Photos Empower in Peru

WASHINGTON, DC, 1 March 2017 – I delivered a few remarks at the inauguration of the photo exhibit, “Self Portrait of a Nation,” (Ojos Propios) at the Peruvian embassy in the nation’s capital. Standing to my left is Peruvian Ambassador to the United States, Carlos Pareja.

The exhibit focuses on images made by “citizen photojournalists” in some of the most remote and underprivileged corners of Peru. The exhibit is the result of a decade-long effort by photographer Andrés Longhi.

My two most important takeaways from the event are: (1) Technology has enabled non-professionals with access to digital cameras and the Internet to take part in the representation of their own communities, their own countries and their own realities. (2) The ability to take part in the global conversation that we call “journalism” validates and empowers the practitioners and their subjects.

(Still photos by Esther Gentile)

You can see the event here: https://www.facebook.com/EmbassyPeruInTheUSA/videos/1946719012056744/

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Fire and Ice on the Mountain

WASHINGTON, DC, 21 December 2017 — I produced this film, Fire and Ice on the Mountain, on my most recent assignment for American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS). I traveled to Peru in June to make the film, following a Swedish anthropologist investigating the link between religion and climate change.

Fire and Ice explores how the melting glacier of Peru’s Huaytapallana mountain impacts Peruvians’ cosmovision or, their spiritual relationship with nature and their understanding of their place in it.

I’ve worked as a freelance foreign correspondent on similar stories in other parts of the world. And that is no coincidence. As the impact of climate change becomes more apparent, and as humankind invades deeper and deeper into the dwindling undeveloped regions of the world, the inhabitants of these regions are squeezed tighter and tighter in the vise of “modernity.” And they are forced to either fight back, adapt — or both.

It was fascinating for me to witness, first-hand, how Peruvian pilgrims celebrating the Andean New Year, adapt to the changes imposed on them by the disappearing glacier atop the mountain of Huaytapallana, just outside the bustling city of Huancayo, some 120 miles east of Lima.

As I do on the vast majority of assignments these days, I employed the methodology that I refer to as “backpack journalism,” to make this film. Backpack journalism means, “one story, one camera, one properly trained video journalist.” This is the methodology that I brought to American University’s School of Communication in the early 2000s, when I founded the Backpack Journalism Project. With the exception of the drone footage shot by colleague and friend Carolina Quinteros, I shot, wrote, and narrated the entire film. My wife, Esther, edited the story.

We hope you enjoy the film.

(Photo by Bill Gentile)

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Backpack Journalism, Religion and Climate Change

LIMA, Peru, 16 June 2017 — This morning’s view from my hotel window in the Peruvian capital where I arrived last night. I’m on assignment for American University’s (AU) Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS).

I’ll be heading for Huancayo tomorrow, and then to the glacier at Huaytapallana to make a short film on religion and climate change. As usual, I’ll employ the “backpack journalism” model that I introduced at the university years ago. This means one story, one camera, one properly trained visual storyteller.

I’ll keep you posted along the way.

(Photo by Bill Gentile.)

 

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AU-Pulitzer Fellowship Winners

WASHINGTON, DC, 27 April 2017 — We are proud to announce that Erin McGoff (L) and Natalie Hutchison (R) are this year’s winners of the AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowships.

Erin will return to Laos, where she is producing her documentary, “This Little Land of Mines,” about explosives dropped by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War and that continue to wreak havoc on that tiny Asian country. Her fellowship is supported by American University’s School of Communication (SOC).

Natalie will journey to Chile to report on religion and climate change. Her fellowship is supported by American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS).

With Erin and Natalie are Dean Jeffrey Rutenbeck (L) and CLALS Director Eric Hershberg.

American University and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting are proud to announce these outstanding students as winners of this year’s fellowships. Each award is worth $2,500.00. Perhaps more importantly, these awards are bridges between the university and the professional world to which these students aspire to belong.

(Photos by Bill Gentile)

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“Freelancers,” Technology Revolution

MEXICO CITY, 8 March 2017 — Associated Press (AP) video journalist Gerardo Carrillo edits material he shot of a women’s march in the Mexican capital. I spent time with Gerardo while filming a pilot for the series, “Freelancers,” about the young, tech-savvy freelance foreign correspondents stepping into the void left by mainstream media retreating from overseas news coverage. Gerardo and I worked together in Central America during the 1980s. He founded the AP video unit in Mexico City, and still works there.

Journalists like Gerardo often provide critical support to freelancers like myself. I began my own career in Mexico in 1977 but have not worked there in many years. He’s using a laptop computer to edit his material before transmitting to the AP bureau in Washington, DC. This technology is part of what makes freelancing so viable today. The cost of global communication has plummeted since the days that Gerardo and I worked in Nicaragua and El Salvador. It’s truly a technology revolution. I’ve entered the post-production stage of the “Freelancers” project, and will be posting images and text as I move along. Please feel free to contact me with questions.

American University graduate student Matt Cipollone and I spent Spring Break shooting and producing the film. In addition to Gerardo, we spent time with a freelance foreign correspondent working with The New York Times and Time magazine; with a freelancer who works with USA Today and The Guardian; with a freelance documentary filmmaker; and with three still photographers.

This project is supported by American University’s School  of Communication, where I work in Washington, DC. I decided to produce the pilot for “Freelancers” in Mexico mostly because that’s where I landed as a freelancer right after graduate school at Ohio University, but also because it’s close to home and logistics would be less costly than some of the other countries and regions where I want to take this project. More on that later.

(Photo by Matt Cipollone)

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Journalists in Mexico killed in record numbers – along with freedom of speech

 

 

Reuters/ Fox News/ Google images

Tuesday, April 4th, 2017- ” Recent murders have led to the closure of a prominent Mexican newspaper. Freelance journalist Paul Imison writes about the present dangers that Mexican journalists face.”

Read full story here: “http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/04/journalists-in-mexico-killed-in-record-numbers-along-with-freedom-speech.html”

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International Journalist Laura Ling talks about her experiences

 

Madison Ogletree/ The Auburn Plainsman/ Google Images

Wednesday, April 5th, 2017: ” International journalist Laura Ling spoke to Auburn University last Monday about her captivity in North Korea, her love for traveling, and the need for investigating human rights issues.”

Read the full story here: http://www.theplainsman.com/article/2017/04/laura-ling-with-the-auburn-plainsman

 

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Main Threat to Mexican Journalists Comes from Officials.

 

article19.org/google images

Wednesday, April 5th, 2017: ” Freedom of press watchdog Article 19 reports that officials accounted for 53% of the attacks against Mexican journalists in 2016.  Article 19 believes that Mexican officials pose,” the biggest threat to freedom of expression in Mexico.”

 

Read the full article here: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2434259&CategoryId=14091

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Mexican Newspaper Closes Out of Fear for Journalists’ Safety.

 

El Norte/ Reuters

Thursday, April 6th, 2017: ” With the murder of Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea, the Mexican newspaper EL Norte has decided to close its doors. El Norte’s director Oscar Cantu Murguia told VOA that Velducea’s murder, “forced me to reflect that everything that we have done, what we have shown and published in 27 years, has not made any progress.”

Read the full article here: https://www.voanews.com/a/mexican-newspaper-closes-out-of-fear-for-journalists-safety-/3800244.html

 

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Women In Conflict @ American University

WASHINGTON, DC, 26 March 2017 — American University’s School of Communication and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting co-hosted an exciting, informative and much-needed presentation and panel discussion titled, “Women In Conflict.” From left to right, Cassandra Vinograd, Natalie Keyssar and Hannah Allam, held the attention of a full-house crowd — in awe of their knowledge, their poise and their presentations — for more than an hour and a half. They told students, colleagues, working professionals, and the general public how to stay safe while covering conflict abroad — and at home.
(Photos by Danielle Criss.)

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