The Story Behind the Photo Op
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard traveled to Beijing this week, for a two-day visit aimed at broadening relations between the two countries. During the trip, Gillard spent some time meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Premier Wen Jiabao. You may have seen the video from a ceremony where the two came together. But capturing those images was more of a challenge than you might think. CNN Beijing producer Jo Kent and photographer Brad Olson take us behind the scenes, to see what goes into getting such an important shot.
The Royal Wedding: Bringing you the big event
In just two days, the eyes of the world will be focused squarely on London, as Prince William and Catherine Middleton tie the knot at Westminster Abbey. Billions of people will savor every moment, from the instant Kate steps out of her hotel to the big nuptial kiss on the balcony of Buckinham Palace. And CNN will be bringing you every moment of the historic event. Supervising Producer Alec Miran gives us a look inside the broadcast facility across from the Palace, to preview just some of what you'll see on Friday.
Chernobyl: No Haven for Wildlife
Today marks 25 years since the worst nuclear accident in history. On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine exploded, killing at least 30 people and sending hundreds of others to the hospital. Soviet authorities evacuated 200,000 people from the area, and set up an exclusion zone the size of Switzerland around the crippled plant. Millions of people were exposed to radiation, and thousands developed thyroid cancer. Despite that, the United Nations says there has been no major public health impact in the decades since the accident. But radiation experts say the true health costs of the disaster are still unknown.
Anecdotal evidence suggests beavers, deer, hawks, eagles and other wildlife have returned to the Chernobyl exclusion zone in abundance since people fled the area in 1986. But one radiation ecologist says that picture is misleading. Biology Professor Tim Mousseau of the University of South Carolina says biodiversity in the area around Chernobyl has dropped dramatically since the meltdown. Last year, he and his colleagues published a census of wildlife in the exclusion zone. He talked with BackStory about his findings.
Oil spill taking toll on Gulf animals
It's been one year since the BP oil spill devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, sending 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing out into the waters of the Gulf. But scientists say it could take years, even decades, before we know the full environmental impact of the spill.
Just in the past few months, hundreds of sea turtles and dolphins has washed up dead on the shores of the Gulf Coast. It's not clear just how many of those deaths are directly connected to the spill. But scientists say it's an unusual – and troubling – development. Rob Marciano takes us out with a Mississippi group that answers the call of animals in distress.
Nigeria's New President
(CNN) Post-election violence continues in northern Nigeria, highlighting the deep divide between the mostly Muslim north and the majority Christian south. On Friday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan warned armed protesters that “enough was enough”.
The incumbent won the April 16th election against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, sparking chaos in the north. The violence has killed more than 150 people and displaced thousands from their homes.
Our Christian Purefoy was at the polls during the presidential election and witnessed the moment when the winner was announced.
What's Not to Love About Italy?
The history, the art, the culture and the charm make it one of the greatest destinations on earth. So when The Revealer decided to do a piece on the Pantheon in Rome, the whole team was excited.
We were eager to investigate an exciting new theory that this majestic building, one of the oldest in antiquity, may actually have been built as a colossal sundial. It’s a complex piece of academic research that involves how shafts of light pour into the Pantheon at different times of the year. Make sure to watch the piece on the website to fully understand it.
As we planned the shoot, we imagined filming CNN correspondent Nick Glass pouring over diagrams in quaint cafes and filming sunsets over Rome’s cobbled streets. That would be the set-up, but we couldn’t cover the story without actually going inside the Pantheon itself. Or could we?
Like so many historic buildings, you need permission to film for professional purposes. Easy! Or so we thought. Hordes of tourists pour through the building’s doors every day. The only difference between them and us is… well, a few large broadcast cameras, some lights, miles of cables and oh, about seven big boxes of filming equipment. This is where we found ourselves up against the formidable barrier that is Italian bureaucracy.
What should have been a fairly straightforward process turned into a jumble of e-mails sent back and forth in English and Italian. Official requests were sent off and verbal agreements were made, but we still needed written permission to step foot in the Pantheon. When we were just days away from flying from London to Rome, the permission finally came through. We thought we were sorted, but then another peculiar request came through…
Nick asked for a wheelchair. Not for him, for the camera. There was some uncertainty as to whether we’d be allowed to put our tripod on the floor. To this day, we’re still not sure why that is. Perhaps it’s a bid to protect the floor – maybe they thought we’d be bringing in the amount of gear needed for a full feature film. In the end, they did let us use the tripod – which was fortunate, as we needed this piece of kit to make sure cameraman Dave’s pictures weren’t all wobbly.
The wheelchair didn’t go to waste though. We used it to capture the stunning, sweeping shots of the building’s majestic columns and gigantic doorway. As the researcher on the show, I was relieved that the team did use it, as acquiring the chair wasn’t as easy as you might think. Most of the rental companies are miles out of the city, so I enlisted the help of Hada and Livia from the CNN bureau inRome.
Italian bureaucracy and wheelchairs aside, another looming issue which we had no control over was the sun. It’s not easy to film a piece on a giant sundial with no glimmer of the sun; or even worse, if there’s rain. Flights were tentatively booked, but nothing confirmed, as we anxiously monitored the weather in one of the world’s oldest cities, occasionally hurling abuse at the weather predictions.
After weeks of negotiation, and a transport strike in Rome thrown into the mix, we came up trumps. The sun came out. It’s the one thing you have absolutely no control over. Although, I think we can thank our guest Guilio Magli for its appearance – he’d promised to do a special sun dance just for the occasion.
Adventures in the Arctic
As Matthew Chance and his crew headed to the Russian Arctic for their trip out on the icebreaker, they hit a few delays along the way. The team got held up in Murmansk Province, where they spent some time exploring a Soviet-era hotel, with surprises along the way.
Aboard an Arctic icebreaker
Matthew Chance takes us to one of the coldest corners of the Earth, the Arctic Circle, where he gets the rare opportunity to go on board a Russian icebreaker that's helping clear the way for ships moving into the oil-rich Arctic region.
Friday Note From Michael
Greetings all, and Happy Friday!
Massive storm front approaching Atlanta and will arrive right in time for the evening commute – great way to start the weekend, especially when drivers here seem to have nervous breakdowns when the weather is anything other than fine and sunny.
Over the past couple of weeks, BSHQ has seen quite a few discussions on tax – it's tax time here and folks are approaching the deadline to file with varying emotions (me: "yay, a little refund!"; Kendra "ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I OWE THEM MONEY?????").
We should all move to Pakistan, where barely one percent of people pay any income tax at all. Yes, ONE percent. Why? Well because they can get away with it, thanks to a combination of corruption, a crumbling collection system, and the ability to pretty much "disappear" off the taxman's books.
Here's where it gets interesting. Among the country's weapons to battle tax avoiders, transgender collectors. In a country where you can be sentenced to death for blasphemy, the government sends transgender men out to embarrass people into paying up.
Armed with lipstick, attitude and a secret weapon ("pay or tomorrow six of us will come back and dance and sing outside your door"), they wander from errant citizen to errant citizen trying to collect.
Regular CNN freelancer Nick Paton Walsh is in Pakistan and filed a fascinating piece about this quite frankly bizarre tactic, but we had more questions so we debriefed with him earlier.
Also today, I've been hearing some pretty good, rather terrible and laugh out loud funny Matthew Chance impersonations. Matt sent in some classic BackStory material which has had the folks around here both fascinated and in hysterics.
Emily has been filling in for Ann and I've heard constant giggles and "oh my goodness's" from my left.
What's the story? Well, the main part is Matthew and crew getting exclusive access to one of Russia's biggest and most powerful icebreakers, the Yamal, for a report on how the Arctic oceans are becoming more and more accessible for ship transport and exploration, partly because of global warming.
Of course, it's a double edged sword – on the one hand, transport ships being able to cross the arctic seas is a massive shortcut, making their journeys shorter, cheaper and less damaging to the environment (ie less fuel used).
On the other hand, many folks are worried that oil and gas fields will become more accessible too, and the environmental impact on a fragile part of the planet will be compromised.
Matt's story is great, and his BackStory fascinating as he shows us around the Yamal, which began life as an icebreaker, was transformed into a cruise ship and then moved back into its original role.
But, the gang tells me (I haven't yet seen it) his other BackStory is the highlight. Before Matthew and the crew got to the icebreaker, a delay meant they had to spend the night in a place called Kandalaksha in a Soviet era hotel.
Put it this way, it was no Four Seasons. Matthew was wide eyed as he encountered all manner of strange gadgets – and Matthew's been around. Him being wide eyed is not the norm! The amusing part is Matthew being astonished while his Russian crew were all "meh. No biggie. We used to see this stuff all the time."
Hence the Matthew impersonations around BSHQ.
Right now Matthew is on a train headed to some big scoop and emailing Vickie constantly, worried that everyone being so enamored with his piece means he's gone too far.
Hope you can join us for our Friday show!
Cheers,
Michael
After some delay, Nigeria heads to the polls
Nigerian voters are heading to the polls again this weekend, as part of the country's three-week long election season. This time, they'll choose a new president. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan is widely considered the favorite; his People's Democratic Party has won every presidential race since military rule came to an end in Nigeria in 1999.
The week after that, Nigerians will vote for local governors.
The first round of voting was delayed for a week, after many areas reported they hadn't yet received the materials needed at polling stations. It was a source of frustration for many Nigerians, who were eager to begin casting the ballots they hope will bring big change to their country.
Christian Purefoy was there as people finally got their chance to vote.
About The Revealer
A new Back|Story series that unearths fascinating new secrets about places and stories you thought you knew. Every other Thursday on Back|Story“The Revealer” Game
Join the action on our new series, “The Revealer.” Use the photo clues to figure out what the subject of this week’s episode will be. Click on the picture to the left for more.
