DC Critic Takes a Look at the New Fall TV Season

Watching TV then ... 

... and watching TV now

DVR. OnDemand. Streaming. 800+ channels. Watching on giant home screens. On computers, laptops, and tablets. Even on your phone.

There is no doubt that the way people are watching television is changing. But some things still remain the same. Even though more shows are beginning in mid-season and summer than ever, fall is still the biggest time for introducing the most new shows. And that means viewers must decide which of the new offerings are worth their time.

Many people turn to TV critics to help with that choice and, earlier this week, Washington Post TV critic Hank Stuever appeared at the Newseum to offer his 2014 picks and pans.

Stuever explained his process for rating shows. "Some of it is my thoughts and my tastes and reactions, but I really look at - is the show good at what's it's trying to be. That is the Golden Rule - is a show good at what it's trying to be," Stuever told the audience at the Inside Media taping.

So what shows are the best at being good at what they are trying to be this year?  Stuever singled out 4 examples.

Madame Secretary (CBS)

"People have wanted a new West Wing. It's an appetizer for The Good Wife and it hits the same audience."

Transparent (Amazon)

"I really do like this show. Jeffrey Tambor (as a father changing to a woman) has the most self-absorbed adult children. I think this is Amazon's best effort so far."

Gotham (Fox)

"The pilot captures exactly what it is trying to be. It's an origin story and it's riffing on the whole Batman story."

Black-ish (ABC)

"-Ish is an interesting way to put a show together. It's on after Modern Family. It's remedial about race, but after the summer we've had, I think America is ready for something remedial about race."

OK, so there are some hits. What about sure misses? Stuever singled out 2 - Scorpions on CBS ('It gets stupider and stupider and then it implodes") and NCIS: New Orleans ("gumbo from a can").

Of course, Stuever readily admits that his judgments could be wrong. "I put a caveat on the whole fall season because I've only seen what they (the networks) will let me," Steuver said.

Stuever believes TV is becoming more reflective of our diverse American society. "You sort of see the fruits of everyone else's hard work over the last 3 decades to have TV shows that look like the viewers who watch them." he said.

To support his contention, Stuever pointed to ABC on Tuesday night, which is being called "Shonda Rhimes Night" since the new show How to Get Away with Murder (starring Academy award-winner Viola Davis) will be joining hits Grey' s Anatomy and Scandal in the lineup. All 3 shows are being produced by Rhimes, a black female TV executive.

"You've never had 2 black women back to back as stars in a show," Stuever said."Before, blacks could be best friends, but rarely the stars."

The critic also provided insight into how he goes about doing his job. He has a computer and a TV at his desk in the Post building. He also watches TV at home. "Organization is the key to any job. I try to look way ahead and then I try to look up close. I have to make instant decisions right away. Sometimes I have to decide if I want to review a show based on 5 or 10 minutes. But I take as many notes now as I did when I was a features reporter," he explained.

Stuever said that some of the show previews are sent to him as a computer link with an encrypted password. Others arrive on DVD. "It's about 50/50 now," he said.

Of course, with all the new channels and new shows out there, the job can get overwhelmingly at times. Such was the case with the PBS Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts. "I had to binge watch it to review it. I loved it, but just like in college, I let it sit on my desk all summer," he said with a laugh.

Then there are always people who can't believe a person can get paid for watching TV.  That is especially true when groups of young students tour the Post building. "I can see what they are saying - 'see that guy. That man gets paid for watching TV all day," Stuever said.

Never Forget: Looking Back at 9/11 @The Newseum

A radio tower from the top of one of the Twin Towers

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, freelance news photographer Bill Biggart was out walking his dogs with his wife, Wendy. Off in the New York City distance, they saw smoke billowing skyward in the area of the Twin Towers.

Biggart ran home to grab his cameras and then head toward the smoke. A short time later, Wendy called her husband on his cell phone. "I'm with the firemen. I'm safe and I'll meet you in 20 minutes." he told her.

He never made that appointment.

Four days later, Wendy learned her husband's body had been found in the rubble near the 2nd collapsed tower. His cameras were recovered and his pictures developed. The 54-year-old photographer had dramatically captured his biggest, and final story, just blocks from his home.

Artifacts from Biggart, including his charred ID card

Biggart's tale and his equipment provide a personalized central focus for the 9-ll Gallery at the Newseum, which was one of the best places in DC yesterday to quietly pay tribute to the tragedy and heroism that will forever be linked to that fateful September day 13 years ago.

The 9-11 Gallery is designed to tell the story of how journalists covered all the shocking news on that catastrophic day when 3 hijacked planes changed American history.

But the gallery is not the only place in the Newseum to reflect on 9/11. In the collection of historic newspapers on the top floor, visitors can peruse 3 front pages from that time. The first from a special edition of the San Francisco Examiner features a flaming Twin Tower and the single giant headline screaming "Bastards." A second paper, Asharq Al-Awsat, a London-based Arab language paper, contains the banner "America Burning and Bush Pledges Revenge" in Arabic. The final paper, The New York Amsterdam News in an edition from a week after the destruction of the Twin Towers, heralds the story of 11 black firefighters who were still missing with the simple headline "Missing."

Finally, in the popular FBI exhibit G-Men and Journalists there is a large section which tells the story of the attack on New York and the Pentagon and Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida organization that carried it out.

The Newseum is well aware of how poignant and powerful their presentation can be. Located on a main gallery shelf between facsimilies of 9-11 front pages is a tin of tissues. And be forewarned: there is a good chance you may need to take advantage of that offer.

Race Relations: How Far Have We Come In 50 Years?

Mississippi, Summer 1964

Missouri, Summer 2014

In the summer of 1964, the state of Mississippi was ablaze with danger and protests over the treatment of black citizens there. Today, 50 summers later, the situation is much the same, but this time the location afire is Missouri.

In both cases, killing was a catalyst for the outrage. In Mississippi, it was the murder of 3 Civil Rights movement workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner by members of the Ku Klux Klan. In Ferrguson, Mo., it was the shooting death of a young black man, Michael Brown, by a white police officer.

To understand the situation unfolding in Ferguson, you have merely to turn on your television set. But if you live in the DC area, you might want to consider visiting the Newseum to view the exhibit 1964: Civil Rights at 50 so you can consider the 2 confrontations and what as a package they say about America.

The Newseum exhibit is divided into 4 sections. They are:

• The Civil Rights Act
• Freedom Summer: Prepping for Trouble
• Freedom Summer: Mississippi Burning
• Freedom Summer:  The Fight for Voting Rights

In conjunction with the exhibit, the Newseum held a special program with participants in the Mississippi Freedom Summer in June. Two of the key speakers claimed that America is backsliding on Civil Rights and issued warnings that seem highly prophetic in light of the Jefferson situation.

"We are not a country that wants to own its history," said Bob Moses, Freedom Summer organizer and former head of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). "We have to ask - are we a country that pays attention to its history? We're not out of this, not by a long shot."

Rita Schwerner Bender, the widow of the slain Michael Schwerner, said "We are at a very dangerous 

place in this country. We need to know where we were to know where we are now."

Georgia Congressman and noted Civil Rights era leader John Lewis has also spoken on race issues at the Newseum. Last week, on Meet the Press, Lewis said images emerging from Ferguson "looked like it was Baghdad"  and called the situation a "shame and a disgrace." 

"People have a right to protest, people have a right to engage in peaceful nonviolent action and the press has a right to cover what is going on. We have to get police officers and local elected officials to respect the dignity and worth of every human being," said Lewis, who was severely beaten and arrested numerous times during 1960s protests.

Perhaps the most telling connection between the 2 outbreaks separated by 50 years is the wording contained in the Newseum exhibition. In 1964, the activist protesters in Mississippi fully expected to be arrested and carried $500 in bail money. The Mississippi police meanwhile stockpiled more tear gas and riot guns. Change Mississippi to Missouri and add 50 years, you could write the same sentence. Except I imagine bail is more than $500 today.

Phrarrell's Famous Hat Coming to Newseum

Welcome to this week's Monday Must-See post. On Mondays, The Prices Do DC will offer an entry about some current exhibit in DC you should see. Sometimes, we will write the post. Sometimes, it will be taken from another publication. But no matter who is the writer, we believe it will showcase an exhibit you shouldn't miss. 

Even if you didn’t watch the Grammys in January, if you were anywhere near a computer or television in the following weeks you heard about the hat Pharrell wore on the red carpet. 

The massive, butcher-paper-colored Vivienne Westwood creation spawned a flood of memes and mocking tweets—including by fast-food chain Arby’s, whose jokeabout the hat’s resemblance to its logo was retweeted more than 80,000 times.

Arby’s later bought the hat in a charity auction for $44,100—and is lending it to the Newseum, where it will be on display in the New York Times Great Hall of News until October 26. 

The accessory, according to the museum, serves as a symbol of how social media is instrumental in the spread and development of a story. 

To continue reading this post, which 1st appeared in The Washingtonian, click here.

40 Years On, Carl Bernstein Talks Nixon, Watergate, Tapes

Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback. Each Friday in the Flashback we offer a post about some part of the past and its relationship to DC. Sometimes, we will write a new entry. Others times, we will showcase articles that previously appeared in The Prices Do DC or some other online publications. But no matter who does the writing, you can trust that you will learn something important from the Flashbac

Probably no two names are more associated with the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon than the Washington Post reporting team of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Carl Bernstein in a previous
appearance at the Newseum

That's why it was so fitting that last night,  Bernstein, the more colorful of the 2 master reporters whose Washington work helped lead to the toppling of a president and made them journalistic legends, appeared on a panel at the Newseum to discuss Nixon, his presidency, and Watergate.

The event was held exactly one day short of 40 years since Nixon became the only president to resign his office, a resignation that was in large part driven by damning revelations of behavior and character recorded on a series of secret tapes he made as a record of his presidency.

Bernstein was joined on the panel by historians Douglas Brinkley and Kurt Nichter, who have just released a co-written book The Nixon Tapes and former CBS journalist Marvin Kalb.

As shocking as the revelations that appeared almost daily in the Washington Post 4 decades ago were, the thoughts and actions of Nixon that have emerged in the tapes and other information revealed in the last 40 years is even more alarming, Bernstein told a sold-out Newseum crowd.

"What we know now is so much worse than what we knew when we were writing our stories," Bernstein said. "You have a criminal presidency. We have had presidents who have abused power, but this was something else."

"The last thing I want to do is get into Richard Nixon's head, but much of (what he said and did) comes from some dark place in Nixon's mind. Paranoia is what drove Watergate," he added. "(The behavior that led to) Watergate began in the 1st days of his presidency. Nixon saw himself as master strategist, but the darkness always intrudes."

Bernstein said that any understanding of Nixon and his actions has to take into consideration the contentious nature of both the man and the times of the late 1960s and early 1970s. "The whole country was in the kind of an upheaval we had never seen. This was a man about whom the country was passionately divided. He caused a visceral reaction among the people," Bernstein said. "He dominates our history as no other modern political figure does."

During a question-and--answer session, Bernstein was asked if he believed investigative reporting such as he and his partner Woodward conducted could still be done in today's contemporary media environment.

"I think there is a lot of great reporting going on in this country. But what we lack today is the strength of journalistic institutions," Bernstein said, giving great credit to the Washington Post for backing its reporters.

To support his contention, he cited an example of the strong support from the Post.

"I was called and told there was someone downstairs with a subpoena for our notes," Bernstein explained. "I said "don't let the guy up." And then I called (editor) Ben Bradlee and he said 'Don't let the guy up'.  And then he said, 'You get the hell out of the building'".

Publisher Katherine Graham was just as supportive and courageous, Bernstein said. "She said (that as publisher) these are her notes and if anyone is going to go to jail (for refusing to turn them over) it is going to be me,"

Bernstein said that with Watergate, he and Woodward were trying to report "the best obtainable version of the truth" and then that truth could be used to convince others.

But now the situation is much different. "Today, people are looking for reinforcement and ammunition for their beliefs. They're not looking for reporting; they're not looking for the truth. I think we have a cultural problem, not a reportorial problem," Bernstein said.

A Look at Ethnic Media @The Newseum

Welcome to this week's Monday Must-See post. On Mondays, The Prices Do DC will offer an entry about some current exhibit in DC you should see. Sometimes, we will write the post. Sometimes, it will be taken from another publication. But no matter who is the writer, we believe it will showcase an exhibit you shouldn't miss. 

John F. Kennedy gets credit for one of the first presidential campaign commercials in a foreign language — featuring Jackie speaking Spanish to reach Latino voters in 1960. A century earlier, Abraham Lincoln, too, was preoccupied with a key part of the immigrant electorate of his day. He could have placed ads in a German-language newspaper, but he didn’t.

Instead, in 1859, Lincoln bought the weekly Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, and hired editor Theodore Canisius to campaign for him in German communities.

The handwritten $400 contract stipulated that “said paper, in political sentiment, [is] not to depart from the Philadelphia and Illinois Republican platforms” nor to publish “anything opposed to, or designed to injure, the Republican party.”

Canisius kept his side of the bargain, and a month after Lincoln’s election in 1860, the president-elect gave the paper to the editor.

Lincoln’s little-known foray into ethnic media is one of the revelations of the Newseum’s exhibit, “One Nation with News for All,” on the role and power of news outlets created by and for immigrants and minorities. The exhibit was produced in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s “Our American Journey” program on immigration and migration.

To continue reading this post, which 1st appeared in The Washington Post, click here.

Freedom Summer 1964 and Its Impacts Today

Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback. Each Friday in the Flashback we will offer a post about some part of the past and its relationship to DC. Sometimes, we will write a new entry. Others times, we will showcase articles that previously appeared in The Prices Do DC or some other online publications. But no matter who does the writing, you can trust that you will learn something important from the Flashback. 

While great strides were made during the Civil Rights Movement, America today is backsliding when its comes to protecting the rights of all its citizens, 2 leaders from that 1950s/1960s movement warned this week.

Bob Moses (photo by Bruce Guthrie)

Bob Moses, former head of the SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and Rita Schwerner Bender, the widow of slain civil rights worker James Schwerner, delivered their remarks following a premiere showing of part of the new documentary Freedom Summer at the Newseum. Both Moses and Schwerner Bender were featured in the film.

"We are not a country that wants to own its history," Moses said. "We have to ask - are we a country that pays attention to its history?"

Moses says that recent Supreme Court action overturning provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and individual state actions across the country suppressing voters' rights threaten democracy. ""We're not out of this, not by a long shot," Moses said.

The former SNNC leader said that America was established "on a Constitutional fault line" of freedom and slavery. "I think we are a country that lurches. In the 1950s and '60s we lurched forward, but in the '80s with (President Ronald) Reagan, we lurched backward. We have never agreed on the 14th and the 15th Amendments. We need an affirmative right to vote."

The Newseum is currently featuring an exhibit entitled Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement. Moses borrowed that title for his closing.

"The noise we should make is the Preamble to the Constitution. It says We, the People. It does not say We the President, or We the Congress, or We the Supreme Court. It just says We the People. It is a fact that this generation has got to bring about Constitutional citizenship for all the people in this country," Moses said.

Rita Schwerner Bender
(photo by Bruce Guthie)

Schwerner Bender said current trends in the country are disturbing. "We are at a very dangerous place in this country," Schwerner Bender said. "We need to know where we were to know where we are now."

She is convinced that racism was, and continues to be a problem, a major problem in America. Her former husband James and fellow civil rights workers Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were the subject of a massive manhunt after they were reported missing in Mississippi on this date in 1964. Eventually their bodies were discovered buried in a field, murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and a Mississippi deputy sheriff. "The investigation only happened because 2 of the 3 were white. That says a great deal about the racism that still exists in this country," Schwerner Bender said.

"The Civil Rights Movement created the space  in which some politics could happen, or maybe more accurately were forced to happen. Politicians were not so anxious then to take on their southern brothers," she said.

The situation is somewhat analogous to today, Schwerner Bender said. "A Congress that will not act is unacceptable," she said. "We have to demand rights for all our people before we slide back. We're not in a very good place right now and we need to make the noise so that the government has to do right by all of us."

Extra! Extra! Read All About It
More on the film Freedom Summer

Retracing a summer of terror. (from CNN)

Freedom Summer takes an in-depth look at the 1964 civil rights battle in Mississippi (from The Plain Dealer)

A half-century battle for voting rights. (from Consortium News)

CNN News Anchor Looks Back at Tiananmen Square

Shaw speaks at Newseum

Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback. Each Friday in the Flashback will will offer a post about some part of the past and its relationship to DC. Sometimes, we will write a new entry. Others times, we will showcase articles that previously appeared in The Prices Do DC or some other online publications. But no matter who does the writing, you can trust that you will learn something important from the Flashback. 

25 years ago, then-CNN anchorman Bernard Shaw was in Beijing, shaking in rage as the Chinese government ordered all networks to cease live broadcasting from Tiananmen Square, a massive community gathering place soon to become the site of a massacre in which as many as 2,000 protesters were gunned down by military troops.

"We came to cover a summit and we walked into a revolution," Shaw, now retired, told a studio audience of Inside Media at the Newseum last week.

In 1989, Shaw's network was less than a decade old and still trying to establish itself as the first 24-hour-a-day news network in broadcast history. As soon as it was announced that Chinese officials were going to host a parley with then-Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, CNN knew it would have to broadcast that historic summit between the 2 Communist powers.

One of the most famous pictures from the 20th Century was taken in Tiananmen Square

But in the weeks leading up to the meeting, Chinese protesters, most of them college-age students, took to the streets of Beijing, demanding widespread political and economic reforms in China. At first, the Chinese officials ignored the protests, but they became so large that government hardliners felt they had to act.

"We watched these mushrooming protest demonstrations. There were more than a million people in the streets. We all knew this was going to explode in their faces," Shaw said.

But, of course, the Chinese government didn't want the world to see its action, so before it moved to quell the protesters, it ordered CNN to halt its broadcasting.

Shaw describes the moment that happened this way:

"I was on the 9th floor of the Great Wall Sheraton and I broke a cardinal rule of broadcasting. You never run; you don't want to go on the air out-of-breath. But I ran. Inwardly, I was seething. I had chills running up and down my back. They had blindsided the whole world. I'm a child of Democracy and as a journalist, I believe in truth. The rulers felt the protest was a threat to their power. After we went off the air, I was so enraged I went back to my room and cried."

At first, the convoys of tanks and troops dispatched to Beijing refused to enter the city. "There were all these people pleading with them 'don't do this. We are your bothers and sisters.'" Shaw said.

Protesters in Tiananmen Square before the bloody crackdown

However, different troops and commanders were dispatched and they did act brutally and bloodily. "These were not riot troops. These were trained combat troops. They would be attacking their fellow citizens. What training prepares you for that?" the veteran newsman said.

When silence in the street finally reigned, reports, never confirmed by the Chinese government, indicated that as many as 2,000 Chinese were killed in the action. "They still deny that it happened," Shaw said. "They still deny that anyone got killed in Tiananmen Square."

But, even though they couldn't broadcast live, CNN and reporters for other major news organizations still were able to tell their story through words and film which was smuggled out of the country,

Shaw said the Tiananmen coverage "meant a lot to our then struggling network."

In was also the beginning of what came to be called the CNN effect. Obviously, American officials had to comment immediately on what was being reported. "Now, government has to respond in real time and thoughtfully come up with a reaction," Shaw explained.

Obviously, much has changed in China in 25 years. As Shaw pointed out they didn't even have a stock exchange then and now they are one of the world's leading economic powers. But officials still maintain a stranglehold on communications in their country. But the newsman says that will change.

"The more China becomes involved in the global economy, the more it will have to be responsible to its citizens," he said. "Imagine trying to control a nation with 1 billion people. It's not going to happen. There will be more Tiananmen Squares. It will change over time. It won't happen overnight, but it's going to happen. It's inevitable."

"The people's voices are muffled and shut out right now, but there will come a time. And when the change does come, it will come mightily," Shaw added. "The old farts are dying off and I guess I just made sure that I will never get a visa to China again."

Shaw also said that China's new position in the world makes it vital for America to remain vigilant about Chinese actions.

"China was a 3rd world country and now it is a military threat to the United States and western  democracies around the world," he added. "This is why it is so serious."

Photographers Fighting for More White House Access

Last year, 40 major news organizations filed a formal complaint with the Obama administration contending that officials were barring photographers from taking news pictures at the White House. Instead, on many occasions, the White House was releasing its own pictures of events, which the photographers say "smacks of propaganda."

Last weekend, two White House photographers appeared on an Inside Media edition at the Newseum to provide an update on the ongoing dispute.

"If White House pictures are only supplied by the White House, you (the public) should be concerned," said award-winning White House news photographer Charles Dharapak. "They want to manage the image; they want to manage the message."

Dharapak's colleague, Dennis Brack, a long-time White House photographer for Time magazine, said the issue isn't new. "It started in the Clinton years. We have been protesting this for a long time, but recently it's gotten to be more" Brack explained.

With the explosion of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr, it is much easier for politicians to provide and disseminate their own photographs. "Who could blame a president for using these tools to get their message out. But this shouldn't replace news photography," Dharapak said. "You get to see only their version of these important events. It's great photography, but it's not journalism."

"We're not looking for a gotcha moment. We're not looking to make news, but the event is the news," Dharapak added. "The journalist's job in Washington is to hold our politicians accountable. When the independent press is shut out, journalism isn't happening.

Brack, who has been capturing presidents on camera for decades, provided a historical perspective on the issue. He said the idea of White House prepared photos dates back at least to the Woodrow Wilson ear, when Wilson wanted to disguise the effects of a stroke he suffered while president.

"The difference is everyone then knew the (Wilson) pictures were contrived," Brack said.

Brack said presidents have always been concerned about their image. "Now LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson), he was a photographer's dream," Brack said about the outgoing Texas leader. But even Johnson had his limits. Brack was one of the photographers who took the famous picture of Johnson holding one of his hound dogs up by the ears. That picture sparked controversy at the time around the country. Brack said LBJ called him in and said "You got me in a heap of trouble with that one."

Vanity can also play a role in presidential photography. John Kennedy dismissed his favorite news photographer when he took a picture of the youthful president with his reading glasses on.

Ironically, Obama. when elected, pledged to make his administration the most open in history. But that didn't turn out to be the reality. "I think the the administration thought they were being transparent, but really what they were doing was issuing visual press releases," Dharapak said.

The photographer said people ask what is the big deal about who provides the images. "People need to be conscious of where their news is coming from," Dharapak explained. "If only the White House provides pictures, there is a lot of information that is left out."

Both photojournalists acknowledged that recently the White House has been granting some more access and that trend should continue.

"This is probably an issue that White doesn't want to have keep dealing with right now," Brack said.

Reliving 1964's Freedom Summer at the Newseum

This Polumbaum photo captures the essence of the era.

Even though he had fought in the South Pacific in World War II, photographer Ted Polumbaum was always very clear about the most frightening times of his life - those occurred 50 years ago when he was photographing the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi that came to be known as Freedom Summer.

"He was much more afraid in Mississippi than he ever was in World War II," Polumbaum's widow Nyna said this past weekend at the Newseum, where she and her daughter, Judy, appeared at an Inside Media taping to talk about Polumbaum's 1964 photos for Time magazine. Those photos captured the attempt of committed young southerners and northerners to register black voters in hate-filled towns all over Mississippi.

Earlier, Nyna had given more than 200,000 of her husband's photos to the Newseum and some of the most dramatic of those shots form the basis for the institution newest exhibit 1964: Civil Rights at 50.

Polumbaum began his documenting in Ohio, where the young white and black volunteers were being trained for what they were about to encounter. "They were told the government would not be able to help them at all," Nyna said. "They should be prepared to be beaten, shot, and maybe even killed."

In actuality, 3 of the volunteers did end up losing their lives, the victims of racists who were willing to take any measure to keep blacks from being able to vote. Chillingly, one of those subjects, 21-year-old Andrew Goodman is captured in one of Polumbaum's shots of the training. "Goodman was really good at playing the brutal Southern white racist," Nyna said. "I was always amazed at the enormous maturity and incredible bravery of these young people."

Nyna said her husband said the scariest personal moments came when he first arrived and stayed at a for-whites-only motel. "He was terrified going home at night to the white motel," Nyna said. "After that, he always stayed in black neighborhoods to be safer."

There was never any question that Polumbaum, long a social activist, would seek out the dangerous Mississippi assignment. "This was something that wasn't a new idea for him. He was committed and wanted to go," Nyna said. "He always said that this was one of the transformative events of his life."

Actually, Polumbaum's career in photography was the result of a stand he made during the time of the Communist witch hunts. After he returned to Yale University (where he and Nyna met) from World War II, Polumbaum had been active in the John Reed Club, an organization which tried to bring Marxist speakers to the New Haven campus.

After college, he was working in 1954 as a television news writer when U.S. marshals came to the Polumbaum's home to arrest Ted for "subversion in education." He invoked the 5th Amendment when he was forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was immediately blacklisted from TV and had to "find a new way to make a living." He returned to his earlier love of photography and then spent decades taking pictures of some of the biggest events of the times.

Nyna said she hopes that people will be inspired by the actions captured in her husband's photos, especially young people who have no real awareness of the sacrifices made in the name of Civil Rights.
"That history, which may be very much a blank to them, is really very much alive," she said. "The struggle is not yet over. There is still much more to do."

Friday Flashback: The Best of Sports, It's Just a Click Away

With the NFL playoffs underway and the Winter Olympics a little more than a month away, there is a lot of talk about sports. Here is a post about the man they called "the Mozart of sports photographers" that originally appeared in The Prices Do DC on  Dec. 11, 2011.

 

He's been called "the Mozart of sports photographers." His photos made the front cover of more than 170 issues of Sports Illustrated. His shot of Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) standing in triumph over a fallen Sonny Liston is considered the greatest sports photo of the 20th Century.

Neil Leifer, whose photos make up the visually arresting Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neils Leifer now on display at the Newseum, described his 5 decades as a premier picture taker during today's latest edition of the interactive museum's Inside Media program.

During his hour-long presentation, moderated by long-time journalist Shelby Coffee, the amiable Leifer detailed his belief that his amazing success is a combination of skill, determination, preparation, and perhaps most of all, some incredible luck.

Leifer's 1st great picture:  At 15, he captured the wining touchdown in the 1958 game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, singled out by many sports experts as the greatest football game ever played.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson and President John Kennedy at opening day of baseball.

Legendary Coach Vince Lombardi carried on the shoulders after yet another Packer championship

Broadway Joe Namath: Checking with a coach or making an after-game date?

Legendary Alabama Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

Ali wins again. A shot from high above the Astrodome' s floor.

As a teenager, Leifer said he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to combine his passion for sports with his love of photography. "Besides, I knew it would let me have the best seat in the house which I never would have been able to afford," Leifer said.

In 1958, pluck and ingenuity propelled Leifer toward his desired career. He would arrive early at Yankee Stadium for New York Giants football games and volunteer to wheel in disabled veterans. "There were 50 or 60 veterans and only 6 or 7 people to push the wheelchairs. Once we got them in, we could watch the game," Leifer said. He explained that he would bring hot coffee to shivering police officers who would "look the other way" while Leifer would pull his cheap camera out from under his coat and shoot some pictures from the bench or the end zone. It was this arrangment that allowed him to capture his first great shot: Johnny Unitas scoring the winning touchdown in what is still called the greatest professional football game ever played. "I learned that day that 75 percent of great sports photography is luck and the rest is getting the shot," Leifer explained.

Leifer readily admits that boxing is his favorite sport, with the incomparable Ali his favorite subject of all-time. Leifer captured Ali in more than 70 different photo sessions, some staged and some acted out on canvas. "Ali was God's gift to every journalist and photographer. He made everything you did that much better," he said.

Not surprisingly, Leifer calls Ali that greatest athlete he ever photographed. Numbers 2 and 3 aren't as obvious, however. He lists triple-crown winner Secretariat as second. In 3rd place, he claims it is American Olympic skater Eric Heiden. "He raced in all 5 speed skating races, won all 5, and set 4 records," Leifer said. "I think that may be the most incredible sports performance of all-time."

And what, after the millions of photos he has taken, is his favorite? Leifer says that answer is easy - it is the 1966 picture of Ali walking back to his corner in the Houston Astrodome after kocking out his challenger. "That picture ... there isn't a thing I would change," Leifer said. "It's the only one of my pictures I have hanging in my house."

While Leifer is most known for his collection of sports shots, he has scored with some non-sports pictures, too. One of his favorite photos came after he convinced Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to light his cigar and then have a shot of both of them smoking away.  Leifer captured a Time magazine cover with his shot of Pope John Paul. And then there is the rare  picture of a hat-wearing President John Kennedy at the opening day of the 1961 baseball season at Washington's Griffith Stadium. Leifer explained how he captured that picture. As was then custom, Kennedy,  as president was called upon to throw out the first pitch. "Let's just say he had a lousy delivery.  I knew I didn't have a picture there," Leifer said. So, for the next 8 innings, he sat with his back to the game, waiting for a worthwhile shot of JFK. "I was hoping he would eat a hot dog and get some mustard on his chin, but he wasn't really doing anything," Leifer said. Suddenly, it became colder and Kennedy did something he never did - he placed a hat on his head. Then, Leifer was once again the recipient of great luck. A high foul ball headed toward the Presidential box, Kennedy turned, Leifer clicked, and another award-winning photo was captured. "I always say this is the picture of the Kennedy administration leaning left. Caroline Kennedy once told me that (picture) was the only time she had ever seen her Dad with a hat on," Leifer said.

During the audience question-and-answer session, Leiffer was asked if there were any shots he regretted not capturing.  "Of course," he responded. "You're paid not to miss, but you do. Sometimes it comes down to being in the right seat. There's skill involved, but as I say, there's a lot of luck, too."

Coffee said Leifer is an extreme rarity in the sports world, a non-athlete who is considered as famous as the subjects he is covering. "I've been with Neil at an event and it's sort of like being backstage with Bono at a U2 concert.  John McEnroe comes to Neil's table to greet him," Coffee explained. 

Saturday Supplement: Anchorman @The Newseum

Some of the items on display in the Anchorman exhibit at the Newseum. 

Anchorman, a movie spoof of 1970s TV journalism, is the subject for the latest exhibit at the Newseum (from The New York Times) and while the museum looks to the display to help shore up its finances (from Trove), both the institution and lead actor Will Ferrell see it as a teaching tool. (from Variety)

Need to Know More About JFK, Turn to the Newseum

The shirt Lee Harvey Oswald was wearing when he was captured for shooting President Kennedy

If, despite the November-long media blitz, you still need to know more about the life and death of John F. Kennedy, then you want to head to the Newseum, where the museum of news is featuring three major exhibitions on the former president, as well as several other JFK artifacts.

The most comprehensive exhibit is titled Three Shots Were Fired. That extensive display chronicles the events that began in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when a United Press International bulletin broke the news that President Kennedy had been shot.

Items on display include the jacket and shirt that Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald wore that day, as well as the contents of his wallet and the blanket which he used to conceal the rifle used in the fatal shooting. The movie camera that William Zapruder used to capture the only film of the killing is presented, as are the drum, the drumsticks, and an Army dress uniform hat, which were used by a member of the military drum corps that accompanied President Kennedy's casket during his funeral possession. You can also view a series of front pages portraying the tragedy, typical TV newsroom equipment used that day, videos of live broadcasts, and a signed script of Walter Cronkite's famous CBS reportage.

A second exhibition, titled Creating Camelot, showcases images of public and private moments by Kennedy's personal photographer, Jacques Lowe.

Interestingly, the original negatives of nearly all 70 images displayed were lost in a World Trade Center bank vault on Sept. 11, 2001. The only existing images from the lost negatives were on Lowe's contact sheets and prints, which had been stored in another facility. Working closely with the Lowe estate, the Newseum was able to digitally restore the images to museum quality for the exhibit.

Finally, the original Newseum documentary JFK: A Thousand Days is showing on the institution's 100-foot wide big screen. The film recounts JFK's time in the White House and highlights many of Kennedy's most newsworthy moments.

In addition to the 3 major JFK features, other historic artifacts on display in other parts of the Newseum include:

• front pages from key events in Kennedy's presidency such as his election, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the rise of the Berlin Wall, and the space race.
• Kennedy's handwritten notes from the famous first-ever televised presidential debate with Republican candidate Richard Nixon. 
• reporter Ike Pappas' notes and scripts from his coverage of the JFK assassination and the shooting death of Oswald.

The Kennedy exhibition continues until Jan. 5

Flashback Friday: About Osama bin Laden from 2 Who Talked to Him

It's another Friday so here is the latest in our ongoing feature in The Price Do DC called Friday Flashback. Each Friday we repost a story published earlier in our blog, which began in June of 2011. So, if you have read this post before, welcome back. If you are reading this for the 1st time, we hope you enjoy this post blast from our blog past.  This one is from September, 2011.

Bin Laden and Bergen in 1997

His small tent in the secret, arid Arab wasteland was sparse. True, he wore a military jacket over his robes, had a loaded AK-47 propped at his side, and unleashed a scathing verbal diatribe decrying the infidels of the West, most especially the United States. But he spoke his words of hate in a monotone. Despite the impassioned nature of his rhetoric, he remained calm and collected.  There was much more cleric than killer commandant about him. In short, there was little evidence to believe in the late 1990s that Osama bin Laden and his handful of Al-Qaeda followers would ever be able to pull off a massive attack like 9-11, 2 veteran news correspondents who personally interviewed bin Laden told a standing-room only audience at The Newseum today.

In a wide-ranging, hour-long discussion, CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen and ABC News Correspondent John Miller, who were 2 of the only western correspondents to ever interview bin Laden, revealed details of those interviews and talked about their take on conditions in a post-bin Laden world.

"People who say bin-Laden's death means the end of terrorism are wrong," Miller, who interviewed bin-Laden in 1998 said. "But people who say his death is meaningless are also wrong." 

Both correspondents said that America's focus on Al-Qaeda and recent killing of its spiritual leader have drastically weakened the organization's ability to mount significant attacks in the United States. "So much has changed since 9/11," Bergen said, noting that, for example, where the US then had about dozen agents sorting out terror signals that group numbers more than 2,000 today. "Or take the TSA. It may be a mixed blessing, but with the TSA, those box cutters wouldn't have gotten on board."

Both correspondents pointed out the difficulties in originally securing their interviews with bin Laden. First there was the substantial costs of such an operation.  Then, at the time, America and American news organizations were more concerned with the the O.J. Simpson trial or the President Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky  scandal than they were with an unknown bearded leader from a little-known part of the word.

And then there were the conditions imposed by the ultra-secret, always paranoid bin Laden and his followers.  There were countless questions of intent. And more questions of motive. Locations were set and locations were  moved. Guns were produced. And guns were fired. But Bergen said he believed there was never any real danger and the benefits to be gleaned from his 1997 interview far outweighed any risks."They (bin Laden and Al-Qaeda) wanted to get the story out and I didn't think they would do anything to jeopardize that," Bergen said. Miller concurred, but noted that not everyone was blase about the danger. "After the interview aired, I got a call from my mother. I thought she was going to say what a good job, but she said 'don't you ever go to Afghanistan and do something like that again.' "

Of course, one of the great questions for any leader of hate is how do you justify the taking of innocent lives in your struggle, no matter how right you believe your cause to be.  Miller said he asked bin Laden that question and the Al-Qaeda leader, ever the master of manipulation and rationalization, matter of factly answered: "We learned from you.  Did not the Americans kill women and children at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? We are simply doing what you taught us."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Although the special speakers program centered around the 10th anniversary of 9/11 has concluded, there is still much to learn about that day if you visit The Newseum.  For example, there is a separate 9/11 exhibit with artifacts and news footage, as well as a section of the FBI exhibit that deals with the agency's handling of that da

The Rio Grande Sun Never Sets

Hawking the Sun.

While newspapers around the country are struggling, the small weekly The Rio Grande Sun, which is considered one of the best weekly papers in the United States, is doing well. So well in fact, that it often sells out every issue it prints.

The Sun, started in 1956, now has a paid circulation of 12,000, a number that climbs higher in the summer when longer New Mexico days provide for stronger street sales in the small town of Espanola where the paper is based..

Unlike virtually every other paper in the country, The Sun is sold primarily by street vendors, with the balance sold in stores, racks and mail subscriptions. A drive through Española on any Wednesday evening will show families parked at intersections with children dispersed at strategic selling points hawking the popular paper.

The unique story of the publication, which has won numerous awards for its investigative reporting, is the subject of filmmaker Ben Daitz's documentary The Sun Never Sets which was shown at the Newseum today.

The film followers The Sun's reporters and editors as they write about the news, sports, crime, and culture of their extensive rural county, home to a large Hispanic and Native American population. It also shows how the paper broke the story that its rural community has the highest per capita heroin overdose rate in the country and has led a continuing legal fight for open records and open meetings.

Following the screening, publisher Robert E. Trapp, who started the paper almost 60 years ago, and his son, Robert B., now the paper's editor, handled questions about their publication.

The secret of their success, the younger Trapp said, is that there is only one focus - "we cover local news." He said that while there is great care for the accuracy with the reporting of local sports and obituaries, the main focus is keeping an eye on politicians and reporting on their shenanigans. In addition, newspaper experts have called The Sun's police blotter reporting the best in America.

Of course, the paper is often accused of printing only bad news. In the film, Trapp is shown displaying the huge collection of rocks that have been hurled through the paper's windows over the years. "I don't have any (powerful) friends in the community. I originally had 2 or 3, but eventually we reported about one or another of their relatives. But that's OK. What we do is important," Trapp said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
The documentary captures a fascinating portrait of small-paper (there is a staff of 6 reporters and one editor) journalism at its finest. To view the trailer, click here.