East Meets West in a 'Boot Camp'

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

East Meets West in a 'Boot Camp'

Unique three-week program brings together American and Arab journalism students

The Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research has initiated a unique three-week regional program titled "Middle East Journalism Boot Camp" that brings together American and Arab journalism students for a series of seminars and meetings held in two of the Arab world's most important countries, Egypt and Qatar. The Boot Camp offers a first-hand, in-depth understanding of the modern Arab world, Islam and American policy in the region. According to Lawrence Pintak, director of the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research, "the goal (of the program) is to help American and Arab students better understand the region and each other. Even the Arab students have much to learn about their own region. The Middle East is not a monolith and the contrast between Qatar and Egypt is dramatic, something most of the students have not experienced." The three-week program brings together 12 American journalism students – one each from the top U.S. journalism schools – with 12 of their counterparts from AUC and Qatar University. Led by a pair of leading Middle East journalist-scholars — one American, the other Arab — and tapping top experts on the region, this program will expose participants to the people and events that shape the modern Arab world and help them better understand the intricacies of a complex and fascinating region. The first ten days of the Institute was based at the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research. Then students and faculty travelled to Qatar for ten days of seminars held on the campus of Qatar University. "We have a two year commitment from the Carnegie Foundation to underwrite the US student participation and we certainly hope this will be an ongoing program," adds Pintak. According to Pintak, by having the students work as teams – one American, one Arab – "they see firsthand how stories are perceived differently, how styles of journalistic culture differ, and how stories are shaped differently. It's all about experience, whether you are talking about the American girls experiencing a women's dorm and an early curfew, as they will in Qatar, or Arab students experiencing the way an American journalism student aggressively questions a religious leader of government official. Even in the week they have been together, we have seen many changes in many of them." Stephen Dockery, journalism and Middle Eastern studies junior at Syracuse University, who would like to live and work in the Middle East, believes that the Arab media has a very different opinion on what journalism is than in the West. "A lot of it in Egypt seems like the revolutionary; trying to enact change and that is their biggest priority," says Dockery. Dockery adds that this program will help him become equipped with what it is like to become a journalist in the Middle East, how to reach his sources and how to go about collecting facts. "Being a journalist in a Middle Eastern country is different than the US," explains Dockery, "For example, if I want to contact the Department of Defense in the US, I will just contact their press office. But, if I want to talk to the Department of Interior in Egypt about police force, unless I know a contact there, I would not get much information. This program will help me realize how to go about doing it." Dockery believes that there is much misunderstanding between both cultures because of a language and cultural gap between the West and the Middle East. "I don't agree with the clash of civilizations. There is not enough context and unbiased information. I want to communicate between the two divides," he added. From another perspective, Fathiya Al Bahlani, a Omani student studying international affairs in Qatar University, chose to join the program because she believes that international affairs is very related to journalism. "The cultural differences between Arabs and Americans is something that deserves to be studied and explored to help expand our knowledge." According to Al Bahlani, "because we have stereotypes about one another, this program will help us understand that not all stereotypes are right and we will be able to show each other our reality. I want to show them (American students) my reality as an Arab Muslim person who also lives in the Gulf. I want them to see how I act with them and among them and they will know that not all Arabs and Muslims are Osama Bin Laden. They will know that we are the real Arabs." The course will prepare the next generation of Middle East correspondents for Western news organizations and U.S./Europe-based correspondents for the Arab media; will make Western journalists better equipped to report on domestic stories involving Arab and Muslim communities in their own localities; and will help Arab reporters become better positioned to report on the impact of Western policies on their own region. "The students will be producing at least one joint story during the boot camp and it is our hope that we can develop an ongoing joint reporting project," adds Pintak. According to Professor Yasir Khan, who is a member of the program, "I would like our Arab students to know that journalism is a commitment to truthful storytelling that will often put them in uncomfortable situations, and force them to challenge their pre-conceived notions. Our hope is that the Americans will better understand the Middle East, and the Middle Eastern students will better understand vital aspects of journalism, such as exhaustive journalistic research, asking challenging questions, checking facts and maintaining objectivity." Since the initiation of the program, Khan has noticed "that AUC students have been extremely friendly, welcoming, and accommodating to the students from the US and Qatar. They are curious, and eager to learn. They are also eager to share Egypt with their international colleagues. The students from abroad are fascinated by Egypt, and have dived into the local culture and stories head on."

Articles from participants: http://adhamcenter.blogspot.com <------------------- really kewl blog with article by these journalist!

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Edited June 17, 2008 by Olivia*