Deadliners Club
Posted by David Duhr in 
On Tuesday a couple dozen Austinites forewent the State of the Union to come to WBN for a panel discussion on the state of tyranny against photojournalists. “No Photography: Dealing With Obstruction” was the first in the new Deadliners Club, an occasional journalism discussion series presented by WBN and PWA, and moderated by writer Alex Hannaford.
The event was well-covered by our friends over at CultureMap Austin. You can also watch a recording of the discussion in its entirety over at USStream (the panel begins at the 18-minute mark).
Future Deadliners topics will include border security and the 2011 Bastrop wildfires. Stay tuned here, or at the new (and under construction) Deadliners website.
And feel free to send us your own ideas for discussion topics.
For those of you who joined us Tuesday night, we’d like to offer this post as a forum for further discussion. From Caitlin Ryan’s CultureMap Austin piece:
“A roomful of different experiences between panelists and writers eventually gave way to a show of different opinions. One audience member suggested Rosenfield ‘caved in’ by showing his photos to authorities, stating that the press was the last bastion of democracy. Because of Deadliner’s open forum, Rosenfield was able to share his different perspective: He had a choice between showing what he knew to be benign photos to the police and then making his deadline, or refusing and then missing the opportunity to publish an important story altogether.”
How do you feel about the suggestion that Rosenfield “caved in” by handing over his photos to the authorities? How do you think you would have reacted in his situation?
Regarding this idea of compliance, at one point Rainwaters said, “Your smile and your personality will take you further than anything else.” I.e., relating to the authorities on a human level is a good way to keep a situation from escalating.
Have you had any experiences during which this has proven true? Proven untrue? Please share below.