Labor alliance honors David Bacon

Last night, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance    (APALA) honored writer, photographer, and labor organizer David Bacon with its Humanitarian Award at a scholarship dinner and celebration. The evening’s them: “Continuing the Legacy: Immigrant Rights, Worker Rights and Economic Rights.”

David-Bacon-on-farm-e1369248415870Bacon, a member of the Guild freelance unit, uses his reporting skills as an instrument for social change. He has shed the illusion of journalistic objectivity and uses his pen and camera to give voice to migrant workers who are the hidden victims of an indifferent global economy.

“Many of you know David as a photographer or a writer,” said Katie Quan, deputy chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, in her introduction. “I know him as a labor organizer.”

Bacon invited the fluently bilingual Quan to join him in a door-to-door campaign organizing workers for the molders union — many of them monolingual Chinese speakers. Bacon, Quan and Bacon’s wife Lillian Galedo, executive director of Filipino Advocates for Justice, have remained good friends.

If the AFL-CIO was not always amenable to immigration reform, it is now, in large part thanks to Bacon’s relentless efforts, she said.

He has been an organizer for the United Farm Workers, the United Electrical Workers,, the International Ladies Garment Workers and the International Moldeers and Allied Workers. He edited the California AFL-CIO News and the Contra Costa CLC Labor News.

He has been a powerful voice for the voiceless — notably, for migrant workers. At a time when all major daily newspapers but the New York Times have slashed their labor coverage, Bacon reports on the work place, and the impact of the global economy on workers. His books include “Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants” (Beacon Press, 2008), “The Children of Nafta” (UC Press, 2004), and “Communities without Borders” (Cornell University Press, 2006). His newest effort, coming out later this year, is “The Right to Stay Home,” proposes alternatives to displacing communities in Central America and criminalizing the newcomers when they arrive in the U.S.

“No one is illegal,” he told the audience.

Today, immigrants from Nigeria, China and other lands “are being fired for working,” he said. “Where are these people going to go? They could become day laborers, domestic workers. The consequences ripple on down.”

Bacon shared a shout-out to his wife, who he said has been an unflagging source of inspiration and support throughout his career.

Read more about David Bacon in a profile by Guild Freelancer John Geluardi.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Record turnout for Spring Training

by Rebecca Rosen Lum

Sometimes the most important thing a radio journalist can do is not to talk at all.

Ken Kobré led a packed session. (Sara Steffens)

Ken Kobré led a packed session. (Sara Steffens)

Shooting video with an iPhone? Record interviews in the car — or better still, the closet.

As for magazine writing, a quick trip to New York to bond with editors over lunch (your treat) can pay off handsomely in assignments.

Participants gathered these and many more tips at the 2013 Spring Training for Journalists Saturday, held for the first time at San Francisco State University in partnership with the SFSU Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism.

A record 133 people turned out for the annual event, and many presenters stuck around to sit in on breakout sessions and listen to a keynote address by noted Bay Area journalist Carol Pogash.

Did you attend? Take our survey.

And why not, with presenters like Raul Ramirez, executive director of news and public affairs at KQED, investigative reporter and author Seth Rosenfeld, multi-award-winning health reporter Laurie Udesky and visual journalist (and Emmy nominee) Carrie Ching.

“Brilliant event from beginning to end,” participant Diane Harrigan said in an online post. “As a visual storyteller, I was especially interested in Mike Kepka‘s ‘Digital Storytelling on Deadline.’ Attendees received a rare look into the world of this award-winning genius . . .  Solid advice and tips and tricks from the master.”

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Great lineup for 2013 Spring Training

Davia Nelson, one of NPR's The Kitchen Sisters, shows how to get a subject to open up in the course of an audio interview at the 2010 Spring Training for Journalists.

Davia Nelson of NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters demonstrates her technique at the 2010 Spring Training.

Be there Saturday, May 4 when Guild Freelancers throws its annual Spring Training for Journalists — an upbeat, daylong event that provides independent media workers with a rich palette of ideas and skills (You’ll find a detailed schedule at the end of this post).

Breakout sessions will hold a special appeal to freelancers, but also offer much of value to newsroom staffers and students, including:

  • Breaking into radio with Ben Trefny (KALW), Raul Ramirez (KQED) and Queena Kim (Marketplace)
  • Cell phone videojournalism with Ken Kobré
  • Advanced FOIA and public records, with Seth Rosenfeld (“Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power“)
  • Creating great visuals, with Carrie Ching, formerly senior producer of multi-media for the Center for Investigative Reporting
  • Getting work into magazines, with editors of  CaliforniaAfarSan Francisco, and California Lawyer
  • Multimedia on the cheap with Pulitzer Prize winner Kim Komenich
  • and much more.

Journalist and master of many media Carol Pogash will keynote with “The Unscripted Life,” or how a longtime Examiner staffer surprised herself and became a successful freelancer.

This year, we have a new partner — San Francisco State University’s Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism — and a new location: the SFSU main campus (Humanities Building, 3rd floor) at 1600 Holloway Ave.

Register now.

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Audio, Career Development, Events & Workshops, New Media, Photography, Print, Visual Storytelling, Writing & Reporting