Max Kaiser’s website is among the most popular sites to visit in Washington DC among Homeland Security employees. They’re such regular and enthusiastic visitors, Max says they are helping to pay his salary, and they’re most welcome to do so.
Through his program on Russia Today and Press TV, Max Kaiser (along with Stacy Herbert) continues to expose the truth about the global economy and who is benefiting while so many lose everything. In this return appearance on citizenreporter.org Max gets into why he likes working for RT and Press TV, while telling the story of the only global media outlet to ever sensor his reporting.
Near Kandahar by Flickr Member: startledrabbit III
I find myself spending 2 days in Brooklyn, New York, guest lecturing at Brooklyn college in the media department. I stand before rooms filled with students, as I have done so often over the past 6+ years, and I speak about being a citizen journalist and why I do what I do/how I do what I do. I spend lots of time telling recent stories from Afghanistan and Siberia, among other adventures. Thankfully I am met by interested, thoughtful, and open minded students, who not only allow me to tell stories and give my sometimes strange opinions, but who also share their own, in the process they unintentionally inspire me to do more of what I’ve been doing.
There is, of course, something wrong about me being a spokesperson for what is going on in Afghanistan. If there’s anything I’ve been very clear about since before my trip began, I am no expert on that country. Yes I am interested. Yes I had excellent friends and acquaintances there who took the time to teach about history, culture, in ways most of those outside the country don’t normally get to learn. Yes I can share my experience and tell a fairly entertaining story, but when I think about those who taught me so much in such a short time, they would be far better suited to do this thing I am doing. To speak about a place that deserves to be spoken about, regarding aspects that usually get cut out of the media reports.
I thought this tonight as I read the words of a good friend and an astute observer working near Kandahar at the moment. In his words I feel the excitement, the rush of adrenaline some reporters call it, as well as the despair for those that suffer and those who die. All of this wrapped up into another day at work story. Though as is so often the case in that part of the world, no day is JUST another day at work.
Having arrived a few days ago here in the New Jersey house I was raised in, I surely have thoughts, observations, and reports regarding the state of the state around me. However quality time with friends and family comes with story telling and reminiscing of recent adventures in Afghanistan.
Therefore before I can move on to the now, I must first release this last Afghanistan video including alot of footage I had not yet used in a vlog entry.
It wasn’t some childhood dream that led Mariam to photography, instead it was a series of encounters and encouragement that led her to become a professional photographer in her home country of Afghanistan.
In this podcast interview, recorded on my last day in Kabul, Mariam explains her experience as a photographer working throughout Afghanistan over the last few years. She tells about her training, the different jobs she has done, and all the challenges that have arisen along the way.
I’d like to begin by sending out a big thank you and expressing how great it was to be writing and recording content to be shared with all of you and to be getting so much feedback; good bad or in between. Thank you. The trip itself was extremely interesting, educational, and unforgettable, but this aspect of having my audience with me, made it something even greater.
Being back in Amsterdam with fresh memories and a wish to keep in touch with those working and living in Afghanistan, be they locals or foreigners, I now often turn to blogs that I’ve come to value with stories, reports, and rants about the situation there. While there are surely many more choices then the few I recommend, I still wanted to post my list (of 3) in case any of you also want to see some voices that interest me from that part of the world:
Read My Eyes – The candid observations of a very experienced and passionate photo journalist and friend.
Transitionland – Sometimes angry sometimes happy, always educational writing about Afghanistan as well as its quirky international community.
Free Range International – Apparently Im the last one to the party as this blog has long been a household name for Afghanistan War focused individuals.
In Sept. 1996 the Taliban had just taken over Kabul and Jeremy Wagstaff was working as a journalist for Reuters in Hong Kong when the unexpected happened. He was told they needed him in Kabul, without much preperation or explanation he eventually found his way there and found his way to the front lines of the war in Afghanistan.
In this podcast, recorded one calm sunny afternoon in Kabul, Jeremy recalls what the city was like in those days, what you could and couldn’t do, and what dealing with the Taliban was like for a foreign journalist.
