THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • July-August 2015 Board Election Features Packed Slate of Candidates Last spring, an email was sent to Members Advisory Council whose ture events as they unfold, and give members calling for nominations of main charge will be to advance ideas them meaning and perspective. candidates for the 2015 board of gov- and programs that further solidify I plan to vote and I hope you will ernors’ election. Thanks to you and the OPC’s position as an important too. the nominating committee, we have a resource for journalists. Areas of - Brian Byrd slate of 17 active members running for focus include press safety and free- Chairman, board seats, out of which 12 will be se- dom, membership, Elections Procedure Committee lected. In addition, four candidates are events, awards and running for two open associate board others. Details and ELECTION REMINDERS seats. Each and every one of them are election results will exceptional in backgrounds, experi- be announced and ● Watch your email inbox for ences and accomplishments, making discussed at the a message from the OPC this one of the most competitive elec- upcoming annual that will include a link to your tions in recent memory. The strength meeting on Tues- electronic ballot on Balloteer, a and diversity of this slate is, in no small day, Aug. 25 at 6:00 secure on line voting service. part, a reflection of the revised system p.m. at Club Quarters, 40 West 45th ● To log in, use the email in which OPC elects its board of gov- St. The meeting is open to all mem- ernors. We hope members will find this bers. address where you receive process to be effective and transparent. As you can see, there is great mo- OPC electronic corre- Now comes the hard part. On Tues- mentum building within the OPC. spondence. day, July 21 you will receive an email The organization and its members ● Active members may vote with a link to an online ballot. You will have displayed new energy and cre- only for Active candidates. have until noon on Monday, Aug. 24 ativity in programs and events, all Associate members may vote to cast your vote to fill the open board in service to journalists here and only for Associate candidates. seats. Members who prefer a paper bal- around the world. These activities lot can contact the OPC office and we have given the OPC a reinvigorated ● For a paper ballot, call the will mail one to you. It is vital that each presence in a field that strives to cap- office at 212-626-9220. and every active and associate OPC member vote in this election. The OPC OPC LAUNCHES AN OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE SWAP is only as strong as the board of gov- ernors who guide it, and our responsi- In 1962, the OPC published a cookbook with recipes and sto- bility as members is to elect governors ries from dozens of club members around the world. The Overseas who reflect the great diversity of expe- Press Club Cookbook, edited by Sigrid Schultz, rience of the OPC membership. features dishes from Joseph Stalin’s banquet, Additionally, we have created a the secret café of Aga Khan III, wartime lunches and exotic delicacies like bird’s-nest soup. OPC Inside. Foundation board member Felice Levin recently Election Slate...................................2-6 donated a copy for our archives. That gave us an idea. The OPC would like to gather recipes from Azmat Khan and Afghan Schools......6 current members to post on the OPC website. Did People Column................................7-8 . you discover a favorite dish while working abroad? Do you have Press Freedom Update..............9-10 any food stories for the website or the pages of the Bulletin? Please Q&A: Jonathan Kapstein................11 send your stories, recipes and food-related ideas to patricia@opco- famerica.org. New Books....................................12 2015 Election Slate includes stints at NPR, PBS, and ABC-TV. Awards include ACTIVE NOMINEES (Electing 12) the George Polk and DuPont-Columbia, but I am most HANNAH ALLAM proud of recent teaching fellowships, mentoring journalism I’m the foreign affairs correspondent for McClatchy students at SUNY, Columbia and Princeton. Newspapers, covering the State Department and foreign If elected to this prestigious board, I want to focus policy as part of the national security team. I spent nine on best safety practices for freelance reporters, fixers, years reporting from across the Middle translators and drivers. I have worked mostly in the field East and North Africa, first as Baghdad and I know, first hand, the dangers of crisis reporting. bureau chief during the war, and then as There is more OPC can do to mentor the growing tribe of bureau chief in Cairo during the wave freelance reporters. I am interested in expanding OPC’s of rebellions known as the Arab Spring. profile on social media to reach the next generation of I still travel overseas for my current international correspondents. beat, sometimes with Secretary of State John Kerry on official trips and other times unilaterally MOLLY BINGHAM on assignment in conflict zones. My work has been featured in The New York Times, If I get to serve on the Overseas Press Club board, the Washington Post, and others. “Ordinary Warriors”, I would use the position to amplify two issues that are published in Vanity Fair, won honorable mention for the dear to me. The first is journalist safety, especially for OPC’s Madeline Dane Ross Award. freelancers working in dangerous areas. The second is As co-director of the documentary film what I consider the “democratization” of the sometimes Meeting Resistance, I won the “Golden rarefied world of foreign news – I’d love to see the work Award” at the 2007 Al Jazeera Interna- of far-flung journalists reach more Americans, particu- tional Documentary Film Festival and larly young people and communities of color. the “Best Documentary Courage in Film- making” Award by the Women Film Crit- ics Circle. I’m a former Nieman and Sulzberger fellow, and DEBORAH AMOS was named one of “20 Women to Watch” by the Columbia I have been an international corre- Journalism Review in 2012. spondent for three decades, covering the As the founder and CEO of Orb, a digital journalism Middle East. My beat has mainly been nonprofit, I’ve been re-engineering the editorial process by chaos. I cover wars; invasions and the re- fusing massive data analysis, the public’s knowledge and sulting humanitarian fall out. My career OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT ACTIVE BOARD Charles Graeber Robert Nickelsberg ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS Marcus Mabry Jacqueline Albert- Freelance Journalist Freelance MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Editor at large Simon and Author Photojournalist Brian I. Byrd Michael Serrill The New York Times U.S. Bureau Chief Program Officer David A. Andelman Politique Internationale Lara Setrakian NYS Health John Corporon FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Azmat Khan Co-Founder & CEO Foundation Allan Dodds Frank Calvin Sims Investigative Reporter News Deeply Alexis Gelber President and CEO Rukmini Callimachi BuzzFeed News Bill Collins William J. Holstein International House Foreign Director, Public & Marshall Loeb Correspondent Martin Smith Business Affairs Larry Martz SECOND VICE PRESIDENT The New York Times Dan Klaidman President Ford Motor Company Roy Rowan Abigail Pesta Deputy Editor Rain Media Larry Smith Freelance Journalist Yahoo News Emma Daly Richard B. Stolley Jane Ciabattari Communications THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Columnist Liam Stack Director EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Pancho Bernasconi BBC.com Evelyn Leopold Breaking News Human Rights Watch Patricia Kranz Vice President/News Independent Journalist Reporter Getty Images United Nations The New York Times Daniel Sieberg OFFICE MANAGER Chris Dickey Global Head Boots R. Duque TREASURER Foreign Editor of Media Outreach Tim Ferguson The Daily Beast, Paul Moakley Seymour Topping Google EDITOR Editor Paris Deputy Director Emeritus Chad Bouchard Forbes Asia Photography and Professor of Abi Wright Visual Enterprise International Journalism Executive Director, SECRETARY Peter S. Goodman Time magazine Columbia University Prizes OPC Deidre Depke Editor-in-Chief Graduate School ISSN-0738-7202 Journalist and International of Journalism Copyright © 2015 Author Business Times Charles Wallace Columbia University Over seas Press Club Financial Writer Awards of America 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • July/August 2015 • Page 2 journalists. Each story is delivered in multiple formats and quarterly print magazine and daily news site. Prior to that, languages, enabling a diverse audience to unite around the I was a producer for PBS Nightly News and MTV Inter- issues that touch us all. national, producing award-winning segments on vigilante I would like to work with the OPC to encourage the ex- female justice groups in India, election fraud in Florida, ploration of solutions for journalism in these rapidly chang- gang violence in Chicago, and the grow- ing times. I’m excited about OPC’s ability to spotlight and ing refugee crisis in Syria. reward journalistic work that is innovative, impactful, and Despite these wonderful career oppor- engaging. I’d very much enjoy being a part of these en- tunities, I am still quite young and hope deavors at OPC. to bring this youth and drive to the Over- seas Press Club board. And as the curator ANUPREETA DAS for the World Economic Forum’s Global I write about Warren Buffett and his company Berk- Shapers, a group of 20-something professionals in New shire Hathaway for The Wall Street Journal. I also track York, I believe I have the requisite experience to build such the global flow of wealth by writing profiles of billionaires a community.