A few weeks back I was invited to shoot an event at the
University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. The event was
titled “Prosecuting the Press” and featured the world famous investigative
reporter Lowell Bergman, a true badass and currently producer/correspondent for
the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE.
Bergman is so tough and experienced that actor Al Pacino played him in
the feature film “The Insider”, needless to say, he is the real deal!
His guest for this lecture was the currently embattled
Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and New York Times reporter, James
Risen. Risen is also as tough as nails and has been challenged by the courts to
reveal the name of his source for a chapter in his book State of War: The Secret History
of the CIA and the Bush
Administration. Chapter 9 in his book talks about a secret mission
called Operation MERLIN that the CIA totally screwed up. Risen caught wind of
this mishap and wrote about it years later, unfortunately, both the Bush
administration and the Obama administration are still trying to punish him for
bringing the said incident to light. He is currently challenging the ruling of
the court system who looks to send him to jail if he won’t divulge his source
of the leak, by taking his case to the Supreme Court. This is currently scheduled
to happen in a few months, and that is also why I chose to accept this
assignment, the verdict in this case will have HUGE implications on the way the
Media/Press deal with acquiring and writing their stories in the near future.
Risens’ challenge is one of the bravest things for a journalist to attempt, and
I fully support his rights and ideals.
With the amount of hype that Julian Assange (Wikileaks), Eric Snowden
and Chelsea Manning have received in the past few years for their specific
leaks, the Risen case may seem miniscule in comparison. However, it must be
noted that he was not the “leaker”, he merely wrote about the events the occurred,
as told to him, by a trusted source…….but he is also a journalist, and is
protected by the laws of the land…..right? One would think, but the rules have
changed rapidly since 9/11, and the U.S. government is trying to set him up as
an example….don’t burn us or we will burn you seems to be the statement they
are screaming!
“The basic issue is, can we continue as journalists to
protect and offer the confidentiality to someone who knows something going on
in the government but doesn’t want to go public?”, asked Risen.
His question and answer event was scheduled at the Berdahl
Auditorium on campus and was held in front of 300 invited guests. Among those
in attendance was Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, one of the first ever to leak
secrets, most famously the “Pentagon Papers” that he copied and delivered to
The New York Times in 1971. His leak changed the way the Vietnam war debacle
played out, and his decision and bravery no doubt helped save the lives of many U.S. soldiers.
I was fortunate enough to film all of these men and listen
to their stories as well….a bonus if you will. I had read the book ahead of
time to judge for myself if the leak was really worth going to jail over…..I
don’t think it gave away anything that would have jeopardized or hurt America…..unless
showing how reckless and childish the whole CIA plan actually was…! I truly
believe that the people trying to punish Risen are embarrassed by what he
revealed, and the simple fact that they got caught.
The Berkeley professors, Dean Wasserman and the students/staff
who helped and attended this event should be proud of the program that they put
together this night and I am glad that I could attend and do my part in
capturing this small segment of history….James Risen is a true leader, and will
be seen as one by years end. When asked
about his own future and why he published his book, Risen responded to the
crowd, “I thought, I either publish these stories or I’m getting out of
journalism. The default position for a reporter should be to publish.”
The entire event was videotaped and will hopefully be around
for many decades to teach other journalism students the ethics and
responsibility of being professional
writers.
In other happenings, I was invited to put together a small
workshop on the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism campus and it
couldn’t have gone any better! I was to discuss being a “Pool photographer” as
well as how uploading images to the Associated Press wire service happens. I
had about a dozen excited and curious students in attendance in the library,
and we spoke for over 2 hours. We talked ethics, responsibility, PhotoMechanic,
editing, cropping, metadata, code replacements, Photoshop actions and FTP
servers……and then went through my traveling camera case. Students set up my
cameras with Pocket Wizard remotes and tried my selection of different lenses
and bodies……Hands on was the motto of the day.
I want to personally thank everyone at Berkeley, and I truly hope to
return there one day for a longer workshop to train these excited students.
This was one of the best teaching experiences ever. Go Bears!!!
For more photos of this event click here: http://alexmenendez.photoshelter.com/#!/index/G0000FU69V3m5Np4
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