Thomson Reuters Foundation
The Oxford-based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) has hosted an international seminar on global security. "Reporting on terrorism" looked at many aspects of global security, and its ramifications for the media, during three days of moderated sessions from November 16-18.
Day 1 sessions opened with a discussion on the Modern Age of Terrorism, moderated by Mark Trevelyan of Reuters, with lead contributions from Dr Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation and Nigel Inkster of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The second session centred on the question of whether terrorists and the media are in a symbiotic relationship. The exploration of how journalists should handle their reporting of terrorism was moderated by Dr David Levy, Director of the RISJ, with lead addresses from Abdel Bari Atwan, Editor in chief of al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, and Dr Peter Neumann of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, Kings College, London.
A practical workshop exercise was held in the afternoon.
Day 2 looked at the role G-summits can play in global security, use of the internet for militant propaganda, the role of intelligence agencies, and whether loose nuclear material can be secured. This second day ended with an "On the record Q&A" with Richard Barrett, coordinator of the United Nations al Qaeda/Taliban monitoring team and a dinner addressed by Ambassador Ron Neumann, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan.
Sessions for the final day included responding to Islamism, the nature of fragile states, and a consideration of future challenges.
Joint sponsors of the seminar were Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Stanley Foundation and Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Click here to read the full report.
05 Jan 2010 12:20:32 GMT
Hi, I was to be one of the participants in the seminar but I couldn't make it due to delay in visa precess here, but I kept my straight eye on the discussions. The seminar, as I'm still reading the final full report was and is a useful tool, toward first creating harmonisation and understanding of issues between the media and other profesionals on security issues. Whereas sometime, as discussed in the seminar, we in the media thought by reporting about terrorism we inform the public, but in other ends we ended up giving them unwarranted 'public relations.' Its also clear that even security organs decisions not to reveal some information to the media,for such reasons like 'public safety' and 'public interest' terrorists have found ways to further their evil plans.What best should be done then? To me such a question remain partially answered from this year's Oxford deliberations. So seek the final full answer we need to discuss and discuss. Thats why I believe seminars like these should have been twice a year. Abbas, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.