
Danger Pay
Memoir of a Photojournalist in the Middle East, 1984-1994
Carol Spencer Mitchell(Author)
Ellen Spencer Susman(Editor)
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. November 2008
Book
Hardback
215 pages
978-0-292-71882-1 (ISBN)
Description
An engrossing memoir in which a photojournalist records both the precursors to today's conflicts in the Middle East and her own deeply felt conviction that news coverage of the region actually increases the conflicts there.
"You're going where?" Carol Spencer Mitchell's father demanded as she set off in 1984 to cover the Middle East as a photojournalist for Newsweek and other publications. In this intensely thoughtful memoir, Spencer Mitchell probes the motivations that impelled her-a single Jewish woman-to document the turmoil roiling the Arab world in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as how her experiences as a photojournalist compelled her to set aside her cameras and reexamine the way images are created, scenes are framed, and "real life" is packaged for specific news stories.
In Danger Pay, Spencer Mitchell takes us on a harrowing journey to PLO military training camps for Palestinian children and to refugee camps in the Gaza Strip before, during, and after the first intifada. Through her eyes, we experience the media frenzy surrounding the 1985 hijackings of TWA Flight #847 and the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. We meet Middle Eastern leaders, in particular Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan, with whom Spencer Mitchell developed close working relationships. And we witness Spencer Mitchell's growing conviction that the Western media's portrayal of conflicts in the Middle East actually helps to fuel those conflicts-a conviction that eventually, as she says, "shattered [her] career."
Although the events that Spencer Mitchell records took place decades ago, their repercussions reverberate in the MIddle Eastern conflicts of today. Likewise, her concern about "the triumph of image over reality" takes on greater urgency as our knowledge of the world becomes ever more filtered by virtual media.
"You're going where?" Carol Spencer Mitchell's father demanded as she set off in 1984 to cover the Middle East as a photojournalist for Newsweek and other publications. In this intensely thoughtful memoir, Spencer Mitchell probes the motivations that impelled her-a single Jewish woman-to document the turmoil roiling the Arab world in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as how her experiences as a photojournalist compelled her to set aside her cameras and reexamine the way images are created, scenes are framed, and "real life" is packaged for specific news stories.
In Danger Pay, Spencer Mitchell takes us on a harrowing journey to PLO military training camps for Palestinian children and to refugee camps in the Gaza Strip before, during, and after the first intifada. Through her eyes, we experience the media frenzy surrounding the 1985 hijackings of TWA Flight #847 and the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. We meet Middle Eastern leaders, in particular Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan, with whom Spencer Mitchell developed close working relationships. And we witness Spencer Mitchell's growing conviction that the Western media's portrayal of conflicts in the Middle East actually helps to fuel those conflicts-a conviction that eventually, as she says, "shattered [her] career."
Although the events that Spencer Mitchell records took place decades ago, their repercussions reverberate in the MIddle Eastern conflicts of today. Likewise, her concern about "the triumph of image over reality" takes on greater urgency as our knowledge of the world becomes ever more filtered by virtual media.
Reviews / Votes
"A deeply felt and moving account from an enterprising and conscientious news photographer who worked the always-busy beat of the Middle East in the last, great days of film photography." Rod Nordland, Chief Foreign Correspondent, Newsweek "Reading Danger Pay was a harrowing experience. Being a photojournalist on the front lines in the Middle East is no easy assignment. Writing about it with such vivid detail and thoughtful analysis is an equally impressive feat. This is a truly moving memoir in every way." Douglas Brinkley, Rice University, author of The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf CoastMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-292-71882-1 (9780292718821)
DOI
10.7560/718821
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Carol Spencer Mitchell (1954-2004) covered the Middle East and North Africa for many leading U.S. and European publications, including Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Look, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ellen Spencer Susman, Carol's sister, served as Director of the US Department of State's Art in Embassies program during the Obama administration. She serves on the boards of various art museums, including the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Ellen resides in Houston, Texas.
Ellen Spencer Susman, Carol's sister, served as Director of the US Department of State's Art in Embassies program during the Obama administration. She serves on the boards of various art museums, including the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Ellen resides in Houston, Texas.
Content
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I: There's a New Kid in Town
1. The Burning Bush
2. Reorienting
3. Crossing the Bridge
4. Ode to Abu Ammar
5. Gaza Slick
6. Photo Op
7. A Room with a View
Part II: The Moment and the Mask
8. His Majesty
9. Let's Get Some Color
10. House of Hashem
11. Up, Up, and Away
12. Private Conversations (I)
Part III: Passing Through
13. TWA Flight #847
14. Exile
15. Cruising
16. Caviar, Khat, and Cover Pix
Part IV: Inside Terror, Inc.
17. Dance into Darkness
18. Journalists Are Used to Danger
19. He Who Builds
20. Private Conversations (II)
21. Promise Me I Won't Be Touched
22. Lebanon
Part V: Travels in Sudan
23. Sorry, All Lines Are Jammed
24. Wau (Wow!)
25. I Don't Know What I'm Feeling
26. You Need Something to Peg the Story On
Part VI: The Striptease
27. Everybody Must Get Stoned
28. Photo-Realism, the "Real" Picture, and the Ingathering
29. The Striptease
Part VII: The Mother of All Battles
30. What the Hell Am I Doing?
31. The Sealed Room
32. The Striptease, Take 2
Epilogue
33. The Old Man
34. War on Another Front
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I: There's a New Kid in Town
1. The Burning Bush
2. Reorienting
3. Crossing the Bridge
4. Ode to Abu Ammar
5. Gaza Slick
6. Photo Op
7. A Room with a View
Part II: The Moment and the Mask
8. His Majesty
9. Let's Get Some Color
10. House of Hashem
11. Up, Up, and Away
12. Private Conversations (I)
Part III: Passing Through
13. TWA Flight #847
14. Exile
15. Cruising
16. Caviar, Khat, and Cover Pix
Part IV: Inside Terror, Inc.
17. Dance into Darkness
18. Journalists Are Used to Danger
19. He Who Builds
20. Private Conversations (II)
21. Promise Me I Won't Be Touched
22. Lebanon
Part V: Travels in Sudan
23. Sorry, All Lines Are Jammed
24. Wau (Wow!)
25. I Don't Know What I'm Feeling
26. You Need Something to Peg the Story On
Part VI: The Striptease
27. Everybody Must Get Stoned
28. Photo-Realism, the "Real" Picture, and the Ingathering
29. The Striptease
Part VII: The Mother of All Battles
30. What the Hell Am I Doing?
31. The Sealed Room
32. The Striptease, Take 2
Epilogue
33. The Old Man
34. War on Another Front