Journalists from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Gaza, Dubai, Beirut and Belfast who had significant experience in media work related to the conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Ireland met at the Kennedy Presidential Library September 16-19 for a private and off-the-record conference organized by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Several American correspondents with reporting experience in the Middle East and Northern Ireland also participated in the meeting.
The purpose of the conference was to provide an opportunity for a constructive dialogue between those caught on opposite sides of the conflict; to create an opportunity for professional journalists representing a range of perspectives and different media to discuss common criteria that may apply to their reporting on conflict; to present and analyze “case studies” on how the media report on specific stories involving communal conflict; and to create ongoing channels of communication with one another. The journalists were also invited to participate in a closed-door discussion with Senator George Mitchell, Chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland that led to the historic Good Friday agreement, and Chairman of an International Fact Finding Committee on the crisis between the Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The conference was convened by John Shattuck, CEO of the Kennedy Library Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic and Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton, and Mara Rudman, former Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for National Security Affairs, and a Senior Partner at Quorum Strategies, an international consulting firm.
They were assisted in the planning and facilitation of the conference by Deborah Sontag, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times, Kevin Cullen of The Boston Globe, who covered the conflict in Northern Ireland for more than 20 years; Dick Gordon, of National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who covered the conflicts in Iraq, Bosnia, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka as well as the unrest in South Africa, Mozambique, Pakistan, India and the Middle East; and Ellen Hume, director of the new Center on Media and Society at the University of Massachusetts Boston and former White House and political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Providing oversight to the conference planning were Kennedy Library Foundation Board Chair Paul G. Kirk, Jr., and Foundation Board Members David W. Burke, John J. Cullinane, and Alan Solomont; Attorney Geoffrey H. Lewis, a member of the Executive Board of the Israel Policy Forum; and John Marks, President and founder of Search for Common Ground, an international conflict prevention NGO headquartered in Washington and Brussels.
The conference was underwritten with generous financial support from the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford Foundation.
While divided by national origin and geography, the reporters discovered during their four days together that they shared a high quality of journalistic ability (and the resulting respect of their colleagues), a commitment to doing the best job possible, and a desire to work through the difficulties of reporting on the conflict in which most of them have grown up -- the conflict in which some have lost family members, others have spent time in prison, and all have seen lives shattered.
The four-day conference, “Covering Conflict,” demonstrated that despite – or maybe because of – the deep chasms that can define the Israeli-Palestinian debate, Palestinian and Israeli journalists alike strive for professional reporting standards, experience similar challenges in situations where their national identity may come into conflict with their professional responsibilities, and want to discuss how to perform their jobs with integrity.
Discussion was marked by candor and self-criticism. Debate focused on fact, illustrated by example and specific experience. Participants stressed how important it is to hone professional standards of reporting in order to avoid being manipulated by politicians or other interview subjects. One journalist observed that since politicians often make statements to serve themselves, the reporter becomes a tool if these statements are reported without analysis. It is particularly challenging for reporters to ask tough questions when, for example, leaders are announcing a cease fire or a peace agreement. Maintaining professional objectivity can be especially difficult, because like everyone else who lives in the midst of conflict, reporters want peace. And yet, the media should be a watchdog, not a lapdog, and should compete to hold decision-makers accountable.
At the end of the four-day conference, no new plan was unveiled to make peace in the Middle East. Instead, leading Palestinian and Israeli journalists who communicate regularly the reality of the conflict to their own peoples and to the rest of the world asked for help in continuing to communicate with each other. With the assistance of the Kennedy Library Foundation, in partnership with Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, they hope to set up a private intranet blog allowing them to carry on cross-border professional exchanges once they return home.
John Shattuck noted to the participants that it was John F. Kennedy, a one-time reporter who wrestled as President with international conflict, who spoke candidly about the struggle for peace in words that served to inspire the journalists convened in his name: “I speak of a practical peace based not on a sudden revolution in human nature, but on a gradual evolution of human institutions – on a series of concrete actions and agreements.”