(30 Mar) Targets of Distrust: Rights, threats and consequences of documenting dissent (VIDEO ONLINE)

Published by jmsc at 19 February 2021

Photograph by W Sakamoto for Studio Incendo, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Targets of Distrust: Rights, threats and consequences of documenting dissent

WATCH THE ENTIRE EVENT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

At a time of civil unrest around the world, animosity against the media has been growing, with journalists no longer seen as objective truth tellers. At times, the distrust has been fuelled by autocratic governments who accuse the media of spreading “fake news.” On the other side, protesters often see the media as part of the power establishment, or treat reporters with suspicion unless they explicitly back their cause. Re-establishing trust and reducing cynicism is one of the largest challenges facing journalists today. They need to protect their right to document events, while also protecting themselves and those they report on from harm and retribution. Obtaining consent of their subjects is often floated as a solution. But in a fast-moving event like a protest or march, is it even practically possible for journalists, especially visual journalists, to get consent from the people they are documenting?

An expert panel of journalists, academics and press freedom advocates will address all these complex questions, in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and other social movements worldwide.

Time: 9:00 – 10:30am Hong Kong Time, GMT +8 (9:00-10:30pm, 29 March, EDT)
Date: Tuesday, 30 March 2021
Live on Zoom: Register now

Panelists

Laurel Chor
Laurel Chor is an Emmy-nominated journalist, photographer and filmmaker from Hong Kong. Her work covering the Hong Kong protests has earned her an honorable mention for the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, a Society of Publishers in Asia prize for excellence in arts and culture reporting, and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Newscast.

During her time as the Asia producer for VICE News Tonight on HBO, she produced the special episode “Year of the Dog” about migrant workers traveling home for Chinese New Year, winning the Overseas Press Club of America’s David A. Andelman and Pamela Title Award for “best international reporting in broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition” in 2019. A National Geographic Explorer, Chor is currently working on a long-term project on traditional Chinese medicine. In 2013, Dr. Jane Goodall appointed Chor as an ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute in Hong Kong. She graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude with a BS in International Health and a certificate International Development. She is currently a candidate for a MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation & Management at the University of Oxford.

Tara Pixley
Tara Pixley, PhD, is a photographer and professor with a 20-year career in visual journalism. Dr. Pixley is based in Los Angeles, where she teaches journalism and media studies at Loyola Marymount University. She was a 2016 Visiting Knight Fellow at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism and is a 2020 recipient of the inaugural World Press Photo Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative. Her writing and photography have appeared in various publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Newsweek, ProPublica, HuffPost, Nieman Reports, ESPN Magazine, CanonPro, and the Black Scholar.

Her film and photographic work intersect with her scholarship and advocacy, each addressing the problematics of representation and the possibility of contemporary visual media to reimagine marginalized communities. She is a co-Founder and Board Member of Authority Collective—an organization dedicated to diversifying perspectives in visual media and she is currently working on a book chronicling the move to decolonize the visual journalism industry.

Courtney C. Radsch
Courtney C. Radsch, PhD, is advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. She serves as chief spokesperson on global press freedom issues for the organization and oversees CPJ’s engagement with the United Nations, the Internet Governance Forum, and other multilateral institutions as well as CPJ’s campaigns on behalf of journalists killed and imprisoned for their work. As a veteran journalist, researcher, and free expression advocate, she frequently writes and speaks about the intersection of media, technology, and human rights. Her book Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change was published in 2016.

Prior to joining CPJ, Radsch worked for UNESCO, edited the flagship publication “World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development,” and managed the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House. She has worked as a journalist in the United States and Middle East with Al-Arabiya, the Daily Star, and The New York Times. Radsch holds a PhD in international relations from American University.

Akili Ramsess
Akili Ramsess is the executive director of National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) based at the University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication. A Pulitzer-winning picture editor and former director of photography for the Orlando Sentinel, she returned to Atlanta in 2012 to pursue work as an independent visual journalist and editor.

Ramsess established a distinguished career as photographer and picture editor with a variety of media organizations, ranging from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal & Constitution and the San Jose Mercury News. She is on the advisory board of the Eddie Adams Workshop and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Visual Task Force.

Moderator

Keith Richburg
Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong

Keith Richburg is a journalist who spent more than 30 years overseas for The Washington Post, serving as bureau chief in Paris, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Nairobi, and Manila. He was also the Post’s Foreign Editor from 2005-2007 and helped cover the 2008 U.S. presidential election. After retiring from the Post in 2013, he became a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and a lecturer of international reporting at Princeton University. Keith’s coverage has won numerous awards, including two George Polk Awards, and was twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his reports from Somalia.

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