I have decided to step down from my position as Director of Video at The Los Angeles Times. It was a difficult decision to make.
Journalism of the highest caliber continues to be practiced at the LA Times on an hourly basis by a staff of amazing visual journalists and writers. My time at the organization was filled with challenges, excitement and incredible experiences. I learned more than I thought I ever would.
But despite my happiness, I began to miss documentary filmmaking.
As a documentary filmmaker, I have been privileged to report, photograph and witness some of the most important stories and topics over the past decade. I have filmed in extremist mosques in Pakistan weeks after the attacks on September 11th, covered the invasion of Iraq as a unilateral journalist, followed a wounded U.S. soldier home to Pennsylvania, reported on ethnic tensions in northern Iraq, told the story of America’s secret war in Laos, covered various parts of the war in Afghanistan and have followed an artist placing a sculpture on a rocky outcropping in Iceland to honor an extinct bird.
Filmmaking and storytelling is my passion. Documentary filmmaking now faces an unclear future, and as I follow my passion to make films, I will be continuing the search for sustainability in visual storytelling. It has been a true honor to help guide a talented staff of video journalists at the LA Times over the past two and a half years, but it was time once again to return to the field.
While looking for a story about climate change in North America, photographer Nina Berman stumbled upon a tiny subject with a huge impact. The Mountain Pine Beetle is an 8 mm-long (about 1/3 of an inch) insect that is killing millions of acres of forest across Canada and the northern United States. Continue reading »
DOCUMENTARY FILM TO BE DISTRIBUTED VIA NEWSPAPER – Gannett has announced that its newspapers will distribute one million copies of a documentary film made by the organization The Smile Train, which helps children in developing countries. The film, “Smile Pinki”, follows Pinki, a young girl in rural India whose life is transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip. The Smile Train’s mission is to help very poor children in developing countries who are suffering from cleft lip. Continue reading »
NEW YORK TIMES ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF SAN FRANCISCO SECTION – The New York Times has announced that it will begin publishing pages with local content in the San Francisco Bay area Fridays and Sundays.

According to a site comparison for the month of September on Compete.com, Huffington Post has surpassed both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post in unique online visitors. Continue reading »
Stephen Farrell, a correspondent for The New York Times held hostage by militant for four days, has been freed in a commando raid in northern Afghanistan. His interpreter, Sultan Munadi, and a British commando were reportedly killed during the operation. Continue reading »
REPORT SAYS NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED – The German Press Agency dpa is reporting that an unidentified New York Times journalist visiting the site of the deadly NATO airstrike has been kidnapped along with his interpreter. ***UPDATE: Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal blog is reporting that the kidnapped reporter is Stephen Farrell. Continue reading »