Punchy short-form writing, engaging video clips and a strong voice were the recipe for Amar C. Bakshi’s multimedia blog series "How the World Sees America" for the online editions of the Washington Post and Newsweek as part of a project called PostGlobal.
[ PostGlobal, "a conversation on global issues with David Ignatius [of The Washington Post] and Fareed Zakaria [of Newsweek]," is a joint effort of the Post and Newsweek and consists of commentary from the two of them, and assorted posting and commentary from other staffers and folks around the world.]
His subjects are varied: a drag queen in Pakistan, a female Lebanese rapper, pageant queens in England, a teacher at an Islamic school in India.
The stories range from prostitution to political leadership but with the common thread of how the global community feels about Americans and the U.S. government.
Bakshi, 24, spent one month in a country, putting a human face on the sentiments and looking beyond the blanket criticisms.
“My value added is bringing a bit of a humanistic, artistic sensibility to more mundane stories that wouldn’t be told,” he told a group at the SAJA convention.
He found his sources by listening to conversations at bus stops,
bars and restaurants. Contacts with local journalists and doctoral
students also helped him create relationships with compelling sources.
Learning how to narrate their tales came with experience.
A one-man show, Bakshi toted his high-definition Sony video camera
around with him for hours, familiarizing his sources to the screen. His
intention was to have people forget about the camera altogether, and in
a few hours they usually did.
“For me it’s discovery,” he said. “Trying to be empathetic, and trying to tell stories that are worth telling.”
He edited the video clips to concise, one- to two-minute segments. Sometimes a voice over accompanies local images, sometimes the screen remains fixed on a subject’s face as they speak.
College courses in documentary film trained him to choose the camera angles to accent individual nuances and push for a deeper look.
His popular blog, which often averaged 20,000 page views per piece,
held interest with mostly daily updates of video and text. Hundred of
comments were posted as the audience offered feedback to his posts.
Some criticized Bakshi for the anti-American voices that frequently showed up in videos and interviews.
“I never sought an anti-American voice,” he said. “I think that it’s just true that there is anti-Americanism out there.”
Bakshi says he himself faced the consequences of stereotype and assumption when
he was filming an assignment in Zimbabwe during college.
Suspected of being a spy, he said he was arrested on the plane ride back to America, and put in jail for five days.
With the help of lawyers and a secret phone call to America, he was released with all of his video tapes untouched.
“When you are there, the most basic things... holding your girlfriend's
hand or talking to your dad over tea, these things become the greatest
ideas,” he said.
Leaving the prison was a jubilant moment, but the memories of prisoners
would drive him toward his future journalism career.
The experience led him to become much more cautious about his work, but fear is not on the table for Bakshi.
After the Zimbabwe incident, he traveled to tumultuous political
climates in Kashmir and Lebanon, interviewing some dangerous sources.
“That said, 'I’d be scared out of my mind if I had to meet Al Qaeda folks,” Bakshi said.
Post a comment. PHOTO: Kashish Shrestha
