Remembering Dith Pran

When New York Times photojournalist Dith Pran covered a press conference or a news event in the area, he looked like any other photographer doing his job. Unless you knew otherwise, there were no signs that Dith was the man who endured four years of starvation and torture in Cambodia and that his story was the inspiration for the 1984 film The Killing Fields.

When I learned that Dith had passed away from pancreatic cancer Sunday night, I immediately recalled a brief encounter I had had with him back in 1997. The story tells a lot about the type of a person he was.

At the time, I was working as the public information officer in Woodbridge Township and our mayor, Jim McGreevey, was embarking on his first quest for the Governor's Office. The New York Times was doing a profile on McGreevey and an editor asked me to provide some pictures of his work as mayor.

Being that this was long before the days when digital photography was commonplace, I had a stack of snapshots -- most of them taken by the police department's ID Bureau, which was much more adept (and rightfully so) at photographing crime scenes than municipal ceremonies.

I picked out about a dozen or so of what I thought were the best photos and set them aside for The Times. When Dith (who lived in Woodbridge) arrived at my office to collect them, I expected him simply to take the photos and be on his way. Instead, he carefully looked over each picture and politely informed me that I might want to reconsider my selections. He spotted things that only a photographer’s eye would see – an awkward glance, an unflattering shadow, a misplaced background object, etc. He took a look at the huge stack of pictures on my desk and explained that he had to go shoot an assignment, but would return to help me select the best photos of the mayor.

True to his word, he came back to Town Hall and spent the better part of an hour perusing pictures of press conferences, proclamation presentations and VFW dinners until he found several suitable photographs. I didn’t yet realize who he was, but I was touched by the fact that he cared enough about how the mayor would look in his newspaper that he would take time to look through several hundred photos – and explain to me why he chose some and rejected the others.

As he looked through the photos, we made small talk. When he learned that I lived in Hamilton, he asked for directions to the College of New Jersey in nearby Ewing, where he was scheduled to give a lecture. He also was interested in Woodbridge Township’s new web page. (Municipal web sites were just starting to make an appearance at the time.) He explained that he was starting his own web page and offered to show me the page while it was under construction. Still unaware of just who he was, I asked him about the subject of his web page.

“You know who I am?” he asked out of amusement.

Although I still didn’t know, I remained silent as his web page appeared on the screen of my computer revealing that he was the real life person upon whom The Killing Fields was based.

More than a decade has passed since this brief encounter, but I never forgot that Dith Pran – a man who had survived conditions more horrific than most of us will ever know –- cared enough to take time to help me do my job better.

May he rest in peace – a peace that clearly is deserved.

The Symbiotic Relationship between Government and the Media

A March 16 New York Post story reported that about 22,000 city building owners were behind on their water bills. Several of the entities which owed the most money were listed by name. Among them was Pratt Institute with a bill of $442,000.

The story, however, shows no evidence that the newspaper attempted to contact Pratt or any of the other entities for a comment or explanation.

In Pratt’s case, the school contends that due to errors involving a new meter installation, the city inaccurately estimated its water usage for more than six years. Apparently, Pratt and the city have reached agreement on what the school owes, Pratt has paid that bill in full, and the city is working to make sure the meter operates accurately.

In their classic 1988 essay The Propaganda Model, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky posited that the media have become too reliant on (and trusting of) government sources for information. Some would argue that, had the press more aggressively challenged the Bush Administration’s contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, there may not have been ample public and governmental support to launch the war in Iraq.

An unpaid water bill is not a life or death issue, but this story does provide a good example of what can happen when the press accepts what government provides them without taking time to report the full story.

Journalism During Wartime

Investigative Journalism in a Time of War is the title of a panel discussion being presented at Rutgers University by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. The session will take place on Wednesday, April 16, starting at 6 p.m.

The featured speakers are Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist who has covered the Middle East for more than four years; and Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for Democracy Now! and a contributor to The Nation magazine.

The program will take place in Room 135 of Scott Hall, 43 College Avenue, New Brunswick.

For details, visit http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/events/investigative-journalism-in-a-time-of-war.html or contact Professor Deepa Kumar at dkumar@scils.rutgers.edu.

Roger Stone on his Way to NJ

PolitickerNJ is reporting that veteran GOP strategist Roger Stone will be the guest speaker at an April 16 fundraiser for Essex County Republican Chairman Kevin O’Toole. Stone is a fascinating and colorful figure who has played a role in GOP politics for decades. But I believe he has gone over the line by creating an anti-Hillary Clinton committee named Citizens United Not Timid. Why choose a name with such a crude acronym? “Truth is, we sat around for hours trying to come up with words for BITCH and just couldn't do it,” Stone told The Weekly Standard.

O’Toole has a reputation as a bright and articulate legislator, who earns respect on both sides of the aisle. He can earn some more by putting some distance between himself and Mr. Stone.

A Busy March

I haven’t been posting as frequently as usual this month. Instead, I’ve been taking part in some special events.

I participated in Rutgers University’s Celebration of Recently Published Faculty Authors on March 25. This was because I teach part-time at the university and also authored one of the chapters in the Hall Institute’s book Reaction and Reform in New Jersey.

I presented two papers at academic conferences.

THE IMPACT OF NEW JERSEY NEWSPAPERS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE’S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE at the Joint Meeting of the American Journalism Historians Association and the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (on March 15 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City).

HAS ELECTION COVERAGE ENTERED A BRAVE NEW WORLD? at the 12th Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Communication Association (on March 22 at Marymount Manhattan College).

Earlier in the month, I spoke on a panel entitled "Media Viewpoints” at the Leadership New Jersey Seminar on Government and Politics in Trenton on March 13.

I also was a guest speaker at two Rutgers University classes -- Mass Media, Government and on March 5 and the New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow Presidential Internship class on March 4.

Media Discussion

Bernard Goldberg’s book Arrogance: Rescuing America from the Media Elite will be the focus of a special program at the Princeton Public Library on Wednesday, April 9. Joan Goldstein, a sociologist, author and professor at Mercer County Community College, will lead the discussion. The session starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Quite Room on the first floor of the library (65 Witherspoon Street). Joan will be presenting a similar program on Payl Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal on Wednesday, May 14. Time and location are the same.

Conference Presentations

I will be speaking at two academic conferences in New York City this month.

On Saturday, March 15, I will present my paper, The Impact of New Jersey Newspapers on the Development of the State’s Transportation Infrastructure, at the AJHA-AEJMC History Division Joint Journalism Historians meeting. The conference, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., takes place at the Roosevelt Hotel, 45 East 45th Street.

The paper aims to illustrate the impact that the state’s newspapers have had on its transportation system and to underscore the significance of the media’s role in the current debate over Governor Corzine’s proposal to raise tolls to fund transportation improvements and pay down state debt. It includes a series of case studies and examples, ranging from the pre-Revolutionary War era to the Governor’s present proposal.

The following Saturday, March 22, I will present my paper, Has Election Coverage Entered A Brave New World?, at the 12th Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Communication Association. The conference will be held at Marymount Manhattan College, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In this paper, I review the role of the internet in election campaigns and examine how print newspapers are using their online versions to provide election results in a manner that is just as timely as -- and sometimes more than -- the electronic media.