Editors' Blog | Journalism.co.uk » Afghanistan

‘I heard the mechanic click. I knew this is not good’: Joao Silva’s speech

Rachel McAthy — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:32:29 +0000

The New York Times blog today published in full a speech given by photojournalist Joao Silva at the Bronx Documentary Center earlier this month. Silva was severely injured after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan last year.

Silva lost both legs below the knee, with months of recovery ahead of him at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. Just last month his work returned to the front pages, with an image accompanying a story about the closure of the very medical centre in which he was staying.

In his speech, published in full here, Silva describes that moment in October last year when “everything changed”.

I heard the mechanic click. I knew: this is not good. And I found myself lying face-down on the ground, engulfed in a cloud of dust, with the very clear knowledge that this has just happened and this is not good. I could see my legs were gone, and everybody around me was dazed. I was like: “Guys, I need help here.” And they turned around and saw me on the ground. They immediately sprang into action. I got dragged out of the kill zone, for safety reasons, to a patch of ground a few yards away.

Immediately, there were medics working on me. I picked up a camera, shot a few frames. The frames weren’t very good, quite frankly, but I was trying to record. I knew it wasn’t good, but I felt alive. Adrenaline kicked in. I was compos mentis; I was on top of things. So, I made some pictures. I dropped the camera, then I moved to Plan B, which was to pick up the satellite phone. I called my wife, Vivian, and told her: “My legs are gone, but I think I’m going to live.”

Silva also used his speech to offer advice to young photojournalists keen to enter the field. And the key is perseverance, he said.

It’s not an easy industry. It’s highly competitive. Every year there are literally thousands of young kids coming on the stage, a lot of them so talented. For freelancers, it’s a juggle every day. There’s only so much money going around. There’s only so many publications that will employ people. Even though demand for knowledge and content has grown, the market has shrunk. It’s really sad, but it’s a reality.

As for Silva’s own journey, he said it is likely to be another year before he is “fully functional”, but added that the ultimate goal is to get back to work.

Without a doubt, life is strange. Everything has changed. But I hope to pick up from where I left off, to a certain extent. In the meantime, I just take a little more courage and a little more perseverance — and quite frankly, take as many drugs as I can.

Similar Posts:

Journalisted weekly: Wimbledon, Glastonbury, Euro crisis, & Afghanistan

Sarah Booker — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:13:52 +0000

Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations.

Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

For the week ending Saturday 26 June

Wimbledon and Glastonbury cover features and back pages
Greek economic crisis and Afghanistan war dominate international news
Another flotilla, and Aung San Suu Kyi addressing Congress, covered little

Covered lots

Wimbledon, with Murray, Federer, Nadal and Sharapova cruising to the quarter finals, 1,243 articles
Glastonbury Festival 2011, headlined by U2, Beyonce and Cold Play, 381 articles
The Eurozone crisis, with Osborne standing firm on refusal of UK aid in second bailout, and Greece’s government surviving a confidence vote, 370 articles
Obama announces an exit strategy of US troops from Afghanistan by 2014, followed by Cameron’s and Sarkozy’s for British and French troops, 159 articles

Covered little

Tunisia’s former president Ben Ali and his wife, who fled anti-government protests in January, are sentenced to 35 years in prison for embezzlement and misuse of public funds, 10 articles
A Jamaican deportee slits his throat on a plane due to leave the UK, 8 articles
Another ‘freedom’ flotilla is bound for the Gaza Strip, 6 articles
Aung San Suu Kyi addresses the US Congress for the first time ever, 0 articles

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

David Cameron: 732 articles (+24% on previous week)
George Osborne: 213 articles (-40% on previous week)
Ed Miliband: 184 articles (-24% on previous week)
Nick Clegg: 154 articles (-19% on previous week)
Tony Blair: 141 articles (-16% on previous week)
Alex Salmond: 130 articles (+23% on previous week)
Michael Gove: 111 articles (+32% on previous week)
Gordon Brown: 98 articles (-25% on previous week)
Ed Balls: 90 articles (-34% on previous week)
Danny Alexander: 85 articles (-30% on previous week)

Celebrity vs serious

Cheryl Cole, maybe getting back with her ex, Ashley, 67 articles vs. riots in Belfast, reported to be the worst in a decade, 23 articles
Singer Beyonce, closing Glastonbury, 49 articles vs. a plane crash in Russia killing over 45 people, 21 articles
George Clooney, split from his model/TV presenter girlfriend, 36 articles vs. PC Simon Harwood, charged with the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 protests, 12 articles

Arab spring (countries & current leaders)

Libya and Colonel Gaddafi, 147 articles (-15% on previous week)
Syria and President Bashar Al-Assad, 104 articles (-15% on previous week)
Yemen and President Saleh, 16 articles (-24% on previous week)
Gaza and Hamas, 15 articles (+15% on previous week)
Iran and President Ahmadinejad, 10 articles (+11% on previous week)
Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, 8 articles (+33% on previous week)
Turkey and Prime Minster Erdogan, 8 articles (-84% on previous week)
Bahrain and King Al Khalifa, 6 articles (-33% on previous week)
West Bank and President Abbas, 5 articles (-29% on previous week)
Jordan and King Abdullah, 3 articles (-67% on previous week)
Morocco and King Mohammed VI, 3 articles (-57% on previous week)
Qatar and Emir Khalifa Al Thani, 3 articles (+300% on previous week)
Egypt’s Military Council, 2 articles (+50% on previous week)
Egypt and Prime Minister Sharaf, 2 articles (+200% on previous week)
Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah, 1 articles (-83% on previous week)
Oman and Sultan Al Said, 1 article (0% on previous week)

Who wrote a lot about…’Wimbledon’

Mark Hodgkinson – 18 articles (Telegraph), Simon Cambers – 16 articles (The Guardian), Kevin Mitchell – 15 articles (The Guardian), Paul Newman – 15 articles (The Independent), Alexandra Willis – 13 articles (Telegraph), Steve Brenner – 12 articles (The Sun), Brian Viner – 12 articles (Independent), Stuart Bathgate – 11 articles (The Scotsman), Neil Harman – 11 articles (The Times), Ben Smith – 11 articles (The Times)

Long form journalism

3,390 words: We’ve got you under our skins – AA Gill, The Sunday Times, 26 June 2011
3,058 words: Pakistan’s unlikely crime fighters – Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, The Guardian, 24th June 2011
2,925 words: Widening the net for British tennis – David White, Telegraph, 23rd June 2011

More from the Media Standards Trust

Visit the Media Standards Trust’s new site Churnalism.com – a public service for distinguishing journalism from churnalism.

Churnalism.com ‘explore’ page is available for browsing press release sources alongside news outlets

The Media Standards Trust’s unofficial database of PCC complaints is available for browsing at www.complaints.pccwatch.co.uk

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbeSimilar Posts:

Death of Daily Mirror reporter in Afghanistan blast was ‘unpreventable’, inquest hears

Sarah Marshall — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:42:16 +0000

Nothing could have been done to prevent the death of Daily Mirror defence correspondent Rupert Hamer, who died in a blast in Afghanistan in January last year, the Press Association reports from an inquest into his death.

An inquest in Trowbridge, Wiltshire heard that he died despite wearing full standard issue body armour.

A US Marine was also killed and Sunday Mirror photographer Philip Coburn, who was sitting next to Mr Hamer, was seriously injured.

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, David Ridley, Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner, said: “No matter how much training was given, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome.

“This was not an act of war. It was a cold-blooded killing. The purpose of the device was to maim and kill American service personnel.

In the days after his death the Mirror paid tribute to Hamer, who had worked for the title for 12 years.

The UKPA story is at this linkSimilar Posts:

Blood and Dust: Vaughan Smith on the rescue teams saving lives in Afghanistan

Joel Gunter — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:05:42 +0000

Frontline Club founder and freelance filmmaker Vaughan Smith has produced a new film following two weeks embedded with the US Army’s 214th Aviation Regiment in Afghanistan.

The film, produced for Al Jazeera’s People & Power series, follows the trials of a US military air ambulance crew as they attempt to save the lives of soldiers, local nationals and Taliban fighters alike.

“I have done a fair number of military embeds in Afghanistan over the last few years,” says Smith, “but was concerned that I hadn’t filmed the suffering of war, just its machinery.”

“I have worked with Al Jazeera on this because I couldn’t find another news broadcaster in Britain that would show the film without cutting out the stronger images. I have huge respect for the way Al Jazeera as a broadcaster engages the world while so many others appear to retreat from it,” he adds.

Media Briefing editor Patrick Smith says: “What I enjoy about Vaughan’s work is its absence of politics. A BBC, Sky or CNN journalist may frame a report around whether the troops should be at war or not. This is just a document of professionals at work, doing their job, stitching people up in the most unimaginable heat and horror.”

More information on the Frontline Club site at this link.Similar Posts:

Afghanistan and journalism: who’s winning the media war?

John Mair — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Earlier this month, Journalism.co.uk ran a series of exclusive extracts from the book ‘Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines’. Last night contributors to the book came together to debate the media’s role in the Afghanistan conflict, its portrayal of the war and what should happen now. Co-editor John Mair rounds up last night’s debate at the Frontline Club:

Now for the ultimate journalistic challenge: how do you report a meeting that is not supposed to have happened?

Facts first: the book ‘Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines’ edited by Richard Keeble and myself was launched at the Frontline Club in London last night. A debate was held there too about who was winning the media war in Afghanistan, but under the Chatham House Rule, which rather stymies reporting.

Participating were senior editors and correspondents from the BBC and Sky News and a senior military public relations official in front of a paying audience of 120. I can tell you no more about who took part. That’s the rule.

But some interesting themes emerged that I can talk about:

the media war was firmly being lost by the West and won by the Taliban;
the US authorities are better at managing the media than the British, who seem addicted to embedding;
embedding is nothing new but the British military have got better at straight news management (e.g.minimising the filming of casualties on the grounds that soldiers had rights to privacy and refusal);
the British army has made coverage of the war cheap and within the reach of regional papers and television to suit their own agenda;
embedding with the Taliban has been almost impossible and the era of the unilateral journalist firmly finished in this theatre of war.

One of the most interesting things to emerge was a perceived multiplication of casualties through military procedures and the 24-hour news cycle. Soldiers “die” five times: when the incident happens, when their name is announced by the MoD, when the body comes home and through Wooton Bassett, at their funeral and at the inquest into their death. So the 330 plus British casualties to date in Afghanistan can seem like many more thanks to this rule, hence the lingering but dwindling public support for the War.

It was a fascinating discussion and let me leave you with some quotes. Under the Chatham House rule, it is up to you to decide who said what:

“Afghanistan has seen the Hollywoodisation of war”;
“There are more embeds in Afghanistan than any other conflict”;
“Embedded is just posh silly name for what journos always done”;
“Sports journos know more about sport than war journos know about war”;
“We have an absolute duty to tell the truth”.

Did I break the Rule? You decide…Similar Posts:

MediaLens’ response to Alex Thomson on Afghanistan

Laura Oliver — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:02:37 +0000

A response from the website MediaLens to Alex Thomson’s piece on the Afghanistan war and the practicalities of embed journalism:

In his September 1 piece, ‘Afghanistan: the rough guide to roughness’, Alex Thomson writes:

“Chief among the carpers about embedding, of course, the indefatigable editors at MediaLens who get extremely hoity-toity at the entire concept of embedding.

“However, ask them how they would cover Helmand if they were off to the main bazaar, Lashkar Gah, at noon next Tuesday and guess what? Total silence from the normally electronically incontinent MediaLens email service. Which rather clinches the argument, simple though it is.”

This is false. In April, Alison Banville, an activist and freelance journalist, asked us to respond to Thomson’s question. We did so and she forwarded the following comments to Thomson on 3 April:

“From the Davids [David Edwards and David Cromwell, editors of MediaLens]:

“He’s never asked us ‘how will you cover Helmand assuming you are going there next week?’ The answer is that he should report it as he would any illegal invasion of a sovereign state. He should report it as he would have reported the 1979-89 Soviet invasion and occupation. In other words, present the opinion of the invading forces, of the people under occupation, including the resistance, and of experts in international law who declare the whole operation illegal.

“Obviously, alongside the warmongers, leading anti-war commentators should be regularly quoted and featured: Chomsky, Herman, Pilger, Goodman, Curtis, Ellsberg, et al. I’m not suggesting he could achieve all of that himself in the field, but his reports should be part of a news service that does. There’s no question of intellectual cowardice [on our part, as claimed by Thomson] – the answer couldn’t be more obvious. Happy for you to quote us on this.”

Thomson responded to Banville’s email on the same day, expressing agreement with our comments while claiming that Channel 4 had already done as we had suggested.

Thomson now claims that by “total silence” he meant we had totally evaded his question – hard to reconcile with the meaning of “total silence” and with his positive response on April 3 when he made no mention of evasion.

The truth is that we never avoid difficult questions from mainstream journalists. On the contrary, we are forever seeking to engage them in written debate and are consistently ignored or fobbed off. Readers can find 3,000 pages of examples here: http://www.medialens.org/alerts/archive.php

Similar Posts:

Deadlines and frontlines: extracts from new book on journalism and the Afghanistan war

Joel Gunter — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:18:17 +0000

This week, Journalism.co.uk is publishing extracts from a new book about the media coverage of the Afghanistan war.

‘Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines’ brings together the testimonies of frontline correspondents and detailed academic analysis, with a particular focus on the pros and cons of so-called ‘embedded’ journalism.

Earlier today, we published an introduction to the book by journalism lecturer and co-editor John Mair, followed by a look at the dangers of ‘news management’ by Frontline Club founder and war correspondent Vaughan Smith.

Smith’s essay will be followed in the next three days by contributions from Channel 4 News presenter and war correspondent Alex Thomson, Sky News’ Asia correspondent Alex Crawford, and others.

All extracts published so far can be viewed at this link.Similar Posts:

Rarefied truth at rarefied atmospheres: the in-flight magazine that tells all

Joel Gunter — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:11:00 +0000

Safi Airlines’ in-flight magazine tells it like it is. Not for Kabul’s start-up airline is the rose-tinted journalism of the traditional in-flight magazine: Safi’s reading material typically includes the likes of “an article on Kabul heroin addicts, photos of bullet-pocked tourist sites and ads for mine-resistant sport-utility vehicles”.

Says Christian Marks, the magazine’s cheerfully blunt German editor: “I would like it to be a magazine where you can read interesting things, not just get brainwashed by some marketing agency that says you can’t show problems.”

And Marks’ is a truly warts’n'all approach, as the magazine’s hotel guide shows:

The rooms are individually air-conditioned, accessorised with amenities you will find in 4-star hotels abroad, sheets are clean, view from the room is nice, and – after the suicide bombing that took place – security measures have been implemented.

Full story on the Wall Street Journal at this link…Similar Posts:

Afghanistan government criticised for closing down TV station

Rachel McAthy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:53:24 +0000

Press freedom groups have condemned a decision by the Afghan government to close down privately-owned TV station Emroz.

According to a BBC report, the government closed down the station which is owned by MP Najibulla Kabuli for allegedly fueling religious tensions.

The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the government to put the station back on air while Reporters Without Borders added that the move breaks media law.

The government must not under any circumstances violate the media law, which gives the media commission sole decision-making authority when a media commits an offence. We call on the government to rescind these decisions and never interfere in the content of Afghan TV stations again.

See the RWB full post here…Similar Posts:

Controversy over Time Magazine cover showing mutilated Afghan woman

Rachel McAthy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:28:21 +0000

The Atlantic Wire site has published a series of different points of view about this week’s Time Magazine cover, which shows a harrowing image of an 18-year-old Afghan woman who has had her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban.

Under the headline “What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan”, the magazine’s picture caption reports that the woman was attacked for having tried to flee from “abusive in-laws”.

The Wire asks if Time Magazine is right to publish the cover, with answers first quoted from managing editor Richard Stengel discussing the reasons for their decision.

I thought long and hard about whether to put this image on the cover of Time (…) But bad things do happen to people, and it is part of our job to confront and explain them. In the end, I felt that the image is a window into the reality of what is happening — and what can happen — in a war that affects and involves all of us. I would rather confront readers with the Taliban’s treatment of women than ignore it. I would rather people know that reality as they make up their minds about what the U.S. and its allies should do in Afghanistan.

The article then moves to comments from a range of other publications, some who say the cover is “good journalism” while others feel it “oversimplifies war”.

See the full post here…Similar Posts:

White House seeks to advise reporters over WikiLeaks Afghanistan release

Joel Gunter — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:58:04 +0000

Last night Wikileaks, the Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel simultaneously published more than 90,000 classified military documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. Read our report on the publication at this link.

The New York Times has published a statement sent to reporters by the White House entitled “Thoughts on WikiLeaks”. The statement advises journalists of some things to bare in mind when reporting on the leak, and offers help “to put these documents in context”.

4) As you report on this issue, it’s worth noting that WikiLeaks is not an objective news outlet but rather an organization that opposes US policy in Afghanistan.

The email quotes from the Guardian’s report, looking to stress the unreliability of the WikiLeaks and the information they have released.

From the Guardian:

But for all their eye-popping details, the intelligence files, which are mostly collated by junior officers relying on informants and Afghan officials, fail to provide a convincing smoking gun for ISI complicity. Most of the reports are vague, filled with incongruent detail, or crudely fabricated.

(…)

If anything, the jumble of allegations highlights the perils of collecting accurate intelligence in a complex arena where all sides have an interest in distorting the truth.

The Times has explained its reasons for publishing the classified files in “a note to readers” entitled “Piecing together the reports and deciding what to publish“.

Full story at this link… (see entry at 6:46pm)Similar Posts:

Former Times and Sunday Times journalist in documentary debut at Edinburgh Film Festival

Laura Oliver — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:51:23 +0000

Former Afghanistan correspondent at the Times and Sunday Times Tim Albone will make his film debut this week with ‘Out of the Ashes’, his documentary detailing the rise of the Afghanistan cricket team.

Directed by Albone and Lucy Martens, with Sam Mendes as executive producer, the blurb reads:

In just a few years, the Afghan cricket team has risen from obscurity in the sport’s lowest ranks to phenomenal success in the highly competitive international arena. This is the remarkable and inspirational story of coach Taj Malik Aleem and his team, who became the sport’s unlikeliest heroes during a triumphant campaign culminating in the crucial World Cup qualifier in South Africa. In a country more often associated with war and rigged elections, their incredible journey is an absolute joy to behold.

Albone was based in Kabul between 2005 and the end of 2007. He has also reported from Iraq, India, Pakistan, Yemen, Ethiopia and Cuba and has worked for Sky News, NPR, the Globe and Mail and the Scotsman.

The film will be shown on 17 June and 19 June as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).Similar Posts:

From the frontline: how ‘true’ is the media’s picture of Afghanistan?

Robert Williams — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:33:26 +0000

Journalists gathered to discuss the British media’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan at last week’s video conference at Coventry University.

The ‘Afghanistan – are we embedding the truth?’ event, chaired by the editor of the BBC College of Journalism, Kevin Marsh, brought journalists such as Vaughan Smith and Stuart Ramsay together with academics Richard Keeble and Tim Luckhurst, and the Ministry of Defence’s head of Operational Communication, Brigadier Mark van der Lande.

Vaughan Smith offered what was perhaps the most troubling thought: “Sports journalist knows more about sports than war correspondents know about war, and that is a cultural problem”.

Vaughan, a news pioneer and independent video journalist who has in the past managed to disguise and bluff his way into an active duty unit to shoot uncontrolled footage of the Gulf war, also held up two photographs as part of his speech; one of Hiroshima’s mushroom cloud, and another of an injured civilian in Nagasaki.

He used these photographs as evidence to explain that you never see enough of the second type, showing the injured and other devastating side effects. Instead, the audience is shown ‘Bang Bang’ images; “a fundamental problem,” he said.

Jonathan Marcus, BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, had a mixed response to the event’s theme: “I think it’s a pointless question, we are embedding some truth, and the truth is very complex. War through a keyhole is what war correspondents are giving you.”

Nonetheless, he doesn’t think that embedding is bad practice, when taken as a whole: “If you put all these keyholes together, you start to form a bigger picture and understand what is going on.”

“However, it is a problem that paradoxically, with advances in technology and globalisation, we can do a lot more. Yet, we are reporting less than we used to,” he said.

Brigadier Mark van der Lande argued that they don’t instantly show casualty because they have a duty to inform next of kin first. “We are not hiding things for the cost of war; we are looking out for individuals,” he said.

It is difficult for the MoD, he said, because the ‘Bang Bang’ is what the audience and the media in general is interested in. Most of the time the more important things that the military look into aren’t released simply because “it is of less interest to the media and the audience,” he argued.

The media do, to a certain extent, manufacture stories, agreed Tim Luckhurst, a Professor of Journalism at the University of Kent, but it is not because of dishonesty, it’s because “we simply cannot stay away from the impact kinetic stories get; embedded journalism serves the needs of the state.

“We do not see humanitarianism or suffering children because it bears no relevance to the needs of the states.”

“Views of the military and government do not comply with journalists’ views, and today’s conference has revealed the extent of that fact.”

Robert Williams is a student at Coventry University.

Read more here, over at Daniel Bennett’s blog, including detail of the video contribution from Channel 4 News’ Alex Thomson.

Similar Posts:

AP photographer’s iPhone gallery from Afghanistan

Laura Oliver — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder has produced a stunning gallery of shots covering US military operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province using his iPhone and a Polaroid film filter app.

“I was trying to take pictures that would be similar to those rough, keepsake photos that marines might make for themselves,” explains Guttenfelder in an audio clip.

Full slideshow at this link…Similar Posts:

#afghancov event – Afghanistan: are we embedding the truth?

Laura Oliver — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:44:27 +0000

Follow coverage of Coventry University’s event ‘Afghanistan – are we embedding the truth’ in the liveblog below from 1pm – 4pm or view the livestream:

The discussion will examine coverage of Afghanistan in the news and wider media with correspondents in Kabul. There’s more details at this link of the line-up, which includes Channel 4′s Alex Thomson and Kevin Marsh from the BBC College of Journalism.

#afghancov – Afghanistan: are we embedding the truth?Similar Posts: