Ann Curry, the famously on-the-ground news anchor of The Today Show, contends that journalism is not merely a craft of information; it's a craft of compassion. It is a message that resonates with me. Her extensive essay in Guideposts on journalism as an act of faith draws from her personal history, growing up in a low-income mixed-race family and working her way through both the media world and the real world.
I joined NBC News in the 1990s, and found myself drawn to telling
stories of people who might otherwise not be heard. Interestingly
enough, what some might consider a big professional disappointment—not
being named cohost of Today when Katie Couric left—has only
clarified my mission. I would’ve loved that job, but not getting it
made me think, What is it I need to be doing?
The answer was clear: humanitarian reporting—finding those who are
suffering far from the eyes of the world and getting their stories out,
making people care about them. That’s what brings me back to places
like Congo. Most people don’t realize it is the site of the deadliest
conflict since World War II. The fighting and war crimes against
civilians challenge every definition of decency. Thousands die every
month from malnutrition and disease.
Yet even in this place of suffering, it is possible to find hope.’ll never forget Sifa, an 18-year-old Congolese woman I met in
February 2008. I talked to her in the hospital. What she told me made
me weep. Her parents were killed in front of her. She ran, but the
killers caught her, chained her to a tree and raped her. She became
pregnant; when the baby came, everything inside her broke. “Do you want
revenge?” I asked.
She said, “No, all I want is to rise from this bed, thank the people who helped me and work for God.”...
... How do I keep doing what I do? I believe in people like Sifa, who
can teach us all about resilience. And I believe in you. I know you
special souls will care about people like her, who have no one to
protect them.
I have faith that once you hear about someone’s suffering—even
someone whose language you can’t speak, whose customs you don’t
share—you will care enough to help.
I have a new article published at Salon today, spinning off of the amazing stories of the best athletes in the world who came very, very close to the Olympic gold medal. An excerpt:
What does it feel like to spend your life training in your sport, to be at the top of your game, to come so close
to the gold medal in the most prestigious of international athletic
competitions, a competition that's reached mythic proportions in the
public imagination -- and then to leave as second or third best?
In
114 years of its modern history, the Olympic Games are haunted by
stories of silver and bronze medalists. There are heartbreaking almosts
and might-have-beens. There are the best of the best having their
legacies written as "incomplete" when they lack a gold medal. (Here's
looking at you, Michelle Kwan. How's it going, Debi Thomas?) Bode
Miller finally got his Olympic gold this year, but the games are filled
with those who stumbled on the way to the podium: Evgeni Plushenko, who
failed to nab the top spot in men's figure skating a second
time; Martins Dukurs of Latvia, heavily favored to win gold in
skeleton. Too often for these athletes, more attention is put on what
has slipped away from them than what has been won. And that's to not
even mention the millions of dollars in endorsement deals and
sponsorships that ride on the Olympic gold medals.
Competing
in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Kevin Asano has a heartbreaker of
a tale: He missed out on a gold medal in judo because of a
controversial half-point penalty. It was his first and only Olympics. ...
What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that
tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never
come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were
little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in
the dark; here was one.
Following a conversation among two of my favorite people, Bill Moyers spotlights Poets House in New York City, continuing his longtime elevation for poetic language and possibility. This aired originally in November, but I've only just seen it myself.
Elizabeth Alexander offers a thoughtful and loving tribute to poet Lucille Clifton in The New Yorker, writing that, "Few poets have written so convincingly of celebration," and, "History in her work is embodied, alive, and autonomous, alert to its own contradictions."
My new article at RH Reality Check was an opportunity to to dig into a topic that I was, frankly, quite ignorant about. As well, I engaged in fascinating and expansive conversations with a number of people who have different vantages (and opinions) about the concept of sex addiction. I'm especially grateful for those who trusted me with very personal stories.
Of note: There are a couple of errors that seem to have slipped into the article during the editing process, including, alas, in the first sentence... working on getting this swiftly corrected... UPDATE: And corrected it is. Whew.
At least 71 journalists around the world were killed last year for doing their work -- the highest number since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping track thirty years ago.
CPJ (a phenomenal organization) has put together the comprehensive story in "Attacks on the Press 2009," detailing what journalists are dealing with. And while murder and massacre is the worst of it, we also witnessed the imprisonment and release of American journalists in North Korea; reporters who are fleeing their countries in exile; and journalists working as freelancers in war zones without support networks because of the closing of foreign bureaus.
From the preface to the CPJ report by Fareed Zakaria:
Unable to afford foreign bureaus, more newspapers and magazines are
relying on freelancers abroad. These stringers look just as suspicious
to dictators and militant groups—and they are distinctly more
vulnerable. In late year, Iran was still holding three U.S. hikers, one
of whom had worked as a freelance journalist in the Middle East. In
November, two freelancers, a Canadian and an Australian, were released
by a Somali rebel group after 15 months in captivity; with no media
organization behind them, their case had received scant attention. Nine
freelancers were killed in reprisal for their work in 2009, while 60
others were in prisons worldwide in late year. As publications and TV
networks continue to shed staff and look for ways to cover conflicts
more affordably, the number of such cases is only going to grow.
In this new environment, local journalists are going to assume added
importance—and they will take on greater risk. In increasingly violent
Pakistan, local reporters face threats from the Taliban and other
militants, along with government harassment and military indifference
to their safety. (A year ago, Newsweek's
Sami Yousafzai was shot at point-blank range by a Taliban assassin and
then detained by Pakistani police as soon as he left the hospital.) The
Somali press corps has suffered devastating losses. Nine local
journalists were killed in 2009 and dozens have fled the country.
Western correspondents—few of whom venture into Somalia now—no longer
have sources to rely upon for basic information. Says Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek: "They were the first responders,
if you will, to breaking news in Somalia. And most of them are gone.
Beyond each individual tragedy, the impact of this is incalculable. The fear it instigates means that that far fewer journalists are willing and able to follow through on the hardest stories, resulting in limited or nonexistent press freedom and a world where we are far less accountable to one another.CPJ offers close looks at the landscape around the world:
We have to pay attention to this. We have seen, after all, how powerful the public's attention can be in creating safer spaces for journalists to do their work; as CPJ's Joel Simon puts it: "Governments, including the most recalcitrant and repressive, still respond to international pressure."
What's more, it's crucial for Americans and other Westerners to not sit smugly under the belief that the mistreatment happens only in Iran and China (the top two nations for the imprisonment of journalists). We've seen it happen on our own soil and we've participated in ourselves.
Last year, U.S. authorities held an Iraqi journalist in detention without charges or due process, despite a court order that freelance photojournalist Ibrahim Jassam, who was working for Reuters, be released. Our immigration officials detained a Voice of America reporter during a visa dispute for ten days. A new report released last year revealed that more than 40 journalists were arrested during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, and criticized the local police department for not having a better protocol. And two men were finally indicted last April for the 2007 murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was killed for his reporting. The arrests are the direct result of the good work done by the Chauncey Bailey Project, a collective of people who worked with Bailey and committed to continuing the investigation into the story he was covering. The Project also closely watched the police investigation into Bailey's murder, and revealed irregularities in the process.
The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act passed the House, and it came under consideration in the Senate. The act would compel the State Department to report annually to Congress on a full range of press freedom abuses, and to explain “what steps the government of each such country has taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media, and to ensure the prosecution of those individuals who attack or murder journalists.” CPJ sent a letter of support to the House sponsors of the bill, Reps. Adam Schiff and Mike Pence, and urged the Senate to pass the legislation.
The Free Flow of Information Act, which would help journalists under federal subpoena protect confidential sources, remained under consideration in Congress. The legislation cleared a key hurdle in December when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill and sent it to the full chamber for a vote. The House had earlier passed its own version.
CPJ was among many press freedom and news organizations supporting the legislation. The Global Online Freedom Act, which would make it a crime for U.S. firms to turn over customer information to governments of “Internet-restricting countries,” remained under consideration in the House of Representatives.
CPJ continued to serve as a member of the Global Network Initiative, founded in 2008 by a group of Internet companies, academics, investors, and human rights groups. The initiative established voluntary guidelines for Internet and telecommunications companies to protect free expression and privacy. Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft joined the initiative and agreed to follow its guidelines when restrictive governments seek to enlist them in acts of censorship or surveillance that violate international human rights standards.
Beyond participating in advocacy campaigns for particular journalists and supporting policies that encourage a vibrant and fair media landscape, what else can you do? Consider these choices:
Become a supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists through financial donations, in-kind donations, memorial contributions, corporate giving, or naming CPJ in your will.
Be attentive: follow CPJ through its e-newsletter and the usual social networking sites.
I have a new article out today at AlterNet, headlined "Shocking Report Reveals Epidemic of Sexual Abuse in Juvenile Prisons." The piece draws from an unprecedented national report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics which finds that more than 1 in 10 kids held in detention were raped or molested within one year, most often by staff members.
I encountered more than a few surprises while digging into this, including the fact that 95 percent of all youth reporting staff sexual misconduct said they had been victimized by a female staff member. As well, I had conversations with teachers at one detention center who are skeptical of the high numbers in the report.
An excerpt from the article:
A notoriously difficult problem to gauge, the (report) struggles against
the tendency of some youth to not report abuse they've experienced,
even when they are promised anonymity. At the same time, some youth
make false or inflated claims, or may not have a clear understanding of
what is being asked of them.
(Jamie Fellner of Human Rights Watch) said it's her hunch that even the high reported numbers undercount the actual rate of abuse.
But David, who teaches at a Michigan detention facility -- and who asked
that his real name not be used in this article -- said that he was
surprised at the high rate of abuse revealed by the (report).
"I know there's a lot of individual sexual activity between youth, but
most of it is what you'd probably call consensual, unless you want to
get into age stuff," David said.
He added that he is, however, familiar with one youth "grooming"
another -- that is, latching onto them and setting them up for a sexual
encounter. David has also noticed that "some female staff that really
like to flirt with the boys," a phenomenon that he described as "really
pathetic."
"If I had to go with my gut feeling about how often (abuse) happens,
I'd say it's way less (than the report indicates)," David said. "You do
have to wonder how kids define sexual activity when asked about it."
Poet and educator E. Ethelbert Miller and Krista Tippett exchange a sparkling conversation over at Speaking of Faith about Miller finding his voice through the Black Arts and Black Power movements of the 1960s (he entered Howard University in in 1968). From the politics of poetry to the beloved community, from the changing meanings of blackness to the color of ideas, Miller is forthright and fascinating. And Tippett continues to impress me as an engaged and thoughtful interviewer. Also, the recently passed poet Lucille Clifton makes a cameo on the show.
I wrote before of my hunger for Elif Batuman's chronicle of the lovers of Russian literature, those books of weird dark lace. Laura Miller's review of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them only exacerbates it. Miller admits straight off that she doesn't count herself as among those who especially love the writers with names that firespit off the tongue (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Turgenov, Chekhov). Yet she is immediately "bewitched" by Batuman's project, which she describes as "hilarious and charming."
The fact that I could never quite understand what was going on put
me off of Russian novels; for Batuman, it's a prime attraction. Her
"fascination with Russianness" dates back to her early youth when, as a
first-generation Turkish-American from New Jersey, she took violin
lessons from a Russian named Maxim. His behavior baffled her,
particularly the period during which he exhaustively coached her for a
juried examination, repeatedly insisting, "We have to be very well
prepared because we do not know who is on this jury." When she turned
up for the exam, she found the panel headed up by "not some unknown
judge, but Maxim himself."
Captivated,
Batuman developed an appetite for what she calls "mystifications."
"What I used to enjoy in poetry," she writes, "was precisely the
feeling of only half understanding." Most essayists would probably
approach the cognitive netherland of semi-communication as a sad and
serious dilemma, but for Batuman it's a kind of heaven, lush with comic
possibility. Russians, with their unfathomable and melodramatic
behavior, strike her as both awe-inspiring and amusing.
Isak is a space to celebrate tales and truth in the curious, joyful way embodied by the writer for which it is named. The name "Isak," after all, means "laughter," as she was fond of pointing out.
By tales, I mean fiction (especially short fiction), as well as other literary and artistic narratives. By truth, I mean the world in which we live. I especially have my eye on creative social justice.
For more than five years, I have edited Isak, supporting it with my time and treasure. I keep my commitment to keep this site ad-free. I do this because I believe in this as a project and because it is a joy. If you find this website valuable in any way, and if you are moved to contribute a donation to support it, I would be deeply grateful. All funds will go toward the enhancement of this site and its resources.
Joe Kelly: I Kill Giants Here it is: a compilation comic of striking artwork and an unnerving story of fantasy, monsters, and disaster. Barbara Thorson is the eccentric and geeky young girl of great confidence who guides us through the pages. I Kill Giants is a work of beauty. Read my brief review here.
Louise Stern: Chattering Louise Stern is a first-time author and long-time artist, an American living in London, and fourth-generation deaf. Chattering is a collection of short stories. See my video review here.
Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex I empathize with Cal's search for a sexual partner with whom he can share joy and vulnerability. But setting this up as the endpoint of all that came before -- not just in his own life but in the lives of his grandparents and parents -- feels narcissistic and off-note. Read the full review here.
John Knowles: A Separate Peace The textual chatter works from the edges in, dissolving the story's substance. It has all the subtlety of a stubbed toe. Read the full review here.
Cormac McCarthy: No Country for Old Men This is not my usual kind of book; I both love it and feel detached from it. I find it intriguing and provoking, and I'm impressed by the potency of this rather brief tale that beautifully merges language and story. Read the full review here.
