Journalists Recall Fall of Berlin Wall

by Genevieve Long for The Epoch Times

NEW YORK—Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, several journalists who were there reminisced on witnessing history. During a forum at the German House in New York, they shared memories of the mood at the moment in history when the barrier between East and West Germany was shattered.

Tim Aeppel is a foreign correspondent based in Bonn, Germany, and covered the events before and after the fall of the wall for The Wall Street Journal. Aeppel was at Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin on the night of Nov. 9, 1989 with East Germans.

Aeppel recalled that at one point, the border guards started handing out cards to a crowd of over 700 that had gathered. The crowd threw the cards on the ground in defiance, finally fed up.

“I realized that was a turning point,” said Mr. Aeppel, who was awake for the next 48 hours following the story. “The crowd was firm, but they weren’t hostile.”

The sheer historical significance of what was unfolding wasn’t lost on Aeppel.

“As a journalist this was the biggest thing I could have been covering other than a war,” he said.

Michael Meyer, who was also at Checkpoint Charlie that night, said there were moments of uncertainty about whether things would turn violent.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ABOUT JOURNALISTS WITNESSING THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL ONLINE AT THE EPOCH TIMES

Filed under: Notable Days , Berlin Wall, David Burnett, Elizabeth Pond, German House, Michael Meyer, Overseas Press Club, Roger Cohen, Tim Aeppel

Self-Publishing Book Expo in NYC Today

The first annual self-publishing book expo is in New York City today, November 7. The expo is open to the public and will feature authors, editors, publishers, and the like-minded. At the Sheraton in Manhattan on 53rd (E train to 53rd and 6th).

For more information, go to the expo’s website.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Self-Publishing Book Expo

‘Berlin Twitter Wall’ Blocked in China

A virtual wall created for Twitter users to express their thoughts and hopes on the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has been blocked in China.

The “Berlin Twitter Wall,” as it’s called, is an initiative of KulturProjekte Berli, a not-for-profit organization that promotes networking and mediation of art and culture.

Launched on Oct. 20, according to the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the virtual wall was blocked by Chinese authorities after almost 2,000 Chinese Internet users left Twitter messages there. The wall currently has just over 4,000 tweets posted on it, mostly in Chinese.

“Chinese Internet users must not be prevented from accessing the Berlin Twitter Wall,” said Reporters Without Borders in a statement released Tuesday morning.  “Initiatives like these are important platforms for the promotion of freedom of speech as well as for critical voices and protest.”

RSF added that many foreign news outlets and social-networking sites remain inaccessible to Chinese users.

Twitter account holders can post comments that appear automatically on the berlintwitterwall.com site by using the hashtag #fotw (fall of the wall).

read the full article here

Filed under: China , Berlin Twitter Wall

New York City Faces Dangerous Choice in General Election

by Stephen Gregory for The Epoch Times

NEW YORK CITY—New York City has an election next week and, however cynical many of the city’s voters may have become about politicians, one candidate should shock them.

John Liu is the Democratic Party candidate for Comptroller, the city’s top financial officer. Voters might have doubts about Liu because of his shaky hold on the truth or his too close relations with unions, but they may not know even more serious reasons for concern.

The New York Daily News reported that Liu had failed to refund campaign contributions to those he had helped steer public money to in his role as a New York City Council member—refunds he had promised to make.

The Epoch Times reported other funny business with Liu’s campaign financing. Individuals listed as donors said they didn’t give the amounts Liu said they did, and the records for at least 140 of the contributors were missing the identifying information required by law.

Read the full Epoch Times opinion article about the New York City general election here

Filed under: Commentary , John Liu, New York, New York City, New York City General Election

Podcast for Epoch Times Newspaper Online Features Daily Headlines

A new podcast for The Epoch Times newspaper online features daily headlines, as told by Epoch Times podcast reporter, Rich Crankshaw.

You can hear the Epoch Times podcast, updated daily, here:

Epoch Times Podcast (by date)

Or you can go to the Epoch Times home page and listen to that day’s podcast as live streaming audio:

Epoch Times home page

Filed under: Culture , Epoch Times, Epoch Times podcast, media news, Rich Crankshaw

Alissa Rubin’s Re-Introduction to Afghanistan

For an insightful, reflective look at the ground in Afghanistan, take a look at Alissa Rubin’s blog posting (after five years since visiting) for the NYTimes Af-Pak coverage.

Read Rubin’s blog posting (with photos by Moises Saman) here:

Kabul, Echoes of Saigon

 

Filed under: Afghanistan , Afghanistan, Alissa Rubin, Moises Saman

As Press Freedom Declines, Journalists Suffer

By Charlotte Cuthbertson for The Epoch Times

NEW YORK—Israel’s press freedom is in free fall and journalists are being murdered in Russia and Mexico, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). RSF released its World Press Freedom Index Tuesday and there was a general downward trend in the 175 countries surveyed.

European countries took the top 13 spots, yet there is a troubling decline overall, according to Clothilde Le Coz, Reporters Without Borders’ Washington director.

“Not only because of the physical assaults journalist are victim of, but because these countries are adapting and passing laws that are dangerous for freedom of the press and freedom of expression,” she said at the Overseas Press Club in New York. Five media organizations covered the event.

“The Internet is really a big issue in those [European] countries—the laws they are adopting in terms of Internet freedom are restrictive for freedom of speech in general.”

Read the full article about press freedom at The Epoch Times here

Filed under: Current Affairs , press freedom, Reporters Without Borders

Jailed Newsweek Reporter Maziar Bahari Released

According to confirmed reports from Newsweek, their own reporter and filmmaker, Maziar Bahari, has been released from Iran. Mr. Bahari, who was detained in Iran since the June elections, was released from Evin Prison on bail on Oct. 17.

Read the Newsweek online article about Bahari’s release here

The 42 year-old reporter is expecting his first child later this month, and his mother is in poor health. Newsweek speculated he was released on “humanitarian” reasons.

In a statement on Bahari’s release, the magazine said:

“We are relieved that NEWSWEEK journalist Maziar Bahari is home with his family today. We would like to thank all of those who supported Maziar through this long and uncertain period.”

Read more about journalists and foreign policy at my other blog for the Foreign Policy Association

Filed under: Current Affairs , Iran, Maziar Bahari

“Obama’s War” — On Frontline Tonight

Not to be missed on tonight’s Frontline–the newest from correspondent Martin Smith and RAINmedia on the war in Afghanistan. “Obama’s War” airs on Frontline on Tuesday, October 13 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings).

According to RAINmedia:

“Three years ago, a small cadre of US army officers huddled at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to re-write the service’s long-neglected counterinsurgency manual. Under the direction of General David Petraeus, the effort brought the battle for “hearts and minds” to the forefront of American strategic thinking. First tested in Iraq, the new approach is now being rolled out in Afghanistan on a grand scale. The stakes are huge for both sides. And the war promises to be longer and harder than most Americans understand. FRONTLINE investigates the fight on the ground and in Washington.”

For a preview of “Obama’s War”, click here.

Filed under: Afghanistan, Current Affairs, Defense

In Search of Blood News?

by Genevieve Long

JERUSALEM–When journalists go out on the streets to report, it is usually to record a newsworthy story. But what about when reporters search for violence? Look at the recent events in Jerusalem surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque. Rumors that extremist religious Jews were planning to enter Al-Aqsa and pray there sparked widespread calls for Muslims to take action to protect it. That, and other factors, led to a heightened state of security.

There are deep historic grudges over the ground near Al-Aqsa, called Temple Mount, which includes the dome of the rock, where some say the footprint of Adam and the dawn of human history can be found. It is far too complicated to understand in the abstract, let alone explain in a few sentences. Suffice to say that when tensions flare over this part of Jerusalem, it’s truly no laughing matter.

Even so, on the ground this past Friday in Jerusalem, the number of journslists was shocking. Camera crews, photographers, reporters–there was a little bit of everyone. At some points it seemed as though there were more journalists than police.

The question came to mind, while I was in the midst of this gaggle of reporters as one of them–why were we there? A colleague of mine recently said, “People in Israel are news junkies.” So maybe it was a response to demand. Or maybe the competition factor. Everyone else was out and nobody wanted to be left behind, just in case.

It’s the latter thought that started to disturb me as the hours went by. Tensions had been high in recent days (or maybe higher than usual, since Jerusalem is always a bit edgy). As I walked through the streets inside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem–the route to Al-Aqsa mosque and the source of the tension–I looked around every corner for drama worth reporting, worth taking a photo of. There were barricades to the side streets leading to Al-Aqsa, and some barricades in the middle of main walkways (cars don’t seem to drive through the old city). There were scores of police, and a few agitated Arabs. One old Arab woman yelled after going through a barricade that all the Arabs and Jews needed to get out of the city. To say the old lady was the height of the drama I witnessed would be putting it mildly.

As I stood in a side street waiting for a good shot of something, two British women tourists passed, and asked if I spoke English. They wanted directions, but we ended up talking about the events of the day. One of them said they’d heard there were people (which kind, I don’t know) holed up in Al-Aqsa in protest. I told her I’d heard there would be a large protest and prayer outside the walls of the old city later for all those who were denied entry to morning prayers at the mosque.

“There are about 1,000 rumors in this place!” she exclaimed to me, and we all laughed at the irony of it all. In that moment, reporters chasing such news didn’t seem so different from chasing rumors.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here to report the truth!” the woman said after I gave them my Epoch Times card and explained why I was there. Then she hesitated, and added a last thought. “At least one version of the truth, anyway.”

And as it turned out, she was right. The protest outside of the walls did happen about 2 hours later. It was peaceful, with scores of heavily armed Israeli police on one side, and scores of quiet Muslim worshipers on the other. They sat and listed to a slew of rhetoric in a speech made in Arabic that was so mundane my bilingual colleague found it too boring to translate in full. Then they prayed. Then they left. It was a day of good photo ops of interesting characters in a play.

On my way back to my newspaper bureau in Tel Aviv, I ran into another American at the bus stop, a young man from the Jerusalem Post. A brief, loud conversation on his cell phone revealed there was finally some drama happening. As he sprung up and started back in the direction of the old city, I ran after him, “Is something happening?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m just on my way back there,” he answered excitedly. “You can come if you want.” Suffering from fairly severe dehydration, I didn’t manage to keep up with him, but did see some of his footage later. Violence had erupted in some of the neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem (which is code for largely Arab neighborhoods); there was stone throwing, rubber bullets, some women threw planters and paint from rooftops, and about 12 Israeli soldiers were injured.

When I saw the video footage, I felt like I missed the story. Then I started to search the Internet for other coverage, and found a surprising imbalance in the mainstream media reports. During a day that was marked by large groups of people peacefully protesting not being allowed to go to Al-Aqsa, the media took the most violent slant by honing in on brief violence in a neighborhood in another part of the city. They had sent them out in search of blood, and didn’t stop until they found it.

It is a complicated part of the world, that’s true. And news is news, no matter which way you slice it. But after seeing the chain of events from the inner walls of the old city to the final product on the Jerusalem Post and other media’s websites, it’s questionable whether the news was the brief violence, or a day of mostly calm. In the end, the story I filed had a headline I thought was a more accurate depiction of the day’s events: “Jerusalem Protests Largely Peaceful.”

As media, the least we owe the public is the most complete story possible. Not just the most dramatic version of events.

Click here to read the original blog posting for the Foreign Policy Association

Filed under: Commentary, Israel , Al-Aqsa, dome of the rock, Israel, Jerusalem, Temple Mount