Tag: Journalism

Picture of the Day: Yonhap Journalist Receives Don Oberdorfer Prize

| October 7, 2016

Yonhap reporter receives Oberdorfer prize

Noh Hyo-dong (R), a Yonhap correspondent in Washington, poses with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert during an award ceremony for the Don Oberdorfer Prize at the American Center Korea in Seoul on Oct. 4, 2016. Noh became the first recipient of the prize which was initiated this year to honor the late Oberdorfer, a former Washington Post journalist and foreign affairs expert best known in South Korea for his influential best-seller “The Two Koreas.” (Yonhap)

Journalist Claims to Have PTSD From Firing An AR-15

| June 20, 2016

I guess everyone in the military who regularly fire M-16s must have an even worse case of PTSD compared to this guy firing an AR-15:

stupid meme

I’ve shot pistols before, but never something like an AR-15. Squeeze lightly on the trigger and the resulting explosion of firepower is humbling and deafening (even with ear protection).

The recoil bruised my shoulder, which can happen if you don’t know what you’re doing. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary form of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable.  [NY Daily News]

Normally I say read the rest at the link, but don’t bother; instead read how Gertz Kushman has been awarded the National Defense Service medal and VA compensation over at the Duffel Blog.

BBC Journalist Detained In North Korea Because Regime Claimed He Wrote North Koreans Bark Like Dogs

| May 26, 2016

The details about why a BBC reporter, Rupert Winfield-Hayes was detained in North Korea have now been revealed.  It seems pretty clear that he was made an example of to warn other international media figures from reporting negatively about the country:

A group of officials in dark Mao suits walked in and sat opposite. The older one spoke first.

“Mr Rupert,” he said, “this meeting can be over quickly and simply, it will depend on your attitude.”

I was told that my reporting had insulted the Korean people, and that I needed to admit my mistakes. They produced copies of three articles that had been published on the BBC website, as I reported on the visit of the Nobel laureates.  (……….)

“Do you think Korean people are ugly?” the older man asked.

“No,” I answered.

“Do you think Korean people have voices like dogs?”

“No,” I answered again.

“Then why do you write these things?!” he shouted.

I was confused. What could they mean? One of the articles was presented to me, the offending passage circled in black marker pen:

“The grim-faced customs officer is wearing one of those slightly ridiculous oversized military caps that they were so fond of in the Soviet Union. It makes the slightly built North Korean in his baggy uniform comically top heavy. “Open,” he grunts, pointing at my mobile phone. I dutifully punch in the passcode. He grabs it back and goes immediately to photos. He scrolls through pictures of my children skiing, Japanese cherry blossom, the Hong Kong skyline. Apparently satisfied he turns to my suitcase. “Books?” he barks. No, no books. “Movies?” No, no movies. I am sent off to another desk where a much less gruff lady is already looking through my laptop.” 

“Are they serious?” I thought. They had taken “grim-faced” to mean “ugly”, and the use of the word “barks” as an indication that I thought they sounded like dogs.

“It doesn’t mean what you think it means.” I protested.

The older man squinted.

“I have studied English literature,” he said. “Do you think I do not understand what these expressions mean?

For two hours they demanded I confess my mistakes. Finally the older man got up to leave.

“It is clear that your attitude is going to make this difficult,” he said. “We have no choice but to carry out a full investigation.”  [BBC]

You can read the rest at the link, but it makes you wonder why journalists even bother going to North Korea when it is pretty clear that what they publish has to be self censored to avoid detainment and future access to North Korea.

BBC Journalist Expelled from North Korea for Not Accurately Reporting Regime Propaganda

| May 10, 2016

Here is what happens when journalists who visit North Korea go off script:

Report: North Korea expelled BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team from the country.  The BBC said on Monday that its correspondent Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were about to leave the country when they were stopped by North Korean officials at the airport on Friday.  They were detained and questioned for eight hours by North Korean officials. Authorities took issue with “disrespectful” reports the team filed in Pyongyang last week.

[Sound bite: Audio footage of report by BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes (English)]  “But we’re not allowed to talk to ordinary people. If I turn trying to ask these people, they ran away. Everything we see looks like a set-up.”  (…………)

Secretary General O Ryong-il of the North’s National Peace Committee said that Wingfield-Hayes had to sign a statement of apology.

[Sound bite: O Ryong-il – Secretary General, DPRK National Peace Committee (Korean)]  “We have decided to expel the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes from the territory of the DPRK and we are going to never admit him again into the country for any report.”  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but this continues to make me wonder why journalists even bother to go to North Korea if all they get to report on is regime propaganda?

Is Old Navy Ad Controversy Another Example of Media Click Bait

| May 6, 2016

To me the whole controversy over the Old Navy interracial advertisement seems to me to be the media taking a few racist Twitter comments and making a race based controversy out of it as click bait.  The only thing I learned out of all of this is that Senator McCain’s son Jack is happily married to an Air Force Captain:

https://twitter.com/McCainJack/status/727181368183144448