Exploring Ethical Journalism Practices: An Interview with Ambassador Charles Ray
Mfundo Msimango, HBCU-ACC Secretary | 10 April 2023
Ambassador Charles Ray was a guest speaker to
the HBCU-Africa Correspondents Corps. Prior
to his retirement from the foreign service, he
served as the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia and
Zimbabwe.
What are the best ways for student journalists to approach
senior government officials with interview requests?
The best way to approach senior government officials is to find the email address of the agency protocol office and query them with your name, affiliation, and the reason you wish to interview the official. For retired officials, it’s a bit more difficult unless you know what organizations they might be affiliated with. In my case, for example, I am chair of the Africa
Program of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and can be contacted by completing the Press Contact form [on its website]. It’s helpful if you are as detailed as possible in your query regarding the specific areas you have questions about.
What are the expectations that senior government officials
have of student journalists when they are conducting
interviews? Are they different from those of seasoned
journalists?
Most senior officials will not expect student journalists to be as savvy as a seasoned journalist, but they will nonetheless expect the same degree of professionalism, e.g., understanding the rules on things like off the record, not for attribution, etc. They will also expect professional demeanor and conduct, such as being properly dressed, being on time, etc.
What are the ethical and moral challenges that student
journalists might encounter when interviewing senior
government officials? How should they mitigate them?
The challenges, really, are the same that journalists face when interviewing any subject. Being honest with your questions and intent (there are some minor exceptions when doing investigative pieces), and being honest about what you plan to write. Also, honoring commitments. For example, if you’re told something ‘off the record,’ to help you better understand a situation, you must not use that information in your article.
How should a student journalist prepare to conduct a one-on-one interview with a senior government official on national security or foreign policy? Are there any tricks of the trade?
Prepare your questions well in advance. Many officials will, in fact, ask for the questions in advance of the interview date, so they can be prepared with the appropriate information, get the required clearances and approvals, etc. Have an idea of how you plan to write your article, and prepare your questions accordingly. If during the interview, an answer causes you to think of a question that wasn’t on your list, explain that and ask it, keeping in mind
that the interviewee is under no obligation to answer. As a student journalist, my advice is to avoid ‘gotcha’ questions, no matter how tempting it might be. This is a good way to get an interview terminated and your name flagged as someone not to talk to in the future. Tricks of the trade? Listen actively and take good notes. If you wish to record, get the interviewee’s okay in advance. If you’re told no recording devices—which is often the case in some government offices—honor that restriction, and use your mind and a sharp pencil.
Don’t be afraid to ask for a repeat of anything you didn’t catch clearly, to make sure you get it right.
There are a lot of competing needs when it comes to
conducting interviews with senior government officials (e.g.,
privacy; security; transparency; openness; truthfulness). How
should student journalists balance those needs?
The same way you would with a relative or friend, or any other person. In interviews with government officials, you’ll be told if something impinges on security, so honor that, as there are legal implications to dealing with classified or sensitive information. Everyone is entitled to personal privacy, even public officials to a degree (although less than a private citizen). Be solicitous of your interviewee’s privacy and you’ll earn their respect and gratitude. As to transparency, openness, and truthfulness, these are things that you, as a journalist, should always be.
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Let’s make room for everyone
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Black History Month – US Consul General, Ho Chi Minh City
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Charles Ray Meets Demand For New Westerns With “Badge For Hire”
January 17, 2024|Authors, DSP Articles
For many authors, one series is enough and keeps them extremely busy each month. For Charles Ray, four or five series at one time is no sweat at all. Each month Charles turns out a new book for each of his Western series—and today we will see the release of “Badge For Hire,” the latest book in his “Adventures of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves.” Tomorrow, perhaps, we will see the release of a new book in his “Caleb Johnson: Mountain Man” series. It’s all go in the world of Charles Ray, from managing many of the authors involved in the “Gone To Texas” series through to co-writing a horror series. He’s just a one-man band of achievement, and after reading “Badge For Hire” you will see that he doesn’t just produce—he produces the best quality material. That’s why he consistently ranks within the top one hundred bestselling Western novels—usually towards the top of the list too. What can we say? He’s one of the most talented and you’ll love “Badge For Hire.”
What Is “Badge For Hire” About?
Bass is given a stack of warrants for fugitives to capture, but this time there’s a difference. One of the fugitives is a deputy marshal suspected of accepting bribes to look the other way for an outlaw gang. Bass, a strong believer in following the law, feels that lawmen should be held to an even higher standard than everyone else, and even though there’s no reward for bringing in the crooked deputy, he’s happy to take the case. The law might not be perfect, he thinks, but it’s a lot better than no law at all, and when those charged with enforcing the law fail to respect it, it’s getting too close to there being no law.
Along with his friend, Henry Lone Tree, Bass and his posse roam Indian Territory from the Creek Nation to Fort Sill and the Comanche/Kiowa Nation, rounding up those who would walk on the wrong side of the law.
Where Can I Get My Copy?
“Badge For Hire” is available now from Amazon!
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Don’t blame AI
Since the launch of Chat-GPT, followed by several clones, mimics, improvements, and other artificial intelligence (AI) applications, there’s been a raft of articles and editorials on the subject, some of them going so far as to present doomsday scenarios, predicting that if unchecked AI will take over the world and destroy us. On the less frantic, but no less of a hair-on-fire attitude, are predictions that AI will make certain human workers obsolete, and will retard learning because students will no longer know how to do research or even write their own essays.
Now, there is a certain amount of validity to the latter two opinions. There are likely to be some jobs that are better, more efficiently and cheaply done by AI rather than humans. But I predict that these will be the drudge, number crunching jobs that most humans hate doing anyway, and a computer can crunch numbers faster and more accurately than the smartest human. There will still be, though, a requirement for humans to make the decisions about what to do with those crunched numbers. As for the impact on students, if educators abdicate their responsibility to set clear standards and requirements and monitor their students’ activities, there could be situations where students ‘let the AI do it,’ thus not acquiring research and communication skills of their own. I teach online graduate courses in geopolitics, for example, and I use AI for baseline grading—with extensive manual input from me—which frees me to focus on students having problems, and to have the time to carefully review their written assignments. I forbid my students from using AI to write their essays, and caution them when using AI to do research to verify everything the AI provides them, preferably with at least one or two non-AI sources. Properly used, AI can be an aid in compiling sources for further study, and for establishing outlines of projects.
Because AI, like human researchers, is pulling the information it provides from Internet searches, it can sometimes be wrong, just as a human researcher who doesn’t try to verify what pops up on the screen in a search can be wrong. A good example in the news recently was Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer having to admit that in a court filing he submitted some phony legal cases that had been provided by an AI. You can’t blame the AI for this. Depending on how he worded his search, it provided relevant cases that it found in searching the Internet, but the Internet is like an open shelf, anyone with a computer can put anything on it. If you grab things off the shelf without examining them closely, you—or the AI—just might get the wrong thing.
So, let’s stop blaming the AI for things going wrong. AI is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used or misused. Don’t blame the tool, blame the mechanic.
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The Phenomenon Of Western Hitmaker Charles Ray
December 14, 2023|Authors, DSP Articles
The year 2023 has been an exceptional one for Western hitmaker Charles Ray. His books have continued to please Western readers around the world, with many of them placing inside the top one hundred bestseller chart and putting smiles on the faces of fans of Old West fiction. His philosophy of using a “rotation” strategy to bring readers three different books each month, continuing his three most successful series, has proven to be a solid strategy and only one that an author of immense concentration, drive and charisma could pull off.
“Texas Ranger J.D. Pettit,” “Jacob Blade: Vigilante,” and “Caleb Johnson: Mountain Man” are all booming brands for Ray, with readers constantly waiting for the next book in the series. The work that Charles puts into these series make them must-read, addictive reading.
Hard work makes for a lot of the Ray success—he’s always working on that next book. Rarely a week goes by without a new Charles Ray adventure, and readers love that consistency. Often we get emails asking about the next Caleb Johnson—his most popular series—and we can always assure the reader that the next adventure is literally just around the corner.
Even with his own busy personal schedule, he manages to keep his readers entertained—and in a business where people’s personal lives often intrude into their writing lives, Charles shines as an example of separating his writing from his business life, never letting either down.
So, what is next for Charles Ray? Well, more of the same, of course. In 2024, he will continue his rotation. As long as the world keeps spinning, we will keep seeing brand new adventures from the very talented Mr. Ray. In fact, there’s one on the way right now—“Rusty Rhodes: Bounty Hunter: The Bone Wars.” You see, as this article was written, he wrote another book!
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Writers and imposter phenomenon
Many successful and talented people, especially women, minorities, and people from underprivileged backgrounds suffer from a condition called imposter phenomenon. This is a condition where sufferers feel that they are frauds, that their success is not deserved and, at any minute they will be unmasked for the failures that they really are.
Writers often suffer from this condition regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic background. It hits really hard writers who have achieved early publication but then hit a patch of rejection slip after rejection slip before again achieving publication on a regular basis, and sometimes even a degree of notoriety.
While I’ve never been on the New York Times or USA Today bestsellers’ list, and probably never will be, I’ve established myself as a fairly consistent writer with a long backlist of books and a sizeable steady readership. But I’ve also suffered imposter phenomenon. Took me a while to get over it too.
Let me tell you how I did it.
My first work of fiction was published when I was 12 or 13. My high school English teacher talked me into entering a national Sunday school magazine short story contest and I won. My very first byline, and in a national publication no less. I was hooked on writing. But my next publication didn’t come until I was 18, and I got a poem published in a newspaper, the European edition of Stars and Stripes. I also had the occasional newspaper article published, and every now and then a travel or historical article published in a magazine, including some well-known national publications.
Despite all this, I was reluctant to call myself a writer. Whoever heard of a poor Black kid from a one-horse town in East Texas being a writer? In addition, I was getting enough rejection slips for my efforts at fiction to cover a wall.
This went on for years until I finally decided to hell with it, and I ventured into independent publishing and put out a mystery novel. That first book sold all of ten copies, but it sold, so I kept going. I expanded to historical fiction and did a few on the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth US Cavalry. Those sold better. One volume sold 800 copies the first weekend after I published it.
I was still reluctant to call myself a writer.
While doing research for my Buffalo Soldier stories, I came across references to Bass Reeves, an African American former slave who was hired as a deputy US marshal in 1875. After doing some research, I wrote a fictionalized account of his life, Frontier Justice: Bass Reeves, Deputy US Marshal. This was a few years before the rest of the world discovered this fascinating character, and the book sold well—still does after more than 10 years.
At this point, believe it or not, I’m still not calling myself a writer, fearing that someone will point out that I’m really no such thing, and the sales I’m getting are just flukes.
All this, mind you, while some of my acquaintances are calling me a writer, and I’m even hired to do a summer writing workshop for college seniors in an international relations program. I’d also by this time been interviewed at least four times by online bloggers who did interviews with writers—hint, hint.
When I was approached by a western publisher who heard one of the interviews and asked if I’d consider writing for his firm, I began to wonder if maybe I should start calling myself a writer. When a second publisher approached me with a better offer, I finally had the nerve to say ‘writer’ when someone asked me what I did. I even had calling cards made up with ‘Author’ under my name, and set up an author’s website, https://www.charlesray-author.com. To leave no doubt in peoples’ minds, I also added a couple of sentences to my CV, indicating that since retiring from government service, I’d turned to writing among other interests.
Imposter phenomenon wasn’t cured overnight. I was still reluctant to call myself a writer even after giving people my business card. Then, at a lunch one day where the speaker was introduced as someone who had three published books, and one of my table mates scoffed and said to our other companions, “What’s the big deal? Charlie here has more than fifty published books,” I realized that my fear of being exposed as a fraud was invalid. Other people thought of me as a writer, and not a bad one at that, according to my friend that day, so why couldn’t I do the same?
Well, since that day, that’s exactly what I’ve done. And, you know what, I’ve never felt better about myself.
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How Can State Governments Mitigate Climate Change?
Image design by Vinicius Tavares for DWF. All rights reserved.
Are Electric Vehicle Mandates a Feasible Solution to Address Climate Change?
By Wayne Winegarden, Senior Fellow, Business and Economics, Pacific Research Institute, and Charles Ray, Former U.S. Ambassador; Chair of the Africa Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Positive Innovation Incentives Can Mitigate Climate Change
By Wayne Winegarden – Sr. Fellow, Business and Economics, Pacific Research Institute
Global climate change is a critical problem. But that does not mean any given policy implemented in its name is effective or creates a net benefit for society. Priority number one for state and local governments is recognizing this reality.
The default response of many policymakers is to mandate outcomes regardless of their feasibility, costs, or whether they will meaningfully address global climate change. California’s mandate that all new cars sold by 2035 be electric vehicles exemplifies this faulty approach. Electric vehicle (EV) mandates are strong on symbolism but technologically questionable, economically costly, and environmentally unsound.
Are the Costs Associated With EVs Worth the Benefits?
Technologically, whether it is the shortage of the necessary rare earth elements, lack of charging infrastructure, or physical limitations, EVs are not ready to replace internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Perhaps they will one day but perhaps never. Even if EVs were ready, the electric grid is not, and it is unreasonable to assume that the current infrastructure can generate sufficient electricity to meet future demand.
Economically, EVs are much more expensive than ICE vehicles. According to recent estimates, the average price of a new EV is $58,940, which is more expensive than the $48,008 average price of a new gas-powered car. Simply put, EVs are not an affordable option for most Americans.
Further, the claim that EVs are cheaper to operate is only correct if electricity is inexpensive. Accounting for other mandates, such as California’s requirement that electricity generation be 100% renewable (e.g., wind and solar power) by 2045, it is unlikely that electricity will remain affordable (or reliable). The EV mandate will, consequently, worsen the affordability problems already afflicting too many families. Then there are the environmental concerns. Building the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs requires mining for rare earth elements. This production emits more greenhouse gases (GHG) than the average gas-powered car. Coupled with the pollution created by rare earth mines, EVs are neither clean nor zero emission.
From a broader policy perspective, the EV example demonstrates that every policy involves trade-offs. EVs release zero emissions while being used. However, they discharge more emissions to build, cost more, have performance limitations, and their production and disposal create environmental issues. Are EV costs worth the benefits? The answer is still unclear. But mandating EVs forces this technology solution on society regardless of the answer.
Focus on Market-Driven Incentives and Innovation
Instead of focusing on unrealistic government mandates, priority number two for state and local governments should be to develop incentives. They should implement policies that incentivize entrepreneurs and businesses to develop the desired innovations that reduce GHG emissions when measured on a lifecycle basis. The government can encourage the development of these innovations by providing broad-based, technologically-neutral incentives for entrepreneurs and businesses that produce and sell verified low-emission technologies.
One potential incentive could be marginal tax rate reductions for qualified innovations. Consider New Jersey, which levies the country’s highest corporate income tax rate. Combined with the federal tax rate, corporate income taxes take 30% of New Jersey companies’ profits.
If the profits from the sales of qualified low-emission technologies were exempted from federal and state corporate income taxes, the potential return for entrepreneurs developing the qualifying low-emission innovations would increase by nearly 43%. Such a major improvement in potential returns would incentivize more people to develop the desired innovations that will lower GHG emissions in an economically viable manner. Innovators would only earn the income tax exemption if consumers purchased their products, which ensures that only low emission, market-valued innovations will benefit.
Mandates Are Not The GHG Solution
Potential incentives are not limited to corporate income taxes. Governments could offer property tax relief, regulatory preferences, and/or preferred capital expensing benefits. The policy goal should be to increase the relative returns of the desired innovations comparable to other investment options. This increase would create the necessary incentives to encourage innovation among entrepreneurs and businesses.
Current GHG mandates are merely symbolic gestures. What we truly need to address global climate change is innovation. The belief that policymakers in state capitols know which innovations will sustainably remake the entire U.S. energy infrastructure or that policymakers can mandate a desired technological revolution by casting a vote is wrongheaded. State and local governments can best address the problem of global climate change by empowering the ingenuity of millions of Americans to develop the necessary climate change advances.
Mitigating Climate Change Requires a Holistic Approach
By Charles Ray – Former U.S. Ambassador; Chair of the Africa Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Climate change is an existential threat with the potential to have catastrophic effects on the habitability of the planet. Continued inaction in addressing the factors driving climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, risks triggering tipping points that will irreversibly changes in the planet’s climate. Some tipping points, such as sea-level rise, will become permanent even if all emissions are ended. Researchers are already seeing disturbing changes, such as the rate at which Greenland’s ice sheet is melting and the amount of carbon emitted from the Amazon’s deforestation is occurring well before the predicted 1.5 degree Celsius increase in average global temperature is reached.
There is no one action or law that can effectively address the mitigation of climate change. Instead, we need to take a creative and holistic approach to the problem, recognizing that crossing a tipping point threshold in one part of the climate system can very well impact another tipping element.
Long-Term Savings Of EVs Outweigh Internal Combustion Vehicles
The California case offers an example of the need to approach the issue holistically. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a roadmap that all new cars and light trucks sold in the state will be zero-emission vehicles by 2035, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (EVs). Other states have also established targets to phase out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. However, California’s law, which is under review by the EPA, is the most aggressive to date.
Not surprisingly, pushback to the ICE phase-out is expected from the fossil fuel energy industry. The big hurdle to its effective implementation, though, will come from consumers. In a 2022 report, CARB reported that many people opposed EVs because of the high costs, limited charging stations, and lack of familiarity with the technology.
Overcoming these potential hurdles will require federal and state governments to implement broad public information campaigns about the benefits of moving from ICE to EV. As Mr. Winegarden notes, EV initial purchase costs are higher than ICE. However, as the manufacture and sales of EVs increase, the average price is likely to decrease. Volkswagen predicts EV prices will reach parity with ICE by 2025. BloombergNEF’s head of advanced transport thinks they could be cheaper by 2026.
The purchase price, however, is not the only cost of owning a vehicle that consumers must be concerned with. The costs for fuel and maintenance, for example, can be significant over time. According to Car and Driver, “The EPA estimates that the electric Kia EV6, for instance, would cost $550 to fuel over a year while the gas-powered Kia K5 would cost $1,950 to fuel… based on driving 15,000 miles per year and current fuel and electricity prices.” This data assumes that all charging happens at home, which is substantially cheaper. If all charging occurs at public fast-charging facilities (an unlikely scenario), the EV fuel cost will increase to $1,850 per year, almost equal to gas-powered ICE, assuming no increases in gas prices. Because electric motors require less routine care than gasoline engines, the cost to maintain an EV over five years is around one third of the cost to maintain an equivalent gas-powered car.
While rare-earth mining to obtain the elements for the production of EVs does have a negative climate impact, so does fossil fuel extraction. Regardless of the substance being mined for, companies must be required to take action to minimize environmental degradation. More government oversight of the mining process can also reduce environmental harm.
A Multifaceted Approach Is Required
As far as consumer demand is concerned, in the short term, there’s probably little that federal or state governments can do in a car-centered culture like the United States. Expanding public transportation in urban and rural areas and lowering the cost of individual EVs in the short term might dampen the use of personal vehicles. There will be objections to ICE bans, but the availability of public transport can help address opposition. Since transportation accounts for 37% of global carbon emissions, increased public transportation could help reduce emissions. Government can also help the transportation sector transition to producing cleaner, more environmentally friendly means of transportation.
The government needs to make mass transit more convenient and available and incentivize its use. And it must incentivize the power generation and transportation sectors to reduce their carbon footprints and create a plan to remove legacy ICE from use. The business sector must devote more resources to the transition to green energy and focus less on profit maximization. Individuals need to take action to reduce carbon-emitting consumption in our households and lifestyles. This is especially true of the 1% richest of the global population which accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than the poorest 50%.
The use of fossil fuels causes over 75% of greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. Efforts to mitigate the dangers of climate change and global warming must be multifaceted and innovative. Emissions come from power generation, manufacturing, deforestation, transportation, food production, and individual consumption. Each of these areas has to be addressed if we’re to have effective mitigation.
No single piece of legislation will do, nor can a single agency or institution achieve the level of mitigation that would make a difference. This is not to argue that legislation, including the current California legislation, is unnecessary. It’s just that more is required from government, the corporate sector, and private individuals. Mitigating climate change is key to human survival, and it is incumbent on everyone to do their part.
Addressing Climate Change Requires Creative Thinking
By Wayne Winegarden – Sr. Fellow, Business and Economics, Pacific Research Institute
We agree that creative thinking is the sine qua non for addressing global climate change. However, Mr. Ray’s approach is unable to cultivate the necessary creativity. Mandates and subsidies discourage the innovation and free thinking required to usher in a more sustainable and prosperous future.
Government education campaigns that tout the supposed benefits of alternative energy are the antithesis of creativity. They’re akin to an education campaign touting the benefits of a BlackBerry device prior to the introduction of the iPhone. EVs and the technologies behind wind and solar power are remarkable. But like BlackBerrys, they have limitations. The difference is that the limitations of alternative energies can harm people and the environment.
Locating solar power generation in the desert where sufficient electricity can be generated often kills wildlife and damages the environment. Offshore wind turbines, the most efficient but highest-cost wind technology, harm coastal marine ecosystems. Both technologies require hundreds of billions of dollars of new infrastructure investments to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity.
More disconcerting, by forcing consumers to purchase the figurative BlackBerry devices of the alternative energy industry, the mandates discourage the creation of alternative energy’s version of the far superior smartphone technology. These innovations, which don’t yet exist, are necessary to address climate change without impoverishing millions of American families.
Governments cannot mandate technologies that haven’t yet been invented into existence. But requiring that consumers use more expensive, less reliable energy systems can stymie the creativity necessary to sustainably address global climate change.
Creative Approaches Require Positive Thinking
By Charles Ray – Former U.S. Ambassador; Chair of the Africa Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute
I find myself agreeing in large part with Mr. Winegarden’s position, but I’m not totally convinced. He is right in his assertion, for instance, that solar installations and offshore wind turbines can cause environmental harm. But he fails to mention the damage to the environment resulting from the production of fossil fuels, such as the air and water pollution from fracking and the destruction of ecosystems from coal mining. There is also the damage to marine ecosystems from oil spills. In 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers died and 4 million barrels of oil spilled from the damaged well before it was capped. Rare earth mining, like any other mining, can harm the environment. Yet, some harm can be mitigated with effort and government urging.
The government’s public education programs relating to climate are sometimes less than effective. Rather than ignore or abandon them, state and federal governments need to work on improvements to counter the decades of anti-climate change messaging from the fossil fuel industry. This communication has moved from outright denial of climate change to efforts to confuse the public about the climate crisis and its solutions. Mitigating climate change requires not just creative thinking but also positive thinking. It’s not a problem that will be solved overnight, but negativity can cause us to dither and delay until it’s too late.
If you enjoyed this article, please make sure to like, comment, and share below. You can also read more from our All Politics is Local series here.
Wayne Winegarden
Dr. Winegarden is a Sr. Fellow in Business and Economics with the Pacific Research Institute and the Principal of Capitol Economic Advisors. His research examines the economic implications from regulatory, fiscal, health, and energy policies. Dr. Winegarden’s editorials have been published in outlets such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, and the Hill. Dr. Winegarden received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.
Charles Ray
Charles Ray retired from the US Foreign Service in 2012 after a 30-year career. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he spent 20 years in the US Army. During his 30 years in the Foreign Service, he was posted to China, Thailand, Sierra Leona, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Zimbabwe. He served as deputy chief of mission in Sierra Leone, was the first US consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and served as ambassador to Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Since his retirement from public service in 2012, he has been a full-time freelance writer, lecturer, and consultant, and has done research on leadership and ethics. He is the author of more than 200 books of fiction and nonfiction. Ray is a trustee and chair of the Africa Program of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
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Banned Chinese-born author Geling Yan publishes again in Chinese – outside China
June 27, 2023, Berlin, Germany
Chinese-born author Geling Yan 嚴歌苓 has suffered under an informal ban on her work by the Chinese government since March 2020, when she wrote and promulgated an essay criticizing the Chinese government’s initial actions after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic:
English：
https://paper-republic.org/pubs/read/hide-hide-hide/
Chinese：
https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/145708
Her credit from a major motion picture by Zhang Yimou, One Second, the leitmotiv of which was based on her novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi, was even ordered removed by the Chinese government:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/movies/zhang-yimou-movie.html
https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188075
Chinese Independent PEN stood in solidarity with her:
https://www.chinesepen.org/english/she-is-not-alone-a-joint-statement#more-8754
…and awarded her its “Freedom Prize for Writing” for 2022:
https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188421
https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188465
Since her ban, Ms. Yan has continued to write and create, but she has had no outlet for her publication or film projects in China. As a result, she and her husband, Lawrence A. Walker 王樂仁，have set up a publishing and film production company in Berlin, Germany, where they reside: New Song Media GmbH.
The company’s mission is stated here: https://www.newsongmedia.de/about
The company has just published Ms. Yan’s first novel in Chinese outside Greater China: Milati 米拉帝。It is now available as a print book and an e-book on online booksellers’ websites and will soon be available in Chinese-language bookstores.
Amazon.com:
Amazon Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/Milati-Traditional-Chinese-Geling-Yan-ebook/dp/B0C8GYT988?ref_=ast_author_dp
Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/milati-geling-yan/1143650968?ean=9783910769014
Multiple print and e-book booksellers:
https://books2read.com/u/b5WD81
The book, also available in a deluxe collectors’ edition co-published with World Chinese Weekly Publishing Company Inc.（世界华人周刊出版集团） will be launched at an event in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on July 9, also including the launch of works by the poet Yang Lian 楊煉 and his wife, the novelist and painter Yoyo 友友：
The event will be held in Chinese, so the information about it is mostly in Chinese:
严歌苓、杨炼、友友温哥华首场读者见面会
- 时间：2023年7月9日下午13:30–17:45
- 地点：Norman Rothstein Theater.
- 地址：950 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver BC，Canada V5Z 2N7
- 门票：50加元
- 订票电话：604-762-2572，13910272918（可加此微信或支付宝账号付款）
CIBC bank e-transfer：1065780000@qq.com
多一点信息在这里
Ms. Yan will also have a solo event at the Central Library of the Vancouver Public Library on 13 July:
Public speaking event with Yan Geling at Vancouver Public Library, Central Library,
350 West Georgia St., Vancouver V6B 6B1
Thursday, 13 Julyfrom 5 to 6:30 pm.
More information here
https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/648b9520023dc43e0086a9cb
We welcome media inquiries, coverage, attendance, and questions.
Contact person: Lawrence A. Walker
