War and Data Telling Human Rights Stories Using Open Sources Spring 2020 // Journalism 298 // Mondays 3 – 6 // North Gate 106 Mark Danner With Michael Elsanadi and Gisela Perez de Acha* Warriors murder civilians in the shadows. By their nature mass killings take place in war zones and other hard to reach places. Inaccessibility, lack of witnesses, conflicting stories: all of these help militaries and governments succeed in what they prefer to do, which is to lie and to deny. In human rights reporting confirmation is the Holy Grail. To this ancient fact the relatively recent advent of open source data has brought a true revolution. Images and videos posted from "citizen journalists" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, together with publicly accessible satellite images, let journalists confirm an event thousands of miles away in areas thought impossible to reach. But these methods, powerful as they are, raise issues of their own. In this seminar, we will learn how to use open source methods, develop protocols for confirmation and come to a broad familiarity with classics in human rights reporting and with current human rights issues, including Syria, Venezuela, Chile, and the southern US border. Using open sources students will develop their own human rights reporting projects and bring them to fruition. * Note that Michael Elsanadi and Gisela Perez de Acha, who have been trained in Open Source reporting methods by Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, will serve as course assistant and student course assistant, respectively. Class Requirements This seminar will be a mixture of lecture, class discussion and workshops/assignments doing open source investigations, backed up by selected readings in human rights journalism. The most important requirements are that students *Attend all class sessions *Keep up with reading and writing assignments *Participate in discussions *Devise, pitch, and complete a work of human rights reporting A student’s record of attendance and participation in class discussion, together with the quality of his or her project, will determine the success of our class and contribute the better part of the grade. Schedule Note that classes will meet Mondays at 3 pm in North Gate 106. Reading Our primary reading will draw largely from a number of books of human rights reporting, classic and contemporary. I strongly urge you to obtain these books in your own copies and in the edition specified, either from local bookstores or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate them. Tracking the News A significant part of the class will be given over to tracking and discussing human rights reporting and US foreign policy as it takes shape around ongoing conflicts. Following these events closely in various publications, beginning with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers and websites, and getting to know the work of the leading contemporary war and human rights correspondents, is essential. Even if you are not a habitual newspaper reader, you must become one for this class. Presentations Each student will make a presentation in class on his or her ongoing project. Use of multimedia and social media during the presentation is strongly encouraged. Students will present throughout the semester. Project The project will take up a major issue or event in contemporary human rights and conflict and report on it using, at least in part, open sources -- with an emphasis on blending those sources with traditional storytelling. Note that your pitch is due for your project no later than February 24. Writing To bolster the clarity and vigor of your prose, I strongly suggest studying two works: George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language,” which can be readily found online, and Strunk and White’s little manual, The Elements of Style. Office Hours I will count on meeting with each of you individually at least once during the course of the term. We will make these appointments on an ad hoc basis. I am best reached via email, at [email protected]. My office is North Gate 32. My writing, speaking and other information can be found at my website, markdanner.com. For assistance with your projects and open source investigations assignments, Michael is happy to meet with you individually or as a group. Feel free to make an appointment by emailing him at [email protected] Grading Students will be graded on their preparedness and their participation in class, the strength of their presentations and the quality of their written work, as follows: Attendance 25 percent Participation 25 percent Pitch 25 percent Project 25 percent Performance on tasks assigned during trainings on open source investigations will be a part of your participation grade. Note that regular attendance is vital. Those who miss multiple classes will not do well in this course. Films During the semester we hope to be screening a number of films that bear closely on the subject of human rights and covering conflict. We will hope to find evenings that work for everyone. Syllabus and Texts Note the list of assignments and books below will certainly change during the semester. Many books we will read in excerpt, not in full. As the semester progresses some articles will replace books or supplement them. Required Texts Marie Colvin, On The Front Lines: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012) Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013) Dave Cullen, Columbine (Twelve, 2009) Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage, 1994) Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009) Dubberley, Koenig and Murray, Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information… (Oxford, 2020) Dworkin, Gutman et al, Crimes of War 2.0 (Norton, 2007) Zahra Hankir (ed.), Our Women on the Ground (Penguin Books, 2019) Fergal Keane, Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey (Penguin, 1997) Films Dror Moreh, The Gatekeepers Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers Barbet Schroeder, The Venerable W Some Open Source Search Information •OSINT Framework: https://osintframework.com/ •Amnesty Dashboard: https://citizenevidence.org/toolbox/ •Bellingcat Toolkit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BfLPJpRtyq4RFtHJoNpvWQjmGnyVkfE2 HYoICKOGguA/edit •Intel Techniques: https://inteltechniques.com/forum.private.html •AML Toolbox: https://start.me/p/rxeRqr/aml-toolbox?embed=1 •Darkness Gate: https://osint.link Tentative Syllabus Note the emphasis here on “tentative,” for the list will change during the semester and likely some books and readings will replace others January 27 – War and Data: The Struggle in Syria Looking more closely at how the Syrian conflict began, we will analyze the strong role played by social media in showing and amplifying the news of atrocities committed as originally peaceful protests sparked into a civil war. How can we confirm the atrocities being committed on the ground when we no longer have physical access? Beginning with the Syrian conflict, how has online open source information been used to confirm and investigate human rights violations committed around the world? Required: “Marie Colvin’s Last Call to CNN,” CNN, February 22, 2012 https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2012/02/22/ac-marie-colvin-syria-baby-dies.cnn Evan Hill and Christiaan Triebert, “12 Hours. 4 Syrian Hospitals Bombed. One Culprit: Russia,” The New York Times, October 13, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/world/middleeast/russia-bombing-syrian-hospitals.html Investigation by Aliaume Leroy and Ben Strick Produced by Daniel Adamson and Aliaume Leroy, “Anatomy of a Killing by BBC Africa Eye,” BBC News, September 23, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G9S-eoLgX4&t=120s “Cooper Remembers Final Colvin CNN Report,” CNN, February 22, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfrVJSRMuhs February 3 – War in Syria: Sieges and Chemical Attack What tactics have the Syrian and Russian governments used to regain territory lost to rebels and the Islamic state in Syria? We will look at what atrocities have been committed by both these governments in their attempt to rid the country of rebel groups. We will be answering the question of what new tactics armies are utilizing against themselves and civilians. We will also be answering how can we look for information showing or proving these illegal tactics? Required: Malachy Browne, Christoph Koettl, Anjali Singhvi, Natalie Reneau, Barbara Marcolini, Yousur Al Hlou, and Drew Jordan, “One Building, One Bomb: How Assad Gassed His Own People,” The New York Times, June 25, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attack- douma.html Eliot Higgins, “The Douma Chemical Attack - Fake News About Fake News on Russia’s Fake News,” Bellingcat, April 13, 2018 https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/04/13/doumafakenews/ Marie Colvin, On The Front Lines: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012), Excerpts: Pages 369 - 540 Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013) “Journalists, Protection of,” “Journalists in Peril,” and “Legitimate Military Target” in Gotman et al, “Crimes of War 2.0” Suggested: Rania Abouzeid, No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018) Marie Colvin, On The Front Lines: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012), Excerpts: Pages 189 - 214 [Interactive Map] Allison McCann, Anjali Singhvi, and Jeremy White, “How the New Syria Took Shape. Russia, Turkey and Bashar al-Assad