Connecting, October 19, 2021

View as Webpage

Connecting

October 19, 2021

Click here for sound of the Teletype

Top AP News

Top AP Photos

AP Merchandise

Connecting Archive

AP Emergency Relief Fund

AP Books

Colleagues,

Good Tuesday morning on this Oct. 19, 2021,

When our colleague Elise Amendola (Email) recently retired after nearly four decades as an AP photojournalist in the Boston bureau, she had high praise in a Connecting story for one of her early mentors – Vin Alabiso. Vin served as New England Photo Editor and for 13 years beginning in 1990, he directed AP’s worldwide photo operation as Vice President and Executive Photo Editor.

The feeling is mutual, Vin (Email) wrote in a note this week to Connecting:

“What Elise wrote goes for me in triplicate (if not more). She came to AP as an excellent sports photographer whose talent was quickly evident and she became one of the best all-around AP staffers. In the time I got to know her it was obvious that there was no assignment she couldn’t handle. And all of them with an amazing attitude.

“It’s been my extreme pleasure to get to know Elise both professionally and personally. I know we all wish her and Mary all the best in this next phase of their life.”

Some of our colleagues have been part of motorcades for presidents, vice presidents and other dignitaries they were covering, but I doubt many have had the chance to be a driver in a motorcade. That's the opportunity afforded colleague Marlys Shulda when First Lady Jill Biden came to Kansas City last week - and I asked Marlys (who works at the University of Kansas) for an account of her experience. I found it fun and interesting, and I bet you will too.

AUTHORS ALERT! WRITTEN A BOOK IN THE PAST YEAR?

If you have written a book in the past year, Connecting would like to feature it in our annual listing of books authored by Connecting colleagues. The book issue will appear in a couple weeks – so this is an invitation to send me the following: Name of book, jpg image of the cover and your headshot, and 300 words on the book including where it can be purchased. Also, if you have a book in the works for near-future publication, include it. Send along the information soon.

Have a great day – be safe, stay healthy!

Paul

Sharing stories in advance of publication

Paul Albright (Email) - I never submitted any article to a source in my 11 years at the AP, but in one instance, a military information officer was dispatched to the bureau to instruct me on what questions I could not ask of his commanding officer at a ballistic missile site in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I remained silent while listening to his list of taboo questions, not committing to any of them.

At the subsequent interview, I asked several of those touchy questions. The officer glared at the information officer, but made no reply, not even a “No comment,” or “I cannot discuss that matter.” But I think I made my point: Responsible journalists cannot be restricted in advance as to what they ask during an interview.

-0-

Ed McCullough (Email) - Reporting for AP from 1981 to 2005, I rarely was asked - and virtually never pressured - to provide a story in advance of publication. I said or would have said (if asked): "No."

Most anyone who might ask - government bureaucrat, corporate official, etc. - already understood and required no further explanation.

AP is a 24/7 news agency and there's simply no time for that kind of back-and-forth intrusion into the editing process.

Also true: Reporters provide stories to editing desks. There's no telling in advance what would stay in, unchanged; or what remain in the final version - after which it's too late to change.

It's hard to imagine delaying story arrival to editing desks, or delaying transmission to AP subscribers for that reason. Even harder to visualize a professionally and personally successful outcome of trying to explain to crusty news editors that a finished story then had to be vetted by a source in the story.

I routinely used a tape recorder and presumed that the person being interviewed was taping, too, even if mine were the only one on the table. They could check their own recording. The quotes I used were transcribed; tapes saved.

I would provide - sometimes asked, sometimes unasked - an as-published version, usually to news sources who might not otherwise see AP. Rarely were quotes, paraphrases or stories questioned.

A memory from the 1980s when I covered New York's delegation in Congress was Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's response to my question whether a conversation as we walked was on the record; or off. "On," said the former Harvard professor, writer of scholarly books, Senate historian and by reputation one of the smartest people elected to that office. (My paraphrase) "It's too hard to remember what's on, what's off.... Easier just to assume everything is on the record."

He nor his competent staff ever asked me to provide an AP-bound story in advance. Nor, interestingly, did most reliable news sources. I tend to think that only sources with their own axes to grind would do that. And, that it usually was possible to get the required information another way - or do without that information.

Memories of Colin Powell

Peter Arnett (Email) - The late General Colin Powell, as the British would say in praise, was a "scholar and gentleman", and I might add he was also a nice guy who posed for this picture with me in New York in 1991 after the Gulf War. The unlikely event was "the Father of the Year" awards presented by a Wall Street charity organization at a downtown hotel, where both Powell and I were included in the half dozen recipients, mostly local celebrities. Both Powell and I and shared a few headlines during the Gulf War, he as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who masterminded the take-down of Saddam Hussein, me as the TV reporter in Baghdad who told the story of the Bombing of Baghdad live on CNN.

General Powell was an outspoken critic of my early reporting in Iraq, arguing that CNN was wrong in covering the story from the enemy side, an unprecedented US media initiative in time of war. Most of the mainstream media supported CNN founder Ted Turner's decision to allow me to do so. That the first Gulf War was a resounding success for the allied military coalition cooled official tempers, with General Powell, in full dress uniform, posing with me for this selfie at the Father of the Year event in 1991.

-0-

Photo/David Kennerly

David Kennerly (Email) - Gen. Colin Powell died Monday at 84. He was the first Black national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state. He served 35 years in the Army, and pulled two tours in Vietnam. Most of all he was a good guy, and someone I got to know well and greatly admired. I took this of him in his helicopter returning to the Pentagon in 1993 during his final days as Chairman of the JCS. He was a great one, and will be missed.

Serving as a driver in Kansas City motorcade for visit by the First Lady

First Lady Jill Biden (left) and our colleague Marlys Shulda.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Marlys Shulda is a Connecting colleague and the Associate Development Director with KU Endowment Association for the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Marlys Shulda (Email) – I had the unique experience of driving in First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s motorcade when she was in Kansas City a week ago to visit El Centro which provides educational, social and economic services for Hispanic families in Kansas City. Paul asked me to share a little bit about the experience, and while I’m not a reporter, I’ll certainly make an effort to make it interesting.

This is the second time I’ve driven in a motorcade. The first was Oct. 15, 2016, during the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign, when I drove Vice Presidential Candidate Senator Tim Kaine’s staff in a small motorcade when he visited Kansas City. Senator Kaine is a Kansas City native and his parents and brothers all still live here. I feel compelled to add that he embodies Midwest values and kindness and I’ve yet to meet anyone who knows him who doesn’t hold him in the highest regard.

Driving in Senator Kaine’s motorcade was nerve wracking, to say the least. It was the middle of the day, traffic on I-35 was pretty heavy, and the motorcade roared into the far-left lane and hauled (figuratively, and regarding my van, literally speaking). I was in the middle of the pack, driving a 15-passenger rental van, trying to keep up with police cars and Secret Service SUV’s, and it was like driving a race car, all throttle or brake, no in-between. Other than the throttle would stick and I kept getting behind because, let’s face it, rental van. I had been told to keep space tight between the van and the car in front of me so that civilians couldn’t merge into the caravan, which is easier said than done.

It is also important to only drive, nothing else; do not initiate conversation and do not repeat what you hear.

This is so hard for an extrovert. Fortunately, trying to keep up with the motorcade kept me distracted, because it’s counter to my nature to not initiate a conversation with a van full of new people. Then something intriguing happened. Their phones started going off, all at the same time. I think I’m safe to say it now, after all, it’s been five years, but that was the day Wikileaks dumped more of John Podesta’s emails and it was happening in real time. I knew something bad was happening, just not what, and I was trying to exit onto Broadway downtown without rolling the van. In the process, my right hand shot out in a move as old as time: mommy arm protecting her child from flying through the windshield. The staffer I so nobly protected paused, looked at me for a moment, and very dryly said “thanks mom.” I didn’t have time to laugh, we were almost at the airport.

As the motorcade rolled in, we came to a screeching halt and everyone rushed out of the van. They had an emergency to tackle. The reward for getting them there safely, though, was a chance to share a few words with the gracious Senator and a photo I’ll cherish. I had the opportunity to meet him again the following year and came prepared, with a copy of the photo in hand. He kindly signed it “To Marlys, Nice driving, TK.”

Fast forward and, of course, I was expecting the same kind of driving for the First Lady’s motorcade (brought my driving gloves in fact, ready to race). This was to be an entirely different experience though.

I arrived at the airport and one of FLOTUS’s Advance team was there to greet me and the other driver with a smile. There was no rushing, no sense of urgency, and there was a great deal of waiting. This was fine, because it gave me a chance to allow what was happening to soak in.

This was a big deal.

The Secret Service Agent in charge of the motorcade was attentive, helpful, and kind. Once we were in the driver’s seat, a good 1.5 hours before she would land, we were to stay in the van. As the different SUV’s, LEO vehicles, and the other van all got into place on the tarmac, I had a chance to see the dogs sniffing, security settling into place for protection, various Kansas City police officers waiting, and the firefighters whose station is there also watching. There was a buzz, excitement in the air.

I had one moment of panic, because I had left my bag inside the building, thinking that when we went outside to look at the van, I’d have an opportunity to go back in and get it. It was supposed to be brought to me but as the clock ticked, and “wheels down” approached, my mind kept thinking about how to get it back. My driver’s license was in it, my iPad so I could work while waiting during the event, water, my iPhone….MY IPHONE…have you ever spent 1.5 hours sitting in a van without a phone to play games on or check your FB/IG or emails? How did they used to survive without the internet? Eventually, the other driver, who had wisely kept his phone but left his backpack inside, texted the Advance team member and they brought our things out to use. My pulse lowered at that point, and I figured if I could survive an hour-and-a-half in the van with no cell phone than I could certainly survive anything else that came our way. But this was a reminder to never assume and keep your things with you.

Then Air Force One approached and I got goosebumps. Okay, it wasn’t Air Force One but that’s only because President Joe Biden wasn’t on the jet. Seeing the POTUS seal on the fuselage, watching it land and then taxi, well, it was sobering and a reminder of the seriousness and the privilege of what I’d been asked to do. Just a few minutes before this, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and Representative Sharice Davids had been escorted onto the tarmac and seated in separate SUV’s. Three strong women would be riding in this motorcade, all with a history of working to make a difference for their broader communities. I felt even more humble.

From left: State Senator Dinah Sykes (KS 21), State Representative Louis Ruiz (KS 31), State Senator Pat Pettey (KS 6), Governor Laura Kelly, Vicki Hiatt - Chair of the KS Democratic Party, Marlys Shulda.

I would be transporting part of the White House Communications Team. As they crawled into the van, most said hello and were friendly. While watching the First Lady walk down the stairs off the plane, I also looked around and saw that many of the people on the tarmac were taking photos and video with their phones. This made me feel less nerdy to be so in awe of the process. Once everyone was seated, the motorcade started moving. Unlike Senator Kaine’s, though, traffic had been closed along the route and we never sped. The pace was easy to maintain and I never felt rushed. The staff asked me a few questions about Kansas City, to which I answered as succinctly as I could. Again, this didn’t come natural to me since I’m a talker by nature.

As we rounded a bend in the highway, I could see the front end of the motorcade and it was jaw dropping. Probably 10+ LEO’s on motorcycles with their lights flashing, sleek and shiny SUVs all in a row moving in a line, and in front of me a military style vehicle that held what I assume was the equivalent of a KCPD Swat Team. The motorcade trailed on behind me as well and I gulped as I looked in the rearview mirror.

We exited slowly and drove through the Argentine District in Kansas City, KS. The staff were delighted to be in such a culturally rich neighborhood and more questions came. I couldn’t help but feel pride that the First Lady came to Kansas City and chose to visit El Centro, a school for Latino pre-school children through 6^th grade, but also an organization dedicated to building an educated, healthy, financially empowered, and engaged Latino community.

We pulled into the parking lot and, once the First Lady, Congresswoman, Governor, and staff entered the building, I sat in the van and waited. A short time later a Secret Service Agent approached the van, letting me know I’d be able to come inside and have my photo taken with the First Lady. Once inside, I saw a small line and, low and behold, some Kansas legislators that I knew. It was like a mini reunion for a few of us and at one point staff had to shush us. I had forgotten for a moment why I was there and panicked that I’d never be invited back if I didn’t focus.

Covid has changed everything, at least for now. I’ve heard that First Lady Dr. Biden is by nature a hugger, just like her husband. The photos, however, were taken with us wearing masks and standing six feet apart. This didn’t leave much of an opportunity to do more than thank her for visiting our beautiful city and offering my best wishes for a safe journey. She was gracious in her reply, and her eyes smiled, but it’s so different not seeing someone’s full face.

I went back to the van and it wasn’t long before everyone came out in a rush. Once FLOTUS was safely in her SUV, along with the others, we slowly pulled out again. There was an unexpected stop along the way at an Argentine restaurant called Poio so that she could say hello and offer support to this small business owner. The staff stayed in the van, lamenting the fact that they couldn’t pop in and grab some ethnic food to take with them.

The drive back was seamless and as I stopped on the tarmac again close to the White House jet, the Comm’s team got out and one by one said thank you to me. I think they want to return to Kansas City for Mexican BBQ; who could blame them?

As I watched the White House jet slowly taxi and then take off, two things were on my mind.

First, I made a mental note to return to Poio Mexican BBQ and to pay more attention to this area. We so often take for granted that which is in our own backyard.

Second, I hope that those who work closely with the White House and regularly witness our nation’s highest office being protected never take this privilege – this access - for granted. I know that DC is a proverbial bubble, and that we tend to minimize that which we experience every day, but seeing the care taken to ensure the safety of the First Lady of the United States of America was certainly an honor and something I will forever be grateful to have experienced.

Maybe, just maybe, someday she’ll sign a photo too and it can be framed next to the one from Senator Kaine. A girl can dream.

Connecting sky shot - Oregon

Lee Siegel (Email) - Last beach day before a forecast week of rain. View is of Yaquina Head and Lighthouse from southern section of Beverly Beach, Oregon.

Connecting wishes Happy Birthday

Steve Herman – [email protected]

Pat Kreger - [email protected]

Stories of interest

When newspapers close, bonds among locals weaken and misdeeds can thrive (Post & Courier)

Graham Williams, editor of the weekly Union County News, answers a call at his desk while working on deadline. Andrew J. Whitaker/Staff

By Jennifer Berry Hawes and Stephen Hobbs

UNION, S.C. — Deadline looms at the weekly Union County News, where Graham Williams puts final touches onto one of the thickest editions he will print all year — 28 pages, with a special football section. Readers love high school football.

He pokes on a pair of tortoiseshell reading glasses and peers at his computer monitor. Somewhere in the pages he has laid out, a child’s name is misspelled, a miraculously rare event given the volume he prints. Readers love seeing their kids’ names in the paper.

“Where is it?” he asks, then finds it and fixes it. Readers also expect accuracy.

His wooden desk, bibbed with stacks of folders and paper, faces the newspaper’s glass front door. Beyond it bustles Main Street, where he spots Anna Brown sprint-walking toward him. She rushes inside to grab a camera before leaving again to take headshots of student athletes.

Brown is the newspaper’s publisher, and Williams its editor, but “these are really just titles,” he says. In a two-person shop, each does whatever needs doing, although how long they can keep it up remains uncertain.

Read more here. Shared by Lindel Hutson.

-0-

Ransomware attack knocks some Sinclair television stations off the air (Washington Post)

By Aaron Gregg and Hamza Shaban

Sinclair Broadcast Group was the target of a ransomware attack that disrupted operations this weekend at several television stations, the company said Monday in a regulatory filing.

The Hunt Valley, Md.-based company disclosed the breach in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing after the Record, an online publication owned by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, reported that a number of its television stations had been affected.

Sinclair is the latest in a growing list of businesses, schools, hospitals and other institutions to face ransom demands from hackers who use malware to encrypt data on their computer systems, rendering them unusable. As of Monday afternoon, it was unclear who was responsible for the hack.

Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.

Celebrating AP's 175th

AP store for 175th, vintage merchandise

The AP has created a store with 175th anniversary merchandise available for purchase, as well as items branded with some of AP’s most historic logos.

Click Here.

AP Through Time: A Photographic History

AP Through Time: A Photographic History” - created by Director of Corporate Archives, Valerie Komor, is a keepsake commemorating AP’s 175th year. Small in size (6 ¾ x 6 ¾ in.), it is organized chronologically in eight segments that trace the broad outlines of AP’s development from 1846 to the present: Beginnings, Evolution, New Century, Modernity, Expansion, One World, Speed, and Transformation. Click here to view and make an order.

‌

Today in History - Oct. 19, 2021

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 19, the 292nd day of 2021. There are 73 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 19, 2001, U.S. special forces began operations on the ground in Afghanistan, opening a significant new phase of the assault against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

On this date:

In 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, as the American Revolution neared its end.

In 1789, John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

In 1944, the U.S. Navy began accepting Black women into WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

In 1950, during the Korean Conflict, United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

In 1953, the Ray Bradbury novel “Fahrenheit 451,” set in a dystopian future where books are banned and burned by the government, was first published by Ballantine Books.

In 1960, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during a sit-down protest at a lunch counter in Atlanta. (Sent to prison for a parole violation over a traffic offense, King was released after three days following an appeal by Robert F. Kennedy.)

In 1977, the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.

In 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value (its biggest daily percentage loss), to close at 1,738.74 in what came to be known as “Black Monday.”

In 2002, in York, Pa., former mayor Charlie Robertson was acquitted and two other men were convicted in the shotgun slaying of Lillie Belle Allen, a young Black woman, during race riots that tore the city apart in 1969.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.

In 2010, the Pentagon directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation’s history.

In 2015, Canadians voted for a sharp change in their government as the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau, the son of a former prime minister, won a landslide victory to end Conservative Stephen Harper’s near decade in office.

Ten years ago: Authorities in the Zanesville, Ohio, area wound down their hunt for wild animals unleashed by a private farm owner who’d taken his own life; sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a total of 48 animals. In Greece, hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government rally against painful new austerity measures.

Five years ago: In the third and final 2016 presidential debate, Republican Donald Trump stunned the forum in Las Vegas by refusing to say he would accept the results of the election if he were to lose; Democrat Hillary Clinton declared Trump’s resistance “horrifying.”

One year ago: Floridians began early voting in much of the state with no serious problems reported as the Trump campaign tried to cut into an early advantage Democrats had posted in mail-in votes in the key swing state. President Donald Trump told campaign staffers that people were tired of hearing from Dr. Anthony Fauci “and all these idiots” about the coronavirus; he called Fauci “a disaster.” Health officials in northwestern Kansas said 10 residents of a nursing home had died of the coronavirus and that all 62 residents of the nursing home and an unspecified number of employees had tested positive. British guitarist and bandleader Spencer Davis, whose eponymous rock group had 1960s hits including “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man,” died at the age of 81.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Tony Lo Bianco is 85. Artist Peter Max is 84. Author and critic Renata Adler is 84. Actor Michael Gambon is 81. Actor John Lithgow (LIHTH’-goh) is 76. Feminist activist Patricia Ireland is 76. Singer Jeannie C. Riley is 76. Rock singer-musician Patrick Simmons (The Doobie Brothers) is 73. Actor Annie Golden is 70. Talk show host Charlie Chase is 69. Rock singer-musician Karl Wallinger (World Party) is 64. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is 63. Singer Jennifer Holliday is 61. Retired boxer Evander Holyfield is 59. Host Ty Pennington (TV: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) is 57. Rock singer-musician Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 56. Actor Jon Favreau is 55. Amy Carter is 54. “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker is 52. Comedian Chris Kattan is 51. Rock singer Pras Michel (The Fugees) is 49. Actor Omar Gooding is 45. Country singer Cyndi Thomson is 45. Writer-director Jason Reitman is 44. Actor Benjamin Salisbury is 41. Actor Gillian Jacobs is 39. Actor Rebecca Ferguson is 38. Rock singer Zac Barnett (American Authors) is 35. Singer-actor Ciara Renee (TV: “Legends of Tomorrow”) is 31. Actor Hunter King is 28.

Got a story or photos to share?

Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!

Here are some suggestions:

- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.

- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career.

- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.

- "A silly mistake that you make"- a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.

- Multigenerational AP families - profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations.

- Volunteering - benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories - with ideas on such work they can do themselves.

- First job - How did you get your first job in journalism?

- Connecting "selfies" - a word and photo self-profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while.

- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.

Paul Stevens

Editor, Connecting newsletter

[email protected]

‌