Schuneman Symposium 2021
March 30-31
The focus of this year's Schuneman Symposium is how journalists and photojournalists report and document crises around the world. Speakers will explore the rights and responsibilities of the press in these circumstances and describe their experiences reporting from Iraq, Manila, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
All programs virtual. Register to attend individual sessions at the links in each session description.
Follow us using #smitty_2021
Tuesday, March 30
9 a.m. "The Fall of Mosul":聽Victor Blue, freelance photojournalist
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Victor J. Blue is a New York-based photojournalist who covers national and international news stories, shoots documentary photo projects that accompany the conflict in Afghanistan and post-conflict Guatemala, and maintains a personal documentary practice that spans decades. He has completed assignments in Guatemala, Afghanistan, Syria, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Argentina, Peru, Iraq, and India. Blue鈥檚 photographs have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper鈥檚 Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, The San Francisco Chronicle and on The Discovery Channel and The History Channel. He has earned seven Pictures of the Year International awards and three National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism awards. Blue holds a master鈥檚 degree in visual communication from 91探花.
10:30 a.m. 鈥淧rying Loose the Afghanistan Papers鈥:聽Craig Whitlock, national security reporter for The Washington Post
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Craig Whitlock has been a staff writer for The Washington Post since 1998. He is assigned to the Investigative Desk, where he specializes in national security, and is the author of the forthcoming book 鈥淭he Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War鈥 (Simon & Schuster, September 2021). At The Post, Whitlock covered the Pentagon beat for the National Desk from 2010 until 2016. Before that, he was a foreign correspondent and served as the Berlin bureau chief for six years. While overseas, Whitlock鈥檚 primary assignment was investigative reporting into terrorism networks and counterterrorism policy in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. He has reported from more than 60 countries. Before joining The Post, Whitlock worked for seven years as a reporter for the (Raleigh) News & Observer. He holds a bachelor鈥檚 degree in history from Duke University, where he served as editor of the campus daily, the Chronicle. A native of Ithaca, New York, he was raised in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the 鈥淢ushroom Capital of the World.鈥
1:30 p.m.聽鈥淭he Nightcrawlers鈥:聽Basilio 鈥淓li鈥 Sepe, freelance photojournalist
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Basilio Sepe is an independent photographer based in Manila, Philippines, and was named Photographer of the Year for the Philippines in 2018. He was one of the photojournalists who contributed to 鈥淭he Nightcrawlers,鈥 a documentary film produced by National Geographic. Sepe has done multimedia work for ABS-CBN News Online, UCANews, European Press Photo Agency, Getty Images, Associated Press Television News and more. He is an active member of the Photojournalists鈥 Center of the Philippines and an alumnus of the Angkor Photo Workshops 2016. His work on the Philippine drug war has been recognized by the International Photography Awards.
3:05 p.m. Screening of "The Nightcrawlers"
鈥淲ith unprecedented access, 鈥楾he Nightcrawlers鈥 is an unflinching expos茅 of Philippines President Duterte鈥檚 war on drugs, in which some claim over 20,000 people have been killed. RL, a former staff photographer for a prominent newspaper, leads the Manila Nightcrawlers, a small group of determined photojournalists on a mission to expose the true cost of the violent campaign. Through covering both sides of the conflict, 鈥楾he Nightcrawlers鈥 reveals a harrowing twist behind Duterte鈥檚 deadly crusade.鈥 National Geographic鈥檚 description of the film
Wednesday, March 31
10:45 a.m.聽鈥淏eat the Press: Journalism Under Attack鈥: Tim Myers, freelance photojournalist
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Timothy Myers ACS is an award-winning freelance photojournalist based in the U.S. He has worked for the BBC, CNN, ESPN, National Geographic, the United Nations and others to film special investigations, human interest stories and breaking news in hostile environments. Myers鈥 work has aired on all of his native Australia鈥檚 commercial networks. A member of the Australian Cinematographers Society, Myers is affiliated with Generation Media, which has offices in Los Angeles and Sydney. His summer 2020 images of the Washington, D.C., police aggressively clearing peaceful protesters were hailed as depicting a violation of constitutional rights and an infringement on press freedoms. Myers and reporter Amelia Brace were attacked by the police while filming the protests. That coverage, 鈥淏eat the Press: Journalism Under Attack,鈥 aired on Australia Broadcasting Co.鈥檚. 鈥淪even News鈥 and received The Walkley Foundation鈥檚 2020 Television/Video New Reporting award. The Walkleys honor the best in Australian journalism.
2 p.m.聽鈥淓ssential Journalists鈥: Marcus Harun, freelance filmmaker and MSNBC producer
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Marcus Harun is a news producer at MSNBC in New York, where he produces interviews with presidential candidates and congressional leaders and has written breaking news scripts for nearly every MSNBC anchor including Brian Williams, Craig Melvin, Andrea Mitchell and Alicia Menendez. Harun is a veteran of 10 newsrooms. Before moving to New York, he worked in local news for five years. As executive producer of FOX Connecticut鈥檚 seven-hour morning show, he led a team of 25 reporters, anchors and producers and grew ratings 200% in one year. Harun earned bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in journalism from Quinnipiac University. He grew up in Hamden, Connecticut, and now lives in New Rochelle, New York, with his wife, Rabiah. Harun鈥檚 freelance film, 鈥淓ssential Journalists,鈥 was produced from his New York apartment with the assistance of journalists around the nation who interviewed themselves about the effects of COVID-19 on their jobs, homes and families. The film is not affiliated with MSNBC.
3:05 p.m.聽鈥淢oments of the Human Condition鈥:聽Peter Turnley, freelance photojournalist
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Peter Turnley is renowned for his photography of the realities of the human condition. His photographs have been featured on the cover of Newsweek more than 40 times and are published frequently in many of the world鈥檚 most prestigious publications. He has worked in over 90 countries and has witnessed most major stories of international geopolitical and historic significance of the past 40 years. A graduate of the University of Michigan, the Sorbonne of Paris, the Institut d鈥橢tudes Politiques of Paris, and Harvard 鈥 where he completed a Nieman Fellowship in 2000-2001 鈥 Turnley has received honorary doctorates from the New School of Social Research in New York, Ohio Wesleyan University and St. Francis College of Indiana. He has received the Overseas Press Club Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad and a nomination this year for the Visa D鈥橭r Award for News from the prestigious international photojournalism festival Visa Pour L鈥橧mage in France. Turnley鈥檚 photographs have been exhibited worldwide, including a major 2015 retrospective, 鈥淢omentos de la Condicion Humana,鈥 at Cuba鈥檚 prestigious Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. He has American and French nationality and lives in New York and Paris. Turnley has published eight books: 鈥淏eijing Spring,鈥 鈥淢oments of Revolution,鈥 鈥淚n Times of War and Peace,鈥 鈥淧arisians,鈥 鈥淢cClellan Street,鈥 鈥淔rench Kiss: A Love Letter to Paris,鈥 and 鈥淐uba: A Grace of Spirit,鈥 and 鈥淎 New York-Paris Visual Diary: The Human Face of Covid-19.鈥
4:10 p.m. Speaker Panel
Featuring the symposium's guest speakers, this session allowed panelists to ask questions of one another and gave the audience an opportunity to further interact with them.
Designed to help OHIO鈥檚 journalism students become more aware of the power of photography and for the photojournalism students to appreciate the power of the written word, the Schuneman Symposium was made possible by a generous donation from OHIO alumni Dr. R. Smith Schuneman and Patricia W. Schuneman. The event is free and open to the public.