ForeignFoto

Even as Vekllei people suffer, in the postwar troubles and demographic crises of their fledgling utopia, the media apparatuses of Vekllei have become highly skilled at documenting and confronting suffering here and around the world.

Vekllei people are, by any metric, exquisite documentarians. Fifty years ago, all news reporting was subject to censor by the insecure Atlantic Junta. Today, Vekllei has cultivated timely, comprehensive and impactful journalism among its disparate news organisations and film units. Pioneers of film camera technology, Vekllei journalism is not situated as a point of national pride but an international duty, in the spirit of the United Nations.

Most of Vekllei’s news-of-record is consolidated under the Vekllei Telegraph and Record Administration¹ as the Vekllei Press Bureau² (PB), which is not a single publication or broadcaster but several. Much like any other bureau, it acts as a trade association — in this case, a correspondent’s club — in which multiple industry leaders co-operate under the bureau frameworks. A bureau helps with funding and political support, and also fosters cooperation (and manages grievances) between Vekllei’s news media.

ForeignFoto is the foreign correspondent arm of the Vekllei Press Bureau. Although it cuts together its own documentaries, it is mostly made up of freelancers making their own way around the world. It was formed shortly after independence to cover the War in Taiwan, where it produced several groundbreaking films on sexual assault among British and Vekllei troops, and the Fall of Kaohsiung. These films were later used as evidence in the Taipei Trials.

ForeignFoto is also by far the most dangerous unit in Vekllei’s overseas journalism. With its origins in war photography, ForeignFoto embeds themselves on the front lines, often undercover, and wherever the going gets tough. Many of its greatest reporters have died dramatic deaths: Simon Nowak was killed in a helijet crash, Sofia Phillips was assassinated by the Stasi, and George Stephens was murdered. Each of them contributed tremendously to the cinematic record of the 21st Century, in ways that have benefited all mankind.

Although documentary films are screened in Vekllei every evening as part of cinema news programmes, the International Press (IP) distributes ForeignFoto’s footage and work to news organisations worldwide, with the condition they remain free, unaltered and non-proprietary.  The IP is an initiative of the Vekllei Press Bureau and the International Federation of Journalists (a global union of journalists and UNESCO affiliate) to foster free press and open reporting. The IP archive, located in the International Federation of Journalist’s building in Vekllei Proper, is perhaps the most comprehensive archive of news footage in the world.

Tzipora never worked for ForeignFoto, but did accredit the Montre Student Gazette with the Vekllei Press Bureau during her tenure as Editor-in-Chief in 2078. This accreditation allowed her to install the Gazette’s first foreign correspondent in Paris later that year.