NEW YORK - Ok, one more thought from the Time Global Health Summit: I can’t help but comment on the “red carpet” press event at the Alicia Keys “Black Ball,” a fundraiser to bring AIDS medications to children in Africa.
Through an informal poll as we waited for the stars to arrive and parade in front of the cameras, I didn’t find a single reporter who was aware of the Time Health Summit’s mission or details. In fact, few seemed to know of Ms. Keys’s AIDS efforts. It was comical to see the give and take between the stars and the paparazzi. They need each other to survive — one only hopes that editors take time to read the press releases and get the captions right. “Alicia, look over here!”
(photo: J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue)
NEW YORK - The closing sessions at the Time Global Health Summit, I hope, left the audience with a feeling of hope and a call to action. Bono appeared above our heads as a giant projected image, likening the summit to a health Woodstock fest, but with a critical mission. I loved his words — that these challenges and days ahead are an “adventure” to be embraced and a time to define ourselves as citizens of the planet.
Pat Mitchell, president of PBS, called for a more engaged media. Her comments are worth taking to heart.
Ironically, though, most every session called for more public engagement and political leadership. However, besides the over-sized Time Magazine cover images and Time’s hosting of the event, the media continues to fail to deliver on these long-term, urgent issues.
NEW YORK - Magic moments at conferences usually occur off-stage at these highly coordinated events of high talent and connectivity. I wasn’t disappointed.
As the cocktail party quieted down and Ted Turner and other guests segued to dinner and off-site discussion, I found Jim Kelly, Time’s managing editor, taking in the glorious view of Columbus Circle from the tiered floor of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was warm, enthused and focused, a trait common of Time Magazine staffers. He invited me to join him, photographer Jim Nachtwey, Time’s photo director Michelle Stephenson and photo editor Mary Anne Golon for a moving tour of Nachtwey’s photographs shot for the Time cover story. Others joined us, including the president of Canon.
It was a reunion of sorts - I first met Jim Nachtwey when I was in college and photographing for the Day in the Life books and when I participated in editing sessions of his work at National Geographic. It was great, too, to spend time with Michelle and Mary Anne. I had been an intern, gads, 20 years ago, when Michelle was assistant director of photography and when Mary Anne was a section editor.
Jim’s walkthrough of his images drew tears and reminded us all — yet again and again — the power of the moment. One picture, etching itself upon our souls, was of the exact moment when a woman’s 7-year-old daughter took her last breath. The anguish, the horror, the tragedy of another preventable disease.
photo: Evan Agostini/Time
NEW YORK (November 2, 2005) - Missed the story again… A TV business reporter pursued the avian flu story with Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson here at the Time Global Health Summit. The resulting exchange made the headlines as Branson elaborated on his firm’s preparation for a possible flu outbreak by stockpiling vaccine for its airline staff. But the long-term news, I thought, was Branson’s ambitious call for an international “war room” to monitor, coordinate and respond to global health issues, particularly in Africa. It makes perfect sense — use the technologies of military, shipping and media logistics to manage myriad, complex responses to avian flu, pandemics, famine and drought.
photo: Evan Agostini/Time
