Reporting Conflict in the Arab World
The U.S invasion of Iraq in 2003 triggered a new era in international reporting on the Middle East, with new technologies, practices and opportunities. Military embedding for reporters, the proliferation of smart phones, and new dangers such as the spread of kidnapping for profit encouraged news outlets to rely increasingly on freelance reporters and self-trained journalists from the region, and dramatically changed how the Arab world would be covered in Western media in subsequent years, including after the 2011 uprisings. This workshop will address the impact of these new dynamics, arguing that the resulting partnerships have produced unprecedentedly deep coverage of civil wars, but also raise troubling new ethical issues, into which Negus will invite discussion.
Steve Negus has worked for 20 years as a reporter and editor specializing in the Arab world. He was Baghdad correspondent for the Financial Times from 2004 to 2007 and was a regional editor for the Associated Press in Cairo from 2011 to 2014.
*Open to all Claremont Colleges students.
This workshop is in partnership with the Office of Dean of Students.