March 19, 2024

Video Memoirs

In its 75th anniversary year in 2014, the OPC embarked on a project to record memories of some of our most venerable members for the club’s archives.

This endeavor, funded by a Ford Foundation grant, was managed by Sonya Fry, the retired executive director of the OPC.

One of the more enjoyable parts of being director, Fry said, “was listening to the wealth of stories that journalists loved sharing.”

To capture these stories for future generations, the OPC put together full-length videos and highlights for the OPC website. Some interviews are first-person accounts of historic moments, and belong in history books. Others focus more on changes in the industry and how reporters do their jobs, and contain advice for younger reporters who want to make their mark in international news.

OPC members are sharing a wealth of information, ideas and stories both funny and tragic on these videos.

Kathy Gannon

Gannon, who is special regional correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Associated Press, speaks about her career as a journalist. She was working with Pulitzer Prize winning AP photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus when they were shot in Afghanistan while covering elections. Anja Niedringhaus was killed and Kathy Gannon was seriously wounded. OPC producer: Sonya Fry; video & editor: Lesley Topping

Richard Stolley

Stolley worked for Life and Time magazines in various roles from reporter to bureau chief and managing editor. He is the founding managing editor of People magazine and director of special projects for Time Inc. During the video, he talks about reporting on desegregation of schools in the South and violence while working for Life magazine in Atlanta.

Edith Lederer

Edith Lederer, Chief UN Correspondent for the Associated Press talks about covering Vietnam and the Gulf War. She is interviewed by John Daniszewski, Senior Managing Editor of International News for the Associated Press. OPC producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Audrey Topping – Part 1

Topping, an author and photojournalist, is interviewed by WIlliam Holstein, OPC Foundation President. In Part 1, she talks about her family’s history in China as missionaries, diplomats and journalists from 1890 to the present; photographing Chou En Lai, and the discovery of Emperor Qin’s Terra Cotta Army. OPC producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Audrey Topping – Part 2

Topping discusses covering China’s Cultural Revolution in 1966 and Tibet in 1979. OPC producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Robert Pledge

Photo editor, OPC member and awards judge Robert Pledge talks about his career, from his early work as a student of West African languages and anthropology and his entry into journalism through his deep interest in African affairs. He discusses shifts in image technology over the decades and how those developments have changed journalism and the world.

Seymour Topping and Audrey Topping – Part 1

OPC Foundation President William J. Holstein talks with Seymour Topping, journalist and author, and Audrey Topping, photojournalist and author, about China and Vietnam. OPC producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Seymour Topping and Audrey Topping – Part 2

Seymour Topping and Audrey Topping talk about their stint in Moscow in the early 60s, including the Cuban missile crisis and President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, as well as interviewing Fidel Castro and American foreign policy. OPC producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

John Morris

John Morris talks about his long career as a photo journalist, including his work for Life magazine during World War II. Morris edited the photographs of Robert Capa during the D-Day invasion in 1944.

Paris Roundtable with Jim Bittermann, Mort Rosenblum and Alan Riding

The OPC presents a roundtable discussion in Paris with Jim Bittermann, senior European correspondent for CNN since 1996; Mort Rosenblum, a University of Arizona journalism professor formerly with the Associated Press; and retired New York Times cultural correspondent Alan Riding. Vivienne Walt, who has written for Time magazine since 2003, conducted the interview.

Roy Rowan – Part 1

OPC Foundation President William J. Holstein talks with Seymour Topping, journalist and author, and Audrey Topping, photojournalist and author, about China and Vietnam. OPC Producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Roy Rowan – Part 2

Rowan recalls serving as a war correspondent for Korean War for Life. OPC Producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping

Roy Rowan – Part 3

In Part Three of this interview, Rowan talks about his story about homelessness in January 1990, in which he went undercover for two weeks to live on the streets of New York. OPC Producers: Sonya Fry, Bill Holstein;
Video & Editor: Lesley Topping