The Power of Image: Photojournalism in the Global Era

Event summaries from Globalization Week Spring 2005

Date: Monday, April 4
Time: 7:00pm-9:00 pm
Location: Lindner Commons, 6th Floor, Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E St NW

Presenters:

• Don Bartletti, Photographer, Los Angeles Times and 2003 Pulitzer Prize recipient
• William Gentile, Assistant Professor and Artist-in-Residence at the Visual Media Department, American University and two-time Emmy winner
• Tyler Marshall, Diplomatic Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, Washington Bureau and 2004 Pulitzer Prize recipient

The Power of Image: Photojournalism in the Global Era was the kick-off event of Globalization Week 2005 and featured two award-winning photojournalists and a distinguished international reporter. The three panelists spoke about their own careers and international experiences, often supplementing their comments with moving photos.

Don Bartletti, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times, opened the forum with a presentation of his prize-winning photo series documenting the arduous journey of young Central American adolescents hoping to emigrate to America. He spent five months traveling on trains throughout Central America and Mexico in order to record the youth who travel this perilous route, often encountering bandits, gang members and corrupt police. While he presented the photo exhibition, he discussed each individual photo and how he was able to capture such an image. As a photographer, Mr. Bartletti looks for images that will convey a meaning or a story. He would often find himself climbing on top of trains and jumping train cars in order to capture just the right picture. On the other hand, Mr. Bartletti discussed the fact that he was also a journalist, and bound by certain ethics in order to maintain journalistic integrity. For example, he was unable to provide payment to the adolescents he encountered, nor could he warn them about upcoming immigration checkpoints. Mr. Bartletti ended his presentation by briefly discussing some of his other projects, including his work on a Los Angeles Times story about garment workers in Cambodia and China.

Tyler Marshall, a diplomatic correspondent with the Washington Bureau of the Los Angeles Times and former Bureau Chief in Hong Kong, Brussels, Berlin, London, Bonn and New Delhi, followed Mr. Bartletti with an interesting presentation regarding the collaboration between reporter and photographer in creating a story. Throughout his forty-year career, Mr. Marshall has witnessed a change in how stories are documented. In the past, reporters would write their article and then look to the Associated Press for stock photos to supplement their writing. Today, in contrast, photographers are deployed with reporters to cover a story and the photo has become an integral part of telling a tale. Mr. Marshall has worked with Mr. Bartletti on several occasions, and his presentation nicely coincided with his that of his colleague, in that he was able to discuss their collaboration from his very different point of view as the reporter. Close collaboration with photojournalists has given Mr. Marshall a very different lens through which to view a story. While he was writing a story on the end of the Multi-Fiber Agreement which gave poor countries textile quotas, he invited Mr. Bartletti to travel with him to garment factories in Cambodia. While the writing itself is compelling, the supplemental photos make the story come alive.

Finally, Bill Gentile, Artist-in-Residence at American University and two-time Emmy winning photojournalist, concluded the student forum with his presentation. He also has ample experience documenting the affect of globalization on local workers, and he showed some of his photos of banana growers from Ecuador and St. Lucia. Due to a trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, the latter is no longer able to grant preferential access to imports from small lesser developed nations. While Ecuador, the world's largest banana producer, has benefited from this agreement, most of its banana trees are concentrated in large corporate plantations, while family farmers from small countries like St. Lucia are unable to remain competitive. Indeed, Mr. Gentile has witnessed many instances in which globalization has exploited the poor. As he explained, this process of the poor losing out to globalization has been occurring for many years, and recounted how as a child in Pennsylvania, he witnessed how the transfer of the steel mills to Mexico affected many of the region?s working class. Today those same steel mills are also closing in Mexico to be moved to countries with even lower minimum wages.

After their individual presentations, the three panelists then opened up the forum to audience questions. They were able to further discuss their experiences with modern journalism and their documenting of the affect of globalization, and continued to entertain questions with the audience during the concluding reception.

Speaker Bios

Don Bartletti has been a photojournalist with southern California newspapers for 32 years. For the past 21 years, he has worked for the Los Angeles Times. Over his career, Bartletti has covered stories throughout California, Mexico, Central America, South America, and most recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bartletti has received more than 50 awards, most notably the Pulitzer Prize for "Enrique's Journey", his six-part series on migration from Latin America to the United States. He has also earned the Robert F. Kennedy Award, the Polk Award, the Scripps-Howard Foundation Award, and the Sidney Hillman Foundation Award.

William Gentile is an independent journalist and visual documentarian who teaches at American University in Washington, DC. His career spans nearly three decades and virtually every facet of journalism and mass communication. He began as a reporter/editor for the Mexico City News and then as correspondent/editor/photojournalist for United Press International (UPI) based in Mexico City. His coverage of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua proved to be a life-changing experience. After spending two years on UPI's Foreign Desk in New York, he moved to Nicaragua and became Newsweek Magazine's Contract Photographer for Latin America and the Caribbean. He published an award-winning book of photographs, "Nicaragua," and went on to work for Video News International (VNI), the precursor of The New York Times Television Company. He has completed assignments for The Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Television, ABC's Nightline With Ted Koppel, NOW With Bill Moyers, and NOW hosted by David Brancaccio. He taught for three years at Kent State University and is now an Artist in Residence at American University, where he created that institution's first Foreign Correspondence course and founded American University's first student chapter of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

Tyler Marshall is currently a Diplomatic Correspondent for the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times. His journalism career has taken him around the globe, having previously served as Bureau Chief in the cities of Hong Kong, Brussels, Berlin, London, Bonn and New Delhi, and as a Diplomatic Correspondent during the Clinton administration, traveling frequently with President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Mr. Marshall has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times in-house award for best written feature story and the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his report on the impact of Wal-Mart as a global economic force.

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