A city symphony….
By Brendan Whenever I’m on assignment, there are a bunch of images shot along the way which might not directly relate to the story that I’m photographing that day. Here, then, are the moving, rolling, chronologically-ordered ‘drive-by shots’ creating a kind of soundtrack, or a ‘picture track’, of the two months of preparing for, then running, Daily Dispatches. Nairobi Click that bottom right-hand-hand corner button to open this gallery full-size.
Nairobi’s many facets – interesting read
By Mike Interesting review of a new book, written by foreigners, about Nairobi. Worth checking out: http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/1150112/-/ncg1rkz/-/index.html
On the rooftop
By Brendan Yesterday we met JP, a young man with deep roots in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, where you’ll have noticed we’ve been doing quite a bit of our night-time reporting. We were standing on the rooftop of the row of apartments where he lives, which look out over Kangemi, Kawangware and beyond, to the Ngong Hills and the mountains of the Rift Valley beyond. He has recently developed an interest in documentary film making, and is planning an ambitious cycle of stories that probe the root causes of Kenya’s post election violence and their implications for the future of Kenya. As a budding film-maker, JP aimed his deep curiosity (he never finished college, telling me he was “too unfocused” but he has a sharp, analytical, categorical mind) at me, a professional image-maker. “One thing I’d like you to do,” he said, “is to take a picture of the Read More…
Fixers, producers, assistants, interpreters
By Mike Whatever you call them, few foreign correspondents or photographers working in strange places can do their job without them. A fixer, a producer, an assistant or a translator – if you’re lucky, and a big TV station with a big budget, you get a team, covering all the bases. Most of the rest of us will work with one person who’s doing all the jobs together. What do they do? Sometimes pretty much everything up to the point where I ask a first question of an interviewee, or a photographer releases the shutter on the first frame. They’ll set up interviews, make the first calls to people to make them aware of what the foreigner wants from the interview, even go and prep the interviewee, check where the best light is for the photographer, run protocol with the authorities. That’s if you get a good one. Most of Read More…
Traffic sources
Nairobi’s Thika Road, mid-upgrade, heading north By Mike Sincere apologies for the lack of Back Story updates in recent days. It’s been a mite busy. I’ll be back here posting again regularly from now. For those who’d want to read a little more technical information about Nairobi’s urban planning, particularly how it relates to traffic flow, two good reports are worth a look. Those of you watching Dispatches from an academic point of view, especially journalism students, will be able quickly to see where I found bits of my information for today’s Dispatch on roads. Some usable information is also on the Nairobi Metropolitan Development ministry’s website (which isn’t loading properly as I post this, should be up again soon). Feel free to ask questions etc about why I picked certain facts and left out others.
Election violence in Kenya – an explainer
People forced from their homes by election violence in a temporary camp at Endebess, Cherengani. Photo: Brendan Bannon 2008 By Mike Hope you’ve read our stuff about Robert Nagila at NTV reporting on the court appearances in Holland of three prominent Kenyans accused of orchestrating the post-election violence here in 2007/8. But what actually happened then? I was here at the time, and was working full-tilt throughout the eight weeks of the fighting. It was one of the worst times of my career from a personal point of view. This is my adopted home, after all, and to see bits of it in flames, and friends muttering nastiness about other friends just because of their tribe, was all pretty hard to stomach. What’s the background to the violence? The December 2007 presidential election was always going to be close. The incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, could boast strong economic growth, and carried Read More…
Kenya and the ICC – links
By Mike It was pretty thrilling being with Kenya’s leading news outfit during what was one of the busiest days they’ve had this year so far. From mid-morning all the way through the day, the buzz in the newsroom was palpably higher-pitched than it usually is, and clearly the women and men who pull together the news for NTV and the Daily Nation were aware of their place as the first drafters of history yesterday. Here are some links to stories about the appearance at the world’s war crimes court of three prominent Kenyans accused of orchestrating the post-election violence which killed 1,300 people and forced 350,000 to flee their homes. Have an explore – good insights into Kenyan journalism, too. Ruto, Kosgey, Sang come face to face with The Hague – Daily Nation Global village reality unfolds across Kenya – Daily Nation The Hague: ICC warns suspects over hate Read More…
DD writing styles
By Mike You’d be forgiven for feeling a little confused about the way I’m writing the Daily Dispatches. The format for each has been very different from the last: a first-person reportage, a transcription of quotes, a long-read feature and now a Q+A with the mysterious DJ B. Why am I doing this? Frankly, and without meaning to sound self-indulgent, because I can. Daily Dispatches has lifted my usual restrictions of writing as a hard news foreign correspondent and I’m having fun playing with different forms and formats. It also makes sense not to have one great long piece on the blog followed by another significant chunk of copy the next day. I’m keen to know which you all prefer to see, so that I can tailor what’s coming up to “feed the beast”, so to speak. Hope you’re all enjoying. Any other thoughts or comments? We wanna hear them.
Clarifying meaning in quotes
By Mike For today’s Feature, Resilience 101, it seemed clear to me that the best way to get across the sense of success and struggle for small businesses in Nairobi was simply to let each person talk entirely in their own words. The piece needed a short stand-first from me to put what followed in context, but then it worked well just to let the quotes flow. This highlighted one of the key challenges in reporting from foreign countries – to clarify quotes or not. There are myriad versions of English spoken across the world, and Kenya’s is a charming mix of modern street slang and slightly-antiquated proper diction. Most times, quotes read as comprehensibly as they sound. But occasionally there is a quirk of language which would cause you to stumble as your eyes scanned the line. Here’s an example, from Evalin Aoko: She said: “Since I started my Read More…
Kenya Buzz
By Mike Kenya Buzz is a very popular “What’s On” site for Nairobi, worth a click to see what kinds of stuff we can get up to if we ever get time off from Daily Dispatches…
What is Back Story?
By Mike Daily Dispatches: Nairobi will be as much about the process of photojournalism as it will be about the product. You will see our main Features on the Home page – that’s the product. But we’re keen to engage with you too about how we go about getting our stories and pictures, who we try to interview, where we research background material and who we talk to along the way – this is the process. And that’s where Back Story comes in. Whenever I’m working on a story, I’d estimate that somewhere between 50% and 80% of the material I have gathered never gets into the newspaper or onto its website. Of course all that extra stuff feeds into my understanding of what I’m writing, helps me choose my emphasis and identify what’s crucial to include, and what can be cut. But I often feel that there should be Read More…
