MONTHLY NEWSLETTER I October 2018 Experts Discuss Current Risks INSIDE and Rewards of Video Journalism Event Recap: Reporting in Russia 2 by chad bouchard Event Preview: ver the last two decades, newspapers and Taiwan’s Future 2 other traditional print media have been under increasing pressure to provide video and mul- Event Preview: O ‘FREELANCERS’ timedia content. But in today’s era of ubiquitous cell Screening & Panel 3 phone cameras, viral distribution, and manipulated content, video storytelling comes with many pitfalls. Event Recap: On Oct. 18, a panel of experts gathered for a panel CHAD BOUCHARD Prix Bayeux 3 to present a “Video 101” seminar on perils and best Left to right: Sara Obeidat, Priscila Neri, Event Recap: practices of using video footage. Erica Anderson and Paula Dwyer. CPJ at the U.N. 4 “Video is an essential part of storytelling, and citizens around the world to challenge oppression, of any news organization’s content mix,” said Event Recap OPC Secretary Paula Dwyer of Bloomberg News, impunity and inequality. Watchdog Reporting 4 who moderated the panel. But she added that print “We’re going to have to do some work on media journalists who are expected to shoot video now have literacy, and on making sense of volume, and sorting Press Freedom what’s real and what’s not, but for me in the end, In Bangladesh 5 to learn new skills because “the technology differs, the when I think about our partners who are defying odds way you tell the story is different, ethics involved are People Column 6-7 different, the framing of the story is different.” to tell that stories that we haven’t heard through that One panelist was Priscila Neri, the senior program perspective, that’s something that can only be good in Press Freedom manager for Witness. Her group trains people around the long run.” Update 8-9 She said in many cases Witness advises people the world on how to use video and technology to New Books 10 document human rights violations, with a focus on with sensitive video footage to refrain from posting using footage ethically and thoughtfully without re- it publicly at all, or to delay and use it more Q&A: victimizing people who are involved in the videos. strategically. In one case, someone who witnessed Amy Mackinnon 11 She said despite the risks, video has empowered Continued on Page 9 Price of OPC Press ID Badges Cut to $40 he opc has signed up a new printer profiles or black-and-white photos, please). to make the large, government-style All members who have paid their dues TOPC press ID badges. We for 2018-2019 can order a badge. You can now print badges as often can pay via the gold button, or send as once a month, and have cut a check to the Overseas Press Club Purchase the price to $40 from $50. The an OPC Press of America at 40 West 45th Street, dues year started Oct. 1, so if Badge. New York, NY 10036. you order now the badge will We will make badges only for be valid for almost a year. To those who have paid dues and the request a badge, email patricia@ badge fee. As always, the credit- opcofamerica.org and attach a color, card sized press ID is available for free high-resolution, close-up face shot. (No upon request. v 1 1 Panelists Say Murders of Journalists Are Simply a ‘Reality’ in Russia EVENT RECAP you could report fairly transpar- ently with some exceptions like by chad bouchard the war in Chechnya,” she said. n sept. 20, several OPC “And that all stopped under Putin. members attended a The crackdown on independent media and voices began immedi- performance of the play CHAD BOUCHARD O ately, and one by one journalists “Intractable Woman, A Theatrical lost their jobs, faced death threats, Left to right: Judith Matloff, Elena Kostyuchenko, Misha Friedman and Memo on Anna Politkovskaya,” Zach Fannin. they were beaten, and like Anna, which covered the interrogation, murdered.” Russia, and is co-owned among the field, and to avoid pressuring trial and assassination of the Rus- Matloff said that to date, 17 staff members. At least three other freelancers to push safety limits. sian journalist and human rights journalists have been assassinated staff members from the paper have Zach Fannin, a freelance jour- activist. Politkovskaya reported under the Putin regime, and 60 been murdered since Anna’s death, nalist who won several awards extensively on the Second Chech- journalists attacked just since she said. for “Inside Putin’s Russia,” a PBS en War for the independent daily 2006. Chillingly, less than a month af- NewsHour series, recounted how Novaya Gazeta and was killed in Elena Kostyuchenko, a special ter the discussion, a funeral wreath he and other members of his team her Moscow apartment building correspondent for Anna’s paper, and a severed goat’s head were were arrested while reporting on in 2006. Novaya Gazeta, said the number of sent to the Novaya Gazeta Moscow Russians joining ISIS in Dagestan. Following the performance, journalists killed in Russia is closer office with written threats against “All [the police] wanted us a panel of journalists discussed to 200, though the numbers are dif- reporter Denis Korotkov, who to do was delete the footage. But Politkovskaya’s legacy, as well as ficult to track. has reported on Russia’s military luckily, they left us in the police their own experiences covering “Murders of journalists is part operations in Syria, among other car alone, and I took one of the conflict and corruption in Russia of Russian reality,” she said, add- stories. two disks out of the camera, gave and elsewhere in the region. ing that the newspaper has shown Misha Friedman, a Russia-born it to Roman [Stepanovych], our The moderator was OPC mem- through tenacity that the assas- photographer based in New York local producer, who hid it some- ber Judith Matloff, an author and sination of journalists is not an who has worked extensively in where, and then convinced the po- journalism professor at Columbia effective way to quash journalism. Russia and Ukraine, said photogra- lice by saying ‘look, I didn’t even University who has specialized “Despite very tough conditions phers are predominantly freelanc- press record yet, this is an empty in writing about conflict. Matloff, for journalism in Russia, many ers, so they are subject to different disk and there is no footage.” who was based in Moscow in the young and aspiring journalists still risks than staffers. He said risks are Fannin co-produced the series late 90s, said the play brought come to Novaya Gazeta and want also increased because photogra- with OPC member Nick Schifrin back memories of the country’s to do good work. And they all read phers have to get physically close in collaboration with the Pulitzer quick slide into authoritarianism Anna’s articles” for inspiration, to their subjects and “report conse- Center on Crisis Reporting. The under Vladimir Putin, who came she added. quences” in stories. post-show panel was part of Play to power at the very end of 1999. Kostyuchenko’s paper is the Friedman called for editors to Company’s Idea Lab series. v “In the late 90s there was still last independent newspaper in be more considerate about risks in a very robust critical media, and Panel to Discuss Taiwan’s Future Click here Amid a ‘New Cold War’ Between the US and China to RSVP EVENT PREVIEW: OCT 30 for the Taiwan to force Taiwan to join what it considers the which seeks to improve Taiwan’s panel. motherland? Will Trump’s actions increase the international relations; and Richard hina and the United States appear headed for a new Cold War, in the chances of stability or conflict? Bernstein, formerly based in China for view of some experts. Trade, military On Oct. 30, the OPC will host a panel discus- TIME magazine and a veteran of several for- C sion to explore these and other questions facing eign postings for The New York Times. Bernstein and diplomatic tensions are mounting. Taiwan, the self-governing island of 23 million people, Taiwan. William J. Holstein, past OPC President is also author of numerous books, including The is caught in between. An increasingly aggressive and former Beijing bureau chief for United Press Coming Conflict with China (1997). Beijing is projecting military power in the South International, will moderate. The panel will The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. at Club China Sea and conducting war games near Tai- feature Andrew Nathan, a professor at Colum- Quarters with a reception – beverages and appe- wan. President Donald Trump’s administration bia University and one of America’s foremost tizers will be provided – and the discussion will has increased support for Taiwan above what experts on China and its foreign policy; Russell begin at 6:30 p.m. Reservations are essential. Hsiao, executive director of the nonprofit think Click on the gold button or visit the OPC web- most previous U.S. governments have offered. v Will Beijing resort to actual military action tank Global Taiwan Institute in Washington, site to RSVP. October 2018 2 OPC to Screen ‘FREELANCERS’ Series Pilot and Host Discussion with Director Bill Gentile EVENT PREVIEW: NOV. 14 Also joining the panel will be Natalie Keyssar, a documentary photographer he opc will host a screening and discussion of a pilot episode based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work for “FREELANCERS with Bill focuses on class inequality, youth culture, T and the personal effects of political tur- Gentile,” a documentary series about the work and personal struggles of a new moil and violence, primarily in the US and generation of journalists searching for Latin America.