There is a Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Well, we certainly do—perhaps never more interesting and at the same time challenging to our nation, our world and especially our profession as foreign correspondents. Indeed, perhaps the only promise I can make over the next two years of my tenure as president of the Overseas Press Club, is that these challenges will only become more intense, more pressing and more vital to our own survival and that of our society. But also, ever more interesting!
If I have a single goal during my two years as your president, it is to make our club more relevant, more exciting, more central to helping chronicle the global agenda by every means we have at our disposal. Central to our mission is our ability and willingness to expose the abuse to our members and their colleagues of every nationality and belief in the furthest corners of globe who are subject to repression, violence even death in the course of their duties. At the same time, we must continue to expand our ability to recognize and reward the most extraordinary accomplishments of our peers in our annual awards ceremony and gala. Finally, each week we must continue to make increasingly compelling and fulfilling our own offerings—book evenings, lectures, professional seminars, luncheons and dinners, in short any other new and original ideas that may suggest themselves—if we are to continue to grow our membership and stretch the horizons of the Overseas Press Club. For all these initiatives, of course, I’d love to hear your ideas. I respond to every e-mail, return every phone call, and answer every tweet!
Today with the unparalleled technology available to us, we have at our disposal the means to extend the reach and visibility of the OPC, re-creating the initial vision of its creators as a gathering place—real or, today, virtual—for the exchange of ideas, contacts and good fellowship among all of us who share a common past and an exciting future.
Only in this fashion may we become truly the touchstone for all those who report on the daily life of our planet—attracting individuals and institutions who share our mission and our goals. Resources, of course, are critical to all these efforts, and this is where I will count on each of you to pitch in to the best of your abilities, contacts and means. Each member must take an active role if we are to build the skills and the camaraderie that make the OPC what it is. For without you, we are nothing.
Finally, I’m persuaded that we are on the cusp of a new age in our profession to which we must conform, embrace in some fashion, or fail. The old era of the dashing foreign correspondent of yore is ending. The economics of our industry that so often fed our “habit” is placing in jeopardy our very way of life, indeed the long-term viability of our very organization. Accordingly, we must identify the new breed of international reporter and commentator — bloggers, tweeters, legitimate contributors to an intelligent international dialogue of all stripes. Just such a redefinition should, indeed must, be a central priority of the Overseas Press Club under my stewardship, to inject new life into our membership through a new look at who we really are, what we represent and stand for, while retaining the deepest values that we prize most highly.
I am most grateful to my predecessor and friend, Allan Dodds Frank, for having turned over stewardship—fiscally and professionally—in such stellar shape. He has been an enormous asset and, I sincerely hope a valued partner going forward. Above all, I thank each of you for placing your trust and confidence in me personally. I will do my level best to live up to your expectations.
You can follow David on Twitter @DavidAndelman and the OPC @opcofamerica
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