Tag: Journalists

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Politics

White Home requested to guard journalists at Kabul airport

White House asked to protect journalists at Kabul airport

Men attempt to break into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 16, 2021.

Stringer | Reuters

The editors of three major US newspapers asked President Joe Biden on Monday to help fellow Afghan journalists evacuate Afghanistan.

Inquiries from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal came after asking the White House to keep more than 200 journalists and newspaper associates “in danger” “in danger” at Kabul airport bring.

Post editor Fred Ryan sent an “urgent request” email to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to move them from the civilian side of Hamid Karzai International Airport “to the military side, where they can be safe while they are on Waiting for evacuation flights ”.

“They are currently in danger and need the US government to keep them safe,” wrote Ryan in the email he wrote on behalf of the three newspapers.

Afghan people are waiting to leave Kabul Airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021 after a surprisingly quick end to the 20-year war in Afghanistan as thousands of people besieged the city’s airport to face the dreaded hard-line Islamist rule to flee the group.

Deputy Kohsar | AFP | Getty Images

Ryan wrote that 204 journalists, auxiliaries and family members from the three newspapers are stuck on the civilian side of the airport.

Later on Monday, Ryan, Times Publisher AG Sulzberger, and Journal Publisher Almar Latour Biden sent a joint letter asking him to get Afghan newspaper-related colleagues out of the country.

“For the past twenty years, brave Afghan colleagues have worked tirelessly to help the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal share news and information from the region with the world,” the letter said.

“Now these colleagues and their families are trapped in Kabul, their lives are in danger.”

“As an employer, we are looking for support for our colleagues and, as journalists, we are looking for a clear signal that the government stands behind the free press,” the editors wrote. “In this light, we ask the American government to act urgently and take three specific steps that are necessary to protect its security.”

In the letter, Biden was expressly requested to grant his Afghan colleagues “easier and protected access to the airport controlled by the US”; “Safe passage through a protected access gate to the airport”; and “facilitated air movement out of the country.”

After the Taliban captured the capital Kabul, thousands of Afghans streamed across the airport’s runway on Monday.

Kamal Alam, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and senior advisor to the Massoud Foundation, told CNBC, “Nobody can really walk.”

“If you don’t have a visa or a passport, you won’t go,” said Alam, who is stuck in Afghanistan.

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Politics

Tech exec invests in digital information start-up launched by veteran journalists

Tech exec invests in digital news start-up launched by veteran journalists

Stevica Mrdja / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty Images

A digital news start-up that’s being launched by veteran journalists received an investment from a top tech executive.

The start-up, expected to launch in the fall, is led in part by longtime National Geographic executive Mark Bauman. The endeavor has received funding from tech entrepreneur Brian Edelman who runs RAIN, a firm that specializes in helping companies develop voice technology software.

RAIN lists on its website tech companies it has worked with in the past such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Bauman told CNBC in an interview on Friday that Edelman was part of a series A funding round worth over $10 million. The other investor in the company is International Media Investments, a fund based out of the United Arab Emirates with a portfolio that includes other media ventures including The National, Euronews and Sky News Arabia.

Edelman’s LinkedIn page says he’s CEO and founding partner at RAIN. His company’s website notes it has offices in New York, Utah and Washington state. Bauman told CNBC that Edelman himself has investments around the globe, with a focus on technology and new media. Bauman also noted Edelman has done some work in the Middle East.

Edelman’s investment in the company gives a glimpse into how some executives see value in digital news businesses that have seen growth over the past year.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, CNBC digital posted a record 115 million unique visitors in March 2020 alone. The New York Times reported last April that traffic to its news site grew by more than 50 percent, as did The Washington Post’s. Saudi Arabia is funding a yet to be announced digital news site.

Bauman referred all other questions about Edelman’s investment to the tech entrepreneur. An email to RAIN was not returned.

Axios first reported on the new venture and International Media Investments being part of the recent round of funding but did not have the detail on Edelman’s investment.

Bauman confirmed to CNBC that he will be the president and CEO of the yet to be officially named news outlet and Laura McGann, who had stints at Politico and Vox.com, will take the lead on editorial. They will be reporting to board members Madhulika Sikka, David Ensor, Chris Isham, John Defterios and Alberto Fernandez. All of the board members have extensive experience in news and politics.

The job postings for the soon to be launched digital news business gives a glimpse into the topics readers will see on the site.

For instance, the company is hiring a reporter to cover China, with the goal of  “identifying the most important and interesting angles and issues, ranging from trade to territorial ambition; from climate change to the Belt & Road Initiative; and the many facets of the U.S.-China relationship,” according to the job posting.

A reporter covering politics and government “will be responsible for covering how existing shortcomings in the American political system and new attacks on it are posing a profound threat to the future of representative and responsive government in the United States.”

They also have a job for a misinformation reporter that will “cover the rise of misinformation, one of the most influential phenomena driving our public discourse and shaping our lives.”

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World News

Israeli spy ware used to focus on telephones of journalists and activists, investigation finds

Israeli spyware used to target phones of journalists and activists, investigation finds

An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the building of the Israeli NSO group in Herzliya near Tel Aviv on August 28, 2016.

Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images

According to a comprehensive investigation by the Washington Post and 16 other news organizations, private Israeli spy software was used to hack dozens of smartphones belonging to reporters, human rights activists, business people and the fiancé of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The military-grade spyware was reportedly licensed by Israeli spyware company NSO Group. The investigation found that the hacked phones were on a list of more than 50,000 numbers in countries known to monitor people.

The list of numbers was made available to the Post and other media organizations by the Paris-based nonprofit journalism organization Hidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International.

The NSO Group denied the results of the report in several statements, arguing that the investigation contained “unconfirmed theories” based on “misleading interpretation of leaked data from accessible and overt basic information”.

The NSO Group also said it would continue to investigate all credible allegations of abuse and take appropriate action.

NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is licensed to governments around the world and can, according to the report, hack a cellphone’s data and activate the microphone. NSO said the spyware is only used to monitor terrorists and other criminals.

Read the full report here.

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Business

A.P. Begins Evaluation of Social Media Coverage After Journalist’s Firing

A.P. Begins Review of Social Media Policy After Journalist’s Firing

The Associated Press has launched a review of its social media guidelines after more than 150 employees publicly condemned the firing of a young journalist for violating these guidelines.

In a memo to global newsrooms Monday, the AP’s top editors said they heard the concerns of many journalists over the weekend and were “determined to broaden the conversation on the AP’s approach to social media.”

The news agency faced a backlash after Emily Wilder, a 22-year-old news worker who joined the company in Arizona, was fired on May 19, three weeks after she was hired.

Ms. Wilder, who graduated from Stanford University in 2020 and worked in the Republic of Arizona, said in a statement Friday that she was the subject of a campaign by Stanford College Republicans whose social media posts were based on their pro Palestine had drawn attention to activism at the university. She added that her editors had assured her that she would not be fired for her previous legal work.

“Less than 48 hours later, the AP fired me,” she said. “The reason given was that I allegedly violated The AP’s social media guidelines between my first day and Wednesday. In the meantime, powerful conservatives like Senator Tom Cotton, Ben Shapiro, and Robert Spencer have cursed me repeatedly online. When I asked my managers what exact tweets were violating the guidelines or how, they refused to tell me. “

Ms. Wilder, who is Jewish, tweeted about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians while at The AP. In a tweet, she said that “using” Israel “but never” Palestine “or” war “but not” siege and occupation “are political choices – yet the media makes these exact decisions all the time without being biased to be marked. “

Dozens of AP journalists signed an open letter after Ms. Wilder’s dismissal, criticizing the news agency and asking for clarification on how it had violated the company’s social media guidelines.

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Updated

May 25, 2021 at 5:16 p.m. ET

“The lack of clarity about the violations of social media policy has made AP journalists afraid of getting involved in any form on social media – often critical for our work,” the letter said.

Ten editorial directors responded in a memo on Monday to staff announcing a plan to review their policies. They said formal groups would discuss ideas and make recommendations, and a committee of staff would review the recommendations by September 1st. Any policy changes would then be brought up in the next round of contract negotiations with the union representing AP workers, the News Media Guild.

“One of the issues raised in the past few days is the belief that social media restrictions prevent you from being your real self, and that it disproportionately does this to color journalists, LGBTQ journalists and others who are often attacked online harms, “says the memo.

The editors said in the note that “much of the coverage” of Ms. Wilder’s dismissal does not accurately reflect “a difficult decision that we did not make lightly”.

Lauren Easton, a spokeswoman for The AP, said the company had generally not commented on staff, but confirmed that Ms. Wilder has been fired for violating social media policy.

“We understand that other news organizations may not have made the same decision,” she said. “While many news organizations offer viewpoints, opinion columnists, and editorials, AP does not. We do not express an opinion. Our foundation is fact-based, unbiased reporting. “

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Business

Secret Sharers: The Hidden Ties Between Non-public Spies and Journalists

Secret Sharers: The Hidden Ties Between Private Spies and Journalists

Mr. Simpson loved trying reporters, rewarding them with war stories, and presenting himself as a journalistically wise man. At a conference of investigative journalists in 2016, he said he and Mr Fritsch formed Fusion to continue their work as reporters correcting injustices.

“I like to call it journalism rental,” he said.

Fusion GPS, like its competitors, was part of a broader network of enablers – lawyers, public relations managers, and “crisis management” consultants – serving the rich, powerful, and controversial. For their part, private intelligence companies take on jobs that others cannot or do not want to be caught.

Information gathered by private investigators is often laundered by public relations firms who then distribute the material to journalists. Jules Kroll, who founded the modern private intelligence industry in the 1970s, broke this mold by sharing information directly with reporters. Mr. Simpson went a step further. He sold Fusion GPS to customers by pointing out his connections to major media outlets and reassuring journalists that he really was still one of them.

“People who have never been a reporter don’t really understand the challenges of printing what you know because you can’t just say what you know – you have to say how you know and you have to prove it,” said Mr. Simpson remarked at the 2016 conference, “When you’re a spy, you really don’t have to get into that much.”

Fusion GPS has also mined an area that other private intelligence companies have shunned – opposition political research. And when Mr. Trump emerged as the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyers hired Fusion to look into Mr. Trump-Russia relations.

In the fall of 2016, Fusion GPS invited selected reporters from The Times, The New Yorker, and other news organizations to meet Mr. Steele in Washington and learn about what he’d found out about the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. As is often the case in the private intelligence world, the meetings had a catch: when news organizations wrote about the dossier, they had to agree not to disclose that Fusion GPS and the former British agent were the sources of the material.

Journalists were told that Mr. Steele played a pivotal role in overturning major cases, including the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, and the FBI’s investigation into bribery at FIFA, the football association. And when he talked about Trump and Russia, he appeared calm, reserved and confident, according to reporters who attended the meetings.

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Business

Insider Journalists Kind a Union

Insider Journalists Form a Union

Journalists from Insider, the news site formerly called Business Insider, said Monday they formed a union and joined a wave that has swept up digital media companies.

A majority of more than 300 editors, a group of reporters, editors and video journalists, voted in support, union officials said.

Insider, which changed its name this year, was co-founded by Henry Blodget in 2007 as a business-oriented publication focusing on the technology industry. In recent years it has expanded its areas of coverage.

Axel Springer, a Berlin-based digital publisher, paid $ 343 million in 2015 for a 97 percent stake in the company and bought the remaining 3 percent in 2018. Mr. Blodget remained managing director. Insider, who has grown during the pandemic, raised the minimum annual salary for employees to $ 60,000 in February.

The Insider Union asks the company for voluntary recognition. It is represented by The NewsGuild of New York, which also represents editorial staff for the New York Times and other publications.

“I’ve seen us grow from the start-up energy of a young company to a much larger, much more formal company,” said Kim Renfro, an entertainment correspondent who has been with the Insider Union since 2014 as a natural part of that progress . “

William Antonelli, editor at Insider, said the union will focus on diversity and inclusion, pay fairness and be more transparent about how executives rate employees.

Nicholas Carlson, Insider’s global editor-in-chief, said in a statement: “The satisfaction, job security and happiness of our journalists are extremely important to us. We will fully respect every decision our newsroom ultimately makes. “

Forming a union at Insider is part of a broader industry trend after efforts were organized at BuzzFeed News, Vice, The New Yorker, and Vox Media. Last week a group of more than 650 technicians formed a union at The Times.

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Business

Minnesota Governor Calls Alleged Assaults on Journalists ‘Chilling’

Minnesota Governor Calls Alleged Assaults on Journalists ‘Chilling’

Minnesota governor Tim Walz responded on Sunday to reports that state police officers attacked journalists covering the riots in a Minneapolis suburb, saying, “Apologies are not enough; that just can’t happen. “

Protests have broken out in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, following the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man who was killed by a senior police officer during a traffic obstruction. Police officers shot tear gas or pepper spray into the crowd and made dozens of arrests.

“I think we all have to acknowledge the attack on media around the world and even in our country as terrifying in recent years,” Walz said in an interview with a local CBS broadcaster. “We cannot function as a democracy if they are not there.”

On Saturday, a lawyer representing more than 20 news media organizations sent a letter to Mr. Walz and law enforcement officers in Minnesota describing a series of alleged assaults on journalists by police officers over the past week. Journalists were sprayed with chemical irritants, arrested, thrown to the ground and beaten by police officers while reporting protests, lawyer Leita Walker wrote.

The letter includes details of some of the alleged incidents, including those involving journalists working for CNN and the New York Times.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden, a freelance photographer covering the protests for The Times, said in an interview on Sunday that police moved the car he was in on Tuesday when he tried to leave the protests. They beat the windows with batons, then got into the car to force him out, hit his legs and hit the lens of his camera, he said.

“It was definitely scary – I’ve never been in a situation like this where so many cops beat me and hit my gear,” said 30-year-old McFadden.

Mr. McFadden, who is Black, said police did not believe his press cards were real until another photographer vouched for him – a situation that has happened to him and other black journalists many times, he said.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” he said, “when such a situation arises, they won’t believe anything or care about anything I say.”

Later that week, he said he was forced to the ground with other journalists and photographed by police.

A spokeswoman for the New York Times Company confirmed Sunday that Ms. Walker’s letter was the company’s response.

On Friday, a federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting police from using physical violence or chemical agents against journalists. But Ms. Walker wrote that the officials are still engaging in “widespread intimidation, violence and other wrongdoing against journalists.”

Mr Walz said in a tweet on Saturday that he has “directed our law enforcement partners to make changes that will ensure journalists don’t run into obstacles in the way they do their jobs.”

“These are volatile situations and that is no excuse,” he said during the television interview on Sunday. “It is an understanding that we have to keep getting better.”

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World News

Myanmar Troopers, Aiming to Silence Coup Protests, Goal Journalists

Myanmar Soldiers, Aiming to Silence Coup Protests, Target Journalists

Ten days after taking power in Myanmar, the generals issued their first order to journalists: stop using the words “coup”, “regime” and “junta” to describe the military takeover. Few reporters observed Orwell’s policy, and the junta pursued a new goal – the suppression of all freedom of expression.

Since then, the regime has arrested at least 56 journalists, banned online news outlets known for their harsh reporting, and disrupted communications by shutting down the mobile data service. Three photojournalists were shot and wounded while taking photos of the anti-coup demonstrations.

Under pressure from professional journalists, many young people who have come of age during a decade of social media and information sharing in Myanmar have come into battle, called themselves citizen journalists, and risked their lives to document the brutality of the military. They take photos and videos with their phones and share them online when they are given access. It is a role that is so common today that they are simply referred to as “CJs”.

“They are aimed at professional journalists so that our country needs more CJs,” said Ma Thuzar Myat, one of the citizen journalists. “I know that at some point I could be killed for videotaping what was happening. But I will not resign. “

Ms. Thuzar Myat, 21, noted that few people were able to document the protests in 1988 when the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, exterminated a pro-democracy movement by massacring an estimated 3,000 people. She said she saw it as her duty to gather evidence of today’s violence, even though a soldier had already threatened to kill her if it didn’t stop.

The regime’s obvious goal is to set the clock back to a time when the military ruled the country, the media was tight, and only the richest people had access to cell phones and the internet. But the new generation of young people who grew up with the internet say they are not giving up their freedoms without a fight.

“What we are seeing is a widespread attack on the centers of democracy and freedom,” said U Swe Win, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, one of the banned outlets. “We are very concerned that Myanmar will become North Korea. They will destroy all forms of information gathering and sharing. “

The Tatmadaw has a history of suppressing the opposition. When it took control in 1962, it ruled for nearly half a century before it decided to share power with elected civilian leaders and open the country to the outside world.

In 2012, under a new quasi-civil government, inexpensive cell phones poured in and Facebook became the dominant online forum. Vibrant media sprouted online and competing newspapers flocked to newsstands.

Protests have broken out almost every day since the February 1 coup – often led by young people – and a broad civil disobedience movement has brought the economy to a virtual standstill. In response, soldiers and police killed at least 536 people.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, the special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener warned that “a bloodbath is imminent”. The regime has arrested thousands, including the country’s civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On Thursday, one of her lawyers said she was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and added a list of suspected crimes.

While the UN Security Council has not punished the military in Myanmar, it has spoken increasingly negatively about the repression. In a statement released Thursday evening, the Council expressed “deep concern about the rapidly deteriorating situation and strongly condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children”.

While the military uses state media to spread its propaganda and fire warnings, attacks on journalists and arrests have increased dramatically in recent weeks.

In order not to be targeted, journalists have stopped wearing helmets or vests with the word “PRESS” on them and have tried to adapt to the demonstrators. Many also go quietly by not receiving credit for their published work and avoiding sleeping in their own four walls. Even so, their professional cameras can give them away.

At the same time, soldiers and police routinely search civilians’ phones for protest photos or videos.

“If you get arrested with video clips, you can go to jail,” said U Myint Kyaw, secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, an independent advocacy group for the news media, before he and most of the others stopped the panel in protest in February.

At a recent press conference, a junta spokesman said it was up to journalists to avoid behavior that could be construed as violating the law.

“Only the action of the journalist himself can guarantee that they will not be arrested,” said Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun spokesman. “If their actions are against the law, they will be arrested.” All three journalists shot and wounded claim to have been attacked by security forces.

Freelance journalist Ko Htet Myat Thu, 24, photographed protests in Kyaikto, a city in southern Myanmar, as a soldier on Saturday shot him in the leg, he said. A video of his arrest, recorded by a citizen journalist from a nearby building, shows soldiers beating him and forcing him to jump on his good leg as they lead him away.

Another photojournalist, U Si Thu, 36, who was shot that day, was hit in his left hand while holding his camera in front of his face and photographing soldiers in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city. He said he believed the soldier who shot him aimed at his head.

“I had two cameras,” he said, “ “So it was obvious that I am a photojournalist, even though I had neither a press helmet nor a vest.”

“I am sure the military junta will target journalists because they know we are showing the world the realities and they want to stop us by arresting or killing us,” he added.

Half of the 56 journalists arrested have been released, according to a group tracking arrests. Those released included reporters for The Associated Press and the BBC.

However, 28 remain in custody, including at least 15 people sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment under an unusual law prohibiting the dissemination of information that could induce military officers to neglect or fail to perform their duties.

Ma Kay Zon Nway, 27, a reporter for Myanmar Now, televised her own arrest in late February while escaping from police in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Your video shows the police shooting into the air as the demonstrators flee. The sound of their labored breathing can be heard as the police catch up with them and take them away.

She is among those charged under the vague and comprehensive law. She was only allowed to meet her lawyer in person once.

Mr. Swe Win, the editor of Myanmar Now, was imprisoned for seven years in 1998 for protesting. “All of these legal proceedings are being conducted for formality reasons,” he said, adding, “We cannot expect fair treatment. ”

With mobile communications blocked, Facebook bans and nightly internet shutdowns, Myanmar’s mainstream media rely on citizen journalists for videos and news tips, said Myint Kyaw, the former press council secretary.

One of them, Ko Aung Aung Kyaw, 26, was videotaping the police arresting people in his neighborhood in Yangon when an officer spotted him. The officer cursed him Aimed his rifle and fired, Mr. Aung Aung Kyaw’s video shows.

The bullet hit a wall in front of him.

“I know that recording such things is very risky and I may be shot or arrested,” he said. “But I think I have to keep doing it, to have evidence, to punish her.”

Rick Gladstone contributed to the coverage from New York.

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Business

Warfare-Zone Expertise Carries Journalists Into Inauguration Protection

War-Zone Experience Carries Journalists Into Inauguration Coverage

The main concern of journalists covering the presidential inaugurations was protection from the cold in January.

For the swearing-in of Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday, some reporters and photographers are bringing protective gear that is used in combat areas.

Two weeks after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in a siege that resulted in five deaths and aware of warnings of extremist violence and the presence of National Guard forces, news outlets reached out to journalists who Have experience reporting on conflict zones What is usually a political pageant.

Ron Haviv, a photographer who has covered wars and political violence around the world for three decades, traveled to Washington on behalf of The Intercept. The weirdness of the moment struck him as he was talking to his editors about security, he said.

Recognition…Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

“We found that we had the same conversations about what to do here or there during the uprisings in Libya or Cairo or during the fighting in Baghdad or attempted coups,” Haviv said. “Suddenly you take a deep breath and find that you are actually talking about the President’s inauguration in Washington, DC.”

The nation commissioned Andrew McCormick, an independent journalist who is a Navy veteran with experience in Afghanistan. Anna Hiatt, the publication’s chief digital editor, said Mr. McCormick kept his cool while covering the Capitol Siege.

“Because he is an ex-military, I have more confidence in his ability to get into a stressful and dynamic situation and not only see and react when something is really wrong, but also get out when it is necessary,” said Mrs. Hiatt said.

The Journalists’ Protection Committee issued a safety notice outlining the risks “potential vehicle ramming into crowds” could include. Reporters Without Borders warned similarly.

CBS and The Associated Press said in statements that they had taken precautions to protect their inauguration reporters, while Reuters said they “doubled” their security efforts before, during and after the presidential election. Time Magazine said it had dispatched two of its journalists with conflict experience, Kim Dozier and Simon Shuster, to cover the event.

The New York Times is sending almost all of its reporters to Washington to cover the inauguration, and many of them have experience reporting in war zones “because the National Security Team and Pentagon correspondents are based in the office,” Elisabeth Bumiller, deputy executive editor and chief executive of the Washington office said in a statement.

Hugh Brumfitt, chief executive of Insurance For UK company, said he recently saw a “significant increase” in news agency requests for insurance coverage for their journalists.

“What’s very interesting is that customers have extended coverage for a few days after the inauguration and may be expecting more marches,” he wrote in an email.

Richard Hall, the senior US correspondent for the British news site The Independent, covered the Syrian civil war and the Islamic State as a correspondent in Beirut, Lebanon. Mr Hall, who will be in Washington for the inauguration, said he plans to stay in constant communication with his colleagues on a WhatsApp group.

“I’m a white man, and I can just fit in with the crowd, which I did when the protests were at the Capitol,” he said. “I am fully aware that most journalists, and especially photographers and videographers, do not have this privilege.”

Vice News will have security advisers with its journalists, and protective gear will be available, said Sebastian Walker, head of the outlet’s Washington office.

“I have reported protests in countries around the world, in the Middle East and in Haiti, and I think it actually becomes more dangerous to do so here,” said Walker, “because of the attitudes of the people you are.” Cover.”

Adam Ferguson, a war photographer who had spent years in Afghanistan, said it was “unusual and surreal” to pack a helmet and other protective gear for his first inauguration as president, which was reported on by New York Magazine. He wasn’t surprised, however, that other journalists with his experience will be in Washington on Wednesday.

“It makes sense to send someone who is prepared to be in a situation like this,” he said. “If there is violence and people who want to harm journalists, it is ultimately a fighting environment.”

Janine di Giovanni, who has covered fighting and its aftermath in the Middle East, the Balkans and Africa for almost 30 years, said Tuesday she was considering going to Washington for the inauguration or not. She added that she had reached out to fellow war correspondents to find flak jackets and stick notes of their blood type on their helmets, as she once did to facilitate medical treatment in sniper-infested Bosnia.

“I’m used to being a war reporter in countries where there were no institutions or the institutions were destroyed very quickly,” said Ms. di Giovanni, now a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. “This is a country that until recently had extremely strong institutions protecting us as we descended into the abyss, and to see what is happening now is incredibly worrying.”

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Business

11 Journalists on Overlaying the Capitol Siege: ‘This May Get Ugly’

11 Journalists on Covering the Capitol Siege: ‘This Could Get Ugly’

Reporters knew before they arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday that there would be large protests in support of President Trump. But most expected the day’s main event to be the drama and ceremony of the nation’s leaders debating the ratification of the Electoral College vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the next president.

The journalists ended up chronicling a siege that underscored the fragility of American democracy. Many did their jobs a few feet from drawn weapons. Others faced the wrath of pro-Trump agitators with a grudge against the news media.

We interviewed 11 journalists from a variety of outlets — including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the British channel ITV and the Beltway news site Axios — who covered the events. The interviews have been edited and condensed.

Credit…Roy Cox

April Ryan, 53, White House correspondent, TheGrio: I woke up around 6 at home in the Baltimore area. My kids, 13 and 18, were in their room, doing Zoom. I was in the den and the office, working the phones, not really expecting anything big, thinking it was just going to be a lot of posturing.

Tia Mitchell, 41, Washington correspondent, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: I had to get up early because we did our political newsletter, and then I had a podcast. I dropped off a gift for a friend’s birthday and headed into the capital.

Marcus DiPaola, 29, freelance journalist with 2.2 million TikTok followers: I knew it was going to be a complete mess ahead of time. I woke up at my friend’s apartment north of the White House, had some light cereal and checked the news.

Credit…Fox News Channel

Chad Pergram, 51, congressional correspondent, Fox News: My wife dropped me off on Independence Avenue, and right as I got out of the car, you could feel the tension, because there were protesters everywhere.

Kadia Goba, 46, congressional reporter, Axios: When I walked up the usual entranceway, Capitol Police told me I had to walk with the protesters. I was super pissed off about that. I walked through the crowd — and I’m a woman of color, so it was intimidating, to be honest with you.

Megan Pratz, 31, political director, Cheddar: It was very cold outside. After my noon live shot, my cameraman and I went inside the Capitol building.

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: I had planned to spend my day in the House chamber because six of our eight House Republicans were planning to contest the electoral votes being tallied for Georgia. Walking from the Senate to the House, along the third floor, I peeked outside and could see the bigger protest.

Credit…Monica Weeks

Kadia Goba, Axios: My seat in the gallery was directly over Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I saw a picture online of the protesters in front of the building. At this point, all of the members are in debate mode, seemingly oblivious to what was going on.

J. Scott Applewhite, 69, senior photojournalist, The Associated Press: I was facing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, and they brought in those beautiful antique mahogany wooden boxes carrying the ballots.

Credit…CNN

Donie O’Sullivan, 29, reporter, CNN: We got to the barrier at the base of the Capitol as they broke through. It was a dramatic moment, but also surprisingly undramatic in that, you know, there were obviously not sufficient numbers of police or barricades.

Robert Moore, 57, Washington correspondent, ITV News: We were standing to one side of the inauguration platform that Joe Biden will use on Jan. 20, and there was a small corridor that was unguarded by police. So they charged up there and, rather improbably, discovered there was a tiny side entrance, also apparently unguarded. They broke the window, forced open the door. And there they were, in the corridors of power, astonished themselves that they got that far.

Megan Pratz, Cheddar: We went down to the first floor, where the entrance and exit is. We tried to exit, but guards told us that the first floor was locked down.

Marcus DiPaola, freelance journalist: I get an alert that protesters had breached the Capitol, and I’m like, “OK, so that’s the kind of day it’s going to be.” I take my first video — like six cops against 600 protesters. One protester pulled his fist back, and the cop just puts his hands up and walks back. There just weren’t enough people. The protesters ran right through.

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: House staff was saying to us one at a time in the press gallery that they were going to lock down the chamber because the protest was starting to get out of hand. But there wasn’t panic. The House was still debating Arizona.

Kadia Goba, Axios: Capitol Police came on the speaker to say there had been a breach. You go in this marble building, it seems sacred to the people that work there. You just don’t think of intruders gaining access to that portion of the building.

Credit…Reuters

Mike Theiler, 70, freelance photographer, Reuters: Police were up against the door, and people were trying to get in. I never imagined that the doors would be breached. Police said, “You’re going to have to leave.”

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: I guess the adrenaline of being a news reporter started to kick in. My roots are in covering the night cop shift in Jacksonville, Fla. So I go into breaking-news mode. When they stopped proceedings on the floor, that’s when we knew it was escalating.

Marcus DiPaola, freelance journalist: This guy grabs me by the shoulder and he’s like, “Who do you work for?” I’m like, “I’m a freelance photographer.” He’s like, “Have you ever worked for CNN?” And then he pulled me out of the way and he charges in. Obviously, I’m not going in there. I’m not going to fight my way past a bunch of cops. At 2:21 a Confederate battle flag makes it to the top of the stairs. At 2:23 I first noticed that windows were smashed on the door.

Mike Theiler, Reuters: All my professionalism from 50 years of photography kind of takes over. I started shooting, knowing deep down that you can’t make a bad picture in a situation like that. There were maybe 20 of the rioters in the hallway and only a handful of police trying to restrain them. That’s when I saw that the guy with a Confederate flag had kind of moved off by himself. I’m thinking in the context of — we’re in this hallowed hallway, with the gilded framed paintings on the wall, the bust, the kind of thing that speaks to anyone who has ever been to the Capitol, and I kind of isolated him with that in the background.

The Presidential Transition

Updated 

Jan. 8, 2021, 10:32 p.m. ET

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta-Journal Constitution: Capitol Police told us the protesters were in the rotunda. And then they said to put on the gas masks. We’re trying to figure out how to open the darn things, and maybe that was a sign that we were nervous.

Kadia Goba, Axios: There was an announcement that tear gas had been dispensed. I turned around and gallery staff were handing out gas masks. The protesters were knocking on the door — boom, boom — echoing throughout the chamber. The bangs were getting louder and louder, and then you hear glass.

April Ryan, TheGrio: I said to myself: “Go back to Reporting 101. Call your sources. Reach out to people who are inside.” And they talked. I never thought about driving in. Who’s to say that someone wouldn’t recognize me and try to follow me? Donald Trump does not like April Ryan. It’s a dangerous mix. Donald Trump has called us the enemy of the people, which is not true. I’ve understood that I can’t go cover a campaign rally for Donald Trump — it’s not safe. So I’ve learned how to maneuver around those things and still do my job and break stories.

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: At 2:45, we heard a very loud bang coming from the direction of the speaker’s lobby. At that point I called my mom. I didn’t know if we were going to be sheltered indefinitely. I wasn’t thinking the worst, but my mom is not on social media, and I was worried my phone might die.

Kadia Goba, Axios: I’m behind a chair and my editor calls. I start giving her details. They get us out of the gallery.

Credit…Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

J. Scott Applewhite, A.P.: Next thing you hear, someone is starting to break the glass of the door. I have a telephoto lens, and I’m focused on that door. It’s maybe 50 feet away. So at 2:39 p.m., there were several plainclothes police gathered around the inside of the door of the chamber. It just has a lock on it. A couple of the officers bring a heavy piece of furniture and set it on top of another piece of furniture, and now the windows of the door are barricaded up about halfway.

At 2:40 p.m., they started to break the glass. At 2:40 p.m., plainclothes officers about 10 feet from the door have now started to take out their guns. The officers are telling them to get back. The standoff continues, and I can start to see a man’s face. The officers are talking to him through the broken glass. They kept telling him, “You can walk away from this, you don’t want to do this.” By 2:54 p.m. the mob has retreated. At this point I started taking pictures of all the empty seats in the chamber with the scattering of debris.

Kadia Goba, Axios: There’s a trail of us going downstairs. They’re directing members to a secure location. Sadly, photographers and reporters were not allowed, and we end up going to Representative Ruben Gallego’s office. I was trying to get my blood pressure and my heart rate down.

Robert Moore, ITV: Once we were in Congress itself with the group that we followed in, we simply filmed and spoke to them as they, I think it’s fair to say, rampaged. There were people who asked which organization we were with. We explained calmly that we were a British TV network and we were there to record a moment in history.

There were a few flashes of anger. But I’ve covered wars and disasters around the world for nearly 30 years, and I never felt in danger personally. I actually watched them, with my own eyes, tear down Nancy Pelosi’s nameplate off the wall above the door that enters her office. That was a moment that I thought, “Gosh, this could get ugly and violent.”

Zoeann Murphy, 39, video journalist, The Washington Post: We arrived on the north of the Capitol around 4. I had been assessing what gear to bring with me. I have body armor and a helmet and a gas mask and a first aid kit — and it became clear that all of those things should be coming with me.

Megan Pratz, Cheddar: We stood in the designated press area on the east side of the Capitol, in the area we call the House Elm. Throughout all of this, people were stopping to criticize the media, calling us fake news and liars, the stuff I’m kind of used to. But after people started leaving the Capitol, it really ramped up. They were calling us communist; they told me that they were coming for me. Then there were 20 to 30 people who started coming into the area, surrounding each journalist and screaming at us, these hateful, hateful things. You couldn’t see a Capitol Police officer anywhere. That was when we decided we were no longer safe. We grabbed pretty much everything, and we just walked out. We were shaking, like physically shaking, because it’s an adrenaline rush, and not a great one.

Zoeann Murphy, Washington Post: One of the Trump supporters who’s been participating in the screaming at police pulls out her cellphone and says: “Oh, my God, guys, listen up. The president tweeted. He says we’re a country of law and order, and, um, I think we should go.” She read the tweet out loud maybe 15 times. It was so clear that, even if the president wasn’t intentionally giving direction, people were receiving it as direction. And then that area dispersed quite a bit.

Credit…iTV News

Robert Moore, ITV: I left the building with a group, and they were happy to have achieved their objective. The mood was a little bit euphoric.

Donie O’Sullivan, CNN: I asked folks were they proud of what they had done. And they said they were very proud and viewed themselves as the patriots, and that the people who accepted the legitimate results of the election were the traitors, which was quite surreal.

Kadia Goba, Axios: They let us go back to the Capitol, and we went back to our seats in the House gallery. Coming back was a little surreal. The House gallery had snacks. We had cup-size macaroni and cheese. Pringles. I remember a big bag of Cheetos.

Credit…Samantha Tadelman for Cheddar

Megan Pratz, Cheddar: I got home around 7:30. I gave my two little kids — they’re 5 and 3 — hugs and tried not to freak them out. I ate dinner but wasn’t really hungry. I didn’t want to do anything, just sit.

Zoeann Murphy, Washington Post: Law enforcement started kettling, creating circles of police officers around people. I’ve been in those many times, and usually I say I’m a journalist and they let me out. They didn’t in this situation, and I was taken aback. I went to three different officers and said we were journalists. When they didn’t engage at all, I thought we might be in a dangerous situation. One officer says very loudly to the crowd, “You are under arrest.” I’m getting my boss on the phone, reaching to get my credentials out, and one officer grabs me by the shoulder and the arm, and grabs my colleague by the shoulder and the arm, and starts to walk us toward these buses. By that point, I knew we were not in danger, though I was concerned we might have to be on these buses with a bunch of people who were not wearing masks. When it was our turn to be searched, this female officer came running up with a look of panic and asked if we were journalists. Her superior came and looked at our credentials and released us.

Marcus DiPaola, freelance journalist: Around 8, the police start kettling the media, and I was like, “Time to go.” I got back to the apartment and had pretzels and a lot of cookies and a pint of mango sorbet and a pint of NatureSweet Cherubs grape tomatoes. I turned on the TV and realized the historical implications of what I had just witnessed. My first thought was: “How in the world do we fix this? These people have been duped — people just aren’t taught to process information and assess its credibility.” And I remember feeling a complete hopelessness.

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: They let us back into the gallery, and at 8:10 the Senate got back to work. Right off the bat, Kelly Loeffler made a speech where she said she would no longer object to Georgia’s electoral vote being counted for Biden. So I had to write that up.

Megan Pratz, Cheddar: I probably went to bed around 10. I woke up several times throughout the night. The only thing I kept saying to my husband was “It’s hard to be hated this much.”

Credit…Sarah Voisin/The Washington Post

Zoeann Murphy, Washington Post: At around 10, I went back to my hotel, walking through these mobs of Trump supporters drunk in the lobby. I get back to my room, and that’s when I started to process the enormity of what had happened.

Tia Mitchell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: I left the Capitol at 12:46 and was waiting for the Senate subway and ran into Senator Loeffler, but she didn’t want to be interviewed. Sarah Wire from The Los Angeles Times agreed to share her ride-share, which was touching. I got home around 2 a.m. I made myself a drink and a little bit of food and watched “House Hunters” — HGTV is soothing for me. I went to bed around 3 a.m. I don’t feel like I’ve reflected on what happened. I think I’m scared of that. I might get too emotional.

Robert Moore, ITV: I went to sleep around 3 or 4 a.m. and was up a couple of hours later. What has surprised me is the level of interest in Europe, and in Britain in particular, with the events here. This is seen as a seminal story, one that shatters the myth about the stability of American democracy.

Kadia Goba, Axios: I was there till nearly 4 a.m., when Pence gaveled out. I went straight home. My friend was up and happy to hear from me, so we talked for 49 minutes. I still had adrenaline pumping.

J. Scott Applewhite, A.P.: I returned with my gear to my office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. I had some soup, and I had an avocado and some nice tomatoes. I keep a little foldout chair, so I spread that out and slept between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

Megan Pratz, Cheddar: As I got out of bed, my body felt like it had whiplash. I had a sore throat — the air had been very smoky. I had a splitting migraine. I went downstairs, and the first thing I said to my husband was: “I’ve got to go to work, but I’m not OK today. And when I come home, all I want is for you to hold me really tight.” I feel both very fortunate and devastated that I’ve had to witness this part of history.