2020 ICTalks

Aiming to connect journalists when it was difficult to do so in person, the International Community has invited journalists and experts from around the globe in one-on-one conversations. The discussions below are available to view.

May 19, 2020: Diego Mendoza discusses press freedom in Hong Kong. Mendoza is a senior at George Washington University in Washington, DC studying journalism and mass communication and is on the staff of the GWU newspaper, The Hatchet. As part of his global bachelor's curriculum, he spent 2019 in Shanghai and Hong Kong researching political culture and public opinion on social media platforms. View HERE.

May 26, 2020: A conversation with award-winning journalist and social strategist, Kassy Cho. She pioneered an Instagram-first approach to growing young audiences and was previously an Audience Development Editor at Bloomberg QuickTake and BuzzFeed News, where she single-handedly made the BuzzFeed @world Instagram the fastest-growing news account on Instagram in 2018. View HERE.

June 2, 2020: A conversation with CNN's award-winning journalist Will Ripley. Based in the network's Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong, A journalist for two decades, Ripley has travelled to North Korea 19 times since 2014 — more than any American TV correspondent. He has reported exclusively from Pyongyang after missile launches and nuclear tests and was the only American journalist in North Korea when U.S. prisoner Otto Warmbier was released just days before his death in 2017. View HERE.

June 9, 2020: A conversation with award-winning American photographer George Steinmetz. He has won numerous awards in his 35-year career, including three prizes from World Press Photo. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, and he is a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. View HERE.

June 16, 2020: A conversation with investigative science journalist and prize-winning author, Sonia Shah. Her 2017 book, "Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond" was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and as a finalist for the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in science/technology, the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the National Association of Science Writers’ Science in Society Award. View HERE.

June 23, 2020: A conversation with Maria Ressa, co-founded Rappler, known for being the top digital-only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN. On June 15th, she was convicted of cyber libel and could face up to six years in prison. We discuss with her this blow to press freedom and what it means for her and for journalists around the world. View HERE.

June 30, 2020: A conversation with Chris Livesay, CBS News Rome Correspondent. He has covered hotspots across Europe and the Middle East and is currently reporting for CBS News on COVID-19. Before joining CBS News, Chris reported around the globe for NBC News, PBS NewsHour, PBS Frontline, and NPR News. He has covered major stories with global impact, such as the targeted killing of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, the protests in Hong Kong, and the priest sex abuse scandals at the Vatican. View HERE.

July 14, 2020: A conversation with Gavin Phipps. He hosts the morning news anchor for ICRT, the English language-radio in Taiwan. We discuss Taiwan and the country's relationship with the WHO (and how it affects dealing with COVID-19); Taiwan’s relations with China and how movement by China and the Hong Kong government to restrict civil rights affects the democratic institutions in Taiwan. And, why the rest of the world should pay attention to Taiwan. View HERE.

July 28, 2020: A conversation with the CEO and President of the World Affairs Council, Bill Clifford, and the Executive Director of the Montana World Affairs Council, Chris Hyslop. They discuss how local journalists can build stories that reflect a global connection to local issues or a local link to an international story. They will discuss how they bring international issues to local audiences without ever leaving their hometowns. View HERE.

August 4, 2020: Mosheh Oinounou served as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. From the war on ISIS to natural disasters, presidential interviews and global summits, he led agile teams on the ground and from headquarters focused on reporting and producing award-winning content for the nightly national news broadcast. He began his career at Fox News—notably serving as the network’s ‘embed’ campaign reporter with the McCain presidential campaign in 2008. During his career, he has produced interviews with five American presidents and more than two dozen world leaders. View HERE.

August 11, 2020: The International Community spoke with Sanford J. Ungar, the 24th Voice of America director having served from 1999 to 2001. The Voice of America has a long history of honest and fair journalism. This tradition has often put it at odds with the political leadership in the U.S. government, the owner of VOA. However, never before has the VOA faced a threat to its editorial independence as it has this year. View HERE.

August 18, 2020: In our conversation with Ghada Oueiss, principal presenter for the Al Jazeera Arabic, she reveals the struggle of dealing with cyberbullying and a coordinated campaign against her on social media as noted in a recent Washington Post OpEd. She refuses to stay silent and discusses these attacks and what can be done to raise awareness about this matter and what press freedom means to her. View HERE.

August 25, 2020: In our one-on-one conversation with Rafael Espinal, President and Executive Director of the Freelancers Union, we discussed the challenges and the changes taking place in the freelance industry in the US and around the world. This session will also give journalists around the world a better understanding of what the Freelance Union is about and how it might help them. The event was co-sponsored with the SPJ Freelance Community. View HERE.

September 1, 2020: Former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Sri Lanka, Kinita Shenoy, talks about how the fight for racial, gender and women’s rights are not limited to one country or region. Sheb was the subject of a pressure campaign by a major cosmetic company to promote their skin lightening products in her publication. View HERE.

September 15, 2020: Ernie Gates, Ombudsman at Stars and Stripes, and Bob Reid, Senior Managing Editor, talk about how and why the newspaper ended up in the news in 2020. The paper jumped to the top of the news feeds as the story broke the Pentagon ordered it to stop publishing as of Sept. 30, cutting off funding for coverage of U.S. troops overseas. We discuss the importance of providing unbiased and editorially independent news to American troops around the world and why the threat against Stars and Stripes is seen as a threat against press freedom. View HERE.

September 22, 2020: A conversation with Timothy Myers, an award-winning Australian cinematographer based in Los Angeles. He is currently nominated for a Kennedy Excellence in Journalism Award for his coverage of the Washington DC protests with foreign correspondent Amelia Brace, where his images of the controversial June 1st clearing of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square by an overly aggressive Police force, were regarded around the world as a violation of constitutional rights, and an infringement on press freedoms. View HERE.

October 13, 2020: A Conversation with Olivia Martin and Harlo Holmes from Freedom of the Press Foundation talking about online harassment and doxing of journalists where we lend a gender-based perspective on risk mitigation and care after an incident. Also, we will explore digital security when covering protests with a focus on mobile privacy and security, and secure communications during COVID. View HERE.

November 17, 2020: Amb. Susan G. Esserman is the founder/director of the University of Maryland Support, Advocacy, Freedom and Empowerment (SAFE) Center for Human trafficking Survivors. They provide survivor-centered and trauma-informed services that empower trafficking survivors to heal and reclaim their lives. She discusses how to approach stories about human trafficking that fits within the boundaries of the SPJ Code of Ethics. View HERE.

December 1, 2020: A conversation with Stavros Malichudis discussing the work of Solomon, an Athens-based digital media outlet that was founded in 2016. Solomon provides independent reporting on migration and refugee issues in Greek and English. Solomon also provides free media training to the refugees and migrants so they can produce their own stories. View HERE.

December 15, 2020: Sanford J Ungar, director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, returned to the ICTalks to discuss how the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may have been bent and even violated in recent years, but it has survived and still serves as a model for the rest of the world. We were also honored to have former SPJ president Steve Geimann sit in as guest host. View HERE.

About

The international community is an extension of the Society of Professional Journalists that brings together a community that believes in the protection of journalism globally. We are working to improve and protect international journalism by encouraging the free practice of journalism in all countries.