I won’t get into the backstory of working this piece, because my co-reporter Theodore May has already done so (very well, I might add) on the GlobalPost blog.

Instead, let me give a shout-out to Mohamed Effat, our amazing fixer and translator on the story.  Mohamed worked around the clock to make sure that Theo and I got the access we needed to tell this story.  His connections at the FIFA U-20 World Cup worked wonders to get us onto the field at Cairo Stadium after a warmup game between Egypt and Venezuela.   Read the rest of this entry »

The soundbites above are from interviews I shot for Al-Jazeera English.  I shot them in Rafah, Egypt a few days before Barack Obama was sworn in as president.  Here’s what AJE’s YouTube site description read: “People at the Rafah border tell Al Jazeera what their hopes and expectations for US President Barack Obama are.”

What it didn’t say is that these were shot during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, and all the interviews were conducted inside Egypt’s border terminal directly alongside Hamas-controlled Rafah in the Gaza Strip.  Some of the noise in the background includes Israeli aerial drones overhead, Gazan trucks filling with humanitarian supplies, and Egyptian ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians to hospitals.  In the first frame, you are actually looking past the Egyptian border into Gaza – an area that was hit by several rounds of artillery fire not long after that interview.

Two days ago, I had a 30-hour working day for the US election, including an all-nighter at the US Embassy sponsored election event at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Diplomats, prominent Egyptians, and the international media attended all-you-can-eat wings party, which also featured an expat rock band and an open-bar with bottles of imported Icehouse.

Almost every single person at the Hard Rock (even members of Egyptian media) were wearing Obama/Biden buttons that had been handed out at the front door.   All night long, Egyptian businessmen gave interviews to the media about how an Obama administration would bring the much-needed change to the Middle East.  In a mock vote held for Egyptians before the actual election, the attendees overwhelmingly voted for Obama (204 to 23 for McCain).  The few remaining stragglers at 6 in the morning cheered and clapped as Virginia and then the nation was called for Barack Obama.

In the video above, I produced the Egypt segment for Current TV in a package called “We Vote, World Reacts.”

I’ve talked at great length on this blog about the enormous task faced by TV producers filming news stories and documentaries in Egypt. Despite the countless Pyramid-packed programs you see on Discovery and National Geographic, producing video here is not the easiest thing. Location permits need to be obtained, cultural barriers to shooting video exist in many areas, even sand and dust can present problems for the most experienced videographers.

Nothing is impossible, but everything is bound to be a challenge.  

A few months ago, a New York-based production company came to Egypt to shoot an episode of “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations”, a cultural “cooking” show on the Travel Channel. The show’s producer summed up the scene here pretty well on the Crew’s Blog:

Government bureaucrat hell. Permits. You have them, don’t worry. Well, you might have them by next week. “Next week” I yell. “We’re shooting tomorrow.” Well, you can shoot the pyramids. Ummm, actually, no you can’t shoot the pyramids. “Forget the pyramids, can we shoot in the streets of Cairo?” You can’t shoot ANYthing on the street...Ahhhhhhhhh!

I worked on the show as a field coordinator, or fixer. My job was to set up the local contacts, scout locations, organize logistics on the ground, and essentially serve as the producer’s right-hand-man during the shoot to ensure that absolutely nothing went wrong – an important task when you’re dealing with an American film crew with limited time and a tight budget. Seem like Mission Impossible?  Yes, indeed.  Murphy’s Law exists everywhere, but in Egypt it’s not an abstract possibility – it’s a mathematical given. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no doubt that the nature of the foreign news coverage is rapidly changing.  Facing growing competition from the internet, newspapers and television stations are cutting costs by reducing their foreign bureaus and news desks.  Nowadays, news companies are relying more on stringers, wire services, and “parachute journalists”.  Out of all the American newspapers, only four – the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, and Wall Street Journal – still have at least one overseas bureau.  

It’s actually quite sad.  But it is good news if you’re a freelance journalist abroad.  

Read the rest of this entry »

The other day, I was at a small cafe on the Corniche smoking a lemon-flavored shisha with a couple of friends.  We talked while watching the sun set over the Nile River for over an hour.  Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, one of the girls I was with – who I’ve known for about 5 months – asked me, “So… what is it exactly that you do again?”

She couldn’t quite comprehend how some days I’m holed up in a dark room, editing for 20-plus hours, when other days, I take long weekends off (in the middle of the week) to lie on the Red Sea.  Or how I could just up and goto Lebanon for 10 days.  

Here’s another good story. Read the rest of this entry »

I used to like Kevin Sites. Really, I did. But that was before I read this page on his website.

For those that don’t know him, Kevin Sites is a video journalist-cum-lucky bastard who scored a gig with Yahoo News (yes, Yahoo) after a few years of freelancing in the Middle East for people like CNN. At Yahoo, Sites spent a year reporting from every war-zone in the world. In fairness, he should be praised for being one of the pioneers of solo-journalism, reporting from abroad with minimal crew and equipment.

But that was then, and this is now. These days, he’s got access to HD cameras, sat-phones, and God knows what else. And since I’m hobbling around on broken cameras and bags that have been stitched up 4-times over, I was just bitter enough to share a similar post here. This should be pretty inspirational.

And so, here’s a brief look at some of the key tools used in my “backpack journalism” unit – only the latest in digital recording and news-gathering equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

Khat is one of the biggest drugs on the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. Fresh khat, when chewed for hours at a time, gives the user a strong buzz that is supposed to induce conversation. In Yemen, something like 80% of the men and half of the women claim to have used the drug at least once – almost 50% of men surveyed in Yemen use the drug every day.

Of course, sitting around chewing an amphetamine every day will have health consequences to users. But the most serious problem with the drug in Yemen is the toll that khat farming is taking on the environment. The biggest issue is that farmers are devoting more and more land to khat – a very water intensive crop – in lieu of sorghum, wheat, or other edible crops. As a result, Yemen is importing most of its food.

This becomes a real concern with food prices rising across the world.

One of my friends was just in Yemen for a holiday, and he took my camera to shoot footage of the largest khat market in Sana’a. Together, we produced the video above for Current TV on the dangers of khat farming with soaring food prices around the Middle East.

45% of the population earns less than $2 a day making Yemen one of the poorest countries in the world. I don’t really blame people for using khat, especially when you have little else in life. I’d probably get high all day too.

But if something doesn’t change soon, this endless cycle of choosing drugs over food will spiral out of control.

The Khamaseen showed its ugly face for the first time in Cairo yesterday.  The Khamaseen is a seasonal wind that blows sand from the Sahara Desert over Egypt and other countries in the Middle East.  Everything gets covered in sand and the skies turn into an erie sepia color.  The photo above was taken yesterday at noon and wasn’t doctored at all.  

The name for these winds was derived from the Arabic word for “fifty”, and some say the weather patterns can last upwards of 50 days.  I doubt it though.  At least I hope not.  

The first scouts for the reality TV show I’ve been working on will arrive in Egypt tomorrow.   Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the good old days when a nickel could buy you and your gal a couple of root beer floats at Pop Glenn’s Soda Shop? My grandparents and even parents used to tell me stories about the days when 5 pennies could get you almost anything. Candy, food, even a one-way trip to Havava on the Pan Am Clipper out of Key West.

How about these days? What can you buy for a nickel anymore? Half a tootsie-roll? A used piece of gum? Maybe a bag of sand. A very small bag.

I’ll tell you what you can buy. A freelance writer in Egypt who knows English. That’s right – apparently, you can buy my services. Read the rest of this entry »