My Reflection on Panel of Eleven Middle Eastern Journalists

    This past Thursday's discussion panel featuring the eleven Edward R. Morrow Fellows was very interesting for a variety of reasons. The eleven journalists were very eager to answer our questions and to share their own experiences and this made for a very lively and intriguing class.

     The first thing that struck me as soon as I walked into the class was how different all the journalists were from one another. Despite my own Middle Eastern background, I also often forget what a large and diverse region it is. I thought that showing the map of the different countries the journalists hailed from further illustrated this point. The journalists came from as far as Mauritania which is in Northwest Africa all the way to Oman, the easternmost country in the Middle East. I felt that the journalists' visit not only helped to educate us on topics pertaining to journalism, but it also helped bridge a few cultural gaps and furthered cultural understanding. One of the most culturally enlightening parts of the panel was listening to the female journalist from Saudi Arabia speak about the difficulties facing women wishing to pursue careers in journalism in her country. I had been somewhat familiar with the issue of gender inequality in Saudi Arabia (and the Middle East in general), I wasn't aware of the scope of the discrimination. I also was surprised when the journalist from Saudi Arabia was introduced and I found myself looking at an attractive young woman in a pantsuit. My mental image of a Saudi Arabian woman was a woman dressed in the abaya (black cloak) and with her entire body covered except for her eyes so the pantsuit and uncovered hair came as a surprise to me. It was quite interesting to me to see just how easily my stereotypical perception of a specific sort of person/nationality/culture could be challenged.

The part of the panel which was most strongly tied in with my blog topic was the discussion on freedom of the press and censorship in the home countries of the journalists, especially since virtually all of them came from countries which could be deemed as "developing". It seemed as if the biggest "red-line" that these journalists could not cross in their reporting was politics and religion. Censorship of governmental criticism seemed to be especially strong in the Middle Eastern countries where there was a monarchy or the remnants of one. I was particularly alarmed by the Moroccan journalist's tale of being detained and questioned for six days for his photographs of the queen of Morocco. Another thing that shocked me about the panel was when the Saudi Arabian journalist told us that one could be beheaded for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia. The religious intolerance in Saudi Arabia is widely known but it was still chilling to hear confirmation of it from an actual Saudi Arabian.

Despite some of the less uplifting tales that the journalists told us, overall the panel did a wonderful job of reaffirming my interest in the vocation of journalism. The journalists seemed to remain committed to their jobs of reporting the truth despite all of the difficulties and obstacles they face on a daily basis. I know they probably won't read this but I would like to thank them from coming from the bottom of my heart.