Michael Scott Moore and Risks of Reporting

Pulitzer Center grantee Michael Scott Moore and Diane Foley, head of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, visit the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. The talk is part of the university's 2017 President Dream Course, Journalism Under Siege. 

Moore and Foley's talk, "Reporters are dying to cover #realnews," looks at the dangers reporters face while reporting abroad.  

Moore covered the 2011 trial of 10 Somali pirates in Europe for Spiegel Online, then traveled to Somalia to research a book. His Pulitzer Center-supported project turned from reporting on piracy to something much more personal. He was kidnapped in early 2012 by pirates in Somalia and held captive for 977 days before his release.

James Foley, Diane Foley's son, was kidnapped in northern Syria in November 2012 and executed by his captors in August 2014. The Foley family subsquently launched the James W. Foley Legacy Fund, later renamed the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for all Americans detained abroad and protects conflict journalists.

In February 2015, ACOS (A Culture of Safety) Alliance, a coalition of major news companies and journalism organizations, among them the Pulitzer Center, endorsed a set of best practices for freelance journalists and news organizations to enhance the safety of journalists working in hostile environments. A year later, the Pulitzer Center produced "Facing Risk," which explores the risks associated with reporting and the conversations journalists owe their loved ones and editors back home. Moore and Diane Foley are featured in the short documentary.