JM210: Introduction to Journalism News Presentation: Abu Ghraib. Group Member

Transcription

1 JM210: Introduction to Journalism News Presentation: Abu Ghraib Group Member Watcharaporn Kansirisin Thossaporn Phanpinit Marquise Pedsuwan Nitchakul Kosaiyakanon Jekita Sapngamsiri Thossaporn Phanpinit: director, video editor, graphic designer, background character, scriptwriter, Information seeker, TV host, set designer, cameraman, and subtitle creator. Watcharaporn Kansirisin: graphic designer, scriptwriter, editor, Information seeker, subtitle creator, B.J.M. News anchor, costume designer, and cameraman. Marquise Pedsuwan: B.J.M. News anchor, scriptwriter, editor, Information seeker, set designer, and costume designer. Nitchakul Kosaiyakanon: scriptwriter, editor, Information seeker, costume designer, cameraman, and Dig into the deep host. Jekita Sapngamsiri: scriptwriter, editor, Information seeker, costume designer, cameraman, Dig into the Deep host, and presentation creator. Pitch How human right violations have been being looked down seems to be controversial after dehumanized pictures in Abu Ghraib prison, Baghdad, Iraq, have been released by Seymour Hersh, a journalist at the New Yorker, and CBS news in Those sorrowful images illustrated how detainees were notoriously tortured, strangely, by the smiley face officials with massive executions; given instances, those of tortures being mentioned are clearly shown as a naked body

2 covering black hood with unacceptable forms: sexual abuse, dragging head, electricity shot, sodomy, torture, or even murder. These detainees, mainly Muslims, are arrested, particularly, as a result of involving terrorism in bombing 9/11 incident and those of others during Iraq war. News organizations, such as The Washington Post, The Nation, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, CNN, had reported this story on page one. This incident being mentioned makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how powerful mass media, especially those of the presses, can be a potential mean and a voice to the voiceless. Having considered to Abu Ghraib case, it is important to note that the vital role of solving and lessening the problem of human right violation which had been ignored or denied was, mostly, completed by news organisations. They not only exposed the cruel side of those so called "high up in the military hierarchy" whose authorized the tortures to be done but also had made them, such as President George W. Bush and President Obama, to realize and show some responsibility for those terrible actions. We found this story interesting because this incident hooks our mind up to concern more about human right. At the very first glimpse of this news, we all felt sympathetic as a result of not thinking that human can behave such a ruthless things like this. Seeing human been tortured by human together is the hardest thing to believe. That s the reason why our group have discussed wanting to do this news story the most as it clearly shows how courageousness presses are not afraid of reporting news on those powerful people. As a further matter, we want to dig deeper and analyse more on this historical news story; besides, our group strongly want to follow what is happens to those inhuman officials and soldiers, will they get arrested? Also, are justice really exist?

3 Script Slide presentation will be presented first. Next, the video presentation will be shown. Anchor Bell: Good afternoon. Welcome to B.J.M. news. I am Watcharaporn. Anchor Pam: I am Marquise. Here with you today live on B.J.M news. Anchor Bell: Now, in the era of globalisation where everything is connected, spreading messages are much easier than before by using mass media. Anchor Pam: Today, we will discuss a famous case of the Abu Ghraib scandal focusing on how journalists were involved in this notorious actions. Anchor Bell: Abu Ghraib was served for the name of the prison or known as The Baghdad Central Prison. People in the area are often considered as Father of Raven or Place of Ravens. Abu Ghraib prison is located in Iraqi city, 32 kilometers away from Baghdad. Anchor Pam: The Abu Ghraib prison was once the United States Army detention center for capturing Iraqis in the year of 2003 and continuingly. It has also been about 10 years now that the sorrowful misbehavior action of the U.S. Army to the Iraqi prisoner had exposed to the world. Anchor Bell: How human right violations have been being looked down seems to be controversial after the detainees were notoriously tortured by those officials. Anchor Pam: Luckily, one of the anonymous source, later known as Joseph M. Darby, was working in this prison. He secretly gave the incriminating files of how detainees were notoriously tortured, strangely, by the smiley face officials with massive executions to journalist, named Seymour Hersh, and the CBS News TV show, 60 Minutes II. Later on, those of pictures were made public. Anchor Bell: Those of tortures being mentioned are clearly shown as a naked body covering black hood with unacceptable forms: sexual abuse, dragging head, electricity shot, sodomy, torture, or even murder.

4 Anchor Pam: One of the most important journalists who exposed this scandal was Seymour Hersh. He is a contributor to The New Yorker magazine and his articles, mostly, focus on the terrorism and the U.S. war in Iraq. He is the one who wrote Torture At Abu Ghraib, which made Abu Ghraib known by the public. His article was first published on The New Yorker website and later on print. The article mostly contained the information from Major General Antonio Taguba as well as photos taken by Joseph M. Darby which both were secretly send to him. Hersh published a quote that tells about how the child was raped in front of a woman who was trying to send the message that killing her would be easier than keeping her alive to the public. He also mentioned about the invisible power that manipulated him to tell the story on the record. His speech gained a lot of attention from public and it really supported the allegation that the prisoners were being tortured at the Abu Ghraib. Anchor Bell: So, we can say that journalists help a lot in revealing this scandal. Alright next, we will focus more on Taguba s report. Taguba s report was another significant movement in making the Abu Ghraib became well known by people. Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba conveyed a fifty three page report about how torturous the Abu Ghraib was to The New Yorker. The content inside mainly described the ruthlessness of the prison especially the way of torturing detainees as well as evidences or photographs to support the allegation. The content also stated that the prison did not have a proper screening; moreover, sixty percent of the detainees were believed not to harm society which means that more than half of them were innocent. Later, Taguba was forced to retire and blocked from the investigation of who has the responsible for the Abu Ghraib scandal. Anchor Pam: At the very first, Taguba was unintentional to publish the report, but then it was leaked in After the leaking, more people had kept an eye opening toward the scandal than before. Aim: Dig into the Deep today will be discussing the so what factors of Abu Ghraib s timeline which journalist has been involved. Hong: Taking you back to December 26, 2002, the Washington Post published a page one story relating to detainees that had been abused. Moreover, on March 31, 2003, The Nation presented that the tortures are acceptable due to the incident of 9/11 by covering the story of "In Torture We Trust? On January 13, 2004, Joseph M. Darby,

5 a member of the parliament, reported various cases of torturing inside Abu Ghraib prison. Aim: January 21, 2004, CNN reported the pictures illustrating the wrongdoing of both male and female officials done with those of Iraqi prisoners. On March 3, 2004, Jen Banbury who is a correspondent for the Salon magazine gathered the story about the tortures leading to deaths at Abu Ghraib. On April 28, 2004, CBS channel reported incriminating photographs about the harm at Abu Ghraib. This channel made big impacts towards the scandal to be a vital national and international news. Hong: April 30, 2004, The New Yorker published the report written by Seymour M. Hersh on its website about the scandal. And on February 15, 2006, the Australian television network, SBS channel reported the same photos and videos released in 2004 from the inside prison. Aim: It also has a documentary movie, Ghost of Abu Ghraib, telling more clear information and interviews with the detainees. Hong: This is pretty much all the major timeline that we concluded. I m Jekita. Aim: I m Nitchakul reporting Dig into the Deep. Mook: What is the consequence of Abu Ghraib prison?, and what was happening to Abu Ghraib prison after journalists were involved? Hong: After 60 Minutes II reported the Abu Ghraib scandal from the CBS, there were more than 2,000 prisoners released which left less than a half of the inmates it once held. Mook: So, what happened after that? Hong: In 2006, the prison was transferred to Iraqi city and the inmates who imprisoned in Abu Ghraib were moved to another prison. In 2009, the prison was reopened after finishing the reconstruction and changed its name to Baghdad Central Prison. However, this prison was shut down in 2014 due to the security issues that the insurgents get closer and the convicts were transferred to other jails that have high security.

6 Mook: I see I see, so how about you? What do you think about this case? Aim: It still remains unclear that the prison will be reopened or not. In 2015, a federal judge has ordered the Defense Department to expose the torturing pictures of the prisoner abuse to the public. Nevertheless, they released 200 pictures in February The Iraqis member of parliament believed that the new photos that were just released will bring this scandal into the parliament s interested again after it had been so quiet for a while. (On the scene: Moreover, there was one journalist, Salah Hassan, who was detained as a result of doing his duty as being an ethical journalist.) Anchor Pam: Salah Hassan is a journalist working in Al jazeera who was jailed in Abu Ghraib. After ten years since the photos were first published, Sala Hassan gave the detail of Abu Ghraib to Democracy Now channel. Salah Hassan mentioned that it was his duty to cover the events in the field, the district of Diyala, north of Baghdad, saying, It s my duty to cover events in the field and on the ground, as well as political events. So, my arrest happened while I was doing my journalistic duty. There was an explosion in that area. I went to that place to try to take some photographs and gather information about this incident. He also added that after he was done with his field journalist work he was ordered to be arrested by a military uniform official. After his arrest, he moved from one station to another station which is in the district he was working. Then, he was moved to a military base airport to another district in which he was kept in the station for about two days, and ended up in Abu Ghraib prison. He said that he was subject to a lot of hurts and harm during his transferred from one place to another, telling that the military did the simplest harm to him, such as being tighten up hardly in handcuffs, restraining his legs with metal iron chains, left in a small room with no food nor water, and lastly verbally abuse. He also mentioned at the end of the interview that he never stop his journalistic work and he said that he considers his job a humanitarian job that shows facts and truth everywhere whether in Iraq or anywhere. (On the scene: up to now, there are 1,325 images of detainee abuse, 93 video files of detainee abuse, 660 pictures of adult pornography,

7 546 pictures of dead Iraqi detainees, 29 pictures of official in imitated sexual acts exposed to the world.) (Presenting in the front of the class: : All in all, journalist plays a key role in help exposing a lot of information in our society. If there was no journalist there would not have any information of scandals or news exposed to the world. Journalist also helps people or people who have sources in reporting the story. For instance, Seymour Hersh help exposed Joseph M Darby case of that military officials in Abu Ghraib torturing and abusing the prisoners who were mostly innocent. If Joseph didn t give the information to journalist to help report the case, this notorious scandal will still exist.from this point, people, nowadays, see that journalist can help making a differences in the society by reporting their news to the public. It can be seen clearly in Thai news agency, such as, channel 3, Rueng Lao Chao Nee that the program helps people in the society by sharing the events of the day; in other words, sharing the news that is happen in other places in that day. How it is related to Thailand? Compared to Thai journalists and the journalists involved in Abu Ghraib scandal, it can be clearly seen that Thai journalists cannot perform their full potential. As most people know, Thailand has limited freedom, especially freedom of speech and press freedom; therefore, there are many obstacles that journalists will face before revealing or investigating any cases that related to those of high up people in the society.)

8 Sources Torture at Abu Ghraib, American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?by SEYMOUR M. HERSH: at abu ghr aib Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh spills the secrets of the Iraq quagmire and the war on terror By Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter: tml How We Got to Abu Ghraib: we got to a bu ghraib/ Seymour Hersh Reveals Rumsfeld Misled Congress over Abu Ghraib; How Gen. Taguba Was Forced to Retire over his Critical Abu Ghraib Report; and the Site of Another Secret U.S. Prison (Mauritania): Abu Ghraib Time Line: Iraq Prison Abuse Scandal Fast Facts: prison abuse scandal fast facts/ Seven Years in Iraq: An Iraq War Timeline: 0,28804, _ _ ,00.html What s Next for Snowden: 10 Notorious Leakers and How They Fared: notorious leakers and how t hey fared/slide/abu ghraib photo leak/ Imprisoned Al Jazeera Journalist Details Abu Ghraib Torture & Why He's Suing U.S. Contractor CACI: nalist_details_abu

9 Abu Ghraib leaked report reveals full extent of abuse: berg Abu Ghraib Abuse Photos: Abu Ghraib torture (cutting off hands + tongue) + executions (shooting + beheading): "The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" Doc Traces Path to Torture of Prisoners at Infamous Iraqi Prison: doc 10 Years After Abu Ghraib, Ex Prisoners Seek Justice in Torture Lawsuit Against U.S. Contractor CACI: ex Hundreds of Abu Ghraib torture photos released: of Abu Ghrai b torture photos released/ / Abu Ghraib reborn with new name but haunted by bitter memories: ghraib prisonreopens Iraqi MP says new Abu Ghraib photos will reopen US scandal in parliament By Rudaw: How the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Hurt U.S. War Efforts: ghraib prison scandal/ Iraq Shuts Down the Abu Ghraib Prison, Citing Security Concerns: says abu ghraib prison is closed.html?referer=&_r=0

10 More Retired Generals Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation: =1&oref=slogin Judge orders release of Iraq, Afghanistan detainee photos By Ralph Ellis, CNN: photos lawsuit/