NAME |
COUNTRY |
Edgar Sanchez | USA |
Bruce D. Yeager | USA |
Mario Castro | Peru |
María Paula González | Chile |
Joanne Lisa Kenen | USA |
Alberto Saldarriaga | Colombia |
Enrique A. Shore | Argentina |
Pedro Paulo Taucce | Brazil |
John P. Kelly | USA |
Jacques A. Wainberg | Brazil |
Scott E. Logan | USA |
Kirk C. Nielsen | USA |
For a journalist, nothing is more important than being in the right place at the right time. This golden rule worked to perfection in 1982 when the Inter American Press Association sent me to Argentina on a seven month scholarship. Soon after my arrival, Argentina invaded the disputed Falkland/Malvinas Islands in the South Atlantic. The resulting 74-day war with Britain became the biggest story of my 32-year reporting career.
Argentines claimed the isles had been stolen by British pirates in 1833. So, on April 2, 1982, I saw Buenos Aires explode with joy when the Malvinas were “recovered” by Argentine soldiers. In the following weeks, Argentina’s government-controlled media reported that Argentina was winning the conflict. Then came June 14, when the British triumphed. During the conflict, which claimed 1,000 lives, I worked as a translator/researcher for CNN. I also reported for The Palm Beach Post, for which I had worked since 1976. In 1985, I was hired by The Sacramento Bee, in California. In 1993, I returned to Argentina – this time for a special report under the auspices of the Rotary Club, on the repercussions of the 1982 war. After interviewing Argentine veterans, I fl ew to the Falklands to interview British veterans. In 2008, I accepted a voluntary buyout from The Bee. I now do public relations in Sacramento for the United Farm Workers, the union founded by Cesar Chavez.
The Masters of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications that I earned at the University of Kansas (KU), thanks to an IAPA scholarship, advanced my journalism and professional careers. I asked my superiors at El Tiempo where they suggested I study and they recommended KU in Lawrence, a small university town in the midwest with one of the top fi ve U.S. schools specialized in print journalism.
Near the end of my master’s I received an offer from Colombia to lead a private news agency, Colprensa, where I had previously been managing editor, Through the contacts developed during my master’s I could have gone to work for a Spanish-language newspaper in New York, but decided to return to my country since the project of building Colprensa really attracted me -- but at 27 I was also terrifi ed. I lasted six years there as managing director and wasable to make signifi cant progress.
I directed Reuters in Colombia and was managing editor of the weekly El Espectador before returning to the information desk of El Tiempo -- back where it all began. I switched over to the world of new information technology and there I have remained. I work as a consultant on new media projects and electronic business (e-business) in Bogota.
I was honored with a grant from the Inter American Press Association in 1982. It took me to Buenos Aires and was one of the most memorable experiences of my life for many reasons. It was my fi rst visit to South America after several years in Spain, and Argentina was in the last years of the “dirty war” that so divided the Argentine society.
I had originally intended to write about Basque migration to South America after the Spanish Civil War. All of that changed when Las Malvinas War started in April 1982. While I also contributed articles to SIP, I was hired on a freelance basis by NBC News and I began to change the direction of my journalism career from print to broadcast. Since Buenos Aires I have worked as a broadcast journalist in Mexico and South Texas. I have also served as a newspaper editor. I now am the senior political reporter for KBOI-TV, a CBS affi liate in my hometown of Boise, Idaho. I remember Argentina always fondly, for the friends I made, and the culture I experienced, and the wonderful people who made me feel so welcome in South America.
My stay at the University of Florida in 1983-1984 as an IAPA scholarship student signifi ed a fundamental change in my professional life. It was truly a positive change. After my return to Porto Alegre I was able to begin an academic career at the Pontifi cia Universidade Católica.
Up to that time I had accumulated solid professional experience – but that period of study allowed me to add the theoretical knowledge I was missing. A few years later I returned to the States to do my master’s and soon after I earned my doctorate at the Universidade de São Paulo. Part of my doctoral research was done at the University of Texas where, years later, I finished a post-doc. I’ve spent 26 years in my academic career. All this is due to the IAPA scholarship that started me out on the path. I miss that time and recall it with great joy. I am grateful to the IAPA for having given me its support and the opportunity.
I was working as a staff photographer for a newspaper of Buenos Aires, and although I had learned much from my colleagues I felt the need for formal training. A coworker who had studied with an IAPA scholarship pointed me in their direction. I applied but I didn’t win. Despite the disappointment, I pulled together all my savings and support and enrolled in a U.S. university. Shortly after starting a course in Il- linois another letter from the IAPA arrived inviting me to reapply; this time I won the scholarship and was able to enroll in photojournalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia. I was fortunate to have great professors and learned much from them: techniques and how the concepts of integrity and ethics apply in visual reporting. On my way back to Argentina I passed through New York in search of contacts and found the doors open for my fi rst assignments at Time, the New York Times, and others. I worked for prestigious U.S. media who were interested in a trustworthy photojournalist to cover my country’s return to democracy.
I was the official photographer of the National Commission on Disappeared Persons (CONADEP), and when Reuters established an international press photo agency in 1985 I was invited to join. I was chief photographer for Reuters in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Then I was transferred to Madrid as a photo editor for Spain and Portugal. The rest is history, but I certainly would never have achieved such international renown without the solid foundation that formal education afforded me, largely through the support of the IAPA.
My stay at the University of Florida as an IAPA scholarship student signifi ed a fundamental change in my professional life. It was truly a positive change. After my return to Porto Alegre I was able to begin an academic career at the Pontifi cia Universidad Católica.
Up to that time I had accumulated solid professional experience – but that period of study allowed me to add the theoretical knowledge I was missing. A few years later I returned to the USA to do my master’s and soon after I earned my doctorate at the Universidade de São Paulo. Part of my doctoral research was done at the University of Texas where, years later, I finished a post-doc. I’ve spent 26 years in my academic career. All this is due to the IAPA scholarship that started me out on the path. I miss that time and recall it with great joy.