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| Miller, who is accused of tearing up his tourist visa and seeking asylum upon entry, implored the U.S. government for help during his interview. ... "The American government is known for having a strong policy of protecting its citizens, yet for my case there is still no movement," he said. |
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Had a fine time. Even celebrated my birthday there.
Know where the hell you're going. Sure, it sounds like a good idea to tear up your visa and apply for asylum in the Hermit Kingdom, where holes in one are reserved for Dear Leader and those in reeducation camps.
Seriously, privileged Westerners, do some fucking homework on where you are going and comply with the local customs that you know are taken seriously. Would you visit Saudi and steal a piece of fruit from a stall vendor? No, your hand will get chopped off.
Are you spreading foreign news in Cuba via USB sticks? Prepare for the gallows.
Undermining the Chinese in Urumqi? Expect to be fired upon.
Uncle Sam ain't gonna help you. (That's what the Swiss and Swedes are for)
I've been to some crazy places with some crazy asinine laws and customs. Don't want to say that's what makes it interesting, but it certainly keeps you on your toes.
Easy way to avoid it: stop trying to be a fucking missionary in North Korea. "Wah, I have a wife and little kids at home that need me." Then stay with them, fool.
Exactly. Which is why they will be stripped of their citizenship. Do I have your vote? (I will give you your choice of Secretary of Defense or Attorney General.)
Maybe it's a blessing in disguise? The brochures the Liberty Travel lady showed us made it sound much nicer than this. Liars.
Photojournalism and video journalism has changed the world, and only for the better. Imagine if we saw photos of Jews and Gypsies being herded onto train cars early in the war, for example. Or what it's doing today as an influencer of opinion.
That said, there are plenty of idiot journalists who don't take any caution in pursuit of a Pulitzer or Peabody.
Now, people who are mucking around with international relations to further a private agenda, that's something very different and unacceptable.
Photojournalism and video journalism has changed the world, and only for the better. Imagine if we saw photos of Jews and Gypsies being herded onto train cars early in the war, for example. Or what it's doing today as an influencer of opinion.
That said, there are plenty of idiot journalists who don't take any caution in pursuit of a Pulitzer or Peabody.
Now, people who are mucking around with international relations to further a private agenda, that's something very different and unacceptable.
Look up David Rohde...he's one of those Pulitzer seeking fucks and the exact type being described in the OP. Dealing with his family was a fucking pleasure, especially his wife.
I agree. Anyone can wear the title, but I did call out that the journalists are clearly identifiable and marked, so I was referring to professional journalists who are members of the press and not the whacko who grabs his cell phone and some dumb ideas.
The rise of "citizen journalism" is empowering but also a noted problem.
Photojournalism and video journalism has changed the world, and only for the better. Imagine if we saw photos of Jews and Gypsies being herded onto train cars early in the war, for example. Or what it's doing today as an influencer of opinion.
That said, there are plenty of idiot journalists who don't take any caution in pursuit of a Pulitzer or Peabody.
Now, people who are mucking around with international relations to further a private agenda, that's something very different and unacceptable.
Giuliana Sgrena was captured by the Iraqi insurgents because she wanted to get an exclusive for her newspaper, which happened to be against the war. Americans risked their necks to get her back. The Italians ultimately paid several million dollars to get her back, which went straight into the coffers of the insurgency. Her rescue vehicle came at an American checkpoint at a high rate of speed with lights off and was fired upon. She told the world that the Americans were intentionally trying to kill her. Fuck her. "Journalist" or not she's a malignant piece of shit. I have respect for the Hetheringtons and Jungers of the world, but for far too many of them they're writing checks on someone else's dollar.
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Journalists go to these places to document the world and to bring awareness to the rest of us. They dare to go places where only the insane or armed forces may go. They are treated as non-combatants (usually) and mark themselves clearly.
Photojournalism and video journalism has changed the world, and only for the better. Imagine if we saw photos of Jews and Gypsies being herded onto train cars early in the war, for example. Or what it's doing today as an influencer of opinion.
That said, there are plenty of idiot journalists who don't take any caution in pursuit of a Pulitzer or Peabody.
Now, people who are mucking around with international relations to further a private agenda, that's something very different and unacceptable.
Look up David Rohde...he's one of those Pulitzer seeking fucks and the exact type being described in the OP. Dealing with his family was a fucking pleasure, especially his wife.
I'm aware of Rohde and plenty of other journalists who have been abducted (him twice). I think Foley was twice as well. Many others.
Rohde in Afghan was writing a book and was invited to interview a local militia leader for the Taliban. That should have been the first whiff. I'm fairly positive it was a complete inside job by the Haqqani network with or without help from the Taliban. (I also don't buy the escape story).
As stated earlier, there are journalists that take necessary precautions and know what they're doing. Rohde was writing a book that did not need to be written during a war, IMO.
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Journalists go to these places to document the world and to bring awareness to the rest of us. They dare to go places where only the insane or armed forces may go. They are treated as non-combatants (usually) and mark themselves clearly.
Photojournalism and video journalism has changed the world, and only for the better. Imagine if we saw photos of Jews and Gypsies being herded onto train cars early in the war, for example. Or what it's doing today as an influencer of opinion.
That said, there are plenty of idiot journalists who don't take any caution in pursuit of a Pulitzer or Peabody.
Now, people who are mucking around with international relations to further a private agenda, that's something very different and unacceptable.
Giuliana Sgrena was captured by the Iraqi insurgents because she wanted to get an exclusive for her newspaper, which happened to be against the war. Americans risked their necks to get her back. The Italians ultimately paid several million dollars to get her back, which went straight into the coffers of the insurgency. Her rescue vehicle came at an American checkpoint at a high rate of speed with lights off and was fired upon. She told the world that the Americans were intentionally trying to kill her. Fuck her. "Journalist" or not she's a malignant piece of shit. I have respect for the Hetheringtons and Jungers of the world, but for far too many of them they're writing checks on someone else's dollar.
You guys are picking out isolated incidents here and there yet fail to discuss the many excellent journalists who are embedded with troops, go behind enemy lines for blockbuster reporting, or go to places to shine a light. Like cops, you really only hear about the bad/stupid ones.
For those who are actually going through proper protocol while going in harms way, I have great respect. I've dealt with a few in my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they would never put others in harms way just for their stories.
But tourists and morons who just go to these terrible places for their own selfish reasons? F'em.
Dunedin: Attorney General
RC02XX: Secretary of Defense/Hut Burning
Rob in NYC: CIA Chief
Glowrider: Press Secretary
Phil in WNY: Treasury Secretary
Jennifer Lawrence: Director, NSA
Maggie from Walking Dead: Presidential Concubine
We can change the world, gentlemen.
Tim Hetherington was amongst the highest echelon of photographers IMO. I had the privilege of meeting him a handful of times and found his work to be poignant and necessary. He happened to die in Libya, however. I haven't met Sebastian Junger, so can't comment.
James Nachtwey, who you may know from the documentary "War Photographer," also serves up the good stuff and is eminently approachable. Always eager to teach and share his hard earned wisdom. His work inspired a lot of the work I produced during my previous life as a photojournalist/photographer.
Now, that said, appreciate the recognition and some more nuance in this conversation. The risk tolerance levels you need for some of this work is very high, and unfortunately it's a field filled with adrenaline junkies, myself included. We're trained to push the limit - and go a step further.
That can not be the case in life and death situations, although you become numb if everything is a life or death situation...and bc the media is allowed far freer movement, it's more in vogue to capture images from "the other side." That that other side is willing to kidnap journalists is the issue some reckless folks don't consider.
And yes, some media members look down upon the armed forces, and are ungrateful for saving their ass. I could take this a step further, but the thread may get shut down for politics.
2) being there and doing something like proselytizing or leaving bibles around is doubly so.
3) Going to a war zone, or interviewing people who behead children, and then being surprised when these people turn on you, even though you sympathize with their cause, is the worst.
You are on your own.
I think we're aligned for the most part. I think what is acceptable risk is a floating point and often times people venture into situations without an escape hatch. Unfortunately, they rely on the good graces of their employer or government if the shit hits the fan.
Remember that family from SD who took infants sailing around the world, one of the kids got sick and what seemed like an entire armada was sent to recover them. That's irresponsible to the point of "you're on your own," in my book.
I do not think that necessarily going into a dangerous situation, with very real consequences such as kidnapping, ransom, torture or death is always irresponsible, however. When you balance that against newsworthiness, the risk calculus is a desert of ever shifting sands.
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I remember a while back when you posted your DPRK games shots. Very nice.
If you're interested in a first hand account, I found this website that re-printed a travelogue I wrote. I was checking backlinks to my site recently and found this. Don't even recall where I posted it, nevertheless.
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I can't even get to Panmunjeom. My wife and her family tell me it's too much of a PITA for them. Someday I'll go it alone.
Thanks for the links.
I can't even get to Panmunjeom. My wife and her family tell me it's too much of a PITA for them. Someday I'll go it alone.
Thanks for the links.
Don't recall but it would make sense. There was a big thread on it at the time here. Very possible someone lifted it. That's how most websites get their content it seems.
If you're interested in a first hand account, I found this website that re-printed a travelogue I wrote. I was checking backlinks to my site recently and found this. Don't even recall where I posted it, nevertheless. Link - ( New Window )
I thought I read one of those here on BBI. Don't remember who the poster was, though.
I did get to go into one of the buildings situated there (I believe it was a UN controlled bldg [the blue ones]. Sat in one chair that technically straddled the 38th parallel so my left side was in dprk and my right in ROK. When I got up, I had to be sure to NOT leave to the right side.
It's pretty important in NK to make sure you leave from the door you entered.
One of the really interesting things was taking a bus through the minefield on the Northern side to get to the border proper. It's a very precise, circuitous route that has some pretty serious defense mechanisms to stop unauthorized anythings. The road is sort of sunken between concrete sides and the gigantic boulders are held above the maze by little more than a piece of rope and a door jam. One yank and the boulder falls into the maze. Lots of sliding concrete walls as well.
Thank you. Portraiture is my passion, I love meeting new people.
One subject didn't want to be photographed and chased me off with a knife from his post selling sugar water by a fish market in Mumbai.
Five years later I went back to the same place, same guy selling the same sugar water. I had my smartphone and was able to show him the pic I took years earlier. I was embraced and invited to supper with the family.
People are truly amazing.
On the way up from Seoul, you can see the guard towers and tanks and other heavy vehicles covered with camouflage netting. One cool things to do is to go down into one of the tunnels the South discovered. At the end of it is a cast iron wall with a barred opening so you can look through to the other side.
I'll get to Panmunjeom one of these days. Just not from the DPRK side. ;(
I've been to more frightening places than North Korea, but that's probably because those other countries don't bother putting on the show for the handful of non-Chinese foreigners allowed in per year.
Great stuff, glow. By the way, how did you get a picture of my uncle?
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It is, but it was a super risky move to begin with (and he probably knew that it was very risky).
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That is some f...ed up shit right there...
It is, but it was a super risky move to begin with (and he probably knew that it was very risky).
Christianity is a proselytizing faith. We forget that because we tend to treat the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Morman missions as something quaint and mildly funny but Christianity was in certain times and places the source of social upheaval. While we think of it as mainstream and "establishment" in the US by design it was anything but, and totalitarian regimes have waged war against it for the last eighty years.
I agree that there are time and place when you do make the judgement call to take the risk. However, you ensure that you have done your due diligence to ensure your own safety, which includes coordinating with the local military battlespace owner (if it's in a warzone). Also if you are going into a situation where there is a chance for you to become abducted, you make sure that your family is willing to do whatever it takes to get you back.
I keep using Rohde as an example, but I've posted previously about how I was intimately involved in the efforts to get him back. But at every turn, his wife and family made it difficult for us when we were dedicating a large amount of resources to locate and get him back. I have never seen someone bitch about the government not doing enough yet deny us what was necessary for us to do to get him back. Then once he was recovered, all he did was to criticize the government for the shitty job we did. Talk about total lack of appreciation for what others go through on your behalf.
A bit off topic, but Christianity is another reason why unification of North and South Koreas will not happen in our life time (at least not in Kim Jong Un's lifetime). South Korea is the most successfully Christianized nation in the world while North Korea continues to persecute Christians (even if they say that they allow freedom of religion). Two fundamentally different cultures if you ever saw one (even if up until the late 1940's, they were the same). Koreans are a strange bunch.
So, I'm curious if it was purely proselytizing - bc generally speaking missionaries in dprk head there to get people out. Not necessarily to get them to believe in Jesus.
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I do not think that necessarily going into a dangerous situation, with very real consequences such as kidnapping, ransom, torture or death is always irresponsible, however. When you balance that against newsworthiness, the risk calculus is a desert of ever shifting sands.
I agree that there are time and place when you do make the judgement call to take the risk. However, you ensure that you have done your due diligence to ensure your own safety, which includes coordinating with the local military battlespace owner (if it's in a warzone). Also if you are going into a situation where there is a chance for you to become abducted, you make sure that your family is willing to do whatever it takes to get you back.
I keep using Rohde as an example, but I've posted previously about how I was intimately involved in the efforts to get him back. But at every turn, his wife and family made it difficult for us when we were dedicating a large amount of resources to locate and get him back. I have never seen someone bitch about the government not doing enough yet deny us what was necessary for us to do to get him back. Then once he was recovered, all he did was to criticize the government for the shitty job we did. Talk about total lack of appreciation for what others go through on your behalf.
I didn't know you were involved with Rohde. That certainly puts some context into things. I happen to agree, and alluded to it earlier, that there are many in the media who see conflict, and those participating, as a platform for their own agendas. I'd love to make some sweeping generalizations about some in my former profession, but I'll refrain.
But ivory towers, snobbery, echo chambers, and mild to open disdain for our fighting men and women is not unheard of in the profession...
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There are procedures and protocols that every journalist should follow when going into danger areas. You've mentioned a few. Most pjs in war zones are well prepared or don't venture far from professional armed escorts.
But I've always followed the seven ps: proper previous planning prevents piss poor performance. That means the appropriate authorities know who you are, where you're going, when you'll be back, what you're up to, and on and on.
Things become trickier when trying behind the lines reporting because often the journalist will be secretive about the meeting to protect sources or objectivity or whatever. Often the source will hide or change locations of meetings and then you're fucked if you're not transparent about it. Trust doesn't exist, you're a HVT in a propaganda campaign, and it's a major fucking risk.
It's the assholes trying to make a splash or get a scoop without the appropriate infrastructure and plan that make the headlines.
Good sir, from your lips to god's ears that all operating in any dangerous clime and locale will follow those exact words.
Good sir, from your lips to god's ears that all operating in any dangerous clime and locale will follow those exact words. [/quote]
No two ways about it. Mitigate the risks you can, anticipate and prepare for the worst, always have a backup chute, and that go bag is no good if it isn't packed and ready to roll.