All about the news

A blog about journalism and my interests in international politics, economics, law and security. By Glenda Kwek.

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Still a thrill to see my name in print!

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If there was one festival I really wanted to shoot in Australia, it was the Deni Ute Muster. It draws some 20,000 revellers and 6,000 utility vehicles -- known as utes -- from across the continent to the small town of Deniliquin. So I was so grateful to get a chance to go there last year. It was totally wild and fun -- from people holding impromptu whip cracking competitions on top of their utes while drinking beer (of course) to bull-riding, lawn-mower racing (yup) and more utes then I've ever seen in my life.

It was quite a challenge to shoot as I had to carry my gear on foot everywhere, so I was really lucky to have been shooting it with my colleague Peter Parks (you can see his brilliant photos here) who helped me juggle everything.

Deni was also really cold and we stayed in tents at the campground, so we couldn't escape the chill (I think it went down to almost zero degree Celsius.) Fortunately I had a very kind friend who lent me his cosy and super-warm sleeping bag!

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I was heaps stoked to see my mullet fest video pop up on AFP's light-hearted news videos montage for 2018, and it was the second one featured! If you want to see my video in all its full, hairy, glory, you can watch it here:

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I've been thinking about some of my favourite videos that I've shot over the past two years and this feature -- on tent boxing in outback Australia -- is definitely on the list. (You can read my text story here).

It features a boxing troupe that travels to outback towns in Queensland state. Anyone who comes into the tent can volunteer to take on one of owner Fred Brophy's fighters.

It's one of the last boxing troupes in the world and was such a blast to shoot. Brophy is quite the character, a typical Aussie larrikin, and he's not afraid to play it up for the crowd and cameras. The spectators also play a huge part in creating the cracking atmosphere in the tent with their roars and gasps.

And then there's Birdsville, a small town in dusty heart of Australia. Brophy brings his tent to Birdsville during the annual races (which has become one of those must-do bucket list epic travel adventures for Australians), so there's always thousands of excited fans queuing up to watch the bouts during the multi-day festivities.

The shooting was not without its hiccups. It was very dusty (no surprise there), so my camera looked like it had really done the hard yards. But the experience and the footage I manage to get made it all worthwhile.

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One of my favourite feature stories last year was on how the severe drought in eastern Australia is hurting wildlife.

It was a chance to take a slightly different look at the impact of the "Big Dry". Most of the focus has been on farms and livestock, but native animals such as kangaroos and emus are also suffering.

I'm always on the search for visually driven stories and this was one of them. It was really good to be able to get out to Booligal in western NSW to shoot the vision, and very grateful for the help of local farmers Matt and Sandra Ireson, who were very generous with their time and guidance.

I shot the vision using my Canon C100 and a GoPro mounted on the front and back of a four-wheel-drive.

Text story here

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Writing text and shooting video has allowed me to cover some quirky features. One of those that was good fun was a feature story on how Australian cemeteries are trying to encourage more of the living to walk through their gates. The focus was on West Terrace Cemetery (South Australia's oldest cemetery) where olive oil is being harvested for centuries-old trees. Enjoy the video!

And here’s the text story.

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Learning to shoot  video

Over the past year, I’ve been learning how to shoot and edit video. I’ve been a text reporter for many years now, and have worked with brilliant photographers and designers who have all helped me develop a love of visual journalism. But this is the first time I've gone behind the lens myself.

Here are links to some of the video stories I’ve shot recently.

In case it’s useful for others, the equipment (all second-hand and acquired from Gumtree and eBay) I’ve bought includes: 

Body: Canon C100 Mark I and optical viewfinder Zacuto C100 Z-Finder Pro Lenses: Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (though planning to switch to a 24-105), Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens Mics: Rode NTG-2 Directional Mic and Sennheiser EW-100-ENG-G3-B Wireless Mic Tripods: Miller DS10 Solo DV Carbon Fibre Tripod System and Impact Light Stand, Black (6') Light: YONGNUO YN600 SERIES Pro LED Light (also bought a cheap reflector on eBay) Bags: CineBags CB-25B Revolution Backpack bag, Pelican 1510 Case and Crumpler Miner Upset bag (great for run-and-gun) Laptop: Refurbished 15.4-inch Macbook Pro 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Retina display Editing software: Avid Media Composer Others: 10-metre XLR cable (for press conferences)

I also completed a five-day video production course and a Diploma in Editing course (one semester) at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). The courses were both well run and I recommend them.

So how have my experiences been shooting video? There’s been a lot learn in terms of technical skills, and every job I do allows me to figure out new challenges and get feedback from others. There’s also the physical stuff -- I’m used to carrying around a notebook, Zoom recorder and a heap of pens, but having to carry a ton of equipment that I have to be very gentle with at the same time has been a good test of my abilities to not hit people (kidding). My first flight with all the gear had a couple of hiccups, but I have a decent packing system now that seems to work pretty OK.

In terms of shooting, I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. I love the C100. It shoots beautiful footage, is good in low light and weight and size-wise, it’s pretty perfect for me. The lenses have also been great, though as mentioned above, I’m hoping to switch to a EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens shortly as I have a gap in my shooting range.

There’s no doubt been loads of challenges, particularly with news footage when you sometimes only have one chance to capture something crucial (eg when I shot the first gay wedding in Australia in January after same-sex marriage laws were passed). In this regard, I’ve been very fortunate to get to work with a great team of photographers in AFP’s Sydney office, who are superb at what they do and always willing to help me with tips and encouragement. Ditto for our regional video desk!

To conclude, I’ve really enjoyed the technical challenges that have come with shooting video, and my admiration for VJs is growing by the day. Text is still a big love of mine, but I’ve found that the opportunity to shoot video has opened up journalism and storytelling in many more ways for me. It makes covering stories, particularly features, very exciting. I can only hope to keep learning over the next few years and decades.

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Journalism sometimes gives you the chance to experience something you otherwise wouldn't, and I was very fortunate to get the chance to write about a Bachelor & Spinster Ball in Ariah Park in late October.

It's an old-school way of dating in the rural and regional Australia. In the past, it might be the only way to meet people of the opposite sex when the next town is hundreds of kilometres away. Nowadays, it's much more about having an awesome time -- and drinking lots of course.

My colleagues Peter Parks (photos) and Tom Bannigan (video) did a brilliant job of capturing the energy and fun of the young revellers. Hope you enjoy the feature story as much as I did!

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Climate change is affecting our food and drink, so it’s no surprise that one of our favourite tipples -- wine -- is likely to be heavily impacted by the changing environment. 

It was a pleasure to travel to Orange in New South Wales state to chat to winemakers there about what they are doing to combat global warming. Again, fab work by colleagues Peter Parks (kangaroos in the vineyard!) and Tom Bannigan, who got some awesome drone shots of Orange.

Here’s the story: Climate change battle heats up for Australian winemakers

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Zombies on the streets of Sydney? Surely not?!? Here’s my feature on how more Australians are getting into so-called “real life” video games, where they get to fully immerse in games they used to control only through controllers. 

Photos by Peter Parks and video by Tom Bannigan.

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Had a good day in Bathurst taking a look at V8 Supercars’ push to get more women on the starting grid. Got to interview Swiss ace Simona de Silvestro and young Australian stars Renee Gracie and Chelsea Angelo as they prepared for the iconic Bathurst 1000 aka Australia's "Great Race" (Angelo races in the Dunlop Series).

The video above is by Tom Bannigan. My story is here with photos by William West.

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I travelled up the New South Wales coast earlier this year with my colleagues Peter Parks and Bill Code and was able to write some features from the trip.

One of the highlights was meeting inspirational mums and dads who have defied all odds to give their seriously ill children the chance to stay alive through the use of medicinal cannabis, even though it is against the law: Green hopes as Australia legalises medical cannabis

Another highlight was meeting doctors and volunteers working hard to keep local koala populations healthy as urban development and crippling diseases such as chlamydia hit population levels: Hairy future for Australia's beloved koala

It was also such a privilege to meet people who have survived shark attacks and are striving to help others cope with the trauma, and lifesavers who are putting their minds and bodies on the line to patrol Australia's beaches.

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How to make good video news stories

There’s a handy list of tips of how to make good video packages for journalists by Bob Sacha on Medium that is worth taking a look at. I think the tips are particularly useful for budding online VJs.

On the list is:

* Use more than talking heads * Include ambient sound * Audio mixing is important * Viewers want to see something happening (eg. interviewee at work) * Story structure is crucial

You can read the rest of the list here.

Sacha also recommended “The Long Night” documentary as an example of good vj-ing.

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Best reads on ISIS in Iraq & Syria

There's plenty of reading out there on ISIS, Iraq and Syria as it's the topic du jour, so I'm going to try and use this blog post to collate some of the good reads about.

First off, there's an excellent double issue by free online journal Perspectives on Terrorism that’s entirely focused on Islamic State. There's a total of 14 articles covering various aspects and they were completed in July, so it's a fairly recent take and features leading terrorism scholars. The issue is guest edited by Thomas Hegghammer, the director of terrorism research at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI).

Updated 4 October 2015

How ISIS came about

* ISIS is an evolution of AQI (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) and more recently its success stemmed from the growing chaos in Syria. PBS’s Frontline sums up its beginnings succinctly in this episode: The Rise of ISIS

* Craig Whiteside outlines very well in War On The Rocks ISIS’s slow infiltration doctrine and how it started taking over cities and towns in Iraq: "ISIL's Small Ball Warfare: An Effective Way to Get Back into a Ballgame"

On strategy

* Counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen on how ISIS came about and what the West and its allies should do to counter it (100-page Quarterly Essay): "Blood Year"

* The Atlantic’s Graeme Wood on ISIS’s philosophy and goals: “What ISIS Really Wants”

In Iraq and Syria

* Hassan Hassan has written extensively about ISIS in Syria and his stories are an excellent insight into what is happening on the ground. There’s many good reads from him so here is a link to his author’s page on The Guardian. 

Radicalisation and deradicalisation

* Excellent long read from The New York Times' Rukmini Callimachi on how a young, lonely American woman was slowly radicalised by ISIS online: "ISIS and the Lonely Young American"

* Related to this is a write-up in 2009 by Abdullah Warius and Brian Fishman on a handbook distributed by jihadists on how to recruit: “A jihadist’s course in the art of recruitment”

* On the flipside, what can governments do after jihadists aka foreign fighters return home? Denmark’s “Aarhus Model”, involving mentoring and counselling, is one programme being mooted as one way authorities can try to deradicalise them. There’s a Guardian article and a BBC “Assignment” podcast looking at the programme.

* This is an excellent six-parter on the Brookings website on how ISIS gets its message out and the difficulties in countering it. There's input from ex-government officials, researchers and other experts including Will McCants, Richard LeBaron, Alberto Fernandez, Kamran Bokhari, Charlie Winter, Neil Aggarwal and Clint Watts: Can the United States counter ISIS propaganda?

* This article in the New York Review of Books, by "Anonymous" -- who is said to be a former government official, is a good read that questions why people are drawn to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria in spite of its brutality and radical ideology: "The Mystery of ISIS"

Social media

* J.M. Berger has done a deep-dive on ISIS on Twitter and the resulting paper, hosted on the Brookings website, is worth reading: "The ISIS Twitter census: Defining and describing the population of ISIS supporters on Twitter" * He's also written a book with terrorism specialist Jessica Stern that chronicles the rise of ISIS. I've just started on it and it's a page-turner: "ISIS: The State of Terror"

* This is a good read by David Talbot in MIT Technology Review on why ISIS is so good online and on social media in recruiting foreign fighters. He argues that peer-to-peer attempts to stop people from being radicalised online is essential to the fight against ISIS: “Fighting ISIS Online”

Understanding jihadists

* This is a slightly different take on ISIS and jihadists but it is a good insight into the importance of poetry in their world (also, an excellent headline!): "Battle Lines: Want to understand the jihadis? Read their poetry"

There's plenty of other good reads out there but I've lost track of some of them, so I will add to this list as I find them!

Maps

The Institute for the Study of War, a D.C. thinktank, has a good series of maps tracking the spread of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It released in early August the collection of all its maps on the first anniversary of coalition forces' airstrikes against the jihadi group: ISIS Sanctuary Maps

List of experts

* I’ve sent up a list on my Twitter account of terrorism and national security experts that are good to follow. Like the above, I’ll add to it as I come across more.

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Useful investigative journalism tools

BBC'S College of Journalism has a list of useful computer programs for investigative journalists that is worth checking out. It includes: * Cree.py, which geolocates all tweets from a user on a map * Intellitamper and FOCA, which shows all the pages/folders within a site * GeoSetter, which plots the location of photos on an interactive map

I'll add to this list when I come across other useful sites.

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"News managers who hesitate to collaborate with other media organizations sometimes worry that their partners will siphon away some of their audience. ICIJ’s experience — in the World Bank investigation and other collaborations — shows the opposite is true."

The above quote, by Michael Hudson of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, was extracted from a piece he wrote for Poynter about the ICIJ's mega-investigative journalism efforts into how big projects bankrolled by the World Bank Group can harm people and the environment.

The investigation spanned numerous countries and involved more than 50 journalists across various media outlets. It's a great example of how collaborating with others can strengthen, rather than weaken, a story (which can be difficult to do in a competitive environment like journalism). It's also a way to continue work on investigative pieces as the money dries up in the industry and more and more jobs get axed.

Here's Hudson's full article on how the World Bank investigation was carried out.

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Comics journalism: another old/new frontier

I'm fond of graphic novels and love the use of comics and illustrations to explore news stories (often a news cartoon or illo can encapsulate the essence of a complex story in an incisive and witty manner in a way that text copy can't. One fantastic example is The Guardian Australia’s “First Dog On The Moon”).

So it was good to read that Italian "Graphic News" comics journalism website is going mobile first. They've done some good work, eg. "The Last Madhouses" and the idea of reading their work on a mobile-friendly platform is exciting.

Read more here on the journalism.co.uk website (also a good source of journo job ads).