Utah State University - » Advocacy journalism: Photographers ‘build bridges’ in USU event

Advocacy journalism: Photographers ‘build bridges’ in USU event

January 14th, 2013 Posted in Arts and Life

LOGAN—Veteran photographers and activists Lynn Johnson and Jen Saffron come to Utah State University this week to discuss how journalism, art and activism can work together to tell powerful stories and raise public awareness of humanitarian challenges.

“Building Bridges: When Journalism and Activism Meet” is sponsored by the USU Caine College of the Arts and the Department of Journalism & Communication’s Morris Media & Society Lecture Series, from 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, in the USU Performance Hall, followed by an informal discussion with interested students and others. The event is free and open to the public.

• See more images from Koraput here

Johnson is a veteran National Geographic photojournalist with more than 35 years of experience documenting the global human condition whose work exposes and challenges contemporary issues such as disease, landmines, and threatened languages. Saffron is a longtime activist and photography instructor in Pittsburgh and Grove City College.

The duo’s work came about when they created the Koraput Survivors Project, which supports villagers in India, and report and publish about the problems of religious sectarian violence in Odisha State in India. In 2008, 3,000 armed Hindu extremists burned the village to the ground, seeking to force the 500 residents into an oppressive caste system. The community, now destitute, banded together and relocated to Koraput.

In their USU presentation, Johnson and Saffron will address the emerging practice of advocacy journalism, in which they and other contemporary photojournalists leverage new media platforms along with community collaborations not just to bring awareness to critical issues, but to create and cause positive change.

“The Koraput Survivors Project has us skating a fine line between camera work and social work,” writes Saffron. “Should we photograph and write about the boy in need of lip surgery—or take direct action to address his humiliating deformity?”

It is the kind of question that often torments journalists and photographers. Johnson and Saffron’s work uses both traditional and new media to report about the problems of religious sectarian violence in Odisha, and to help bring peace to the region.

“This work is both exciting and inspirational, not only for journalists but for everyone,” said JCOM department head Ted Pease. “Johnson and Saffron’s images and the story they tell are powerful and heart-breaking. This kind of storytelling demonstrates the potential of committed individuals and journalism to make a difference in the world.”

Their work uses both traditional and new media to report about the problems of religious sectarian violence in Odisha, and to help bring peace to the region.

For more information on this event, contact the Caine College of the Arts at 435-797-1500, or the JCOM Department at 435-797-3292.

Press Room:

• The Apostles, cover story of National Geographic featuring the Koraput Survivors and inspiring the Koraput Survivors Project, March 2012, text by Andrew Todhunter, photography by Lynn Johnson.
• Project Koraput blog posts, blog posts from the field while in Koraput and Nandaguda, March 9 – March 28, 2012, World Affairs Council blog, text by Jen Saffron, photographs by Lynn Johnson and Jen Saffron (six Project Koraput posts, scrolling forward from this link).
• Beyond Bearing Witness, the Koraput Survivors Project, op-ed, June 3, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, text by Jen Saffron, photographs by Lynn Johnson.
• Pop Star: Lynn Johnson, Global Photographer; profile on the work of Lynn Johnson, May 16, 2012, PopCity Media, text by Jen Saffron, photographs by Lynn Johnson.
• Pittsburgh Global Press Conference, 30 minute interview with Lynn Johnson and Jen Saffron,May 19 and 20, KQV Radio, interviewed by Steven Sokol.
• Koraput Survivors Project fundraising homepage, Community House Church.

Tags: activism, Caine College of the Arts, India, Jen Saffron, journalism, Koraput, Lynn Johnson, Morris Media & Society Lecture, photography