A major kudos to multimedia-embracing photojournalist Paula Lerner for winning an Emmy this week for her critical contribution to to “Behind The Veil,” a powerful, sobering, in-depth multimedia feature highlighting the struggles facing women in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
“Behind The Veil” highlights the amazing potential of a multimedia reporting. Grounded in the thoughtful reporting Jessica Leeder, of “The Globe and Mail”, and built around ten videos of Afghan women sharing their plights, “Behind The Veil” depends heavily on Lerner’s images. Featured during Leeder’s voice-over, her photographs paint a broad visual picture of the topic in a way that brilliantly compliments the videos and Leeder’s reporting.
I have not yet investigated the story behind the creation of “Behind the Veil” but I’m fairly sure that Lerner made her images independently of this project, and before the project was even conceived. I say this because I heard Lerner speak about her work in Afghanistan last October at PhotoPlus, and I’ve seen a number of the images in her online portfolio. Just as important, many of Lerner’s images document moments before Afghan woman’s rights began to be abused more severely — to levels that Leeder helps illustrate are arguably worse than when the Taliban ruled the country.
Take at least a quick look at “Behind The Veil” to better understand an important story, to see multimedia harnessed to its full potential, and to respect the important photojournalism created by Lerner.
