FREELANCERS: The Next Stage

WASHINGTON, DC, 14 January 2018 — I’m delighted to update friends, colleagues and supporters that FREELANCERS with Bill Gentile soon will be moving to the distribution phase.

We’ve scheduled a screening this week at American University, a generous supporter of this project. The event will be held at the class of Matt Cipollone, whose editing of the documentary serves as his graduate degree thesis project. Matt graduates with a Masters Degree this May.

Following the screening, my plan is to deliver the film to the artist who will provide the sound/music foundation of the documentary, and who will mix the sound and music into the final cut. Then we take it to potential distributors. It’s been a long journey, filled with intense, hard work, much learning and a tremendous amount of fun with friends, new and old.

If you haven’t done so already, you may want to watch the FREELANCERS “sizzle reel,” which Matt also edited. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr5ZwWrUD5E&t=8s

— 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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Interviewing NYTimes Freelance Correspondent in Mexico

WASHINGTON, DC, 7 May 2017 — During a March trip to Nogales, Mexico, I interviewed Ioan Grillo (R), freelance foreign correspondent based in Mexico City who works with The New York Times and Time magazine.

American University Graduate Teaching Assistant Matt Cipollone and I accompanied Grillo during much of his reporting trip for this story, published in today’s New York Times. We also worked with photojournalist Patrick Tombola, whose images are featured in Grillo’s story.

Matt and I were in Mexico working on my upcoming documentary film, “Freelancers.” The film explores the new breed of journalists filling the void left by mainstream media outlets retreating from foreign news coverage. Matt and I are in the post-production stage now.

On our journey, Matt and I used the “backpack journalism” methodology that I introduced to American University’s School of Communication shortly after I arrived at the school in 2003. True to the “backpack journalism” model, I typically travel and work alone, which enables me to deliver a more immediate, more intimate story than achievable with a large crew and a pile of gear. However, since I am a “thread” to be seen throughout the current film and those that hopefully will follow, a two-person team was essential.

Having said that, Matt and I worked with a bare minimum of gear — only what we could carry onto a plane in our backpacks. As you soon will see, it worked.

Matt carried his Sony HDSLR-type camera and a directional microphone. We took two small pocket-size recorders, with lavalier microphones. We attached one to our principle character and the other to myself, as I’m the thread through the pilot project and through the overall series. I shot both stills and some video with my iPhone 6+.

Working the “backpack” methodology has positive as well as negative aspects. On the positive side, Matt and I were able to move more quickly, weighed down by less gear, to travel in smaller vehicles that are more agile on the road. On the negative side, working alone can be a handicap, since the practitioner is not able to share ideas with a colleague working on the same story. And, of course, it can be more dangerous working alone than with a team.

Fortunately, we worked well together and were not affected by any of the negative aspects of the methodology.

(Photo by Matt Cipollone)

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Backpacking With NYTimes Freelance Correspondent

WASHINGTON, DC, 7 May 2017 — American University Graduate Teaching Assistant Matt Cipollone and I accompanied New York Times freelance foreign correspondent Ioan Grillo during much of Grillo’s reporting trip for this story. We also had the pleasure of working with photojournalist Patrick Tombola, whose images are featured in Grillo’s story.

Matt and I were in Nogales, Mexico, working on my upcoming documentary film, “Freelancers.” The film explores the new breed of journalists filling the void left by mainstream media outlets retreating from foreign news coverage. Matt and I are in the post-production stage right now.

On our journey, Matt and I used the “backpack journalism” methodology that I introduced to American University’s School of Communication shortly after I arrived at the school in 2003. True to the “backpack journalism” model, I typically travel and work alone, which enables me to deliver a more immediate, more intimate story than achievable with a large crew and a pile of gear. However, since I am a “thread” to be seen throughout the current film and those that hopefully will follow, a two-person team was essential.

Having said that, Matt and I worked with a bare minimum of gear — only what we could carry onto a plane in our backpacks. As you soon will see, it worked.

Matt carried his Sony HDSLR-type camera and a directional microphone. We took two small pocket-size recorders, with lavalier microphones. We attached one to our principle character and the other to myself, as I’m the thread through the pilot project and through the overall series. I shot both stills and some video with my iPhone 6+.

Working the “backpack” methodology has positive as well as negative aspects. On the positive side, Matt and I were able to move more quickly, weighed down by less gear, to travel in smaller vehicles that are more agile on the road. On the negative side, working alone can be a handicap, since the practitioner is not able to share ideas with a colleague working on the same story. And, of course, it can be more dangerous working alone than with a team.

Fortunately, we worked well together and were not affected by any of the negative aspects of the methodology.

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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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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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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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Mexican journalists are detained and beaten by police during protests over rising Mexican gas prices.

Fidencio Alonso / Courtesy of Zocalo de Monclova via Reuters

Thursday, January 12, 2017: A recent rise in gas prices has resulted in mass protests across Mexico. According to Article 19, protests in Baja California and Coahuila resulted in the assault of 20 journalists and detainment of 10 more by local and federal police.

Read the full article here: https://cpj.org/2017/01/mexican-police-attack-journalists-covering-protest.php

 

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Prominent Mexican journalist is sued by a former Mexican state governor for moral damages.

 

AFP/ Pedro Pardo/ Getty images

Friday, September 2, 2016: Sergio Aguayo, a prominent political commentator, was sued by the former governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira, for moral damages. In a January 20th article in Reforma, Aguayo described Moreira as “a politician that releases the stench of corruption.” This accusation stems from an investigation into the disappearance of 300 residences from the Coahuila town of Allende during Moreira’s governorship.

Read the full article here: https://cpj.org/blog/2016/09/change-to-mexican-law-leaves-critical-journalists-.php

 

 

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Journalist uses fellowship to investigate the disappearance of students in Mexico.

 

ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images

Monday, January 16, 2016: “Annabel Hernandez is a seasoned Mexican investigative journalist with 23 years of experiences. Learn how she uses a fellowship through University of California, Berkeley to investigate the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. An investigation that she documents in her book “La Verdadera Noche de Iguala”.”

Read the full article here: https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/00-17915-anabel-hernandez-tells-how-us-university-fellowship-helped-her-investigate-disappearan

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