How 4 AP reporters got the story 'Seafood from Slaves'

[webfact]

How 4 AP reporters got the story 'Seafood from Slaves'
By ADAM GELLER

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press expose on slavery in Southeast Asia's fishing industry, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday, was born of a painstaking investigation by four reporters who documented the harsh treatment of fishermen held captive on a remote island and traced their catch to U.S. supermarkets and restaurants.

The stories, accompanied by photos and video showing caged men and a man weeping when reunited with the family he hadn't seen in 22 years, led to the release of more than 2,000 enslaved fishermen and other laborers. It came with substantial risk to the journalists, while posing thorny questions about how to spotlight the abuse without further endangering the captives.

The series, "Seafood from Slaves," encompassed reporting across four countries by AP journalists Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza and Esther Htusan. Building on earlier reports of forced labor in Southeast Asia's fishing industry, they worked for more than a year to delve into the harvesting and processing of inexpensive shrimp and other seafood sold in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Gathering with staffers in the organization's New York newsroom Monday, AP President Gary Pruitt and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll praised the energy and hard work required to document the slavery in detail and show how it is used to supply the food on American tables.

"It was a tour de force of reporting, and I think that what really stands out about them is their determination not to stop short until they proved it in every which way," AP International Editor John Daniszewski said.

It was the AP's first Pulitzer for public service.

After reporting through much of 2014, McDowell and Htusan traveled to the Indonesian island of Benjina, about 1,900 miles from the country's capital. The reporters found and talked with men held in a cage and interviewed other enslaved laborers at the town's port. Under cover of darkness, they pulled alongside a trawler to film captives describing their plight, before the reporters' boat was nearly rammed by an angry security guard's craft.

The laborers, poor men from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, described how they had been lured into captivity, locked up, beaten and forced to work. They pointed the reporters to a graveyard where more than 60 workers who had died had been buried under false names.

From Benjina, the AP team relied on satellite technology to track a cargo ship carrying the slave-caught seafood to Thailand, where they watched it offloaded and trucked to cold storage plants and factories. Through interviews, surveillance and shipping records, they tracked the processed seafood to the U.S., eventually pressing suppliers and retailers including Wal-Mart and restaurant chains like Red Lobster about the labor abuses.

The reporters and their editors knew they had an explosive story. But they wrestled with whether to publish immediately and put the captives at risk, or provide information to authorities and wait until the men were safe, while risking being scooped. They decided on the latter, despite the AP's longtime emphasis on reporting, not making news.

Their efforts led to the rescue and freedom of hundreds of slaves on the island and aboard ships, as well as crackdowns on Thai shrimp peeling plants staffed by captive laborers as young as 15. Mason and Htusan traveled to Myanmar to see one of the freed men reunite tearfully with his family after two decades in captivity.

McDowell said the satisfaction of seeing the laborers freed was tempered by the knowledge that many more remain enslaved. But the AP team pursued its reporting in a way that could set the stage for additional reform, she said.

"I think what we intended to do from the beginning was to ... bring as much attention to the issue as possible, and that was the reason for linking it to the American dinner table," she said. "Governments can put pressure on Thailand, human rights group can put pressure on them, labor rights organizations, but it's not until the American companies or consumers start demanding change that you start to see change."

The Indonesian government launched a criminal inquiry soon after AP published. The series, overseen by Mary Rajkumar, AP's international enterprise editor, also resulted in numerous arrests and seizures of millions of dollars in goods.

The award is the second Pulitzer for Mendoza, who was part of an AP team recognized in 2000 for "The Bridge at No Gun Ri," about the mass killings of South Korean civilians by U.S. troops at the start of the Korean War.

The AP has now won 52 Pulitzers, including a 2013 award for photographs of the civil war in Syria and a 2012 investigative prize for revealing the New York Police Department's widespread spying on Muslims.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-19

[Somtamnication]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

[scorecard]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

Also meaning that after the police had their photo-op a few months ago, now there seems to be no follow up, again.

And talking of follow up, where's the promised public announcement from the deputy national police commissioner pon.... about some substantive action re: red-bull case, merc case, and where some further reporting about the underage van killer?

As always police promise action but nothing, nothing, nothing.

Until there is a blood letting at the top of the police and some action to sideline and make ineffective the influential outsiders who obviously control the police the good Thai citizens are treated like fools and not respected at all.

Disgusting.

[geriatrickid]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

And what are you doing to help?

[boomerangutang]

Thai journalists wouldn't have broken such a story. They wouldn't have been allowed to investigate by local authorities. Coupled with that, Thai journalists are less likely to bend the rules (to probe a deeper story) than farang reporters. Plus Asians don't see it as such a big deal, when young folks are commandeered to work in slave-like conditions. If they are concerned, their next thought is: well, it's perpetrated by people who are richer and more powerful than us, so if it's not affecting my immediate family, then mai pen rai - and there's nothing I can do to ameliorate the situation anyway.

[off road pat]

Thai journalists wouldn't have broken such a story. They wouldn't have been allowed to investigate by local authorities. Coupled with that, Thai journalists are less likely to bend the rules (to probe a deeper story) than farang reporters. Plus Asians don't see it as such a big deal, when young folks are commandeered to work in slave-like conditions. If they are concerned, their next thought is: well, it's perpetrated by people who are richer and more powerful than us, so if it's not affecting my immediate family, then mai pen rai - and there's nothing I can do to ameliorate the situation anyway.

I don't know about the fact if Thai Journalists would investigate in such a story ? I know only that some Thai journalists were killed or dissipated investigating similar story's.

And not every Farang journalist would do this job to,....It takes a very special kind of journalist to investigate so extensively and It also need powerful backing !

Great job and Respect to these journalists.

Best regards.

[boomerangutang]

I agree with poster above that some Thai investigators have been killed in the line of duty. I have on file a list of 18 Thai environmentalists who were killed, just within a few years during the 1st decade of this millenium. None of the murders were investigated because (you guessed it) the perpetrators were probably VIP.

[luckyman]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

And what are you doing to help?

What stupid question is that?

[geriatrickid]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

And what are you doing to help?

What stupid question is that?

There are a number of foreigners in Thailand who are doing something about the issue. A couple used to post in TVF.

You label my question "stupid". Fine. Instead of doing a swipe and run, why not make difference? There are a small number of foreigners who make a major difference in the lives of Thais and foreigners in Thailand. Some contribute large amounts of money, and others are generous with their knowledge and time. And then we have the typical negative TVF member, dropping a statement that contributes nothing to solving the issue. So, yes, you go right ahead and label the question stupid. While you are doing that, there will be others speaking up publicly, or making an effort, making a difference, without the support of the self righteous finger wagers cadre of Thai Visa.

[jerico2017]

Slavery in Thailand, like the Japanese railroad/river kwai. Slavery is found, and guess what your country has done about it? null

What if it was a bunch of Furongs as slaves, I would guess our embassies would still do null.

There must be something Thailand has, like Saudi Arabia has in order for everyone to look the other way. I don't know what it is.

You can't say the west doesn't know either. Thailand is a very social country, most of us have engaged with a conversation with a Thai. Its just question and answer session. There are no secrets in Thailand.

[scorecard]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

And what are you doing to help?

What stupid question is that?

There are a number of foreigners in Thailand who are doing something about the issue. A couple used to post in TVF.

You label my question "stupid". Fine. Instead of doing a swipe and run, why not make difference? There are a small number of foreigners who make a major difference in the lives of Thais and foreigners in Thailand. Some contribute large amounts of money, and others are generous with their knowledge and time. And then we have the typical negative TVF member, dropping a statement that contributes nothing to solving the issue. So, yes, you go right ahead and label the question stupid. While you are doing that, there will be others speaking up publicly, or making an effort, making a difference, without the support of the self righteous finger wagers cadre of Thai Visa.

And god has spoken!

[luckyman]

Fantastic.

Many more slaves to be discovered locally, however.

And what are you doing to help?

What stupid question is that?

There are a number of foreigners in Thailand who are doing something about the issue. A couple used to post in TVF.

You label my question "stupid". Fine. Instead of doing a swipe and run, why not make difference? There are a small number of foreigners who make a major difference in the lives of Thais and foreigners in Thailand. Some contribute large amounts of money, and others are generous with their knowledge and time. And then we have the typical negative TVF member, dropping a statement that contributes nothing to solving the issue. So, yes, you go right ahead and label the question stupid. While you are doing that, there will be others speaking up publicly, or making an effort, making a difference, without the support of the self righteous finger wagers cadre of Thai Visa.

And god has spoken!

Haha, nice 1, scorecard !

I was quite surprised by geriatrick''s reaction and wondered why he just picked somtamnification's reply to post his query and how could he know to what extent som is perhaps already contributing is his own way out of the lime light.

As if this is a blog of some catholic foundation he lashed out while I read through the lines of his reply to mine that he himself probably does not do much either.

Although I must add, TV never has shown any compassion with the people behind the articles they publish or copy.

Just last month we read about those 2 little girls thrown off a pier in bkk to drown.

One of the girls' fathers was a Cambodian immigrant working in construction, too poor to pay for his daughter's funeral, he had to take out a loan of 5k.

How easy would that money be collected here if only TV could post a bank acc.no along with that gruesome article?

Guess we live in a tough country and life is hard all over but sometimes I too dwell on idealistic thoughts...