeing and hearing. protested outside the federal court- mountaintop removal. The environ- But most environmental issues are house and picketed outside the mental impacts from this practice are more complicated than that, and this Gazette’s offices. Coal industry offi- extreme—more than 700 miles of Ap- one is particularly complex. cials and various business leaders fre- palachian streams have been buried The real legacy of mountaintop re- quently call and write to the newspa- and tens of thousands of acres of for- moval is not just the scarred land and per to complain that our coverage of ests destroyed. That alone makes this a buried streams—or a battle of jobs vs. mountaintop removal is hurting the huge story, obviously. But my original the environment—but the missed op- state’s economy. In a small and ex- series focused on a somewhat different portunities that proper regulation of tremely poor state, such charges are aspect of this same issue: the social the post-mining development rules taken seriously. They can create in- compact that allowed mining compa- would have provided to America’s credible pressure for a paper to back nies to destroy the environment, if they coalfields and to those who mined off. leave something for coalfield commu- them. ■ One of the most important lessons nities to live on when the coal is gone. I’ve learned is that the only way to The lack of regulation that allows hun- Ken Ward, Jr. has covered the envi- counter such pressures is with good, dreds of miles of streams to be buried ronment for The Charleston (W.Va.) solid reporting. This is where the also left the communities where this Gazette for more than a decade. months I spent reading mining regula- mining occurred without the economic tions and studying dozens of mine per- benefits of new factories, schools, com- [email protected] Unraveling the Great Hydrogen Hoax ‘How well reporters handle this blizzard of claims and counterclaims will surely help shape the public debate on the matter ….’

By Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran

here’s no denying it: Hydrogen Verne trumpeted the possibility of a If you doubt it, just consider the is suddenly hip. If you haven’t clean energy future based on hydro- evidence. George W. Bush, the oilman Tbeen paying attention to the gen in “The Mysterious Island”: “Yes, branded the “toxic Texan” by the Brit- news lately, you might think that hy- my friends, I believe that water will one ish press, stunned the energy world by drogen is still stuck in the dark and day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen committing America to a hydrogen fu- dusty corners of our minds, along with and oxygen which constitute it, used ture during his State of the Union all the other useless things we learned singly or together, will furnish an inex- speech in 2003. The press coverage at in high school. In fact, this most el- haustible source of heat and light, of an the time focused on his questionable emental of elements is back in the intensity of which coal is not capable claims about weapons of mass destruc- limelight for the first time since Jules … water will be the coal of the future.” tion in Iraq, but future generations

14 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat may see another part of the speech as viable. After all, we all remember the more important: He vowed that “the Hindenburg—the German passenger first car driven by a child born today airship filled with hydrogen that blew could be powered by hydrogen and up—and the H-bomb. pollution free.” The first of these claims simply Not to be outdone, the European doesn’t wash. Fuel cells are hardly new: Commission also unveiled its grand The basic concept is over 150 years old, Hydrogen Roadmap last year. The Eu- and fuel cells have been used success- ropean Union vows to become the fully by NASA to power several genera- world’s first “hydrogen superpower” tions of space craft. In fact, astronauts (whatever that means), and its presi- on the space shuttles drink the per- dent, Romano Prodi, longs to be re- fectly pure water that is the only ex- membered as the man who ushered haust of their fuel cells. Europe into the hydrogen age. Arnold As for safety, hydrogen is indeed Schwarzenegger, on the eve of dangerous—but any fair analysis (un- California’s already bizarre recall elec- fortunately, these are not too com- tion, baffled voters by promising to mon) has to put that risk into proper build a Hydrogen Highway in his state— perspective. Gasoline is also a danger- and now vows it will stretch from ous fuel and, in fact, would almost Tijuana to Vancouver. certainly not be accepted by the Envi- Hydrogen has clearly become the ronmental Protection Agency if it were darling of politicians, but how much of proposed as a brand new fuel today. this hoopla is really just hype? After all, Most experts from the automobile, the Terminator’s grand promises of that cars powered in this way would energy and chemicals industries now clean energy come from a man who not contribute to smog or other air agree that hydrogen can be used every owns not one but seven Hummer SUV’s! pollution concerns that bedevil the bit as safely as gasoline so long as we I have grappled with this question in world’s cities. What’s more, if the hy- use proper (i.e. different) measures in recent years as I followed this emerg- drogen is made from a clean energy handling it. What’s more, a little dig- ing technology for my magazine, The source like renewables, then this ap- ging reveals that the eye-catching Economist—and even more so as I proach would emit virtually no green- Hindenburg anecdote is bogus. Excel- wrote my book on the future of energy, house gases as well. That would be a lent detective work done by Addison “Power to the People: How the Com- dramatic boost to efforts to tackle glo- Bain, formerly the chief hydrogen sci- ing Energy Revolution Will Transform bal warming. In a nutshell, a shift from entist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Cen- an Industry, Change Our Lives, and fossil fuel-combustion to hydrogen fuel ter, shows that the zeppelin did not Maybe Even Save the Planet.” cells would speed the arrival of a zero- blow up because of its hydrogen; rather, I determined that if we are to cut emissions energy future. it caught on fire. That is because the through the hype on this issue, we Will we really get to this green uto- Germans had unwittingly painted it must first answer three questions: pia? Maybe, but there are influential with chemicals that we today use as voices in industry, in the environmen- rocket propulsion fuel. 1. What exactly is hydrogen energy? tal community, and in politics who In short, hydrogen is not a technol- 2. Is it really worth bothering with? argue that all the current interest in ogy hoax. 3. Or could this possibly be the begin- hydrogen is at best a distraction—and Even if the technology works, ar- nings of the Great Hydrogen Hoax? at worst a giant hoax. How well report- gues another camp of skeptics, it still ers handle this blizzard of claims and doesn’t make any economic sense. Such First, to the basics. Hydrogen mat- counterclaims will surely help shape voices note that hydrogen is not in ters because it can be used as a fuel in the public debate on the matter and itself an energy source. To make hydro- clean-energy devices called fuel cells. ultimately help the public in evaluat- gen requires the use of a primary en- Fuel cells are, in essence, big batteries ing the true potential of this radically ergy source, and that inevitably involves that run for as long as hydrogen (from different approach to energy. efficiency losses and “energy penal- some primary energy source) and oxy- ties.” Given that we have a cheap and gen (from the air) are supplied. They Evaluating Hydrogen’s cheerful energy system that is wonder- produce electricity that can be used to Hoaxes fully efficient today, they say, why run a laptop, a house, or a car. bother with a costly and disruptive All very interesting, one might think, One camp of skeptics argues that hy- transition to something that could but so what? The reason to care is that drogen amounts to a technology hoax. prove an economic hoax? the only local emission produced by Either it won’t work as promised, they At one level, these critics are cer- fuel cells is water vapor. That means say, or it will prove too dangerous to be tainly right: Hydrogen is not a magical

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 15 Journalist’s Trade

new source of energy. Shamefully, some In contrast, after just a few short years Investigative reporting would expose reporters writing about this topic im- of commercial research, fuel cells are an even bigger outrage: Billions of ply that it is. More often, though, even already converting more than 40 per- dollars in taxpayer subsidies and tax careful reporters bury this unobvious cent of the energy content of hydrogen breaks are quietly lavished on the oil, fact deep in the story—and so leave into useful power. gas and nuclear industries. Agricultural casual readers with a very misleading So today’s energy system is clearly subsidies get lots of bad press, but not impression. Though hydrogen is the no paragon of efficiency—but that glar- energy subsidies. Why not? Because most abundant element in the uni- ing and relevant fact rarely gets much too often the press allows self-righ- verse, it is never found in its free state ink in articles about hydrogen. What’s teous politicians or interest groups (be on earth—and so must be released more, its economics look decidedly that oil companies or wind lobbies) to from its molecular bond to carbon in suspect if the hidden costs of guzzling get away with claims that such subsi- hydrocarbon fuels or (along the lines fossil fuels are taken into account. Burn- dies enhance “energy security” or “en- of Verne’s vision) from its bond to ing coal takes a tremendous toll on ergy independence” or other com- oxygen in ordinary water. That does human lungs, leading to millions of pletely bogus notions. We must do take some energy and involves some premature deaths each year worldwide. much more to expose these claims for inefficiencies. So it is really an “energy Consuming gasoline contributes to glo- what they really are: efforts by wealthy carrier” like electricity and influential interests to that has to be created get financial assistance from some primary en- through the political pro- ergy source, be that cess. windmills or coal plants Too often, reporters in or nuclear power. the United States take the But this does not nec- view that the current way essarily mean that mak- of pricing energy is the ing hydrogen is eco- only way possible—that is, nomic nonsense. the market sets the price Journalists must look be- for gasoline. That is too yond the self-serving ar- naive a view: For a start, guments offered by the OPEC cartel does more some critics (such as cer- to set the price than any tain oil companies) to market forces. That is also the fuller picture. Hydro- too parochial a view, as a gen conversion ineffi- look at environmental ciencies must be put in General Motors Vice President Lawrence Burns (left) stands with Presi- policies across the world the proper context, for dent George Bush in front of the Hy-wire concept car at an event pro- reveals. If the external today’s energy system is moting the use of hydrogen fuel cells in Washington, D.C. in February costs of fossil fuel are hardly a paragon of effi- 2003. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press. priced properly, as some ciency. More than half European countries are of America’s electricity, now starting to do with for example, comes from aging coal- bal warming, a problem that may have “eco-taxation” reforms, then hydrogen fired power plants; many run at barely devastating impacts on parts of the would surely not appear so uneco- 35 percent efficiency. Because they are world. And at least part of the cost of nomic. located far from consumers, the heat stationing American troops in the So if the skeptics are wrong about produced is wasted, and more power Middle East must be attributed to West- the technology and economics of hy- is lost in transmission and distribution. ern nations’ interest in the region’s oil. drogen, where exactly is this Great We then burn more fuel to heat our Hydrogen Hoax? The answer is that homes since we didn’t do “co-genera- Hidden Costs and Motives there is a political hoax underway to- tion” (as in Thomas Edison’s original day in America—and that lazy journal- vision for micropower plants situated Balanced reporting that integrates en- ists risk falling victim to it. Both left and close to users—a vision that fuel cells ergy and environmental issues would right are busy making claims about the could help revive) in the first place. make clear to readers that all these virtues or villainy of this technology, The iron nexus of the internal combus- “externalities” add up to a hidden cost and neither is being entirely honest tion engine and gasoline is even worse that society pays for its use of fossil with the public. than the power plants: A typical car fuels—a price not paid at the pump, of For a start, consider the reaction engine is so inefficient that it converts course, but nonetheless paid through from most big environmental groups only about 15 percent of the energy the health of our children, flora and to the unveiling of America’s hydrogen content of gasoline into useful motion. fauna, and in the use of military troops. strategy. You might think that the vi-

16 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat sion for a net zero-emission future the Middle Kingdom. Look beyond the tocol becomes irrelevant. On the other would have been applauded by them. navel-gazing of Beltway politics, and hand, if the rich countries can speed After all, this is a far more ambitious one will see that the governments of the arrival of hydrogen-from-coal and energy goal than anything in current Japan and Europe are also now forging carbon sequestration technologies and law. When Tony Blair unveiled a cli- ahead on hydrogen fuel cells—and no- help transfer those technologies to the mate-friendly, hydrogen-intensive en- body can accuse Eurocrats of being in poor countries, then perhaps growth ergy strategy for Britain recently, he the back pockets of the Texan oil lobby. and greenery can be made compatible was feted by greens as a visionary. Yet Even China (which is very concerned after all. in America, most environmental groups about future reliance on OPEC oil and Reporters taking a global view would have been deeply skeptical or outright Russian gas) now has more than 400 see that the question of hydrogen cuts hostile to the Bush administration’s different agencies, university labs, mili- right to the heart of the great debate hydrogen plans. Their view is that this tary divisions, and private firms work- over sustainable development itself: Texan oilman has proven so un-green ing on fuel cells. How can we reconcile the energy-guz- in so many ways that he simply can’t be But where in the American press did zling growth required to alleviate pov- trusted on this new-fangled hydrogen you last read or hear about that intrigu- erty with the need to preserve the natu- thing. Besides, they often whisper to ing aspect of the hydrogen story? Much ral environment for future generations? reporters, Bush surely just wants to broader coverage of this is found in the This dilemma explains why the Natural distract attention from shorter-term European and Canadian press than in Resources Defense Council, an envi- measures on efficiency and renewables. most American outlets. In fact, that ronmental group with impeccable cre- As clinching proof, they point to the China example explains why the criti- dentials and lots of lawsuits pending fact that he wants to include evil coal as cism of coal-to-hydrogen is misguided, against the Bush administration, has a possible source of hydrogen in the or at least needs to be placed by report- courageously broken with the green future—thus allowing “black” hydro- ers in proper context. It is true that coal herd and now supports efforts to de- gen to compete with “green” hydrogen used in today’s filthy combustion plants velop hydrogen from coal. made from renewables. Therefore, goes is a big part of our environmental prob- The world will need more such cre- the argument, his hydrogen plan must lem. However, that is not what the ative thinking if it is to tackle the thorny be a scam. White House (or its partner in crime, challenges posed by the collision of Frankly, part of the environmental the European Commission) proposes energy, environment and economy— skepticism is justified. Hydrogen makes in its hydrogen vision: It wants to de- and it will need reporters willing to for sexy copy and surely gives an other- rive hydrogen from coal to use in take a long-term, multidisciplinary, glo- wise un-green administration an envi- tomorrow’s clean energy plants and to bal view to explain this story to read- ronmental veneer. But most indepen- “sequester” the resultant carbon diox- ers. The tension between the future dent energy pundits argue that neither ide emissions into the ground so that economic growth and concerns about short-term efficiency measures nor a they won’t contribute to global warm- the environment lies at the heart of the long-term switch to hydrogen are ing. Frankly, that’s pretty green—and debate over sustainable development— enough: We need to do both if we are has little to do with the filthy way that the greatest challenge of this new cen- to tackle the very serious environmen- coal is used in America today. tury. Clean hydrogen energy could well tal problems that are linked to our The inclusion of coal matters not play an important part in the transition energy use. just because it helps Bush’s cronies in to a clean energy future and help us But rather than reflect that nuanced the domestic coal industry, though that solve the sustainability puzzle—but argument, much of the reporting on is surely one of his motivations. The only if we first debunk the Great Hy- this topic picks up on the justified real reason this might be laudable arises drogen Hoax. ■ critiques of Bush environmental poli- from the distressing fact that India, cies in order to damn hydrogen alto- South Africa, and especially China have Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is the envi- gether. That surely kills a virtuous nearly limitless domestic supplies of ronment and energy correspondent message because of the failings of the coal. As their economies soar in com- for The Economist. He is also the messenger. Richard Nixon didn’t go to ing years, they will use that coal. If they author of “Power to the People: How China because he loved Communists— do so with the same inefficient and the Coming Energy Revolution Will he went because domestic and interna- filthy technologies that America uses Transform an Industry, Change Our tional political realities forced him to today, as they are set to do on current Lives, and Maybe Even Save the embrace an audaciously different strat- trends, then many millions of unfortu- Planet,” published by Farrar, Straus egy that undeniably changed the course nates in those countries will die pre- & Giroux in 2003. More information of world history. maturely from air pollution. about his book can be found at Set aside Bush’s motivations, and What’s more, any hopes of climate www.vijaytothepeople.com. you find that the vision for a net zero- stabilization will be sunk—so much emission future is actually even more carbon dioxide would be released by [email protected] breathtaking than Nixon’s embrace of China alone that the U.N.’s Kyoto Pro-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 17 Journalist’s Trade

WATCHDOG Terrorism Fears Thwart Journalists’ Reporting Is the public being well-served by the government’s protection of information? By Joseph A. Davis

new federal rule aimed at keep- planning an attack on critical infra- “FERC Hides Dam Safety Flaws, Citing ing terrorists from learning about structure.” In response to protests from ‘National Security.’” Avulnerabilities in the nation’s open-government groups, FERC Terrorists have shown little interest energy infrastructure might be result- amended its definition to include only in Milltown Dam. But the Milltown ing in the neglected safety of dams and information already “exempt from Reservoir holds 6.6 million cubic yards pipelines and in less monitoring of an mandatory disclosure under the Free- of sediment laced with lead, arsenic, electric grid whose operators are unac- dom of Information Act (FOIA)” and cadmium and other heavy metals countable for its reliability—all of which that “does not simply give the location washed from the Anaconda Smelter will spare powerful, politically ap- of the critical infrastructure.” Superfund hazardous waste site (the pointed regulators embarrassment. The But FERC’s limitation to FOIA-ex- “nation’s largest”) now owned by reason: This rule—prompted by wor- empt information might provide little ARCO, who will have to pay for the ries about homeland security—blocks consolation to journalists. By using an cleanup. Arguably, hiding the flaws journalists from reporting certain in- expansive FOIA interpretation, FERC does more to help ARCO than it does to formation about pipelines, transmis- exempted a great deal of the safety and thwart terrorists. ARCO was hoping sion lines, hydroelectric dams, and environmental information it had pre- the Environmental Protection Agency other energy facilities. Whether this viously disclosed having to do with (EPA) would choose a less costly protection of information is resulting internal personnel matters, trade se- cleanup plan that would leave the dam in the public being safer remains an crets, and “certain law enforcement in place and use the reservoir as a final open question and a difficult one to information, including information the containment structure. Partly as a re- assess with reporters unable to obtain disclosure of which might jeopardize a sult of the newly discovered (and un- critical information. person’s life or safety.” So far, these successfully concealed) safety issues, interpretations are untested in court. Montana Governor Judy Martz in Janu- FERC’s New Rule The final rule also allowed compa- ary 2003 said she favored a more ex- nies and utilities to claim protection pensive alternative cleanup plan—re- The Federal Energy Regulatory Com- for disclosure of information when they moving the dam and the sediments. mission (FERC) has jurisdiction over initially submit it to FERC. Such infor- The next day, the EPA said it would dams and hydropower, oil and gas pipe- mation would then remain undisclosed choose dam removal. lines, electric power plants and the unless FERC’s CEII coordinator decides This story is a Byzantine web of grid connecting them, and many other otherwise. The rule applies not merely political, economic and legal shenani- aspects of the nation’s energy infra- to information about existing facilities, gans, and it has been doggedly covered structure. For years it had issued li- but to proposed facilities that might be by Missoulian reporter Sherry Devlin censes and enforced regulations in for- built if FERC licenses them. over the years. While thousands of resi- mal, quasi-judicial proceedings. As part FERC’s system departs from FOIA in dents and businesses downstream of these proceedings, documents were several important ways. First, it allows would face flooding if the dam failed, filed in a public docket, and everything companies to shift the presumption to another worry is environmental. If a was supposed to be on the record. nondisclosure. Second, it requires that massive ice jam (like the one that al- Within a month after the September anyone requesting information prove most smashed into the dam in 1996) 11th attacks, FERC started to remove their identity and “need to know.” breached the dam, the flush of sedi- previously public information from its Third, people receiving CEII must sign ments would contaminate drinking Web site. By January 2002, it began nondisclosure agreements—a provi- water and endanger human health and regulatory proceedings to excise en- sion that reporters would balk at. affect recovery efforts for the endan- tirely from the public record a whole gered bull trout. class of information it called “Critical Milltown Dam: In December 2002 In January 2003, FERC apologized Energy Infrastructure Information” FERC removed from its Web site infor- to Missoula County commissioners (CEII). On February 20, 2003, the CEII mation on foot-wide gaps near the foun- from whom it withheld information rule was finalized, and it defined CEII dation of the aging Milltown Dam, five about the dam’s structural flaws. But as information about “proposed or miles upstream of Missoula, Montana. the information is still listed on FERC’s existing” critical energy infrastructure The headline on The Associated Press Web site as “nonpublic” (meaning an that “could be useful to a person in story on December 28th said it all: FOIA request is needed to get it), as is

18 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat

FERC’s apology to the commissioners. one reason for the hurry. There might siting and licensing of LNG import ter- Greenbrier Natural Gas Pipeline: never be a more permissive regulatory minals. The decree came in the case of Few people’s patriotism would be less environment for building such energy a proposed Long Beach, California ter- subject to challenge than that of former facilities than there is this year with minal that California’s Public Utilities U.S. Army Ranger Joseph McCormick, Congress, the White House, and FERC Commission says it also must approve living in a rural Virginia community in all in Republican hands. before it is built. FERC insists it’s not the Blue Ridge Mountains. Yet when The rush to build LNG terminals trying to cut local authorities out of the he asked FERC for information about a might prove hard to reconcile with the decision, but local agencies are ex- 30-inch natural gas pipeline that was administration’s concerns over terror- pected to challenge FERC in court. going through his Floyd County com- ism. Looked at through the eyes of In the summer of 2003, ExxonMobil munity in the Shenandoah foothills, he terrorists, an LNG tanker in a popu- Corp. proposed building an onshore couldn’t get it. lated area could be a weapon of mass terminal at a former Navy homeport in This story emerged as part of a joint destruction. And such scenarios might Mobile Bay, off Alabama. Since that investigation, published in December not be far-fetched. Former White House announcement, the Mobile Register has 2003 by U.S. News & World Report and counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke given the issue prominent news cover- broadcast on PBS’s “NOW with Bill wrote in his book, “Against All En- age. [See Bill Finch’s article on page Moyers.” FERC denied information on emies: Inside America’s War on Ter- 20.] Register reporters Sean Reilly and the routing of the proposed Green- ror,” that the United States knew “that Ben Raines and their colleagues have brier Pipeline to McCormick and Gini al-Qaeda operatives had been infiltrat- found that expert scientific assessments Cooper (whose land it would run ing Boston by coming in on liquid of how much danger the facility would across) even before it had officially natural gas tankers from Algeria” and present to the community differed adopted its CEII rule—on the grounds that shutting down Boston Harbor was widely. The newspaper has also dis- that this information might help ter- one of his top priorities after Septem- covered that the CEII rule is likely to rorists. Neither local residents nor re- ber 11th because “we had also learned prevent the community from getting porters were allowed to get from FERC that had one of the giant tankers blown the full story. a map of the proposed pipeline’s route up in the harbor, it would have wiped or a list of landowners whose land it out downtown Boston.” In an era of terrorism, press and would cross. LNG terminals are considered by public access to information about McCormick and Cooper were, in some experts among the most danger- energy infrastructure hazards might fact, possibly more concerned about ous industrial facilities known. A Janu- well be needed more, not less. The the security of their community than ary 2004 explosion at an LNG complex FERC’s CEII rule has the potential for was FERC. McCormick was concerned in Skikda, Algeria, killed 30 people and hiding information the public needs to that the pipeline would run close to a injured over 70 and raised serious ensure its own safety. For example, if a local school and right across the scenic doubts over the industry’s assurances company proposes routing a gas pipe- Blue Ridge Parkway. “But what we were that LNG facilities are safe. While many line next to a child-care center, people finding was this was having the effect of of the proposed terminals are far off- need to know that, if only to be able to defeating our opportunity to organize shore, some are onshore close to pressure FERC to reroute the pipeline. people, to get people involved,” densely populated areas. And FERC’s Building energy facilities that are in- McCormick told “Now’s” David CEII rule is keeping safety and environ- herently safe—from their inception— Brancaccio. “And when we couldn’t mental information locked up out of is a better solution than keeping haz- get an exact route, the momentum, the public view. ards hidden. But the public cannot groups actually that were forming, es- Until recently, LNG terminals were make such decisions wisely—or hold sentially disbanded.” rare in the United States—partly be- officials accountable for making them— Without effective public opposition, cause of safety and partly because of without access to information. ■ the FERC approved the pipeline. economics. Three years ago, only three Liquefied Natural Gas Terminals: were operating in the United States— Joseph A. Davis has written about In the past year energy companies have at Everett, Massachusetts; Elba Island, natural resources, energy and the proposed building up to 30 liquefied Georgia, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. environment for 28 years. His syndi- natural gas (LNG) terminals along the One facility at Cove Point, Maryland cated articles have appeared in Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts of the has been shut down since 1980. more than 110 U.S. newspapers. He United States. At these offshore and Fierce local opposition has caused now edits the WatchDog, a newslet- onshore terminals, massive tankers companies to delay or cancel LNG ter- ter about First Amendment issues for would unload cargoes of super-cooled minal proposals for Mobile, Alabama; the Society of Environmental Jour- gas, which would be fed via pipeline to Vallejo, California, and Harpswell, nalists. To receive the WatchDog, e- a nation hungry for the fuel. FERC Maine. Mindful of this, FERC on March mail a request to [email protected]. appears to be in a rush to get them 24, 2004 issued an unusual ruling that sited and built. High gas prices are only it alone has authority to regulate the [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 19 Journalist’s Trade

WATCHDOG Government Studies Vanish From Reporters’ View At the Mobile Register, journalists encounter barriers to reporting on possible hazards and risks of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal. By Bill Finch

hen communities such as Long Beach, California and W Mobile, Alabama face the prospect of hosting a major new indus- try that has been identified as a signifi- cant terrorist target, then citizens and reporters naturally want to see evi- dence that the government carefully considered the risks before approving the facility. But in the past few years, government officials seem more reluc- tant to release this information, even when local communities must make critical decisions about whether to en- courage the location of such facilities in their backyard. New legislation, in- cluding the USA Patriot Act and Home- land Security Act, have added to con- cerns that communities will have to take the decisions and actions of gov- ernment agencies on faith. Hollinger’s Island residents hold up signs of opposition during the October 2003 meet- That was the case last year, when the ing of the Alabama State Port Authority to decide on the sale of the old Navy homeport U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and to ExxonMobil for a liquefied natural gas terminal. The authority approved it by a vote the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- of 4-2. Photo by Mike Kittrell/Mobile Register. mission (FERC) announced a major push to locate new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in a number of Register reporters asked to review those they might violate by doing so. U.S. cities. LNG is a highly concen- studies. None of the agencies that pro- Ultimately, the Register’s reporting trated form of natural gas that can be duced or cited the studies were willing helped prompt both DOE and FERC to economically shipped around the to give them to our reporters to read sponsor new studies of LNG risks. Us- globe. Energy officials and economists and analyze. After more than a year of ing many of the Register’s finding, com- have argued that LNG could be the key reporting by two staffers, Ben Raines munity groups in Harpswell, Maine to stabilizing North America’s energy and me, the Register finally obtained, and Eureka, California turned aside prices in the future. But because LNG through the use of back channel proposals to build LNG facilities in is highly concentrated, and spreads sources, most of the government stud- those cities. The two LNG facilities that quickly when released on water, scien- ies used in analyzing LNG risks. In have been proposed for Mobile have tists have long warned that it could reporting on the studies’ findings, the now been put “on the backburner,” pose an unusual hazard when shipped Register has been cautious about re- according to the companies who pro- into populated areas. Numerous fed- vealing the sources of its information posed building them. eral officials promoting the siting of out of concern that obscure provisions But it has become increasingly clear new terminals in cities such as Mobile of the USA Patriot Act or the Homeland why some of the federal agencies might indicated to the public that the risks Security Act might later be used against have been reluctant to release the stud- and hazards were overstated. And they the sources or the newspaper. Some ies. In many cases, the conclusions suggested they had studies that proved sources were reluctant to turn over represented by the agencies were not even nearby neighborhoods had little scientific research for fear of violating supported by the actual studies, and to fear. the law, though they couldn’t point to the scratchwork in the studies was of- Trouble surfaced when Mobile (Ala.) a specific provision in these acts that ten critically flawed. Unfortunately, as

20 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat the Register discovered, the devil is usually found in the scratchwork. One example among many: In the days fol- lowing the September 11th terror at- tacks, the LNG facility near Boston’s Inner Harbor was shut down. It was reopened a few weeks later, after gov- ernment officials said that newly com- missioned studies showed that an LNG terror attack would not be an issue. While Boston’s mayor and some fire officials continued to question the safety of LNG shipments into Boston, the findings that supposedly led to that decision were apparently never closely examined in a public forum. Just now we are learning from the government— under Congressional pressure—that several Algerians who might have con- nections to terrorists entered this coun- An aerial photo from February 2004 of the former Navy homeport and proposed LNG try by coming into Boston’s LNG port site in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Photo by Kiichiro Sato/Mobile Register. by tanker. When an LNG terminal was an- repeatedly promoted it as evidence mation have likely resulted from the nounced for Mobile in the summer of that a terrorist attack on an LNG vessel climate created by these new laws rather 2003, it quickly became apparent that would not likely cause serious reper- than by any specific language in them. what government officials were saying cussions in Boston or elsewhere. But our experience in trying to learn about LNG hazards was different than When the Register published its story more about the proposed LNG termi- information being offered by many lead- detailing the disjunction between the nal siting in Mobile convinces us that ing scientists. The Register asked the substance of the Quest study and DOE’s some government officials seem pre- DOE for a copy of the study it most public representations of it, our re- pared to go to great lengths to prevent frequently cited, done by Quest Con- porters noted that the DOE officials disclosure of this research that goes sultants Inc. The DOE response: It de- claimed they knew nothing of the study. behind their decision-making. It is also nied repeatedly that the study existed Our stories also noted that the Quest possible, however, that some of the (even though it commissioned it) and study was referred to in DOE presenta- silence about this subject might be also claimed it had nothing to do with tions being widely circulated on the due, in part, to an absence of broader such a study. Internet as well as in Congressional and tougher press investigation and reports, official FERC documents, and follow-through. Trying to Unveil the Findings letters to members of Congress from In recent months, DOE officials have administration officials. been at least a little more direct in When Register reporters obtained the After our story appeared in some talking to Register reporters. But most Quest study from other sources (who newspapers around the country, DOE of our hard data still have to come in had earlier received copies for review), officials finally acknowledged that the over the transom rather than through they discovered that its scope of work study exists and that they commissioned government channels. DOE officials and conclusions did not support what it. Representative Edward Markey, the have repeatedly sidetracked or refused DOE and FERC officials had presented Massachusetts Democrat whose Bos- virtually every request we’ve made to to the public. The study’s author also ton-area district includes the only LNG obtain documents, even when docu- attempted to distance himself from terminal located in a major U.S. popu- ments had been distributed for review DOE’s conclusions, telling the Register lation center, described the DOE’s re- to scientists or legislators. DOE offi- that this study had been designed to fusal to acknowledge its responsibility cials have never claimed that releasing answer a very narrow question. It was, for the document “a bizarre and this information would somehow aid he said, being “misused” by the DOE Orwellian rewriting of history.” terrorists, and our review of the Quest officials who had asked him to do the We’ve been able to find no provi- analysis finds that it would not have study. We also found that this docu- sion of the USA Patriot Act or the Home- offered much new information to ter- ment had not examined the possible land Security Act that has been invoked rorists. It did not set forth any credible consequences of a terrorist attack in that would require this kind of secrecy terrorist scenarios, nor did it produce Boston Harbor, even though DOE offi- with such documents. The recent diffi- one involving a threat to the surround- cials, and those from other agencies, culties we’ve faced in obtaining infor- ing community.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 21 Journalist’s Trade

With the latest round of LNG safety to two sources. The first is a memo by about the risks posed by local facilities studies commissioned by DOE and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, such as the LNG terminal. FERC, federal officials have willingly written on October 12, 2001 regarding These provisions are new and gen- acknowledged their existence. But even Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) erally regarded as untested. Perhaps, during the solicitation of bids for these requests. In essence, this memo di- in the future, some rationale or legal studies earlier this year, government rected agencies to err on the side of basis for this approach to withholding officials made clear that any research caution when disclosing information information will be put forth. The developed as a part of these studies and encouraged them to use existing clampdown on information might re- might be classified. Officials at Sandia disclosure exemptions to the fullest flect a new attitude among the agen- National Laboratories, the quasi-gov- legal extent. This directive indicated a cies. But as the Register’s experience ernmental research lab conducting the dramatic about-face from the Clinton makes clear, in the current black box of latest LNG safety research for DOE, era, when Attorney General Janet Reno administrative decision-making, gov- won’t comment specifically on this. advised agencies to err on the side of ernment agencies have the means to But sources close to its study said this disclosure in regard to FOIA requests. withhold critical information, even upcoming analysis of LNG hazards FERC’s Critical Energy Infrastruc- when they have no apparent legal basis would likely be presented in several ture Information exemption was final- for doing so. ■ forms—one for industry, one for gov- ized in February 2003 and gave broad ernment, and one for public consump- powers to the government and private Bill Finch is the Mobile Register’s tion. It remains unclear whether the companies, allowing them to exercise environment editor. Register re- “public” document will reveal the criti- more control over what the general porter Ben Raines contributed to this cal scratchwork that allow us to see public can learn about the processes, article. Their LNG coverage won the how its findings lead to its conclusions. infrastructure and plans of private in- 2003 Community Service Award and Register reporter Sean Reilly, who dustries. [See Joseph Davis’s story on a Freedom of Information Award worked from Washington, D.C. in re- page 18.] Reilly highlighted for our from the Alabama Associated Press porting on the paper’s LNG stories, readers how these new policies could Managing Editors’ competition. observes that the new emphasis on make it extremely difficult for local withholding information can be traced communities to obtain information [email protected]

WATCHDOG Keeping Reporters and the Public in the Dark Secret dealmaking creates big challenges for journalists trying to cover the risks and benefits of energy decisions.

By Elizabeth McCarthy

hen California’s deregulated energy issues. Facts are being hidden ture with few lawmakers taking the energy market crashed and at both the state and federal levels on time to understand its potential ramifi- Wcouldn’t be put back together matters that affect human and environ- cations. Only a few short years later, again, there were widespread fears that mental health and people’s pocket- the results came back to haunt politi- the lights would go out in homes, books. Light thus must be cast on the cians, utilities and Californians. It also schools, hospitals and businesses. Poli- secret deals to fight violations of a was largely responsible for the demise ticians, regulators and the public were fundamental principle of democracy— of Governor Gray Davis. on the edge for months, with candles open government. When the energy market cracked in and batteries in hand. In spite of dire While the energy crisis was at full early 2001, wholesale power prices predictions, the lights did little more tilt, one might have thought that state soared so high that the state’s investor- than flicker, but there were serious legislators and regulators would be owned utilities, which serve millions outages of another kind. adverse to being kept in the dark about of customers, couldn’t pay their en- There were rolling information crucial policy issues given all the unan- ergy bills. The key concern was the blackouts that continue to this day, swered questions about deregulation crisis’s impact on the fifth largest along with a multibillion dollar tab. prior to its enactment. In 1996, the economy in the world. Manufacturers Since the deregulation fiasco, the pub- complex bill responsible for the de- and other commercial interests feared lic has been left in the dark about bacle was rammed through the legisla- there would be widespread blackouts,

22 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat costing them billions of dollars. Sto- ries about aging people in hot cli- The Language and Culture of the Energy Beat mates dying because high utility bills would force them to turn off their air The first time I communicated in French Indians lost their lives when they pro- conditioners were rampant, as were and actually understood the response, tested their government’s plan to ex- warnings that all or part of the state I was elated. Those foreign syllables port natural gas to California and south- would be left without power. really did mean something, and as my western United States. After winning a The vast majority of Californians, misunderstandings and mispronuncia- second term as California’s governor, including many lawmakers and regu- tions decreased, my fascination with Gray Davis was ejected from office by lators, were indeed left powerless. the new world opening up to me in- voters in a recall election largely be- They had no information to challenge creased. cause the state’s deregulation experi- deals worked out in secret that would It was much the same way when I ment with its energy policy blew up in affect them for years to come. That plunged into energy reporting. My first his face. includes arrangements with the pri- weeks on the beat were painful. I was The energy beat involves covering vate utilities and several agreements overwhelmed by the words I was hear- flamboyant characters. There is Erin between the California Department of ing—megawatts, BTU’s, capacity Brockovich, who helped to uncover Water Resources (DWR) and those who charges, and dedicated rate compo- how water supplies contaminated by generate energy. nent. I didn’t have a clue what these Pacific Gas & Electric killed and harmed words meant. But when I began to get people in a small town in Southern Reporting on Secret Deals a grip on the beat’s terminology and its California and Enron’s Ken Lay, whose culture, I entered another world. As decision-making led to the scandalous During the ongoing crisis, I covered with learning French, I’ve found this implosion of his company, which was numerous hearings and press confer- experience to be challenging, enrich- once the United States’s largest energy ences each week. Running among leg- ing, frustrating and fascinating. trader. islative hearings—more than 300 en- In energy, the stakes are high and Don’t let a few BTU’s, gigawatts or ergy bills were introduced in early dollars huge. The success or failure of multisyllabic power lingo get in the 2001—was par for the course. Be- an energy policy or practice—whether way of tackling this beat. Plunging into cause I had a lot of company, I often it is regulation, deregulation or some the energy story and learning to speak shared information with reporters combination of the two—has saved as its language and understand its culture from other small media outlets be- well as taken lives. Decisions about is a journey well worth undertaking. ■ cause, try as we might, we couldn’t be energy have destroyed political careers. —E.M. two places at once. It was a months- Recently, some impoverished Bolivian long marathon to report these stories, but the most challenging part was deal- ing with the information blackouts. Governor Davis cut to a trickle the ered—and reported—that renewable Californians are still paying for flow of information from his office and power suppliers had been virtually shut deregulation’s aftermath and will be energy agencies about efforts to re- out of the market. Nearly all the state’s for some time. But the lesson to emerge duce the disfigured market’s damage. long-term energy contracts were for from that crisis—the benefit of open He met in secret with investor-owned fossil-fuel power. decision-making—just hasn’t stuck. utilities about ways to pay off their Although few knew the size of the While energy has not been front-page multibillion dollar debt. The state also deregulation tab being discussed be- news during the two years following took the unprecedented step of enter- hind closed doors, everyone knew it the crisis, it is still a big story. The state ing into the power business to ensure would be picked up by small ratepayers still lacks a long-term energy blueprint that juice kept flowing into the grid. who had no say in the matter. It wasn’t and another energy disaster might be DWR signed $42 billion in long-term until deals were done and several news on the horizon. In spite of that, secret contracts at breakneck speed. agencies forced their public release via dealmaking is alive and well. Conse- Neither consumer nor environmen- the Freedom of Information Act that quently, covering the beat in a mean- tal representatives were included in the actual numbers involved in the bad ingful way continues to require dig- the negotiations. A large part of report- news could be reported. Many of the ging for basic facts to reveal details of ing on the crisis involved raising unan- contracts were overpriced, often for the shady arrangements—whether it is swered questions for our readers and unneeded power, and there were vir- about price, risks and/or environmen- highlighting potential conflicts of in- tually no alternative power supplies in tal impacts. For reporters, determina- terest. Some of the key players in the the mix. The state is still fighting, too, tion, resourcefulness and persistence governor’s inner circle, for example, to recover nine billion dollars in re- are the equivalent of a flashlight. had ties to utilities sitting on the other funds from generators for claimed ex- There are several examples of closed- side of the negotiating table. I discov- cess power prices. door government decisions. The most

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 23 Journalist’s Trade

notorious is Vice President Dick sources? What will be the health, envi- able power deal between Southern Cheney’s pro-industry secret energy ronmental and financial impact of the California Edison and an industrial solar task force that developed the chosen supplies, near and far? energy company that had ties to the administration’s energy policy. A court There are also many unanswered CPUC’s president. The terms of these case in which plaintiffs are seeking to questions about energy policy at the agreements were not aired until after learn the identity of those who served state level. The last few months, a num- they were signed. Thus it was not pos- on this task force is now before the ber of costly, secret power agreements sible to report on the negotiations. Nor Supreme Court. Less well-known are have been approved by the California could the public put them to the test of secrecy issues involving several lique- Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), reasonableness or ask if the agreements fied natural gas (LNG) plants now be- including the eight billion dollar rate- were fair and whether there were bet- ing proposed on the shores of Califor- payer bailout to bring an end to the ter and cleaner alternatives out there. nia and in other U.S. areas and Mexico. bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric Also not debated prior to the decisions Many people are concerned about the (PG&E), which was the largest private has been who pays how much and who safety of these facilities that are used to utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. When reaps the benefits. reconstitute frozen imported natural PG&E and the CPUC reached a closed- Affected community members and gas to fuel homes, schools, business door deal to settle the bankruptcy, public officials are, however, fighting and power plants. This fear has inten- only those involved in the negotiations back. An increasing number are insist- sified since a recent explosion at an knew the specifics. Questions by re- ing that deals be made in the open. In LNG terminal in Algeria that killed 30 porters, and those of some CPUC mem- early April, at the Port of Long Beach, people and injured more than 70. bers who were required to vote on the California, those in government who While investigating the matter, my multibillion dollar deal, were left unre- are considering an onshore LNG plant fellow reporters at California Energy solved. announced they would disclose safety Circuit, an independent weekly publi- Consequently, I focused my stories information about the project to the cation about energy issues, and I on the few known costs, including the public. They pointed to open govern- learned that the U.S. government, professional fees of those involved in ment requirements under the Califor- which plays a large role in the gas the struggle. The total cost was $400 nia Environmental Quality Act and market, has no intention of shedding million, with some attorneys and ac- vowed that if FERC tried to slam the light on this issue. Instead of fully in- countants reaping $700 an hour. My door shut, the project would not be forming local and state officials and the reporting also has highlighted issues approved. While FERC has shut the public, federal regulators are hiding the dissenting CPUC members raised. front door, the local agency has cracked safety studies. The Federal Energy Regu- The minority members challenged the open the back door, allowing report- latory Commission (FERC) was ex- agreement in court, claiming they were ers to access crucial information. Work- pected to release LNG risk studies on denied access to essential facts, which ing with the agency, rather than at proposed terminals, but Energy Cir- interfered with their constitutional odds, allows for more detailed infor- cuit discovered that new rules under duties by keeping them from being mation to be assessed and conveyed the USA Patriot Act placed those docu- able to judge the justness of the bank- and results in a better informed public. ments out of reach. [See Joseph Davis’s ruptcy costs and reasonableness of al- A growing chorus of cries over the story on page 18 for more on the im- ternative scenarios. CPUC’s hidden dealmaking also re- pact of FERC’s regulations.] While Another area of my investigation sulted in a bill being introduced that awaiting release of the California En- involved the deal’s potential costs. I would require information that utili- ergy Commission’s risk assessments, have looked at what the real vs. the ties submit to the CPUC—with the ex- we subsequently learned they were purported savings to ratepayers would clusion of trade secrets—be made pub- stamped “confidential” because of the be if legislators approved a refinancing lic. This bill supports healthy debate federal rules. Our reports, therefore, deal after the settlement. This arrange- on short and long-term implications of have focused on the denial of informa- ment was touted as shaving one billion various power arrangements. This is a tion and how what you don’t know off the ratepayers’ bankruptcy costs. promising step, but until energy policy about an LNG plant—be it conse- Early this year the refinancing measure is fully lit, reporters—and the public— quences from an earthquake, accident was introduced, but neither PG&E nor should keep candles, batteries and or terrorist attacks—could hurt you. lawmakers seemed in a hurry to pass it. flashlights in hand as they work to find Other questions I have explored in- My reporting revealed that each day’s ways to cast light on deals being made clude ones about comparative risks delay in passing this measure cost PG&E in the dark. ■ and possible alternative sources of en- customers an additional $300,000. ergy. If LNG projects supplied by for- Other examples of closed-door deals Elizabeth McCarthy is the editor/ eign gas are restricted, what fuel sources include a handful of agreements be- publisher of California Energy Cir- will fill that supply gap? Will it be dirty tween investor-owned utilities and cuit, an independent weekly. domestic coal or more nuclear energy some generators given the green light and/or wind, solar or other renewable by the CPUC. One involved a question- [email protected]

24 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat

WATCHDOG Why Did California’s Lights Go Out? A reporting team looks for answers amid a new and complex electricity market. By Rick Jurgens

or a reporter, covering der of regulators whose job it was to leagues and figure out ways to smoothly California’s recent yearlong en- make sure that utilities kept the lights handoff reporting and writing duties, F ergy crisis was not without its on and costs down. Higher rates were even while resolving any disagreements guilty pleasures. The story was excit- bad, and lower rates were good. The we had respectfully. ing, fast moving, and a ticket to Page challenge was to extract readable sto- One big challenge for us was dealing One. It was a bare-knuckled brawl with ries from the regulators’ quasi-judicial with energy experts. None of us had billions of dollars at stake. What the proceedings, in which agendas read been on the energy or utility beat regu- story lacked in colorful characters it like invoices from auto parts dealers larly while deregulation’s law and regu- more than made up for in bizarre twists and policy choices were buried inside lations were taking shape. Now we had and hidden clues of gross financial of 300-page alternate rulings. A former to learn quickly, while relying on and abuses and market manipulation. newspaper editor who now works as a trusting our instincts and also mixing But how well did we, as journalists, public relations advisor to an energy skepticism with open-minded gather- serve our readers? Writing in a recent company told me the phrase he and his ing of information. New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann, dean of colleagues used to describe this kind of Framing the energy story was also the Columbia University Graduate process-encrusted beat—MEGO, for my difficult. Most Americans embrace the School of Journalism, noted that soci- eyes glaze over. idea of free markets and competition, ety has “given journalists what we think But with the opening of the electric- but they do so selectively, depending is a critical task: amassing, digesting ity industry to competition, the role of on results. When the price of a gallon and getting across important material reporters began to change. Rates were of gasoline or a kilowatt hour of elec- that isn’t readily accessible to ordinary freed to move up and down. As a means tricity soars, so does populist outrage. citizens.” Journalists, he wrote, act as to judge the health of a market, price But when the market value of one’s “intermediaries between the public and fluctuations became almost meaning- house or stock portfolio climbs at the realms that are otherwise moated by less. More complex criteria, a broader same time, well, that’s called living the power, distance and complexity.” view, and a longer time frame are American Dream. During the California crisis, report- needed. In reporting on a competitive Beginning in the 1980’s, deregula- ers faced especially daunting challenges electricity industry, the soundness of tion proposals blossomed across the in moving information across this moat. many business, economic and engi- country. In the early to mid-1990’s, a A slowly evolving system of monopoly neering decisions need to be assessed. little-known Houston company called utility regulation, with carefully docu- With competition, sleepy utility com- Enron acted as a sort of Johnny mented costs and profits, had been panies with low-risk, dividend-paying Appleseed, planting and financially replaced by a complex network of mar- stocks got pushed aside by new mer- nurturing seeds of change in the elec- kets in which electricity and risk—con- chant energy companies promising tricity industry in states from Califor- tracts for future delivery of power and rapid growth and rising stock prices. nia to New Hampshire. Economists arcane securities such as “weather de- That drew the interest of business re- predicted that electricity markets would rivatives”—were traded like pork bel- porters, like myself, who are always work magic, sparing consumers from lies. We headed out to cover a bank looking for stories about hot stocks costs passed on by bloated monopo- robbery and discovered that the place and booming industries. lies. Rising rates, it was argued, would had been turned into a casino. Many newspapers, including mine— induce consumers to conserve and in- the Contra Costa Times—normally give vestors to build power plants. Low Adjusting to Cover the only limited coverage to the electricity rates would squeeze out inefficient and Electric Story industry. When the energy crisis hit, polluting producers and boost demand we responded by assigning three re- when power was available. On energy beats, the question usually porters—one from the environment Some economists rooted their pre- asked first by reporters is, “How will beat, one from the state government dictions in an understanding of previ- this event or proposal affect the rates bureau, and me, from the business ous deregulation experiments, includ- paid by consumers?.” When utilities section. To keep up with the explosion ing airlines and telecommunications operated as government-sanctioned of news and provide context to our and knowledge of the electricity sys- monopolies, being a vigilant reporter readers, each of us had to depend on tem. Others—like the one who ex- mainly required looking over the shoul- and value the knowledge of our col- plained to me the workings of a na-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 25 Journalist’s Trade

tional power market, an impossibility occasional rolling blackouts that were newspaper revenue. Internally, each due to limitations of the current trans- made more ominous by the block-by- of us coped with pressures (or per- mission grid—were just reiterating their block pattern in which outages were sonal desire) to return to our previous faith in the inherent superiority of imposed. Meanwhile, the utilities hem- beats. markets. What drew more limited at- orrhaged money when it turned out tention were critical issues such as the rate freeze they had agreed to as Watchdog Reporting on electricity’s unusual characteristic as a compensation for their lost monopo- Energy commodity that can’t be stored. Also lies was much lower than the cost they the difficulty of setting up new billion- were now paying to supply the electric- The electricity crisis ended not with a dollar commodity markets received ity. bang but a whimper. During the sum- little attention. Sometimes, warnings As the state’s electricity system mer of 2001, energy usage declined. of deregulation’s pitfalls dealt only with crumbled, it was easy for reporters to Politicians credited public-spirited con- minor issues, such as the undesired find victims and tell their stories. There servation and touted the market-calm- prospect of annoying dinnertime calls were residents in unlit and unheated ing effects of long-term contracts the from retail marketers. houses, motorists stuck at malfunc- state had signed with power sellers. In tioning traffic signals, and businesses reality, an economic recession had California’s Electricity Crash forced to pay soaring costs and endure driven down consumption. Neverthe- mandatory shutdowns. Interest groups less, controversies continued. In 1998, California launched its aggres- nominated themselves as heroes of the The energy story—and those who sive move to competition. At first, things unfolding story. Power sellers wel- were reporting it—moved into court- went pretty smoothly. Then, in the late comed reporters onto trading floors in rooms. PG&E, the state’s largest utility, spring of 2000, a sudden jump in whole- their Houston skyscrapers, but back sought shelter in bankruptcy. State of- sale power costs jolted electricity cus- home, California politicians were point- ficials and utilities pursued refunds tomers in the San Diego area, where ing to these Texas addresses as being from power sellers. Administrative ac- market competition had gotten to the where the villains in this story worked. tions and criminal prosecutions tar- point at which regulators no longer set The story was portrayed as a mod- geted sellers who had shut down plants, the retail electricity rates. This exposed ern-day war between states, with Cali- fabricated data, and gamed the market. the customers to the pain of rising fornia at the mercy of ruthless energy Electricity rates remained elevated by costs, and soon consumer outrage giants with cowboy hats and protec- payments on deferred costs and the prompted legislators to step in and tion from the federal government. Soon now-controversial contracts. When the recap rates in that area. this story line was strengthened when story moved to the courtrooms, we That episode caused little stir else- it surfaced that owners were shutting needed to find ways to draw compel- where in California, where retail rates down power plants to create shortages ling stories out of droning proceedings had remained frozen. San Diego’s prob- and slick trading was raising prices. and forests of complicated legal briefs. lems were easily dismissed as a local Prosecution of wrongdoers began as Even the most stubborn reporters now aberration in a solid energy system that the state sought relief from overcharges faced pressure (alternating with re- typically made news only when dis- and overpriced contracts. duced interest) from editors looking rupted by fire, storm or other natural For us to help readers understand for big headlines from the resources or man-made disasters. With the impli- where the crisis came from meant we they were devoting to this story. cation of changes in the power system needed to explore new dimensions of Viewed in the rearview mirror, the not yet clear, few saw San Diego as a the energy story. There were complex energy crisis appears smaller than in warning sign of possible problems else- questions to be asked about electricity real life. The psychological shock of where. “We were kind of watching cu- markets and the engineering of power rolling blackouts far exceeded the ac- riously, wondering what the hell this systems and their answers conveyed in tual hurt to public health and safety means,” recalls Mike Taugher, my col- ways nonexperts could understand. We and the costs incurred by businesses league on our paper’s energy beat. had to go back and look at why the (with the exception of a few in power- Energy hadn’t normally been a big decision to deregulate electricity had intensive industries). And even though story in California. In much of the been made and determine its wisdom. the state’s energy crisis was a big factor state, a temperate climate means that And then we had to report on the in the public’s disaffection that led to heat and air conditioning aren’t big flawed transition plan and how it the recall of Governor Gray Davis, en- issues. Energy costs aren’t central in opened the door to criminal and un- ergy issues barely surfaced in the suc- the defense, entertainment and tech- ethical market manipulation. cessful campaign of Arnold nology industries, which are the main Covering these important dimen- Schwarzenegger. economic engines. sions of the story taxed the resources California newspapers moved on to By the fall of 2000, the power short- and the abilities of daily papers’ news- other crises, even as the structural prob- ages that hit San Diego were spreading room staff, just at a time when eco- lems exposed during the energy crisis throughout the state. Californians faced nomic slowdowns were driving down remain unsolved. Key interest groups

26 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat are still deadlocked over such basic be consistent and effective watchdogs. Rick Jurgens reports on business for issues as how to attract investment in What the California crisis demonstrated the Contra Costa Times, where he new power plants, even as a new cho- is that for us to be the public’s watch- was part of the reporting team rus of warnings about impending black- dogs means reporters need to spend assigned to cover the state’s energy outs sounds. And big questions linger lots of time wandering around the en- crisis. He now reports on real estate about the wisdom of deregulation in ergy beat’s equivalent of junkyards. and energy. the electricity markets and the unleash- And editors—at a time of shrinking ing of competition. newsroom budgets—will need to de- [email protected] One thing is certain: The deregula- vote the necessary resources to enable tion project will continue, and news- reporters to do this—even when the papers will need to figure out how to lights are on. ■

WATCHDOG Being a Watchdog of FirstEnergy Corp. The Plain Dealer led the nation’s reporting after the massive 2003 blackout.

By Debbie Van Tassel

hioans long knew FirstEnergy ures knocked out electricity to eight able role in the blackout. By mid-No- Corp. as the utility supplying states and parts of Canada. It was the vember, when the joint task force in- Oelectricity to the northern part worst power failure in history, affect- vestigating the power failure concluded of their state and as a near-monopoly ing more than 50 million people and FirstEnergy and its reliability coordina- that also owned power generation and causing six billion dollars in economic tor bore the brunt of responsibility, distribution assets in Pennsylvania and losses in the United States alone. reporters at The (Cleveland) Plain New Jersey. The rest of the country Within days, FirstEnergy came un- Dealer were deep into telling this story became acquainted with the Akron, der the glare of national media and as a part of their investigative reporting Ohio company after August 14, 2003, government investigators from the on this local power company since the when a cascading series of power fail- United States and Canada for its prob- late 1990’s. This examination of

A darkened city skyline can be seen in Cleveland after the largest blackout in U.S. history left millions of people in the United States and Canada facing a second sweltering night without electricity. Ohio faced the worst water crisis in its history. Photo by Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 27 Journalist’s Trade

FirstEnergy’s business practices, reli- issues, wondered how FirstEnergy and least three years earlier, and the NRC ability record, and relationships with state officials justified the pass-throughs wanted the inspection done by the end regulators was undertaken in response to consumers. Carr-Smyth asked to see of 2001. FirstEnergy argued it could to proposed changes in national en- a study prepared for the Ohio Consum- wait until the following April, during a ergy policy and Ohio’s move to deregu- ers’ Counsel by an independent con- scheduled refueling. Performing both late its utilities. sultant, LaCapra Associates of Boston, tasks at the same time would save the These reporting efforts intensified to determine how much FirstEnergy utility millions, since when it is not after 2000. From both Cleveland and should be allowed to collect. Even operating the utility must buy replace- Columbus, the state capital, Plain though taxpayers bore the cost of the ment power at an average cost of Dealer reporters wrote that state regu- report ($579,000), the Consumers’ $500,000 per day. (Davis-Besse sup- lators agreed to let FirstEnergy pass on Counsel, Robert Tongren, successfully plies about seven percent of $8.7 billion in transition charges to blocked at least a half dozen Freedom FirstEnergy’s generation.) consumers in exchange for freezing of Information Act (FOIA) requests from The NRC compromised and gave rates. A collaborative investigation by The Plain Dealer and other organiza- FirstEnergy until February 16, 2002. reporters in Washington, D.C. and tions. Tongren claimed the study was That inspection found the cracks were Cleveland led to stories being pub- protected by confidentiality arguments more serious than suspected because lished about a rust hole and cracks in and pending litigation. they involved the nozzles that carry the reactor lid’s components at More than a year later, energy re- control rods through the reactor lid FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse Nuclear porter John Funk and science reporter and into the nuclear core. And on March Power Station and loose oversight by John Mangels began looking into dis- 6, 2002, a worker trying to repair a the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commis- cussions between FirstEnergy and the cracked nozzle found something far sion (NRC). NRC over when to shut down Davis- more insidious: a pineapple-sized hole This meant that when power failed Besse, an aging nuclear power plant in the reactor lid. Only the lid’s thin on the afternoon of August 14th, a core near Toledo, for a crack inspection. stainless steel liner held back the 87,000 of FirstEnergy-savvy reporters were Davis-Besse is one of 69 pressurized gallons of pressurized radioactive and ready to take the lead in this breaking water reactors in the nation’s nuclear superheated water from jetting through news story. There were no silver bul- fleet. Workers had spotted cracks and the rust hole and into the reactor’s lets. Ultimately, what led to some of corrosion around the reactor head at containment building. the most compelling stories about this blackout was a smart blend of old- fashioned journalism and skillful use of information-age technology.

Reporting on FirstEnergy

Working under a state mandate to re- linquish monopolies of its three elec- tric companies—Cleveland Electric Il- luminating, Toledo Edison, and Ohio Edison—FirstEnergy proposed to state regulators in 2000 that it be allowed to recover the costs of the nuclear power plants it built as a regulated utility. In exchange, FirstEnergy would freeze electric rates through the end of 2005. State officials signed off on an agree- ment on July 19, 2000, and this al- lowed the utility to recover the costs of its nuclear projects by adding what appeared as transition charges on cus- tomers’ monthly bills. The deal allowed the utility to pass those charges, which average about $15 a month, even to This photo of the lid of the Davis-Besse reactor was taken during a refueling in April consumers who switched to another 2000. It shows where rust and dried boric acid were streaming off the reactor’s lid nearly electric supplier. two years before the rust hole was detected. This was one of a set of photos handed by Julie Carr-Smyth, our paper’s state- workers to an inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2000—but never house reporter who covers regulatory acted on. Photo by David I. Andersen/The Plain Dealer.

28 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat

Two months later, Funk and Mangels learned much more was at stake than inept management and lax government oversight. A source informed them that the NRC had launched a criminal inves- tigation into whether FirstEnergy with- held key information from federal agents about conditions at Davis-Besse. And in the early summer, another source sent them a box containing more than 3,000 pages of internal NRC docu- ments. None of the content was re- dacted, as certain highly sensitive por- tions might have been had the reporters obtained the documents through an FOIA request. Among other things, the documents showed how much FirstEnergy had pressured the NRC to delay the crack inspection. Roy Lessy, Jr., a veteran nuclear utilities lawyer, a partner in the A South Euclid, Ohio woman shops in near darkness following the power outage on nation’s 10th-largest law firm and August 14, 2003 that affected up to 50 million people. Photo by Eustacio Humphrey/The former deputy chief counsel for the Plain Dealer. NRC, accompanied FirstEnergy engi- neers when they visited the NRC to make their case. Most interesting was disaster since the near-meltdown at ence meant Funk and Mangels could that the papers revealed NRC manag- Three Mile Island in 1979. bypass government and media special- ers themselves had pushed for the com- • The utility lacked a safety culture ists and deal directly with NRC engi- promise that allowed FirstEnergy to and environment of trust that would neers, who quickly recognized that this run the reactor until the middle of encourage workers to report pos- reporting team understood the highly February. sible safety violations or equipment technical issues. This was true for engi- After the reactor lid hole was discov- flaws. neers at other reactors across the na- ered, the NRC ordered FirstEnergy to • FirstEnergy had largely ignored re- tion, and they became invaluable replace, rather than repair, the reactor peated reports over many years from sources. head, and this process was completed workers of the accumulation of cor- Beyond that, the NRC itself is nearly in September 2002. Still, Funk and rosion deposits on the lid. And NRC transparent with its day-to-day work Mangels pounded the Davis-Besse inspectors ignored a photograph of product. If somebody writes a report, drum relentlessly, keeping the pres- corrosion around the reactor lid then by learning how to search the sure on the NRC not to allow the utility given them by Davis-Besse workers NRC Web site, this report can be found to restart until all its acknowledged on April 6, 2000. and read. However, access to the NRC’s problems had been corrected. The re- Internet library, a source of records porting team produced an impressive The Internet’s Role in distinct from its official Web site, re- array of major reports on some of the Reporting quired special free software that The reactor’s problems, including the fol- Plain Dealer installed to allow Funk lowing public revelations: Funk and Mangels augmented their and Mangels to make daily checks of reporting through skillful use of the the NRC’s enormous report output. • Davis-Besse’s emergency equipment Internet. The Plain Dealer posted all had been seriously compromised Davis-Besse stories on a separate URL After the Blackout and could not be counted on to at cleveland.com, the newspaper’s work properly. Had the cracked lid online cousin. From e-mails, they Davis-Besse had been down about 18 burst, operators would have been learned that their stories were being months—still straining FirstEnergy’s challenged to keep the reactor’s read by people throughout the United power generation—when the lights nuclear core covered with water and States as well as in Europe and Asia. went out in The Plain Dealer news- safe from catching fire or melting. They also joined a Yahoo nuclear room at 4:11 p.m. on August 14, 2003. Experts called the existence of the listserv on which every Davis-Besse With characteristic gallows humor, re- hole, coupled with the compromised problem and every response by the porters and editors wondered jokingly equipment, the closest to a nuclear NRC was debated. The Internet pres- whether Davis-Besse was to blame. The

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 29 Journalist’s Trade

Plain Dealer had no wire service feeds by the government task force. Two vital upkeep of electrical lines and or television operating in Cleveland to days later, after pursuing inside tips power plants. find out what was going on, but report- confirmed by company and investiga- ers in Columbus and Washington, D.C. tive sources, we told our readers that Revisiting the Rate Hikes had service, so we quickly learned that FirstEnergy’s alarm system had failed, Issue the blackout was a national story. and its computers were not supplying We published a remarkably thor- the real-time data operators needed to In October, Carr-Smyth decided the ough paper the next day, using a press deal with growing instability on the climate was right—and sufficient time and facilities at the Akron Beacon Jour- grid. Once again, our reporting was had passed—to renew her earlier re- nal and laptop computers, flashlights, echoed by the task force report that quests for the LaCapra report on tran- candlelight and a portable generator in cited FirstEnergy’s equipment failure sition charges. But staff members at the Cleveland. By the second day, it was and operator errors. Consumers’ Counsel told her the re- clear the power failure likely began in Officials at Ohio’s other electric com- port had been destroyed and that FirstEnergy territory, but where and panies—American Electric Power, Tongren had changed a records’ reten- why were mysteries. And we wanted to Cinergy Corp., and Dayton Power & tion policy to allow for its destruction. break that news, so we assembled a Light Co.—pointed our reporters to On October 17th, Carr-Smyth wrote team of reporters to attack the story on obscure filings with names such as “An- her first story about the document’s multiple fronts. The goal: to find out nual State of Power” and “Annual Ser- destruction. Then she began to con- what went wrong on the fateful after- vice Quality Reports.” Electric utilities struct a paper trail, obtaining the Con- noon. must file those reports yearly with the sumers’ Counsel’s records’ retention From Cleveland, Funk, Teresa Dixon PUCO, detailing such information as schedules, document destruction or- Murray, Tom Breckenridge, and Peter maintenance and repair records and ders, years of public records’ requests Krouse were assigned to find out predicting future energy needs and and Tongren’s calendars, phone whether FirstEnergy had been cutting risks to the system. records, and time sheets. corners since deregulation. Funk also We asked the PUCO for those re- Carr-Smyth eventually learned that made regular checks with the Midwest ports going back to 2001 so our report- LaCapra had recommended FirstEnergy Independent Transmission System ers could do year-to-year comparisons. be allowed to collect only $2.6 billion Operator, FirstEnergy’s reliability co- No one had asked to look at those in transition charges (instead of the ordinator, and respected consultant reports before and, uncertain of its $8.7 billion that state officials agreed groups such as Cambridge Energy Re- responsibility, the PUCO asked to). Yet Tongren, who was paid search Associates. In Washington, FirstEnergy for permission to release $140,000 a year to represent consumer Stephen Koff developed sources at the them. FirstEnergy requested that large interests, signed off on a deal giving Federal Energy Regulatory Commis- sections be redacted, rendering the the utility the billions more. sion, the NRC, and the Union of Con- documents we received worthless. FirstEnergy’s customers, who pay the cerned Scientists; Sabrina Eaton When we promised not to publish ad- highest electric rates in Ohio, to this handled the North American Electric dresses of substations or other sensi- day are still paying transition costs. Reliability Council and the East Central tive or competitive information, we The documents also revealed that Area Reliability Council, a regional finally got unredacted copies of the Tongren accepted meals, refreshments watchdog. From Columbus, Sandy reports. and golf outings from utilities on 71 Theis and Carr-Smyth focused on state On August 31st, Murray reported occasions between 1999 and 2003 and officials and regulators, including the that FirstEnergy fixed 75 percent of its failed to properly report more than Consumers’ Counsel and the Public so-called common problems—broken $1,000 in gifts from utilities. Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). wires and poles—in 2001. But by the Carr-Smyth followed her story about Based on phone tips and a police next year, the utility had only repaired the report’s destruction with at least a incident report, on August 26th we 17 percent, leaving a backlog of nearly dozen more. Less than a month later, published a story about a suspicious 11,000 items in need of repair in 2003. under pressure from state officials and boom and fire involving a major trans- We could not compare FirstEnergy’s consumer groups, Tongren resigned. mission line that sagged into a tall tree repair record to other Ohio utilities in Walton Hills, a Cleveland suburb. because each has a different system of Task Force Conclusions Though the line was not overloaded, it reporting. The report also said was the second to fail in the cascading FirstEnergy had cut back its voluntary The bi-national task force (United States sequence on August 14th. This story tree-trimming schedule from three and Canada) issued its first report on outlined nearly the same series of years to five. November 19, 2003. It was something events—including other suspected On September 6th, we reported that of an anticlimax; it said FirstEnergy transmission-line tree contacts—that since 2001, FirstEnergy had shed 500 almost single-handedly caused the larg- was identified nearly three months later skilled workers whose jobs included est blackout in U.S. history because its

30 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat computers didn’t work, and the utility their bosses’ commitment to safety. computer failures, sloppy operating had not trimmed trees around power • In December 2003, FirstEnergy filed procedures, lack of emergency plan- lines. The report also said the Akron- an application, known as a rate case, ning and poor training of grid man- based company could have prevented with the PUCO to collect another agers, and called for Congress to the power failure had it cut off electric- two billion dollars in transition create tough mandatory reliability ity, or shed load, to parts of northeast charges and extend its rate freeze standards for electric utilities, with Ohio when it detected instability on through 2009. The company says penalties, to prevent massive power the grid. It also criticized the response the deal is good for consumers be- failures in the future. of FirstEnergy’s reliability coordinator, cause it protects them from “rate the Midwest independent transmission shock.” Consumer groups and other The task force made 46 recommen- system operator. power companies argue that the rate dations for changes and pledged to The Davis-Besse nuclear plant had freeze and transition charges are operate for another year to make sure played no role in the blackout. But what have effectively prevented com- things get done. continuing press coverage of peting electric utilities from offer- At The Plain Dealer, our coverage of FirstEnergy’s failure to maintain the ing service to FirstEnergy custom- FirstEnergy continues. Though our nuclear plant in mint operating condi- ers. The rate case is still under review. blackout reporting team has been dis- tion—and keeping a major power gen- • On March 8, 2004, the NRC finally banded, Funk and Carr-Smyth are pay- erator out of play during a peak sum- allowed FirstEnergy to restart the ing careful attention to the negotia- mer month—only added to the Davis-Besse reactor. It had been tions over FirstEnergy’s latest rate freeze notoriety from the blackout. down for more than two years, cost- proposal, keeping consumers’ inter- No single chapter in this FirstEnergy ing FirstEnergy more than $607 mil- ests foremost. Funk also keeps an eye saga has concluded. lion for repairs and replacement on nuclear power, a task that involves power purchases. The plant remains more than Davis-Besse. Recently, the • In November 2003, the criminal in- under NRC supervision for at least NRC cited another FirstEnergy nuclear vestigation of Davis-Besse was re- another year. plant, Perry Unit # 1 in northeast Ohio, ferred to a federal grand jury to look • On April 5, 2004, the second U.S.- for three safety violations. ■ into how key information might have Canada task force report reiterated been withheld from the NRC by com- that FirstEnergy could have isolated Debbie Van Tassel is business editor pany officials. As of this date, the the blackout to Greater Cleveland at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. grand jury still has not reported. had it cut power to some of its cus- Also in November, a company sur- tomers when voltage on its major [email protected] vey revealed Davis-Besse employees transmission lines began to collapse. still don’t have full confidence in It also rebuked the company for its

Using Narrative to Tell the Blackout Story Reporting from inside a power plant helped to tell the dramatic story of decision-making when the lights went out.

By Mark Clayton

igh on a catwalk, I paused to York utility. An enormous monolithic the time I found myself there—two look down into the dim void brick building hard by the Hudson days after the lights went out. Sweat Hbetween two 90-foot-high boil- River, it housed four giant-but-elderly poured off me in the 120-degree heat ers, steel-riveted dinosaurs of another boilers—two of them growling beneath of the tight, dimly lit passage between era guzzling hundreds of gallons of my feet—straining to generate the su- the giant boilers. A few steps away, heavy #6 fuel oil each minute. It was per-heated steam and megawatts des- station manager Wayne Bolton- late on a hot Saturday afternoon in perately needed to re-energize the Engelhardt, who had brought me to August 2003, and I was deep inside the Northeast power grid, darkened by the the highest and hottest level of the Albany Steam Station, a 1950’s power largest blackout in U.S. history. boiler building, spoke with a bemused plant owned by PSEG Power, a New Power was slowly being restored by smile, his brow barely damp. Amid the

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 31 Journalist’s Trade

din, I strained to hear Bolton- for millions from New York to Michi- alert. Phone lines were jammed, too. I Engelhardt speak, as waste heat pulsed gan—was both a great news story to immediately decided not to bother call- from the steel walls into this hot spot tell and a mystery. Early reports ru- ing any company headquarters. The where a human could linger only a few mored a lightning strike at a power only way into one of those plants was minutes. Notepad out, I scribbled as he yard in Canada near Niagara Falls had to be invited inside by one of its senior explained how he and his men had knocked the system down. Some specu- employees. Yet those people would be brought the old plant—which like so lated terrorism might be responsible. under intense pressure to solve a moun- many others had been knocked into It would be weeks and months, and an tain of technical problems that “civil- darkness by the blackout—back to life investigation by an official commission, ians” like myself could barely imagine and how the crew, with a synchroniza- before the pieces of truth began to fit in order to get the lights back on, tion NASA might envy, ever-so-gingerly into a coherent picture of human and making it quite unlikely that any would snapped it back into the grid the day technical error involving computer welcome a reporter at this time. before. As he spoke, four 100-mega- software, lax standards, and poor com- But this was the only way I could watt turbines far below were greedily munication. think of getting in, so I began my search receiving the 1,000-degree steam each In Boston, where I work at The Chris- with Google, looking for Web sites and boiler shot into them. They were all tian Science Monitor, the lights had phone numbers of those connected to spinning flat out. not gone out in the newsroom, and the power industry, the power stations, Despite the Dante-esque quality of television and wire service reports in industry associations, and regional the moment, there was joy and excite- the first hours were, naturally enough, power authorities. I was looking now ment, too. I had finally arrived where I bare bones. Someone, I thought, for anyone who might pick up a phone had been struggling to get to—inside should get into a generating plant to and talk to me—who might in turn the belly of a generating behemoth, the tell the story of just one power plant’s know someone inside one of those big bowels of an Eisenhower-era power role in the huge network that had gone power plants. By day’s end, I’d had no station straining desperately against its suddenly dark. Downsizing this mas- success. own age to pour its pitifully small, yet sive outage to one plant might yield This was not too surprising. Back still critical 400 megawatts of electric- insights into what went wrong and then, I was not an energy writer with a ity, into the vast emptiness of the North- capture the human dimension, too. long list of great sources. I was an east grid. I began my quest with only faint education reporter with no energy hope of actually wangling my way in- sources. (When the blackout occurred, How to Report the Blackout side any power plant. Because of ter- I was working on a college tuition rorism rumors, security was extra tight, increase story. Today I write full-time Like so many calamities, the great black- and the big energy companies and their about both environment and energy out of 2003—that knocked out power public relations armies were on full issues.) At other major newspapers with much larger staffs it might seem odd for an education writer to jump onto a story like this. Yet the Monitor has a long tradition of successfully drawing on all corners of the newsroom when major events break. And the blackout had more than a little of that 9/11 feeling, thanks to the first day’s terror- ism rumors. So I dropped the tuition story and began pondering power plants. By the next morning, power still wasn’t back on in New York. This en- couraged me to continue pursuing my idea. Also, most TV and newspaper accounts seemed to be relying on engi- neering professors and power com- pany representatives to give them a clue about what might be going on. I’d seen no reports of what had happened coming from anyone inside those Wayne Bolton-Engelhardt, an operations adviser at Albany Steam Station in New York, power plants. Finally lightning struck recounts the blackout. It was the second time the plant had ever gone dark. Photo by © as I recalled a casual conversation with 2003 Mark Clayton/The Christian Science Monitor. the boiler maintenance chief in the

32 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat basement of the Monitor building who had told me he once had worked in a power plant. I called him. Where had he worked? When? (Twenty-six years ago.) Did he still know anyone at the plant? It was the Albany plant—and he knew a guy who he thought still worked there. I spent the rest of the day trying to reach the contact he’d suggested— Bolton-Engelhardt. To find his home number and leave messages, I used switchboard.com. His wife called me back. Her husband was at the plant, working to get it back on the grid. I told her it was urgent. She took a message, but also reluctantly gave me her husband’s work number in the control room at the Albany Steam Station. I reached him in the middle of multiple crises at the station that Friday after- Wayne Bolton-Engelhardt and a colleague in the control room at the Albany Steam noon. I told him who I was—and he Station. Photo by Mark Clayton. told me tersely that he could not talk. I pleaded for him to call me when he could and gave him my number. It was turbine, spinning at thousands of RPM’s ning, the tense and delicate process of the next day before he called me back when the blackout struck, would warp connecting the station to a still un- at my home. We talked for more than its thick axle and be lost if the plant stable grid might have knocked the an hour—and, finally, he told me I remained on emergency battery power entire station back off line. But it didn’t. could come take a look if I wanted. The for more than a few minutes. With only plant had been back on line only a few minutes remaining before these esca- What Readers Learned hours. I was out the door. lating crises would culminate, Bolton- After touring the boilers, I went with Engelhardt and his team talked through Monitor readers were among the first Bolton-Engelhardt to the control room. a situation only he and another engi- in the nation to find out what had There I interviewed a half dozen men, neer on the team had seen once be- happened minute-by-minute inside a most of them industry veterans who fore, and that was during a blackout in small and old, yet critical plant on a key had seen the computer printout spit the 1960’s. power pathway in the wake of this out warning of a troubling frequency With the help of Bolton-Engelhardt enormous blackout. They were among fluctuation on the grid. I learned how and others in the control room, I re- the first to learn, too, one of the clues the lights went out, the ensuing confu- constructed a narrative account of what to the system’s failure: A strange vari- sion punctuated by battery-backup took place during these precious min- ety of electricity measured in warning sirens and banks of flashing utes. I found out how the team had “megavars”—not megawatts—that was control-panel warning lights. It was picked two critical relays out of a wall vital to maintaining the stability of the almost like the movies. full of hand-thrown relays, selecting grid was, for some reason, in short I learned, too, how the emergency the two that connected them with a supply. This odd duck of the power- power had come on for the Albany nearby hydroelectric dam that was their generating world called “push-back Steam Station for only the second time reserve backup. This was a system they power” and “reactive power” turns out in its history. But I also found out that had never really used before. They to be a kind of electricity the Albany the power wasn’t nearly enough to threw the switch and prayed it would Steam Station specializes in supplying. avoid rapidly escalating danger to its connect—though it didn’t the first time. It provides stability and back-pressure four big turbines. And there was the But the second time it did, and thou- to keep the megawatts of much larger threat that the entire plant might not sands of watts suddenly flowing from power plants flowing where they be able to come back online if those the small dam lit up the Albany Steam needed to go—to places south like turbines failed. I was told about how Station, as its corridor lights suddenly New York City. multiple crisis conditions had rapidly went from winking dim “fireflies” to I took pictures with my digital cam- developed—among them the threat of fully on. era and raced for home on the Massa- a dangerous hydrogen leak—and also Hours later, after the boilers were chusetts Turnpike. By nine o’clock on how the sheer weight of the one huge brought up and the turbines were spin- Saturday night, I was ready to write,

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 33 Journalist’s Trade

and by seven the next morning, the team of staffers, was accompanied by a Mark Clayton is a staff writer for story and pictures were in an e-mail tick-tock tale from “Inside the Belly of The Christian Science Monitor. message to the Monitor’s assistant a Generating Beast.” Like Col. Kilgore “Inside the Belly of a Generating managing editor for features, Cheryl in “Apocalypse Now,” I felt that some- Beast” can be found at Sullivan. She did a quick edit, then thing about the whole story smelled www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/ handed it to National News Editor Scott like victory. Still, that sensation might p01s02-usec.html. Armstrong and, in Monday’s paper, the have just come from the essence of lead story on the blackout, written by a sweat and #6 fuel oil on my shirt. ■ [email protected]

Green Buildings Need Sharp-Eyed Architecture Critics ‘Like other journalists, architecture critics need to be inquisitive and skeptical about what they see.’

By Randy Gragg

hen writing about energy is- sues as an architecture critic, Wit’s hard to know whether I am tackling the topic as a story about science, a political cause, a fad or reli- gion. These days energy innovations in buildings are frequently portrayed by developers and politicians as “green design” and “smart growth,” but within these movements, factions are as apt to be led by marketers, preachers and sycophants as they are by earnest re- searchers and farsighted practitioners. Part of an architecture critic’s job is to figure out if the message is truly cap- tured by a building’s design. Portland, Oregon, where I live and work, is considered to be the nation’s most advanced practitioner of both smart growth and green design. That The historic Rapid Transfer Building in Portland, Oregon was renovated to become the can be a slippery brand identity and new Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. It is headquarters for a variety of “green” one that an increasing number of cities banking, development and advocacy groups and is a showcase of sustainable building clamor to claim. But Portland has a 30- practices. The building was the first in the country to get the top “gold” certification for year legacy of far-reaching political green building practices and the first historic building to get it. Photo by Marv decisions and regulatory frameworks Bondarowicz/The Oregonian. to back up its reputation. In the early 1970’s, Oregon’s legislature required every metropolitan area in the state to lines in over 50 years. A regional au- of tax credits for the use of innovative circle itself with an “urban growth thority set up to oversee garbage col- energy systems. All development that boundary” to preserve farmland and lection morphed into the nation’s first uses any public dollars must be certi- forests. And well before most other elected regional government, Metro, fied under the U.S. Green Building American cities, Portland revitalized its and it now has extraordinary powers to Council’s Leadership in Energy & Envi- downtown, weaning a few folks from oversee growth management for Port- ronmental Design (LEED) program, a their cars with a light rail system and land and its suburbs. kind of U.L. rating for energy and envi- one of the nation’s first new streetcar The state also offers a smorgasbord ronmental consciousness.

34 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat

If I sound like a cheerleader for the way Oregon does things, it’s probably a little out of guilt. In covering (and critiquing) the city’s built environment, I’ve written only one article specifically devoted to the city’s environmental- design trailblazing. Generally, I will mention only major accomplishments, such as Portland’s building of the nation’s first “gold” LEED Green Build- ing Rating System-certified historic renovation, the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. Even as I write about things I believe in, I feel like I’m singing with a chorus that I can’t quite get in tune with. Partly that is due to the “loner” instinct many journalists have, but mostly it is because a critic’s news peg needs to reach beyond the newest innovation and the latest fad.

Judging What Is Called The homepage of the U.S. Green Building Council. Green

A LexisNexis search of architectural figure out what will be relevant about work. But some do little more than critics throughout the country indi- it in the future. Energy efficiency and borrow green rhetoric and use it as a cates a similar, if not deeper, ambiva- environmentally conscious construc- marketing tool. This becomes a real lence about writing on these green tion techniques certainly are part of problem when there is blind accep- issues. Cross-reference these critics’ the equation, but as Philadelphia tance of the simplistic equation that names with the word “green” and what Inquirer’s architecture critic Inga Saf- smart growth + green design = build- comes up are more references to parks, fron succinctly put it, “Real environ- ing excellence. carpets or furniture upholstery than to mentalists recycle cities.” True excellence in buildings—ar- environmentally conscious design. Indeed, the chief plunderers of en- chitecture, urban design and plan- Reaching some of these critics by e- ergy and materials are buildings. To ning—is less about innovation than mail, I received copies of articles they build them and use them consumes about long-term vision. As in literature had written on environmentally and/ roughly half of the world’s energy re- or art, architectural excellence is found or energy-conscious buildings. Pulitzer sources. The United States has more in the creation of things that people Prize-winner Blair Kamin of the Chi- than 80 million buildings, according to will cherish, meaningfully experience, cago Tribune, for instance, skewered Department of Energy estimates, and and preserve. Energy use and environ- one of the most important green-build- 38 million more are projected to be mental innovations are, of course, im- ing icons, the Commerzbank Tower in built by 2010. One of the largest con- portant. But the best way for an archi- Frankfurt, Germany, as he described tributors to landfills is buildings—old tecture critic to help readers think how poorly it actually works. Another ones torn down and leftover waste wisely about energy use is to nurture Pulitzer winner, Robert Campbell of from the new ones we build. Keep in the deepest possible understanding of The Boston Globe, reviewed Genzyme mind that the U.S. government pio- why buildings—and the neighbor- Corporation’s new headquarters, a neered planned obsolescence in build- hoods and cities they shape—endure. much-ballyhooed green-designed ings through its tax system that depre- ■ building. While he acknowledged its ciates commercial “assets” in 39 years. environmental innovations, he argued Too many architects and urban plan- Randy Gragg writes on architecture that the building’s more resonant val- ners today begin their pitches for jobs— and urban design for The Oregonian ues were in its architectural clarity. and for press coverage—with a sermon and has written regularly for a wide Like other journalists, architecture about how and why their projects are range of national design magazines. critics are skeptical, but in a somewhat “green” or “smart.” Some of them are He was a 1995 fellow in the Na- different way. Critics need to be “specu- earnest and innovative about the inte- tional Arts Journalism Program. lative historians.” At our best, our job is gration of sensible growth manage- to look at what is being built today and ment and green practices into their [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 35 Journalist’s Trade A Local Newspaper Invests in a Foreign Reporting Trip To inform readers about wind farms and energy, The Cape Codder sends a reporter to Denmark.

By Doreen Leggett

hen The Cape Codder—a were the most significant to our read- weekly newspaper in Massa- ers, and big media outlets only give W chusetts—published a series them cursory attention. Residents of of articles about Denmark’s wind en- Cape Cod—and the islands of Martha’s ergy initiatives, most of the congratula- Vineyard and Nantucket—are being tory comments I received ended with asked to support 130 wind turbines these words: “The Cape Cod Times scattered across 24-square miles of must be livid! This is something the Nantucket Sound, a natural resource daily should have done.” beloved for its beauty. And the pro- Week to week our newspaper goes posal comes from a developer, Cape up against this larger prize-winning Wind, which is planning to make a daily. We report on the same geographic profit off of this wind farm that, if built, area, with its news and issues. With will be located in waters that Cape four full-time reporters, who cover eight Codders think of as their own. towns on the lower Cape, The Cape There are strong environmental ar- Codder is a profitable paper that be- guments swirling around on all sides longs to a chain of community newspa- of the wind farm debate. Questions pers owned by the Boston Herald. The posed have no easy answers: Would Boston Globe is also a major presence the large turbines endanger the eco- among our audience. So for us, the system—the flight paths of sea birds, smallest among these papers—each of for example? Would the wind farms which is covering a quite combative siting in Nantucket Sound hurt the One of the 20 turbines included in the wind energy story in waters just off our Cape’s economy or would it add to the Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm southern shore—to report and pub- sound’s environmental allure? Would located just outside the Copenhagen lish these stories from Denmark proved benefits outweigh the sacrifices? How Harbor. Photo by Mads Eskesen/Courtesy that daily papers do not have exclusive opponents and supporters of the wind of the Cape Codder Newspaper. rights to big stories. farm answer these questions differ In fact, with a little bit of forethought widely. and passion, weekly papers can bring cated in the North Sea. readers stories like this that resonate in Denmark Offers Guidance Sending me to Denmark meant mak- their communities. Even so, for a news- ing budgetary sacrifices for our small paper like ours, reporting trips far away As the debate intensified—and each weekly. But because our paper is on from where we live and work won’t side began its own advocacy cam- Cape Cod, it has always dedicated bud- usually gain us readers or improve our paign—residents of Cape Cod had a getary resources to covering environ- reader loyalty, no matter how interest- hard time distinguishing fact from fic- mental issues. That’s why it has an ing the topic might be. (In this case, we tion. My editor felt that the only place environmental reporter, and that is did get new subscribers.) But this isn’t that could offer needed insights was why the editors decided to send me to just any story. It is about the first off- Denmark, which was the world leader Denmark to break new ground on the shore wind farm ever proposed in North in offshore wind energy. Denmark has wind farm story. The benefits of get- America. And the battles over the farm’s been discussed mainly by wind farm ting ahead of the day-to-day news cov- proposed siting in Nantucket Sound supporters, but opponents used the erage and moving past the “he said, she have national implications for energy country as an example of a place that said” dialogue that was hijacking much policy and ocean zoning. had zoned its oceans before putting of the ink outweighed the financial The Nantucket Sound wind farm the wind farms up. It had small off- sacrifices. story is one that has been picked up shore wind farms, and it also had what My reporting trip was done on a also by virtually every major paper in was then the largest wind farm in the shoestring. I traveled in bone-chilling the country. But its local implications world—the 80-turbine Horns Rev, lo- February on an all-night flight on a

36 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Energy Beat budget airline. I stayed in cheap hotels, Energy Coverage Expands ergy production and policy are taking ate cheaper food, and used a dispos- place, and these bear watching and able camera, except for a Danish pho- A focus on renewable energy convinced reporting, even in small local papers. tographer whom I hired for a couple of local towns to begin looking into in- Likewise, decisions on wind farms are hours. I rode on trains and in cars with stalling wind turbines on public lands related to our nation’s foreign policy, sources. I did a lot of my legwork to help power landfill and water de- its economic growth, and environmen- before the trip via e-mail and the partment facilities. It also resulted in tal and human health. And they affect Internet. I gathered background infor- renewed interest in “green” buildings, each of us as individuals. mation before I went and pored over and this interest has spurred a number The energy beat is a vital one. The studies. Because phones in our office of community forums and residents to Cape Wind project underscores for us were not equipped to call overseas, I begin to incorporate renewable tech- on Cape Cod that the energy beat is had to make special arrangements nologies into their homes. As impor- fraught with many reporting challenges, through our corporate headquarters, tant policy questions about how the including side alleys from which many and those did not come through until oceans are governed also arose, Massa- other important stories can be touched I returned. I didn’t have a lot of time chusetts governor, Mitt Romney, es- on. And good reporting can give people overseas—only about four days—but tablished a committee to look at the the information they need to make with careful planning I managed to talk possibility of zoning the ocean. informed decisions about issues that to 10 people involved with ev- will affect generations to come. erything from research institutes Our newspaper’s coverage of to the government and to the … these stories empowered Denmark’s wind farm policies tourism industry. Cape Codders to look beyond and practices is reminiscent of For three weeks in March The Cape Codder’s coverage of 2003, eight articles—close to 600 their own shores. the Cape Cod National Seashore inches of reporting from and in the 1960’s. In those days, about Denmark’s experience Malcolm Hobbs, longtime edi- with wind farms—were published in This Cape Wind reporting experi- tor of The Cape Codder, championed The Cape Codder. They had an instant ence is an example to small newspa- the creation of the Cape Cod National impact on the debate. Participants in pers that national and global issues of Seashore in editorials, and he covered the Cape Cod wind farm debate could consequence can be found in local its lengthy and painful birth on the no longer throw salvos at each other stories. Coverage of this also convinced news pages. History tells us that he did without respecting the scientific evi- the paper to follow the wind farms so against fierce local opposition and dence of and real-life experience with story wherever it goes, and this has with the threat of great loss of revenue these European wind farms. Almost meant that I took a cross-country trip from advertisers opposed to the idea. immediately the debate became more to California, Colorado, Texas, Iowa Decades later The Cape Codder’s focused: People here began to demand and Nebraska. The view of wind and its editor, Glenn Ritt, felt as passionately more facts, rather than relying on the relation to energy, especially in Texas, about the beauty of the Cape and her propaganda they were hearing from was far different than the perceptions surrounding waters, but decided each side. of those who live on the East Coast and against taking an editorial stand until While many decision-makers did not who have had little experience with it all of the environmental ramifications, alter their positions because of our as an energy source. good and bad, have been tallied. The coverage, they appeared to become Reporting from afar provides an in- Cape Cod Times has come out against more balanced and open-minded in teresting juxtaposition for our readers the wind farm, but The Cape Codder is their discussions. That a relatively small and gives the issues being debated back taking a wider and longer view: In this paper invested the time and resources here added relevance and adds breadth case, simply saying no to a possibility to document Denmark’s costs and ben- to my local coverage. For example, the for a renewable energy source was not efits with wind energy convinced oth- contacts I developed in Texas tipped an option. ■ ers interested in these issues to go me off to the fact that the state was across the Atlantic to weigh the evi- looking to charge fees to wind devel- Doreen Leggett covers the environ- dence. In this way, these stories em- opers to lease the ocean bottom. As it ment for The Cape Codder. Leggett powered Cape Codders to look be- stands now, there are no lease fees was named weekly journalist of the yond their own shores. required for Cape Wind’s project. year in 2003 by the New England Doing this reporting also led to our The extensive reporting on this wind Press Association, mostly for her covering other related energy issues, farm debate offers a stark reminder to Denmark coverage. such as the paucity of natural gas and readers that energy is something they its effect on electric rates and the en- need to think about and not just when [email protected] ergy picture, and the ongoing discus- their lights go out or they get their sions in Washington, D.C. electric bills. Significant changes in en-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 37 Words & Reflections

War and Terror “Government has no legitimate claim to sole control of secrecy decisions, even on matters of common defense,” Barton Gellman, a Washington Post project reporter observed when he spoke about reporting on stories such as the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. “The lawful application of a classified stamp is the beginning, not the end, of my inquiry.” In excerpts from two lectures he delivered at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Gellman describes the struggle between the government’s urge to suppress secrets and the watchdog role journalists play by unearthing evidence. The military put roadblocks in the way of UPI senior editor Dan Olmsted and reporter Mark Benjamin as they worked on stories involving Iraq War veterans. Olmsted details their encounters with military personnel as they tried to report on squalid conditions and substandard health care given at military bases in the United States and about possible effects of a controversial malaria drug. Photographer Nina Berman visited Americans wounded in Iraq as they coped with severe injuries, and she created portraits of them in images and words. “Lately, I’ve been asking them for their definitions of freedom and democracy, a question that often leaves them puzzled,” she writes. Jeffrey Fleishman, Berlin bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, writes about his reporting in Iraq to demonstrate the essential role foreign correspondents play in giving firsthand accounts of what audiences back home are told is happening. Anthony Shadid, who won a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq for The Washington Post, delivered this year’s Joe Alex Morris, Jr. Memorial Lecture at the Nieman Foundation. He spoke of consequences his reporting had on sources who trusted him and the escalating dangers journalists in Iraq face and how some respond. “In a chaotic, precarious landscape we’re arming ourselves and fortifying against danger without understanding the implications of that process,” he said. When former New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis spoke at a conference about national security and a free press, he expressed concern about the inadequacy of coverage of the Bush administration’s record on civil liberties after September 11, 2001. Also, images of coffins from Iraq appear on our pages, as do words about what happened due to their publication. Steven Kull, who directs the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, shares findings from a study about misperceptions Americans have about the war in Iraq. The wide variance in misperceptions, connected to a person’s primary source of news, “strongly suggests that the way that the press reported the news played a role,” he writes. Susan Moeller, who authored the study “Media Coverage of Weapons of Mass Destruction,” describes why many in the press “amplified the administration’s voice” rather than investigating its claims. David Domke, who heads the journalism department at the University of Washington, examines press response to “characteristics of the Bush administration’s political fundamentalism” and to the President’s “overtly religious language.” David D. Perlmutter, a journalism professor at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication and Lesa Hatley Major, a PhD candidate at the school, examine how news organizations decided which pictures of the Fallujah violence to publish, as they weighed news value against sensationalism.

38 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 How journalists respond psychologically to the violence they report on is written about from three perspectives. Anthony Feinstein, a psychiatrist and author of “Dangerous Lives: War and the Men and Women Who Report It,” tells what he has learned from journalists about why some reporters choose to cover war and the impact this has on them and their colleagues, including the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder. Roger Simpson, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the University of Washington, describes the value for news organizations in offering training and support for those who report on violent situations: “The absence of that support is costing news media in terms of staff energy, productivity and morale,” he says. And William J. Drummond, a journalism professor at the University of California at Berkeley, shares what he learned in developing and teaching an experimental course on emotional balance. “… journalism education needs to make self-care a central part of its focus,” he writes. From a diary he kept while photographing the war in Chechnya, Stanley Greene shares his response to the violence he documented. “No man or woman can view a field of battle and witness so much death and destruction without becoming detached and callous,” he writes. From his book, “Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003,” we see his photographs. French journalist Anne Nivat, author of “Chienne de Guerre,” tells of the dangers in reporting from Chechnya and writes that “as journalists—serving as witnesses to this brutality—we pay an emotional price for the work we do.” Thomas de Waal, Caucasus editor of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) who reported from Chechnya in the mid-1990’s, writes about his attachment to “the place and the people” and how he relies now on other journalists to learn about its fate. Timur Aliev, editor of Chechenskoe Obshchestvo and the Chechnya coordinator for IWPR, writes about the vulnerability he, his newspaper, and other independent-minded journalists experience as pressures build to “practice a sort of internal self-censorship” due to vigilant government monitoring of the press.

Books Barbie Zelizer, the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, tells us about “Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime,” a forthcoming book she coedited. Kay Mills, a former Los Angeles Times editorial writer, describes how her book, “Changing Channels: The Civil Rights Case That Transformed Television,” examines the impact a 1960’s Mississippi case about race has had on TV news and the Federal Communications Commission. New York Times reporter David Cay Johnston, the author of “Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich—and Cheat Everybody Else” details the path he’s taken in reporting on tax since he set out nearly a decade ago to focus not on what politicians say about the tax system but on how and how well it actually works and for whom. And Dante Chinni, a senior associate at the Project for Excellence in Journalism in Washington, D.C., summarizes findings from the project’s first annual report on the state of the U.S. news media and explores how the Internet might offer news organizations ways to deal with some industry challenges. ■

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 39 Words & Reflections

WATCHDOG Revealing a Reporter’s Relationship With Secrecy and Sources Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman explains how he handles classified information in reporting on war and weapons.

In the fall of 2003 Barton Gellman, a locks, and move by flashlight through a ment, handwritten in Arabic and illus- special projects reporter based in New darkened corridor, lined with steel trated with sketches of laboratory glass. York for The Washington Post, spoke doors. The demolition guy broke The document turned out to be a high at the Woodrow Wilson School of Pub- through to the innermost chamber. school science exercise. The survey lic and International Affairs at And before our eyes there stood a team’s report was classified. The school- Princeton University in a lecture se- cache—of vacuum cleaners. book exercise was appended to that ries called “Secrecy, Security and Self- I tell this tale not to make sport of report—which means that some Iraqi Government.” He entitled his first lec- the weapons hunt. Vacuum cleaners teenager’s description of Boyle’s Law ture “An Argument for Unauthorized will take us soon to questions about is a classified U.S. government secret. A Disclosures” and his second “How I secrecy, but a little context first. Site 26 qualified authority made a binding judg- Learn Secrets and Why I Print Them.” produced much the same result as sites ment that disclosure of this text would In January 2004, Gellman wrote an one through 25 and 27 through 90. do “serious damage to national secu- article about what weapons investi- Since I am here to talk about tensions rity.” So don’t ask me about the rela- gators were finding in Iraq, entitled between self-government and secrecy tionship between the pressure and “Iraq’s Arsenal Was Only on Paper: in the cause of national defense, I’d volume of a gas held at constant tem- Since Gulf War, Nonconventional suggest that if you wish to assess the perature. I’d tell you, but I’d have to Weapons Never Got Past the Planning U.S. government’s motive for and con- kill you. Stage.” What follows are excerpts from duct of the war, you might think it The same survey team found a dis- his lectures. relevant that there were no weapons in tillery where a biological warfare fac- 90 of the top 90 suspected weapons tory was supposed to be—that’s classi- sites. I don’t say this is dispositive of fied—and a swimming pool U.S. tell stories for a living, so I’ll start anything, simply that it sounds like intelligence called a chemical bunker. with one tonight. A few months something relevant. Classified. Looting, as you’ve read, has Iago, I returned from hunting for So now I come to the point about been an enormous problem for the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I site 26. Everything I told you about it— weapons hunters. When I was there, didn’t have much luck. But I did spend that it was 26 on the priority list, that Central Command had forces available a lot of time among the hunters. I did there were 90 on the list, the date and to guard 153 of the 372 buildings it not choose to be “embedded” with the location of the search, the connection considered important. That’s classified, U.S. military. I cadged my way, more or to the SSO and, yes, the vacuum clean- too. less, into a search team, living and ers—every bit of that is classified se- All these are secrets, and I put them traveling as a reporter among its sol- cret. A few of the things I wrote that we in The Washington Post. What are we diers. published in the newspaper were top to make of that? What the Defense I’ll tell you about May 1, 2003, a secret. I learned some of it by direct Department made of it was clear fairly typical day. The team gathered observation, some by persuading enough. Today the weapons hunting up its gear—sledgehammer, flame spec- people, against the rules, to share their team, the Iraq Survey Group, receives trometer, pathogen assay kit. We drove records and memories. no visitors. It will not disclose the num- to a walled compound that the De- ber of its personnel, the military and fense Intelligence Agency called “Pos- Publishing Secrets intelligence units involved, or any of sible SSO Facility Al Hayat”—SSO be- the evidence it is collecting. My ques- ing Saddam Hussein’s Special Security There is nothing anomalous here. I’m tion: Was the Pentagon right? Was I Organization. U.S. Central Command a projects reporter, and now my project wrong to publish things the govern- ranked the site 26th of 90 top pros- is the weapons hunt. Nearly everything ment tried to withhold? You’re waiting pects for weapons of mass destruction. I want to know, and much of what I for me to cite the First Amendment. I watched the search team test for booby write, is classified. One day my adopted You can stop waiting. Today, at least, I traps, scan for chemicals, cut through survey team seized a suspicious docu- will look elsewhere. …

40 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

I do not need you to believe that costs. It might put the safety of human the House and Senate Select Commit- governments measure wrongly the risks sources at risk, reveal enough about tees on Intelligence. It is equally true of disclosure, or that publication of intelligence methods to enable their that the committees know only the secrets does no harm, or that any par- defeat, compromise ongoing opera- secrets the President chooses to tell ticular story is essential to public de- tions, or warn enemies of operations them. Even when they know some- bate. What I want to consider is how to to come. Withholding the evidence, on thing, legislators are helpless to call it navigate disputes over national secu- the other hand, renders citizens un- to public attention. Public attention is rity secrecy and who gets to hold the able to judge what may be the most not only the most powerful tool of rudder. And my answer, or part of it, is consequential act of this presidency. It challenge to the executive, it is the only that government is incompetent to do deprives us of information that might tool that could carry the burden of our so on its own. By incompetent, I do not define our votes on Election Day, but argument about accountability to the mean unskilled. I mean that govern- that is not the only stake for democ- people. … Could a quasi-independent ment has no legitimate claim to sole racy. Ignorance hobbles us as partici- government entity—say, an inspector control of secrecy decisions, even on pants in an ongoing act of national general—perform the balancing role? I matters of common defense. The law- choice. Iraq will cost lives and money think not. An inspector general’s office ful application of a classified stamp is for a long time to come and many has no power to declassify, and its the beginning, not the end, of my in- decisions lie ahead. The President can- independence is compromised at least quiry. not make most of them by command. potentially by the agency within whose He must use powers of suasion to carry budget, culture and personnel system Government Secrecy and the public and Congress. Is it suasion, it resides. … Decisions About War though, if those persuaded form their opinions in the dark? … The Struggle Over Secrets Hard questions about government se- Return now to our hypothetical. Who crecy involve a clash of core values. might resolve the inherent conflict over It turns out that I am making an argu- Call them self-preservation and self- prewar intelligence on Iraqi weapons ment for something like the status quo. government. Any answer that fails to programs? Two weighty interests are In practice, the flow of information is take both of those values seriously, and on the scale, democracy and defense. regulated by a process of struggle as address them both explicitly, has not Is there anyone with a legitimate claim the government tries to keep its secrets even engaged the central problem. … to balance them? A long list of incom- and people like me try to find them What happens when government petents comes to mind. Suppose we out. Intermediaries, with a variety of conceals from us its deeds on behalf of begin with me. I am not qualified to motives, perform the arbitrage. No one our defense? With stakes of life and assess harms to national security. Don’t effectively exerts coercive authority at death, it is easy to see the vital need to tell my editors, but they aren’t, either. the boundary. And that’s a good thing. deny advantage to an enemy. But life- Our newsroom, in truth, has some rel- Formal and informal structures keep and-death stakes give equal urgency to evant expertise and experience. But this system in equilibrium. The letter the project of holding our leaders ac- we are not trained to weigh the risks, and practice of law enforcement make countable for their use of power. If we and we are not responsible to anyone it difficult, but not enormously danger- are sovereign, we rule those who rule for the consequences. ous, to broach secrets in print. That is us. Secrecy corrodes self-government, The President, for his part, is not a fine balance, and the status quo I’m just as it strengthens self-defense. Both qualified to decide what the public describing depends on it. Those with interests reach peak importance in time needs to know in order to hold him lawful access to classified information of war. accountable. That is actually too weak are forbidden by contract to disclose it Consider the debate of the moment a formula. The President is forbidden and face loss of their jobs, civil and in hypothetical form. Suppose the Presi- to define the terms by which we may potentially criminal penalties. A gov- dent lied about Iraq’s nonconventional judge him. ernment official needs a very good rea- weapons and thereby took the nation Where else might we turn? The judi- son to take these risks. Having found to war in Iraq by a kind of fraud. There ciary comes to mind, but for one thing such an official, reporters and their is nothing like enough evidence on the it is disinclined to play the role. The publishers incur little risk themselves. public record to prove that charge. leading judicial doctrine on national No law on its face, and unambiguously, There is nothing like enough evidence security is deference to the executive forbids me to possess or publish a to refute it, either. This is not an epis- branch, which is a judicious way to say, government secret. temological problem. The evidence “Leave us out of it.” … What about the It is surely possible for a govern- exists. It stands behind barriers of clas- legislative branch? By constitutional ment to work harder than this to sup- sification and executive privilege. The design, Congress shares war-making press its secrets. If we look overseas, question is whether to pierce them. … authority with the President. In prac- most do. Every White House would Opening files would resolve the tice that day is gone. It is true that the prefer a tighter grip on its secrets. But mystery but undoubtedly carry high government’s secrets are overseen by on balance, at the systemic level, the

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 41 Words & Reflections

behavior of recent presidents implies a before publishing anything classified. tion of something he acknowledges to tacit belief that such a grip cannot be My most frequent interlocutor says his be true. We often ask for explanation of had at acceptable cost. And there is a job in these conversations is to “shed the stakes. And it happens from time to comparable form of self-restraint on light and shed darkness.” Sometimes time that the government tells me some- the part of the press, which leads to an he corrects a fact or supplies a point of thing very sensitive, which I did not unexpected collaboration when a se- context. Sometimes he blusters. Some- know, to explain why I should not cret is nearing disclosure. times he chooses not to engage. And publish something I did know. The Washington Post and its peers sometimes he asks on behalf of his Usually we find accommodation at routinely consult responsible agencies agency that the Post suppress publica- the working level. Now and then it

Making Decisions About What to Publish Several examples demonstrate how the press and government officials interact when it comes to secrecy.

In lectures he gave at Princeton Unveiling Washington’s cared most that we not disclose the University’s Woodrow Wilson school, Shadow Government sites of the bunkers, the names of those Barton Gellman described situations deployed, and the mechanics of the when he and his editors met with gov- A more recent and more complicated deployment. I told him that I thought ernment officials as part of determin- example happened in 2002 when my he had good reasons for concern, and ing what information to publish. What colleague Sue Schmidt and I learned I thought I would agree, but I wasn’t follows are some examples he cited. that President Bush had deployed what completely convinced. Details are vital we called in shorthand a “shadow gov- in a story like this. Extraordinary claims I promised to talk about how we de- ernment” of senior officials into under- require extraordinary evidence. If we cide what to publish and what to hold ground bunkers far from Washington. are going to break something big, we back. It’s easiest to talk in detail about There had been contingency plans for need to show readers we know it’s older cases, so I’ll begin there. In the this through the Cold War, called con- true. These bunkers had been designed 1991 Persian Gulf War, I was skeptical tinuity of government and continuity to withstand a hydrogen bomb. What of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s of operations plan (COG/COOP). Bush exactly, I asked, did the White House briefings on bombing progress. From was the first President to activate them. think Osama bin Laden could do to one week to the next he increased his This was a watershed. For the first time them? estimate of the daily damage to Iraqi a President was saying, because of al- On the other hand, I knew already tanks by a factor of 10. How could that Qaeda, that he could not be sure that from my executive editor that there be? Most of the tanks were buried, hard Washington would be here tomorrow. was no way we would publish the de- to find or hit. My colleague Rick It spoke volumes about the new inse- tails. But it was the uncertainty on that Atkinson and I found out that pilots curity of a post-9/11 world. And the point that got me into the chief of had found a new way to use the for- whole thing was very highly classified, staff’s office, and I maintained it in part ward-looking infrared sensor (FLIR). top secret code-worded information. to continue the conversation. I said, Usually they search for hot spots, but When the government learned I was “I’m sure you don’t think I came here pilots found that armor sheds heat at a asking questions, White House chief of only to take things out of the story. different rate than desert sand. If they staff Andrew Card called the executive What can you tell me?” I learned a few looked soon after sundown, they could editor of The Washington Post. He said things, including the numbers of those find tanks by aiming at cold spots. he couldn’t believe the Post would deployed. Once he was sure we would The Washington Post did not seri- publish such a thing, and if we seri- run the story, he gave me an on-the- ously consider publishing that story. ously contemplated doing so he wanted record quote. Only for that reason can We did not bother to consult with the an opportunity to be heard. Len I tell you I was talking to Joe Hagan. government. We just sat on it. I was Downie, the editor, called me. I phoned The on-the-record quote served his sorry to give up a scoop, but this was Card’s office the next day and said, purpose, but it also made our story obviously a technique to which Iraq here’s your opportunity to be heard. much more credible. could take countermeasures. Publica- His deputy invited me to pay a visit. A related case. In December [2002] tion would do concrete harm to the I asked what exactly the govern- I learned that the Energy Department’s war effort, and it served no grand pub- ment sought to protect. He said every- national labs had undertaken a crash lic policy interest to disclose it. I do so thing. I said I didn’t think that would deployment of a prototype system to now because it has since come into the fly, and I had the impression he did not detect nuclear materials entering the public record. expect it to. We talked some more. He nation’s capital. It was a distributed

42 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror goes higher. In December, on a par- The Washington Post, but here are some pacity as government officers and so ticularly sensitive point, we did not personal observations about its behav- their positions in internal debate are reach a meeting of minds until a con- ior in secrecy cases. We seldom if ever fair game. ference call—at her request—with Na- agree to withhold information that ex- One last word about our hypotheti- tional Security Advisor Condoleezza poses a government lie, even a well- cal. Did the U.S. government dissemble Rice. Twice that I know of, a President intended one. We give no special weight about Iraq? On a question of this mag- has called the publisher or executive to preventing diplomatic embarrass- nitude, a journalist’s highest calling is editor. … ment. We acknowledge no right of pri- to unearth evidence. Not opinion, not I am quite certain I do not speak for vacy for individuals acting in their ca- surmise. Evidence. In August 2003, I

network of sensors called, aptly, “Ring ways, and I showed that. smacked of espionage against a mem- Around Washington.” It didn’t work. Governments find it useful, often in ber state represented a huge threat to Again, very highly classified. The story good causes, to say conflicting things the U.N. system, as he saw it. In January I was writing, a very long one, asked in different forums. I am in the infor- 1999, I told my sources that the story the question: Are we safer after 14 mation arbitrage business. I don’t col- was beginning to seep out. Le Monde, months of war with al-Qaeda than we laborate in that effort. We believe in my Al Hayat, and The Boston Globe were were on 9/11? “Ring Around Washing- business that the truth—an accurate pursuing it. On January 6th, with no- ton” was highly relevant. I consulted depiction of the world as it is—has an tice to authorities, I wrote some of with high-ranking officials I can’t name. elemental value. We will not conspire what I knew: Unscom had used eaves- They wished we would not mention to hold it back in support of some dropping equipment, carried by in- the ring at all. What they really cared particular diplomatic result. Unscom spectors, to monitor communications about, though, was that we not de- was dying. Saying so might or might that Iraq knew were safe from satel- scribe exactly why the system failed— not have sped the death, but staying lites. I knew the type of equipment, the how it could be defeated. I proposed a silent would not have saved it. We identities of the inspectors, even the very general way to describe the flaws, would probably not have stayed quiet radio frequencies. I pursued those de- and after a while we came to a formula regardless. tails to be sure my sources knew what we all could live with. … As I traced the death throes of they were talking about. We never con- Unscom, I discovered its extraordinary sidered publishing them. Investigating Unscom’s development into the first—and prob- A few months later, I discovered the Investigations ably last—U.N. intelligence agency. It most stunning aspect of the story. There was actually improvising high-technol- had been yet another level of espio- The most complicated example had to ogy spy tools against Iraq. The first nage. The U.S. government planted do with Unscom, the U.N. arms inspec- time I wrote about that, authorities listening devices in Unscom equipment tors in Iraq through the 1990’s. In told me I would put the lives of inspec- to spy on Iraq in ways that Unscom August of 1998, I learned—the report- tors and clandestine operatives at risk itself did not know about—and that ing began with a guess—that the U.S. if I included details. We compromised had nothing to do with Unscom’s mis- government was quietly urging Unscom on the following language: “inspectors sion. All those years, Unscom said Iraq to back off. I described a phone call in deliberately triggered Iraq’s defenses was hiding weapons, and Baghdad said which Secretary of State Madeleine against a surprise search and used a Unscom was a nest of spies. It turned Albright persuaded Richard Butler, new synthesis of intelligence tech- out that both sides, more or less, were Unscom’s executive chairman, to re- niques to look and listen as the Baghdad right. The CIA told me that there were scind his order for a surprise visit to the government moved contraband from clandestine operatives still in Iraq and headquarters of Saddam Hussein’s spe- the site.” A bunch of mumbo jumbo asked for time to get them out if we cial security organization. Washington and deliberately so. planned to publish. We waited. Then was even then professing support for I knew a great deal about the opera- we published. That was a hard deci- anywhere, anytime inspections, and tion, and I sat on it for months. But sion—it is possible that we stopped a threatening the use of military force to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s productive intelligence operation—but compel them, but it had lost backing office started hearing rumors, and I think it was the right one on balance. for that position in the U.N. Security Annan assigned a competent investiga- ■ —B.G. Council. Albright tried to have it both tor to learn more. Anything that

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 43 Words & Reflections

wrote a very long story examining pre- case for secrecy because the value of the process of bureaucratic decision- war claims that Iraq had revived—or security is at its peak. But secrecy is making, the equipment and methods “reconstituted,” as the Bush adminis- never more damaging to self-govern- of people who do things I write about, tration put it—a nuclear weapons pro- ment than in wartime, because making the history of an issue, the relation- gram. My partner Walter Pincus and I war is the very paradigm of a political ships and rivalries of individuals. I go found a striking disparity between what choice. No individual, and no institu- to conferences and collect obscure ref- the White House knew and what it said. tion, can be trusted to draw the line for erence works. The Army field manual The most important example had to us when these two interests collide. … on helicopter maintenance helped us do with specialized aluminum tubes, Good reporters—and by this I mean follow both Iraq wars, for instance. which Iraq tried to buy overseas. The most reporters at serious news organi- This kind of background helps me Bush administration said Iraq planned zations—do not transmit a source’s guess, from little clues and emana- to use the tubes to build a gas centri- claims unexamined. One difference tions, what might be happening now. fuge cascade to enrich uranium for a between reporters and readers is that It also helps me figure out who would bomb. Iraq said the tubes were for we do know who we’re talking to. This know it if my guess is right, and who artillery rockets. The Bush administra- is not something I boast about; I’m as might have a reason to talk. … tion scoffed. No one, it said, would use unhappy as anyone about the ubiquity What we call “enterprise reporting” so costly an alloy for expendable muni- of unnamed sources in the published almost never comes from one or two tions. product. My point is simply that we sources who spill the whole thing. It You know what? Someone does use understand where our sources fit into comes from an accumulation of small that alloy for rockets. The rocket is a the organizations and events we write facts that lead eventually to the big fact standard NATO munition, called the about. We usually know their motives in our lead. A lot of my guesses are Medusa. The Bush administration knew and biases and, armed with that knowl- wrong. If I spent my time trying to that. It also knew that the Medusa tube edge, we test their assertions against prove them, rather than explore them, is identical in every dimension to the other evidence. … In the end I don’t I would be breaching a basic obligation ones at issue. And it knew that Iraq care all that much why someone talks to readers. I abandon far more guesses reverse-engineered the Medusa and was to me, as long as I understand the than I confirm. building copies just outside Baghdad. motive and can verify what I learn. … In many cases, the ultimate story I’m There was another secret. The U.S. Unearthing information is a little bit reporting is classified, but there are government’s centrifuge physicists— like borrowing money: you need some unclassified signs around the edges. In all of them, unanimously—said the alu- to get some. By far the most common the early 1990’s, I suspected that the minum tubes were grossly unsuitable way we learn new things is the iterative Clinton administration was going to for uranium enrichment. work of beat reporters. I don’t mean shift course and intervene in the As curious citizens, you might ask this in some grand investigative sense. Balkans. I asked myself, which combat- the Bush administration for an expla- It’s routine, the collection of bits and ant command would take the lead? nation. You might ask about the Me- pieces over time. … This is what the Had it formed a joint task force of the dusa or the persistence of a theory that folks in Langley, Virginia, call “assem- kind that runs most military opera- the government’s own scientists de- bling the mosaic.” … tions? Had the task force “stood up a bunked. You might ask what Iraqi sci- CAT”—a 24-hour crisis action team? entists say now about the nuclear pro- Finding Government Secrets Had the units cancelled leaves and gram, or what U.S. forces have called back personnel? All those things discovered on the ground. Do not ex- So how do I find out government se- were discoverable, and they gave me pect an answer. All those things, too, crets? I could dignify the process as strong reason to think I was on the are classified. “reporting by hypothesis,” but I like right track. the military term better. The term is Sometimes silence is meaningful. … In his second lecture Gellman spoke at “SWAG.” It’s an acronym, and it stands When organizations stop answering length about ways in which his report- for “scientific wild-ass guess.” I do a lot questions they usually answer, and ing intersects with the practice of gov- of guessing. And no, I don’t put guesses when old acquaintances stop return- ernment secrecy. in the paper. I use them to guide my ing calls, it tells me something. When I reporting. The metaphor I like best is ask something sensitive, the way my National security secrecy presents us pulling on threads. interlocutor does not answer hints at with a conflict of core values—self- A lot of what I learn is off the page. whether I’ve touched a nerve. government and self-defense. If we I’m unlikely to put it in the paper, not When I think I’m onto something, I don’t know what our government is because it’s a secret but because it make a list of everyone who might doing, we can’t hold it accountable. If doesn’t fit the conventions of a news know whether it’s true. Sometimes I we do know, our enemies know, too, story. It has to do with organization know the person, sometimes I know and that can be dangerous. That’s our charts, the language and background the name, and sometimes I know only predicament. Wartime heightens the of specialists, the trajectory of careers, the job title. I’m a collector of phone

44 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror books and lists. I ask myself, who cares comfortable about explicitly crossing went back to my original source, who least about protecting some small part the line into classified material. Some- had carefully skirted the line on classi- of this secret? An energy or defense or times a person will rationalize it with fied material. The source got angry. I justice department official might not the notion that he is saying something said, the only way to resolve this is for know or care that a given detail is I already seem to know. Sometimes the you to read me the language of the diplomatically sensitive. A career offi- person thinks the subject is of overrid- document. And that’s what the source cial at state may not care about the ing importance. Last year I wrote a did. It was a PowerPoint briefing for political implications for the White story about al-Qaeda’s efforts to ac- top White House senior officials. It House. Once I have all I can get from quire biological weapons. White House said: “al-Qaeda is interested in acquir- those who have the least stake in a and CIA spokesmen told me categori- ing biological weapons, to include subject, I begin to ask questions of cally that there was no U.S. intelligence smallpox.” I went back to the spokes- those who have the most. assessment that al-Qaeda was looking men. Oh, they said, you mean that Hardly anyone in government is for smallpox. I had heard otherwise. I assessment. ■

WATCHDOG Telling Stories the Military Doesn’t Want Told ‘Dear Mr. Olmsted, I regret to inform you that we can’t honor your request to speak with anyone at Fort Carson ….’

By Dan Olmsted

f war is hell, then the aftermath for Sick, wounded U.S. troops Army spokesman Benjamin talked to, too many of those who fought the held in squalor claiming Benjamin had called no one Iwar in Iraq is worthy of another about the story. That outburst of can- biblical metaphor—purgatory. FORT STEWART, Ga., Oct. 17 dor was followed by an e-mail, copied Last fall, UPI’s Mark Benjamin got a (UPI)—Hundreds of sick and to 21 other Pentagon public affairs call from the husband of a soldier who wounded U.S. soldiers including officers. had served in Iraq and was in “medical many who served in the Iraq war “I don’t believe you did try hard hold” at Fort Stewart, Georgia, suffer- are languishing in hot cement enough to get an Army response. … As ing from a serious heart problem. Ben- barracks here while they wait— you can see by the volume of informa- jamin had been working on stories sometimes for months—to see tion I am sending you—We could have about a number of mysterious illnesses doctors. responded. … Apparently you said your afflicting troops in Iraq and after they The National Guard and Army calls to Fort Stewart public affairs offi- came home. This man said his wife’s Reserve soldiers’ living conditions cials and U.S. Forces command in At- illness was bad, but the treatment and are so substandard, and the medi- lanta were not returned. That’s not housing she and other soldiers were cal care so poor, that many of what they said, and I trust them more getting was truly deplorable—no run- them believe the Army is trying to than I do you.” ning water, no air conditioning in the push them out with reduced ben- A dense fog of facts, figures and cement barracks, and filthy, buggy efits for their ailments. One docu- acronyms followed—“The CSA has in- showers and toilets in an adjacent build- ment shown to UPI states that no cluded the improvement of installa- ing to which some of the wounded had more doctor appointments are tions in the Army’s top Focus Areas and to limp on crutches. His wife waited six available from Oct. 14 through priorities. Additionally, the FORSCOM weeks for a doctor to see her about her Nov. 11—Veterans Day. … A half- Commander is aware ….” Months later, heart condition. dozen calls by UPI seeking com- in front of a congressional committee, With a go-ahead from UPI editors, ment from Fort Stewart public the fog lifted and our reporting about Benjamin got on a plane, went on base, affairs officials and U.S. Forces the testimony follows: got the story, and got on the phone to Command in Atlanta were not talk about what he’d found with the returned. Army fixing medical failure Army. For three days, he sought com- exposed by UPI ment, with no response. Not one of his By Monday morning, the Army was calls was returned. His story ran on a more than ready to respond. “Fuck WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 Friday and began: you!” were the first words from the (UPI)—With the biggest troop

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 45 Words & Reflections

rotation since World War II un- der way, Pentagon officials told a House panel Wednesday they would do whatever it takes to avoid the mistakes that last year left sick and injured troops at U.S. bases waiting weeks and months for doctors. Many had served in Iraq. The solutions include moving ill soldiers from steamy cement barracks without running water into nearby hotels, adding more doctors, and setting aside $77 million to improve conditions. “We recognize that last fall, we temporarily lost sight of the situ- ation,” Daniel Denning, an assis- tant secretary of the Army, told the House Total Force Subcom- The paint peels off the wood of a World War II-era barrack where soldiers on medical mittee Wednesday. hold were originally placed on their arrival at Fort Knox in Kentucky. These soldiers were later moved to what the Army says are better living conditions. One of the barrack’s Barriers to Military roofs collapsed two days after soldiers were moved out. Photo by Michael Kleinfeld/UPI. Reporting

That is the way it works when you cover could have our photographer back, recting that he do so, he met the re- the military, at least a part of the mili- but only if he returned to the base to quirements for entry.” tary that the brass doesn’t want to talk pick him up. Sensing an ambush, he In March, Benjamin and I went to about. NBC News’s Tom Brokaw might declined. Finally, the intervention of a Fort Carson, Colorado, to report a story have the run of an aircraft carrier, and Senate staffer who admires UPI’s re- about mental health problems among it’s easy for reporters to get interviews porting worked to free Kleinfeld. troops—including suicide—and the with grunts who tell how good morale But that wasn’t the end of it. The possible role an anti-malaria drug might is and how happy they are to be fight- next morning, a top Army public affairs be playing. We gamely called ahead ing thousands of miles from home. It official called one of UPI’s top execu- and told them what our story was about, gets different when a reporter tries to tives to say that UPI had “been caught in detail; asked to meet with base offi- cover stories about soldiers who be- trespassing.” We would be issued a cials; offered to take the public affairs lieve they are getting shafted—espe- “ban and bar” letter prohibiting us from officer out for coffee, and requested a cially when they are. going on base unescorted, he was told. tour of the base. They declined: “Dear After Benjamin’s Fort Stewart story Apparently, if Benjamin and Mr. Olmsted, I regret to inform you ran, UPI was tipped that similar condi- Kleinfeld asked nicely, this person in- that we can’t honor your request to tions also existed at Fort Knox, Ken- dicated that base officials “would still speak with anyone at Fort Carson ….” tucky. He flew there, this time with a be willing to escort them to the things They said we had to talk to an Army UPI photographer. Soldiers, again, in- they want to see and speak to the official at the Pentagon. That official vited him on base. At Fort Knox, the people they want to interview.” referred us to a spokesman at Army had moved soldiers out of despi- Nor was that the end of it. Shortly FORSCOM in Atlanta. Here is what cable living conditions—including a thereafter, that Army official’s boss, Benjamin wrote to FORSCOM: “If you barracks that the roof fell in on two Brigadier General Bob Gaylord, also can arrange any input for our story, days later—but the lack of medical care called this UPI executive and, as it was please help. … I’d be glad to discuss was just as acute. As our photographer, delicately put to us, “expressed his our findings so far with any Army offi- Michael Kleinfeld, tried to photograph concern.” A few weeks later, the claim cials at any time.” That official never gimpy soldiers standing in formation of “trespassing” started to look a bit responded to any of our written pleas. outside the medical hold barracks, he blustery. At Benjamin’s insistence, a Meanwhile, for four days we sat in was detained and taken to the garrison Pentagon official clarified the policy Colorado calling and e-mailing four commander’s office. (They didn’t try about reporters going on base. He e- different spokespeople. No one would to confiscate his film, at least.) A mildly mailed us to say that while Benjamin let us on base or answer our questions. menacing, slightly comic scene ensued, “did not identify himself as a journalist They said we weren’t banned––just that with base officials telling Benjamin we … since there is no posted policy di- we couldn’t come on base under any

46 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror circumstances no matter how long we to a Fort Carson public affairs officer: Benjamin hasn’t given up. In fact, he stuck around Colorado Springs. “Greetings. I left you a voice mes- keeps doing stories that are pursued by The most Orwellian––or perhaps sage just now––we’re doing a story on few other reporters. Editor & Publisher merely absurd––moment came when Green Beret Bill Howell’s suicide. His recently called him “Iraq reporter of we tried one final time to get the wife says she has not been contacted by the year,” even though he has never military’s attention on a shocking inci- the Criminal Investigative Division at been to Iraq, and he won the American dent in which the controversial malaria Fort Carson although she understands Legion Fourth Estate Award for cover- drug, Lariam, was an issue. A Green the report about his death is done or age of veterans’ issues. In overseeing Beret based at Fort Carson, Bill Howell, nearly done, and she suspects that is his coverage, I’ve seen clues emerge had come home from Iraq and, three because the Army is intent on blaming about how best to get at these stories. weeks later, shot and killed himself in his death on marital problems rather A few follow: front of his wife, Laura. She was con- than probing deeper into possible vinced the drug triggered what ap- causes. Please let me know by Tuesday • Start at the bottom. The best stories peared to be the sudden onset of mad- afternoon if you have any comment. As come from talking to soldiers, their ness, and her evidence was compelling. always we are anxious to hear what the families and friends, and health care A combat veteran with no history of military has to say and to get any other workers outside the military’s reach. mental problems or pattern of domes- information that will help make our Only go to the top brass when you tic abuse, he snapped one Sunday reporting fair and accurate.” have a specific question that they evening in March––first trying to shoot At 6:25 p.m. on that Tuesday, we did will either have to ignore, deny or her in the face (“I want you to watch indeed get a response. Here it is (and respond to. this,” he said)––then shooting himself. yes, it makes no sense): • Think of military brass as being on Lariam is known to cause severe “Dear Mr. Olmsted, the same level as administrators at psychiatric problems in a number of “I found out that my reply to you any other federal agency—as bu- people who take it; the question of was out-of-line in that I was not autho- reaucrats who happen to have stars whether it causes suicide remains offi- rized to send you the information I on their shoulders. cially open. Mark and I began investi- relayed. My boss is in the process of • When confronted with overwhelm- gating the drug more than two years telling the Army side of the story. My ing evidence of a serious problem, ago, and we reported in May 2002 that zeal in answering your inquiry got in do not be deterred by obfuscation of mounting evidence suggests it has trig- the way of our media relations efforts. the data. We’ve taken to calling the gered suicides. Just a month after that, For the most part, the info I sent you is military’s statistics operation the in June 2002, a string of domestic mur- correct, but there are some inaccura- “Vege-matic”—a machine that can der-suicides began at Fort Bragg, com- cies I am told.” chop, slice and dice data until there mitted by soldiers back from Afghani- But we had not gotten a “reply”–– is no discernable pattern. For in- stan who had taken the drug. After a out-of-line or otherwise––and we had stance, the military isn’t counting perfunctory investigation, the military no idea what he was talking about. We suicides that occurred after troops blamed marital problems and absolved pointed that out in a follow-up e-mail returned as part of the toll of Opera- Lariam––which, perhaps not inciden- and asked for a response we could tion Iraqi Freedom—even if they tally, it invented. (The Army has also print. We never heard another word. A were helicoptered off the battlefield complained to our editors in writing few days later, The (Colorado Springs) in a full-blown psychosis and hanged about our continuing coverage of the Gazette ran our story across the top of themselves at Walter Reed Army Lariam issue, to similar avail.) the front page with the headline, “Green Medical Center in Washington. Now, two years later, Laura Howell Beret’s suicide not fully investigated, •A related point: Can’t figure out the not only believed Lariam caused her wife says.” I am sure some people feel answer, and the military won’t tell husband’s suicide, she believed the we didn’t try hard enough to get com- you? Report what the answer is not. Army was planning to blame martial ment from the Army. For example, it can be hard to deter- problems for her husband’s violence If, in reading this, you leap to the mine the total number of casualties and death, just as they had at Fort conclusion that the Army employs ag- in Operation Iraqi Freedom. But we Bragg. No one at Fort Carson even gressive tactics to prevent or discredit know it’s more than the dead and bothered to talk to her while conduct- negative reporting––obfuscation, per- wounded—it’s also the (thousands ing an investigation of his suicide, she sonal attacks, or if necessary a retreat of) injured and ill. How do we know? said. “Doesn’t that just make your ra- to the bunkers––you’re right. The Because that’s how the Army itself dar go ‘beep, beep, beep?’,” she asked Pentagon’s P.R. apparatus is also big defines casualties. in an interview. and bullying and used to throwing its • From the UPI 1929 stylebook: “The Obviously, accusing the Army of a weight around. That’s why many re- coolest man on the hottest story cover-up in a death investigation is porters find military stories so hard to makes the fastest time.” Don’t get serious business, and we needed a re- cover: Some give up or settle for what- drawn into hostile conversations or sponse. We tried in this May 3rd e-mail ever the spokespeople hand out. escalating e-mail exchanges. Focus

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 47 Words & Reflections

on the story and don’t nurse grudges. exactly what kind of story you are hell freezes over. ■ • Remember what George W. Bush working on, why you need the said during the campaign: “I trust military’s help, what your deadline Dan Olmsted, a UPI senior editor for people. I don’t trust the federal gov- is—and how hard you are working the past four years, edits Mark ernment.” And as John Ashcroft said, to get it right. Benjamin’s stories, which can be “Information is democracy’s best found by going to UPI.com and friend.” Hold him to it. And offer to meet with officials any- clicking the “investigations” button. • Put it in writing. Leave a paper trail time, anywhere, to get their part of the of e-mailed correspondence stating story. Just be prepared to wait until [email protected] Portraits of the Wounded A photojournalist conveys the lives and feelings of those injured in the Iraq War.

By Nina Berman

n image of an American soldier politicians. I want to see the soldier a leg. Behind him, on the wall, is a giant wounded in the Iraq War is one alone as each confronts his or her loss airbrushed painting of a naked woman. Aof the few pieces of documen- and considers the experience of war Despite the enormity of their physi- tary evidence the American public can and life ahead. cal injuries—most are in chronic pain see to begin a process of separating and permanently disabled—when propaganda—that war is quick and Contradictions and Loss asked if they would go back, all of them bloodless—from truth. As of May 2004, reply “yes.” Television journalists re- close to 10,000 American soldiers have These portraits are not sentimental; if porting on the wounded, as well as been wounded in action and in combat anything, they are detached. They are some newspaper writers, tend to make support in Iraq. The number of injured done in a formal manner in that the a big deal out of this answer, as though Iraqis—insurgents and civilians—is person is aware of being photographed. it’s proof of the soldiers’ pro-war sen- believed to be about triple that num- The process takes a few hours and timent. I’ve learned that the question, ber. always begins with a taped interview in asked in such a way, is completely There are no lists of the wounded, which I ask questions about life at meaningless and only perpetuates a unlike the dead. In The New York home, the recruitment process, the simplistic understanding of service and Times, the names of the dead are pub- injury, what he or she liked about the loyalty. I ask the wounded two ques- lished almost every day. I look for their military, and the experience in Iraq. tions. “If you could go back, would ages, their hometowns, caring less Lately, I’ve been asking them for their you?” The answer is always “yes.” Then about their command units. I feel sorry definitions of freedom and democracy, I ask, “If your platoon was home and for their families and friends, but then a question that often leaves them your friends were out of Iraq, would it’s finished. The dead tell no stories. puzzled. you go back?” The answer is almost The wounded survive and present us When viewed together, the words always “no,” or “I’m not sure.” with our own complicity, since war is and photos create a complex, some- When I started this project, I wasn’t fundamentally evidence of our failure times contradictory portrait. For ex- prepared for the physical damage I as individuals and as a state to be civi- ample, one severely burned soldier would see. I remember the first soldier lized and restrained. whose face is a painful patchwork of I photographed was completely blind. Since October 2003, I have been scar tissue and skin grafts said without His world is black from morning to making portraits and conducting inter- irony that he is “the perfect face of the night. Titanium plates hold his brain views with Americans who were Army.” He desperately wants to con- together. He has seizures and mood wounded in the Iraq War. I seek them tinue his military career, saying he be- swings and sleeps often. I photo- out at their homes after they have been came “addicted” to the Army. Another graphed him in his bedroom standing discharged from the military hospitals soldier, blind, without a leg, living alone next to a giant deer that he had killed at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. in a camper, abandoned by his parents when he was 16 years old. Dangling and Brooke Army in San Antonio, Texas. as a child, said that Iraq “was the best from the antlers were the soldier’s dog I stay away from the homecoming pa- experience of my life.” One Marine tags and his army ranger berets. Below rades, the VFW initiation events, the said he joined because that’s what men the deer was a picture of the soldier in yellow ribbons, the appearances with should do. He sits on his bed, without uniform. This young man, tall and

48 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror strong, first in his class of 228 rangers, administration’s lies. This soldier, 20 or counseling. He is worried about his trembled at the sound of the camera’s years old, had his right arm blown off younger brother and sister, who both shutter. and his left leg mangled in a grenade want to join the military. He blames They volunteered to serve in the attack. He agreed to be photographed television and movies for giving them a military, but how much free choice because he said people need to know false impression of war. ■ went into their decision is debatable. what’s happening. He was alarmed by “No option. There were no jobs,” said the ignorance in his neighborhood in Nina Berman is a photographer one. “I thought going to war was jump- Santa Ana, California and described an based in New York City. She has ing out of planes. I didn’t know it could encounter with a friend. “Dude, what been documenting the political and be bad,” said another who remembers happened to you?” his friend asked, social landscape in the United States having watched Desert Storm as a child seeing the hook where his right arm for more than 10 years. Her pictures and thought it was “interesting.” A used to be. The soldier replied that he have been published in magazines rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) ripped was wounded in Iraq, and the friend throughout the world including through this soldier’s leg during a said, “I thought that war was over.” Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Mother firefight in Fallujah on Halloween. He Pro- and antiwar groups each want Jones, Harpers, Geo, and National has had 15 surgeries, seven blood trans- to use the soldier in their rallies, but he Geographic. She teaches part-time at fusions. He can barely walk and stands has declined all requests. Instead, he the International Center of Photog- hunched over like an old man. His wife said, he is reading books about Iraq raphy in New York. A book of the has to tie his shoes. and asked me if I had seen the movie, soldiers’ portraits and interviews, None of them expressed bitterness “The Battle of Algiers.” He spoke to a “Purple Hearts,” will be published by or self-pity. Some still seemed in a state group of high school drop outs, kids Trolley Books in August 2004. of shock. Only one was openly angry like he was before he joined the Army, and critical of what he called the Bush and wants to do more public speaking [email protected]

Sgt. Jeremy Feldbusch, 24 years old, an Army Ranger from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Regiment, was injured April 3, 2003, defending the Hadithah Dam and awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with valor. He is completely blind, his brain is held together with titanium plates, he suffers seizures and has some brain damage. Photo- graphed in his home in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, October 18, 2003. “I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. I was a biology major. At one point in my life, I wanted to be a doctor. Even while I was going through college, I thought about going into the military. … I knew about the Middle East as much as I needed to. But it didn’t make a difference. I wasn’t fighting a political war with them anyway. That was already taken care of. That’s about it. I don’t have any regrets. I had some fun over there. I don’t want to talk about the military anymore.”

Pfc. Tristan Wyatt, 21 years old, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, lost his leg in a firefight in Fallujah on August 25, 2003. Wyatt has undergone 10 surgeries because of massive infections as a result of his wounds. Photographed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., October 29, 2003. “I was in the back of an armored personnel carrier. We got hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. It was a shitty day to say the least. I just kept shooting. I thought I was dead anyway. I’ve had to relearn everything from standing up to walking. I’d been snowboarding for close to eight years before I got hit, and I’m just hoping to be able to do it again. I want to go back to the military. I want my old job back. I was a combat engineer. We blew things up. I felt like my heart was in the right place over there.”

Photographs by Nina Berman/Redux.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 49 Words & Reflections

Marine Corporal Alex Presman, 26 years old, was injured outside of Baghdad, July 15, 2003, when a mine exploded in front of him. Photographed in his apartment in Sheepshead Bay, New York, October 28, 2003. “I was born in Russia. We came in ’94. I think a man has to go through the military. … I just thought it was the right thing for me to do. We stopped for a break … four guys in front of me. I was following them, and boom, it took off my foot. It threw me up, and I just fell down. At first, I was a little shocked. I didn’t understand what happened. They medevaced me out, took me to Bethesda Naval Hospital, and they told me it had to be amputated. Nobody can prepare himself for that. But you know, it could have been worse.”

Sam Ross, 21 years old, an Army paratrooper and combat engineer with the 82nd Airborne Division, was gravely injured May 18, 2003, in Baghdad when a bomb blew up during a munitions disposal operation. Photographed at his home in Dunbar Township, Pennsylvania, October 19, 2003. “I lost my left leg, just below the knee. Lost my eyesight …. I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. Got my finger blown off …. I had a hole blown through my right leg …. It hurts a lot, that’s about it. You know, not really anything major. Just little things. I have a piece of shrapnel in my neck that came up through my vest and went into my throat and it’s sitting behind my trachea, and when I swallow, it kind of feels like I have a pill in my throat. It was the best experience of my life. … I’ve jumped out of airplanes, I got to play with mines, got to see how the Army works. I got to interact with people of another culture, people who live their lives 100 percent different than the way we live here. That’s something that one in a million people will never get to see in their lifetime—another culture.”

Pfc. Alan Jermaine Lewis, 23 years old, a machine-gunner with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was wounded July 16, 2003, on Highway 8 in Baghdad, when the Humvee he was driving hit a land mine blowing off both legs, burning his face, and breaking his left arm in six places. Photographed at home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 23, 2003. “I remember every detail about my legs. Every detail from the scars to the ingrown toenails to the birthmarks to the burn marks. … I’ve always thought about death—just growing up in Chicago and living out here in this world. I had a friend when I was six years old …. He was shot in the head—I think it was a stray bullet. My oldest sister was killed by a stray bullet when I was just a couple of months old, and my father was killed when I was seven. … I’m actually glad that I did the military the way I did—that I lived in the world for a couple of years—because I never would have known what it would be like to live on my own and be able to have parties at my house and own a car and do things like that.”

Photographs by Nina Berman/Redux.

50 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

Platoon Sergeant John Quincy Adams, 37 years old, a National Guard reservist with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry, was in a Humvee on August 29, 2003, when a remote controlled bomb exploded under his vehicle sending shrapnel into his brain and body. He has metal in the right lower quadrant of his brain, rock and shrapnel in his face, entry and exit wounds in his arm that damaged nerves and tendons in his hands and fingers, and is on medication for seizures, mood swings, and depressions that leaves him drowsy. He is not permitted physical activity since any fall could jiggle the metal in his brain, leaving him without speech or motor skills. Photo- graphed at his home in Miramar, Florida with his wife, Summer, December 18, 2003. “It was scary but I knew I had to do it. … It was pride. And to serve my country. It ran in my family. My father. My uncle. Everybody. … There is not that much I can do now. … My head doesn’t let me work, plus my arm. I was doing landscaping and lawn service in North Miami with my father-in-law. I loved it. … Now I like being with the kids and my wife. I try to be with them always.”

Pfc. Randall Clunen, 19 years old, an infantryman with the 101st Airborne, was on guard duty the night of December 8, 2003, when a suicide bomber broke through the perimeter and blew himself up along with his vehicle. Fifty-eight soldiers were wounded in the attack, including Clunen. The blast sent chunks of shrapnel into his face causing heavy bleeding and massive structural damage to his jaw and cheek. An emergency tracheotomy was performed so that he could breathe. He has had three surgeries and has several more to go. Photographed in his home in Salem, Ohio, February 14, 2004. “I liked it. The excitement. The adrenaline. Never knowing what’s going to happen. I mean you could walk in the house, and it would blow up. Or you could go in and get fired at. I’m an adrenaline junky …. Start changing my life so I’m not as much an adrenaline junky. All the excitement that was going on, now it’s nothing. … My dad, we’d sit there and watch [television]. A lot of John Wayne movies too, you know, the cowboys and Indians, and then the war movies.”

Sergeant Wasim Khan, 24 years old, of the 2nd battalion First Armored Division, was manning a guard post on June 1, 2003, when an RPG ripped through the guard post shattering Khan’s leg and slicing his body with shrapnel. He has had 17 surgeries. Once an avid cricket player, Khan is now in constant pain and has limited use of his leg. An immigrant from Pakistan, Khan received his citizenship while recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Photographed in his home in the Richmond Hill section of Queens, January 10, 2004. “ I have shrapnel in my arms and my legs. I can feel them, they’re moving. In the shower, little pieces are falling out. I’m not really down to be honest with you. What happened, happened. … The good news is that I’m still alive, and God bless I still have both legs. I feel like I am part of history. In Washington we go out together, the Korean veterans, the Vietnam veterans, and now the Iraqi veterans. … Actually when I was here [in New York City] a couple of weeks ago they killed two Pakistani Muslims here in Brooklyn. … They called them Taliban, Taliban, and they shot them. But I’ve never had any prob- lems.”

Photographs by Nina Berman/Redux.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 51 Words & Reflections Developing Word Pictures to Inform a Complex Story ‘Eighty percent of foreign reporting is about getting there.’

By Jeffrey Fleishman

en with bandoliers and tion to justify an Iraqi invasion to the through numerous visits to Ansar bases, Kalashnikovs led us up the American people. access to the groups computer files, M mountain road. Their Toyota After the U.N. speech, 12 other West- and interviews with captured fighters pickup truck jerked and shimmied. Gre- ern journalists and I were standing and Western intelligence sources—that nades dangled as we rolled past caves, with the bearded, Koran-quoting guer- Powell’s claims about Ansar’s destruc- grazing sheep, bunkers, minefields and rillas whom the United States was pre- tive capabilities were, at the very least, a guerrilla graveyard. So unfolded the paring to annihilate. We had the op- exaggerated. high terrain of Ansar al-Islam, the ex- portunity to report and observe and tremist group of Kurds and Arabs that thereby offer an independent assess- Supplying Essential Details had been terrorizing northern Iraq. ment of the evidence. The Bush admin- and Color Days earlier, on February 5, 2003, istration probably never believed that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Ansar, with its links to al-Qaeda, would Foreign reporting is full of such exhila- delivered the most important speech allow reporters into its domain. Yet it rating moments. The job of helping to of his career to the United Nations. He was. While we knew Ansar wasn’t per- unravel contradictions and putting urged war by claiming the Iraqi regime mitting us access to everything in the them in context is vital to increasing possessed weapons of mass destruc- compound, we had been informed by Americans’ understanding of a confus- tion and had ties to Ansar and other Kurdish officials that the organization ing world. This seems especially rel- militant groups. Powell showed an had been crudely experimenting with evant given recent revelations that U.S. aerial photograph of a stone and cin- chemicals akin to rat poison. But I also intelligence about the capability of der-block compound in the Ansar-con- suspected—and was later able to verify Iraq’s weapons was flawed. Being de- trolled village of Sargat. He described the buildings as a “poison factory” ca- pable of manufacturing dangerous chemicals that could be smuggled across the Middle East and Europe. Ansar knew Powell’s assertions meant cruise missiles would be aimed at the group’s bases scattered in the wrinkle of these snowy mountains. The terrorist organization decided it was time for some P.R. of its own, so it invited a handful of international jour- nalists—those of us earlier considered persona non grata—to Sargat to in- spect the cinder-block compound. We wondered if we should go. Was it a ploy? A religious leader who was close to Ansar informed us it would probably be safe. The potential news value was high, and we decided to take the chance. This invitation, which came through the static of a satellite phone, made me realize again the importance and re- sponsibility of foreign reporting. Powell’s allegations were made thou- sands of miles away in New York, and Foreign correspondence: Marine newsmen work at a makeshift press center on the his charges were a part of a larger case volcanic sands of Iwo Jima in February 1945. Photo from National Archives and Records being made by the Bush administra- Administration/Courtesy of Newseum.

52 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror tached, as they are, from the spin and color. Without these specifics, readers plex and contentious stories—whether buzz of Washington pundits and can’t see in our words the burned-out it be Saddam Hussein’s weapons’ capa- policymakers, foreign correspondents villages and scattered bodies in Kosovo bilities or the ethnic hate that pro- bring an independent eye, ear and voice or the mountain bunker in northern pelled the carnage in Rwanda—is found to providing information that ought to Iraq where Kurdish warriors eat roasted in a gray area that needs more explana- be part of policy deliberations. By fol- sheep and wait in starlight for the en- tion than a nut graf or a soundbite. lowing goat trails and entering caves, emy to breech the ridge. If a sense of Days after U.S. air strikes killed and we can often find clues that help to place is not conjured, no bond is drawn routed hundreds of Ansar guerrillas, I decipher fact from embellishment and with the reader, and the hours and went back to Sargat. The “poison fac- offer more of a clear-eyed portrait in a miles spent traveling are in vain. The tory” compound had been destroyed developing story. by U.S. missiles, and its Logistical setbacks in- rubble was flecked with trude, and following a tattered papers, shoes, consistent thread of news The job of helping to unravel medicines and a life pre- can be difficult. A day that contradictions and putting them in server that had been fash- begins with one set of context is vital to increasing ioned into a vest for a sui- plans is reinvented cide bomber. Ansar hourly. A firefight whirls Americans’ understanding of a was—and remains—a dan- across the dirt road and confusing world. gerous terrorist organiza- delays you for hours. A tion in pursuit of jihad, a village elder refuses to group that once sent a car meet with you and does bomb into a crowd of refu- not care that you drove 60 miles across story has no resonance and, ultimately, gees. But it did not possess a deadly mountains to see him. A Tibetan guide will fail to inform them about policies chemical arsenal, just as it appears that decides he must consult an oracle be- affecting the decision-making of their Saddam Hussein had no fleet of bio- fore taking you on a journey into the government. chemical mobile labs. Himalayas. The phrase “the right to One of the best lessons I received What Ansar did possess were sci- know” draws a grimace or a confused about the value of foreign reporting ence books, and it experimented with scrunch of the face from the thug stand- came from a village elder in Kosovo in a cyanide-laced cream it rubbed on ing at a roadblock with a weapon and a 1998. He and other ethnic Albanians animals. In the reporting I was able to bottle of liquor. The story you think of operated a safe house in the moun- do there both before and after the war, being able to report in the morning is tains for young men wounded by Serb and the access I had to Ansar’s strate- often not the one you are able to file at paramilitary units. It was almost dusk gies and ambitions, I saw no evidence night. and bandaged men—and at least one of mass chemical production. I de- Eighty percent of foreign reporting dying boy—hid in silence, except for tected no technical capabilities one is about getting there. The rest—at the tapping of cigarettes and the soft would associate with a factory. Most of least for me as a newspaper reporter— clinking of spoons in pialas of tea. I the group’s potions—discovered by centers on sketching a sense of place made some notes and, as I was walking journalists and later shown to U.S. and providing analysis of how what is away along a hilltop, the village elder forces—were stored in a cinder-block happening here affects events of our stopped me. Neither could speak the building about the size of an outhouse. time. Because the 24-hour news net- other’s language. Yet he looked at me Ansar never staged a chemical or bio- works flicker with breaking news but and pointed to my notebook, then logical attack. Its forces were more often fail to illuminate context and scrawled his finger across the sky. I focused on Kalashnikovs, rocket-pro- probe the deeper story, newspapers, understood. He wanted me to write pelled grenades, and suicide bombs. magazines and to some extent the what I saw. The U.S. intelligence was flawed. Internet are critical in describing the And foreign correspondents who could nuance and broader context of events. Observing and Analyzing reach the mountains of northern Iraq Most Americans know little about were able to report what they saw. ■ other countries and cultures. This Simple. That’s what we do. We write means foreign correspondents must and analyze what we hear and observe Jeffrey Fleishman, a 2002 Nieman find ways to bring readers and viewers and send our words to those who de- Fellow, is the Berlin bureau chief for an understanding of other people and pend on us to draw a word picture of the Los Angeles Times. He reported places by using more than cursory im- another place. Ours is not always a as a unilateral correspondent dur- ages and stock phrases. It is all about complete picture, but over time—with ing the Iraq War. moving away from stereotypes and ac- perseverance and luck—its form does curately conveying essential details and take shape. Often, the truth about com- [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 53 Words & Reflections The Iraq Experience Poses Critical Questions For Journalists ‘How do we protect against violence while protecting our image as noncombatants? How do we guard against danger without sealing ourselves off?’

Anthony Shadid, who for the past year describe as seismic decisions about how he’s my son,’ Salem said. ‘Even the has been reporting from Iraq for The we conduct our work, often by simply prophet Abraham didn’t have to kill his Washington Post, delivered the 23rd backing into those decisions. son.’ He dragged on a cigarette. His Joe Alex Morris, Jr. Memorial Lecture I wrote the first story in July, and I’m eyes glimmered with the faint trace of at the Nieman Foundation on March going to recount a few paragraphs from tears. ‘There was no other choice,’ he 11, 2004. This lecture series was estab- it. It was datelined Thuluya, which is a whispered.” lished by Morris’s Harvard classmates very scenic town about 90 miles north The second story was datelined and journalistic colleagues to honor of Baghdad. Baghdad. It was a piece that I did in his life as a reporter who covered wars, “Two hours before the dawn call to June. It focused on the ordeals of a U.S. revolutions, coups and uprisings as a prayer, in a village still shrouded in military police unit, in particular the foreign correspondent. When he died silence, Sabah Kerbul’s executioners sentiments of its commander. One of a bullet wound in Tehran in Febru- arrived. His father carried an AK-47 quote I’m going to read was slightly ary 1979, Morris was covering the fi- rifle, as did his brother. With barely a edited when it appeared in the paper. nal days of the Iranian revolution as word spoken, they led the man ac- You might see why. the Los Angeles Times’s Middle East cused by the village of working as an “To Staff Sgt. Charles Pollard, the bureau chief. In his remarks to the American informer behind a house working-class neighborhood of Mashtal Nieman Fellows and invited guests, girded with fig trees, vineyards and is ‘a very, very, very, very bad neighbor- Shadid spoke of the responsibilities orange groves. His hands trembling, hood.’ His frustration in training Iraqi and risks of working as a reporter in his father raised his rifle and aimed at police is matched only by his suspi- Iraq. A few weeks after the lecture, his oldest son. One shot tore through cion, and he has one desire. ‘U.S. offi- Shadid won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Kerbul’s leg, another his torso. He fell cials need to get our asses out of here,’ International Reporting. Excerpts from to the ground still breathing, his blood said the 43-year-old reservist from Pitts- his talk and his responses to questions soaking the parched dust near the banks burgh, Pennsylvania. ‘I say that seri- follow. of the Tigris. His father could go no ously. We have no business being here. further. Some accounts say he col- We will not change the culture they want to speak to you very much lapsed. His other son then fired three have in Iraq and Baghdad. Baghdad is from the day-to-day work I’ve been times. Villagers said, at least once at his so corrupted. All we are here is poten- Idoing over the past year in Iraq. brother’s head. Kerbul, a tall, husky 28- tial people to be killed and sitting Maybe I can bring experiences that year-old, died. ‘It wasn’t an easy thing ducks.’” might shed something new on the busi- to kill him,’ his brother Salah said. The last one I wanted to mention is ness that we’re all involved in. By the “In his simple home of cement and a brief passage from a story I did in end of the talk I hope I will have raised cinder blocks, his father Salem ner- Basra, a large city in southern Iraq. I more questions than answers with the vously thumbed black prayer beads did the piece in August, after weekend knowledge that in these questions there this week as he recalled the warning riots erupted over collapsing infrastruc- are no good answers available. from village residents earlier this ture. In it, I quoted a guy named Iain For the past year I’ve tried to under- month. He insisted Kerbul was not an Pickard, who was the British civilian stand Iraq, admittedly with varying informer, but he said his words meant spokesman in the city. I was struck in degrees of success. Let me recount to little to a village seething with anger. our interview by how forthright he you three stories that drive to the heart Their threat was clear: Either he killed was, how outspoken. of the changing nature of the profes- his son, he said, or villagers resorted to “Pickard acknowledged there was sion of foreign correspondents and the tribal justice and killed the rest of his ‘an understandable degree of frustra- growing dangers in carrying out that family, the retaliation for Kerbul’s role tion’ and complained that the priori- work. What troubles me is a tendency in a U.S. operation in the village in ties of British officials in Basra—power, I’ve noticed over the past year for a June. water and fuel—are not shared to the profession to make what you might “‘I have the heart of a father, and same degree by U.S. officials in Wash-

54 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror ington and Baghdad. ‘It seemed so that getting a quote out of his replace- I’ve learned in Washington helps me bureaucratic, so difficult to get things ment, which I’ve tried to do, is next to better understand what’s happening going,’ he said, from a building looted impossible. in Iraq. There’s an unending struggle of everything but its windows before My first reaction in learning of the between reporters and U.S. officials to they moved in. ‘We have not had a repercussions was deep unease. “At set the priorities of coverage. Report- great deal of say. We don’t feel we’ve what cost?,” I asked myself. Were the ers see it as newsgathering. The U.S. been able to influence the reconstruc- stories worth the pain they caused? Did administration sees it as overemphasis tion program.’ He pointed to a U.S.- they illustrate something that readers on gloomy news. Their response has funded project to renovate 200 schools would have suffered if they had not been wide-ranging. in the region. ‘While admirable,’ Pickard known about them? Can we be too From an almost overwhelming flow said, ‘painting schools isn’t going to reckless in pursuit of a story that has of news releases to the Pentagon’s own stop people from rioting.’” somehow at the time, at least to us, newsgathering efforts, there has been seemed to define the events going on an insistence on getting out the The Price Paid for Coverage around us? government’s version of events. The It was easy to rationalize. All the latest innovation, “a gaggle”—that fix- Why do I bring up these stories? To me, men spoke on the record. All knew ture of background reporting at the they all had something in common. they were talking to a journalist. But White House—was instituted last Looking back, they were some of the then I realized something that has month in Baghdad’s conference cen- toughest stories I had to report. Gain- grown in importance in the months ter. There’s nothing wrong with that. ing access was difficult. Even more since last summer. While every story is It’s their job to best market their mes- difficult was gaining a small degree of admittedly unique, Iraq is far, far dif- sage. It’s a new pressure for foreign trust that led those people to talk. But ferent than any other. The judgment correspondents to deal with. The U.S. it wasn’t necessarily what went into that went into writing and reporting government is an integral part of the reporting them—not really the con- stories, rules I’ve adhered to for per- story, to a degree unmatched anywhere tent itself. Rather, it was what followed haps a decade or so (and many people else abroad, and it plays favorites. Leaks their publication—what the stories in this room probably have, too) don’t occur, as they do in Washington. Brief- prompted—and the landscape that hold up in the current Baghdad envi- ings and news conferences take on made that response possible. ronment. While Iraq is unlike any other greater importance. Those who talk, Within weeks of the story about the story in the world, there are elements meanwhile, are fearful for their jobs— father killing his son, the U.S. military of that story of Iraq that we may start to rightfully so, as I saw with the story in started a manhunt for the father along see elsewhere, in other assignments in Basra. the irrigated farms that border the the very near future. If I understood then what I under- Tigris. To this day, he remains in hid- stand now, would I have quoted the ing. The same village that forced him to Government and the Press spokesman in Basra knowing that he kill his son is now trying to protect him. might get fired the next day? Would I Sgt. Pollard? His story is a little more What do I mean by that? For the first have asked the U.S. military about Sabah colorful. He never recanted his quote, time, perhaps, since Vietnam, we’re Kerbul’s father, giving them a lead on and he was disciplined. He was re- dealing with a foreign story in which the manhunt that, according to the moved from his command and sent the U.S. government—a government villagers, is still going on? Would I have back to base. He became a folk hero of very aware of the power of image—is hesitated to quote Sgt. Pollard by name? sorts. People hung up the article on the the central, dominant player. Across I don’t know the answers. I do keep walls of the base known as Mule Skin- the country, we’re dealing with a level asking myself the questions. ner. They asked him to sign their T- of violence that has grimly escalated at shirts. They said that, somehow, he every turn to the point that reporters Assessing the Risks of was giving voice to what they had and those who work for them are oper- Reporting wanted to say out loud for quite a ating at great risk. It’s a risk that I’m while. His family sent out e-mails to increasingly believing may be too great. The second point I mentioned was protest his circumstances. But in the We’re dealing with the locale in which violence, and that has been far easier to end, he was still punished for speaking the independence of journalists, in grasp. For much of the last year, many out by a military that doesn’t tolerate particular Arab reporters, is questioned reporters felt the greatest danger came dissent. by both the U.S. government and those from being in the wrong place at the Finally, the spokesman in Basra. He who are opposed to it in Iraq. wrong time with U.S. troops in the was fired the next day after the story Let me briefly take a look at each of area, it’s sad to say. It was a tragic irony was published. That kind of criticism, it these points. I reported in the Middle that given all the talk about what the was made clear to him, was unaccept- East for 10 years and then in Washing- Iraqi government might do to journal- able. It probably goes without saying ton for two years. In many ways, what ists during the war—talk about human

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 55 Words & Reflections

shields and hostage-taking—it was the unilateral journalists—reporters who touch with how a city feels, how a city U.S. military blamed for the deaths of are somehow sanctioned and responds, how it reacts—its very en- two journalists in the Palestine Hotel unsanctioned with the ensuing risk ergy? Can we afford to ignore such a during the war’s final days. No less difference. On the other hand, “insur- central component of the story, when tragic was the death of Mazen Dana, a gents,” or however we want to de- that component may very well deter- 43-year-old father of four and an award- scribe them, have been drawing fewer mine the outcome of the project un- winning Reuters cameraman, who was and fewer lines: A journalist is a for- derway in Iraq? killed in August outside of Abu Ghraib eigner, and a foreigner is a target. Those Again, I’m struck by this question: At prison. The U.S. military apparently working with foreigners are targets. what cost? Is this the future of report- mistook his camera for a rocket-pro- It’s that simple. In Iraq, we’ve seen the ing in war zones—the scenario in which pelled grenade, even though a U.S. image of noncombatants erode to a we require the blessing of the domi- soldier at the prison had granted them point where the act of newsgathering nant military, where we fortify our- permission to film. has become as hazardous as anywhere selves against the country we’re sup- We’re seeing a very alarming increase else in the world. posed to cover, where we travel in the in violence from insurgents directed same fashion as armed combatants against journalists. My newspaper was News Organizations Respond would? one of the first to experience it. In That’s quickly describing reporting February, the house of one of our assis- What’s been the response? I mentioned in Iraq. Perhaps that’s all it describes. tants was bombed, and he along with earlier that some decisions of vast im- But I fear the momentum of some of his family was forced to flee into exile. portance seem to be made by simply the changes taking place will carry over The same day, we noticed men in a car backing into them. Journalists are fac- into other locales that require our work. taking pictures of our house in ing a threat in Iraq—a threat that no In a landscape like Iraq, how do we Baghdad. Last week, a translator for one would dare understate. In re- protect ourselves, or how do we pro- the Voice of America was killed, along sponse, TV networks have hired armed tect our sources and our story—pro- with his mother and his sister. While guards—guards very willing to shoot. tection that may have been a secondary no one knows the motive for sure, both The most recent example of that was concern in a less hostile environment? had been targeted after helping work two staffers with CNN who were killed With a changing U.S. role abroad in on stories that try to get inside the at a checkpoint south of Baghdad. At places like Central Asia, Afghanistan strategy and the tactics of insurgents least one reporter started wearing a and Iraq, how do we keep our distance battling U.S. troops. I think it’s quickly weapon, for a brief time. Newspaper and an independent role? This is ever becoming the consensus among jour- journalists, many of whom prided them- more important as foreign conflicts, nalists that any kind of resistance re- selves on working low to the ground, like Iraq, become domestic stories in porting is off-limits, if not for one’s had begun openly debating whether or themselves. How do we protect against own safety, then for the safety of those not they should adopt television’s tac- violence while protecting our image as who help them. tic of riding with armed security or noncombatants? How do we guard Finally, there was the point of jour- providing weapons to their drivers. against danger without sealing our- nalists losing their status of indepen- Houses have become fortified. Hotels selves off? No less important, how do dents. This is perhaps the most far- where journalists work are often be- we guard our profession in a changing reaching, if least noticed, aspect of hind two-story, concrete barricades, world? what’s happening in Iraq today. Arab their entrances manned by checkpoints In conclusion, I wanted to mention journalists with Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya with U.S. soldiers, guard dogs, or con- a proverb, and if anybody’s traveled have been routinely harassed, both by tracted security. the Middle East, they know that the the U.S. military and the U.S.-appointed We’re cut off from the very city we region is full of them. It’s one of my Iraq Governing Council. The word in cover. The psychological barriers are favorite sayings in Iraq. It goes some- Baghdad is that it would take very little my greatest fear. Since they affect the thing like this. It’s set in a market with for either to be closed permanently. very nature of our reporting, there’s a man shopping. He’s talking to a ven- The military suspects them of actually always this question of sentiments, and dor, who says: “If you want a rabbit, cooperating in some attacks. Both net- I think sentiments since the start of the take a rabbit. If you want a gazelle, go works have already suffered varying conflict have been the great unknown. ahead and settle for a rabbit.” levels of sanctions that, I think, if im- Is it occupation or liberation? Is it free- Sometimes I fear that, as journalists, posed on a U.S. network, would have dom, or is it something short of that? I we might be settling for rabbits. In a raised vociferous protests. don’t know that we’ve seen the long- chaotic, precarious landscape we’re Their treatment has given rise to term implications of our growing isola- arming ourselves and fortifying against fears that what might emerge in the tion. danger without understanding the im- future is a more permanent distinction The question that should be asked plications of that process. We’re mak- between those who are embedded and is: What happens when we start losing ing concessions to authorities—and

56 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror those who defy authority—without re- out of this conflict alive? I don’t think Baghdad. There is almost a conviction course. Perhaps there is no recourse. that’s necessarily the case. within the U.S. military that they do We’re losing our status as noncomba- have foreknowledge of attacks that are tants while not recognizing the danger David Beard, Boston Globe re- carried out on U.S. soldiers. Whether of the alternative. None by itself is gional editor: Don’t these changes it’s true or not, I don’t know. They have decisive, but these actions have the have a greater effect on you because an ability to get very deep into Iraqi tendency to set precedents. Precedents, you’re the street guy in a team? Some- society, but they’re also not welcomed in the freewheeling work that we do, body else can be covering the news and in Iraq, in some ways less so than have a way of gaining momentum. It stay in the fortified area and covering Western correspondents. So while they remains a question today whether that that side, if the news organization’s got do have the cultural flexibility, they momentum can be stopped. somebody covering the streets. carry a lot of baggage with them. They take a lot more risks. They come [in] The following is an edited transcript Shadid: I agree with that. The street for a lot more harassment than prob- of the question and answer session reporting is the stuff that we’re talking ably anybody else in that country. that occurred after Anthony Shadid’s about that’s becoming more and more speech. difficult. There’s also this precedent Tom Regan, 1992 Nieman Fellow, that gets set. That is what I was talking The Christian Science Monitor, as- Erik Eckholm, 2004 Nieman Fel- about a little earlier—about backing sociate editor: When you were shot low: What do you think are the alterna- into decisions without necessarily [covering a story in Ramallah, West tives to the concerns you raise? Report- thinking of the implications. If journal- Bank], there was some question about ers can’t just be totally reckless. ists are beginning to arm themselves, if who it was who actually shot you— they’re beginning to carry armed guards which side. You talked a little bit about Shadid: The reason I’m raising more in cars as the networks do, there is some of the incidents involved when questions than I have answers is be- going to be an assumption that emerges the U.S. military actually accidentally cause I’m not sure what the answers pretty quickly. That assumption is that shot a journalist. Are we reaching a are. There clearly are two trends going all journalists are armed and all jour- point where if you’re not an embedded on for reporters working in a place like nalists are carrying weapons. It’s my journalist or [if] either side thinks Baghdad. Do you have a large footprint sense; it’s not necessarily the right you’re not on their side, you become in that city? Do you protect yourselves sense, and a lot of colleagues in the target? accordingly? In other words, do you Baghdad disagree with me strongly. have armed guards? Do you fortify your But rather than serving as a deterrent, Shadid: That’s my fear. I don’t think compound? Do you live behind ce- it seems to me [that being armed or it’s gone down that path yet, but I think ment barricades? Or do you shrink being protected with armed guards] there is a deep fear on my part that down to a much smaller operation? Do just attracts more firepower. what we are seeing is the creation of you have one person, maybe two two classifications of journalists—a people? Do you keep as low a profile as Adrian Fortescue, 2004 kind of a looser distinction between possible? You try not to attract the Weatherhead Center for Interna- journalists who are embedded and attention that’s going to endanger you tional Affairs Fellow and special nonembedded and that they have the in the first place. adviser within the European Com- certain protections that follow. The Obviously [because I speak Arabic], mission: Did you say you’re worried bigger picture that we’re looking at is I’m going to speak a little differently about Western journalists? Do report- that in places like Iraq and in the West than many of the other correspondents ers for other non-Western news orga- Bank, journalists aren’t off limits any- and be able to operate perhaps a little nizations such as Al Jazeera face the more. The U.S. military is not trying to bit more discretely in Baghdad. But is same concerns? shoot journalists, but there have been an armed guard in a car going to pro- some really tragic accidents. I think tect me? I don’t think so. Is being Shadid: When I come back to the journalists have been targeted in the behind a barricade going to necessarily United States, I realize what a different West Bank. It worries me in the bigger not attract attention? I don’t think so. I kind of perception there is of Al Jazeera sense of what we do as reporters. We’re think some of these precautions that or Al Arabiya. As somebody who’s been losing this independent status already. are being taken are almost an instinc- in the Middle East for a long time and Operating in Baghdad as armed com- tive reaction to what we need to pro- who is used to state broadcasting in the batants I’m not sure is the way to nec- vide our security. But I don’t think Middle East—a pretty dreadful thing to essarily preserve that status. we’re necessarily providing more se- watch—I found it refreshing to see curity. They make us feel better about networks that are extremely competi- Alan Cullison, 2004 Nieman Fel- what we’re doing. But in the end, are tive with each other trying to get the low: Are reporters responding effec- we having any better chance of getting news out. They are very suspect in tively to hostilities?

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 57 Words & Reflections

Shadid: In Baghdad right now, answer to that. I’ve been able to get Army hates him. It’s a matter of time. I what’s struck me is how paranoid the back to two of the people and talk to remember the last part of the conversa- place is. That’s a strong word, and I them about it. Sgt. Pollard wasn’t an- tion with him just sitting there silent hesitate to use it, but there is an incred- gry. He felt like he was saying some- with a smile on his face. I guess it was ible sense of conspiracy going on. You thing he wanted to say. Pickard was a kind of a smile of satisfaction. When I can try to explain the conspiracy theo- different story. went back to see him in July, he was ries that circulate in the city as just a jubilant. His hands were in the air. He disillusionment and a disenchantment Alex Jones, 1982 Nieman Fellow was like: “Victory! Victory! Bush is my with the way the past year has gone, and director of The Joan Shorenstein President. America is my country. I like but it’s directed at foreigners. When we Center on the Press, Politics & Pub- Bush more than most Americans.” It were in Karbala two weeks ago, I was lic Policy: Did The Washington Post was this incredible conversation. There with a photographer from The Wash- discourage you from changing identi- was a very interesting exchange be- ington Post. We went to the scene right ties or not specifically attributing infor- tween him and his wife, because his afterwards [of violence by insurgent mation in your stories? wife was much less optimistic. But he suicide bombers], and the anger was kept insisting to her: “You’ve just got unbelievable. Men yelling at us: “It’s Shadid: They have a different sense to wait. You’ve got to see how things your fault. You guys are responsible for of it from Washington than we do on happen.” this, and you should pay for this, too.” the ground. I understand the suspi- I went back and saw him again in Can they be dealt with in any way other cion and skepticism of readers right October, and his mood had changed a than trying to just stay out of it? I don’t now about what we write, especially little bit. Then I saw him again in Feb- know. I still think the West Bank re- when the person doesn’t use their ruary. It was disturbing because he mains the most dangerous place on name. I understand the importance of gave a very angry quote to me. He said: earth, but Baghdad is becoming an it. One of the families that I mentioned “Don’t tell me this is Russia. Don’t tell incredibly tricky place because you’re did not want to use their name initially, me this is Germany. Don’t tell me this dealing with suspicion, you’re dealing and it was a very long process. It went is England. This is America. America with paranoia, you’re dealing with in- on over a week and probably a dozen e- can do everything, and why haven’t credible violence. You’re not dealing mails: “What you guys are saying is they done it?” He said: “I try to under- with trust from any side. Reporters important and people will not believe stand why they haven’t done it, and I basically don’t have any friends in what you’re saying without your name wonder … what’s going on?” He’d gone Baghdad right now. being attached to it.” But what can you from this incredible excitement over say without taking great risk? It was a what was ahead to actually believing Ju-Don Marshall Roberts, 2004 long process of negotiation. I think the that the United States military was be- Nieman Fellow: What are you report- Post still defers to the people on the hind the bombings that were going on ing on now? ground on this, but they made it very in Baghdad. And this isn’t somebody clear that they wanted their name as who had a grudge, by any means, against Shadid: There were three families part of that story we were just mention- the government. It was somebody who that I met and spent time with during ing. was so disillusioned and disenchanted the war. I’ve spent time with them in that he almost lost touch with what was the year since. I finished doing very Bill Delaney, WBUR-FM radio going on. It was jarring. It was a vivid long pieces about what their experi- news: Will this Iraq become a model of example of the way sentiments have ences were like and what their lives democracy for the Middle East in five to gone in the city and how bleak it is in were like. They’re all using their names. 10 years, or not? Baghdad. They didn’t use their names during the war. I’m being very specific about what Shadid: I have no idea. The longer Melinda Patterson Grenier, I was going to use in the story, what I I’m there, the less I understand it. Nieman Foundation senior Web edi- wanted to use from it and, in a way, it There’s one character—and not that tor: There are a lot of misconceptions makes me uncomfortable. I almost he’s necessarily a representative—but in the United States about the Middle don’t like the person that I’m inter- it was a very striking conversation I had East. Which ones do you think are the viewing being that involved in the pro- that took place over a year. This guy most dangerous, in terms of long-term cess. Given the risks that are going on was a doctor, a Shiite doctor in relationships between the United States in Baghdad, you almost have a respon- Baghdad. I visited him during the war. and the Middle East? What can journal- sibility to engage those people more in I went to see him alone. We sat in his ists do to help people in America get a exactly what’s going to be coming out. house. It was dark. The electricity had better understanding about the people When we talk about those three sto- been cut, and he would just kind of and situation there? ries, I don’t know if I would have done smile the whole time. This guy’s fin- them differently. I just don’t know the ished. Everybody hates him. The Iraqi Shadid: I have spent so much more

58 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror time over there than I have here that States went through after September I mentioned earlier: If many are being it’s hard to say what the misperceptions 11th, this incredible cataclysm. They’re armed, then are we all suspected of are here. One thing that strikes me, as trying to come to grips with it. Just as being armed? What does that mean for a reporter in the Middle East, is that it’s sentiments here were chaotic, confused us? Again, it’s a question. I understand very easy to hear what you want to and conflicted, the same reactions are somebody who wants to carry an armed hear. Sometimes it’s a little harder to going on in Baghdad. guard, but it does put you at risk. I let people say what they want to say. don’t see that it necessarily makes them There was a story that I did on Mutanabi Indira Lakshmanan, 2004 Nieman safer. In fact, I think it makes them less Street, which is a storied thoroughfare Fellow: How do you feel about the safe. in Baghdad. It’s where the intellectuals matter of bodyguards for journalists? hung out. It’s where the bookstores What kind of position do you feel that Ulla Morris Carter, widow of Joe are. It’s had very much a revival since puts you in? Do you have conversa- Alex Morris, Jr.: How many stories do the collapse of Saddam. It just struck tions with other journalists about it, or you think you could not have covered me in the conversations there that they do you just go your own way? … if you had not been of Lebanese origin were chaotic. They were all over the and speaking Arabic? map. They were confusing. The only Shadid: The talk among reporters way you could report that story, basi- in Baghdad is to go with armed guards. Shadid: I think the war would have cally, was to let people talk and write it That’s definitely the way things are been the most difficult thing, because that way. We often wonder, how do headed. My sense has been leave it up my goal during the war was to try to get Iraqis feel? How do Baghdadis feel to everybody. You have to make deci- people talking as much as possible about something? I often think back— sions on your own, and nobody should without the presence of a minder or an what they’re going through is some- impose this kind of rule on other jour- escort. I was able to do that. But I thing along the lines of what the United nalists. I do worry about the precedent couldn’t have done it without Arabic. ■

Rod Nordland Newsweek, April 12, 2004 ‘Avoiding the Cross Hairs’: Excerpts

“They live in hiding. They move around tor Selwan Niemi were so savage they “No place can be fully safe. Mortars Baghdad by stealth. They sneak into also murdered his 5-year-old daughter sometimes even hit the heavily pro- and out of the country by gloom of and his mother. At the funeral, banners tected Green Zone; one killed a Bechtel night, and when challenged by strang- were draped on the mosque threaten- employee recently. The Blackwater ers for their nationality, they’re ready ing his grieving wife as well. … Security guards killed last week in with a practiced lie. Asked where they “And yet there’s something uncom- Fallujah were by reputation some of live, they name any old hotel rather fortably sleazy about telling strangers the best in the business—ex-SEAL’s and than their safe house, which is littered you’re a Dane, which was my cover Special Forces types—yet they couldn’t with guns of a half-dozen types. They story until an Iraqi replied to me in even save themselves. My colleagues even resort to disguise and camou- perfect Danish. I muttered the only debate this all the time: Is it wiser to flage. Perhaps this is what it’s like to be two words I knew, “kroner” and “skol,” bring along ever more armed guards a terrorist hunted by the American mili- and edged away. (Now I say I’m a and raise our target profile, or stay low tary; I can’t say. But for sure this is what Spaniard.) … It’s a shame because to the ground and just slink around? it’s like for those of us who are Ameri- Baghdad is a big, bustling metropolis Whichever, it’s a hell of a way to cover can civilians living and working in Iraq. of five million people, and most Iraqis a country.” ■ … are genuinely friendly toward Ameri- “In the last few weeks, terrorists cans. Outside of a few hard-core places, From Newsweek, April 12 © 2004 have repeatedly attacked Iraqis work- like Fallujah, the bad guys are a small Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Re- ing for Western journalists, killing trans- minority. But they’re a minority with printed by permission. lators for both Time and Voice of lots of explosives, and no scruples at America. The assassins of VOA transla- all. …

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 59 Words & Reflections The Responsibilities of a Free Press ‘Coverage of the administration’s record on civil liberties since September 11th has, in my judgment, been sadly inadequate.’

On March 2, 2004, Anthony Lewis, a of terrorism and then to hold that citi- ponderance of evidence or, as in a former New York Times columnist, zen in detention indefinitely, in soli- criminal case, beyond a reasonable spoke at Benjamin N. Cardozo School tary confinement, without trial and doubt. of Law at Yeshiva University in a con- without the right to consult counsel. Newman, Padilla’s lawyer, filed a ference called “Weapons of Mass De- And the imprisoned person, according petition for habeas corpus. The evi- struction, National Security, and a to the administration’s legal argument, dence produced by the Bush adminis- Free Press.” Lewis began his remarks is to have virtually no chance to chal- tration was a statement by a Pentagon by referring to past interactions in- lenge his designation as a terrorist. official, not subject to cross-examina- volving the press and government— Two American citizens have been tion and without any firsthand wit- notably the government’s attempts to imprisoned in that way for more than nesses. The judge found that that was suppress publication of the Pentagon 20 months now. I shall briefly describe enough to justify Padilla’s detention. Papers and The Progressive magazine’s one. Jose Padilla was born in Brooklyn, But he did say that Newman should article about the H-bomb. What fol- became a gang member, served several have a right to talk with Padilla, for the lows is an updated version of Lewis’s prison terms, and in prison converted limited purpose of getting from him speech. to Islam. In May 2002 he flew into any facts inconsistent with his designa- O’Hare Airport in Chicago from abroad. tion as a terrorist. The government oday I am going to talk about Federal agents arrested him as a mate- reacted to that with outrage, saying where we are on the issues of rial witness before a grand jury in New that any visit to Padilla by a lawyer Tnational security and the Consti- York investigating the attack on the might damage his interrogation by de- tution. The first thing I have to say is World Trade Center. He was taken to stroying the necessary “atmosphere of that the issues now are utterly different New York and brought before a federal dependency and trust between the from those in the Progressive or Penta- judge, who appointed a lawyer, Donna subject and interrogator.” gon Papers case. In 1971, in the Penta- Newman, to represent him. A hearing On appeal a panel of the United gon Papers and, in 1979, in The Pro- was set for June 11th. But on June 10th States Court of Appeals for the Second gressive, the government tried to Attorney General [John] Ashcroft an- Circuit held that President Bush had prevent the press from publishing nounced that Padilla would be held no authority to hold Padilla in deten- material that officials asserted would without trial as an enemy combatant. tion. The vote was two to one, and even threaten national security. Since the “We have captured a known terror- the dissenter thought Padilla should terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, ist,” Ashcroft said on television. “While have an unrestricted right to counsel. the government has not directly en- in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he trained The Supreme Court is reviewing the gaged the press. It has not sought to with the enemy …. In apprehending case. enjoin a newspaper or broadcast sta- him, we have disrupted an unfolding In March, Newman and her co-coun- tion from disclosing something. It has terrorist plot to attack the United States sel, Andrew Patel, were allowed to visit invoked national security, rather, to by exploding a radioactive ‘dirty Padilla at the Navy brig where he is held deprive individuals of fundamental bomb.’” That sounded frightening, but in South Carolina. They did not expect rights. In the name of fighting terror- of course there had not been—and still to learn a lot—or even ask very much, ism, it has abruptly overridden guaran- has not been—any legal process to for the Defense Department ordered tees in the Constitution and interna- determine the truth of Ashcroft’s col- that two department officials be present tional law. Ideas that we had regarded orful pronunciation of Padilla’s guilt. at the visit and that the conversation be as alien to American beliefs—deten- The Bush administration’s lawyers videotaped. Under those circum- tion without trial, denial of the right to at first said that Padilla should have no stances, counsel cannot, of course, have counsel, years of interrogation in isola- right to challenge his imprisonment in a candid discussion of facts or strategy. tion—are now American practice. court at all. Then it said he could have The Defense Department still main- Let me tell you—or remind you—of a habeas corpus proceeding—the tra- tains that it can deny the right to coun- one far-reaching claim of national se- ditional way to test the legality of im- sel to a citizen held, like Padilla, as an curity authority by the Bush adminis- prisonment. But it argued that the gov- “enemy combatant.” It said it was al- tration. It claims the power to desig- ernment had to show only “some lowing the visit to Padilla as a matter of nate any American citizen as a supporter evidence,” not prove its case by a pre- grace. Two hours after announcing that

60 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror the lawyers would be permitted to see gressive case. Which constitutes a worse connection with terrorism. The whole Padilla under restrictive conditions, the threat to the constitutional freedoms process of arrests and confinement had government filed a brief in the Su- of Americans? It seems to me obvious relatively little coverage in the press— preme Court arguing that the issue of that our rights are far more menaced until the inspector general’s report. the right to counsel in the case was by the proposition that the govern- Then there were serious reports. The now moot. ment can put any of us in prison with- New York Times’s legal writer, Adam out trial or access to counsel. Liptak, wrote in an analytical piece that Press Coverage of Civil In the Pentagon Papers’ case Justice the treatment of the aliens “inverted Liberties Potter Stewart, in his separate opinion, the foundation principles of the Ameri- addressed the role of the press on can legal system.” The theme of this conference has been issues related to the national security. The secrecy that pervaded the alien national security and a free press. You On those matters, he said, the usual sweep—even families were not told might be wondering what the free press legislative and judicial checks on ex- where their missing members were— has to do with the Padilla case and ecutive power scarcely operate; Con- is the sort of thing that usually arouses other repressive actions by the Bush gress and the courts tend to defer to the press. But with some honorable administration. My answer is that the the President. So, he wrote: “the only exceptions, notably a fine series in the press has had little to do and, more to effective restraint upon executive policy Chicago Tribune, the detentions were the point, little to say about them. and power … may lie in an enlightened not treated as a major story. Again, I Coverage of the administration’s record citizenry—in an informed and critical wonder why. on civil liberties since September 11th public opinion which alone can pro- has, in my judgment, been sadly inad- tect the values of democratic govern- Why the Press Ignore These equate. An example: I first heard about ment. For this reason, it is perhaps Stories the administration’s claim that it could here that a press that is alert, aware and indefinitely detain American citizens free most vitally serves the basic pur- One reason for the relatively tepid re- simply by calling them enemy combat- pose of the First Amendment. For with- sponse to the incursions on civil liber- ants when it held the other detainee, out an informed and free press there ties since September 11th, I think, is Yaser Esam Hamdi. I saw it in a story a cannot be an enlightened citizenry.” that they have on the whole been di- few paragraphs long in The New York It is not only in the enemy combat- rected at marginal figures. Editors are Times. I was bewildered. Why wasn’t ant cases that the press seems to me to not going to see a Jose Padilla as a that claim important news? have failed to perform the function person with whom readers or viewers The fate of Hamdi and Padilla has described by Justice Stewart. Another can readily identify. But the principle rarely made it to Page One since then. example is the sweep of aliens ordered that the Bush administration seeks to When the Supreme Court agreed to by Attorney General Ashcroft after Sep- establish in his case—that a President hear, first, the Hamdi case, it was quite tember 11th. Thousands were arrested can jail any American indefinitely with- rightly a Page One story. But during the on suspicion of having something to out a trial—is what matters. more than two years since the Bush do with terrorism. They were held for Another reason may be that the in- administration first made its audacious weeks or months, their names and terests of the press itself have not been claim, it has had little prominence in places of detention kept secret, then directly attacked. A case like [the] Pen- the print or broadcast press. I doubt mostly charged with such immigration tagon Papers, in which the press’s free- that one American in a thousand knows violations such as overstaying a visa dom is at issue, always gets more atten- about the cases—knows that his gov- and deported after secret hearings. In tion from editors. Justice William J. ernment claims a right to put an Ameri- prison, while they were being detained Brennan, Jr., who was one of the press’s can citizen in detention forever on its without charge, they were humiliated great friends, once noted its habit of own say-so. and assaulted. At the Metropolitan crying “doom” or “fascism” whenever The Bush administration is often Detention Center in Brooklyn they were it lost even a minor case in the courts. accused of unilateralism in foreign af- allowed one telephone call a week to Finally, I think the press, like politi- fairs. But the unilateralism is just as try to find a lawyer. Guards informed cians and the rest of us, were so trau- striking at home in enemy combatant them of that by asking, “Are you okay?” matized by September 11th that we felt cases. The administration asserts, on That was supposedly shorthand for, it right to unite behind the President. its own, a legal right to detain citizens “Do you want to call a lawyer?” That urge was so strong that we hardly without trial. Then it claims the right to We found all that out when the Jus- reacted when Attorney General Ashcroft define not only the law but also the tice Department’s inspector general, told us that dissent—concern about facts, because it allows the detained Glenn A. Fine, investigated and filed a civil liberties—was unpatriotic. person no effective opportunity to chal- report. He told about the abuse of the It was not an offhand statement by lenge his designation as a terrorist. prisoners. He said they had been ar- Ashcroft. In his prepared testimony for Think about those enemy combat- rested more or less at random, with no a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing ant cases in comparison with the Pro- probable cause to think they had a three months after September 11th he

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 61 Words & Reflections

said: ‘To those who scare peace-loving Rice was talking about.” A more candid Papers’ episode, it is the courage of people with phantoms of lost liberty, explanation would have been, “We The New York Times and then other my message is this: Your tactics only don’t want to look unpatriotic.” newspapers that stands out. I have been aid terrorists, for they erode our na- There was a similar press tendency critical of the profession I love, so it is tional unity and diminish our resolve. to take its lead from the White House, only right that I now quote a ringing They give ammunition to America’s I think, in the run-up to the Iraq War. statement in praise of that courage. It is enemies.” I know of no other attorney Diligent digging would have found the from the concurring opinion of Justice general in my lifetime who has ex- doubts that we now know existed in Hugo L. Black in the Pentagon Papers’ pressed such contempt for First Amend- the intelligence agencies about the case. ment values. existence of weapons of mass destruc- “Paramount among the responsibili- The impulse to get on the national tion in Iraq. If the press had been more ties of a free press,” Justice Black wrote, security team in the face of a terrorist critical—more independent—the pub- “is the duty to prevent any part of the threat had a particularly egregious ex- lic would not have been led so easily government from deceiving the people ample about a month after September from al-Qaeda to Iraq as the enemy that and sending them off to foreign lands 11th, when five major television net- 44 percent of respondents in a poll to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot works broadcast a taped message from thought there were Iraqis among the and shell. In my view, far from deserv- Osama bin Laden. President Bush’s airplane terrorists on September 11th. ing condemnation for their courageous national security adviser, Condoleezza I think The New York Times would reporting, The New York Times, The Rice, got top executives of the net- have reported more fully what political Washington Post, and other newspa- works on a conference telephone call opposition there was to the rush to war pers should be commended for serv- and urged them to cut “inflammatory on Iraq, including a masterful speech ing the purpose that the Founding Fa- language” from any future bin Laden by Senator Robert Byrd that it ignored. thers saw so clearly. In revealing the tapes. She also warned that his talks I think The Washington Post would not workings of government that led to the might include coded instructions to have reported an antiwar protest with Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly terrorists—a singularly unpersuasive a snide article calling the demonstra- did that which the Founders hoped notion, since the original tapes had tors “dudes” and “patchouli girls.” and trusted they would do.” already been broadcast by Al Jazeera, I earlier quoted Justice Stewart on The duty is not only to report with the Arabic-language station. The net- how we need an informed and free courage what underlies government work executives agreed among them- press to check the great power of the decisions to send Americans off to die selves to broadcast only short segments President when he invokes national of foreign shot and shell, but govern- of future tapes. Walter Isaacson, who security. To those two adjectives I think ment actions menacing the constitu- then was CNN’s president said, “We’re we have to add a third: courageous. tional protections that have kept us not going to step on the landmines Dr. When we look back at the Pentagon free. ■

The Unseen Is Made Visible Americans see photographs of military coffins, and repercussions follow.

or hundreds of U.S. soldiers Air Base or Dover [Del.] Air Force Base, has been shown. from the war in Iraq, their final to include interim stops.” In April, photographs of flag-draped Fjourney home has not been wit- This directive reinforced a U.S. mili- coffins surfaced from two sources— nessed by fellow Americans for whom tary policy, dating from the last few Tami Silicio, a civilian airport worker they fought. A ban on photographs of months of the Clinton administration, in Kuwait, and thememoryhole.org, a coffins was reinforced by the Bush ad- that had gone unheeded during the Web site that is devoted to combating ministration as it prepared for war in Afghanistan conflict, when photos of government secrecy. First, The Seattle Iraq. According to The Washington Post, coffins coming home were taken at Times published on its front page in March 2003 the Pentagon sent a bases such as Ramstein, before the Silicio’s photograph of long rows of directive to U.S. military bases that planes landed at Dover. Restrictions coffins in the cargo hold of a military read: “There will be no arrival ceremo- on press coverage were put into place plane bound for Germany. Publication nies for, or media coverage of, de- at Dover in 1991, at the time of the of Silicio’s photograph resulted in her ceased military personnel returning to Persian Gulf War, though on some oc- and her husband, both contract work- or departing from Ramstein [Germany] casions this last leg of the journey home ers for the military, being fired by the

62 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

U.S. company for whom they worked peal) to officials at Dover. Following mentators, family members of the war in Kuwait. A few days later, 361 Air Kick’s posting of the photos, the de- dead, military and First Amendment Force photos of repatriation ceremo- fense department ordered that no more advocates. They shared opinions about nies at Dover Air Force Base appeared such images be released. the possible political reasons for the in many publications after Russ Kick Publication of these images—along government’s enforcement of this shared images he received and posted with the employee firing and reaffirmed policy and its legality, which was up- on his Web site (thememoryhole.org) Pentagon ban on the release of photos held by a U.S. Court of Appeals in a as a result of submitting a Freedom of that followed—led to much discussion 1996 civil liberties case. ■ —Melissa Information Act request (and an ap- among Webloggers, journalists, com- Ludtke

Flag-draped coffins are secured inside a cargo plane on April 7, 2004 at Kuwait International Airport. Photo by Tami Silicio/Courtesy of Zuma Press.

Photos taken at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware between February 1, 2003 and April 14, 2004. Dover processes the remains of most, if not all, U.S. military personnel killed overseas. Russ Kick at thememoryhole.org obtained these photos by filing a Freedom of Informa- tion Act request. Photos courtesy of the U.S. Air Force via thememoryhole.org.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 63 Words & Reflections The Press and Public Misperceptions About the Iraq War A study looks at whether the press failed in its reporting about the war.

By Steven Kull

hen historians take a look Misperceptions and the Press It would seem that such back on this period, the Iraq misperceptions might be derived from WWar will surely stand out as a Naturally, this raises the question of a failure to pay attention to the news. remarkable event. A major power went how these misperceptions developed Indeed among those who primarily get to war, overthrew another government, and persisted when no evidence of their news from print sources (just 19 and occupied the nation on the basis of such links between al-Qaeda and Iraq percent of our sample), misperceptions stated assumptions that turned out to had been found, no weapons of mass were lower among those who paid be false. Equally striking, following the destruction had been located, and polls more attention. But overall, those who invasion, large portions of the public of world public opinion have found reported paying greater attention to of this major power—a democratic one clear majority opposition to the U.S. the news were no less likely to have no less—failed to get accurate mes- war with Iraq. Was it simply a function misperceptions. Most striking was a sages about what had occurred, which of people seeking out information that finding that among those who prima- raises compelling questions about the confirmed their biases in favor of the rily watch Fox News, the people who role and practice of the press in a war? Or did this represent some failure paid more attention were more likely democratic society. on the part of the press? to have misperceptions. During the summer of 2003, the If these misperceptions were strictly Of course, this leads to the question Program on International Policy Atti- a function of individual bias, then we of whether such variations are due to tudes (PIPA) at the University of Mary- would expect to find them distributed difference in the demographics of the land, together with the polling firm according to political preferences, no audiences. However, when these de- Knowledge Networks, conducted a matter where respondents got their mographics were controlled for, the large-scale study of U.S. public percep- news. To find out if this was the case, effect remained. For example, when tions and misperceptions related to respondents were asked about their we looked only at Republicans, or only the Iraq War, with a special eye to primary source of news. It turned out at Democrats, the same pattern of determining what role the press might that the frequency of misperceptions misperceptions between the various have played in this process. The polls varied dramatically depending on re- audiences was found. Extensive multi- were conducted from June through spondents’ primary source of news. As variate regression analyses that in- September with a nationwide sample shown below, the percentage that had cluded numerous variables, including of 3,334 respondents. at least one of these misperceptions party identification, attitudes about the The study found three widespread ranged from 23 percent among those President, education and others, found misperceptions: who primarily got their news from that respondents’ primary news source National Public Radio (NPR) or PBS to continued to be a very powerful pre- • 49 percent believed that the United 80 percent among those who primarily dictor of the frequency of States had found evidence that Iraq got their news from Fox News. misperceptions. Clearly, this suggests was working closely with al-Qaeda; • 22 percent believed that actual weap- ons of mass destruction had been Number of Fox CBS ABC CNN NBC Print NPR/ found in Iraq; misperceptions media PBS • 23 percent believed that world pub- per respondent lic opinion favored the United States going to war with Iraq. None of the 3 20% 30% 39% 45% 45% 53% 77%

Overall, 60 percent of those we 1 or more misperceptions 80% 70% 61% 55% 55% 47% 23% polled had at least one of these three misperceptions. Frequency of misperceptions by respondent’s primary source of news.

64 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

Americans had these misperceptions cials, 32 percent were supportive, while Fox News coverage of the invasion in- not simply because of internal biases among those who believed that there cluded a U.S. flag in the corner of the but because of the important role be- was no connection at all, just 25 per- screen, and its correspondents and ing played by variations in the stimuli cent felt that way. In polls conducted news anchors assumed the defense they received from their external during the war, among those who in- department’s name for the war, “Op- sources of news. correctly believed that world public eration Iraqi Freedom.” Fox’s report- opinion favored the United States go- ing on Iraq during the occupation phase Consequences of Bad ing to war, 81 percent supported do- was conducted under the banner “War Information ing so, while among those who knew on Terrorism,” implicitly confirming that the world public opinion was op- the administration’s association be- Such misperceptions can potentially posed only 28 percent supported go- tween Iraq and al-Qaeda. When Fox have significant consequences: We ing to war. News was criticized for taking a pro- found they were highly related to other war stance, one of its anchors, Neil attitudes. Among those with none of The Role of the Press Cavuto, replied: “You say I wear my the misperceptions listed above, only biases on my sleeve. Better that than 23 percent supported the war. Among Such data lead to the question of why pretend you have none, but show them those with one of these misperceptions, so many Americans have had these clearly in your work.” Dan Rather of 53 percent supported the war, rising to misperceptions, even after controlling CBS News commented in an April 14, 78 percent with those who have two of for their political biases. The first and 2003 interview with Larry King: “Look, the misperceptions, and to 86 percent most obvious reason is that the Bush I’m an American. I never tried to kid with all three of the misperceptions. administration made numerous state- anybody that I’m some internationalist While such correlations do not prove ments that could easily be construed as or something. And when my country is that these misperceptions caused the asserting these falsehoods. On numer- at war, I want my country to win …. support for the decision to go to war ous occasions the administration made Now, I can’t and don’t argue that that with Iraq, it does appear likely that statements strongly implying it had is coverage without a prejudice. About support for the war would be lower if intelligence saying that Iraq was closely that I am prejudiced.” fewer members of the public had these involved with al-Qaeda and was even A study conducted in 2003 by Fair- misperceptions. Such misperceptions directly involved in the September 11th ness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) are also highly related to the likelihood attacks. The administration also made tracking the frequencies of pro-war and of voting for the President. Analyses statements that came extremely close antiwar commentators on the major suggest that if these perceptions to asserting that weapons of mass de- networks found that pro-war views changed, this could have a significant struction were found in postwar Iraq. were overwhelmingly more frequent. impact on voting decisions, apparently On May 30, 2003, President Bush made In such an environment, it would not because they have an impact on per- the statement: “… for those who say we be surprising that the press would ceptions of the President’s honesty. haven’t found the banned manufactur- downplay the lack of evidence of links Earlier PIPA studies also suggest that ing devices or banned weapons, they’re between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the fact during the run-up to the war wrong. We found them.” that weapons of mass destruction were misperceptions played a role in sup- But the fact that misperceptions var- not being found, and that world public port for the decision to go to war. ied so greatly depending on their pri- opinion was critical of the war. Before the war, approximately one in mary source of news strongly suggests When the press are reluctant to chal- five Americans believed that Iraq was that the way that the press reported the lenge what government leaders say, directly involved in the September 11th news played a role. This might be partly they can simply become a means of attacks, and 13 percent even said they due to prominent reporting of official transmission for an administration, believed they had seen conclusive evi- statements saying that it appeared that rather than serve as a critical filter for dence of it. Among those who believed clear evidence of weapons of mass de- information. For example, when Presi- that Iraq was directly involved in Sep- struction had been found, while the dent Bush made the assertion that tember 11th, 58 percent said they later conclusions—refuting such assess- weapons of mass destruction had been would approve if the President were to ments—were given little play. But it found, the May 31, 2003 edition of The go to war without U.N. approval. Among also appears that misleading assertions Washington Post ran a front-page head- those who believed that Iraq had given were often not challenged. line saying “Bush: ‘We Found’ Banned al-Qaeda substantial support, but was There is evidence that in the run-up Weapons.” not involved in September 11th, ap- to, during, and for a period after the There is also striking evidence that proval dropped to 37 percent. Among invasion of Iraq, many in the press readiness to challenge the administra- those who believed that a few al-Qaeda appeared to feel that it was not their tion is a variable that corresponds to individuals had contact with Iraqi offi- role to challenge the administration. levels of misperception among view-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 65 Words & Reflections

ers. The FAIR study found that the two the administration has strongly implied the Center on Policy Attitudes and networks notably least likely to present or even asserted that the United States the Center for International and critical commentary were Fox and CBS. has found evidence that Iraq was work- Security Studies. Kull is a leading These are the same two networks whose ing closely with al-Qaeda and was de- scholar on public opinion toward viewers in the PIPA study were most veloping weapons of mass destruction. U.S. international engagement after likely to have misperceptions. However, there is also evidence that the Cold War. Clay Ramsay and Clearly Americans had hoped and news outlets—some more than oth- Evan Lewis of PIPA contributed to expected that once the United States ers—have allowed themselves to be the research and writing of this went into Iraq, evidence of Iraq’s link passive transmitters of such messages. article. PIPA’s study, published in to al-Qaeda and of the development of ■ April 2004, can be found at weapons of mass destruction would be www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/ found, thus vindicating the decision to Steven Kull is director of the Pro- IraqReport4_22_04.pdf. go to war as an act of self-defense. gram on International Policy Atti- Perhaps, then, it is not surprising that tudes (PIPA) at the University of [email protected] many people have been receptive when Maryland. PIPA is a joint program of The President, Press and Weapons of Mass Destruction ‘Why has the WMD story been so difficult for the press to investigate and tell?’

By Susan Moeller

eapons of mass destruction dent Bush declared that “with the lib- press covered events related to weap- (WMD) have a simplistic, if eration of Iraq and Afghanistan, we ons of mass destruction. The study Wterrifying, presence in the have removed allies of al-Qaeda, cut off assessed press coverage of WMD dur- public’s imagination—as instruments sources of terrorist funding, and made ing three critical periods of time: May of doom that threaten Americans where certain that no terrorist network will 1998, when nuclear tensions escalated they live. Since September 11, 2001, gain weapons of mass destruction from between India and Pakistan; October President George W. Bush and other Saddam Hussein’s regime.” 2002, when Congress approved mili- administration officials have used WMD In an article that appeared in The tary action to disarm Iraq and when threats as powerful tools of public per- Washington Post on the day the Presi- revelations about the North Korean suasion and as forceful rationales for dent gave this speech, reporter Mark nuclear weapons program surfaced, policy initiatives. And many members Leibovich noted the hyperbole: “The and May 2003, when combat opera- of the press have stenographically re- nation is being trained to consider ter- tions in Iraq were officially said to have ported the White House’s homeland rorism only in its most apocalyptic ended and the hunt for WMD’s esca- security arguments without indepen- forms,” he wrote. “Many sociologists, lated. dently attempting to verify the osten- scenario planners, and counterterror- This study was based on reporting sible evidence behind those arguments. ism experts believe the government by four U.S. newspapers (The Chris- Why has the WMD story been so and the media are too focused on ex- tian Science Monitor, Los Angeles difficult for the press to investigate and treme menaces—namely the terrorist Times, The New York Times, The Wash- tell? attacks that involve weapons of mass ington Post); two British papers (The President Bush set the tone for an destruction.” Daily Telegraph, The Guardian); three apocalyptic approach to the WMD is- newsweeklies (Newsweek, U.S. News sue, not only through his Press Coverage of WMD & World Report, The Economist), and administration’s insistence that Saddam two radio programs (“Morning Edi- Hussein possessed WMD that posed an A recent study that I authored, “Media tion” and “All Things Considered” on urgent and immediate threat, but also Coverage of Weapons of Mass Destruc- National Public Radio). through his identification of WMD as tion,” conducted by the Center for In- In May 1998, the study found, most an integral part of the 21st century ternational and Security Studies at news organizations made careful dis- terrorist arsenal. In his “Mission Ac- Maryland (CISSM), at the University of tinctions between acts of terrorism and complished” speech onboard the USS Maryland and released in March, evalu- the acquisition or use of WMD. During Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, Presi- ated how the American and British the height of the South Asian nuclear

66 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror tests that month, for example, few sto- to al-Qaeda’s or that of Saddam importance and consistently catapulted ries emphasized potentially dramatic Hussein. this issue into the news. Yet seldom did risks, either by indicating that a nuclear Press reporting on the President news stories remind readers and lis- holocaust threatened or that India or amplified the administration’s voice. teners of the quotidian realities of ter- Pakistan’s nuclear weapons’ programs In front-page and top-of-the-news sto- rorism—that box cutters and commer- would aid and abet terrorists. (Al- ries, the press led with the President’s cial planes were used on September though, with the more recent revela- analysis. When alternative perspectives 11th, for example, not vials of small- tions about A.Q. Khan, perhaps this were presented as part of their cover- pox or dirty bombs. Nor were the real should have happened.) Because the age, that evidence and analysis tended but often prosaic threats related to Clinton administration did not repre- to be buried. When Bush told Ameri- WMD—bio-security, for example, or sent the Indian and Pakistani tests as a cans they were vulnerable to WMD in fissile controls—a part of this report- national security crisis for the United the hands of terrorists, reporting of ing. WMD became a way to provoke a States, news organizations covered the these statements by the press served to knee-jerk reaction: protect America. regional situation in measured tones. magnify such fears by highlighting the Most journalists did not report evi- Neither India nor Pakistan was reflex- notion that Americans were at risk at dence that might have helped readers ively categorized as a “rogue” country home (rather than the case that nuclear and listeners challenge the Bush as a result of its detonation of nuclear and chemical material, in particular, administration’s argument that WMD devices, nor did the tests prompt the are greater threats to citizens of the were inseparably part of a global ter- labeling of either country as “evil.” News regions that have developed weapons rorism matrix. The study noted that stories cited White House’s statements programs—such as Iran and Iraq, South although the press usually reported that Clinton was “deeply distressed,” Asia, and the countries of the former individual “facts” about WMD accu- and reports quoted Clinton calling the Soviet Union). The net effect was that rately, they tended to represent nuclear, testing “a terrible mistake,” a relatively the coverage not only disseminated biological, radiological and chemical mild rebuke when compared to his but also validated the administration’s weapons as a single blurred hazard—a successor’s labeling of North Korea as message. Investigation and analysis of pattern of imprecision abetted by the an “evil” regime. The comparative calm the evidence behind his statements White House’s obfuscations. Stories over what could have been represented tended to be rare—and was typically glossed over important differences as a WMD crisis was reflected in a buried when it appeared—as did seri- between nuclear energy programs and Newsweek headline referring to Russia ous coverage of alternative voices and nuclear weapons programs or between that dismissed the South Asian tests, “If policy options. nuclear weapons programs and actual You Really Want to Worry, Think Loose By May 1, 2003, when the President nuclear weapons. In the rush to cover- Nukes.” made his “Mission Accomplished” age, substantial qualitative and quanti- speech declaring an end to major com- tative differences between chemical and Terrorism Is Rarely bat operations in Iraq, more journal- biological agents were also conflated. Investigated ists were seeking independent confir- Most critically, journalists failed to rec- mation of the White House and ognize that these and other distinc- By October 2002, however, President Pentagon’s pronouncements. Still the tions distorted reporting on the cost- Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald press, as a whole, continued to show benefit calculations to manage such Rumsfeld’s constant linkages of terror- by how they reported these stories that risks. ism and WMD and Iraq had engrained the administration’s set of priorities The study also discovered that the these three as a triple threat. The press was still the dominant narrative. If the priority news organizations give to accepted that linkage. Both the U.S. White House characterized the WMD breaking-news stories—and the in- and U.K. media in the study tended to story as important, so, too, did the verted pyramid style of storytelling— repeat the Bush administration’s for- media. And when the White House gave greater weight to the mulation about the “war on terror” ignored a story (or a particular angle administration’s point of view on WMD and its assertions that a core objective on a story), the media were likely to do issues, at the expense of presenting of this war is to prevent WMD from so as well. Russia’s loose nukes, for alternative perspectives. Poor cover- falling into the hands of terrorists. All example, fell off the radar in favor of age of WMD appeared to result less “terrorism” ended up being conflated. WMD stories that featured “rogue” from outright political bias on the part For example, Rumsfeld’s characteriza- states or terrorist groups. of journalists, editors and producers tion of North Korea as a “terrorist re- The Bush administration’s message than from the journalistic convention gime,” for its export of nuclear tech- that a central objective of its war on of leading stories with the most “re- nology, was quoted frequently, but terror was to prevent weapons of mass cent” and most “important” informa- what he meant by the words “terrorist destruction from falling into the hands tion as enunciated by the most “impor- regime” was seldom explored. Nor was of American-hating terrorists made tant” newsmakers. That tendency North Korea’s “terrorism” contrasted WMD a security issue of compelling single-handedly ensured that the

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 67 Words & Reflections

administration’s perspective on issues The Washington Post; Bob Drogin of events of September 11th, weapons of of national security and intelligence the Los Angeles Times, and David mass destruction, and Iraq in the war would lead the news—as long as the Sanger and William Broad of The New on terror. The stultifying patriotic cli- White House came out with a new York Times avoided verbatim coverage mate not only prompted sympathetic message for each news cycle. This cir- of White House statements (as did coverage of White House policy by the cumstance was reinforced by the lack Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay, and American press, it silenced much of the of a strong political opposition in the John Walcott of Knight Ridder and political opposition that the media fall of 2002 and into the spring of 2003. Dafna Linzer of The Associated Press, could have sought out to provide alter- whose work was looked at for com- native voices and policy options. As a What Distinguished Good parative purposes). result, the American press did not act Coverage These reporters worked to include to check and balance the exercise of more voices, articulating different executive power, essential to the func- Despite these general failures in the policy options, higher up in their sto- tioning of a civil democracy. ■ press, the study found that not all jour- ries. In the admittedly difficult WMD nalists covered the WMD arc of stories beat, they steered away from using Susan Moeller teaches media and similarly. The British media reported unverifiable contentions of anonymous international affairs in the Philip more critically on public policy than sources, including Iraqi exiles and de- Merrill College of Journalism at the did their American colleagues—in part fectors, and when they did use anony- University of Maryland, College because there was consistent and vocal mous sources to shape a story, they Park. She is the author of “Compas- opposition among senior British po- identified the limitations and probable sion Fatigue: How the Media Sell litical figures to some of the Blair skew of such information. They ex- Disease, Famine, War and Death” government’s WMD policies—even plained the inherent uncertainties of and is finishing a new book entitled though the media in both countries intelligence gathering and distin- “A Hierarchy of Innocence: Media typically prioritized the same interna- guished between intelligence collec- and Public Policy in the Age of tional WMD events. tion and intelligence analysis. Their Terrorism.” This article is a revision Yet among the news organizations stories made clear that evaluating a of an earlier summary of findings in studied and for the time periods inves- country’s WMD status with incomplete the online journal YaleGlobal. Read tigated, there were U.S. reporters who data was both an intelligence problem a PDF summary or download the demonstrated a consistent level of skep- and a policy problem. full report at www.cissm.umd.edu. ticism in their coverage of WMD events Yet before the summer of 2003, it and issues. Reporters Barton Gellman was rare for even these reporters to [email protected] [See Gellman’s article on page 40], probe deeply into the political choices Walter Pincus, and Dana Milbank of that underlay the linkage among the

A Matter of Faith: The White House and the Press Journalists’ focus ‘on religion and the presidency was unusual for an “objective” news media that usually relies on empirical evidence ….’

By David Domke

resident George W. Bush deliv- administration’s campaign against ter- liberty we prize is not America’s gift to ered the 2003 State of the Union rorism and his focus on confronting the world, it is God’s gift to humanity.” Paddress before Congress and a Iraq and Saddam Hussein. He then added: “We Americans have national television audience estimated Near the end of the address, the faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves to be more than 60 million. He empha- President turned to discussion of the alone. We do not know—we do not sized goals and accomplishments of nation’s character and its purpose in claim to know all the ways of provi- his administration as well as challenges the world. He declared that: “Ameri- dence, yet we can trust in them, plac- posed by terrorism and other perceived cans are a free people, who know that ing our confidence in the loving God threats. In particular, Bush devoted a freedom is the right of every person behind all of life and all of history. May bit more than half of the address to the and the future of every nation. The He guide us now.”

68 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

Four days later, on the morning of litical language. This political funda- uncritically given voice in this news February 1st, the space shuttle Colum- mentalism was used to offer familiar- coverage: bia exploded, killing all seven crew ity, comfort and a nation-affirming members. The President spoke to the moral vision to the American public in 1. Binary, zero-sum conceptions of the nation from the White House that af- the aftermath of September 11th. political landscape, most notably ternoon. Included in his comments good vs. evil and security vs. peril. were these words: “In the skies today Analyzing News Media 2. Calls for immediate action by Con- we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet Response gress and the United Nations on farther than we can see, there is com- administration policies as a neces- fort and hope. In the words of the Between September 2001 and the sary part of the nation’s “calling” prophet Isaiah: ‘Lift your eyes and look President’s speech declaring “Mission and “mission” against terrorism. to the heavens. Who created all these? Accomplished” on May 1, 2003, I exam- 3. Declarations about the will of God He who brings out the starry hosts one ined the response of mainstream U.S. for America and for the spread of by one and calls them each by name. news media to characteristics of the U.S. conceptions of freedom and Because of His great power and mighty Bush administration’s political funda- liberty. strength, not one of them is missing.’ mentalism. Specifically, I analyzed how 4. Claims that dissent from the admin- The same Creator who names the stars the press responded to each of Bush’s istration was unpatriotic and a threat also knows the to the nation. names of the seven souls we These messages mourn today. The … the Bush administration benefited from a were rooted in a reli- crew of the U.S. news media that gave it the benefit of the giously conservative shuttle Columbia doubt in a manner unprecedented in the post- worldview, yet they did not return were often framed— safely to earth. Yet Vietnam, post-Watergate era. The typically by the administra- we can pray that inquisitive approach of journalists toward tion and, in turn, the all are safely government was dropped—at least for a period news media—to em- home.” phasize a sense of na- The explicitly of time. tionalism. This ex- religious lan- plicit emphasis on guage in these American identity, two addresses, combined with the national addresses (15 in 20 months, a with omnipresent use of words such as administration’s push for war in the remarkable pace) and the freedom, made the administra-tion’s Middle East (the Holy Land’s region), administration’s push for key policies fundamentalist approach attractive or prompted a spate of popular analyses and goals in its struggle against terror- at least palatable to the U.S. press and of Bush’s religious faith. For example, ism, including passage of the USA Pa- public in the wake of the terrorist at- Newsweek devoted its March 10, 2003 triot Act in autumn 2001, the creation tacks when Americans were trying to cover to “Bush & God,” The Washing- of the Department of Homeland Secu- understand why so many others hated ton Post took up the topic with stories rity in summer and autumn 2002, and them. For example, only two of more and columns, and New York Times’s congressional and U.N. resolutions than 300 editorials that I analyzed in columnists and guest writers weighed regarding Iraq in autumn 2002. I exam- response to the President’s national in. To focus on religion and the presi- ined news stories and editorials in 20 addresses criticized the dency was unusual for an “objective” leading and geographically diverse U.S. administration’s description of the cam- news media that usually relies on em- mainstream newspapers and content paign against terrorism as a monumen- pirical evidence and verifiable opinion on evening newscasts of ABC, CBS and tal struggle of good vs. evil—with the claims by sources—elements often NBC. United States clearly on the side of missing from matters of religion and My analysis revealed that the news angels. With so many around the globe faith. media consistently amplified the words expressing a different view during these Yet in their coverage of this issue, and ideas of the President and other 20 months, by uncritically echoing the press missed the deeper story. While administration leaders. And they did these fundamentalist messages within Bush’s overtly religious language, what this by echoing throughout their cov- these editorials, the press failed its scholar Martin E. Marty termed “God erage similar claims made by multiple readers. talk” in one of the Newsweek articles, administration members, thereby hav- was manifest, the more important and ing the administration’s perspectives The Press in Times of Crisis far less obvious matter was that the establish the terms of public discourse. administration converged a religious In particular, four key fundamentalist Anecdotal and systematic evidence sug- fundamentalist worldview with its po- messages by the administration were gest that news organizations consis-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 69 Words & Reflections

tently treat presidential administrations question the administration. CNN re- administration gained the rhetorical favorably in times of external threats to porter Christiane Amanpour, for ex- high ground, and that went far in de- the nation. However, the Bush admin- ample, said in September 2003: “I think termining policy decisions. istration benefited from a U.S. news the press was muzzled, and I think the But democracy doesn’t function media that gave it the benefit of the press self-muzzled. I’m sorry to say but when a free press is beholden to those doubt in a manner unprecedented in certainly television and, perhaps, to a in power because it is by dominating the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era. certain extent, my station was intimi- the news discourse that public opinion The typically inquisitive approach of dated by the administration and its is controlled. When the press echoes journalists toward government was foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in government leaders, and almost no dropped—at least for a period of time. fact, put a climate of fear and self- one else, they are not acting as a neu- CBS News anchor Dan Rather made censorship, in my view, in terms of—of tral press. this shift in journalistic sensibilities the kind of broadcast work we did.” The First Amendment’s guarantee explicit in a September 22, 2001, inter- What pleased the public in the after- of freedom of the press exists and has view on “CNN Tonight,” in which he math of September 11th and ultimately been upheld by many courts as a safe- said: “I want to fulfill my role as a drew audiences to the more nationalis- guard against the corrosive tendencies decent human member of the commu- tic news outlets is not always what is of power. The press are expected to nity and a decent and patriotic Ameri- best for democracy, however. This def- provide a bulwark against governmen- can. And, therefore, I am willing to give erence to the administration and echo- tal oppression, rather than serve as a the government, the President, and the ing of the administration’s messages buttress to it. Never is this more neces- military the benefit of any doubt here left the American public without a criti- sary than in times of crisis. Yet the in the beginning. I’m going to fulfill my cal outsider’s eye from autumn of 2001 evidence after September 11th (and, role as a journalist and that is ask the until the spring of 2003. indeed, throughout American history) questions, when necessary ask the To be clear, the U.S. news media did suggests that during times of crisis the tough questions. But I have no excuse not emphasize the administration’s press become most likely to echo the for, particularly when there is a na- messages to the same extent as the perspectives of governmental leader- tional crisis such as this, as saying— White House did during this time. Such ship. you know, the President says do your an equation would imply that the com- This pattern must not continue. U.S. job, whatever you are and whomever mercial, independent news media democratic ideals will have the oppor- you are, Mr. and Mrs. America. I’m merely served as mouthpieces, and that tunity to be fully realized only when going to do my job as a journalist, but is not the case. Disagreement with the journalists sustain consistent checks at the same time I will give them the administration sometimes appeared in on the absolute power of government benefit of the doubt, whenever pos- news stories—either as a presentation during—and not solely after—times of sible in this kind of crisis, emergency of different factual information or of national crisis. ■ situation.” divergent observations by other Such a nationalistic reaction by the sources—and in newspaper editorials. David Domke, a former journalist, mainstream press in the immediate Coverage also included occasional heads the journalism program at the aftermath of September 11th pleased strong criticisms of government policy, University of Washington. His re- significant segments of the public, in particular in regard to the search focuses on the relationships whose impression of news media be- administration’s diplomatic failures in among political leaders, news cover- came more favorable in the days fol- early 2003. age, and public opinion in the lowing the attacks. The chief failure of members of the United States. This article is adapted The press’s favorable response to press is that they didn’t adequately from the book “God Willing? Politi- the fundmentalism-cum-nationalism cover the deeply religious motivations cal Fundamentalism in the White offered by the administration contin- of the administration’s actions and, as House, the ‘War on Terror,’ and the ued for months as leading news outlets a result, too rarely questioned the Echoing Press,” to be released in July offered special “America Challenged” administration’s discourses—of good 2004 by Pluto Press sections and sprouted flag-waving tele- vs. evil and security vs. peril, for ex- (www.press.umich.edu). vision network logos. This process was ample. Rarely did they highlight in their facilitated by the commercial success reporting administration pushes for [email protected] of unabashedly pro-American Fox News immediate action on policies in order Channel. Fox’s viewership rose signifi- to fulfill a divine mission, or about the cantly after September 11th. It ended “God-decreed” universality of freedom 2002 ahead of CNN in the ratings com- and liberty, or the administration’s petition and received the highest rat- emphasis on unity over dissent. Once ings in its history during the Iraq War in these fundamentalist discourses be- spring 2003. Other news media took came consistently amplified—but not notice and became further hesitant to analyzed—in leading press outlets, the

70 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror Images of Horror From Fallujah ‘The transparency of angst and indecision about the Fallujah images have been good for journalism.’

By David D. Perlmutter and Lesa Hatley Major

n March 31, 2004, Iraqi terror- ists, throwing grenades, killed Ofour American civilian contrac- tors who were driving through the city of Fallujah, Iraq. A quickly swelling crowd of civilians then beat the burned bodies (with anything in hand, includ- ing shoes), dragged them through the streets, and hung two of them from a nearby Euphrates River bridge. Many onlookers and participants danced with joy and chanted anti-American slogans. The horror was caught on camera. Within hours, Fallujah video footage and photographs were made available to the world’s newspapers, magazines and television newscasters. Almost as quickly, in nearly every U.S. newsroom, a debate on whether and how to handle these images began. “It was one of the toughest calls I’ve ever had to make,” Children cheer around burned bodies that had been cut down after being hung from a wrote Ellen Soeteber, editor of the St. bridge following an attack in Fallujah. Photo by Ali Jasim/Courtesy of Reuters. Louis Post-Dispatch. The basic questions, whether one edited a small-town daily or a network tors throughout the country expressed in them. And editors listened. U.S. News newscast, were: their views about these decisions on & World Report, which published the air or in print. In many of their columns “burned bodies” picture, received let- • What pictures should we use, where and stories, they quoted editors and ters such as one from the wife of a and why? producers about why they made the military person serving in Iraq, who • Which ones should we not use and decisions they did, and several of these wrote, “You may feel inclined to report why not? explanations appear below. And read- these happenings, but the photos were • Should we digitally edit those we ers and viewers responded. Papers and not necessary.” She said she was “ap- use to reduce their “horror” quo- broadcasters received thousands of let- palled and disgusted by the photos of tient? ters, e-mails and phone calls. And it is the horrendous act.” A Marine who • For print editors, should pictures go almost certain that no journalism class served at Iwo Jima called the use of the on an inside page or the front page? escaped discussion of the ethics and photograph “blatant sensationalism.” • How should we caption and professional codes affecting the edi- Another reader, saying the magazine contextualize what we are showing? tors’ decisions about using these grisly “went too far,” ripped the pages out news photos. and returned them with a message, Importantly, the process of address- The public ferment—in many cases, “Please consider carefully how much ing these quandaries was not kept se- furor—about the photographs was no gore and carnage your readers need to cret or restricted to insiders: Many news less divided. Many publications ex- see to get the full scope of war and outlets editorialized their reasons for tended their usual letters’ section to human suffering.” In the face of such using one image rather than another, accommodate the large number of let- negative criticism, Brian Duffy, the edi- and media columnists and commenta- ters and the range of opinions voiced tor, replied: “Our intention was not to

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 71 Words & Reflections

offend but to present a faithful record of a transformative moment. In doing Digital Photography and News Images so, however, we did offend, and for that I apologize. We erred.” Another issue to emerge from the Iraq the click of a mouse. But there is an War coverage, as noted in recent Con- ominous aspect to this issue as well. Decisions About Images gressional testimony by no less than Digital technology—especially Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Photoshop-type image manipulation What Americans saw from Fallujah was is the omnipresence of digital photog- software—makes photo fakery by ama- determined by their news source. [See raphy. Amateur pictures have always teurs and professionals easier as well. table showing Fallujah photos used by found their way into the news stream; Earlier in the Iraq War a Los Angeles American newspapers on page 73.] The some have become icons of photojour- Times’s photographer was fired for cre- New York Times ran on its front page nalism, such as the photo of the Okla- ating a composite image from two sepa- The Associated Press (AP) photo (Con- homa City fireman and baby. rate pictures. And via the Internet any tractors Hanging on Bridge) in color, Now, with the advent of cheap digi- number of “incredible” news pictures which included the clearly visible bod- tal cameras and the Internet, a dynamic circulate through chain mail messages. ies with celebrating Iraqis in the fore- is emerging in which anyone able to But many of these images are simply ground. The Times’s executive editor, shoot an image can distribute it easily not credible. Bill Keller, said of this decision: “You to the entire world. The picture of the So far, the number of manipulated can’t shy away from the news, and the “cargo of caskets” was transmitted via (or faked) photographs that have been news in this case is the indignities vis- e-mail to The Seattle Times. [See Tami published or broadcast is low—we ited upon the victims and the jubila- Silicio’s photo on page 63.] Images of think! But a muddled future for war tion of the crowd. At the same time you the abuse of Iraqi prisoners were more photography could lie ahead as editors have to be mindful of the pain these easily brought to public attention be- will have to confront—and make quick pictures would cause to families and cause, apparently, the photographs decisions about whether to print or the potential revulsion of readers, and were taken with digital cameras. air—increasing numbers of amateur- children, who are exposed to this over This technology makes censorship produced images of sensational con- their breakfast table.” The Washington harder. A photo can be “leaked” with tent but unknown truth. ■ —D.P. Post ran a cropped version on page A11 of the Ali Jasim (Reuters) photo with a smiling boy in the foreground. [See photo on page 71.] Len Downie, Not one network newscast showed the images of bodies being dragged the paper’s executive editor, stated: most graphic images, at least initially, through the street, but offered clear “We owed readers photographic as well without cropping, blurring or using shots of the corpses hanging from the as print reporting about what took long shots of the gruesome details. bridge. Yet normally unabashed Al place. We chose photos that actually CNN spokesman Matt Furman ex- Jazeera showed only fuzzy footage of were on the less graphic end of avail- plained: “We told the story throughout burned bodies. And, of course, able photos.” most of the day using wide-angle im- unedited collections of images were For regional papers as well, the pre- ages of the cars burning, without what available to look at on some Web sites. dicament was as palpable. The Palm we would describe as graphic images. Beach Post ran the AP photo (Contrac- We held off until 7 p.m. [Wednesday] Showing Images of War tors Hanging on Bridge) on its front for the explicit reason of giving officials page. John Bartosek, the paper’s man- the opportunity to notify next of kin.” For photojournalism, the decision- aging editor, claimed, “We selected that Steve Capus, executive producer at NBC making dilemmas prompted by the photograph, after a lot of thought and Nightly News, argued, “Quite honestly, Fallujah images are as old as war pho- discussion, because it’s a powerful news it doesn’t need to be seen in full in tography itself. Oliver Wendell Holmes image of a dramatic, horrific and brutal order to convey the horrors of this wrote in an Atlantic Monthly essay in day in Iraq.” In contrast, Richard despicable act.” Fox News Channel lim- August 1863 of his reaction to photo- Tapscott, managing editor of The Des ited its images to shots of the burning graphs of the dead from the bloody Moines Register, noted, “The photo- vehicles in which the contractors had Civil War battle of Antietam: “Let him graph (Contractors Hanging on Bridge) been riding and to footage of joyous who wishes to know what war is look at is detailed enough that you can see the crowds in Fallujah. Bill Shine, Fox’s this series of illustrations.” Yet Holmes, bodies hanging from the bridge and vice president of production, said, “We whose son served in the Union Army, that they are charred.” The Register made the call that it [footage of the felt the pictures were too powerful to chose to run the photo on the inside in charred bodies] was too graphic in witness more than once: “[It was] so black and white. nature to put on our air.” nearly like visiting the battlefield to For the major television networks, Foreign responses were as varied. look over these views, that all the emo- decisions were visible in the editing. Britain’s Channel 4 showed blurred continued on page 74

72 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

U.S. Newspapers Decide Which Images of the Fallujah Killings to Publish

Akron Beacon Journal Seattle Post-Intelligencer Anchorage Daily News (cropped) The Seattle Times The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Star-Ledger (N.J.) The Boston Globe The Times-Picayune Chicago Sun-Times The Washington Times The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (cropped) The Columbus Dispatch Daily News of Los Angeles The Dallas Morning News Fort Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram Houston Chronicle Newsday Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The (Portland) Oregonian The Sacramento Bee Cheering Iraqis with burning SUV. Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP/ San Jose Mercury News Getty Images.

The (Baltimore) Sun The Buffalo News The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer Chicago Tribune Daily Herald (Il.) The Des Moines Register Detroit Free Press The Hartford Courant New York Post The New York Times The Palm Beach Post The Philadelphia Inquirer St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times The San Diego Union-Tribune Contractors hanging on bridge. Photo by Khalid Mohammed/ The Tampa Tribune The Associated Press.

Asbury Park Press The Beaumont Enterprise (Tex.) Courier News (N.J.) The Des Moines Register The Dothan Eagle (Ala.) The Greenville News (S.C.) The Honolulu Advertiser The Idaho Statesman Las Vegas Review-Journal

Man in white shirt in front of burning SUV. Photo by Abdel This information was compiled by David Perlmutter and Lesa Kader Saadi/The Associated Press. Hatley Major. T Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 73 Words & Reflections

tions excited by the actual sight of the But was this news value only able to in the fairness, accuracy and honesty of stained and sordid scene, strewed with be expressed in its grisliest detail? To journalism is so low is the public’s rags and wrecks, came back to us, and show horror solely for its shock value is feeling that news professionals are not we buried them in the recesses of our akin to being a pornographer of war. “people.” That is, as the late columnist cabinet as we would have buried the Most editors who did not run the grim- Mike Royko once accused, those who mutilated remains of the dead they too mest images cited the “breakfast table” go into news these days are no longer vividly represented.” test and “next of kin” rationale. News- working-class folks who can write, but For today’s editors, the parameters papers and television newscasters are, rather upper middle-class products of of this debate revolved around the con- after all, mass marketers: Anybody can top universities—elites who are just cerns Holmes wrote about more than be watching at any time—including like politicians or lobbyists. This claim 140 years ago. On one hand, there is toddlers and the families of the dead. is no doubt true: In our combined 40 the photographs’ news value—their As one editor put it, “People watching years of teaching journalism and work- content as it relates to current public [network news or reading the morning ing in the field, we’ve met only a hand- policy or public affairs issues. This is paper] with their children do not ex- ful of reporters (or journalism teach- set against the images’ sensationalism— pect to be surprised.” The Dallas Morn- ers) who were war combat veterans. with their disturbing images of death ing News editorialized, “We didn’t think The star system is another sign to the or violence. When photographers cap- it was appropriate to show bodies on public that reporters are not qualified ture gruesome images—whether it be Page One.” Many papers and networks to be populist tribunes. of mutilated civilians in the Japanese deliberately cautioned readers or view- Yet many people don’t appreciate rape of Nanjing, a self-immolated Viet- ers about what they might see. that journalism is a messy process, not namese monk, a street execution in There are other contextual issues. a conspiracy. When editors and report- Saigon, the charred bodies of Iraqi chil- Veterans and military historians could ers make public their gut-wrenching dren killed by a U.S. bomb while in point out that such images are a part of debates about what is news, their hu- their air raid shelter in the first Gulf every war. Is it problematic to show manity is revealed, even more so when War, or a dead Marine in this Iraq ghastliness and imply it is evidence they admit error. Readers and viewers War—journalists and the public won- against this particular war? Consider get the opportunity to listen in as edi- der what should be shown, how it that in World War II, most Americans tors say, with sincerity, how much they should be shown, and why. never saw pictures of American com- care about the reactions and opinions Certainly, the pictures from Fallujah bat deaths in the papers or newsreels. of those they serve. For the public then are relevant to the public debate about Home-front audiences had to go to a to be included in the ongoing discus- the Iraq War, touching as they do on Warner Brothers movie to see a G.I. get sion and feel their voice matters makes both the reasons why the United States killed at Omaha Beach, Monte Casino, the news delivery process appear nei- went to war and the wisdom of its or Iwo Jima. And even then, as infantry ther inaccessible nor inflexible. Because present course. After all, the Iraqis re- combat veteran and cultural critic Paul of the Fallujah debate, bus drivers, joicing at the abuse of these Americans Fussell complained, many Hollywood insurance salespeople, and firefighters are people whom U.S. forces were al- images of death in the war were heard and saw that journalists, like legedly sent to Iraq to liberate. If French “Disneyfied.” No blood, no guts, just everybody else, face tough decisions in citizens were dancing over the bodies heroics. their jobs and struggle through them of dead G.I.’s in France in 1944, the Generals and editors during World with a similar reliance on professional image would be similarly upsetting but War II—the last major war involving codes, ethical constraints, and thought- it would never have been published, American troops that resulted in an ful uncertainty. ■ except by the Third Reich. The Fallujah unequivocal victory—assumed that the images are also related to the debate public did not want to see images of David D. Perlmutter is an associate about other issues involved with the war’s horrors and that, indeed, the war professor at Louisiana State Iraq situation—such as whether the effort would be undermined by their University’s (LSU) Manship School of U.S. military is stretched too thin as daily display. Would American victo- Mass Communication and a senior many quasi-military tasks are subcon- ries, like the Normandy invasion, have fellow at the Reilly Center for Media tracted, and the reality that civil con- been viewed differently if the American & Public Affairs. He is the author of tractors are risking death to help the public had been shown thousands of “Visions of War” (St. Martin’s 1999) Iraqis but are also earning high pay for dead G.I.’s carpeting the beaches? Per- and “Photojournalism and Foreign their risks. Then there are the ques- haps it is just as important to provide Policy” (Praeger 1998). Lesa Hatley tions that arise from what was not in readers with historical, as well as politi- Major worked as a journalist in TV, these pictures. Where were the Ameri- cal, context to war images. radio and print. Currently she is can military while these mob actions In all, the transparency of angst and pursuing a PhD at LSU in Mass were taking place? In short, the pic- indecision about the Fallujah images Communication and Public Affairs. tures, it can be argued, are most defi- have been good for journalism. One nitely news. reason why public esteem for and faith [email protected]

74 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror The Psychological Hazards of War Journalism A psychiatrist examines how journalists respond to what they witness and report.

By Anthony Feinstein

ar journalism can be a haz- this subject. In an era that has seen a appetite disturbance, loss of enjoyment ardous occupation. The cur- dramatic increase in research devoted of life, lack of sex drive, feelings of Wrent conflict in Iraq has left 33 to the psychological effects of trauma, worthlessness and guilt, poor concen- journalists dead and many more the subject of war and journalism had tration, low energy, and suicidal wounded. Measuring danger by mor- largely escaped attention. Anthropolo- thoughts. tality is, however, only one way, albeit gists had explored the world of the In my first study, 140 war journalists the most visible, of assessing the toll combat journalist, but the questions were assessed for the presence of these war takes on reporters, photographers they asked were fundamentally differ- disorders. Results were compared with and cameramen. What can follow in ent from those I proposed to answer. data obtained from 107 domestic jour- danger’s wake is often more difficult to Before giving the findings from my nalists who had never seen combat. discern and quantify for it lies within studies, some basic clinical descrip- Significant differences between the the realm of the abstract. Fear, sadness, tions are needed. There are a number groups were found. This was not sur- guilt, nightmares, agitation, are just of well-defined syndromes that can arise prising, with the war journalists en- some of the symptoms of psychologi- as a consequence of exposure to a dorsing many more symptoms across cal distress that are a consequence of traumatic event. Posttraumatic stress all domains. Notable, however, was experiencing or witnessing life-threat- disorder (PTSD) is the most common. the high lifetime rates of PTSD and ening events. PTSD consists of three symptom clus- major depression in the war journal- It is important to emphasize that the ters—re-experiencing, avoidance and ists’ group: They were four to five times majority of individuals exposed to a arousal. those found in the general population traumatic event will not develop any and more than double those in trauma- formal psychiatric disorder. However, • Re-experiencing: This refers to un- tized policemen. These lifetime rates what distinguishes war journalism from wanted intrusive recollections of the among these journalists approached other professions is repeated expo- traumatic event that may occur dur- those recorded in combat veterans. sure to danger. And because journal- ing waking hours as flashbacks or Alcohol consumption, but not illicit ists are not schooled in how to react to recurrent thoughts and during sleep drug use, was also markedly increased violence, as policemen and soldiers as nightmares. in the war journalists. An important are, for example, theoretically they are • Avoidance: Its symptoms reflect a observation was that journalists who more likely to be vulnerable to danger’s reluctance to return to the scene of had PTSD and major depression were troubled aftermath. the trauma, but may also encompass not receiving the necessary treatment. a numbing of emotions or a damp- Journalists’ Response to ing down of emotional responsive- After September 11th Danger ness to people and events. • Arousal: This refers to the height- My second study took place after the Over the past four years I have under- ened responses of the body’s ner- terrorist attacks of September 11th. taken a series of studies that have as- vous system that may manifest as a Data were collected on a group of 46 sessed how journalists respond to the startle response, an expectation of journalists working for a New York- dangers inherent in their work. Funded further violence even in situations based news organization. Of particular initially by the Freedom Forum and deemed safe (e.g. after a return to interest was the fact that these journal- later by news organizations such as civil society), problems falling ists had never been exposed to war; CNN and the BBC, I have collected asleep, irritability and poor concen- many of them had deliberately decided behavioral data on hundreds of jour- tration. not to report from zones of conflict. nalists who define their careers by work Then suddenly destruction and may- they do in conflict zones. My first ob- PTSD frequently occurs with other hem were thrust upon them. Among servation, which predated any data conditions such as major depression the 46 journalists I studied, 30 percent collected, was surprising. When I did a and substance abuse. Major depres- of them lost a friend in the attacks, and thorough computer search of all the sion denotes a syndrome of sadness about 12 percent lost a colleague. In medical and psychological literature, I that is accompanied by combinations the months after the collapse of the failed to find a single article devoted to of other symptoms including sleep and World Trade Center, symptoms of PTSD

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 75 Words & Reflections

were common amongst these journal- brarians and mountaineers. Or psy- ists. And their profile resembled that of chiatrists, for that matter! the war group I’d collected earlier. However, as time passed their symp- Responding to the Findings toms dissipated; one year later, their scores had returned to baseline. Here From the moment I first began re- it is germane to emphasize that such a searching journalists and war I have pattern of spontaneous symptom reso- been at pains to stress that this work lution is unlikely to be found in war was never meant to pathologize a pro- journalists given their ongoing expo- fession. And the data bear this out. For sure to the conflict. the most part, journalists who spend a A third study looked at whether decade or two in conflict zones are a embedded journalists are at greater or resilient group, physically and psycho- lesser risk for developing PTSD and logically. It is, however, inevitable that major depression when compared with when faced with intermittent danger their unilateral colleagues. Data from of life-threatening magnitude, year in the war in Iraq reveal no differences and year out, some will develop psy- between the groups: Their psychologi- chological problems. PTSD and depres- cal scores are virtually identical. What sion are not uncommon to find in such is the reason for this? The answer lies in journalists. Indeed it would be naive to the frequency with which the two think otherwise. groups are exposed to danger. This, Now that the problems have been too, is virtually identical. Within the drama and excitement of the battle- defined and placed in context, respon- first month of the war, journalists in field. sibility rests with news organizations both groups reported an average of Preliminary data from a recently to decide what should be done about three life-threatening incidents, under- completed study in my laboratory dem- it. PTSD and depression are treatable. scoring once again the hazards that onstrate that final year Canadian jour- If left untended they can cause enor- accompany this type of work. nalism students who propose follow- mous misery, both to the individual ing a career in foreign lands not only and his or her loved ones. I therefore Why Journalists Return to have a fundamentally different person- find it reassuring that the management Cover War ality profile from their peers who wish in some of the big news organizations to remain at home, but also possess such as CNN and the BBC are at last Given the dangers confronted, the high different cognitive attributes. This last waking up to this fact and providing mortality, and increased risk of devel- point refers to a certain pattern of the necessary help to journalists. Good oping PTSD and depression, what thinking and approach to problem solv- journalism requires healthy journal- motivates journalists to return repeat- ing that correlates with well-defined ists, not those who might filter the edly to war zones? neural networks. To use a computer news through their own emotional The journalists in my study spent, analogy, the behavior and decision- problems. ■ on average, 15 years covering war. making processes of journalists who Those I interviewed spoke of factors chose a hazardous work environment Anthony Feinstein, author of “Dan- such as the importance of bearing wit- might be, to a considerable extent, gerous Lives: War and the Men and ness, keeping the public informed of hard-wired. This does not, of course, Women Who Report It,” is a professor important events, having a ringside remove personal choice from the equa- in the department of psychiatry at seat as history unfolded, and personal tion. Rather it should be seen as tilting the University of Toronto and a ambition. Yet there seems to be an- the probability in a certain direction— neuropsychiatrist at Sunnybrook other pivotal factor that may override towards a favoring of novelty, risk and and Women’s College Health Sci- all of these. There is evidence that uncertainty, even as it encompasses ences Centre in Toronto, Canada. individuals who are attracted to risky compassion and the promise of giving and dangerous professions are to a voice to the victims of war. [email protected] high degree biologically primed for These theories are applicable in vary- this type of activity. The biochemistry ing degrees and permutations to other underpinning all human behavior professions as well. When it comes to steers particular journalists in this di- making a career choice, those who rection. These are individuals who es- become journalists are no more sus- chew the nine-to-five routine and com- ceptible to biological determinants than fort of a predictable office job for the those who become stockbrokers, li-

76 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror Journalism and Trauma: A Long Overdue Conjunction Covering violence ‘chews at the vitality of those who must cover it day after day.’

By Roger Simpson

t’s our fifth year of the Dart Center funding, as well as that of Frank for Journalism and Trauma and, by Ochberg, a psychiatrist whose vision Inow, we have as our guide a mantra won our loyalty in the early 1990’s and that goes like this: “Training. Support has guided us steadily since. (Ochberg during the assignment. Post-assignment brought the University of Washington support.” To us this means working and the Dart Foundation together to hard to train reporters how to do jour- establish the Dart Center in Seattle in nalism that involves violence and work 1999.) equally hard to train news organiza- tions how to support them while they Learning About Trauma are doing it and after. The basic ideas emerge out of a By 1999, when we set up the center, decade of observing closely how jour- the University of Washington journal- nalists and news organizations respond ism faculty had been teaching students to the coverage of violence at home about trauma and about interviewing and in other countries. Our approach victims of violence for six years. We reflects what we’ve learned in thou- also had talked with Oklahoma City sands of conversations with reporters, journalists who’d covered the bomb- photographers, editors and human ing of the federal building there that resources directors, and include in- killed 168 people and injured 853 oth- sights gained in discussions among ers. The staff of The Oklahoman, that New York, Washington, D.C., and journalists and mental health profes- city’s daily newspaper, helped me grasp Shanksville, Pennsylvania. sionals in places as diverse as Papua a defining characteristic of journalism The story doesn’t go away. And it New Guinea, South Africa, and Croatia at the millennium: An event—a bomb- chews at the vitality of those who must as part of the work of the Dart Center. ing, a school shooting, an act of ter- cover it day after day. At the Dart Center, this effort rests ror—shatters the security of a commu- More recent tragic events make clear on two simple and connected beliefs. nity and changes its focus immediately. what we should have learned from the As time goes on, the event and its experiences of veterans of 20th cen- 1. Journalism about violence and its aftermath remain a story that won’t go tury wars—how exposure to trauma victims will best inform readers and away. creates emotional wounds that need viewers when the reporting reflects Journalists in communities of all help to heal. Military personnel who a solid understanding of the rapidly sizes know this. One weary reporter on suffered trauma in combat in Korea, developing science of traumatic, or a small city daily told us about begin- Vietnam, the first Gulf War, and other emotional, injury. ning each day of reporting in the after- actions often still endure the pain of 2. The most creative and productive math of a violent event feeling as though their emotional wounds. Just as some journalists will be those who under- she had to jump into a wild, raging Vietnam veterans found it difficult to stand trauma and know how to cope river and swim across it. Everyday, the pull back from the endlessly televised with it for themselves and for co- image she saw was the same. In de- scenes of September 11th, firefighters workers. scribing this, she spoke for many of the in New York today are drawn by their journalists in Oklahoma City, as well as own traumas to the troubling scenes of These convictions emerged for me for those in Denver (who reported on death and destruction in Iraq shown during 20 years of seeking an ethical the Columbine shootings) and report- on television news. way for journalism to be practiced in ers in many other cities where school Posttraumatic stress disorder an era of extensive media attention to shootings killed adults and youngsters. (PTSD), a condition that physicians violence. They also underscore the She also gave us an understanding can diagnose and treat, was not taken commitment of the Dart Foundation, about what reporters were going seriously by the journalism craft before which provides the largest part of our through on September 11, 2001 in 1999. In 1996, I conducted the first

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 77 Words & Reflections

research on trauma among journalists. paper Guild, Society of Professional us to place our bets on the long-term At that time, no one knew if, how or Journalists, the Unity Convention, the benefits of better college training. To- how much journalists were affected Houston Chronicle, and others. Al- day, with the overt industry resistance emotionally by events they covered. It though we have been asked to respond fading, the way is open to encourage seemed as though everyone assumed to particular tragic events, we empha- better training efforts by news corpora- that journalists were immune to emo- size training to prepare for the possi- tions. tional injuries. Since 1999, a series of bility of covering such events. The cen- studies has given us a rough bench- ter also regards college journalism News Organizations: mark reading on how reporters and teachers as key agents in the training Training and Support photographers are affected. These find- mission, so in 2003 it began offering a ings affirm the resiliency of most jour- series of seminars to help college in- A sterling example is the British Broad- nalists, while showing that some have structors shape a reporting curriculum casting Corp. (BBC), which prepared lasting emotional effects from their so that students can use trauma knowl- for the 2003 Iraq invasion with the first work. They also underlined the critical edge in their reporting. Each year, we training of war-bound correspondents absence of the kinds of training and train six or more mid-career journalists to help them recognize and manage support received by other first-respond- in a five-day seminar. These reporters trauma reactions. The BBC, like much ers to violent events—police, keep us honest by relentlessly asking of the industry, also provides hostile- firefighters, military personnel. us to show them how to interview, environment training and counseling write and investigate better, given this services for staff and family. But trauma Training Journalists newfound knowledge about trauma. was the new and significant element in Teachers must cope with similar the run-up to the war. For the Dart Center, the training mis- barriers to dealing with trauma as those The Iraq experience showed numer- sion plays out in several ways. We help that confront many editors. Teachers ous good efforts by news organizations newsroom managers and professional and newsroom managers share an im- to keep in touch with journalists, organizations train employees and patience when it comes to expressions whether they were embedded or oper- members about traumatic injury and of emotion. Teachers work at suppress- ating independently of the military. self-care. We’ve provided workshops ing emotional reactions in classrooms Newsrooms developed effective, sen- for National Public Radio, The News- in the interest of imparting ideas or sitive ways of responding to colleagues information. In the newsroom, emo- caught in the storm of war. Journalist tions are often ignored or viewed as helped journalist by staying in touch, indications of weakness. relaying news, listening for signs of Resources for Reporting At the University of Washington, we stress or anxiety. The more thoughtful on Violence employ professional actors to help raise editors embraced families as well as the emotional intensity in sessions on staffers in their attention to emotional Much of what we have learned, and of interviewing to a level that promotes— needs. what we teach, is included in the book indeed, ensures—learning. The actors It’s a sad fact, though, that this well- I co-wrote with William Coté of Michi- are trained to present a wide range of deserved attention now given to train- gan State University called “Covering emotions likely to be found in persons ing war and international correspon- Violence: A Guide to Ethical Reporting at the scene of a tragedy—struggling to dents isn’t being shared with domestic about Victims and Trauma,” published speak, frightened, angry, tearful, des- reporters, whose daily work may also by Columbia University Press. We are perate for information. Confronting entail close encounters with the vic- revising the book to update our sense an emotional person, the student must tims of violence, threats to personal of how to apply knowledge about find a way to communicate both hu- safety, and exhausting concentration trauma to the ever-changing terrain of manely and productively. In the de- on stories that never seem to end. news practices. Our Web site briefing that follows each interview, Journalists readily share with us their (www.dartcenter.org) is a robust fo- students are encouraged to speak about frustration about this. Recently, a re- rum for ideas about the conjunction of how their own emotions surface, and porter told of being sent into a neigh- trauma and journalism. And each year the discussion leads to useful collec- borhood riot where her car was torched we give the Dart Award for excellence tive reflections on handling them. and a colleague injured. She had had in reporting on victims of violence, our We will continue to invest in pro- no training for such dangers and had way of honoring those journalists who moting effective training in college little support at the scene. After the do understand trauma and who accu- classrooms until the news industry incident, when she needed attention, rately and usefully plow that knowl- turns seriously to providing consistent editors’ concerns had moved on, leav- edge back into the reporting that cap- training programs about trauma for ing her with scant appreciation for the tures the essence of enduring and staff journalists. When we began our risks she’d taken to tell this story. surviving violence. ■ —R.S. work, the expressions of resistance Indeed, the post-assignment needs from newsroom managers persuaded of frontline journalists receive far too

78 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror little attention even after terrorism and urge greater attention to those who enhancing the training and support of the Iraq War have emphasized the lin- suffer stress and trauma on our behalf. journalists are increasing steadily. And gering effects of doing journalism un- Among journalists, one group they are doing so, in part, because der stressful conditions. The BBC now struggles harder than the others to more editors are connecting their abil- conducts a pre-assignment assessment deal with the effects of trauma: Televi- ity to respond to the needs of their of its correspondents and then follows sion and electronic journalists struggle reporters to the ultimate benefit of the their return with regular interviews, against industry indifference to the public by providing good and consis- aimed at spotting signs of trauma ef- longer-term effects of their work and tent stories. ■ fects. But we suspect that few organiza- against the unremitting pressure of tions offer follow-up support other than assignments. In our workshops, we Roger Simpson is the executive direc- the invitation to seek out confidential hear repeatedly about these pressures tor of the Dart Center for Journalism counseling. and the sense, whether justified or not, and Trauma at the University of The absence of that support is cost- that managements do not want to open Washington and associate professor ing news media in terms of staff en- the door to discussion of the effects of in that school’s communication ergy, productivity and morale. Ulti- assignments. Such conversation could department. He is coauthor of “Cov- mately, the public pays that cost in the help the editors, like one in Seattle ering Violence: A Guide to Ethical reporting we rely on for knowledge of who dispatched a father who had re- Reporting About Victims and our community, nation and world. cently lost a child to cover the Okla- Trauma.” Granted, we don’t have a good mea- homa City bombing, or like another sure of the gap between the work of a who sent a reporter who had lost a [email protected] journalist adequately supported and loved one in a plane crash to cover the one whose managers look the other aftermath of a plane crash. way after the stress is past. It is a After five years, though, there is plea- commonsense response, though, to sure in knowing that opportunities for

Equipping Journalists With Tools for Emotional Balance A former reporter uses Eastern concepts to prepare future journalists to cope with the stresses of their jobs.

“This is the only profession I know of Yom Kippur War, but before the Camp headphones on, listening to Warren where you get on an airplane and fly David Accords. There I had to contend Zevon tapes. My favorites were “Law- first class, drinking champagne and with terrorist attacks and Israeli repris- yers, Guns and Money” and “Roland, eating caviar, only to arrive in some als. The conflicts were infrequent, but the Headless Thompson Gunner.” hellhole where you check into a third- bloody. I knew I had to quit when I began to rate hotel and see 50 of your best After that, there was the Israeli inva- like the whole scene. I withdrew volun- friends.” —Comment from an uniden- sion of Beirut in the summer of 1982, tarily from that most exclusive of news tified correspondent in the bar of the which was the most perfectly arranged media clubs—the dogs of war. Hotel Alexandre, Beirut, summer 1982 of these wars, at least from the Those experiences stayed with me, journalist’s standpoint. A vest-pocket as did the battleground images that sized battlefield, roughly half the size haunted my dreams. Then, after 20 By William J. Drummond of Manhattan, Beirut provided more years of teaching journalism at the bang-bang per square mile than any University of California, I came to real- ’ve seen my share of war zones and war in recent memory. PLO fighters ize that being a journalist can damage heard enough shots fired in anger were dug in West Beirut and sur- one’s mental as well as physical health, Ito last a lifetime. The first war for rounded by Israelis and Lebanese forces even apart from the coverage of war. me was India-Pakistan, in the 1971 in East Beirut. A journalist could inter- There is no doubt that day-to-day en- battle for Bangladesh. Mercifully that view combatants from both sides of the counters with trauma and loss—the conflict ended in just two weeks. Then conflict and file by dinnertime. At night, bread and butter of war journalism— Israel from 1974 to 1976, the infamous to drown out the noise of the Israeli take a heavy toll. But so does working no-war, no-peace period, following the bombardment, I’d lie in bed with my the police beat in any major city. More

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 79 Words & Reflections

people die in homicides or traffic acci- broadcast reporter who worked for der which journalists work. For ex- dents in the United States than die in CNN, NPR, and then for KTVU-Chan- ample, they are the storytellers. When Iraq on any given day. In fact, my first nel 2 in the San Francisco Bay Area, they tell stories of trauma, loss, suffer- encounter with mangled bodies was developed breast cancer seven years ing, they do not walk away clean. Yet, when I covered an airplane crash in the ago. To help ease her discomfort from as an industry, the news media offer San Fernando Valley. chemotherapy, I enrolled in a massage little if any preparation or comfort to In addition, the industry is chang- therapy course in July 2003. The 150- its workers who face this kind of emo- ing. Technology now puts reporters hour course was based on principles of tional meat grinder. Instead the jour- under relentless nalists are expected pressure to be more to suck it up and productive. The idea move on. When of “convergence,” in … many reporters are afraid to admit to somebody shoots up which reporters of- colleagues and supervisors that they are a schoolyard, the ten are expected to distressed because such an admission can be school officials rou- file for radio, televi- tinely call in grief sion, Web sites, as seen as a sign of weakness. counselors to tend to well as print, has the survivors. But the sped up the demand reporters and cam- for news. Also the news industry is Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM). I era people who covered that story get much more volatile and jobs are less earned a diploma as an acupressure no such attention. They saddle up and secure than ever before. With constant massage practitioner and immediately go off to the next crime scene.” pressures from deadlines and daily enrolled in an additional 200 hours of Some horselaughs were heard. One competition, stress has always been CTM training. colleague believed that “emotional intrinsic to the practice of journalism. Faith died in October 2003. The balance for journalists” is an oxymo- But in recent years it has grown so months of giving her massage did not ron. “Journalists are prone to living intense it has become a serious occu- save her life, but it made her more highly vulnerable lives that are basi- pational hazard in covering the news, comfortable, and it gave me a strong cally unbalanced—emotionally, spiri- whether from the cop beat in Fresno, sense of having done something help- tually, psychologically,” he said. But California, to the political beat in An- ful. the faculty agreed to support this ex- napolis, Maryland, to the Shiite neigh- Out of that sad experience, I won- perimental course and, in January 2004, borhoods of Baghdad. dered whether the self-care strategies I I began to teach it. learned as part of my CTM training Emotional Balance: The might actually find a place in journal- What’s Been Learned Journalism Course ism education. Of course, it would be a radical departure from conventional The three-unit course for graduate stu- Just as clergy can undergo a crisis of notions of training reporters. I wrote a dents met for one hour three times a faith, I, too, found myself questioning proposal to the faculty at Berkeley’s week from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. On Monday what I was doing. As a journalism pro- Graduate School of Journalism offer- and Wednesday, the class met in a fessor, I was training bright, attractive ing to teach a self-care course, titled seminar room, where we discussed young people for jobs that were likely “Emotional Balance for Working Jour- readings and listened to occasional to leave them bitter, burned out, and nalists.” Here is the summation that guest speakers. On Fridays, the class unhappy after a few years. It was time went to my teaching colleagues: was held in the Hearst Gym, in a large for a change, and I drew inspiration “Acupressure is based on Chinese exercise room with floor mats and mir- from words sung by the blues singer Traditional Medicine, a 2,000-year-old rors like a yoga studio. During the 15- Rice Miller, also known as Sonny Boy system of holistic healing with a rich week semester, the class received dem- Williamson II: literature and history. My meager 350 onstrations in bodywork, including hours of training has only scratched massage, tai chi, chi gong, cranial-sac- “It took me a long time, to find out the surface of CTM. But I gained enough ral therapy, and guided imagery. A my mistakes experience to realize that massage, dozen massage practitioners and other “Took me a long time, to find out my along with other kinds of bodywork, therapists from around the Bay Area mistakes nutrition, meditation and related tech- volunteered their time to present the “(it sho’ did man) niques derived from CTM, can make a self-care techniques. The first session “But I bet you my bottom dollar, I’m difference in people’s lives. was a demonstration of Pilates exercise not fattenin’ no more frogs for snakes” “During my course work at the techniques. Little by little I introduced Acupressure Institute I discussed with concepts from CTM. My wife, Faith Fancher, a longtime the faculty the peculiar conditions un- As the course developed, the stu-

80 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror dents were encouraged to share their experiences and reactions to what they were learning. Observations about themselves and their chosen career path were insightful. Here are postings from the class Web site:

• “In everyday life I see how friends talk too slow; people don’t get to the point fast enough (my brother exploded with a ‘stop being a damn journalist for a second and listen to my story …’).” • “I think this is where the recommen- dation of dating/having friends who are not journalists comes in. (I don’t remember who made that point, but it was a good one.) Because, hopefully, they will call you on be- ing too much of a journalist in your personal life and remind you that there are other things in life than grilling people.” Morley Safer of CBS reports in August 1965 on the devastation of a torching of the Cam • “In the paper in Oregon, a lot of the Ne village in Vietnam by Marines. Photo from CBS/Courtesy of The Associated Press. reporters were the same age, late 20’s, early 30’s, and everyone hung out together. This helped in that ingly, it has nothing to do with gender. and supervisors that they are distressed you could talk about whatever story I’ve seen women suffer as much as because such an admission can be seen was stressing you out. But it contrib- men.” as a sign of weakness. uted to a lot of alcohol entering my This correspondent sent me a vid- As journalism becomes more com- system. Those stereotypes about eotape of a piece he did from a camp petitive we, as educators, have pushed journalists being alcoholics, etc. are for Rwandan refugees at the height of students to do more, faster and leaner. true, as far as I’ve seen.” the genocide. It showed one of the rare How they live their lives outside the moments when a veteran journalist office and cope with what they see and The 13 students in the class began to comes close to breaking down emo- do as part of their job has not been take a longer, more philosophical view tionally. This tape was immensely help- thought of as our concern. It’s time of the work ahead of them. They ac- ful in showing students that even those now to rethink this premise, but doing cepted the idea that journalism can be at the top of the profession have to this will require change in the culture corrosive, unless one takes protective struggle with their feelings. of newsrooms—a change that is long measures. As part of the class, during As the semester drew to a close, I overdue. One Bay Area journalist wrote the semester each student had to have asked myself what had been learned. me a note about the course: “It’s so one session of therapeutic massage First, journalism education needs to hard to strike that balance between and to participate in at least six ses- make self-care a central part of its fo- doing good work and living healthy sions of some kind of energy exercise, cus. I won’t teach this as a stand-alone lives. But worth the effort.” I agree. ■ such as yoga, Pilates or tai chi. course again, but I will incorporate After the San Francisco Chronicle these lessons and techniques into the William J. Drummond is professor of did a story about the class, I received school’s introductory writing and re- journalism at the University of words of support from throughout the porting course. Self-care is as impor- California at Berkeley. He’s a former world. One veteran network news cor- tant as learning to write a nut graf. editor and correspondent for Na- respondent sent me this message by e- Second, the industry itself needs to tional Public Radio and Los Angeles mail: “You’re way ahead of the pack revise the prevailing “suck it up” ap- Times’s bureau chief in New Delhi suggesting ways to cope after the story. proach. Newsrooms do not as a rule and Jerusalem. He’s a certified Trust me—crying and drinking too provide the same counseling and sup- acupressure massage practitioner. much are often not enough, although port services as the local sheriff’s de- I’ve done my share of both. This is an partment. Consequently, many report- [email protected] amazingly unexplored area. Surpris- ers are afraid to admit to colleagues

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 81 Words & Reflections ‘Welcome to Hell’ A photojournalist records his thoughts during the battle for Grozny.

Since the war in Chechnya began, pho- military’s effort to crush them. Russian who lives in the building, says that on tojournalist Stanley Greene has been planes and helicopters have bombed Sunday Chechen guerillas came to warn there to document its devastating toll. villages on the edge of town, they say. them that Russians were coming and Eighty-one of his images, along with One woman grabs my arm and in bro- herded everyone into the cellar. While his diary entries and other commen- ken English and Russian screams that one man guarded them, many apart- tary, have been brought together in a she will fight for Chechnya’s indepen- ments were looted. “They weren’t Rus- book, “Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 dence until she and every member of sians, but our people,” he said bitterly. to 2003,” published by Trolley Press in her family are dead. “You see what war is.” fall 2003. In the following 1995 diary Life in the city has become chaotic: excerpts, which he adapted for this no food, no water, men and women January 20: A thick blanket of snow magazine, Greene describes the death, searching for sustenance in the midst covering the bombed-out city muffles destruction and survivors he encoun- of bombs exploding around them. everything except pounding of artil- tered when the Russian military be- Bodies remain on the street because lery and the Russian warnings, broad- gan its bombardment of Grozny, the it’s too dangerous to try to remove and cast by loudspeakers mounted on heli- capital of Chechnya. bury them. copters, telling Chechens to “surrender The 999 bar is a blown-out store- or be destroyed without mercy.” January 7: The only way to reach front where Chechen fighters warm Though fighting continued in some Grozny is by car, like most of the themselves next to a fire. In another areas, it was unusually still among the Chechen soldiers who commute to destroyed store nearby, old women ruins of the city center. Residents and battle from their villages. Usually it’s an huddle near a burning Smirnoff sign. rebels are despondent and surly. At a old beat-up one, and you hope that Journalists photograph, interview and sidewalk market a man shouts to nobody stops or shells it. Driving on film the two groups. Asked about the women to stop talking to journalists, back roads through Ingushetia to reach war, they have the same response, “Al- waving a hand grenade to show he the Chechen border and finally enter- lah Akbar,” God is great. means business. ing Chechnya, you immediately hear There are 70 or 80 corpses lying in the sound of Russian war planes and the street. It’s wet and cold and I’m January 21: In a graveyard outside helicopter gunships. Then you see them there to photograph but I can’t when I Grozny, about 30 men stand in the streaking across the sky. My driver see the dogs eating the faces of the snow holding hands in prayer at the shows no fear, only contempt. He is dead. I try the long walk down Lenin funeral of a Chechen elder. He was a Ingush, “but Ingushetia and Chechnya Prospekt, curious about the ceasefire man of peace, says one of the mourn- are one,” he explains. “We are all broth- which most civilians haven’t heard ers, who was shot to death by Russian ers. The Russians want to scare us. about. At 57 Lenin Prospekt, near a troops as he traveled a road near They want us to die. Chechen soldiers blasted department store, two huge Grozny. His body, wrapped in a white will fight to the death. Russian soldiers craters in the sidewalk. Russian bombs sheet and a carpet, lies on a stretcher will fight for nothing. This is not their aimed at a Chechen Howitzer position awaiting burial. During the ceremony, land. They should go home.” My first dropped instead into the courtyard of a Russian plane flies low, dropping a sight of Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, is an apartment building and on the build- bomb that explodes a few hundred grim. Dead people strewn in the streets, ing opposite. Both are badly damaged. yards away. wild dogs chewing on their corpses. In Old women wander dazed, buckets in Russian, the name “Grozny“ means “ter- their hands, wailing at strangers, hold- January 30: “A bullet, a shell, a rible.” ing their hands up to the dark grizzly bomb, or a missile cannot, will not, Welcome to Grozny, a city to die in. sky. A woman who lives at 61, wrapped destroy us. This will not end. We will There is a sign on the road when you in shawls, cries that her children are in sooner or later revenge ourselves upon enter Grozny that says “People, keep Vladivostok, her husband is an invalid you for the deeds you have done to us.” the peace.” Beneath it now someone and can’t walk, there’s no light or wa- —Open letter to the people of Russia has written, “Welcome to hell.” ter, and no way she can rejoin her from the Wolves of Islam. children. “They are crying there, and January 10: The soldiers and civil- I’m crying here. Why are they bombing February 11: I’m leaving today, ians express only defiance and scorn civilians? Can’t they see what they’re getting out will be difficult, there’s no for Boris Yeltsin and the Russian hitting?” Mogamed Mutayev, a doctor regular transport, but tanks and water

82 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror trucks ply the roads, along with porarily until you return to reality. ever. In war you realize that all the busloads of refugees. I too am a refu- When a journalist risks everything to photos you might take or do make will gee, I feel part of Grozny, of Chechnya. get to a war, he gets down to it and fall short of showing the full horror of And at the same time detached from does the work. You mask out that para- war—but you keep trying in a hope the rest of the world, my world in Paris. lyzing fear of death. It becomes your that you will succeed. ■ No man or woman can view a field of unspoken duty to depict the truth as battle and witness so much death and you see it breaking around you. There Stanley Greene photographed con- destruction without becoming de- is no such thing as taking pictures from flicts in Nagorno-Karabakh Repub- tached or callous. I mean you lose it for a place of safety. You become part of lic, Croatia, Kashmir, Sudan and a while, it’s like going on vacation and the unfolding story. It marks you! The Rwanda before he went to Chechnya putting your feelings in a suitcase tem- battle of Grozny has marked me for- to document the war.

After a Russian shelling of a civilian neighborhood in the suburbs of western Grozny, a 71-year-old shawl-wrapped Russian woman cries. Her husband, an invalid, is unable to walk, and they are without electricity, gas and water. They also do not have enough money to leave the city and join their children in Vladivostok.

In a graveyard in Staryy Atagi, Chechnya, about 30 men stand in the snow at the funeral of a Chechen elder, a mullah. He was shot to death by Russian troops as he traveled on a road near Grozny.

The 999 bar, headquarters of the rebels in Grozny. Photos by Stanley Greene/Agence VU.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 83 Words & Reflections

People were afraid to shop at the three main markets in Grozny during a battle in which people were killed daily. Smaller markets away from the main fighting survived, but what few goods remained went unsold for days. Civilians and stray dogs survived together, both hungry because of the fighting.

Gas flaring from fractured pipes creates a backdrop for fighters, civilians, stray dogs, cats and deranged homeless victims. At the 999 bar, in front of a blown-out storefront, young Chechen rebels play with grenades, their toys of war.

Photos by Stanley Greene/Agence VU. Ruins of the presidential palace in Grozny, Chechnya.

84 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror

Chechen fighters, waiting for the end of Russian shelling, warm themselves by a fire.

The body of a Russian man killed by mortar fire rots in the streets of Grozny. The bodies of civilians remain on the road because it is too dangerous to move or bury them.

Photos by Stanley Greene/Agence VU.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 85 Words & Reflections Acting as a Witness to a Forgotten War ‘Even if nobody for whom I write this story cares, it is difficult for me to forget Chechnya.’

By Anne Nivat

he war in Chechnya, the second on my reporting during the mid-1990’s one in a decade, has been raging about this conflict, was translated into Tever since Moscow sent its troops seven languages, including Russian. But to the breakaway province in the fall of after four years of negotiations, not 1999, promising to rapidly solve “the one Russian publishing house has dared problem”—Chechnya’s demand for in- to print it. Eventually the book was dependence from the Russian Federa- posted on an Internet site (and al- tion. Yet while separatist rebels and lowed to remain there) only because Russian troops continue to fight, the authorities in Russia know that the Chechen civilians are both deliberately Internet doesn’t have enough distribu- targeted and accidentally killed in the tion to do political damage in Russia— crossfire, or are living miserably in a yet. war zone without hope of an end in In the United States, my book was sight. released before September 11, 2001. In the West, it’s been easy to remain At that time, President Bush was work- ignorant about this front in the “war on ing to make alliances with the new terror” because it is politically compli- Russian president and not focused on cated, located in an area of the world overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Only few Westerners could point to on a muted criticism from America was map, and overshadowed by the post- heard then about the human rights war violence in Iraq that swallows up violations against Chechen citizens and the time and space for war coverage in minimal aid for refugees, and there the press. Wars are fashionable, and was little, if any, commentary or cover- ing, and we quickly disappear when Chechnya was a la mode during the age. Why? It is because of what I call the the action stops. That’s a big mistake, winter 1999-2000, but not anymore. “no CNN, no war syndrome”—when because this second campaign in this Then Afghanistan came along, and now there are no images of a war on a ongoing war is a direct result of an Iraq is the place to be. Who really widely watched TV channel, then Ameri- evolution that occurred after the end knows any longer what is happening in cans are not concerned about it. of the first campaign and of the way Afghanistan? that one ended. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq— Grasping the War Story Chechnya is a particularly difficult packaged by Western governments and war to cover—not that any war is easy— military authorities as critical battles in When I ventured back to Chechnya in because of all of the minefields, both the worldwide war on terrorism—have the fall of 1999, I was not yet a corre- literal and figurative, that must be drawn to them many journalists who spondent for the French daily, crossed. There are many kidnaps, un- basically made the choice to adhere to Libération. I became one when the sanitary conditions, difficulties with the script prepared by those who waged newspaper asked me to file daily re- language and terrain, and other usual the wars. In turn, the U.S. military has ports on the war. I was then surprised obstacles, but there are also in this war worked to adjust, as best they could, to to see that many things had changed no clear-cut “good guys” or “bad guys.” press requirements in covering it. The since the first Russian campaign in 1994- Each different rebel group seems to Russians have tried to use this same 96, and I blamed myself for not being fight independently, and they are linked approach in Chechnya, but with less there to report on these changes be- only by their common enemy—the attention to the appearance of accu- fore they erupted into the second phase Russians—who commit horrific human racy and with less success. of the fighting. But that’s how the press rights violations against innocent civil- My first book about the war in usually work: We are sent into the field ians. There is no single or charismatic Chechnya, “Chienne de Guerre,” based when something eventful is happen- leader of the opposition, only a series

86 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror of discredited and disrespected fight- fellow victims of terrorist suicide bomb- the setting and context I found them. ers. It’s almost impossible to find a ers? Some of the Chechen fighters might In the five years I’ve covered this war, sympathetic figure in this tragedy, ex- be Wahhabis and be connected to al- I have visited hell. At times, fear obliter- cept the innocent civilians, who say Qaeda, although nothing has ever been ated any other feeling, and terror made again and again that they just want the proven. But making this current char- my mouth dry. There were also intense fighting to stop so they can build a acterization of the war the justification connections I’ve made with dozens of normal life. for the original fighting should be con- strangers with whom I shared a single “What’s new in Chechnya?” my edi- sidered a major victory for Russia, prov- moment. Sometimes there was even a tors in France would ask me whenever ing again that in a time of terror, sense of calmness, when all of a sud- I tried to convince them to let me go disinformation can work. den I felt safe because a man had leaned back there again. On my last trip there The Kremlin tolerates very few inde- over to cover me when a bomb was a few months ago, one could indeed pendent-minded Russian and foreign going to fall close by or a woman of- have gotten the impression that noth- reporters who publish the truth about fered me a cup of steaming tea when ing has changed. There was still the what’s going on in Chechnya—and do she had so little for herself. hum of bombers in the distance, the so only outside of Russia or in a local I had to meet with as many different muddy, rusted armored tanks posted weekly newspaper with minimal circu- kinds of people as possible: civilians, along the roads, the bored but arro- lation. Whether the Kremlin has been fighters on both sides, men and women gant manner of soldiers who stop each misled by its military leadership about and families whose life has been de- vehicle to request papers from the the actual situation in Chechnya is un- stroyed by this conflict. I wanted to driver and then demand a bribe clear. But it is absolutely obvious that share the daily horrors with the locals whether the documents are in order or Russian public opinion is being misled and expose how the unimaginable can not. There were innumerable accounts about it. Officially, Russians are told become the norm. I have described of “zatchistki” (mopping-up opera- that the war is over, and the situation is what I’ve heard from many of the Rus- tions), when masked Russian soldiers “normalized.” By ignoring the reality sian soldiers who doubt that they will sweep down on the civilian population of what’s happening in Chechnya, the ever win this war—unless they kill ev- and kill or drag off men and boys with- Russian government acts as if the battle ery Chechen male who is older than out explanation or justification. has already been won. It has closed 12, which some admit is what they are Yet I have concluded that reporting refugee camps in neighboring doing. I also have written how most what’s not new must also be part of my Ingushetia, forcing citizens to return Chechens, while they are Muslim, want job. By being in the field, I can tell that to homes that are still in shambles. nothing to do with the Wahhabis who the Russians are as militarily weak as Having understood that the only have infiltrated their villages and when they reinvaded Chechnya after “politically correct” way out of the brought with them the wrath of the the 1996 negotiated settlement was Chechen quagmire is through a demo- world. violated by a renegade rebel group. cratic process, even a fake one, in 2003 And the Russians are no closer to a the authorities held a referendum on a Paying an Emotional Price realistic solution to this second phase new constitution, followed by a presi- of the war than they were several years dential election. Both were exposed by As journalists—serving as witnesses to ago, because President Putin stub- those who observed them to be fraudu- this brutality—we pay an emotional bornly refuses to negotiate and will lent. But Moscow—through its suc- price for the work we do. Even if no- accept only an absolute surrender of cessful control of its own press and, body for whom I write this story cares, all independence-minded people and mostly, through the self-censorship of it is difficult for me to forget Chechnya. Islamic fundamentalists. its journalists—maintained the fiction It is impossible for me to stop listening of normalization for the Russian people to men and women who offer me so Changing Perception of the through Putin’s reelection in March much kindness that I become almost a Conflict 2004. Meanwhile, the Chechen people member of their families and am no struggle to get the outside world to longer regarded by them as foreign. I Despite the fiasco that is this war, the understand (and care about) their cause can’t stop going back while I can still Kremlin can claim one victory: It has in a war that becomes each month give these people a voice and prevent convinced the outside world that this more complicated by the actions of them from being completely forgot- conflict is a part of the global war on suicide bombers, Wahhabis (Islamist ten. terrorism. The Kremlin has understood fundamentalists), collaborators, mafia But how do I not become hardened perfectly the strategic political advan- thugs, and intimidated journalists. to the misery of others? Or lose interest tage of making a link between Chechen I’ve tried to report on this war in a in this story when a new war comes rebels and international terrorists. way that would connect my along that’s a bigger story—a story that Aren’t the Russians friends of the West newspaper’s readers to it—by passing has captured the world’s attention? now, allies in the war on terror and along the personal stories told to me in How do I confront—with my indepen-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 87 Words & Reflections

dent reporting—the arrogant Russian tion in news reporting and reliance on Anne Nivat is Moscow correspondent authorities and risk losing my visa and emotionally packed imagery? Through for Ouest-France, a regional French consequently everything I’ve worked reporting, can I debunk the falsely re- newspaper. She is the author of for? How do I overcome the blind ac- assuring words of incompetent leaders “Chienne de Guerre,” which won the ceptance of propaganda by the major- or the generalized indictment of all Albert Londres prize, France’s high- ity of Russians? How do I explain to Chechens? est award for journalism. She is them why some Chechens believe the These are questions I need to think currently working on a book about terrorist attacks by some of their fellow about as I report from Chechnya. I Afghanistan and Iraq. citizens in Moscow are justified? How don’t have answers, and that’s why I can I overcome the need for simplifica- keep on going there and writing. ■ [email protected]

When a Story Inhabits the Mind ‘… I rely on a brave group of Chechen journalists to keep me— and my readers—informed.’

By Thomas de Waal

miss Chechnya. That may seem a sometimes scary, experience to be strange thing to say, given all the among them. Iassociations that the word Yes, a lot of the men were gun-mad. “Chechnya” has for most people—war, At Chechen weddings, there was a tra- destruction and cruelty. But between dition of firing weapons in the air in the beginning of 1994, 11 months be- celebration, and all too frequently fore President Boris Yeltsin sent in the Chechen weddings would lead to troops and unleashed war there, and Chechen funerals, as one or two guests the summer of 1998, I visited Chechnya died from stray bullets. But the less fairly frequently and, in reporting on crazy among the Chechens were also its tragedy, I became extremely attached among the most alive, engaging, loyal to both the place and the people. Partly people to spend time with. Conversa- it was the landscape: A view of the tions would last into the night. Cel- snowy peaks of the Caucasus is rarely ebrations would be thought up on the more than a bend in the road away. The spur of the moment. How often I or thick beech woods that frustrated the one of my colleagues would turn up in czar’s armies for decades in the 19th a mountain Chechen village in condi- century crowd up serpentine valleys tions of war and turmoil, and a com- towards the mountains. plete stranger would uncomplainingly Mostly it was the people. Nineteenth offer us a bed for the night, whatever century Russian officers, struck by the was on the table, and transport on flamboyance and repartee of the farther the next morning. The memory Chechens, called them “the French of of such warmth is one reason why I the Caucasus.” A century and a half look back fondly on Chechnya and still pervasive, but the vast majority of later, the Chechens somehow emerged with great heartache at the sufferings people are managing to live ordinary as the people who were most unbowed those people continue to endure. lives of some sort. The same was true by the experience of Soviet Commu- Another reason I miss Chechnya is even for much of the first war, and I nism. Eternal outlaws, Alexander that it can be harder to be distant from always found it easier for the mind and Solzhenitsyn had observed that the a conflict you care about than to be up the stomach to be down in Chechnya Chechens were the only nationality in close. We continue to refer to the “war itself than to be trying to follow the war the prison camps of Stalin’s Kazakhstan in Chechnya,” but what is happening from Moscow through the distorted who did not want to play by the rules there now is a low-level insurgency picture of the Russian media. but cleaved together at all times. So in conflict that claims perhaps a dozen My experience of the 1994-96 con- the 1990’s it was an invigorating, if lives a week. The menace of violence is flict left me with a profound impres-

88 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror sion of how war is savagely local. I an interview with the “vice president of a brave group of Chechen journalists remember one day in February 1995 Ichkeria,” the deputy leader of the to keep me—and my readers—in- sitting on the edge of Grozny, just a few warring rebels. formed. It is gratifying that there are a miles from where the battle for the city After the rebels won the first round number of journalists who still possess between Russian forces and Chechen of that war in 1996, the situation slowly that irrepressible courage and spirit, fighters was continuing. There was a became more menacing. A deeply dam- which they deploy to the discomfort of regular thump from the artillery pound- aged and traumatized society began all sides in the conflict. ing the city, and thick black smoke was breeding a new sinister group of young My main writer, Timur Aliev, has issuing from the burning oil refineries. men, and one day one of them decided won several prizes for his reporting, Yet by the roadside an enterprising to use kidnapping to earn money. Hun- lately a citation from the Overseas Press man had set up a barbecue stall, and dreds of cases—and dozens of million- Club of America. Sometimes I worry my driver and I ate delicious hunks of dollar ransoms—later, kidnapping re- about Timur and tell him it is not worth hot meat as we looked out at the burn- mains a real curse for Chechnya, and taking any risks. He usually tells me he ing city. Life, of some sort, went on. the threat of it obviously limits the knows the risks and does not intend to I try to remember that scene when I mobility of foreign journalists. do anything stupid. Simply being an think of my friends and acquaintances Foreign journalists continue to go independent-minded journalist in still stuck in Chechnya. They are not to Chechnya, but the other big differ- Chechnya is risk enough, and that is living through total war; they are put- ence is that the Russian authorities not something I want to deny him. I ting together their lives in a society now do everything they can to restrict miss Chechnya, but the longing is eased where the vast majority of the violence them. If you are a journalist fully ac- a little every week when I read his is elsewhere. Life is very hard, but it is credited in Moscow, you will be of- finely observed copy, helping me keep still liveable. fered a trip complete with official up with a place that is surely one of the That first Chechen War was an as- minders and no access to ordinary most unfortunate on earth and that I tonishingly open one for journalists. people. You might be able to go under- have the fortune and misfortune to We ran great risks, certainly, but such cover for a few days, but with very little have known well. ■ was the turmoil of the Russian state at opportunity to move freely. If you are the time that it was possible as a jour- not accredited in Moscow—and I am Thomas de Waal is coauthor, with nalist to operate with immense free- not these days—then you may as well Carlotta Gall, of “Chechnya: A Small dom. There was no “frontline” as such, forget about it. It is simply not worth Victorious War” (Pan Books, 1997) and you could cross whatever seemed the risks. and is Caucasus editor of the Insti- like one with ease. I remember leaving That is why I miss Chechnya. tute for War and Peace Reporting, Russian-controlled Grozny, traveling Instead, in my job as the editor from www.iwpr.net. for an hour to a lazily manned check- London of a weekly bulletin on the point, passing through, and half an Caucasus with the Institute for War [email protected] hour later sitting in a farmhouse doing and Peace Reporting (IWPR), I rely on The Risks of Independent Reporting in Chechnya By not adhering to government regulations, ‘these newspapers are vulnerable to attack from all sides.’ By Timur Aliev ocal journalists in Chechnya face “cast a shadow” on their reputations. but ask not to be named. They are not the same problems as journalists Considering that many of these people always afraid for themselves. Some- Ldo throughout the world—the had to pay a hefty sum to get their jobs, times their silence is caused by con- difficulties of getting and distributing they are simply not willing to risk it. cern for their missing relatives. What if objective information. The only differ- The same happens with ordinary this information harms instead of helps ence is that the risks that journalists people. Even the relatives of those who them, they reason. For instance, the confront in Chechnya increase the disappeared without a trace or were elder brother of Ali Astamirov, a corre- problems exponentially. It is extremely arrested during “clean-up” operations spondent for Agence France-Presse hard to persuade government officials by Russian or Chechen security forces news agency who was kidnapped in in Chechnya to disclose facts that might are not always prepared to talk openly Ingushetia, told me, “It’s best not to not even discredit them but might just about it. Sometimes they tell the facts make a fuss ….”

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 89 Words & Reflections

Chechens use strange double stan- hard to get accredited with the govern- but in a region where human rights are dards when talking to journalists. Some- ment or even get a pass to enter gov- violated on an hourly basis and on times people are more willing to speak ernment buildings. A paradoxical situ- which the whole international human to correspondents working for foreign ation developed in which corre- rights and journalistic community fo- media than to local ones. Apparently spondents for the republic state news cuses its attention, local journalists fre- they believe that if their information is agency, Grozny-Inform, learned about quently say they see no problems to published in the West it will be more government news and official decrees report on. effective. Or perhaps they think that it from reports on ITAR-TASS, the gov- The situation has changed dramati- will not be read in Chechnya and Rus- ernment news agency in Moscow, cally. During the initial wave of enthu- sia and that these interviews are safer which they fished off the Internet. siasm over Glasnost and freedom of for their personal security. The press situation in Chechnya is speech in the late 1980’s and early even more problematic. There are three 1990’s, journalists in the republic were Reporting in Chechnya categories of media in the republic raising previously forbidden issues in- through which a journalist can reach cluding, most prominently, the issue On October 5, 2003, Chechnya held its the Chechen audience—state, separat- of national self-determination for the “presidential elections.” Everyone ist and independent publications. Chechen people. And journalists could knew the result in advance—the write and talk openly and broadly. But Kremlin’s man, Akhmad Kadyrov, State-Run and Separatist after war broke out in 1994, journalism would be elected with a vast majority. Press became increasingly vague. Since 1995, Looking for independent observers strong pressure from the authorities monitoring the republic’s polling sta- The most numerous group is state (pro- (any kind of authorities—pro-Russian tions, I walked into the office of Moscow) newspapers. Chechnya has as well as pro-independence) and the Chechnya’s official human rights com- three republic-wide publications, and presence of armed men (again, either missioner, Abdul-Khakim Sultygov. almost every province of the country Russians or militants) has shaped the Before the elections, people who work has its newspapers—presently, there journalistic response. there had told me that they would be are 10 of them. They have high circula- For instance, investigative journal- doing the monitoring. Now several tions—from 3,000 to 7,000 copies— ism has effectively disappeared as a human rights defenders were sitting in and are supported by state funding. genre. Attempts to revive it or, at least, the office, including Zura Their professional level is very poor. use its elements in reporting, could Abdulkhajieva, who chairs a women’s Being directly dependent on the state, have sad consequences for an author. public organization. I asked her: “Did these publications naturally have a dis- Journalists began to use pseudonyms you vote, Zura?” “Yes, of course, I voted tinct pro-government orientation. Any increasingly often, although it is virtu- for Kadyrov—he is doing a lot for our attempt to report a fact that discredits ally impossible to conceal one’s au- republic, and he promised to sort out the republic’s leaders will land the thorship of a story in such a small the nighttime abductions. For the editor in trouble. The very least he or republic. Articles began to avoid men- women of Chechnya he will be the best she can expect in this case is a verbal tioning names of people involved. Even president,” she replied. reprimand during a weekly editorial initials were not included, and bylines About 15 minutes later Zura real- meeting at the local press ministry; at were vague, such as “a resident of the ized that the story that I was writing worst, the editor could be sacked or Gekhi village” or “a student at the oil was going to be published in the West. prosecuted. institute.” She pulled me by the sleeve and said, Naturally, editorial policy is deter- The main features of Chechen offi- “Timur, don’t write that I voted for mined by their editors’ interest in their cial journalism today are an anodyne Kadyrov. The truth is I didn’t go to vote own careers and is directed, primarily, language in articles, a lack of critical at all.” at preventing any opposition material issues raised, a tendency to “smooth This double personality is typical of from being published. Outside the of- over” difficult topics and make cau- Chechens. If this is how representa- ficial context, they see themselves as tious analysis. This position, naturally, tives of human rights organizations, free-thinking persons who are dis- was not arrived at voluntarily. who normally try to speak out as often turbed by every human rights violation In many ways there has not been and critically as possible, reply to a in their republic and shrug their shoul- much difference between the way the journalist’s questions, then it’s no sur- ders at me, saying you understand full press was treated when Chechnya was prise when state officials shun journal- well that we cannot publish such infor- de facto independent between 1997 ists, usually just repeating what they mation. Often they pass on material to and 1999 and since 2000, when Russia say in official press releases. independent media. returned in force to the region. The A while ago, even obtaining local Though it seems strange to say, most authorities used administrative and official information was very difficult. Chechen journalists are not desperate legal methods to keep members of the Local journalists found it extremely to be objective. This sounds curious, press in line, and men with guns used

90 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 War and Terror threat, intimidation and violence. Now Chechnya. Because they are not be- Qatar in February (two Russians are on the situation is much the same. The holden to any political forces, these trial for his murder, allegedly ordered official media of the Kadyrov govern- four publications are truly indepen- from Moscow). ment continues to hold openly pro- dent and not oppositional. However, According to Ismail Munaev, the governmental views (which are now they do not always have financial sup- head of territorial administration of pro-Russian), adopt a neutral, though port, so the independent press directly the press ministry in Chechnya, my more negative than positive attitude depends on readers’ demand and tries newspaper had “in effect published a towards the Russian forces, and to treat to keep their audiences interested the whole series of provocative appeals the political opponent of the new au- best they can, but without practicing and extremist declarations under the thorities (i.e. pro-independence rebels) “yellow journalism.” The independent mask of a news report.” By “provoca- extremely negatively. newspapers are well designed and have tive appeals” the administration meant State media journalists in Chechnya professional reporters on staff. the quoting of several phrases from the practice a sort of internal self-censor- Unfortunately, only two of those leaflet in the article. Munaev said this ship, which does not allow them to newspapers dare to cover political as- could not be justified by editorial quali- overstep the permitted mark in their pects of life in the republic— fications such as “… the leaflet said” or publications. This seems paradoxical. Chechenskoe Obshchestvo (Chechen “… it is noted in the obituary.” Today, at the time of war, there is no Society) and Golos Chechenskoi Of course, a warning is not so dan- conflict between the authorities and Respubliki (Voice of the Chechen Re- gerous by itself, but three warnings are press in Chechnya, and cases of viola- public). As a result of their indepen- enough to shut a newspaper down. tion of journalists’ rights are rare. Mind dent views, which means that they do However, the affair did not end with a you, all this is 100 percent true only for not support either the Ichkerian side mere warning, and the territorial ad- the state-run press. or the Kadyrov government and Mos- ministration filed a request that the Separatist or rebel newspapers are cow federal government, these news- Chechnya prosecutor’s office open a publications that are produced and papers are vulnerable to attack from all case against me. distributed clandestinely. They are sides. Sometimes when my old friends and printed with the money provided by As the editor of Chechenskoe also readers of our newspaper run into the leaders of the Chechen Republic of Obshchestvo, I’ve experienced this vul- me in the street they ask me jokingly, Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil nerability. In late February, a list nam- “Why are you still alive?” I used to Basayev, and distributed privately, from ing 170 national traitors was distrib- retort with a joke as well: “Kadyrov has person to person. They are of low pro- uted in Chechnya. My name is on this no time to deal with us right now—he’s fessional and technical quality but at- list. An introduction to the list alleged got elections to think of. Besides, he tract readers by their manifestly anti- that each of us is a traitor of the needs us to create an illusion of an Russian orientation and their brave but Ichkerian nation and GRU (military opposition.” But now the elections are propagandistic terminology: Federal intelligence) agents. Furthermore, it over, and perhaps the time has come troops are called “invaders” and “ag- said all the people on the list would be for the authorities to make their “debt- gressors” and Kadyrov supporters “trai- definitely eliminated. The document ors” pay up. ■ tors.” Yet this use of propaganda and also included the names of all editors distortion of facts also alienates read- of state media in Chechnya, leaders of Timur Aliev is editor of Chechenskoe ers. At the moment, this is rather aca- the republic, and employees of mili- Obshchestvo newspaper and demic, since for several months now tary and law enforcement bodies as Chechnya coordinator for the Insti- these pro-independence publications traitors to be destroyed. It was signed tute for War and Peace Reporting have not been coming out. These news- “Sword of Ichkeria.” (IWPR). Natasha Chernyshova, who papers are not serious journalistic pub- My newspaper has also received is IWPR’s Russian translater in lications, since they generally print di- complaints from the government. In London, translated this article, gests of human rights organizations’ late April, the territorial administra- which was written before President press releases that had been reworded tion of the Ministry of Press of the Akhmad Kadyrov was murdered. using Ichkerian terminology, as well as Russian Federation in Chechnya issued materials taken from separatist Web a stern warning to our editorial office, [email protected] sites on the Internet. accusing us of violating the Russian (message must be sent in Russian) media law. The warning came after the Independent Press in newspaper published an article titled Chechnya “Leaflets with Yandarbiev’s obituary distributed in Chechnya” in its issue The republic’s four independent news- No. six on March 23, 2004 about the papers are the most active forum for former rebel leader Zelimkhan free journalistic expression in Yandarbiev, who was assassinated in

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 91 Words & Reflections A Scholarly Look at War Reporting In assessing coverage of war, contributors look for connections to the daily practice of journalism.

By Barbie Zelizer

s a former journalist, it’s difficult in the presumed responsibilities war ined. In it, scholars and journalists for me not to be overtaken in my reporters have and the dangers they track problems, issues and dilemmas Ascholarship about news report- undergo, in wavering degrees of gov- that reporters confront when they are ing by the actual events that drive the ernmental interference with reporting, responsible for covering war. Its dual news. Their beckoning—in ways that and in the impact public opinion was analysis of issues—local and global, are clear, compelling and relentlessly having on coverage. Some of these broad and small, amorphous and con- relevant—often leads me to my next changes have been long in coming— tained—reveals that reporting on war research agenda. In recent years, I’ve the result of incremental adaptations is inevitably made more complicated been drawn to examine the reporting between journalists and the political, by unanticipated challenges. of war and acts of terror, and my work social, cultural and economic institu- The book tracks war journalism since area is as filled with old newspapers tions they cover. Other changes emerge 1990, allowing the reader to under- and videotapes of news shows as it is as unanticipated metamorphoses of stand how, in this brief time, the nature with books. issues broader than journalism and are of war has changed and how these This interest was accompanied by a borrowed either from earlier wars or changes alter the ways in which jour- certain degree of déjà vu when I con- adapted in a piece-by-piece crafting of nalists report on it. Their assignment is templated the idea of coediting a book journalistic practice. looked at in diverse locales across Af- on war reporting presented to me by a Through our research and writing, rica, the Balkans, and the Middle East— colleague. Stuart Allan of the Univer- we hoped to contribute alternative especially in Iraq—and Southern Asia. sity of the West of England in Bristol, perspectives to pressing debates. To Writers examine how U.S. and British United Kingdom, with whom I had accomplish this, we brought together news media, in particular, rely on West- coedited “Journalism After September leading figures in the field—including ern assumptions—political, cultural 11” in 2002, believed the war against practicing and former journalists, as and moral—in their reporting about terror’s move into battlefield engage- well as academics with longstanding how and why war is waged. ment between nations signaled a need research interest in journalism—to re- The book concludes that reporting for a second volume to tackle the is- flect on coverage of the war in Iraq as on war deserves a special place in the sues of reporting war. I wasn’t as con- well as on the reporting of many other repertoire of practices by which re- vinced. While the events of September conflicts during the past decade and a porters work. But at the same time, the 11th were finite and thus more ame- half. By making the book’s scope broad, pitfalls and unevenness that character- nable to scholarly analysis (even if the we wanted to generate wide-ranging ize war journalism raise serious ques- ramifications of the events loomed large questions about reporting on war and tions that are pertinent to the practice and without resolution), the wars, first about its connections with other forms of journalism more broadly. in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, were messy, of journalistic practice. By examining “Reporting War” has three major amorphous and seemingly without end. problems related to journalists’ alle- sections: Even today, I remain unclear about giance, responsibility, truth-seeking what might actually be the best time for and balance, and the difficulties they 1. The first section focuses on war in an academic analysis of journalists’ faced in resolving such issues while the 21st century. It tracks issues coverage of these wars. reporting on war, we hoped these ex- such as the impact of the narrative Though this book’s timing was per- periences could be a litmus test for form on war journalism, tackling haps not ideal, there were enough thinking about issues in journalism censorship and reporting, the topic troublesome issues in reporting on more broadly. of deference to official framings of these wars to push us toward a more the war, and the rise of terrorists as immediate analysis. And so we em- Journalism in Wartime legitimate news figures. barked on our project. Our interest 2. The second section explores the role was in evaluating changes brought “Reporting War: Journalism in War- of journalists in bearing witness to about by the pacing of war and in the time” turned out to be a litmus test in war. It considers how the logic from technological modes of reporting war, more ways than we could have imag- old wars is recycled into new ones,

92 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Books

the impact of visual images and the In each of these sections, contribu- Barbie Zelizer is the Raymond Will- reporters’ accommodation to mili- tors illuminate how the exigencies of iams Chair of Communication at the tary language, and the tensions be- reporting war challenge the practice of Annenberg School for Communica- tween objectivity, patriotism and hu- journalism. In looking closely at the tion at the University of Pennsylva- manitarianism. reporting that resulted and by raising nia. During the spring 2004 semes- 3. The last section addresses the Iraq questions about how it took its shape, ter, she was a fellow at the Joan War, examining its coverage in news- “Reporting War” offers journalists a Shorenstein Center on the Press, papers, wire service reports, TV (in- variety of ways to think about war re- Politics & Public Policy at Harvard cluding local U.S. stations, the BBC, porting. The book also suggests that University. and Al Jazeera), grass-roots report- what happens in this realm can serve as ing and online journalism, as well as a barometer by which to guage to [email protected] coverage of dissent about the war. journalism’s future. ■

Securing the Right to Be Heard A new book explores how a 1960’s case about race in Mississippi transformed television news and the Federal Communications Commission.

By Kay Mills

hen viewers turn on the morn- ness Doctrine on his side, that is, that ing news on WLBT-TV in Jack- stations then had to present programs Wson, Mississippi, they see an on public issues and enable broadcast integrated news team. Both evening of all sides of those issues that were anchors are African-American. No big controversial. Evers complained to the deal today. Just a few decades ago in FCC, which took little action. In 1963, Mississippi—and indeed across the he finally did appear on WLBT and country—that was not the case. Virtu- responded eloquently to a broadcast ally all TV newscasters were white, as by Jackson’s mayor, who had refused were the people behind the cameras. It to meet leaders of the black commu- took a landmark communications law nity or to respond favorably to their case and a petition to the Federal Com- rising demands for fair treatment. Only munications Commission (FCC) to a few weeks later, Evers was ambushed bring about this sea change. The case, and killed. largely forgotten today, also ushered in an era of public participation in The Legal Challenge Begins federal regulatory matters that had never been seen before and might not The following year—1964, just before be again anytime soon. hundreds of students from the North In the 1950’s, white Mississippians went to Mississippi to help register were resisting the desegregation of their black voters and teach in Freedom schools after the historic Brown v. Schools—the Reverend Everett Parker Board of Education ruling that sepa- and the Office of Communication of ers, Aaron Henry and the Reverend rate schools for white and black chil- the United Church of Christ launched R.L.T. Smith, filed a challenge against dren were inherently unequal. Medgar what would be a 16-year legal battle the WLBT license, then up for renewal. Evers, executive secretary for the NAACP over the Jackson station. Parker trained They claimed that WLBT failed to serve in Mississippi, repeatedly tried—un- a group of whites who were willing to the interest of the large black audi- successfully—to get WLBT to give black get involved—a decision not lightly ence—some 45 percent of Jackson’s citizens time to respond to programs made in those years—to monitor the population—and did not fairly present he felt presented only the white point programming on WLBT. Then Parker, controversial issues, especially in the of view on the issue. He had the Fair- joined by two Mississippi black lead- area of race relations.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 93 Words & Reflections

It’s hard to believe today, but until the case and renewed the license. It Writing for the court, Judge Warren the courts decided this case, the only did, however, acknowledge that the Burger said that “in order to safeguard people who could participate in FCC station, owned then by Lamar Life the public interest in broadcasting … matters were those with an economic Broadcasting, was less than zealous in we hold that some ‘audience participa- stake in the issue or people who could its adherence to the Fairness Doctrine. tion’ must be allowed in license re- claim electrical interference from The church appealed the FCC rul- newal proceedings.” This decision broadcasters’ signals. So the FCC said ing, saying that its charges merited a opened the doors to the public interest that the church’s Office of Communi- public hearing. The federal appeals movement that saw groups challeng- cation and its allies had no standing in court panel that heard the case agreed. ing licenses, negotiating concessions from broadcasters trying to sell sta- tions, and seeking everything from an end to cigarette advertising to improve- Weaving Together Stories Waiting to Be Told ments in children’s television program- ming. The appeals court ordered a hear- Writing a book is like preparing a used collections of personal pa- ing, which was held in Jackson in 1967. long newspaper series, only more pers at colleges and universities By this time, WLBT had changed its so. First, I went to the law books in New York and Mississippi. lawyers, hiring the influential Wash- to read the two appeals court These records enriched my inter- ington firm of Arnold & Porter, Paul decisions and then tracked down views, helping jog memories of Porter being a former FCC chairman. It the FCC files at the National Ar- events that occurred 35 years ear- had also fired the manager who seemed chives at College Park, Maryland, lier, and corroborating (or not) to be the lightning rod in the case and to learn that a mere 10-page peti- faulty memories. started hiring black announcers and tion filed in 1964 had generated Sometimes serendipity takes broadcasting black church services. But 25 grocery-sized boxes of docu- over. For example, Patricia Derian, it would eventually prove too little, too ments during the next 16 years. I a former Mississippi political ac- late, as the case continued through the went through them all, some sev- tivist and Clinton administration FCC and the courts. eral times. At first much of what I figure whom I knew had been found could have been in Greek involved in a latter stage of the The Courts Decide for all I knew, but as I did more case, told me that in 1964 she and interviews and consulted other another woman I knew had In 1968, despite a strong dissent by files, documents that had previ- helped monitor WLBT to docu- commissioners Kenneth Cox and ously been meaningless took on ment its programming. I would Nicholas Johnson, the FCC once again relevance. never have learned this on my renewed the license and once again Having learned from inad- own since the plaintiffs had prom- the challengers appealed and won. It equate record keeping for an ear- ised never to reveal the monitors’ was Burger’s last opinion before mov- lier book, I marked files with their identities. Another time, when I ing up to be chief justice of the United source, including archival volume was wrestling with the complex- States. Brimming with indignation, numbers and locations, and set ity of the last stage of the case, I Burger wrote that the court had not up filing systems, one chrono- looked back at a document I’d intended that the members of the pub- logical (for actions before the case copied and forgotten. Attached lic be treated as interlopers. He found began, turning points in the case, to it were several news stories the record beyond repair and ordered and the status today of issues it from 1973 detailing the case and the FCC to open proceedings for a new raised), the other alphabetical (for quoting key players. Best of all, licensee. Lamar Broadcasting could par- people involved, from FCC com- however, was Bill Greider’s Wash- ticipate, but it was clear to everyone missioners to WLBT employees). ington Post story in which he that it would not retain the license. This case’s paper trail was a wrote that the case was like “a The two WLBT decisions stunned rich one. In addition to the pa- mudball fight in a small room.” the industry. In effect, they told sta- pers at the National Archives, I That phrase had been there all tions around the country that if they went to the Mississippi Depart- along, just waiting for me to find discriminated against their black audi- ment of Archives & History in it. Which, I suppose, could be ences and had few black employees, Jackson, the Library of Congress, said about all the stories in the they, too, could be in trouble. At about the Washingon National Records book that were just waiting to be the same time, the Office of Communi- Center in Suitland, Maryland, and told. ■ —K.M. cation asked the FCC to issue rules requiring equal employment opportu- nity in broadcasting. The tide was turn-

94 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Books ing in that direction anyway in the late WLBT because of his race, became chair- ness Doctrine while it still was in effect, 1960’s, but the WLBT case made it man of the board. WLBT remained reminding stations that they had the difficult for the commission to turn its majority black owned until 2000, when obligation to present controversial is- back on this request. it merged with a chain of stations now sues and allow response time for people While the FCC was considering who know as Liberty Corp. who disagreed. Even without the doc- should run the station permanently, it trine, the standard of fairness today is named an interim operator—and that’s Why This Case Matters higher for local TV stations now than it when change really started to occur. was at the beginning of this case. Communications Improvement, Inc. The case is history. The FCC has de- As a result of this case and the equal had an integrated board and wanted regulated much of broadcasting and employment rules, the FCC required, four things from management: that it has put the Fairness Doctrine on the for nearly three decades, that broad- hire more blacks; that it create an inte- shelf. The courts have made it impos- casters do more to hire and promote grated children’s minorities and program; that it women. These rules provide more bal- helped lead to the di- anced news cover- At a critical time in U.S. history, federal versity that you now age, and that it con- regulators had to listen to citizens, not just to see on your TV news- tinue to make a broadcasters. … People started to think cast. And in Missis- profit. After a few sippi itself, WLBT in- months, the board differently about how television affected their tensified its coverage fired the holdover lives, and young attorneys established public of the black commu- station manager interest communications law firms to help nity at a time of vast from Lamar’s own- change in that state. ership days and community groups ‘talk back to their Most of all, perhaps, hired the first black television sets ….’ this case showed station manager in once again what one the country, Will- small group of indi- iam Dilday. He sent viduals could do to reporters on stories that they had never sible for the commission to have any make government responsive if they covered before. Ultimately, the station equal employment rules with teeth. were willing to stay the course. ■ won a prestigious Peabody Award for The public interest movement has exposing the conflicts of interest of a waned—although there remain dedi- Kay Mills, a former Los Angeles leading state legislator. cated groups seeking to combat con- Times editorial writer, is the author Meanwhile, five groups vied for the solidation of media ownership and fight of “Changing Channels: The Civil permanent license. Washington Post for affirmative action programs. So what Rights Case That Transformed Televi- reporter Bill Greider described their difference did this case make? sion,” a book about the WLBT case battle in a 1973 article as “a mudball At a critical time in U.S. history, that was published this year by the fight in a small room.” Throughout this federal regulators had to listen to citi- University Press of Mississippi. part of the case, each group had tried zens, not just to broadcasters. The first to turn up whatever harmful informa- WLBT decision gave the public a venue [email protected] tion it could find about the others. for taking action against broadcasters Often they were successful. The most that were ignoring them and their is- Republican of the groups was at first sues. People started to think differ- awarded the license. Then investiga- ently about how television affected their tions turned up information about the lives, and young attorneys established business dealings of one of its mem- public interest communications law bers, and the case was reopened. After firms to help community groups “talk years of attempting to reach a settle- back to their television sets,” to use ment—delayed in part because some former FCC Commissioner Nicholas of the participants weren’t willing to Johnson’s phrase. The spirit of protest commit to majority black ownership— was well under way through the civil the principal players finally reached an rights, antiwar and women’s move- agreement. A merged group with, in- ments, and the legal precedent this deed, majority black ownership re- case established allowed activists to ceived the license. Aaron Henry, once train their sights on broadcasters. denied the chance to buy airtime on The case also buttressed the Fair-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 95 Words & Reflections

WATCHDOG Digging Beneath Quotes to Tell the Story A reporter decides to ‘cover what government does instead of what politicians say.’

By David Cay Johnston

early a decade ago I set out to fall, the budget for road repairs would to crush godless Communism. show that there was a better change, or any of the other issues that The idea began when the music Nway to report on tax. The idea actually mattered to me as a home- stopped at Simply Blues, a Hollywood had two parts. The first was to largely owner, resident and parent. restaurant, and someone tuned on a ignore what politicians said about the television set just as Reagan delivered tax system on the theory that this was A Different Kind of Coverage his victory speech. My date joined a already well covered. The second was booing crowd in throwing ice cubes at to focus on how the tax system actually The idea of breaking away from “he the television. My mind drifted to works after the laws are enacted, to get said” journalism, of focusing on what thoughts of a new era and how best to at how all of the promises of reform Washington does, first came to me when craft the first rough draft of the history and relief and cuts and targeted fa- that would unfold over the next vors translate into actual policy. four or eight years. The intent was to examine not Soon I approached the national what politicians say, but what they editor with an idea. I asked to be have done. made the paper’s second White It is an idea that I wish would House correspondent, but subject dominate journalism. I know that is to one crucial rule: I could not go to what readers want. In survey after the White House. Ever. survey, the letters to the editors of Instead of writing about what the the better newspapers and cocktail President said, I proposed mining party chatter all show the same thing. executive orders, presidential let- People want news with substance ters, and anything else to focus en- and clarity, they want the hard work tirely on what the President was of making sense of issues done for actually doing. I laid out rich veins them, and they want facts that are of action to be mined for stories. rounded and even-handed so they The editor said it was a superb idea can apply their own lens of percep- and would surely generate lots of tion and draw their own conclu- news—and that was the problem. sions. Of course readers, viewers He imagined friction with the Wash- and listeners soak up O.J.-Monica- ington bureau and the regular White Chandra-Scott Peterson-Michael House correspondent, and he said Jackson, but they want that as des- it just would not be worth it. Read- sert, not the main course. ers were discounted in his equa- And people are really tired of tion. news they can’t use, which explains A decade and a half later I had much of the slide in circulation and shown a new way to cover police as viewership. My favorite example of bureaucrats with guns, to cover losing sight of basics is a Philadel- nonprofits as hard news and (at The phia Inquirer story a few years back Philadelphia Inquirer) breaking new on the budget of suburban Montgom- I was at the Los Angeles Times. It was ground in covering the burgeoning ery County, the most critical market for 1980, on the night Ronald Reagan was casino industry. Yet I still hungered to the Inquirer’s future. The story was elected President. Clearly he intended cover Washington without going there, short. It reported on the three county to change Washington. He promised to cover what government does in- commissioners speaking ill of one an- fewer taxes, less regulation, and less stead of what politicians say. other. It had not a single word on spending as well as vowing that Cold Fortunately the legendary Gene Rob- whether property taxes would rise or War détente would give way to a drive erts, who had brought me to Philadel-

96 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Books phia, had come out of retirement to radio is fluff or is controversy devoid of back home. rejoin The New York Times. Roberts substance. It was not the first time I had heard shared my view that taxes were badly Senator Christopher Dodd of Con- such nonsense. I wish it would have covered, that there was too much of necticut complained to me recently been the last. what politicians promised and not about the degradation in the quality of This idea that reporters depend on enough on what they had delivered. news since he first came to Washington politicians or anyone for quotes is a He brought me into the Times. in 1975. He said he actually longed for cancer of fearful journalism tinged with At first my immediate editors thought many of the reporters who he said used favor for those who want to escape I should work from Washington. I pro- to grill him about issues because they accountability. Nobody is required to tested. asked questions about matters of sub- give us quotes or answer questions. Washington beguiles, and perhaps stance. Nobody has to return our telephone forces, reporters to cover sayings in- “Now it’s ‘give me a quote,’” he said, calls. stead of doings. Doubters should look thrusting his wine glass at me like it But the funny thing about politi- at the career of Jim Warren, a great and was a microphone. “You’ve got all these cians is that they love to talk. And their insightful reporter who came to Wash- reporters who don’t know anything offices spew out all sorts of statements ington as the Chicago Tribune bureau …,” he complained before waxing nos- that can be mined for comments. And chief vowing to be apart from the sys- talgically about reporters who under- saying a politician declined comment tem. Today he is so thoroughly a Wash- stood Pentagon procurement and other means more space to explicate on the ington journalist that he has become issues that informed their work. issues. one of its televised stars. I knew exactly what he meant. Ear- Here’s an idea for a newspaper edi- In New York, I sent myself to tax lier that day a young woman stopped tor who lacks the budget to open for- school at my desk. Soon various Times’s me on the street, announced that she eign bureaus, but knows readers want editors, and a few reporters, asked was a reporter for Sinclair Broadcast- international news. Assign a savvy re- what I was doing. They would see me at ing, and thrust a microphone in my porter to cover foreign affairs from his my desk, piled high with thick books of face. Suddenly a camera appeared. or her desk. Tell the reporter not to statistical tables or standing at the Without so much as asking my name, worry about the official version of printer as pages and pages of court she declared that female circumcision events from Washington because other decisions came out. Now and then they is illegal in the United States and asked reporters and the state department spotted me doing algebra. Some of what I thought about “a growing move- press office will take care of that. Just them told me they thought I must be ment” to ban male circumcision. build a list of names and contacts at the nuts. Ignoring whether her premise was embassies of other governments, and It did not help that my first few factual, I looked squarely into the cam- at their foreign ministries, and report stories had all the clarity of mud. But I era and said: “In a world overflowing on what they are saying about our broke a few good stories here and with important issues you think this is government’s actions. there and after a few years began to get news? Shame on you.” In time readers will get a different, notice outside the paper for the sub- Earlier this year a reporter for an- and informing, take on world events. ■ stance of my reports. other newspaper’s Washington bureau There is nothing magic about what I sought me out to express admiration David Cay Johnston is a reporter for do. There are others who do the same for my work. I told him that he can do The New York Times. His recent sort of work. There should be many the same thing, just read the book, “Perfectly Legal: The Covert others. Many others. government’s data and decide for your- Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to self what is significant and then go Benefit the Super Rich—and Cheat Taking Reporting Seriously report out the story. Everybody Else,” was awarded a “Oh no,” he said, “legislators would medal by Investigative Reporters The journalistic problems that drove refuse to talk if they really disliked and Editors as book of the year. In me to try and find a better way to report what they read.” 2001, he won the Pulitzer Prize for on taxes are not confined to this sub- “So what?” I said. his beat reporting “that exposed ject. They are a growing cancer on Lots of people do not return my loopholes and inequities in the U.S. serious journalism. calls. I try to dig out of the record what tax code.” Ask the person next to you on the they have said, but in the end they airplane or at the school play or in the might just get a mention that they de- [email protected] supermarket checkout line about the clined comment. news, and you will get back all sorts of The reporter replied that without responses. Many people will quickly quotes his editors would not be satis- turn to how much of what is in newspa- fied. Being cut off by politicians or pers, magazines and on television and their flacks could mean reassignment

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 97 Words & Reflections Measuring the News Media’s Effectiveness A new annual report locates plenty of contradictory trends and perceptions.

By Dante Chinni

he news media in 2004 are a in the distance. Instead they act more study in contradiction. Conglom- like oil spills, as they run in several Teration has made them bigger directions at once. Or as the report and more powerful than ever. But sur- says, “We are witnessing conflicting veys show that most outlets have dwin- trends of fragmentation and conver- dling audiences. The same four or five gence simultaneously, and they some- stories tend to dominate every 24-hour times lead in opposite directions.” cable network on any given day. But the Internet offers the public a much Where Is Journalism broader reach of news outlets and a Headed? more comprehensive news diet. The American public is in danger of being Journalism is in the middle of an “ep- force-fed a homogenized news prod- ochal change,” according to the report, uct. But it also faces the possibility of and where it will end up is not yet clear. splitting into thousands of tiny pub- But in 2004, some clear trends are lics, with each group getting a different visible. Eight major ones define where version of reality from a different set of journalism is headed across all the Web sites. media studied. And the identified Taken together, this set of incongru- trends are converging to reshape the advertising from news, and even ities adds up to a time of peril and news landscape. their ethical standards. promise for the news media. And in the 5. Without investing in building new decade ahead, we are likely to find out 1. A growing number of news outlets audiences, the long-term outlook in which of these directions the public are chasing relatively static or even for many traditional news outlets and the media will head. shrinking audiences for news. One appears problematic. Many tradi- Last year the Project for Excellence result of this is that most sectors of tional media are maintaining their in Journalism set out to produce “The the news media are losing audience. profitability by focusing on cost-cut- State of the News Media 2004,” which The only sectors seeing general au- ting, including reducing the re- will become an annual report. As con- dience growth today are online, eth- sources going to their newsrooms. ceptualized by the project and The Pew nic and alternative media. 6. Convergence seems more inevitable Charitable Trusts (which funds it), the 2. Much of the new investment in jour- and potentially less threatening to report was to provide a comprehen- nalism today is in disseminating the journalists than it might have seemed sive look at the news media from a news, not in collecting it. While there a few years ago. At least for now, variety of angles and then provide a are exceptions, in general journal- online journalism appears to be lead- glimpse at where they are headed as a ists face real pressures trying to ing more to convergence with older whole. To do this, the project gathered maintain quality. media than to replacement of it. data from a variety of sources to use in 3. In many parts of the news media, the This change offers the potential for analyzing eight major media sectors: raw elements of news are increas- new audiences, new ways of newspapers, magazines, the Internet, ingly shown as the end product. storytelling, more immediacy, and radio, ethnic/alternative media and This is particularly true in the newer, more citizen involvement. network, local and cable TV news. For 24-hour media. In cable and online, 7. The biggest question might not be each of these media it considered six there is a tendency toward a jumbled, technologic but economic. For jour- areas: content, audience, economics, chaotic, partial quality in some re- nalists, online appears to represent ownership, news investment, and the ports, without much synthesis or opportunity for old media, but the public’s attitudes. even ordering of the information. bigger issue may be financial. Can What the project found is contained 4. Journalistic standards vary even in- online provide as strong an eco- in more than 400 printed pages, and its side a single news organization. nomic foundation for newsgathering conclusions are murky. The data don’t Some companies vary their news as television and newspapers have flow like rivers toward definable points agenda, their rules on separating done?

98 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Books

8. Those who would manipulate the public service. These attitudes can be circulation is increasingly scattered press and public appear to be gain- found in two numbers: throughout the country in areas based ing leverage over journalists who on cultural and income factors. These cover them. As more outlets com- • Between 1985 and 2002 the number news outlets charge more than their pete for information, it becomes a of Americans who think news orga- competitors (NPR does it through do- seller’s market. nizations are highly professional de- nation requests), yet they are finding clined from 72 to 49 percent. new audiences. Together these eight trends have • During that same time period, those No one expects the news media to led to overall thinning of the news who think news organizations are simply do good journalism for the sake product. In nearly every medium news moral declined from 54 to 39 per- of doing it. Conveying news remains a coverage, in general, has gotten lighter. cent, and those who think they are business that is often subject to the will Large national news outlets, such as immoral rose from 13 to 36 percent. of boardrooms and forced to meet network news programs and news specified profit margins. And when magazines, have shifted more of their As the report puts it in describing news companies go broke bringing coverage to entertainment and lifestyle this divide: “Journalists believe they viewers, listeners and readers the news, in the hopes of holding onto their are working in the public interest and they can’t serve the journalistic mis- audience. On the evening network are trying to be fair and independent in sion. But the current audience decline news, government coverage has that cause. The public thinks these and receding public trust ought to cau- dropped from 32 percent of stories in journalists are either lying or deluding tion news organizations not to make 1987 to just 16 percent in 2003. And in themselves. The public believes that decisions about coverage only on the news magazines, national affairs cover- news organizations are operating basis of meeting budget targets. age made up 35 percent of pages as largely to make money and that the The years ahead look like they will recently as 1995. In 2001, it was 30 journalists who work for these organi- offer the news media new opportuni- percent. In 2003, it has dropped to 25 zations are primarily motivated by pro- ties to reach out to their audiences. percent. fessional ambition and self-interest.” The multimedia capabilities of the Web At the same time, the increased news In their short-term quest to gain are likely to grow and give old-line demand created by the 24-hour news- audience, are the news media under- print outlets the chance to enliven their when-you-want-it cable news and the mining their franchise of being reliable coverage with audio and video. And as Internet places news organizations in a sources for serious news coverage? broadband connections increase the difficult spot. They are forced to churn From what this report discovered, the network news divisions might find new out more stories or update news more answer increasingly looks like yes. life with a Web platform that allows often, while keeping costs down. Beat The news media might be able to them to counter to the “always on” reporting has taken a hit across all find a way out of some of these prob- reportage of the 24-hour cable net- media, but particularly on television lems through the Internet. While the works, which often produces “live” but where it has become more important old-line media has viewed online jour- ultimately empty standup reports. to have on-air jacks-of-all-trades who nalism suspiciously since its inception, Technology alone won’t save the can cover a trial one day and a bank the Internet might afford news organi- news media. News organizations have merger the next. zations the opportunity to go deeper to strengthen the basics of sound jour- in their coverage, particularly as media nalism—with solid reporting, engag- The Effects of Media Trends convergence becomes more common- ing writing, and tough, thorough edit- place. There are two big “ifs” in this ing. But they might need to find new The effect of such cuts may already be equation: if news organizations are Web-based revenue models to make apparent in the stories the media have willing to spend what is necessary to those things possible. Devoting the missed in recent years. For months the support serious reporting and if they necessary resources to bolster the jour- 2001 energy “crisis” in California was recognize and try to reach the audi- nalism is not easy. It will require a blamed on a lack of power plants. Only ence that exists for serious news. change in the mindset of some news later was it discovered that power com- One interesting finding in the organizations where the focus is on panies might have been tampering with project’s report is the rise of what one cheaper and faster. But without such the energy supply, arranging for short- might call a boutique niche media. The integral changes, the news media will ages to appear in order to increase Economist with its more serious text- continue on a road of decline. ■ electricity prices. heavy approach to news coverage had Citizens seem to be paying attention its circulation nearly triple between Dante Chinni is a senior associate at to what they are seeing and hearing. 1988 and 2002, while Time and the Project for Excellence in Journal- Surveys show that the public regards Newsweek both lost subscribers. The ism and a columnist for The Chris- journalism as just another business, audience for National Public Radio tian Science Monitor. more focused on the bottom line and (NPR) more than doubled in the past self-aggrandizement than on being a 10 years. And The New York Times [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 99 International Journalism

The Bangkok Post managed to avoid Prime Minister Thaksin’s wrath “at a time when less august watchdogs within the Thai press were being systematically silenced,” says Philip J. Cunningham, who writes for the South China Morning Post and other publications in Asia. But in February the Post’s editor, Veera Pratheepchaikul, lost his job when government officials applied pressure on the paper’s management because of stories deemed too critical of Thaksin. As Veera tells Cunningham, “What is happening now is worse than under the military regimes because now Thailand is democratic, and this isn’t supposed to happen.” In China, the role the Internet plays in dissemination of news and opinion is large and controversial. Two individuals who closely follow the interplay between government attempts to limit the Internet’s reach within China and its evolving growth as a key communication tool write about these issues. Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, describes how “the transformative effect of the Internet has already set China on an irreversible course toward greater openness and public participation in its social and political life,” and Jonathan Zittrain, cofounder of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, urges Western news organizations to use technology to work “to circumvent Internet filtering from its side, instead of requiring that those trying to get to news figure out ways to reach blocked sites on their own.” ■

Government Pressure and Thailand’s Press When a leading newspaper editor is fired, troubling signs point to the interference of business and government interests.

By Philip J. Cunningham

he Bangkok Post seemed pretty (one of the Post’s founders was a re- The Nation can be characterized as well insulated from the govern- tired American OSS officer) and two skinny and undernourished at times, Tment interference that was dog- parts rumor (they didn’t like the way it reflecting budget restraint and a lack of ging the rest of the Thai media during reported, or failed to report, the events advertising support, the Post, in con- Prime Minister Thaksin’s rapid con- leading up to the bloody coup of Octo- trast, suffers from journalistic gout, solidation of power in the past three ber 6, 1976). ample ad revenue coupled with an years. Centrist and pro-business, the In contrast, the Post’s main English- unspoken fear of biting the hand that Post has survived numerous coups language rival, The Nation, founded by feeds it. d’etat, authoritarian military rulers, the young, ambitious Suthichai Yoon Thaksin’s CEO-style approach to corrupt civilian administrations, and in the 1970’s just as students were politics showed some early promise in the excesses of mob-led democracy. getting restive, has enjoyed the advan- reviving business fortunes battered by Indeed, student activists in the 1970’s tages and disadvantages of being the the 1997 economic collapse, so things referred to the Post as the “CIA” paper, new kid on the block: strident but less went swimmingly at first. Being a pro- an unfair and essentially xenophobic influential, fewer apparent vested in- business paper with a middle-of-the- accusation based on one part truth terests but less advertising revenue. If road editorial policy and the self-im-

100 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 International Journalism posed decorum of being Thailand’s Somchai Neelaphaijit, a renowned law- Thailand’s highly respected monarch, leading English-language window to yer who had been defending five Thai while a close reading of the news snip- the world, the Post was the bearer of Muslim suspects brutally tortured by pet on the contrary suggests that it was good news. Whether by habit or de- the police, as “a domestic spat.” Thaksin himself who had annoyed the sign, the Post rarely gives its readership Following the prime minister’s lead king with his intrusive business deal- the low-down on the shocking, grue- down the primrose path has again and ings. Two FEER correspondents who some and tragically endemic violence again proved to be bad journalism. reside in Thailand were subject to xe- that is the daily fare of Thai language While it would be an exaggeration to nophobic pressures and only narrowly tabloids. While this is arguably a reflec- say the Post had embraced Thaksin, it escaped jail or deportation. The tion of discretion and good taste, it nonetheless effectively avoided his Economist’s annual report on Thai- also keeps the less savory aspects of wrath at a time when less august watch- land was banned, and International Thai society out of sight and out of dogs within the Thai press were being Herald Tribune contributor Philip mind to the “benefit” of diplomacy, systematically silenced. The absence of Bowring was roundly booed by Thaksin tourism and business. The gray lady alternative views on television was es- for suggesting the prime minister’s approach of eschewing stories on rape, pecially deafening, as Thaksin used his much-vaunted “Thaksinomics” eco- domestic violence, suicide and traffic position as prime minister to assume nomic program was not what it seemed. accidents is a legitimate editorial stance. the levers of control at state-controlled But what about bodies washed up on radio and TV, while as Thailand’s num- The Bangkok Post the shore and bullet-ridden corpses ber one tycoon he bought ITV, a for- Controversy with political implications? merly independent station that had been set up specifically to offer an The first sign of trouble for the Bangkok The Price of Acquiescence alternative to state-dominated broad- Post came in the form of a news story it cast media. The print press, being less reported but never effectively followed The current upsurge of unrest in the amenable to centralized control, came up on. The Central Group, a depart- Muslim-dominated provinces of the increasingly under attack, not so much ment store and hotel chain, which is Thai south, for example, which has in the form of draconian censorship the largest single shareholder in the since the January 4, 2004 raid on an but rather through quirky, idiosyncratic Bangkok Post, was threatened by po- army base included some 20 school attacks voiced by Prime Minister tentially backbreaking legal action from burnings, a hotel bombing, dozens of Thaksin himself. the Thaksin administration over dis- machete attacks, sniper shootings, tor- The owner of the small but respected puted land rights in Bangkok and ture, abductions and disappearances, Naew Na, a Thai language daily, was Pattaya. Although a quid pro quo has and the April 28th separatist attacks approached by Thaksin during a never been proven, the Central Group that resulted in 108 attackers being friendly game of golf and asked to sack not only resolved its dispute with the gunned down by police does not make his star columnist and commentator, government but also has become an for pleasant reading. But it makes an Prasong Soonsiri. The owner balked outspoken government supporter and especially shocking leap from the pages and went public with the story, and partner in government-sponsored eco- of the Post, which had previously Prasong continues to write withering nomic schemes such as the Bangkok downlayed reports of the early stirrings criticisms of Thaksin, largely couched Fashion City Extravaganza. of Mujahadeen-linked violence in that in fable and metaphor. But another Then in late February, Veera region for reasons of politics, com- writer on the same paper was pres- Pratheepchaikul, the editor of the merce and style. sured to leave. Respected academic Bangkok Post, was unceremoniously Prime Minister Thaksin set the tone Thirayuth Boonmee was roundly criti- sacked. The Post, like the rest of the for coverage (or lack thereof) by re- cized for daring to criticize and told to Thai media, had been suffering from peatedly dismissing the bad news from “go back to the library where you be- the oppressive atmosphere of Thaksin’s the south as mere “banditry” and “con- long.” The Nation Group, which lost its nanny state: “Why didn’t you give more flicts of interest among drug dealers.” contract to produce news for ITV, was positive coverage to government ac- Even after the Bali bombing of 2002, further yanked around and humiliated complishments?” “Stop writing about when the Thai language press began to with advertising boycotts, spurious as- bird flu!” “What will foreigners think?” report more aggressively on terror ac- sets investigations, and an increasingly “Don’t you care about the fate of the tivities in south Thailand, Thaksin unfriendly regulatory environment that nation?” Additionally the Post was hit openly castigated journalists in Hong nearly decimated its television chan- with specific in-house complaints about Kong and Bangkok who dared to sug- nel. certain editorials, critical articles, and gest that Thailand might have a home- Foreign journalists were not im- even letters to the editor. Sacked edi- grown terror problem of its own. And mune to Thaksin’s fury. Four Far East- tor Veera related to me that the outside this March, the prime minister cava- ern Economic Review [FEER] journal- meddling that led to his dismissal was lierly dismissed the unsolved disap- ists were named in a lése majesté case gradual but inexorable, making his last pearance and suspected murder of for allegedly impugning the dignity of months on the job physically exhaust-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 101 International Journalism

ing as the tempo of complaints in- But accounts leaked to The Nation and ference, including the case of Siam creased. other outlets suggest that Central Rath Weekly editor, Rungruang The tipping point that put the Post Group politics and ad revenue were Preechakul, who saw copy rewritten, at odds with the government and the decisive factors in the abrupt editorial entire issues confiscated, and was editorial side of the paper against pro- change. A generous advertising deal pressed to quit for his critical coverage Thaksin voices in management, seems from the Central Group and other de- of the government during the bird flu to have come from a “perfect storm” of partment stores participating in the story. three unrelated news stories that cast Bangkok Fashion City Extravaganza The Thai Post, (not to be confused Prime Minister Thaksin in a negative only served to exacerbate rather than with Post Today, a Thai language paper light: King Bhumibol’s December 5th heal the rift between the editorial and launched by the Bangkok Post last year) birthday speech, in which Thaksin was advertising sides of the Post. is currently being sued by Shin Corp. chided for his arrogance; the sudden Veera has been quick to point out he along with courageous NGO media upswing of terror attacks in the south, was no hero in this free press saga. He reformer Supinya Klangnarong for al- and the government cover-up of the willingly walked the tightrope, trying leging that the prime minister’s family chicken flu outbreak. to maintain credibility while juggling company had benefited under his po- “I know the prime minister doesn’t mounting political and commercial litical leadership. The Thai Post, which like being criticized,” said King pressures. In his last few months on is vulnerable, rallied to Veera’s defense, Bhumibol in his annual public address. the job, he angered fellow staffers for showing its support for the Post with a “Read the papers, let them criticize, uncharacteristically spiking a number political cartoon, an especially effec- listen to them.” A Post sub-editor head- of articles and even a column by Post tive form of political criticism that is in lined the December 5th story contain- veteran Kanjana Spindler, Thailand’s full blossom now. Naew Na ran a front- ing the above quote to read “King warns answer to Maureen Dowd, who poked page article about “dark influences” at P.M. on Arrogance.” The judiciousness fun, in a delightfully caustic manner, at the Post and a hard-hitting editorial of using “arrogance” became a subse- the hubris and delusion of a govern- applauding Veera’s distinguished two quent source of contention and ten- ment-sponsored fashion parade that and a half decades-long journalism ca- sion between Post staffers and sup- coursed down one of the dirtiest streets reer dating back to his fights with dic- porters of the prime minister. in Bangkok. Around the time Kanjana’s tatorial regimes. “Thaksin is killing the column was due to run, a full-page media watchdog,” lamented the Naew Political Meddling in color ad sponsored in part by the Cen- Na editorial, “closing the eyes and ears Newsroom Decisions tral Group ran in the Post expressing of the people.” “Honorable thanks to H.E. [His Excel- The Bangkok Post, masthead motto What might seem trivial on a word-by- lency] Prime Minister Thaksin “The Newspaper You Can Trust,” is the word, day-by-day basis adds up to some- Shinawatra and the Government” for last in a long line of Thai papers hit thing altogether more threatening in the “great success” of “The 1st Fashion with political editorial interference and, the cumulative. “In 30 years, there has Phenomenon.” in keeping with its establishment pre- been no political meddling as shock- The crux of the matter at the Post tensions, it has been rather reticent ing as this,” Veera explained to me on was that the right hand was taking about its own demise. Pichai his last day in the editor’s office. “What serious money from the pro-govern- Chuensuksawadi told a concerned au- is happening now is worse than under ment fashionistas, while the left hand dience at the Foreign Correspondents’’ the military regimes because now Thai- insisted on the freedom to criticize the Club that he could understand if some land is democratic, and this isn’t sup- same. And it is to the credit of replace- readers were upset and might not elect posed to happen.” ment editor, Kowit Sanandang, that to buy the Post anymore, but he coun- Veera told me that Central Group’s Kanjana’s controversial column belat- seled patience, saying the Post would board representative, Suthikiati edly got the airing it so thoroughly remain true to its mission. Rather than Chirathivat, who had the habit of show- deserved. shed light on the political battles going ing up for a “pop-in” visit at the Bangkok on within the Post, he urged the audi- Post about once a week, had been Wither Thailand’s ence instead to look for “proof in the unhappy with a number of editorial Watchdogs? pudding.” decisions and had given him three Thepchai Yong, a Nation Group edi- months to “get in line.” Then on Febru- Fortunately for readers, Thai print tor, who himself was pressured out of ary 20, 2004, Suthikiati dropped a media watchdogs have not lost their the editor’s chair at Khomchatluk for bombshell, saying that Veera was out bark or their bite, although some have running a story on alleged cheating by of a job. been replaced by lapdogs, others the prime minister’s son, has written Post Publishing Plc’s Board of Direc- muzzled or chased away. In the past persistently and perceptively on gov- tors denies economic or political inter- year, nearly a dozen ace reporters or ernment media meddling. Thus it was ference, saying Veera was moved for editors have lost their jobs under con- very much in character for The Nation the purpose of “business expansion.” ditions fairly described as media inter- to come to the Post’s defense in its

102 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 International Journalism struggle for editorial control, though reminder that the success of a newspa- silence, as if nothing had happened. Or there is both high-mindedness and per requires a healthy distance from as I was told by an embattled Post practical self-interest in doing so, as the powers that be. And a certain staffer on the day Veera lost his job as the forces rattling the Post could one amount of passive-aggressive compen- editor, “If you want to really know day destroy The Nation. Suriya sation for the cave-in to higher powers what’s happening at the Bangkok Post, Jungrungreangkit, a close associate of is evident in recent issues of the Post, you better read The Nation.” ■ Thaksin and minister of industry in the which has used the word “regime” to current government, has in recent describe the Thaksin administration Philip J. Cunningham, a 1998 months bought up as much as 30 per- and has redoubled its efforts to un- Nieman Fellow, writes for the South cent of The Nation group’s shares. For- cover dirt on the badly bungled south- China Morning Post and other publi- tunately for Nation readers, the 800- ern unrest. And fans of Veera’s subtly cations with a focus on politics and pound gorilla in the boardroom has subversive news analysis no doubt culture in Asia. He wrote a version not yet caused The Nation to lose its welcome the continuation of his weekly of this story about Veera bold voice. column. Pratheepchaikul’s case, “Press Under In the spring, Central Department But when it comes to offering the Fire in Thailand,” which was pub- Store had promotional giveaways of public an explanation for axed articles lished in the February 26, 2004 the Bangkok Post and Post Today, even and buried stories, not to mention the Asian Wall Street Journal. on days when articles critical of the removal of a respected editor, the Post government were run. This is a happy has maintained an almost Orwellian [email protected]

The Rising Tide of Internet Opinion in China Online discussions ‘now actually drive the agenda of official media.’ By Xiao Qiang

n March 17, 2003, Sun Zhigang, ment of the Custody and Repatriation number of Chinese Internet users is a 27-year-old college graduate system, an inherently arbitrary form of quickly reaching 80 million—surpass- Owho was working for a graphic administrative detention under which ing the number of members of the design company in Guangzhou, was Sun was held. But the explosive reac- Chinese Communist Party. About one- stopped by police. He was detained for tion from Internet users was unprec- fifth of Chinese netizens regularly make not having proper identity papers and edented. The official media, including use of BBS (Bulletin Board Systems), died in custody three days later. After CCTV, soon picked up on the public the most politically active place in Chi- authorities refused to investigate the outrage and reported heated debates nese cyberspace. These BBS’s can be circumstances of his death, Sun’s par- over treatment of migrants living in the run by individuals, commercial com- ents posted information on his case cities and police corruption. panies such as sina.com, or govern- and a petition letter on the Internet. On May 29th, in an unprecedented ment agencies. His case was picked up by a reporter appeal to the National People’s Con- At any given time, there are literally from the Southern Metropolis News, gress, four professors, including two tens of thousands of users active in one of China’s most progressive pa- from Beijing University Law School, these BBS and forums, reading news, pers, and then the story hit the Net. called on the state prosecutor to inves- searching for information, and debat- Within two hours after being posted tigate Sun’s death. Three months later, ing current affairs. Even on official Web on China’s largest news portal, the government abolished the entire sites such as People’s Daily, its popular sina.com, this news item generated system, and the officials responsible BBS, Strong Nation Forum, has more 4,000 comments from readers. Almost for Sun Zhigang’s death were convicted than 280,000 registered members and immediately, the case was being dis- in court. more than 12,000 posts per day. To- cussed throughout Chinese cyberspace, gether with e-mail listservs, chat rooms, from official sites to personal Weblogs The Internet’s Role in China instant message services, wireless short and e-mail groups. Police brutality is text messaging, and an emerging not new in China. For many years, This was a stunning result and marked Weblogging community, the BBS’s have international human rights organiza- the beginning of the Internet’s influen- provided unprecedented opportuni- tions and those advocating legal re- tial role in China’s public life. After ties for Chinese netizens to engage in forms in China have called for abolish- eight years of explosive growth, the public affairs.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 103 International Journalism

In 2003, there were more than half munication channels and within the ways. But many official Web sites, such a dozen of those “online uprising” growing Weblogging community. In- as People’s Daily, do not draw as many events. These were mostly cases in- stead of being produced by official readers as unofficial, commercial or volving police abuse, corruption, crime media, these online uprising events, personal sites. As Sun Zhigang’s case and social justice. Not every case had as powered by the Internet in this dis- demonstrated, the Net has already cre- direct a political result as Sun Zhigang’s, tributive and immediate way, now drive ated a bottom-up force and is con- but together they resulted in creating a the agenda of official media. stantly negotiating this new space with new form of public opinion in China: Emerging as an important group on the old style, top-down censorship and “Wangluo Yulun” (Internet Opinion) the Internet are public intellectuals. propaganda regime. became a formal phenomenon and The Internet has given a voice to pro- Not every online uprising wins in entered the Chinese public discourse. fessors, lawyers, journalists and inde- this ongoing battle. Last winter, hun- This online uprising has had a sig- pendent writers concerned about so- dreds of thousands of netizens reacted nificant impact on against a lenient sen- Chinese society tence given to a well- because there is connected woman still no systematic Despite authorities’ persistent efforts of who hit and killed a way for the public control, the rising tide of Internet opinion is a peasant and injured to participate in fact of life in Chinese society now and will 12 others with her and express them- BMW. Following an selves about continue to play an influential role in explosion of online policy and social expanding the space for free expression and protest, the govern- issues. When the even in creating social change. ment still upheld the online discus- verdict, and major sions on current Internet portals con- events are within tinued to report the the limits of government political tol- cial and policy issues. The four univer- news but banned users’ comments. erance, then the official media is al- sity professors who led the petition for Three top editors at Southern Me- lowed to discuss and report on them. Sun Zhigang’s case present a clear ex- tropolis News are now in prison, ap- Since the traditional media remains ample of this. Although it can be diffi- parently in retaliation for their aggres- under tight editorial control of propa- cult for them to publish in the tradi- sive reporting on Sun Zhigang’s case, ganda officials, without the Internet tional media, they write and publish on SARS and other issues. Halfway into their reports, by themselves, will never the Net and become opinion leaders in 2004, the government again seems to be able to generate such debate. Within the virtual public sphere. Some have have adapted their strategy to regain current political limits, these Internet their own Web sites or Weblogs, while control in cyberspace. But that’s just opinions have also reduced the risk to others create professional communi- another chapter in these unfolding traditional media of reporting on these ties such as China Lawyers Network or changes in China. issues; at times they even generate com- Home for Reporters. The Internet has Despite authorities’ persistent ef- mercial pressure for them to do so. given them a place to gather, debate, forts of control, the rising tide of Journalists are also helping blur the communicate, publish and receive in- Internet opinion is a fact of life in boundaries between traditional and formation and, finally, to collectively Chinese society now and will continue online media by opening their own articulate and amplify their voices on to play an influential role in expanding Weblogs. Likewise, some online writ- public matters. the space for free expression and even ers have built a professional reputation in creating social change. The transfor- and are now working in official media. Government Response mative effect of the Internet has al- In the last year and a half, it has become ready set China on an irreversible clear that the power of the Net and its The government’s efforts to control course toward greater openness and interplay with traditional media are Internet content through legal regula- public participation in its social and creating the public opinion in China. tions, an Internet police force, and a political life. ■ It is important to understand the powerful national information filter- highly distributed, decentralized na- ing system have been widely reported Xiao Qiang is director of the Berke- ture of the online movements; none in recent years. While the overall cen- ley China Internet Project at the has a central leader or organizer. This sorship is still effective, the line be- Graduate School of Journalism at means that when an issue resonates tween what is permissible or not is the University of California at Berke- with millions of Chinese netizens, it is blurred by the Internet. The govern- ley. expressed not only on BBS’s, but also ment is also trying to use official Web through the “implicit” Internet com- sites to propagandize in traditional [email protected]

104 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 International Journalism China and Internet Filters When the reporting of major news organizations is blocked, why not do something about it?

By Jonathan Zittrain

he Internet in China is filtered. eral days and then consistently avail- the “OpenNet Initiative,” a collabora- This fact is found nowhere in able for days at a time, perhaps reflect- tion among the Berkman Center, the T Chinese newspapers, because ing the fact that the censors read the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, the newspapers they read are filtered, early edition of the paper and then and the Advanced Network Research too. Chinese citizens know about fil- choose whether to block the paper’s Group at Cambridge University. tering only through gossip, or they put site for awhile. Since 2002, China has As we gathered with our counter- two and two together while surfing the experimented with more subtle filter- parts at the other universities to begin Web and discover that certain sensitive ing technologies. Rather than blocking coordinating our efforts, we realized Web sites are consistently reported to entire sites, pages containing certain there were differing views about the be unavailable on the otherwise-func- sensitive terms might cease loading for aims of the project. In my view, our tioning network. Outside China, of a Chinese Internet user midway agenda was to use some technically course, anyone curious about the through the display—followed by a lim- sophisticated Internet footwork to re- nation’s Internet filtering practices can iting of overall Internet access for that motely ferret out information about search for and then visit the Web site of user for minutes or hours. filtering in places where it would be a journal, such as this one, and learn difficult or even dangerous to do the the facts in more detail, in large part Accepting Foreign work on location. In essence, we were thanks to journalists who cover China Censorship to probe other countries’ firewalls from from abroad. the safety of our own offices and then As part of a project documenting It’s not a surprise that China’s filtering report what was found through a stan- Internet filtering worldwide, the would pay particular attention to news. dardized process, such as an interac- Berkman Center for Internet & Society And it is possible that Western news tive digital map of what nations are at Harvard Law School explored and organizations consider it a badge of filtering what content. Then the team analyzed the situation in China. (A re- honor to be filtered in China and in could turn to more sophisticated analy- port is at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ other countries that censor the Net. ses of the data in hand, such as correlat- filtering, offering specifics as of late But pride in being among the censored ing particular instances of filtering with 2002.) We found a range of sites cover- shouldn’t alone be enough reward for stated shifts in substantive government ing dozens of topical categories to be solid news reporting. News organiza- policies and closely tracking shifts in filtered, including dissident and de- tions should think it fundamental to filtering targets and technologies over mocracy sites, sites covering public their mission to ensure that their work time. health and HIV, sites about religion, reaches all those who wish to see it, Our colleagues had perhaps a more Tibet, Taiwan and the home pages of despite government meddling. activist view: They’d begun thoroughly many institutions of higher learning Such issues confront our academic documenting the means of faraway around the world. enterprise in studying filtering. The users’ circumvention of Internet filter- Within this expansive range, what Berkman Center’s report on Chinese ing and were developing technologies stands out as perhaps the primary tar- filtering was promptly blocked in China. to assist such circumvention. A handful get of filtering in China, apart from We thought it simply further evidence of activist hackers and others had al- pornography, are sites involving news. of the importance the government at- ready entered the cat-and-mouse game China regularly blocks the online taches to alacritous Internet filtering of helping users bypass government homes of the BBC, CNN, Time, PBS, and noted as much when discussing Internet filters through proxy services. The Miami Herald, and The Philadel- the report. I didn’t think further about For example, a Chinese Internet user phia Inquirer. In our testing of Google’s the issue until we began to expand our unable to reach a given Web site could top 100 results for news in 2002, we filtering research, thanks to separate visit a low-key willing proxy and re- found that 42 were blocked. Some sites, grants from the MacArthur Foundation quest that the proxy fetch and retrieve like those for The Washington Post and and the Open Society Institute. The the banned page. A number of such Reuters, were wholly blocked for sev- latter’s grant has been used to found digital intermediaries to those in need

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 105 International Journalism

have emerged with mixed success and lon- gevity, including the open source Freenet and a brief CIA-funded venture called Triangle Boy. Another ongoing service offered through the U.S. government’s Voice of America (VOA) Web is intended for Ira- nian citizens only. As part of offering a ser- vice to Iranians to by- pass their ISP’s filter- ing, the VOA itself filters sites deemed to be por- nographic—including many that are patently During the Berkman Center’s study of Internet filters, the authors simulated access to Google.com as not. would have been experienced by ordinary users in Beijing at that time. The results, including the screen Within our newly shot above, showed techniques the Chinese used to prevent access. merged research team, we considered whether if we joined these haphazard circum- only at those times when a story might because of the magazine’s article vention efforts, we would ourselves be be prohibited from being told any- about women and Islam. (“As far as crossing a professional line that jour- where. we are concerned, we have distrib- nalists know all too well. It is one thing The court battle by The New York uted it as per normal,” a Newsweek to be in the midst of a story, to record Times to publish the Pentagon Papers official lamely told Agence France- it and as faithfully as possible retell it to is an example of fighting within the Presse.) the readers back home; it is entirely court system for the right to publish on • And in 2002 The Economist agreed another to affect the story itself. the Times’s own territory, but it is to withhold its weekly print run from Our questions about the proper di- joined by many more instances of a Thailand after the government ob- mensions of our research thus parallel failure to fight or even appear con- jected to an article about the future the concerns of journalists who wish to cerned about censorship. of the country’s monarchy. observe and publish without partici- pating. Journalists struggle daily with • Foreign newspapers, for example, For these actions and reactions, it maintaining neutrality in their report- respected a Canadian ban on pub- would seem that each of these publica- ing and, as a close corollary, noninter- lishing there even the most basic tions need consider themselves free ference in the subjects studied. Yet information about the high-profile only within their countries of origin, or reporters have little hesitance in be- murder trial of Karla Homolka, the perhaps in the West—leaving distribu- coming part of the story when their wife and accomplice of serial rapist tion elsewhere, even when the topical work or sources are imperiled. Jour- and murderer, Paul Bernardo. material in the publications is specifi- nalists have been known to work un- • In 1986, Malaysia banned the Asian cally about faraway regions, to the vi- dercover and have been willing to go to edition of The Wall Street Journal cissitudes of local government edicts. jail to protect the identities of after articles that covered sensitive whistleblowers who have trusted them financial and political matters were Is Internet Censorship Worth to keep their identities secret. found within. Fighting? Although these battles may be rare, • During the 1980’s, Singapore lim- news organizations seem far more will- ited Time’s circulation after it failed Censorship of traditional media that ing to fight about their right to gather to quickly print a letter to the editor happens within the countries who rou- news for a story—and protect the from the prime minister’s press sec- tinely censor seems to be accepted as a sources who help them gather it—than retary claiming errors in the fact of life by print publishers and by they are willing to battle for the right to magazine’s coverage of the country. broadcasters, too. Accepting such cen- widely publish the results. News orga- • In 2000, Newsweek hadn’t even re- sorship might be necessary when deliv- nizations forcefully defend their out- alized at first that Bangladesh had ery trucks, physical broadcast towers, put—the right to publish—typically banned and confiscated its print run and other in-country support are

106 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 International Journalism needed to get physical goods or radio that those trying to get to news figure should strive to collectively commis- or television programs to willing con- out ways to reach blocked sites on their sion the construction of such places sumers. own. It might even be that, as a busi- where news reporting can run free and But Internet publishing is different. ness matter, such illicit digital circula- unchanged from its authors’ pens, avail- It offers a much more open field and a tion would help a news organization able to anyone with an Internet con- staggering opportunity for the distri- establish its market in China, in the nection. Building such a network within bution of information of importance to not-implausible likelihood that the the Internet could be far cheaper than the global community. To be sure, such government’s repressive policies even- constructing even one printing plant. freedom is not auto- We should consider the front matic—it’s an Internet pages of nations’ newspa- trend that can be fought Major Western news organizations pers to be precious docu- and largely defeated in ought to consider joining—indeed, ments, to be replicated and the first round by assidu- shared throughout the ous government filtering dominating—the Internet cat-and- world, especially in the ar- or surveillance of citi- mouse game against censors, thereby eas where the paper copy zens’ surfing. During the trying to get their news into China cannot be stocked and the past four years, there has electronic copy is casually been clever and sus- without blockage or adulteration. blocked. tained research into It’s time to greatly expand countermeasures against the paper route—and thanks third-party interference in Internet tually recede, whether through a to the Internet, the risks in doing so are communications. This research has gradual liberalization or through a merely business ones, thus calculable helped users to maintain networked change in regime. and manageable as such. They pale in communications even when powerful There are millions of people in China comparison to the risks taken by genu- governments or corporations are who cannot get to a real newsstand and inely brave reporters who travel war overtly hostile to the exchange. It has whose secret police have license to vet zones around the world to bring us the been conducted and its fruits deployed their mail before delivering it. Many story and to the risks taken by the largely by teenagers who want to share crave the sublime privilege of reading dissidents and sensitive sources who copyrighted music with one another news collected by journalists rather whisper the secrets we find on the without paying for it. The Western than propagandists. They have Internet front page. Putting that page on a fil- media has covered this peer-to-peer access, but they are behind their tered Web site should be only the be- story with great interest, yet they have nation’s firewall. Some dare to lose ginning; it’s time to circulate that page not appeared to realize that these peer- that access—or possibly much more— everywhere. ■ to-peer technologies can offer the po- by circumventing the blocks they en- tential to de-censor the news for more counter. The free news establishment Jonathan Zittrain is a cofounder of than a billion people. should take it upon itself to meet them Harvard Law School’s Berkman Major Western news organizations halfway or more. Center for Internet & Society and the ought to consider joining—indeed, Well before Napster existed, aca- Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman dominating—the Internet cat-and- demics such as Lorrie Faith Cranor Assistant Professor of Entrepreneur- mouse game against censors, thereby mapped out the shape of potential ial Legal Studies at Harvard Law trying to get their news into China networks with lofty names like School. without blockage or adulteration. Of “Publius,” through which unpopular course, news organizations are oper- views could be circulated outside of [email protected] ated as businesses, and defying power- government control. Another team of ful governments can be understand- computer scientists has created a ably bad for business strategies. This project called “LOCKSS,” designing might account for why there has been networked systems that can retain mir- so little rebellion or even complaint rored copies of documents and detect when governments have threatened corruption or forgery among them, publishers in the past; publishers have perhaps to preserve the integrity of our typically bent over backwards to apolo- written histories for centuries. (Inter- gize for individual transgressions. estingly, two Chinese libraries are par- Think about how many more people ticipating in the project.) a news organization could reach if it Though these networks exist in and worked to circumvent Internet filter- for the realm of academics, those who ing from its side, instead of requiring are members of the global free press

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 107 Nieman Notes Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore Newsroom Training at Urban High Schools By learning hands-on skills, minority students take the first step to becoming journalists.

By Lynda McDonnell

wo and a half years ago, I walked report on the world around them. ticles about the school’s new fitness out of a newsroom and onto a They see good stories. They do seri- room and a visit by Dr. Peter Agre, who Tcollege campus to help build a ous work, particularly when they have won the Nobel Prize for chemistry, program that could help identify and good guidance. We underestimate there are thoughtful essays about why develop high school students of color teens when we think we can hook kids join gangs and how it feels to be who can be part of the next generation them on newspapers by publishing sto- gay when classmates call each other of journalists. The need is embarrass- ries about J-Lo and navel piercing. With fags and dykes as a passing putdown. ingly obvious. According to the latest few exceptions, the kids we see in Keeping the Standard alive hasn’t census by the American Society of News- journalism classes, weekend seminars, been easy. Last year’s journalism paper Editors, the average American and the two-week summer camp have teacher was laid off in a round of bud- newsroom has 12.9 percent minority weightier things in mind. get cuts, but the principal was commit- employees while the nation’s popula- But scholastic journalism is in seri- ted to preserving a journalism class tion is nearly 32 percent. ous trouble in many parts of the coun- and a newspaper. He recruited the Happily, by linking the skills of news- try. Budget cuts and a back-to-basics head of the school’s medical program room professionals and journalism approach to education spurred by stan- to teach the first semester. When her professors with minority teens in ur- dardized testing means that more and husband got a job in another state, the ban high schools, we’ve found we can more schools are doing without. In school’s testing coordinator stepped have a significant and rapid impact. Minnesota, only 58 percent of the state’s in. Such heroic efforts are often re- Using journalist volunteers, we’ve high schools have newspapers. Some quired to keep scholastic journalism helped revive newspapers at three ur- of those are four pages photocopied in alive in urban schools. ban high schools in Minnesota. Already the school office. “I think there’s something lacking if 13 students who have attended our The latest issue of Roosevelt Stan- a school is without a paper,” said two-week summer camps since 2001 dard, the newspaper of a fortress-like Roosevelt’s principal, Bruce Gilman. are studying journalism in college. Sev- public high school in Minneapolis, ex- “The students’ voices are being heard.” eral more will start this fall. emplifies what a good student newspa- This year’s Standards show the wis- A young Hmong student who at- per can be. The place was named to dom of his commitment. Articles dealt tended our programs just landed a honor Teddy Roosevelt. Jesse Ventura with teacher layoffs and the state bud- coveted internship at a local TV sta- is its most famous alumnus. Now 85 get deficit, rising athletic fees, the threat- tion. Four alumni of our summer pro- percent of students are students of ened closing of a neighborhood library, gram—a Liberian immigrant, a Somali color, 70 percent are poor, and 37 and the inconvenience of bathrooms refugee, and two Hmong women—are percent speak English as a second lan- locked because gang members were studying journalism at the University guage. writing on the walls. Naturally there of St. Thomas, a Catholic liberal arts In the 1960’s, the school produced was a horoscope, sports news and an university in St. Paul, Minnesota in a weekly paper. Two years ago, there advice column, enduring staples of high sore need of such diversity. was only one issue for the entire year. school life. The bylines reflect the Equally important, through work in Since then, thanks in part to journalists school’s population: Somali and various urban high schools, I’ve seen who work with the journalism class Hmong, African American and His- what a powerful vehicle journalism can twice a week, eight-page papers are panic. be for young people to express their produced each quarter. They’re lively, By volunteering at Roosevelt, I have concerns, share their experiences, and timely and real. Along with news ar- seen students’ efforts to overcome shy-

108 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Nieman Notes ness and uncooperative administrators, education? Put out a school newspa- Journalism is like a video game, one crunch numbers and check facts, learn per. student told me. I asked him to ex- layout skills and produce crisp, clear Journalists have much to gain from plain. “You get stuck at one level. Then prose in a language many of them don’t investing time and money in such ven- you have to step back and find a new speak at home. tures. Imagine a newsroom where a way to move ahead,” he said. The head of the school’s PTA asked reporter whose family once lived in It’s not a bad metaphor. It works for extra copies for parents because it shelters reports on social policy. Imag- equally well for those who get discour- told them things their kids might not. ine a Somali immigrant translating the aged that we haven’t made more In a survey we did, students said that refugee experience for mainstream progress in diversifying the newsroom. working on the school paper improved readers. More selfishly, look at the read- We’re stuck at one level. Stepping back their writing and increased their inter- ership numbers among younger and investing more in high school jour- est in news. They were achingly proud people. Most of them aren’t getting nalism is exactly what we need to move of what they’d done. One student newspapers at home. Producing a news- ahead. ■ wrote: “This newspaper will live in my paper at school is one way to help them scrapbook forever.” develop the newspaper habit. Lynda McDonnell, a 1980 Nieman In that classroom, I saw the value Last year, when the U.S. Supreme Fellow, is the executive director of and power of teaching students the Court gave limited approval for college the Minnesota Media Collaborative journalistic process. So many young affirmative action programs, it ex- at the University of St. Thomas in St. writers know only the formality of aca- pressed hope that special breaks won’t Paul, Minnesota. She was previously demic essays and the looseness of po- be necessary in another 25 years. Con- the political editor for the St. Paul etry. Journalism is conversational but sider that a deadline: It’s more neces- Pioneer Press, where she worked in a exact. It requires intellectual rigor and sary than ever to work now to create variety of roles for 20 years. clear expression, fairness and accu- opportunities, to push kids with the racy, separation of fact from opinion, aptitude and interest for journalism to consciousness that the writer serves an perform, nudge, coach and mentor [email protected] audience. You want outcomes-based them.

Curator Bob Giles Visits Nieman Fellows in South Africa

The Nieman Fellows of South Africa • The powerful examples of excel- ued relationship between the Nieman were honored to have a visit from Cu- lence that provide a refreshing and Foundation and the journalists of South rator Bob Giles and his wife, Nancy, on reassuring sense of the role of news- Africa and the important influence the April 2nd. Giles traveled to papers in our society and the core fellowships have had in the movement Johannesburg for a business meeting values of our craft. toward majority rule and the creation of Nieman Fellows followed by a din- of a new South Africa. ner at which the fellows were joined by Giles said that the press in the United Today, with South Africa’s third elec- leading journalists, business executives States has been struggling through a tion successfully behind us and the and government representatives, in- period in which its essential role and media further entrenched as a main- cluding the U.S. ambassador to South the historic values of free expression stay of our fledgling democracy, we are Africa. are being constrained by a govern- harvesting the returns of the invest- In his remarks after dinner, Giles ment that intends to manage informa- ment made in South African journalists talked about the state of the news me- tion and access. over the years. dia in the United States and the influ- He suggested that the press has Nieman Fellows occupy key posi- ence on newspapers of three domi- now reasserted itself, leading to a se- tions in most South African media or- nant factors: ries of revealing stories raising serious ganizations. Nearly 70 percent of the doubts about the quality of U.S. intel- 45 South African Nieman Fellows have • The business environment in which ligence before the start of the Iraq become editors and media managers. the imperative for making money is War, the competence of the civilian We wanted Bob and Nancy to be eroding long-term investments in administration in Iraq, the country’s here to get a personal feeling of why it newsgathering. worsening relations with allies around is important for South Africa to retain • The consequences of journalistic the world, and its capacity to create a the opportunity to send a Nieman to scandals that, however infrequent, peaceful, self-governing society in Iraq. Harvard every year. ■ — Tim du Plessis, are influencing public attitudes The experience of having the cura- a 1993 Nieman Fellow, is editor of about credibility and trust. tor here reinforces the long and val- Rapport in Johannesburg.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 109 Nieman Notes

supplying Erwin Rommel before the battle of El Alamein in the Middle East. Sayers, whose childhood dream was to become a journalist, began his jour- nalism career as a printer’s apprentice at the Waikato Independent because there were no vacancies for writers. When a reporter called in sick, Sayers got his first assignment, the first of many at the Independent and then at the Waikato Times, The Daily Tele- graph, Evening News, and the Auckland Star. At the Star, Sayers set about bring- ing change to the paper by helping transform the design of the editorial floor––making it into the country’s first big American-style newsroom––and the atmosphere of the newsroom into a more intimate and team-oriented one. Nieman Reunion Planned for May 2005 Appointed assistant editor in 1954 and editor in 1965, Sayers initiated further From May 6-8, 2005, the Nieman Foundation will host a reunion of changes at the newspaper. He started Nieman Fellows in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Please mark the dates New Zealand’s first arts page and his on your calendar—we hope to see all of you here. There will be more became the first paper to update the information to follow. ■ concept of the women’s page. He did the country’s first 18-page weekend magazine section, and created the first daily television page. —1953— contact me at my e-mail address: Sayers was also at various times di- [email protected].” rector of the New Zealand Press Asso- Melvin Mencher writes, “I am work- ciation, NZ Press Association’s repre- ing on the 10th edition of ‘News Re- Ross C. Sayers died on March 17, sentative on the Australian Associated porting and Writing,’ a college journal- 2004 in Auckland, New Zealand at the Press, director of Reuters in London, ism textbook published by McGraw- age of 85. Sayers, a Royal Air Force chair of the editors’ committee of the Hill Higher Education, and I welcome bomber pilot and flight lieutenant, flew Commonwealth Press Union (CPU), contributions from Nieman Fellows of 2,000 hours of operations between and a CPU lifetime member. articles, photographs and comments 1940 and 1945. He flew with two squad- He is survived by his wife, Annette, about journalism. If interested, please rons involved in attacks on convoys two children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

—1954—

The Stark Collection Added to Kovach Library at Walter Harold Schmeck writes: I retired Lippmann House from The New York Times more than 10 years ago because I signed a book The Louis Stark Collection, donated as well as union strife during World contract with a short deadline that I by the descendants of Louis Stark, War II. In 1942 Stark won a Pulitzer couldn’t meet otherwise. The book, has been added to the Bill Kovach Prize for telegraphic reporting (na- about brain research, was published in Collection of Contemporary Journal- tional) for distinguished reporting 1994 by The Rockefeller University ism at Walter Lippmann House, the of labor stories. Through the years Press. headquarters for the Nieman Foun- several journalists have received “A few weeks after publication, Lois dation. Stark was a prominent labor funding as Louis Stark Memorial and I moved to Chatham, Massachu- journalist for The New York Times Fellows for their coverage of labor, setts, on Cape Cod, where we dig clams and other publications during the workplace or related issues, includ- and I race sunfish in the summers with first half of the 1900’s, most notably ing Jodi Rave (NF ’04) and Louise a group of similarly long-in-the-tooth covering the coal and textile unions Kiernan (NF ’05). ■ neighbors. Last year I finished a novel and am still trying to market it.”

110 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Nieman Notes

—1974—

Shirley Christian has a new book Nieman Fellows Honor Belarusian Journalist, out, “Before Lewis and Clark: The Story Zhanna Litvina, With 2004 Louis Lyons Award of the Chouteaus, the French Dynasty That Ruled America’s Frontier” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, April 2004). The pub- Zhanna Litvina, a pioneering radio at the Nieman Foundation, and said: lication of the book coincides with the journalist in Belarus, has been se- “Zhanna herself has been shuttling anniversary of the start of the Lewis lected by the sitting class of Nieman back and forth between offices in and Clark expedition, 1804-1806. The Fellows to receive the 2004 Louis Poland and Belarus—which, in ad- Chouteaus were French fur traders who Lyons Award for Conscience and dition to how busy she is with the established the first white settlements Integrity in Journalism. Belarusian Association of Journal- that became St. Louis and Kansas City, Litvina became head of the youth ists, is why she could not join us Missouri. In her book Christian writes, program of the Belarusian State Ra- tonight.” “Without the Chouteaus, without their dio in 1994 and turned the program Litvina wrote some remarks, business acumen and deep understand- into an independent voice, which which Gessen read: “My colleagues ing of the Indians, the Louisiana Pur- eventually led to its shutdown in and I are deeply grateful to you for chase territory would have been a dif- 1995. Litvina and 38 others then your support and your attention to ferent place.” founded the Belarusian Association the problems facing the Belarusian of Journalists. Nominator Masha press. Now, with the European Patricia O’Brien’s new book, “The Gessen, a 2004 Nieman Fellow, said: Union expansion, we may be physi- Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May “This is one of the most active jour- cally closer to the civilized world Alcott and Clara Barton,” was published nalists’ organizations I have ever than ever before, but in reality with in May. The book tells a story of seen. They provide training and sup- every passing year we get farther women’s friendship during the Civil port; they publish a media maga- and farther from it. Today Belarus is War based on episodes from the lives zine, and most importantly they have the only European country that is of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. a legal service that has to deal with a openly working to impose a state Real people—Nathaniel Hawthorne, continuous stream of requests from monopoly on mass media. The very Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David journalists and publishers, who are existence of an independent press Thoreau, and Alcott’s father, Bronson under continuous attack.” in Belarus is under constant threat. Alcott—are integrated into the story In 1995 Litvina founded the only …” along with fictional characters. The independent radio station on the The Lyons Award is named in book is published by Touchstone Belarusian FM dial, 101.2, which honor of Louis M. Lyons, known for Books. O’Brien also co-wrote a book was shut down a year later. Litvina his journalistic integrity, who was in with Ellen Goodman (NF ’74), “I Know came up with the idea of moving the the first class of Nieman Fellows in Just What You Mean: The Power of radio station to neighboring Poland. 1939 and who served as curator of Friendship in Women’s Lives ,” and is The radio station has been broad- the Nieman Foundation for 25 years. the author of three novels, “The casting to Belarus from Polish terri- The award carries a $1,000 hono- Candidate’s Wife,” “The Ladies’ Lunch,” tory on medium and short waves rarium. Twenty-four individuals, and “Good Intentions.” since 1999. groups and organizations have re- Gessen received the award on ceived the Lyons Award since it was —1978— behalf of Litvina, who was unable to established by the 1964 class of attend the May 11th award ceremony Nieman Fellows. ■ Arun Chacko, former director of media services and communications at the World Wildlife Fund in Gland, Swit- zerland, has been appointed director of the Press Institute of India (PII) in eration with other similar national or “For all intents and purposes I am New Delhi. international organizations. retired, although every once in a while The PII, supported by major Indian I rouse myself to some task. As of this newspapers, is a professional institute Ken Freed brings us up to date on writing in late April, I am in Kampala, for the training of journalists and those his whereabouts: “Sandra and I moved Uganda, working for a couple of months in newspaper production and manage- to Baltimore last year. If I could never with a new newsweekly started by a ment. The institute conducts studies write like H.L. Mencken, at least I could group of young Ugandan journalists. on the problems of the press in India live in his city. Great food, the water- The idea is to publish a modern, inde- and ways to help overcome these prob- front, and a bar on every corner were pendent and progressive news maga- lems. PII is affiliated to and seeks coop- also draws. zine that will take on both the military-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 111 Nieman Notes

dominated government and the staid when we were in Cambridge, is a doc- [See McDonnell’s article on page 108.] and compliant opposition. My work is tor at Johns Hopkins, and her hus- Lynda says she took the new job two not so exciting as reporting on foreign band, Edward Herskovits, is a doctor at years ago after nearly four years as affairs, and I do miss the Los Angeles the University of Pennsylvania. They political editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Times expense account, but, so far, I have two daughters, Evelyn, 3, and Press. Husband Steve Brandt, who am having a good time and even doing Audrey, 1.” accompanied Lynda to Cambridge dur- some good.” ing her Nieman year and later had his Lynda McDonnell is running a pro- own fellowship year at the University —1980— gram at the University of St. Thomas in of Michigan, continues to report for St. Paul, Minnesota. She writes that she the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune. He re- Jan Collins, class scribe, sends in is “working with high school kids (es- cently “started covering the Minneapo- the following notes about her class- pecially kids of color) who are inter- lis public schools,” Lynda writes: mates: ested in becoming journalists. We run “amidst budget cuts, school closing a summer camp, train teachers, work proposals, a superintendent search, Judy Havemann is still at The Wash- in inner-city schools, and run weekend and contract negotiations. Never a dull ington Post, “currently editing a sec- seminars. I also spend time raising moment. …” tion devoted to the District of Colum- money, which is necessary to our sur- bia.” Judy has three children in college vival. It’s a great job—working with Judith Stoia writes: “I spent four (all born after her Nieman year). Daugh- kids who believe they can change the years producing a PBS kids show, “Be- ter Theresa Nicol, “the teenage daugh- world and are eager to learn how to tell tween the Lions,” which teaches early ter whom some of the Niemans met stories. Journalism rocks, they believe.” reading skills. A departure for me but great fun. While we wait—and wait— to discover whether that series is re- funded, I have left my staff position at The Blade Receives the Taylor Family Award for WGBH and am working on several other projects including a pilot for a pro- Fairness in Newspaper Coverage gram on parole and another kids se- ries. Except for my Nieman year, it’s The (Toledo) Blade received the guished journalists—also recog- the first time I haven’t worked inside third annual Taylor Family Award nized two finalists: an organization. Kind of nice. Nick is in for Fairness in Newspapers for its a PhD program in music theory in New work in uncovering Vietnam-era war • The Wall Street Journal for stories York. Vincent (born our Nieman year) crimes kept secret for three and a examining the impact and rea- is off to teach English as a Second half decades. An award dinner was sons why people without health Language in Taiwan!” held at the Harvard Faculty Club on insurance are forced to pay more April 8th. for health care, reported by Suthichai Yoon, writing from The Blade investigative team–– Lucette Lagnado. Bangkok, says he is “still editor in chief led by Michael D. Sallah, Mitch Weiss • The Des Moines Register for its of The Nation Group, which publishes and Joe Mahr, with Andy Morrison coverage of Iowa State University three daily newspapers, runs a TV news as principal photographer––focused basketball coach Larry Eustachy’s station and a radio program.” Daugh- on war crime activities of Tiger Force, partying with students that led to ter Kit graduated from Wellesley Col- an elite Army fighting unit, during a his dismissal, by chief reporters lege and “is married to an American seven-month period in 1967. Tom Witosky, a 1992 Nieman doctor,” Suthichai writes. “They live in The Blade reporters found that Fellow, and Randy Peterson. Santa Cruz near San Francisco, and my military authorities were aware of daughter just gave birth to twins.” Son the activities, yet did nothing to stop The purpose of the Taylor Award Prabda graduated from Cooper Union them. “They recognized this was not is to encourage fairness in news in New York City and is now a profes- just all about evil over there. The coverage by America’s daily newspa- sional writer. reporters went to lengths to keep pers. It was established through gifts perspective and balance while do- for an endowment by members of —1982— ing the hard reporting,” the judges the Taylor family, which published commented. “They handled a very The Boston Globe from 1872 to Ed Walsh, who was a general as- sensitive subject with great depth 1999. The award carries a $10,000 signment reporter for The Washington and context.” prize and is administered by the Post, accepted an early retirement buy- The judges—a panel of distin- Nieman Foundation. ■ out offer in December 2003. He was one of about 54 newsroom employees with at least 10 years at the paper who

112 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Nieman Notes agreed to the offer. Walsh says: “As is tional Public Radio (NPR) as managing more than any other newspaper of its usually the case in these matters, man- editor for NPR News. In this newly size. Also while he was managing edi- agement was surprised by the number created position, Marimow will over- tor The Sun was named one of the of us who took the money and ran. We see NPR’s national news staff, round- country’s 10 best newspapers by the have remained in Arlington, Virginia, the-clock newscasts and training, and Columbia Journalism Review. As a re- while Michelle completes this school work with NPR Online. A second man- porter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, year as a counselor at Wakefield High aging editor, Barbara Rehm, will over- Marimow and a partner won the 1978 School, but in early July we will head see NPR’s foreign coverage as well as Pulitzer Prize for a series on criminal for Portland, Oregon, to begin the next production of NPR’s newsmagazine and violence by the Philadelphia Police phase of our lives.” Walsh was former talk shows. Department and, in 1985, he won the Jerusalem correspondent for the pa- Marimow had been the editor of 1985 Pulitzer for investigative report- per and was the Post’s Chicago bureau The (Baltimore) Sun from April 2000 ing for a series of about 40 stories chief for almost seven years in the to January 2004. From 1993 to 2000, about a group of police K-9 officers 1990’s. he was managing editor, metro editor, who were ordering their dogs to attack and associate managing editor. The innocent and unarmed men and —1983— Sun received a number of awards un- women. der Marimow’s leadership, including William Marimow is now with Na- three Pulitzer Prize finalists in 2003, —1985—

Philip Hilts won a Los Angeles Times Book Prize on April 24th for his book “Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project 2004 Awards Business and One Hundred Years of Regulation.” The judges called the book a “taut, compelling history,” and said David Maraniss, Rebecca Solnit, and Solnit, writer and activist whose “In the current anti-government cli- John Bowe received the 2004 J. An- work focuses on issues of time, place, mate, ‘Protecting America’s Health’ thony Lukas Prize Project Awards at a politics and process, won the Mark reminds us of the need for science- ceremony held on May 4th at the Lynton History Prize ($10,000) for based regulation and serves as an im- Nieman Foundation. During that her book “River of Shadows: portant cautionary tale.” The book was event, Nicholas Lemann, dean of Eadweard Muybridge and the Tech- also a New York Times Notable Book of Columbia University’s Graduate nological Wild West” (Viking 2003). the Year for 2003. School of Journalism, moderated a Her recent books also include “Wan- Hilts is now working on a book panel discussion with the award re- derlust: A History of Walking” and about advances (and setbacks) in glo- cipients. “As Eve Said to the Serpent: On bal public health, to be published by The prizes acknowledge works of Landscape, Gender and Art.” Penguin in 2005. excellence in nonfiction writing that Bowe, a freelance journalist, co- exemplify the “literary grace, com- editor of the book “Gig: Americans —1989— mitment to serious research, and Talk About Their Jobs” and co-writer social concern that characterized the of the screenplay for the film Bill Kovach will be the John distinguished work of the awards’ “Basquiat,” is the recipient of the J. Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Pulitzer Prize-winning namesake, J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Amendment at Middle Tennessee State Anthony Lukas.” The winners were Award ($45,000) for “Slavery Inc.” University for the fall semester. The chosen from 286 submissions, the to be published by Random House. chair was established in 1986 to honor largest in the history of the awards. The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project its namesake, Tennessean Chairman Maraniss received the J. Anthony Awards, established in 1998, honor Emeritus John Seigenthaler (NF ’59), Lukas Book Prize ($10,000) for his and continue the work that distin- and sponsors lectures and conferences book “They Marched Into Sunlight: guished the career of journalist and on free speech and journalism-related War and Peace, Vietnam and America, author J. Anthony Lukas, a 1969 topics. Kovach will also co-teach a October 1967” (Simon & Schuster Nieman Fellow. The awards are ad- course on journalistic responsibility 2003). He is associate editor at The ministered by the Columbia Univer- based on his book, “The Elements of Washington Post and also the author sity Graduate School of Journalism Journalism: What Newspeople Should of “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life and the Nieman Foundation and are Know and the Public Should Expect.” of Vince Lombardi” and “First in His sponsored by the family of the late Kovach was curator of the Nieman Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton.” Mark Lynton. ■ Foundation from 1989 to 2000 and is the founding director and chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journal-

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 113 Nieman Notes

ists. The committee, based in Washing- will between Japan and the United Watch”) that he started as editor and ton, D.C., focuses on promoting qual- States on the occasion of the 150th publisher in 1997 in Washington. ity and ethical decision-making in jour- anniversary of their relationship. The Yamazaki resides in the outskirts of nalism. award recognizes Yamazaki’s profes- Washington, D.C. with his family. His sional work in the last quarter century e-mail address is [email protected]. —1990— as a journalist devoted to reporting, editing and analyzing Japan-U.S. rela- —1991— Kazutami Yamazaki reports from tions as well as U.S. politico-economy; Washington, D.C. that he was awarded his stint at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo as Kevin Noblet is now business edi- in March the Japanese Foreign senior economic adviser during the era tor for The Associated Press (AP). He Minister’s Award for his long-term con- of Ambassador Walter Mondale, and had been deputy business editor since tribution to the friendship and good- his current newsletter (“Washington 2000, and before that he spent six years

Nieman Foundation Announces U.S. and International Fellows for 2005

Thirteen U.S. journalists and 12 in- policies that have been imposed as nipulation of the human brain. ternational journalists were ap- part of the effort to curb terrorism H. Joseph O’Connor, Jr., pro- pointed to the 67th class of Nieman since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ducer, ABC News Nightline: The Fellows. The new U.S. fellows and Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem bu- nature of mental illness and treat- their areas of interest are: reau chief, Newsweek: The business ments for mental disorders. Also Mary (Molly) Bingham, photog- operations of terror organizations: Irish literature and history as they rapher, WorldPicture News Agency: How they move money internation- relate to personal heritage and To enhance textual storytelling ca- ally; which governments aid radical storytelling. pabilities to pair them with existing groups; how charities, banks and Elizabeth Rubin, contributing photography skills through the study money-transfer agencies deliver writer, The New York Times Maga- of writing, journalism and history. money to terror organizations, and zine: Comparative religion, religious Cheryl Carpenter, deputy man- how effectively “coalition” govern- history and their impact on society; aging editor, The Charlotte Ob- ments have been at hindering the Arabic language; the concept of server: The nature and practice of cash flow. “American interests” and filmmak- leadership and unique strategies for Louise Kiernan, projects re- ing. business development. porter, Chicago Tribune: The role Twelve U.S. journalists were se- Richard Chaçon, deputy foreign of women in the United States work lected by a five-person committee: editor, The Boston Globe: Religion, force and its impact on social and Charles A. Ferguson, a 1966 poverty and public health and their labor reform movements in the 20th Nieman Fellow, retired editor of The impact on the development of U.S. century. She will hold the Louis Stark Times-Picayune of New Orleans; foreign policy. Memorial Fellowship for journalists Maria Henson, a 1994 Nieman Fel- James Daly, editor in chief, The who specialize in labor, workplace low, assistant managing editor for George Lucas Educational Founda- or related issues. Funding is pro- enterprise of the Austin American- tion: How nontechnical forces, in- vided by the Stark Fellowship Fund Statesman; Juliette Kayyem, senior cluding cultural and economic fac- in honor of Louis Stark, a pioneer in fellow at the Belfer Center for Sci- tors, shape the use and evolution of the field of labor reporting. ence and International Affairs at the modern technologies. Maggie Mulvihill, investigative John F. Kennedy School of Govern- Edward Gargan, Asia bureau editor, the Boston Herald: The role ment at Harvard; Lester Sloan, a chief based in Beijing, Newsday: The of federal and state courts in barring 1976 Nieman Fellow, freelance pho- intersection of race, religion and access to public information and tographer, and Web magazine pub- politics in Latin America along with restrictions of press freedom since lisher, and Bob Giles, a 1966 Nieman the state of Latin American popular the September 11, 2001, attacks. Fellow, committee chair, and culture. Amy Ellis Nutt, feature writer, Nieman Foundation Curator. Amy Goldstein, White House do- The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.: The In addition to the 12 U.S. journal- mestic policy reporter, The Wash- social, legal and ethical implications ists selected by the committee, an- ington Post: The roots and implica- of advances in neuroscience on the other fellow will join the class: tions of civil liberties-restricting treatment, enhancement and ma- Chris Waddle, vice president/

114 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 Nieman Notes as deputy international editor. Noblet tics of Accommodation” and received teach at a university in Moscow. In a reported from Latin America and the her PhD in political science from Moscow Times column titled “I Am Caribbean for nearly 10 years for the Harvard University in June 2004. Albats, Back Where I Belong,” Albats writes: “I AP, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina; who also received an A.M. from Harvard like to believe that in Russia I can make Santiago, Chile, where he was bureau in 1996, writes: “… in fact, it was [my] a difference, whereas in the United chief, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nieman Fellowship that prompted me States I was a spectator of the demo- to go for a real education in political cratic process. I trust that if I get the —1993— science.” chance to teach here I will have some- Albats is now back in Moscow, host- thing to offer my students––and read- Yevgenia Albats successfully de- ing a primetime political talk show on ing thousands of pages every week for fended her dissertation titled “Bureau- Ekho Moskvy, the Russian version of the seminar on comparative politics crats and Russian Transition: The Poli- National Public Radio, and hopes to that I took at Harvard will not have

news, The Anniston (Ala.) Star, and of those changes on the nation and James L. Knight Foundation Latin president, the Ayers Family Institute its people. American Nieman Fellow. for Community Journalism: The re- Roza Eftekhari (Tehran, Iran), Young Jin Kang (Seoul, South porting of globalism in the heart- senior editor, Zanan Magazine: Gen- Korea), team editor, JoongAng Ilbo: land. The study will prepare for the der issues and their impact on reli- How nations, particularly South Ko- start of an original master’s program gious scholarship and practice, and rea, deal with sustaining growth in he will lead for community journal- the impact of religion on women’s the face of mounting security chal- ism fellows with the University of issues in the various interpretations lenges. His fellowship is supported Alabama inside the Star, a teaching of Islam as well as how other reli- by The Asia Foundation and the newspaper. gions have faced feminism. Sungkok Journalism Foundation. Ana Cristina Enriquez Ines Pohl (Kassel, Germany), in- The new international fellows and (Monterrey, Mexico), co-editor, ternational news editor, HNA their areas of interest are: Vida! Periodico El Norte/Editora El (Hessiche/Niedersachsische Abssar Alam (Islamabad, Paki- Sol: The nature of economic and Allgemeine): The relationship stan), special correspondent, The social stratification in Mexico and its among politics, religion and violence Nation: Explore the links between impact on the nation and its people. and how its impact is different in economic development and democ- She will be a John S. and James L. different societies. racy along with politics and public Knight Foundation Latin American Ceri Thomas (London, England), policy. He is the Chiba-Nieman Fel- Nieman Fellow. head of news, BBC Radio Five: The low. The fellowship is supported by Henry J.J. Jeffreys (Auckland social impact of declining audiences the Atsuko Chiba Foundation, es- Park, South Africa), deputy editor, for news and participation in civic tablished in memory of Atsuko Beeld: The impact of African jour- life, and the relationship between Chiba, a Nieman Fellow in 1968. nalism in responding to the emerg- technology and news. Laurence Bagot (Paris, France), ing new democratic African society Rusudan Tsereteli (Rustavi, economics reporter, Enjeux les as envisioned by the New Partner- Georgia), editor in chief, Rustavi- Echos: Examine the increasing po- ship for Africa’s Development and Info: American journalism as re- litical and cultural divide between the challenges facing news report- flected in its history, politics, litera- the United States and France by look- ing because of the globalization of ture and art. ing into American contemporary news media institutions. Funding Thepchai Yong (Bangkok, Thai- society and the nature of globaliza- for his fellowship is provided by the land), group editor, The Nation Mul- tion. Nieman Society of Southern Africa. timedia: Chinese economy, society Patricia Danaher (Dublin, Ire- Sergio Kalili (Sao Paulo, Brazil), and politics, and the impact of land), bureau chief, Republic of Ire- reporter, Caros Amigos Magazine: China’s rise as the dominant eco- land, Ulster Television: Explore the The impact of journalism reporting nomic power in Southeast Asia. His major changes in Irish society, in on human rights abuses and the use fellowship is supported by The Asia politics and in relation to institu- of human rights to justify violence Foundation. ■ tional religion, and the implication and war. He will be a John S. and

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 115 Nieman Notes

been a wasted effort. de Comercio e Industria), and quit —2002— “I am home, and I don’t plan to give being an English teacher.” up just because some people in Mos- Jabulani Sikhakhane, former cow––the subjects of my research on Phillip Martin has been named se- deputy editor of the Financial Mail, is the KGB most of all––believe I should nior supervising editor for NPR’s “The now editor at City Press Business in have stayed in the United States. This is Tavis Smiley Show.” Martin was de- Johannesburg, South Africa. where I belong.” scribed as having “… more energy and ideas than we can fit into a one-hour James Trengrove won the Joan Rick Bragg, a former reporter with show” in the announcement of his ap- Shorenstein Barone Prize for distin- The New York Times, received the sev- pointment. “The Tavis Smiley Show” is guished Washington reporting at the enth annual Clarence Cason Award for a daily news and talk program aimed at annual Radio and Television Corre- Nonfiction Writing from the University African-American listeners. It is broad- spondents’ Association dinner. of Alabama’s Department of Journal- cast from NPR’s Los Angeles studios to Trengrove, who is senior producer of ism. Bragg’s most recent book, “I Am a about 80 public radio stations coast to the Capital Hill unit of “The NewsHour Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story” coast. Martin previously served as NPR’s with Jim Lehrer,” has won this award (Alfred A. Knopf 2003) was released race relations correspondent. three times in the past 15 years. last November. —1999— —2003— —1998— Martin Holguin, former editor in Ronnie Ramos, former editor of Uri Berliner joins the management chief of the Latin American edition of The Times in Shreveport, Louisiana, ranks at National Public Radio (NPR) Reader’s Digest, has joined a commu- has been appointed sports editor at with a promotion to supervising editor nications company for Spanish written The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. on the National Desk. Uri will still fo- publications. cus on the business and sports beats —2004— but will take on management responsi- —2000— bilities as well. He’ll manage coverage Pekka Mykkanen, reporter for the of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Ath- Benjamin Fernandez Bogado has Finnish-language Helsingin Sanomat, ens, which will also include the report- been appointed rector of the received a Bonnier Grand Journalism ing of NPR correspondent and Nieman Universidad Americana, the most pres- Prize for story of the year. The prize classmate Howard Berkes. tigious private university in Paraguay. was for his coverage of the SARS epi- Prior to his appointment, he was direc- demic––specifically his tracking of the Philip Cunningham, who has been tor of Radio Libre and president of route of infection that killed a Finnish teaching media studies at Instituto Prensa y Libertad. International Labor Organization offi- Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok cial––in China last spring. The prize, and writing for South China Morning —2001— the most prestigious journalism award Post, Asian Wall Street Journal, and in Finland, is worth $9,000 and is given The Japan Times, has been awarded a Peter Turnley writes, “I am excited in three different categories. The award Fulbright fellowship to pursue research to announce the launch of my new ceremony is televised nationally on in visual media and politics in Kyoto, Web site, www.peterturnley.com/. This primetime television. Japan next September. is a very comprehensive site of my A journalist since 1993, Mykkanen career’s work in photography and also has covered conflicts from the war in Marcelo Leite writes that he and his contains an in-depth ‘Peter’s Journal’ Bosnia to the war against the Taliban wife, Claudia, “are busily working on of writing on my life and experiences and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Mykkanen, our PhD dissertations, both at Unicamp in the world of photography. There is Helsingin Sanomat’s Asia correspon- (Universidade Estadual de Campinas). also a separate section presenting a dent since 1998, has also reported on Our daughter Ana has just started study- group of my photographs for purchase stories about the AIDS disaster in the ing at Santa Casa Medical School in Sao as fine art prints. I see this site as an Henan province, Beijing’s successful Paulo. You might wonder how can an opportunity to use the world of digital Olympics’ bid, and the crackdown on 18-year-old girl be in a medical school, technology as a way to reach out and Falun Gong. but this is the Brazilian way—no previ- share my visual expression and re- Mykkanen has spent part of his ous college study, straight into medical sponse to the world. I would be happy Nieman year writing a book on China’s school. Paula, 19, is doing well, too. A if the viewer chooses to come back to strategies and difficulties to modernize junior at the School of Communica- the site many times and not feel obliged itself and to become a major global tions and Arts at Sao Paulo University, to take it all in with one hit.” The site player. The book is due to be pub- she just started an internship at a finan- was designed by Anne Ghory-Goodman lished in the Finnish language in Au- cial daily here in Sao Paulo, DCI (Diario and Eric Mehlenbeck. gust 2004. ■

116 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 End Note

‘Fields of Despair’ Words and images tell stories of forgotten workers.

By Nuri Vallbona

Anybody wanna go work in North Carolina?” “I was on my knees photographing homeless men lining up outside a Jack- sonville soup kitchen when I heard the hearty voice. “Did I hear that right?” I thought. “Anybody wanna go work in North Carolina?” I turned quickly to see a stocky young man on a bicycle trying to entice the men in line to pick crops in North Carolina. I had been trying for weeks to get a picture of one of these recruiters, who play a pivotal but shadowy role in Florida’s farming industry. I had staked out positions behind tinted car win- dows, hoping my lens would be long enough to catch them in the act. “Word must be out on the street you’re out here,” a homeless man once said after Antonio Martinez tops off a bucket full of oranges in a new job in Florida. He had once I drove 350 miles without snapping been forced to live in deplorable conditions and to work off smuggler’s fees. When one picture. Martinez saw money exchange hands between the smuggler and crew leader, he realized Now two weeks later this man bra- he had been sold. Martinez is only required to fill the bins to the bottom of the screws a zenly rode up behind me on his bike. few inches from the top. However, he must top it off for the crew leader to get his cut. He was trying to entice men to board a May 2003. Photo by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald. nearby van that would take them to what the laborers in line casually re- ferred to as “the slave camps.” The U.S. tions against the men and women they days. Fear of being beaten kept most in government calls it “servitude.” Either lured into the work vans. The wealthy the camps. A few escaped by hiking for way, those who entered the vehicles growers who hired these laborers, how- miles through the woods. They were with promises of warm meals, a steady ever, often went unpunished. afraid that if they walked by the high- roof, and all the crack they need, some- Some of the worst abuses were in way, they would be found. times found themselves in hellholes. North Florida, where primarily Afri- As we worked on our series, we’d This was one part of the problem can-American men were enticed into often ride back from the fields in si- Miami Herald reporter Ronnie Greene working the fields only to find them- lence, unable to speak. For me, this uncovered as he investigated the rising selves sinking slowly into a debt they story was especially difficult. I grew up number of farmworker slavery cases could never repay. Some of their labor in the 1960’s in Texas watching my brought in Florida. This series, called bosses advanced them money for meals Costa Rican mother deliberately push “Fields of Despair,” was published in and rent, while making drugs and alco- her supermarket cart past the bins of the Herald in 2003. He found that hol plentiful. The men had to pay the purple and green grapes in support of Florida leads the country in the num- boss back with 100 percent interest. Cesar Chavez’s boycotts. “Hay que ber of contractors who have had li- When payday arrived, they received apoyar los pobres campesinos” (we censes revoked because of labor viola- little or no pay for their 14-16-hour have to support the poor farmworkers),

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 117 End Note

she would say after hearing our selfish pleadings, “Just a few little grapes, por favor?” Now, 38 years later, these issues haven’t gone away. It is painful. But working on this story was also inspir- ing. I met Lucas Benitez, of the Coali- tion of Immokalee Workers, who re- cently won a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for his coalition’s fight against farmworker abuse. Benitez and his colleagues helped free laborers who paid more than $1,000 to be smuggled from Mexico, then saw little or nothing for their sweat and labor plucking to- matoes and oranges—until their smug- gling “debt” was retired. Antonio Martinez was housed in a squalid green trailer filled with desperate men. “I realized I had been sold,” he said. Benitez displayed the bloodied shirt Lucas Benitez, a staff member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, saved the blood- of one beaten farmworker, a vivid me- ied shirt of a farmworker who was beaten in 1996. April 2003. mento he had kept for seven years. “When we say that the tomatoes that leave Immokalee have sweat, have blood, we are not exaggerating,” he told us. The result was also rewarding. Our stories prompted Florida Governor Jeb Bush and state lawmakers to pass leg- islation that increases penalties for farmworker abuse. The governor vowed to create a commission to moni- tor working conditions. State Senator J.D. Alexander, a citrus grower, said the reforms were prompted by the “Fields of Despair” series. While these changes are an improve- ment, I wonder if all the reporting we and others have done will put a stop to slavery in the fields. “How long has this been going on?” I once asked attorney Lisa Butler, who does outreach in farm labor camps. “I don’t know,” she an- swered. “Years? Decades?” I pressed. “Possibly,” she answered. ■

Nuri Vallbona, a 2001 Nieman Fellow, is a photojournalist for The Miami Herald. She focuses her work on documentary essays and has won many awards. She was one of 35 Hispanic photographers to work on the book, “Americanos,” which Jose Solano asks for advice from a paralegal with the Migrant celebrates Hispanic life in America. Farmworker Justice Project.

[email protected] Photos by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.

118 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 End Note

Scared and afraid that she and her husband are running out of money, Rufina de Jesus Santos, 15, asks Raul Barrera of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project where she can find food in a migrant camp. She had to stop picking tomatoes to take care of her baby. She and her husband still had to pay off the $1600 they each incurred from smuggler’s fees. Barrera referred her to the local church, where she was able to get food on a regular basis. March 2003.

A man identified by former migrant workers as “Jerome” tried to recruit homeless men outside the Saint Francis Soup Kitchen in Jacksonville, Florida, one of several spots that crew leaders use to find workers for their camps. When another man asked him about some workers ending up working for crack, he said, “if they want to work for crack, let ’em work for crack.” July 2003.

Photos by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.

Nieman Reports / Summer 2004 119 End Note

Abuse and neglect compound the problems faced by migrant workers as they try to make a living doing farm work. This farmworker had to have his finger amputated because he did not get proper medical care while he was doing migrant work in North Carolina. April 2003.

Migrant worker Alberto Hernandez listens to activists at a meeting of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers where farmworkers were informed of their rights and told about coalition activities attempting to improve conditions. May 2003.

Photos by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.

120 Nieman Reports / Summer 2004