USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) and School of Journalism, along with the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP), are launching a new public series, Covering Global Conflict, which will examine differences in how international media are covering major flashpoints around the world.
“These conversations offer exciting and important opportunities to understand how media in various countries see and interpret events through their own distinctive prism,” said Geoffrey Cowan, CCLP director and co-chair of the series. “At USC we emphasize the importance of discussing not only how America sees the world, but how the world is seeing America.”
The first conversation, to be held Tuesday, September 9, will focus on the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and the war in Ukraine, featuring journalists from the front lines of global conflict.
Featured speakers include Professor Robert English, an expert on the politics of Russia and director of the USC School of International Relations; Lukas Hermsmeier, a reporter for the German newspaper BILD, who was shot with a rubber bullet and arrested while covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri; and Julian Reichelt, editor in chief of the popular German news site BILD.de, who has worked as a war reporter in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.
Reichelt said that if there’s one take-away he hopes the journalists and students attending the September 9 conversation will remember, it’s this: “[Q]uestion everything – there is no universal truth. Learn to separate facts from propaganda; and most importantly, don’t fall for the powerful and their spin. Question why they grant you access. Don’t confuse access in the service of spin with research.”
The discussion will be led by CCLP visiting fellow Florian von Heintze, deputy editor in chief of BILD. Von Heintze agreed with Reichelt that verifying information is one of the biggest challenges in reporting on global conflicts: “What is fact, what is propaganda, and how do you interpret the big grey zone in between?”
Journalists explored this issue at one of CCLP’s Washington D.C. forums, discussing the Russian propaganda surrounding the protests in Kiev, Ukraine. Bringing the discussion to USC will offer students and the general public unique insights into the issues facing journalists today.
“I look forward to learning more about how international media outside Germany is covering global conflicts – in print, online and on social media platforms,” said von Heintze.
Covering Global Conflict is co-chaired by Geoffrey Cowan, CCLP director and USC University Professor, Willow Bay, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism, Jerrold Green, PCIP president & CEO, and Mickey Kantor, CCLP and PCIP board co-chairman.